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economic plan. commentator and author sophia nelson talks about her new political action committee, childless chicks for harris. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: good morning. it is monday, august 26, 2020 four. we are now just 70 days from election day. we will talk about the economic

plans of donald trump and kamala harris. we begin by hearing about how today's polarized political landscape manifests in your workplace. we want to know if you talk politics at work and how it impacts your relations with your coworkers. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text. that number, (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. on x, it is @cspanwj. on facebook, it is facebook.com/cspan. you can start calling in now. we are talking about a recent report about those who talk politics at work. the overall numbers of that

report, 45% of u.s. employees reported having discussions with a coworker about political issues in the past month. that number higher for on-site employees and remote employees, but still 28% of remote employees say they talk politics at work. from that report, it knows we are talking -- in notes talking about politics can be a double-edged sword but also cause harm, particularly if workers are already disengaged on the job. more numbers iid that report noting 14% of empye say having political discussions with coworkers helps them feel cluded on the job. 12% say political conversations at work made them feel uncomfortable on the job. 3% say they have been treated unfairly becausehehave expressed their political views at work. yoge employees are more likely to report feeling uncomfortable because of political discussiononhe job. men are more likely than women

to say they have felt included because of political discussions among their coworkers. those numbers from a recent gallup report on this topic. for our viewers this morning, do you talk politics at work? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. again, having this discussion just about 70 days from election day 2024. david is in pennsylvania, democrat, up first this morning. do you talk politics at work? caller: i do every day. host: what line of work are you in? caller: i work in the seafood industry. host: do you find most people at your job are of one political view or another? are they mixed views and the seafood industry in pennsylvania? caller: they are very republican. we talk everyday about it.

host: how do those conversations go? caller: i basically ask them why they are voting for insurrectionist for president and they do not know what an insurrection is in do not believe january 6 ever happened. they do not believe he wanted to change the electoral process. so every day i bring it up. host: what does that mean for your relationship with your coworkers? caller: me and my coworkers get along for the most part. it will get a little fired up. i do not care. i am tired of republicans walking around like they are the big bullies and i stand up to them about how they are voting for insurrectionist. it is the truth. they are voting for an insurrectionist for president, regardless of if he did a good job or bad job. the proof is there. host: before january 6, did you talk much about politics at work? caller: i tell them this.

if january 6 does not happen, we would probably get along really good. i understand that is their political guy, so to speak, but after january 6 it gets a little fired up and you have a lot of very staunch right-wing supporters who are blind or do not want to hear the truth and if january 6 does not happen we get along fine. host: did you socialize with your coworkers more before january 6 than today? caller: i did. i used to go fishing with guys and go to ball games. we will get along. after work, we go our separate ways. i tell them i do not want to be around and insurrectionist. i do not care if donald trump was the greatest president in the history of the united states. i will tell them to look at the evidence out there and that will

be out there if he does not get elected. that is my big thing. host: asking our viewers this morning if you talk politics at work. (202) 748-8000 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. more from that gallup survey we are talking about, called talking politics at work, a double-edged sword. a second survey from a finds a majority of u.s. adults, 57%, say they have at times avoided sharing political views because of fear of harassment or poor treatment. this is more than twice the rate of those about sharing religion at work. religious minorities --

i gallup survey that just come out last week with numbers from this year noting about half of americans talk politics at work. it is more than half if you are an on-site employee, about 28% or so if you are remote employee. we want to hear from you about how those discussions go, who you talk to about that, who you feel comfortable sharing your political views with. this is matt in somerville, massachusetts. caller: i think it depends what kind of people you work with and what kind of environment. one person at work, you are just talking about some and oculus topic and she will go in and inject something about the democrats do this and that. and it did not go well.

it just immediate lead evolved into this angry discussion. she is a maga supporter and accused me -- basically accused my opinion of invalidating it because of my family situation or something. it just got so ugly. host: how long ago was that conversation and have you engaged on politics with that person sense? caller: i have not and you could see the hate and her eyes. it just went to emotional mode and she interjects these political things out of nowhere and for so many years i have heard -- i will try to honor her

interjection and it got so bad. if we are going to play the lame game -- they are sending this down and it is permeating through our country. they are enabling it and it is sad. that is all. host: this is been, independent. good morning. caller: this is a good question. workplace politics nowadays is a no-no. i'm an independent, but i have been in the same workplace for 30 years. in government, so you have to be careful. host: state or federal government? caller: federal. so there are times -- you could

have pretty good, intelligent conversations back in the 1990's. it seemed like things went downhill around the tea party, fox news time. people got kind of galvanized. now it is all most at a point where people cannot even -- you cannot approach the subject because people are so strongly opinionated and get nasty. things can devolve into this unwanted situation. it is sad to see it but that is where things are now. host: you do not talk about it with anybody? caller: i am very careful, first of all because i am in government. you have to be very careful.

you have to find like-minded persons and we kind of look and talk about the vitriol between the two sides and we have those conversations. to get into any type of conversation involving what is going on politically in this country is -- it can get real ugly. host: from maryland we will head to st. paul, minnesota. what line of work are you in? caller: currently, i'm a bit of a farmer. politics on the job has always been interesting. just to working-class individuals who then are anti-working-class in their politics and the complete lack of solidarity. i have always found it

interesting from a union perspective because unions generally are voting for the democratic candidate because of their opposition to right to work laws which destroy unions and whole states. if you want an example of that, look to wisconsin and minnesota through the years. wisconsin got right to work and their wages went down. but it is always a risk because you never know what the other person actually knows. i was talking to a guy the other day about the electoral college and he did not know where we get the number of votes for the electoral college from, so it was like talking at a brick wall. host: in terms of the industry you are in now, do you find most

people are of the same political beliefs even if they have more or less specific facts they know about politics? caller: i'm a bit of a cannabis grower right now. shockingly, a lot of them are conservative, which has struck me as odd. because they do not want to legalize it at all and they just -- as a grower of a product that is regulated on the state and national level, you would make more money if you had a national market to go to, you know? host: finisher comment. -- finish your comment. caller: i think it is weird when they are on the conservative side when they would never be allowed on the scale nationwide or worldwide. host: to the first point on unions and politics as we come

up on the labor day weekend, two stories on that front, two different new york papers. this is the business section of the new york times. their headline, can the gop become the party of workers? and the wall street journal this morning focusing on the political split emerging in the teamsters union, noting several dozen retired teamsters took the stage at the democratic national convention in chicago to thank the biden administration for saving their pensions, but notable for his absence, the president of the brotherhood of teamsters. a spokeswoman said to the wall street journal -- where he praised former president donald trump and said his union would not be beholden to any political party. that story again from the wall

street journal. this is kathleen in mechanicsville, virginia. what line of work are you in and do you talk politics at work? caller: travel. yes. guest: do you talk politics with only specific people? how openly do you talk politics? caller: i am very open. i will talk to anyone about it. i was a lifelong republican until donald trump came along. i will vote for kamala. i do not want to. host: this is mary in michigan, independent. caller: i am a retired nurse. i retired two years ago after working two years during the

pandemic. my mental health suffered greatly. so this is my third year -- it is the first day of school today. this is my third year as a foster grandparent at the local elementary school and it is the best part time job i ever had. i wish you would have more programming specifically where you had call ins for people between 20 and 40 because the parents at the elementary school have a lot to say. we do not bring politics in very much, but the one thing i have to say is our democratic run congress -- legislature here in michigan, this is the second year in a row where we had free breakfast and free lunch and it is so nice to be able to go into the elementary school and know that everybody can sit down and have a hot breakfast and lunch

and encourage kids to eat food that maybe they would not get home or would never try. but i wanted to say they one group i do talk -- we never used to talk politics, but i belong to a book club. there are 10 women. they are 64 to 93. the 93-year-old run circles around us younger gals. we used to be split. 10 years ago we would be half republican, half democrat. since former president trump has come in, we are now nine for kamala and still one for trump. host: these are the same 10 people? caller: same 10. we have been through a lot, our book club. we meet once a week at an adult establishment. we do not meet in the summer. i wanted to tell one short story.

we are 130 miles from a city and we went to a memorial weekend, a talk. we just happen to be there and pete buttigieg was there and gave a speech. he is -- he was in afghanistan or whatever. he is the secretary of transportation. those women are in love with pete buttigieg. every time we meet, they talk about him. he moved with his husband and we have started a pete buttigieg fan club and we want him to take the seat from our representative . we rent -- we want him to run for governor, so i will put that out in the universe of michigan. pete buttigieg for governor in

two years. our governor has done a great job, but she is term limited. we love ourselves some pete buttigieg. host: do you think you might have gotten the non-for vice president? -- not for vice president? caller: i think he is a little too young and i do not think this country would accept a gay man at this time. they will barely accept a woman. we are on lake huron. the women who were in my car, the 193-year-old, she remembers president kennedy and to this day she don't remember what she had for lunch yesterday sometimes but she said to me he reminded her of when -- in 1960. and she heard him speak, so we are the pete buttigieg fan club

from michigan. we hope he stays in the state and is able to run in two years. host: this is jim, north dakota, republican. good morning. caller: i often call every 30 days, every six weeks or whatever. and out here you don't really -- politics and religion are something people do not talk openly about. i grew up in the philadelphia suburbs, so i have been out here for 12 years, going back a few times but i am back here permanently in god's country. i was a roofing subcontractor back in pennsylvania and i also

worked in the dairy business. i got out here and i went to the oil and came back after getting the crap beat out of me to lick my wounds. i got several jobs working in the potato industry. the sugar beet harvest is coming up. it is going to be probably a good year. it is beautiful weather. i worked in a barley mill and i have worked in one of the wheat mills. i am 60 years old. i grew up in pennsylvania where we talked about politics all the time. sometimes maybe over a beer at the bar. here, i had to learn about the midwestern nature of the midwestern man and woman, kind of that stoic, reserved nature. you just do not walk up to somebody and start talking about religion and politics, which i find good for your blood pressure.

people are more laid-back. there are democrats here. i have talked to a few. i was surprised to see many do not like trump but most of the people here like trump. but there is no conversations. but this state has not voted for a democrat since i was a baby in 1964. so i am sure -- i am not registered to vote here because i do not think they need my help. i just wanted to say i talk to people and i try to enlighten them as to what i went through with illegal immigration growing up in a meatpacking town. dealing with illegals coming into my trade and having to eventually leave my trade and flee to the west to have the kind of life i wanted to have. they are oblivious to it. they have this naive nature

because they have not dealt with massive amounts of third world immigrants. they will and they are beginning to move in, but they have that -- they do not really understand what is going on on the east and west coast with the dis--- displacement of poor white and black workers. 30 years ago, i was dealing with that and the frustrations that come along with it. i went west to get back to a majority white enclave, which i enjoy. it is called freedom of association. i want to live around people who share my culture and heritage. there is diversity here. we have somali refugees. we have people from nigeria. we have lots of people moving into the city as far as refugees coming here. nepalese buddhists live here and work at the walmart. that is all i wanted to say. i do not talk politics at all out here and my blood pressure is back to normal.

host: you may be interested in this story. immigration could be a trump card in pennsylvania. swing state voters concerned about new arrivals. the story notes a poll released last week showing harris and trump tied at 47% in pennsylvania with third-party candidates in the mix. last month, trump led harris in the same pole. speaking of third-party candidates, rfk junior was on fox news yesterday speaking to the sunday show circuit in the wake of his endorsement of donald trump. he talked about the endorsement. here's what he had to say on fox news. [video clip] >> there have been no commitments. i met with president trump and his family and advisors and we

made a general commitment that we were going to work together. >> what about the states where you are trying to get off of swing state bows to say i'm going to withdraw myself and ask my supporters or lease you are telling them to think about supporting president trump? did you negotiate over which states you would try to withdraw from? >> we all know which states. there are basically 10 swing states where my presence in the race would have helped vice president kamala harris and would have harmed president trump, so i'm going to get off the ballot in those states and we are going to stay on the ballot in 30 states. i'm encouraging people to vote for me in those states. those are states where their votes are not going to change the outcome of the race but in the states where i would have been a spoiler i'm going to get

out, so about 10 states. >> there were reports citing an official from your camp and a democratic official saying there has been outreach to the harris camp as well to discuss working within the harris administration in exchange for an endorsement of her. is that true and what happened with that? >> i reached out to them on the same basis i reached out to president trump and we talked to other residential candidates, including chase oliver and the libertarian party about figuring out ways we could end the polarization and hatred and vitriol and start talking about issues. host: this morning, asking you whether you talk politics at work and who at work you have those conversations with. having this conversation in the first hour of our program today. (202) 748-8000 for democrats to call.

republicans, it is (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. carlisle, pennsylvania, mark, independent, good morning. what line of work are you in? caller: i work part-time. i am retired. i do not believe you should be talking politics at work. just like at work you should not discuss your wages and how much you make. that is a big no-no, especially where i work or just retired from. i have one suggestion for c-span. let's talk about issues that concern us. that concern me and people i talked to, like who is running this country, john? they kicked joe biden out, so no one can answer that question. that is a question we should have. who is running the country?

you have joe biden -- god knows where he is at. kamala harris is out stumping. i am getting a little tired of democrats discussing democracy. they look at their own party, they kicked a guy out of the presidency and put somebody in the presidency, running for the president. so i suggest c-span -- how about the economy where they had to downgrade the jobs report? host: if you watch this program, you know stephen moore, former trump advisor. he will be with us in about 30 minutes or so. that is one of the topics we want to talk about, the jobs report. in this hour, we are talking about those who talk politics at work and what those conversations are like and who you choose to have those conversations with. maria is in maryland, line for

democrats. do you talk politics at work? >> caller: i do not. initially i did, but i found out there were people that were trumpeters -- trumpers and they were so far off base in their thinking that there is no hope for them. they just believe that trump is god and nothing is going to change their mind, so i go about my business. host: what kind of business is that? caller: retail. i go about my business and i will let them know host: when i cast my vote. you will let them know after election day? caller: probably. host: this is helen in pennsylvania. what line of work are you in?

caller: i am another retired person. i guess we have time to call, but i thought maybe i could share with you our little church here, the presbyterian church in middletown where no one has spoken about politics until recently and my husband was speaking to a person who sits near us and she found out that we were democrats and was surprised and so now we have a rather cool relationship and this is what is going on in small, mainline churches all over pennsylvania. i suspect. when we bring up the topic of

politics and when it is revealed that we are democrats and the other side is perhaps a republican, then the relationship cools. i just wanted to add that even though we are not in the workforce there is still that issue in church. host: does the pastor of your church ever talk about politics or the impact of talking politics? is that something you have heard about? caller: not publicly. in the presbyterian usa, they are very well behaved. they do not speak about politics from the pulpit. we have a relative who's husband is african-american and already in 2016 he clarified to me that he had watched a movie called

printing cash, so for all those years he has said he is in a different camp and he is in a church that is african-american. i do not think they openly make statements from the pulpit, but there are codes that we can detect. for a while, ministers were talking about a biblical guy called cyrus who was not a godlike person but who god could use and this has been a rationalization for trump followers to deport a man -- support a man who is not godly. thank you for hearing me out. the type of conversations go on in churches and it could get

more heated up as the election nears. we are very excited about kamala and it has made a big difference. to the man who said who is running the country, joe biden is running the country and he legally endorsed his vice to be the candidate for us democrats and meanwhile he is running the country with his team and i am not worried about it. host: helen in pennsylvania. this is leo in massachusetts, republican. good morning. what line of work are you in? caller: i work for the department of public works. host: how often do you talk politics on the job? caller: every day.

there is not a waking moment where we are not talking about something related to the federal government, whether it is at the federal level, state-level level, even local level. there are always two cents being thrown around around politics. the department of public works is like a fraternity. we are all guys being dudes. we can agree on a lot of things. we agree on politics, for the most part. it has become more of a humorous standpoint than anything more productive. in massachusetts, my brothers in municipal work -- host: that is leo. we will move on. apologize for the language. caller: i think people should

stop talking politics when they are at work or what have you because things get too heated and everybody has different views. i will say to that lady that called in and said about kamala -- kamala is nice and everything, but the facts are the facts. she does not want to talk about -- her policies are bad. everybody knows the policies are bad. but they ignore that. the reason they ignore that is because they do not like donald trump, so here's the result. you do not like donald trump, so let the country suffer. that is really the reality of it. donald trump's policies are better. everybody knows that. he had a better economy and that is the way it is. so you have to pretend they do good when you know they do not. it is simple. you are polished and sharp and understand it or you do not get it.

there is nothing else to talk about. policies are policies. nobody likes open borders. nobody likes inflation, so you have to be pretty stupid if you do not get that. just crazy. that is all i have to say. host: james in the mountaineer state, republican, good morning. caller: my biggest problem is trying to get a hold of you guys on the phone. host: do you talk politics at work? caller: i am retired. host: did you when you worked? caller: yes. city worker. host: did you think every one had the same palooka believes as you? -- political beliefs as you? caller: no. host: how did you navigate those

conversations? caller: i was for whoever i was for and they were for who they were four and we all got along. but now you got a politician that has already been in there and did a good job and you've got somebody that does not have any business being there and nobody voted for her carrion -- for her. she is a communist. all you have to do is follow the family roots. if donald trump does not get in there, there is just -- i do not even think we will vote anymore. host: that is james in west virginia. carl from memphis, tennessee, what line of work are you in? caller: i am a self-employed contractor. i do a lot of work and the way i

tend to deal with politics when it comes up, which i do not initiate, but when it does come up i keep it on a local level. it is easier to find common ground with my customers when we are talking about people we both know and things happening in our community. when he gets to a higher level on presidential, i take it back down to the local level to keep everybody in a neutral space where we do not have conflict. host: give me an example of how you do that if somebody starts saying i just watched the national convention and this is what i feel about kamala harris or donald trump. caller: i am a democrat by birth and a lot of homes i work in in arkansas or mississippi are a lot of republican/trump, so when they come with the trump theme about this and that, i will tell

them i can respect that. let me ask you this. what are you doing or who do you like on a local level? once i can get them back down to a local level, everything is neutral. if we get to the trump versus kamala or something like that, it is harder to navigate and it is not going to go well. i make sure i have a game plan when i go in. that is basically how i deal with it. host: it is interesting you say it is more neutral on a local level because local politics can get heated. caller: they can, but the thing about local politics is that we all know each other and if i'm talking to one of those -- one of my customers and i give them an example of how i am trying to help these young folks in my community who are committing these crimes of breaking in

houses or cars or stuff, i will flip it over and say, give me something i can take to them that i can help them with. because it helps when people who are not connected give their opinions. so they feel they are part of the solution as opposed to just being a spectator. host: what are you doing to be part of the solution? are you involved in organization? caller: i am. it is my organization. it is a self-employment system. one of the things our young folks now are yearning for his other options than just working a part-time job at mcdonald's or burger king. i am not knocking those come up at any time a child gets a chance to experience earning money themselves like i did -- when i grew up, i had no one to teach me to become a cabinet builder. i had to learn it on my own, but these kids now have

opportunities. they walk around the a cell phone in their pockets that is actually a computer. so many things that they can learn monetarily that will help them in life if they had a system. my system teaches someone or a young person to build income without having experience or anything. it is basically using the skills they already have. the sad part is they do not realize they have many skills that can be manifest monetarily. if they had someone who could show them how to do it, so that is what i do with my local community. i try to be a difference as opposed to talking about them. host: what is the name of the organization? caller: djoy. the d is silent. host: this is stacy. what line of work are you in and do you talk politics at work?

caller: i am in state government. we do sort of talk politics at work. i am part of the union, so i keep it to our lunch break. it is actually pretty easy to talk about politics because we always talk about it in a prolabor way. i am part of the statewide executive board and we have a legislative political action committee. we look through endorsements for candidates statewide and then federally and we look at the candidates who are prolabor. we do not look at any other topic and we have some republicans in the state who are prolabor, so we are nonpartisan. we vote for anyone who is prolabor. if i look at it from that lens, it is a lot easier to talk about politics at work. host: on the labor issue, what

did he think of that headline from the new york times? can the gop become the party of workers in this country? caller: on a federal level, i doubt it, but wishful thinking, maybe in the future. when the people we have now are running for president and in the house and senate, i do not think it is possible in this generation of maga politics. maybe sometime soon, but not right now. guest: -- host: this is john in westlake, independent. what line of work are you in? caller: i am a her pathologist. i extract venom from poisonous reptiles for medical purposes. host: do you talk politics at

work? caller: absolutely because i'm a vietnam veteran also and i do not trust any politician on either side of the aisle but i do trust independent businessman because the country should be run like a business, not by politicians. host: who is it that you talk politics with at work? who are you around to do that as you are extracting venom from reptiles? caller: it is my employees. i will talk politics. i will always talk a positive side for an independent businessman running in the race. i cannot support the democratic party because they have done nothing, either biden or kamala, and they are promising -- for

me, they make a lot of promises and the promises they are making now, they are telling you they will not take effect until after the election in 2025 and biden is gone so far as to say some of the things they are working on now, which they should have worked at the beginning of this presidency, will not take effect until 2026. so how can you vote for someone promising you something that they are going to give you after they have been elected? i want to know what they are going to do right now. but i will vote for donald trump only because donald trump is an independent businessman. the republican party latched onto him when he became president because none of their people running could go against him. they latched onto him so they

could call him a republican, but he is an independent businessman and he runs the country like it is a business. the government has no money. the government uses our tax dollars. we are the government. and we should have business people running this country, not politicians. host: can i get the story on how you went from vietnam vet to extracting venom from reptiles? caller: i went to vietnam because of my specialty. i was in vietnam when we were winning and let me tell you a quick story. when i was in maneuvers jumping out of airplanes, we were in joint room -- maneuvers with the 82nd and i jumped out of planes with 19-year-old jimi hendrix. he was in the united states army for about a year and a half

until he -- on his 25th jump, he broke his ankle so badly they had to put a pin. -- a pin in it. because of that, the united states army gave jimi hendrix a diss -- a honorable discharge and he should be remembered as an american patriot, not a guitar playing drug addict. host: you were making antivenom in case people got bit by snakes? caller: i was in vietnam because i was specialty in my field of science, biological toxins, and i would go down -- i was a tunnel rat. i taught -- i was taught that talent by australian engineers before i went in country. i was there when we were winning. and i was the guy jumping out of planes because i didn't want to get killed because of the m-16 at the time jamming in

firefights. i was the guy that joined and i was jumping out of planes 20 clicks west deep into northern cambodia. host: thanks for telling us your story. i found this on military.com, famous veteran jimi hendrix. this is david in wisconsin, republican. what line of work are you in? caller: i have three small businesses but i also work for a nursing home. host: do people talk politics at your businesses? are you ok with that? caller: my function is more on the nursing home side. we do talk it, but there is a lot of hate that you get.

i am on the republican side. the democrat side, what you hear is the word hate a lot. when you ask why you hate this person so much, it seems like they just go off the handle and start screaming and they still talk about russian collusion. they still talk about charlottesville. just friday, i heard he is a racist. it is so ingrained in their minds and yet you hear these comments from these executives and such, yet they use the n words to talk about their own employees. they say jew a lot of the jewish people. these are supposed to be executives. they are democrats and have such hate. if i say word, i get written up. host: are you in management?

caller: i am not. i retired as a financial advisor, so i know a lot about we always compared to different politicians and who is taking over the government, how this is going to affect the next president. i ended up retiring from their and started doing work with the university of wisconsin folks. it was not fun there as well because they complained about taxpayers all the time. so when my father got sick i decided it was time to do a retirement and then i went into small businesses with my son, so that is what i do. i get into executive roles because i am trying to clean up the messes with the nursing homes. it is disgusting at these nursing homes now. host: david in wisconsin.

leroy is in baltimore. caller: first, i am a retired union worker. i was a truck driver for 35 years. not just a driver. i was a laborer. so i was retired for 35 years -- one guy you just had on is talking about the guy with the snakes and everything. my father was in vietnam. my older brother did vietnam twice. ok. host: did you talk about politics in the army? caller: my whole life. the other guy shared about the tunnel rat. my brother was one of the guys going in the tunnels in vietnam, so he was a tunnel rat.

here's my thing. when i grew up -- now they do not do that in school anymore. trump marched on the capital. that is the constitution of united states of america. he is a traitor. so why would anyone who was in the military want this man in there? he is a traitor. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. he tried to overthrow the government, so how could you vote for this man? how? host: got your point. that is leroy in baltimore. you mentioned the flag of the united states of america. it is at half-staff today over the united states capital to honor the late -- he died at age 87 and served in the house for more than 27 years.

the flag there this morning over the united states capital. time for a few more calls, asking you if you talk politics at work. judas is in massachusetts, independent. what line of work are you in? caller: i am retired. i wanted to let people know in the retirement community we talk about politics but it has gotten to you get to hate each other because nobody wants to give on either side. i have come to the conclusion that i do not even want to vote. i do not like either side. there is not one issue that i can say i am for on either side and i just do not have any -- i have no enthusiasm at all. i am 73. this is the first time i have been able to vote that i will not vote.

host: how do you plan to navigate the next 70 days in a community that talks politics all the time? caller: there are a few that are very dominant in the talking and i just pulled away. i do not deal with it. it has gotten so bad, so polarized that people are saying things that are not true and you know it. when you confirm it is the truth, that is just false information you getting. ok. i do not have any desire anymore. host: this is mickey, republican. good morning. caller: i would like to let you know i am retired. i used to work in a government

office and at one time they sent us in email in 2016 saying we are not allowed to talk about politics. host: was this state or federal government? caller: federal government. he was our contract manager. i sent him an email showing him the supreme court said we can talk about anything we want at work, no matter if it is a government office. host: what was the response? caller: he did not reply and i told him i would be talking politics. it did not matter that much. to get back to her caller who asked who is running the country , he might want to look up the council on foreign relations and c-span might want to every time they have a guest, ask them if they are a member.

host: did you find people generally were on the same political mindset you were having these conversations or was it across the political spectrum? caller: basically it was republicans and democrats and the ones -- in a computer program, there are a lot of libertarians and republicans. most of the people i spoke with were republicans. the democrats did not want to talk because i would always bring up the constitution and they did not have a leg to stand on. host: that is mickey in tennessee. (202) 748-8000 for democrats to call in. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. we have a few more minutes left here to take her phone calls. do you talk politics at work? how do those conversations go? how do you navigate those conversations?

are there rules about it in your office? crystal, you are next. caller: a caller a few times back, he sounded very smart and very stupid too. you can only do so much when you have people in congress blocking stuff, so you have to get control of the house to move bills to the senate for the president to sign. host: what line of work are you in? caller: i was working in a supermarket and talked to people. we talk politics there and we had republicans trying to explain their points and once we pointed stuff out there arguments fell apart. you cannot run america like a business. you cannot run america to make profits. i'm talking to that caller.

and i give him his credit. be knowledgeable but be fair. look at the facts. america works with business and stuff, but you cannot work -- run america like a business. trump ran his businesses into the ground. host: would you have those conversations and engage with customers or coworkers? caller: coworkers and customers. host: how did that go with customers? caller: most of the customers understood. you cannot be acting on her own behalf as a president. you cannot have your family, unqualified. they did not even want to give clearances to his family members. host: was there ever a customer who complained about how you talk to politics at work? caller: yes. the man came back and said, just

keep with the store stuff. we cannot be oblivious and let people believe. that is why we have all this qanon stuff. that is why we have people who joined the cult of trump. you point out the facts and they look at you like a deer in the headlights but that is true. he is lying. he lost. nobody cheated. the people that cheated we found out were republicans voting for trump. america, please. kamala has wonderful ideas. she will help america. trump is trying to stay out of jail. host: that is crystal in philadelphia. this is arthur in michigan. what line of work are you in? caller: i worked at chrysler's. we never talk politics. only time we talked politics,

when the union guys come to get reelected. host: where you in sales or making cars? caller: making cars. i would like to talk about that gentleman that worked at nursing homes. my wife was a nurse for 32 years, god bless her soul. she passed away last year. host: sorry for your loss. caller: ok, thank you. i remember going to court with her. a couple people. sign your name and i will fill it out for you. you can do that, that is against company policy. host: this is a resident at the hospital? caller: no, this is a resident at a nursing home, a worker. and that person that was staying

there, she called this worker and have the patient sign her name and something has got to be done about that. they had to go to court, i went with her with a company lawyer and the person claim racism. so that's wrong. she's even fired people. she said would you like somebody doing that to your mother or father? so that's all i've got to say. people to keep politics out of work and just be good to each other. that's all i've got to say. god bless you and keep up the good work. host: that's arthur. to the old dominion, this is greg -- i'm sorry, all of her in independent, go ahead.

caller: listen, the lady that was just on before, i know you are asking about jobs. i was a chef for the hyatt hotel chain for 17 years, i recently retired. and i had to go in fairfax hospital here in virginia for an operation. i'm going to tell you the story. i had to go for a back operation after i retired i was in my room one day and david donald trump that held accountable in new york, talking about the woman who said in the department store, he and three or four other people were in my room, and we were cheering that he was finally being held accountable for something he had done. he's a liar, a cheater, a scam

artist. taking money from charities that they run. a doctor walked in as does why were we cheering about donald trump's problems, because he was a trump supporter. and i told him that that time, i'm the patient in the room, i told him i am a black lives matter supporter. and you know what he did? i swear to god, he told me i will never operate on you now. somebody else has to operate on you. about 20 minutes later after that conversation with him and me got really heated, two gentleman came to my room. i learned they were police, they were dressed in suits. they were the relations department fairfax hospital.

they came up to tell me they had heard what this doctor had said to me and they were going to write it up so that he would be held accountable because it was not his job to tell me he was a trump supporter and i told them thank you, and they said that was definitely out of bounds and they were going to confront this doctor. host: how did they find out about it? caller: another doctor came up to my room. i had never met this doctor before. he came to my room, shut the door and said i'm a democrat and i'm going to operate on you now. and i said thank you and the operation was a complete success. i am back on the feet and i'm so happy. donald trump has done this to this country. host: one question about the story, how did patient relations find out about it and get involved? caller: the employees didn't warn me. they were there and they couldn't believe he said that.

he was actually angry that we were glad donald trump is being held accountable. when he stormed out the room telling me you wouldn't operate on me, that's what made the other employees tell the hospital staff and it's amazing donald trump has that kind of control over this country. and those people that support him are insurrectionists. they attacked the capital. i've lived in d.c. all my life, i've never seen anybody run up on our capital and peepee and poop and all the other stuff they did that day. it's a disgrace. anybody who votes for donald trump has got to check himself. host: this is greg, arlington, texas, democrat. good morning. caller: hey, really appreciate c-span. host: what line of work are you in? caller: i work in financial

services on the technology side and we do not talk politics at all at work. it simply never comes up. on the other side, i have two close friends. we always talk politics throughout the years with two close friends and now i cannot even talk to them. unable to talk to them because they are trump supporters and said that is another anecdote, i had been with a couple of friends, we don't talk politics with them, but it kinda swayed to some of the lives they are being fed and now they don't believe in man landed on the moon.

they don't believe that oswald assassinated kennedy. these people never believe anything. it has gotten so bizarre that i tried to steer clear of politics or anything remotely related to it. just to try to maintain friendships. host: georgia, eric, republican go ahead. caller: i'm listening to your show, and thanks for taking my call. i was a federal employee and i worked for forms and publications. the extension of information publication, a subscription to media. i have since retirement, -- retired, but i would talk to

people about donald trump. this was the first time he ran against hillary, i didn't vote for him, either one of them. i didn't want to vote for the lesser of two evils if i didn't have to. but then i started seeing the truth about the guy, and i realized the media was embracing or push back so i made up my own mind. but i started to see this. then he ran again, and i don't understand, trumped arrangement is real. it is really real. you have this guy saying he was in the rv and his dad is in the army and in the korean war. you can hear it in his voice.

the whole sense of rationale. the other thing i want to say, when he ran against hillary a second time, they put together a bunch of smear artists and these guys know what they are doing. they know we have to do things or we can attach bad names onto them. the only way to the view that is get in a court that will support him. come on, man. he is called a racist by a woman who said rape is sexy. saying the stormed the capital, this and that. not affording the fact that these people starve the capital when he won and it was through an act of democracy that he won. host: i last color in this first segment. stick around, this plenty more to talk about this morning including up next, you'll be

joined by steve moore of the committee to police prosperity. we'll talk about economic plan for former president donald trump and vice president harris, and later, the head of the newly formed -- for harris pak joined us to talk about her support for the vice president. stick around, we will be right back. >> i'm susan flame. camping 2024 has evolved into unexpected ways now until election day, c-span promises you unfiltered coverage of the candidate as a battle for the white house and congress. you may not know that c-span is a private company that operates without a time money, and like many bu organizations, we've been impacted by cord cutting. this summer here asking for you to help support our unbiased political coverage with a donation. 100% of your contributions,

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great goals. >> watch historic convention speeches american history tv on c-span 2. host: former advisor to donald trump, currently founder of the committee to unleash prosperity. we a lot about the biden harris economy to the same million jobs added. wage growth, surging stock market. what is your read of u.s. economy right now? >> i think the last 3.5 years have been a total disaster. you seem the most important statistic. i hope that everybody remembers in november that under donald trump, real, middle income

households are a $6,000 gain. under jill biden and kamala harris, the average family has lost $2100 in income. the average family is poorer today than when joe biden came into office. that is a pretty devastating statistic. incomes are up, that's true. unfortunately, inflation is up more than incomes are. everywhere i go, people are feeling so financially squeezed right now. even bernie sanders said at a convention how low income people are seeing pay fines, can't pay their bills. so the american family is financially stressed out and it is important diving for people to understand why that is happening. if it had not been for covid,

donald trump probably would have won a 40 state reelection landslide, the economy was booming under trump and that is what we hope to see again. the resurrection of the real prosperous america for reducing taxes, producing american energy, better trade deals. other kinds of policies that would get some of the regulations up so they compete. we want this election to be about the economy. they should vote for kamala harris if they want four more years of this that just look at what happened the debt in the last four years with something like $7 trillion of debt added. that is a catastrophe, folks. host: consider sentiment is something that we see in these surveys all the time. we are not any a recession right now.

why is consumer sentiment if you look at the chart worse today than it was even during the actual pandemic recession? guest: that's a great question. by the way, thank you for having me on, i love c-span, i love what you guys do in they want you guys all the time in the morning why are people feeling like we are in a recession? you are quite correct, the economy is growing in the technical definition of the technical definition of a recession is two or three quarters of negative growth. we haven't had a recession since then. but here is the key point. if you are poured today than you were four years ago, it doesn't matter what is happening to the gdp where this business or that business or even the stock market. you are in a recession yourself. your family is in recession.

you are losing income. the majority of people watching the show are in that situation where they just can't make ends meet because the price of everything is 20% more expensive today and we have the highest inflation since jimmy carter was president, and that is like a tax on the american family. so you got 20% increase in inflation, 20% increases in wages and salaries and income for people. i would submit to you, if you are worse off today than you were to and a half years ago, you are in a recession and that is the reason a majority of americans are saying, the pollsters, because their household is in a recession. host: phone numbers, viewers always enjoy talking to steve moore. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. as folks are calling in, just want to run through some of the

economic proposal that referred about so far. i know you've been critical of many of these proposals. in the class tax cut is often talked abo. if fellow ban on price gouging, 25,000 dollars for a first-time homebuyer and some $40 billion when it comes to getting construction going around this country. the child tax credit and assistance for parents of newborns. which one of those do you want to focus on right now? guest: let's focus on the big picture. folks, this is a financially reckless situation. i would argue that harris is probably been the most financially reckless president in american history. the national debt is massively increasing. we are borrowing chiefly dollars a year. technically we are not.

if we are not any recession, why are we borrowing to trillion dollars a year? during times of recovery and expansion you are supposed to be reducing the deficit, not increasing it. let's just start with this. what are we going to cut from the budget? we have to make very dramatic reductions in our government spending because it's going to bankrupt this country and it's going to bankrupt the finances of the american people. host: can we not get money for tax increases and more taxes on a wage earners? guest: i don't think there's anybody really things you contact yourself to prosperity. if you put in place those taxes that kamala harris has announced in the new york times announced this is a 5 trillion tax increase on the american economy , on american businesses, american workers, american investors, i think this is going

to be a disaster for our country if we do this. it would lead to more and more jobs within the united states. japan, china, mexico, europe. one of the things i proud of that we did in the trump administration, all the jobs are coming back to the united states because i was on the architects of that tax plan we put in place. it's important to remember that when trump came into office, the united states had a high tax rate in the world we were higher than all of the other countries. so what happened? all of a sudden the factories in the jobs left the united states and they went to other countries. under trump, we fix that. we brought the tax rate down from the highest in the world to below the average. what happened? remember all the job started come back the united states. job started coming to michigan from mexico whereas prior to

that, although jobs relieving michigan, going to places like mexico. let's just go through this because it is really disastrous and people should have their eyes open. under the kamala harris plan, we would double the capital gains tax. you have the highest capital gains tax in the world at the rate we go from 24, 20 5%. as going to kill the stock market. if you tax investment, the value of the stocks are going to go down. anybody watching the show has a 401(k) plan, that you are invested, you are going to see a huge reduction in the value of stocks. she wants to tax unrealized capital gains. this would be the first national property taxes american history. i know you've got a lot of farmers and ranchers and property owners to watch this show. the city brought up property

from 500,000 dollars today, 25 years later. the government would tax you. you would have to come up with half $1 million in taxes. you don't have the money. those kinds of things i think would be really disastrous. host: let me bring in some callers. this is jim in portland, oregon. you are on. caller: hey, steve. i so many republicans support domestic terrorism. is it because trump call them patriots? and what the hell is wrong with you guys? from added $8 million in debt, a trillion dollars in debt to the national debt. enter me now. host: on the national debt. guest: look, i'm going to stick to the economics because that is my area of expertise.

if you're really interested in economic facts, if you go to unleash prosperitynow.com, we did an analysis of 25 major economic statistics that people use to measure how the economy is doing. so we looked in everything from jobs to inflation to the stock market, the small business conditions, on and on. and what we found is that if you just compare what happened in the four years trump was president for three and a half years that biden and harris have been in office, front beach biden on 22 of the 25 statistics, and one of them is dead. in nine negative excuse the amount of debt that republicans run not because you are right, republicans are inclined in this fiscal insanity going on in washington. but the fact is that since biden

and harris came in, they based the data above the amount that it was supposed to, the independent rational budget office, buying and harris raise that by $7 trillion. and we were already running a massive deficit. so i would say that you care about our debt, and we have to because those debts are going to have to be repaid, the kamala harris plan right now would keep us on a path of to delay dollars a year from now until kingdom come. i think that is just financially reckless, i think it's going to be dangerous and i do think if we stay on that path, we will have a financial crisis. it will be very much like 2008. everything just collapsed and all the business went bankrupt. that will happen. and everyone knows this, by the way. everyone knows it is wrong and congresses we are going to do more of it. host: on the college point that

donald trump spending over $8 billion and adding to the debt over his four years, what assurances is he getting right now that made you feel that there's not going to be an additional $8 trillion added to the national debt if donald trump is another four years? guest: first of all, remember. that is the run number, but that is still a huge number. remember we had a pandemic in 2020. we have a policy in the country that was one of the greatest tragic mistakes in american history. hopefully learn a lesson to never again shutdown our businesses, our schools at hospitals, or churches. it turns out that about five times as many people died from lockdown as received from lockdowns thomas a lot down for a complete disaster and by the

way, harris was a big fan of lockdowns. tim walz, menominee was one of the most militant lockdowners. he was basically creating situations where people could wrap on their neighbors if they were violating curtains and things like that. so my point is we did have a lot of debt because the government put the businesses out of business. but if you take that out of the equation, the debt was much lower under trump than it was under biden. but i also agree with your point. this is a bipartisan problem. republicans that democrats will love to spend money, they love to play santa claus. but what i'm telling you, and this is really important for your business to understand interviewers, we cannot tax our way out of this. we actually have to be reducing our taxes to be competitive and then cutting. we should be cutting hundreds of

billions of dollars out of our basal budget. there's a $300 billion green energy source on. we can afford to be spending money on programs that don't work. growing the economy, that best way to get out of debt crisis. >> the keystone state, republican, you are on the steve moore. go ahead. >> i'd like to ask you this question. who spends stephen ward's money better, the federal government, or stephen ward? the answer is obviously stephen ward. until we get value for the dollar spent, i've just finished reading again the federalist papers. the founders never envisioned a bureaucracy the size of the theocracy we have right now. they never did. our theocracy is so huge on the federal level. it is a giant, money-consuming

paid that denies freedom to every american and until we get it under control and until we reduce the size of spending, the amount of spending, you are absolutely right. you can't tax your way to prosperity, it's not possible. guest: it's a really great point, thank you for the call. i want one thing to say. who can spend your money better, can the government spend it better or can you spend it better on yourself? the reason that is an important point is because i find it really interesting that at the convention, kamala harris was saying i'm the freedom candidate. what does freedom mean? freedom means freedom from government to intervene in your life and tell you what you have to do. so if you are the freedom candidate, for example, one of our big initiatives that everybody hopefully listening and watching and agree with is that every child in america,

whether black, white, brown, whatever your skin color, whatever your income, every child should have access to a great school. they should have the choice of where to send a kid to school. kamala harris is against that. she wants to force kids to go to public schools that would provide and the kind of education they need. this is one of the centerpieces of our agenda is to allow everything the child to go to a great school. and again, kamala harris is against that. she cares more about the teachers union that she does that your kids. she says you should have freedom to choose. everybody agrees with freedom to choose. does that mean i should have freedom to choose my own car? kamala harris wants to tell you that you can't buy a gas car. does that mean you should be able to join a union or not join a union? i think everyone would agree

freedom means that every worker should make their own decisions about whether you want to join the union or not. guess what, harris says we are taking that choice away from you, you have to join a union. that is an undemocratic agenda. host: you mentioned helping children. the child tax credit help children in this country? guest: what worries me about the child credit, not against it, and by the way, jd vance is in favor of that, i have some doubts about it. here's the problem. we can't just keep getting people money. a lot of people but to the so-called credit. it be a cash payment. and my people getting it don't pay taxes. if you are handing out more and more money to people, the only real way because money of course is to print it. and when you print money, you get inflation. you're going to make the inflation problem worse.

but also i worry a little bit that if the key just passing out free money to people you're going to discourage people from working. and what we need to do is grow this economy. this 5 million people in this country who are not disabled, where working age, who could and should be working. one of the major reasons they are not working as we are paying out so much money to people in free money. whether it is through stance, free health care, cash payments. all of these things. and we want to give these to people to work, not to not work. >> good morning, you are on the steve moore. caller: thank you. i just wanted to ask a couple of quick questions. who was the debt higher under, trump or biden, and inflation hit everywhere. so i think england, they did not

get tax cuts in the pandemic. that ended that dating ousted because inflation went up so high. and deals were so high for their citizens as well. and the last thing i wanted to say, excuse me, trump tariffs ended up making us have to pay more. i don't understand how you don't see that more terrorists are going to affect the american people. thank you. guest: that we start with the first question and i will get to tariffs. the first question had to do with inflation. these of the importance of people know the facts. when donald trump was president for four years, the inflation rate over those four years in office was 1.9%.

that's lower than the federal reserve rate of 2%. in other words, we were lower than the fed even wanted us to be in terms of price changes. when trump left office, the last four months he was in office when the economy started to boom again. people forget the last six months of his presidency when we open back up the economy. the economy was booming. in those last four months, here are inflation rates, folks. 1.4%, 1.5 percent, 1.4%, 1.6%. we were at a 1.5% inflation rate when trump left office. joe biden comes in with kamala harris and what do they do? the absolute craziest thing you could possibly do. they spent $5 trillion above. and by the way, kamala harris cast votes for those spending bills.

i want to make this will be simple for people. how does the government spent $5 trillion when they don't have the money? they printed. if they do this we are going to have runaway inflation. and kamala and biden said we are not going to have inflation and guess what, inflation rose to 1.5%, it went in 9.1%, the worst inflation we had in 40 years in this country and it destroyed middle-class families. it's why you are paying seven dollars for wheaties today and you can even afford to take your family to mcdonald's, for goodness sake. because they ruined our currency with this massive inflation. so to think somehow that biden and harris are not responsible for the inflation when they brought up to the highest rate years, that is contrary to the facts. the spending binge is why you are paying so much of the grocery store, 40% or 50% more

for gasoline. while your rent and mortgages are 40% to 50% more expensive. folks, four more years of this would be catastrophic. on tariffs, i'm not anything of tariffs, i'm a free-trade guy. i meet with him pretty regularly and i have met within many times in the oval office. i said look, sir, i don't think the tariffs of the best idea, and this gentleman is right. from youth tariffs as a weapon, as a way to force other countries to do things in america's economic and national security interests. i saw that with getting mexico to help us on the border. kamala harris' one job was to control the border and she completely flunked that test,

she gave us the worst border situation in american history. i'm not a tariff fan, but i think trump with used tariffs as a way to force countries, whether it is china to play by the rules, whether it is the european stew payday native dues, whether it is mexico to help on the border, and i have to say in his first term used it strategically in a way that really worked. host: do you think tariffs do what you say they are going to do, raise prices for americans on household goods and the wheaties they were talking about? guest: that's the question. possibly. but remember, if we are going to argue that raising taxes increases inflation, and that is a legitimate argument, then harris raise taxes by $25 trillion. i think those tax increases would dramatically increase prices on everything. they make everything more expensive.

they are taking $5 trillion out of the economy that way. businesses are going to have to raise prices. this is why the idea of price gouging, you asked me about this a little earlier. this is economics 100. if you look at what happened under biden and harris, it is true that producers, that prices are up by 20%. the all acknowledge that. she is saying the businesses are doing this to make more profits and they are doubting prices. but guess what? you look at producer prices, that -- host: i think we lost steve moore there for a second. as we try to get them back, let me go to sean, independent. go ahead. caller: yeah, i want to ask this fine, upstanding gentleman in the pandemic which he just plain dog biden, saying that biden lost more people, but trump said

that they didn't exist, is made up, that they brought it in to destroy him. but nobody started dying, you know, and he has 3000 people dying a day. and now they want to blame biden for. biden tax, you want to: stans, fine. but it was for the people. trump stands are to the rich. 1%. basically all of it. if you didn't make over $100,000, you didn't get a break. so please, have the guy tell the truth for once. host: i'm not sure if you got the question, but he went to tax

code by donald trump and 2017, tax breaks. what it does accomplish and what would it cost to extend those tax breaks if donald trump gets reelected and if he gets that plan for congress? guest: ace, and by the way, sorry i lost connection there for a minute. so i'm really proud of what we did in 2017. at eight most people if they knew the facts of what we did would be supportive. the most important thing is i mentioned earlier as we have the highest tax rate in the world on our businesses why would we do that? host: i tell you what, you still? will give it one more try. we will try one more time, but if we don't get steve moore

back, we will bring them back another time on c-span again to talk to phil ahead. >> from my observation, it seems that both parties are unserious about addressing have physical issues. they are relying on political super majorities to force their will, and i don't believe that the ideas put forth by either party alone are sufficient to address our problems. thaterhaps the tax cut proposed by trump in the past may have been a little aggressive, because it didn't result in the growth that was projected. any compromise with the democratic party would probably need to involve irish factories. but i agree mostly good for he is saying with regard to trump.

just wanted his thoughts on that. host: we will talk to steve moore one more time but if we lose it we will talk to him about her on c-span. tax cuts. guest: so what i would say that we cut the business tax rate because we wanted jobs in america. if we have the highest tax rate, jobs will go somewhere else. if the same reason, why are all the jobs leaving the gordon tele new jersey netiquette and my home state of emily blunt by democrats? because democrats raise taxes. and when they raise taxes, businesses leave. we know that. that is why the state that are really booming right now are florida, texas, tennessee and utah, states that either very low taxes or no income tax at all. so what i'm saying is why don't

we make america and our tax system look more like the taxes and utah and less like the disaster of california, new york and new jersey. i think that is the best way to explain this. for countries with the highest taxes lose. the statement the highest taxes lose. so kamala harris raises our taxes, we are going to is this is, lose jobs and lose american competitiveness. the other thing we did to enter that point about the middle-class benefiting from this tax cut, that is wrong. the average family, this is the joint tax committee, the average family, the want to show pay $2100 a year on their taxes. middle-class people say $2100. if kamala harris comes in and cancels out our tax cut, the average family will pay $2100 more in taxes, not less. host: time for one or two more calls. this is stephanie in california, independent. good morning. caller: good morning.

my question, the gentleman if he calls back asked a simple question about who added the most debt, biden or trump. he never answered the question. i'd like into into the question. who added more debt to our economy, was it biden or was it trump? guest: great question. can you hear me, by the way? ok. just ran the numbers. the average deficit in the four years that trump was president -- sorry, before was about $800 billion a year. by the way, way too high. we shouldn't be borrowing $800 billion a year. biden comes in, his average deficit was $1.5 trillion a year, so almost twice. so the deficit has risen about twice as high under biden as it

has under trump. host: and you are saying if you take covid spending out of the equation. caller: if you take out 2020, trump's last year and biden's first year because that was a covid year, and you just impaired non-covid years, biden has run deficits about twice as large as trump. and again, neither of them deserve any kind of gold medal for of the deficit, but it has been much, much, much worse under biden. and i want to return to this point. when you have a booming economy -- we don't have a booming economy, but a growing economy, why are you going to toledo in deficits? if you look at the kamala harris baseline, she is telling us if you like me president i'm going to borrow to year for the next 10 years. that is going to destroy the country. i wish that we would get

together with a plan -- i that you and i could sit down and in five minutes we could cut trillion dollars from the budget. there is so much waste, so much inefficiency, so much redundancy, obsolescence. we are still spending money on covid. covid ended three years ago and we have 300 billion dollars in green program that hadn't worked. get rid of them. we require anybody getting government assistance if they can be working to be working. that reduce the federal budget and also get people back to be productive workforce. even the military, i think we can probably cut $100 billion from the military and still have a very strong, the strongest in the world. host: is there any specific agency that you think could be cut or should be cut? guest: i agree with trump, what i would do with the department of education, instead of having this massive bureaucracy washington, let's give that money straight to the parents so

they can send their kids to the best schools. we have these programs and so many states and i got to tell you, it is black kids and hispanics who love these programs that they can choose what school they want to. somebody just explain to me why is that a policy that parents should be able to decide, not teachers unions, where the kids go to school? host: steve moore if the founder of the committee to unleash prosperity, alter an advisor and economist as well. good to have you back on washington journal before election day. guest: thank you, love what you guys do. host: up next this morning, we will be joined by the founder of childless chicks for harris, sophia nelson. she will talk about her support for the vice president. stick around, we will be right back. ♪ host: agreed national crusade to

make america great again. >> for progress and for peace. taxes will go up. anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth. >> and our beloved nation we are in the midst of the springtime of hope for america. >> because we are the party that believes in the american dream. >> read my lips. no new taxes. >> i still believe in a place called hope. here's the question for the american people. the trust in this election? >> we will build a bridge to the future, not a bridge to the past. >> i have unlimited confidence in the wisdom of our people in the future of our government. i stand here tonight as my own man and i want you to know me for who i really am.

>> they had their chance. they have not land. we will. >> i'm john kerry and i'm reporting for duty. >> it's time for us to change america. >> i wasn't my own man anymore. i was my country's. >> i don't believe that will enact regulations on wall street will help us know -- small business will expand or the laid-off construction worker keep his home. we've been there, we try that, and we are not going back. we are moving forward. >> our friend seymour loyalty and mr. coons will see less flexibility and more backbone. >> he wants to make america great again, he could start by actually making things in america again. from: we will make america safe again.

and we will make america great again. >> here and now, i give you my word. you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on the festivus, not the worst trump: this towering american spirit has prevailed over every challenge and lifted us -- lifted up the summit of human endeavor. announcer: c-span, your unfiltered view of the convention, powered by cable. c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events with livestreamed the floor proceedings and hearings from u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics, all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and find

scheduling information for spent tv networks and c-span radio plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store and google play. in the qr code to download for free today or visit our website, c-span.org/c-spannow. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. host: and in the wake of the recent controversy over jd vance's past, the prominent democratic women, our next guest wrote this: the made eternal constitution. that headline, the childless cat lady would like a word. what did you want to say? caller: i'm not a cat lady, i like dogs, but i don't have children. the purpose of the article, that is kind of a pushback with a little bit of a wink and nod, but this issue of people being

childless is a very serious one. there are some 20 million u.s. childbearing agent don't have children. that number dropped to about 50 millions of that is a significant number of women and men in this country who either can't have children or choose not to have children and they wanted jd vance to understand that this isn't a joke, it isn't a laughing matter. reproductive freedom and reproductive health is a big issue in this campaign those of us were unable have children, to say we are not full citizens or we should not be able to participate at the same level is rare for u.s. senators, unkind and not something that i think holton in good stead with the women of america. host: how many people are involved? guest: anybody can start a political action committee. you made money, and you can donate to our campaign, in this

instance, i set it up so donate today harris campaign and support her. as many coalitions are doing across the country, you got black women for harris who by the way, started this whole thing off with a call, and then it was white dudes for harris and black men for harris and latinos and asians. now you got the cat lady and the childless chicks. a group of coalitions that really helped frame the stately together in a way that i've really never seen before. host: how much anyways so far? guest: we just got approved and set up, we are going through a big push candidate national call. we are working on it now. host: you said it been around washington a long time. what have you done? guest: i've been on this show, i think this is my 10th time. the first time was 1998 when i was a young committee counsel working over there, and dan

burton mr. chairman of my committee at that time. i fed around a long time. i was an intern in the senate, in college in the 80's, the late 80's. i've done internships and all kinds of things, i've been here a long time. host: joining us this morning the phone lines, as you go by political party, childless chicks for harris. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independent, (202) 748-8002. we will of course look for your text messages emails as well. you gated peppers media. i want to talk about women's role in campaign 2024. house republican conference chair elise stefanik who is trying to make the point earlier this month that donald trump has been very good for the women of this country and when it comes

to their economic and their income in this country. she said the median income for women increased every year during the trump administration, reaching the highest on record in 2020. real average weekly earnings increased 8.2% under president trump. she goes on to say the unemployment rate for women overall and for black women in particular reached record low drink president trump stirred. the workforce for his patient -- between men and women strength of the narrowest. president trump made history with the most women in the workforce ever. guest: i'm not an economist and i don't have the of the to fact-check in real-time would like to do. i think that if the biden harris folks were on here, they would take exception to everything she said. in point of fact, he's had the lowest unemployment. you have to remember that during trump's presidency particularly

in 2020 and the later part, covid was raging that because a shutdown of businesses, markdowns, etc. so the economy began to take anyway in that last year. when biden came in they were in what you call a recovery. i would argue that elise stefanik is not someone i consider a neutral source, she is very partisan. i want to be kind and charitable on c-span but i want to fact-check that. i think women in particular have done much better hunter biden and harris. as an african-american woman who owns a small business and has to the last 15 years, i can tell you there are a lot more incentives and programs and things to help. a lot of people took those loans. i wish i did, i didn't. i didn't know they weren't going to make you pay it back. i think this administration has been very focused on diversity and how we come together and use

it as a strength and not a weakness, not attacking people of color and particularly black women as trump's prefixes for doing. host: up first, milton, line for democrats. go ahead. guest: good morning. caller: morning. as far as not going back to the trump economy that he had when he was president, what i want to say in lead up to the question is that going all the way back to reagan, every time that we have a republican president, they pass of the economy and when americans crash and fall to the floor, and pass it off to the democrats. when a democrat fixes it, like obama and joe biden, then they

have two or three years of good economy piggybacking off of the democrats have done. when prices spike again under their watch, it falls apart again. they take credit for what the democrats have done. so my question is, why can't we somehow make that the focus as to another reason why we can't go back? why we are not going back to republicans, especially donald trump, who can handle crisis. guest: i'm not an economist but i think common sense dictates that republicans and democrats fundamentally see tax policy very differently. republicans believe in, for lack of a better -- better word, trickle down. i will free up morels, more

money, it will trickle down into jobs, it will increase revenue. the democrats don't see it that way. the democrats believe if i help the middle class and the working folks and cut child tax credits and put more money back in the hands of the people, they will spend more enabled by more homes and they will send more kids to schools, etc. so there is a fundamental difference in the way the two parties look at economics and the way they play out. that has been consistent since reagan, for sure. host: this program, -- gave the case against the child tax cuts, concerns about it. where are you on this child tax cuts? guest: this country has got to get serious. nikki haley said, and she is right, trump has the biggest deficit of any president going back to reagan, $1 trillion.

you could argue it is because of covid, and he was dancing around the facts. the fact is there a higher deficits. when you get to a place of whether or not we are going to as a country deal with this issue of tax policy and child tax cuts, while you say that -- host: child tax credit. guest: kind of the same, right? think of a family that has four kids. if you give jeff bezos of amazon or anyone of these corporate guys were making trillion or billions and in some cases 5%, 10% of taxes, there is nothing fund -- something fun and be wrong with that. that's get honest as americans and start telling the truth and stop playing games. host: washington, d.c., this is adam, line for republicans.

you are on the nelson. caller: i'm just curious on your perspective. i think objectively, the message that they pushed, the left purports to the party immunity, but yet when i listen in on fox news listen in on speeches, i see a lot of identity politics that come into play. why do surviving, black to survive. cat baby survived, for example. why is that? guest:-- guest: so, he calls it identity politics, but i call it coalitions. black women for harris, let's start with that, they were the catalysts for all the calls that followed in the coalition. we understood, and i was on that call, that kamala harris being

the first female vice president, first female of color vice president, first woman of color, she was going to need support in a way that was different because she is a woman of color. i'm an independent now, never trumper, will be to the day i die, but when i hear this identity politics, that's a straw man. the reality is america is diverse and has many different people in coalitions. -- and coalitions. people with different thoughts, those things matter in our day-to-day lives and they come into place in our politics. how we are treated, the opportunities that we have. my hope is that -- republicans for harris is one of my favorite groups. i was proud of jeff, olivia, adam, all the people who spoke at great peril to themselves, their families, and their careers, they said i'm putting country over party.

they are a coalition as well. is it identity politics because republicans are supporting harris? of course, it's a group of people not normally supportive of a democrat and they like those ideas and vision. host: maybe we buried that lead. when did you make that decision? guest: the moment that trump became the official nominee. host: who were you supporting? guest: hillary clinton, that was hard for me. i did those investigations on the hill when clinton was president. host: i meant the republican primary. guest: 2016? i liked marco rubio. anybody but trump would have been acceptable. and then i think about people like lindsey graham, who i used to respect, who was clear that if trump took over the republican party, he would destroy it and they deserved

what they got in his words are coming true. for me that process was that this is a trump driven thing for people like me and we are now politically homeless. independent is a no man's land. the republican party after this election if trump loses, i think it's in a lot of trouble. it's a shrinking party. it's very white, very monolithic, very regional in its demographics of the kind of people that support it. it's not growing, it's not expanding in a nation that is more diverse, more female, and changing. host: taking you to the line for independents. tom, good morning to the land of good -- 10,000 lakes. go ahead. caller: yeah. inside the beltway, what has happened to the -- let's call it the republicans who were the anybody but trumpers.

they are all out here in the hinterlands. inside the beltway, had they been pretty much eliminated from the scene? guest: that's a great question and yes, the people who have not fallen in line with trump, i'm one of them, they have been exiled, for lack of a better word. the party has a deep division. you saw it in the primary where nikki haley was the last woman standing. trump didn't even show up for one of the debates, which i thought was disrespectful. you want to win the primary of your party? show up to the debate, the caucuses, the primaries. it was disheartening for nikki haley saying everything she said about trump, about not supporting him, how he talked about military families, she was pretty clear and then she flipped and fell in line. the reason she did that is because if she wants a future and whatever the republican party becomes after 2024, she's got to be able to say that i

fell in line. that's a sad place. look at people like mitch mcconnell, who could have dealt with this by convicting him after january 6 and made he never returned to politics in a senate trial. mitch mcconnell voted to not convict, but then gives a scathing speech on the floor of the senate about trump being criminally liable and basically he did all of it and was responsible for it. that's the kabuki theater of the republican party right now. it's sad. host: jack, line for democrats. good morning, you are on with sophia nelson. caller: good morning. the constitution says that congress can tax income. kamala harris wants to tax overall wealth. kamala is a trained lawyer. do you think she doesn't know

that that proposal is clearly unconstitutional? host: jack, you are calling in on the line for democrats. you don't plan to vote for her or this is just one issue for you? caller: rhhhhhh, i liked bobby kennedy. i'm a little concerned when her proposals flimflam. host: what did you think of rfk junior endorsing trump? caller: i was startled by the concern about children's health. i think that bobby has got something there. that obesity thing, foodstuff, i want to consider what bobby was talking about. host: if donald trump were to win, do you think kennedy would have a spot in a trump administration and if so, what do you think it would be?

caller: i hope it would be about health. host: a couple of issues there. guest: i'm not an economist, i have no idea what proposal he's talking about, i can't give an answer to that. with the rfk situation, listen, when your family comes out publicly against you, a storied democratic family like the kennedys are and says that the things that they put in writing about their own sibling? the hitting of the bear? the womanizing? all the other things that have come out about him, the brain worms, cutting off the hip -- the heads of whales and sharks with a chainsaw? i don't know about rfk. i'm going to say prayers for him and wish him the best. host: back to minnesota. derek, lakeland, the land of lakes, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. good morning, america.

my first comment is -- it's really funny, only in american politics does someone at 50 years old get referred to as a fresh face. that said, you said you are a creature of washington, d.c., i would like to thank you and our current vice president for not having children. my next point is -- host: i tell you what, will stop you there. would you like to comment? guest: this is why forming -- formed the "childless chicks for harris." abortion rights, that's a core issue. i'm a pro life center right republican christian. even i recognize that there is a problem when women who are having a miscarriage and having other challenges cannot get reproductive care at the er and the bleed out. you have seen the stories, you have heard the stories of couples and people who struggled

with ivf, get pregnant, have a miscarriage and can't get treatment, leading them to infertility without proper treatment. so, i think that this kind of unkindness is what bothers me. this nastiness to say thank you -- kamala harris, by the way, that's how you say her name -- to suggest that somehow the world is a better place because we couldn't bring children into it? it's awful, mean, and nasty. having been in washington for a long time and done the show many times, i've never heard the kind of nastiness that we have seen since donald trump came on the scene. i'm going to be direct. it's why i will never support him. it's why i am deeply disappointed in my country that a person with 34 felonies and everything else he has going on can actually run for the presidency. in my state, he can't vote as a convicted felon in virginia. he can't vote. so, i think that we have got to

do better and i think that that is why vice president harris and governor walz have had these rallies and that support. why you have 100,000 republicans for harris on the call speaking at the convention. it's contagious. people are sick and tired of the nasty doom and gloom unkindness and incivility towards one another and that caller just gave you a glimpse of it. host: which republican who spoke at the democratic convention gave the best pitch to try to win over republicans for harris? guest: i spoke to jeff duncan in georgia, adam kinzinger was also amazing. they really -- i think that kinsinger and duncan are the future leaders of whatever ends up happening after. people like glenn youngkin, though he has supported trump in a way that you probably have to as a sitting republican governor

in a state like that, when you hear people talk privately about how many of these republicans really feel about trump, it's very different, right? i do think that those guys, nikki haley and others, they will try to salvage it and turn it into something, but i think that adam and jeff will have a hard time going back, as would i, to what the republican party is now. i thought that they both did an amazing job saying that there is no shame in voting for vice president harris. she's got common sense, not dangerous, won't overthrow democracy. for most of us, we are going to be 200 and 50 years old in 2026 and we want the republic to stand another 250 years after all of us are well gone and we want it to keep going, we want it to be free, we wanted to be the greatest story ever told, as harris said. host: we ask you about if donald trump wins, rfk junior, but if donald trump loses, what

happens? who is the leadership of the republican party you see? i'm not saying immediately after or january 6 of 2025 -- guest: i think that you see that positioning now. it all depends on whether he wins or loses. when he loses, and i'm saying that now, i think he's going to lose and i don't think it will be a squeaker. i think that she will handily. this is that obama coalition reborn with different demographics, 44 million people have been added since that time. you have lost your greatest generation baby boomer's getting into their 80's now. for the republicans -- host: what happens to a mike johnson or the freedom caucus? guest: trump maga is going to be have to be -- going to have to be put down, for lack of a better way to say it.

it has lost continuously. 2018, 2020, 2022. look at the numbers, trump has been a disaster at the ballot boxes. there's going to be a civil war, if you will, a fight for the soul. people like brian kemp, nikki haley, glenn youngkin, those are your ideal candidates if he loses, but i don't know, there's going to be a big fight and trump is not going to go away if he loses, by the way. he's not. host: marion, south carolina. good morning. caller: i'm so excited i'm on the phone with you. you have a bunch of platforms that i have. i've been out there is much as i can letting people about this -- know about this documentary on donald trump. it's called bad faith. once you watch that documentary, you understand what we are going through and what we are fighting for. we are fighting for our freedom. this documentary, nobody should watch it alone.

it's on youtube. you can check to make sure to see it still on youtube. i know that it is ontubi, you can watch it there. this documentary has fox on it, it has msnbc on it. host: it's a documentary about christian nationalism? caller: that's it, honey. bad faith. this is what we are against. i know donald trump. i've had my experience with donald trump. he has heard so many people. i want him gone, i want him out of the system of politics. civil war? that's what they want. guest: thank you for your call. i can tell you are passionate about this. south carolina is my second home away from home, we have a place on the coast, the isle of palms, i love it there, it's a

beautiful state. thank you for your call. i will say this, i will watch the documentary, i'm very familiar with christian nationalism in the white nationalist movement. there was a report that the secret service revealed there was a white nationalist supremacist attempt to take out president obama and the fbi was involved. a very big deal that i don't think has got enough attention. i happened to be dating a secret service agent at the time very seriously and i remember him telling me about being surprised at the level of racism and racist threats that they saw that would come in against president obama. he got a lot more threats than the normal president. being the first black one, not a surprise. i think that this country is at an inflection point. president biden, god bless him, i met him when i was a senate intern back in 89. if someone had told me then that

i would be president -- he would be president in his 80's and i would be 50, i would laugh at you. but here we are. god bless him, he had the courage to step back in after charlottesville to say that he felt the country was headed in the wrong direction and he wanted to do something about it. ended up being one termer, i think history will treat him kindly, but harris has her work cut out for her as a woman and a woman of color uniting this country in this kind of climate. i do think you're deeply divided. i do worry that her raising her gender, it's like what they call back in the day the bradley effect. the first black mayor of los angeles. doug wilder in virginia. people said they voted for them but they didn't when they got to the ballot mocks. it happens with black candidates. people were worried it might happen with obama, it didn't and hopefully it doesn't happen with harris but people know that it's politically not correct to say that they are supporting trump,

if you will, because of everything he's done, january 6, but they will vote for him every way -- anyway. this country has a serious race problem that we have got to talk about and come together, which is why i'm so excited about these coalitions for harris. trump doesn't have that, harris does. that's a good sign. host: you mentioned a deeply divided country. it's been a couple of rear -- years since you wrote this, reclaiming a divided country for america, how do we do that in 2024 in 2025? guest: thank you for that thank you for having me on what i wrote that book on book tv, but getting back to our core principles, to the people that support trump and maca, people who feel that your country has left you or forgotten you, i think that you need to be heard as well and we need to again have dialogues about these difficult issues. these conversations that we need to have around race, diversity,

equity, and inclusion around the economy, the rural economy in the urban economy, health care and taxes and tax reform. i'm an old jack kemp type girl and i believe that we should have a flat tax. if we have one rate across the board, people making 40 and under shouldn't be making any taxes -- paying any taxes, you would see amazing growth and a lot less burden of government regulation, if you will, on your paycheck. i think that people feel that end we should acknowledge that. answering your question, part of the problem is you have got left and right and most of us fit in the center. if you look at any voting break out of the 50% that just don't vote in this country, sadly, and how people are registered, more than 50% of americans register as independent. that means that the republicans are about 30 or less, democrats are about 30 or less, the rest of us just sit right here.

we are the ones that need to move this country forward and change the dialogue, change the dynamics of our politics and until we do, we will say is bitterly divided as we are right now. host: for viewers who want more about your book, it was on afterwards on book tv, sophia nelson interviewed a man by the name guest: of michael steele. guest:one of my greatest friends, a great american. host: stephen come along island, good morning. caller: the issue of taxes and everything else, it costs millions of dollars to build and run a small farm today, not to mention manufacturing or any other kind of business. when people want to tax the rich, they are taxing those millions of dollars in if you take that money and put it towards other countries, you're guaranteed an income to put that money in their bank accounts rather than investment forms or

anything else and this was the problem with the harris administration and what she wants to do. thank you for your time. guest: my response to that would be that he needs to understand economics a little better. one of the things that will help is that you have got to get rid of burdensome regulations. on that, that's where my conservative republicanism comes out and i'm pretty firm on that footing. but i think that tax cuts, etc., are not the issue. farms need subsidies, as you know, in order to make it. because they cannot compete against of the bigger food manufacturers, etc., so the small farms in this country -- the black farmers, as you know, they just received a 2 billion dollars settlement that had been in the works for a long time. my good friend of ben crump helped with that and it is, you know, a real challenge on how we treat farmers in this country and we have to have better policy around that and that's an

agricultural policy. host: we don't have to stick to just farms. what are the biggest regulatory burdens that come these days? guest: the big fight of our time is the minimum wage, what should it be? if you are a small business owner you say that if you impose on me a $20 per hour minimum wage, i cannot afford to run my business. even if i'm starbucks or whatever, $20 per hour really cuts into my profit margins, my costs, this and that. on the flipside, if you are the consumer and you work, you and i both know that you cannot live on seven dollars an hour. 40, $50 a week at seven dollars an hour you are not making any money and you are getting taxed on that, which goes back to my point on tax policy being integral with the regulatory policy, etc. they all kind of have to be done at the same time in tandem. so, i think that the biggest burdensome regulation at the moment is this fight over the

prevailing minimum wage and what it will be because that is something that as you saw, former president trump and vice president harris want to eliminate the tips tax. that would be very helpful, too, because people who made $50 in tips, they have to put that into their taxes and they get taxed on it, which is a problem because you are getting it in cash and there are people reporting -- it's just a nightmare, they need to leave it alone. the biggest burden to regulation that people can relate to is this minimum wage issue that has to go up, people cannot live on 7, 10, $15 per hour. can you impose $20 per hour on a small business depending on what it is? can they sustain it? most will do layoffs or shut it down and say i can't. host: sounds like you fall between 15 and 20? guest: probably about there. host: less than 15 minutes left

with sophia nelson this morning. mark in the garden state, good morning. you're on with sophia nelson, go ahead. caller: you are -- you speak very well, i could listen to you all day. guest: you are kind, i grew up off exit three in south jersey. caller: jersey girl. [laughter] guest: i am, i am. caller: first of all, what do you think of the project 2025 thing that is going around? the hatred thing that you brought up is true. i'm sorry for that comment that that person made. i understand the hatred thing. i have an identical twin brother who won't even speak to me. he has a trump flag in front of his house and you know what? i'm not a hatred person. i don't want to deal with any of that. the other thing, how can a person who is a criminal run for president? i do not -- i will never understand how this is even

allowed. i don't even understand it. those are my comments. host: i wrote down the question so we can get back to them, but can you tell me, at one point did you end your identical twin diverge on your political identity or political beliefs? do you remember specifically when it happened? caller: this did not start until he lost the 2020 race. host: for you and he both supporters of trump? caller: no. no, sorry, i was. 2016, i was saying he was so great for the first two years. but you know what? if you have a brain and the top of your head and you see what goes on in what comes out of the top of your -- what comes out of his mouth? smarten up. host: i got the questions written down, mark, thank you. guest: first of all, i appreciate it, i love c-span,

folks support it, it's a worthwhile public service company, i believe we only do it. project 2025 is a thing. no matter how much trump says he doesn't know anything about it, it's extreme, has nothing to do with it, the facts have borne out that his vice presidential nominee wrote the forward for the book. that kind of speaks for itself, right? you don't need to go further than that. it is a manifesto of the way that conservatives, talking arch conservatives. the heritage foundation is as conservative as you get. these folks have been there for a long time and have a very different view of america than another more left organization or even those of us who sit in the center and i think that we should pay attention to it, number one. with respect to the trump family feud stuff, we all have it in our families. i don't think that one of us doesn't have a relative -- i have one or two that i do not like to talk about trump with

them. i don't want to talk about politics with them. you cannot engage in a civil way with them. they are just on another level. i personally think that it is a cult. i tweet that way all the time. it's something i've never seen before in this country, people following this man, particularly quick -- christians who i know to be morally good people, they follow a man who is one of the most amoral people i've ever seen, objectively. i feel for him and the best thing i can say is i hope they can find their way back to each other. trying to have that conversation is useless, i've done it, it's not worth it. on the issue of -- what else did he say? host: a criminal running for president is a topic that has come up. we talked about what's in the constitution and the requirements for someone to be president. not being a criminal is not one of them. guest: listen, the founders didn't for see this. they just didn't. in their logic and wisdom when it pertained to someone who was

a former president, the impeachment clause is therefore exactly the reason it's there. if you engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors or other appropriate -- inappropriate conduct, in the senate and the house of representatives have the right in the ability to remove you to do whatever they need to to make sure you don't hold office again. i don't think any of the founders ever foresaw a donald trump because in their common sense, who would elect -- john talks about the importance of morality in civic leadership, the moral and virtuous government. i wrote about this. we have gotten away from that model, which is a show for another day, but let me say back to the childless chicks pac, this election will be one of the most consequential of our lifetimes. we will be making a decision about which way we go and the way that we treat each other has to be a centerpiece of what we

look at because the way that we treat each other now is not respectful, decent, or in order and we saw that with a caller who called and said to another human being who wanted children so much the way that i did and could not have them, not through my choice, but because of biology and fate -- it's something that is a sore subject to this day. it's still a painful thing and i don't know the vice president's story about why she didn't have biological children, but she is a stepmom. to somehow say that if you are a stepmom or a bonus mom that you are less than? i didn't have children but i have wonderful nieces that i adore and was blessed to have in my life, that somehow i am less than or that we shouldn't participate in our government? again, it's a level of discourse i've never seen before and i'm concerned about it. i hope that we are able to do better by one another in respect our differences in different viewpoints and still be able to have a drink or share coffee or have a glass of wine and find

the things that unite us, because there is a lot more we have in common, even when we disagree on some things. host: one more call in the two minutes we have left. leon, flint, michigan, fellow independent of yours. good morning. caller: good morning, yes, i would like to make a comment on how everyone keeps saying that donald trump is a felon. felonies are not tried in district court. guest: this guy is just wrong. he's a felon, he's a convicted felon. felons are tried in any court with jurisdiction, i'm a lawyer, where you committed a crime. there are class a misdemeanors, class b felonies, misdemeanors, general court, district court, federal court for white-collar crimes, etc., the department of justice, corporate crime. yes, he is a convicted felon and

this gets back to what i said about this mindset, it's not level, it's not right. they don't deal in facts. donald trump is a convicted felon who will be sentenced in a couple of weeks because the judge decided he wasn't going to wheat -- wait until after the election, as he should not. if i had done what trump did, we would be in jail waiting for sentencing and if we couldn't post bond, which i assume was significant in this case do not have to go to jail to wait until you were sentenced and to on 00 are, i am a part of that -- that's just deceptive and not super true. he is a felon and i'm sorry that people can't deal with that. host: sophia nelson is the founder of "childless chicks for harris," what can they do if they want to find out about it? guest: you can find our website, we are an unaffiliated pac and we will send those funds over the harris campaign. host: appreciate your time.

see you down the road. guest: you bet. host: 30 minutes left in >> "washington journal" continues. -- 30 minutes left in "washington journal" this morning. do you talk politics at work? how do you navigate that? how does ago? we will get to your calls after the break. phone numbers are on the screen. ♪ ♪ saturday, american history tv features historic convention speeches. watch notable remarks from nominees and political figures of the past decade. george w. bush excepts the republican presidential nomination in 2000 and addresses leadership in america. >> our opportunities are too great, our lives are too short to waste this moment. so, tonight we vow to the nation that we will seize this moment

of american promise and use these good times for great goals. >> watch historic convention speeches saturdays at 10 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span two. ♪ >> c-spanshop.org is the c-span online store. welcome to our latest collection of c-span products, apparel, books, home the core and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. every purchase helps to support our nonprofit organization. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. >> the c-span bookshelf podcast feed makes it easy for you to listen to all of the c-span podcasts that feature nonfiction books in one place so that you can discover new authors and ideas and each week we make it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with critically a cap claimed authors

discussing biography, history, current events, and culture. listen to the c-span bookshelf podcast feed today. you can find it and all of our podcasts on the free c-span now mobile video apps or wherever you get ur podcasts and on our website, c-span.org/podcasts. ♪ [gavel] >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, with balanced and unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policy is debated and decided with the support of the american cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: got about 30 minutes left

in the program and in that time, we are asking you the question that we started our program with today, do you talk politics at work? having done this in the wake of a recent gallup survey showing 45% of employees talk politics at work, we want to know how those conversations go for you and how you navigate them. you can check out the gallup poll from last week. that is when they put up the report, having the conversation this morning. 10 a.m. this morning, want to let you know that if you stay here on c-span, we will be taking you to the brookings institution on the discussion of the key takeaways from the dnc in chicago, that's live at 10 a.m. eastern here on c-span, c-span.org, d the free c-span now deapp. a couple of other events going on today on the c-span networks. 2:00 p.m., you can watch candidate donald trump, he is speaking at the national bar

association conference today. we will air it live on c-span.org and the free c-span app. 3 p.m. today, times are all eastern of course, the bipartisan house task force investigates the attempted assassination of former president trump and will be in butler county, pennsylvania at the rally site for a news conference today, we will air that live, 3 p.m. eastern here on c-span, c-span about working in the free c-span now at. with that, turning the phones over to you about whether you talk politics at work and how that is going these days. phone lines are for republicans, democrats, independents. russell, independent line, go ahead. caller: hey, you know everybody calls trump a felon, right? if my grandmother would have been in new york and been charged, she would have gotten

republican host:. host:the question we are talking about is do you talk politics at work? caller: i talk about it with my friends at home, we are all host: retired. host:did you talk about it at work and what line of work are you in? caller: i was a roofer. yeah we did. host: did everyone have the same opinions? caller: back then we was democrats when democrats had half a brain. r now thereetarded -- host: all right. rosemary, what line of work are you in? caller: i don't work, i'm retired. host: did you talk politics when you worked? how did you navigate those conversations? caller: [indiscernible] i was retired. host: did you feel like you talk

about politics in the factory a lot? caller: yes, we did. i was not calling about that. i was going with the lady you had on earlier. host: sophia nelson is not with us, we will have her back do the road. we want to make time for this discussion there were a lot of calls we didn't get to in the first hour of our program today. quesons we didn't get into, do you talk politics at work? jerry is in houston, texas, independent. go ahead. caller: i will get to your question -- [inaudible] the reason we no longer talk -- you have my brother on -- the reason we don't talk -- i'm calling because i need to set the record straight. we no longer talk because he was inappropriate to my children in that's why. that's immediately not gonna

happen. i do talk politics at work. host: you are saying you are the brother of the person who called in earlier? boston. this is -- lost him. this is rose, illinois. caller: i called the doctor that other lady, wait a long time. -- to talk to that other lady, waited a long time. politics was a no-no, the bosses didn't like it, i work for the state. they didn't like it because they were all leftists. i was -- i never had a voice. so, i kept quiet. host: were you a part of a union? caller: i talk to the seniors all the time and they are willing to talk today. i didn't know that satan was a democratic woman. host: all right. michelle, marilyn, good morning. -- maryland, good.

are you with us? caller: he's talking to you. caller: hello? what is this? host: do you talk politics at work, michelle? caller: no, i called george washington university hospital. host: this is c-span, not the hospital. i hope you are ok, if you need to call the hospital, please hang up in do that, michelle. christian, independent line. do you talk politics at work? host: i try not to -- caller: i try not to, it's pretty unavoidable. a young person came up to me to tell me how good unions were. one week later, they talked to me and don't let the bosses hear

you and then i was fired. that's politics in our country. speaking about it at work. host: did you have a chance to plead your case? caller: no. i mean, they, they told me that -- you know, i got the performance review and everything. they told me i wasn't a good team worker. they didn't overtly say that you are talking about unionization, but they tried to say that your head is not in the game, even though i was trying to do my best. you can read between the lines when you hear people talking conservatively and you work for a big company that has given millions to antiunion type efforts. yeah. i just hope that people are aware that there are still big

corporations who come down on the workers for political ideals and there are not protections for them. host: anna hsu, republican line, what line of work are you in? caller: at this point in my life i am a blind and disabled woman but when i worked i worked for an attorney and not only did we discuss politics, it was during the john kerry campaign and i was able to work as a dnc representative for my precinct through my office. there were police officers who came in to pick up the signs for their yard at our office. i have always talked politics to anyone who looked will listen. unfortunately, a lot of people don't. host: you were working for john kerry but are a republican now? caller: yes, sir. host: when did you make the change? caller: 2016. i had been a lifelong democrat and as many people say,

including rfk junior in his speech the other day, i did not leave my party, my party left me . hands down. a lot of americans feel that way. i watched a woman speak earlier, she was talking about how she was a republican that became a democrat. i don't understand that. again, i'm a blind woman and i sit in my home and listen to what's going on in the world and i'm amazed that people with eyes cannot see what's going on while i am piecing together the pieces of the puzzle in my head to understand what's happening. she also said that the democrats would save democracy, however you cannot tell me one person who voted for kamala harris to make her the democratic representative nominee. and by definition in my opinion is destroying democracy. host: democratic line, asheville, north carolina, good

morning. caller: good morning. i am a cdl class a truck driver. i typically try to avoid talking politics at work. in my line of work, there's not a ton of people who share my beliefs. but i do feel that because of that, i have to speak up from time to time and there are these generalizations that people make like in the text thread with my boss or my coworkers, someone will just fire off a maga or this past father's day, it was happy father's day -- unless you lost your father -- in which case our father in heaven looks after you. i had to speak up and say hey this is an appropriate. i don't tickets appropriate to talk about politics and religion at work, but sometimes i feel i have to speak up to defend myself and not just have people

assume my beliefs. host: you are out driving trucks most days. caller: yes, sir. host: in terms of who you're talking to on the radio when you are driving, do you talk politics on the radio with folks as you drive around the country? caller: to be honest with you, i will get on the radio and troll a lot of these guys. it's a lot of low information super trump guys on their who fire off -- there who fire off conspiracy theories and hate speech and i like to get on there and say you are an idiot. so much of this stuff is not based in fact that they believe in. it's just like, they fire off like, like it's the truth. host: do you ever have the conversations face-to-face or at a truck stop when you meet and is it a different conversation than putting something on the radio? caller: absolutely.

i do a lot of tongue biting because so many of these trump supporters have violent tendencies or stickers on their car that say things like -- if you voted for joe biden, eff you, all of these things that are violent and confrontational and i feel unsafe around them because they are so -- so prone to lean into a violent situation or a violent means to end a conversation. i have been threatened with violence before by saying who i like or that i am going to vote for harris. just because of, you know, i live in a pretty rural area, i am around a lot of these truckers all the time and a lot of these guys, they want to fight you if you believe different things than them. host: are you driving right now? where are you headed? caller: i am, want me to honk the horn for you? host: i really do.

[laughter] where are you headed and what are you hauling? caller: paper from a paper mill, drop it off, pick up cardboard to be brought from a shipping center. host: can i hear the horn before you hang up? caller: i'm on a headset, not sure if you will hear it. [honk honk] host: that was taylor, appreciate the call in the horn. houston, independent, good morning. what line of work are you in? caller: believe it or not, i work on election polls. host: you are a volunteer? caller: you get paid, so it's a job. and we are not allowed to talk, not supposed to talk, so the idea -- how do you talk with these people knowing that you've got people on both sides,

republican and democrat, pretending to be one way or the other? you don't. because in general they are going to be polarized. so, you try and ask questions and not bring up subjects. the more you bring it up, the more contentious it is. host: are you talking about the fellow volunteers getting paid working for the day? you are talking about having those conversations with them and not the people coming into vote? caller: no, the people in your down time, talking to them, eventually you are going to talk about the election -- not the election -- but people in general. the subjects come up because the topics are still there. how is your economy, how is this going, how is that going? they bring it up, but they bring it up with their slant and they will say at the way they want to say it and you have got to get the subject to change back to

away from the politics. host: are you going to be working in november? caller: hopefully. it depends on how my health is on that day. host: how many years have you been at the polls on election day? caller: probably about 20. host: all in houston? caller: all in houston, all in the same county, all -- well, it fluctuates. i work on either party depending on which one needs me. host: talking about primary day? caller: every day. when you are in this area, you have the requirement that you be working in a party. generally, the judges in your area are picked in the party that has, that the governor was won. and then the assistant judge is in the other party.

when they start to work at the polls, it's a primary judge from the county who then eventually gets the job. and then, you know, sometimes the democrats have openings, sometimes the republicans have openings, but in general you will be working with one of two parties if you are independent because you don't have an independent party running anything in the state or county. host: chris, thanks for telling us how it works in houston. 10 minutes left in the program. stephen, back in fargo, good morning. caller: yes. i'm a republican voter. i was -- i voted -- actually, i kind of moved more republican in about 2012. i voted for obama the first time. i voted for bill clinton both times. grew up in a democratic family.

as i heard other callers say, the party left me. i went to the republicans. host: what happened in the obama first term where you felt you didn't want to support him for reelection? >> the things he did. he was a very progressive, made a lot of really progressive moves. i don't believe in the progressive party. i believe, you know, i would rather teach a guy to fish then give a guy to fish. they want to give the fish away. host: what line of work for you in in fargo? caller: i'm a wealth manager. yeah. host: does politics come up at the office much? caller: comes up every day. even my clients bring it up. they are concerned about what's going on in the country.

so, i have to, you know, give them objective advice on both sides and say, you know, it's up to you. you know, what you want to do. i try to keep it very objective. but like i said, at the end of the day i think less regulation is more important for business, because even in my business, the head of the dnc ran the finra that governs us and they put so many things in place that made it so hard for us to do business with what was best for the client. even if we charge the client less, they wanted us to do what they wanted us to do, you know what i mean? host: as a wealth manager, what's your objective advice to a client that comes in and says to you in one of your meetings -- what happens to my portfolio if trump wins, what happens to my portfolio if harris wins?

caller: i tell them, here's the thing, if donald trump wins, there will be less regulation and that's going to be good for business. if harris wins, there's going to be more regulation, higher minimum wage, and as we have all seen, as the minimum wage goes up, companies try to automate more. like i'm not -- i was in mcdonald's, prime example. go to a lot of mcdonald's now, there is an ipad and in you put your own order in. there's nobody taking your order. that's 510 or $20 jobs that disappeared. a robot never gets tired, it shows up for work every day, and they just keep moving. host: that's stephen out of north dakota. this is jeff in kent, ohio, democrat. what line are you in? caller: good morning.

good morning, america. we have an interesting situation. it's an event center. we have different people in different families all the time having different kinds of events. weddings, baby showers, bridal showers. what we have -- we -- we, you know, we stay away from it. we stay away from it. there is no need to talk about it. in any event, the one thing that we do, we get a great cross-section. we see people of all religions. all ethnic backgrounds. we love them. we welcome them. the thing that crosses my mind this morning is the fact that we are pretty much a divided nation. when we start to vilify each other -- and yes, use race as a cudgel to make votes, to get votes -- and i'm a democrat,

lifelong democrat, i voted for obama twice. i see a poison entering our system. i hate it. because i love this country. we have such great people. we see it every week. so, i'm just asking for everyone to take a deep breath. take a deep breath and instead of finding a way to garner votes or a way to win an argument, try to find a way to tell your fellow man and woman that you love them. you might disagree but that you love them anyway and we can find a way out of this. but right now, i'm concerned. that's what i have to say this morning. you know? host: that is jeff in ohio. staying in the buckeye state, cleveland, what line of work are you in? caller: manufacturing. host: does politics come up in

your job? caller: based on what we are involved in, politics is nowadays a very common problem, unfortunately, with basically -- you can't get away from it anymore. everyone is always talking about one side or the other, one situation or another. host: what kind of manufacturing? caller: aluminum manufacturing for apparatus and strength training. host: and its politics every day? caller: seems like it's online based. whenever you are on the phone with anybody, everybody saying something about one side or the other and it really is a situation now -- it's not a situation of moderate or not. it's much more about -- it's really a populist situation now and that's the problem. it's a populist situation where the trump people are completely

-- just crazy about the trump thing. it's like it's not even a discussion of politics anymore. it's a total situation where it's almost like they've been indoctrinated. if you say anything good about tim walz or kamala harris, it becomes a vilification discussion about how crazy you are and it just takes over somebody's entire soul, spirit, and mind. everyday religion. everyday topics no matter where you are, you can't get away from it now. it's much worse with the trump side then with the harris-walz side. host: what do you do to unplug and get away? caller: basically, i don't unplug or get away from any of it. i go after everything had on and i'm upfront about the policies, the sides, the situations as they are. i like to have everything up front and direct regarding what's going on with each party. i think that both parties, you

know -- i strongly believe that harris will win the election. i'm 100% confident. not because of anything she's doing right or wrong, it's a matter of the trump side spewing negativity and division all day, all night. with that fact, harris-walz being positive, i like to push that narrative. no matter what the policies are. they are going to be -- policy wise they will be moderate when they get in. the trump manse stuff is all negative all the time and people just don't want to see that all day, all night. that's all that they push, negativity. when people want to see it at the voting booth, it's a joyous moment with people. they want the real people. people happy with the positive all the time. that last moment of voting, they aren't going to say that we want the endless, negative, divisive nonsense rhetoric all day and all night, they don't want that.

they want drama 24/7, they want upbeat. host: got your point. this is timothy, kingsport, tennessee, republican. go ahead. caller: yes, sir. i look at it from a different point of view. i have a tendency to put my name on ballots. not only am i looking from the outside in, i'm looking from the inside out and the one thing that i have learned is that it is always about one issue. democrat, republican, independent. it's always about the money. host: when you say that you put your name on ballots, you are saying you vote for yourself? caller: no, i'm a candidate. host: gotcha. who do you run -- caller: i encourage everyone to put their name on their ballot input in there to know how they work. host: what do you run for?

are you still with us, timothy? caller: yeah, you was gonna ask me a question? sorry. host: what do you run for, what office? caller: partisan, republican, and nonpartisan city, here i live at. in the last election i was in, the voting day was august the first. to give you a good idea about the money, there was four candidates and two candidates spent over $40,000 for a job that pays $350 a month. why would they do that if it isn't about the power prestige from the backers? at the federal level, it's the exact same thing. it's always about the money. they talk about it at my work, they know i'm politically active. not only do i talk it, i walk

it. yes, i have people who talk to me about their viewpoints. i'm a true believer and an advocate for the people. i don't care what your viewpoint is, as long as you go vote. that lady before hand was right. we live in the freest country in the world except for government regulations and we have a dismal voting percentage. there's countries out there that are 90 -- where 90% of the population will come to vote and they don't have no say in in the united states you have a say and most people find some other reason to not go vote. host: host: what line of work are you in? caller: i'm a tax man. i deal with regulations from the federal government and state government. host: timothy, where are you on

taxes in this presidential election, the issue of tax and how much attention it's getting? caller: i'm a true believer in a flat tax. every tax law is designed to benefit some special interest or somebody. it's all about the money. always will become always has been. always will be, always has been. every president from george washington all the way through to president trump, every one of them, what they would say is that one of the things the author would ask them, your greatest achievements, and they said how many antitrust lawsuits we was able to bring during the presidency and how many terrorists --