host: house on friday past the annual bill on the pentagon policies and pay levels. the defense authorization bill long considered a bipartisan

measure, more clinical documents reflecting the priorities in power. freddy's message may be the most reflective on current campaign issues like abortion, gender and diversity. democrats largely oppose the bill and republicans for nearly unanimous. many call this a culture work for the u.s. military. welcome to washington journal. are you concerned about a possible culture war in the military? lines to use (202) 748-8000 is a line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. four independent and others is best for independent -- for

independents and others (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. we will hear from some house members in the debate on friday and the final vote passing in the house, the annual defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2024. we will hear from freedom caucus members on the republican side, house democratic numbers as well . a columnist and analysts in the washington post this morning house republicans wage woke culture wars with the military. he said for decades the defense authorization bill has been passed. the long-standing practice collapsed this week under the weight of a right wing effort to

turn the measure into the latest arena in the culture wars. the vote in the house on friday signal that no area of public policy may now be insulated from debates over abortion, transgender policies and other cultural issues that have become central to the publican and parties agenda. unity around one of the most important responsibilities of the federal government, and national security, gave way to the demands of a faction that yields influence over speaker kevin mccarthy and his unruly conference. he writes that the house and approve the national defense authorization act by a vote of 219-210. four democrats reported -- four democrats voted for it four republicans voted against it. the gop is far right freedom caucus held little sway. culture wars in the military.

how concerned are you? (202) 748-8000 line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 line for republicans. (202) 748-8002 line for independents and others. military nominations process in the u.s. senate. your is a headline from roll call. feeling the effects of a blanket holds. senator tommy tuberville's ongoing located of emanations reached a critical juncture with the retirement of, that david berger leaving without a senate confirmed chief in the more than a century. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressing for a solution though it remains far from clear . the alabama republican has said he will stop his protest unless congress votes on the pentagon

reproductive rights policy at the heart of the dispute. senate armed services leader saw unanimous consent to proceed with confirmation of birders nominated success for -- successor and turberville rejected. here is president biden in a news conference at nato last week in finland. >> your seeming to be grappling with time abortion rights to military. what does this say about u.s. military readiness and would you be willing to talk with cover built to work out some solutions? [video clip] pres. biden: i would be willing to talk to him if there's any way he would change his

position. i expect the republican party to stand up and do something about it. the idea that we don't have a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the idea of all these promotions in abeyance right now and we don't know what is going to happen. the idea we are injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions which is a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre. i don't recall that happening ever. it is total irresponsibility in my view. i am confident the republican party no longer does not -- they have to stand up and be counted.

host: the president on the issue of culture wars in the military. we are talking about the house passage of the defense authorization bill with some of the policy writers in the -- riders in the bill. one writes some states are reeling from the practice. what did the founders say about religion and politics, anybody? why is it cropping up now. another says so much anger in the tweets, warfare. they are talking about fighting us. the party at war with the nation is them. let's go to silver spring and sandy is on the line. caller: i want to say the republican party no longer exists.

it is a bunch of cowards and liars and cheats and they should be thrown out. kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell and the whole trump trash group should go straight to mar-a-lago and live there forever. what a disgrace they are. they have embarrassed america. kevin mccarthy sits there and lies and lies. he is so worried about not being a leader because he isn't a leader. who do they think they are keeping? let them all rot in mar-a-lago and catch a boat to north korea. host: onto winter garden florida, arthur is on the line. caller: the first task of our military should be defending america in the event of an

attack or civil unrest, not all of this experimentation. concentrate on what the first task is and then if there are other issues two at, that is going issue. host: you think our current military is up to that primary task they mentioned? caller: i believe our military wants to eat of to the task of defending this country but we are hand stratified lord knows what. that will impair us for the country and affect morale and all of it. host: let's hear from active and

former military. gene is in north carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call. arthur just took my thunder. i totally agree with arthur. the second point is that i don't agree with the military getting involved with social experiments. the only one i believe in his racial integration many years ago. this is one thing i want to flip the script. what happens in congress and the military should be a reflection of what is happening on the soil

between me and my neighbors. it is time to go to war. mike military should reflect whether or not i agree. -- my military should reflect whether or not i agree. host: re: same personnel should reflect the diversity and range of americans that are in the country now in terms of everything from race and creed to gender identity? caller: yes, but what happens is if you keep the basics of who we are as americans, then the military will be willing to reflect basic morals, ideas, be willing to fight, no matter who

they charge, and be willing to go to war like arthur said but also be capable of going to war. we have recently done some rethinking about something so simple as the army fitness test. people need to keep it simple as far as the military is concerned. don't be playing politics. host: bar harbor maine is next, ann is next. caller: i think people need to become aware of the network through which the leonard leo wants to apply the federalist

society modus operandi which one them the courts to other institutions in the united states, such as the military and schools. there is a great article in the republic about that. what is happening, it is sort of battered child of the southern bigotry and reaganomics agreed. as our flat as the culture war issues are, they are really serving people with a lot of money who don't want democracy and don't want equality and don't want equal representation and most of all don't want equitable taxation. dark money coming from sources and seeding astroturf groups

with wonderful names but actually getting funded from shallow companies they run to achieve the addendum -- agenda. host: all that is a distraction to the important views? caller: i think repurpose seeing the american democratic republic as a clerical passion to serve interests is a serious problem and it is playing out in all areas of our life, from schools to masking in the military. it used to be just taken for granted that we would inoculate our service people. in world war ii my father was a

chemist and was on amazon indent research on natural materials that could be used in protection against insects. he worked initiatives to the army to protect people going into the south pacific. the anti-science part of the just extremism that leo is propagating has now made it to where we wanted to use science to protect our military service people through vaccinations and such and even the health has been put at risk youth culture wars. host: calvin calling from maryland the veterans line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. it is sad as a former veteran to see this going on. what it is doing is hampering us

militarily and it makes us weak against other enemies of the united states. we have to try to come together on what our political beliefs are. host: you are saying the division it self is making us look weak to our enemies, or do you think the proposals are efforts by the military to address things such as diversity to allow for travel or abortion or health care procedures, are those the things you think are divisive? caller: your first statement is what is causing the problem, i

believe from my experience. my dad and my four brothers served in the military too. that is my concern, it weakens us and we will lose our group on democracy worldwide. why would a country want to be part of democracy when they see the problems we are having within our own military. host: the line is (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8002 independents and others. if you are former or active military, (202) 748-8003. the passage friday of the defense authorization bill. the headline in yahoo! news that

says house republicans pushed through defense bill limiting abortion access and halting diversity efforts. an associated press story said house pass sweeping bill that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with republican add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the pentagon and transgender care that equally divided the chamber. democrats voted against the package at sale out almost unanimously weeks ago before being loaded with gop priorities during a heated late-night floor debate. final vote was to 19-210 with four democrats signing -- 219 -210 with four democrats signing

and ronnie jackson of texas, a member of the house freedom caucus talked about the passage of the amendment dealing with abortion. [video clip] >> biden has made it routine to ignore existing law and the ability of people to push their social agenda in whatever they see fit. yesterday we pushed back and stop some of that. my colleague and i chip roy with the support by colleagues and amendment to the authorization act that will stop taxpayer funds to pay for abortion services in the department of defense. [applause] ever since the roe versus wade overturning, biden has been looking for ways to circumvent the ruling. policy put in place by the secretary of defense best year

does just that, it circumvents the court's ruling and also in direct violation of a loft, 1093 of u.s. code 10. yesterday we joined our colleague in the senate who stood strong by himself for a long time to fight this fight. now he has support and backup in the house. we joined senator turberville to see that the laws be followed and to ultimately save countless lives of the unborn that otherwise would have lost their lives to this policy. taxpayer money is provided to the dod and divided for national defense and security. it is not to promote and support the biden administration's radical, immoral pro-abortion agenda. yesterday we stopped that. host: on our discussion, here is a sample of social media saying the military went woke enormous to join the services.

go walk, go broke. one says will you explain the exact purpose of the military is the defense of the country or to teach diversity, inclusion and diversity for use for experiments. a caller mentioned recruiting efforts in the u.s. military. an article in usa today, the army is desperate for smart, for soldiers. the 200 million dollars for camps get recruits into shape. a recruit help and at best happened at her lowest moment. her dream of joining the army felt like it was slipping away. that is where her route took her to a brigadier general's

driveway. she said you must be a sign from god. the meeting between the person and the general has been desperate for recruits. the 20 three rd desperately wanted to join. she couldn't pass the military test and fitness. she had a lot of company. fewer than one in four young people qualify academically or physically to join the military. with a booming job market, fewer young people consider the military and option, and a result is the worst recruiting in the 50 year history of the all volunteer army. we will hear from theodore in

north carolina. caller: thank you for taking my call. what don't understand, how is it that one senator is allowed to hold up everything as far as officer promotions and whatnot, yet he claims to be roe military. he has -- pro military. . he has never served a day himself. he had no idea what like to be in the military. he claimed to be pro-military. this culture war stuff, i agree that it is ridiculous and the republican party is not taking him to task and putting aside differences to do the whole of the country.

it is the republicans causing the problems. they want to impose their will and act like they are god. they are not and neither mi. host: will go to los angeles on the independent line, mickey. caller: based on my research, since 2016, there have been approximately 250 transgender operations performed on military personnel at the cost of $3.5 million over a five to seven year period. $11.5 million on psychological services for these members and past transgender members in the military. since 2016, only 100 abortions

performed by military personnel and 16% of the military personnel is female. we are talking something about $20 million. walking distance to my house beautiful land and valuable property. recently the gop signed a 99 year lease with a contractor to provide this beautiful land. where can you find that kind of sweetheart deal to build 900 housing units for homeless veterans. all of this is going on and we are talking something less than $20 million and abortion laws throughout the united states is what the military observes and also worldwide.

we are talking about $20 million propaganda bite republicans thinking there is an abortion happening every second of the day. it is very few. a lot of those abortions were over a five-year period were with the life of the mother was in danger. going to montgomery, alabama, michael, a military veteran. caller: i am a longtime listener. my son is active duty now.

when you talk about diversity and all of this stuff we have to deal with young men and women from all over the united states, pennsylvania, all over here we have to take all of these young men and women from every culture and we are not even talking race , and train them and get them able to work as a team. and make them see themselves as a team and some estate in and some get out. we are not concerned about the

wokeness and politics that come down but you do have to deal with sexual harassment, race, training that we have to provide to them every year to get them to work together as a team. there is awareness that they have to understand about each other. that is part of the military. they don't see that as, we are pushing this on them. that is part of, do we want to go back to the recent rights of the 40's, 50's, and 60's. back in the day they used to disagree but they still had dinner with each other and knew each other. to were the end of the 90's they started disagreeing and they

stopped talking to each other. at the end of 2010, they disagree and now they are starting to hate each other. they are in the 20 20's and you want to talk about hating each other and civil war and they want to bring that to the military. we train them to do jobs and train themselves to defend our country. this is not hollywood. and what the politicians are doing you have to -- you are going to destroy the military. host: on your state senator, tommy turberville, hold he has placed on nominations, military nominations. what are your thoughts on that? caller: i disagree.

i grew up in florida but when he started running for congress and i was here, i stayed here and took a job after i retired. when he was running for congress it was obvious he was not fit for the job but politics here are so red that anyone, and i would say he won by a popular name, anyone running for that seat was going to win that. host: we will go to the republican line, warren in sydney, new york. caller: i am also a navy veteran. i think it is appalling that our military is going through with ar.

we are showing weakness throughout the world. our military is not the top military. i think the draft needs to be brought back. it has been gone too long because the young kids coming up, there is no respect and they need to serve at least one or two years in the military to realize what the forefathers have done to make what the country is. all this woke is just making us look bad throughout the world. and china, iran, even russia to a degree, it makes us look weak. host: during friday's debate on the defense authorization bill, the ranking member on the house armed services committee spoke

against the proposals dealing with abortion and transgender policies. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> i want to make sure people understand why we are opposed. we are opposed because it is our firm belief that this will undermine our ability to meet the national objectives. we can start with the issue of access to reproductive health care for women. because of the decision there are many states where you can't get access to that care. the department of defense facing that in those states set up a situation to allow those women to get access to that reproductive care. this bill takes that away. if you are a woman concerned about your ability to get an abortion, if you are a service member that has a family member

concerned about that, you will be less likely to join the military and i want to emphasize one point that came up during that and i understand a lot of people oppose abortion and they want to ban it, but do you understand the negative impact that will have on women's willingness to join the military. it goes beyond abortion. the worst case of this is a woman whom is karis midway through her pregnancy cannot get treated for that. there was one case of a woman who wound up in the emergency room fighting for her life because of infection because she could not get that care. if you are a woman or a man considering what about my spouse and children, you will be less like to join the military knowing you had that. we will have fewer qualified people willing to join the military because of what was passed.

that will not make our military stronger. this debate seems to imply that trans people don't exist so they are not welcome in the military either. i am not a doctor and don't want to presume what treatment someone should have but what this bill says is we are not even going to consider it. if you are a trans person you would be less likely to join the military. so now you can take trans people off the table and they won't join the military either. host: that is comments from others on the passage of the bill. conner smith said after a thoughtful debate i am pleased to see congress pass -- another said after thoughtful debate i am pleased to see congress pass this. another said the passage is no

longer recognizable the stream and amendments tacked on it left me no choice to vote -- but to vote against it. the ndaa passed marks a departure from the toxic ideologies that have no place in our armed forces and seth moulton, i have worked each year to pass a bipartisan ndaa that supports america for the first time i voted against the bill because it hurt our troops, it undermines equity, recruitment and readins. this is a bad hyper-partisan bill. some of what the bill would do is authorize 886 billion dlars in spending for the next fiscal year and increase investments in missiles, warips and newer technologies like artificial

intelligence and hypersonic's, authorizes a 5.2% base pay for personnel and would expand support for military families with broader access to childcare and health care and education benefits. our question is, are you concerned about the culture worse because of the passage of this bill the lines are (202) 748-8000 for democrats. republicans (202) 748-8001, independents and others (202) 748-8002. military, active and former (202) 748-8003. deborah is in west virginia on the independent line. caller: hello, how about we the people, by the people, for the people. let's all pull together.

we look like a marshmallow to the other countries. we need to stand up straight for this country. our veterans did, why can't the -- why can't we? host: leonore from ohio is an army veteran. caller: what i don't hear from a lot of other female veterans that there is a sexual harassment problem in the military and there are a lot of pregnancies that result from rape. you have the same issues that are more intensified in the military because of the fact that female veterans subjected to treatment that civilian women may not have to endure. i am 100% service connected

because of sexual harassment. there is an issue that most of the congressmen and senators have not served a day in their life don't know what it is about. it can be very difficult, particularly that veterans and some have been raped and there are pregnancies that result in rape and you either have to get out and it makes your life that much more difficult because you don't have the choice whether you want to bear that child not. i don't hear a real reason why tommy turberville and the rest of these folks are just ignorant to what the military is like and what it is about.

i feel that with the are doing what a team be successful without head coach? why would we think any of the corporations and particularly the military could function without promotions, they are just destroying the military as far as i am concerned and i think it is a shame. host: will go to curtis in south carolina, democrats line. caller: the republicans, they stopped the draft. when i got ready to go and drafted, they stopped it.

the republicans are going to mess things up. they want to get a big hickory stick and stop everybody. this is getting ridiculous. all the republicans, they have ruined it. they need to make the people do their job in the military and this is ridiculous. thank you very much. host: a couple people have mentioned the draft and the draft did in 1974 and shows a decline in active-duty levels from 1974 through the current

fiscal year, breaking it down by army, air force, navy and reads, congressman bob good spoke friday after the passage of the house version of the defense authorization bill. [video clip] >> we are dealing with an executive branch, administration that truly does not understand or does not agree with what should be the ultimate purpose of the military, the soap military. the purpose is to be the most effective lethal fighting and killing machine so that no one wants to challenge us on the planet. that was the case before this administration, but this administration told the military that the purpose was to fight climate and that climate was the greatest threat to the country and behind that was racism, white supremacy, white

nationalism, they perpetrated this relentless assault on the very fabric of our military and that was reflected with the ndaa that we had to vote against almost all of us here voted against four times the bill that was hurting, weakening our military and taking the focus off what the military is. i want to congratulate my colleagues to put back the purpose of what the military is all about. we attacked this social experiment and diversity, equity, and inclusion and attacked the climate extremism in the military. we attacked the funding for abortion that never happened before before the biden administration and attacked funding for transgender surgery for military members. i am proud to stand today. this is a great step for the

country and for the military. host: comments from additional number of congress, andy cap seth tonight republican amendments attacked the reproductive rights of the service members, lgbtq+, diversity, equity and inclusion with the ndaa that should be looking out for service members and families. it is the politicization of national fence. congressman alex moody, republican said i voted in favor of the ndaa that ensures the military is focused on defeating enemies and maintaining readiness, not distracted by president biden's will social fantasies. i will continue advocating for a strong national defense i can keep america safe. from facebook, the only standard the military can be faced and near and ability to enemy is laughing and perceives us as

weak. scott said i am more concerned about that media continuing to make it an issue, no matter how you feel about the culture wars, the media is using it to stir up sensationalism for ratings. you didn't think fox and cnn were different, did you? no alabama on the independent line -- noah in alabama on the independent line. caller: i served in the marine corps. both of my sons -- my youngest son served in the army in my other served in the air force. he just got out. a lot of people are getting out. as far as the transgender stuff, i don't care what people do in their bedroom. i am personally against

cross-dressing and all of that, but if they want to come fine. they should let them go to ukraine and make biden their commander in general. that is the way i feel about it. host: early is in stratford connecticut, democrats line. caller: i just want to reiterate to the callers that called before that they are correct and that what has happened to the separation of church and state. all of these issues are basically religious beliefs. if cannot impose your religious beliefs on another. if that is the way you want believe, live that way but don't tell other people how she -- how they should live their lives over they should believe.

they have forgotten what america is about. these are people coming in to divide us because any time you put a division in anything, you divide and you conquer. they are allowing other countries to conquer america. i have a niece that has been in the military for eight years and now sadly she has to leave. it is sad they are imposing their will on other americans. host: why does she have to leave or why does she feel she has to leave? caller: because she feels unsafe. they are making the women in this country feel unsafe to be an american and unsafe to be in the military because of their imposing their will on others. if they only that every child

should be borne, and what about after birth. they want to try to impose or try to help mothers that have little ones around and they cannot work. host: this is from townhall, headline, biden white house cause past events fill an extreme wish list for publicans. it passed friday that protects the less radical agenda, blocking abortion coverage and diversity and inclusion initiatives. they criticize republicans for passing a hard-core right-wing wish list. white house deputy press secretary said the bill that passed in a low was damaging to the united states military and its service members and claimed

the bill would hold them hostage to extreme, divisive political agenda. here is daniel on the line from maryland, republican caller. caller: i have been fortunate to have traveled to several countries and we are not a laughing stock at all. when you speak to people from other countries, they admire us. this dialogue is one of the reasons they admire us. we have the freedom to have this discourse. i think the problem right now is we don't come together enough, but we have a lot of differences and arguments but the way we present them is so argumentative

that it is divisive. we are still able to have these disagreements and come together at a supper table and walk away and respect each other. i don't know how we are going to come together with this but we will and i hope it happens soon, because i feel that the country is becoming very hostile against each other and we need to put that aside. that is all i have to say. host: jack is on the independent line in sioux falls, south dakota. caller: i have listened to a few people talking. it is difficult to listen to the modern dialogue about these things. people on the left will use phrases like unsafe and it is to

cut down the discussion. it is used as a weapon for the left. women will say we are unsafe and i can't function. it doesn't mean anything. it is just a way to get your opinion forced on people and part of the long march to the institution the soviets promised us. everything happening in the country is demoralizing and destroying the fabric of institutions. the cockiness do this. -- the communists do this. a lot of the intellectuals in the 1960's said we will get you with your children. -- we will get you with your

children. host: washington post, the headline, house gop wages woke culture wars with military writing she says the house bill that was approved on largely party-line vote came out of the house armed services committee last month on a vote of 58-1, a testament to the way these fence measures have been treated in the past. he writes those ills historically have been vigorously debated, sometimes amended, but ultimately passed with overwhelming georgie's in favor. the current bill which has a price tag of 800 $86 billion includes 5.2% pay raise -- $886 billion includes a 5.2% pay raise and funding for the war in ukraine and dealing with rising threats from china. members of the freedom caucus call for votes as series of divisive amendments on social

policy. one of the most controversial would prohibit the pentagon from paying travel costs for those in the military to get abortions or other reproductive health care in states where they are serving who do not provide the services. congressman pat ryan a democrat out of new york spoke against the defense measure last week the house floor. [video clip] >> as her two combat tours in iraq and know the human cost of conflict. the landscape we face is as serious as ever from the war in europe to significant threats from china. this body has a crucial decision in front of us, one that will have ramifications for my two young boys and many generations of americans to come. will we choose to be patriots, continuing the 60 plus year

precedent of coming together in a bipartisan manner as americans to keep our nation safe or will we give up, feeding the ground of the democracy to a small group of extremists willing to hijack our nation security for their own narrow, selfish political gain? many of the foundational challenges our military faces from declining trust in the institution to significant coding challenges for all services can and must be directly attributed to the introduction of an inherently partisan, divisive rhetoric into what should be a bipartisan discussion. if i hear one more colleague, especially one who never served a day in uniform use the "w" word and then struggle to define what they mean by it, i am going to lose it. every time i hear that i think

about the faces of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines and guardians in harm's way as we speak. i think about the 4000 young cadets i had the privilege of representing at west point. i have only been here a little less than a year and in my time i am never had a single military family or servicemember ever bring up this issue. never. what they do bring up over and over are they are proud of their service they have done in the service they are doing. they are proud of our military today and proud of the work to make it better and proud of our country. it is our job in congress that we have their backs. our men and women in uniform deserve that 5.2% pay raise. our female service members deserve access to quality reproductive health care. our diverse force is critical to

solving problems and deserves to be welcome into the ranks and these men and women in uniform deserve a confirmed senior leaders. something one of these extremists is currently standing in the way of. we must rise above this division. host: our opening question, are you concerned about so-called holter wars in the militar comments on twitter, marian says i think about the voters a lot. she said what is wrong with these people? lisa says to the old timers whining about ending the draft, rest assured when world war iii starts the draft will be reinstated. pony weighs in, i wonder how safe the troops who landed at normandy felt? the veterans line, indiana, tillman.

caller: thank you so much for c-span. as a marine i would like to say in the 1980's when i served, a lot of things are underneath that no one knows about. i under, is this reason the senator is allowing for the culture wars, this thing called woke, which really means back in 2012, 2013 to make sure you don't get shot by police. it doesn't have anything to do with the culture wars. as americans, we need to keep women safe and in the military, women aren't safe. i know for a fact women are

getting raped. host: text is danny in south carolina, a republican the caller. caller: i thank god for the people who serve in the military, but these puzzles -- but these -- host: david in cincinnati, what do you think? caller: i think this is all a distraction. republicans are playing to their base. you haven't brought up some of the points. i watched a lot of it. there were numerous points that had nothing to do with it.

i am hopeful most of the stuff we taken out once they go she ate. -- once they negotiate. i am more concerned as far as the pentagon not being able to do an audit. five times they have tried to audit. nothing is being talked about during the debate on that. host: lots of areas about the

defense spending we will address on this program in the coming weeks. the senate takes on the defense authorization bill in the week ahead. massachusetts, kurt. caller: i want to say all people who listen on this show, it is excellent. the people in vietnam, they were fighting side-by-side. you didn't screw innate. they all fought. this whole thing is about the republicans. it is all about themselves getting reelected. vote these people out of office

and we will solve all the problems about race and everything else. they are liars. host: that will wrap it up for the conversation for this hour on "washington journal." coming up american enterprise institute's kevin gosar will talk about reforms proposed to the election system, many of which he has suggested. later in the program will talk to political reporters in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina about the latest on campaign 2024, the presidential contest in those states. that is still to come. ♪ >> tonight on q&a historian and

political contributing writer joshua author of lincoln's guide talks about the impact that fate had in america 16th president. he contends as a young man a bramley can was skeptical of organized religion but later as president came to embrace the power of -- personally and politically. >> it was a problem he was seen as religious that he learned to be fairly tightlipped about this and we know that as late as 1858, local presbyterian minister in springfield, illinois who was the minister at the church where the lincoln's rented a pew most likely he attempted to compare lincoln. he would later say he managed to do it. but one of lincoln's friend said he tried but could not. there's nothing in the public or private record to suggest lincoln had any really since of religiosity before he went to

washington as president. >> josh zeiss with his book lincolns god tonight on c-span q&a. you listen to q&a and our podcasts on c-span now. >> week is bring you book tv featuring leading others discussing the latt nonfiction books. been jealous speaks about healing america using parables through conversations he has had with notable americans in his book never forget our people are always free. on afterwords, usc public policy professor shares her book the overlooked americans were she argues re in a brilliant america have more in common than what is perceived. watch booktv every weekend on c-span two and find a full

schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: kevin kosar senior fellow with the american enterprise institute to talk about electric reform -- election reform. welcome to "washington journal." guest: good morning, bill. host: you had a recent piece that said what better governess than improve the way we hire politicians. we get into this suggestion is you have. why do you think americans have increasingly less confidence in their election systems? guest: there confidence is low in government, in general the last 30 years we have asked how

they feel about the federal government their general opinion is not good. if you dial into look at the elected officials most responsible for governing, congress and some presidents come their opinion is very low. when i look at this i see is a market response. these are voters saying we are looking at this and we do not like what we see. that is what spurred the idea to write this piece. thinking about how do we want to choose politicians so that perhaps voters can be more satisfied. host: do you think the lack of confidence translates into, in most cases, some recent exceptions in elections, lower turnout in the polls, local and national elections? guest: with the exception of the pandemic search we saw, voter participation has not been going up. it is not been going up for

about 50 years and that is extraordinary because today it is far easier to vote than it ever has been in this country, but we are not seen turnout there. when i talked with people, some of whom are nonvoters, the response you get is it is not matter who you pick, you're always getting the same old politicians. there is this feeling there is no point in showing up. that is the question, can we change that? host: you suggest a couple of things in your piece on the hill on the way we can improve elections. one, open primaries. two, rank-choice voting and final four, five voting and nonpartisan redistricting. tackle open primary. the word themselves describe -- how does it work in most states? guest: the primaries are the plumbing area elections before the general -- preliminary

elections before the general ones. look at the close primary which exist in a variety of states, colorado, kansas, arizona. in a close primary, a party like that -- gop or democrats hold an election, who gets to vote in the election? members of the party. if your independent, you cannot vote in it. if you are democrat you're not supposed to show up at the gop election. on the opposite end is the open jungle primary featured in louisiana where all the candidates are on the same ballot, no matter what party and everybody is forced to vote together. in between there is a range of degrees of openness versus closeness. host: weren't the primaries response to corruption, and the old boy system of the back room politics selecting candidates in 19th century and early 20 of century? guest: you are absolutely

correct. primaries are created about 100 years ago they were a corrective, a democratic responsible device for picking candidates. previously was done close doors. the public got sick of that. they were tired of what was being offered and demanded the primaries which was a better way of doing things, but primaries are starting to show their age. caller: the part of the problem of open primaries is the decision on how those primaries are run, are created by the parties themselves, sort of a self fulfilling prophecy. guest: yes, and it is a little bit complicated because you are taking a private activity and you're trying to make it a public one. primaries we have today our fish north valley.

they are heavily influenced by the parties themselves who have plane sway of how they are operated. host: some live in states that have rank-choice voting. tell us what that is. guest: rank-choice voting think about what you do when you show up to a restaurant. you look at the menu and you say , do i want the state? i probably want the stake. i'm going to ask if it is any good and if i do not get a strong response i would trade down to my number two rank order number three for my meal. rank-choice voting allows you to say this is the candidate i like the best. i'm ranking them number one and then the other candidates either did rank or rank them on a scale. the idea behind rank-choice voting is you are going to be able to better express your true preferences, instead of you having to have a choice between either democrat or republican. you can rank the candidates. host: it is a term i have not

heard before, final four or five voting. what is that? guest: that is brand-new. it combines the open primary with rank-choice voting and the place we have seen that in -- enacted recently was in alaska. you have all candidates have to get into the race and battle one another. en it comes to the general election, the top four candidates move on and then voters get to rank them. host: the last one, nonpartisan redistricting. just briefly tell us how in most states redistricting is handled. guest: redistricting is typically handled by the state legislature and whomever is the majority is going to be the want to draw the boundaries to their satisfaction. the movement against partisan redistricting is basically a

moral stance against politicians choosing their voters rather than having voters choose the politicians. host: a lot of changes happened after the 2020 census and autofocus on redistricting -- i lots of focus on redistricting and gerrymandering in states. remind us what that term means and how it is been applied in he states in recent years. guest: gerrymandering is part of an extreme version of drawing election boundaries such that it all but guarantees a particular party's candidate is going to win, regardless of the quality of the candidate. gerrymander comes from 200 years ago when elbridge gerry was a governor of massachusetts. while he was there, legislator we district in a way that really

crazy battery for one of the districts and so some lag in the newspaper decided to deem it gerrymander is look like a salamander. host: kevin kosar with american enterprise institute and were talking about election reform and improving governance and proposals to improve elections in u.s. we welcome your calls and comments. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. what have been some of the most extreme examples, in recent years, of gerrymandering in staci appel we had several cases that come before the most recent supreme court term. guest: gerrymandering is almost inevitable when you have partisan control. new york state took it is such a

extreme degree recently that they were slab down in court and redistricting was kicked over to a special master, an attorney chosen by the state who has electoral skills, and then redrafted and put together a map that was closer to 15 with the demands of the state's laws. but it is happening everywhere. it is happened in ohio. in illinois there is a redistricting where democrats in control took two republican districts and swish as put them together made two city members of congress right gets each other which guarantees there is one republican in congress. it is occurring everywhere. if you think of democrats and republicans like a sports team, it is no surprise that they would do anything they can to bend the rules to their favor. host: on the primary process, the traditional process as it

exists now, in your piece, you say one of the main problems with that it is to produce candidates who are not representative of the average voter. is that a problem that is getting worse in primaries? guest: i think it has been fairly consistent. what has gotten worse is more and more big money and special interests have realized that getting involved in primaries and heavily influencing who wins their is a great bet. because in congressional primaries if you get to the primary the odds of you being elected is high and that is in part due to gerrymandering and the self sorting amongst the american population will re-become more red and blue and divided. host: does that money involved, has that created more extreme candidates? guest: i would think so, yeah. particularly if you look at them as being extreme on select

issues because that is what these groups do. they want to put their money on somebody who has -- going to back the most important interest to this interest group. that way when that person gets the congress, they are not going to vote the wrong way. host: we have because waited for kevin kosar. lisa on the independent line in minnesota, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. first it is great to see conservative organization go for nonpartisan redistricting. that is great. i was wondering if you also have some thoughts about disenfranchisement, where black americans take a bus to vote at the church, elderly and disabled . guest: i think we all agree that

everyone should be allowed to vote. there should not be hurdles erected to trip people up, they should not be airing them in bureaucracy and red tape -- they should not be buried in bureaucracy and red tape. in the last few years were we have seen certain places where bills were introduced that we try to trip up members of the african american community or other groups, decrease their turnout. that was right wing shut it down -- that was rightly shut it down and criticize. we are country who in fair competition. for accomplishing these voters need to be able to vote. host: recent law passed in texas, texas and republicans has voting bills targeting large democratic county. they want out that regular

legislative session sunday by changing election policies for a single populace democratic stronghold but not other parts of the state. the post writes the measure gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in harris county, home to houston and a four point 8 million residents. it follows a bill approved days earlier that shifts the oversight of elections to the county clerk and county assessor. what is your take on what they are trying to do there? guest: i look at it with sadness because it fails to me it is symptomatic of the hyper aggressive competition that is occurring between the two major parties and it is a competition that fills has become destructive as opposed to constructive competition. people in positions of power are feeling like they have to push the roles or change the rules so as to benefit themselves, which

brings a pushback from the other party, and he goes back and forth and back and forth. harris county does have a record of corruption around. their elections jp says we have a step in and make sure things are clean there -- gop says we had to step in and make sure things are clean there but they are not trusted because again there has been this bitter fight for control, partisan control. host: let's hear from alabama. see some changes to their legislative districts after the supreme court ruling. bobby is on the democrats line. go ahead. caller: yes, i think that one reason must not confidence in reform in elections, we are here in alabama but the last couple

of elections, presidential elections, or the popular vote the president was not chosen but by the electoral vote that upsets a lot of people that do not understand the system. when you have the president chosen, one of the bushes and like president trump against clinton, he was chosen by the electoral vote. i think it needs to go back to reconsideration of the popular vote is that of just the electoral vote so to be changed. especially in alabama, it is our public estate. if democrat is up there and he wins, believe he would not win the electoral vote and i thank you for your time. host: your thoughts. guest: i think he is onto something there. there is a general phenomenon when you have very close elections the percentage of the

public feels like there candidate may have been robbed goes up. when you throw in the way we elect a president, yes you have more electoral votes than popular votes, that just exacerbates that feeling. host: tom is up next in los angeles on the republican line. tom, welcome. caller: yes, good morning. there's a book i read about voters and it is called the masses are asses. and people do not read or pay attention to the bills. 1983 the state of california gerrymandered by the democratic party and ended up with democrats having about an average of 70% majority with

jigsaw districts. the san francisco chronicle said willie brown jigsaw state. they gave democrats a large majority -- that gave democrats a larger majority says that time there been a democratic voters. we even passed a ordinance or a law that only the top two candidates could run for office. if you have a republican and a democrat, and you have a large district the republican party basically was disenfranchised from the state. we are ending up with the most difficult people. my congressman, brad sherman, voted to impeach donald trump the first day he was

inaugurated. that's the type of mentality. democratic party if you do not toe the line. with the 70% majority for the democratic party, we have no hope. i would think that open reelection would be a lot more helpful and it will be fairer than what we have now. host: you have in california a version of ranked choice voting, correct? caller: i do -- what does that mean? host: i appreciate your input. i will ask kevin kosar. there is rank-choice voting that is happening in california, correct? guest: they have it in some state level, municipal level elections.

california has a final two system. i think he is right. the final two system should be expanded to a final five system because there is a very large percentage of republicans in the state who are not represented by republicans in congress or the chambers because the top two vote getters in many elections tend to be democrat. we have democrats running against democrats. one of the reforms have not mentioned in my piece in the hill is that there is this push going on for creating proportional representation in congress. instead of carving up a state like california and to dozens of small districts, you would have half a dozen large districts. voters from each district will get to vote for a variety of candidates and he would have a variety of them make it to

congress, representing different parties. that is probably not going to happen for a long time, if ever, but that is another movement out of their in response to the current politics and current election systems we have. host: kevin kosar senior fellow at the american enterprise institute and were talking about election reform. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. it seems to me that one of the difficulties in changing the elections is that well entrenched two party system in the country, that those wanting to make changes are not members of the party or a members of a third party, wanted to institute

change so they can have a shot at getting considered by the voters. guest: yeah, that is absolutely correct. change often is coming from outside of the party. state referenda were if you gather enough signatures to put something on the ballot indicates force for a vote -- it gets force for a vote and if voters at large approve of it, then the legislator and governors have to do it. the systemic reforms are hard to do because of those political dynamics. it is interesting when rank-choice voting, there has been places where democrats have fought against it because they saw it rank-choice voting as a threat to their control. there are a places where republicans have fought against the. these reforms are nonpartisan you may like them or you may not

the only advantage one party or the other that is by the fact that parties in different places will support or oppose the same reforms. host: we heard from the caller in california complainant of the gerrymandering in that state, similar view expressed here on twitter from steve who writes massachusetts saying massachusetts with nine plan congressional districts. representation without representation. first the second congressional district think -- think. -- the first or second congressional districts stink. guest: i was in a conference earlier this year and not the token conservative in their room but i was narrowed and at 1.i asked the audience how comfortable would you all be with them election reform that meant massachusetts no longer had only democrats going to

congress? they were a few people who gas because i think it is easy to overlook when one personal favorite party has an unfair advantage to only notice when the other party is getting unfair advantage. host: harry in pennsylvania. a republican caller. caller: about the gerrymandering, stop it altogether. i talked to republican representative of pennsylvania and he never brought it up. these things -- leave things the way they are. the other thing is lobbying, do that in front of the congress and then the senate it so nobody gives an advantage to make money. there been quite a few of them. the most famous. as far as electoral college, it shows how smart our founders was. they did that so the larger

states will have the largest advantage of the smaller states. there were smaller than that are smarter than the people calling in suggesting you stop it. host: we have not touch of the electoral college. is there room for reform in u.s. electoral college? guest: the electoral college is largely created by the u.s. constitution. in the fundamental transformation of it will have to go through the constitutional amendment process, which is a heavy lift. one thing that is interesting that states can do is change the way they allocate electoral votes they have. most states have the habit of saying if the candidate gets 51% in the presidential election, they get 100% of electoral votes. what if states switch that? is that you got a percentage of the electoral votes.

it was not a winner take all system. there are a couple of states that do that. maine, nebraska partially has that system but that is a sort reform voters could ask for. they would have a better chance of getting done rather than trying to get it through a amendment to the constitution. host: want to ask you about the american confidence in election act introduced last week. the chair of the house administration committee bryan steil was one of those who spoke in favor of that. will play his comments and would like to hear what you have to say about it and then talk about some of the details after we hear from congressman steele. [video clip] >> this topic of election integrity is essential. yesterday we introduced with over 100 original cosponsors the most substantive and

conservative election integrity bill. this bill has three key principles. it provides states the tools they need to implement voter integrity provisions in their state. for example, it gives states access to the database so they keep their voter rolls as accurate as possible. when is it a good time to remove? voters from the voting rolls out that when they pass away. it takes washington bc and improves the system here is an example for the country requiring things like photo ids, prevents noncitizens the vote. in washington dc next year an individual is not a u.s. citizen, think of someone who is working at a russian embassy, under current law will be eligible to vote for mayor. this oppose our core first

amendment rights. this bill gets out zuckerberg's so americans know our elections are free and fair from interference. it prevents foreign a most funneled through u.s. 501(c) four tax organizations and then from there into super pac's to alter u.s. elections. this about making it easy to vote and hard to cheat. this bill makes meaningful and substantive reforms that are needed in the country. host: some of the details of the reform billo give state and county election officials access to sociaserity list, death list to aid in the calling of voter rolls an states require voters to prese se form of id and overwte the existing law and cdc including one that events noncitizens to vote in local elections and prohibited agencies like irs

from asking for it on our list. what is your view if you have had a just look at the bill proposed by house republicans? guest: it is an interesting piece of legislation where traditionally republicans have been hesitant to have congress get involved in elections. there view is that state and principalities and counties have the right to run elections as they see fit. it is a new dynamic with republicans getting into push their own version of the bill. woody seems to be trying to do is add more regularity in some aspects of elections -- the way elections are conducted. it is excellent states are the laboratories of democracies and

they do a lot of experimentations that cemex fermentation is not such a great idea. as a resident of washington, dci was shocked when elected officials decided they were going to let people who are brand-new to the country, not the citizens, lab to be in town 30 days to cast the vote. that seems out of step with where the public is in town. it also struck me as quite a bad idea. d.c.'s elections are to be a low turnout and if you allow people who should not be participating to participate you will end up toasting the results. i am terrible towards it. i will be interested to see if the two parties can have conversation over the legislation. or if the party would demonize it. host: we're talking about

election reform efforts. some of the ideas in the hill opinion piece. welcome your calls and comments. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. we go to the independent line. it is norma in indiana. caller: hi. i listen to your show for the last 10 years every day on my ipad at work driving my fellow workers crazy. i would like to express during the primaries it turns into election marathon. i live in indiana and at the time they get to the primaries, the candidates i would have chose to vote on have generally been eliminated because they run out of funds. it is sad we cannot have them go to all the states, do their

campaign, then we have a full week of all the states together after vote in the week for the primaries. then you would give each candidate a chance. like in europe, you pick the top two candidates, whether it is independent, republican, or democrat, and then there is another vote that you finally pick who has the best results for what the population as a whole was for the primaries. because the way it is now like when trump was running, we do independent. i like the governor casey from ohio. he was doing good. he was bipartisan. he got ran out of the campaign because of lack of funds. he was doing very well against trump in the beginning. a lot of my fellow democrats who

are spending over to him because they felt if they elected hillary it would be another marathon of bashing and bashing and bashing her because of the email situation. i would like to see where our states are not categorized by importance of how many primary votes they're going to get like i you will -- the guard to get like the places like iowa. because of the get to smaller states, they are laws. candidates who could truly be some to heal the nation. host: several ideas posted there. guest: i think a lot of voters are dismayed and they show up to the election booth, they have only two choices for a particular office. the two choices are not choices they would've otherwise had.

there are members who got into the race but in the had the money to keep going, that they liked a lot more. one of the things that advocates for rank-choice voting will say is that you can fix that. you can open up a valid and allow more people to run -- ballot and allow people to run in the election. you can get rid of when you are a voter and you're trying to say, i like this candidate, but i do not know if they are going to win so i will pick the democrat or republican i like more. you do not pick your top preference because you are afraid the person will not win. you do not want to throw away your ability. rank-choice voting will say you have to have that false choice. you can pick your top preference if you have a system of ranking and if you open up the ballot to allow more candidates to appear. host: a question dealing with republicans primary. this is a piece in the magazine of "politico", the headline says trump's election to nihilism is

already winning. in the piece he wrote the presidential candidates opposing trump have to choose whether to accept his version of 2020 to avoid talking about the matter, to dodge by saying election was raked without calling it a stolen to tell the truth. the temptation to pull up somewhere short of that last option will be strong but it is hard to see how anyone to feast from without going there -- defeats trump without going there. you think continues to go to lack of confidence in the election system in terms of the republican primaries as they get underway? guest: i think what he is tapping into is the basic challenge we face by using primaries which is only about 25% of voters turned out to vote in them. these folks are the people who are the most intensely partisan. their purposes end up getting carried over to the general election. what they want in candidates ends up being with the rest of the public gets to vote for.

yeah, if you are republican and you're trying to get elected to congress these days, you basically need to be ready tell gop voters yeah, the election was rigged, bite and install it. even if you do not believe it because if you do not, you're in trouble. i once saw a statement from a member of the national rifle association who said the primaries as a -- litmus test. we pick the candidates there want to make the general election who will be with us on our issues. that is the way primaries work and it is why we keep getting candidates that are just not appealing to most americans. host: from an independent line, michael in albany, new york. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for the interesting show you got this morning.

it is very refreshing to see the election reforms your speaking on right out of the forward parties can. i want to thank you. it is great to see this is getting a lot of publicity. thank you so much. host: kevin kosar, as of the elections season gets underway, what are you looking for signs of more increase voting participation of needs to improve the way we choose our elected officials? guest: i'm going to be curious to see if the various initiatives to do these systemic reforms breakthrough. for example, an initiative in ohio to bring rank-choice voting. there is in wisconsin an effort to bring final five voting. these are outside efforts by political dissidents, people not at home in either party and they are trying to build a movement

and force change upon the system. all those things are going to keep grinding forward, i argue in my piece, because there are so many americans who would be happy to try something different. they are tired of the same old and so i'm going to keep and i to see how many of those movements gain ground. host: viewers can keep tabs on that and your thoughts, the piece on "the hill.com. he is on twitter at kevin kosar. kevin kosar, senior fellow at the american enterprise institute. thank you so much. guest: thank you. host: still ahead, we will be talking to political reporters from around the country or at least from three key early states new hampshire, south carolina, and iowa. we talk about the latest in campaign 2024 and hear from you in that hour. up next, we are going to open it up for open forum in the for you to talk about other items you

see in the news you are following core stories we have talked about so far today. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. ♪ >> this week on c-span network, the house and senate are in session. the housework so legislation to reauthorize the faa program created the synod on his version of the 2024 defense program and policy bill. wednesday, israeli president will address a joint meeting of congress in commemoration of israel 75th anniversary. wednesday two irs whistleblowers will testify before the house oversight and accountability committee on the pluralization and misconduct in doj and the irs. thursday senate judiciary committee will vote on a bill

that requires the supreme court to adopt a code of conduct and improve conspiracy and explain refusals to the public. then 2044 democratic presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr. will testify before the house judiciary committee on allegations that the federal government and big included in censoring american speech. watch this week live in the c-span networks or oh c-span now premium will -- c-span now, free mobile video app or c-span.org to stream video live another man any time. c-span your unfiltered view of government. >> 1970 twa flight from israel to new york was hijacked and flown to the desert. historian martha at the times 12 years old was on the plane along with her sister catherine who was 13 years old. a group called the popular front

for the proration of palestine was behind the hijacking. martha who teaches 19th century history at new york university for use only had fuzzy memories of those days in the desert as a hostage. in the past couple of years she decided to piece together her experience. the result is our book title my hijacking. a personal history of forgetting and remembering. >> historian martha hodes on this episode of book notes plus. available on the c-span now mobile app or wherever you get your podcast. >> "washington journal" continues. host: open forum on "washington journal" where we have items in the news you are following or you want to talk about we have discussed this morning. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001.

independents, 202-748-8002. a lot of calls. amin in temple, texas on the democrats line. caller: good morning. every time i call i mentioned were in the last days. the weather, the economy, everything is really going bad. the worst thing that could happen to us is to elect x president trump again. you remember the stuff in the world started getting real bad, it is always one leader god had to put in his place. trump is this man. i just pray that everything gets better before it gets worse. host: in pittsburgh, patrick is

on the line. republican caller. but if you want to talk about the alco caller: i want to talk about the election legislation and the research i performed to due diligence across america, i change political parties in the year 2007 for donald trump and i got to tell you it was the most important vote overcast. the media's assault on people who are questioning the viability and truthfulness of the process. i began doing research around the country in various courts. what i found was stunning. there are over 1800 incidences of fraud verified by the courts. courts almost never take on issues of voter irregularities unless there is significant

evidence. more importantly, there was also 1100 convictions which the entire corporatized media system does not convey. it is stunning. what we are witnessing is an absolutely, treacherous reality and this is where my message to republicans come in. if these diabolical actors repeat the process in 2024, donald trump will never be in the white house again. you are deluding yourself as republicans to think that he will. though do everything imaginable -- though do everything manageable. do you think individuals in deep state will play nice with donald trump? they are setting up the republican party. they are for him to be the candidate. look at cnn close to his town

hall meeting. why would they do that? they want republicans to vote for donald trump. if republicans have any sense, you will support ron desantis and his wife who are the most wonderful people. they have a track record that is squeaky clean. you have a governor that is taking on the deranged woke ideology. the situation with race baiting critical theory. they are purring off our people -- pairing off our people and destroying our military. they are destroying the international prestige of the u.s. with countries that are now walking away from our dollar. they are talking about formulating a gold backed digital dollar. you have two choices. you can either vote for donald trump and lose. or you can incorporate ron desantis and his wife and you will have -- it'll be a slamdunk

as a presidential campaign. host: tim in massachusetts. tim, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. host: open forum. did you want to say? caller: i want to say at the end of this month it will be open hearing for uap disclosure the government has been going through and chuck schumer recently put forth an amendment talking about disclosure and how the pentagon and all the agencies have 300 days to comport -- come forward what they know and any information they have with ufos and i want to put it on people's radar that our government has been slowly disclosing that to the public for the last couple of years. i think it is important for everyone to know. host: wherever you are, it is

hot and maybe with record temperatures. this is from the hill this morning. el nino settles in. as a condition settle in with more than 90% chance of lasting through this winter, and into the next year, the vote may feel the heat. the national oceanic administration's center acquired the arrival of el niño, a clump of phenomena marred by warmer sea temperatures in early june. it increases the likelihood of record-breaking temperatures and triggering more extreme heat. they write the globe is already seen intense heat, breaking the unofficial record for the hottest day in 120,000 years, three times last week. rochester, new york is next. tim on the democrats line. caller: good morning.

i just want to say a couple of things. what trump was saying the last election like detroit, atlanta, philadelphia, milwaukee, it is like racial codes. it is a lot black and hispanic people that live in those areas. my son is 17 now. he was asking me is that racism because he is saying those cities and he lost them. another think i was listening to him last night, that guy is lying. he said -- troops. where did that come from? he is a liar. this country i am praying for it. host: cat in phoenix on the independent line. caller: good morning. happy sunday. how are you? host: doing fine. how are you? caller: good.

you talk about the social situations. i watched where they interviewed these kids and their parents and they said i remember when pride for the american flag and out when you say pride they say it is gay pride and they do not want to have anything to do with it because they're getting indoctrinated. i want to mention that he did not mention the republicans voted to take ve five -- e5 base pay from $22,000 a year to $31,000 a year which i think is fantastic to show support for our troops. you also have guys in there yesterday. one guy blew me away create a can i through. he said biden never lies.

he does not have a seventh grandchild. yes, he does. there was a dna tests. she is a biden. he pay child support for her. for him to say that was just a downright lie. i cannot believe you guys did not drink it out in the new york times said -- did not bring it up in the new york times said it clearly that yes, he does have a seventh grandchild. everything he comes out of his mouth is a lie. he did plagiarism two times per year -- he did plagiarism two times. host: stephen in florida. caller: i just want to say as an american if donald trump or any of his minions get into office, that'll be the beginning of the end of our democracy. i hope every republican thinks

twice before they pull that lever for him because it will be a sad day for us. god bless america. thank you. host: an article in new york post that was yesterday morning and follow-up to this article, the headline rfk says covid may have been ethnically targeted disparages. the near post wrote democratic presidential candidate dished out covid-19's mercy theories this week during a press event at upper east side restaurant claiming the buck was genetically engineered bioweapon may have been ethnically targeted to spare jews and chinese people. kennedy floated the idea they eroded during an question and answer portion on east 63rd street. quote covid-19 there's an argument that is ethnically

targeted. covid-19 attacks certain races this report family kennedy said. covid-19 is targeted to attack caucasians and by people. people who are most immune are ashkenazi jews and chinese. robert f. kennedy, jr. tweeting this morning very early this morning and here is part of his lengthy tweet. him saying the insinuation by the new york post and others that as a result of my quote of peer-reviewed paper on the bioweapon's i am somehow anti-semitic is a disgusting fabrication. i understand the emotional pain these inaccurate distortions and fabrications have calls too many jews. respond to that professor max abrams says the attacks on rfk are intended for one purpose to justify not having a

primary debate to coordinate biden would otherwise risk embarrassing himself. he says i've read the remarks verbatim and i've read all the headlines of what he supposedly said and there is a huge difference. he is being defamed. you can read the piece at ny post.com follow-up reporting at a "politico".com on rfk junior response to that. new york calling the eggs and patricia -- new york is calling next and patricia is on the republican line. caller: thank you for having me on. i am listening to all of the responses from everyone here or the are independent, republican, democrat, i like to respond to the gentleman from pennsylvania. us as republicans, we have been called every name in the book. i am sick and tired of republicans that we are like a

cold. -- like a cult. i have voted since i turned 18 years old and i looked at everyone that was running. i'm a republican. i did vote for obama who was democrat at the time. in order for us to decide as a republican who we vote for is what we decide. not to be judged just because we are republican. it is a disgrace that we are labeled in this country as people being republicans something to vote for trump that there something wrong with us. there is not. when trump was president, i never felt more safe in this country, especially with the economy, especially with putting up the border which you cannot have a country --

host: do you think you will support him again? caller: yes, sir. definitely. they took him out. they took away our vote. they did not let trump do what he wanted to do even when he was president at the time. we were booming. the country knows that. they do not want to safety in this country for their children or for the future of the country there something wrong with that. host: we will expand our conversation on the political candidates in our next hour. bill in venice, florida. good morning. caller: i want to address a little bit what you are prior guest on election reform. what i found is there republicans and democrats get together to keep their parties -- to keep third parties off of the ballot.

it is very difficult for anybody to get on the ballot in all states. that is with republicans and democrats agree on. i would like to add i wish your program, c-span, rather than talking about independence as a third choice to call, i am not an independent, and with a third party. it would be great if every month or so you would put a third party number of their for us to call. by the way i mention third party when we did call just as you do with the republicans and democrats. host: thank you for the idea and will do that more as the presidential election begins to pick up. john on the republican line. caller: ok. i was just calling. i will go back a bit to the

issue about abortion with the supreme court has reversed the roe v. wade. the president has the authority to do constitutional reviews and without going into detail. no other branch has that authority. the statement he makes the pledge he or she when they completed the statement they are the president. my suggestion is biden or any president should challenge the supreme court when it reverses itself with a message back to congress to say he picks one or the other. once picks the decision of the supreme court he agrees with because it is constitutional and the other decision is not. the congress has the authority by 75% to override him and saying with the decision of the supreme court.

this would have a check on the court.. right now there is no check on the court. that is my two cents. host: just idea. thank you for letting us know. every calling from north carolina on the independent line. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing fine. thank you. caller: how in god we trust that you did not apply god's law. anyhow i thought that was a theocracy. while being god's crisis son i'm going to wage war with the whole world, all the spiritual leaders, faith leaders, ministry , ministry of education. y'all have polluted even the

spirit grace. y'all do not know the way, the lord's way of peace, law and order. anyhow, that is all i have got to say about that. in the end, we will come together in separation. have a good day, young man. host: kevin kosar was a guest a short while ago. responding tweets online. somebody asking about -- here is kevin's response. australia and ireland have managed to rank-choice voting for a long time. there are districts in the u.s. that are hapless and might goof it up. still to come on "washington journal." we talk to political reporters new hampshire, south carolina about the latest on campaign 2024. the presidential contest in

those states. are you satisfied with the presidential field? you can art calling on topic. (202) 748-8000for democrats. (2) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> tonight on q, historiannd political contributor joshua zeitz talks about the impact faith had on america's 16th president. he contends as a young man, abraham lincoln was skeptical of organized religion but later as president came to embrace the power of protestant evangelicalism. >> he learned to be fairly

faithless about this. we learned as late as 1850 eight, the local presbyterian minister in springfield, illinois who was the minister at the church where the lincolns rented a pew happened to convert lincoln. he would say he managed to do it later -- there is nothing to suggest that lincoln had any real sense of religiosity before he got to washington as president. >> joshua zeitz with his book, lincolns god, tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q and a. ♪ ♪ >> weekends bring you book tv, featuring leading authors discussing their latest

nonfiction books. former naacp president ben jealous speaks about healing america through conversations he has had with notable americans in his book, never forget our people are always free. on afterwords, usc public policy professor elizabeth can shares her book where she argues rural and urban america have more in common than what is perceived. she is interviewed by former north dakota democratic senator heidi heitkamp. watch every weekend on c-span two or watch online anytime at book tv.org. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: in this last hour of the program, we are going to ask you about how satisfied you are with current field, the democratic and republican field -- we will toss in the third-party candidate of the presidential field so far.

here is how to join the conversation. (202) 748-8000 is the line for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. for independents and all others, (202) 748-8002. we will talk to reporters from around the country, in particular, iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. that is where a lot of the early action, a lot of the early focus is. we will get underway with that in a minute. for a reminder of the field so far, democratic party, the incumbent president joe biden. robert f. kennedy, jr., one of the announced democratic candidates and mary wait and some back running for the democratic slot, as well. in the republican field, the main republican field so far -- 13 folks, governor of north dakota, chris christie, ron desantis, larry elder, the former you win representative

nikki haley, former governor asa hutchinson, the former vice president mike pence, cory stapleton, current senator tim scott, entrepreneur the deck ramaswamy and of course the former president, donald trump. a snapshot version of the fields , republican and democrat so far. we are going to go first to hear how things are going in iowa. we are joined by aaron murphy, the des moines bureau chief of the gazette in iowa. aaron murphy, good morning. welcome to "washington journal." guest: thanks for having me. host: you have been reporting on the family leadership summit that has been happening in iowa. they heard from a number of presidential candidates. what have you seen so far? guest: yes. this is an event that has been held in iowa before. the family leaders is a very influential group that represents christian

conservatives in iowa, which is a huge voting bloc in the republican party here. this is an important event and opportunity for these candidates to get in front of roughly 2000 mostly i went, the type of folks that are very likely to come out and -- we had six of the republican presidential candidates here. the most notable being former president trump. it was an interesting day. it was interesting to see how the crowd reacted to the different candidates and the different topics. their answers to different questions. mike pence had a particularly interesting exchange on ukraine policy with the host, former fox news anchor to upper carleton. that is one moment that stood out to me. it was an opportunity for these candidates to get their message

out and themselves in front of these republicans in the state. host: the event happening shortly after kim reynolds signing that very restrictive abortion law this past week. ron desantis made mention about a possible --possibly choosing her as a potential vice president of candidate. guest: he has been very complementary of governor reynolds. even before this campaign in their respective states, they enacted a very similar legislative agenda on things like lgbtq policies in schools, tax cuts, school curriculum policies. they were kindred spirits of a sort.

ron desantis has been in iowa even more -- he has had plenty of things to say about governor reynolds and often talks about how in his effort to connect with iowa republican voters, he often talks about governor reynolds and i are similar. host: the in bc reports that just eight of the candidates have notched their first qualifying pole for the august bait. that debate coming up august 21, the republican debate in iowa. correct? guest: yeah, that is a great point. the debate qualification marks have made the campaigning here interesting. there has not been may be as much we have seen in previous cycles, especially among those candidates who are still trying to qualify for the debate. they are having to focus more on fundraising to get to that threshold of individual donors.

they are on the phones rather than here in iowa. it is not to say they are not here, because they are. it seems some of those candidates are having to focus more on the fundraising aspect and the grassroots, being everywhere in iowa type of campaign. host: let's switch to the democratic side. a major change in the democratic party in terms of their selection process is choosing to use south carolina as their first in the nation platform for choosing their candidate. how has that been received by iowa democrats? guest: mostly disappointment. there are some iowa democrats that will say -- i cannot speak to the percentage, but i know there is a portion of iowa democrats who are fine with the first in the nation caucuses probably going away here.

they believe it will be better for the party if they can focus on their own business, focus on electing their own candidate. republicans have taken over in recent cycles in the state. there is a chunk of i would democrats who believe it will be a good thing. i probably -- it makes for an interesting time every four years when iowa goes first for the presidential nominating contest. you make connections, party members with these candidates when they are here if elected and go to the white house, you have built a relationship with that person. think there are a lot of people from iowa who will tell you there are certain policies that have been enacted at a federal level because of relations built while in the caucus here. a majority of them are disappointed, frustrated and are still holding out hope that with the mess going on with some

states not being able to agree with their republican colleagues on when they should caucus, the iowa democrats have been holding out on finalizing their plan in hopes the national party will have to slide them back in. that seems unlikely, but that is the hope here. host: have you seen activity from the incumbent, our current president, joe biden, on the presumptive democratic nominee or any other announced democratic candidates? guest: none at all, which i think is a signal those folks see the writing on the wall and recognize iowa is not going to be a factor. i do not think president biden would have come anyways. he is the incumbent, he would not see coming to iowa as a necessity. had iowa remain first, i think it would be positive we would see marianne williamson, who had come here back in the 2020 cycle

and maybe mr. kennedy. as things stand the way they are now, no, we have not seen any democratic candidate activity here. host: we have been chatting with aaron murphy. his articles are at the gazette.com. hope to check back in with you as the campaign continues. thanks so much. guest: thank you. anytime, bill. host: let's get to your phone calls on the president until field so far. are you satisfied with that? let's hear from everybody. to bellevue, washington on our democrats line. oh ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for your nice reporting. i have enjoyed every bit of it. am i happy with my choice? absolutely will not support biden. i probably voted for my first election and it was john f. kennedy.

biden does not measure up to any kind of statesman president. years ago, journalists exposed biden's plagiarism. we just have reporters that write down what they are told to write. i recognized biden's corrupt behavior for a -- host: did you vote for him in 2020? guest: i voted for him, but that was the biggest mistake of my life. i am a little older than 25. i should have known better. i do not trust the democrat machine, i guess, because they have -- there are still tammany hall. they are correct. hillary used him heavily.

-- is a corrupt paternity -- is a corrupt attorney. i will never vote for biden ever, ever. host: on to washington, d.c. tony is on the republican line. good morning. tony in d.c. on the republican line. you are on. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: yes, i was calling in. i used to vote democracy, democrat. i just see a lot of emotional play going on with the democrat party. they like playing on people's emotions. i did not vote for trump the second time, but i voted for him the first time. i am just confused on what the parties are trying to do as far

as the american citizens, as far as personal living, day by day living. it is just confusing. everything -- it is causing separation to the people. you are talking about -- i am talking to my grandma right now, the things she is telling me about the republican party in the democrat party. that is not what i see happen. it is like, it causes a separation between all people. i cannot tell nobody who i am voting for because i will get demolished. host: why will you get demolished? the people you hang with, voting -- guest: yeah. they look at me like i am an alien. like i am wrong for voting for trump or voting for whoever i wanted to vote for. as i was growing up, we did not have these type of things going

on. it is more so the emotional thing, because a lot of democrats say a lot of things about the right side. it is not true. it is really not true. i thought the parties were just points of views. i did not know it was like a partisan thing. it seem like now, people are getting punished if they vote to the right. host: tony, glad you got through. we talked briefly with aaron murphy about the family leadership summit. being held this weekend, has been held this week in iowa. here is a little bit of host top or carlsson -- tucker carlson. his interaction with mike pence talking about january 6. [video clip] >> they were american citizens. most did not commit acts of violence and they were mad because they thought the election was unfair. i wonder why more time hasn't been spent by either party reassuring americans elections are real, all votes are counted,

the electronic voting machines now are infallible, why mail-in voting is a good thing. why doesn't anybody try to reassure the public the mechanics of voting are legit? do you think the last election was fair? >> as i set on january 6 in my communication to the congress and many times since -- there were irregularities in the 2020 election. there is no question. there are about half a dozen states that changed the rules of elections in the name of covid. >> yep >>. that undermined public confidence in the outcome of our elections. at the end of the day, we brought more than 60 lawsuits. states engaged in recounts. when states ultimately certified and courts upheld those changes and there is no evidence to the

-- to change the outcome of the election in any way. i knew that my duty was clear that day. candidly, as i have said before, president trump's words that they were reckless. i believe whatever his intentions were in that moment -- it endangered me, my family, everybody at the capitol day. i believe history will hold him accountable for that. just as the law will hold everyone that engaged in acts of violence. host: our conversation this hour is asking you, are you satisfied with the field so far with the presidential field? we are checking in with reporters in key states around the country, as well. (202) 748-8000 is the democrats line. republicans, use (202) 748-8001. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. easley, south carolina is up

next. independent line, ann, go ahead. caller: hello. my comment, i think i am generally like the people -- most people. the problem as i see it is money and it was talked about in the last segment a lot. i am sure my call would have been more appropriate then. i think that money limits the number of people who can be in it and the whole process of it. as our as some kind of election reform, campaign reform, one thing i have brought up that politicians before and none of them have any interest in it is -- how about only people that are constituents of a person can contribute money to that person, instead of having extremely wealthy donors affect elections all over the country?

how about only people that can vote for a person are the only ones that can contribute to that person financially? that will take the money, the big money out of the picture. that was my comment, thank you. host: appreciate that, andy. you are in south carolina. are you seeing more increased activity from president of candidates? your state has two republicans, tim scott and former governor nikki haley. guest: yes, it has not gotten heated yet. like i expect it will be, closer to the nominations. host: right. caller: but, next -- as the primary approaches, i expect for a month or two, we are going to be buried and that is all you are going to see on tv or anywhere. host: thanks for raising the issue of fundraising. this is from the wall street journal.

their headline, biden outpaces rivals in fundraising. they write that president biden raised a combined 70 $2 million with the democratic national committee since the launch of his reelection bid in april. his campaign said friday, pulling in more than the leading republicans running for the 2024 nomination. the wall street colonel writes biden's fundraising far surpasses the amount -- surpassed the amount from the republican front runner, former president trump, whose campaign said earlier this month that he had collected $35 million during the quarter, which included both his campaign and point fundraising account. another top contender, florida governor ron desantis, said he raised $20 million in the first six weeks after his may presidential announcement. that did not count money taken in by his super pac. christie is next in waterford, pennsylvania, democrats line. what are your thoughts? caller: hi, i was calling into

comment. i think biden has done a wonderful job over the past few years. he signed the inflation reduction act, first gun reform safety legislation in decades, historic job growth, our economy was crashing when he took over and people were dying, thousands a day. he handled covid. he has hired a lot of -- nominated a lot of females and minorities to the justice system. he has worked with our allies to expand nato. and, fight for democracy, aiding ukraine. i think he has done so much in the past two years, he does not get credit for it. i am glad he is running again, i will definitely be voting for him. i think he has brought our economy out, our stock market is doing great. 13 million jobs created in the

first two years. the economy is moving along, inflation is coming down. i think he has done a wonderful job, he does not it credit. i am disappointed on the media. i listen to fox, msnbc, cnn and try to get the different sides. it seems like 99% of the time, they are talking about trump and his lawsuits and his train wreck problems out there. once they are talking about biden, it is usually his age that is the issue. i think that is unfair. that is my comment. i will definitely be voting for president biden and harris in the next election. host: gotcha. we will go to iowa next, independent line. joe is on the line. caller: good morning. i want to talk about iowa.

and, republicans. i agree with everything the last caller said, even though i am an independent. now, i used to be republican. but, i switched during -- maybe right after the trump thing. i just went crazy during trump administration, because he has screwed this country up. but, anyway. republicans threw him are trying to show their hateful ideology down the throats of this country. especially trump and the maga haters caucus -- oh, wait, they call themselves the freedom caucus. what a laugh. trump had a big impression on iowa, especially kim reynolds. i want to look at iowa -- it has turned into a nazi state, what is going on at the statehouse. talk with how they messed with their auditors sedition, and with the recent supreme court,

the state supreme court wanted to shoot down the abortion for nghe an kim reynolds once to get rid of or mess with the state supreme court. behind everybody's back, shoves this abortion thing down everyone's neck and goes on this iowa religious weekend, who number one, is moderated by tucker carlsen, one of the biggest liars in media host:. you are on our independent line, obviously not happy with the republican field. anybody out there so far -- cordon west announced his candidacy not that long ago. the green. anybody out there you are satisfied with or glad to see joined the field? caller: joe biden tries. he really tries. at least he is not a hater. he does not go on tv trying to divide the nation every time. every time trump got on teeth, he was only four republicans and

hates democrats. host: we are spending the hour talking to you, hearing from you about the presidential field so far. are you satisfied with the candidates so far? (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. four independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we are checking in with he states throughout the hour. we are joined next by paul steinhauser, national political reporter for fox news, also reporter with the -- welcome to the program. welcome back. guest: great to join you. you just had your caller from iowa. i had a story yesterday on fox.com, it is fascinating. it was not that long ago, iowa was one of the top battleground states in the country. it has turned dark red over the last couple of election cycles. that is not the case in new

hampshire. we go second in the gop calendar. we remain one of the swing states in the country. host: i was talking to aaron murphy of the gazette in iowa to see if they had seen any democratic presence in iowa, particularly after the announcement they were moving their primary day, their first primary date to south carolina. what about in new hampshire? you have a dozen folks in the republican field. what about the democratic field? guest: we are seeing the two candidates who declared -- marianne williamson, the best-selling author making her second straight run. and, robert f. kennedy, jr., the environmental activist, high profile vaccine skeptic and part of the kennedy dynasty. they have been campaigning in new hampshire. one democrat we are not seeing is the president himself, because he will probably not be here. we could go on for hours over

the battle for the calendar in new hampshire. it looks like we will have an unsanctioned primary. we will probably not see joe biden campaigning ahead of our primary early next year. host: tell us about the early sightings you have seen of republican candidates. guest: [laughter] host: who has been there, what are they focusing on? guest: everybody has been here. we have 13 in that field right now. they have all been here, some more than others. nikki haley, the former south carolina governor, has been here plenty. senator jim scott. former vice president pence. the former new jersey governor is making a second straight run. former president trump has been here a couple of times. i had a chance to interview him. former congressman from texas who just dumped in, asa

hutchinson -- it is just like old times on the republican side. host: you have been reporting on campaign fundraising. we read a story to our viewers about the second quarter reporting on fundraising on the republican side. any surprises, anybody beginning to make a move other than the two leaders in fundraising and in the polls, donald trump and ron desantis? guest: that is the story. they are number one and number two in the polls and number one and number two in fundraising. trump had an amazing second quarter, $35 million. some of that fueled the course by the two indictments, he made history as the first former president to be indicted and that helped fuel grassroots fundraising from his maga base. one that stood out was the north dakota governor who jumped in about a month ago. he is one of the wealthiest

candidates in this race. he invested $10.2 million in his campaign. one of the other key numbers is how many individual contributions these candidates are going, one of the thresholds to make the debate stage, you need 40,000 individual donors or contributors to make that debate. a bunch of the candidates have crossed that threshold, plenty have not. host: tell us about the event coming up tomorrow, monday in new hampshire, the no labels event. senator joe manchin is going to be part of that event, that town hall. what is this group, no labels, going to say tomorrow? what is the big announcement or big deal about this event tomorrow? guest: this is their big town hall in new hampshire, they are putting out there, and since platform or policy that they would like both major parties to

work on and enact. there are not going to be presidential announcements tomorrow. this is more than laying out their policies that they think would -- most americans would appreciate, those americans in the middle, not those beholden to the democrat or republican party. you mentioned joe manchin will be here in new hampshire at the no labels event. he was a past cochair of no labels, a moderate democrat, he has not decided whether he is going to run for reelection next year in west virginia but is flirting with the possibility of joining that independent, no labels third-party ticket which states say he may run if joe biden is the democratic nominee. that is pretty much a done deal. and if president trump is the republican nominee. that is why there is so much fascinating -- fascination with joe manchin coming up here. the former ambassador to china is part of that no labels conference tomorrow. host: he may not have announced

whether he is going to run for the senate next year, but he is fundraising darned well, whatever joe manchin decides to do. guest: he raised a record amount in the past april to june 2 quarter 2023 fundraising. if he decides to run for reelection, he would do that in a state where trump one it in -- won it by 40 points. a healthy warchest to do that. there is fascination about whether no labels will -- if it is trump and biden -- they will say they will make a decision in april of next year, will they do this third-party ticket or not -- air is fascination and consternation from democrats, so many argue if there is a third-party ticket, that is going to help donald trump win back the white house. i spoke to one of the founders of no labels, he said that is not the case. host: a couple of places to

follow paul's reporting, foxnews.com and concord monitor.com. happy to have you join us, previewing what is going on in new hampshire. guest: always great to join you. host: we have plenty of time for your calls on the presidential field so far. stanley is in massachusetts. go ahead, republican caller. caller: yes. it is because joe biden offered up $20,000 to students. he got an extra 20 million votes. that is surprising. i do not know why nobody thought it was a bribe that got him elected. host: heading to our democrats line. marie in mississippi, we welcome

barbara. caller: good morning. yes, i just want to remind the people in the united states of america that joe biden is a man with compassion. when we was -- just like the wall that is going on there, he is a man of god and he believes in righteousness. when we were down in the pandemic, he saved us. he paid rent for us and he wanted to help more people get educated and go to college where they will have a better life in america. if everyone, the republic would come together with joe biden, we are one nation under god and that is the way we supposed to live. they keep on the way they do win, they going to bring more stones and try to get to america because america is putting us under a curse.

let's learn how to love and reach out to one another, because we are going to be here forever and time is running short for everyone. the republic need to stop the hell raising and to the right thing. host: asking you if you are satisfied with the presidential field so far. democrats, that line is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. for independents and others, (202) 748-8002. we talked about this with paul steinhauser, more detailed reporting from the new york times. when centrist platform no labels pushes cause and they tend third-party bid. they write a new political platform focused on cooperative governance by the bipartisan group no labels has something for everyone to embrace. just as much for both sides to reject. for example, the government must stop releasing undocumented migrants into the country but the government must broaden

illegal immigration channels -- illegal immigration channels and offer a path to citizenship for those brought to the country as children peered the constitutional right to bear arms is viable but must be tampered with by universal background checks and age restrictions on the purchase of military style rifles. a woman must have the right to control her reproductive rights. has drawn fire from liberals, centrists and members of congress who support the groups principles but fear their efforts based on high-minded ideals, subnational unity could damage president biden's reelection campaign. and hand the white house back to donald trump. at an event monday, the group will formally release what it is calling a commonsense proposal for its centrist white house in hopes of shifting the

conversation from the politics of its potential presidential bid to the actual policies that it believes can unite the country and temper the partisanship of the major party nominees. let's hear from philip on the independent line in waterloo, alabama. welcome. caller: yes. thank you for taking my call. i am a first time caller. host: great. caller: looking at what has been happening in our country the past few decades, it is hard to understand how the political system which seemed to initiate a lot of divisiveness and one-sided in a lot of ways -- actually in such a way not to address the broad spectrum of the people, the entire people of the united states is sad. i am 72 years old. i am commenced not too long ago when expressing a political opinion, someone did not bring

about the animosity, being ostracized if you do not agree with what they said. it has gotten to a point now where it is really sad. in a free country that we live in, we cannot have an opinion and still be friends because there has been so many people that has turned it into a war. i hope i am not guilty of that. i hope i am not. i hope i am not. the tax cuts, the deficits we have, the attempt to address the deficits continuing to cut benefits or whatever you want to call it to the people who are on the -- not the upper end of the country. they need to realize that, yes, the debt needs to be addressed. to continue to give tax cuts to the ones that can best afford to pay the taxes, i do not

understand it. i really do not. i am 72, i am retired. it is sad our country has gotten to the point it has gotten to. host: glad you got through to share your views on the program, first time caller. call back, we appreciate the comment. i want to share comments on various candidates, including the entrepreneur speaking recently at an event in palm beach, florida. here is a look. [video clip] >> you get a blank stare in response. that is a fact. that is the void. what it means to be an american seems to be irrelevant. let's talk about it. what does it mean to be an american? it means we believe in the pursuit of excellence.

[applause] [indiscernible] we believe in the rule of law. that is why we are using the u.s. military to secure our borders. [applause] we believe that the people we elect to run the government ought to be one's who actually run the government, not this bureaucracy today that runs the show today. that is why i said --to the fbi,

to the atf, to the irs -- should have never existed in the first place. [applause] we will shut them down. [applause] host: a couple comments on the presidential field and the primary process so far on joe manchin, doing that no labels event in new hampshire tomorrow. this one says, i will not be voting for joe manchin under any circumstance. democrats are the politicians of convention rather than appeasement. derek says i think democrats should have made north carolina -- iowa the new south carolina. maybe this is president so to representative james clyburn and jamie harrison in hopes of its change. in hopes it changes.

pennsylvania next, donald on the democrats line. the way ahead. caller: good morning. i am not in favor of the democratic party nominating president biden. my choices would be senator shelby white house from rhode island, senator chris coons from delaware or senator sharon braun from ohio and any combination of those two would make a fantastic ticket in my view for the democrats. host: thanks for the call, donald. we have been checking in with key states this hour. we go next to south carolina. she is a politics reporter for the greenville news. tell us about what is going on in south carolina now that it is

in the democrat side, the first primary state. how much activity on the republican and democratic side are you seeing their? guest: good morning, first of all. on the republican side, we are seven months out from the republican primary. several candidates are making inroads in the state. earlier this month, we had former president trump. he came to pickens, a small town where he commanded an audience of close to 10,000 to 15,000 people. since then, we have a couple candidates making a comeback. we have ron desantis coming back tomorrow. to another small town on the border of north carolina, south carolina. on tuesday, he will go back to columbia to be the first republican presidential hopeful to sign up for the primary. after that on thursday, we have former south carolina governor nikki haley.

she will be here in greenville. friday, we have chris christie, who will be making his first wing in the united states. host: so -- go ahead. guest: on the democratic side, we recently had president biden. he came a couple days after trump was here. it was an interesting preview of the rematch we might just be seeing in 2024. host: i want to talk about the two south carolina republican candidates. your senator, tim scott and former governor nikki haley. those two homegrown candidates in south carolina, has it caused friction in republican circles in the state? guest: well, they happen to have the awkwardness of having the same friends, similar benefactors and being in competition with each other. earlier, when they announced their presidential runs, there was a lot of awkwardness in gop circles and workers in south

carolina endorsing one or the other. it is important to remember their relationship, which is amicable publicly. nikki haley was the governor who handpicked tim scott to be the south carolina senator after jim demint left his seat to go to the heritage foundation. they also share staffers. there is that relationship. as the primary is getting closer, we started seeing that a lot of politics and local public officials have started backing scott, where haley can only boast a handful of people in the state. definitely a lot of friction that will be more apparent as we get closer to the primary. host: you covered a trump rally in pickett, south carolina earlier this month. what was that like in terms of the energy and engagement of the crowd there?

have any other republican candidates been able to match that level of enthusiasm? guest: right. one thing to remember about pickens is that it is in a county where 75% of the county went for trump, it is a extremely conservative part of the state. it was clear that trump was playing to his strengths. one of the things that his rally was indicative of was that he has a natural base that a lot of candidates are unable to post on. it is a base that governor ron desantis has attempted to capture. one of the things we noticed -- in the rally i spoke with people, they tend to think ron desantis i have heard his chances for 2028. face-off him as a prodigy of sorts who would come after -- they saw him as a prodigy of

sorts that would come after trump. as far as the crowd in the rally, he knew those would be his people, he knew this would be the most devoted base he could go to. host: we will ricochet back to the democratic side. remind us why the democrats changed their procedure, why they chose south carolina this time around to be their first primary state? guest: it is important to remember that in 2020, president joe biden was lagging behind his competitors in new hampshire and it was south carolina where his most powerful allies campaign for him and elevated his campaign. he is coming back and putting south carolina front and center to gain that legitimacy again as an incumbent. he has a lot of challenges. his administration is trying to control the narrative around economics and whether this country is on a good path.

there was no better state to do that then the state which essentially compelled him to the white house. host: she is a political reporter for the greenville times, you can read her reporting at the greenville online.com. thanks for the update from south carolina. guest: thank you. host: a little more than 10 minutes left, talking about, are you satisfied with the presidential campaign field so far? let's go to carol in winslow, illinois on the republican line. carol in illinois, you are up. caller: hi. hi there. i am very dissatisfied with the presidential field right now. i think biden should step down. he is getting really old. i do not approve of this college, putting debt on

americans for college when i saw these kids all ordering pizzas and beer and money and spending their college money on having a good time in college and plus, they indent with the credits they -- they end up with the credits they had. trump goes too far right, all he takes care of already top 10% of wealthy. that does not help the other 90% of americans. the rest of us live with high taxes and poverty. i am on social security. i am an eight-year veteran. the va hospital that my husband went to, it killed him. if anybody would like to see a difference, i am looking for a better republican. host: nobody so far in that republican field appeals to you? caller: well, i was listening to

by vic -- ramaswamy. i thought in all the wars. i am english. my family came over from england and fought. in all the wars and freedom. i feel our freedoms are being taken away from us slowly because of the wealth that is being powered in this country. host: to the democrats line, tom is in san jose. welcome. caller: i think president biden is doing a great job. he is a little old, he looks old and that hurts him. he cares for the people, unlike trump. an earlier caller said, relieving these kids of their debt was a bribe for a vote.

that is what all politicians do. they help their constituents. a republican representative on the floor referred to black people as colored people. this is who the republican party is. they will elect trump and let him get away with anything. the other thing i want to say is, if you want to know who trump really is, watch the movie that became unique. the captain is donald trump he is a smitten -- spitting image of donald trump. host: to the independent line, aurora, illinois, this is janet. caller: i think the democrats should seriously consider someone like jamie raskin on the state of maryland. biden is not doing a good job, but jamie raskin is i believe of jewish background. we have never had a jewish president. it would be nice to have one.

he is a thoughtful, considerate man and i think he would do well on the campaign trail. the problem is, he does have cancer and is trying to overcome it at the moment. donald trump is an embarrassment to the united states of america. i hope the day comes when we can write him off the books as 45th president of the united states. he never should have been president to begin with. host: congressman raskin recently announced he would not run for the open senate seat. been card and retiring would not join the democratic field. he is currently the representative for the eighth district of the state of maryland. one of the candidates we have not talked about is asa hutchinson. candidate trying to gain altitude flies below radar. holding court in a pizza ranch restaurant in tuesday. asa hutchinson was trying to keep his longshot presidential

bid aloft as former republican heavyweights continue to dominate the state's attention. carefully sidestep social issues that he worried were too divisive and made copious references to his previous stints in government. his stops along the path leading him here include the house of representatives, leadership roles in the homeland security department and drug enforcement administration and most recently at the governors mansion in arkansas. the problem for mr. hutchinson was clear and obvious. only eight iowa voters were with him there up into the pizza ranch bunkhouse, a party room off the buffet table. our strategy is to do well in iowa, we won to be in the top five, to go to new hampshire which we have been campaigning in and we are going to hit the south. we are in this for the long

haul. mr. hutchinson's campaign has been struggling to reach anything like cruising altitude with the first republican debate in milwaukee a little more than a month away. he is far from having the $40,000 -- 40,000 individual donors required to meet the republican national committee's threshold for a spot on stage. a failure to appear could sink his campaign. on the republican line in indianapolis, wayne, good morning. caller: good morning. i am going to go both ways on this. biden, man, they need to do something with him, seriously. [laughter] he is a joke. he lets everybody down. you cannot give our country away when we are trying to hold power to make everybody else safe. it gets me so much of this law that they have been fighting now about the biden's do this, do that. why don't they stand up and do

something about all these politicians? this is our country. if you cannot do the job we vote you in for, you need to get out. i am serious. my family has been in this country since 1630. i got an uncle who was davy crockett. it makes me feel like i am a fool. i sit there and have to put up with these people that is running our country. i am going to get off your, but i tell you, we need to step up and make these people -- they break the law, they need to go to jail. host: are you satisfied with the president of field so far? brandon is next, denver, colorado, independent line. caller: yes, basically right now, the way things stand, we definitely need trump to win the presidency. the reason is because the international risk is way too high with the war and things

going on in china. we need him to win, because he has got the temperament and type of attitude to address some of those other leaders. the benefit we have in the united states is, we have checks and balances so there is no way he is a fascist threat or anything like that. all of that is overblown. he has the temperament to go toe to to with those guys. desantis would be a good second, he has the temperament. he has a military background. he will do the right thing for the country. one of those two would be good. i prefer trump, because he has the record. stop vivac. he can get the minority vote on the republican side. it helps immunities not -- communities not be stuck in one

side or the other side, like scott and vi back for the future when the country is more stable. that would be the best deal. host: here is a suggestion on the democratic side from twitter. this one says, how about we let a woman take a swing at that? kenny porter is a good example of someone who is effective at getting the truth out. kevin is in washington, d.c., democrats line. hi there, kevin. caller: hello, hi. host: you are on the air. i am fine, thanks. caller: i would like representative -- because she was the only one in congress who voted against the war in the middle east. biden was one of the main cheerleaders for floating the wmd, which turned out to be false. if not her, maybe governor whitmire.

host: from michigan. caller: michigan, or any other governor. same for the republicans, may be a governor would be better because -- former governor linda lingle from hawaii. she was on the shortlist to be mccain's vice president. he would have picked her -- trump has been billions of dollars, all he cared about was real estate and his investments. just, we will go to syria and take over the oil fields or we should have given up the oil fields in iraq. the polarization, he is like el niño.

martin luther king said do not fight hatred with hatred, you can only fight it with love. host: rudy on the independent line, go ahead. caller: i dialed wrong. my point of view is, it does not matter what party, democrat, republican, we need an honest person to come into the country, an honest person that will help the country. i see both parties, democrat and republican, it is sad. it is really, really sad way our country is and the way we are still separated. the only thing we need, we need someone who will really run the country good. two blame biden, how the country is, it is not to blame.

it is the coronavirus to blame. i know people from other countries, they are struggling the same as we are. we are not to blame anybody. when you have the job to be a president, it is a struggle and they know it. it does not matter what party it is. host: all right, really. appreciate the call. thanks for your calls and participation on the program this money. "washington journal" back tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. enjoy the rest of your weekend. ♪