♪ host: good morning, it's monday, october 16, 2023 has been nearly two weeks since the house representative speaker and jim jordan now appears to be pushing for a vote tomorrow as he

continued to try to find enough republicans to take the gavel. u.s. diplomats over the week and were focused on easing the humanitarian crisis in gaza and keeping the israeli-hamas work from becoming a regional crisis. we are covering those topics on the "washington journal" this morning and we want to hear from you. republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000s, independent (202) 748-8002 and you can send us a text at (202) 748-8003. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. a very good monday morning to you. start calling in there when we begin with the speaker battle. this was former speaker kevin mccarthy yesterday on fox sunday morning talking about how he's

working all the angles he can to get jim jordan elected to be the next speaker. [video clip] >> i think jim jordan can get there and i want to -- i want him to understand how difficult it is. at the end of the day come i think jim can get there. i'm doing everything i can to help them be able to become speaker. >> does jim jordan have the votes right now? >> as he walked away, he did not but that's why we have time. i talked to jim last night and he's talking to every single member, assessing what their challenges are but would got to be able to work together. the real challenge is a republicans did something no one would thought that they work with every single democrat to disrupt this nation, to remove the speaker. it has taught people that just work with democrats and disrupt the government. this will go down in history as one of the biggest mistakes these people have made in the process. >> do you have support to get back in there?

can you not find eight democrats to agree with you? >> they made a political decision and that's their place to be but they created as much chaos. i don't believe in creating more chaos. i want to put the country first. i will help lead regardless of whatever title i have. what i see is the most important thing is what's happening in israel. host: former speaker kevin mccarthy yesterday on fox news. we expect a speaker vote in the lunchtime our tomorrow and that's the latest guidance we've been given. we talk about that this morning. here's one of the op-ed pieces from usa today. plenty of news on israel this morning including the fact that

the secretary of state antony blinken is set to return to israel this week. the washington times says he was practicing shuttle diplomacy over the weekend. according to the associated press report on sunday evening, president biden is considering a trip to israel in the coming days but nothing has been finalized on that front. president biden was on 60 minutes yesterday talking about the israel-hamas war and this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> would you support israeli occupation of gaza at this point? >> >> i think it would >> be a big mistake. what happened in gaza in my view is hamas in the extreme elements of hamas don't represent all the palestinian people. i think it would be a mistake

for israel to occupy gaza again. but going in and taking out the extremists, hezbollah is up north but hamas is down south. it's a necessary requirement. >> do you believe hamas must be eliminated entirely? >> yes, i do. but there needs to be a palestinian authority. there needs to be a path to a palestinian state. host: president biden on 60 minutes yesterday. if you want to join the conversation this morning, we are talking about the house speaker battle and the israel-hamas war, join in for the line for democrats (202) 748-8000, (202) 748-8001s an independent (202) 748-8002.

robert is in phoenix, arizona, a republican, good morning. caller: good morning. a long time c-span watcher. first time caller. nice job on the new set. it's looking nice and stunning. i wanted to call in and say that in terms of the house speaker battle, congresses got to get themselves together now. i'm personally rooting for mason rockefeller running from the state of georgia. i think if congress can get this guy in, he is a good moderate, good man. host: this is our second caller this morning, brentwood, maryland, democrat. caller: good morning to you. my comment is about the

israel-hamas deal. there was much discussion prior to israel destroying hamas and what will be done with the 2 million inhabitants of cap -- of gaza. i think all those countries that have made relationships israel should donate an individual to serve as part of an interim go sidelines, they should offer their candidates to serve as an interim government to govern the palestinians and gaza until they can hold their own interim elections and that might be something to go forward and show

solidarity in the region. lastly, for the speakership, they are going to have to go outside of the house and bring somebody in they can agree with, maybe eric cantor but somebody. these guys, it's very divisive. host: why don't you think it can be anybody from inside the house? caller: because of the rancor. it's time to the level with the freedom caucus, they are running strong interference and i don't know if they can come up with a moderate that the democrats would agree with. maybe they can. maybe a moderate, that one in bidens district in new york in the districts by one but the rancor is off the chain. it's really disappointing for the country and for people who are supposed to be elected because of their sanity. it just shows and in

cohesiveness i've never seen before in my life. host: why do you think former congressman eric cantor would be a guy who can bring this together? caller: because he was a moderate. he was not an extreme rabble-rouser and he has some experience and he has some appreciation for the financial situation of the country. i think he's living on wall street now i think in some regards. he was a same guy. he wasn't given over to hyperbole and trying to get on someone's evening broadcast. i think he genuinely would want to show some strong effective, same leadership. my only concern about him not getting it is because of the slow undertone of anti-semitism in the republican party. that might hold him back but it would be a great moment with all this going on to overcome that and name him to that position. i think we can get the country

off of this dead spot and go forward. host: that's richard this morning, (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8000 democrats, independents (202) 748-8002. back to the speakers battle, this is republican congressman mike turner on face the nation yesterday talking about jim jordan's chances for the speakership. [video clip] >> do you think that there is an alternate here were republicans work with democrats to find a mutually acceptable speaker? >> that would not be my preference if hakeem jeffries walked away from the opportunity. the vote on the floor was should the speaker, kevin mccarthy be removed and every democrat, 208 of them, voted to remove kevin mccarthy. at this point, i would prefer

there to be a republican solution because when they rejected bipartisanship, it's hard to go back to it but we have a lot of people on the bench. jim jordan will be an excellent speaker and i thinking get to 217 but we have other leaders in the house. if the radical handful of people in the republican side make it us unable to return to general work on the house can --, then obviously a deal will have to be done. host: mike turner of ohio, republican there yesterday. taking your phone calls this morning, this is william in ohio come online for democrats. caller: yes, good morning. you think we got problems now, wait until jim jordan takes over. he's as radical as matt gaetz and the rest of them freedom caucus guys. it's a shame we have to come to

stuff like this. jim jordan thanks he is the arresting officer, the judge, the jury and the executioner. i have no faith in none of them. that's all we got is crooks, politicians and that's the way it's going to be. until they get big money out of the government. thank you very much. host: st. paul, minnesota, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. a couple of quick comments related to the conflict in israel and the gaza strip. regardless of whatever history is there, i think what's really important is to say what's the path forward. that really is the new starting point. to me, the issues are related to three parties, primary parties,

israel, hamas and the palestinian people. hamas is the key point because their charter calls for not recognizing israel and calling for their destruction. and there charter also keeps palestinians who disagree with them at they because they will take them out. not just israel but the palestinian people need to suppress israel regardless of what has happened in the past. you cannot negotiate with somebody across the table they don't recognize you. and they call for your demise. comment number two, this is more of a social thing but, as we talk about pronouns and misogyny and as we talk about polity for women in all the other terms,

this will have, this battle will have a lot of collateral damage. we do need to be concerned about children but a lot of people are still using that term women and children. if we want women to be equal and we want to get rid of misogyny, then that term consistently used by people of being concerned about women and children should not be used. israel has a lot of women in their military force. always good to talk to you and thank you for the opportunity and have a good day. host: this is usa today, focusing the israel-hamas war.

[video clip] >> is rescuing the hostages a priority at all? if my kids were being held hostage in gaza and there are americans being held hostage in gaza right now, i would want you to send in the navy seals. what's the conversation like in the white house about the u.s. conducting any sort of operations in order to save americans being held hostage in gaza? >> the president has been very clear that he is no higher priority than getting americans back who are being held hostage by hamas. >> israelis are bombing the crap

out of gaza. it doesn't seem like saving the hostages is a priority at all. >> for president biden, they are a priority. they are the highest possible priority and he has sent hostage experts to coordinate and consult with the israeli government on hostage recovery efforts. he has major of diplomats are in touch with third countries in the region to ask for avenues for their safe release. i have been cautioned about how much i can say about certain efforts because we want to protect those efforts to give us the best possible chance of getting our people home. one important point when it comes to the issue of the navy seals is we do not at this point have pinpoint location information for where the american hostages are. we have to continue to refine our understanding of where they are and who they are because we know there are 15 on account for

on americans but we cannot confirm the precise number of american hostages being held by hamas at this time. all we can do is to continue to work closely with the israeli government on hostage recovery options which we are doing and then work through third countries to see if there are avenues for release. host: the national security advisor jake sullivan yesterday. taking your phone calls this morning. we are talking about the house speaker battle. we expect a floor vote around lunchtime, perhaps new and tomorrow and the ongoing israel -hamas war. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, independents (202) 748-8002.this is wyoming, independent, good morning. caller: with the current house

speaker election, i think congress has to hurry up. the republican caucus doesn't want to put up anybody that gets in the way of a possible interference from the freedom caucus. with what we see across the board, we should get this done. the israel-hamas trauma, there's only one thing we should be caring about --host: this is glenn in illinois, line for democrats. caller: good morning. jim jordan is in no go. a no go. wake up, republicans, he will bomb the whole dam thing.

put lynn cheney in there. let's get somebody that can handle things. thank you. host: ursula out of spring lake north carolina, you are next. caller: good morning, john. i'm listening to the people calling in this early in the morning and it's amazing. i am with some of them is favre the speaker of the house. -- as far as the speaker of the house. this young man will not be any good for us. he is a little radical. going to the war in israel, i've been going through this since 1948. it's a constant back and forth. i wish they would leave the israeli people alone and let them live. i have a question for maybe one of the callers who can answer. they are saying all these

americans in israel, ok? you are an american. what in the world are you doing over there knowing that's a hot bed to live in. it's been like that in 1948. they say the u.s., and help me. please, somebody answer that question and the young man fighting in the israeli army born and raised here, thank you, john. host: you don't think americans should visit israel? there are religious reasons people would go to that part of the world but also family connections and people living in israel. caller: john, listen, i am a world war ii child. i am from germany. let me tell you something, with this mess going on in the ukraine, believe you me, i'm too old to travel but no.

you've got people living over there. you explain that. i understand the money issue. it's probably cheaper to live over there butno, those people know how bad -- i've been going through this since 1947-48 when the state started. it just floors me to watch that and then they hollered that the united states is supposed to come and get me. i'm sorry, john, i have a problem with that. as far as the young man fighting in israel and they are born race here, please, somebody answer that for me. i know they have dual citizenship but i don't know. i have a hard time with that. host: this is tom deerfield beach, florida, line for republicans.

caller: good morning. i just wanted to say a couple of things. i want to thank governor desantis for his leadership with the rescuing all the people in israel and sending them to florida, it demonstrates his executive leadership once again and hurricanes in these kind of crises. he handles it very, very well and i think you would be a great president one day. i called a couple of months ago and i complained that we weren't getting the appropriations bills passed. i'm very disappointed in the republican conference in the house. i think matt gaetz has misled the conference and he should be held accountable for that. i don't believe jim jordan has the votes. i think he brings a perspective that's healthy for the conference but i'm not sure he

has the votes. it appears that mccarthy attempted to sabotage the appropriations process which i don't understand why. he made an awful dealing the debt ceiling. i think he paid the consequences for that. i am disappointed in the republican conference and not passing 12 separate appropriations bills to date. i think they've turned their leadership over. i'm very disappointed in them. host: i'm assuming he's referring to this story on fox and other websites --

that story is from fox news. this is ethic a, new york, independent. caller: good morning. great to be with you this morning. i want to make a few comments on the war in israel. specifically in regards to hamas. one thing we see all over the world's protest and support of palestinians. you notice the distinction is not being made, saying we do not support hamas but we support the palestinians. i think we have to keep that in

mind with these protesters directly supporting. hamas was elected democratically by the people of gaza. secondly, hamas does not have a conventional military strategy. they want to annihilate the state of israel and the jewish people. that's why you see these atrocities like we saw last weekend. the third one is hamas views themselves and the people that die in the war as martyrs. that's why they use civilians as shields. they tell the civilians not to leave when israel says evacuate and i don't mind people being killed which is a terrible thing. we tend to think everybody thinks like us. some people do not think like us. they have different goals in a different religion so they don't think the same.

when you compare that with israel, israel is trying to keep civilians from being killed and not targeting them and they are telling people to leave. they are trying to get people out. the narrative that israel is a murderous regime and wants to kill as many palestinians as possible is ridiculous. i think we have to understand there is a dark, sinister motivation behind that which i believe is jewish hatred we have to fight against. host: that's ithaca, new york on distinguishing between palestinians and hamas. a column in the washington post --

this is anthony out of detroit, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i think congress is always on recess in the work period and it's hard to take them seriously with that schedule. personally, israel-palestine, i'm disgusted by the indiscriminate arming campaign carried out by israel. it looks indiscriminate. why is there almost unanimous support for israel in congress? i don't think you would find

unanimous support for israel from the public. what is that about? host: we will find out more whether it's unanimous or otherwise. there is expected to be a resolution in the senate this week expressing support for israel and condemning the hamas attack. in the washington times today, they took a look at the house resolution that was introduced by members who had signed onto the resolution. that doesn't mean they voted for or against it but the washington times says more than a dozen house lot -- lawmakers, mostly democrats, have failed to endorse the barbaric war of the terrorists against israel.

this is ramsey out of reston, virginia, independent. caller: good morning. i want to say one thing -- here we go again, israel is trying to get us americans involved in the war like they did 20 years ago with iraq. they are trying to get us involved with iran. it will be a nasty fight. israel needs to but out and keep us out of the war. this is not our war, is there war, deal with it. host: this is jared in wilmington, delaware, independent. caller: how are you? i just want to say a few things. as recently as 1918, a little

over a hundred years ago, all of that area that is now israel was palestinian land and prior to that it was the ottoman empire. i know people say that israel has a right to defend itself but based on numbers you gave minutes ago, 1400 israelis have been killed in the past week and a half as opposed to at least 2400 palestinians and about 700 of them are kids. it's biblical what's transpiring. they say an eye for an in israel is up about 21. i want to make sure people realize that one of the reasons why the united states defended israel so amicably is because we store a massive amount of weapons in israel for a

conflict. whether it's a conflict in the middle east or in asia, we would have to send air carriers right away and israel can use our weapons stored there and perpetuate conflicts in the middle east as well. people need to remember these things. they say israel has a right to defend itself and palestinians are people, too. a little more than 100 years ago, they had all of that land. people need to be aware of that. the united nations has said this is a form of genocide and a form of ethnic cleansing. we really need to buckle down and get something done. host: what you and statement are you pointing to? i know there were concerns in the u.n. about a ground war in gaza.

caller: the human rights office, it says there is mass ethnic cleansing of palestinians and calls for an immediate cease-fire. host: this is john in cleveland, ohio, independent. caller: good morning. i think the entire media is totally biased, incredibly lopsided in this. we have to know some things that i think are being prevented by that media, this is him article by jonathan cook -- hamas is a israeli controlled terror organization. netanyahu bragged about support for hamas is a method of dividing and conquering and

eliminating the possibility of a two state solution. during the fraud trial, anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a palestinian state has to he told the knesset members, this is part of our strategy to isolate the palestinians in gaza and divide them on the west bank. this would be in effect to close the book on palestine and there has been many people in the israeli parliament and others who have called for.

host: do you think there will ever be a two state solution? caller: i think there cannot be a two state solution as long as the zionist entity there is determined to destroy palestine, carry out the same kind of policies against the palestinians that the nazis carried about --out on the jews. host: republican, good morning. caller: i would like to know when somebody will tell me obama is still running this friggin 'country. i know it, you know it -- host: how is he running the country? caller: he could sit in his pajamas in his house and do it right now. host: west palm beach, democrat.

caller: good morning. i would like to say that i view hamas more as freedom fighters. the strategies that palestinians use which has been peaceful when they try to purchase for their freedom they have had and they were shot down. like dogs. the bbs movement has been squashed. every kind of strategy has been not aggressive has been met with resistance. host: how to use square what happened a week ago saturday? i think it escalates. caller: i think people become more desperate and they have no

other way that they are able to express themselves. before i go, the media coverage has been so one-sided. i turned off all of the major stations and turned to al jazeera. the number of the death of palestinians is way past 8000. 1000 children, 50,000 women and there are so much lies on the coverage going on in north palestine were the told the people to go. instead of getting live coverage , we are getting these sad stories which really are said but america will never really get the other side, the opposing side. in the media, all they do is they have such sympathy for the

israelis. netanyahu actually stood in the you and before this happened but of a map which showed host: this is hawk out of south carolina, republican. caller: hello? host: good morning, you are on. caller: thank you. some of the people who call into your show don't know their history. the jewish people have been living in that part of the world for 3000 years. their narrow -- the never has been a country named palestine. most of the palestinians, 600

years ago were bedouins. they didn't have any homeplace. how would you like to live where you get up every day and be worried whether you are killed or not? thank you. host: this is the new york times --

back to your phone calls, about 20 minutes left in this opening segment and we are talking about the house speaker battle. we expect perhaps a floor vote tomorrow around lunchtime and

the ongoing israel-hummus were as well. maryland, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. there was 15 years of peace before hamas attacked israel last saturday. with the normalization of the ties of israel with saudi arabia and the two state solution, it was up for discussion. they did not want this to happen. the innocent palestinian civilians are suffering and the terrorists are not suffering. they are continuing with their rhetoric of having morris palestinians killed. israel does have the right to defend itself. who started this? it was hamas, not israel. host: this is philip from michigan, good morning. caller: good morning.

i wish you would show arafat during 9/11 as he told the children to stop celebrating because they teach the children in the schools that america and israel are the great satan. it seems to me that israel should just build bases there. i don't understand why they don't armed their citizenry. they will get attacked eventually so they should have guns like we do. thank you. host: have you seen the stories of people defending some of those settlements and taking up guns and were able to fight off some of the attacks and others did not. there were people who tried to defend the settlements. are you with us? caller: i don't understand why

they don't have guns like we do. if it happened here, we've all got guns. host: this isjose new mexico, independent. caller: i just wanted to say that for this conflict, they been able to bring them back. i was say to try to use the sanctions for both countries. host: what would you like to bring them back for? caller: to create a two state solution and put that on the table. they should not be reinventing the wheel.

the majority of the world supports the two state solution. host: this is hickory, north carolina, independent. caller: all right, i want to speak to everyone out here who is very sincere. particularly, i want to speak to the man in south carolina who said how would you feel the people were coming over and shooting at you every day? it's a heartrending situation. if you look at history, the fact of the matter is, if you ask the most religious jews, they

published a new york times full-page at one time and said the israeli nation has been told by god, do not take your land back by blood. and they took their land back by blood. menachem begin who won the nobel prize eventually after he evolved as a statesman, he started off as a terrorist and i'm looking at this on the internet, i'm not making this up. he was a terrorist and a murderer and then he became president and then he won a nobel prize. it started in blood and its historical. they warned the jewish people. host: joseph, republican in

queens, new york, good morning. caller: about the situation that's happening in israel -- it's a lot to blame the biden administration. they made i ran strong again. you talk about the $6 billion. because of the biden administration, they have gained of was $5 billion back in loosening their policies with iran. when democrats say we didn't touch the $6 million, they know they have plenty of money that's been given from iran to all these terrorists. you stop the money coming stop the horror. if you stop the money, you stop the horror. you have to go at iran and take out their refineries, end this right now.

the russians would be happy to take out their refineries. they would have to go by for the russians. they've never complained about the refineries. it's all about the money and once you take the money out, this ends. it's a sad thing that the media keeps saying there could be a solution. there will never be a solution and the media has to start admitting it. it will not accept the jewish state and israel has to fight every day you stay there. once they are honest and saying it will work out, it will never work out. they will never accept them and we need honesty. it's about time it breaks my heart.

the politicians have to take the money away. i'm so sad about it and the whole world is sad about it. it's devastating. i cry every day of what happened israel and i'm not jewish. i cry every day because it's wrong and the politicians made them strong again, the terrorists. they will never accept israel. israel must stand their ground every day. netanyahu dropped the ball. host: that's on the funding issue -- from today's washington times --

this is hattie out of arlington, texas, next. caller: good morning. i would like to talk about the house speaker. i just hope and pray that they are not getting ready to elect jim jordan. jim jordan is evil. i have never seen him on tv when he was so cool. it's going to be a recognition -- a reckoning. what is cruel about him? he doesn't know how to talk to people? he doesn't want to get along.

he wants to put on a show for the cameras. it's heartbreaking to see people we elected to act so terrible. it's like they want to start a war in the united states. host: this is jim glenn on facebook saying -- more from the sunday shows yesterday -- this was congressman dan crenshaw explaining why he's supporting jim jordan to be the next house speaker. [video clip] >> i should note there are

republicans who don't like jim jordan. there is the whole osu thing but people think he has a lot of baggage. then it goes to another round and then i've for the hypothetical where people say let's bring mccarthy back and that happens or mchenry gets it by default. is that possible? >> anything's possible but unlikely. mccarthy has to want to run. some members will vote for mccarthy. he has no intention of running. jordan has been a true ally to mccarthy. at least from everything i've seen and what mccarthy is saying now. what i would remind a lot of members who are against jordan, his reputation perceives

precedes him but it has changed over time. he has long since been part of the solution. >> should they give him additional powers? >> that requires a vote and what kind of powers? he defied the congressional subpoena to overturn the electoral votes. that's two thirds of the congress. host: republican, dan crenshaw yesterday on cnn. we are talking with you about the house speaker battle and the israel-hamas war. we are letting you weigh in on both of those topics.

this is ron in massachusetts, lined republicans. caller: thanks for taking michael. for jim jordan, i think he's got the strength and the ability to speak from the heart. it's unfortunate the house speaker has become such a power position but it has. so much for that. i think no one wins a ground war. it's the same in ukraine. ground wars only start when things are overwhelming. it's when the countries involved cannot take anymore. i lawson uncle on d-day. i lost an uncle on d-day.

people have the medical needs in gaza. there are 50,000 pregnant women in gaza. blockade the country and eliminate the terrorists with intelligence. find out where their underground positions are and eliminate the underground positions. you can do that by intelligence. controlling what goes in and out of the tunnels. i looked up a quick number and the united states in 2002 has produced two point forward and more in gdp dimly used.

we should be totally independent and be clear we do not have any enemies. we are a peaceful country. that's about it. that's my approach. thank you very much. host: you start off by talking about your concern about the power of the speaker position. here is an article in today's washington times --

this is cedar rapids, iowa, line for democrats. caller: thank you for taking my call. let he who is without sin cast the first stone. [inaudible] the mexican territory was taken from mexico. we need to recognize israel as

the only effective democracy in the middle east and our strongest ally in that region. just like a parent will discipline a child from time to time. host: one more story today on israel coming from reuters -- this was secretary blinken talking to reporters about that spillover.

[video clip] >> after we left israel, i've lost track but we going to six countries in the region. jordan, bahrain, cutter, the united arab emirates, saudi arabia and the purpose of seeing all of our partners was first and foremost to listen to them, to hear how they see this crisis and look at what we can do together to deal with many of the concerns. what i've heard from virtually every partner was the determination of a shared view that we have to do everything possible to make sure this does not spread other places. he shared view to safeguard innocent lives come a shared view to get assistance to palestinians in gaza needed -- who need it and we are working very much on that. i made clear that it cannot be, must not be business as usual

with hamas going forward. at the same time, we are determined to do everything we can to address the needs of people in gaza. we are now actively engaged with countries in the region, with united nations and with israel to make sure to the best of our ability that people can get out of harm's way and that the assistance they need can with food, the water from ms. get him -- that they can get in. host: the lead story in the new york times today -- a couple of minutes left in this first hour of the "washington journal." this is kentucky, independent,

good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i was listening to the other callers like the one from iowa who stole my thunder. he mentioned what happened with the native americans here and america and what happened to the people in mexico. i haven't heard anyone talk about peace. nobody is emphasizing peace and that's what we need to begin to do. we talk about when everyone wants to fight a war and every time a ship moves to another country, it costs money. right now, we almost shut the country down and the government down because of spending money in our own country. it costs money when we send ships everywhere. we need to develop a peaceful solution. that would be the best thing to do for everybody because wars never amount to anything more than a bunch of dead.

in the vietnam war, we went there to prevent the spread of communism and the only thing it caused was a lot of american deaths. people still remember those that van painful part of our history. we need to prevent wars and start living peaceful lifestyle. anything going on in israel, those conflicts are war. that means it's inhumane acts that are going on. innocent people die and the people that dire the ones that have nothing to do with it. caller: hi. i was calling about the coverage. i have seen washington journal maybe seven days a week.

you give a lot of -- you get a lot of hot shots about whether or not you are fair. most of my news comes from cbs, nbc, e -- abc. what i am seeing with these or correspondence seems twisted. these are the thing people who supposedly covered quite, arak, afghanistan -- iraq, afghanistan. inkblot of them do not see vietnam. none of them saw world war ii. that is pretty much 100 years old. host: what more would you like to see from a war correspondent to is there right now? caller: when they nation the scenes in the hospitals, and they are saying they are all on the floor and they do not have enough this or that, it is

always like that. most of the time, they do not have a hospital. people are always treated on the floor. people never have enough -- not enough blood, not enough to churches, not enough doctors -- sutures, not enough doctors. it feels as if something was so inhumane this time but it is always inhumane when it is work. host: our last caller in this first segment of the washington journal. stick around. more to talk about today. senior current -- congressional personn the christa case bryant joins us next for an update on the house speaker contest and the latest on legislation when it comes to the israel-hamas war. later, steve inskeep will join

us to discuss his latest book about how lincoln succeeded in a divided america. we will be right back. ♪ >> tonight, what c-span series in partnership with the library of congress, books that shift america will feature the common law written in 1881, two decades before the author would become a supreme court justice. controversial at the time, holmes wrote that the life of the law has not been logic. it has been experience. jeffrey rosen will join us to discuss. watch books that shaped america, featuring the common law,

tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span or on our app or online at c-span.org. also scan the qr code to listen to our companion podcast, where you can learn more about the authors of the books featured. ♪ >> historian andrew roberts called henneth rent out the manuscript whisper. his book is a bout his travels buying and selling historic letters and documents. the title of his book is safeguarding history: trailblazing adventures inside the world of collecting and forging history. one of the stories he tells his about his role in determining whether the heather diaries --

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app or wherever you get your podcast. >> washington journal continues. host: the scent of a week full of uncertainty in washington and around the world, we are going by christa case bryant, senior congressional correspondent for the christian science monitor. i want to start by laying out the state of play when it comes to the speakers race. we expect a floor vote around lunchtime tomorrow. went to be know about where jim jordan is to have the votes necessary? guest: there is a lot of skepticism that he will get to 217 to win outright red -- outright. he is paid to get people to his side. some of that has backfired -- he has tried to get people to his site. some of that has backfired.

host: there is an old saying in capitol hill when you have the votes you vote. if jim jordan does not have the votes yet, what is the point of voting tomorrow? guest: there is pressure to get this moving, and a lot of discontent about how long this is taking to get a new speaker. there is pressure to move ahead. i do not know how they will be calculating the value of doing that versus making sure he has 217 before going to the far. as we set in january, sometimes you need to move over it and it takes a number of rounds. host: is it worth going through it if he does not have the votes? what is the most likely path forward if there is a hold out on the floor every jordan as steve scalise came to the realization that there would be a block of republicans not voting for him. guest: one idea that has been

sorted is a bipartisan agreement, where several republicans, five or six, would support hickey jeffries -- i keep jeffries, or five or six democrats would support a republican speaker. but who will do that in this time a divided government? the more that this crisis gets strung out, people might take a second look at that. it is still unlikely but it is one scenario under discussion. another possibility -- unclear what powers patrick mchenry has as pro tem speaker. but he can either be elected as speaker pro tem, which might give him more authority to conduct business on the house floor, or there could be a

privileged resolution to give him temporary powers for 45 or 60 days to get us through the continuing resolution to november 17 so we can keep the government funded and the deal with our allies. but it is a tim mcgraw certainty. even reporters on the hill are the older about how things have gone down. host: to the israel-hamas war, senator schumer was in israel over the weekend, promised a resolution expressing senate support for israel. what more do we know about that? i we are expecting any opposition to a resolution like that in the senate? guest: i think the current environment is such that there will be strong support for that on both sides of the aisle. in the house, there is more than

400 people who have cosponsored a similar resolution. they have not been able to bring it to the floor because of the speakership race. schumer has asked committee heads to start working on an aid package that could be ready to go as soon as the houses able to pass legislation again. he is acting expeditiously to try to express support in philosophical and tangible ways for israel. host: have the contours of the aid package coming to focus? guest: i am not aware of exactly tells. major -- exact details. one major issue is the iron dome. they will be needing additional interceptors at some point. that would be 80 part of any pack -- a key part of any package. host: setting the stage for our

discussion with christa case bryant of the christian science monitor. she joins us at the outset of a busy week. phone lines are open to during the conversation. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000/. independents, (202) 748-8002. you were the middle east editor for the christian science monitor for 6 years starting back in 2009. what was your reaction saturday when these reports started coming in? what sort of context can you add? have you been to these places where the attacks happened? guest: it has echoes of the 2014 war with gaza, which i covered from the israeli side. however, this is different.

the scale and nature of the attacks by hamas that precipitated these really airstrikes in gaza are like nothing israel has ever seen before. it has been called israel's 9/11. but if you look at the scale of casualties, it is up to 1400 killing on the israeli side in a country of about 95 4 million. compared to the population of the u.s., it works out to about 50,000 people. that is way more than the people killed here in 9/11. you cannot underestimate the shockwaves that that is sent out across the israeli public. everyone knows someone affected, murdered, taken hostage and they are not sure if they are in thousands somewhere and have not been identified -- and they are not sure if they are in gaza somewhere and if not been identified yet. some of the israelis i have

talked to in the last week, the number one thing that has stuck out to me is the way they are talking about what they want to see in gaza, particularly the efforts they will go to to spare civilian lives. in 2014, there was so much focus on saying the israeli military is the most moral army in the world. we are protecting civilian life, sending warnings ahead of time, asking people to leave. they can even precision bomb certain levels of an apartment building to spare the other residents. this time, i've heard from so many different sources that it would be great if civilians can get out, but if they can, i do not care. i just want gaza turned into a parking lot. that intense anger is driving a stronger respect box. -- response.

there have been a number of conflicts between israel and hamas before, but israel, every few years if they felt islamist militants were getting more audacious or that the leadership was becoming too strong, they would mow the grass. they would go into gaza, want some airstrikes, and cut off that layer of leadership, wait another two years and do it again. the feeling this time is that mowing the grass did not work. we said we were taking out hamas but we did not really this time we need to fully demolish them. you also asked about the places affected. one thing that is important to note is that right along the border with gaza, one person said these are the best people israel has. these are the people who believe more than anybody that coexisting as possible. they knew they would not be best friends with bill in gaza but

felt it was possible to live side-by-side. for those people to be the ones on the frontlines lines of this incredibly brutal attack, i think, has made it particularly difficult for the israelis. host: how much interaction was there between these people and the people who lived in gaza? guest: during the 1970's and 1980's, there was not a border. one guy who's dad was a police officer in gaza remembers the people would get their cars fixed in gaza, go to the dentist there. people would build houses on the israeli side and find work there. there was a lot of back-and-forth. for a time, israelis lived in gaza. there are people who lived there for a while and had personal interactions with people from gaza and were familiar with that territory themselves. host: these settlements were

outside of gaza itself. there is also a lot of discussion about settlements in the west bank and regulars are and whether that is approaching -- encroaching on palestinian territory. can you explain? guest: israeli settlement in the west bank, the population there has grown significantly. it is more than 600,000. but i do not know the exact figures now. that fundament lock has become more influential politically as well. that is part of the concern about this current government being more right wing -- they are beholden to assess our interests. they were prioritizing that. there is criticism that the israeli military would focus more on -- in the north bank to

the exclusion of paying attention to the gaza border. the sellers in the west bank have gained in political influence. there has been increasing tension between the israelis in the palestinians in the west bank. one potential area where this conflict could grow beyond gaza, and it is starting to happen, is that israelis in the west bank into agonizing palestinian neighbors or vice versa. it is hard to overstate just how interlocked these communities are in the west bank it would be very difficult for the israeli military -- you cannot put in while every community in the west bank. that will be one area they will need to keep even if they push this major offensive in gaza. host: i will bring in some callers. this is sergio out of florida,

republican. caller: good morning. a couple of things that are bothering me -- first, republicans should not have control of the house, because they make a dilemma of the situation. democrats should have control, because they would know how to have a speaker that knows how to bring order to the house. also, i deal sorry for the hamas because of what they have been through. but there should have been a different course on not having a war with israel. how can we stop this before it

goes further in damaging to israel? also, i have respect for president biden standing up for israel. how can we solve the problem? host: two different questions there. which do you want to take? in what order? guest: we can start with the house. a lot of people feel that the republican inability to appoint a new speaker nearly two weeks after kevin mccarthy was ousted is embarrassing. many republicans feel that way i understand your concern and wanting to see democrats take control. there is the perception that hakeem jeffries would be an evenhanded speaker, but the speaker needs in majority of the house to be elected. we have to see if enough republicans share your view and are willing to back hakeem jeffries or if the republicans will coalesce around someone.

host: do you think this will have an impact on 202413 months from now -- 2024 13 months from now? will people not vote for a republican because of this? guest: hard to say. for site things could be so different in a year. it depends in part on how this conflict between israel and hamas unfold and to what extent it becomes a broader regional conflict? to what extent is the u.s. doing more than providing aid? there is a growing, increasingly urgent desire on the part of our allies for the u.s. to express strong leadership. the lack of a speaker in the house is undermining that perception. there has been a lot of concern around the world and in our own country going, particularly

since january 6, 2021, about american government becoming completely dysfunctional. our adversaries would love to say that democracy does not work. it is imperative that the u.s. government get its act together to prove that it does still have that moral leadership in the world and the ability to lead and help its allies so that other allies know they can count on u.s. support. that is something numbers of the week -- members of the republican caucus are learning -- looking to demonstrate. host: the best way to help israel in the middle east? what are people telling you about sergio's questions? what can we do? guest: we have already seen the president and congress and secretary of state do a lot come

out very strongly in support their ally israel. they have been unequivocal about that. strict carriers in the mediterranean, -- strike carriers in the mediterranean, blinken going all over the middle east, and marathon appearances, trying to negotiate for americans in gaza. they have come out of the gate with strong, unequivocal response. that is an important first step. it is also important to keep tabs on the region and how this could spiral. we have hezbollah in lebanon, which has a bigger arsenal than hamas. they are backed by iran. it has opened the second front that is getting iranian proxies

involved. that could drive the salaries. it becomes -- saudis. it becomes a bigger issue. the big thing now is trying to contain this conflict, doing everything possible to minimize civilian casualties, keeping things in accord with international law and the law of warfare. it is an important question to say how can we solve this? that should be the number one question on everyone's mind. grady effort going into figuring this out. host: catherine, minnesota, line for independents. caller:. good morning. i am concerned about the concept from the standpoint that i think the palestinians seen staff. the israelis, anybody would understand the need and responsibility to defend themselves against the kind of thing that happened. it is just shocking to me.

even the incident that happened 50 years ago in israel was military and military. it is shocking that this turned into such a people conflict. they are asking palestinians to leave, but it does that sound like there is anywhere for them to go. it sounds like egypt may not be letting them in, not enough water in the area. it is concerning to me that all the people involved on both sides, i do not understand how anybody is going to protect both the israeli and palestinian people. i do not really understand what hamas is and what their goal is. how they have been somewhat governing the palestinian people in the region, i guess. i do not understand the conflict enough, but it is on to me -- it is odd to me that we have this

kind of activity going on. i do not know how we can protect it and not open up more of a war. we are involving these other nations who are admittedly not too anything. i do not know how we will protect the world. i would advise people to pray for peace. i am concerned about all the people of this region. host: thanks. let me bring in christa case bryant. one thing she asked about his i do not understand hamas's goals. guest: hamas's founding charter calls for the destruction of israel. that is important to understand. also, in addition to their armed wing, they have a broad network of social services that they provide. that is one reason why they were able to win elections in 2006, the year after israel pulled

out. the following year, they had another civil war and kicked the palestinian faction out of gaza. they have risen to power through a combination of providing tangible support for impoverished palestinians and also this militant vision of how to pursue palestinian nationalism. that i would savings their goal and a net shall. was there a second part you wanted to follow-up on? host: the history of hamas is helpful here in understanding -- a couple of callers said this morning that they are trying to differentiate between hamas and palestine. how big of a representative of gossett is hamas? -- of gaza is hamas?

guest: that depends on how you define a must. somebody put it in terms of 30,000 hamas folks pulling 2 million people -- holding 2 million people hostage. anything you say is controversial in this conflict. some would say everybody is hamas. if they did not care about hamas, they would have kicked them out of power a long time ago. but remember these are people who are stuck in this tiny territory. are you going to risk angering the one power in control of everything in your life, especially if you are not sure you can overthrow the? -- them? in their point i would make about where these people can grow, israel has called for them to move to the south. yesterday they said from 10:00

a.m. to 1:00 p.m., we will leave a corridor open so you can move south. hamas has a perched cash has encouraged everybody to say. they say we need to stand our ground, not back down in face of the aggressor. egypt has been reluctant. the one exit from gaza not controlled by israel crosses into egyptian territory. egypt is concerned about letting a mass exodus of refugees in. they have had problems over the years. they worked hard to crackdown on that. if they work to that in light of gazans in right now at this moment of incredible fervor, frustration, anger, and they do not know how many hamas people might come and will that create more problems or just a burden on egyptian society to figure

out what to do with refugees? it has been a perennial issue. the arab world loves to champion the cause of palestinians, but when it comes to providing refuge in their countries, or figuring out how arab countries can help in tangible ways, it has been a challenge to get that support. host: let me try to get one or two more calls. ronald, florida, democrat. caller: good morning. i have two comments. first, i do not understand, c yan -- synai is a large area. i do not understand why the egyptian government cannot allow

at least a temporary government. they all claim to be concerned about the palestinians. they should do what they can to get these people into safety. host: kristen, why cannot not happen? guest: certainly, growth countries have significant resources. perhaps that could be a possibility. egyptians would still be reluctant because of the security reasons. host: what has been that relationship historically between egypt and the gaza strip? guest: difficult. egypt, because of their concerns about terrorism and the sinai peninsula. and gaza for many years has felt like an unsolvable issue. neither israel nor egypt was wanted to take the responsibility in figuring out

with the end goal is there. host: steve out of hanover, maryland, republican. caller: you please touch upon trumpism in a holistic manner vis-a-vis his notion of america first neutrality, as well as his affect on republicans choosing a speaker of the house? thanks. host: good question. guest: i think we cannot understate the role that tom may be playing behind the seat -- trump a be playing behind the scenes. he wields significant influence over the republican party. the extent to which that will continue next year when the presidential election remains to be seen. this israel conflict and the proposed addition who may take, the number one challenge to

america first approach may be israel because it is america's closest ally. that will be interesting to see what extent the republican party is willing to engage in further global conflicts, if it is to help an ally. but i wanted to come back to one question about the west bank and the settlers there and how that is affecting the situation. you are getting at something that i did not address, which is there has been rising concerns about the way israel is expanding into palestinian territories. there is a great deal of frustration among palestinians. it has been more than 30 years since the oslo accords. we agreed to certain parameters, once -- one of which was you have control over areas a and b of the west bank and the israelis would maintain control over area c.

now israel has been moving more and more towards annexing area seeing, two thirds of the west bank. they already have control of electricity, rose. if you want car insurance, that is considered israel. for all intents and purposes, two thirds of the west bank is functioning as if it were part of israel even though it is not recognized as such by the international community. you cannot underestimate the frustration that that is causing amongst palestinians who won a state of their own and are not seeing any fruits from having agreed to negotiations. that is a lot of what is driving that here. the palestinian leader in the west bank, i believe is in his late 80's. is it when he passes on, it is likely that hamas could take over in the west bank.

that is an important backdrop to all of this and the reason why -- and another reason why u.s. leadership is needed. host: this is jason in baltimore, merrick garland -- baltimore, maryland. caller: i believe that this is america's issue. the two state solution goes back to 1967. when obama suggested that israel should go back to the 1967 borders, he was called -- this has to do with occupation. on the supporting financing and protecting israel throughout this occupation. when hamas was elected gaza, israel blockaded gaza.

-- no water, food going to gaza. israel controls the calories that palestinians consume. america stayed directly supporting this -- america is directly supporting this. host: i think i got your point. if we can come to those issues, the claim -- and the prospect of a two state solution. guest: i am glad you brought up the blockade. that is something we had not gotten to yet. israel has effectively cordoned off the gaza strip. but it is not complete cordoning off. there have been provisions to get supplies into gaza, but it is complicated. i remember going in, i think it

was after 2014, and doing a whole piece. we've had all these houses and buildings destroyed. the number one thing you need to rebuild his cement. i was interviewing people about how you get cement in and what are the procedures by which the u.n. ensures cement will rebuild homes, not to reinforce the underground tunnels of hamas? basically, from everything i could tell, there was no good system in place. the u.n. had different mechanisms, but it seemed like there were so many different loopholes that hamas could exploit. i think this is true of so many things but especially important in this conflict is there is a lot of nuance and complexity. it is important to make sure you

are understanding the full picture. yes, there has been a cordoning off of the strip that has been supported by the u.s. the u.s. is giving tremendous aid to israel. it is the only democracy in the middle east. there is a lot of feeling that the u.s. is a defective supporter of israeli occupation, but -- de facto supporter of israeli occupation but there are other things to be aware of that complicate the situation. it is important to avoid the detrimental narrative. host: for more, go to the christian science monitor, cs monitor.com. thanks for staying past time. coming up in 25 minutes, npr morning edition host steve

inskeep will join us to discuss his book different we must: how lincoln succeeded in a divided america here yet and tell then, you can call in. phone numbers are on your screen. we'll get to your calls after the break. ♪ >> live sunday, november 6, on in-depth, nadine stross and joined book tv to talk about civil-rights, free-speech, censorship, and more. she is the offer -- author of defending pornography and a guide to free speech law.

join the conversation with your calls and texts. in-depth with needing stross and on sunday, november 5 on book tv and c-span2. >> sees benson studentcam documentary competition is back -- seized and's studentcam documentary competition is back. we ask little and high school students to create a video addressing these questions -- what has been the most important change in america? we are giving away $100,000 in total prizes with a grand prize of $100,000 and every teacher who participates -- the

etitn deadline is friday, y 19, 2024. for more information, visit our website at studentcam.org. >> we are asking you what books you think shaped america. >> you conjuring in the conversation by submitting your pick for the book you think helped shaped this country. just go to our website c-span.org/bo oksthatshapedamerica. in 30 secondsr less, tell us your pick and why. ♪ >> washington journal continues. host: time for our open forum.

any issue, the phone lines are yours. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. the defendant will be in today. they -- the senate will be in today. also, discussion on the dangers of reporting in a conflict zone. diane foley will talk about her son, james foley, captured and killed by isis terrorists. she is speaking at me vent today. we will air it live at 11:00 a.m. eastern. you can watch here c-span.org or on c-span now. now, your phone calls.

any public policy or political issue you want to talk about. this is todd in west virginia, independent. caller: i am worried about -- what i am thinking about is that nobody is talking about why is hamas wanting to kill all the jews? what did they think -- why do they hate israel so much? this is a religious war. why are they wanting to kill all the jews? the jews believe in god, right? islam believes in a god.

i want to know why are they wanting to kill all the jews? host: 20 think happens in the coming days or weeks or -- what do you think happens in the coming days or weeks or however long this goes? guest: i think it is going to keep getting worse. i ran -- iran, we will have to do something with iran. i do not understand democrats acting like iran ain't got nothing to do with it. what do they have to do? i understand. we all believe in a god. why are we wanting to kill each other? host: this is the lead story in today's new york times, focusing

on acne blinken's -- anthony blinken's trip in the middle east, diplomacy to curtail the siege and fears of wider war, that is the lead story in the new york times. usa today, israel notifies families of hostages that is the war rages on, palestinians try to flee south. the story noting that within 600,000 palestinians have been evacuated from northern gaza. is and authorities have notified families that loved ones are being held by hamas. that is the lead of usa today that alan, arkansas, independent. caller: i calling for a promotion and a request that you

invite the most brilliant analyst and reporter from ukraine. she has a daily blog that is now up to almost 100,000 subscribers. her name is ana from ukraine. i started watching a year ago. i thought, i am going to look at all the different episodes -- someone that is such a great analyst and trustworthy. i have listened to every single blog she has produced daily, every day. i would like for you to invite her on your program for half an

hour. i was a news director 50 years ago. i looked up your ceo when he started his career. i started a million for he did, interview -- a little before he did, interview people for our programs 50 years ago. just in the stiff folks. -- a list of folks. i got the most brilliant person i ever heard speak was jeanne kirkpatrick from 50 years ago. from ukraine, it is absolutely the most brilliant analyst. she is a phd and teacher and has this daily commentary.

i am a conservative calling on the independent line. i am for any conservative point of view. i have supported every republican position that is a conservative position. republicans support -- republicans, support ukraine. do not make that issue now. you can settle some other monetary or defensive issue some other time, but on ukraine, we need to support them. if you listen to this woman, she is the most brilliant person. host: so i am clear, telling the truth about the war in ukraine for they, -- clearly, ana from

ukraine, that is what you are recommending? i googled it. i found the youtube page. how do you -- how did you come across her? caller: last july, i started googling searches for some point of view about the war in ukraine. i see this woman on air, the most passionate, articulate. i just you. everyone, you can look for yourselves and ask who is more brilliant and articulate. invite her on if you will, please, for a program. host: time will take a look. thanks. always appreciate suggestions from callers. you can keep calling in.

phone lines as usual. shelby is a politics reporter joining us via zoom this morning. updates on the week ahead on the campaign trail. thanks for being here this morning. what is happening on the campaign trail this week? guest: a lot is happening. from this headed to new york from one of his legal cases. -- trump is headed to new york from one of his legal cases, ron desantis to south carolina, some candidates to iowa. at the end of the month, all candidates will be headed to las vegas for the republican jewish coalition, which in the rate -- wake of what is going on in israel has become increasingly important. they have started releasing fundraising numbers. we get to see where they are headed. there is a lot going on.

host: dive into this fundraising numbers. always a lot in this group arts. what is the take away so far? guest: donald trump has raised the most. tim scott has a lot of cash on hand as well, which is not incredibly surprising, given how much he got into the race with. he did not raise as much of some of the other candidates that he has more cash on hand. ron desantis has less than previous quarters. nikki haley, we have seen a rise in fundraising numbers, which speaks to her campaign's argument that she has momentum and that she is the one who is coming up ahead. host: we talked about the week ahead. the candidates were recently in new hampshire tackling to voters. what did we find out from there

visits to that primary state? guest: new hampshire has been interesting. it is an area that a lot of them have not been as focused on. all of the candidates have been making on iowa. we have seen ron desantis going to every county in iowa. his campaign has maintained that that is where donald trump is at his weakest. on the flipside, chris christie has solely focus on new hampshire. that is where he sees his opportunity. as we get closer to the primaries, we are seeing candidates ranch out and go to these other early voting states that they have not been to as much. ron desantis came over, talked about freedom that these events. that will be important with new hampshire and iowa voters but it

is also an opportunity to win over independents in these states. it would be interesting to see how big of an effort they put into new hampshire versus iowa. host: we are talking about independents. rfk junior is talking about winning over independents. a story you wrote about his campaign, time readying attacks over rfk junior as concern over a spoiler candidacy goes. why is donald trump worried about our of plea junior? guest: majority of the polls show that rfk junior is more popular among republicans and democrats. it makes sense that trump's team would keeping an eye on him. this is partially because of

kennedy's focus on covid vaccines that have pulled republican support and at the same time made democrats where he -- weary. what we are seeing in the weeks after my peace is published is more animosity from the republican side. the rnc, a few hours after my peace was published, started launching attacks against kennedy. the trump team has told me they plan to remind voters that he has historically liberal views. this will be something to keeping an eye on as we head into a general. will an independent spoil the race for either candidate? at this point, it looks like trump's team is more nervous than bidens. host: i want to look ahead to

november 8, third republican debate set in miami. what will you be watching for? guest: the first thing is who makes the debate stage. one of the arguments i have been hearing from these campaigns is the field will naturally would allow. will hello live -- will hurd recently dropped out, endorsed nikki haley. some others seem close to dropping out. who will make the debate stage is going to be back, but at the same time, i will be looking for if anyone can really break out. these last two, even as nikki haley has argued she broke out, so has ron desantis it has not been shown in the poll numbers. i am looking to see if anyone can use these debates and get serious momentum, not just to

get into a second-place but take it to trump. host: semaphore.com is where you can go to read shelby's coverage of campaign 2024 and all things politics appreciate your time. talk to you again down the road of the campaign trail. back to your phone calls as we continue with the open forum, any issue you want to talk about. this is alan. he has been waiting on the line for democrats here in washington, d.c. caller: i hope i got the focus right. i have been waiting waiting. i am not going to talk too long just want to talk about programming. simpson -- it seems that part of the problem we're having is programming. is that what you call it, tv or

radio programming? election coverage of this step in the middle east -- i am watching coverage of this stuff in the middle east. dense area, not much for people to go and be comfortable in order to growth. and to order people into an already crowded place, it seems unfair. in the coverage, it is like when i am watching them talking about the destruction in israel. they are showing the destruction that is happening in gaza that talking about how bad it was in israel. seems distracted, disingenuous. -- disjointed, disingenuous.

and overhearing here, we have folks who are so far removed from what is going on. in reality, everybody is using this anecdotal evidence, spewing talking points, doing the same thing over and over again. that has been happening for decades. seems like we are never ending cycle of total confusion. host: this is anthony a short, new york, independent. -- bay shore, new york, independent. caller: first, a little background. i am not a political man. i am a disabled american veteran. this question has probably been answered so many times. this is the first time i have

been watching c-span about this. my question is, why are we worried about what other countries are doing to each other when we have more things going on here in america that we should fix first? i know about allies, politics, but i am a war veteran. i thought for other countries in the past to have their independence, but i do not understand why we are spreading ourselves so stan -- crane commit -- so thin, ukraine, israel. everything going on, military members are killing themselves every day. why aren't we worried about that? why aren't we worried about the

homeless population? more americans are becoming poverty-stricken. they cannot afford their bills. why are we worried about everybody else and the budget when we cannot even take care of ourselves? host: where did you serve? caller: i served in the persian gulf. i messed saudi arabia by going completely around the world on a ship. i was in the desert in quite -- kuwait. host: this is carly and philadelphia, democrat. good morning. caller: i wanted to talk about history around the creation of palestine.

the league of nations, in 1922, essentially recognize palestine. prior to that, israelis and the jews in palestine lived together in peace. in they lived together in peace. in 1948, what happened was the state of israel waited for the league of nations deployment. it was the state of declaration or something. they waited for that to expire to then establish the state of israel. since 1948, there has been a 75 year war that is still going on today, just -- to dispel the palestinians from their land.

and with that -- so really, the problem is israel. if you want to go current times, hamas. in 2021, they wanted a cease-fire. there were two conditions met. host: it was a week ago saturday when those attacks happened. caller: i condemn all the attacks. what hamas wanted was israel to stop the forced evacuation of palestinian residents. these are conditions with accordance to international law not just hamas.

they wanted a cease-fire. israel, in 2021 said no. host: carly, our last caller in this open forum. ground. an hour left. we will be joined by the co-author -- the cohost of npr and co-author of his latest book , hallie deegan succeeded in a divided america. stick around for that discussion. we will get your calls, after the break. ♪ >> historian andrew roberts called him the manuscript

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interviewers. on q&a, here wide-ranging conversations. they are weekly, our long conversations that feature fascinating authors of nonfiction books on a wide variety of topics. it takes you behind-the-scenes of the publishing industry. industry updates and bestsellers list. download the free c-span now app or wherever you get your podcast. c-span.org/podcast. >> washington journal continues. host: joining us now, his latest book is called did for, we must. the npr story that i read estimated there are about 15,000 books written about abraham

lincoln. he is the most written about person in history aside from jesus christ. will this add to our understanding? guest: he give me an estimated 18,000 books yesterday. here is my answer. i am a journalist covering a diverse and fractious country. my perspective is looking at how he dealt with his time. i tried to conduct the story of his life with people who differed from him. different race, different gender and above all, different opinion. he was a politician, dealing with people and trying to get something out of them. host: 16 conversations. 16 is a good number.

the title comes from a letter that lincoln wrote. who he -- who was he writing to? >> he was writing to is friend joshua who came from a slave family. lincoln befriended him and they were very close. he admitted -- lincoln road, you are not serious about ending slavery politically. i disagree with you there. having said that, he did not disown his friend. he said if we must differ, differ we must. he signed it, your friend, forever. he kept working on him and eventually got used out of him when the civil war came and lincoln was president. joshua helped him hang on -- hand over the union to the state of kentucky.

host: how did you find these people? how did you choose them? guest: i get excited about something and i start writing. getting stuck tells me that i do not know enough yet. a few of these characters that i would include, frederick douglass is one of them. but others, i had no idea about until i began my research. a woman who dressed as a union soldier appeared in lincoln's office. a haitian immigrant had something to do with lincoln's famous beard. there are a number of radicals, people we had no idea about.

i've recognized all the books that are out there, but there is a lot this work that has been new to people that have read it. host: you focus on the fact that abraham lincoln was a polici. people like to identify him in certain ways, but is revered location is not revered at all. lincoln persevered and preserved the country and took part in a social revolution because of the engagement politics. guest: yes so disgusted with politics, but the reality is that, you cannot really say you are in favor of democracy and not participate, on some level, in politics, whether it is voting intelligently, paying

attention to the issues or any number of ways to be involved. politics is essential and i think that is something we should use to judge our political leaders. i think a lot of us tend to demand that our political leaders prevail 100% of the time and if they do not, they are weak and betraying us and a number of other things and what politics requires is dealing with other people, not compromising your beliefs, but figuring out practical ways to get things done. host: the focus is his new book, how lincoln succeeded in a divided america. if you want to join the conversation, this is how you can do so. go ahead and start calling in. explain to us.

guest: he is one of the figures that i knew very little about going in, but i did not know who joshua was. he was an antislavery congressman who served in congress at the same time that abraham lincoln did. now, in that period, it was considered extremely controversial to speak and congress at all about slavery. there was a gag rule about talking about it. joshua got in trouble for raising the issue in congress, so much trouble that his colleagues voted to censure him. he resigned from congress, went back home to ohio and won the special elections. he came back and continued battling against slavery to the extent that he infuriated his colleagues.

lincoln was not someone who went around infuriating people but found a way to work with him and collaborated, but failed to abolish slavery in the district of columbia. host: we know him as honest abe. where did he learn about his ability to relate to people? is that true? guest: he studied people his whole life. when the conversation was over, he would have a million questions about what was said. he was thinking about people and human nature, but i want to know . you mentioned is folksy stories. he was apparently very funny, but the record of his jokes leave much to be desired. he was apparently an entertaining storyteller, but he

did not always tell them what they wanted to know. he could use his stories to change the subject or to avoid saying what his -- what they wanted to know. withholdings a much as to convey nothing to the person he was talking with. he was not dishonest. he was not a liar but he was exceptionally careful about what was said. host: interesting that you talk about that story. he made promises to them and he made promises that were at odd -- at odds with other politics. >> i think lincoln avoided those kinds of things by falling silent.

without commenting exactly on mccarthy, democrats thought he had promised to put something in place. he somehow never managed to satisfy. lincoln would cultivate slightly different versions of himself for different people. you could sense that in meeting accounts of him. but he would not promise one thing to someone and something else to another. host: this is stephen in virginia beach, virginia. caller: good morning. i am just listening in. i was in the military hoping to be a chaplain. i have known the story about the

young man from richmond. i guess -- i knew that they served in the confederacy. i heard from the one gentleman who took over a confederate ship. all the union soldiers were down in the hole. he stole the gun from the captain and captured the captain. then he captured the guy with his feet on the railing. he helped all the union soldiers to get away and they took the boat back to the union side, that that was a very interesting story. host: a couple good stories

there. guest: the second story i do not know about, but the other, there is some truth to that was a man who shipped himself in a box, but it was a creative way to escape. people had to try creative things. i think lincoln would agree that not all people in the south were bad. almost troubling to people that people essentially responded to their interests. they acted out of self interest. in talking with anti-slavery audiences in the north, he said, we are all against slavery and we know it is wrong, but we should not act morally superior to the other side. they have inherited this system, a terrible system. the people saying here is the system, which he always considered a moral.

he always denounced it. but he had a way of -- he did not make it personal or act superior. he was very careful about the way he spoke. he focused as much as humanly possible as -- on preserving the union. he didn't keep a majority of the country behind the union, which is why the u.s. -- it is why they won. he was also criticized in the board. it was obvious to frederick douglass, another major character in this book, that the way to defeat the south, which had started the war to protect

slavery. lincoln was slow to do that. i think it was because he was trying to focus on the broadest coalition. host: the line for democrats. you are up next. caller: thank you so much. i so appreciate you. i cannot wait to get your book. my husband loved lincoln. i have all kinds of books, but it comes from a different perspective, but i like that. he uses primary sources, which is nice. i am not online anymore, but he uses -- he spent a lot of time in new york, researching.

he always refers to primary resources. when he be interested in that? i thank you so much. bless your heart. guest: i appreciate the idea of going to primary sources. i would even say -- if we see a really brief quote that makes someone seem outrageous, it is always good to go for the full quote. what did they mean? host: let's talk about the archives and the most unusual or interesting thing that you found. guest: i received -- i researched all of my books. amazing research for topic after topic. a lot of the research this time, i had to do it online. it was during a pandemic.

they have amazing online resources. you can look at the letters that lincoln wrote. one of the most fascinating things that i looked at. i looked at the library of congress and i was shown the original papers and the incredible collection there. it was something that somebody had printed and printed out. it has been preserved for generations and an old carpet bag. that was all kinds of colors, like a rainbow. it looks like a work of art with the words of abraham lincoln, the early draft. he wrote it down and gave it to a printer. he wanted to share it with

people and see what they thought. it was incredible despite the terrible way that it was kept for generations. caller: are you able to hear me? host: yes, sir. go ahead with your comment or question. caller: i do have a question. are you able to hear me? good. i was going to say, i as an african-american find it a little disingenuous that people can say they know what abraham lincoln would have done when he was killed after the war. the point i want to make is lincoln was republican but the confederates were democrats. and the last point that i would like to make about this is, i just find it outrageous that you

would say that what was important were these peoples feelings when black people were being enslaved, murdered and exploited. i think it is an inappropriate comparison. i have other thoughts. guest: there is a lot there. what i am reporting to you is what i find in the document, the way that i read lincoln's speeches and everything else. his confirm speeches and letters -- there has been so much research. they fell eight whole volumes. i think lincoln was very careful in the way that he spoke to people and the way he spoke about people. there is no question about your description of the slave system as being horrific, barbaric and inhumane.

arguably the worst crime in american history. lincoln was always against that system. host: could a better public speaker have avoided a civil war and ended slavery? guest: thank you for that question. i think not. i am tempted to say, i hope not. we certainly would not have wanted to see the deadliest war in american history, americans killing americans, but the war came about because of the confrontation over the slave system, which was deep-rooted by prejudice, custom, tradition and bylaw and economic interests. it was very hard to address. southern states started the war. could someone who was a better

negotiator have avoided that? i do not know. before the war started, the proposed compromise would have enshrined slavery in the constitution. there would have been a constitutional amendment protecting slavery. i do not think there are many who would say it would have been a good compromise. he tried to get him to sign on, but it was more than he and his party could do. host: coming back to one of those reactions, what we learn from the relationship between the president and him?

guest: it gets to the value of cooperating with people you disagree with. you feel frustrated talking with a person who differs with you because you think, i am not going to convert them to my point of view. they are not going to change. that is true, but there is way to get value. lincoln promoted mcclellan as an up-and-coming general to command the most important army. he was commander in chief across the country. lincoln was monumentally frustrated by him. they disagreed about how to prosecute the war. they disagreed about everything, really. mcclellan showed contempt for lincoln and insulted him in various ways. lincoln waited for an hour in the sitting room and mcclellan finally came home and went up to bed without saying hello.

he was insulting the president of the united states, but in the end, lincoln maneuvered him out of power. which dell and got this guy who disagreed with them about everything, even disagreed with him about slavery. mcclellan did not believe in emancipating enslaved people during the war, if ever. lincoln used him and finally got a victory out of him. mcclellan inadvertently played a major role. host: you say that lincoln used him. but they did not walk away feeling used? guest: i suppose in some cases

they might have walked away feeling used. mcclellan was not happy with lincoln, ever. use the tools we have is a statement that was made about the clothing. host: we are talking about how lincoln succeeded in a divided america. about 30 minutes left for you to call in. england's throne, maryland. you are up next. caller: can you hear me? i lived 15 years in charleston, south carolina.

my patients are mostly african-american. many were direct descendants of slaves. host: enter question? caller: my patients were these people who were descendants of slaves in south carolina. guest: let me mention that i think is valuable for us to think about today. 1977, noting that you were talking with had been alive at the time of slavery. nobody had been enslaved, yet it seems clear from your description, that they were dealing with the legacy of slavery, which included a caste system in the south, segregation that lasted centuries -- a

century after slavery itself. a reminder of why it is important for us to know the history. william foster said the past is not even past. host: saying, i do not tnk your guest should compare lincoln's anybody today. it is a snake pit called social media. lincoln had a much greater advantage to not having the internet. guest: that might be true. especially because he was careful about what he said and only address things that he wanted to address. there would have been a comment on every tweet. we have some people who would have embarrassed themselves that way, over time. i do want to mention that in lincoln's time, the u.s. had

very few daily newspapers. they went to a country where there were hundreds of daily newspapers and being delivered back out again by railroad across the country. it dramatically set up. lincoln was innovative. he voted a lot of newspaper articles early in his career. they were political in nature. in later years, she learned how to use an open letter and just the way that he wanted. host: good morning. caller: i think we are in a civil war right now. republicans and democrats do not want to get along. they do not know how to get

along. we have a house that is divided. we have everybody divided and the biden administration are fighting each other. american people's lives with inflation, with oil prices, with everything. host: that is a good point. how can we apply those lessons to today? guest: i appreciate your concerns and i validate your feeling of concern. i do not feel that we are in a civil war. i understand that republicans and democrats in many cases are not supposed to get along.

it is a free society. a lot of us will disagree, but what we struggle with today is that we need to get a majority of us to agree on ways to keep the country moving and keep it moving forward. we are in the middle of a kind of crisis right now because republicans who have majority in the house of representatives could not pass the budget bill to keep the government going. kevin mccarthy reached out to the other side to extend the deadline, and a small majority did not like that and voted to depose him. i will not say it is good or bad. there are some who might think it was normal and necessary, but it is not the way to do business. it troubled a lot of people.

inflation has been coming down. there is a lot of fear about 2024, but we will have to manage that, day by day. it is interesting. i do not know that hope is exactly the word for lincoln's view of the world. he is often called a fatalist. sometimes he would think that other powers guided things. occasionally he would refer to that power as god. his beliefs were a little hard to track. he managed, because of his sense -- he managed to keep an even keel. he dealt with depression and melancholy but he managed to keep himself stable, trying to change what he could,

understanding the limitations of everything going on in the world. host: he is the cohost of the morning edition of npr talking with us about his latest book. plenty more calls for you. good morning. caller: a very good conversation this morning. i wanted to comment on what that lady said earlier. that guy -- we might find out the history of that guy as well. host: good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say this. i am a historian.

i studied history in my spare time. one of the things i want to talk about is the assassination of president lincoln. he freed the slaves in the south . i know that if he had the chance -- and we had andrew jackson. he flipped everything on its head. all the progress was taken away. and another thing, i believe that the confederates committed treason and should have been hung.

host: let's focus on that, what happened to former confederates after the war? it speaks -- guest: there was a person who said earlier that we should not say what lincoln should have done. there is some fairness to that. the truth is that everybody on all sides treated lincoln as a martyr and said, if only lincoln had lived, reconstruction would have worked out far better. everybody tried to use him in some way. i appreciate 70 people calling in, who have their own handhold on this. a lot of us have -- it is great to sort through the meaning of it all. but i feel like i am dodging

your question. your question was? yes, he was vague about that. he was feeling his way. he wanted each state to set up a new government that would be loyal to the union and they would allow black men to vote. it was after his death that amendments to the constitution would make that a requirement. it would be interpreted to allow that rate to be taken away for a century. the thing he absolutely wanted to do was restore federal authority. the old government that rebels needed to be shut down. he had meetings about this after the fall of richmond, one of the last days of his life, he was willing to talk about the old

legislature, just to surrender, but he was not willing to hand power back to the same people who rebelled against the government. host: what can you tell us about lincoln and his ability to bring people together when it comes to his cabinet and people supporting him? guest: this is a story that is -- that has been told. it made a huge cultural impact. there were presidential rivals who preferred to be president, who thought that they could get the nomination in 1860. they did not get it. lincoln ended up working with them. they ended up, essentially on the same page, even though there were great conflicts in terms of personality. lincoln managed them with a lot

of patience. host: republican, you are next. caller: good morning. i have enjoyed listening to you. slavery was precluded at the time. yet the u.s., or america, was the only one who fought a civil war over it. haiti was in a slave rebellion, which ended up in a genocide. the inaugural address, the first half of the is quite literally trying to tell the south, do not worry, we are not going to take your slaves. they just passed one of the agreements that you are talking about and it would have been -- it would have been more ironic because the coleman agreement would have been the 13th

agreement enshrining slavery as opposed to ending slavery. my point was that the inaugural address was about telling the south, this is not about slavery. , we are not trying to take your slaves. only seven states had seceded at the time but four others followed shortly after that. also, there is a difference between being against slavery and being not a racist. there were parts of the country that were anti-slavery that had different angles. host: you are bringing up a lot of things. guest: i think it is true that slavery was widespread in the world, going back through history. i do not think it is true that it can be justified.

my reason for saying that is not because we understand today that slavery is wrong, but people then understood that slavery was wrong. there were even people who practice slavery who said that it was wrong. the most famous example being thomas jefferson who said, in the end, we will pay for this gravy people, for this grave sin . even though he was not doing it thing in particular to stop it. i want to underline something else about abraham lincoln. the gentleman characterized his first inaugural address. it is true that he does not say, we are going to free all the slaves immediately. it was also, do not worry the south. his message was, we recognize

that under the incredible infrastructure of law that had been tilts up to protect slavery , we cannot touch it, but having said that, lincoln's position from the beginning of his career to the end was that slavery is wrong. he attempted to do but then the law, to restrict it and to end it. ellen lovejoy was a radical preacher. his brother was killed for printing antislavery articles in his newspaper and when lovejoy took up the cause of his murdered brother and for almost two decades he preached against slavery and ultimately became one of the founders of the republican party of illinois. it was a new party and he helped to recruit a new member of the party, who was reluctant at

first, abraham lincoln. he first asked and then kept up contact. remarkably, lincoln was invited to the opening convention. they named him to their initial committee. they wanted him in the party that that the. they were elect worldly viable. they were not going to be a super radical third party. they felt that they could actually win. host: this is al out of florida. caller: good morning. my question is this. i'm under the impression that during lincoln's time, right

now, i am concerned that our democracy might be on the verge of collapse because of what took place january 6. do you feel that our democracy is under threat? guest: i think that democracy is at risk all the time, but we have also built up so many institutions and it is a question of not supporting them. it was a question of democracy in the civil war. abraham lincoln won a fair election and many said, we cannot tolerate this person, even though he had not come up to that point, violated their constitutional rights. he had not even taken office. it was a challenge to democracy, which lincoln defeated by keeping a majority of the country on his side.

it is the key now. it would be crazy if everyone agreed, but we need a majority who support the idea of the republic, who support the institutions that make up the republic and who through weekend mediate our disagreements. host: your fourth book coming out. what were the others? guest: my first book was about the growing mega city in pakistan. i have always been fascinated by cities and urban growth. since then, i been focused on 19 century history. the story of andrew jackson and john ross, a cherokee leader who battled through the democratic process before finally losing in the trail of tears.

the cherokees were deprived of their land. the story that i wanted to tell was that of john ross and the democratic bottle -- battle. not that he was a perfect person, but he was a very interesting person. a western explorer and his wife were both super famous in their day. john fremont was the first republican candidate for president before abraham lincoln. abraham lincoln is a minor character in those early books. i think -- i have always been fascinated by history and civil war era. i did not know much about the pre-civil war era. i knew that i wanted to explore history and i did not want to go

exactly where everyone else had gone. a book about world war ii, for example. i might write one myself one day. but i went fire back and i spent years and years with lesser-known characters and worked my way up to this famous character. host: several states can claim lincoln. guest: my home state of indiana is where he spent a majority of his time. host: we will hear what andy has to say out of kentucky. caller: good morning and thank you. i would like to get your interpretation of what slavery is. i know that the commitment from the bible is, thou shalt not steal. anytime somebody steal something from the victim, the victim is always a slave.

i think -- i would like to see what your interpretation of slavery is. i asked many people. they do not know what slavery is. guest: it was an economic and social system of forced labor that controlled the entire lives of people who were subjected to it. i do not disagree with your characterization because there were people who spoke in those terms at the time and would even talk about slave catchers as man steelers. host: talk about the interaction with frederick douglass. what were they able to learn from each other? guest: this is the most accurate relationship in the book, i think. often as a critic of things that

lincoln was doing. we mentioned early in the civil war, lincoln was slow to attack slavery directly. he did not ask to free the enslaved leaders. it was set at the beginning of the war that it is something that he should have done. they entered the emancipation proclamation. it did not free every person that was enslaved, but douglass recognized its worth. it was a step. douglas became a recruiter for the union army. he was helping to sign up lachman to join the cause of freedom and then became frustrated. he felt that lincoln's administration had made a liar out of him. equal pay an equal chance of

promotion. and he did not get any of those things, so he went to the white house to complain directly to the president, in their first meeting. it is a great meeting because lincoln admitted he was not providing equal treatment. for political reasons -- he admitted he was slow to get around to things, but that there were reasons. douglas found lincoln reasonable, even though he did not entirely agree. host: getting to richard in oceanside, california. caller: this is a hot number you are on today. i really appreciate him. he is very smart. guest: thank you. just stop there. no, go on. caller: i am an old guy now.

i am 76. he is right. our democracy brings out the best of people and the worst. and go back a little bit and mr. douglas was absolutely right, but martin luther king was famous saying the most dangerous things in the world are ignorance and stupidity. i want to tell other republican folks out there that some people are suffering extremely right now. they are not paying attention to the truth. it's trumpism brings out the very worst. it brought out january 6. it was the worst thing i have ever seen.

guest: i have thought a lot about that is. people who support former president trump are extremely dangerous and then your challenge as a democratic citizen is, how do i persuade -- not all of them -- but some of them to come over to my side and see my point of view? based on the record, when he did have a challenge with people who strongly disagreed with him, he would not call them names or mock them. he also would not write them off, but he would attempt to show how his views were in their interest. you might say to white men who were angry about the emancipation proclamation, i understand that you don't agree with me about whether all men should be free. i think they should be free but

you do not. nevertheless, we are free people and they are joining the union army and fighting for you and your country. that is in your interest. that is a powerful way to argue. he was looking at the problem from the other person's point of view. he was not pandering, but he was trying to show why his weight was valuable. he persuaded the majority in the end. host: mary todd lincoln. what can we learn about that? guest: it is valuable to look at interaction with people who are different genders and different classes than he was. with respect, i have learned a lot from different generations of books about lincoln that

primarily focused on his interactions with white men. it is understandable because it is hard to find source material about other people that he met with. mary todd lincoln was ambitious from a different background than lincoln, but they shared ambition. she was politically very interested and very astute, but also extraordinarily difficult and temperamental person to deal with. lincoln was probably not an ideal husband because he was a politician and a lawyer. he suffered from depression and was often lost in thought. he must've been a very difficult person to raise children with, but she had difficulty dealing with the tragedies in their lives. and lincoln was trying to deal with her.

the skills that he had to learn to get through his marriage resembled the skills he needed to get through his job dealing with difficult people. the reverse may also be true. it is hard to say what is in lincoln's soul, even with all the words that he spoke because he spoke so carefully, but they must have loved each other. they chose to marry. they broke up and got back together. in the end, he went through with a and went through with it, to the end. host: the final interaction, mary todd lincoln, it is called different we must, how lincoln divided america. guest: i will be in austin,

texas soon. host: what is the number one question that you have gotten? guest: i have gotten the question of if there will be another book about lincoln. i do not know that lincoln can ever tell us exactly what to do, but it can provide a lesson. i think that the way lincoln approach differences and -- and disagreements can give us insight to our personal lives. host: what is your next book? guest: i have no idea, but i am open to suggestions. we will see. i have to decide if i want to stay in the same area. i am interested in everything. i could go to any period of history.

host: you can pick up his book. that will do it for us on the washington journal. a reminder that the senate comes in at 3:00 p.m. eastern time. also today at 11:00 a.m. on c-span, a conversation on the dangers of reporting in a conflict zone. diane fully discusses her son who was killed by terrorists. we are covering that here on c-span. you can also watch on c-span.org . that will do it for us this morning. we will be back here tomorrow morning. in the meantime, have a great monday. it's --

>> the u.s. house is back in sessio today. that is before a possiblvote for speaker. house publicans are expected to hold other conference meing an effort to bolster support for jim jordan of ohio to be the next week or. he became a nominee but remains far short of the votes needed to take the gamble. follow coverage right here on c-span. >> monday, watch the c-span series in partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. written in 1880 1, 2 decades

before he would become supreme court justice. it is from a series of lectures he has given on other issues. he will that the life of the law has not been logic but experience. the president and ceo of the national constitution center will join us to discuss. watch books that shaped america live on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. be sure to scan the qr code so you can learn more. announcer: c-span now was a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events with hearings from u.s.