host: good morning. it's wednesday, august 14. presidential campaign is fully under way with the election in 83 days. the race will likely be decided

by seven swing states. so this morning we'd like to hear from residents of swing states only. on your choice for president. give us a call if you are voting in arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina, pennsylvania, or wisconsin. have you decided who you are voting for? did you change your mind over the course of this campaign? is there a particular issue driving your vote in here's how to call us. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, 202-748-8002. you can also text us at 202-748-8003. send us your first name and city, state. and we are on social media, facebook.com/c-span. and x @cspanwj. welcome to today's "washington journal." start with a quote from bloomberg. here's what it says in 2024 only

in play.ates are realistically and the election could come down to just two or three. within those sthe continued sorting of republicans and democrats means that ere are few places that are truly competitive. as red counties getder, and blue counties get bluer all this meanshat a smaller number of vote and the economic issues they care about are influential in presidential campaigns. take a look here at what the cook political report says their electoral college rankings. here are the six states in tossup, arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, pennsylvania, wisconsin. they are calling that a tossup. only one of the swing states is north carolina leans republican. here's david wasserman of the political report. he was at the brook eugs

institution earlier this week in washington, talking about how vice president harris has changed the electoral map. >> it's become -- gone from being a very static year to a very volatile period. i don't think we are out of it yet. we are going to see a lot of gyrations in the polls in the weeks to come. but based on what we know about the demographic structure of this race, kamala harris has recovered ground that joe biden had seen eroding among three key groups. black voters, latino voters, and 18 to 29-year-old voters, all of which we had seen huge dropoff in support between the share that joe biden,-kamala harris got in 2020 and what we are seeing in the polls up until this point. that means that the sunbelt route is now opened for democrats to contend. georgia, nevada, arizona.

states where trump was routinely awade by more than five points before biden got out of the race. and there was a fatalism that was about to set in for democrats in those place that is could have really cost democrats down ballot because even though you had democrats like tammy baldwin and bob casey, they were running far ahead of joe biden in those northern great lakes states. it showed that voters there were not necessarily ready to embrace republicans but they were down on joe biden. and now the democratic enthusiasm is on par with where republicans are and brings those southern battleground states into contention which opens up more routes to 270 for hairis. host: we are hearing from swing state voters this morning in those are again in alphabetical

order, arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina, pennsylvania, wisconsin. we have a north carolina voter, brian in durham on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. it's so good to be here online with you this morning. i have tried to call in several times and quite naturally unable to get in. north carolina is a very important state for our new incoming president. kamala. and i'm voting for her all the way. it's a very important that we get out there and support her. she is just so dynamic. so uplifting. walz is really just exactly what we need. i'm so excited. i'm so excited about what's happening in the democratic party.

host: brian, let me ask you this, when president biden was still in the race, were you just as excited? were you going to vote for him? what were you thinking at that point? caller: well, i was going to vote for president biden because no way in the world was i voting for trump. it just was not going to happen. so i wasn't as excited. i wasn't as enthused. i'm so happy about what is happening within the democratic party now. the focus, the energy that has totally turned around since kamala has come in. host: brian, what are you hearing from other residents of north carolina? because former president trump did win north carolina in 2020 by 1.4 points. this is according to the silver

bulletin. and right now the polls are showing, or at least shows mr. trump is up by two points in north carolina. what are your thoughts about how you think that state will go? what are you hearing from other people in north carolina? caller: so, great question. i truly believe that north carolina is turning. it may not turn totally blue because of the dynamics of north carolina. and what north carolina has been. even with barack, president obama was running north carolina did not give him the whole state even though we strive to do that. north carolina has been very difficult to win as far as the democrats are concerned.

but we look at the overall, the overall picture, if we can get democrats just to strive to do what is necessary, we might turn this state around. from red to blue. that would be marvelous. fantastic for us. looking forward to doing my part. host: all right. that was north carolina. hear from pennsylvania in north hampton, tina, independent, good morning. caller: hi. i was really want to make a statement. i'm like nervous now. i just don't understand something. if we have kamala running for democrat, who is a democrat, ok, why is she going to promise she's going to do stuff and why can't they do it now? why can't they correct and do everything they say they are going to do, why can't they do it now?

that's where i get lost. why go ahead and even have these debates, why do anything, if you can't do anything to get anything right? does that make sense to you? host: who are you voting for, tina? caller: excuse me? host: who are you voting for? caller: i really don't want to tell you who i'm voting for. i don't. i don't understand the whole policy thing here. i don'tmp says what he's going to do. but trump does what he's going to do. but the democrat party doesn't do that. and nobody as far as the media, you guys included, ok, have totally changed, but you guys aren't fair. you're not fair between the republicans and democrats. i don't get it. i don't know when you guys are going to be fair. but you need to go ahead and focus on this. we were much better four years ago. we are not good now. and when is it going to change around? host: tina, i want to show you -- this is axios, talking

about political ads spending across swing states. and you can see here pennsylvania, in your state, it's a total of $211 million between march 6 of this year and the planned ad spending up until election day is by far the largest in any of the swing states. what are you seeing as far as ads right now? are you seeing a lot of billboards up? are you seeing a lot of ads on tv? caller: where i live it's mainly trump. people want trump around here. really only in pennsylvania i would say you have pittsburgh and you have philadelphia that are going to vote democratic. otherwise anywhere else is definitely going to be republican. no doubt in my mind. i see more trump signs than i see kamala signs. anything it's not kamala not in

my area. the ads are mainly -- they are even. between the democrats and republicans. those are even. host: all right, tina. let's hear a little more from david wasserman from the cook political report on republican strategy in the swing states. >> the republican dilemma right now is exactly how do you message in the swing states to define kamala and tie her to the current administration. and there is a frustration among republicans right now that she is not being regarded as part and parcel of the biden administration and the status quo in her coronation of the new candidate in this race. and you are going to see, i think, spending parity between the campaigns between now and the election on the airwaves because even if kamala harris is raising $300 million you can't buy more air time than has been

reserved. that's one thing that's different from the first half of the year when democrats had the airwaves to themselves. what are republicans going to say? well, they are already highlighting her speeches in which she invoked bidenomics and raised the administration. and joe biden handling of the economy. but then also if kamala harris' momentum is going to be sustainable for the next 80 days, i think she's got to go a bit further than what she's done so far to preempt republican attacks on her as a radical. and whether reduce the series of policy speeches to articulate why she has changed her mind on things like a fracking ban on her own version of medicare for all or a pathway or

decriminalizing illegal border crossings and so forth. that will be key to how voters purr receive her and whether she's able to weather the barrage of attacks to come. i don't think her v.p. choice did anything to move her to the middle, even though tim walz has a stronger favorability in some of the early surveys than j.d. vance, if you go back and look at the 2022 election results by county in minnesota, it's not as if he had special appeal with rural voters in minnesota. certainly not to the extent that josh shapiro was able to overperform in 2022 in pennsylvania. host: we are taking your calls. swing state voters only, please, about who your voice is for the election, 2024. swing states. so those are arizona, georgia, michigan, nevada, north carolina, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. if you live there you can please give us a call. if you don't, please hold off on

calling us for now. and we'll talk to rudolph in columbus, georgia, democrat, good morning. caller: yes, my name is rudolph jenkins. i amle it voting for kamala harris. that's all i got to say, thank you. host: here's steve in ridgeway, pennsylvania, by text he says i'mn rural pennsylvania and like the vt majority of people in rural pennsylvania i support dold trump. unfortunately for pennsylvanis we have two huge metropolitan areas that controstate. it will take a huge get out the vote effor rural pennsylvania to save the commonwealth. we'll go to north carolina in wilmington, alexis, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for having my call. i just have to say first the name is kamala, like the punctuation. you got periods.

commas. it's kamala harris. i'm just so proud of all that they have done so far in raising money and getting the word out. it's been fun. and how anybody can vote for donald trump is just baffling to me. he has such bad character. i don't care what he could do. anybody that has -- i'm trying to be nice. he's just not somebody i would want to be friends with. i'll put it that way. i wouldn't want a know it all. as far as policy, we are staring in the face of 2025, and anybod. 900 pages is crazy.

but from what i have learned about 2025, it's really frightening. it's headed towards an autocracy. i have always known democracy. it's not been wonderful. i am a black 76-year-old female. however, i have seen the progress. when martin luther king talks about i have been to the mountaintop, i think it's probably different, but i can imagine a world where we get along. at least a country of my neighborhood, a cul de sac, and maybe 50 houses built in the 1980's. we help each other, we get along. we are multiracial. we've got to learn to think about not being in the shoes we

are in. and in somebody else's shoes because we could have been born on the gaza strip. we had no control over that. we don't have any control. ok, you are going to cut me off -- host: i was going to tell you you mentioned project 2025. we are going to have a segment about that on this program at 8 a.m. make sure you stay with us for that. we have a reporter coming to talk about the videos that have come out about that. and she was in north carolina. another swing state is arizona. on the front page of the "new york times" because abortion access is to be on the ballot in arizona in the fall. it says turnout expected to rise in a key swing state. arizona voters will decide in november whether to establish a right to abortion in the state constitution. a measure that could strongly influence turnout in a battleground state crucial to the presidential election and control of the senate.

arizona secretary of state office said it has certified signatures collected by a coalition of abortion rights groups. it was 50% more than required to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot in november. large yet number of certified signatures for any ballot measure in state history. wonder what arizona voters think about that. we'll talk to rosemary in rockwood, pennsylvania, first. republican. caller: good morning. yes, i'm rosemary from rockwood, pennsylvania. and i am voting for president donald j. trump because harris ruined california, she's anti-fracking. and a border czar and did nothing. she is only running because joe biden was pushed off the ballot by pelosi and company. she claims to be black, but last year she was indian.

no, i am not gunning for someone that lies, changes their position time and time again. now he is taking donald trump's policy such as the tips. she was all about charging taxes on tips. in fact, she was a deciding vote for that. and now she's against taxing tips. no, we cannot have someone in there that's going to change our country into a communist nation. thank you. i am voting for donald trump. host: all right. and that was rosemary in pennsylvania. this is johnny now in georgia. laurensville, independent, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm actually quite optimistic with the change. with kamala. i really hope we get more different policies in. right now i have been pretty worried about immigration policy

and i feel like it's shifting a lot really rightward with a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment. republicans are advocating for mass deportations. i'm pretty sure in the immigration bill that the democrats -- joe biden wanted to pass that would increase deportations. i am worried about that. also worried about the middle east with gaza as well. i really hope -- i know tomorrow there is coming up a big meeting trying to get the cease-fire hopefully enabled. hopefully we can person towards that as -- push towards that as well. host: johnny, what are you seeing in -- among your neighbors? how are you feeling about how georgia is going to go? do you see -- caller: four years ago it was really tight. it was a lot of turnout.

a lot of work in grassroots organizations. especially metro atlanta. throughout the state of georgia. i know -- i'm in laurensville, there is a city called duluth. it has a high asian american population. lots of asian immigrants. very diverse. vietnamese, chinese, koreans. they don't vote the same way. that will be an important for the kamala team or trump, too. it's all about turnout. obviously during covid it was easier with mail-in ballots. it's been harder over the last couple years. there have been changes on that front. it's all about turnout. host: johnny in georgia. this is what happened last year that biden was up by .2%. 1.2% in 2020 for georgia. currently the projection is

trump up at .9%. very close race there in georgia. go to michigan next to david in flint, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, c-span. i am so excited about kamala for president. and i love her vice president pick. first i wanted her to get shapiro. i'm quite happy with the one she got. she was wisdom -- she has wisdom. i was one that called in to all the heads of the democratic party and told them president biden is great but he is too old. it's time for him to get out of the way and let us win. i called and i called. and god answered my prayer. we have a dynamic person in

kamala. she will lead this nation. she will make all of us sisters and brothers again, white, black, mexican, chinese, don't care what you are. she will make us come together and love again. and hate -- host: david, what makes you say that? what has she done as vice president that makes you say that? what are your thoughts on her critics that say she's been vice president for 3 1/2 years. caller: she's been vice president, but they had her quiet. they wouldn't let her do nothing. they wanted -- democrats just wanted biden up in the front. they wouldn't let her do anything. now we see how wise she is. she is a very intelligent woman. it's time for us men to step back and let a woman run this nation. host: all right, david. caller: she will bring us together. host: and that was michigan. go to north carolina now in spruce pine, republican line.

oscar, hello. caller: good morning. am i with you. host: yes, you are. caller: ok. i'm an 87-year-old vietnam veteran. military retiree. and this valor thing with walz is kind of aggravating to me because it means a whole lot to me to be honest about your military service. i was in combat land. and i was in combat. and i'm proud to say it. walz is proud to say it. however, he never did it. so he talk a talk but didn't walk the walk. as far as kamala goes her laugh is like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails to me. and i can't see how in the world that she would make a good president, especially with all the trouble we are having overseas.

the area of north carolina here i think we are safe with trump. i can't say for the whole state. i'm seeing trump signs going up in yards. trump hats at wal-mart. and the bumper stickers. the last time that i talked to you over a month ago you cut me off and i made this statement. i'll make it once again. maybe you'll cut me off again. if the supporters of trump are a cult, pour me a glass of his kool-aid. thank you very much. host: and this is -- that was north carolina. and here is a text says this is from lceho says, here in asheville, we believe in joy. maybso of the maga haters who visit today will turn to the light. north carolina willan kamala and super dad tim the votes to swing this great nation towards a bright future. and staying in north carolina now to joseph in fayetteville,

north carolina, independent. caller: good morning. i believe in kamala harris and mr. walz. i don't believe in the former president. not even the mafia trusts the former president. he's cheated people and sued people his entire public life. if his father didn't give him the money he wouldn't be rich now. he liked meme bike mike tyson and darryl strawberry that have been to jail for drugs and stuff. don't think a person like a former president even cares about the fentanyl crisis. as long as he can make a buck that's all he cares about. and when he was president, he was making federal employees stay in overpriced hotels overseas. all he cares about is his family and himself.

the people that care about him. and he will throw anybody under the bus who doesn't agree with him. and that's all i got to say. host: let's take a look at an ad. this is an outside political group that supports former president trump. on the air on several battleground states with this tv ad focused on the border. >> i became a nurse to make life better. today that's hard to do because of the open border. i have seen firsthand the damage that kamala harris caused at our country's -- as our country's border czar. hospital's everywhere are overwhelmed and american patients are paying the price. my patients are covering the health care cost force people here illegally while their own care is jeopardized. kamala harris is weak and dangerous. >> preserve america p.a.c. is responsible for the content of this advertising. host: here is an ad by the harris campaign launched this saad last week also in battleground states highlighting the vice president's middle

class upbringing. here it is. >> she grew up in a middle class home. she was the daughter of a working mom and worked at mcdonald's while she got her degree. kamala harris knows what it's like to be middle class. it's why she's determined to lower health care costs and make housing more affordable. donald trump has no plans to help the middle class. just more tax cuts for billionaires. being president is about who you fight for. and she's fighting for people like you. >> i'm kamala harris, and i approved this message. host: we are taking calls from swing state voters only. give us a call on our lines by party, republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. and independents, 202-748-8002. michigan is a swing state. we'll talk to gwen in detroit, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes. go ahead.

caller: ok. thank you. i just have three points. the first point is they keep saying kamala harris needs to start talking about what she's going to say that's different. ok. for one thing i have heard her say that she's going to get on the food and drug, these high prices, the price gouging. she said that she promised she's going to tackle that. that will help bring the costs down. and then too, another thing s. i believe a lot of the republican people are so behind trump because he says i'm fighting for you. and so they are depending him every chance they get. by him promising to release --

to pardon their family members who to them have stood up and went forward and tried to do their duty because they felt the time was in their hand to recognize or -- they are an sk*esors who -- ancestors who fought to keep slavery. and it's like they have the statutes and -- statues and everything that keep reminding republicans you have to stand up for those who died who tried to keep our cause going. i think like the guy said, he wanted to keep drinking the kool-aid. that's exactly what's happening. trump is only out for himself. am i still here? host: yes. and that was gwen in detroit. staying in michigan but in lake linden this time, kay, a republican. go ahead. caller: good morning.

i guess all i really want to know is how come during all these rallies for the democrats whether it be joe biden or now kamala, how come you never see anybody waving any american flags? nobody chants u.s.a. why is that? i'd like to know. what does she actually do for america. she's been installed and nancy pelosi and barack obama. that's what we get. we get kamala and she's a u.s.a. hater and so are her people and it's obvious in her crowd. even her fake crowds, they don't even put in american flags. interesting. have a great day. host: carol in columbus, georgia, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. how you doing. good. down here in columbus, georgia, down here in georgia, period. we are proud down here. down here in columbus, the alabama line, we are tpaoeud up

in columbus, macon, savannah, and atlanta metro always stay fired up. we are going to continue to be that way because i'll tell you one thing, you tried to steal our votes in georgia. the sad thing about it my governor and my secretary of state, they would have went along with it if the secretary wasn't in on the call. so lucky she was on the call and they weren't able to do what they wanted to do. because we already know that brian kemp, he is maga. he tried not to act like he is. we know that he is. we fired up down here. i'm going to go here and get me some good old breakfast and try to convince magas and change them over. i think i'll have a good chance of doing it. thank you. have a good day. host: when you do talk to trump supporters, what do you say in order to convince them? caller: i just the fact -- i

tell what all trump has done as far as negative things. host: how do they respond to that? caller: they look at me sometimes. i'm a big old guy. they we all right. we are going to have breakfast. we shake hands at the end. we go home. host: all right, darell. wisconsin in hager city, randy is a republican. hey, randy. caller: good morning. got a couple quick things. donald trump in the white house and he did a good job. he never took -- he took $1 in salary. he donated his whole salary of $400,000 to charity all around. another thing, wisconsin is going to be going for i believe president trump this year

because i think madison and milwaukee have turned the page. that's what controls the vote of wisconsin. i see one biden -- i come from chicago. and all the way up. nothing but trump signs. never seen one biden or harris at all. this kamala know about foreign affairs. she has nothing. she has no military behind her. maybe that's why she picked tim. i know the people of minnesota are really voting for tim walz. they want to get rid of him over there for what he's done to the state of minnesota. it's a shame. you look back when trump and hillary run, the polls, the polls, you can't believe the polls. it's just talking points for the

media. host: randy, i was going to bring up the polls. take ago look at wisconsin -- take ago look at wisconsin. biden won by .6% in 2020. and the projection right now is that harris is up by 1.9%. so very close. you don't believe the polls? caller: i don't believe the polls. whose polls? i have never been polled. who has been polled. where do they get the polls from. the polls -- sometimes they are pretty close. goodness sakes, trump won 2016. hillary up 20? host: tell me about your neighbors, other people in wisconsin, are they fired up about this election? what's the conversation been like? caller: yes. they are fired up. because what people are saying

is what the democratic party right now, they are mad. they are blaming trump for the economy and the border. it's a biden-harris. why haven't they done that? why haven't they opened up the energy for this country to get going. i just can't believe that they don't do that now. kamala is trying to take over the no tax on tips. she voted against t she was a a deciding vote against tax on tips. now she doesn't want to tax tips. come on, people. host: let's go to philadelphia, line for democrats. mark, good morning. caller: yeah, morning sitting hy city, the city of brotherly love, the cradle of our democracy, taking hits from my fellow pennsylvanians, trump supporters, of course. and of course i'm not going to vote for trump. i wouldn't vote for him for dog

catcher. let me mention one thing i keep hearing from these trump supporters about how good it was four years ago. what reality are they living in? what fantasy island are they on? four years ago, mimi, here in philadelphia we had soup kitchens like they had during the great depression. people were lining up at dodger stadium getting food parcels. i thought i had covid in early 2020. i didn't get tested until almost 2021 because trump botched, totally messed up the covid response. and how can we forget the famous quote from dr. donald j. trupl be m.d. about the virus. inject yourself with disinfectant. the cure was definitely worse than the disease. they want to put that back in the white house? seriously? i just cannot believe what i'm hearing here.

host: what are you seeing around philadelphia. philadelphia's obviously a very blue city. but are you seeing a lot of enthusiasm? are you seeing a lot of people that maybe weren't going to vote going out to vote? what's going on there? caller: well, you saw when harris and walz had their first rally announcing them together in philadelphia at the center at tefrpl university. i wanted to go, but i knew there was no way i was getting in there. it is palpable. that rally was raucous. they just blew the top of the many coors center. it's very rare to see a trump sign in philadelphia, thank goodness. host: are you seeing any ads on tv? for former president trump? caller: i say four to one the ads are harris to trump. the trump campaign is running

out of money. that's why he's doing all this free stuff like that idiotic two-hour thing with d.n.a. musk. and that "q&a" with the black journalist. trump is just trying to get out there because his campaign's running out of money. harris has $400 million chest. host: let's go to georgia, republican line. roy, good morning. caller: mimi, i just -- i'll be voting for trump. primarily for religious reasons. i just want to appeal to christian, jews, and muslim brothers that's familiar with the bible. we talk god ised god of the pwraoefrbers and nonbelievers. and i also believe in separation of church and state. god hand us only the united states. god hasegawa never lost an election. if he put harris in office, he has decided to punish us again for immoral sex,

transgenderrism, late abortion, mutilation of our innocent children, remove his name from office. defiling the white house. and prohibiting public gathering by the lgbt so they can practice sin without guilt. if you remember when trump was in office, when he was in office there was a chance that he might get back if god puts him back in office because god never lost an election. now, if he put president trump back in office, there may be a chance that god will redeem the united states. and israel. we were respected. iran had been neutralized. my car insurance was $500 less. gas was $1.87. we knew peace. god gave us a choice through mike pence. after the irregularity in 2020 election, pence had a chance to

send the election back to the states that had changed their voting laws. he chose not to. what happened now is that instead of blessing mike pence led us to curses. if god puts harris back in office the united states will never be the same again. that means judgment is here and we will suffer. god does not change. if god judge ancient israel an ancient country and destroyed those countries because of their sin, god doesn't change. he can do the same thing to the united states. and that's what's going on. and oftentimes god displaces people that was living in sin. right now our borders have been wide open. we are becoming sermon to those -- we are being replaced. host: wesley in milwaukee, wisconsin. democrat. caller: hello. host: you got to turn down your

tv. caller: ok. can you hear me now? host: go ahead. caller: i'd like to say that when biden was running i remember the republicans was telling the mexicans and other countries if biden wins there is going to be open borders. and trump was taking the people babies from them and sending them back and separating them from the babies. there was going to be no more coming over here until the republicans started saying it's going to be open borders if biden gets in. and they believed that. and so they started storming in. so the republicans create a problem. and then they run on it. and i have been watching them do that for 20 years. ever since the war in iraq. and then donald trump got in and sent the drone over and killed one of their leaders and it wasn't even wartime.

isn't that a war crime? obama had paid some of their own money to let some people in and check for nuclear this and nuclear that, and we was going to be pretty much monitoring them. we had control. they was trying to civilize themselves with that money. trump got in and ended that. don't these people see that you only making the country worser. host: to james, republican in adele, georgia? caller: yes. host: go ahead. caller: i'm military. if she gets in office and insurance you don't take everybody insurance, make government. the way the government has been running the military. you had to wait in line for days and days and months to see a doctor. people better wake up. if she gets in there we can hang it up.

that's all i got to say. host: debby in owasso, michigan, democrat. good morning. caller: hi. my comment is i don't believe there is even a choice other than harris at this point. mr. trump had his chances the first round. and he failed. he failed with covid. he failed with the border. many kids are still not -- have not found their parents. their parents haven't found them. they don't have any records of them. i think that's very poor. people ask what has harris done as vice president. she's voted -- she has promoted abortion rights. voting rights. immigration rights. trump had immigration --

immigrant wives. yet he wants to change the system now so that those people wouldn't be able to come in. i don't think that's right. host: since you are in michigan let me ask you about the war in gaza. there was a noncommitted voter movement. what are you hearing in michigan about that, if anything? caller: i'm not hearing anything on that. host: ok. let's talk to nana in hreufpfield park, arizona, independent. caller: i'm an independent as you said. and i have written down some pluses and minuses for both candidates. i think that trump had a great economy and look what has happened in the last three years. we are out here in arizona.

i know i'm paying at least a third more for my groceries. he supported our military. our military was in good shape. today if we went to war we would have a big problem. and my husband is ex-military. he's retired. he had -- trump had us oil independent. now we have to buy our oil. and plus the democratic party stopped the -- i should say biden stopped the pipeline from canada. trump -- his negative problem is he sometimes often puts his foot in his mouth. he doesn't -- he says things that he can't back up. kamala, she's a woman.

looks good on tv. but she doesn't do her job. the border situation since the democrats took over is a mess. we have millions of people here now that did not come over legally. my husband happens to be a person that came over canada. and went through the normal process. and ended up drafted into the u.s. military when he was still a canadian. host: you were talking about pros and cons. have you made up your mind? caller: yeah. i'm voting for trump. host: all right. guess we lost her. harrisburg, pennsylvania, democrat. good morning. caller: hi. i have a quick statement. i am certainly voting for

kamala. i am in rural pennsylvania. and a kubl days ago my -- couple days ago my democratic local office announced come on down, let's have harris signs to put in your yard. there is no way that i would put a harris sign in my front yard because i would be afraid that my house would be vandalized. on the other hand, when trump signs all around those people have no fear that the harris people would vandalize their houses. there are just too many hot heads in the trump lane. that's the way i feel. host: you really feel like your neighbors would vandalize your house? caller: some -- host: has it happened in the past? caller: no.

but i feel unsafe if i put hair list sign -- harris sign in my front yard, period. host: let's hear from democratic vice president nominee governor tim walz. he made remarks yesterday at the american federation of state, county, and municipal employees convention in los angeles. >> you heard the story. you knew vice president harris grew up in a middle class family. picked up shifts at that mcdonald's as a student. i keep asking this to make a contrast here. can you simply picture donald trump working at a mcdonald's trying to make a mcflurry or something. he knows us. he couldn't run that damn mcflurry machine. but vice president harris took that work ethic. goes to work every single day to make sure families don't just get by, but they get ahead. she stood on the side of the american workers.

and she stood up to the billionaires and fought corporate greed. she led this administration's work to eliminate the barriers to organizing. and let's not forget, she cast the tiebreaking vote on the american rescue plan to keep public service workers on the job during the pandemic. [applause] just to be clear, the vice president and i, we know exactly who built this country. it was nurses, it was teachers, and it was state and local government employees that built this nation. [applause] people in this room built the middle class. [applause] that's not just a saying it's a fact. when unions are strong, america's strong. vice president harris and i have both had the privilege of joining workers on the pickett line.

it's why as governor i signed one of the biggest packages of pro woerblg policies in history into law. [applause] in minnesota we made it easier for workers to form unions. we strengthened workers' protections, yes, we banned those banned captive audience meetings for good in minnesota. host: 10 minutes left in this segment. hearing from swing state voters only. michigan is one of those swing states. and glenn is calling us on line for democrats. hi. caller: good morning. yes. was watching the show, listening to the callers call in. you know, there's always call in talking about her first name. we shouldn't call her by her first name. we should call her what she is, she's vice president harris. that's what we should be going by. i wasn't going to vote for joe biden this time. i voted last time. because i don't like what's going on in gaza.

but since -- because those people said -- joe biden wasn't going to get their votes. we got a lot of muslims and arab community here. biden was not going to get their vote. i thought michigan was going to be lost to the republicans. now they open up channels because of harris. this they might turn. and that's why i will vote for vice president harris. another thing, she would never -- was never the czar of the border. that job belongs to homeland security. but republicans would never know that because some people dare to read. they just go by -- host: glenn, do you see a fundamental difference between biden and harris on the war in gaza? caller: well, i don't know what harris' position is exactly, but i do know when netanyahu came

here in detroit and they had a meeting with the vice president the day after, he didn't leave so happy. so basically she's humanity. she's not going to be silent on that matter. i really wish back in the day, i still -- you have a great day. host: all right. we got a text from chri in for rain, ohio, leans republican. voting for trump notecause i'm maga. i' voting for the person who will do the be j for our country. i really believe harris will run the u.s.a. into the ground. and this is theresa in park river, michigan, republican. good morning. caller: yes. i will not vote for trump. after january 6, just look at his resume. no way. i don't trust him.

nope. host: did you vote for him in 2020? did you vote for him in 2016? host: no. dip no. host: ok. john in lake geneva, wisconsin, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. tim walz was right on the money. he was 100% correct. kamala harris voted to break the tie in the senate to spend billions more dollars. she did the same thing a second time for the infrastructure act. spent more money which sent to high inflation with gas prices and groceries. i went to the store yesterday and bought 24 slices of american cheese. and it was $7.50. are you kidding me? the other thing is when she had a rally last week, she demanded

government i.d.'s from every single person that came into her rally. she wants to have i.d.'s presented to come to her rally, but they don't want i.d.'s to vote? and one other last thing is i vote for policies and her policies i know of in the past were all big government health care for all open borders. immigration status for everybody. become citizens right away. that type of stuff. i do agree with the abortion thing. that's what makes me independent in my mind. i think they should done the first tri midwester after that -- trimester and in the case the health of the mother. that's all i have to say. host: that was wisconsin.

we'll go to north carolina next in fayetteville, robert, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. good morning, america. my comments as i have been same things as that from the rallies. donald trump is going around with a grievance campaign. he always has a scowl on his face. he's always talking bad. and running down the other person. the other opponent. and i see no policy other than throwing epithets at the other person. i look at the other side, and they have energy. they are thinking ahead about trying to make this country better. and looking at us from a world perspective, people, the united states of america is different from any country in this world. everybody wants to come here. we have open air communications

with the internet. and the things i could say and do whatever i want. you can't do that outside the united states in any other country. we should stop trying to run down our country and go back to what robert kennedy, john kennedy said when he ran for president, ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. i served 34 years. from north carolina i just want to let you know is that i am very disappointed in them my senator where when he turned around and voted that donald trump did cause the insurrection. now he's come back this week and said he's going to vote for this guy. i heard people talk about he's even entertaining at various times to spin the constitution. that should never come out the mouth of the president to

suspend the constitution. i raised my hand to support and depend the constitution of the united states of america against all enemies, foreign and domestic. and he is a threat. he doesn't want -- he's not running for us. he's running to stay out of jail. thank you very much. host: let's hear from tyler in philadelphia. independent line. hi, tyler. caller: hi. i'm currently undecided, put it that way. i'm in pennsylvania. i'm relatively young. and my reasoning for that is basically kamala's policy on israel and whether or not she will propose an arms embargo on israel. so far right now she's not straying away from biden's policy on israel. especially after yesterday when biden just gave israel two $20

billion in military aid to israel. right now if kamala doesn't switch her policy on the genocide that's happening, or even acknowledge that genocide is happening, she's going to lose a lot of younger voters. that's all i have to say. host: tyler, what are you going to do if there isn't a shift? is harris -- if harris doesn't shift her policy on gaza, what are you going to do in the election? caller: i would probably vote local and possibly state elections. i probably would write nothing for the presidential election to be honest. i might even stay home if that's the case if there's not a significant policy shift at all. host: all right, tyler. dearborn, michigan, women not only my state but all states will determine the next president. the republicans can't run on their own policies that are so

unpopular and can no prong letter promise to overturn roe v. wade. they are cooked. that's the last word on this segment. next on "washington journal" we'll have pro publica investigator reporter andy control he joined us -- kroll he joins us to discuss his propert reporting on 2025 and the 14 hours of never before published videos from the presidential administratn academy. michaelah montgomery from america first works discusses her support of former president trump and issues driving young black voters in campaign 2024. we'll be right back. >> campaign 2024 has evolved in

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>> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, alive and on demand. keep up with live streams of floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaign and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find scheduling for c-span tv and radio and compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. download it for free or visit our website. c-span now, your front row seat to washington, anytime, anywhere. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back to

washington." we have andy kroll with us, an investigative reporter with pro-publica. explain project 2025. guest: it is an effort led by the heritage foundation and supplemented by dozens of organizations and hundreds of contributors to try to lay the groundwork for the next conservative presidential administration. obviously, that would be laying the future groundwork for a trump administration. your viewers have probably heard a little or a lot about the 900 page policy playbook. but project 2025 has put together and it lays out potential policies that the future president could do on everything from education to health care to technology, antitrust and the federal workforce itself. there are other parts of the

project 2025. there is a whole piece that flows under the notion that personnel is policy, a phrase that caught on during the reagan years and the idea is that the new president and administration not only need a playbook of what to do with the functions of the federal government but needs people to put policies in place. a big part is also recruiting people, vetting them and training them are and doing this before the inauguration so that when the next conservative president takes office, he not only has the policy, but the people to put in jobs across the government. host: doesn't heritage do this every presidential election and

don't liberals have think tanks for democratic? what is the big deal? guest: yes, heritage, in particular does this kind of work every four years since going back to the early 80's, the beginning of the reagan administration. they play out a mandate for leadership and it is a thick book can lay out policies. and to some degree they do the personnel part of this. there are also democratic affiliated ones that do some version of this but none does what heritage it does on the conservative side in terms of the mandate for leadership. why are we talking about it so much this year? democrats have chosen to make this much more of an issue and much more of a talking point

than they have in years past. the reason they are doing that playbook for project 2025 are extremely conservative. we are talking everything from eliminating the department of education, dramatically curtailing medicaid, dramatically restricting, further restricting access to reproductive health care services like mifepristone. and i think perhaps most controversially in the public pulling out there is the plan in project 2025 in the playbook to re-classify tens of government, nonpartisan, nonpolitical people so that they can be more easily removed from their jobs and replaced by political appointees. these are career employees who serve democrats and republicans who would be hired potentially

and replaced by individuals who have gone through this training process. host: former president trump and his campaign have been in fact that this does not represent their views and they have nothing to do with project 25. guest: they have been saying that since it has come under attack from democrats and liberal groups. a spokeswoman said, reiterated the campaign's attempts to distance themselves from project 2025. and she said anyone who wants to read about the policies should go on agenda 47, however, you have to look at the record going back further. former president trump has said great things about the heritage foundation and has appeared at the events and in a speech at a

heritage foundation gala, he talked about the great work heritage was doing including laying the groundwork for the future of that movement and how that was important and how he valued the work that heritage was doing. so before project 2025 became so unpopular, the former president was close to the heritage foundation and the people involved. when it became politically toxic is one that happened. host: what are the similarities and differences between agenda 47 which the trump campaign is saying is their agenda and project 2025? guest: there are a number of different things. first and foremost, the project 2025 playbook policy and mandate for leadership is 887 pages long . agenda 47 is to doesn't bullet points. the project 2025 mandates for

leadership is very detailed on basically every possible thing a federal potential administration could do. and we mentioned some of these. agenda 47 is end of top line, things like defunding a universities that are indoctrinating students to become communists. it is a little more culture were tilted within the mandate for leadership project 2025 which is very conservative and is a fascinating read for anyone who wants to read. agenda 47 doesn't have that much detail. there is some overlap and talk about cracking down on over regulation and creating a more hospitable business climate. it is much thinner than project 2025 and is worth noting the authors of the project 2025

policy blueprints are listed at the end of the document and there are dozens who used to work for former president trump, including stephen miller, the architect of the border policies to name just one. host: what is the academy? guest: it is the policy part. host: the training arm? guest: exactly, the training arm. people who are interested in serving in the future conservative administration can sign up on line. it is a vetting process that happens. if you are approved, you get access to the 25 videos, 14 hours of content, and you watch this content in there are quizzes and worksheets. it is like a certification course and you get a project 20

25 digital certification if you complete the different modules. it is interesting viewing. it is everything from policy recommendations, nuts and bolts of how the federal government works and a lot of content drawing on lessons learned, mistakes made and how to prepare better for a second administration based on that collective wisdom. host: if you would like to ask a question of andy kroll, you can start calling in. republicans (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000, and independents (202) 748-8002. bringing us to the videos, they are not public. how did you get them? guest: we can't get too much into sourcing because that is

the ethics of how we do our job as investigative reporters. every time someone sends propublica, the question is is it real and can we verify it. and then is it newsworthy. we did the work to authenticate and talk to the people in videos and people involved in the videos and found all kinds of references to the videos online on the project 2025 website. we vetted and verified first and foremost and then we watched the videos. i watched all 14 hours and found that there is a newsworthy information that voters deserve to know. host: so 900 pages out, it is public, so what is new about the videos that is not in project 2025? guest: a handful of things on different themes, if you will. one is, the videos contain

policy proposal that i think are not fully articulated in the 800 page -- 880 seven page policy book. one is a former top official appears in when a video and talks about basically downplaying the existence of climate change and she says that for the intended audios, those being trained to go into the government and they need to "eradicate all references to climate change" that they see. that is something that is new and matters. host: let's show that video to our audience right now. this is about climate change. here it is. [video clip] >> i always understood that climate change meant seasons. our climate shows change all the

time -- it doesn't change all the time but that is not what is meant by the left. what do you think about the left's words and definitions in the environment? >> that is a great point. they don't stop. climate change they allege is everywhere if the americans elect a conservative president, they will have to eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere. and according to our intelligence community, the number one threat facing our country today is, drumroll, climate change. not russia, china, not a i, climate change. this is how the federal government is all in on this issue. and climate change advocates wield a lot of power. this is an issue to pay attention to as it has infiltrated every part of the federal government. when i think of climate change, i immediately think of population control, don't you? i think about the people who

don't want you to have children because of the impact on the environment. perhaps not everyone will make that connection, but after spending time in the international space trying to protect life, i can tell you that this is part of their ultimate goal, to control people. host: your reaction? guest: it is an extreme position to take. not only that climate change is not an pressing issue, something that bipartisan portions of people say it and pulling but that the political employees should proactively eradicate, remove, references to this issue from documents in whatever federal agency they are working in is pretty sweeping. host: i want to show another clip. this in dan hoff, a former legal adviser for presidential personnel office under trump

talking about the -- being ready to take back the government. here he is. [video clip] >> the next republican administration is the most important in our life. the stakes are too high. the left views this monopoly over education, media and culture to craft the pillars of american society, free speech, meritocracy, and national space and the unique excellence of our self-governing republic. in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, the democrats are lowering standards in every aspect of modern life, mostly in medicine and our brainwashing the next generation with the dangers affliction that america is racist and it still looks cast in cities and robs us of self-confidence that we have a civilization worth defending. i mention this because if the next republican president doesn't execute a dramatic course correction, there may never be another chance.

if you are not on board with helping implement a dramatic course correction because you think it will damage or prospects, i get it. it is a real danger. but do us all a favor and sit this one out. we only need 5000 administration position and there are tens of millions of conservative voters. if you're not prepared to be bold, we can manage it without you. i use to run presidential personnel at the white house. host: what do you think? guest: you have to understand who dan hoff is, a former advisor to president trump, someone very close to the operation and would have a second role in the administration. the context of what the 880 seven page policy blueprint lays out. that is a dramatic course correction for the country. to hear dan huff say that and hear him instructing future

political appointees on that kind of approach and to see that document as well, i think it contributes to the idea that for all that the trump political campaign says now, distancing itself, the people that would implement these in a potential next trump administration are preparing people to implement something in that policy blueprint. host: let's talk to ron, republican in fort lauderdale, florida. you are on with andy kroll. caller: thank you for taking my call. when you first started speaking, you didn't make any -- trump didn't make any commitment to support 2025, did he? didn't he say that he was not in any way going to be involved with what they are accusing him of doing, which is 2025 project?

host: we will get a response. guest: good question. donald trump has distanced himself from project 2025 or his campaign has. i would point you to comments he has made in 2020 two, repeatedly saying that heritage foundation is doing great work. he flew in private jet and one of the faces of the event and he endorsed the work that heritage was doing, laying the groundwork and leading the movement. i would keep these continuing pieces of information in mind when you hear the former president say he doesn't want anything to do with project 2025. needs to praise it and support it when it was outside of the political cycle. host: but he praised it before it came out in writing? guest: that is right.

it is fair to say that when the 880-page blueprint came out authored by his supporters, they didn't weigh in then. it wasn't until the attacks on project 2025 from democrats and liberals came in that trump and his campaign staff started to distance themselves. there is a point to be made that the book wasn't out in 2022. host: was their project 2017 when he first came into office from heritage and did he accept those recommendations? guest: heritage,, like it does every four years, laid out potential policies for a future administration. you have to remember that people on the republican side expected a donald trump victory. while there may have been policies in place, where they

really were hurting was personnel in 2016 going into 2017. in the videos we published, the leader of donald trump's transition team talked about how tough it was to run this transition with no one on the bench to staff all the roles. he says, why project 2020 five's training element is so important is because it is something we didn't have in 2016 and 2017 and needed, and it hampered the early work. host: patty, a democrat in pennsylvania. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. good morning, sir. i read the reporting and watched the videos. thank you for the work. i have called in and the first time i called in to discuss

project 2025 was back in april and we talked about the guardrails that will not be there. and then i also focused on another call regarding the acting -- the folks that would be put in places that normally the senate confirms and the plan is that you have the acting. one is the pledge of loyalty. what i want to talk about today and if you could address this, our trump campaign obviously trends to distance themselves from this because it has burst into the open and people are talking about it. so it tying in some of the things he has done that now project 2025 is detailed in. one of the things is personnel.

he demands loyalty. that is what personnel, the number one vetting thing. you have to pledge your loyalty to his agenda. so there goes the guardrails. the people around him that keep them from doing things that are not particularly legal. also, tying in, for instance the other night just with elon musk he said, of course he wants to eliminate the department of education. i read every one mandate that is available going back to reagan. they don't like the department of education and hate the post office. he has said that. in the past he has done with a proposed. host: let's get a response for you. guest: i am impressed that you read those mandates for leadership. that is impressive.

i would zero in on a phrase you used earlier about guardrails. one of the more interesting and some would say troubling parts of the mandate for leadership is obviously the notion that the white house should be able to observe more control over the department of justice. the department of justice since the aftermath of the nixon presidency and watergate era has tried to operate with independence, and that is true under democrats and republicans. former president trump has said repeatedly that he wishes the justice department was more at his whim and that he could direct the doj in ways he sees fit. that is something he has said publicly on social media and elsewhere and something you see in project 2025, another overlap moment. he may distance himself from what project 2025 lays out but in some ways these are policies he stated he wants. host: wasn't there a proposal

called "schedule f" that would do what you talk about which is replace a career presence in the government and the able to fire them so he could put in its political appointees in their place? guest: that is right, it got lost in the larger public debate because it happened at the end of the administration and there was a lot of chaotic events happening at the end, at the least of which was the event of a january 6 and the fight over the 2020 election. this was something the trump administration has already tried and to put schedule f into plain english, using some federal authority to reclassify government employees so that they don't have the protection typically afforded to career civil servants, they don't serve one party or the other but carry over from administration to administration and if you reclassify them, it makes it easier to fire them at the will

of the executive, the commander-in-chief. project 2025 lays out how to do that and within that how to replace those people with more politically loyal appointees who would do the work of the president. host: let's talk to david in new jersey, independent. caller: i think for undecided voters or independent voters who tend to vote democrat, issues like project 2025 are not going to drive them away from voting republican. it will be the choice of tim walz that drives him away. he is a choice based on fear. josh shapiro was by far the better choice, but the democrats fear their volatile left so much that the volatile left is so reactive and thankfully cori

bush lost in my hometown of st. louis. but tim walz's views on unions and israel and the issue of josh shapiro being jewish. so tim walz is going to drive the undecided and independent to vote democrat further away. and once additional note, a much bigger threat to our democracy and our freedoms is the alliance for defending freedom. they are doing more than anybody in this country, issue by issue and going everywhere and fighting things relating to transitioning and taking on the cases quietly. josh hawley is doing nothing like his wife. we need a good investigation of the alliance for defending freedom. guest: david, we take tips from

our readers in the public all of the time and i will take that tip from you as someone who clearly follows the news and the diverse stories under the news quite well. 1.i would make about independent voters and project 2025, if you look at polling on some of the high profile subjects including the department of education and the schedule f of government workforce reform, they pulled -- they poll poorly. a poll had this saying they disapproved of these kinds of policies. so is that a large number of democrats and independents as well? the issues if you pull them out are not especially popular with large majorities of people. host: we have a text from denise

in minneta has the conservative ser majority on the supreme court emboldened them to believe that many of the policies of a project 2025 can actually be pushed through with trump's win? guest: i think the answer to that is yes. if you listen to conservative litigators and activists talk about, maybe not specifically project 2025 but broadly the policy landscape and how the judicial branch fits into that, there is without question confidence and almost a bit of swagger in conversations i have with sources and the reporting that we do that they have shifted the judiciary in such a way that they have a much more favorable audience, certainly with the supreme court in the 6-3 majority but moving down through the appellate courts and

into the district courts as well. host: jolene, a in pennsylvania. caller: thank you for taking my call. with this project 2025 being something to look at, what about the critical race theory project and the 1619 project? that is it doing more harm to our country than project 2025. trump is not a politician, -- he is a businessman. like you said. democrats and republicans when they get power, they try to bring their own people and set up people in position that will help them get to their mission.

what is the harm in that? when trump was president, there were obama people in key places that would slow down things that trump wanted. he learned a lot from the first time in office. guest: thanks for the comment. you make some good points. one i will zero in on is the project 2025 training program for political appointees who feel these particular openings that turnover every four or eight years, a new president has the right to appoint those people and it is the job of those people to do the work of the administration, to take the policies that the president

wants or their executive orders, executive actions that the president has signed into legal existence and to implement them at the agency level. project 2025 is training these people to do that normal work. where things are different is the notion that not only is a future conservative administration going to appoint both people to those slots but also try to politicize career government positions, reclassify, fire the nonpartisan appointees and that would be a change from past residences -- presidencies. caller: good morning mr. kroll. can you hear me? host: go right ahead. caller: i want to say thanks to c-span for having you because a lot of people need to hear about

what is going in the project .25. -- project 2025. i am a veteran. i have a lot of time on my hand. i am on page 722. it starts on page 641 where it starts talking about disability benefits and running the v.a. in general. there is scary wording about targeting significant savings from resizing disability ratings , also some heinous stuff about, as far as the far right conservative stance on abortion and reassignment surgery. i want to know if you could make any comments regarding that. thank you. guest: thanks for your call and thank you for your service as well.

if you look at policies toward the v.a. both in project 2025 and also if you go back to the first trump administration, there are some pretty dramatic policy ideas and previously actual actions in place to try to privatize or streamline the work of the v.a.. that is not to say that the v.a. does not need reform. there is a lot of great investigative journalism showing that. but it has to be done with veteran quality healthcare and efficient healthcare in mind. not with putting private businesses in place to benefit. when you think back to the first trump administration there was this trio of trump aligned businessman, private individuals who had become this quasi-defective leadership council for the v.a., de facto leadership council for the v.a. that the trump administration

had put in place. i think project 2025 bringing the the regulatory mentality, the private industry approach that the v.a. could raise some eyebrows about the future of veteran care as well. host: let's go to virginia for michael on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. the previous caller stole my thunder because i am a retired veteran and i am looking at the same paragraph that he just spoke about. it seems to me that i really am not going to believe that trump would not be part of this project 2025. if he does get reelected, because of his past history and the fact that he tells a bunch of stories that are not true. it is extremely difficult, anyone who is a veteran knows to

get a disability rate of any kind, i can understand about the changes that need to be done in the veterans administration. but it is already all kinds of steps you have to go through to get a disability rating. it is very tedious and it is very hard. i don't understand why they are targeting it and going back and i guess they will do another override of a process that is already pretty much to make sure that the people who are getting disability ratings are actually eligible. host: let's talk to william in wilmington, north carolina. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to recap what jolene said a few calls back that were discussing project

2025 but it is a think tank. d.c. is full of folks who jump ship from senate representatives into these think tanks. biden came to office stating a bunch of stuff. i would like to know did he bring people in with all of these deals that were done with electric cars and all of this stuff to influence that he himself has brought in people from think tanks around him thae have. we don't seem to be talking about any of that. project 2025 as far as education , if we don't think our school systems are doing so great and our children are falling so far behind in the regular world and we are importing all of these people with no education to take

jobs supposedly. where are we going? the think tank people are everywhere. trump was there for four years. he did the best he could. now he is more experienced when he comes in. we will have a lot of stuff. the education has to be fixed. host: we got it. guest: william makes a good point. thank you for calling. think tanks are a dime a dozen in washington. there are at least three or four big ones. it is totally normal and commonplace for a democrat resident to hire people from think tanks -- for a democrat president to hire people from think tanks. it is commonplace for republicans to do the same. that's why i think the connection between project 2025 and future trump administration is a plausible thing.

i would add one bit of reporting from our story at propublica in the videos we reviewed, there are 36 different speakers. of those, 29 of them are alums of the trump administration or they worked on president trump transition team. they have some connection to him. one of them even works on his current reelection campaign. there are a lot of overlaps here. host: want to ask you about the director of the heritage foundation for project 2025. he stepped down from his role as month. what has been the impact of his departure? who is in charge now? guest: after paul dan stepped down, kevin rodgers put out a statement saying in effect that project 2025's policy book would no longer go on. we talked to some sources. that story was done by my great

colleague who said that the policy work was already winding down. you are not putting out policy briefings in the last couple of months of the campaign. the statement that he put out also said the recruiting, the training will the vetting would continue. the videos that we published, the reporting we have in this latest story is very much related to ongoing work at project 2025. paul dan's may no longer be in charge but that work is, according to kevin roberts, very much alive and well. host: gary is in baltimore. democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. can you say something about these parallel organizations along with project 2025 like sick leg -- ziklag.

i have not heard anything about the greater idaho movement. these organizations are on the same page as what you are talking about. i'm interested in hearing more about them. guest: thanks for the call. i would imagine you are a propublica reader because ziklag was the subject of a big investigation before this project 2025 story. these groups are part of this larger conservative coalition that is very much close to president trump and his political sphere. they are all taking a piece of the pie to try to get voters, mobilized and excited for the trump campaign and to turn them out in november. they are taking different pieces of the pie. ziklag is very much about mobilizing the christian right. the center for renewing america is much more of a policy group tied to a former aide to president trump who could be in

his next administration bringing an intellectual piece to it but very much through a make america great again lens. all of these grew from -- all of these groups have detailed missions but the larger goal is to get a new trump presidency. host: christina is in iowa on the independent line. caller: hi. i am sitting here and i have the reprint of the declaration of independence as it appears in 1878. i keep hearing everyone say we are a democracy. we are a republic. i am not really sure why everyone keeps saying we are democracy. in here it says that the truth is self-evident that all men are created equal and we are endowed by our creator with certain unavailable rights and among

these rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. these rights are instituted and derive their power from the consent of the government. that means the people. i was never in politics before the pandemic but they are working altogether. they keep promising these things but neither side is anything. our country is at a dire point. can you tell me truthfully whether we are a republic or democracy? i have the constitution and it does not say democracy once. host: does this relate specifically to project 2025 which is our topic? caller: it relates to the american people and the project 2025 and our future. if we have both sides lying to us and they are manipulating us and it states right here that whenever any form of government becomes destructive, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new government.

i don't think our government has our best interest at heart. i want to know if we are a republic or democracy. host: do you want to take that one? guest: i would just say that i have heard that talking point that we are a republic and not a democracy. i would encourage you it is possible to have both of those things and hold both of those at the same time. we can be a democratic republic. i would urge you to read the federalist papers and some of the other writings of the founders. you will see how these two play together and how democracy is so critical to the health and future of our republic. host: louise in virginia, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to ask about the wilson center, the miller center, the hudson institute, these warmongers who are

constantly pushing us into war who almost always push us into war. i would also like to say that disabled veterans. there are disabled veterans and then there are disabled veterans. i have a nephew who served in texas and south korea. he is on full disability. he never saw war. he never was wounded. he was never anything but now he is on full disability. this is a guy who sniffs paint. he got into the military. he is a bum essentially. now he is riding around with a car that says v thiset. -- vet. this guy does not deserve disability.

how many people are on veterans disability who do not deserve veterans disability? they do not dishonorably discharged you anymore. they less than honorable discharge is what they call it now. guest: thanks for the call. anyone who signs up to serve our country in the military and they deploy a broad or they are just stationed domestically, i thank them for that. i have interviewed veterans in the course of my job. is pretty clear that the v.a. disability process is cumbersome and quite thorough. it takes a long time. i think it probably leaves more veterans frustrated at the pace and the level of detail, the level of bureaucracy than it lets many people in who are not deserving. hopefully that process is as efficient as possible. that is important to serving our veterans.

i cannot speak to the individual case of your relative. that is what the veterans i speak with tell me about getting access to critical care for them. host: andy kroll, you said earlier that you reached out to some of the people who were in the videos. what was their reaction? what was their response? from the heritage foundation, knowing that propublica has access to these videos that they never intended. guest: the heritage foundation's press office did not respond to us. i reached out to them half a dozen times over a week and they chose not to comment. we reached some people in the story and none of them -- i don't think they expected the videos to go public and to have a reporter asking them about it. one of them, david burton, economic policy expert at heritage, he talked to me several times. he said, i am in the video. the video is real.

i have watched the others. i think it is real. roger severino, the vice president for domestic policy at heritage. a very senior trump official. we confirmed he was in the video. we spoke to others, a few i cannot name because of the conditions of our interview, which have also talked me through why they appeared in the video. the trump administration in 2017 was hampered by a lack of people they could dispatch to different parts of the federal government and they hoped this training program would accelerate that process. from day one, a potential future trump administration would get to work. host: denise in kentucky says, "how does project 2025 as a blueprint differ from the green new deal is a blueprint from

bernie and aoc?" guest: good question. the project 2025 blueprint is much more detailed, much more lengthy. 887 pages, hundreds of authors contributing. the green new deal, you can go online and find policy prescriptions. it is more a tagline and slogan. different organizations have different ideas of what they think the green new deal is. it is much more of a rally cry now than it is a specific set of policies in the way that project 2025's mandate for leadership is a very specific policy. host: mark is in fort lauderdale, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i am so back -- glad to be able to talk to mr. kroll. how do you do mr. kroll?

i will try to be brief. i will not be like any other type of caller. c-span says washington journal had a lady on in the past two days whose job was to talk bad about black people, why they don't deserve any dei or anything like that and that they brought their problems on themselves. the way she talked was so similar to the training tape that you had that this stuff seems to be out percolating among these people. here's the second subject which is one i think usually -- i think you should be interested in. not long ago they had lauder who used to be with pence who now runs the america first policy institute. he was talking very maga which i

thought was very strange for a pence guy. i looked him up. i looked up afpi. those guys have something going on that is every bit as frightening as project 2025. they call it the america first transition project. it is the same thing. everything is laid out. all the people running it are slightly higher level executives in the trump administration. one of the things on the front page that really grab my attention, i could not read into it because it was so scary, something called personal planning. it says identifying personnel positions that need to be filled on day one and developing training a new administration to use it to ensure it can fill a qualified team on day one. the article on project 2025 is

fantastic. here is something you might look into as well. it is every bit as frightening. host: he was talking about ann colter who was on the program earlier. guest: the second good tip from a c-span color today. thanks for the information. you are pointing out the afpi project. it is interesting for a few reasons. one is the use of louisville, a term -- the use of lo yal, really trying to find loyal people. the ones who may not be as loyal to the cause as they should be and train them if they are not asked. -- train them if they are not experienced government workers.

this personnel policy theme keeps coming up. it is a big thing that has come out of the first trump administration that his allies are trying to push into a potential second administration. they have thought out every step of the process in donald trump wins in november so that when he takes office january 20, 2025 and ozone -- goes on to implement his policy, there is a laser focus on trying to master that transition, have people ready to go so that the oath and he is the commander-in-chief, these policies can be put into place. host: the videos are 14 hours as we mentioned. are they public at this point? are people able to go onto youtube and find them? how would someone watch those videos? guest: they can go to propublica .org. we have st all 23 videos

there totaling 14 hours. they are also on youtube. you can type in project 2025 training. you can certainly do propublica project 2025. we have a playlist where you can watch them one after another without stopping if you want. host: what has been the reaction from the general public? we talked about heritage's non-reaction to this. what has been the reaction so far from your readers? guest: it has been a really vocal reaction. project 2025 quite anproject 2025 outpouring of interest, emails, some interesting tips, a lot of people are invested in this issue of project 2025. they want to know more about it. honestly, people who have said thank you for posting all the

videos, we would like to see the evidence for ourselves and we want to hold you accountable so that if there is something there you should have covered, we can look ourselves. that was the intent of putting those out. host: i appreciate you staying late without. a lot of people wanted to talk with you. you have a book coming out called "death on w street." guest: it is about a murder in washington, d.c. that becomes a political hot button issue, a conspiracy theory. it becomes a national and international story. a tragedy in the streets of washington to a global phenomenon. it bring together politics, information, disinformation, internet culture. it is really a parable for this crazy last decade in american politics. host: this is a true story? guest: it is a true story. it is the story of a young man

who was working for the d&c who was killed and how his life and death becomes this massive american story. host: andy kroll, investigative reporter for propublica. you can reach them at propublica .org. thanks for joining us. guest: my pleasure. host: we will go to open forum next. the numbers are republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. go ahead and start calling now. we will be right back. >> american history tv saturdays on c-span 2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 3:00 p.m. rebecca roberts author of the book "suffragists

in washington, dc" talks about the decade leading to the passage of the 19th of may meant and how women got the right to vote through marching and persistence. august 15 is the anniversary of the 1945 surrender of japan during world war ii and american history tv will mark the occasion with several programs on the war in the pacific. beginning at 4:15 p.m. we will feature the 1945 office of war information film "japan surrenders." then world war ii veterans, former officer stephen ellis and former air force navigator talk about their experiences during the war. paul henderson author of the book "finding the night" discusses his father's service as a fighter pilot who flew my time missions during the 1945 eli shima campaign.

at 75 p.m. eastern, watch american history tv series historic convention speeches featuring notable remarks by presidential nominees and other political figures from the past several decades. this week u.s. illinois democratic senate candidate barack obama gives the keynote speech at the 2004 democratic national convention in boston. former massachusetts governor mitt romney spoke at the 2008 republican national convention in st. paul, minnesota. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide and watch anytime at c-span.org/history. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. it is open forum. interested to take your calls on anything on your mind this morning.

i have a few things to share with you first. the consumer price index has just come out this morning and that is the cpi announcing that inflation has slowed to a 2.9% annual rate. it says this on the eve of the federal reserve's last meeting. it looks like the july consumer price index report might serve as one final hurdle to clear ahead of the september rate cut. unexpected labor market data suggests a cut is probably likely even if the cpr reported on the firm side. after the meeting chair powell confirmed officials would not be data point-dependent and would look at the totality of economic data when deciding whether to cut rates in september. two days later the labor department reported that hiring slowed in july and the unemployment rate went up to

4.3%. also in the news, i wanted to show you this about the middle east from reuters. hamas has stayed out of gaza truce talks and here is the summary of that. hamas says it will not take part in thursday's talks. israel said it will attend. secretary blinken has reported lee postponed his trip. iran could hold back attacks on israel with a truce. you can -- you can read the full report in reuters. christina, illinois, democrat. caller: good morning. this whole 2025 project has really got me all upset.

i think we all need to go back and re-read, or people who have not read it yet, the book "george orwell" from 1984 eroded, the is "1984." i had rewritten the preamble to the constitution back the first year of trump presidency. i think it is even more today it goes, "we the privilege refused to uphold the constitution, abandon justice, destroy domestic tranquility, provide for our private expense, promoting corporate welfare, secure financial liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish a plutocracy for these divided and i think it is a sad that

this is all coming true. thank you. have a good day. host: lucy, new york, republican. caller: so, i cannot vote for either candidate because of what is going on in gaza. i'm overwhelmed with guilt that our bombs are killing these children. anytime you criticize what israel has done, the other day they had an israeli soldier raping a palestinian woman on the news, and this is what slaveowners did, they quoted the bible as they raped women and killed people. i cannot even vote in the selection. host: cary, georgia, independent. caller: yes. i would like to make a comment about 2025 project, and it is my understanding that what will

affect me and my husband is aromatic, and they want to make medicare advantage the default insurance. i want all the medicare people to hear me out i just know that is not the agreement we have with the government on the regional medicare, and it is just important because that would be a private insurance, and once we've made an agreement with the government, they should not be able to break the agreement. i just wanted to make that comment if that is going to happen on project 2025, be aware when i was 17, i have to say this and then i will hang up, newt gingrich was running for something in georgia -- i was a teenager -- and the one word i heard, and now i'm care, his n'u

mess with my medicare. and that is what i would like to say. please, do not mess with our medicare. thank you. host: a couple of thingfor your schedule later today, ohio senator 2024 vice presidential nominee j.d. vance will he a campaign event in michigan. live coverage at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, on c-span now, our video app, and online at c-span.org. also this afternoon, former president d 20 for presidential nominee donald trump- 2024 presidential nominee donald trump will be in asheville, north carolina. it was won by him previously in the last tworedential elections. live coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, also on the app, and online.

richard, california, democrat. caller: hi. i'm so glad to get on here. i really appreciate the comments. people out there have not seen those videos, which i've never seen before. i find that this president running -- this gentleman running for president resembles a cold. this country has suffered for many cold activities. i give you all these different people here in san diego county, they had people who do anything that the leader tells them to do. and we have a guy right now preaching that stuff. sounds like the same kind of deal to me. these people are cold followers.

that is all i've got to say, thank you -- these people are cult followers. that is all about to say. thank you. host: john, kentucky. caller: i watched your guest, and i've been hearing nothing except 2025 for the democrats for the last three or four months. i thought your guest was either very naive or biased in his presentation. if anyone thinks that aydin, when he was elected, or donald when he was elected, did not have think tanks lining up policies, do you think that the addled president biden came up with policies on climate control on his own? do you think he came up with policies on handing out checks, free money, all across the united states. do you think he came up with those policies on his own? they came from think tanks. they came from influencers.

and as far as the plane people who go along with the policy of the president, do you think biden did not appoint people or obama appoints people? they all do it. because not only from federal government, but state government, local government. people who have the party they support to have a big part and it goes on in our federal government, regardless of the administration. your guest did not point out any of those things. and you have yet another biased, left-wing vet. host: biden awards $150 million in research grants as part of cancer moonshot's as president biden has had a personal interest in cancer research since his son died of an aggressive brain cancer in 2015.

we have a portion of his remarks about that. here it is. [video clip] pres. biden: today, we are announcing $150 million funded for cancer research, including right here at tulane university. [applause] we just met with one of your research team and saw interviews. it is incredible. it is surgery unlike anything they've ever seen before. right now, surgeons are determined how to protect vital organs early. a lot of us have moved past educated guesswork. the funding we announced today will hopefully get tools in the operating room to visualize tumors right away instead of waiting for days and weeks.

it is a promising step to reduce the need for follow-up surgery and improved treatment outcomes and they will be better all across the board. [end video clip] host: david, missouri, independent. caller: how are you doing today? i will say one thing about ex-president trump. he is the only president in the history of the presidency who made four dollars over a four year term. no other president has ever donated their presidential salary to help straighten out our deficit. no one has given the man any credit for everything he has done. everybody would like to talk about him, about his evilness, this and that, but what about everybody else's evil works?

what about this lady running for president. she cannot even do the vice president job. and now they want to run office to do the president's job that she's not qualified for? i think the country has got a lot of angst misconstrued because they are not getting no information. i'm the type of person who will research this myself. i don't believe anything i see because not everybody gives the whole truth. it is one-sided. and i think the whole nation should be aware of that because of the simple fact, i watch you on tv every morning -- host: i'm not on every morning. gary, pennsylvania, democrat. caller: i would like to talk about that guy from the heritage foundation. he was completely wrong.

i read the articles and the paperwork on project 2025. now, the social security, i don't care what he says or does. that being said, the lapdog for the heritage foundation, which was funded by the cook others -- coke brothers -- koch brothers. and if anyone thinks that they are working for working-class people, you better think again. host: bertha, georgia, independent. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call, appreciate it. the only thing i have a concern

of, i believe there should be an age limit of elected officials, that when you get into your 80's, i think we need younger people. they are definitely too old. trump is only three years, than biden, so i believe there should be term limits limited and we should not have a supreme court that goes on forever and ever for state and federal elected officials. that was basically all i have to say. host: do you want to tell us who you will be supporting in georgia as an independent voter? caller: harris. host: former governor nikki haley was on fox news, talking about kamala harris, talking

about what republicans need to do for the election. [video clip] >> republicans should not be surprised that we are now writing against kamala harris. it was her all the time. there was no way joe biden, in the condition we saw him, could take on the stress of a presidential election. that was something i believed in them, it is why i constantly referred to her because i knew she was the person we had. what i will say is it is not an issue whether i go out and campaign for donald trump. he has decided the way he would like to do this. what i will not tell you -- what i will tell you is the republican party needs to make a serious shift. the first thing is the republican party, donald trump, people here at fox, quit complaining that she is not giving an interview. you don't need an interview from kamala harris. i take her at her word that she would like to raise taxes for households over $100,000, that she would like to add a

pharmaceutical and health care tax, i take her at her word that she thinks illegal immigrants should be able to vote and get drivers licenses. i take her at her word that she would like to ban fracking and kill u.s. jobs. >> despite the fact that the campaign has pushed back and put out statements saying that her positions have changed. >> she has said this. now what donald trump needs to do is go out there and campaign every single day, telling the american people exactly what kamala harris has said. we are 80 plus days out. we need him to win. what you have got to go out and do the work. the one thing republicans have to stop doing, quit whining about her. we knew it was going to be her. she's not going to give an interview. they are going to hold out as long as they can, that's their right, they can do it, that does not mean we cannot talk about what she believes in, and we should be getting out there and doing that. host: democrat, nevada, good morning. caller: i just heard that, i

think nikki really is kind of off the rail but that's not what i called about. i called about to say that the republican party is for privatizing everything. and my first 20 years of life, i lived in idaho, and that is funded by the government's, but they would like to privatize everything, the schools that they have got, they would like to privatizing schools, if you look at everything, what they all would like to do is privatize something and joy at the post office, what did he do? he tore out the machines i made it easy for the mail to go through faster. they want to privatize everything. that is what you need to know. that is what they are up to everything they would like to privatize. host: all right. we are out of time for open forums. up next "washington journal," we

will talk to michaelah montgomery about her support for former president trump and issues driving young black voters in campaign 2024. we will be right back. ♪ >> sunday on "q&a," author of "mlost freedom" recounts the day he and his family were removed from their home and sent to an internment camp following the japanese attack on pearl harbor in 1941. >> my father answered the door, and one of the soldiers pointed his gun at our father. henry and i were petrified. the other soldier said, take your family out of this house. we followed them out, stood on the driveway, waiting for our

mother to come out. when she finally came out, escorted by the soldier, when she came out, she had her baby sister in one arm and a huge double bag on the other, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. that memory is seared into my brain. host: actor and author george takei, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on "q&a." you can listen to "q&a" and all of our podcasts on our free c-span now app. >> on saturday, august 24, book tv on c-span2 takes you live to the washington convention center for annual coverage of the library congress national book festival. since 2001, we have featured hundreds of uninterrupted author talks, with this year's guests,

including carla haney, and more. the library of congress's national book festival, live, saturday, august 24, beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by michaelah montgomery, the georgia coordinator for america first works and the founder of conserving culture. welcome. guest: hello. thank you for having me. host: you introduced former president trump at a recent rally in atlanta. how did that come about? guest: i met him in april at the chick-fil-a, and i have been in contact with the team ever since then. president trump invited me and

hbcu students to have a private dinner at mar-a-lago. i saw him at detroit when he went for the rally. i was there for the turning point, conventions, things like that. when i heard he was coming to atlanta, i said what are the odds that i could see him saturday? they said gas, and i made the request on a wednesday night. nobody told me what to say, nobody said make sure you do this, nobody edited my feed, they submitted it, and they said, try to keep it under five minutes. that is the only role i broke. i don't think anybody was upset about it. host: you are very active in politics, can you tell us how you got involved and why? guest: yes. i moved to atlanta, georgia, from las vegas, nevada, and just observing the differences in the quality of education i saw some students receiving, looking at development, specifically urban development, infrastructure and

how people complain about the roads, and even now, people are still complaining about the roads. i thought, there must be a way to do this other than complaining. my senior year bicycle is going i decided to change my major from prelaw to political science, and i knew i could really make change being in government. before i thought i could make change by defending the defenseless, but if i could create laws before the even need to be in a courtroom, i think that would be better. i was actually picked up by janelle king way back in 2017. janelle king was working at the time, letting me know that internships were available. i learned a lot, and i've met a lot of people, and i've been doing the work ever since then. host: you are an organizer for america first work. tell us what that is and affiliation with the trump

campaign. guest: the trump campaign has shouted out america first policy , the entire america first family tree. we are a big -- i would like to say think tank, but a lot of the outsourcing in regards to the mobilization involving volunteers would all come through america first. we also do a lot of events and things like that, so my role is to encourage people to not just pay attention to the election but get involved with the campaign and to encourage their friends to vote to come up with a plan on election day or during early voting, all of those things. at america first, specifically i'm in charged of all interior recruitment, according as a mobilization. host: how is it funded? guest: it is a pac, so i imagine the money comes from donors, donors who support any of our colors, whether that be education, gun rights, pro-life

enthusiasts, it would come from donors. host: why do you personally support from work -- former president trump? guest: due to my personal beliefs. as a former foster child, i really love families. i don't think that just because things did not work out for my birth parents that that did not mean i did not deserve to be here, so that turned me into a pro-lifer. i'm not the type to demonize people for the decisions they like to make but personally if i'm going to vote for my personal view, i'm going to align myself with a pro-life candidate. additionally, i'm a mother now myself, so i pay a lot of attention to the education that my child is receiving. when i moved out here, i noticed differences between the standards of education in nevada and out here in atlanta, georgia. and i did not like how i came here and i felt like not necessarily that i was smarter than everybody else, but i felt

like i was equipped with a better education than a lot of other people. i don't know whether that be the allocation of resources or if it had to do it property taxes worth maybe i got lucky and had amazing teachers my life, as a mother, think it is important that parents have a say so in their child's education and that parents can remain hands-on. for instance, i don't believe there are 53 genders, and i refuse to allow my child to sit in a classroom where they will tell her and tell her that it is true and be tested on it and she will fail if there are only two genders. as a single mother, as a woman, just being able to protect myself, having my second amendment rights protected, i do not want to live in a world in which personal firearms are expected to be surrendered. in a world like that, the only people who have guns or criminals and law enforcement. if someone were to break into my home, which has happened to me

recently, i would not be able to protect myself. and whoever was breaking into my home would also know that. and the person breaking into my home would probably be with a weapon because just like drugs, if people would like something illegal, they are going to get it. those are my three main reasons. additionally, i have a brother formerly incarcerated and now is a returning citizen. i think it is unfair that migrants can commit a crime by illegally migrating over here, and they get rewarded with the same resources my brother will get turned down for. my brother cannot get food stamps, apply for a luxury apartment, and migrants can come over illegally and be awarded food stamps, housing assistance, be granted opportunity to pursue higher education. all of these things, yet my brother born, bred here, born and pay taxes here, he cannot

get this but a migrant can. when i look at policy in my personal experience, everything that i would want aligns with what i feel in the trump side. host: if you like to join our conversation with michaelah montgomery, you can do so. our lines are, republican, (202)-748-8001. democrats, (202)-748-8000. independents, (202)-748-8002. you founded a group called conserve the culture. what is that about? guest: mainly mobilization group. almost a staffing company. i started out as a door-to-door canvasser. when doing those projects, the field director would usually be like, do you have any friends who can join you? can you bring more people with you tomorrow? and me being a political science major in hbcu, all i have to say is i'm doing work for the election, do any of you want to come?

of course, everybody would want to come with me, so i would get everybody to my house, and we would wait for the bus to pick us up, we would go through the neighborhoods, canvas them, go back to my house, which was on campus, so everybody would go to their respective dorms afterwards. that was something that i started getting calls every other week. i was like, this is interesting. eventually, ended up working for this man, and after mobilizing the team, getting them out there, getting them home, i'm going to pick up the money to compensate workers, and he gave me a nice little bit on top of what was owed. and i was like, what is this? he let me know that if you recruit, train, and transport these people, you are a manager, and it is about time you serve -- conduct yourself as such, and now it is

primarily not just jobs but i make an effort to make sure they have the opportunity to meet whatever candidate they are working for, i bring them to different events, townhouse, or they can hear their candidates speak or the issues important to them and i've really done my best and exposing them to the different sides of politics, and i don't expect them all to support trump because my journey that got me here might be different from theirs, so all i can do is give them the same opportunities rented to me and let me allow you to participate in the conversations and let me let you know that you do have access to your commissioner, to your mayor, your governor, you do have a right to speak to them and you have a right to avoid in regard to your concerns, so i bring my kids everywhere. they have not only met president trump but hopeful candidate robert f kennedy, as of. and if joe biden cared about the

community, they would have made et him, too, but he did not make himself accessible. if you still not rock with it, it is what is going on over here, and here's what is going on over there, and let's have conversations about what you learn in this room and how it differs from the next room. that is how i think we will solve the issue, and, you know, how we have high levels of voter registration and low levels. host: the atlanta rally we were talking about where you introduced former president from, a few days before that, he spoke to the national association of like journalists -- of black journalists, and he spoke about kamala harris' identity about how she had just become black. a lot of people say that hurt him with black voters. guest: it seems like black

voters are offended by everything except where neutrality is set. while we might be offended that a rich white man is questioning the nationality of a "black" woman, that "black" woman does not claim to be black outside of campaigning season. so we saw her be black as she was buying to be vp. all of a sudden, she's paying attention to her a.k.a. sorority sisters. but in office you did not see the acknowledgment of her sorority or hbcu. she did not wear pink, green, anything hbcu. she also did not acknowledge the black community while in office. we saw bills for asians past, for migrants, which primarily affect the hispanic community. we saw bills passed for literally everyone but black people. so for her, additionally, after she took that oath of office, she went on record to say she

was the first south asian vice president. at no point in time did she promote her blackness or acknowledge it. at no point in time does she mark it herself as a black woman, and that was when she was attorney general, back when she was d.a., all the way until she was senator. and as vice president, so the fact that she is using this black power during the election season as black people were turning out to vote for her, and if she were to win, she would be in office and then fail those same black people who did everything in their power to get her in. i think that is disgusting, unfair, and i think that is what i personally reached out to the trump campaign and asked if i could speak because you might be offended when he says about what are you going to do and i say it? at the end of the day, i may black woman, i've lived a black life, and.i've paid attention to politics i was excited for her when she ran for president the first time, just the fact she was in the race, i

thought, ok, hbcus, do your thing. but she never acknowledged hbcus. they cut funding to hbcus in the first 100 days of administration. she did nothing to support the very people she's leaning on to win the election. and i wish those same people would understand that if they work to support her in the election and she wins, we will see nothing but a repeat of the last administration in which black people, the same people that everybody counts when it is time to get elected, will also be the first ones to be forgotten about when they are sworn in. host: at a news conference the week before, former president trump attacked brian kemp. i would like to show you a segment and then have you respond. [video clip] >> he is the most disloyal guy i've ever seen. but think of your life, we can never repay you for what you have done, we could never have won, and now she said two weeks

ago that i will not endorse her because she has not earned it. i have not earned her endorsement? i have nothing to do with her. somewhere he went bad. you know what? your numbers in georgia are average, your crime numbers, your economic numbers, they are very average. you can do a lot better you can do better with a better governor. you can do better. but i do not want her endorsement for his endorsement. i would just like them to do their job for georgia. ?you know what you ought to support his republican party because if he does not have his republican party, i could tell you where he came from, and it was not good. [end video clip] host: your response to that. guest: i feel like trump and kemp had a personal friendship, and the media, the current i guess narrative is that trump

calls kemp and asked him to find 11,000 votes. it was not until this rally that i understood the call. the call was can you make the call to start the investigation to see if votes had been lost. i can understand why trump, who used his political promise to help them get into office would be offended at the fact that kemp would not help him at least investigate something he felt had gone wrong in terms of being reelected. i don't see anything wrong with trump personally feeling attacked or like kemp was disloyal for not making the call to start an investigation. additionally, he spoke in atlanta, and as a resident of atlanta, i can see that our crime rates are rampant, i can speak to the fact that people do not want to go out anymore because they fear getting shot. i can tell you that kids no longer walk to the park or hang out at this getting drink or anything like that because crime

is an issue. what more can our governor do about it? i would not know because it seems like a mayoral issue. however, he can try to shine a light on what is happening in atlanta and the surrounding cities in georgia where they might face similar problems. so while i myself have not received or i have not had about experience with governor kemp myself, i'm not going to act like i don't understand why trump would get up and talk about his bad experience with kemp. additionally, the republican party is all about loyalty. so it kind of does make you want to say, yeah, it is interesting that a republican governor would not support the republican party's nomination for president. i understand why trump did not get an endorsement from the two peoplee lped get elected. host: this is a mment from x from eric who says if you would like to understand the problem trump created for

himself georgia, today on the radio, nine out of 10 callers on the radio are mad at him for attacking brian kemp's wife. escorted charlie, republican, arkansas -- let's go to charlie, republican, arkansas. caller: i wanted to ask about referendum voting. we could have some say in things ourselves, and it does not matter who they are, they are not going to represent us, and we have no say. this is the illusion of a democracy. also, i think donald trump is a wonderful person, and i would like to hear what you think about the mar-a-lago visit since you know him personally. since we cannot have any say in our own government, i think he's the answer. host: michaelah montgomery, and the comments on referendum

voting? guest: i agree, must like president trump says, they are not trying to do something to him, they are trying to do something to us. i think referendum voting is something we should support because of the public had a say so in funding the ukraine war, i doubt it would continue. if the public had essay and if we would like little boys to compete in little girl sports, i think that would not pass. if we had a right to vote on a lot of government spending and a lot of relation thing is going on, if we had a right to vote on the migrant issue and should migrants have a clear path to citizenship or should they have to go through a process like other countries, i think that is important and something that should be talked about. host: colin from washington, d.c., independent. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i lived in georgia during the 2020 election.

i do not vote for biden or trump , but i do remember this rhetoric coming from montgomery, trying to claim that black voters were going to change sides to the republican party. in 2020, i think that black percentage was 6% per trump. i just find it funny that the same kind of song and dance gets longer by the republican party. and it is worth mentioning that michaelah montgomery was the former city director of a far-right we are going to try to "free the plantation mentality," a little quote to the organization. and it was started by candace only. i just think -- candace owen. i think it is disappointing when people are platforms like michaelah montgomery on c-span, who constantly refer to

far-right newspapers that are made up. the washington examiner, look at who founded them. they are connected to the epoque times. host: we will get a response from michaelah montgomery. guest: first of all, i'm a huge fan of candace owens. i went to my first event here in 2019, and the speeches that i heard, the visualizations presented to me, i thought it was great. and when it comes to the democratic plantation, that is a real thing and i don't know why somebody would deal that i would be offended by that. if anybody thinks the same and has been fear mongering into living the same way, yes, that is a plantation because how in the world where so many slaves who outnumbered their masters continue to be slaves? it happened because they were fearful of doing something different. when we say that democrats are on this democratic plantation,,

yes, you guys are all lightly following the leader, and you are scared to do something different. additionally, to think somebody like myself who can clearly articulate their points, opinions, their life experience that has led into support a candidate, it is interesting that somebody would demean c-span for having a guest like me on tv. there are plenty of people who act and wish like a voice like mine had a bigger platform. host: let's talk to lively, georgia, democrat. caller: yes. i did not know that you knew candace owens. she has pretty much been outlasted because of her stances on israel -- out casted because of her stance on israel. as soon as you point on democrats for their failures, you are right that the short. at least we try. republican policies are the complete opposite.

they are never going to let you in the club, ok. you are [indiscernible] i don't know the exact terminology, but you are a complete sellout. host: we will go to robert -- guest: i cannot respond to that? host: you can. guest: thank you. first of all, it sounded like a non-black person calling me that, and that sounds pretty racial and divisive as a democrat. next, it would be interesting that i would be compared to fictional characters because of who i choose to support. these people calling and making derogatory statements about me and who i can support or deny the fact that who are you to tell me that my personal experience is invalid? i think that is something that a lot of democratic people to look at is how have you tried? kamala harris is an office right now and has not tried to do anything about the border, and has not tried to do anything

about our failing education system. so everything that she said she could do for you day one, she could do now but she's not trying to. that is something ford ems to take home. host: indiana, republican, good morning. caller: mr. montgomery, i commend you, sweetheart. you are telling the truth. i would like to tell you -- i know he is 70 years old, i went to my physical and did not pass it, my dad went to world war ii, back when i was a kid, we had black people working for us. there are colors, black, red, yellow, you name it, the eight nr table. they did not have to go to a barn or shed, the ate with the family, and anybody who would like to do anything with

their life, work for it. work for it. there are jobs out here. who would take a shot for this country? who would take shot for this country? and he did take a shot for this country, and it almost killed him. and you idiots out here cannot see that he tries to do right for this country, he loves this country and the people. host: go ahead. guest: i wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that if you want something, you have to work for it. i moved out to atlanta 10 years ago with two suitcases, $1500, no family, i don't have parents who went to college, i was on my own and i had to figure it out. i worked three jobs to get their college, then i got pregnant, unfortunately, i did not finish ,, but then i thought instead of sitting here and waiting on government assistance to take care of me and my kids, what can

i do to uplift us and make it so i have the freedom to raise my child and not worry about money, and that is where i invested all my time into preserve the culture that allowed me to grow into a business to support my daughter. i cannot go for the excuses and the woe is me, if you want something bad enough, you will work your --off to get it. host: maryland, good morning. caller: i would like to address my comment to mrs. montgomery. if she does not know how she is in her current station of life based on resources or housing taxes or just her look of the draw, i agree, you are not very smart. thank you for taking my call. host: wait, aaron, what are you

talking about? guest: let's sound smarter when we ask a question, please. caller: you made a comment earlier when you were living in nevada and you moved to atlanta, i don't know if it was my resourcesin nevada because i guess you have school systems. guest: actually we don't, we arrange very low, it just so happens the government allocates our dollars better. [indiscernible] [overlapping talking] caller: i'm sorry for talking while you're interrupting, but you go ahead. guest: ok, you heard my sentiments earlier in which i said i moved out here, and i do not want to say i feel like i'm smarter than anybody else, but the resources allocated to me, was it the fact that i got lucky with amazing teachers, nevada

ranks low on education, so less not act like i'm not smart. no, i noticed that even with nevada being raped solo in -- nevada being the rated so low in education, i still felt smarter -- caller: what about property taxes? guest: black black with all the millionaires -- with all the black leaders that live in nevada, why are so many students illiterate? we have democratic mayors, city council mayors, commissioner, and for whatever reason, 92% of the kids are cannot read. that statistic did not exist in nevada. i don't know if it was the fact i got lucky, i cannot say that oh my god it is the teachers, i would never demean our educators here in atlanta, but we can acknowledge the numbers. so you want to call me not smart, tell me what your site has done to fix the illiteracy rate we see in our black

students? absolutely nothing. not only have they gotten anything to address the illiteracy issue, they are further confusing your kids by telling them that men can give birth, by telling them that there are 53 genders, and by telling them that your love for your best friend must mean that you are gay, pansexual, asexual, kids under high school should not be thinking anything sexual, period, sexual should not be in their category. so for you to say that i'm not smart because i'm willing to call out the degeneracy that exists in our current education system only points to your lack of intelligence and initiative to do something in regards to saving our children and schools. host: sam, georgia, democrat. caller: good morning. i have a question i would like to ask and then if you will indulge me, i have a comment. host: go ahead.

caller: before we get into it, remember, she did that complaining about the lack of education, but we also have a republican governor here, as well. so it goes both ways. anyway, i would like to ask her, black she counts herself as a black person, so let's test it, what is the mitigating factor that made the democratic south turn over to the republican party? and i'm waiting for your answer. what is the mitigating -- guest: i don't know what answer you are looking for, and i don't know how to answer that, i can only speak to my personal experience, and for people to question my education, is very interesting. host: i believe you are talking to the civil rights act. caller: the answer to the question is this echo right at. guest: the same civil rights act

authored by republicans, ok? caller: can i finish? the act that gave you the right to sit in the chair you're are sitting in right now and vote. and the city you moved into 10 years ago, that was the cause. there are people still fighting for that same cause -- guest: in america. caller: in america. in the southern part of the state, where i live and love, descartes people trying to change electors in the republican party. guest: we also caught illegal voters -- caller: if you look at history, which you claim to know,, you should be aware that people have died for the cause to vote. and now -- guest: people also died for the cause for us to read. host: let him finish. caller: they i finished, if it

is ok? your mother should have taught you better than that. sam, go ahead and finish her point. the people who died for the cars are still fighting. it is ok if you would like to be democrat or republican, but they are of a different structure. they are the same structure that left the democratic party because they are no republican. that is my comment. guest: so let's start the 1964 civil rights act or the voting rights act, that was employed by lyndon b. johnson to get black people to support the democratic party for the next 200 years. and it went because much like you heard our caller say, they are still fighting for the right to vote. there is not one american citizen without a felony who does not have the right to vote. all you need is an idea and you can vote. he also acknowledged the fact that while he said we have,

state electors we also have state citizens going to vote in the election. but i guess people don't talk about election integrity in that sense. next, the ploy to get black people to vote for them for the next 200 years was a fear tactic because black people thought that then when they did not vote democrat, they would lose the right to vote. and even though ronald reagan did not take away black people's right to vote for whatever reason, democrats every season talk about voter suppression and protectorates. black people died for the right to vote and for the right to read, so i wish a lot of you would please go read more about jim crow and how the systems were set up to make us believe that we were victims for the rest of our lives. now let's talk about the migrant issue and how it relates to the 1964 voting rights act. the voting rights act was put in place so that black people would be a loyal democratic voting base. black people are now leaving -- host: you are saying that the

only reason the civil rights act was passed -- guest: no, the major portion of the legislation was the fact that it gave black people the right to vote. i democrats touted the fact that they gave black people the right to vote and then used fear mongering to make black people believe if they did not vote democrat, they would lose their right to vote, and whatever resources granted to them by the democrats. now that you see black people leaving the democratic party, and calling out the democratic party, now that you see black people tired of living in the same conditions that they were in when the bill was signed, they no longer have that loyal voter base. so now they are opening the border, letting migrants in, giving them welcome packages with food stamps, housing assistance, whatever else housing, clothing, whatever else it is that they need to come over and live comfortably. why? because when you have illegal migrants coming over, and it is clear that republicans are like

get them out, now you have a new voting base, because if we don't vote for the democrats, we will not only lose a right to vote but our citizenship, as well. it has never been a thing where we will do this for the betterment of the black community or latino community. it is that we will manipulate the masses into believing that we are for them. and even though we will never do anything for them, we will play along their feelings for something we did 60 years ago. host: wyoming, republican, dave. caller: my question -- i would just like to tell her she's doing a fine job on the air telling people what is going on in this world. i appreciate her as a young woman and her knowledge of everything she does. just wonderful to hear somebody with all of her zeal and knowledge. thank you for the. host: thank you.

guest: thank you. host: as for the general in maryland -- let's go to jill in maryland. caller: first, i would like to know why she feels the need to smirk ,neck roll, i roll, and insult everybody who calls her, speaking over them. first of all, she is not that knowledgeable. she has not had experiences that other people have not had and not come out bitter and turning out people who helped her. she is like the proverbial crab in the battle cr group. anyab above her. host: do you have a specific question? caller: she said that -- guest: the answer to the question is, no, i got invited to meet president trump at a restaurant and i found out the next warning it was strictly. nobody wanted -- and i found out that it was chick-fil-a, and

nobody wanted to meet it was strictly. it is ok for you all to call me not smart, dumb, to say i have not done my research and lived a life like you, but if i smirk, laugh, now all of a sudden you are offended. i think that's interesting. you say that i maycrab in a barrel pulling people down, how can i be pulling people down when i was at the bottom of the barrel, decided to crawl out, and now i'm here calling out admitting to the discrepancies in the democratic party and say why was the hood still the hood, it was still a hood when you were a child and now that i have a child. it sounds like more you are the crab at the bottom of the girl tried to keep everybody down, and i'm the one trying to say, hey, let's get back to the beach . ho: you mentioned supporting ending the tax on tips. guest: i wholeheartedly support,

yes, ending tax on tips. host: what will replace the $38 billion that is reported to help from the country? how would you replace that income? guest: we would put it more on restaurant owners to actually pay their workers a living wage if we are not going to take tax off tips, and then that money would be recouped from payroll taxes, business taxes, sales taxes, things like that, to act echo many could not be recouped from literally any other compound is interesting to me. i don't think that taxing the kids who are already underpaid and then have to go out of their way to earn a tip from the customer should have to pay money on the tip. host: would you support raising the federal minimum wage? guest: i think that the federal minimum wage should reflect the cost of living. but i cannot say that we can change that until we get the

economy stabilized because minimum wage might be sufficient if inflation was not so high. until we get inflation under control, i don't can talk about this because if we raise the minimum wage now, it makes the current situation worse. there are so many things outside of raising the minimum wage that we would have to address before we can go to something that big. host: i left republican, san diego -- ella, republican, san diego. caller: i'm grateful for the chance to say that michaelah montgomery, you are speaking the truth. keep speaking the truth because people are afraid to speak it, and you are absolutely 100% correct about the things you are saying. it is so totally and completely unfair that this country, the immigration crisis, the crime, it is out of control. you cannot buy groceries. people are struggling.

the fact of the matter is, kamala harris is not coming out on television and talking about policies. she is going to hide behind the camera on a teleprompter. she is not going to speak the truth. you are speaking the truth. keep doing what you are doing. thank you your work. guest: thank you. host: philip, mississippi, independent. caller: hi there. young lady, all i can really understand with your explaining to the folks is that you believe that pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is the way to go, i you just do that, everything will work all right. guest: those words did not come out of my mouth. caller: that is the perception i received. guest: the reality is what i said. host: hold on.

michaelah montgomery, clarify what you said. guest: i said that a few want something bad enough, you will work for it. that is not mean you will not receive outside help. that does not mean that somebody will give you a hand up -- not a handout --it does not mean you have to do it on your own. but the fact of the matter is you will dedicate your time and resources. you will dedicate your life to creating a better situation for yourself. host: go ahead with your comment. caller: ok. now, what i wanted to really ask , how many people can she that she sees as leaders in the black community that she believes in? and does she listen or take into account some of the teachers

like malcolm x in terms of self improvement and for the community? guest: what was the first part of the question? i love the second part about malcolm x -- i know the second part about malcolm x. caller: let's just take it from right there. guest: malcolm x is actually one of the greatest people i think to ever touch this planet. i hope by any means necessary have that tattooed on my back. if you want something bad enough, you will get it by any means necessary. malcolm x preached that blue eyes, white liberals were the black community's biggest enemy, yet, here you are, touting blue eyes or white liberals, or people who will be controlled by blue eyes, white liberals, it is interesting to me that the martin luther king entity would act like our leaders were not

preaching these things to a 60 or 70 years ago. the first part of the question was can identify any black leaders in the community? unfortunately, all of our leaders have been assassinated. anybody was going to get us to vote against the status quo, who question our current economy and living situation, who question the situations in which black people live, anybody who put up a fight against that wears assassinated. to say that we have a black leader, unfortunately, we don't. we do have black voices trying to shine a light on the wrongs in the community. those black people are attacked, they are are called down, we are called, well, you have not lived my life. it is interesting because you would never talk about malcolm x and martin luther king that way. for whatever reason, we will forget what they preach and just remember what we see, which is we should be democrat. and if you are black, that is what you align yourself with, and eveneven though malcolm x an

luther king cole told us both not to do that, here we are. thank you guys for having me. host: thanks for watching. that's it for today's "washington journal," see you tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. eastern [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] ♪ >> today on c-span, our campaign 2024 coverage includes ohio senator and 2024 vice presidential nominee j.d. vance speaking to supporters in michigan. that is expected to get underway at 2 p.m. eastern.

4:00, donaldru campaigned in asheville north carolina, a key battleground state t selection, 16 electoral votes at state. it wason by trump in the last two presenal elections. you can watch our live campaign coverage on the c-span now video apple or online at c-span.org. >> what he says is that there are some core executive functions where a former president is absolutely immune. things like receiving ambassadors or deciding whether or not to veto legislation or grant a pardon. those are such court executive functions that congress cannot really pass a statute that purports to have criminal consequences on the act. as justice barrett wrote, it's probably not even right to think of it as an immunity, but a lack of power on congress to interfere. that is for core executive branch functions.

there is then presumptive immunity for official acts and then the court has the third part of the framework that says there is zero immunity for unofficial acts. that would seem to make it important to tell the difference between the official and unofficial. here is where the court leaves things a bit murky and sends it back to the lor courts to try to develop. >> the former solicitor general unr george w. bush spoke about the supreme court presidential immunity decision and other high profile cases decided by the court this term. watch this event tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-sn. it's also available on c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television companies and more, including cox.

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