that is why we are providing affordable internet, so homework can just be homework. cox, connecting. announcer: cox supports c-span as a public service, along with other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪ announcer: c-span's washington journal, every day we are taking your calls live, on the air, on the news of the day. an we wouldd discuss policy issues that impact you. sunday morning, we will discuss the year ahead in politics with clearance page and cal thompson. the last washington journal, live at 7:00 a.m. on sunday morning on c-span or c-span now where the free mobile app. join the conversation with your facebook comments, text messages and tweets. ♪ announcer: on sunday on

in-depth, author and a pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges will be our guest to talk about political revolution, war and incarceration. the presbyterian minister's books have included "america, the farewell tour," "trauma," and "the greatest evil." in-depth with chris hedges, live this sunday at noon eastern on both tv on c-span2. ♪ ♪ host: good morning. it is december 31, the last day of 2022. on this morning's "washington journal" we look back at the top stories of the year. we want to hear from you.

from russia's invasion of ukraine and inflation, to the midterm elections, there were plenty of political earthquakes that roxie washington. -- rocked washington. what is on your list of the top stories of 2022? republicans, we want you to call at 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, you can dial us at 202-748-8002. you can also send us a text. that is at 202-748-8003, please include your name and where you live. leave us a comment on facebook.com/c-span. or send us a tweet @cspanwj. or find us on instagram @ c-spanwj.

so, we are talking about the top news stories of 2022. here is a reminder of what we considered some of the top stories. we had the russian invasion of ukraine, inflation and rising gas prices, the midterm election that led to a gop takeover of the u.s. house . o have the january 6 committee hearing. the raid on trump's mar-a-lago resort. the immigration crisis at the southern border. the end of nancy pelosi speakership. the confirmation of supreme court justice comes david brown jackson -- kentanji brown jackson. let's start off with discussing the russian invasion of ukraine.

here is an article. the headline says, 2022 was the year of horror of war returned to europe. russia's invasion of his neighbor ukraine unleashed misery on millions of ukrainians, shattered europe since of security, ripped up the geopolitical map and rock global economy. it made life more expenses in homes across europe. worsened a migrant crisis and contemplated the world's response to climate change. let's watch a portion of president bynum's remarks from february 24 which was the day russia life as invasion of ukraine. [video clip] pres. biden: within hours of russia election is assault,

nato came together for a response plan. the forces to deploy and to win and where they are needed to protect our nato allies on eastern boundaries of europe. now i am authorizing additional capabilities to deploy to germany as part of nato's response. i asked -- has spoken with about preparation for additional moves should it become necessary to protect our nato allies and support the greatest american -- allies in the history of the world, nato. my administration is using the tools to protect american families and businesses from rising prices at the gas pump. we are taking steps to bring down the cost is the american oil and gas companies should not

exploit this moments to hike their prices to raise profits. our sages project, we designed -- our sanction package allows for the continue we monitor for any disruption. we coordinate with countries who our common interest to secure global energy supply for you where acting -- working with countries around the world. the united states will release additional barrels of oil as conditions warrant. i know this is hard and americas are hurting. i would do everything in my power to limit the pain american people are filling at the gas pump. this is critical. this aggression cannot go unanswered. if it did, the consequences for america would be worse.

america stand up to bullies. we stand up for freedom. this is who we are. host: that was president biden remarks on the day russia invaded ukraine. that was in february. one of the top news stories of 2022. another thing that dominated headlines was inflation and the rising cost of gas. today's front page of new york times. headline, 2022 was the year the music stopped on wall street. there are several charts that show this was in the top corner. the inflation rate showing the fluctuating -- inflation rate. shows the rising inflation rate and next to it it shows the interest rate from the federal reserve and it shows how

aggressive they were this year. from this article on the column about the s&p 500, it says, january 3 the first day of market trading in 20, like another day in a stock rally that began when president obama was still president. s&p 500 had a high. it made many investments rich. it came close to us all time peak. that monday it turned out was the end of the market that for over a decade at a gone in one direction with the s&p 500 rising more than 600% since march 2009. two days later the federal reserve release is minutes from his previous meetings. a routine event on wall street. prevailing policymakers at the central bank were worried about

inflation that they thought they might need to celebrate -- accelerate how fast they raised interest rates. investors took get badly causing the s&p 500 to tumble. a stock selloff that set the stage for the rest of the year. let's listen now tackling inflation in rising energy prices was a major tenant of the house gop commitment for america proposal in the lead up to the midterm election. here is a coming majority leader he is believed at a rally on capitol hill back in september. [video clip] >> you are hearing the same recurring theme, families are struggling under the weight of big government socialism. but they have done the last two years to ram through trillions of spending, mountains of

regulation and more big government socialism is hurting the lower income families of america. it is costing jobs. it is making it harder to put food on the table. people are saying enough is enough. they're losing hope. the good news is we are providing hope and with a commitment to america represents. we are laying out for the american people a plan, a vision for the future. ideas that confront these problems that nancy pelosi, joe biden, all the other socialist here in washington have done to make things harder for people. we are going to return power to the people. restore freedom and hope to communities. we are going to get government off of people's back and do things like reduce inflation. bring in energy policy that promotes american energy after we have seen 1.5 year of attacks

on american energy. when they go after american energy, it yields higher prices at the pump. people can put less food on the table. we were in pennsylvania rolling these out a few days ago and we heard from family struggling. they talked about how it makes it harder for them to live their normal lives. host: we want to hear from you. the question is, what is your top news story of 2022? republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. we are going to the phone lines now on the democratic line, michael in baltimore. caller: good morning.

my biggest is donald trump finally getting those tax returns. host: why is that so important to you? caller: everybody in fairness should pay taxes and he has been avoiding it for so many years. while you're just paying $750. that is wrong. host: appreciate your call. we are showing this morning, washington post, it says, trump cap tax burden minimal -- cap tax burden minimal. it is based on the release of his tax returns by the house ways and means committee. it says, he claimed based -- big

losses, few donations to charity. sydney in louisiana on the independent line. what is your top story? caller: the top story is the news media does not cover the facts. y'all do not cover the facts. victoria nuland overthrew ukraine in 2014 and she said how much money we spent. y'all are look at that. y'all sit there and say russia started, no. we overthrew ukraine and installed a puppet government, which shelved the russians killing around 14,000 before vladimir putin every crimean -- ever came in.

all these people get on the news , how terrible it is, russia kills a child. it is terrible to kill a child, but not victoria nuland. was asked about the 500,000 children under the age of five she said it was worse killing them. she come back and said, if i had known i was jewish at the time, i would've said it different. host: we go to another caller now. let's go to some sweets. -- some tweets. says, the fbi, cia, interfered

with the 2020 election. marianne says, top stories are invasion of ukraine, loss of roe v. wade, january 6 hearing, bizarre weather from man-made global warming, and covid continues. we will get some more coming up. this one from mike in orlando, overturning roe v. wade, where supreme court decision ever. number two, russia invades ukraine pre-it heartbreaking. number three, tax -- trump tax returns.

ukrainian president zelinski delivered a speech to a joint session of congress earlier this month. he made a plea for more military aid an argument for why the u.s. has meaningful stakes in war. ♪ host: -- >> is it enough, not really. to ensure justice. just like the battle of saratoga, the fight would change the directory of our war for independence and for freedom. if your patriots stop the

russian terror against our citizen, it will help ukrainians defend our freedom. [applause] zelensky: when russia cannot reach our cities, it tries to destroy them with missiles attacks. russia found an ally in this genocidal policy, iran. iranian deadly joe's's -- drone sensor russia and a threat to our critical infrastructure. it is a matter of time when they will strike against your other allies if we do not stop them now. we must do it. [applause]

zelensky: i believe ukrainians ask american soldiers to fight on our land set of us, i assure you ukrainian soldiers can possibly operate american tanks and flames themselves. [applause] financial assistant is critically important and i would like to thank you very much for

both financial you have provided us with and the ones you may be willing to decide on. your money is not charity. it is an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way. [applause] host: that was ukrainian president addressing a joint session of congress earlier this month. our question to you, what is your top news story of 2022? our phone lines, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002.

we are going to take more of your cause right now. gilbert in alabama on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my, and happy new year's to everyone. my top story is the are very mental -- environmental calamities happening in the nation from hawaii to buffalo because of climate change. the inflation in this country. the people in the country being used as pawns because officials in d.c. have allowed big business conglomerates to use us as pawns. they allow the country to be outsourced to china. the buzzword for 2023 is relieved. have a good day. host: here is an article on abc

news.com it says, disasters and policy change, these are the big climate stories of 2022. it starts with, billion-dollar disasters keep occurring. by october 2022, 15 disasters exceeding $1 billion in damage had occurred in u.s. including her own fiona, hurricane ian. extreme flooding. drought and heat waves in the western u.s.. in 2021, there were 20 disasters exceeded $1 billion and in 2020 there were 22 disasters that exceeded $1 billion.

to bill in ohio on the independent line. what is your top story? caller: my disappointment in joe biden in general. with all of the politicians, you can show video of them flip-flopping, changing their mind. he was pretty decisive not too long ago about what marriage was but now he has changed that. i would like to ask the other colors, i'm over 60, i know what a president is supposed to be and how they are supposed to act. this guy is not a president. presidents could talk to you. they did not have to read every word they say. this man is incompetent in every way inform. i do not know who is writing this -- these beaches but they are insane. host: you mentioned marriage, are you not a fan of the respect

for marriage act? caller: that's figure what the outcome are we going to go by the bible or what these people want to do? let's figure out what is real. i do not believe the bible is real. i do not believe in god. we can get rid of that one. i am open to gay marriage. i'm ok with that. the bible has to go. one has to go. they cannot both coexist together. host: bill is referencing the respects for marriage act which was signed into law by president joe biden, passed by congress. the npr article images what built mentioned, it says, biden size respect for marriage act reflecting the country's evolution. the article goes on to say, the

long road is one the country has been on. in 2004, 40 2% of americans said they were in support of same-sex marriage. today it is 68%. i doesn't republican senators out of 50 voted in favor of the legislation. it is far from a majority of republicans and it is reflective that raking about republican voters have lagged in support of same-sex marriage. the act created federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriage. on the democratic line, lori in

washington. caller: i want to say happy new year to everybody. [indiscernible] host: you are breaking up a little bit. we are starting to lose you. i think we lost lori. we will move on to cliff in california on the republican line. what is your top news story? caller: happy new year and thank you for taking my call. i believe the biggest news story was the january 6 committee, which uses political theater to

make the midterms not a red wave but i red trickle, unfortunately. i find it to be a waste of taxpayers money for what they done, these democrats. not only that, the two impeachments and the incessant hatred of our former president donald j. trump. i find that appalling. i believe this government does not represent the people. if that government does not represent the people, the people have the right to overthrow that government to make it all the people for the people, we the people. thank you for taking my call. host: here is a portion of the

january 6 select committee vice chair liz cheney. this is her remarks at the committee's final public meeting earlier this month. [video clip] >> president ronald reagan described it this way. the orderly chancellor of authority is called for in the constitution takes place as it has for almost two centuries and a few of us stop to think how unique we are. in the eyes of many, this for your ceremony we accept as normal, nothing less than a miracle. every president in our country history has defended this authority except one. january 6, 2021 was the first time when american president refused his constitutional duty to transfer power peacefully to

the next. in our work over the last 18 months, the select committee has recognize our obligation to do everything we can to ensure this never happens again. at the beginning of our investigation, we understood tens of millions of americans had been persuaded by president trump that the 2020 election was stolen by fraud. we also knew this was false. we knew that dozens of state and federal judges had addressed and resolved all manner of allegations about the election. our legal system function as it should. our president would not accept outcome. among the most shameful of this committee's finding was president trump set in the dining room of the oval office watching the riot at the capital on television. for hours he would not issue a public statement should his supporters to disperse and leave

the capital despite urgent pleas from his staff and dozens of others to do so. members of his family's, white house lawyers, all of those around him knew that this simple act was critical. four hours he would not do it. host: that was vice chair of the january 6 committee representative liz cheney. the hill rights, in his finest public meeting, the panel unveiled criminal referrals recommending the doj prosecute trump on charges of inciting insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the u.s., conspiracy to make a false statement, and obstruction of official proceeding. chuck made a few statements in response, the fake charges made by the highly partisan, unselect committee has been submitted,

prosecuted, and tried in the form of impeachment hoax number two. i one convicts only. also on truth social he put out another statement on the january 6 committee referral," these folks do not get it. when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. it strengthens me. america's know i push for 20,000 shims to prevent -- troops to prevent violence on january 6." great in pennsylvania on the independent line. you are all in. caller: my top story is elon musk. there are a lot of competitors

for the honor including the january 6 committee that you just talked about, but the top story is elon musk. the reason, november turned out to be the trickle that will -- one caller talked about, i was disappointed it was a trickle. should a bit overwhelming. because of what we musk has exposed. the mainstream media's obsession no matter what it takes to get rid of donald trump. c-span participates in that. i think you do personally. a couple callers mentioned topics and you went to the defense. he most recently before i got on talked about what donald j. trump said. this morning this is the only thing you have done that indicates some independence. the mainstream media job is to

report, not make the news. not whatever it takes to get rid of somebody because it ends justify means. let's go to the definition of marriage. you are not caucasian, i am not black. why -- those are facts. marriage is something between a man and a woman. you want to call gays getting together a civil union, that is fine. it is not a marriage. it is not a marriage according to the term. everybody wants to change the definition to be politically correct. the as part of the problem we got. the mainstream media is an active participant. they are not doing their jobs. i hope elon musk continues doing what he does. i will love to see c-span cover more of sweater files.

i have not seen much. it seems to me that story gets less coverage than the january 6 crap. host: here is a fox news article i want to show, the headline says, elon musk because out legacy media and corporate journalism, " we have only just begun. it says, billionaire and twitter ceo elon musk slams corporate journalism and legacy media in separate tweets about the response to the twitter files and claims his reputation is in trouble. why is corporate journalism rushing to defend the state is that of people? he wrote tuesday. in response to the twitter files establishment media wishes to defend the fbi. musk has release several

installments of the twitter files through independent journalists such as barry weiss. recent installment went way beyond the fbi. i want to bring up, this is the new york times a recent article about elon musk and twitter. the headline is what is going at twitter? data center, janitor, toilet paper. elon musk has reduced the company to a bare-bones operation and employees are under a zero budget mandate to justify any spending. musk at his purchase of twitter identified as one of the top news stories of 2022. harry in tennessee on the democratic line. what is your top story? caller: my top story of the year is democrats cap the senate.

if the republicans kept both, social security would have been over. my satori to is the woman -- top story is the woman and young people stood up for what is right. i'm so thankful the people stood up and the democrats kept it because people need to realize what would have happened if old people loses social security and medicare. that is exactly what rick caught -- scott said it. and ukraine, people need to stop and think, what would happen if russia would've gotten ukraine? i think joe biden is on target and i think the lord for giving him ties and you have a -- to us and happy new year's. host: terry mentioned democrats

keeping the senate. majority leader chuck schumer celebrated the expanded majority in the senate following raphael warnock's victory in georgia runoff. [video clip] >> they say all good things come to those who wait and this outcome is worth the wait. after one year, 10 months, 17 days of the longest 50-50 senate in history, 51, a slim majority. that is great. we are so happy about it. first and foremost, i want to congratulate raphael warnock. running a great race. a strong, inspiring, unified. i remember calling him the day the vote came in the general election.

him though he was disappointed he came close, he said, i ready to go and i'm going solesky the runoff -- when the runoff and he did by 1% and close at 3%. because he did an amazing thing. he was a person who had great faith. he had great strength. he had great conviction. he is a unique man who has a great future. i was brought to tears last night watching his story where he talks about his mom. he said, she grew up in the 1950's picking someone else's cotton and somebody else's tobacco last night, this is so touching. last night, she helped pick her

son to be united states senator. only in america. that was senate majority leader chuck schumer talking about the expanded democratic majority in the senate after raphael warnock won the georgia runoff. let's go back to the phone lines. allen in new york on the independent line. caller: the don't say gay law that ron desantis got past. i think many people do not understand homosexuality in terms of what causes it. we do not know everything about the topic, but we do know that nobody decides to become a homosexual. it is in them. the dna is there. i do not think -- he is so

misguided because he thinks the young children does not see, hear about homosexuality that is going to be a big deal, which it is not. we are getting close to truth, but i hope this guy -- he is getting a lot of traction. he does not know but he is doing. happy new year and thank you for taking my call. host: here is an npr article about that bill, the headline says, for the governor signs controversial law opponent dumped, don't say gay. public school teachers in florida are banned from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity after fortis governor ron desantis, republican, signed a controversial bill.

the bill was signed by desantis monday. it reads, classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade three or in a manner that is not age-appropriate in accordance to state standards. supporters of the legislation say it is meant to allow parents to determine when and what way to introduce lgbtq topics to their children. i guess parents an option to sue a school picture of the policy -- district at the policy is violated. to lawrenceville, georgia, eddie on the democratic line. caller: thank you and i hope you

had a happy christmas and a happy new year. mine is, but had a rough time trying to get their republicans to get on board with him and donald trump, i am glad the doj and all of them trying to keep him, they need to pass that law that if nobody is above the law to keep him from running again. that is what i want to see the first of the year where he can never run again. if our government is show strong, nice to be strong to keep that one man from ever getting in the oval office again and keeping him from rallies and going out there to rally. we do not need that anymore.

i hope the republicans stop that complaining about the border. help at the border. if they go out there and see what is going on at the border, need to go talk to the leaders in those different countries. they can do it to help, to stop all of the flow, if it is too much cologne. we need people out here, because i hate to see our stuff close down. i would rather see our stuff open instead of closed down. they talk about the overflow of money. you do not got money, all of our countries will be closed out and shut down. money ain't nothing. you die, you cannot take it with you. you might as well spend the money to keep things open. host: we appreciate your call. here is former president donald trump in november i now see a

white house bid for 2024. [video clip] >> noted to make america great again, i am announcing my candidacy for president of the united states. [applause] thank you. so many incredible friends and families here tonight. it is a beautiful thing. people say, how do you speak before so many people? when there is love in the room it is easy. [applause] you ought to try it sometime. together will take on the most

corrupt forests -- forces imaginable. our country is in a horrible state. this is not a task for a politician or a conventional candidate. it is a task for a great movement that embodies the courage, confidence, and spirit of american people. this is a movement. this is not for one individual. this is a job for tens of millions of how the people working together across the land and all walks of life, young and old. black and white. hispanic and asian. many of whom we have brought together for the very first time. look at the numbers, you look at what has happened with hispanics, african-americans, asian, look at what is happening. this is a party that's become a much stronger, much more

powerful and do much good for our country. this is a job for grandmothers, construction workers, firefighters, farmers who cannot stay quiet any longer. you cannot stay quiet any longer. you are angry about what is happening to our country. our country is being destroyed before your eyes. it is a job for every aspiring young person and every hard-working parent. every underappreciated police officer who is ready to shout for safety. the police are being treated so badly. these are great people. they can straighten out the crime. we have to get them back the respect and dignity. [applause] this will not be my campaign. this will be our campaign. [applause] host: that was former president

donald trump announcing he will run for another term in 2024. we are going back to the phone lines. with a short top new story of 2022? dewayne in new york on the independent line. caller: good morning. that speech is the big story. i'm not a fan of donald trump but he is rallying his troops again. the time he first came down the escalator, he is repeating that same cycle over and over again. my child, america. he is going to start that train wreck he did the last four years. one term president is coming back. the maga folks are setting -- standing by. they felt disenchanted by democrats and others. this is donald trump.

we new yorkers know donald trump and how he was able to obfuscate the taxes and only pay 700 $50 in taxes while i pay more than he does he? it is scary. thank you for taking my call. host: david in eau claire wisconsin on the republican line, which are top new story? caller: good morning. my top story would be the fbi had been expose for their election interference on twitter. host: ok. we have been talking about that this morning. another caller on the democratic line in connecticut, jane -- james. caller: good morning, merry christmas and nearly happy. i'm doing pretty well.

i watched this thing on c-span a minute ago with the trump rally. the next caller, he said they are crying because we are always talking about trump and here we gave him another byline for his conquest of -- crock of stuff he purports to be. i guess he is a deadbeat. he reminds me of being an old con. he is the guy hustling on the street. you never find the shell. he is unbelievable really. he is probably a deadbeat. i'm sure of that. he managed to get his weight not paying. i've been paying my.

68 years old, retired now. i like to think i'm still going to collect my social security but with the group of punks coming in the first of the year, i do not know what is going to happen. they cannot get anything done. let's not do anything. sweep this creep under a rug and turn over another stone do something else again. i am bummed out. i am optimistic because what these guys have done so far, keeping these guys at bay as best we can. happy new year's to everybody. host: let's go to amelia in massachusetts on the independent line. caller: hello. i would to the top story for me would have to be republicans

supporters that still support donald trump after everything that has come to light. all of the facts that i come to light especially through the january 6 committee, which was a bipartisan committee. all that testified where people from trump administration and they were all republicans testifying under of, which i tend to believe about somebody that refuses to testify under old. refuses to live release -- release the taxes even though he said he would. all of his corruption, i do not know how intelligent, decent americans that say they believe in god can support somebody like donald trump. the only way they could is either by ignoring and i'm not talking about what democrats say or the media, i am talking about

donald trump's words and his actions. an example from one of his rallies which was this past september, he was at a rally saying how he respects the president from china, which we believe he hates. he was saying how he respected him because he rolled with an iron fist. i live in america i do not want to be ruled by a dictator and that seems to be what he wants to do. i am appalled my fellow americans cannot see the truth. the gentleman from pennsylvania blaming the media, how about blaming trump? he is the one who did not release his taxes. he is the one that stole documents from americans. the list goes on the. one more thing about biden, all of these people want to say he has lost his mind. when he had control of the

presidency, the senate, and the house, there are many bipartisan legislation that has been passed and lots of legislation to help americans when donald trump helped those three bodies, they did nothing. they did not pass legislation and the only created culture wars. if people really look and listen , every time donald trump is on tv or a rally, he is either lying or crying. those are my last words. have a happy new year. host: i want to quickly show this usa today article. it says these charts show how trump 2020 forbade is losing steam -- 2024 is losing steam. do you want donald trump to run for president in 2024? yes or no? do you know -- the no's out

weight yeses. there is a july line, december. the no's inch up from 65% to 69%. the second chart is if the 24 presidential election between democrat joe biden and republican donald trump, who would you vote for? biden has always led trump that again the gap has increase between july and december. the december poll 47% said leaning towards biden. 40% said trump. the third part says which republican donald trump or ron desantis do you prefer to be the 2024 nominee for president? 32% said trump. 56% said ron desantis. 4% said neither. 7% were undecided.

tom on the republican line. what is your top story? caller: i feel so bad for that lady that was just on, but i have two. a day or two ago on the stephen k bennett show he had a gas that has irrefutable -- just that has proof that nancy pelosi is the one that caused january 6. it is going to come out. the other thing is, all of these people are so anxious to have donald trump taxes. they cannot wait. it finally came out and one of the best stories is, they did not find squat.

those democrats and progressives and liberals, it is so beautiful that they could not wait and there is nothing there. the other thing, i hope people will understand we live in a republic, not a democracy. all of these people that want to call in and say they're are going to lose our democracy. they are plain ignorant and more ron's. we live in a republic. happy new year. host: ellen in asheville, north carolina on the democratic line. what is your thoughts? caller: i think the biggest new story and there is a lot of tragedies, but the biggest story

is the republicans cannot see the truth when it is right in front of them. they blame everybody else. they blame the news media. biden, the liberals. he was a bad businessman, donald trump. such a liar. he was the biggest liar we ever had in office, one of them. and at the he is a thief. they do not care. they do not see it. it is all in the name of christian nationalism. they blame the news media because they cannot accept the truth. that is why they like fox news because fox news tells them what they want to hear and they dismiss the truth. they lie and they fabricate on fox news for you trump i spent the worst president ever --

trump has been the worst president ever. biden has had to fix everything. if they cannot see the january 6 think when it was on the news for what it was, they are sick. they need help. the republicans are crazy. host: to another caller, john from long beach, california on the independent line. caller: good morning. want to say the topic of today would be they brainwashed sheep you have coming in. it is amazing that people are pointing fingers constantly. invoking the name donald trump. it is like they are deranged and cannot get the guy out of their heads.

if you notice, he came down the elevator, they have tried every single thing to get this guy. at what point do you say you have no credibility? the fbi had to lie to obtain warrants. the list goes on. it keeps going on and on and on the. you have stormy daniels. you have ukraine phone call which we all know, the last caller said donald trump is a thief and a liar. but is joe biden not getting any kickbacks or anything from his son while he was getting paid $50,000 a month in ukraine? it is coincidence that we are in ukraine right now fighting a war that had nothing to do with us. everybody always has to say can you imagine if ukraine is russia

took over ukraine? ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. that is why they are not on nato. all of a sudden there is this beacon of light. they never wanted to be a part of nato. it is very coincidental to me that all of a sudden, all the intention is on ukraine when trump called the president of ukraine and asked him to look into why the vice president at the time, vice president son was working in ukraine and why the attorney general that was looking into those was fired? it is remembered, biden said, if you do not fire him, you and i get your billion dollars per year -- you would not get your billion dollars and he was fired. he will hundred 18 congress is coming in.

we will get to the bottom of covid. your inoculated sheep talking about how donald trump was authoritarian, let's not forget about lockdowns and the learning loss of education. the small businesses he crushed. let's not forget that. thank you. host: jimmy in kentucky on the republican line. what is your top story? caller: i would guess the fbi putting the finger on the scale to help joe biden get elected for the president of the united states. he is unqualified to be the president. the guy from california is right on the. the democrats have so much hate. i cannot believe the lady from carolina, where she was saying. she does not realize all the lies joe biden tells every day and has told over time into history.

people call in and say, trump do not do anything. i'm not a big trump fan. i want ron desantis to be president. i want a leader. i'm tired of these old men. all too old. you need young people. i'm 65 years old and when you get older, you cannot think as fast as you used to. need people that are younger, energetic. there is so much hate for trump. i can't believe what these democrats say about him. biden has too. they don't say all the lies and things that he has done, him and his son. it will come out one of these days. to me, there has always been biased for the democrats against the republicans. we see it every day.

fox news was telling about the laptop. they said the laptop was hunter biden's. all of the others said it was russian information. we know it was alive. there is a lot of things that people want to see but these democrats are so blinded by hate that they can't see anything. but everything bad republicans do and everything good, to mccright stu. get rid of the filibuster. you can't get rid of the filibuster. make them work together. and then we will work together and make everything like it is supposed to be. host: we will have to move on. we will take a quick break. when we come back, we will conclude "washington journal"

-- with jason candle. he is the author of the book invisible storm: a soldier's memoir of politics and ptsd. we will be right back. ♪ >> there are a lot of places to get political information but only at c-span do you get it straight from the political source. c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters. america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> the 118th congress convenes on tuesday at noon eastern. for the first time in two years, a return to washington as a

divided government. republicans will control the house of representatives while the democrats maintain the senate by a slim majority. an average age of 47, compared to an average age of 58 in the previous session. the newest congress will be more diverse with a record number of women serving, including more women of color. new members take the oath of office. new congress, new leaders. watch the opening day of the 118th congress, tuesday at noon eastern, live on c-span and c-span2. also on c-span now, our free mobile video app. or online at c-span.org. >> listening to programs on c-span three c-span radio just got easier. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio and listen to washington journal daily at 7:00 a.m. eastern.

important congressional hearings and other -- throughout the day. catch washington today for a fast-paced report on the stories of the day. listen to c-span any time. tell your smart speaker to play c-span radio. c-span, powered by cable. >> gordon guthrie chang is a well-known opinion writer, book writer and graduate of cornell law school. orden chang was born in long branch, new jersey and grew up to five miles outside of new york city at columbia high school in maple hood, new jersey. he was president of his class. mr. chang spent almost two decades in china where he practiced international law. in the past 20 years, he has appeared regularly in the american media. gordon chang was the author of the coming collapse of china in 2001. we discussed with him if he is still sticking by that

prediction. our co-author gordon chang on this episode of book notes plus. it is available on the c-span now app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are concluding our annual authors week series with former credit party rising star and afghanistan war veteran jason kander. he is author of the book "invisible storm," a soldier's memoir of politics and ptsd. thank you for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. it is good to be back. host: we want to go ahead and get into some of my conversation with jason. i want to give you all the numbers to call with your comments or questions for him. if you are in the eastern or central region, your number is

(202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or pacific region, your number is (202) 748-8001. if you are an active military veteran, your number is (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. we will get to some of your questions and comments in just a moment. you begin the book with your story of your first visit to the kansas city veterans affairs medical center, which was on october 1 of 2018. can you tell our listeners and viewers a little bit about that day? guest: sure. it is a funny story now. looking back. a little bit of context for the story is at that point, i was pretty well known in kansas city. and somewhat around the country

at that moment because i had been getting ready to run for president. so was half of the credit party. people were running around iowa and new hampshire. two years prior, i had run in missouri in one of the highest profile u.s. senate races in the country and i came close to winning as a democrat in missouri. i had gotten a lot of attention for that. i was the former secretary of state of missouri at that point. i was running for mayor. i decided not to run for president and was interested in running for mayor of kansas city. that was going well because if you go from running -- for running from president to running for mayor of your hometown, you ought to be a front runner. i was. professionally, things were going well. personally, things were not. i had served in afghanistan. that was a decade prior to that. i had been dealing with ptsd for

that time and trying to deny it. i had gotten to a point where my symptoms had accumulated to a point where it was scary for me. i was having suicidal thoughts and that kind of thing. i went to the v.a. in kansas city and i went there to get help. i went to the office like a volunteer who was taking my information so i could enroll in the v.a. system. after a few minutes of answering these questions he said it seems like you need to see somebody today. and i said yeah, i think so. he takes me to the emergency department and i fill out a slip of paper with two questions on it about suicidal thoughts and that kind of thing. next thing i know, i am being checked into what is the suicide watch. they take away all of my belongings, my clothes, they

give me a set of scrubs that are several sizes too big and i go into this room with a stainless steel bed and a toilet and i sit there. the whole time this is happening, people are recognizing me. i had run for these offices and i was very well known. most of the time, when you are running for office, it's good to get recognized. it's part of the goal. everybody wants recognition. if you can have what i had running for mayor, which is nearly 100% face recognition, it speaks well of your chances in a race. but it is kind of mortifying to be recognized like that when you are being checked into the suicide watch. everybody was very professional about it. they were not asking for selfies you could tell the way they did double takes that they recognized me. and then finally this psych president comes in who was new

to town and did not recognize me at all, that was a huge relief. i spent 30 minutes with this fellow and i recounted the symptoms that i never told anybody but my wife. and he listens to me. after a while, he says well, he is getting ready to let me go. and he says do you have a stressful job or something? and i was like i'm in politics. and he said what does that mean? i didn't give him the whole thing. i said i was getting ready to run for president earlier this year but i'm running for mayor instead and i'm going to call that off because i want to get help. he was taken aback. i'm in scrubs that were several sizes to double big and i am a patient in suicide watch. and he says what does that mean, you are going to run for president? i said i'm going to iowa and new hampshire. he said president of what? and i said of the united states.

finally, he things about that for a second and says who told you you could run for president? by now, i have gone from excited that this guy in recognize me too irritated that he doesn't believe me. i said i don't know what to tell you. i sat down with president obama for 90 minutes, and he seemed to think it was a good idea. he think about that for a second and says how often would you say you hear voices? that was my first day at the v.a.. host: that is interesting. it sounds like he didn't know who you were. guest: he didn't know who i was. you have to think of it from his perspective, which is, you know, i'm this guy who is there on suicide watch. i'm a 37-year-old patient of his who he just met who is like yeah, i was going to run for president. i sat down and talked with obama about it. i could totally see where he was

like clearly this guy is delusional. host: i want to read a quick excerpt and ask you a question. we will go to the phone lines. you wrote the election was a few months away. i didn't know what treatment entailed but i didn't know i -- but i did know i couldn't do it and run for mayor at the same time. my schedule was filled from sunrise with meetings. i lost the energy and desire to do any of it. i had to admit that the story i had been telling myself for a decade was a lie. i read most of the book, actually. but, how difficult was it to step away from the lime night -- limelight and what did it teach you about the role that busyness

-- you talk about ways people meditated themselves and you meditated with his enis and politics -- busyness and politics. how hard was it to walk away? guest: it was really difficult. for a few reasons. one, as evidenced on the fact it took me a long time, i came home from afghanistan in early 2007. i walked into the v.a. for the first time around october 1 of 2018. so, it took me a long time to admit to myself that i was having this problem. once i knew that i really -- that i wasn't ok -- which was something that i knew for the past couple of years of that, you know, then it was like can i stop what i'm doing? i remember saying to my wife and to my campaign manager at the

time, i just have to keep going. as long as i keep going, i feel ok. on the one hand, that was extremely difficult. and i think this is true for anybody who is struggling with their mental health. if you have something, it could be some students, -- substance, work, for some people it is gambling. for people, it is a coping mechanism. for me, i had my career. i used that as a coping mechanism. walking away from that thing that kept me feeling like i was together and the only thing that was keeping me afloat, that was frightening. on top of that, i also didn't really know who i was if i wasn't a politician. at that point, i, like anybody, had defined myself by my occupation. at first, i was a soldier. and now, to me, i was a soldier

who was in politics. but i wasn't a soldier anymore. i was a veteran and that was a hard thing to come to grips with to begin with. to say i'm going to take this one thing in my life that is going really well, my career, because nothing else seemed to be going well personally for me at that point, and i'm going to just hit the self-destruct button on it, in hopes that i can get better, but i didn't know if i could get better. i didn't have any way to know. i didn't know about therapy at the v.a.. it was a big gamble, a leap of faith. i am grateful to myself and the people around me who supported me in making that decision. i am in posttraumatic growth and i'm enjoying it. host: we will go to some of your calls, questions and comments for jason kander. we are talking about his book "invisible storm," a memoir of

politics and soldiers with ptsd. if you are in the eastern and central region, your number is (202) 748-8000. in the mountain and pacific time zones, call (202) 748-8001. if you are active military duty or a veteran, call us at (202) 748-8002. you can also text us at (202) 748-8003. let's hear it now from greg in wisconsin, calling on the eastern and central line. go ahead, greg. caller: good morning, everybody and thank you for c-span. i would like to make a couple of comments to your guest. the first comment would be please believe in yourself. god in jesus christ. -- and jesus christ. the second comment would be you

are taking yourself way too seriously. everybody who is alive has issues. i'm not sure if you are taking your issues to try to make a living or if you are trying to be healed. host: greg -- i'm just going to stop and let you respond. because it really sounded like greg was downplaying the seriousness of mental illness. what are your thoughts about that, jason? guest: well, let's see. i guess there is a school of thought out there that says you are supposed to continue on like mental health injuries are not real injuries. mental health and physical health are completely intertwined. i have learned in the last couple of years, the last four years in particular that mental

health and physical health, you have to treat them the same. i spent a decade telling myself that what was going on with me didn't count. i had friends who were actually wounded or worse. so i was like this doesn't count, who would i be if i were to go into help for this injury? but it was in therapy that it became clear to me that that is sort of like if i had broken my arm really severely but i was like i know a guy who had his arm cut off. so, this doesn't count. and i never treated my broken arm and expected it to get better with time. that's not what would happen. what would happen is my arm would become more and more mangled over time to the point where i wouldn't be able to use it at all and it would get beyond the point of return where i would just be beyond saving. that is what i did with my trauma. i said i know people who saw things that were worse. i know people who experienced

physical injury. so, therefore, this doesn't count. and i'm not going to go treat it. something that could have been a much less severe injury to my mental health if i had treated it when i came home, i waited 11 years and it got worse and worse and worse. time does not make trauma get better. it's not like wine. it doesn't age well. it's more like an avocado. it doesn't take much time for it to get worse and worse. there is a reason nobody else avocado sellers. you are not supposed to hang onto them that long. in response to what greg said about whether i am trying to make a living out of this, i'm glad you said that, it gives me an opportunity to point out that my royalties go toward the fight against veteran suicide and homelessness and the veterans committee project.

i appreciate greg bringing that up. host: you're the president of national expansion, a nonprofit society dedicated to fighting veteran suicide and veteran homelessness. i want to point out that in the book, you were an army captain, and intelligence officer who served a four month tour of duty in afghanistan where you were in some harrowing situations that really did leave some lasting impact on you. folks will have to read the book to learn more about that. let's go to pittsburgh, california. tom is on the line. tom is a veteran. what are your thoughts, tom? caller: first of all, to jason, from one veteran to another, thank you for your service and welcome home. i am celebrating my -- this is

my 50th anniversary of being separated from the military. i'm a vietnam veteran. i am very familiar with posttraumatic stress disorder. we are dealing with a whole group of veterans that came back where we needed help and we were getting very little or none at all. if anybody thinks this is some kind of a game or we are looking for a handout, we never were. all we wanted was a helping hand and what was promised to us. instead, when it was vietnam, the politicians and congress started taking more and more away from us. and it became very, very difficult for us to get the help that we really needed. a lot of suicides from vietnam veterans was the result, the direct result that we were not getting the help we need. i know that this is a whole new group of veterans, that you guys

are coming home. men and women, putting yourselves in harm's way. and congress has to start addressing this issue. if we can't get help, then it is time that you and your group did. believe me, i worked for the v.a. for 15 years. certain amounts of improvements were done but a lot more could be done. i wish a lot of -- i wish you a lot of luck. believe me, continue your work and thank you for taking my call in happy new year. host: what do you think -- what more should or could be done to help veterans who return and need services? guest: sure but, first of all, tom, thanks for your service. i appreciate the comments and the support. there is a lot. one thing, tom was saying he worked for the v.a. for 15 years and saw some improvements. i want to be clear and i'm sure

he shares this view, the people at the v.a. are for the most part fantastic. get pretty much all of my medical care at the v.a. now. it's one of the best experiences i've had in terms of interacting with people in a customer service type level, in that yes, the system can be difficult. i think they are often frustrated by the limitations of the system. which brings me to your question, which is that most of the stations the veterans have with the v.a., whether they realize it or not, it is not the v.a. itself, but the limitations and constraints congress has put on the systems that provide services to the veterans in this country. that comes largely from one central problem. which is that the main question that members of congress

frequently tended to ask themselves when they are developing policy for veterans is how do we make sure nobody gets this who doesn't deserve it ? there is a central flaw in that. one is it assumes there are veterans who don't deserve it. and two, when you create constraints like that and you are constantly putting up guardrails to prevent anybody from getting access to something that you believe they don't deserve, you are inevitably creating a system that becomes more and more difficult to navigate for the people who you may deem worthy of those services. going back to the first part of it, something that the average american doesn't know is that it is not as if all that has to happen is you raise your right hand and wear the uniform for a little while and you can go to the v.a.. unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. there are categories of people who are not eligible for v.a. benefits. it could be there discharge

status. it could be, most often, the amount of time they served, whether they were a guard, reserve or active. it can be difficult to navigate the system and it doesn't have to be. we need to widen this and make it much more available. not a monologue on it too long but a couple of other simple things that could be done. when you are in the nilla terry and you transition from one post to the next, -- the military and you transition from one post to that next, when you do that, there is a readiness sergeant at your unit who knows that when you show up at your new unit, there is a sergeant who says we have him or we have her. and we have made this transfer. however, when you leave the military for the last time, they know where you are going and where your hometown is and if you are not going to your hometown, they can look at your address to know where you are.

there are no handoffs like that at the local v.a.. as a result, you are just out of the system altogether. when you do and often it takes time to show up at the v.a. to enroll, you understandably have an expectation that this military or rather this government that just, a very short time ago, had all of my medical records new everything that was going on with me, because they want to make sure i was deplorable -- deployable, and it's like they have no idea who i am. it is more difficult than when you are a civilian and switched doctors and you have to give them your insurance again. it shouldn't work that way. it could be a much smoother process if it was just a handoff from one to the next. host: let's go back to the phone

lines. cliff is in san angelo, texas, calling on the regional line. what is your comment? caller: can you hear me because i'm on speaker? i can take it off. host: you sound perfect. go ahead. caller: jason, thank you so much for revealing some of the problems, mentally, that you've had. i've been in the mental health advocacy game, so to speak, for over 20 years. i have something in common with you. i'm not trying to promote anything, i'm just trying to tell you who i am so you get a feel of the problem and i will eventually ask you a question. i was the first ever world coins tennis champion in 1970. i won the davis cup with arthur.

i have a book called "acing depression." after my tennis career, i was playing enough golf to be good enough to be involved in the celebrity pro golfer store, which was minor but it was important to me. i got to be a scratch golfer in tournament play. the last five years i played the tennis tour, my tennis game started to get away for me. i was losing that skill. to me, i made all of my money and my life was based on skill, either in tennis or in golf. when i got into golf, about midway through, i started losing that skill. and, to me, posttraumatic and depression and all of that, and i want your opinion, is that depression and/or ptsd doesn't necessarily have to be on the

battlefield. it can be the result of losing what is valuable to you. in my case, i lost it twice. the second time, i went into a three year depression that was so dark and bleak. like you were saying a minute ago, people were looking at me and saying you have a nice family, i had the money i need because i was a successful tennis player. i should have been the happiest guy in the world. and i cried every day. with my dad and said i'm going to beat this but i don't know how i'm going to beat it. the question that i have is i've been on zoloft and had canceling for depression -- counseling for depression. i feel like i have a handle on that but i have ptsd. there are situations i don't feel like i can go back to. some of the feeling and teachings today are exposure therapy.

get back at what bothers you the most. i found that never worked. my question is, do you think, and mine is so minor of ptsd and i don't know if there is minor. if you lose something that is not valuable to you, which was my skill in life. do you think there is really any viable, comprehensible therapy to get through and over ptsd? guest: i really appreciate this question. thanks, cliff, for calling. i want to underline what cliff was saying that ptsd is not something that the military owns. in fact, the vast majority of americans, and there are millions who have ptsd, never served in the military. i appreciate this phone call because while we have made a lot

of progress on the way that we regard veterans for ptsd in this country, we need to make a lot of progress on how we regard people with ptsd. because what we have done is we have sort of given people like me a license or permission slip to exist in american society with ptsd and not be judged quite so much. whereas we still judge others. the truth is that trauma is trauma. people say to me all the time that they will share something with me about what they went through, some sort of traumatic part of their life and they say i wasn't in a war or anything. and i always stop them and say it doesn't matter. my brain has no idea what your brain experienced. as a result, comparing and ranking the two is a huge waste of time. i did it for 10 years and it did not get me anywhere. it delayed my opportunity to heal. whether somebody was in a car accident, had a career change that, for them was traumatic,

like in cliff's case or they had a divorce or something difficult in their childhood, it doesn't matter what it is. if there is something that was an abrupt change for something that changed in your life that you haven't felt the same since, you should see somebody. as for therapies and the idea of getting over ptsd, i'm not a clinician. you don't get over ptsd and you don't get cured. what happens is you get to a point, speaking for myself, where ptsd doesn't have to disrupt your life. where you can manage it like any other injury. i like to compare it to my knee injury. before i went into the military, i tore my acl and my meniscus in my knee and tore my knee up really good. it was in a pickup football game. then, in order to get into the

military, i had to do a ton of rehab on my knee. so i did the surgery and rehabilitation. and i have always had some knee trouble. but, i am now 41 years old and i went through this career in the military and my knee was able to do it. i had to manage my need different from everybody else who had never had a knee injury. but at 41 years old, i play competitive baseball, not softball. actual baseball at 41 years old. still pretty fast. i play center field. i can still go out and run pretty far and go jog. but, you know, i have to be careful about icing my knee. i have to stretch out my quad, things like that. that's how i would depict ptsd in my life at this point. which is to say that if i didn't ice my knee and i didn't stretch out my leg correctly, it would disrupt me. and it would make it where i couldn't go about doing the things in my daily life, physically that i want to do.

and if i don't take the steps that i need to to maintain the progress that i have made in therapy, it will disrupt my life. ptsd would disrupt my life. instead, i do those things. as for different kinds of therapy, i did cognitive processing therapy. an exposure therapy at the v.a.. cliff was referencing exposure therapy, which was going back to the trauma. not necessarily physically but those things that you don't want to think about or talk about that you are avoiding. sitting down with a licensed therapist and working through those and going to the point of difficulty in your mind and what it has done for me, it was very difficult. don't get me wrong. it was definitely the least fun part of therapy. but what it has done is it has made it where those traumatic memories no longer have a grip on me. they no longer control me.

i have a greater degree of control over them. it is not as disruptive or intrusive as it was. i would wholly endorse it. different therapies work for different folks. one thing i would say is try something. if it doesn't work, try the next thing. or try it again with a different therapist, potentially. posttraumatic growth is a real thing and it is worth putting as much effort into pursuing it as you would any other professional goal that you care about. host: again, we are talking today with former democratic party rising star and afghanistan war veteran jason kander. the title of his book is "invisible storm," a soldiers memoir of politics and ptsd. i want to remind you of the phone lines, if you are in the eastern or central time zone, call (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain or

pacific time zone, (202) 748-8001. if you are active military or a veteran, we want you to call us at (202) 748-8002. let's go now to new orleans. frank is calling as a veteran. what are your thoughts this morning? caller: good morning. can you hear me well? host: yes, go ahead. i appreciate the conversation this morning. being a vietnam veteran, combat wounded, looking at the suicide rate, dozens of veterans die each day. i know when i came home how i had to contend with the war on drugs and alcohol. i did that as long as i could to numb myself.

i would be around people who say you don't seem to be like most veterans who come home. hiding it, mastering it, doing all kinds of things to alleviate this people that i've been through. with the smell of napalm and agent orange effects, i am very ill now with hypertension. liver disease. just going through it all. the horrible dreams that haunt me. every night, when i close my eyes. and people say hey, forget about it. don't concentrate on it. when your subconscious mind and you are sleeping, and you have no control and it pops up. there it is, you are running.

you're trying to get somebody before they get you or you witness some bad thing happen, like someone's throat being cut when you get up in the morning. and you dream that this is happening to you. when you get up, you don't want to go back to sleep. but, thank you so much for taking my call. host: frank, we appreciate your call so much and we want to make sure that you reach out and get the help you need. contacting your local v.a. or perhaps jason can share some resources. jason, when you talk to veterans like frank, what do you tell them? guest: i was going to ask frank if he has been to the v.a. or has sought health treatment for any of this. host: he's not on the line. guest: well, i want to thank frank for his service and i want to thank him for the way he

spoke about it. i relate to a lot of the symptoms he was talking about. i've experienced most of that, in terms of the symptoms after you come home. which turn into nightmares in hypervigilance, the feeling that you're in danger. particularly to emotional numbness. and getting therapy at the v.a. made a huge difference for me. whether you go to the v.a. or somewhere else, trauma therapy. one of the things that he said that resonated with me and people will, if they read the book, they will see i describe this vividly in detail. the feeling of sleep not being a safe place. which isn't a good thing. that is a dangerous thing to get to that point. i was at the point where i was having nightmares every night. by the end, before i went to

therapy, i was having them all night and i ended up with sleep paralysis which is a terrible thing to go through. i went about a decade without a good nights sleep as a result. if for any reason, nightmares being one of the worst ones, but for any reason you go a decade without a good nights sleep, it's going to have other effects on you. you are going to become depressed. you are going to be sick more often. you are going to be in pain, physically. sleep is a physically important thing that human beings do. i really hope that frank reaches out and get help for these things. and if he has in the past, he continues to. another item that he mentioned was suicide rate. a lot of people are familiar that -- with the step that on

average, 20 americans take their lives everyday. out of that 20, on average, 16 of those veterans, at the time they take their life, are not connected to any veteran specific services of any kind. that is a huge deal. it goes to what we talked about a few minutes ago about there being often too high of a barrier of entry in veteran services. too difficult to navigate. taking too long to get access to it. that is why i am so proud to be the president of the national expansion of the veterans community project. our approach has been different. if you raised your right hand and swore the oath, we have no further questions to determine your eligibility. you qualify for 100% of our services. what we do is we work with the community to connect veterans with existing services. we streamline that process.

sometimes it is the v.a. but other times it is other organizations so that we can create wraparound care for our veterans. going back to that 16 out of 20, when you consider the fact that on average out of the 20 veterans who take their lives everyday, 16 are not connected to services at the time that it happens, it is enormously important to connect people with those services. and to have a very low bar for doing it. it absolutely saves lives. because, this is true of veterans and i think it is true of a lot of people, once people get up the nerve or the resolution or the motivation to ask for help, or just frankly, reach a point where they are out of ideas and hit rock bottom and they ask for help because they don't know what else to do, you have one shot with them. and if you are not able to help them at that time, they will be discouraged.

and the chance they will ask a second time is pretty low. it is important that we grab people at that moment. host: before we get back to some calls, i want to read a tweet we received from ct yankee007. it says -- we are not treating mental health as large as the problem it has become. we will also go to john in illinois on the regional line. john, what is your question or comment? guest: jason, thank for being the cheerleader for ptsd. i talked three of my buddies into joining the marine corps. we came back with all of our fingers and toes. i grew up with a medal of honor winner.

i went to boot camp with a different fellow who won the medal of honor. my wife's first cousin was on the hilltop with a fellow who won the medal of honor. i've been on the periphery of pts. i went to veterans organizations to talk to other veterans. thank you for being a cheerleader for pts. you keep talking about it. you've got a big mouth and people have taken it different ways on the telephone this morning but you keep talking about pts. i've learned to compartmentalize the peripheral pts that i got. and i'm thankful that i can do that. you keep cheering for us because we need cheerleaders like you. god bless you and best of he

alth this new year. keep on trucking. host: can you tell us what is next for you, jason? there is speculation you might run again for public office. guest: sure, i will get to that in a second. first of all, john, thanks for your service and welcome home. i'm glad that john feels like he has things in the right place. as a fellow veteran, i would say to him, compartmentalizing pts without treatment, which i don't know, maybe he's gotten treatment and that's what he means, but attempting to keep it on the periphery on your own is not a sustainable course. it is when i thought i was engaged in. the way i like to put it is you either deal with your trauma or your trauma deals with you. i thought i was out running my posttraumatic stress. it turns out it was faster than

me. and the truth is it is always going to catch up to you. even if you feel like i have some symptoms but it is not all of them, it's fine, john mentioned when he had career changes, that is often what happens. is that you get to a point where whatever it is that has been occupying your mind and allowing you to avoid what is going on inside your mind, when that is no longer there or no longer working, in terms of inoculating you and helping you avoid, then you're left with yourself. if you have not dealt with what is going on with you, that can be unpleasant. it can go poorly. i have encouraged people not to wait until it gets to that point and not do what i did. and to address it sooner. i appreciate what he is saying

in terms of his approach. to answer your question, when i set out in the first place in 2007, when i started running for office, i was running for state legislature. i had grand visions of what i would do in public service. none of those visions including -- included being the poster child for posttraumatic growth. it's not what i set out to do. but i'm grateful to have the opportunity to in any way occupy that space. the last time i was involved in a campaign with a c in public office was a little over four years ago. the last time i was in public office was six years ago. almost six years ago. at the same time, i can tell you that even though my amount of time now is not as long as my

time as an active politician, there is no question in my mind i have made a greater difference in the world during this period, after serving in office than i did while serving in office or pursuing office. and i'm enjoying that. between the work that i get to do at the veterans community project where we are building campuses across the country and providing outreach services to all veterans and what we are better known for, provide residential services because we build villages for tiny houses -- or tiny houses for veterans. and are returning people to public housing and getting people out of homelessness at a record rate, that is something that is a greater impact than i ever got to make. i held statewide office. i was in some influential spots. on top of that, over the last year, accidentally, not

accidentally but i didn't on purpose get as deep into it as i ended up getting. i became involved with the evacuation efforts outside of afghanistan because i had a few people who i served with and i wanted to help them get out of that and it grew. i friends and i ended up doing it. it was successful. i ended up creating a nonprofit called the afghan rescue project that has gotten too thousand of our afghan allies out of the country, safely. it's not something i would have been able to do had i been in office. not to mention the difference i have made in my own family's life or the fund that i have had being able to play and coach baseball. coach i sons little league team. -- my son's little league team. to answer your question about the future hopes for me, i don't

know. and that sounds political. when i was getting ready to run for president, people were asking me are you going to run for president and i would say i'm not focused on that right now. that's not true. that's what politicians say. but no, i was wholly focused on that. i'm not avoiding the question. i just actually don't know. for once, i'm actually not focused on that because i'm enjoying my life as it is. when i was going through undiagnosed and untreated posttraumatic stress, i was eager to avoid what was going on in my own mind and avoid presence because i had an inability to be present. i would think about the past in the future. mostly about the future because it would allow me to escape the difficult present. the present isn't difficult anymore. i've been enjoying it and i am making a difference.

maybe one day i will run for president or mayor but maybe i won't. because i'm enjoying my life and i think i am making a big difference. host: i want to bring up, just a couple of weeks ago, you tweeted that you have been getting a lot of these questions. you wrote for those wondering if i'm in a hurry to run for office, consider this. i got home from my basketball practice -- baseball practice at the same indoor facility where i coached my sons practice in december, in missouri. i'm good for now. what i loved was the first reply , take your time, we will be ready when you are ready. i thought that was sweet. guest: it was very nice. it's nice to be asked. there are the folks who are like you have to. sometimes that irritates me a little.

because actually, i don't. i've come to the conclusion after years of thinking that i had not done enough for my country, i've come to the conclusion that america and i are square. it doesn't mean that i don't still want to do things to better america. i still do a lot of things to serve my country. but not because i feel i have to. but replies like that, that means a lot to me. i did spend a decade in politics, working hard to have people want you to run for office. having people want you to lead and be in charges flattering and i appreciate it a lot. at the same time, i acknowledge to myself that i have the right to enjoy my life and that is what i'm doing. host: i want to get to more calls but this is important and i wanted to make sure we touched on it. that is the role of your wife, your family members.

your wife actually has excerpts that she gives her perspective in the book. i want to read, this isn't one of her excerpts, this is something you wrote about your wife, diana. diana has spent a decade sleeping next to a husband who thrashed all night with nightmares, stopped the house with a gun and called to ask if the doors were locked. who would bellow with rage when angry and convinced her that white supremacists were coming to murder her and her son. it forced her to bear her terror alone, never confiding in anyone, not even family. a lot of when we talk about mental health, you talk about the impact on family members, on loved ones. what has this season, how does she factor into your healing and how has her own healing been

going? guest: thank you for asking. that's my favorite part of the book. she and i have been together since we were 17. she has known each version of me. she stuck with me and had to suffer through this period where i was never violent toward her but my hypervigilance, my enormous -- my obsession with the safety of our family in the sense that we were in danger all the time, it led to something that we were not aware of until i started therapy and that is secondary posttraumatic stress. it's not like ptsd is contagious where if you work with somebody, you will get it. but if you are married to someone or the child of someone with posttraumatic stress, you can end up with the same symptoms without undergoing the same trauma. because i was so focused on

safety and we were high-profile people. so, it, in context, would make sense that this danger was out there. combined with the difficulty of living with somebody who was becoming so emotionally numb as i was, it had a real effect on her. she had to go get her own treatment. we ended up going to therapy at the same time. she is doing fantastic. she reversed -- refers to this period as her second -- our second marriage. she said it is what we envisioned now when we were 17 and we are having so much fun together. in fact, not to spoil one of the happy endings in the book but our son, who is now nine, he was born in 2013. my own symptoms got so much worse and worse that it was sort of unspoken that it was unlikely that we would have another kid

because i was physically gone. when i was home, i was mentally not present. and in two years, two years to the day after i made my announcement and decided to go get treatment, we had a second child. our daughter, bella, who is now two years old, who you may have heard yelling for her mother to come in a few minutes ago. here on this broadcast, because she was waking up. i can't think of a better testament to the way that both of us getting help has changed the course of our life for the better. in that we got to grow this awesome family. host: let's go back to the phone lines, we will try to go quickly. allison in katy, texas, what is your question or comment? caller: good morning. good job. you are doing a great job.

i just want to say that right now, i am going into a little bit of anxiety because of the topic. i grew up, my mom and a single household -- in a single household. my dad was bipolar and an alcoholic. i didn't think it was ptsd but i lived with this constant anxiety and avoidance and stress and once i got out of the house and grew up, things kind of mellowed out. i became very introverted and everything was about avoidance. conflict, i move away from it. a handful of years ago, i went through a high conflict divorce. you know, it is a hard time for both people.

but, it really sent me into what i consider very intense ptsd. right now, it's been seven years, and it's really hard to shake it. and i have gotten to where i can handle it and not go down a rabbit hole. and not try to deal with it by arguing with somebody else. it's hard to think straight. it throws off your brain chemistry. and then you are different as far as what i understand. when people deal with this high-level stress and anxiety, whatever they are dealing with, if they avoid trying to seek treatment, it just -- they

continue in that area. i want to make a last point. a call or a day or two ago mentioned something about -- trump is being brought up quite a bit. but mentioned we were in an abusive relationship that ended when he left office. but the last time i went into an episode was the 2020 election. i was so stressed out about what was happening. i paced around the house all night. it is hard to not be dragged, once it is triggered, it is hard to ask plane. host: we appreciate it. thank you so much for sharing some of your thoughts. i want to take one more call and we will let you wrap up. archie? caller: yes, i served in the u.s. air force 17 -- 1996 or

1 -- 19 76 through 19 sony nine. the children had to go through the situation during the cocaine wars, how do you think they could be helped? with their ptsd and their lives and everyday situation. host: closing thoughts? guest: i think i will address what allison and archie said together, which is what i would say is what they are really talking about is the fact there are unfortunately unlimited opportunities for trauma in our lives and there is nothing that insulates you from it. it could be your childhood, it could be your childhood because of what was going on inside your home, because of what is going on outside your home if you live in an area where there is a lot of violence like archie was referring to. finally, it could be something in your adulthood you are

dismissing as not worthy of considered trauma because it is what you saw on the news. if you found anything going on in the news to be triggering, something you can't stop thinking about, to be disruptive to your life, then it was traumatic. there is no point in ranking it or trying to pass some qualification test. we live in an era where people -- you don't have to be a comment veteran to be thinking about grouts of ingress and egress and where the doors are when you go to a restaurant or forgot safe to -- for god sake to a fourth of july parade. there is trauma happening in our country because of things happening but also because of the way technology and media works, we are inundated with media we were not in the past. we are aware of so much more bad news than we were in the past. that all is real and there is no

basic qualification test in order to be worthy of getting help. if things are not the way they were or if you do not feel like you are able to function at your highest level because of intrusive memories or disruptive thoughts, then you are worthy of going to get help and address it with a therapist. and what i would lead people with is the role i seek to play in doing interviews like this is to be the person who didn't exist on tv when i came home from afghanistan, somebody who says actually that image of ptsd you see portrayed most of the time that is an out-of-control, violent person, that is not the predominate image of a, the predominant image what is happening out there is rarely portrayed as a person that has gotten treatment, address what is going on, and is in a posttraumatic growth phase of

their life and you don't realize it because they have address what is going on with them and that is a real thing and is exists and is worth pursuing. and i hope people will do so and to listen to my words. host: thank you for being here with us, jason. his book's title invisible storm, a soldier's memoir of all it takes an ptsd. we are going to take a quick break and then we are going back to our questions from the top of the show. what is your top stories of 2022? start carling in now. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. ♪

announcer: sunday night on q&a, former college president and professor jonah gress to shares his book the death of learning which looks at the state of liberal arts education in the united states. he also talks about political correctness on campus, multiculturalism, and importance of western civilization courses. >> [indiscernible] should be taught at least a colleges, maybe in high schools. yeah. so [indiscernible] jefferson, martin luther king, abraham lincoln, then -- not that i believe everything in the liberal arts has to be at the base, but i do believe that we talked about multiculturalism and the multiculturalism of ideas important to things is crucial. host: the death of learning,

sunday night, it to copy and eastern on sundays q&a. you can listen to q&a and all podcasts on the free c-span now app. announcer: the new 118 congress convenes tuesday at noon eastern for the first time in two years they return to washington as a divided government. republicans control the house of representatives while democrats retain control of the senate by a slim majority. the new incoming members are younger with an average age of 47 compared to the average age of 58 in the previous session. the new congress will be more diverse with a record number of women serving including more women of color. follow the process and 118th congress gaveling into session and election for new speaker of the house and as members seek the oath of office. new congress, new leaders, watch opening day of the 118th congress tuesday at noon live on c-span and c-span2, also on

c-span now, the free mobile video app. or online at c-span.org. ♪ announcer: listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio got easier. tell your smart speaker play c-span radio and listen to "washington journal" daily at seven a clock a.m. eastern, important congressional hearings and other public affairs events there at the day and weekdays at five a clock p.m. and on a copy and eastern the catch washington today for a fast-paced report of the stories of the day, listen to c-span any time, just tell your smart speaker play c-span radio, c-span, powered by cable. announcer: "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." this morning, the final day of 2022 and we are ending it by taking a look back at top stories of 2022. we want to hear from you, what

do you think is the top story of the year? start calling in now. republicans, 202, 74 a, 8001. democrats, 202, 7 four a, 8000. independence, 242, 74 a, 8002. have new headlines that occurred just overnight and this morning, pope benedict the 16th died. pope francis will preside over his funeral thursday. also overnight, news that barbara walters, the trailblazing tv anchor, known for her iconic interviews, died last night at the age of 93. again, two very important historical figures, and you can go to our website, c-span.org.

we have playlists on our homepage for both pope benedict and barbara walters from various speeches and interviews on our c-span website homepage. let's bring up now some of your social media posts and text about top stories of 2022. martin in louisville, kentucky writes the death of england's longest running monarch is hard to figure we fight for our way of life in other countries when our biggest ally still has a royal family and biggest ally in the middle east has never had an election. saudi arabia. patrick in nashville rights, good morning. each topic is important but for me it is i'll violent the usa is. it continues to escalate to no end in sight. please ban all automatic weapons.

and please do not come back and say you can kill someone with a knife or use your vehicle as a weapon. there is no comparison. just compare statistics on gun violence all of the countries around the world, we are a bloody mess. happy new year. will mania -- willmenia writes my top story of 2022 is when all of 45 candidates, i think she is talking about president 45 donald trump, when all 45 candidates running for office lost by record numbers in several states and when the democrats gained ac in the senate to retain control. in rosario, of your rights getting brittney griner home, i never imagined it could happen in the middle of a war but i'm full to those who work so hard on getting her back. we need to keep our eyes on

those wrongfully detained here and abroad. that is w nba britney star -- w nba star bernie greiner. this is an article from cnn, the headline is pretty greiner is back in the u.s. and dunking again after almost 10 months detained in russia. then the article states fresh off of her elated return to the u.s. after months in russian custody, two-time olympic gold medalist brittney griner is back on a basketball court but her reintegration into american life is far from over, as is the fight by w nba players for equity and u.s. professional athletes. the issue is highlighted by the ten-month detention of greiner who had gone to russia to play basketball in the wnba off-season. her first move on a texas basketball court sunday was a dunk. her agent, lindsay, told cnn brittney griner plans to return to the wnba but she also hopes

to be an advocate for other americans who are detained in countries around the globe. now we want to hear from you, what is your top story of 2022? deborah in yorktown heights new york on the democratic line, what is your answer? caller: hi. first i want to thank you so much. i really love "washington journal". i value the moderators as well as the people calling in to hear the different perspectives so my comment is action more of a thread of a theme that carries through a lot of the stories of 2022 and it is the issue of morality. i feeling we are often talking about different perspectives and callers feel like one perspective is correct and there is truth on one side and other callers feel like there is truth on the other. i think in reality there is truth on both sides and like

when we talk about sides, it is sort of like an artificial dichotomy. i guess my comment is just how much curing the -- hearing the primary sources of colors, how value the -- how valuable that is to what is happening nationally and the importance that if we are going to function as a society we need to be able to trust one another, and the only way to do that is with morals and place and laws that support that. so i want to thank you again for everything and that is my top thread for 2022. host: up next we have mike in daytona beach, florida on the republican line. what is your top story, mike? caller: first time calling c-span. you are my support for ptsd, i just want to say that. your interview was excellent, a very articulate person.

this year particularly is the ukraine. i have never thought in my lifetime we would come on the brink of nuclear disaster and we have i think with this come so close. i hope we do not let off the pressure on russia, in particular putin, because he, everybody is trying to guess what he is going to do. there is no guessing. nobody knows. this may go into madness like we had with hitler's. host: appreciate your comment, larry. mike is now the next caller -- mike. our next caller is larry, calling on the independent line. go ahead, larry. caller: you know, it is mostly guns. guns, guns, guns. it is so hard to understand.

for example let's take produce that came into the grocery store that people were getting sick and almost dying from. the stores pulled the merchandise so no one else could buy them, they don't want them to die. we are in the same scenario with the guns. you get a gun -- first off you would not own a gun unless you are planning on killing. that is where it is hard to understand when they say law-abiding citizen. if you are a law-abiding citizen, why do you need a gun? because a is -- because a gun is designed to kill. it is something that meets the -- the amendment for the right to own a gun, that was something that had to do with the war of 1812 so citizens could arm themselves against the british invasion. i really don't see that to be a

problem today. basically guns, you know? the politicians need to stop sleeping with the nra and taking money from them that apparently i guess is tax-free. i don't know. but our politicians are voted on, hired by us to solve the problems of our country and they are failing the job when it comes to guns. we need to get guns off of the street. host: we appreciate your call, larry. this is an article by news nation, the headline saying six bipartisan breakthroughs in congress this year and the first one they highlight is under the heading overhauling on policy. new nation rights following the tragic mass shooting in uvalde, texas, both parties work together to pass the bipartisan safer community -- safe for community acts.

the law that passed the senate and the house expanded background checks for buyers under age 21, made it harder for perpetrators of domestic violence to obtain firearms, invested more in mental health care. because gun policy is often contentious, the bipartisan passage of the law was noteworthy. it was the most sweeping federal gun legislation passed in decades. let's take more of your calls. milton in san antonio, texas on the democratic line. what is your top story? caller: my top story today is how the world did we get a president that has never paid taxes in this country? what went wrong? i was in vietnam and paid taxes

even while i was there. this man we call president -- ex-president has not paid taxes but he pays taxes to foreign countries. send him to a foreign country that he did not pay taxes into. thank you for your time and you all have a great new year. host: all right. let's go now to jerry in monticello minnesota on the independent line. what is your top story, jerry? caller: while i was listening to the story about grinder and i'm bringing -- brittney griner bringing marijuana into russia, spending the 10 months there and adding treated for one of the top terrorist in the

world globally while there is another, other americans there that have been there for quite some time and they are educated, you know. they are innocent and they have been waiting for years. yet it took them very little time to get her released and back into america and trading one of the biggest terrorists on the planet, but the thing i was thinking about was that, you know, russia wanted to trade a spy, 5 -- a spy for a spy and

biden said that we don't have any russian spies so we had to trade this terrorist. i was wondering how many people believed that. then i get a little off track about the vietnam vets, talking about guns, and i think the main problem is their constitutional right to bear arms is not bearing military assault weapons. i believe we have the right to bear arms and there is all kinds of weapons out there that you can buy from kmart, walmart, or any store like that where you can defend your home and property and your life without

resorting to military weapons. so i think if they just band the military assault weapons, that would pretty much take care of the gun issue. host: appreciate your call, jerry. he mentioned an assault weapon ban, that is something that was not in the bipartisan gun law. there was no agreement in congress on an assault weapon ban. he also did mention we talked earlier about brittney griner coming home, that was part of a prisoner swap. russia in exchange received arms dealer viktor bout in that prisoner swap with grady greiner -- brittney griner. let's go to the democratic line calling from winnacon, wisconsin. caller: pretty close. it is when a connie -- w

innaconi. host: what is your topic? caller: i was talking about the nicotine in cigarettes. a lot of people are affected with cancer. they now spent june has been quiet, i don't know why they don't move on it and save lives tomorrow. host: so i just pulled up a cnn article and it looks like -- i will just read from it, it says the supreme court -- this is an article from december 12, the supreme court monday denied a request from tobacco company r.j. reynolds to challenge a california law that bans the sale of flavored cigarettes. there were no noted dissents. the company, which makes menthol cigarettes, argued the state law conflicts with federal law called the tobacco control act which gives the fda the authority to regulate the sale

of cigarettes. the ban is said to go into effect december 21, so about a week ago, and the tobacco company said without the supreme court's intervention, it would be barred from selling its menthol cigarettes, which make up approximately one third of the cigarette market in one of the nation's largest markets. in november, california went to the polls -- californians went to the polls and approve the ballot initiative by a 63.5% to 36.5% margin the law makes it illegal to sell, offer to sale, or processes with the intent to sell a flavored tobacco product or tobacco product flavor enhancer. so that is on the mental ban in the state of california only. let's talk to virginia in georgia on the independent line. what is your top story, virginia?

caller: hello and thank you for taking my call and happy new year to everyone. my top story is the most recent one, all over the news about george santos. a republican elected and how could someone like that who lied on their resume, may lies about where they work, and was not vetted before being elected in this position of, in my opinion, running for wrongful political office. even though we are human beings and are not perfect, they should be vetted on the things that he is saying. when a person runs for public office, he should be telling honest truth about where they work, where they went to school, and even their religion because

that affects how that person is going to be making decisions on different bills and different legislations, and now i recently heard that a congressperson once to have a bill for people not to lie when they run for office. it is a sad day when we have to pass bills for people not to lie when he or she is running for a public office. i just think it is important that people running for a public office should tell the truth about their background because, eventually, like we just realized and known and found out that george santos lied about something he said, so in my opinion, he should not be in the office because he may make more five-year occasions -- more

fabrication or lies about what he is and what he will do in office. thank you for taking my call and have a happy new year. host: virginia mentioned that is representative elect george santos, a republican elected to a seat in long island, new york. this is an article by cbs news under the headline congressman elect george santos faces federal investigation after admitting to lying on resume. the article goes on to say federal and county prosecutors are looking into congressman elect george santos after the republican line on his resume. cbs news confirmed federal prosecutors are examining his finances in the nassau county district attorney looking into his admitted fabrications about his past. from defending his reputation on fox news, santos makes -- may soon have to expand himself in a court of law. let's go now to athens, ohio.

kathleen is on the democratic line. what is your top story? caller: thanks. first i want to say c-span is truly a national treasure, have watched you guys for decades and listened. i don't have one top story. i mean i agree with the caller earlier about the need for banning military assault weapons. i watched all the january 6 hearings where most of the witnesses were republicans testifying. i encourage people to watch that. you can watch on c-span. i wanted to encourage voters or americans to talk to each other. i was a sanders supporter and work for the biden campaign once they pushed sanders aside, which was devastating. however, i went to several trump rallies, large rallies. one in the summer 2016 before anyone besides michael moore thought he could win and i had a

wonderful time talking and debating with trump supporters. they knew where i stood, i had a sign saying i was a sanders supporter and i had civil debates with trump supporters and i went recently with trump dropping into dayton ohio the night before the election. i went again. nobody threw rocks and nobody try to kill me. no one had any kind of -- well there were harsh words but nothing -- no one could take -- but nothing no one could take. we have to talk into bay. i encourage people voters to do so. you may find you axley have things in common or you are not so far off. anyway, encouraging people to talk to each other. i want to say c-span over the last two years has not covered any of these international reports on israel being determined -- which many of us have known forever, to be an apartheid state. the u.n. did a report, others

did a reports, and human rights watch. all the reports came out in the last two years about israel being an apartheid state and you guys did not touch the issue. so i hope moving forward not only you cover the reports what you cover the israeli/palestinian conflict in an honest and factual way. host: all right, and i will remind you all that on the israeli and palestinian conflict, on a myriad of your top 2022 stories, you can go to the website which is c-span.org, search our archives. we work hard to reflect all viewpoints of all of the issues of the day, so check out the website c-span.org,. -- website, c-span.org. frank is on the republican line. you are on, frank. caller: hello, everyone.

the biggest thing about this year was the complete overthrow of our democracy. joe biden threatened it in his speech where he was in the hell setting and spoke from and later before the elections he said we are going to overthrow democracy and that is what they did. they continued to cheat and every way they could, early voting, mail-in ballots, every kind of thing that -- illegals voting, every way they could think of they cheat and cheat, so that was the biggest thing. like the lady who said in the last call, there are people today in america that follow these democratic candidates -- she is an anti-semite. nobody would have thought that

in 1950. now most of the negro motors are glued to the democratic party and date -- voters are glued to the democratic party and don't know what they're voting for. host: we appreciate your call. ken is calling from hofstetter, pennsylvania. you are on, ken. caller: i have to collect my thoughts after the last caller. boy are there two sides. it seems obviously all of the immigrants at the border, it amazes me how short people's memories of all -- memories are. i suggest most immigrants are there because of activities america has done throughout history. specifically ronald reagan who went after communism like a dog after a bone and went down into nicaragua, el salvador,

venezuela, those countries, and disrupted the governments there and went to the far right regime which were dictatorships and thousands of people were killed. now that is a situation that has progressed and evolved. the people feel the necessity to get out of there. so america, here they are at america's border but america brought them here. they basically formed governments the people felt they had to run away from. so i think people need to look back through history and see why certain things have occurred. not much can be done now but it has occurred. host: all right, in mentioning issues at the border, here is republican representative tony gonzales of texas whose district comprises 40% of the u.s./ mexican border, i think 40% of his district is the u.s./mexico border. last month with fellow house

republicans, they are at the border, let's listen. >> 16 delegations of the border, i posted kevin mccarthy three times and what you see is change is coming and change will be led by the people standing here. it is thanksgiving week. people are doing a lot of things and what are house republicans doing? going to the epicenter of the border crisis and highlighting two things, one, the men and women in green that are rolling up their sleeves and fighting every day for this country to keep it safe. two, we are highlighting the failures of this administration. on thanksgiving week, we have to be thankful for a lot of things. kevin mccarthy mentioned the suicides, 14 suicides. this is no longer migrants dying at the border, it is americans and those americans are wearing green uniforms. here in el paso, a man recently

committed suicide. this is a nampa demo. this should get us all united. host: that again was texas representative tony gonzalez speaking at the u.s./mexico border. we also received a text from ed in connecticut who writes my top story is definitely the crisis at the border which the press has ignored for nearly two years. it is only now when we know 4 million people from over 100 countries entered our country illegally since biden took office and being transported into communities all over america. that plus 700,000 got away and put united states citizens and great risk to attack from inside of our country. what is your top news story of 2022? republicans, call us at (202) 748-8001. democrats, call (202) 748-8000. independents, call (202) 748-8002.

on that note, up next, we have our next caller in minnesota on the democratic line. go ahead, philip. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span, happy new year. i guess my biggest tour continues to be obviously just from the callers calling what is going on in the united states. i think this is citizens we have to hold officially accountable and participate in the democratic process, i think we have gotten to a point where we are lying -- relying too much on her selves. we have to come together whether democratic, republican, or independent and get something done. we have to hold elected officials accountable. i think donald trump point out a lot of ill in this country but did nothing to solve them. he is a con man and there are still people that believe the con man.

thank you for c-span and happy new year and hope we can come together in 2023. thank you. host: our next caller is lee in cherokee, village -- cherokee village, arkansas on the republican line. what is your top story? caller: you had a previous caller who was saying president trump has not paid a dime in taxes. they did show something on the news where he paid $750, 750 dollars, zero dollars, zero dollars in texas. i wonder if joe biden pays taxes on all the money he has earned from china and what about his son, hunter? somebody had to loan him $2 million for back taxes. this is the united states. we used to be a proud country. joe biden is ripping this country apart piece by piece. us christians need to stand up

and fight for our rights and take back this country. thank you. host: back on trump's tax returns, the caller did mention president biden's tax returns, which are available online, have been for quite some time. trumps taxes on this chart on statistica.com, it looks at the income he declared, which is the orange, so you see in 20 he actually showed negative income. then the purple dots are income tax paid. so in 2017, a very small dot for $750 of income tax, goes up to almost $1 million in 2018, about 120 $3000 in 19, and again in 2020 paid zero dollars income tax because he again declared a

negative income. let's go now to darrell, calling on the independent line in greenville, north carolina. what is your top story? caller: i don't know so much as a top story but the democratic politicians want to sacrifice or crucify to santos for telling lies or embellishing his resume. if that's the case, reports of congress and our distinguished 90 something dementia president, every time he opens his mouth there's nothing but lies. over his career he has done nothing but lie and embellish his resume and history so that is all i would like to say. happy new year's, everybody. host: appreciate the call. our next caller is john in san

antonio, texas calling as a democrat. go ahead, john. caller: can you hear me, dear? host: absolutely. caller: god bless you all. thank you so kindly for taking my call. you had so many people call in and a lot of them had very good points today. i am a bit bewildered because coming up as a child i lived in the state of mississippi and was born in new orleans. it behooves me to see the things that is confronting our nation today and makes one wonder how in the hell did we get here? i look back and i think all the

time what about the shoes on the other guy's feet? i think there are, in essence, put a spotlight on america because america is supposed to be the city on a hill. it is supposed to be where people come together in collective relationship. we are supposed to be the beacons of light to the whole world. and i'm just wondering and thinking when people are in a position of power, how come a nation god has bestowed so much grief upon could turn their back on their fellow man, not only here in this country but throughout the world.

and whatever a man so they all shall reap. and given the position america has been given and to have this discord, they had a song come out say why is this the land of confusion? that is what we are today, we don't know whether to take a right or left, we don't know whether to die or slope -- dive or slowly put our toes in the water because there are so many issues facing the country today and i think that is partly one of the main factors that will rip us apart and we will be just like the roman empire when we wind up destroying ourselves from within. may god bless you, thank you again for taking my call. host: we appreciate your comments, john.

on the republican line now is david in arlington, wisconsin. what are your thoughts, david? caller: hello, good morning. and thank you very much for taking my call and i really enjoyed c-span and i want to wish everyone out there a happy new year. my top news story for 2022 would be the november 2022 midterm elections here in the u.s. and just how close the results were. it was very close in wisconsin and i know very close throughout the country. that is really it. thank you for taking my call. i pray for wisdom for our country's leaders on a regular basis and thank you for taking my call. have a great day and happy new year. host: we appreciate that call and there is, let's see here, i

want to pull up video from that time and here is house republican leader kevin mccarthy back in november reacting to the gop takeover of the house after the midterm election. [video clip] >> we know the test cannot be easy. we have a close majority. we will work with anyone that wants to make america stronger, we went to work with anyone on both sides of the aisle if they want to make america energy independent, give their parents and kids the famed education, or secure our borders, or stop defunding the police. we know there are challenges in the nation and around the world who are listening to the american public but we are prepared to lead, regardless the size of the majority. one thing izod -- i've always learned, they don't hand gavels out on a small, medium, and large, you get the right size gavel and we will use it. host: house republican leader

kevin mccarthy who possibly a nine to become speaker speaking about the republican gains after the midterm election. let's hear from high in chesapeake, virginia on the independent line. good morning. caller: c-span, i appreciate you guys taking my call today. how are you? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: good. i just want to say, i've been listening to some of the callers calling in and the older gentleman that just called in who was brought to tears. he was obviously very emotional seeing what has happened in the country and i kinda want to piggyback off of that. i want to say, going into this new year for 2023, i'm wondering why we can't take a different approach as a country? i have not heard anyone speak about issues today. i have not heard anyone talk

about homelessness in the country, i have not heard anyone talk about [indiscernible] coming off from the veteran talking about mental health in this country, maybe a few people will come back and speak on these issues our country are facing. i want to say let's get rid of the identity politics. it is not doing anything for us. our kids are not going to be better off, we are not leaving a legacy behind my pointing fingers and talking about the other party. instead let's embrace the values that unite us all, so if we can do that in 2023 and leave identity politics behind, i would greatly appreciate it. god bless you all. host: let's hear from johnny,

johnny in glendora, mississippi calling as a democrat. go ahead, johnny. caller: thank you, thank you c-span. of course my greatest story for this year is the final recognition of the six to seven-year-old human wrong that took place regarding a 14-year-old child. emmett, lewis still -- emmett lewis til. and also what makes up that is the national park recognizing human rights and human wrongs that took place in this mississippi delta and it looked like it took the insurrection to cause that recognition of the beginning of more than civil

rights to be recognized as a national part in the mississippi delta. that is truly the biggest story of six to seven years. thank you. host: johnny mentioned emmett until park, here's an article about that, he national park could be key to preserving emmett tils legacy whose advocates say. here are key points. advocates want president biden to create a u.s. national park honoring civil rights figure emmett till using the 1906 antiquities act. the 14-year-old, whose murder sparked the modern civil rights movement, is referenced in a law that made lynching a federal hate crime. it says the proposed park would include the chicago church where till's funeral was held and mississippi courthouse where the killers trial took place.

i want to get into that, the anti-lynching act, something congress passed this year. it was something that had been pending for several years but, on a bipartisan vote, congress did pass a federal anti-lynching law that carries emmett till's name. that was our callers top story of 2022. let's here on the republican line. ray is calling in tampa florida peered what is your top story? caller: i want to thank the gentleman. good morning, i want to thank the gentleman from new orleans, john. he made me cry. he has the real issue for today in our nation. it is not called the democratic or republican swamp, it is called the swamp.

make your leaders you this nation instead of tearing it apart. dear john, thank you so much. you made me cry today and thank you, mayor. host: thank you so much. on the independent line in eureka springs, arkansas, ken, tell us your top story. caller: good morning. it is not about u.s., it is more of an international and about the uprising in iran where 4, 5, maybe 60 kids are being killed by the criminal because people do not want them and they are sticking to power. as we know it started in september with the killings of a woman where she was not properly wearing her hijab and she was

killed. i hope that 2023 will be the last year of this in iran. happy new year and thank you very much. host: let's go to another caller, dale in columbus, ohio on the democratic line. what is your top story? caller: my top story is about the committee. i'm glad the committee came out and they are exposing the truth about january 6. it is amazing after donald trump told everyone to come there january 6 and then he was able to stop them so quick. the amazing part about donald trump, he always comes up and says well, you know, they started this when they came down the escalator. if you do research, just know that democrats and republicans, just google how many lawsuits donald trump had in three decades, 30 years. donald trump has been doing a

lot of cricket stuff. online, there's been over 3500 different lawsuits with him and his businesses. the amazing part of january 6 is that, as a president of the united states, he should be somewhat perfect in our eyes and other people's eyes but what i do not understand is that after all the destruction of properties, millions of dollars, not one time donald trump has ever came to the police officers and said thank you for trying to protect the capitol. and that shows the gift they have. i hope he gets indicted. i want you to have a nice day and happy new year. thank you very much. host: let's get to another caller, adam in alabama on the republican line. what is your top story, adam? caller: i want to talk about modern-day slavery today. how the government systematically enslaves people. they do it by making -- by

creating food stamps so they control how much her eat, they control where you live, they control building these intercity houses, they control the schools you go to. slavery goes so much deeper than people really think today. if i control how much money i can give you by putting you on a small check or welfare check, i can control how much food you get by being on food stamps. i get you comfortable in these situations that i put you in these inner-city schools and curriculum that is so dumbed down that you will never advance in america. they put us in these situations as poor people and that is why we need to come together. it is rich against poor, it is not democrat against republican or this and that. there is not a politician in there that will not lie, that will not do us wrong, so we need

to come together as people. the reason they killed martin luther king was because he saw the truth, that if a powerful white men and black man would stand together in america that the government could not run them the way they wanted to run them. that is the truth. please stand together. the government will not be able to run us and maybe they will hear our voices. i spent $350 a week in groceries to feed to kids. it is rough out here. they need to do something different. happy new year. host: appreciate your call. on the line from connecticut, maggie on the independent line, go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm calling about the bill that president biden put into effect that will affect everyone in this country where he has

required us to turn in all of our cash. we will no longer be using cash in this country. i don't understand how something like that can go through and not have to be approved by the congress. host: maggie, where did you get that information question i'm not -- information question mark that is something i'm not -- where did you get the information? i do not know if i'm familiar. caller: every channel has talked about it at one time or another. i'm getting tons of email about it as well from western journal, from -- i can't remember the other when i subscribe to but what will happen -- in fact right now it is being done in four other countries throughout the world.

at one point there was an article that said out in california there are certain businesses, mcdonald's for example, you cannot use cash at their kiosks. if you order. you have to use a card you get from whatever location nor whatever bank or entity where your money is kept. host: all right, we will move onto to the next caller now. roy in wilson, creek washington on the republican line. what is your top story, roy? caller: thanks for taking my call. it doesn't seem like you folks are censoring folks so what i would like to say is i'm worried about the invasion of our country and i would like all of the american people, all the people that believe in this country to go to the border,

stand along the border and stop the invasion happening to our wonderful country. thank you for taking my call. host: all right. our next caller is in the rain in ithaca, new york. calling us as a democrat. what is your top story? caller: happy new year. my top story is how many fewer democracies there are in the world today than there were five or even 10 years ago. there are so many fewer and the rise of authoritarianism and the world is extremely concerning, and the way it relates to the united states for me is also that -- and the last few callers even speak to it in terms of i think social media has created the ability for people to believe in exponential lies and that actual hard truths are hard

for people to even know it they are anymore and that is a terrible concern. for me, we have to believe in representative government, and sometimes government needs to step in and regulate things that are harming the public good. if we do not know truth from lies, people cannot make good decisions about government. there are a lot of people in this country who think government is bad and they are paranoid about government and they think it is really doing them harm. that is a huge concern because, without government, you have chaos. people should think about chaos in other countries, they should think about what that looks like, what that feels like, what it leads to, and in your life and family and economics. it really has a huge effect.

we now have many fewer democracies in the world. it is a huge concern. at this point, i believe in government and believe it is not perfect. the best thing about america is we do compromise. that is where the rubber meets the road in america. host: all right. that was lorraine. our next caller is in stockton, california on the independent line. alberto, what is your thoughts this morning? turn down your tv a little bit, alberto, when you are on. caller: ok. i only need 60 seconds or less. are you there? host: yes, go ahead. caller: good morning. ok. i am alberto lopez, i am neither democrat nor republican, i truly believe there should be amnesty to all hispanics on american soil.

then build the wall and i won't use the word gun and i will put authority on and why do i only see american authority on it? believe me, there are people behind them are the people coming here and women and children should be protected and i do not like the word illegal, migrant. they are humans. i am an hispanic american and i live in stockton, california and i have a great job and they give me all the benefits, the american dream. that is what i think everybody is chasing and we should secure our border and thank you very much. host: all right. let's go now to the democratic line, garrett calling from kansas city, missouri. go ahead. host: hello there. -- caller: hello there.

can you hear me? host: yes. caller: i think we are showing too much immaturity in our congress. each party is against each other when there's too much money spent on illegal problems, when the money is spent in legal problems to take of -- take care of all the people. thank you. host: that is going to wrap us up today for "washington journal" again on this final day of 2022. i do want to remind you, on tuesday, january 3, it is the opening day of the new congressional session. it convenes at noon eastern time. you can follow it all live as congress gavels into session, both the election for speaker of the house and new members take the oath of you can watch it on c-span and c-span2, also on c-span now, our free noble video

app or online at c-span.org. thank you so much for joining us this morning and happy new year. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> c-span's "washington journal." each day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day, and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. sunday morning we will discuss the year ahead in politics with clearance page and cal thomas. watch "washington journal" live sunday eastern on c-span or c-span now, our free mobile app.

join the discussion with your phone calls, text messages, and tweets. >> here is what is ahead on this new year's eve. next, retiring republican senator richard shelby having his farewell speech, follow by tributes from his colleagues. then i.t. modernization efforts. we will hear more from the 117th congress, with a pair of farewell speeches. first from adam kinzinger. then we will hear from louie gohmert of texas. ♪ >> live sunday on in-depth, author and journalist chris hedges will be our guest to talk about political revolution, war, and incarceration in america. the minister's include america, the farewell tour, trauma and transformation in an american

prison, and the greatest evil is war. join the conversation with your phone calls. facebook comments, texts, and tweets. in-depth with chris hedges, live this sunday at noon eastern on book tv, on c-span two -- c-span2. ♪ >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including buckeye broadband. ♪ >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a public service, along with these other television providers, even you a front row seat to democracy. >> alabama republican senator