who need it most. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service, along with thesother television providers, giving y a front row seat to democracy. >> coming up on c-span's "washington journal," semafor political reporter kadia goba discusses representative mike johnson's first week as speaker and the week ahead for congress. then, david becker with the center for election innovation and research discusses efforts on the state and federal level to boost voter education and confidence in the u.s. electoral system ahead of next fall's elections. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, october 30. the israeli military is

expanding operations into the gaza strip while seeming to heed the biting administrations urging for targeted raids rather than a full-scale invasion. the residence of gaza live under constant bombardment, a part medication lack outcome and mounting casualties. we will focus on the political ramifications of the war in this country. does this war impact your vote? four supporters of president biden, are you happy with his handling? four republicans, how does this make you rethink your candidate choice? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can post on social media, facebook.com/cspan and x and instagram at @cspanwj. welcome to today's "washington journal."

we will start with an update on the conflict. here is the wall street journal with us on the front page -- israel pushes deeper into gaza and made u.s. pressure for a pause. the article says israeli soldiers pushed at least two miles deep into the densely populated gaza strip in a move analysts say seem designed to trap hamas and the enclaves north as the u.s. pressured israel to restore communications in the territory. israeli soldiers and tanks seem to be taking up positions deep in gaza sunday, two he days after prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the country is entering a new stage of the war. soldiers moved across open and -- the latest moves suggest a war that is likely to last a long time as israel prepares to move

deliberately in stages into gaza territory. at the same time, israel faces pressure from the u.s. and other western countries to minimize civilian casualties, which are continuing to mount. some evidence of israel responding to u.s. pressure could be seen sunday morning, when israeli authorities restored internet and phone communications after implementing a near-complete munication's blackout on friday night. let's take a look at what president biden said last week at the white house, talking about support for israel but also, he spoke about the safety and future of palestinians. [video clip] >> israelis and palestinians deserve to live side-by-side in safety, dignity, and peace. there is no going back to the status quo as it stood on october 6. that means ensuring hamas can no longer terrorize israel and use palestinian civilians as human shields. it also means, when this crisis

is over, that has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view, it has to be a two state solution. it means a concentrated effort from all the parties, israelis, palestinians, regional partners, global leaders, to put us on a path towards peace. in the past few weeks, i've spoken to leaders throughout the region, including king abdullah of jordan, president sisi of egypt, and just yesterday the crown prince of saudi arabia, about making sure that is real hope in the region for a better future, about the need to work towards a greater integration for israel while insisting that the aspirations of the palestinian people will be part of that future as well. i am convinced one of the reasons hamas attack when they did -- and i've no proof of this, this is my instinct tells me -- is because of the progress we were making towards recent

integration for israel and integration overall. we cannot leave that work behind. one more word on this. i continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking palestinians in the west bank, pouring gasoline on fires. this was a deal. a deal was made, and they are attacking palestinians in places they are entitled to be. it has to stop. they have to be held accountable, and it has to stop now. host: that was president biden last week at the white house. we are asking you this morning if the war between israel and hamas will affect your 2024 vote. chris sent us this on facebook -- not really. i will never vote r a warmonger democrat. israel can take care of themselves. ukraine should never get another dollar of our tax money. also on facebook, joseph says no, i am more worried about the

fact that democracy is in constant jeopardy from within. here's an article from the new york times about politics here. it says democrats splinter over israel as the young, diverse left rages at biden. it saws, as a raw divide over the war ripples through america, a coalition of young people and people of color is breaking with the president, raising questions about his strength entering 2024. let's hear from david from st. paul, minnesota on the line for democrats. what do you think? caller: good morning. i was going to vote for biden. i've been a democrat voter all my life, because i've never really had another option. but after the way he has talked about the palestinian people and pushed lies from the israeli government that there is -- i

cannot vote for a lesser evil when he is going to be ok with genocide. that is not a lesser evil. our democratic party in minnesota, everyone endorsed the israeli army's disproportionate reaction. they are justifying it in the most wild ways. they seem to forget that there's jewish palestinians and christian palestinians. and this isn't an issue of religion so much as ethnicity. the israeli government wants an ethno-state, where the palestinians just want to be free in their historic land. they want to be free from oppression from the rivers to the sea, the historical order of palestine. yes, i am voting against every

democrat up and down the ticket, except where my state rep, who has spoken out -- except for my state rep, who has spoken out against the injustices. it is really disappointing for our lieutenant, whose father was a native activist for native rights, and she is a native american, historically oppressed people. what we did to the natives was terrible in this country. it is weird to see her now supporting the israeli government as they ethnically cleanse people off of their lands. host: all right, let's hear from michael in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, a republican. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. i think that i would support trump's policies, because i listened to an interview by jared person or -- jared kushner on fox yesterday, and talked about what he was -- what he had

accomplished with the abraham accords. i think he accomplished a great deal. it was very surprising he was able to get those parties together, to come together with israel, to a certain extent. biden, since then, has done nothing but alienate saudi arabia, alienate the arabs, and tried to push peace through war. i don't think -- we were so close to getting saudi arabia on the map and getting some kind of coalition together that would oppose the radical islamic iranian movement. and that's all been -- host: so who are you supporting on the republican side? caller: trump. i think trump did a great job with jared kushner and others in

trying to get the arab community together with israel, and all parties together. i do not think israel has acted disproportionately. i think they are trying to get rid of hamas, which is a radical -- there will be military casualties. civilian casualties, i mean. but the difference is they are not attacking civilians the way hamas is. hamas is going after civilians and is using that as a wedge to get their objectives to happen. host: let's talk to elliott in new york city on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. are you hearing me ok on my speakerphone? host: yes. go right ahead. caller: ok, thank you so much.

i want to comment on a couple of things i've heard from callers already this morning. a couple calls ago, one started saying how there are christian palestinians and -- whatever it was he was characterizing the population -- host: jewish palestinians, which obviously became israeli citizens. caller: the point is, if that caller or anybody connects lane to me why people came over in hang gliders and why people were gathering trucks around fest attendees and shooting them, then we can have a conversation. i can find out why that happened. i do not care what religion they were or are, but i would like to know why that happened. and at that point, we can talk about what an appropriate response might be. on the main question of president biden, if i may,

president biden has encountered his january 20 of 2021, or even earlier -- he has encountered an internal war in his own nation. there was a little technical thing that has to happen to allow his transition to go forward. somebody had to sign a memo in december, and they would not do it for him, they would not allow his people to start measuring the drapes or whatever. it is a war. it is a war in this country, and it is three years on now. it is incredibly important to me as an american voter that he has been handling that war.

he makes mistakes or he makes non-mistakes in terms of other countries' wars, but we have a pretty serious problem that has been going on for three years. host: let's talk to michael in california. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that i have faith in president biden and the republican candidates that they will handle the situation correctly. so i would like to vote republican if i have the opportunity, which i do, but i am not sure if i will go through with the nomination process or not. it looks like trump is going to get it, so -- host: do you see any difference among the republican candidates when it comes to this issue of the israel-hamas for? caller: no, i don't.

not at all. i think was republicans in our party have the same stance and the same beliefs. they are mostly pro-israel, is how i feel about it. host: let's take a look -- he said israel purpose," includg abandoning prospects for a two state solution. [video clip] >> my view is that now is the moment for israel to return to its founding premise. the jewish state has an absolute right to exist. [applause] a divine gift gifted to a divine nation, charged with a divine purpose. israel has an absolute and unequivocal right and responsibility to defend itself to the fullest, applying the only language that its adversaries understand, the

language of force. [applause] so what would david ben-gurion say today? he would say do not depend on anyone else's sympathies or permission to do it. if israel wants to destroy hamas, israel should go ahead and straw hamas. [applause] [cheers] i am just going to get started. israel -- if israel wants to destroy hezbollah, israel should destroy hezbollah. if they want to pull out munich 2.0 and take out any leaders of hamas, host a red wedding in qatar, they should do it. if israel wants to abandon the myth of a two-state solution, israel should go ahead and

abandon a two-state solution. the rest of the arab world can absorb palestinians, just as the jews absorbed their people out of 22 countries they were kicked out of since 1948. the islamic world cannot continue to condone the slaughtering of jews while continuing to disown the palestinians. that is the hard truth, that neither member of a political party is willing to speak out loud. but i will. but these are decisions for israel to make. host: that was vivek ramaswamy, republican candidate for president. we are asking you this morning on your thoughts about the 2024 election with respect to the impact of the israel-hamas war and what your thoughts are. let's talk to semi --

to simeon in california, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i used to be a republican, but i now switched to be independent, because i just cannot stand donald trump, the way he destroyed democracy. my contribution to this israel and hamas is israel and palestine have the right to live side-by-side. israel should not just destroy palestine. they shouldn't. the way biden is handling it, honestly, i think he is doing a great job for now. nobody knows what will happen next year. israel and the palestine people, they have a right to live side-by-side. that is my belief. thank you. host: and simeon mentioned former president donald trump.

the republican jewish coalition happened this weekend, and all the candidates were there coming in the former president. here is a part of the new york times article about that. it says this -- mr. trump has spent several weeks trying to repair the damage from an early common in which he criticized israeli intelligence and prime minister benjamin netanyahu as weak just days after the attack. mr. the santos and mr. scott strongly denounced those remarks, and mr. risch -- and mr. trump spent several days walking that back. as president, he brokered the abraham accords, which normalize relations between israel and several arab bunnies, moved the embassy to jerusalem, and ended decades to -- he also cut aid or palestinians and his administration took

steps to designate a campaign to boycott israel as anti-semitic. next up is stephen. caller: good morning. my view on things as far as what is going on right now in israel, between the republicans and democrats, how the politicians are acting up in congress right now, it is just like a stage, and actors' stage. my vote for the 2024 presidential election -- this does not affect my own view of things. i have always grown up to know what a true republican is and a true democrat is. right now, we are dealing with the maga side of so-called republicans. i do not think this is going to

exist for too long. in time, this will dissipate, and they republican, the true republican party, the conservative party will come back again. and somewhere down the line have some guts to stand up for the rule of law. host: let's take a look -- she stated while she has always been a firm supporter of president biden, she worries that the president's response to israel will cost him support from arabs and muslims. [video clip] >> we spoke to leaders in michigan, who said they were concerned he is losing support among arab and palestinian citizens there, because of his support for israel. that also came against the backdrop of congressman dean phillips announcing he is running against president biden.

are you concerned that, in a general election, both of these things can weaken president biden's chances. >> i have been one of president biden's biggest supporters. i've been proud to be a partner as he has been courageous and strong on the domestic front. he has really called out the injustices for average working americans across this country -- >> will he be weakened with his primary challenge? >> what i think is that the president needs to be just as courageous on this issue, so that we keep the unity within our country for the support of the incredible things he has done. he is, i think, going to be challenged to explain an issue of this moral certificates to people. the american people are actually quite far away from where the president and even congress, the

majority of congress, has been on israel and gaza. they support the right for israel to defend itself, to exist, but they do not support a war i'm exchanged for another war crime. i think the president has to be careful about that. and i would call him, because i know him well -- i've had breakfast with him, i've had the honor of working with him -- i would call him to bring us to a higher place, to let the american people, to really call to the american people on a moral issue of this nature. and then i think we can go forward and talk about the incredible things he has done. but i am certainly concerned about his approach to this. and my colleague dean phillips, everyone has the right to run, but i am sorry, i have no idea what he is running on that is different from what president biden is running on. he took the same bold stanzas president biden has taken in this country on domestic issues. i really do not see what he is

doing. host: back to the calls now with irene in cal on you, republican -- in california, republican. caller: i want to do a fact check on what you read at the beginning of your segment. i believe it was -- elon musk was going to open up communication, because the israeli government shut off, along with everything else, lifesaving food, water, fuel, and then they cut off all internet communications. so if you need to fall -- call an ambulance, forget it. you have no commute occasions. i believe it was elon musk and not israeli zionists -- host: no, that is not right. he has said he would make starlike available, but that only works with starling equipment. but it was the israelis that put

the internet medications back on -- internet communications back on, and that is a partial restoration, not a full restoration. caller: thank youwe do not know. the people that communicate to their loved ones -- host: you are right. according to reporting, there was pressure from american officials. go ahead. caller: yes, ok, now on the topic. i will not vote for anyone, including trump, who i am a staunch supporter -- but you stated that he cut aid to palestine, which i do not appreciate -- which i do not appreciate. i do not support any human being who will support genocide of gaza. and israel warning to evacuate a hospital that they are going to bomb -- how do you evacuate babies in incubators, people who

have been blown up, bombed, white phosphorus? you cannot evaluate. it is a chaotic situation. it broke my heart is that volunteers said a little boy couldn't sit because of hunger. i eat my food, i have food, water, a life. they are just assisting and they are suffering. to see doctors doing surgeries to a young boy, 8-year-old, on the floor. it's so evil. what do they say, never forgive, never forget. 8000 died, and more and more will because they will uptake their destruction. they need a discussion. get to the bargaining table. all they said is please release

the woman and children and prisoners, because israel tortures prisoners. if they get tortured -- i would not mind being in prison, but they torture people. it's evil. it is not a democracy. you are seeing all the atrocities, massacres to the american people. the palestinian people have suffered the longest of any people. there are jews against zionism. it is zionism, communism, marxism -- host: i am curious, because you are a republican, who will you vote for in 2024? caller: i was always pro-trump, but the thing is i heard of a doctor, dr. shiva. he is very well spoken on the subject. he has said benjamin netanyahu, he wants a war. he is up for corruption. the people of israel do not even really like him. he needed a war.

they will involve all these other countries. it is like it is world war iii. i do not know about rfk, if he is pro-zionist. i will have to do more research on him. host: all right. let's go to frank next in florida, independent. caller: hi. what i don't get is, when we are listening to that woman on nbc or the congresswoman, why doesn't anyone ever mentioned that we actually have marianne wilmington running for president writing -- right now? why don't we ever see her on tv? we do have other candidates we could vote for. cornell west. well, we see him because i guess whatever channel they put him on, they do not like him or whatever. but why don't we see a candidate who is smart, could actually

beat biden, if she could speak on tv. you know. why doesn't the media keep her down? we don't really have a democracy. who will we vote for? we only got trump and we only got biden, two people who basically are not doing anything for the american people. and the person that asked why did hamas go over the concentration camp, like the people in warsaw, poland, in 194 3? that's why. because these people are being murdered over there. they are being slaughtered. people can watch you to -- youtube, rachel corrie's interview 14 years ago when she talked about tilden being shot dead by israelis. host: what do you think about as far as who you will vote for? are you thinking of dean phillips? caller: i am going to vote for

marianne williamson right now. if she cannot make it, i am going to do what i did last time. i wrote in bernie sanders' name. this time i will either write her name in or cornell west, but i will not be voting for these people that do not support the american people. host: lisa in georgia, a democrat. good morning. caller: i just want to say that this country -- i tried to understand exactly what is going on with the war -- host: we do not have a really good connection. if you could try again and call us back. david in new york, republican. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: good. caller: yes, this absolutely will affect the way i vote in 2024.

i like to hear trump being more articulate about his position -- i would like to hear trump being more articulate about his position, because it is not really clear to me. i am a strong supporter of israel. people like irene, who was on some sort of amphetamine, the way she was going on, are very confused about the situation there. they see tons of propaganda and take words like "genocide," "open air prison," "concentration camp," "apartheid," they misuse those words in the most disgusting way. it is very important to me how candidates articulate their position on israel. i am absolutely second -- s ickened by universities in the united states, how they

propagate anti-semitism. if you are anti-zion, you are anti-jew. host: when you say if you are anti-zionist, you are anti-jew, do you not separate being against the policies of israel with anti-semitism? caller: i do not, particularly in the way the palestinians approach the anti-zionist question. when you hear students chanting "from the river to the sea," they are talking about and i'll aiding israel, annihilating the residentsrael, which are 75% jewish. anti-zionist is anti-semitism. host: got it. eric in buffalo. caller: thank you for taking my call. i will probably never vote for a democrat who supports israel again. watching what is going on, seeing 8000 children, adults,

civilians being bombed into the stone age is not something i ever wanted to see from anyone i will vote for again. host: let's take a look at florida governor ron desantis talking about what he would do if he was president. [video clip] >> obviously, we have an interest in the hostages being rescued. i would work with them, look at the intelligence to see what our options are there. of course we have a strong interest there. but israel is facing an enemy that wants nothing less than another holocaust. they would eliminate israel if they could. hamas would drive every jew into the sea. america needs to stand with them public late and privately, because if they do anything else other than element hamas entirely, they will just face these types of attacks again in the future. >> governor, if you were president, what would your

message be to israel in terms of defending itself but also trying to mitigate civilian deaths, which are already estimated to be in the thousands? >> well, on humanitarian aid, i have not been supportive of sending that to the gaza strip, simply because hamas will commandeer that money. if you look at what israel is facing now, hamas -- that has been a lot of money going to the gaza strip for humanitarian forces since hamas took power. did they use that money to make life at her for the people in the gaza strip? no. they used it to build a massive terrorist infrastructure. they have elaborate tunnels. they have all these things put in place they have used the launch rocket attacks for many, many years, and of course launch the barbaric attack on october 7. hamas is the problem here. israel has taken great pains to warn people, to get out, if you are civilian casualty.

hamas takes great pains to get them to stay, so they can use them as human shields. host: that was governor desantis yesterday on "meet the press." we are taking your calls on this question about the 2024 election and how the war between israel and hamas has impacted that. the numbers are on your screen. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we will talk next to john in michigan, independent. caller: good morning. independent -- politically, i would consider myself progressive until the biden presidency and i saw all these progressives falling in line behind biden like jayapal. maybe i do not even need a

label. congresswoman jayapal has driven the progressive caucus into a ditch. there nothing progressive about biden. i cannot believe any of them either -- ever got in line behind him. it has really put a hit on the credibility these progressives had. she has always been a war ground -- she has always been a warmonger, -- these progressives, why aren't they behind the corner for cornell west or marion williamson? host: so have you decided who you will vote for in 2024? caller: just like the gop caller from california, i was interested in rfk, until i learned he supported israel. rfk supported israel, so that lost me. that was before this conflict even popped off.

so i was interested in cornell west, but his campaign is all over the place. i actually do like the dr. shiva guy, and i am not gop or anything. host: take a look at the washington times front page. it says house resolution on hamas clears without unanimous vote. it says congressional democrats are trying to distance themselves from the party's far left members, who have taken an aggressive pro-palestinian stance, highlighting the divide. more than a dozen house lawmakers, all but one of our democrats, opposed a resolution condemning hamas' deadly terrorist attack on israel and reaffirming u.s. support for the jewish nation. that group included members of the squad, some of whom have weathered intent criticism for anti-israel sentiments. kyle is next in buffalo, new york, republican.

caller: good morning, c-span, and happy monday. i guess when it comes to their presidential nominee, i will wait for the actual republican winner. i will vote republican basically. i do not really have a favorite right now, because some of the people i would prefer are not in it anymore or maybe are not being supported. there was a caller who talked about the situation over there. i was really disturbed this weekend when i saw hospitals and the death toll amount. they call this a war, but it is really not a war, because one side is a terrorist group, and the other side is trying to find a terrorist group. now we have, what, and thousand casualties of palestinians

versus 1500 israelis -- what, 10,000 casualties of palestinians versus 1500 israelis? this is like 9/11 when we rushed in, despite we had a terrorist group do something to us. i do not know why we give all that money to israel. what have they done for us? host: so who are you supporting for 2024? caller: honestly, right now, i am not a big trump person. i really do not like any republicans, to be quite honest. but i will go for the nominee, whoever wins. i just think it is sad when we dumped -- when we don't have representation out there. the democrats keep fooling around with the economy. they don't want to cut, like $34 trillion. host: kyle did mention former

president trump. he was in sioux city last night, talking about israel. [video clip] >> israel is being under attack, and now we have terrorist sympathizers chanting their jihad slogans on our streets, all over our streets. with your vote, we will defend our country, defend our judeo-christian values, and defend western civilization. when i am president, the attacks on israel would not have happened. we had iran in a very good place. they were broke. now, they're rich. ukraine would never have happened. putin would have never done it. host: that was the former president speaking. i also have this to show you, a gallup poll from october 26

with this headline -- democrat'' rating of biden's -- it says the democrat rating fell 11 points to 75%, the lowest of biden's presidency. 87% overall approval rating, to match his record low. and biden's 11th quarter average rating is 40%, similar to trump's at the same time during his presidency. adele is a democrat in washington, good morning. caller: good morning. as far as who i will be voting for, we will wait and see which one of the republicans get to be the nominee. i do like nikki haley. but it would never be trump, ever. i think it would be great if you would stop putting trump on the

screen, because most americans are sickened by him. host: you are a democrat, but you like nikki haley? caller: i am an independent. i've voted for more republican presidents than i have democratic presidents. host: do you see a difference in how they are handling the israel-hamas war? caller: no. actually. you can see, the house is gung ho to provide funding for israel. the president's stance is quite obvious and clear, though he has really taken great pains to try and get them to not massively kill palestinian citizens. but the thing that is bothering me is, all for the last several

days, the media is so concerned with what israel is doing and that they are bombing parts of gaza, but they never mention the fact that hamas has been bombing, bombing, bombing israel all day long, all night long, four days -- host: that is true, but i guess the difference is israel has the iron dome, which intercepts those missiles, but the gaza strip does not. so all those aerial bombs do land and do quite a bit of damage. caller: yes, they do, and it is really sickening. host: all right. adele mentioned nikki haley, so let's take a look at what she said at the republican jewish coalition. she did mention former president trump as well. [video clip] >> america needs a captain who will study the ship, not capsized it. and republicans need a candidate who can actually win.

[applause] [cheers] we can't let joe biden get reelected. he is bad enough. but even worse is waiting in the wings. a vote for president joe biden is a vote for president kamala harris. we can't survive a president kamala harris. every poll shows i easily beat biden and harris. [applause] [cheers] fox, nbc, cnn, you name it -- they don't show that for anyone

else in this race. but while the polls are noticeable, principles matter a lot more. as president, i will not complement hezbollah, nor will i could size israel's prime minister in the middle of a tragedy and or -- nor will i criticize israel's prime minister in the middle of a tragedy and war. [applause] we have no time for personal vendettas. i will also not complement chinese communist president xi, nor will i call north korea's kim jong-un my friend. host: that was nikki haley from this weekend. we are going back to the phones to willy, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i've been a longtime democrat. i find myself now at a place

where i cannot vote for either party. i am hoping that cornell west and all the independents come together and develop an option for us. when i look at nikki haley, donald trump, joe biden, tim scott -- i look at everybody. -- this war course has shaped my voting. like i said, i was a lifelong democrat. but at some point, you have to wake up and realize we are basically being ruled by israel and other countries. the average american has no idea that the gaza strip is 0.25% of land that the palestinians occupied in 1948, when the state of israel was created. and maybe not by intent, but by

systematiccs, there has been a landgrab taking place, and each landgrab after each one of the wars, in the name of defense of israel, land has been taken has led to another portion of ethnic cleansing. people do not like those words. but people saying hamas does not represent palestinians -- host: that is not the same thing. the idf is the defensive forces, not the ruling party. hamas controls the gaza strip, the. caller: where else with the palestinians safe, if not the gaza strip? where does any country fight from? host: got it. let's talk to matt in texas, republican. good morning. caller: yes, ma'am. i would just like to say there

are two points. 3 million palestinians -- first of all, god bless israel, and god bless nikki haley, and god bless donald trump, ron desantis. any of them would be fine for president. like i was saying, there are 2.3 million palestinians that are in the gaza strip. the gaza strip is 25 miles long, seven miles wide. and yet, the palestinian people, who are 2.3 million people, they elected hamas in 2006. they have had 17 years to throw out hamas -- host: but how do you do that? how do you throw out hamas when there are no elections after that first one, and they completely dismantle any sign of a democratic process to elect

somebody else? what do you do in that case? caller: you could overthrow hamas. you had 17 years to do it. and just like you, you keep defending the palestinian killers that went over there and butchered israeli, god-fearing people. you keep doing it -- host: i keep doing it? ok. edward in pennsylvania, democrat . good morning. caller: good morning. i think a lot of people calling in don't understand that hamas h as, in their charter -- hamas' charter, it says we will kill

all jews. if hamas wants to kill all jews, they want to kill all jews in israel also. so how can you live next to a country that only wants to kill jews? they don't -- hamas doesn't want to have a two-state solution. they want a one-state solution, and that one state is controlled by hamas. in hamas' charter, it says we will kill all jews. if i were living next to a country that wants to kill me any way they can, i can't let them exist. and it's either hamas kills all jews and takes over israel --

host: our previous caller just said they should have overthrown hamas. caller: you can't overthrow hamas, because hamas is the military. hamas controls everything. so you can't overthrow hamas, because they have the guns, they have the power. you can't overthrow hamas. hamas is there until they are destroyed. israel has to destroy them, or they will kill israel. somebody will be killed, and israel has decided they are not wanting another holocaust. they don't want hamas to come in and kill all jews. host: all right. and you mentioned the hamas charter. here is the wilson center, that says this -- in its original 1988 charter, hamas states "there is no solution for the palestinian problem except by

jihad." in a 2017 version, hamas claimed to reject the undermining of any human beings rights on nationalist or sectarian grounds. john is next in cleveland, independent. caller: yes, i think just propagandist assertions like hamas wants to kill all jews are blandly accepted and pushed by media, which very powerfully has been influenced and controlled by the cia military industrial israeli zionist complex in this country. unless you are one to get other sources of information, you are going to be talking out of your hat with this kind of nonsense. the fact that other sources, like globalresearch.ca, or, for

instance,a jewish pastor -- rabbi has written an article i think everyone should get. "christian zionism's tragedy and turning against christianity." christian zionism's tragedy and turning against anyone christianity. should be looked up by everybody, which shows the so-called zionism is really the problem. the idea that israel is democrat it, when it has its does your practice -- du jour practice and treating of palestinians, for 75 years, as punching bags and a fourth citizens for extermination.

even people in the israeli military, like a general -- it's hard for me to say this, but the way the israeli zionist government is treating the palestinians is similar to what the nazi did against the jews in the 1930's and 1940's. you are never going to hear this on the cia-controlled, cia military industrial, zionist controlled -- host: ok, got it. let's take a look at what national security adviser jake sullivan said on cnn yesterday about 600 americans currently trapped in gaza. [video clip] >> i know you cannot just send in seal team six to get the hostages in the hamas tunnels, because first of all, you do not even know where they are. but this is hundreds of american citizens by the rafah gate. they're stuck, too.

they can't get out. two weeks ago, i asked you about them, and you said it was hamas who would not let them out, that the israelis were ready, the egyptians were ready. what is going on? when can they get out? >> just as there is ongoing negotiation's and discussions over the hostages, we are facing a similar situation with american citizens and other foreign nationals trapped in gaza. it is true -- egyptians are prepared to allow american citizens and other foreign nationals to come through the rafah gate into egypt. israel has no problem with that. hamas has been preventing their departure and are implement and demands. i cannot go through those in public, but we are trying to get through those to where we have secured the safe passage of any american in gaza who wants to leave. we are in contact with them on a near daily basis. this is an equal priority to us

to getting the hostages out. it equally requires us to get hamas to commit to safe passage, and we are working hard at that every day. host: brad is in ohio, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go right ahead. caller: i just wanted to say, as far as the world -- war goes, i really have no comment on it. we have been going to war forever. we should do what we can for people. but we also got a war going on in our own country, at our border. and nothing is being done about that. when it comes time for war in america, who is going to help us? i also want to say i think love has left the world, for your fellow man. i think that is no longer here. i think that is gone, and i do not think it is coming back.

that's all. host: billy in missouri, independent. go ahead. caller: yeah, we need to support israel and everything. but also, we need to have a president that is for the people and not for themselves. need to put everything back in order or the united states and everything -- host: so who are you supporting for 2024? caller: i have not decided yet. we need to have more coverage of the presidential debates instead of trump and biden and the war and israel and everything. we need to focus on the

presidency, running and everything, find out who is for the people and not themselves. host: let's talk to charlie next, a republican in jesus. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? nice to see you again. by the way, on a light note, whoever designed your studio should be fired. [laughter] host: why don't you like it? caller: oh, what is that point thing? the -- is that "star trek" or something? the background is crazy. but anyway -- host: that shows the capitol, charlie, come on. [laughter] caller: no, i mean the side shade things, and then what is it, the potomac river -- host: oh, you don't like the carpet. it's a map of d.c. but anyway, back to our topic.

caller: i was going to be very angry today, but i do not want to be. i do want to tell you, your bias comes through -- i watch all of your broadcasts, and you guys have advertisements saying we are unbiased, blah, bl ah, blah. but you ask questions of people. you are not supposed to be asking questions, you need to be listening to people -- host: can't we ask for clarifying, can't we push back so it becomes a more interesting conversation? caller: i would love that, but if i asked you a question, you will say we do not want to talk about it. host: that is because we do not want to be the point of the conversation. we do not want you hearing from us, that is other news programs.

caller: that is what i am saying. well, i guess you are right in that respect. all right, i'll take it. i got my one month in. wonderful to hear from you. host: all right, talk to you next month. nicole in madison, new jersey. caller: good morning. a couple of points. i heard earlier in the program, when there was conversation about bombs dropping in gaza versus bombs dropping in israel, the point was raised that israel has the iron dome. i think it is kind of like if a small country has to set up the iron dome to defend itself, that cannot be used against them now. it represents a non-archer -- a larger narrative. the size of israel is the size of new jersey, and jews make up

.02% of the world, and there thy are incredibly strong, controlling the media, controlling the banks. and i guess it's just upsetting to see, there's a lot of care for the citizens of gaza, as there should be, but nobody is saying that about israel as much, and if you look at the protests across the country, it is not a protest about israeli politics right now, it has turned to all jews. regardless of what their politics are, a lot of jewish hatred has bubbled up across the world. in the question is, who would i support right now? host: ok. richard, tampa, florida, democrats, good morning. caller: good morning.

my name is richard. i have been watching your show. some of the comments are disturbing. first of all, i want to say god bless everybody, not just certain people. people need to look at the big picture behind israel and hamas. in 1938, we created israel as a land for them. that's like me coming to your house, taking your house, and saying you can no longer live here. i will not support israel or hamas, but i do understand it, because, you know, you just can't come to my house and say, i'm going to take your land, kick you out of it, and you cannot come back so i understand what they are fighting for, but, again, that's just my opinion. host: has that impacted your vote for 2024? guest: yes.

i'm a lifetime democrat. i'm at the point where i'm not going to vote. i just don't feel like i have a valid candidate that has america's best interest at heart or my best interest at heart. so i'm at the point where i'm not going to vote. host: got it, richard. that will be our last call for this segment. thanks to everybody who called in. we will have more time to talk during the open forum later on in the program. next on "washington journal," semafor political reporter kadia goba will discuss mike johnson's first week as speaker. later in the program, we will talk with david becker of the center for election innovation & research about the efforts to boost voter education and confidence in the next electoral system ahead of next fall's elections. we will be right back. ♪

>> tonight, watch c-span series and partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. we will feature "my anthony a," published in 1918, part of will encounter's prairie trilogy, about a daughter in a family of bohemian immigrants who settled in nebraska. the book addresses the immigrants' experience. melissa homestead has taught about willa cather and her boat. books that shaped america, featuring "my antonia," tonight on the c-span radio app or online at c-span.org. scan the qr code so you can

learn more about the authors featured. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this, it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work, where a republic thrives. get informed, stray from the source, on c-span. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. from the nation's capital to wherever you are, because the opinion that matters most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> c-span's campaign 2024 coverage is your front row seat to the presidential elections. watch as we follow candidates on the campaign trail with leading briefs, speeches, and more, as you make up your own mind, campaign 2024, c-span now on the

move video out, or anytime online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> live, sunday on "in depth," author and former aclu president nadine strossen talks about civil rights, free speech, and mortgagee is the author of "defending pornography" and "free speech." join the conversation with your phone calls, facebook comments, and texts. "in depth" with nadine strossen on book tv on c-span two. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal."

we are joined now by political reporter for semafor, kadia goba. welcome. guest: thank you for having me. host: it is speaker mike johnson's full week of being speaker on the job. what are you looking at this week? guest: well, obviously, the $14.5 million package to israel will be a conversation. apparently he will bring that to the floor on thursday. then there are some appropriations bills he's talked about coming down the pike this week. it's a very robust schedule, i would say, for congress, after being in sort of mayhem for the past few weeks. and there are a bunch of censures, an expulsion coming down the pike also.

there is a resolution where you can't challenge it, so that will cause a lot of chatter among the congress as well. host: let's talk about each of those, but let's start with israel. i want to show you a portion of what mike johnson said at the jewish republican gathering in las vegas. he said it's no accident that is his first trip as speaker. [video clip] speaker johnson: the more important message i wanted to deliver tonight, and the reason i wanted to be here, is i want you to know we are resolved on behalf of israel. when i say that, we share your at it -- your outrage, of course, with what everyone is seeing, and we want to do everything we can come and i think i can speak for the whole body -- almost the whole body -- know what has to be done here. seek police said i wanted to --

steve scalise set i wanted to speak against the barbarism of hamas and all of his accomplices. but i wanted to know, yeah -- [applause] it is not an accident that the first resolution was for israel and my first trip was to come and be with you. i want everybody to know where we stand. host: what is your reaction to that? guest: he, along with other republicans, want to support israel, along with other democrats in congress. initially the white house had suggested there would be a combined ukraine-israel humanitarian efforts towards gaza in an amount of about $14.3 billion. congress, or specifically republican, want to separate that, and the money is specifically going to israel. there are some members of

congress, specifically republicans, who do not want to vote for a ukraine package, and their constituents back home are telling them that they don't want them to combine that. but there are plenty of members who want to vote for in israel and ukraine package. republicans in the majority, probably specifically going to go toward israel. host: what is going to happen with ukraine funding? isn't speaker johnson in favor of more ukraine funding? guest: he has suggested so. i think it will come down the pike. but this also gives members an opportunity not to vote for it, if they don't want to. i think there are still in the minority people who don't want to vote for ukraine funding, but as long as they are giving the opportunity -- given the opportunity not to vote for it -- host: they want to go on the record of being against it. guest: exactly. host: on our line for

republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also interact with us on facebook and on x. if speakers johnson fully staffed -- is speaker johnson fully staffed in his office? guest: this is exactly why you do not dispatch a speaker in the middle of congress. he has not fully staffed. other members of congress will be helping them along, specifically in leadership. you have congresswoman said bonnett, steve scalise helping, but there will be a learning curve. he's going to be not a big media person who will be inherited by the congressional press corps. it will be a learning curve as well. people kinda forgot he was

speaker and did not immediately run to him. so there will be a learning curve for everyone. host: you mentioned majority leader steve scalise. will he have a higher profile? what will be has role going forward? guest: that's a good question. the speaker is the speaker. the majority leader is the majority leader. i don't imagine a situation where he, you know, gets ahead of speaker johnson. host: what about in terms of fundraising? that is a large part of the speaker's job. guest: yeah. it is very interesting, especially since republicans took a bit of a hit last week during all of this infighting, unable to get a speaker. when i talked to republicans, they say, well,, you know, we have kevin mccarthy there to help him along. they are kind of depending on

mccarthy, but i don't know how long he will be in congress. but johnson historically has not raised a lot of money, like the juggernauts of mccarthy or pelosi, so he will have to, you know, learn those ropes, the political ropes and the legislative ropes as well. host: i want to ask you about democrats' response to speaker johnson. you have an article here in semafor with the headline, democrats are already attacking mike johnson as a hard right extremist. guest: i think the first thing they did was, you know, compare him to jim jordan and say that he has, you know, you might not know too much about him," but he has the same voting record as jim jordan. for then, they see it as a political win, because they can put signs across campaigns, face-to-face with some of the 18 republicans that are in biden

districts and say he is a mag republican. they are calling him "jim jordan with a jacket," so i think there will be a lot of political ties. host: talk about the voting record and some of his tax statements. guest: he is a very religious man, and he is unafraid to talk about the bible, which is something you have not seen in a while from a leader in congress, and he also has talked about being, you know, anti-abortion, does not really believe in same-sex marriage, but he has also set on other news, i think it was on fox the other day, that everybody has their personal beliefs, and he will try not to put those at the forefront of legislating, so we will seek. host: before we take calls, when to ask you about those center-right delusions, two of them. guest: marjorie taylor greene has censured or introduced a

resolution against rashida tlaib, claiming she is anti-semitic, and that she is responsible for the protest that was in the congress the other day. then, in retaliation, rebecca balance from vermont issued a censure against marjorie taylor greene, saying that she is anti-semitic. we have two dueling censures, and a resolution to expel george santos, up with his colleagues have brought to the floor. host: these are republican colleagues. guest: republican colleagues. host: is that going to move forward? what will happen with that? guest: the speaker is obligated to put them on the floor within two legislative days. host: what do you expect to happen?

guest: that is a great question. already on the conference call yesterday, republicans were saying they did not feel comfortable censuring rashida tlaib, that she can say anything she wants, that she has freedom of speech. now, in george santos' case, i think it is interesting that the speaker himself has suggested that no one should be condemned or expelled, that they deserve due process, so no one should be expelled until they are afforded that due process. host: let's talk to viewers now. jimmy is a first, st. louis, missouri, independent. jim, are you there? caller: yes, i him. host: go ahead. you are on with kadia goba. caller: yeah, hi. i was in the u.s. navy for 22 years, and i was stationed in

the embassy in tel aviv for three years. i'm wondering why the u.s. is trying to give israel all this money and or, when in 1967, they murdered 34 american sailors, 1871, and they attacked the uss liberty. we were flying the american flag, they attached twice, and they apologized and lied and said it was a mistake. host: what you know about that, kadia? guest: i think the u.s. has been very clear that israel is an ally of theirs, and they will do anything to support. we seen this for the past few decades. i think it's no surprise that they would come to the aid of israel at this point. host: robert from raleigh, north carolina. caller: yes, my question for your viewers, israel is very,

very important, like, you know, for that part of the world to african-americans or black americans are very, very vital in this country, so when is there going to be reparations for black people? i continue to call in every month, i continue to ask everybody that you have on this show, when will black people get their reparations? hypothetically, what will that look like, and how will that affect our economy and our country? guest: thanks, robert. there are calls for reparations. right now, i think they are at the point where they want studies on reparations. one of the big hang ups, as i understand it, if they don't know how to implement it, because there are different versions or, you know, african americans, do they give -- is it

strictly for the descendants of slaves, or do they incorporate other black americans who have come to the country? there are talks of reparations. i don't see where that is advancing in the near future. host: line for democrats, break in alabama, go right ahead. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. the support of israel, do you think the support of israel is being done blindly based on historical perspectives from the united states, or do you think it is being evaluated on a case-by-case basis? guest: well, i think it is a little but of both, as we talk about the invasion, hamas is, you know, the u.s. has designated hamas as a terrorist group so if you consider it a terrorist group, i think both of the groups will be sort of

accurate, if you ask a member of congress. host: there's 18 days until the november 17 government deadline for funding. i want to ask you about what speaker johnson says that a possibility, considering another continuing resolution, but he said, "with certain conditions." do we know what that means? guest: let's talk about that. he said november 17, a looming deadline ahead, already advancing those appropriation bills. there are seven more that should pass. he says he's going to pass about three this week. some of those conditions, i know that in particular, there is a debt commission that is being talked about. some people have suggested connecting a cr to that, to the debt commission, ensuring that the senate actually takes it serious, but they will talk about border funding as well. we've been hearing about that

for a while. it could be the rare moment where we actually see something toward immigration or toward border funding. we will do that in exchange for our continuing resolution. host: let's go to joseph in indiana, independent. caller: yes, my first question, how do both of you look so good this early in the morning? my question is this, thank god for mike johnson. thank god for that man. congress has the ability to censor any of its members. why aren't they censoring those members of congress, whether it be republican or democrat, who support terrorist organizations or countries that harbor terrorist organizations? they can do that. they can take measures to censure those individuals. why doesn't the united nations

do likewise? get a country that is a member of the united nations that we know harbors terrorists or terrorists operate in their country, they censure those members, and they also tell you you've got 30, 60, 90 day, whatever, to get rid of, to take care of that problem and get rid of these individuals were organizations -- or organizations that are known terrorist organizations? why doesn't congress take action and say we must end this, and it is up to you, and why don't we do it? guest: i want to be clear, there's no evidence that refutes a leap is supporting terrorists -- machine until you -- rashida tlaib is supporting terrorists. but they don't want to take controversial those like that, and that was some of the pushback that you heard on the

call yesterday, among the republican conference. again, people are hesitant to condemn people when they are just speaking their mind, because we do, as americans, have the right to freedom of speech. host: claremore, oklahoma, republican. caller: two things i would like to talk about, one, when that lady talked about reparations, if there is any way to verify heredity, that is one thing, but the people who should pay is democrats, because it was democrats that were the confederates. my great grandfather fought for the union. the democrats then created the kkk. . the democrats have voted against a quote rights.

-- equal rights. the democrats assassinated abraham lincoln. and the other topic, as far as israel, when i was in the navy, iranians took hostages, another failed democrat politician, carter, failed to deal with them. several conflict with radical muslims, and they need to be wiped off the face of the earth. host: a comment? guest: no. host: from utah, independent. caller: that guy sounded crazy. america sounds really anti-muslim right now, and it is really scary. i just want to get that off my chest. but besides the israel funding this week, what else do you

think they're going to get up to in may? thanks. guest: as we talked about the censures and the expulsion, i also think from the appropriation bill, the highlight was not happy with kevin mccarthy pursuing the 12 appropriations bills, because they don't want a massive on the bus. so johnson has a big task ahead, but he's going to push forward these 12 appropriations bills, three of them coming along this week. however they pass, that's a different story, but they are definitely going to be on the table. host: let me ask you about the agriculture bill, because part of that has a portion about mifepristone, the

abortion pill. guest: in the package, republicans invulnerable district are adamant about not supporting the bill, but we don't know if there is going to be a compromise in the future, but that is one of the biggest roadblocks. host: on the line for democrats is carolyn in charlotte, north carolina. caller: yes, i have a comment first off,. then i have a question. my comment is i think there's a lot of political posturing based on the hamas attack in israel. a lot of people here in the united states are saying that they are religiously supporting israel. i support anybody that's human that's getting attacked, but they are using religion, not necessarily christianity, and a lot of atrocities have been committed under the guise of religion.

and also the hamas is a terrorist group, but the people of palestine are basically not terrorists, so they are getting blown apart. but i also have a question. do you think that, as much money as we have contributed to israel over the years, that they would have had enough intelligence in effect to maybe counteract an attack from hamas, to know where the tunnels were in palestine? that's my question. i will take it off-line. guest: that's a great question. i'm not a national security, but there have been some reports about whether or not israel new or egypt knew, for that matter, but i don't have the reporting to support that. host: have you heard of any hearings that will be coming up in congress about our own intelligence, as far as the cia missing that attack? guest: that's a great question. because they just, you know,

actually got back to congress three days ago, i'm sure we will hear a lot about what those intentions are in the coming weeks. host: damien and laurel, maryland, republican, good morning. caller: hi, good morning. my question is, matt gaetz, how is his political life? do people sit next to him in a congressional cafeteria? is he going to lose power, things like that? also, the thing about israel and speaker johnson, he's a christian, an evangelical christian, and one of the tenets of evangelical christianity is support israel, because israel is -- the jews are god's children. and that is about it. thank you. host: first about gaetz. guest: so, first of all, people

seem pretty cordial in the halls of congress the last three days. i think they are just excited to have a speaker after three weeks of inviting and not having -- infighting and not having a speaker. but there are some republicans that are dead set on punishing the eight people that voted kevin mccarthy out, and of course that includes gaetz. there's a bit of contingency that is not want to see any retaliation or to put the factors of the republican party on display, so i think that will we take presidents. host: kevin in carlsbad, new mexico, independent. hey, kevin. caller: i have one question, about the united states coming to the defense for ukraine, defense of israel. i'm hearing there's a lot going on in the congo. if the united states going to do anything about the genocide

going on in the congo? guest: i don't have any reporting on what united states will do in the congo at this point. host: last question about gun control measures in light of the maine shooting, are you hearing anything new about anything being proposed? guest: remember, house republicans are in the majority, and they have not been huge supporters of gun control. now, we did hear someone come golden, who represents maine, come out in support of gun control. i don't know if democrats have the ability to put that forth. there is a resolution on the table, if they could get some republican support, but it seems highly unlikely that is going to move forward. host: you mean the ban guest: on

assault weapons? correct. host: kadia goba, political reporter for semafor. guest: host: coming up next, david becker will join us to discuss the state of confidence in the electoral system, but first, we will hear from you in our open forum. we will be hearing from you. we will be right back. ♪ >> the honorable mike johnson from the state of louisiana, having received the most votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the representatives. >> the battle over the house speaker ship is over. house gop members elected gop congressmen mike johnson as the

new speaker of the house, following the removal of kevin mccarthy. c-span brought you every ment. stay of the house reconvenes and gets back to legislative business. you can visit the library on c-span.org. you can learn more about how speaker mike johnson's career in congress, with more than 250 votes since he was sworn in. c-span, your unfiltered view of congress. >> c-span's studentcam documentary competition is back, celebrating 20 years, with this year's theme, looking forward while considering the past. we are asking middle and high school students to create a fun six-minute video addressing one of these questions. in the next 20 years, what is the most important change you would like to see in america, or over the last years, what is the

most important change in america? as we do each year, we are giving away $100,000 in total prizes, with a grand prize of $5,000. every teacher has an opportunity share an additional proportion of the 50,000 dollars. visit our website at studentcam. org. ♪ >> john hancock is one of the most famous signatures in the history of the united states. but we don't know that much more than that about him. rick cartier, founder of geo tavern tour of boston, wants to change your perception of the american signer of the declaration of

independence. he also writes, his stature rose so high he became known by both his friends and enemies by that name. >> author brooke barbier on this episode of book notes plus. it is available on c-span now or wherever you get your podcasts. >> "washington journal continues". host: we are back with open forum. it is your turn to weigh in on any topic that is on your mind, public policy or politics wise. we will go straight to the phones. antoinette in philadelphia, democrat. good morning. caller: hi. i wanted to get in concerning what the gentleman had asked the gentleman about recreations, but

i wanted to ask her directly if she was a descendant of slavery, because of her name, i would perceive that she has not. the united states is an institution of slavery. we all know that. i am 65 years old, and we all know that. and when joe biden ran for ukraine and went over there to israel, the bombs and everything. after he took the money that really should have been allocated, because reparations is the law, to the descendants of slavery. he could not even walk through the rose garden, to the descendants and slaves.

we are a people who have endured over the years, it is not because we did not know any better or anything like that. we are just people that kept going on with life. wanting to have justice served, and for everyone else to receive there, they have not done anything, because if they did, reparations is a crime that needs to be rectified. all they have to do is look at the scale of justice, our people have never been equaled until the united states comes to a resolution about reparations. that's all i wanted to say. host: david in independence, louisiana, independent. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller:caller: i was trying to call for the lady that just went off. there was a lady on msnbc yesterday, and she used to work

for the government, and she was very upset at the new speaker because he said he wanted to know his position on things and how he felt about things, just look at the bible. and she was just so taken aback by that, like there's something wrong with that. so i would like to say something to the democrat people. when you get through and you finish the job, ok, what are you going to do when this country is totally destroyed, and you are sitting next to a pile of wet, sloppy ashes, and the fire is out completely, ok? it just don't -- it doesn't make any sense. the last time i've seen this kind of hate coming from politicians towards the people of this country, and the country itself, was when obama was president. finish the job.

that sounds just like something obama would tell o'biden. god bless all. host: good morning. caller: i'm calling from the state of misery, missouri, for teachers. listen up, if you marry a teacher in this state, you will find if you marry someone blue-collar, white collar, anybody else, when that person, a woman or a man, dies, this is the truth, you can look it up, missouri will take two-thirds of all of your spouse's social security. my husband worked 40 years to when he passes, missouri will take two-thirds of that. i was not a teacher that long in the system, because it took me that long to finally get enough money to finish my degree, but

missouri punishes teachers. teachers, if you think i'm wrong, look up the law in missouri. that teacher will lose two-thirds of that social security, working from all those years, missouri will take it. and i'm not lying. host: all right, diane in baldwin, missouri, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i just have a comment on the reparation. s. my family come about from my mother's side and my father's side, their parents came over right after the civil war. i do not feel that i should have to pay anything for reparations.

host: all right. kim in kentucky, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i only have a few comments. one, i agree with congress putting a limit or a time that they have to spend, same as the president, eight years, then you are gone. that's the problem i'm seeing now, with congress and the senate, you have people so old in there, they look like they are ready for dementia. that is a problem that they need to do. they know way ahead of time when these budgets come up, and they should not be a last minute thing. i mean, if that is the way they are going to do it, they should have the military run it. at least it will be more organized. thank you. host: bradley is a democrat in michigan. good morning, bradley. caller: thanks for taking my

call. thank you for being so pleasant, even when you get a call if the earlier one, criticize the set, criticize you, obvious curmudgeon, i would think. . my perspective and call starts with the democratic party, which i supported since the 1960's. i was eight years old. i rumor going to county meetings, organizing for jfk. my main point is with the decision of the party not to set a vibrant primary for the 2024 election, you wonder if biden running is a purely egotistical thing on his part, feeling like maybe he is the only one who can be trump. if that is his feeling, he is misguided. i question his wife, advisors, and the party for not getting a little. more into that. . . the 2024 race with biden will be razor thin. if the democrats cleared the

latter, presidential candidate that everybody across the board would be much stronger. host: bradley, is there a democratic candidate you are in favor of jacob caller: thank you for asking. tammy duckworth would create a great ticket for 2024. i wish they would get more attention, both great people, veterans. they would just blow the republicans out of the water. try to get them on and get more coverage for them. a dynamic duo they would be. women are needed at this point, and clear these old guys out. that is my subjection. suggestion. host: democrat line, sandy, good morning. caller: good morning. i have several comments, first of all, regarding your guest on reparations, i feel like we need to know what reparations are and what we are repairing. we have a group of people who work sold by their family from

africa, brought to our country, and now they have descenda ed from those stolen people. if they want reparations, then we need to repair the problem and send them back to the country they were entitled to be born injured that would solve the problem. the people who sold them could in turn give them an acre, some chickens, and a goat. host: let's go to brenda in fort lee, new jersey, democrat. caller: good morning, america. i'm calling in regards to the president. i'm so disappointed in president biden. he can't do more for us. i agree. he's always on a weekend vacation. he doesn't pursuant to go on to do things. these people that are hostages in this war that's going on.

bring them home. president biden, please, stop going on weekend vacations, and help america get better. thank you for listening. host: all right. and we are in open forum. the numbers are on your screen. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. an independents, (202) 748-8002. update from the "new york times ," latest on the israel hamas war, israel's air and ground forces but more pressure on gaza. president biden calls in israel to protect civilians as expanded integration and struck hundreds of targets from the air over the weekend. mike calling us from stockton, california on the line for independents. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: ok, wow, that lady talking about going back to africa.

so reparations, if it did happen , how would they separate the black people's taxes -- of course it is going to come from taxes? -- from the whites, i mean, everybody else? yes, i believe in reparations. it was not our relatives who sold us from africa. and the way we were treated and all the inventions we've gone and everything we did to contribute to this country, you know, george washington carver -- so, you know, reparations, i believe, is on us, it is not just on them. and the people who don't know, i don't know where they came from. every time they call, i get more

and more -- i don't even want to call anymore. i hate the way the people turn out to be. all the and vitriol against people, native americans, applicant, south african, part of africa, they try to say they are not racist. it is a big giant racist agenda, what they are doing, across the whole world, is wipe all the black people out. and we don't have any black person with any kind of power, so i don't know. anyway, thanks a lot for listening. host: all right, mike. let's talk to david in brandywine, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call.

my interest in knowing why the media is not covering the president's trip this last week, saying that hamas is not a terrorist organization, and in essence, supporting hamas. i find it very interesting that turkey, which is a member of nato, who knows the nato secrets, etc., would take this position and not get more coverage. maybe you could explain to me why they are not getting more coverage, what president erdogan said? host: all right, david, i will get you an article about that. first, we will pause and talk to a reporter from "the gazette" and i will come of the bureau chief, aaron murphy joins us. aaron, good morning. caller: thank you for having me.

host: we will talk about the president's campaign. obviously former president trump is way ahead of the rest of the pack. guest: yeah. we just got a new poll yesterday, on one of the more reliable polls, and like you said, it shows president trump with a lead. what has struck me over the last few months, and we have been covering this all summer into the fall now, is how steady that has been, former president trump's numbers really have not wavered. he has been in the mid to high 40's here, and the rest are in the low to mid double digits, in the teens. host: are any of the other

candidates making any movement? is there any chance for anybody to seriously threaten the former president's lead in iowa? guest: yeah. we are starting to a. nikki haley took a little bit of a step forward. that is a little bit of a surge on her part. but she is still at 16%. there is still time. there is about three months left until the primary, so there is time. people who are looking for a different candidate, if they all coalesce around one candidate, and maybe that is nikki haley, it remains to be seen, there is still time for that to happen. but it is still a long time, a big gap to make up.

the other thing i will say really quickly, it is important to remember, it is not always iowa. in fact many candidates who have gone on to be the nominees did not win in iowa. that's what the candidates like nikki haley and ron desantis and others need to do. even if they finished second, the lead is a little closer, and then maybe voters in new hampshire help their line up, moving forward. host: there's an article in your publication, sorry, this is in "the des moines register," spreading nationally, tim scott ships resources to go all in on iowa caucuses. so we've got senator tim scott, florida governor ron desantis moving a lot of campaign resources to iowa. when you see nominate ground any impact that might be happening?

guest: we did cover that in "the gazette" as well. governor desantis has made a calculation early on. senator grassley from iowa, his annual effort, of every one of iowa's 99 counties company has won you to hear. -- won each year. governor desantis will have visited every county. you mentioned senator scott. really for all the folks here in iowa. what i said, there's still time for one of those candidates to make a surge, and that is their best shot moving forward, here in iowa. are we seeing the impact of that on the ground?

not yet, i would not say, but there is still time. senator scott has been here. i was voters are familiar with him. it will be interesting to see if he has an impact, but it is early. host: here is a headline from a piece that you wrote in the gazette, saying that, keeping the faith, crucial to presidential candidate, a deep conviction drives evangelicals to participate in caucuses. talk about that voting block. guest: yeah. they are critical to iowa republican primary elections. it is also the reason that they are very committed, i think, if the word they used, the headline. they are reliable. they turn out. so in an organization, those of the type of voters they are

looking for, the type of people that they know once they get the support locked up, they can see them come out, especially on the caucus, a little bit more complicated, you have to show up on that day and be there in person, so, you know, the commitment, the dedication, and how soon in this process, they are a very sought after voting bloc in iowa here, and you see that with multiple things posted by faith-based organizations here, where almost all of the presidential candidates have come to speak. so, yeah, absolutely it is critical. host: aaron, what are the biggest issues that i was voters care most about? guest: it's not too different

from voters all across the country. i hear a lot about immigration, the economy, i hear a lot about about, you know, support for law enforcement. when you go into some of the more faith-based events, you start to hear things about abortion policy a little more often and religious freedom, things like those. broadly speaking, iowa republican primary voters are talking the economy and the border, immigration. we see the conflict in ukraine and now with israel and hamas war, those are on their hearts as well. host: all right, aaron murphy, des moines bureau chief for "the gazette," thanks for joining us. we will go back now to the phones for open forum, and what is on your minds. before we spoke to a reporter, one of our callers was asking about turkey come and i promised

to update you on that. here is the associated press it says israel is reassessing diplomatic relations with turkey due to the leader's partial arts. it is recalling that much from turkey over increasingly harsh comments. turkey's president told a massive protest crowd that his government was preparing to declare israel a war criminal due to its actions in the gaza strip. israel previously removed its diplomats out of turkey for security reasons, but the israeli foreign minister said on x, the platform formerly known as twitter, that they were being asked to pull out for a reassessment of the ties between turkey and israel. marilyn is calling on the line for democrats. caller: good morning, mimi and

c-span. i want to speak on behalf of all people everywhere. i'm tired of hearing them bash the president because of his age. i'm his exact same age, born in the same month, and i have all the same faculties. i have a sister in her mid-80's who is extremely smart, and my oldest sister is the smartest i don't get she is 90 forget she can't quote shakespeare, and she knows everybody's name she ever knew. i want to say layoff, americans. we are all going to get as old someday, and i hope you are is as good a shape as i am when you get to be my age. god bless america, and a good day to everyone. host: all right, maryland, on the line for independents. from queens, new york, good morning. caller: good morning. a lot of black voters have not been surprised.

number one, it is not jobs that we just want, we want the george floyd act, we want the john lewis act, and we want reparations. those are the three things that the black voters want. and here it is. most white people, i heard them call of, they don't really understand. it was not about picking cotton from morning to night, it was all the atrocities that were done. it is the miseducation of the american people. they don't really know, white people, don't really know. we know, black people, because we have been told these stories, handed down from the time of. slavery, all the atrocities. . and if you list the atrocities and line them up, it is more significant than what the people in the holocaust went through. america, our holocaust was ba

bies getting ripped out of women, babies being used as alligator bait, teeth being pulled up to make dentures. in addition to that, we are giving $4 billion to israel, and we did not do anything to israel to get for 400 years, we have not got nothing, after 400 years of working for free . free! and yet we still, with all the atrocities, we could not get jobs that white people could get in the 1950's, 1920's. we had g.i. bill clement we could not get houses. -- we had the g.i. bill, and we could not get houses. all you white people could get them. host: tammy, republican line.

caller: yes, i was calling about reparations. irish were slaves at one time, too. my ancestors, if we are irish, swedish, why would we have to pay someone else? host: tammy, irish were not enslaved in this country. they could have been indentured servants at a point in time, but it is completely different from what african-americans experienced. joe in terre haute, indiana, democrat, good morning. caller: hi, is this mimi? host: this is. go ahead. caller: i appreciate you taking my call. one, i would like to talk a little about history and anthropology with regard to the war, the terrible war in the middle east. but i would like to say something about you and c-span and how you do things. i really commend you.

my first comment is thanks to maryland's callers about ageism. i was born the same year that israel was created -- i'm 75 years old. so i'm very concerned about the war. i think the big elephant in the room is nuclear weapons. we already have one more going with the threat of nuclear weapons being used in ukraine. imagine what president biden is having to deal with, and the united nations. we need to get the united nations involved and end this or in israel before it -- war in israel before it explodes out of anybody's ability to stop it. one comment i would like to make, i'm not anti-semitic. i'm just against israel's policy at this time, and i'm one of those folks -- and that is because this conflict between the arab people in the jewish

people has been going on for thousands of years. study your history, people. and also, i would just like to make the comment, if you look at what is semitic in the dictionary to start with, you will find out that the jewish people and the arab people are ethnically cousins. they are both submitted people. if you say anti-semitic, you could be just as against arab people as you are against jewish people. i've had jewish friends, and i've worked for jewish i love the jewish people. i want to say we really need to focus and get this war over. the united states should pray for president biden. and the united states to do what they can. with regard to the comment -- i

think you do an excellent job. yes, i disagree with his comment about you asking questions. you need to make sure -- if i had been in the last segment, i would want to know about semifore. it's always nice to have your guests -- host: i appreciate that, joe. ray is in dearwood, maryland. independent. caller: hi. thank you for the time. thank you for taking my call. i got two things to say today about -- two different things. one is the war. the whole thing is completely -- biden took it the wrong way. i wish that instead of giving the blank check to the israeli people, which as i understand the relationship, however in 75

years nobody did anything to achieve real peace process. instead of just blind sided with people, people are people, no matter who they are or ethnicity or religion. palestine, we all it, was actually a very peaceful place to be for all the religions. it was no difference between israeli or arabs or muslim or christian. it was the vatican. everybody welcome. when the british colony took them and took the israeli and give them the palestine, nobody cared about it because that's what the colonization is. however, like i said, i wish that biden and all the european union and the united nations instead of just baseline sided

one side versus the other. israel has a right to defend itself. palestinians don't have a right and don't have any land, or a country. not even recognized with some countries. instead of doing that, why about do the peace. real peace process with two-state solution. and take the advantage of this crisis and make it two-state solution forever. for real. not some let's negotiate. no. host: do you think hamas would accept the two-state solution? guest: absolutely. hamas has nothing do with that. it's not -- they are not in the party anymore. they are part of it, but they are not a majority. host: all right. we will take a pause and if you are on the line do hang on because right now we are going to talk to a white house reporter and wes wing play book co-author for "politico," lauren

egan, welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: in talking about the week ahead for the white house, obviously the white house is pretty preoccupied with the war in israel. what's the mood there at the white house? guest: that's right. they are trying to juggle this war while also still focusing on domestic priorities as well. obviously this war and conflict has been eating up a ton of the president's time and attention these past few days. just yesterday he spoke with prime minister netanyahu about the situation. it's getting -- the politics of it are shifting a bit. there is some folks in the president's party who are not pleased with how the president has responded to the conflict. they want to see him come out a bit more in defense of palestinian civilians. and the politics in the democratic party are shifting. and it's put ago bit of pressure

on the president. just last week he also had a conversation with some arab american and muslim american leaders. thursday zoom call. and they expressed frustration with the president's rhetoric about the war. challenging position for the president. again, he's trying to navigate this while focusing on domestic priorities. today that means he's going to be hosting an event on his executive order on artificial intelligence. a.i. week at the white house. that will be the big focus this week. host: tell us more about that since you mentioned the artificial intelligence. what is that executive order going to entail? guest: this white house is has really tried to show that a.i. is a big priority for them. but it's a challenging balance. they want to though they are taking it seriously the threats of a.i., national security risk. civil rights risk it poses. at the same time they do not want to cycle any sort of

innovation. this executive order to walk the delicate balance. it's going to set up guardrails and demand that more transparency from companies that are working on a.i. issues. at the same time it's going to install different a.i. leaders at all the different federal agencies to make sure that the administration is taking those seriously. host: back to the war in israel. the president had mentioned the attacks by extremist settlers in the west bank against palestinians -- attacking palestinians, killing palestinians. is there -- what's the mood among white house officials as to how much they are being heated by the israeli government? what are you hearing about that? guest: well, the white house has said they are very much trying

to put pressure on israel behind the scenes. while also publicly not really wanting to show their cards too much. and really all that we have heard publicly in the past few days from this white house about what these conversations are looking like is a read out of the president's call he had yesterday with the prime minister in which they said that he reminded netanyahu that despite this -- they need to respond. but reminding him that he needs to do so in accordance with humanitarian and international law. which has been one of the main sticking points for a lot of democrats in his party about his conversations. publicly and privately, with netanyahu and about this war. host: this will be the first full week for speaker of the house, mike johnson. tell us about the brief meeting he had with president biden and

how they plan to approach the new speaker. guest: that's right. these two don't really have a very long relationship at all. just like many people across the country, googling the new speaker's name, that's what some of the white house aides were doing looking at who they are going to be working with going forward. the president and speaker johnson met at the white house for the first time last week. it was a brief meeting. it was right before a bipartisan briefing at the white house about the president's supplemental request for aid for ukraine and israel. but just after johnson left the white house, he went on fox news and did an interview with fox and slamming the president and he was asked whether or not he thought biden had some cognitive issues. alluding to his age. and he said that he did.

it shows sort of rocky road ahead for this relationship. it is a critical relationship. the president and the speaker of the house in order to get anything done in washington. and johnson's also walked out of that white house meeting, out of that briefing and said that he thinks that ukraine aid and israel aid should be separated. the president has called for putting ukraine aid and israel aid together. that is not the direction that speaker johnson will go. he said this week he's going to put forward a bill on aid for israel and he believes he has bipartisan support for it. that will be a tough vote for some democrats who want to support the president in terms of linking those two aid packages together. at the same time they are not going to want to vote against aid to israel. that is going to be a big thing we are watching for this week. guest: lauren egan, white house propertier and west wink playbook co-author for "politico." thanks for joining us.

we'll go back to your phone calls. jim is up, republican line. missouri. caller: yes. i really appreciate your program today. i think you must have the patience of a saint. the other thing is i am an old man and hillbilly, and i would like to express my opinions on a few things. first of all with our new speaker, i really appreciate him. i'm going to keep my eye on him. i don't just blindly support people, but at this point i think he's going to be a good man. the other thing is our president, he's probably the worst president we have had

since little man back before the civil war. i thought carter was bad, but biden's got him beat by a whole lot. and i just guess that's about all i have to say. again i appreciate your time. host: paula in pensacola, florida. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i'd like to -- i have a couple comments i'd like to make. first of all like marilyn, i agree with her age is no factor. but also i'd also like to say that it used to be a separation of religion and state. and that is no longer. i'm wondering why. and how it came about. and also i'm another one who is

so tired of hearing about how bad biden is. if we had the last administration today, we would -- we would be in a depression. biden has done so much for this country. nobody seems to appreciate what he's done. host: all right, paula. brooksville, florida. line for republicans. joe, good morning. caller: good morning. in reply to these people about age, i'm 83. i know people in their 60's that are not competent. and you can very well tell that joe biden is not all there. when you take the troops out and leave the americans there, we showed such a sign of weakness there. a sign of weakness in ukraine waited three months while putin aamassed 150,000 troops on the

ukraine border and he said nothing. that was costing us trillions of dollars to make up for that. as far as trump goes, he has identified and addressed more issues hurting this country than any potus in history. unfortunately, the partisan media on both sides of politicians are resisting it because it's upsetting a system that has made them the millions of dollars over all these years. he took us out of the world health organization because we were paying $500 million a year. and china was only paying $39 million. and they were getting preferential treatment. he doubled the child tax care credit. he gave -- black colleges and universities, $250 million annually. they didn't have to request it. they got it automatically. and obama didn't do that. no other president did that.

host: so, joe, are you going to be supporting former president trump or since you are in florida do you think you'll go with desantis. where are you on 2024? caller: no. i'm going with trump. if you look back four years ago what we paid for food and what we paid for gas and how safe we were, we had no war, we had no invasion at the border. we had none of these problems. i'm definitely voting for trump. host: got it. tyrone in new york, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i first want to go to the question that the last caller just said about trump. he said there wasn't nothing going on at the border. at the border trump separated families as if it was slavery. you got kids now who probably will never get to know who their parents were. or reconnect with their parents. that's what trump did. the problem with this country,

there's a saying in the bible when i was a child i thought as a child. when i became an adult i thought as an adult. i listen to your show, you have older people in this country who are calling in and acting like they have -- wisdom about themself. my father had wisdom in fourth grade, he was born in 1909. i'm not a muslim. what muhammad said, said, the greatest religion is to cheap people the way -- treat people the way you would like to be treated. that's the problem with this country. people don't want to be treated. they want to treat people the way they want to but they don't want to be treated like that themselves. host: one more call in from phoenix, arizona. sandra, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. permit to me inform the -- those

on the subject i find important. i have been listening to other news channels to see what they say about this information i get. right now there is an encampment where the people mostly have yellow fever or malaria. and today i saw that there is another group of people right now up to 6,600, but they expect to get it larger. or the car a van. they are also bringing across besides the yellow fever and malaria, the measles, mumps, polio. and today they even said about the help acy -- they said about the leopracy. but all these diseases that are

coming back to our country, it's not real good for our people besides -- the covid. as far as having the children separated, i called when i heard the news way back then when they were being separated, they were informing the mothers of the parents of these children. you know you can cross but we'll separate you. they said yes, they heard it. but eventually they said at least their children would be here. and start -- put them into school. the separated the parents. the parents were informed -- host: all right, sandra. that's time we have for this segment. next on "washington journal." we'll talk with david becker of the center for election innovation and research about

efforts on the state and federal level to boost voter education and confidence in the u.s. electoral system ahead of next fall's election. stay with us. ♪ >> tonight, watch c-span's series in partnership with the library of congress, books that shaped america. we'll feature the novel my antonia published in 1918. part of the prairie trilogy and tells the story of the friendship of an orphaned boy from virginia and the elder daughter of a bohemian immigrants in nebraska. it addresses women's issues at the time. the english professor at the university of nebraska lincoln has taught about willa and her

book for many years and will join us on the program. watch books that shaped america featuring my antonia tonight at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app or onlynn at c-span.org. scan the qr code to listen to our kphapbon podcast to learn more about the authors of the books featured. >> as part of our new series, we are asking you, what books do you think shaped america? >> i think is the sound and the fury by william faulkner. >> pilgrim's progress. >> to kill a mocking heard by harpedder lee. >> join the conversation by submitting your picks for the ok you think helped shape this country g to our website c-span.org, books that shaped america. select record video. in 30 seconds or left, tell us

your pick and why. be sure to watch books that shed america, live every monday at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. from the house and senate floors, to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided with no commentary, no interruption, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, find it any time online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting

and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen. this timeline makes it easy to quickly get an idea what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> c-spanshop.org is the online store. browse through our latest collection. books, home decor, and accessories. there is something for every c-span span. every purchase helps support our nonprofit operation. shop now at any time at c-span shop.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we are joined now by -- with david becker, he's the founder and executive director of the center for election innovation and research. david, welcome to the program.

guest: thanks for having me. host: remind us about your work, the mission of the center, and how you are funded. guest: sure. center for election innovation research we are a 501-c-3 nonpartisan, not for property. we work from secretaries of state at the state level. and supporting them to promote election that is voters should trust and do trust. and over the last several years what we have seen is the reality is our elections are secure, transparent, and verifiable we have ever been. we are doing a good job and constantly improving despite the fact we run incredibly complex elections in the united states. with multiple-page ballots and dozens of races and highly decentralized system. despite that success with the security, we know about tens of millions of voters think that elections aren't secure. mainly because of disinformation. host: this is what i wanted to ask you. you published a book last year it's called "the big truth.

upholding democracy in the age of the big lie." you write that 2020 may have been the most secure u.s. election ever. so why do so many people believe it wasn't? guest: unfortunately what we have seen is that it's entirely normal for people to be disappointed in the outcome of an leaks. there are many, many people who voted for losing candidates who are good americans and were disappointed. i doubt there is anyone in the united states that doesn't know that feeling. but unlike previous elections, we had a candidate at the top of the ballot running for president who had continued to spread lies about the election and targeted his sincerely disappointed supporters in an effort to raise money and others have also grifted off those lies. it's unfortunate and unprecedent. the people who support this losing candidate are the target of this grift. host: i want to ask you about a

poll done by the associated press, thed predline g.o.p. confidence in 2024 vote count low after years of false election claims. i'll put it up on the screen here, confidence in integrity of the 2024 election. 44% of all u.s. adults have confidence. 71% of democrats. only 24% of independents. 22% of republicans have confidence in next fall's election. what do you make of those numbers? guest: i think what we have seen those numbers have remained fairly static since the 2020 election. we have to remember we are now over 1,000 days since the 2020 election. over 1,000 days since the january 6 attack on the capitol. and nevertheless those that have lied have continued to persist in those lies all over the country. they have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps billions, off of those lies. again from those sincerely disappointed people who supported the former president,

the losing candidate. it's remarkable how resilient these lies have been despite the fact that as we sit here there still has not been a shred of evidence presented to any court, anywhere in the country, that proved any kind of widespread fraud or even a mistake in the election that should be remedied. all have confirmed the outcomes. even efforts to look at the election by supporters of the former president in places like arizona and wisconsin, have confirmed the outcomes. host: the new speaker of the house mike johnson took a lead in filing a brief in a lawsuit that sought to overturn joe biden's election win for 2020. what are your concerns about his potential role in certification of the 2024 winner if the republicans keep the house? guest: first of all that lawsuit was a very radical lawsuit brought -- led by the texas attorney general and other states claiming that states that were not their own, other states, ran elections in a way

they didn't like. they thought to invoke the supreme court's original tkeurs ticks -- jurisdiction. this was done in mid december after the states certified their elections. it was one of the most anti-federalist things one do imagine. another states should run elections like we do now. under rules everyone new at the time the election was held the supreme court did what they should have done was deal with this expeditiously and not hear any further on this case. with regard to the new speaker, obviously he has a decision to make. does he want to look backwards at the 2020 election, perhaps the 2022 election. there are still people lying about that. does he want to look forward? does he want americans to have confidence in the election? most legislators are rational about this whether they are the congress or state. they don't want to be put in a position where they are trying to change the outcome of what their voters decided after an election was held. that's not a position any rational legislator would want in a democracy as old as ours.

host: we'll invite our viewers to call in. if you'd like to make a comment or ask questions. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. i want to ask you about the vice chair of the u.s. election assistance commission was a guest on the program on friday. he discussed mail-in and early voting methods. before i show you that, talk a little bit about those systems of voting and how secure they are. guest. there are basically three times of voting in terms of broadly speaking in the united states. one is election day in-person voting. early in-person voting. and one is mail voting. virtually all states allow all three to some degree. they are all tried and true. all the states have various protections around them. they are all secure. it's up to the voter to decide how they want to vote.

in the states that offer them. that's almost every single state offers those three options. they have found it to be secure and convenient and they are all able to be handled in a way that we can verify. host: take a look at what he said on this program on friday. >> voting by mail wasn't new in 2020. we know in 2016 nearly a quarter of the americans voted that way. we saw it spike up in 2020 to almost 45% of the americans. went back down some in 2022. but i expect for 2024, while i don't think it will be as high as 2020, it will be higher than it was in 2016. probably in the mid 30's. if i was going to guess. because that's a trend we have been seeing. it's how many americans want to participate in the process. that's really a big part of it is thinking about how americans want to engage. how they want to participate.

when i think about election administration, i think about good election administration is about good governance and customer service. how do the voters want to engage. how are they able to participate. and seeing an expansion of early in-american voting and vote by mail. that's a recognition for many americans a tuesday in november isn't the best day to vote. so giving them that option is really key to helping americans participate in the process and make their voice heard. host: david, your reaction to that. guest: commissioner hovland is right. mail voting has been around for a long time. since at least the united states civil war. mail voting is used by members of the military. it's been pioneered as a major method of voting largely in republican states, decades ago, probably thinking that the people that use the mail most are property owning, older voters who might tend to vote republican. that's why we have seen it take on a hold in places like arizona

and utah. now it's very widespread. the way we run mail elections is very secure to ensure that only eligible voters get a ballot. only eledgible voters who are supposed to return the ballot do. and everyone only gets one ballot that they can cast once. host: start talking to our viewers. and start with tim who is in arkansas, independent line. hi. caller: good morning. can you hear me ok? is the connection good? host: yes. go ahead. caller: thank you. first off is chuck todd back at c-span? i see the set. it looks like it's left over from the "meet the press" and it's not -- i'm not a fan. mr. becker, is another one in the long line of title 501-c-3's funded by democratic party with money stolen from the taxpayers to spread lies about what

happened during the 2020 election. you name the number and i'll tell you how many different ways they cheated. but the most startling was just the unactual -- unconstitutional election run by those swing states by changing rules in the middle of election. by using covid as a front to say that anybody can print a ballot, mail it in. doesn't matter if it's official. doesn't matter if it's the real person. there was no -- there was no security. there was no -- states didn't even want to check the signatures against the ballots. no, 2020 was the worst election in u.s.try and he hope this never happens again. host: get a response. go ahead. guest: thanks. tim, first of all i should tell you as a 5301-c-3 we don't take taxpayer money. they come from private foundations across the political spectrum. my three republicans on my

board. we work in a bipartisan way at all times. all of our work is transparent. and we'll continue to be that way. 2016 donald trump won the presidential leaks. did he. he won a majority of votes in states that comprised the majority. those were the rules, whether you like them or not. those were the rules we had on election day. and he legitimately won. as we sit here seven years past that election there is no evidence he didn't legitimately win. similarly in 2020 i think what we are hearing from tim and many, many others, they have been a target of an extensive disinformation campaign for a very long time. would there have been -- there is paper ballots throughout the country. 95% of all ballots in the united states are cast on paper. you can't print them up. they are specific ballots printed by the election jurisdiction. that's more than we ever had in american history. those can be recounted and audited. every single ballot cast in a

battleground state was paper. only states that have a new nonpaper ballots are states like tennessee and mississippi and texas. then all of those paper ballots were audited, and all of the states, to confirm the counts were accurate. where recounts were requested as in georgia, those recounts confirmed the results. the presidential ballots in georgia were counted three times. three different ways. once entirely by hand. and yet we are still seeing this disinformation about printing ballots up. or italian satellites or german servers. still pervading so many people. i hope get out there, read our book, or go on to other sources. there is a wonderful report written by conservative republicans, giants in their field, called "lost not stolen." people can find at loss not stolen dot orgw regard to the rule changes, something we hear

consistently, all of the rules were known before the election there. were rules changes, there always are rule changes. there was a few more because of covid. we are more preelection litigation, but they were probable actually won by republicans in the lead up. noble liked all the rules. aim sure democrats didn't like losing those legal challenges before the election. i'm sure republicans didn't like losing the ones they lost. but we knew what the rules were on election day. the idea you could complain about the rules you knew about after election day because you didn't like the outcome, that's not democratic. host: michigan, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to make a comment to david. and it's about integrity. first part of it. i don't think there should be any debasing at this time in

anything. in america we should all be sticking together. and also i think basically everybody in america is spoiled. we live in the greatest country in the world. we have everything we want. and we should try to protect that. and also on the campaign in 2024, i support nicki haley. not only is she -- she is honest. she's smart. and what she says makes sense. and her husband is in the military. he knows what's going on there. she knows what's going on there. i have a son that just joined the military. he's gone through college. he just joined up.

host: all right. any comments, david? guest: first of all, thank you for your son's service to our nation. i think that brings up a really important point about divisiveness. this is something that our adversaries overseas, dictatorships in places like moscow and beijing, have tried to incite in the american people for a long time. they know america is weaker when we are divided. when we doubt our own democracy. they tried this for decades and it largely didn't work. it didn't make us disbelieve in our democracy in any way. there was a "washington post" piece a couple weeks ago that moscow is ramping up its efforts to spread this disinformation. it's designed to get us to doubt our own elections. to think that our fellow americans, the hundreds of thousands of people who serve as public servants to run our elections they are somehow our enemies. those people are suffering greatly under threats and harassment now three years after that election, despite having achieved such a successful election in 2020 in terms of vare tpaoeublt and security --

verifiability and security. whether it's advertently or inadvertently. those spreading misinformation are doing the work dividing us that dictatorships and adversaries overseas are looking for. host: a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. david. david, the real truth of it is, me and you we lookalike. i'm an see van gellical christian. eight of the last nine elections, presidential elections have won the popular vote by democrats. and republicans know that the more people that get to vote, the less chance they got to win. that's what this is about. if they can't keep pushing this and throw people off the voting roll and figure out ways to get people to not vote, then they are going to lose. they are going to continue to lose. because the popular vote is not with an abortion ban for everybody in the country. it's not with stopping black

people from voting in certain areas. because they don't look like us, we don't let them vote. that's the truth of it. if they can't can't keep spreading this, then they can't push the big lie and get people to say in their states right now we are going to make it harder for these people to vote. they ain't showed their driver's license. i vote. i have had to show my driver's license every time. hi to show my residents tk*epbs every single time. all this is just a way to put the uneducated people to not vote. thank you. host: what do you think? guest: i think there is this myth the more people vote that democrats always win. and both the democratic party and republican party in someplaces seem to believe that. but not every place. it is a myth. donald trump received the second most votes of any presidential candidate in history in 2020. he happened to be going against a persons who received the most. we had the highest turnout american election in 2020 in

history by 20 million ballots. 20 million more votes were cast in 2020 than any election we have ever seen. we had two out of every three eligible voters coat voting. it was a triumph of participation and wonderful. something we should be celebrating. in areas where turnout was particularly high, sometimes democrats won. sometimes republicans won. in 2020 in florida, republicans won by the largest margin they had seen in decades. perhaps ever with the highest turnout they had seen. texas, the same thing. highest turnout they had seen. republicans won with very large margins despite that turnout. maybe because of that turnout. you see republicans in places like georgia and other places really embracing the idea that turnout is a good thing. empwraeutsing the idea we are -- empwraeutsing the identify -- embracing the idea we are going to work to persuade voters our democracy while democrats try to do the same. host: what would you say are the

biggest threats to election integrity? what are people concerned on both sides? guest: there are two aspects of election integrity. first our elections are actually secure? the answer is yes. they are as secure as they have ever been. more paper ballots. more audits. more cooperation between federal, state, and local authorities to ensure security than ever before. that's a good thing. that will continue to get better. unfortunately, the biggest threat to election security is that the supporters of losing candidates may be convinced that they didn't actually lose. if we get to the point where half the country can't process the idea that their candidate lost, in a country divided 50-50, we are in real trouble as a democracy. and we saw what could happen with that on january 6. we see people pleading out on january 6. they are being convicted on january 6 charges.

and saying to the courts, we are sorry. we didn't realize. we didn't realize we were led astray there. we are seeing that in the plea deals being made in georgia by people like jenna ellis and sydney powell saying they were led astray or did something wrong. we are going to see a lot more of that. that accountability, i hope, is one step on a long path towards righting this wrong we have seen over the last several years. host: let's go to the independent line in alabama, chuck. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: you keep talking about disinformation. how much disinformation do you think caused people to vote differently stpheupl' talking about trump being a mole. 51 intelligence agencies saying the hunter biden laptop was

russian disinformation. how does that affect votes? there's been so much different disinformation before the election by the media, by basically all the democrats. they were trying to impeach trump. that's all disinformation. when you talk about disinformation, there's probably more disinformation about lying about what trump did and this, that, and the other than about the election. host: what do you think, david? guest: i think disinformation that affects voters' ultimate choices does exist. democrats would say it was rampant in 2016 disinformation that may have affected people to turn away from secretary clinton. and republicans might say disinformation was rampant in 2020 that caused people to turn away from president trump. to some degree they might both be right. ultimately it's incumbent upon voters to be skeptical of the

news they are getting. to break out of their news silos. they are not just hearing information that confirms their bias. we are seeing that in other context as well. with the israeli-hamas conflict and other areas. where disinformation silos are causing people not to engage with reality and the truth. and so if you think there's disinformation that has hurt your candidate, it's probably true that the other side can say the same. it's beneficial to try to learn about both of them and try to break through those silos and learn the truth about the candidates and what their positions are. host: joel next in spring, texas, republican line. hi. caller: hello, ma'am. good day, mr. becker. what makes you think that you or others of your *eulg that pass for critical thinking that the rest of the american public does not? that's sort of a rhetorical question. i personally receive four

mail-in voting ballots. so when you say that there was one sent to everybody. that's just the way it is. that's not right, sir. i got four. i took three back to the registrar. how about states, various states, that didn't go through their slate legislature to change the voting rules. we have a lot of problems here, sir. host: joel, let's see what david says. guest: first of all about mail balloting. first of all texas is a state where it's difficult to get a mail ballot. if that happened, that would be unusual. it's good he brought them back rather than try to vote them. if he tried to vote them, there are two checks on every mail ballot in this country. one a check you received one in the first place. one a check to return the mail

bat local. another caller mentioned something about signature matching. that is done everywhere. signature matching at a minimum in someplaces, also i.d. matching with i.d. numbers. that's appropriate. we should be checking to make sure people returning ballots are the people we thought. if anyone tries to send in a mail ballot that wasn't supposed to, that ballot will be rejected and that person will be prosecuted. we are seeing some of that in someis cans. people who double voted in places. that's a good thing. with regard to the changes that were done, again. all of the changes that were done were done according to law prior to the election and almost all of them were litigated. some of them were things that democrats fought for like more mail ballots for people who are worried about getting sick in the polling place. some of them like places in ohio and texas were decisions made without the legislature to restrict the number of ballot drop box that is people could conveniently and securely return their ballots in to one per

county. one of the of the largest counties in the country is harris county, texas. that was -- they were limited to one drop box. democrats didn't like that. republicans did. it was done without the legislature. these were all litigated. and some the democrats liked. most the republicans liked. but we knew the rules on election day. if you have the best field goal kicker in the league and lose the super bowl by one point, you can't complain field goals weren't worth five points. that's the way it works in this country. just like it would have been improper for secretary clinton, the losing candidate in 2016, to claim the rules made in advance of 2016 tph-r rules that existed were somehow beneficial to her opponent after the election that she lost. host: you mentioned early voting. how secure are those drop boxes for ballots? how do we know they can't be stolen or tampered with? guest: they are very secure. in many cases they are monitored. they are more secure than mailboxes.

there is no way to reach inside and get them. they are constantly election staff are constantly going in there and picking them up so they have a constant stream of mail ballots. they are not sitting there for days on end. at least once a day. most cases multiple times. and one really good thing about drop boxes as opposed to, for instance, return ago ballot by mail, when you -- returning a ballot by mail, when you return by mail it goes through the u.s. postal. they are secure but they handle a huge volume of mail. when you return a mail ballot by a drop box, there is no middle man. you are taking the ballot from the voter and giving it directly to the election official. host: jim in st. louis, missouri, independent line. caller: yes. good morning. i would like two points. one is the concern for mr.son about -- johnson about his religious affiliation.

one country, under god. host: jim, we are talking about the election integrity and security. caller: talk to him about the elections. the elections are for everybody to vote. any way you like in any state you are registered to vote. don't see what the concern is about all these different lies and conspiracies about the votes not done here. the vote's not done there. people are not registered. as long as you are registered to vote. longs you have your i.d. card. what's the problem? host: david, wanted to ask you about when votes start to be counted. people will mail in ballots. they'll vote early. do they start getting counted immediately? or do they wait until election day or after election day votes come? guest: it varies by state and has become a bigger issue since losing candidates have started to try to make it -- raise

issues about how long it's taking to count. we want to be very clear here. there has never been an election night in the united states. there is no constitutional requirement that we count all our ballots by election night. that would be physically impossible. not even a good thing. we still have ballots coming in for instance from members of our military. it has always taken some time. we never know who wins the presidential election until the electoral college meets. we think we do because the margins are large enough and the media makes calls. with regard to the ballots that are counted, election officials start counting as soon as the polls close. often the election day in-person ballots are counted first. almost every place. each one of those has been put into the tabulator, the machines that count the ballots. it's easy as soon as the polls close to touch the button on the back and get those counts and start reporting them up. early in-american vote often can

be counted that quickly as well. mail ballots it might take more time for a couple of reasons. one, in many places -- most places they do process mail ballots in advance. they take them when they receive them, check the signatures and i.d., confirm they came from the right place, and only then do they remove the ballot from the inform and put in a tabulator. it's loaded up without the count being known to anybody before the polls close and they can count those quickly. that's true in many, many states. in states like wisconsin and pennsylvania and some degree michigan they are not allowed to start processing those mail ballots until the day before the election in michigan or election day in wisconsin and pennsylvania. and you want them to take time with validating those ballots. you want them to make sure the signatures match. you want to make sure that every vote is coming from the person it's supposed to. that's going to delay things. unfortunately, the legislatures in those states have not acted

expeditiously to change that. host: craig in texas, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes. right ahead. caller: right now what's going on our votes does not count. it don't matter because they sit out and told us. we are going to do what i do. not even going to the citizen to pass a bill. they are going by the republicans whatever the republican want, whatever the schoolteachers want. it ain't working out. these bills are being passed because they are out here trying to take their country back. this is what's going on. they are not working -- president biden -- like the man said on the football team. you go out there and play the minority of people, the colored people out there get the kihuen and sit them on the bench so the other kid can get credit for winning the game. this is what's going on. stick together and work with the president and run this country. they want to take credit. mccarthy is running for

president. that's all this is. they are going over there. governor in our state instead of running the state, a city, they out here running -- these people out here they want to be the leader. they want to take credit for what everybody else is doing. they have been doing in this world. and people see now. people-tkeurpbl' not voting no more because they see no matter what you do we'll do what they want to do. like this housing thing. not even a law. host: got it, greg. guest: i can understand why so many voters in this country feel like their vote doesn't matter. they are reading disinformation, honestly from across the political spectrum, that says their votes don't matter. there is evidence, reason to think oh, i voted for this, and it didn't happen. it's very understandable. but one thing that's guaranteed if you want your vote not to matter, don't vote. then it's guaranteed that you won't have a say. the more people who vote, the more it's likely you are going

to get what you want. no question the political system is not always working as intended. no questions there. promises broken. this is not something that's one side or the other. it goes across the political spectrum. it's really important for people to understand that their vote does matter. it does get counted. that we live in a very narrowly divided democracy. and every vote matters. it just doesn't matter, it doesn't only matter at the presidential level. it matters all the way down. try to learn about the local races, school board, county commission. mayor, etc. those races matter a lot. and often people only vote at the top of the ballot for the federal offices and not necessarily all wait down to the bottom. host: ann next. austin, texas, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. just wondering about the nonprofit. it's being talked about, mr. becker mentioned it was a 501-c-3. nonpartisan. what i worry about when i hear things like that and words like

immediately about grifting and divisiveness and disinformation and it's all about -- i guess the trump side of the ticket. it seems like there is just out of the gates divisiveness happening from the nonprofit. i wonder about the nonprofit. and the political partisanship of it. i think also it's not fair to say that people can't have questions about integrity. those questions are dismissed. i haven't heard a lot of good answers for things like, separated from the ballot, signatures not being verified, i.d.'s not being required. even machines connect to the internet. basic things like that. people have a lot of questions about. people do try to go and look and automatically it's not allowed

to be able to be shared what the systems look like inside. it doesn't seem to be that anyone is interested in getting to the bottom of some of the people's questions. it's more like divisive, divisive, divisive. people printing up sheets over the windows. why do counts stop in the middle of the night and change so much. you could pick any one of those and i suppose you have an answer for it. it's like the why can't people have questions. why can't we get legitimate answers? why does it have to be so divisive? i feel like this organization could be a lot more helpful around the integrity questions rather than automatically assuming bad intentions from people who have questions. host: ok. guest: first of all i appreciate everything ann is saying. with regard to the nonprofit that i run, we are completely nonpartisan and bipartisan. three of our six members are republican. as i said before, i was one of the first to come out publicly that donald trump legitimately

won the 2016 election because he did. and the disinformation is not entirely on the republican side. there are elements, for instance, the claim about machines being connected to the internet and possible hacking of the machines, a lot of those claims originated on the extreme left. we see there was the draft executive order that was unprecedented that would have allowed the department of defense to go into states and seize their property, the voting machines. that quote interested a lawsuit that was brought by left-leaning groups in georgia. it's absolutely true we should be looking for bipartisanship and nonpartisanship in these efforts. with regard to whether voters should have questions. it's always ok to have questions. reach out to your election officials and talk to them. every single one of them, in every state across the country will welcome your legitimate questions.

they don't like being attacked. if you want to understand why these machines are secure, if you want to go and understand who is observing elections at all times. that's there. one of the best things -- the whole reason major garrett and i wrote our book was to answer some of these questions. unfortunately, many people have been led astray by so much disinformation that they don't actually want to seek out some of those answers. the book has answers to that. my organization, our website, constantly has answers. i hope people go to election innovation.org and look for that. go to your election official and talk to them. the great example is that claim that paper was being put over the windows. that was in detroit in wayne county, michigan in 2020 where there were hundreds of rioting protestors saying let us in, let us in. we want to see the count. there were literally 200 observers on the other side of that door who were preregistered who everyone knew was going to be there representing both parties and both presidential campaigns observing every single

aspect of the count while that was going in. did the election officials want to allow rioters in the room and custody -- or strict custody of the ballots to be maintained. where people were working very late hours for little pay, they didn't. but they were open to transparency n places like tkreut and -- detroit and atlanta and philadelphia, not only were bipartisan observers were in the room, they were live streaming the count from inside those rooms so anyone could watch. host: laurel, maryland, line for democrats. caller: hello. good morning. i really appreciate this segment. i want to cover a few things. the first i want to say is this is all about trust. as a country, we have to understand that if we have so much distrust in each other, that we don't trust people to

count ballots and have integrity, then we don't have a democracy. the second thing i want to talk about is the -- i also want to remind people that mr. -- former president said, before the election, that if he lost the election would be rigged. but i also want to talk about this idea of demographics. we have a situation where every day in this country we have more and more quote-unquote, minorities in this country. and it means that those people are going to vote, hopefully, and they are going to vote their interest. and if the republicans continue to denigrate them, they are going to end up losing elections

year after year. the third thing i want to say is i think -- this is a theory or a speculation. this is not a fact. i am wondering about the-- i ame whole idea of questioning election integrity. i am wondering if there are people who are not interested in election integrity but in creating so much chaos and distrust that people lose faith completely in the election process and saved we do not believe in democracy anymore. we want someone to fix it. guest: i and crown will's -- think roaul's point about trust is important. we run a legal defense network

where we recruit attorneys to represent people being threatened or harassed. this has never been needed before, but we have renting it for over two years -- have been running it for over two years. i can tell you that hundreds of thousands of election workers all over our country, they are under incredible strength right now because of the disinformation and are harassed because of it. some of those people who are requesting the assistance of the legal defense network, the majority are republicans in red areas. it is a shame that disinformation has caused so many americans to distrust their fellow citizens just because they believe the election was stolen or they disagree and policies. that is what our adversaries want.

another point that is important is postelection chaos. when i talk about drifters, i am not talking about ordinary americans. they are often the targets of the grist, sending money to people at $25 a shot two people at the top of the pyramid were getting rich off of the rift. -- grift. the people at the top are often wrapping themselves in the banner of election integrity while they advocate for things like can count of ballots, proven repeatedly to be less accurate than machine counts with audits, but we are seeing this headcount effort spread. that will lead to more expensive, inaccurate counts that take longer and lead to more chaos postelection. why would some advocate for that? because they support election

losers of either party may wish to raise money in that postelection period around that chaos and incite violence, a real danger. host: let's talk to glenn in greenbriar, arkansas, independent. caller: can you hear me? host: yes. caller: about the integrity of the elections, my mother worked as an election worker for 23 years. she had never voted democrat, but in democrat desk in 2020, she voted democrat. the problem was she had only been dead six years. the way i found it she voted democrat was i started receiving medicare applications for her in the mail. in a simple place like that, i knew everybody. i was shocked to find that she voted democrat, but help many

people out there got medicare applications after their people had been dead? my neighbor got five election ballots through the mail. host: we are running out of time. i will get to the response will quick. guest: arkansas is another place where it is hard to get mail balance. there is no evidence that those ballots are being returned and voted. secondly, all of ballots are secret. there is no way to tell how in individual voted in any particular election and there is no connection between voting and medicare applications. there's probably some disinformation being spread. and completely understanding the disappointment they have in the outcome of the election, i would like to say to glenn's mother and plan and anyone else who volunteers to work for

elections, thank you. we desperately need these volunteers, does not matter what party you are, you vote for. your service is appreciated. your election officials will appreciate it. host: and we appreciate you, david becker. confined his work at electioninnovation.org. that is it for today. back tomorrow, 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. now we will take you live to the u.s. institute of peace, were religious leaders from christian, muslim, jewish communities in ukraine discussed navigating the russia-ukraine work. here is the event already in progress. >>'s from the moment we opened our doors -- religious -- the religion program is our longest owning program. our work is focused on supporting religious factors around the