♪ host: good morning. it is friday, january 12. a coalition conducted airstrikes

on houthi last night. this comes as defense secretary austin is hospitalized since january 1. we are getting your thoughts and reaction to those strikes. what do you think about those. if you're a democrat, call us at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. include your first name and city and state. we are on social media, facebook.com/cspan. and on x. welcome to our washington journal. the house will gavel in at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. we will take you there after this program. let's start with this headline. u.s. missiles hit houthi targets in yemen.

five alleys doing response in the red sea as the war in the mideast gross. the u.s. and five alleys carried out military strikes against more than a dozen targets in yemen controlled by the iran-backed houthi militia. the biden administration sought to avoid escalation for the past three months. the strikes came in response to more than two dozen houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial shipping in the red sea since november. after warnings to the houthis from the biden administration and several international allies of serious consequences if the salvos did not stop. i will read from the statement from president biden. "the strikes are in response to unprecedented houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the red sea,

including the use of antiship ballistic missiles for the first time in history. these attacks have endangered u.s. personnel, civilian mariners and our partners, jeopardized trade and threatened freedom of navigation. the strikes are a clear message that the united states and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world's most critical commercial routes. i will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary." that is from the president. here is some response on x from senator roger wicker, ranking mber of the armed services committee. republican. "i appreciate administration took the advice of our regional commanders and targeted critical nodes and who the controlled yemeni tritory."

proceeded to leave says, "potus is violating article one of the constitution by carrying out airstrikes in yemen without congressional approval. the american people are tired of endless w." here is senator rick scott. "trorists know only the leg ich of force and it's about time get administration acted on that fact. this action should have been taken weeks ago. biden must now act every day to end the ability of houthi forces and all iranian-back terrorists who attacked the u.s. at our partners." -- and our partners." scott and pencil you says, "it's about time." we will take your calls. joseph from hyattsville, maryland. democrat. caller: good morning. i think it was the right approach. i do think the president needed

-- they should have done that earlier. especially with the coalition. one more comment i want to make about the maritime situation. i used to be at a maritime situation for 30 years. we have to scrutinize our shipments. our shipments are probably -- that's an easy way to move arms at other things around the globe in shipments. that has to be scrutinized, the shipping containers. one other point. dea, i think it was yesterday, they said we have an apology for families with fentanyl. what apology do we have for

families who lost these children to cocaine and weed? no apology for that. host: that's a little off our topic today. we will stick with the strikes in yemen. frank, a republican in ohio. caller: good morning. the way i see it you can only turn your cheek so many times. you have to do something. i have been trying to call in for the last week. i need one question asked from anybody. the guy that is the head of our military, the one in the hospital right now. host: secretary austin. caller: yeah. is it just the movies but somebody with that type of clearance, wouldn't you think secret service or somebody would have to be there when he got sedated? think about this.

you have the guy with all the knowledge of our military and everything. he goes in and get sedated in the hospil anybody could have ay questions. i thought secret service would have to be there when somebody was in that position. host: i would expect that as well, frank. let's look at what the top republican on the senate armed services committee said. this is roger wicker. he spoke with reporters yesterday. this is before the strikes about that situation with the defense department secretary and the lack of transparency. [video] >> here is the good news. they will now be -- they will not be an outside inspector general's investigation of this. it was announced that there would be an internal review.

we were very much concerned this would be conducted by the -- some of the people involved in this absence of notice. it is encouraging to me that we have that opportunity with the dod inspector general to get to the facts here. we know now, which we did not know what the first of the week, the nature of secretary austin's emergency. we know the nature of the emergency that occurred on the first of the year with regard to calling the ambulance. i have had an opportunity to speak to members of previous administrations who i have to say were somewhat surprised and

dismayed that there would be this level of secrecy. this level not only of ignorance of standard operating procedure, perhaps ignorance of statutory provisions but certainly an absence of common sense in this regard. host: we are taking your calls on the strikes in yemen that happened last night. douglas, fairfax, south dakota. democrat. caller: good morning. israel is taken to court over genocide. i have been saying this since november 3. they had to go to court and defend themselves now. biden will get us into world war iii basically here. his cabinet, behind closed doors

they are cheering him on. biden's cabinet is actually jewish. host: does that make a difference, douglas? caller: i think it does in this case. they are sure going with israel. they have killed children and innocent women and so forth. they are going in and bombing them with 2000 pound bombs and killing them all. if you go back in history, ever heard about 1982 and they slaughtered those two camps? somebody mentioned the bombing in beirut in 1982 or 1983. host: 1982. caller: 250 marines were killed. they also bombed the french. israel tried to take over. now we will be in with lebanon here now. host: what do you think of the strikes on yemen, on the houthi controlled areas?

caller: it originates from israel slaughtering these people. arab countries, they are never going to be treated right in this country. if you read in the black book -- host: i will stop you there, douglas. he mentioned the case in the international court brought by south africa. this is the front page of the washington post with this picture. south africa makes the case against israel at international court. the subtitle. pro-palestinian demonstrators protest and outdoor screen shows a live broadcast of the international court of justice in the hague where south africa argued thursday that israel's actions in gaza, including its bombardment and siege of the enclave showed genocidal intent against palestinians. mark in wesley chapel, florida. republican. caller: good morning.

i cannot -- 46 presidential administrations and i cannot think of what we have -- of a bigger disaster than what we have with this crew. biden is not making decisions anymore. decant blame him because he's completely out of it. they hide him away all the time. the worst war in 80 years on the european continent because joe biden became president. the worst war in the middle east because joe biden is the president of the united states. donald trump was choking out the economic life to the iranian regime so they would no longer be able to fund their nuclear weapons programs and fund hezbollah, hamas and islamic jihad, these terrorist organizations. biden comes into office and his administration funnels tens of billions of dollars -- by the way, they are still funding the iranian regime to this day. iran does what they always do,

find hamas. hamas conducts terrorist attacks in israel. everything we see since is a direct result of the biden administration funding iran and then funding hamas. all this catastrophe on the global scene is all because joe biden somehow became the president of the united states. it is a complete disaster, domestically, internationally. where this is going to head or end up at, who knows. host: vincent in gaithersburg, maryland. independent. caller: that last caller, you are absolutely right. you took the words out of my mouth. how many more times are you going to quote your crew? your producers are continually quoting antisemitism. how many were jewish people now

have to look over their shoulders. the last quote was from a leftist rag new source. israel is doing what israel has to do. no human being with live next door to anyone who cut off babies heads for no reason. as a palestinian -- as for the palestinians, they voted for -- not all of them. there's a small percentage of the palestinians and yes, i feel for them, but the majority are terrorists. c-span, you know this. you keep pushing anti-trump. you keep pushing anti-israel. host: what do you think in of the strikes in yemen -- think of the strikes in yemen? caller: and you do that, too. you sit there like you did not hear a word that was said.

host: i did hear you. i allow you to give your opinions. right now during this hour we are getting reaction to the strikes that happened last night on the houthi controlled areas of yemen. did you want to weigh in on that? caller: yes. you have to cut off the head, which is biden funding iran. have a good day, america. host: cj in ontario, california. democrat. caller: is that me? host: yes, it is you. go right ahead. caller: we need to realize whenever we put a fleet of ships in harm's way, just kind of hanging out, we have to make sure we will be tough guys.

we have been doing this since pearl harbor really. the gulf of tonkin exactly. we are the big boys pushing our might into the mediterranean and the strait of hormuz. if you hang around a barbershop that long you will eventually get a haircut. what are we going to do about it? host: i'm not sure i understand your point. is it that the united states should have let the commercial vessels in the red sea be attacked? caller: no. we should leverage the kingdom's -- the monarchies of the gulf, the saud's, the kuwait, and tell them you really want to exist --

you really wouldn't exist if it wasn't for sleazy western powers. unfortunately, we have become one. it is time to get back to average arab and average persian people. how many people in iran who would just like to make a buck like everybody else in america? comedy people in place -- how many people and places like egypt and syria would just like to make a buck? you are beholden to kings. we have forced them to go in those directions. host: you did mention bahrain that was part of the coalition. here is what the wall street journal says about, more detail

for you. the coalition strikes early friday local time there were aimed at radar systems and missile sites. a defense official said a u.s. submarine, destroyers, jet fighters and part of the dwight eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group took part according to a u.s. official. stephen is next from roberts hill, missouri. independent. caller: i am glad. i think it is long overdue. i hope they go to got iran next with their nuclear weapons and all that. they are the ones causing trouble. ukraine is doing a great job. let ukraine keep up the good work. keep the faith. thank you. bye. host: roger from kansas city, missouri. republican. caller: you guys do a great job of staying calm and objective.

about the strike on the base in yemen, it was way, way overdue. we have used up a lot of expensive military equipment shooting other stupid drones and missiles. we only have so much money. people think it is unlimited. i was proud of us acting like a superpower that we are. even though we hit back it was a measured response. biden says he will do what is necessary. i hope that is true. along with your caller, i have to wonder of the irregularity of a lot of things like secretary austin being out of pocket for roughly two weeks, then biden not knowing where he hadi have l

on foreign relations and the cia and/or some other agency just had had enough and stepped in and said you guys sit back, we will handle this for a minute. i'm excited -- host: some democratic lawmakers are criticizing the administration for not getting congressional approval for the strikes. what do you think about that? caller: i agree. i'm not sure it's in the constitution but it is definitely a strong tradition that the president informs congress before he takes action such as this. if he informed the members of the coalition he or the administration, they should have informed congress. that might be in the constitution. host: here is a representative who says on x, "the data states cannot risk getting entangled in another conflict without congressional authorization.

the white house must work with congress before continuing airstrikes in yemen." we got this on text. "when and how washe was elected to be the police force of t world?" this from text. "maybe this conflict is the ginning and designed to draw the united states in as an acve participant. a true major global conflict could be jt our horizon." this from representative -- " this is an unacceptable violation of the constitution. article one requires military action be authorized by congress." keith in seattle, washington. independent. caller: yes. i have been watching for a few days. this israel-hamas conflict is out of hand. the bombing is out of hand. everything is out of hand now.

i don't know if anyone knows about the doomsday clock but it was on 90 seconds. it seems like world war iii with ukraine and israel-hamas and us bombing the red sea without congressional backing or whatever they're asking for. it kind of just scares me. everybody ok with all this war. i'm not feeling ok with it. us as a country and a people everywhere need to get back to talking and making peace. thank you. host: we also have a statement from mitch mcconnell, the republican minority leader of the senate. he put this out. " i welcome the u.s. and coalition operations against the iran-backed houthi terrace responsible for violently disrupting international commerce in the red sea and attacking american vessels.

president biden's decision to use military force is overdue. i am hopeful these operations marketed during shift in the biden administration's approach to iran and its proxies to restore deterrence and change iran's calculus. iranian leaders themselves must believe they will pay a meaningful price unless they abandon their worldwide campaign of terror. the united states and our allies must leave no room to doubt that the days of unanswered terrorist aggression are over." warren in inverness, florida. republican. caller: this is warren. my comment, they should go ahead and defend america's interest in the soldiers over there. i am for that. i am one is your percent behind -- 100% behind israel.

if someone came over and killed so many people and kidnapped them, all they had to do is send this people for justice and release the hostages. if they did that, none of this would have happened. they knew this was going to be a campaign of political campaign. you cannot just go into tunnels without bombing first. it is impossible. you will not win. but just to make another point. we have been involved in south korea, north korea after world war ii. macarthur said the end of all wars is the korean war. look at the afghanistan -- we were supposed to be there one year and we were there for 20 years. i think it is time to get out of this kind of stuff. we are and $34 trillion worth of debt. if we can't pay for something,

don't do it. not just that. getting out of the policing the world and being in europe and all that. i think we should rethink that. that is my comment. host: james in kenner, louisiana. democrat. caller: good morning. i think it is about time somebody smacked the houthis. they have been asking for for a long time. saudi arabia should really have done it really well since they are right next door and they have all of our weapons. beyond that, notifying congress about this action. i do think congress can decide whether they want coffee or tea with lunch. the probably would have ruined a perfectly good surprise attack. i wonder if secretary austin had

anything to do with this. did he have a comment? did he recommend it or anything? host: what we know so far about secretary austin's condition, he's hospitalized but has resumed his duties as secretary of defense. some of his duties were being carried out by his deputy kathleen hicks. i wanted to show you this from armed services committee member jeff fisher on the national security and locations of the incident with secretary austin. this was before the strikes last night. [video] >> if houthi drones hit our ships in the red sea we cannot be wondering where the secretary of defense is. imagine if there was an incident in the south china sea. imagine if we suffered a terrorist attack here on our homeland. the secretary of defense's

location and his ability to respond cannot be in question. but if any security crisis had occurred last week, no one would have known where to find secretary austin. our secretary of defense failed to notify the president. he failed to notify congress. he failed to notify his subordinates or the national security council when he was absent for days. the problem is not that secretary austin needed a medical procedure. i am grateful that he received care. i am grateful that he is recovering well. but the problem here is his judgment. congress should have been

informed. that is required under current law. it says that congress should be notified immediately. that did not happen. the secretary of defense plays a critical role in our nation's most significant military operations. he is the most significant advisor to the president on nuclear military decisions. and the president relies on his judgment when every second counts. so this breakdown in command and this breakdown in communication threatened our country's safety. it exposed serious accountability problems within the president's cabinet and problems within the pentagon.

host: we have about another 30 minutes left in this segment where we are getting your reaction to the situation in yemen. there were strikes last night on hout rebel areas because of their attacks on commercial vessels in the red sea. carol calling us from elgin, texas. independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. thanks for the program and questions. i have heard a lot of people say a lot of things. one thing i wanted to bring up was this was not created in our policies around the world. our policies are not created overnight. it's a long-standing policy from the national security administration. very long policy. it's been there in black-and-white for decades. the united states navy will assist in keeping the sea lanes open for all -- all commercial traffic.

that is one of the things we maintain such a powerful navy for. i don't know if we are the largest navy anymore but we maintain one of the largest navies on the seas. it is to keep all the shipping traffic and shipping lanes open. it is not a surprise we are involved doing things like this. as far as israel goes and there's been a lot of comments made about biden and trump-pence things like that, the fact is if you go back and look a little bit the two state solution they talked about for three decades has basically disappeared. when trump was president and handed control of our peace process to his son-in-law, basically what happened was they ignore the palestinians and donald trump proceeded to hand benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, hand him everything he asked for.

everything the far right and israel every wanted -- ever wanted, they handed it to him. they begin negotiating with arab countries in the region between the israelis and arab countries and bypassing the two state solution, bypassing the palestinians and everything else. that contributed to the palestinian attack. my opinion on the palestinian attack is it will end of basically being there little bighorn. they had a successful attack that will succeed also in destroying their society, at least in gaza because now the entire world is going to rise up against them. especially the israelis. you took a conflict that's been going on for decades with these people not liking each other and killing each other's children. they are now going to escalate that conflict. there is going to be a winner and there's going to be a loser.

it is not going to be easy to stand back and watch. we are going to end up backing the people that are our friends in the area. we are also going to end up -- it doesn't really matter who ends up being elected in the next election. we are going to end up backing trying to normalize relations between the saudi's, egypt, israel, and those people in the region. you are going to see probably increased tensions between anybody that iran is backing. those of the comets i had to make. thank you for listening. host: john in bridgewater, new jersey. republican. caller: that was quite a diatribe. yes, we should bomb the houthis. the thing about war is that you

can't imagine -- you make mistakes because you don't think your enemy will do certain things. we never thought anyone would crash two airplanes into the trade center. we never thought that hamas would come over and kill told hundred, 1400 people in a brutal manner. you have to use your imagination. also, hamas never thought israel would respond the way they did by destroying gaza and they have to root out hamas. depending on which side you're on. you have to go beyond what you think is going to happen. host: james in plymouth, massachusetts. democrat. caller: hi.

james. host: you are on. go ahead. caller: i think it is horrible what they are doing i think they are just trying to poke the bear to see what our response is going to be. these people have been fightii . it just amazes me they want us to go in there and have to bomb them. host: you are talking about the houthi rebels poking the american bear? caller: yes ma'am. host: they wanted a reaction? caller: they are waiting for a reaction. host: what do you think they are going to do now, james? caller: they will keep messing up until we really go in there with our full-blown attack and get them. we have satellites. we know where they are.

i am 70 years old. i have seen a lot. for some reason these people like the cause trouble. i don't understand why. levi the oil from them. we try to take care of them. they just keep looking for trouble. it is mind-boggling. why would they want to do this? host: joseph in bedford, virginia. republican. caller: good morning. people are not bringing up what is really going on. i have seen this coming for years because the democratic-socialist party ever since clinton, obama, and now biden crime family cannot wait to give boatloads of cash to iran, the world's worst enemy.

america's worst enemy. now you have the squad apologizing for them and saying this and that. the only way we're ever going to be able to deal with these terrorists is to eliminate them, period. i back israel 100% because they are the only true ally we have ever had in the mideast and ever will have. this would not be going on if they were not in a hurry to get them all that money so they can buy more weapons, more terrorists, and with our wide-open borders and millions of illegals who knows how many terrorists are in our country now and what they are going to do. you can thank the democrat socialist party for all this that's going on. they are the ones with blood on their hands for financing all of this. host: this is a text from william in connecticut. " allied defensive houthi

attacks. i support the military unapologetically. don't ith our troops. it is time tion but i worry about who is really making the decisions. perry dangeruation. we need arab support of the coalition protection gives real validity. no arab nations will help or support financially." sean in maryland, independent. caller: yes. i think secretary austin and president biden handled the situation -- these attacks were forthcoming and now we have to destroy their infrastructure. what they were really trying to do is get us engaged in a full-scale war. that is the goal of iran. i don't think they are trying to handle it the best we can. this thing was secretary austin, things happen.

there was a lapse of communication. the republicans in congress are just blowing this out of proportion. secretary austin is not going to step down. he will not be relieved. he's doing a good job. i don't get why these republicans are jumping up and down when they cannot even fund our government to keep it open. host: don't you think the secretary should have notified the president of his condition? caller: yeah, i do agree secretary austin should have done that. i don't think he was even aware he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. because the chief of staff was out. i served in the military for eight years. sometimes lapse of information, lapse of communication does happen. i think they are right to review their protocols to correct the situation in the future. sometimes things happen.

you just can't control everything. host: the inspector general is reviewing that. a little bit more here on that issue with secretary austin from the washington -- the wall street journal. how lloyd austin's deputy ran the pentagon from the beach. mr. mitigation and a culture of secrecy contributed to keeping even the president in the dark for several days. a little bit of information. for four days in january most of washington, including president biden did not know who is running the pentagon. defense secretary austin was secretly rushed to walter reed military medical center on new year's day suffering from nausea and severe pain. it would be eight days before the president learned why. so began a series of events without modern president. austin is sixth in line of presidential succession and second in the light of military command after the president. he was hospitalized and his deputy required to step in from a beach in puerto rico where she was on vacation days before biden was informed.

it says only a small cadre of aides were aware that austin was hospitalized. most others in the pentagon, including deputy defense secretary kathleen hicks who was carrying out his duties were kept in the dark according to the current version of events. sasha baker, the defense department top policy official in the most senior official president -- present at the pentagon attended a meeting at the white house on january 3 on aware that austin was hospitalized. -- on aware that -- unaware that austin was hospitalized. he went into the hospital on monday. carol in charlotte, north carolina. democrat. caller: i have a comment. i think the guy that made the call from texas hit the nail on the head. the guy from maryland was talking with some sense. i don't think biden should have

got approved by congress because they cannot do anything. the ally think they can do is stand there and look like a deer in the headlights cannot get anything done. he had to make a move. i think our business interests and the american interests worldwide, not just in america. people that with make america great again, we cannot be isolationist. our money is all over the world. it has to be cleaned so the ships can come in. if trump and all the republicans real against the united states saying the united states is weak, that biden is weak, everything is so weak maybe it would not embolden the people around world to test the democratic president. thank you. host: wayne in harrisburg, pennsylvania. independent. caller: how are you doing today. i want to talk about general austin.

i don't think it was a big problem. you always have people in line. if the president and the vice president go, the general has a group of people in back of him. when you go into the hospital for a checkup you don't know if they are going to keep you are not. another thing. joe biden seems so out of it sometimes. i don't know if he is running the country. host: let's hear from the top democrat in the house, hakeem jeffries. he was with reporters yesterday. he was asked about whether secretary austin should resign or be fired. [video] >> we need far more information before i can make any detailed comment on the appropriate way forward. i do not believe that secretary

austin should resign. my thoughts and prayers are with secretary austin. he is a great patriot, good man. he served his country for decades. i am hopeful that he will have a full, complete, and speedy recovery. i do look forward to being briefed by the administration in terms of protocols that they may put in place moving forward to ensure that information flow within the administration and between the administration and congress is more expeditious. and also to make sure that there are plans in place in terms of the chain of command when a cabinet secretary is temporarily unable to perform their roles in leading the department. host: that was leader hakeem jeffries. we are taking your calls this

morning on those strikes on yemen. sam in new york, new york. independent. caller: thank you for giving me the chance to talk. i believe that we need to look at the cause in addition to the bombings the u.s. is doing. bombing a different country is a major problem. the u.s. has done that a lot of times. that is not necessarily something new. on the other hand, the more important critical issue happening yesterday was the international code of justice. israel was brought up for genocide, which is a strong alley of the u.s. that is the more important issue i wish you had brought up today, because that is the cause for

most of the unrest in the middle east. it is probably the issue we need to address rather than the bombing. the houthi rebels are hard to beat. obama tried for many years. he never made it denton them. -- dent in them. that is my comment. host: this is what the washington post is saying. houthis val to continue red sea attacks -- vow to continue red sea attacks after strikes. and about the international criminal court of justice. yemen's houthi militants vowed to continue targeting ships to protest israel's campaign in the gaza strip following u.s. and british-that strikes on yemen. a spokesman for the iran aligned groups of the strikes would not go unpunished. israel presented his defense at

the international court of justice in the hague as the top court considers south africa's genocide case against israel over its actions in gaza. barbie in knoxville, tennessee. independent. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i'm doing good. caller: i was calling about the comments i'm supposed to give here. i was talking about yemen. they are going to fight forever. wars. there is always going to be wars. we do need to help israel. we have been with israel. we are goingbe with israel. everybody better get used two it. that is just the -- used to it. i'm sure they would do the same for us. we need to defend our waterways because we depend on that. it's important. the republicans go around here spouting this and that. it is just a waste of time.

we need to get down to business and see what we need to do militarily. get control and try to at least sustain it so it does not spread so far. that is what i got to say. host:hiis what thomas in uiana thanks overtaxed. "it has been proven over and over the only thing terrorist respect his strength. this should have been done after the first military installation was attacked or the first ship was attacked. better late than never. i agree 100%." luis from fredericksburg, virginia. republican. caller: let's see. didn't president biden --didn't he take the houthis off the terrorist list? didn't he accused saudi arabia of unlawful warfare against the houthis? let's see.

didn't lloyd austin go into the hospital for elective surgery? let's see. host: on december 22. that's right. caller: elective surgery. that is something he chose. not something that all of a sudden was just miraculously cancer treatment. that's not elective, i don't think. host: it was january 1 that he went as a result of complications from that. he had come him after the december 22 surgery. go ahead. caller: didn't president biden also lived sanctions that president trump had put against iran and ended up making buddy friends with iran? we can make a deal with iran. we can be friends with them. let's see. didn't president biden ship a lot of military and encouragement to ukraine to just stand still?

russia is not going to take over the country. isn't russia just doing exactly what russia said they were doing? hasn't there been wars since the obama and clinton area? -- era? that has been going on and on and on. warmongers regardless, republican or democrat. we don't need more warmongers. we need peacekeepers. we need reasonable people. we don't have that in lindsey graham and all the democrats. isn't it interesting that you always bring -- all the stations always bring democrats -- republicans to comment on all this stuff when in fact it is who is in control. the senate confirms all these people and the president.

you never bring any of those people on. you are in a big rush to bring a republican out to say something. host: you did mention the houthis and the terrorist watchlist. here is nbc news from february of 2021. "biden administration to remove houthis from terrorist list, reversing another trump policy. the last minute decision by the trump administration to designate the group that controls 80% of yemen's territory was widely condemned by international organizations. " here's a later one from al jazeera. "u.s. redesignate houthis as terror group after ship seizure. white house had reversed as a nation against rebel group in 2021 to help give aid to war-torn yemen." that is the latest on that. stan in scottsboro, alabama. republican.

caller: good morning. i'm not a republican. i'm a democrat, young lady. host: sorry about that. go right ahead. caller: i want to make a couple of, it's about what's going on on your show this morning. -- couple of comments about what's going on on your show this morning. just like listening to fox news. a bunch of republicans repeating stuff they heard a fox news. they need to get some independent thoughts instead of saying the same thing over and over like fox does. too little too late on the strikes. you don't wait for somebody to come over and burn your house down before you take up defense. you take it to them. we need to take it to them people and quit wasting our time messing around with them. all i got to say. host: pat in new york. caller: patchogue, new york.

come calling on the independent line. thank you for having me. it is clear from listening to a lot of viewers, my fellow americans, a lot of people don't really know a great deal about the causes of this conflict. the root causes, which is the most important thing. i work with the defense department. i was a representative for 34 years. 12 overseas in various parts of the mediterranean. our statecraft is a little corrupt as a nation. we talk about yemen, iran. we don't talk about the history, the coup that started that hornets nest over there back in the 1950's. we don't talk about palestine, the way the israeli state was created. i am for the israeli state. i believe half that territory should be an israeli state but the palestinians have a right to have at least half the original home.

anyone with common sense knows that was no louisiana purchase. there was a lot of death and destruction in the making of it. our media is to blame a great deal. we don't have a great deal of news that tells the truth. we have a few shows, democracy now with amy goodman, dw news from berlin. sometimes they cover more things like gideon levy, the walter cronkite of israel who discloses a great deal of the netanyahu government and its corruption. the fact that there was hundred thousand people protesting israel prior to october 7 to try to get rid of him and the fact this war, this attack allowed him to be more empowered in his position there. we don't talk about the west bank evictions of people from their homes prior to october 7. a week before people were

getting burned out of their homes and shot to death. people were being empowered by the idea. there are soldiers who exit talk about this. this is what we need. we need more intelligence. we need more schooling. the education system should not even a belated, and especially the media. the media is very important. what it does to the people, how it manipulates is important. we worship television, what we are told in want to believe. i wish us the best but i know we lack a great deal of intelligence, a great deal of awareness of what is going on. if we don't reform the justice, the murder of 20,000 people, 10,000 children right now after watching war reruns from the second world war and the atrocities of the nazis that we can sit here and do this right now. there is something terribly wrong. our future is at stake here. we have 150 nations voting against us for the cease-fire,

yet we defy the world in doing what is right. there is a great deal here as you can see that we need to understand. we cannot remain stupid. host: i get it. antoinette in philadelphia. are you a democrat? caller: yes, i am. good morning. i was calling and because i wanted to comment. besides the yemen thing. i'm a black woman. i speak for myself but i know i represent a lot of others. here it is hard for us to see all this other stuff, the turmoil, when we are dealing with our own here. i'm sitting here feeling insulted and thrown back in the back. the man was sick. he was sick like any other human being.

we have other things to talk about. we have not heard about the videotapes in the house of congress. we have not heard about what will happen with trump. nobody knows what to do. nobody ever knows what to do when it is someone else. but as long as it is us and one black man -- please don't use him as a scapegoat. if you're going to do that, let's talk about those sex tapes i'm waiting to hear about that those folks are doing over there in the house. how can you have respect for anyone that does that in the house of representatives? we have been asking for -- host: antoinette, sticking with yemen. did you have a comment on those airstrikes and naval strikes? caller: with yemen, that is the point i wanted to get to. it is hard for us here in america, black descendants, to

feel for this kind of things when you are still stuck in your own place. you see what i'm saying? host: christopher in valley cottage, new york. independent. caller: i want to talk about the perspective that people are not aware of from the iranian perspective. iran has been very profitable lately. they have been making great fortunes. naturally, all the sanctions are creating some kind of barrier between china and russia with their emerging economies. at home we are politically invited -- divided and constantly being sold like commercial advertising, which president to vote for and everything. we have this rising conflict in israel. of course, iran wants to play its role. i do think iran wants to get in a war. i think people need to step back

and realize more of us human beings -- forget about terrorists. forget about right-wing and left-wing. everybody wants to eat. once we as people recognize that, that is the bridge. life is the bridge. he will be very easy to kill. it's a barbaric nature to kill the next person for difference of belief or retaliation. i think we have to recognize we are all moneymaking countries. iran, whether it is russia, china. as you can see, 31,000 people coming in from china into this country. regardless of you are a border supporter or not, it's irrelevant. people are moving around the world for money. whether it is israel, iran, these strikes in yemen are just another example of financial installation. -- insulation.

people have to be educated. the guy from new york, he was right on point. we have to educate ourselves and become more intelligent on the facts. that is all i have to say. host: that is the last call for this segment. there will be more chances to weigh in later on in the program. after the break, more of your phone calls, including a conversation with two lawmakers on the status of that bipartisan government spending deal. we will ask about the strikes in yemen as well. we will speak with house freedom caucus chair bob good and democrat jan schakowsky, senior democratic whip and member of the budget committee. we will get a preview of this monday's iowa caucuses from galen bacharier, a political reporter for the des moines register. we will be right back. ♪ >> watching c-span's campaign 2024.

lived coverage of the iowa caucuses as the candidates make their final pitches before the hawkeye state's first donation contest. we will feature analysis with reporters and caucus experts. we will take your calls and get your social media reactions. watch our live campaign iowa coverage monday on the c-span network, c-span now, or online at c-span.org/campaign2024 c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. >> in the weeks that lie ahead, as the first television series on holes, inferential men and women who occupy those states have a lot to say about friedman's view of society in which we live today and his solutions for our time. >> saturday at 7:00 p.m., american history tv will issue the three-part series "free to

choose" bible that friedman. he coproduced it with his wife rose friedman at first aired on public television in 1980. the friedmans also wrote a book of the same name. programs take us to locations important to be u.s. -- to the u.s.. the treatments advocate limited government anti-free market. other topics include welfare, education, equality, consumer and worker protection, and inflation. watch open free to choose" on american history tv on c-span2. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfti books. at 8:00 p.m., african-american policy forum co-founder, the crenshaw shares black women stories of police violence. at 10:00 p.m. on afterwards, rachel slade shares her americah

looks at the challenges of manufacturing goods in the u.s. through a company in maine. she's interviewed by -- watch book tv every sunday on c-span2. watch online anytime at book tv.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal." we are in open forum for the next half hour. we will be taking your calls. numbers are on your screen. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can weigh in on whatever is on your mind this morning. we are first going to be talking to congressman bob good, republican of virginia and member of the budget --

education budget committee and chair of the freedom caucus. welcome to the program. guest: great to be with you. host: i want to get your reaction to the u.s. strikes on hoopty -- houthi rebel areas. guest: we probably let it go on too long. re my colleagues that the president should have come to congress and gotten congressional approval for this. this has long been a practice not followed by presidents in recent years. we need to get back to the constitution and congress to approve when we take military action. we can see how this would escalate. while i think it was warranted come he should have come before congress to do it. host: can you give us the latest on what is happening with your meeting with speaker johnson and the of her active -- the alternative funding plan?

we must cut spending year-over-year. we cannot be the congress that increases spending over last year's amount. the amount agreed to was announced over the weekend which i hope speaker johnson is reconsidering. that would decrease spending over last year's amount. it has nothing to do with our border. our greatest crises are our spending as well as our border invasion. the deal announced over the weekend does nothing to address either one of those. host: the top line numbers on that agreement is 800 $86 billion for the u.s. military, $773 billion for everything else. what do you have concerns about with those numbers? guest: we ought to go back to what was written in law, the rfa numbers which would take the nondefense discretionary data to $704 billion.

the president signed it. that would cut spending year-over-year by some 30 40 billion -- $30 billion or $40 billion. this is a time when we have a $200 billion deficit. two point factored in dollars in national debt. 20 year high interest rate. equally important and perhaps more important, we do have border security as part of our government funding. why would you give trends of dollars to fund a government that is facilitating this border invasion which is a threat of international security and even education security? host: can you give us more specifics of what you're looking at at the border? guest: we should not conflict the two. we can have a debate on how or if we should change our immigration policy. but america allows almost one

million immigrants per year. no country is as generous as america with our immigration process. our naturalization ceremony allows new americans who earned their session ship and has done it direct way. that is totally separe border t0 million in three years, helped by this administration to enter the country, 8 million released into the country. they don't know where 75% of them are. there is the estimated 2 million criminals, once with tourist ties, trafficking drugs and women and children into the country. we don't know why they are here. we have 100 on the terrorist watch list that we find every year that surrender to border control. how many are part of the 2 million that have been allowed? how many are tied to what

happened in the middle east and israel? host: what you want to see happen on for security? guest: we could stop it today. we could stop it in a short period of time. we have passed out of the house hrt which codifies the policies were working on in the previous administration. we need to go back to remain in mexico where you remain until you are an asylum case. we need to end catch and release where we apprehend them. this writer to us and then we release them actually surrender to us and then we release them into the country. we need to end that. we need to finish the wall. we need worse or control -- we need border security to return to some of the things we do. host: he became chair of the freedom caucus this month that you became chair of the freedom -- he became chair of the freedom caucus this month. is there unanimous consent among the caucus among spending levels and action at the border? guest: it is unanimous that we

want to cut spending year-over-year. there are varying degrees of how much we think that is reasonable. what we should do is refuse to fund anything that is not the essential part of this government for safety and security until the border is secured. we have the leverage and the power in the house. we have a senate who does not want to secure the border. we have a president who is not interested in those. we could use the power to leverage that if we could unite as a republican conference. freedom conference -- from caucus is united under that objective. we are not a monolithic group, there are nearly 40 groups -- nearly 40 members of the group. we have debates. but we are united at recognize those are the two greatest threats to the country. host: i want to show an report by axios with this headline, 2020 three lets the fewest laws

in decades -- 2023 let's the fewest was in decades and the congress is on track to be one of the most unproductive in modern history. what do you say to your critics that say the gop cannot govern and on -- cannot govern in the house and that the freedom caucus is more of a disruptor that a force of getting things done? guest: that is a silly washington speak. we need to destructors in congress. -- disruptors in congress. congress does too much. i hope this will be devious productive congress in terms of doing harm to the american people. do you hear this mantra that you have to get things done, it does not matter how bad it is, the policies causing inflation and suffering of the american

people. just stop doing that because then we would be able to pass our name on these bills and say we got things done. what do you wish congress was doing more of? host: should there be a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown on january 19? guest: i am not concerned about a temporary pause on the non-essential part of the government. 85% of the government continues irrespective if we pass a mechanism. what we need to do is get it right and not perpetuate the harm to the american people. we are -- every dollar is borrowed on our kids and grandkids. do not care about it? are we going to be a congress that makes it worse? we devised to change the policies put in place by the previous regime. we should not be in a hurry to extend those without changing this very policies we campaign

against. the american people trust us to change. host: do think speaker constant should lose his job over the spinning agreement? how is this different than what speaker mccarthy agreed to? guest: it is unfair to compare speaker johnson who has been in the job three months to someone who was in the job three years. if we passed our spending bill at the agreed-upon amount the previous speaker agreed to become speaker which is to go back to pre-covered levels for nondefense discretionary, most americans think that is necessary. why could we not go back to pre-covered level spending spree covid levels -- pre-covid level spending? we did not bring our bills to the floor and pass them. if he had done that, we would

not have any speaker. he would not have inherited this situation he is in. host: the caucuses in iowa are on monday. you have endorsed governor desantis and that has brought you some criticism from trump supporters and supporters within your caucus. how do you respond to that? guest: i will be interested to see what happens on the 15th. governor desantis has been the model governor. he has been a genuine conservative. we need eight years of conservative leadership. he gives us the best chance. president trump was the best president in my lifetime, i will enthusiastically support him if he is our nominee. host: leslie, -- lastly, what accompaniments can be freedom caucus point to over the last year and what are you hoping to accomplish this year and what you think you can actually accomplish with the democratic senate and democratic white house? guest: it is only because of the

freedom caucus the house has returned to single order -- has returned to order where we have single subject bills. we had a limited amount of time to read legislation before it comes to the floor, 72 hours. every member has a voice in that process. that is only because of the house. caucus. is only because of the caucus that we have been debating on how much to cut spending by and we are having a debate on that rather than rubberstamping it and doing what the democrats do which is to raise a spending year-over-year. the freedom caucus has driven the debate and helped the republican party to be what people elected us to be. host: bob good, republican of virginia and chair of the freedom caucus. thank you for taking the time to join us today. guest: thank you. host: we are taking your calls for open forum. thanks to everybody waiting on

the line. we will start with brent in michigan, democrat. caller: good morning. i hope bob good is still there because i want to say that the critical caucus are the most contemptible hypocrites and liars on the planet. i wish she would play the coffee with candidates townhall with nikki haley. she was asked about the debt. this is going to play into what bob good was talking about. trump increase the debt by $8 trillion or nine trillion dollars and nikki haley said she would love to blame bided for that but she went on to say the republicans passed under trump the $2.2 trillion bill that expanded medicaid and that blew up the debt and the republicans opened up earmarks and pet

projects for the first time in 10 years, passing 7000 of them last year. what did they spend the money on? $30 million on honor colleges in vermont, $10 million to tear down a hotel in alaska, $7.5 million in courthouse in colorado. in the probations budget, they put -- in pet projects while the democrats put in $2.8 billion. let him go on and lie about what wonderful things they are doing. as far as the border is concerned, a sheriff on the border said he can't have dope peddlers without dopers. why do so many drugs come across the border? because people want to buy it.

host: usa it is a demand problem, not a supply problem. caller: it is both. host: got it. i'm going to move on. kevin in san antonio, texas. good morning. caller: greetings from the fascist occupied territory of texas. i have been living here 20 years and it has been run by the republican party. they have accomplished nothing on the border except for blaming the democrats about the problem. the fascist propagandists have openly said republicans don't want to fix the border problem, they make too much money off of it. host: they make money off of it how? caller: by keeping it corrupt

and saying it is an invasion. these people have been coming across the border. that is what we want. we want future citizens of the united states. they demonize everybody. mexico, my neighbor, i want to improve relationships with my neighbor going all the way down to south america. don't demonize these people, fix the problem. quit saying -- the only ones who say open borders are the republicans. the ones who have been in charge here in the state of texas by the gq, the qanon criminals.

this is disgusting. host: i am going to move on to roy, a republican and a wake forest, north carolina. caller: listening to people call in is driving me crazy. there are so many things that are messed up in her country and most of it is because of the media and you guys peddle what the media says. the best part of the program is when people call in. that is freedom of speech. half of them are ignorant. the most important thing going on right now besides that we have an unelected president who is compromised is the border is wide open. your audience doesn't even know. there is a record of 18,000 illegals that we allowed -- this administration allowed in in one day a couple of weeks ago.

what did joe biden say when he was running for president? that they should immediately surge the border. he also said we were going to knock out the fossil fuel industry. he told that college student, listen to me, believe me, we are going to shut it down. here we are, fuel prices have come down and we are still paying one dollar a gallon more than we were during the trump administration. host: we are getting a lot of noise on that land, but we got your point. host: peter, democrat. good morning. are you there?

henry in michigan. caller: i was going to ask bob good a question so i guess i will try to piggyback off of a -- off of other colors. the caller from texas, great job. the reason we are here is because donald trump and jared kushner gave the city of jerusalem as the capital of israel. that is number one. number two, the border. united states allow right now is that anybody coming across that border to seek asylum. president biden and vice president kamala harris have asked for funding for new immigration judges, new immigration attorneys to handle the flow. new technology, new customs and

border patrol. like a gentleman posting from texas, the reason the republicans don't want to solve the border problem is because they do make money off of it. the republicans are supposed to be the party of small businesses. they hire the undocumented people. donald trump hires the document of people. donald trump shut the budget up to $8 trillion in four years. president biden has 5.2% gdp economic growth. those are numbers donald trump promised he would do, he never got above 3%. president biden has record unemployment, record drilling in the petroleum industry. you are paying less than two dollars a gallon in most states. president biden is doing a fantastic job. all of this nonsense about he does not know where he is at, who is running the country, this

is all stupid political talk. president biden has the union's strong, labor is winning. there are more strikes, more wages going up, keeping pace with our inflation. we are doing well. host: i appreciate your call. we are going to move on to congresswoman jan schakowsky, democrat of illinois, member of the budget and commerce committee. welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me. host: i want to start with your reaction with the u.s. attack on houthis rebels. guest: we don't want to see any escalation, but i know the president has seen the kind of violence that does impact u.s. personnel. we want to make sure we protect

them. we are hoping it is going to be limited and that we will be able to address this problem without escalating around the world. host: you serve on the budget committee. can you tell us the latest on spending deadlines and any discussion of compromise? gu compromises out the window. what we are looking at is a republican majority that just cannot govern. we thought that we had a deal. without that we were going to be able to prevent a shutdown of government. now we are hearing that the deal is off. mike johnson has said no, that we are going to make sure there

is something to do with the migrants coming through. i am fearful that the deal he agreed to now is broken. we are either going to have a deal by next week which is unlikely. we are either going to have a shutdown or we are going to have a continuing resolution kicking the can down the road again in order to get the budget resolution for this year. it should have been done months ago. we cannot seem to get there. why is that? because the republicans cannot agree with one another. this has nothing to do with the democrats and the promises that the speaker has made our now broken. host: what do you think is the most libya scenario of those three things you outlined?

are we just going to have a continuing resolution and continue to work on this? guest: i am hoping it is not going to be a shutdown, but we know there are members within the republican conference who want a shutdown. they want to have that kind of chaos. that is the party of chaos right now. i am not sure. obviously, better to have a continuing resolution. there is talk about going into the spring. we will see where that goes. in the meantime, they cannot get an agreement among themselves. this is not a problem. on the part of the democrats who are ready to go and make sure remove government forward. host: the republicans are saying spending is out of control, the debt and deficits are too high.

what do you say to them? are there some things that can be cut out of the budget? guest: this is not about spending. this is the republicans, what they want is to have more tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. the budget is heavy on military and less heavy on the national things we need for ordinary people. this is something that was agreed to. he signed on to it. all of the media was publishing about the agreement made. because his republican right wing would agree to let any other bills pass as we saw when

they failed to pass their own bill, the payback for that is that they wanted to shut down the government. we will see. i am hoping we get a continuing resolution but i'm not sure kicking the can down the road is going to make a difference with their far right maga members. host: i want to ask you about the border. you represent a suburban chicago district. there has been an influx of migrants there. what are you seeing and what is going on in chicago? guest: the governor of texas has sent 30,000 migrants in buses and plans to the city of chicago. while we are a welcoming city, we are a city of immigrants. i am a first generation

american. we want to do everything we can to help. one of the things that would help is to have more work permits. we are working hard to make sure that happens. when i talked to the migrants and say what you want from the lasted of america, to a person the answer is a job. we want to work. we are having some speed up of work permits. in the meantime, the targeting of blue states and sending migrants in buses to chicago has been a real challenge. host: at the same time, there has been any unprecedented number of crossings at the southern border. republicans are saying the president needs to shut it down, shut down the board while you

are doing some other immigration policy changes, may be getting more work permits. what you think of that? guest: one thing we could do is stop the flow of guns from united states of america to mexico. that is where most of the guns are coming from. people are fleeing because they are afraid for their lives. those guns and those weapons that are often used against them are coming from the united states, from gun manufacturers right here at home. one thing to reduce the flow from south of the border would be to stop the flow of u.s. guns to the south of the border. host: the issue between israel and gaza, the international court of justice is hearing a case from south africa accusing israel of genocide. i want to hear your thoughts on

that and what can be done. guest: regardless of what the hague decides, we have to move forward to end the violence now. the attack from a mass -- from hamas was terrible, but now we are seeing thousands of innocent people in gaza that are dying and in grave danger. what i would like to see is a coordinated cease fire, that we get other countries in the region to help, to begin to talk about what is the end game here. yes, two committee of hamas -- to get rid of hamas, but also to make sure that we have a two state solution that the

palestinians, the palestinians have a place. anna the biden administration is working hard to get the kind of diplomacy in place that could stop the violence and could end this permanently. it is to happen as soon as possible. we need to get hostages back. i am in close contact with hostages still in gaza. it is really a nightmare. any kind of negotiation would be tuna sure the hostages are coming back. host: jan schakowsky, senior with and member of the energy and commerce committee, thank you for making the time for us. guest: thank you. host: coming up, we'll get a preview of this monday's iowa caucuses with galen bacharier.

first, a stepchild from iowa. we spoke with the owner of eight in one basic clothing store known for its witty political t-shirts. the store has become a staple for reporters and campaign staffers who dissent on iowa around caucus time. >> we do our own screenprinting and design so too should printing his wheelhouse. i wheelhouse within the wheelhouse is timely response about things going on. in des moines in january election gear, we have a lot of caucus and election related topics. for some reason you have to come here to be president. this church was inspired by something someone overheard in a subway in new york city.

they said what the hell is a caucus? and what -- and where the hell is iowa? our design thesis is funny midwestern progressive. we usually start our day by looking through headlines, chatting about if there are any sort of thanks. that grandma swami -- vivek ramaswamy's bus went into a bus the other day -- into a ditch the other day so we thought, how does a libertarian pull themselves out of a ditch? there were tons of democrats running in 2020, even quite a few republicans. every democrat except for joe biden visited the store and every republican besides donald trump visited the store. this year, although we have caucus related products, it is not moving the needle as much as

women's basketball. it has always been a fun circus in that there are a lot going on and it is the start of the election cycle and people look forward to it. this year it is more of a sad, sparsely attended circus. a little bit of that is there is an income it on one side but a little bit like there is an incumbent on the other side and that incumbent is not participating in debates but it is almost a foreground conclusion what the results are going to be. there is no real drama to it. everybody knows how the election process is going to go. it feels like you are going through the motions. we will go to the -- go to the primaries, but everybody knows what is going to happen. with that mr. remove -- with that mystery removed, is harder for people to be that enthused. we were setting up our election caucus display a few weeks ago.

we hang a few megan fox and stuff and there were people who were like what is this for? the fourth of july? president's day? i don't know why we would dedicate this much space for president's day. we are like, it is the caucuses. people are like, right, the start of the election. we are in this halfway point in that the democrats will still get together monday ne of the rt the republicans are getting together to kick the presidential process -- kick the president of process. the democrats, i guess we get together and talk about different party issues and the actual voting is sometime in march. that plays into it a little bit, although with an incumbent there

would not be much ado has him on the democratic side -- be much enthusiasm on the democratic side. who knows what the field is going to look like next time, if it is wide open on the republican side and the democratic side. even if just the republicans are here but is the first news of a post-trump cycle, there might be more enthusiasm in general. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are previewinghe iowa caucuses with galen bacharier, a reporter with the des moines register. welcome to the program. guest: thanks for having me. host: let's start with a review of how the iowa caucuses work and who can participate and what will be going on on monday. guest: the iowa caucuses, is the first state on the primary

calendar for the republicans. republicans, this will be the first permit contest. candidates include former president trump, ron desantis, nikki haley. 7:00 p.m. monday night across the state, registered republicans will go to their decimated precinct -- designated precinct and submit their ballot with their candidate of course -- candidate of choice. the end of the night monday, we will know how those results turn out and then the delegates are then assigned depending on a proportion of votes. is the first contest on the republican primary, under it it is a big deal for people involved. things are really revving up. host: how many delegates are up for grabs? guest: i believe it is an 80i-30's.

i feel bad that i do not know -- in the high 30's, i feel bad that i do not know. host: the hill says trump eyes evangelical vote as key to iowa. all the polls are indicating he is considerably ahead in iowa and expected to carry that. what are your thoughts on the event are vote and where that is going in iowa? guest: this historically has been an important base of voters for republicans to tap into. and influence over the policymaking and political discourse. we see a lot of courting of pastors, evangelical leaders of politicians who are in touch with the database. we have seen a couple of candidates make a run and tapping into that vote. this time around the candidate who is still in the race who has made any appeal to those votes is governor desantis. the cap endorsement of the ceo

of the family leader which is the most prominent evangelical organization in the state. the pulling from us and abc news shows evangelical voters in iowa are still far and away supporters of donald trump. he remains the forefront candidate those voters are supporting and that in part plays a role with how he is continuing to perform in bokos and expecting -- to perform in polls and expected to perform. host: if you have a question or comment, you could give us a call on our lines. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also text and send us posts on social media. as far as the race for second place between ron desantis and nikki haley, what are you

seeing? you mentioned the endorsements governor desantis has been getting. has that shown in people copes. -- in the polls? as the ground game indicate support for ron desantis? guest: the main problem for ron desantis is he has amassed the top political class support. the endorsements on paper that you would like to have if you are campaigning here. he has governor kim reynolds, arguably the most powerful republican in the state who said she was going to stay neutral and ended up endorsing him and has been on the trail. he has a powerful evangelical voice. yes prominent radio personalities that are in touch with conservative voters. the base has not responded to him in the same way. in our polls, he has not seen much movement. he remained second place in our second poll.

he has struggled to tap into that. his campaign has a super pac that has done a lot of the work for him. they have put in a lot of money and resources and volunteers. it has not necessarily shown out in the polls. when you look at the nikki haley, that is a campaign that has gotten be the last few weeks in terms of national attention and in terms of the high-profile donors to look her way. we have seen polling indicated she has some momentum. while her own ground game was not as robust as the super pac and ron desantis organization had been touting, she has been endorsed by a network that does have the robust ground game and they have been doing some doorknocking for her. certainly that is a campaign that has ramped up. host: have you seen any ship,

people close in terms of the debate between desantis and nikki haley? guest: it might be too early to tell. we might get a couple of more polls before the end of the carcass. that was a big moment. the stakes are high for both of them. this really is the final push. i think you saw them going after each other pretty fervently, calling each other lying and mealymouthed, touching a url for the website that tells each other's lies. it remains to be seen if either of them can show above that gap and start to separate themselves. be a simple copes that have -- we have seen polls that have hit the up desantis and second-place. it would be hard to tell which

one of those is the case. host: we will start with gary in ohio, democrat. caller: good morning. i wanted to point out the fact that i hear a lot of republican callers call in with the very same sentence this week about biden crime family and how is the -- and how he is the head of this crime syndicate or something. they also say when he is speaking he doesn't know where he is going and he does not know what he is speaking about. host: relating this back to the iowa caucuses? caller: i thought this was open for open forum -- open forum. i actually don't have anything to comment about that.

host: we will go to judy, republican. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i wanted to make sure i heard it right. on monday it starts at 7:00 p.m. and everything is tallied by the end of the night. is that the actual voting in iowa? if so, is this all in person would they have mail in ballots? guest: everything is in person in the iowa caucuses. the state republican party really touts this. everyone gets there at 7:00 p.m., they receive a paper ballot, they writes down their choice and submit it.

the carcass is in charge of every precinct. they tallied the results, do it in front of the room, all the campaigns have a representative. the republican party is very adamant that this is a transparent process. there is no way for this to be messed with in any real way. those are sent to the republican party. this is a party run system. this is not like a primary election where the state is handling this, this is run by the republican party of iowa. the central party will receive all those results and that is how those are calculated. the aim is for them to have them by the end of the night monday or in some occurrences with weather and whatever else, it could be early tuesday. that is the timeline we are looking at. host: speaking of the weather, how is it going out there and could that have any impact on

turnout? guest: absolutely. we are getting the snow in iowa that people were wondering was. we got it just in time for the caucuses. there is expectation -- we talked to the chair of the iowa republican party this week. he had been talking about potentially record turnout. it seems like maybe that will not be the case. he is still looking for robust turnout. we are looking at record low temperatures but looking at snow piling up to the weekend. i have no doubt there are folks who might be encouraged to stay home. all of these campaigns per measures in place to get folks in the polls. something like that is always a factor. i think it is hard to say how about with specific impact the results.

host: michael in idaho, independent line. caller: this is michael. host: go ahead. caller: okay. the thing out to say is -- the thing i wanted to say is, don't always believe with the iowa caucuses. no matter how nasty the weather, don't believe all of the garbage all these candidates are telling you. please research your facts. thank you. host: let's talk to al in battle creek, michigan. good morning. caller: i wanted to ask about two things. election fraud, what are the mechanics? do people physically go to the site and vote on a paper ballot? is there id, do you have to present id?

do you have to be a member of the republican party? i am really worried about fraud. the second question i would have would be, what is a good turnout for an iowa caucus? is it one million or half a million? guest: to your first point, yes. this is designed -- these are paper ballots. when you come to your site, you need to check in with the precinct, you need to be a registered republican. you will have a site assigned to you. you show up, get your ballot, you cast your ballot, you write in whoever your candidate is, you turn it in to the captain and they will the others and send that to the central party. the party is adamant that this is a transparent process.

all of this is done in person, no mail in component. the fact that democrats here in iowa were discussing a potential mail in plan with the subject of a lot of debate and frustration about keeping iowa first in the nation. that is a whole series of events. this is an impersonal process designed to be transparent so that everyone at the caucuses site can see what is happening. as far as turnout goes, the record republican caucus turnout was in 2016. i wrote about this a couple of disco. about 186,000 people showed up. when you look at the entire population, the people who are going to caucus our people who are fairly dial into the political process, following an election this far out from the

november general contest. this is not necessarily indicative of the entire iowa publishing. -- i will population. certainly enough people show up to get a sense of what that looks like. host: will in wisconsin, democrat. good morning. caller: i have a question about evangelical vote in iowa. it is beyond robust for a man who has certainly lived in life doing the exact opposite of what they value. can you explain the angle of that? guest: absolutely. the evangelical support is something that has been noted by a lot of people.

there is not a decisive answer yet. that is a complicated answer. a lot of this comes down to what the end of the day what they want our policy results, folks who their top issue is abortion. they are antiabortion and what they see in the trump administration is he put the justices in that ended up overturning roe v. wade. folks opposed to running against trump, their hope is that that support is a partnership that is convenient instead of diehard loyalty and they're hoping folks are willing to back off and support someone like ron desantis. you talk to supporters and they will say even to supporters promised policy results they liked.

folks like bob vander platt who endorsed desantis will say trump is not the right person to lead evangelical voters in the right direction. he is not good for the party. definitely a couple different schools of thought. that is something we try to report a lot and something a lot of folks and journalists report on. host: jerry is in brooklyn, arkansas. caller: how are you doing today? host: good. caller: thank you for trying to be honest and open with your reporting. it is a pleasure that we are able to do that in the u.s. it is storming here so if i get disconnected, i apologize. i want to say thank you because sometimes you don't get that. thank you, too, ma'am. i think it is games.

if people will get out and vote with what their gut tells them, i think we will get the president we deserve. stop playing childish games and vote with your gut. i just want to see thank you again and have a great day. host: david in new york, democrat line. are you there? go right ahead. caller: i always just to hear donald trump say things are rigged, but what i am saying is this whole primary thing looks great because -- without having to debate anyone. how are the voters voting properly when he never got challenged by anyone and purposely did this to keep chris christie from questioning him

and putting it to him and his behavior as president and the insurrection and thinks having to do with classified documents -- things having to do with classified documents and his indictment? it is the first time in history i have seen it, they allowed a candidate just because he was leaving -- leaving in the polls not to participate in the process. the whole thing seems to berate. -- seems to be rigged. you don't get to see him, who he truly is. i believe chris christie would cause it to unravel because he would not let up and you would have seen donald trump for the schizophrenic he is. host: go ahead. guest: one thing important to

advise -- to emphasize was his decision to not engage in debates was his campaign's decision. a lot of people would have liked him to show up. to have a front runner to not show up is not helpful for voters. they like to see how he matches up to the people hunting him. his campaign has taken a stance at the iowa and elsewhere. he has done town hall events where candidates show up and make with voters and give their pitch. he went to a couple of this campaign has been adamant that their due campaign on their own terms. the gap between them and everyone else is such that they don't believe they have to engage on that level. they have campaigned on their own terms. they make love off the record stops and some smaller venues and shake hands and that he will fly off.

he has been on the ground far less but it has not hurt his bowling. his -- his polling. that has been his decision, you could talk to a lot of republicans that would have liked to see trump get on that stage. it has not been a factor. that has been part of the reason we see the dynamic. host: david mentioned chris christie, he has dropped out of the race. he did not have a lot of support in iowa. i wonder what he did not have very much support and who his supporters might go to. guest: chris christie has not made iowa -- did not make iowa much of his early campaign strategy. he was entirely centralized on new hampshire which makes sense when you consider where he is from in the northeast. a lot more in the po -- a lot

more independents and democrats participating up there. he has not been on the ground in iowa whatsoever. there might be too chicken rack dynamic where he has not been on the ground so he is not have support. he was earning a few percentage points in polls. we crunched the numbers on our most recent poll to see if chris christie dropped out, we asked folks who their second or third choice was. it barely made any impact. maybe nikki haley went up one percentage point. everyone else was fairly uninfected. we saw folks supporting chris christie with the most adamant anti-trump voters in the republican coalition. it remains to be seen where that goes. you would have to think nikki haley might be the most aligned

with what they're looking for. it is difficult to see, especially in iowa where you did not have a whole lot of support. i did not see it a shattering revelation. host: wilson on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: [indiscernible] -- iowa when it doesn't represent the democratic population of the country. thank you. guest: that has been the argument for democrats. there were a number of reasons republicans and it up bumping off iowa as first in the nation. that has been and argument for about the folks here and elsewhere that i will is not representative of the entire country.

that is why democrats have gone to south carolina. republicans to like iowa as a starting place because they think it is one of the best places you can get in on the ground and talk to voters and show retail politics. in the era of nationalist politicking, it has been lost. there is a lot of value there. certainly, that is an understandable sentiment from a lot of folks. democrats and folks not involve any process, but folks take that seriously. that has been an instinct dynamic -- an interesting dynamic. we have carcasses focused on the republican side of things. host: george in illinois, independent. caller: because monday is a holiday and the weather is

frightful, are people going to be showing up for that stuff or is it good to be muted? -- going to be muted? guest: they said the holiday date well ahead of time and the hope was with folks off of work, that might encourage turnout. it remains to be seen with the weather. we said earlier it is pretty natural to expect a dip in expected turnout now that we have seen how cold it is going to be. it is hard to project any real statistics or have any specific candidate is going to be impacted. i think a couple of these candidates have been preparing for this day. other factors good to be in place. if you talk to officials, there is no plan b. this is a plan a lot of time and money