and the democratic national convention august 19-22. thisatday, former president dona tmp is holding a rally in butler, pennsylvania. the campaign stop comes two days before the start of the repuic national convention in milwaukee wheree' expected to officially acpthe 2024 republican presideia nomination. watch that event from pennsylvania at 5:00 p.m eastern on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington, live and on demand. keep up with the biggest events with live streams of floor events from the u.s. congress, white house events, the court, campaigns and more from the world of politics all at your fingertips. you also can stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find

scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and c-span radio and a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. scan the q.r. code to download it for free today or visit our website c-span.org/c-spannow. your front row seat to washington any time, any where. host: headlines coming off the press conference by the president. this is "the washington times." gas takes center stage of defensive biden is the headline there from the page of "the new york times." biden's isolation deepens as doubters rank row. the huffing post saying joe is in survival mode and then the cover of today's "new york post," blunder of the world, mumbling biden gaffes his way through a make or break q&a." are any dems convinced? "the new york post" this morning. this is how that press

conference standpointed yesterday. [videotape] pelosi made a pointf saying your decision to stay on the race is still open. george clooney and a handful of lawmakers have called on you to step aside. they are concerned about your ability to win. pres. biden: they just endorsed me, but go ahead. >> how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay? separately, what concerns do you have about vice president harris' ability to beat donald trump if she were at the top of the ticket? pres. biden: i would not have picked vice president trump to be vice president, so we will start there, number one. the fact is that the consideration as i think i'm the

most qualified person to run for president. i have eight him once, and i will beat him again. -- i have eaten and was, i will beat him again. [end video clip] host: donald trump jumping on the club in which the president called the vice president, vice president trump, saying crooked joe began the press conference with i would not have picked vice president trump if i do not think she was qualified to be vice president, good job, joe, is what the former president set on true social. the president responded saying, yes, i know the difference, one is a prosecutor, the other is a felon. and so one from there, asking about your response to yesterday's press conference by the president. democrat, republican, independent, taking this conversation the first hour of the washington journal this morning. nika and chicago, good morning. caller: good morning.

this is my first time calling. i bet i will call a lot in the coming months because this election is taking a as much time from actual life, but in terms of the president, you know, he is presidential. and the bar for that is not extremely high because i'm 36, so i remember when george w. bush was first elected, and i'm feeling a lot of bush-ism being what is defining this current conversation around biden's fitness, which it was always on the line when people were

critiquing bush's credibility as president for the job, but i think the question of whether or not, in president biden's case, they are coming from cognitive issue is very stressful to me personally because something that did not come up last night is that we are still reeling from a major public health issue. host: he was asked yesterday whether he would take another cognitive test. do you think you should and release that to the public? caller: well, i don't have a problem with that. i will say that i recently took a neurological test. again, i made 36-year-old female and very fine mental and physical health, so i cannot

imagine biden's neurological test will measure up to mine. so i don't know what that will prove or produce. host: on our independent line, mike, florida. good morning. you are next. what did you think of the press conference? caller: i just wanted to say, watching the suppose it shows last night on whether biden stays on the cognizant issue, i think anybody at that level who has their finger on the pulse of our national security, as well as our nuclear safety system, they should all be taking the tests, period. i don't care what party they belong to. host: mike, the republican line, what did you think watching is a

republican? caller: thank you to c-span. i watched it, it was rather pathetic, to be honest. he is a reflection of the elite media liberal -- liberal media's values. [indiscernible] it is a rigged game. it is a wonder why the republicans can never win because they have to be the liberal media and the democrats. host: the president commented that it is the elite liberal media getting him to step down and he said he does not want to do what they are trying to get him to do. that is one of the statements he and his team has put out. caller: i know that, but they generally would like the democrats to win. america knows that. but, you know, everything is up now, too. everything is up, the grocery stores, everything is up thanks to his liberal taxes, policies.

everything is up, everybody feels it. and that is why some of the blacks and minorities are coming over to the republicans because everybody is feeling the pinch because of him and his policies. he does not get it, the left will never get it because they are choosing to money us. host: mike in california on inflation. news on that front yesterday, good news for the president with inflation numbers of the past, saying that it climbed the moderate pace in june compared to the year earlier and felt on a monthly basis. do new york times writes that the federal reserve is looking for more evidence that they wrestled rapid inflation under control. overall, it was 3% in june, down from 3.3% in may, softer than the 3.1% economists forecasted. those numbers coming out yesterday.

back on the line for democrats, doug, florida, good morning. caller: good morning. joe biden should definitely stay in the race, is everybody stupid? you want to be president? you got it because he got immunity. [indiscernible] so, spend the republican party -- host: that is dug in florida on whether joe biden should stay in the race. a new poll from "the washington post" out today. the question was given his performance in the debate on june 27, what do you think joe biden should do, step aside or continue his campaign as president? 67% say he should step aside. 30% say he should continue as president. among just, cuts, the majority say he should step aside, 56%,

42% say he should continue to campaign for president. new numbers from "the washington post" out today. washington, new jersey, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning. thank you critiquing my call. personally, what upset me about the press conference was i believe he knew what those questions were and he picked the people who would ask him those questions. somebody asked him about harris, he put her in charge of the border. i would like to ask what was her report back to you when you put her in charge of the border? the other question i would have liked is about afghanistan, the billions of dollars of equipment left there ended up in the hands of thomas and other organizations. ukraine, he has spent billions and billions of dollars over there. how has that many been accounted for and how so?

what effect did he think when he cut the oil have on the economy? when he did that, although truckers raise their prices, and they raise the prices because of the shortages. there are no more shortages, there is no more pandemic, but they still have the prices up. he did not mention anything about that. host: one of the first things you said was you wished reporter asked about harris. president biden was asked about the vice president's readiness to step into the presidency. this was his response yesterday. [video clip] >> vice president harris would be ready to serve on day one, can you elaborate? what is it about her attributes and accomplishments over the last four years that maker ready to serve on day one, if necessary? pres. biden: first of all, the way she has handled the freedom of women to handle their bodies, secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board.

this was a helluva prosecutor, she was a first-rate person. i would not have picture on the site that she was qualified to be president. from the very beginning. i made no bones about that. she is qualified to be president. that is why i picked her. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday at the press conference following the nato summit. you can watch the entirety online at c-span.org. as we noted, more democratic congress members called for the president to step aside and campaign 2024. according to the ongoing list from "the washington post," the number of congressional democrats that have: him to drop out, 20. that list is continually updated. you can see the tracking day by day. a big jump yesterday and calls

for him to drop out of that race. six democratic numbers of congress calling him to step out, including the democratic congressman from illinois, scott peters of california, jim himes of connecticut, ranking member on the intelligence committee, greg stanton yesterday of arizona, bradley schneider of illinois, as well. you can see that list day by day, the comments that they make the calls. byron, democrat, what did you think? caller: to record to chemical. i see you are moving fast this morning. i would like to make three points. the first, lacks, we only -- blacks, we only have one country, and we have to stick diet. 2 -- stick by it. two, the thing about the supreme

court decision, biting can now do what he would like to do. the third point, victor or on -- victor or bond just visited putin last week. they should have issued an executive order that 60 days after a person meets with putin on one of those communist leaders, they cannot come to the united states. thank you. host: that is firing in baltimore, maryland, talking about russia. coming back to that "washington times" headline about gas taking center stage, it was during those solar press conferences or that happened, and it happened yesterday is president biden was introduced to state lome zelenskyy of ukraine to reporters at the nato summit. [video clip] pres. biden: now headed over to the president of ukraine who has

as much courage as determination, ladies and gentlemen, president clinton -- president putin. he's going to beat president pro utin. i'm so focused on beating russia, that i said president putin. >> i'm better. pres. biden: yes, you are. [end video clip] host: the press conference what about one hour and 50-something minutes as the president answered questions, the first time since the june 27 debate that began this barrage of questions on whether he should stay in the race. franklin, d.c., independent, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to chime in to say that after watching this couple of weeks now, i think this diagnosing from a distance that everybody has gotten comfortable doing, it is pretty full is --

foolish, particularly from the hundreds and elected representatives who were leading the charge on it, they would like to have a conversation on whether or not he is the most effective messenger against donald trump. i think that is a valid conversation that they should have had a year ago. i think it is rather weird that they're coming out with this now, and it is important to point out the others that you listed who are out so far, have any plan or any better idea. just as a quick aside. i a 39-year-old man, i'm a paraplegic, i lived my entire life helping, i now with a permanent disability.

one in six people in the world have a disability, and that is not indicate necessarily anything about your ability to do any given thing that you would like. i think we in this country have a bad streak of anytime anybody shows any weakness, we are ready to call into account, though the amount, put them out to pasture, and as someone who personally has lived on both sides of that, this does strike a chord with me that i think biden is absolutely correct. his accomplishments speak for themselves, his experience speaks for itself. at the debate, it was awful. did he give bad speeches? he always has. a secret is ready to listen to sometimes? sure, but this is not a popularity contest, this is not -- somebody said the grammys -- i think bernie sanders said that.

but we have turned it into that, which is why trump is impressive to some people because he goes out of his way to take on that strawman persona, but we need to step back from who we are and who we would like to be and who brings those attributes to the table. but it really is has become very uncomfortable to me -- not uncomfortable, but everybody is stepping back. everybody on the phone, everybody you have ever known or met is going to get old and decline, and there is going to be something wrong with all of you, if there already isn't. now, you tell me, does that mean you cannot do any given thing given people's perceptions of you? i think that is an entirely different conversation that we should all have with ourselves. host: lifer democrats, renee, florida -- line free democrats,

renee, florida. caller: i cannot agree with that man more. i think there is something with the algorithms they are feeding these people that makes them think that their opinion is the only thing that matters. i have seen so much media lately trying to call the shots, and instead of letting the voters decide, these congressmen and members, i would just like to say, i have watched c-span and all those hearings, and i watch all of your rallies, trumps rallies, items rallies -- trump's rallies, and biden's rallies, which are not as many as trump. i watch all of these, so i can say i know what is going on, and i see the media. i don't know where they are coming from, but what happened

to this country? when i was growing up, my grandmother had empathy for people with anything. joe biden has a stutter. my son started out with the stutter growing up. he had to learn to overcome that. i imagine when you get older and tired, that stutter comes back, and all the people running around in his head that he has to remember the names of, why aren't we talking about victor or bond -- victor or bond -- viktor orband being at mar-a-lago? and another thing, trump was convicted fraud by a jury of his peers. that is me and you that go out and listen and decide, and i

trust these people that are deciding stuff in our courts. host: renee in florida. reese in waco, texas, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: tigre. i just wanted to say it was absolutely disgusting. all it did was show how incompetent biden is. he has not had a cabinet meeting since october. the cabinet members say they are all being scripted and controlled, and now we know why they haven't brought -- they have not brought him out. everybody online saying he is just getting old, will that he is in the wrong business. i'm sorry. everybody gets old. they retire. that is wachovia needs to do, but they keep ringing him out there and showing to the world how weak the united states is right now. it was absolutely shameful, and

for them to keep harping on how the media is going after biden, no, they are actually paying attention and showcasing exactly what we have all known, all of us have known, biden never should have been in office. he has not been cognitively right for over a decade. it is shameful. host: in terms of what the world thinks of president biden, he was asked about that yesterday during the press conference and here's that exchange. [video clip] >> i wanted to ask about you mixed up president zelenskyy and putin earlier today. pres. biden: [laughter] >> you know have your key allies, including the president of france, the german chancellor stepping into make excuses for you on that. officials are saying that your decline has become noticeable. hasn't this become damaging for america's standing in the world? pres. biden: did you see any

damage in my leading this conference? heidi seen a more successful conference? what do you -- have you seen a more successful conference? what do you think? i'm talking about putin, i sit at the very end, i said, no, i'm sorry, zelenskyy. and then i added five other names. look, guys, the idea that anybody suggest that we have not had an incredibly successful conference, how many times did you hear in that conference -- i know it sounds too self-serving, but other leaders, heads of state, in thanking me, saying the reason we are together is because of biden, because he did the following? look, folks, this is a -- well, anyway, i thought it was the most successful conference i've attended. find me a world leader who did

not think it was. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday. taking your phone calls in this first hour of "washington journal," asking you your thoughts on the press conference. william, independent, ohio. caller: hi, how are you today? host: doing well, go ahead. caller: biden might have stumbled yesterday, but we have seen trump telling afterlife, and he may have stumbled, but he's doing a great job. he is going to be putin's mouthpiece if they put him back in office. i don't listen to polls because i think they are all fake like trump. biden is doing the best he can, and i think he's doing a darn good job. he didn't awesome job as president, one of the best i've ever seen in my years of life, and trump was the worst president this country had had in forever.

thank you. host: william, connecticut, greg, democrat. caller: happy friday. host: happy friday. caller: yeah. last night, i heard a bunch of softball questions asked by a friendly room that there was very little challenging on any of the issues brought up. in certain aspects, it was a bit of a campaign opportunity for biden. he did not perspective anywhere. he said things that, you know, were purely from his point of view, and there was no pushback from this very friendly mainstream media, and that is the most depressing thing. i thought about the press conference, now, i am a registered democrat, left of

center, i love bernie sanders, though i do not know what he is thinking of these days, or aoc for that matter. -- host: bernie sanders earlier this week came out and supported biden staying in the race. caller: right, bernie sanders and aoc. i'm looking at my president, joe biden, and i am a man who really should not be in charge of the country. the most difficult job on the planet, and he has got two conflicts going on here where there is major, massive loss of life. he did mention that he thought russia had lost 350 or had 350,000 casualties in the war to ukraine, but he failed to mention the losses of the ukrainians, which i'm hearing there are at least 500,000 killed in ukraine.

and that doesn't take into account all the injuries. host: where are you hearing that? caller: professor jeffrey satcher from columbia university. a person that i would love to see on c-span. but you have to go to your alternative new sources, you're breaking points. on youtube, it is easy to get access to alternative news sources, and you will learn a lot more about what is going on in these places. how many people have died in ukraine? how come that is not common knowledge? host: coming back to the press conference yesterday before we get sidetracked, you talk about an alternative, who do you cs alternative if not joe biden? caller: right now, i'm leaning

towards jill stein because she is antiwar. i'm on the left, i'm weight on the left, ok, so i'm leaning toward jill stein or i would even consider the liberal candidate because at one point he was a registered democrat. host: in terms of alternative, that was also part of the pool that "the washington post" put out yesterday, the po that foundl twol thirds of americans think joe biden should step aside and more than 50% of just democrats. the question was, if you do step aside, who should be the democratic nominee? the response among democratic meeting independents, 29% say it should be vice president harris, 27%, gavin newsom, michelle obama, 4%, pete buttigieg, 3%, robert f. kennedy, jr. at 2%,

and nobody else breaking the 2% mark. 15% say they did not know and 31% skipped the question. those are the leading numbers. about 2500 people this weekend "the washington post. the terrel, ireland, independent cash terrel, maryland -- terrel, independent, maryland. caller: i called in the democrat line. host: terrel is a democrat, go ahead. caller: donald trump is still upset and out there lying that joe biden did not eat him. if donald trump has it figured out how joe biden beat him in 2020, he will lose in 2024 because he hasn't figured it out yet. as far as donald trump is

concerned, you have david stockman, a conservative who said that donald trump is the worst president we have ever had. economically, he said donald trump spent $8 trillion that we did not have to spend. 650,000 people died under covid. you talk about the people who died in ukraine, look at the people who died here in america under donald trump. he told people to inject themselves with bleach and disinfectant. it did not make any sense, and dr. burke was standing right there. host: bring me back to the press conference. caller: the press conference was good, just like joe biden said. he said he had been diagnosed by neurologists, and his neurologist said there is nothing wrong with him.

and all these people out here who are playing dr., they are not doctors. if something is wrong with us and we go to work, and the man said why did you miss work? the work because it to go get a dr. note, we have to go by that doctor's advice, right? host: taking your phone calls after 7:30 in this first hour of "washington journal." this is pretty deep in "the new york times'" story on the calls for joe biden to step aside. interesting note in that story, the paragraph says that mr. biden's campaign is quietly testing the strength of vice president harris against donald trump had survey of voters, being conducted this week, commissioned by the biden campaign analytics team is believed to be the first time since the debate that they have thought to measure how the vice president would fare at the top

of the ticket. it was described by three people who were informed about the survey and spoke on and anonymity. in light of that reporting, this exchange yesterday during the press conference was interesting. [video clip] >> earlier, you've explained confidence in your vice president. pres. biden: yes. >> if your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former president trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race? pres. biden: no, unless they came back and said there is no way you can win. me. no poll says that. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday with reporters. diane, missouri, republican. good morning. caller: good morning.

i have my mom's funeral today. i moved in for almost five years because she had dementia. i know what the signs are of dementia. at the early stages, you have good times and bad times. by then has -- biden has dementia, and i'm tired of people saying he is fine. he's just old. because this is not true. i have lived through it. i'm dealing with it now. and to have somebody to say, he is fine. he is not fine. he has dementia. host: this is randy, illinois, independent. caller: you know what, i have a solution to all of this. all these people are saying biden or trump and they do not want either one. i'm one of the.

i don't think either one should be in the white house, so i have a quick solution, all the democrats and independents, and all these people who say they do not want to vote because they do not want either one of them, the solution is all the democrats, independents, and other people saying they do not want to vote for them, the solution is, we should all stick together as democrats and independents and as people say we do not want to vote. we have got to vote to get biden back in their one first, and then all of a sudden have biden come out and say to the country, i'm stepping down, passing the torch to harris, and the solution is solved. we don't have trump or biden, we have harris, that is it. we have a young person, and for my opinion -- host: you are saying you would

like him to run and win the election and then soon after taking office, step down and pass the torch? caller: yes because i would like to see a woman in their, actually step on the toes of an, telling them to sit down and shut up. i would like to see them do that. host: why not just have vice president harris rendered? -- have vice president harris run? caller: i don't think she will be trumpcaller:. i think the only way to do it is this way. host: why don't you think she will be trump? -- pete trump? -- beat trump? caller: she doesn't have the experience, and trump could talk anybody into jumping off a bridge and everything, but i think that would be the greatest way that i could see we could only have this happen. host: that is randy with his solution. in "new york times" a solution

to what they call the nomination crisis, saying what congressional democrats should demand of biden is his schedule of events that shows that men the country he is fit for office , saying that they need other events that need to be sustained for biden to prove himself under pressure and repeatedly. he needs to talk in private without a teleprompter until they are confident. this is not too much to ask of a president running for reelection. it is the bare minimum, which is what they say in the column, saying democrats are drifting in this nomination crisis. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i have three points. i did watch the controlled press conference. he called on certain people. one of them was talking to his

points of trump comes in, it sounded like the reporter was putting out a campaign point of biden's rather than asking a question. it was kind of ridiculous. anyway, one of the first "washington journal -- one of the first callers talked about the liberal media protecting him, and you challenged a caller saying that they asked him to resign. well, the thing is, they covered for him for the last four years. i will give you an exact point. four weeks ago, joe scarborough said that joe biden is at the top of his game, never seen him better, and then a few short weeks later, all of a sudden, joe biden should resign for the good of the country. the only reason the liberal media is now doing this is because they got caught

red-handed and they are exposed, and it is that simple. second point, somebody called in about what a great job he's done the last three years. this person must not drive and have to buy gas. this person must not have to buy food or have homeowners insurance, must not have credit card interest rates, must not have car insurance. it is ridiculous. sure, inflation is now only 3%, but when you look at the entirety, it is up since joe biden took office, and that is ridiculous. host: that was matt. this is johnny, arizona, independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to say something, too. i think before we elect the president, we look at what they've done and accomplished,

and with their intelligence level is. joe biden has the lowest intelligence level of any president we've ever had. by 30 points, he is lower. [indiscernible] joe biden is on the scale at 100. host: where do you go to get these numbers? caller: you can just look it up, do a search on it. host: where did you look it up? caller: i looked at all of them. and i don't just take one. so you can look up the intelligence level of presidents. host: this is eddie, michigan, democrat. caller: thank you for taking my call, i you just asked that lady where she got her information from, and she could not tell you.

they are talking, but they don't know what to talk about a lot of times. anyway, as far as joe biden, and to all the democrats listening, you have got to stick with who did you vote for in primaries? and we voted joe biden in as the democratic nominee, so stick with who you are going to be voting for. that is what is going to either get joe biden out of office or get him in office. host: what do you think, there have been some twentysomething members of congress who are democrat same joe biden should step down. what you think about how their leadership in congress has handled this? caller: that is 20 people. that is just 20 people.

i think media plays a part in this because all of a sudden, we were talking about trump when he got convicted of those 34 counts. that was the headline news for a long time. another biden is somewhat stumbling with his words, now we would like to jump on that bandwagon. but i'm talking to the people that go to the polls and vote, especially to the democratic party, stick with your guy, joe biden. this harris lady, no, not her. as she had been in a situation where she got there because something happened to joe or she runs 2024, so be it, but right

now, let's stick to the democratic party. host: in terms of how the democratic leadership is handling that question that democratic leaders are facing about joe biden's future, including hakeem jeffries yesterday, here is that exchange with reporters. [video clip] >> made a final decision on whether to stay in the race? >> democrats are engaged in conversations with house democrats at this time. those conversations have been candid, clear eyed, and comprehensive, and that is important for us to do as a house democratic caucus chair will. as long as those conversations are ongoing, i'm going to respect the sanctity of those conversations until we conclude that process. [end video clip] host: hakeem jeffries yesterday

and capitol hill. richard, minneapolis, republican. caller: yes, good morning. this is a republican here that might have to vote for joe biden because he has a clear knowledge of the situation in ukraine and the history of world war ii. in my personal opinion, i think putin is another hitler. he will go after poland next, latvia, lithuania and estonia if he isn't stopped. but i do think biden screwed up the economy with his war on fossil fuel. he screwed up a lot of other things. what, to me, it is very important with foreign policy

that putin is prevented from -- host: on foreign policy, this was joe biden yesterday on that issue and how he thinks former president trump would treat that issue. [video clip] pres. biden: during the week at this summit, some head of states made it a point to say thank you to the u.s. and me personally for all that nato has achieved. nato is not only stronger but eager because we led the charge to bring in finland and sweden into the alliance and it makes a gigantic difference. meanwhile, my presidents are -- my predecessor made it clear he has no commitment to nato. he has made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor article five. he has already told putin, "do whatever the help you want -- whatever the hell you want."

the day after he invented ukraine, here's what he said, " it was genius, it was wonderful." i have made it clear that a strong nato is essential to american security, and i believe the obligation of article five is sacred. i would remind all americans that article five was revoked only once in nato's history, that was to defend america after 9/11. i made it clear that i will not bow down to putin. i will not walk away from ukraine. i will keep nato strong. that is exactly what we did and what we will continue to do. now, future american policy is up to the american people. this is much more of a political question. it is a national security issue. do not reduce this to the usual testament people talk about with

issues of being a political campaign. it is far too important. it is about the world we live in for decades to come. every american must ask themselves, is the world safer with tomato? are you safer? is your family safer? i believe the american people know and the answer to all of those questions is yes, and i believe the american people understand that america is stronger because of our alliances. i believe the american consensus from truman to reagan to me still holds today. america cannot retreat from the world but must lead the world. [end video clip] host: president biden yesterday at the tail end of that nato conference going on all week here in washington, d.c. this is robert, texas, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: doing well, go ahead.

caller: i just wanted to make the point that if everybody listening understands this, mr. mcconnell last year got up and had lost his train of thought i was up there like a deer in headlights two different times. i did not hear no republicans asking him to step down, so biden has just come off of two trips overseas, and anybody who travels knows you can get jetlagged and be tired for days. and you all pointing fingers, you are pointing fingers at somebody else, you are pointing one finger, but you have three fingers pointing back at 1000 -- back at you and one thumb. you better quit. host: this is carrie, illinois,

go ahead. caller: joe biden to me yesterday did a fine job. yeah, he had flubs like he's always had in the past, but the one thing i would like to say, this is to america. donald trump is an internal threat. do you really want this country to go into fascism? you are worried about gas prices? we pay the cheapest prices in the world on food, gas and everything. we are the best economy in the world. joe biden told you that yesterday, but you want to vote for donald trump, he is meeting with dictators. america, wake up. america, be like america and world war two, we need to galvanize, stay together and defeat the fascism that has taken place and that is tried to get a hold in america.

joe biden is the man for the job. sites that, kamala harris is the woman for the job. there is no one on the republican side who is going to help america. they are out to destroy america. host: nikki, florida, republican. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. a couple of things. i think i saw it on "washington journal" a week or so ago that kamala harris, for one thing, it is only right that if he goes out, it is only right that she should be the nominee. i don't think it is right that they should bring someone else and when she has already been the vice president he chose for four years.

but there is a big issue with the 200 whatever million that has been put up for joe biden. and being able to switch that over, i don't think it is that easy, but from a personal note, my husband had many, many struggles. many, many struggles. and the decline that i had to watch and that he had to endure would break your heart. i don't think it is right for him to run again. i don't think what is happening to his health -- because you cannot plan. you cannot plan on tomorrow, and what other countries see, what putin or north korea sees scares me because he doesn't have the

strength he had, and that scares me to death. host: you think it should be kamala harris against donald trump, who do you think wins in that matchup? caller: i don't know, but i'm pulling for trump. i'm republican, police have been. i think trump uses a lot of reverse psychology like with nato because as soon as he said putin will do whatever he would like, they started ponying up their money. host: catherine, the garden state, democrat. caller: good morning. you beat me to the punch, i was going to see catherine from the garden state. i like the way you do that. anyhow, i believe all of this should have been hashed out during the primary. they saw joe biden all along, they know how he is, therefore, this should have been handled.

therefore, i'm behind joe biden. i think you stay in the race. kamala harris is great if you cannot do his job, and anybody under microscope, your concern is flawed. thank you. host: a few comments from social medi ts is scott, suces, independent. it is not an easy decision if he cis to end his run. he needs to sooner than later, and the democrats ov t best in november. janet, texas, president biden should stay in the race. he's done a great job. trump't have a plan to help anybody but himself i would like to continue to destroy the paula, facebook, sayingld like him to resign today. e guy is too old to serve. i would like a big old public d&c convention and take from all the great lib candidates, so many great o choose from, paula said, any of them would beat trump, he is the most

repugnant candidate ever. this is our caller from virginia, independent. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well, what did you think about the press conference yesterday? caller: honestly, i think it was a disaster. most of it was just him reading a teleprompter, and if he cannot get through that seamlessly, then let's be honest, and he is calling in to world leaders, trying to negotiate with republicans, trying to get bills passed, he has no chance. this guy is not really a serious president right now. and then the other thing, he obviously had prepared questions for the people he was going to call on. even then, you can see when he tried to go off of the cuff that he either lost his train of

thought or he said something completely incorrect. it seems like now these people that are completely behind joe biden are not realizing that even if they would like to support him, most of america realizes that he is not going to beat trump. and if they would like to beat him so badly, they need to find another candidate. it just seems ridiculous. host: just a couple of minutes left in the segment of "washington journal." catherine, nebraska, democrat. caller: more power to joe biden, for heaven six. experience, intelligence, expertise should count for something in this world. i think the democrats are scaring voters out here by all of this conflict over joe biden

and the small mistakes he makes when he is talking. i wish they would turn attention to what people will lose if they vote for trump this next time, loss of health care, loss of reproductive freedom, loss of the freedom to speak, climate disasters will happen from his policies. there are all kinds of eggs the democrats could emphasize at this point and turn attention away from the small mistakes that biden makes when he is talking. host: you talk about small mistakes. did you watch the june 27 debate? a debate that joe biden himself said wasn't good performance by him? was that a small mistake by him? caller: i think biden should have vowed out at night if he

had a bad cold. i know he probably felt he couldn't, but, yes, i did watch the debate, and i've watched the speeches since. i think biden -- biden should stay at the top of the ticket. replacing him with harris, i think, might be a mistake at this point. it is too late to change things, and people out here in the boondocks are kind of old-fashioned. i think they might prefer to have a man on the top of the ticket. i'm with biden-harris all the way. host: this is matt, pennsylvania, republican. go ahead. caller: morning. the issue really here from president biden just not doing

well on the world stage yesterday, both with his conference questions and then the mistake he made during the nato summit, that is embarrassment to the united states with all the other world leaders there, for the president to call president zelenskyy, vladimir putin, is embarrassment right then and there, and then continuing to make gaffes, like calling president trump's vice president during the press conference, and continuously having this happen more and more, especially since the debate, has not done him any favors. with the amount of people calling for him to step down from capitol hill, from his endorsers, including some of his hightop democratic donors, such as gideon stein and george clooney say that if he does get the nomination, they are not going to get any more money, that is showing. it is time that the democrats

that they needed change on who their nominee will be. host: did that george clooney op-ed make any difference for you? it got a lot of attention, including an article in "the wall street journal" including about the night president biden lost george clooney's support heard what did you think about the op-ed? caller: i'm a senior political science major out of college. for my generation, i know a lot of people are listening to the big influencers on tiktok, all that stuff, and that hollywood is known by pretty much the entire country to be liberal bias. i do think that they damage. this well-known public figure really backed out. a lot of people remember george clooney going off and saying in 2016 that there would not be a president donald trump and ultimately got that. for him to do this, i think

that can change a lot of the media view of the president and be able to change some people, especially all of your big hollywood donors and people impacting out there in california and all these other big places onto they will actually support for the election. host: one interesting paragraph in the george clooney piece in "the wall street journal" when he wrote his "new york times" op-ed, "the wall street journal" reports campaign officials thought to intervene to prevent the piece from being published, according to one person familiar with the discussions. clooney, for years, has been a prominent democrat. the event he hosted last month in los angeles raised more than $30 million for joe biden's campaign. this is janice in north carolina, last caller in this segment, democrat. go ahead. caller: good morning, c-span.

i think the press conference was another debacle, another staged staged presentation. the questions were -- i think i agree with i think his name was jamaal from virginia. what i see is an implosion. i think when the primaries -- a democrat all my life, a marginalized person, black. i will tell you now that they should have allowed someone else. rfk junior should have been allowed to be one of our considerations. now we have a mess. biden up there saying how he is with the nato alliances, what the heck happened in afghanistan? he didn't let anyone know anything and they had to defend their own soldiers and people. that is a disgrace to our nation, and he doesn't give rfk junior any secret service protection. what in the world is that about?