merry christmas. >> thank you john. that's all the time we have for today on this christmas eve. thank you everyone who called in and who watched and listened today. we will be back with another edition of washington journal tamari -- tomorrow and to all those celebrating, merry christmas. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023]

♪ host: good morning. it is sunday, december 24, 2023, christmas eve. as summer preparing for the holiday, former president donald trump's legal team has been preparing court filings, asking an appeal of -- an appellate court to throw out the case against his grounds there -- so this morning we are talking but the former president's legal challenges and the supreme court. we are taking your calls.

republicans can call in at (202) 748-8001. democrats on (202) 748-8000. independents, your number is (202) 748-8002. if you would like to text us, that number is (202) 748-8003. we are also on facebook, facebook.com/c-span, and on x. it will start with a couple of headlines related to these issues. first in the "washington post, a an article from december 20. the supreme court seems destined to play a pivotal role in the 2024 elections. multiple cases involve some gop involve front -- multiple cases involve gop front runner donald trump. the supreme court will be pressed to enter multiple questions crucial to the next year's presidential election, thrust into a pivotal role not seen sin its 2000 decision

thled the victory for president george w. bush. birth and created lasting scars -- bush versus gore the country and created lasting scars. this is all coming amid many questions and challenges around ethics at the supreme court. chief justice john roberts reference to the turmoil surrounding the court earlier this spring in a speech after winning the american law institute's judge award. here is a portion of his remarks. [video clip] >> the opinions for him involve real people. the system had to work. we are not sterile. they told a real story. as a general matter, those are good for principal judges but not bad for other officers as well. much of the public discourse

seems to be very different. most views being discussed come prepackaged. the set -- instead of reasoning can be good slogans and shouting. instead of pragmatism, you could rocky theories that have no realm of being real impossibility. as a result, truth and some said would be like a vintage sports car, too valuable to take out any was -- and use. she leads me to one area where i part ways with the man i am so proud to call a mentor. the judge was a pessimist at heart. he was very proud of his work. you can see it in his face when he was satisfied with the product. but if he were alive today, the contrast between his efforts and things going on outside his chamber would be deeply

disappointing to him and would feed certainly any depression. there is much that he would find abhorrent. judges heckled at a law school. marshall protection needed for justices 24/7. in 18 years, i was asked what was the hardest vision i had to make in 18 years. was it the first amendment case, some major separation of powers case? none of those. the hardest decision i had to make was whether to erect fences and barricades around the supreme court. i have no choice but to go ahead and do it, but while it was going on and the fences were going up, i kept hearing the remarks at the opening of the supreme court building.

he said this is the symbol of its faith. inside the court, there is cause for optimism. i am happy i can continue to say there has never been a voice raised in anger in our conference room. we deal with some of the most controversial issues before the country but we maintain collegial relations with each other. but i wandered down the halls and see a colleague my am always happy to have a chance to chat. to be fair, there are many days i don't feel like walking down the halls so you may have to discount that a little bit. and on a final issue of concern inside the court, i want to assure people i am committed to making certain we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct.

we are continuing to look at things we can do to give practical effect to that commitment. and i am confident there are ways to do that that are consistent with our status as an independent branch of government within the constitution's separation of powers. host: this is as the public opinion of the supreme court is near record lows. here is some polling from gallup. it shows 41% approve of the supreme court's job performance and motors close to the 40% record low. 49% have trust and confidence in the supreme court. near a 47% historical low. 39% say the high court is too conservative. 42% say it is just about right. 17% say it is too liberal. we look at more details of the polling from gallup and you can see that in terms of trust, americans's trust in the judicial branch and the federal

government going back to 1972, that has gone down. you can see we are at 49% with a precipitous drop between 2018 and 2023. when it comes to viewing the court as too conservative or liberal, that ideological leaning pretty much skews down to too liberal at 70%, too conservative has seen a spike at 39%, but about right to percent, and democrats were largely behind last year's increase in overall percentage, saying the court was to conservative, but 73% of democrats say the court was to conservative versus 8% of republicans. there are several questions related to former president donald trump that are likely to end up before the supreme court or that are on their way there already. the colorado supreme court ruled in the 14th amendment ruling

that president trump could be taken off of the ballot, and trump's legal team has said they plan to appeal the ruling to the supreme court. the court has already said it will hear a challenge to an obstruction law used to prosecute january 6 defendants. other potential questions that may be coming before the court include whether or not, excuse me, the court -- trump has civil liability for january 6 as well as gag orders imposed by judges in d.c. and new york city that have been imposed on president trump and his legal cases there. now let's go to some of your calls. lee is in holland, michigan, on our republican line. good morning. caller: yes. another topic, trump doings. here we go. we have democrats calling in and

fake independents. trump when he is a jerk. democrats will call it and know nothing about politics, but they will sure hate trump. and the supreme court, the reason why trump got a couple of judges on there so that we do it and we disapprove of the court now. man, does the democrat machine is part of it and so disappointing. what was the question again? host: your thoughts on trump's legal challenges and the supreme court. caller: legal challenges. the democrats -- you mean because of the democratic indictments? how would you like it if your worst enemy could just go and throw anything against the wall to try to get it to stick? that would be more -- that would be horrible, wouldn't it? the january 6 thing is a lie. people are stupid, the democrat

followers are. january 6 was a bunch of crap. what was the other thing? oh, the court thing in georgia. what? here is the thing to get was not a big lie that the election was stolen. they changed the rules due to covid in the swing states like pennsylvania, georgia, arizona, michigan, and pennsylvania. those four states are the only reason why brian -- biden won. they changed the laws due to covid. look that up please before the democrats call in. host: thank you. let's go to larry in nebraska, also on our republican line. good morning, larry. caller: good morning, and merry christmas to everybody. you know, this whole thing is just out of hand.

no american president should ever go through this ever again. i don't care if it is a republican or democrat or independent or whoever. but no american president should ever go through this ever again. we have to have a justice system that needs to be cleaned up. i can't believe i am living in a country where you can't trust the fbi, doj. that is terrible. another thing, i have a suggestion for the programming. could you have a programming where it is democrats only, and asked them, what good does hate do? have them defend hate and just ask them, what good does it do?

ok, that is all i have to say. host: thank you, larry. james is in florida on our democrat line. good morning, james. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing what thank you -- doing well, thank you. caller: thank you for letting me talk. the supreme court, there is some disappointment in that. especially judge thomas. host: can you turn down the volume on your tv please, james? caller: i apologize. sorry. judge thomas i think -- i was in the financial services of a life agency security. 29 college funds, stuff like that, annuity, mortgage broker,

and it was a high standard. but not give more than $50 and understanding some of the judges are getting gifts. this is outrageous. they need to have an ethic where go more than $50, just like most people in this country should be. and the democrat is not the enemy. we are not against this country. we love this country as much as everybody else. some republicans refuse to look at the tv and watch the january 6 episode on tv that showed the real story with two guys climbing on the dome and they tour the american flag down and put a rebel flag.

2000 people there tearing this place up and injured 143 or 145 police officers. host: i would like to follow up on some of the points you made regarding the ethics at the supreme court. there has been quite a bit of writing on that, including investigations from republica. but here is an article from cnbc speaking about clarence thomas from december 18. clarence thomas faces new financial scrutiny recusal calls. supreme court justice is facing fresh pressure on multiple fronts following new reporting about his financial history, and democrats urges recusal in the election interference case. democrats cited the court's new code of ethics by pointing to the actions of his wife and her

reported efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. the scrutiny underscores influence and influence wielded by the powerful conservative justice, the most senior member of the nation's highest court. the washington examiner has an article about ketanji brown jackson with an ethics complaint over her husband's income. was the target of an ethics complaint regarding her husband's income. the conservative center for renewing america expressed the complaint in a letter to the judicial conference. the complaint alleges that jackson did not report some of her husband's income for more than a decade. the letter urges the group to refer the matter to attorney general merrick garland and to begin an ethics investigation, and that article was from december 19. now let's go to robin in cleveland, tennessee, on our independent line. caller: no, i am a democrat.

host: ok. caller: i would just like to say shout out to my baby sister regina brown today. it is her birthday. the republican party wants law and order for everybody else except for donald trump. hello? host: yes, i can hear you. go ahead, robin. caller: the republican party wants law and order for everybody else but donald trump, and it is obvious that trump is guilty. i watch january 6 all day long. he never once tried to stop it. he has told almost 30,000 lies. i don't know what will happen for the party that wants to save the country. they are too invested in trying to save trump, so where we are at right now, the man said the statement about -- quoting hitler is the definition of

hate. we were raised in a black church where you were not raised to hate anybody, so this venom directed towards immigrants, it is not a black people issue. we were raised to not hate anybody. so when you saw what is wrong -- so when you say what is wrong with hate, go look in the beer. you don't see videos of us attacking you all. they basically took their devotion to donald trump and turned it into a cult, so merry christmas, have a nice day. host: thank you, robin. cliff is in virginia on our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. merry christmas. i want to make an observation. democrats, politicians, and liberal groups were hollering voter rights, it seems the democrats had these groups want

to take trump off the ballot. they want to take the voting rights away from people to decide. i am a little confused. they can't have it both ways. that is my observation. thank you. host: i am guessing you are referring to the colorado ruling about whether or not trump should be on the ballot there. there is a story we have. let me pull it up on cnn about this. and i will pull that up in just a little bit, but the colorado supreme court is waiting have a ruling probably from the supreme court on whether or not that will move forward. now let's go to david in dallas, texas, on our democratic line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, we can hear you. caller: i had to call in because

it absolutely blows my mind for people to defend a man who is a convicted rapist. no one took those documents from the white house with the exception of donald trump. no one denied turning the documents in after several court orders except donald trump. no one dodged the draft except donald trump. these are things that man did. these are things that people assume he did. with regard to january 6, there was a gallo hanging on the lawn of congress. there were people climbing the wall with his flags proclaiming being loyal to him. he did not denounce any of it, and i think in my own mind if

someone is doing that in my name , i am going to say no, this is wrong people, stop. he did not do any of that. let's move beyond that. talking about policy, ok, donald trump did nothing with regard to policy trying to keep mexicans under with this wall he was supposed to bill. these people who follow the man are delusional. i am trying to find any common sense and someone supporting people like him. with regards to clarence thomas, his wife is out there with these people on january 6, and he can't say -- he can't separate himself from the to say i want no part of that. i think what she did was wrong. people are still supporting people. i am trying so hard to find middle ground and say, ok, i

have my opinion, they have their opinion, but their opinion is not based in any kind of fact. i am talking about what the man did, not what people say he did, not what they assume happened, and you are looking at it in living color and believing it is ok. how can anyone support someone for president who has this type of track record? i don't care if he is the second coming of jesus with regard to help us he is. if his morals and ethics are not in place, it can't represent the united states of america. think about that. host: sorry, david. did not mean to cut you off, but we found the article with cnn looking at the colorado supreme court ruling, saying trump is ineligible for office under the 14th amendment insurrectionists ban. the colorado supreme court rules, and in that ruling, they say presid tru not

merely incite insurrection even when the siege on the capitol was fully underway. he continued to supp by repeatedly demanding vice president mike pence refused to perform his constial duty and by g senators to persuade them to stop counting the ell the counting of electoral. these actions constituted, overt voluntary does constitu overcome a voluntary, and direct involvement. he did not tell his supporters capitolstop what he the alleged was a fraud upon the country. the 4-3 ruling from the color of the supreme court will be placed on hold until january 4, pending trump's appeal to the u.s. supreme court, which could settle the matter for the nation.

let's go back to your calls. edward is in ohio on the republican line. caller: i am a vietnam war veteran. host: ok. caller: one guy i worked for for 18 years was republican and made nothing but promises, and he never ever fulfilled them. he would walk around, patting himself on the back saying he is so smart, and he was a young republican when he was in college and all this kind of stuff. there were things elect to say. he is the same age i am and i am 70. the thing is i can tell and someone is lying or putting somebody on, and i knew from the

beginning that was djt and he was backing up the proud boys on national television. it is too bad we cannot send him a bill for all of the stuff i got copd from being in the service in the running out of air now but thank you so very much for letting me speak. i cannot get into chris cuomo or anybody. host: thanks for calling him. next, we have jacob in montana on our independent line. go ahead, jacob. caller: good morning, c-span and what is left of america. thank you for taking my call. i think this is quite possibly -- this could possibly be the last christmas we enjoy. our country has been captured by the united nations in the one world government organization, i

believe, and they will not let president trump back at all costs. i think it is do or die time for them. i think they might even try to assassinate him that is what they are planning. i think that is what they will try to do. host: who is it? caller: well, if you would interview alex jones, you will hear and see a lot of people, experts on the subject. he is on every day, comes on at 11:00 central time. he is one of the greatest patriots america has ever had. that is all i wanted to say. thank you and merry christmas. host: thank you. georgia is louisiana on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead, georgia. caller: good morning. about donald trump, no one else

in this united states and actually say this man is an honest person. each person will be judged by god, period, for their actions. this man is not a god. this man has ruined this country. this man has bad, bad behavior. he was telling all of these stories like alex jones, i do not understand how you can go along with someone that mixed up stuff, but god will judge you, the individual. you need to read your bible. this is a prelude to the end of the united states as we know it, so buckle up my get ready because we are in for a rough ride. bye. host: romney is in st. charles, missouri, on our republican line. caller: yes, good morning. thank you for taking my call.

the thing that i want to say is the sad part about all of this is we say liberal judges, conservative judges. judges are supposed to be right down the middle. it is just a shame that the deep state has taken over the way they have come and i think all three of our groups, republican, independent, and democratic, we better wake up because the deep state is getting exactly what they want. they are pitting us against each other. that is all i have, thank you. host: in the midst of these ethics complaints against the supreme court, here is an article from november 30 in "usa today" that senate democrats voted to subpoena harlan crow, leonard leo in a supreme court ethics probe as the gop stormed out. republicans on the panel slammed the move as political theater and accused the 11 democrats of violating committee rules.

democrats on the senate judiciary committee voted that particular thursday. a subpoena and after partisan victory and it rep -- and it ended with republicans and storming out. private club access provided to justices by a billionaire gop donor that appeared to have been tied in some cases to conservative legal activist leonard leo. they moved forward with subpoenas thursday after concluding neither of them were willing to voluntarily provide the information they had been seeking. democrats have been pushing for many more ethics moves by the supreme court especially in light of some of this reporting, and here is chairman dick durbin

and ranking member lindsey graham just moments from the gop walkout. [video clip] >> on november 13, the super court announced that for the first time in its history it would implement a code of conduct for the justices. this came after the roberts court refused to act on this issue for more than two years. after a series of heavily reported disclosures involving several justices and after this committee favorably reported the supreme court ethics recusal and transparency act sponsored by senator whitehouse, among other things, it addresses the need for justices to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary by avoiding impropriety and the appearance of impropriety, but the court's new code of conduct falls short of what we expect from the highest court in the land. >> i think this is a bunch of garbage to be honest with you because i don't think you are remotely interested in bringing up the bill that passed the senate judiciary committee.

if you really cared about this, we would be on the floor a long time ago debating fixing this problem. you know you are not going to be 60 votes for these subpoenas. i don't know who you are trying to please. i don't know what group is going to feel better because we are doing this on your side. but you are pleasing none of us. and this committee is functioning fairly well given what is going on in america today, so i do not buy it one bit that this is about fixing a problem. this is about an ongoing effort to destroy this court area to destroy clarence thomas's reputation, to pack the court, to get your way. host: now then, let's go to john in tuscaloosa, alabama, on the democratic line. good morning, john. caller: good morning. hi. i've been watching a lot of

this, especially with the supreme court. the supreme court has been bought by these billionaires. they are corrupt. they don't have any morals. they don't have any ethics. they are voting on whether or not trump has immunity to commit crimes while in office. nobody has immunity to commit crimes. they are voting on trump challenges to the 14th amendment. well, the 14th amendment is clear, so you either throw the 14th amendment out and let trump and the supreme court tear up the constitution if the supreme court is not going to abide by it. if these other states who want to file the 14th amendment against trump, let them all filed the 14th amendment and

that the supreme court throw them all out. this is what should be done. the other thing is if this was a democratic president that had committed these atrocities that trump has committed, the same supreme court would kick him off the ballot without a second thought. the other thing that is very important for i think the american people to understand, those that are watching all that is going on, you have to look at what christian nationalism. this is what mike johnson is about. this is what the evangelicals are about. and this all started back in 1493 when they had the doctrine of discovery. that is the birth of evangelicalism. the white people say they are the only ones that are entitled to own any land in this country. those are the only things i have

to say. thank you and have a good day. host: thank you john. john was mentioning the 40 commitment, which was the basis of the colorado supreme court ruling we discussed a bit earlier. at language specifically in the 14th amendment bars anyone asn officer of the united oath sto suort the constitution of the united states and then engaged in an insurrection or rebellion against it unless congress removes such disability by a two thirds vote. donald is in north carolina on our independent line. caller: yes. six quick points. first, i applaud the callers to c-span who refuse to be hoodwinked by from supporters who feel he can do no wrong. second, regarding the caller who said january 6 is nothing but a big lie, i have 20 plus hours of

videotape myself of that big lie. leedy we could have a resume call sometime and i could share my screen with him and he could point out for me just what part of the video is a big lie. third, regarding the caller who said no president has ever been mistreated the way donald trump has been mistreated. well, donald trump started the birther movement against barack obama before he was even in office. attempted to take the man's birthright, the look in the behavior i can think of. the fourth point, donald trump said he ran against barack obama in 2016. i thought he ran against hillary clinton. fifth point, the central park five who were convicted of rape and murder but later exonerated by dne, dollar trump said as far as he is concerned, they are still guilty.

sixth and final point, regarding ruby freeman as he was, who rudy giuliani defamed, donald trump repeated that lie over and over again. host: the georgia election workers who were accused of trying to partially steal the election, go ahead, donald. caller: that is correct. the court has just awarded the two election workers $148 million, so don from supporters, keep sending him money because he will be sued in the same case in 2024. rudy giuliani has no money, but donald trump has some money, and you keep sending him more money so he could pay his $148 million. thank you, and good day. host: julie is in illinois on our republican line. caller: hello. i would like to say anyone who thinks the election was stolen or anything else like that is

being played by donald trump. he wants your money to pay his legal fees and he wants to pardon himself out of his own thing. if you live in a state with high-level corruption all the time with both parties, you should be able to easily say that, -- see that, so everybody needs to take a look around and see what is going on. thank you. host: thank you. jermaine is in baton rouge, louisiana, on our independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i have had the opportunity to listen to a lot. i like what i'm hearing but i want you to know about the bloodshed and lies and corruption. i heard a young man before me say the lewiston you can do is steal somebody's birthright.

that is exactly what the united states was built on, stolen birthrights. i will be honest, just listening, everybody sits around and act like they don't know what the united states is. it is a slaveholding and trading system. people cannot own people, so look at the system for what it is and stop all the smoke screening. give back to the birthrights to the people and belongs to. i will holler at you all. host: bradley is in west virginia on our democratic line. good morning, bradley. caller: good morning. good morning. yeah. as far as i could remember, you are not to be put in jail or convicted of any crimes until you go through the courts. you know, nobody went through no courts or nothing on these trials and stuff they are trying to do, these judges out in the state out there.

you know, i have been a democrat since i was 18 years old, and it is not going to change, but it is pitiful to hear these democrats running their mouths on another elected president, you could say president or whatever, and running their mouth on him but cut his throat the way they are cutting his throat when he has done the most for any president i have seen in a wild. how many presidents have you seen walk across the border in korea? none. he is the only one. all of these democrats, it is no wonder the democratic party is falling apart that reason is they want to become interests, exactly what they want to be. and i am not going to be no communist. you know, it is a disgrace to get on tv and run their mouth the way they are running it when there is no evidence of what is going on out there to impeach him other than the 14th

amendment, and that his history back in the days of the battles, and he has been convicted of that, so how can you kick him off of a ballot when he has not been convicted. as far as i know, you have to be convicted before you are sent to prison. so anyway, it is sickening that these democrats get on there and it is no wonder people are going to the republican party's and independent parties, but have a good day, and all you democrats, you keep running your mouth and before you know it, there will be no democratic party. thank you and have a good day. bye. host: ken is in cincinnati, ohio, on our republican line good morning. caller: good morning. let me say happy holidays to everyone and have a happy and prosperous new year, but i think we have to really think twice about having a few judges rule who could be on a ballot at who can't be on a ballot. on a national election, state supreme courts should not be able to have the power to say we

don't want this candidate. i don't care who the candidate is. it is just wrong. it is really interesting, the new cycle within the last 48 hours, that putin scratched off the name of his opponent on their ballot. i am thinking, wow, that is something the democrats seem to have in common. i always ask the democrats this question because you have to draw a line between following a person and following a policy. to be, there is a difference in following america first. i think trump had that right, putting america first. there is nothing wrong with that. i would often ask democrats, what is wrong with wanting to put america first? the other thing, too, dealing with policy, it does not make any difference whether it was president trump with the america first policy or whether it was another candidate,

desantis or any other candidate. to me, it is policy command that is what we have to look at and get away from all of this democrat, republican, red or blue state, and realize we are all americans. we cannot be a country ruled by the extremes. that is what seems to be happening now. we need to really understand that over 80% of us have more in common then we have in his, and that is what we need to work with. i want to wish the best to everyone. host: thank you. charles is in washington, d.c., on our democratic line. caller: i would like to say thank you to ken and wish everybody a happy holidays. what was wrong was donald trump starting out with telling a lie about barack obama. he lied to his wife, the american people, never showed his taxes.

what was wrong with the policy he put forward? over obamacare. they will get rid of social security if they can. whatever it comes to, he has no ideology of politics. he does whatever may affect him. what is wrong is alex jones at rudy giuliani's lies, lying to the nra. all of these people have been sued and convicted of lying, and people around trump are going down. america will get the government it deserves. it absolutely will get what it deserves. the truth is this man started off on a lie, has been lying, and to this day, is telling lies and not telling the truth. if you listen to fox news, they are not telling you the truth. they have been sued as well and

will be again. so far, it has not taken place. be peaceful as a cap and know that we are one body, one people , people of the human race, not separate, white, black, republican. but you have to tell the truth. thank you very much. host: chris is in florida on our independent line. caller: hello. yeah. i like the gentleman who just spoke about truth. break the law all the time -- presidents break the law all the time. there was an american citizen who without due process was assassinated by barack obama and nobody took any legal action against him. i am confused about why humans

is running rampant. socrates is said ignorance is people, and we have an abundance of it in this country. host: ok. allen is in washington on our republican line. good morning, allen. caller: good morning. if anybody should be kicked off the ballot, it should be bided because he broke his oath of office along with merrick garland. they both promised, pledged to support the laws that were on there and then broke them. they ignored them. they ignored the border laws. garland ignored the law that you could not go to a judge's house. he led all of the protesters off. he should be impeached.

he is the biggest crook there is. him and by. you talk -- him and biden. you talk about lies, my god, bided lies every time he opens his mouth. he is old and senile and also dumb. host: what do you think about former president donald trump's legal challenges and the supreme court? caller: it is all nonsense. host: ok. leeann is in detroit, michigan, on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i want to address that one caller who talked about democrats being communists and trumps legal problems, he to be convicted first, and that he talked about obama. when obama went to cuba, they had a stroke. they want to get rid of him. all he wanted to do was make peace.

if black lives matter went to the capitol, they would have said it wasn't insurrection. if obama came in and said he wanted to be a dictator the first day, that would have been a problem, so when they about being honest and telling the truth, they need to tell the truth. no one -- even nixon stepped down and all he did was wiretap the democratic thing, but just to say that i just don't understand how -- i want a real republican to call in and say, you know what, i don't like what he has done and just tell the truth about the legal situations with trump. that is not even normal. that is not normal for a regular person, let alone a president. for them to say that, all it does is show me these are like-minded people of trump. this is a racist country with 70 something million people voting for trump. yeah, he is right, let's open up our eyes, that we are still in a racist country. thank you. host: sammy is an washington,

d.c., on our independent line. hi there. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well, thank you. caller: ok. i just wanted to say that as far as i know, colorado is a state. each state has their own supreme court. unless i am heaving this wrong, colorado, they want to say trump cannot be on their ballot. that only pertains to colorado. that does not pertain to everybody else. but they want to say state rights are state rights when it comes to the abortion thing, select colorado do their thing and be their own little state because if i drive around washington, d.c., to florida, i have to abide by the laws in florida.

if i drive from washington, d.c., to maryland, which i can do it about five minutes, i have to abide by the laws in maryland. so each state has different laws in different ways of doing things. me personally, i don't have any problem with it. as an independent, i would not vote for a democrat or republican. i have been doing it since 1988. i don't care if it is the local level, state-level level, or federal level. i would not vote for no democrat or republican. host: usually vote for third-party candidates, sammy? caller: one more time, i vote for whoever i want to. i made a vow to myself in 1988 that i would not vote for any democrat or republican even all the local level. that is a choice i made. to be an independent.

the slop has been a swamp since the 1980's if you know what i mean. host: ok, thank you, sammy. caller: but i appreciate you. host: the colorado supreme court ruling, the trump campaign responded when the news came out about the colorado supourt rulingg the color of the supreme court issued a completely flawed decision tonight, this was the night the ruling, and we will swiftly file an appeal to the united states supreme court and a concurrent request for a stay of the deeply undemocratic dision. we have confidence the u.s. supreme court will rule in our favor and put an end to these un-american lawsuits. randy is in wisconsin on our republican line. good morning, randy. caller: morning. thank you for taking my call. why is it that every day you got something on there about president trump? president trump did real good for this country.

am i still on? host: you are. go ahead. caller: the way that the speech president trump gave before he was supposed to walk to the capitol where he said use your constitutional right, be safe and march to the capitol and show your support. he did not say to go in the capitol. that was a planned deal. trump, the mayor of d.c.. 24,000 national guard there on that day for protection. the mayor turned him down. how come that is never brought up? for anybody that constantly says about this ruling in colorado, you are making a fool out of

yourself. for goodness sake, you get on there and spew all of this stuff. you have to know you cannot take voting rights away from somebody in a presidential election. it is asinine. host: thank you, randy. ira is in pump customer florida, on our democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. my story is about the united states of america. what is going on in america is a form of class warfare. host: we are talking today about former president trump's legal challenges and the supreme court. you have thoughts on that. -- on that? caller: yes, trump is a white nationalist. could call it what's a purpose you are whatever, but actually there is class warfare going on in america. the republican party and the white race of this country want

to say america is a white nation. the republican party is not an inclusive party. the democrats are an inclusive party. it is about white nationalist and they want to leave the country and call it a white nation, which is led by white people that want america to be called a white nation. host: ok, thank you. steve is in bismarck, north dakota, on our independent like a good good morning. caller: morning. yeah. the democrats hate trump so bad that if we do not get trump back in there, it will not be america anymore. i just flew from washington, where barely anybody speaks english anymore. i kid in school is the only one who speaks english in school. if we don't get something like

donald trump back there, democrats just keep making up these weird laws and stuff to file charges against the republicans now so they can try to make them look bad. host: ok. frank is in pennsylvania on our republican life. good morning, frank. caller: yeah, i would just like to say about any show anymore is about trump. how about having one about biden talking about how bad that he is doing? just like they are all talking about january 6. half of the people were hired by the fbi to come in and put on that big show. all of these immigrants are coming over, none of them have to be vaccinated. we do the double standard anymore. it is all for the democratic side. host: ok, frank.

next up, we have denise in the virgin islands. good morning on our democratic line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a u.s. virgin islands citizen. however, we cannot vote for president. it has always been that way. however, i did see the january 6 recordings from everything that transpired that day. there is nobody that can tell us what you saw. you cannot make it up. one thing that gives me hope is that so many of the trump supporters who were diehard trump supporters are now seeing the light. some went to jail and said they make a mistake -- they made a mistake. they said they would never vote for trump again, and that gives me hope. thank you. host: mike is in connecticut on our independent line. good morning, mike. caller: this is what people need

to understand. this is not about trump specifically. the supreme court when it rules, and it will have to at some point, it is ruling about a rule, a simple rule as to who can run for president and who can't. if you get rid of this rule involving insurrectionists, get rid of being 35 years old. get rid of being a natural born citizen. this is nothing more than a rule. you cannot lead an insurrection against your country and then come back and run for president of that country. you also must be 35. you must also be a natural born citizen. it is so outrageous that everyone sees this as a movement to keep trump off the ballot. no. this is a movement to maintain a sense of rules that will keep this country together in terms of who will lead it, and it relates to every human being in america. one last thing.

you will notice i called on the independent line. very important. not a democrat or republican. i have voted for both of my democrats and republicans. here is what is happening out there. democrats hang out with democrats and republicans hang out with republicans, and i am proud to say independents hang out with other independents. people are not aware of what is going on in the independent group of people, who tend to be many. there is an absolute movement of independents who are not going to vote for any republican in the next election because they recognized the republican party is not a party anymore. it is an authoritarian movement. in fact a white supremacist authoritarian movement to take over the country, so independents what a strong republican party, and in order to get that, there are independents who are organizing to make sure no republican at any level gets elected in the next round, so when there are

fewer if not any republicans left in elected positions, we can rebuild the republican party so it is actually a republican party because the country needs a republican party, a strong one, and it needs a democratic party, a strong wind. and it needs independents, on ones. is no longer a republican party but an authoritarian movement and it needs to be ended. all of them who call themselves republicans must be voted out. host: mark is in florida on our democratic line. caller: hi. happy holidays. so one of the things -- this is my first time listening to the show. my wife and i were listening, and one of the things i am seeing in common or hearing in common with a lot of these callers, especially on the republican side but what about us? what about us younger people?

we are looking at this then you all are setting a bad example for us because this is not how this country is supposed to be ran in terms of what you said with the 14th amendment. that person cannot engage in -- nobody in their right mind would hire trump to be the president of the company knowing that he engaged in an insurrection and has 90 plus lawsuits against him. nobody in their right mind. people, get it together, please. like us younger generation, we have to live with this. and we have to rebuild from it. we are watching you alter this country apart with what's promising because -- with white supremacy because that is what the republican party is, white supremacy being bought by billionaires. they are being bought. that is what we see.

happy holidays to everybody. thank you very much. this is my first time listening again, and you guys have a good one. host: thank you. hopefully you will keep listening. last up for now, we have carol and brookhaven, new york, on our republican like go ahead -- republican line, go ahead. caller: i am a republican but i voted both republican and democrat. but does anybody get tired of being told we are all white superb assists and that we all hate the minorities? because unfortunately i don't remember that. i am 70 years old. i remember the 1960's when there were problems. unfortunately, the democrat party wants to make a party of hatred. i really find it very upsetting, but unfortunately, i should not say unfortunately. obama got into office.

he could not have gotten into office with only the black vote. he got in by the american vote. but during the beginning before trump ever got into office they were attacking him. it was proven it was a complete lie. lies. i think this "shed. -- i think he should. we vote for judges. the last election, we had eight people running for eight offices for judges. one person. we did not vote. we had such corruption today in our parties.

it is disgusting. i am a donald trump supporter. but i'm siding. i am white and i am so tired of being told that i am anti-minorities. i do not care if you are purple with green polkadots. did they have brown hair? blonde hair? i do not know. because i can tell you the personality of the person but i could not tell you the color of the person. i just -- yes, i had to go back to work at the age of 70 years old because my granddaughter and my great-grandchild cannot afford to support themselves. that is a crime. i should not be forced to go back to being a registered nurse to offer financial support to my daughter and grandchild. i'm tired of being told i am a

bigot. nobody does anything about it. host: that is all the time that we have for now. our series will continue after the break with officials. they will discuss their book, harnessing the principles of lincoln's voice and vision. we will be right back. ♪ >> a recess for the holidays and we will be back at the start of the new year. the senate convenes january 8 and the house on january 9.

two upcoming deadlines to avoid a government shutdown. first on january 19 and the other on february 2. >> they are ready to do the work, but we are waiting for the other side to come forward with a number that we can agree upon. >> we will figure out the best way to get this done quickly. >> follow the progress on the c-span network. or any time at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> weekends bring you book tv. former usa today peter recounts experiences in vietnam, his career in journalism and he shares his recent novel, a vietnam war was -- stery.

and on afterwards, ruth simmons joins her story from poverty to academia. she is interviewed. watch book tv every weekend on c-span two and find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> this week, book tv's afterword is in primetime, a program where authors are interviewed by journalists. carrie fitzpatrick with her book , the death of public school, looking at the school choice movement. she is interviewed by education reporter mariah.

watch this week in primetime, at 8:00 p.m. eastern. go to c-span.org to get the complete schedule. >> c-span's student documentary competition is back with this year's theme, looking forward while considering the past. create a 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 what has been the most important change in america? we are giving away $100,000 in total prizes with a grand prize of $5,000, and every teacher who has students participate has the opportunity to share a portion of an additional $50,000.

for information, visit our website. >> a healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. americans can see democracy at work. the citizens are truly informed and our republic thrives. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word in the nation's capital to wherever you are. the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. washington journal continues. we are going to feature top writers and a variety of public policy and political topics.

joining us this morning to talk about their book, harnessing the principles for reconstruction for today's forgotten communities. welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me. host: can you tell us a little bit about yourself? what is your background? guest: i came to the administration in 2017 as a lawyer with the small business administration, with their general counsel. in 2019, when linda mcmahon stepped down from her position as administrator, they asked me to take on the role of acting administrator and i served that role for approximately a year the back in 2019, the economy was very strong and there was a focus on employment and trying to bring people into the workforce. i had the good fortune to work

with him outside of the white house on a number of issues, trying to bring a lot of underserved communities into the workforce, a lot of conferences around that. in march 2020, before the pandemic broke out, joined the white house to work with him on a program called opportunity now, which changed dramatically, given the pandemic. it was intended to be on-site visits around the country and to really help local communities engage with federal programs more efficiently and effectively , and then we turned our attention to a number of other things. prior to all of this, a lawyer working in the office and a large international bank, but i think this was probably the most important work of my career,

given the impact it had on so many people across the nation. host: what was your background leading up to it? guest: i moved to washington d.c. and i came from a blue-collar background. i always had a passion for wanting to empower my community. it led meets of working in politics. i spent 10 years working on the hill for senator tim scott and members like jim jordan and steve scalise, former vice president mike pence. i ran the urban affairs and revitalization policy. i was able to map out policy solutions for underserved communities, which included criminal justice reform,

economic revitalization through opportunity zones, educational empowerment. it was in that role that i was able to negotiate, including the futures act, which granted permanent funding for hcb use. -- hcbu's. also, all the work that we were able to do. host: before we get into the details of your book, we spent an hour talking about legal challenges and wondering do you still support the president? guest: i do support the president. i think there is a lot of politics that have gone into some of the courts that are currently prosecuting him. i think it is undemocratic that

he has been taken off of a ballot without even being convicted in colorado. it should allow for the american people to decide who they want to be there president and not allow someone to be able to run. guest: i think he said it really well. at the end of the day, when you look at the policies, many of which we talk about in the book, they worked, so you have to ask yourself as a voter, where were we in 2017, 2018? where are we now? not just where were we then from an economic perspective, but when it comes to things like underserved communities, what did we specifically achieve? that is something that we both continue to be passionate about, but the numbers and the success

speaks for itself. i think the policies are things that were not necessarily highlighted in the media and in the public sector. part of what we wanted to demonstrate was that we now have a time to take these foundational policies and really present them in a way that is not just bipartisan in nature but can speak to a language that people on the right side of the aisle can really listen because so much of it -- i'm sure we will talk about this, but it is really founded in the economic philosophy of the sort of conservative thinkers because underserved communities really were part of that philosophy, and it is important for us to share this message. host: what is an underserved

community? guest: that is a great question. i think -- we are talking about civil war and reconstruction. when you think about that, of course you are thinking about the african-american community and the impact that slavery had on the community. of course, that is a huge part of it, but when we think about underserved, we think about what lincoln's vision was, and his vision -- remember where he grew up. he grew up on the prairie. we heard the stories of him living in the log cabin and meeting books but when he was thinking about what he wanted for reconstruction, the number one was dealing with the inhumanity of slavery and the impact of that, but he wanted opportunity for all people, including those who grew up like him or in the country.

we will talk about how he went about doing that. it is about those who have not had the opportunity. we do not break it down by race in the book. we do not break it down by class. we talk about people from low income areas, we talk about minorities and people who are disabled, who have not had the opportunity to engage fully in the workforce. it is a very large definition, but it is an important definition because it impacts all of us as a country, and we are stronger when we focus on all of those folks. host: why did you choose to write this book and why now? guest: the work that we did in the trump administration we wanted to continue because there are so many communities, especially post-pandemic back

continued to be forgotten and left behind. we vote this book because we want politicians to put these people first. i think that our number one asset in america is our people. our people, our diversity, something that we can lean into to be the best country in the world, but in severe cases, there are communities that are left behind, despite who is president, some communities have not been able to achieve the american dream. there are generations of families who have fallen through the cracks. we need to have big, bold ideas and be very intentional and collaborative, working together to help create new infrastructure opportunity so that these underserved communities can access the american dream and be the best people that they can possibly

be. host: you are using lincoln and reconstruction as the framing this book, and you are both conservative politically, veterans of the trump administration. the simple question standing before the country is what is th plan for the disenfranchised communities? how do we address that in a meaningful way that is consistent with conservative pencils? can you draw the line for me for what you are trying to do with this book and your ideas for working with certain underprivileged communities? guest: the first thing that we wanted to explain to the reader is to demonstrate what i alluded to before, that the underserved communities were and are part of the conservative philosophy.

so often you share that it is important for people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. that is important, but there are some people who do not even have the bootstraps to pull themselves up from. there is that component of this, and if you look at the economic philosophies, edmund burke, alexander hamilton -- these are people, conservative economic philosophers. those people express that. when you say, i am a conservative, we want to demonstrate that that piece of it is part of that philosophy. if you accept that, you go to what lincoln was trying to achieve, as a republican president. he wanted to help these underserved communities. unfortunately, in april 1865, he

was assassinated. we were not able to finish what he wanted to achieve for reconstruction. through that process, you had president johnson and you had president grant. president johnson was a very flawed man and president, and president grant was dealing with 70 challenges that he was not really able to get the economic question. host: speaking of which, i know we have a lot of colleges waiting to get to you all. i'm wondering if you can talk -- and the forward, you talk about putting forward a new plan that we examine civil society and rediscovers what it means to be an american. what are some of the critical points to re-examine? guest: one is that we are all in this together. have a huge cultural were going

on right now and i think our diversity is something to celebrate. what undergirds making america the country is that you have communities of people, churches, individuals that care about their children and that want to see the best for their families. in order to get back to a more perfect union, we have to consider that some communities have been broken. some communities are dealing with angles like hunger and addiction, as well as years of not being able to access the job market. there is a methodology that we use to bring people together and part of it is being very intentional about being the change that we want to see in

the world by re-creating communities in a way that will empower individuals. it is about building trust with communities. right now, people are not trusting the system that is america and also collaborating. once you have that trust, let suite across the aisle with different groups, with different government agencies and private sector agencies to figure out how we can work together to create change and work on different outcomes. if we are not seeing that needle move, we need to figure out a better way to do it so that everyone can have access to the american dream. there is a focus on data analytics that can help show us what worked and what did not work.

i think all the things that we want to achieve in the country is right in front of us. we just have to be intentional about it. host: we will be getting tear calls shortly. chris, you mentioned working with the private sector and how important it is to work with the civil sector, community groups and things like that, in order to achieve some of the economic goals to underserved communities. i want to ask you about another trend going on. talking about the legal assault on corporate diversity efforts, especially following the supreme court ruling on affirmative

action. conservative legal activists successfully challenged affirmative action by universities and now they are working -- going after initiatives widely deployed across corporations. some companies are considering their efforts. the equal employment commission, activists are using some of the same tactics of progressive groups have used to advance inclusion or di programs. that includes those legislations for black americans. can you talk a little bit about how you see this movement and how it aligns with the idea of working with the private sector to help improve the economic opportunities for disadvantaged up -- disadvantaged communities? guest: we call it a talk.

one of the things that we saw when we were in government was that each agency has significant programs for underserved communities, but they do not necessarily always talk to themselves. this was an initiative that he deserves credit for. it had all the different cabinet members around the table, talking about what they needed to do for underserved communities and how they could advance their individual programs. we proposed taking those programs in an efficient way and cost-effective way and put them under one group, one agency. to your question, the idea would be to streamline what his resources are in combination

with the private sector. the law will ultimately be whatever it is, but corporations , working with a number of corporations, daycare about those issues and the more it becomes politicized, the less we are able to achieve the final outcomes that we are talking about. it has to take both governments, but more importantly, the private sector. by incentivizing the private sector to engage in this, they will not only help achieve what we are looking for, but it will most likely be done more efficiently and effectively. host: but if the private sector is trying to do those things, does that run counter to what you are trying to accomplish? guest: it continues to happen.

i had to work with a lot of large companies that are focused on particular cities and particular areas. i think they will continue -- i know they will continue to do that work, and the country needs them to continue to do that work , but into partnership with the government. when you are looking to what that outcome is -- that is what you want. in order to achieve those results, you have to have that partnership to do it. we can have that conversation anyway that not only meets the moment but achieves the ultimate goal to no longer kick the can down the road. host: first let us go to a question fm r text message line.

how can you continue to support a person like the price impeached, 90 plus count indicted failed former president, who is the baseline cause for government distrust and vision? guest: because of his leadership saw work on hcb use -- hcb you -- hcbu's. we were able to not only help hbcu's survive, but also to thrive. also lead on criminal justice reform. they were outdated. we know that everyone in the system are individuals who need access to a second chance. we are trying to create safer communities.

we should not just focus on one approach to everyone who makes a mistake. we want them to be productive citizens. movement around investing and low income -- in order to revitalize some of our low income areas, we need that investment. the ability to deal with a robust economy, a safer country and the world stage as well as going against the status quo has led me to support the president. i look at a lot of things that you talked about being more political. at the end of the day, i am

looking at policy reforms and how he is going to make our country better, especially while we are dealing with high inflation and a lot of things overseas. host: a call on our democratic line. caller: a lot of people, you let them go on and on, but i want to say something about use at the private sector came into little income communities and raised the rent on their properties. that is my rent is so high. now they cannot even afford to live in certain neighborhoods. you talk about opportunities. i do not know of anyone --

people do not know how to go about whatever you are going about. they raised the prices. but when they are trying to make money, there is no charity. number two, this really means something to me when you say this. somebody could come in and be the best carpenter. he could be the best lawn person, but if that person comes in your house and harms people in the neighborhood or something , that character matters. it matters. when you hang out with someone where you like them -- he is breaking into pieces -- into houses. you think that -- congress is

the ones. it was not any president. i never saw trump on his own. i do not know any plan on his own that he promoted on his own. by want you all to answer this question. was trump found guilty for sexual assault? was he found guilty of having a fraudulent university? he was found guilty. was he found guilty for stealing from a charity? he was found guilty. host: alright. i want to give them a chance to respond. she made points about when the private sector gets involved in things like housing. a lot of places, people see higher prices for housing.

character matters, even someone is pushing, advocating policy that you do not like. the idea that trump has been found guilty or at least liable for some of the things she mentioned. guest: there were a couple things in there. thank you for the question. he first talked about opportunity. opportunity zones were a tool that was created to help develop the economy. it was created under the tax plan that was guided by the president but then ultimately, there were about 9000 opportunity zones that were created, all of which were identified by the governors of particular states. and as an economic development program and the idea is that those opportunity zones will be working directly with the

community. when you talk about housing or what the community will ultimately look like or what the community is wanting to achieve, i do not think it has been perfected, but people try really hard and there is a lot that can be done, but by engaging with the community, you can create economic development. that is an important part of the program that we were talking about. 1000 yeah yeah visiting and being part of those communities. something -- it is about visiting and being part of those communities. something that everyone in the administration with a that -- is that it is violent criminals and others who should not be part of these programs and need to be incarcerated. that is important. law enforcement should be number one. the idea that the first step act was developed through his leadership was getting to people

while they are in prison and helping them transition out, and giving them a supportable community. that is important when we think about people coming out of prison. it was not only demonstrated by the first step act but a lot of the actions that the president took. host: can you respond to any of the points that she made about housing prices, the character of the former president or about some of the cases to which he has been found liable? guest: it is not a perfect storm when it comes to housing prices and communities. it is not all in the private sector. in many cases, they are a direct result because of a lack of housing stock because of regulation. it becomes a lot more costly to build and to be allowed to have those prices lowered. in areas where you do not have such restrictions on housing

stock, you have people housing costs. it is a supply and demand piece that i think they play into. that is why we advocate for not only a bipartisan approach but a private sector. in order to incentivize, it allows for affordability. that is what we are seeing in every household in america, the overregulation of the new federal government has made it too costly for low income people to live there. so we go not have a market environment. that is what we are recommending. look, my whole thing is that no matter who is president, i have spent my life trying to be an

advocate for the solutions that we presented in the book. me and chris have spent our lives on trying to bring the country to bit -- together and try to prevent ideas that whoever is president after taking the ideas, they do the work. host: next up, we have lori in washington on the republican line. caller: hello. i would like to point out something that i observed upon listening to the whole program, that it would be amazing for educators, if they took this program and shared them in classrooms, university level classrooms. listening to the colors in the first part of the program, i do not think i have ever heard so much hate speech. it was very crude speech, whereas i listen to these gentlemen and i am hearing so

much hope and what they are saying. there is no negativity and anything they were saying. dorothy didn't not even mention things that they are planning to put in place. it reminds me of my favorite years when i lived in hawaii in the 1980's. and the word ohana, which means everybody, family. that is what we are lacking in america. thank you, gentlemen. i applaud you. host: what either of you like to respond to that? caller: -- guest: thank you. there is hope. there is a real opportunity for us to work together and work with our elected leaders, work with the private sector to make

our country a more perfect union, but we have to be very intentional about it. there is no reason that everywhere you go in this -- you have some people flourishing and then some people have been left behind. we need to invest as a country. that, ultimately is what will make our country great. how we treat the least of these. we want to bring that positive message because we experience that, despite polarization. there is opportunity to bring this nation together and create policy solutions that will impact our country for generations to come. host: i want to bring up an excerpt from your book that relates to this idea of hope and polarization. is it fair to say that men like

lincolnndrant laid the groundwork for freedom and opportunity? the answer suggests that the answer is yes. whcaot be said with such confidence? that i lincoln, grant and others did. this is what the modern republicans must aspire to being as a group of individuals for the advancement of all people. guest: i think those words -- thank you for meeting that because it is demonstrative, what the caller was talking about. that he is stevens was a senator who really helped -- held the line with the confederates were coming back to congress. he and shared that they would be sat in their congressional seats until demands were met, and they were demands that would make the

country safer and stronger with respect constitutional amendments and a number of other issues. what we are really trying to convey is that this does need to be bipartisan. not saying that in the way that it would be nice if it were bipartisan, it has to be. we talk about it in the book that it has to be public bipartisan handshake where both democrats and republicans can agree to an approach that they are both on the hook for, then it becomes very difficult to criticize each other because it ends up being that hyper partisanship and these issues will never get addressed. you asked about reconstruction to now people might say it has never been more partisan.

they might be right, but that does not mean that we should stop. it does not mean that we should give up. we do need a plan, going forward. host: james is an indianapolis, indiana. caller: good morning. i have a few quick objections to mr. trump. one is that he is purported to have said that anyone who has served this country or is serving is a sucker or a loser. he said that about one individual. basically, he is saying about all. the second is when he was saying about groping women in their private parts. if he was saying that about one woman, he could have been that about my wife, my mom, one of my daughters. so i guess he might have said

that about all. the third, i saw him -- it's been over a year or so ago, when he was making fun of an autistic person. host: to be quick things. if you do not mind turning down the volume on your tv and the book is about the economic policies of the administration. did you have any questions relative to that? caller: no. the gentleman was explaining why he was supporting trump. could he answer that? why would he do -- you support someone who was like this, who had these kinds of worlds where principles? host: ok. i believe they have already responded to this question from another caller. let's go to jessica on the

democratic line. caller: good morning. happy holidays. i would like to say a few things. first off, i have autism and what that last caller said about trump taking fun of the autism -- autistic person, that may be think about not -- i believe that people who try to become president would not do that. second off, why would you still support a president who tried to topple our democracy? i do not understand why he would support. host: you too can respond, if you would like. guest: i think that, at least my experience working in the administration, i had the

opportunity to work with a lot of women leaders, women leaders who were policy people. they were in senior positions in the white house. sarah huckabee sanders to individuals like rollins. and through their leadership, we all created an environment where they use their platform to help empower other women through economics and on the world stage. that is been my experience with his leadership is having that type of diversity with women. also, all the policies that we worked on were to help communities. a lot of individuals have any caps, were not able to be their best self because they have, where they would lose resources, if they were able to get a job

and earn a certain income, they would lose resources from the federal government. we lean into policies that would refer -- perform those rules. i think, and my experience, i have been told a lot of things about republicans in general. i grew up a democrat, but when i came to washington and i actually worked on capitol hill with different republican, i learned a lot of different things. i found out that the republican party was taught about was not a racist party. i also found out that they are not all rich. that led me to just have more of an open mind with people come in general. my experiences that i have had with president trump, i have seen quite a different person. he has empowered me to do the

work that i have always cared about. that is where my support has come, just from working with individuals that he has chosen to be in his cabinet and also my ability to lead into his work around the underserved. we want that kind of leadership in the same world that we are living in because there are a lot of different challenges. we need a leader who can step up and do things outside of the box and not just keep things the status quo. host: i wonder if you can talk a little bit about your connection to the trump administration and some of the language that he uses and some of his legal abilities, how you talk about this work and how you advocate for your own strategies and economic plans. guest: the last caller talked a little bit about disabilities.

there is something that i think is worth noting. i spoke at the largest disability conference in the country and i believe i was the first cabinet member to do that. the reason it was so important to me and to the administration was to be able to show that these issues matter, not just that they matter, not just lip service, but the conferences that we were putting on where we were trying to partner small companies with large companies, that had more resources, that figured out ways to create more inclusive opportunity, particularly for those with disabilities. the caller mentioned autism, which was one of the areas we were focused on. i use that example because these

were things that were happening and we were on track takes those programs through things like the president's pledge to the american worker, a public/private partnership to advance employment opportunities for people. these were some large companies that we were talking about before, so when we talk about what was accomplished during the trump administration, we talk about the policies and programs that need to continue because what happens is, as everybody knows, and new administration comes in and things change, new people, what have you. if you have this public handshake, where democrats and republicans say, we are going to try these programs. we will determine them and change them, if we need to, to get the numbers better, but we're not going to point the finger and say that was wrong, or that was a bad idea. when we do that, we take a huge step back.

we have a lot of things that happen during the trump administration that were not only able to articulate, but expand upon. it was a unique administration in a host of ways, not the least of which were some of the things that we were able to achieve legislatively and by executive order to help underserved communities. host: a lot of colleges. let's see how many we can get sealed. let's go to robert on the republican line. robert? go ahead. caller: how are you doing? merry christmas. i'm way up in the woods in pennsylvania. i like the word underserved or underserved communities.

host: underserved, yes. go ahead. caller: poor neighborhoods. we have them in every state. i just got out of prison five years ago and i was not helped at all. i went in as an alcoholic and i came out, still sober today, through my own and other people helping me. poor neighborhoods. my question to these gentlemen is, why do we keep seeing text on their money being spent to other communities or countries before we held our own. these neighborhoods do not have to be poor. once again, when i was supporting trump, and i still do , i felt his policies were good. do i like his comments? absolutely not. being a christian and knowing what tomorrow is all about, god

brought his own son to make him human, to come down and try to help people in general. it does not matter what color race or religion you are. the other person from indiana said, there is so much hate in the world. host: i want to let them respond because i know you have done a lot of work with simpson issues. guest: i think it is important to create an ecosystem that visuals returning home from prison have an opportunity to be the best person. they come home and you can set him -- set up the right programming.

it allows them to commit some of the acts that they did before. we know that many of them are coming home. from a public safety point of view, the best thing we can do is that while those people are in the system, hope to rehabilitate them. but i think that you are right. part of the reason that we wrote the book was to just talk about the policies that have helped underserved communities under trump's leadership, but more importantly is talking about why it is important for our leaders to take a similar strategy on issues dealing with underserved communities, such as justice reform. to be able to achieve the american dream. these are all things that are

worth dealing with right now. some communities are unaffordable. we have to be laser focused on our issues before we are able to navigate what is happening on the global stage. we have to deal with the person in the mirror first, and that is how we are able to make the world a better place, by being a can of light. host: brian is in albany, georgia. go ahead. caller: what i was trying to comment about is when i think about trump and the opportunities, they downtown, not in the community. another plates and revitalize and redo business is. to make us into consumers.

when i think about trump making america great again, i think back to the 1940's and 1950's, when the foot was on the black man's neck. that is what i wonder when i hear about that. my opportunity is downtown. they are a business. we do not own any of these businesses. host: let's let them respond to that. guest: opportunity zones are an economic tool. the zones themselves were identified by the governors. so, those were actually who selected the opportunity zone. that being said, the program it dealt is continuing to be re-examined and tweaked. i think the caller makes a great point that you need to figure

out how you can bring that private-sector capital and get it into the communities that need it. we are not talking about a charitable infusion of capital. we are talking about economic element in the sense that you bring in the anchor business that wants to be there. as soon as people start working in that area, they work on housing and the small business piece, as it relates to that. and then you can bring the a. that is ultimately how it develops. that is a basic theory of economic development. the caller also talked about a number of the southern states. he was talking about georgia. this model has been tried in a variety of different ways. what happened, when you look at mid century in the 1900s and

1960's and 1970's is that there were great economic opportunities and as he got into the 1990's, a lot of that was outsourced to other parts of the world. we talk about this plan and it is about taking a look at what america can do. we have obviously changed over decades, when it comes to what manufacturing looks like. we spent time talking about advanced any fracturing and not just the jobs, but what about the credentialing? how did the university system come in, so you can teach these new technological skills? to look at where these jobs are in the future. those are the keys to economic development. it is not a blank check, but these communities need to come together and be a real partner in the program. talk about that a lot in the

book. host: philadelphia, pennsylvania on our democratic line. go ahead. can you hear us? all right. we will go to jean and detroit, michigan on our democratic line. caller: i just wanted to say that for me, i consider trump an enemy of the state. and an enemy of the word of god. it makes it hard for me to accept him as a leader. i look at the policies he had towards the foreign governments, how he tried to dismantle nato. nato was formed to try to prevent world war iii. you have countries that are lined and they do not want to fight each other. i think in the u.s., we are in such a spiritual void, that we

say that we love god come but then we act like the devil. host: if you have a question for them? caller: the policies that they have implemented our good, but how do you balance that out, when you see the country has become more hateful and comes from the leader, which was trump? guest: honestly, i think that we do need to invest into our civil organization. there is an ethos out there that having people fight against each other -- revoke this book because we want to bring the country together. we want to figure out a way that

democrats and republicans can work together. that is why we wrote this book. a lot of our calls this morning, i know it is focused on trump, but we are trying to say, he did a lot of great work in these underserved communities. we started to see the wages increase for individuals. we are starting to see success and communities that had not had success in a long time. what we're stepping into is what we are trying to advocate for is that kind of leadership that cares for underserved communities. that focus on going beyond president trump -- i think we are better off with trump because we have seen the tale of two stories. things are unaffordable.

people are having a hard time making it in underserved communities. we have a number of different conflicts on the global stage versus under trump's leadership. we also had a more robust economy. it is just looking at the policy pieces. we are advocating for those types of policy pieces that will help us to be a better nation and help underserved communities achieve the american dream. host: russell is on our republican line. caller: that guy was talking about -- that is what the democratic party says. when we had trump in their,

everything was cheap. we could then. i'm on a fixed income. i have had $600 more in my pocket. cost 600 more to live because of this we have in the white house. host: chris did you want to add anything to that? >> i think at the end of the day, the economy will obviously be a huge issue for any voter, but what we are trying to talk about here is not just sort of the traditional factors when you watch any news program you look at the five or six top polling issues, underserved communities is very often not in that top five or six. we are trying to ensure the forecast account for this in their vote, but also hold their

leaders accountable to do something about it and not just giving lip service when it comes to those campaign speeches, but actually make the promises and keep the promises. host: our last call her before we have to let you go, julie on the democrat line. caller: yes. i would like to ask the gentleman about the policy -- what are the differences between the policies of biden and what they are talking about? also how, candidate trump is not talking about these kinds of policies? thank you. guest: i think president trump spends a good about of time talking about economic prosperity. so when you hear things about

making america great, it's being able to lean in to economic opportunities for all. robust jobs for everybody, safe communities. i think the difference between president trump's approach and may be biden's approach is basically meaning what he says when it comes to crating that opportunity. a lot of politicians give lip service, but when you see their policies and practice, they never really deliver. the can is always kicked, there is also a different approach towards who is creating the opportunity, the private sector or the government. we think that the private sector has a huge role off that more sustainable, more conservative ideology, more limited government allows for economic prosperity versus democrats who think government must ensure

basic certain rights for individuals. we think some of those basic rights can be created through community and civil society and that's what makes america strong. historically the history of america hasn't always worked out for all communities. we talk about in the book how the government and the way they went about through reconstruction created jim crow, created laws that isolated poverty in certain parts of our country. what we are saying is there still work that needs to be done for not only minority communities but also other underserved communities whether it's hispanic or white and bring the country together because that's what happens. we have politicians that pitted poor white individuals against

poor black individuals and no one really got access opportunity. would we are saying is we want to create an infrastructure of opportunity that helps everyone so that everyone can have success and everyone can have a chance of the american dream. that's what underserved is focused on. >> i agree, it comes down to the idea of intentionality. what do you want to achieve and how will you achieve it. edmund burke one of the philosophers on the conservative side we were talking about before saying hypocrisy can be magnificent in its promises for never intending to go beyond its promises. if you're going to help underserved communities you need to lay out a specific plan on how to do that. that's what we've done here in the book and we hope any candidate, republican or democrat will play that out and stick to it and we think what we've put forward here is a

conservative model that really relies on the private sector to move the country forward as it has in so many different times of crises through history. host: co-authors of the new book underserved: harnessing the principles of lincoln's decisions for reconstruction for today's forgotten communities. thank you for your time this morning. we are wrapping up today's show next by hearing more from you during your open forum. you can start calling in now. we will be right back. ♪ >> all this month watch the best of c-span's u.n. day. prosperity gospel talks about everything happens for reason reflecting on being diagnosed at the age of 35.

prosperity gospel stall -- a scholar tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span q and a. you can listen to all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app. >> traveling over the holidays? make -- listen to all of c-span's podcasts which feature nonfiction books in one place. c-span bookshelf features multiple episodes with critically claimed offers with biography, a current event and culture from her signature program about books. book notes plus and q and a. listen to c-span's bookshelf podcast feed this holiday season bring you can find it and all of our podcasts on the c-span now mobile video app or wherever you get your podcasts. and on our website. c-span's campaign 2024 coverage and tin use with the presidential primary.

watch live on c-span network is the first votes are cast in the incoming presidential election. along with candidate speeches and results beginning with the iowa caucus on january 15 and the new hampshire primary on january 23. campaign 2024 on c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. weeknights at 9:00 eastern. c-span's encore presentation of our series books that shaped america. c-span partnered with the library of congress which explores key pieces of literature that had a profound impact on our country. monday night will feature mark twain's novel adventure of huckleberry finn with the chairman of the english department in indianapolis. watch c-span's encore presentation of books that shaped america.

or go to c-span.org/books that shaped america to learn more about each book featured. >> washington journal continues. host: we are in open forum looking forward to hearing from you all you and your thoughts on public policy in the news of the week. our numbers for republicans, and independence, at 202-748-8002. early this morning we were talking about president trump's legal challenges on the supreme court, the supreme court has plenty of other things on its docket including ongoing fate over abortion. here's a story from the new york times the supreme will hear challenge to abortion access, the justices announced they would hear a case challenging a federal agency's approval of the commonly used pill.

this is from december the 13th, they would announce the availability of a commonly used abortion pill. the first major cases involving abortion on its docket since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure more than a year ago. the supreme court justice kagan was at an event this fall on her concern that the conservative majority may be moving too quickly to overturn precedent. here's the comment. [video clip] >> it means people who rely on a particular legal rule or principle don't have the rug pulled out from under them. so it's not like you have the right one day and you don't have it the next day. it's not like you own a piece of property one day and then you don't the next day. so stability and attention to reliance entrants are crucial

importance to the law. finally i would say precedent is important, adherence to precedent is important because it prevents the court from looking like a political actor, i can ideologically driven actor. the reason is i think what happens when courts overrule things willy-nilly it's usually because or sometimes it is because judges have, on the stand and they say we never like this rule we were not part of creating this and we never like this so we will overturn it. so when that happens the court looks as a matter of who is on the court. what judges happen to be there any given day and that doesn't look like -- it is a crucial thing about her legal institutions of the public have confidence in them and that

confidence is a particular kind. they say people have no right to expect that they are going to agree with all of these decisions the courts make. quite the contrary. very often courts have to switch a majority that the public doesn't like. people do want to courts and have the right to expect the courts act like a court. and if they don't look like other political actors or they don't look like the other parts of our government which are made up of political actors that they look as though they are doing something different. when the court goes back and forth and our law about precedent talks about this a lot. it makes people think courts are making it up on the fly. that is an extremely damaging way for the digital system. and i think for our country. host: the supreme court may be called to set new precedent in

cases that relate to the former president donald trump. some of the issues that the court has coming up is likely a decision on colorado supreme court 14th amendment ruling in addition to a challenge to the obstruction law that's been used to prosecute january 6 defendants. also donald trump has as part of one of his federal indictments a charge on obstruction of judicial proceedings. there are potential questions that have yet to work their way. several -- liability for january 6 and also potential decisions on the gag orders imposed on trumped by judges in washington dc and in new york city where he also has additional cases. let's go to your calls in open forum. cindy is in new jersey honor democrat line. guest: good morning and merry christmas.

the two people you had on the show dave trump too much credit. i would like to know what he's done for any of the communities we talked about hbc and colleges. there were also things that he took away. we know this man is a criminal, i would like to know what he has done. my thing for the new year's is to have this criminal locked up raid have a wonderful holiday. host: tyler is in low slowness new mexico on her independent line. guest: good morning and thank you for taking my call. the united nations and ipc put out a report saying gaza is reaching the threshold for famine. so while we eat big dinners tomorrow please or member that millions of people in gaza are starving while their families are being murdered. today is my birthday, i'm turning 24. i'm part of gen z and to echo an

earlier caller my generation is feeling a pretty big impending sense of doom because all the old people in power want to destroy the world before the they are all gone. because people asserting to wake up and see how capitalism is destroying the entire world. there will be a breaking point soon. january 13 in d.c., a big protest for palestine. my last call to c-span was in october. i had someone from human rights watch or amnesty international, that never happened and i really hope someone is on. thank you and stay safe in the new year. host: tyler was referencing the food emergency in gaza. here is an article from the world food program saying gaza grapples with catastrophic hunger as new reports predict famine continues.

one in four households currently face extreme hunger and there is a risk of famine as well as access to food, clean water, health and sanitation services according to a new classification report released today this was on december the 21st. a multi-stakeholder platform analyzes data to determine the severity and magnitude of hunger crises according to internationally recognized scientific standards. this latest which includes data from other u.n. agencies and nongovernmental organizations confirmed the entire population of gaza are in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. they were just the report further highlighted 576 thousand 600 people have exhausted their food supply in coping capacity and face catastrophic hunger and starvation.

caller: good morning. merry christmas. host: good morning, can you turn down the television volume please? thank you. caller: my comment is after him's attorneys allowed these cases to go to court without attacking at this beginning. the fbi -- how they were going to keep him from becoming president. and if he did become president how they would sabotage his presidency. they say that if he did become president we have to see to it

that he does not serve his full term. in the same act is going on today. and i do not know why they don't play that every time they go to court to let them know that this action against president trump is what's going on right now. to sabotage this man, tomorrow his standing with the american people to where they would not hear what he is saying, what he stands for and it's just mind-boggling. that the attack on president trump from the department of justice, the fbi, the intelligence community is so clear. >> next up we have angelo in durham, north carolina. >> good morning and merry

christmas to everyone. i think president trump is a racist and a criminal and it's appalling to me. i think black americans need to wake up and not be fooled by the things they were said. i've never heard anything from mr. trump that says he was likely to help brown and black americans. it's appalling to me that we are so gullible i think as to believe a person like this who is so divisive. it's very difficult to understand, that's all i have to say, thank you. >> johnny is in charleston, south carolina on her independent line. good morning. i would like to speak about the supreme court justices. i think a couple of them, clarence thomas.

in the entire film he did not hold his head up. for his wife, she was at the insurrection. both of them should be barred from the supreme court policy. a lot of people don't know the history of joe biden. of any senator on their. he gave her a hard time. >> thank you johnny. rudy is in california honor democrat line. caller: good morning. i'm sorry but i forget your name if you could please tell me i would like to address the host by the name. host: kimberly. caller: ok kimberly, good morning. i have been voting since 1976 and i have never been fooled. -- polled. so i'm not worried about polls.

the supreme court in colorado i wish they would not have done what they did and i hope the courts in california do not follow suit or officials do not follow suit. because i want to beat trump with embarrassing numbers. he's going to lose electoral and i want to double and i want people to know, to get out and vote and i want to double his loss that he did to joe biden and 2020. maybe he will have some embarrassment about himself. i would like to thank you kimberly, nice to meet you and will be talking with you again, happy holidays, thank you. host: gavin newsom is on the same board as the california governor, gavin newsom last effort to block trump from

california ballot. the california governor says if they defeat the candidates at the polls, governor gavin newsom criticized fellow democrats for blocking former president trump from california's 2020 presidential primary ballot. there is no doubt that donald trump is a threat to our liberties and even our democracy newsom said in a statement but in california we defeat candidates at the polls. everything else is a political distraction. next up, edward on her independent line. >> thank you. i would just like to say the reason we think trump supporters are racist is not that you are racist it's that you're standing in the room with racist. we also like to think you are narrowminded not because you are stupid, but you are standing in the room with people with a

singular idea. conspiracy theories and climate science, tax cheats, the democrats are not perfect. i'm sure there's a lot of corruption that goes on there. talking about health care reform and trying to get people housing and trying to save the environment. having statistics and actual reputable science as experts give us these facts that we are trying to do things so that -- i wanted to clear the record. i want to congratulate the staff . 365 days a year. thank you. host: a lot of folks behind the scenes make this happen. let's get to billy in florida on a republicans line. good morning billy. i just called to let you guys know i just turned into a

republican. i've been watching this baloney go on for long enough. i've listened to the last few callers that were democrats. they live in a dream world. i don't think any of them have any clue. i think they should leave america. they should leave the country. host: what specifically? caller: the last one sounded like a real sicko. they should just get rid of california. maybe it will fall into the ocean. my best friend is the treasurer for the hells angels and we are strong here. we are not going to give up our country to all these people that think we have to make up for the past. this isn't a religious thing. you have to be real. how much are you paying for gas now? for heat? for food? that's not because of trump, it's not because of biden, it's because of poor organization.

i don't know who we should have for president, but i know we are strong here and the people that are behind me and the people i grew up with her all the same here in the country. we are not going to do anything but help our fellow man and try to make things better. but this talk about blocking elections and getting rid of democracy your i don't know what the other guy said, something about another way to do things. i listen to this rhetoric but at the end of the day you have to fill up your car. i drive a gas guzzler still so i can afford a new one. too much to buy an electric car. i think they have them so we can limit our ability to go anywhere and that's what they do when they raise the gas prices, they lock you in. you can afford to go to washington, you can afford to go

anywhere. you want to build mass transit yet for some reason but hopefully we will get some mass transit and you can get on a train in miami and go to d.c.. you should be able to. i think everybody should have a merry christmas. and stop thinking you're going to do anything to america because if you don't let donald trump run then you have gotten rid of democracy. thank you. host: tom is in san jose, california on the democratic line. >> i get so depressed listening to people like the person just called, republicans 75% of them that the election was rigged and these are the same people will support trump to matter what he does. the only hear one side of the issue, they are not concerned about hearing the other side. you the host, you guys are great. on air you will correct people,

and what do they do? they don't believe it. and then they will go on and you'll pick up another republican and they will say the same thing. if the election -- they believe the election was stolen. it wasn't stolen. they believe january 6 was a hoax, that it was the fbi. if trump is elected, he is going to allow putin to do anything he wants. he will allow kim jong-un do whatever he wants. it's just depressing. i've got to stop watching because i can stand to hear these people call in who get fact checked by the host like yourself and continues to live. we don't want to leave the country, california's knocking a falloff. we are the united states, they are the ones that want to stop the election but they gas light

you. they turn around and say whatever we say, you are doing to us. trump was convicted and found guilty of rape. he did take the documents and hid them. trump is his worst own enemy. and we are -- anyway, thank you. host: i was just looking when you said 75% of republicans inc. the election was stolen, it is 70% actually as of this cnn article that was released back in august that the chair -- share of republicans and republican leaning independents believe president biden's 2011 -- election win takes back up according to that cnn poll that they release the story about in august. all told 69% of republicans say biden's win was not legitimate up from 63% this year and through last fall even as there

is no evidence of election fraud that would have altered the outcome of the contest. tony is in st. louis, missouri, independent line. caller: how are you doing today. i'm a republican and i don't think the election was stolen at all. my main thing is the person who called about the palestinian conflict. i'm 45 years old and have never seen people in this country back a terrorist group like they are backing hamas in palestine. that is the problem in the democratic party today. host: do you think that backing the palestinian people is the same as backing hamas? caller: to an extent i believe that about 50% to 70% of the people in palestine back hamas. but i believe it's very similar. kind of like isis.

you don't want this country backing isis. why do people want to back palestine and hamas now? it's treasonous. host: mike is in greensboro, -- greensburg, pennsylvania. caller: good morning kimberly. i want to thank you, you are doing a fine job, keep it up. i don't understand this country today. just do not understand it. i voted for obama his first term, second year, he just started destroying the country and thank the good lord he put his hand on me and said you are not a democrat my son you are republican. what they have done to this country is totally unreal. host: ok, thank you mike.

nick is in minnesota on our democratic line. >> good morning ma'am. i just wanted to talk about that guy who called in and said the democrats should move out of the country. he and his buddy gang members -- the ones he mentioned. host: we are here, we can hear you. he mentioned the hells angels, they should move out of our country. not us, we are democratic people. that's what i wanted to say. thank you and have a nice day. host: david is in milwaukee, wisconsin. caller: how are you doing today host:? host: doing well, thank you. caller: i wanted to call. i look at this and i see --

republicans what they do is the numbers add up. the democrat numbers don't add up. electrical won't have the grid to do that. that's not sprayed they want us to our standard of living down. it's just totally amass. they tried to do the right thing but don't know how to do it. thank you. host: just a reminder we are an open forum and you can call in. republicans at 202-748-8001. democrats at 202-748-8000. independents on 202-748-8002. if you would like to text us, the number is 202-748-8003. just be sure to include your name and where you're reaching out to us from and we are also onx at c-span wj. let's go to edward in south

carolina. is that correct? caller: that is very correct, thank you. host: go ahead. caller: i think we have had division in the country and unfortunately we have it on the left and on the right and there are two ideas. what we need to do is if we can to elect someone that can bring us together. >> do you think donald trump is that someone? caller: i don't think i -- i don't think he can do it, i'm sorry to say. there's too much against him, there is too much hate out there against donald trump on the other. i don't think joe biden can do it except for the fact that he

is there and starts calling up what he calls the republic -- the magna republicans. i've got some republican friends that are very charitable, understand the difference between the haves and the have-nots. that no about the division, but we need to elect somebody who can bring the country together. >> people who have announced their candidacy for president so far do you think any of those candidates would fit the bill? caller: yes i do. i think nikki haley. i think she would do a wonderful job. and the reason i say that is that she was governor of south carolina for eight years and during her governorship, she was the one, we had a big row about the confederate flag and there

was a big division about that. we tried to take it down and try to keep it up, couldn't quite get together. the fighting and the gouging in the kicking and scratching. and she came along and got that and brought it down and put it on the side of the statehouse and everybody was fine. nobody objected to it and the republicans did not object to it, the democrats didn't object to it. the independents did not object to it. she is awfully good at what she does and if you listen real closely to her, she will sit there and tell you the government spends too much money. she blames the republicans and the democrats. she is a very levelheaded person and so she would get my support.

i like the policies of donald trump, but he causes so much chaos. that's my only problem. and joe biden just seems to be -- he seems to have somebody else running the government. i think he tries hard but i tell people he is my age. i think it is time to go sit outside on the porch. host: thank you edward. tim is in washington on her democratic line. we are still here, go ahead. caller: it's my opinion donald trump should be tried for treason. what he did, and cause the death of people in washington dc and the injuries of numerous others. the man should be tried for treason not running for president of the country. the lawyers don't swear an oath

to our constitution, they swear an oath to the bar association which isn't even american. at which point what gives them the right to decide what we doing this country. the voters should have full decision. the true voters, the people who believe in our constitution, i can't believe that anyone would vote for donald trump. he hates women, minorities. i cannot believe he ever got elected in the first place. at this point you should be pulled out of wherever he is hiding and tried for treason and probably executed, it's probably what they would've done in 1776 to that man. everybody says -- host: let's go to don in ohio on the independent line. caller: yes, just to bounce off a couple of callers back, nikki

haley is one of the worst war mongers. the idea that women are summit -- going to somehow lead to peace has been proven the opposite by people like hillary clinton and others and they are both bipartisan, democrats and republicans, this is a fatal poisonous situation of politics in this country. i think the media itself is the real problem. people calling in the programs like this, 1500 right wing radio stations that dominate the airwaves across the united states and canada and the entire continent every day of our lives. and then try to pose as the underdog. we aren't the mainstream media. are you kidding. sitting on huge mountain ranges spewing out right wing propaganda, whether it is republican leading or democrat

leaning, they are both total mouthpieces for the cia military-industrial complex. i think people ought to look up a phrase i put together, cia controls the media and movies to demonize countries and groups for u.s. -- i think in every case we are not going to hear anything different in this tall tallow terry media in this country by people calling in to stations like this and all of the others around the country. until people get other sources of information like global research. ca and the gray zone .com that bring on the people who have been totally bad and censored by the media in this country. former top cia agents.

former top fbi officials like philip to raleigh and ray mcgovern who is a briefer for the cia who for five presidents who say these wars are totally unjustified. those few honest people within those deep state agencies like the cia and the pentagon that control our country and politicians are totally banned from any of the media. i would like you to have people on like ray mcgovern. he has been ill recently. people that are credited geopolitical analysts from top levels with the lies we are told. host: next up let's go to kurt in anaheim california on our publican line.

>> good morning. host: go ahead. caller: thank you for what you do. >> i just want to say we need to kick back and relax a little bit and i appreciate -- and appreciate each other. we all go to work each day, those of us that have a job and are blessed with that opportunity to help others i want everybody just to listen for a second and to lighten up a little bit. i want to live in a van down by the river. host: ok, thank you kurt. go ahead mark. >> good morning.

i love your program. it gives us an opportunity to speak up our minds a little bit. they sit there and talk about how the democrats are ruining our country. i would like to know in all honesty how many republicans that are in congress and have passed all kinds of bills to support the generation that doesn't have much of anything. host: which generation is that mark? caller: take me for example. if it weren't for the health care act i would be dead right now.

i wasn't able to afford assurance -- insurance prior to this. all of these have been able to keep me alive. without that health care act, which republicans want to change , they have no way of changing it. they don't ever put any ideas out. everything is we want to up replace it. they have nothing to replace it with. most people vote against their own -- what they need. i don't understand when they vote for republicans they are voting against what they need in their lives to be able to keep the families alive functioning. whereas democrats try to keep everybody going and keep everybody on the same level and alive, who got $35 insulin past, biden. who got infrastructure past,

biden. who got the aca past, a democrat, obama. these republicans vote against their own selves. they are not trying to help anybody. and i don't understand the mentality of that so i would like any republican out there to please explain to me why you vote against your own needs. >> john is in erie, pennsylvania on her independent line, go ahead. >> thank you and good morning to you and merry christmas. i was going to talk about some other things, but this last caller people don't take care of themselves anymore. they want the government to take care of them. they do whatever they want. i see it and go to the bars once in a while and have a couple of

beers and i see people there who are in their everyday drinking like crazy. they eat whatever they want, all the fast food restaurants. you get in your 50's or 60's you're going to get sick, it's just that simple. they are not working out and they are not eating generally good food. we all like junk food once in a while but let's face it, people aren't taking care of themselves and they want uncle sam to take care of them. i am an independent, i was a republican many years ago. my parents were democrats so i've had a taste of both sides. i don't like either side. i am an independent. i voted for clinton twice, i voted for donald trump. donald trump wants to clean up the swamp. what is wrong with that?

ok he gets a little crusty, he is from new york. both my parents were born in new york. i was born in new jersey. i ended up meeting my wonderful wife. and so it goes. i wish the country well and merry christmas to everybody. thank you for your time. >> laura is in newton, mississippi on our publican line, good morning. >> good morning, merry christmas. i just wanted to make the comment that people are not really talking about our border crisis that we have going on right now. and i haven't heard any comments on that this morning. i agree with the caller in pennsylvania for sure. we do need to stop this invasion

of our border and take for instance the city of chicago and the governor in texas is actually flying the immigrants out there because they stop the boats from coming in but it is a sanctuary city and these people have nowhere to go. over 12,000 a day, unprecedented levels coming across the border. which is on the taxpayers bill. which these people are bringing in a lot of sickness, the people in chicago, the black community is rising up against it because they are taking away from their benefits. of course that was on television and people are not talking about that. host: you are the first person to bring this up i will bring up an article related to what you were just discussing, here it is

from the associated press, this is from several days ago. beginning to fly migrants from the southern border to chicago. the planes carried over 120 people, texas sent a plane with more than 120 migrants from the u.s. mexico border to chicago in an escalation of the republican governors operation which is given more than 80,000 migrants free rides to democratic lead cities across the country in the last year. the first flight which left from el paso and arrived tuesday was arranged a week after chicago city council took new actions over the migrants that have drawn sharp criticisms from mayor brandon johnson. operators began trying to drop off people in neighboring cities to avoid penalties that include fines, towing. wanting to give some information on what you were talking about. caller: right.

as a matter-of-fact, i don't know if you have that article but i do know one of the founders of black lives matter has actually come out in support of trump and he does believe we should close the border and i think that's fabulous and i do believe the people in chicago are upset and they see it for what it is and that also goes for new york and whatnot and all i see is these people are suffering, biden gives them a plane ticket, a packet, close to $5,000. in my job place i do know one of the flight attendants and she said yes, planes are full of democrats and yes they have their packages. everything is in their language and just happy-go-lucky, just send them everywhere. they are on our planes, they are everywhere. we need to close this border.

in my opinion i think it's treason against the country to let these people in like this. so in my opinion it makes biden guilty of treason. that's against your country to have open borders and to let all of these people in all over the world from everywhere coming in here. it is a shame. i was happy to see the black lives matter -- i cannot think of his name. host: i did look that up while you were just talking laura and i found an article from cnn where the national black lives matter organization dismissed that person as an imposter saying that it was an activist to identifies himself as a leader of the movement in rhode island and declared he was backing donald trump for president, this is a publicity

stunt, black lives matter and black lives matter pack said to the cnn. using two amplified fringe black voices to create the idea of support for their candidates. this article is from back on november 30. trump in a social media post praised the activist mark fisher as a great guy and said he was very honored to have his and blm support, fisher said he is the cofounder of black lives matter rhode island which is separate from the group that condemned his endorsement. trump said he spoke to fisher after fisher done and said he would be voting for the former and then later this article says black lives matter and black lives matter rhode island pack were quick to clarify fisher was not affiliated with their group and that trump does not have their support. caller: as a matter of fact i

saw him on another media outlet this week and yes he is a very nice gentleman and he did come out in support of trump, whether black lives matter supports him or not and i did hear him say that which was great. and the reason was is he realized the democratic party wasn't doing anything but checking their votes and not really doing anything for the people. and i don't believe that they are doing anything for the people because they are bringing all of these illegals in here and they are taking up resources that can go to our homeless veterans, to our children, to poor communities, to everyone. to mothers, children and you are putting all of these resources on all of these people. we don't have that money. >> thank you for your call. let's go to one eta on our

democratic line. good morning. >> good morning kimberly. i want to say god bless you for sitting there with such a straight face and listening to all of this stuff. i want to comment on this man that these republicans worship. this man was a democrat his whole life and what happened was the country got together and we voted barack obama into office and that's when he changed his policy. he knew the democrats were not gullible enough to put him in office so he knew where to go with all of his hate and disgusting racism that he had. he went after obama and these people, they clung to him and they still cling to him and they worship him. i just do not understand it. this lady that was just talking how nobody brings up the border. we hear about the border all the

time about how many people are crossing. we don't hear about how any people are being stopped or sent back. because there is some of that going on. it's not just that everybody gets across the border to come in here. other people i know they report on this stuff and i would just like to share something about that for once because i'm tired of hearing about this open border because i don't think it is open that massive people are coming in, there are people being turned away and we need to get some information on that. thank you for sitting there and having to put up with all of this and god bless you and have a good christmas. host: thank you. let's look for something on that and see if i can find data on the people stopped at the border in the last few minutes we have left but first let's go to our independent line, lawrence in new orleans. >> good morning. absolutely merry christmas from

the previous caller to you and putting up with what goes on in the world today of politics. i have always been an independent. i am so tired of the right, left, red and blue, us and them. people can get along. i'm a 72-year-old man and i cannot imagine what these two guys are going to do at their ages and how difficult it is. real briefly as far as trump goes, all of those people i'm -- are ashamed and embarrassed. he's not what you call your model citizen. even president biden has had his issues in the past, i think that's why there is still a percent of the population that does not vote unfortunately. but the last thing is during this time with jesus and hope to

give everyone hope that there will be a good future and just to hang in there and enjoy the season that we have and appreciate the things that we have. i appreciate you for having me on. god bless you and have a great christmas. host: las vegas on a republican line. caller: yes, i cannot believe how many people are misinformed and really they have a problem, let's look at some facts. regarding the democrats. beautiful lack people in baltimore, what kind of deal do they have when you look at what's going on in washington dc, look at what's going on in oakland. look at what's going on in chicago where the beautiful

black babies are being shot by black gangsters. it's all a democratic thing in the democrats formed the kkk and that 92-year-old senator -- democratic senator i forgot his name died a few years ago. he was one of the big officers of the kkk, the democrats if the democrats get elected in 24 and i think michelle obama they are going to throw out biden. biden is gone and sometimes along the way they will throw him out and i think michelle obama -- is going to come in and run for democrats.

holy mackerel, i cannot believe the people who are uninformed. what was that book that hillary clinton host: sorry to interrupt. a previous caller did ask about statistics for people being stopped at the u.s. border and the best i could find quickly is data from customs and border protection looking at as they say the custody and transfer on their website, this is from the last fiscal year running from this is in october and november. this is monthly southwest inadmissible by disposition. here they list that people who

were expedited for removal with credible fear and down here in the footnotes that include subjects who indicated and desire to move persecution. they refer all those claims for credible fear interview. credible fear may be claimed at any time prior to removal. that number in november was 1216. notice to appear which was more than 45,000 people and if you go down to the footnotes here it says this number reflects instances where the -- where the exercise the notice to appear to initiate removal before an immigration judge. this is not include notice to appears at the apartment of homeland security components with authority to issue these. in the event of being processed individuals have up to one year to seek asylum before the immigration judge as this is

related to the caller saying many people do get encountered at the border. last call is john in houston, texas on our democratic line. >> i would like to talk about the border. i crossed over new mexico in 1954 10 years old. i'm 80 now. there wasn't anyone coming across the border. you could go across and you could buy gasoline for $.15 a gallon. i don't know what's happened to our border. was it 1200 people one day this last week that came across the border. i would like -- you all reported real well on hamas and oil. you covered it anyway. i would like to know more about this two state solution. arafat they were going to divide it up and all that.

and before he died. i think it was 67 and again in 72. led -- leading us to believe he would cover up. we would have all these problems resolved. i'm sorry for those palestinians. i visited the holy land and they are good people. some of them are merchants, i feel so sorry for them. it looks like in someway somehow we can do something. not only for the palestinians but for the whole country, but if that blows up we are in real trouble. you are doing good. merry christmas. >> thank you john. that's all the time we have for today on this christmas eve. thank you everyone who called in and who watched and listened today. we will be back with another edition of washington journal tamari -- tomorrow and to all those celebrating, merry christmas. ♪ [captioning performed by the

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