♪ host: good morning. it's monday. september 16. yesterday at about 1:30 in the afternoon the secret service

spotted a man with an ak-style rifle and scope in the bushes a few hundred yards from where former president trump was golfing. the secret service fired on the suspect who dropped his rifle and fled. he was later apprehended and is in custody. the f.b.i. says it, quote, appears to be a assassination attempt. mr. trump was not injured. this first half-hour of the program we are getting your thoughts and reaction to the news. here's how to call us, democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. and indtkepbts, 202-748-8002. -- independents, 202-748-8002. you can text us at 202-748-8003. include your first name and city, state. you can post on social media facebook.com/c-span. and x @cspanwj. welcome to the program. we'll start with the associated press. their article about this that

says that u.s. secret service agents stationed a few holes up from where trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an ak-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. an agent fired, and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an s.u.v. leaving the firearm behind, along with two backpacks. a scope, used for aiming, and a go-pro camera. according to palm beach county sheriff. the man was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county. here's what we know about the suspect. his name is ryan wesley are the outh. his picture there is on the screen. he is 58 years old. his most recent address is in hawaii, although he spent most of his life in north carolina. according to property records. he's registered as an unaffiliated voter. he voted democratic in the north carolina 2024 primary election.

we got that information from cbs news. here is law enforcement from yesterday. they held a press conference immediately following the incident. here's the county sheriff. >> 1:30 this afternoon, kuhl came out shots, fired. that was called in by secret service. because we are in constant contact with them, all the time, we were notified of that. and we had people here that immediately sealed off the area. fortunately we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, hey, i saw the guy running out of the bushes, he jumped into a black neesan, and i took a picture of the vehicle and tag. which was great. we had that information. our real time crime center put it out to the license plate readers. and we were able to get a hit on that week on i-95 as it was

headed into martin county. we got a hold of martin county sheriff's office, alerted them, they spotted the vehicle and pulled it over. and detained the guy. after that we took the victim -- sorry the witness, that witnessed the incident, flew him up there, and he identified as the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car. in the bushes where this guy was is an ak-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them, and a g-pro which he was going to take pictures of. those are being processed right now. the secret service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. what they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the president was at. and he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engaged

that individual at which time the individual took off. that's what we know about the investigation. we have somebody in custody right now that is a potential suspect. we got a little bit more work to do on it. as we usually do, as soon as we decide that we are going to book them into county jail and the charges that he's going to be booked into, we'll get those to you and we'll get a picture of him and his background. host: the sherr live there mentioned getting -- the sheriff there mentioned get ago picture. there is a picture of the suspect shortly after he was arrested in the back after police car. we do know his name. we know a little bit about him. 58 years old. this is what president biden said in a statement shortly after those shots were fired. he says this, i have been briefed by my team regarding what federal law enforcement is investigating as a possible assassination attempt of former president trump today. a suspect is in custody and i commend the work of the secret

service and their long-term partners for their vigil lance and their efforts to keep the former president and those around him safe. i am relieved that the former president is unharmed. there is an active investigation into this incident as law enforcement gathers more details about what happened. as i have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and i have directed my team to continue to ensure that secret service has every resource, cape ability, and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president's continued safety. here's what former president trump put out on his truth social account. he said this. i would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes. it was certainly an interesting day. most importantly, i want to thank the u.s. secret service, sheriff ric bradshaw and his office of brave and dedicated patriots, and all of law

enforcement for the incredible job done today at trump international in keeping me, as the 45th president of the united states, and the republican nominee in the upcoming presidential election, all caps, safe. the job done was absolutely outstanding. i am very proud to be an american. we are taking your calls this half-hour getting your reaction to that. we'll start with carlos who is in baltimore, republican. hi. caller: yeah. actually i would digress a little bit. just want to say that simply until four years turn it back over to the republicans. i just don't think -- she's beautiful. i think she lights up the room,

but she is not ready. host: carlos, your thoughts on what happened yesterday? caller: it's unfortunate. i believe trump has a mission because it wouldn't come this set up something for him to do for this country and the world. they may try again. we will be safe, we pray. host: engelwood, new jersey, line for democrats. sandra, hello. caller: hello. i'm calling because i do not believe that there was an attempt on president trump's life. i believe that it's something to

distract everyone that is involving looking at this election. i think we must be careful and wait until all the facts come out. i am very concerned that someone would want to attempt to attack him in view of the fact that he has been saying some very nice, unkind things about people. i'm very afraid and i think that our lives are in jeopardy. i'm concerned. thank you very much for taking the call. host: all right. here is in flushing, new york, independent, is it tadela?

caller: yes, good morning to you. part of the political data here. meeting our congressman, woman, whatever it is, it is difficult. no doubt you can go and handshake with your political establishment people. that's gone, unfortunately. and the sad thing is that when we talk debating, some of the things will be blown out of context like immigrants eating dogs and all these things. for me i don't take such statement as anything. if you blow up all these things and media as the main agenda of public points, it is sad. the united states is a country, a divided country. but united states is no

different than any other country. for me i don't believe in any president as a racist, he is stupid. this is going to feed to those people who want to keep people behind him. for me i -- somebody's angry. host: let's look at the suspect. this is cnn man detained in apparent assassination attempt on trump criticized former president on social media. another picture of him here. 58-year-old man detained sunday in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on trump administration in florida is is a self-employed, affordable housing builder in hawaii. went on social media to weigh in on politics and current events. at times criticizing the former

president. brian wesley routh who authorities expect was attempting to assassinate the president posted comments on an x account linked to him preferencing him. he tagged joe biden and kamala harris in separate posts encouraging them to visit those injured at the rally. quote, you and biden should visit the injured people from the trump val rally, trump will never do anything for them. it says in an april post on x, tagging president biden's presidential account, he wrote that biden's campaign should be quote, called something like kadaf, keep america democratic and free, trump should be masa, make america slaves again. democracy is on the ballot. we cannot lose. a little information about the suspect there. this is eric, berkeley springs,

west virginia, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. you know the way i see this donald trump, the way that media describes donald trump, and the democrats, like nancy pelosi, you folks have actually radicalized some of the crazy democrats. and i was watching cnn this morning and one of the talking heads actually said that he was worried that donald trump was going to use this to get more campaign cash. it's gotten to the point where you folks are going to have to cool it. you take one word like bloodbath, and you describe it like donald trump said there will be a bloodbath in the country if he's not elected. it's getting really bad. i think you folks -- some of your callers, they are

absolutely radicalized. they think this man is the devil reincarnated. i just wish you would read something positive about donald trump once in a while. or read a text message that's positive about donald trump. host: all right, eric. and here is his vice presidential candidate j.d. vance who says this on x. i'm glad president trump is safe. i spoke to him before the news was public and he was amazingly in good spirits. still much we don't know, but i'll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude. and robert, warrensburg, missouri, democrat, good morning. caller: yes. i think donald trump is the cause of all that's happening to him. i love the country.

and i love democrats and republicans. but with all the hate speech that he continues to put out against everyone, he is the cause of what is happening to him. it's not democrats that's doing this to him. it's not independents. it's not republicans. it's donald trump. and he needs to take responsibility for what's happening to him. and any feelings that people have against him. again, thanks, c-span, for everything you do. and for listening. everyone 23450edz to -- needs to wake up and stop blaming everyone for what's happening to the country. it's what we do to ourselves. thank you very much. host: all right. and here is governor ron desantis of florida. he says this on x. the state of florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at trump international golf club. the people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former

president and current g.o.p. candidate. here's jason, tucson, arizona, independent. good morning. caller: good morning from southern arizona. before c-span went on the air this morning, france 24 was reporting a profile of the suspect. initially voting for trump, meandered back and forth. at the polls he did travel to ukraine just after russia invaded to kind of find himself. also trying to corral support in an anti-russian pro-ukrainian fight that was, again, just after russia invaded. back and forth somewhat of a vigilante profile being reported by france 24. host: jason, we do have more information about him. in 2002 he was charged with possession after weapon of mass detrucks, which is a felony. was also charged with misdemeanors including a

hit-and-run offense, resisting arrest, and concealed weapons violation. his x account which has been suspended included several posts about trump. he also referenced the july 13 assassination attempt on trump in multiple posts and a facebook account. under routh's name was no longer online as of sunday evening. he as the caller just mentioned, jason just mentioned, he was known for posting pro-ukraine views join line. and -- online. and we'll get you more information as that comes up. tom, ellington, connecticut, republican, hello. caller: good morning. good morning. shall everybody -- good morning, everybody. i wish that president biden would indicate the name of the individuals who informed him of the assassination attempt.

team doesn't give me enough information. i would like to know if he spoke directly with the head of the secret service and the head of the martin county police. after all he's the president of the united states. and additionally, i think that former president trump performed spepb diddley -- splendidly, i have been to his rallies, the people have been superb at the rallies. no threats whatsoever. they are fun. host: you have been to outdoor rallies, tom? caller: yes, i have. host: have you been after the july attempt? or before? caller: no. no. no. right now i'm elderly, i'm a disabled vietnam combat veteran.

and i'm satisfied with what the v.a. has afforded me with my medical care although i have private insurance. i would like to see the rallies continue. i'd like to see vice president harris and president biden also participate more publicly. take questions from the media. i'm not interested in the team. i want names and who he spoke to. did president biden actually speak with the -- i watched the testimony on c-span of the head of the secret service, and it sounds like we have --

host: you talking about the lady that stepped down, right? caller: yes. yes. put in these positions with not really the competency like an entrance examine, if it's physical, basic physical requirements regardless of gender. host: all right, tom. this is elaine in texas, democrat. hi, elaine. caller: good morning. this would make a real good "colombo" episode if he was still alive. trump knows what's going on. this man was probably paid. they know he had the record. it gives him time to campaign. and lie. host: elaine we don't know that. the investigation is still going on. so we don't know that he was hired and paid to do this. caller: you had everybody else talk. but go ahead.

the man know people looking. they are going to have pity for him and campaign and vote for him. he is disturbing the country and he ought to be locked up. bye. host: this is "the new york times" that says this, the suspected gunman had said he was willing to fight and die in ukraine. ryan wesley routh58-year-old man arrested on sunday in connection what the f.b.i. described was an attempted assassination on former president trump had expressed the desire to fight and die in ukraine. his posts on social media on x revealed a penchant for violent rhetoric in the weeks after russia's invasion of cue rain in 2022. quote, i am -- this is all caps, i am willing to fly to krakow and go to the border of ukraine to volunteer and fight and die. hear from brian, yorkville, illinois, independent. caller: good morning.

listen, i heard the first caller from engelwood, new jersey, and i just heard this woman i think the name was elaine calling that trump wasn't shot. and it points out to me this narrative that the democratic party has had going -- host: just to clarify, she was talking about this -- not the first one where he was shot but the second one. and he was actually not shot at. the alleged gunman did not fire shots. we are learning. go ahead. caller: between these two women claiming that the incident didn't happen, it was staged for trump's political publicity purposes, make him a victim and be a more sympathetic figure i'm guessing is what they were shooting for, and the narrative overall that this guy's the bane of our existence, i haven't voted for the man yet, and i vote in every general election.

but i'm going to vote for him now. part of the thing that pushes me in that direction beyond the policies is the way the democrats behaved throughout this, through biden's hoax, to kamala's more than what she was shown before. biden dropped out because she's our hope to beat trump. and in general a party that not only carried on this presidential race related hoax, but the -- this party that's so proud of having the first black woman possibly becoming president couldn't even define for you or wouldn't be willing to define what a woman is. their position is so far away from common sense and reality. unless it's contrived in a way to influence their base to get out and vote against this demon, trump. it's just completely false and

points out the fact that there has been so much throughout biden's first term that we are not seeing what we are seeing in terms of the infirmities, in terms of the inflation, cost of living in general. host: got it, brian. here's leader mcconnell in the senate, minority leader, who says this on x, very grateful president trump is safe after another attempted assassination attempt. there is no place for political violence in our country, and those responsible for it must be held to account. i hope and expect the u.s. secret service and f.b.i. will conduct a thorough, swift, and transparent investigation. dee in virginia, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: well, i'm going to have to blame all this on the democrat party. they are the ones that spread the hate.

every day i watch all channels. every day. trump, trump. threat to democracy. nancy pelosi. schumer. all of them. national tv saying this. i don't know why people think it's trump doing it all. i blame it all on the democrats party. they are the ones who need to be arrested and put in jail for saying it. and the news media, i stand behind them also. i think they need to be shut down. thank you very much. host: here is vice president kamala harris posting on x. i have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former president trump and his property in florida, and i am glad he is safe. violence has no place in america. annette, wheeling, west virginia, democrat. hi. caller: hi, can you hear me? host: yes. caller: i'd like to say that i

truly believe that trump can change our country for the debtor. now, he's going to need topnotch protection because this is twice that someone tried to harm him. i would not want biden or harris to be harmed, either. but i do believe with my inner being all of my heart that trump will make a great president if he gets in there again because i believe that he's going to change us for the better becaust biden or anything, but i believe that his administration is trying to do away with government assistance, social security, s.s.i. disability and how -- but i want to say to the

american people i hear c-span people calling in all the time and i'm just really disgusted at how people have this hatred for trump. they keep bashing him. and i just wish they would stop doing that. i mean i may not want harris or biden to be president of the united states or biden again, but i never want them to be harmed. and i just want to say thank you for your time. i want to send a message to whoever is listening to the american people that trump will make the better president. host: carla in missouri, independent, hi. caller: hi, i kind of agree with the woman from virginia. how many times have we heard

kamala harris and joe biden call trump a threat to america. and people on the edge of sanity pick up on things like that. if he's a threat he needs to be done away with, according to them. so why wouldn't they take action against him? i'm kind of sorry that c-span kind of encourages this. i'm sorry to say this, mimi, i really am, because i love c-span. i watch it every morning. and i have ever since it started when brian lamb and susan were on. but you kind of take a turn. i kind of agree you pick up on all these negative things about trump and encourage it. i'm sorry to have to say that. i really am. host: all right, carla. thanks for the feedback. frank in moorehead, kentucky, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i agree with elaine from texas, donald trump is a threat to democracy. he should be in jail.

donald trump is a tphar sissiesic -- tpharcyciesic shameless self-promoter. host: we are listening. caller: ok. donald trump is a shameless self-promoter tpharcyciesic and a threat to democracy he's the only one of the two candidates who said that he would be a dictator. he wants to be a king and he will do anything at all for media attention. host: frank, respond to the previous callers who have said that it's that kind of rhetoric from democrats that is causing this violence or this attempted violence against former president trump. what do you say to that? caller: i disagree with that. donald trump is the one that's responsible for the things that are happening to him. they are the ones who start political violence on january 6, 2021 with the attempted coup.

him and steve ban none, it's a shame all of donald trump's friends went to prison but he also didn't go to prison. he should be in prisonon with steve ban none for. so things he's do. remember when covid -- there was 150,000 people dead and donald trump said it is what it is. it's that time of uncaring self-centered attitude that sparks all of the anger and the discontent. donald trump is destroying the united states of america. and the only way to get him to be done with donald trump is to vote him out. go, kamala harris, thank you. host: this is a-- -- host: thisn x with johnson, a picture of him and his wife with trump, "we are thanking god for protecting trump today once again.

no leadern american history has endured so many attacks and remain strong and resilient, he is unstoppable." here's bradley, west virginia, good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. that gentleman from texas needs to go to kindergarten again. he's completely lost as to what causes this stuff. last tuesday was my birthday. i had been a democrat since i was 18. i went to the courthouse me and my wife and we changed our politics a republican. i was going to go independent, but with all of this garbage, like the guy is talking out of texas, it shoved me over to file and be a republican. and you know, all of this stuff going on that they are pushing, they are creating all this stuff. the guy needs to straighten up. the hillbilly guy four or five callers ago, he hit the nail on

the head. for instance, i'm sure that harris would not go into a dressing room on trump and him and that changing room trying clothes on, screaming and hollering that the lady got raped, probably it's the other way around. host: here's frank, good morning, poughkeepsie. caller: those republicans better get on the line and start lying. first the democrats, then the independent's. when you start lying like that, it means you are losing. donald trump is just what you call, an advocate for violence. he talks about haitians eating dogs and cats. causing three children's schools to get blown up.

this man, his only thought is to win back power so that he can do his 2025 agenda. he's a republican so fascinated with lies and deceptions. with kamala harris, what she did to him, putting him in a headlock, everybody's hair is on fire. this man is wreaking havoc across the country. it needs to be stopped. not by violence, but legally, so that we can all see that the king has no clothes, see him for who he is. thank you. host: we are going to go ahead and pivot to open forum. you can certainly continue to call in about this event, what

the fbi is calling an assassination attempt on former president trump at his golf course in florida. or if there are other things on your mind, you can certainly talk about that as well. here's carolyn, good morning. caller: good morning. , c-span. i would like to make a couple of comments. i cannot believe that most republicans and trump supporters are really writing on this slippery slope by saying most democrats need to be censored. seeing a lot of hateful speech, but i don't see where the censoring of donald trump, he says a lot of things but he has a free speech. democrats and everybody else can have free speech in america. donald trump, during covid, called for china china china, constantly. and then a lot of asians started getting attacked, ok?

now he's saying that he and jd vance are saying that the haitian immigrants are eating pets in ohio, killing cats and dogs? now schools are shut down? he should be responsible for what he says. i don't know if these people have selective hearing or selective seeing where they can see what he does? but a political candidate should be more responsible for what he says and what he creates. i think that it's wrong for violence to be out here, i think it's wrong for a candidate to say what he says and eventually have it erupt into violence. i think that everybody should be responsible for what they say and i will be voting as a proud democrat against donald trump. host: here is part of that press conference with the county sheriff in florida.

he was asked how this was able to happen, given the security around former president trump. here it is. [video clip] >> you got to understand, the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery and when someone goes into the shrubbery, the president is out of sight and he's not the sitting president. if he was, he would have the entire golf course surrounded but because it's not, security is limited to the areas the secret service deems possible. i would imagine the next time he comes to a golf course, there will probably be more people around the perimeter, but the secret service did exactly what they should have done, provided exactly what they should have done and of the agency did a fantastic job. host: fredericksburg, virginia, you are next. caller: i think that this rhetoric, save our democracy, has been turned in the wrong

direction. we should be worried about our republicans. we should save our republicans. a person being running for president right now who has never voted for by the people, which is supposed to be of buy for the people, has never been voted by the people. this is exactly what's going on. save our republicans. they are in dire, dire need of our votes. host: how do you make the distinction between saving a democracy and saving a republic? what's the difference to you? caller: we are a republic. we are a representative

republic. we've got democracy all over us. we've seen it on the streets, 2020, all nine years they been investigating, charging, trying to destroy donald trump. so i say save our republicans, because that's what's going on. it's in dire need of the votes to save our republic. host: akron, ohio, independent line, mike, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. this country is a democracy and a republic. the two terms are not incompatible. as was boasted. furthermore, think of akron. it means acropolis, city on a hill, a greek word for city on a hill. host: is that what you wanted to share about akron? caller: sorry, my main point is

that i had an epiphany on august 9, 1970 four, when nixon resigned. all the hatred i had for that guy disappeared. i never hated anybody in my life since then. i was 21 at that time, i'm 71 at the time now. i know what it's like living with hate. 21, i didn't know any better. another thing is -- trump -- he may well be a criminal, but he's if anything a crybaby. he's never wrong, he can't take no for an answer. there are two things to do with a crybaby. you give them a bottle and you put them to bed. host: all right. mike. russell, south carolina, good morning. caller: i never have understood

why it is ok for republicans to allow their leader to hate other people, but as soon as someone says anything about them, i think they want to attack us and say -- we are trying to beat donald trump at the ballots. donald trump is the one who spews a lot of hate. he is the one who motivates the shooting of nine people. he's the one who motivates the guy in the walmart in texas to shoot all those people. host: how do you say he motivated those shooters? caller: they don't give you the back story. a lot of those people have trump in their manifesto, they have trump guns, they are trump fans at trump rallies. they were motivated by trump. he calls the january 6 people

hostages. come on, you can't tell me that a man who spews so much hate, he wouldn't rent to black people when he had apartments in new york. he wanted to hang the central park five even though they were exonerated. even though they were exonerated, he still won't admit that he was wrong. it's not us that spewed hate. it's trump that spews hate. a man who said he was concerned about ukraine? he's upset about the view on ukraine? he wants to allow pruden to take ukraine over. he pretty much set it in the debate. we are trying to beat him at the ballot. i voted for biden. i get sick when i hear all of these republicans saying that, kamala never received a

vote. yes, she did. she was on the ticket with biden. but please, continue to push her hate, but don't accuse us of hate. host: here is "the new york times," saying that trump's golfing has long posed a protective challenge for the secret service, which prefers armored vehicles and enclosed buildings the golf carts and the wide open expanses to fairways and greens. members of the protective detail are always close at hand, but the agency plus approaches to guarding him on the golf course have been inconsistent, even during appearances at semi public events like invitational golf tournaments. damien, floral, maryland, republican, good morning. caller: how are you? wow, 2016 i voted for trump.

2020 i voted for the libertarian. i live in maryland. my republican and independent votes don't count. how am i going to vote this year? oh my god. that democrat from like 10 calls a go, you asked him a question about like how do you think your language contributes to violence? after he said that he said something interesting. he said that trump has no -- that when trump was hit by covid, he had no compassion. no compassion for trump? that made me realize that either trump is a psycho, he can't feel compassion for the american people. he only thinks about himself, that's true. but then kamala harris, who is she? two thousand 19, she was a

totally different person. the big thing from her, the border, they totally failed the border. we've got millions of illegals in this country. they are just wreaking havoc, havoc, on communities now. host: have you decided who you are going to vote for? caller: the only way i have to judge trump is his presidency. he talks some crazy stuff, but at least we were not in a war. but i have to give it to the democrats, he totally screwed up on covid. when it was before covid, which he could really control and which china has a big role in, they need to pay a lot of money for all the damage they did. but yeah, i'm still swinging. i'm a swinging idiot.

host: well, call us back in a month, damien, let us know what you decide. host: -- caller: ok, thank you. host: this is from damien on facebook, "what better outcome could you want from this hyperbole? it all needs to be toned down and stepped back, including most of the media. lindsay says that she's glad no one got injured and that at the trump rally a man behind him was shot to death so the fact that no one sustained a fatal wound this time is great news. here is charles in maryland. democrat, good morning. caller: c-span, how are you doing? host: c-span is doing great.

how are you? caller: being an american means hitting the powerball, multicultural society. but if you have problems with others, haitians, african-americans, donald trump is into dividing, not into multiplying. the man is always dividing. whose different? what's your skin pigmentation and your politics? that's the division. they divide and trump plays on the emotional part of the division. he started that hatred stuff. look at what happened to nancy pelosi. the people in texas, that shooter in new york who went into that shopping center and shot all of those black people. somebody started the hatred before donald trump. it was him and he would still have been president if he hadn't

lied about the pandemic. hundreds of thousands of people died because he didn't tell the truth, he couldn't tell the truth, he couldn't handle it because he wanted his way. even today, he's still trying to make the border an issue because he told them not to pass any border laws that would inflate violence. democrats and republicans. he set up a bill to run on it, lies, lies, lies, lying lies and more lies. host: republican line, jack. caller: yes, ma'am. good morning. i fly 12 flags in front of my house. i support donald trump, but sometimes donald trump needs to

really investigate things before he throws them out there. he's a good man. i think kamala harris is a fine lady. i don't agree with her politics on a lot of things. but i think that her sincerity -- i think she really means what she wants to try to do. but getting back to donald trump , i never believed that people were trying to eat dogs. haitians eating dogs in ohio? he really needs to investigate things before he says the things that he does. i do think that the man is qualified to do the things he says, but it's how you approach people. i don't think all the news media is against donald trump at all.

but -- and you can't -- you can't -- you can't get out there and say what you said eight years ago. i commend the man and i'm going to vote for him. but he needs to, he needs to stay on the issues of what's going on today, like immigration . yes, there's a big problem with that and it needs to be solved. but he needs to preplan. tell people what he's going to do and quit saying what he done nine years ago. and not -- people. and i mean this on both sides, now. it's on both sides. it takes two to tango. both of the candidates need to tell the people what they are gonna do for us. i've heard democrats and republicans say it.

we are the people. c-span, y'all are neutral. i don't agree when the people come out and say what y'all say against y'all. y'all are right there in the middle. but donald trump, before he says things, he needs to investigate things and not say things that are not clarified, because i don't believe people are trying to eat dogs. host: ok. got your point. houston, independent, good morning. caller: this guy is just on and on and on. it's always something with this guy. every day. it's always bad. this guy, it's always something. he takes advantage of people that have, like instead of low educated voters? it's always something with this

guy. it's all fun and games until somebody gets really, really hurt or killed. shortly before september, it was somebody, somebody, promoting all this hatred. how many presidential candidates have we seen the put out all these things like trump on social media. i voted for mitt romney. i voted for obama as well. these guys, it's always something with these guys. it's everything. putting something out there that is just so way out left field about how they are going to destroy this country.

all of us getting along? everybody is supposed to come together? dividing us to take over? this border immigration stuff, he's the one who killed the deal so that he could run on it. how many people do you know the do stuff like that. that want to take advantage of a problem rather than solve it? if this guy wins? every day will be like this. obama had an economy that was booming. run on that. host: "the washington post," " trump posts i hate taylor swift," days after her endorsement of kamala harris. "the republican presidential nominee took a truth social to rage against the singer who has

280 4 million instagram followers -- 284 million instagram followers. john, you're next, minnesota. caller: i'm a progressive democrat and have been for over 40 years, but i have seen this degeneration of the country as a result of the media system and then, also, very aggressive right wing religion. mixing the two, it creates a toxic brew. a brew based on hatred. i have been on a road trip, here . i've come through south dakota from some other very red states. you hear what they say on these religious stations. you know, this is what is really driving a lot of this. there's a whole group of disaffected people that we've

created, a class of people that we have created in this country that both political parties don't listen to, nor does corporate america. they sit in washington, d.c., they tell people how to think and who they are and they are tired of it. so, i understand why people latch on to a group of people that supports them and then they vote for somebody who is just appalling and their leaders tell them that it doesn't matter, you know? he's serving god? it's pathetic. this is what you -- this is how you step a society into fascism. fascism, fascism, fascism. it's a mixture of corporate greed and bad religion and people who are led astray.

our democracy is teetering on the edge. if donald trump becomes president, he promises to have, you know, just basically replace the 100 some odd years of the administrative state that was created by both parties and he is going to make life miserable. i agree with the last caller. he's going to make life miserable for people and people don't get it. host: redford, michigan, alex. caller: i'm a 32-year-old african-american. i'm trans and i'm actually a trump supporter. i know i have every reason, statistically or stereotypically, i guess, to be a democrat, but i kind of see past what i like to think of as

the end. i'm currently on the road heading to my second job, because with this economy there's no way i would be able to make ends meet with just one job. it's prices are skyrocketing. i just, even though i am young, i'm still managing a household, you know? i was renting, to be honest with you, during the trump administration. my rent was $600 for a two bedroom home. that was a house in an apartment. now my rent is $1300 $75 for a three death $1375 for a three bedroom home. grocery price in not only that, you get less groceries for more money. i'm not talking about, you know, items. i'm saying the packaging is actually smaller at this point. as far as immigration, i found

it a bit this disturbing that our vice president is a borders are. -- border czar. with everything going on with immigration, don't get me wrong, i'm completely for people interning in the country, the way it's been designed for so many years, but to just come in and using an app? we will catch up to you in for years to five years? that's bizarre. i really think it's going to hurt the economy more than help. you know, especially with the benefits and everything that they are able to receive. that's coming out of my paycheck and i'm not ok with that. host: all right, alex. this is ned in maryland. caller: good morning.

first i want to say, the caller from georgia was great, a supporter from trump who recognizes the danger to public discourse of the candidates rhetoric. he understood. he also defended c-span. i think, like he does, you guys are trying very hard to be on bard. i'm not a fan of mr. trump. i don't want him to win. i think he is a threat to our democracy. murdering him would be the end of our republic. it's obviously not a solution and it's much worse than his rhetoric. i also want to note that by writing i hate taylor swift in all caps, i felt very uneasy when i read that. it sounds akin to -- will someone me this meddlesome priest. it's upsetting that that kind of thing is going on in public

discourse. here's -- host: here's bob, connecticut. caller: hello, c-span. how do you expect us to feel, my goodness, when a vice president almost got killed? whether they were kidding or not ? i agree with biden, we don't want nobody to get hurt, but how do they expect us to feel about the situation that happened to trump when he got off the phone with his vice president, somebody calling him about what they were going to do to the vice president, like oh well? that's all i wanted to say. i don't know. i don't know how they think you're supposed to feel. thank you. host: coming up next on "washington journal,"omberg

senior reporter jonathan tamari and an update on whether congress can avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month just weeks before the election. we'll be right back. ♪ >> the book is called "behind closed doors: in the room with reagan and nixon." if the title of a memoir by a man who worked closely with both. was a speechwriter and confidant to nixon and reagan back in the 60's, 70's and 80's. near the end of his book, khach

igian writes "i spent a decade and a half enclose confidential contact with those presidents." in 1991 reagan and nixon were together chatting about history, khachigian kept notes of the conversation which he revealed in his memoir. >> the book "behind closed doors: in the room with reagan and nixon" on this episode of book notes+. book notes+ c-span mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. attention middle and high school students across america, it is time to make your voice heard. c-span studentcam documentary competition is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness and make an impact. your documentary should answer the question your message to the president: what issue is most important to you or your community? whether you are passionate about

politics, the environment or community stories, studentcam is your platform to share your message with the world. win $100,000 in prizes including a grand prize of $5,000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact, but also be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. enter your submissions today. scan the code or visit studentcam.org for all the details on how to enter. the deadline is january 20, 2025. washington journal continues. host: we are joined now by jonathan tamari. tell us about the house and senate schedules for the remainder of the month. guest: today's actually a pretty quiet day despite the looming shutdown at the end of the month. the senate comes in late, the

house is not back until tomorrow and then they are scheduled to be in the following week and theoretically, that is when they are supposed to get things done, by the end of that week. there's not a lot of days left that are actually going to be in session. host: as far as the house goes, how is gop how far community? are they on the same page? guest: they are rallying the conference and there caucus around funding the government beyond september 30. there a lot of disputes about how long this bill should be, whether people vote for it at all, whether it should last until december, whether it should last until march, whether it should be attached to different policies on immigration for their should be a clean funding bill that gets it done and avoids a disaster before the election. so they haven't been able to get together yet, which has been a

recurring theme throughout this congress. house republicans have a very small majority and it had a hard time getting together. host: so where does this stand now, because speaker johnson has had a bill and then pulled it any found that he wasn't going to have enough votes. guest: it is essentially in the same place we were a week ago. that is with the only proposal that is on the table right now, speaker johnson says that he is going to fight for it, that he's talked about the save act, which is a bill that requires proof of citizenship when you register to vote. that is something really important. he talks about not having anything into march being very important for him because republicans don't want stuff at the end of the year with a laugh on the hill which has been seen very frequently at the end of each year. he also hasn't proposed an alternative.

so we're kind of waiting and watching. the endgame seems pretty obvious, i think, that at some point there is a compromise and obvious short-term bills that can work for senate democrats and republicans. but we're kind of still waiting to move through the process to get there. host: short-term and clean cr? guest: i think that is most likely. democrats want that, the white house wants that. so you have a lot of people on the same page and then just house republicans conference time and on the island right now. host: with take a look at what the save act is. it stands for the support american voter eligibility act. it requires proof of citizenship to vote in a federal election. it passed the house in july, 221-198. all republicans and five

democrats voted in favor. no senate plans have been planned of yet and it was introduced by senator chip roy of texas. what is the opposition of the democratic side to the act? first, guest: they say that on principle you shouldn't be able to hold -- to pass a funding priority that you couldn't get otherwise. funding the government is a basic responsibility, you don't attach other acts to that. and even some of the democrats who voted for the bill the first time around so they wouldn't vote for it under the circumstances. more broadly they point out that is already illegal to vote if you are an undocumented immigrant, so you're already not allowed to vote and there's not any evidence that this happens with any significance, and any numbers that can make a real difference in collections. for they are saying it is gratuitous and unnecessary and the kind of thing that democrats

view would discourage voting or discourage people from registering to vote. host: i want to show you the headline from the wall street journal that says that trump calls for government shutdown -- i don't have it to show to you, but it says trump calls for government shutdown if voting laws are changed. is that the policy for a lot of republicans, that it is ok to shut down the government? are they willing to own that, any sense? guest: there's probably a small segment of republicans willing to shutdown the government, but i don't think it's the majority. there have been enough republicans where willing to defy trump on this kind of issue, whether it is the debt ceiling or shutting down the government, that there is enough votes to get a funding bill through. there are a number of republicans who are in swing districts, they do not want to

have a shutdown this close to election day. they think that would be just a terrible sign of republican governance and their ability to hold a house, so they don't want to do it. there's a lot of institution with republicans in the senate who also want to fund the government, they think it is a basic responsibility. i think there will be a lot of republicans voted against it, but know that the votes are there to vote for it. i think it only a very small sliver who are actually rooting for a government shutdown at this point. host: and we will take your calls for jonathan, you can start calling in now. the lines are democrats, (202) 748-8000. caller: republicans, (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002 independent,. last week you were reporting that house minority leader hakeem jeffries said that a fight must be resolved this calendar year. signaling they supposed to a

six-month dr. can you elaborate on that, and where democrats are and how unified they might be? guest: democrats are pretty unified, and this all ghostly tradition here in washington where we get a whole bunch of hills that are critical, must-have bills, policies that are expiring unless these bills passed by the end of the year, and what happens is they all pileup in december and the kind of forget done any real quick rush to the exit. some of them are retiring, some of them have lost reelection. everybody in washington is thinking about getting back to their families, home for the holidays. with that pressure, all these things pass quick by partisans or. and there are democrats and republicans that support this process because it is a chance for them to attach a lot of their policies to what they called a moving vehicle, something that is actually going

to get over the line. so this is a tradition, both parties do it. but republicans are opposed to it because they say listen, we get all the things crammed together and some are good, some are bad, you have to vote up or down on all of these, and they say there's a lot of spending make it came through. the other side is that democrats and some republicans say we want to get it all done by the end of the year. the first order of business for the new president is this same fight all over again because pushing this deadline to march, their first 100 days are going to be consumed by this same issue. someone like susan collins, a topper public and appropriate or says the new president should have a clean slate when they come in and get it done december. host: so what do you think this funding battle means for speaker johnson's feature is leader? >> it is more his personal

stakes may be than the overall outcome. for him, he's going to have to run for reelection as the republican leader whether he becomes speaker again or to be minority leader if they lose the house. and remember, he came in under some pretty extraordinary circumstances. he was kind of the least common denominator that everybody could get behind. and what unclear is in an open election situation, he'll have the majority of this conference or even if he has the majority, he will have enough of this conference to become the speaker. and here, he could potentially be forth into a compromise that a lot of republicans don't like. so that is partly probably why he's trying to fight that idea. so he can tell his most conservative members, look, i'm fighting against the democrats

and chuck schumer, you should support me. the problem with his challenges that it is a compromise now and a compromise again in december that's two compromises right before the january speaker to election, and some of his numbers might not look very kindly on that. host: what else are you looking at to happen in congress this week, or isn't going to be all funding? guest: there's no time probably to pass anything of substance that is going to go to the president's desk to be signed. there is certainly going to be some messaging bills from both parties to try to get some last points before they all go back to their districts to campaign. the senate is planning to bring up a bill on ivf. donald trump has said he is a supporter of ivf and the democrats are going to say let's put this bill on the floor. and if they can backup that talk or not. in the house, republicans are going to put up a number of bills that deal with campus

protests, what they call woke policies, and they are going to propose on the floor and see how the democrats vote. they are each trying to put their rivals in an awkward position. host: let's talk to callers. sean in florida, democrat. caller: yes. what is the status of the proposed military pay raise, and with that be included in any cr? guest: so i don't believe at the moment that that would be included in a cr. i think most likely, that kind of cr would just be a continuation of existing policy. this is part of the democrats argument for having a cr in december, i think it would set up a situation where they try to

address those type of issues in december, address the kind of things that are either expiring or need to be updated with one last package of spending bills. kind of on a related note, some of the republican to her against a long cr say that they need to fund the military and that if you just keep the government running at the current level, you don't get to do that until march. i think those are the types of things that we look at the end of the year. host: russell, florida, republican. caller: yes ma'am, i'd like to comment against migrant eating pets. i actually reported the same thing to the police here in holiday. i live one block away from the water and there is a power plant right there with it a smokestack and three parts and a dog park and there's a trail that goes

through the woods, a bike trail. and when i go through there, i see these migrants and i reported that they are coming in through the power plant right there and when i went through there on the bike trail one time i seen this migrant with a little canvas backpack and he looked like he just got off the boat and he had somebody's pet and cutting down a big tree like he is going to take it out there and hang out like a deer and i reported that when they were camping out there. host: all right, russell. what is happening with border immigration, anything we expecting this week? guest: not specifically this week. the save act is kind of a border immigration related issue. immigration policy is one of the few things that does unite his caucus.

but attached to a spending bill, they are still having trouble getting it through. host: here is mary in darby, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. i'm calling to ask why is it constantly republicans want to stop people from voting? in pennsylvania, we had mail-in voting forever. and 70 years old. we've always had mail-in voting. people have always been able to put a ballot in the dropbox or pick up ballot for you. we've never had a problem with that. there is no voting problem in america other than republicans trying to stop people voting, mainly black folks and brown. i don't understand why. i have actually voted for republicans before but it seems now they don't want our votes. host: early voting incidentally starts today in pennsylvania.

guest: there was a bill to expand mail-in voting in pennsylvania and make it available to everybody no matter what. in the past you had to be able to say that you're may be out of town or military serving away from your home, or you weren't going to be in pennsylvania on election day for some reason, but the state legislator passed a bill, bipartisan bill, had a ton of republican support that made mail-in voting universal, and it became controversial mainly because donald trump alleged that it is corrupt, that there's too much fraud with mail-in voting. there is no evidence of that. numerous studies use almost exclusively mail-in voting. the rates of fraud are incontestable, not enough to affect the outcome. but it has become a common theme from donald trump and interestingly, some republicans including pennsylvania who think

that they are being hurt by that because they are taking a method of voting away from some of their voters who are skeptical of mail-in voting whereas democrats are voting by mail-in voting on election day. there are some advantages to mail-in voting, if you know you are going to vote for a certain party, you mail it in and you have an emergency on election day, your vote is still counted. counting on everything to happen on election day, things can happen that keep people from getting to the polls those days. but it was not a controversial topic until donald trump attacked it. it didn't become a controversial topic. they say that it fosters this myth that there's a lot of fraudulent voting when really, it is minuscule. host: we are taking your calls for jonathan temari of bloomberg -- at bloomberg. (202) 748-8000 free democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans.

(202) 748-8002 for independents. here is gary on the line for democrats. caller: hello. my question is what is more important, shutting the government down or not vs. fair elections or not? i think the people were confused on that, and both are important, and i do believe that trump was right when he said the election was stolen, over half the country believes this. what do you think? guest: so there's been really no evidence to back up the claims that the election was stolen. there's been dozens and dozens of court cases that were thrown out, there been reviews by the auditors, members of the media, the federal department of

justice, at the time led by a trump appointee. none of them found any significant levels of fraud. i covered the pennsylvania election in 2020. there were fewer than 10 votes that we knew about that were potentially fraudulent out of several million. several of those were republican votes. so joe biden won that state by 80,000 so we are not talking about even 1/10 of 1%. there's just not evidence of it. the colors right that a lot of people believe this. this is partly why republicans are pushing the save act imparted by democrats are pushing back, because this is a solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist. host: there were a lot of hearings in the house regarding impeachment, a possible impeachment of president biden. where is that, and could that comes to a boat this month? guest: seems unlikely. there republicans again talk

about how hard it is with such a small majority that they have. they were not able to convince a majority to support and impeachment. there were people who supported and impeachment inquiry who then said not enough evidence turned out to actually support an actual impeachment. and at the same time, i think people would see if it is viewed as overage, they could blow. republicans have a number of house members who are in districts that joe biden won. i don't think is a popular issue in those districts, and i think the fact that joe biden is no longer running for reelection has taken a lot of the air out of that balloon. i think there are more likely to try to focus on issues that they can type vice president harris such as immigration and the border. host: miss clark in new

hampshire, independent. caller: i have a question. the ad bill is coming up, probably after the election. and it is huge, it is right up there with military and defense spending. so i have issues with one particular program. we take our food, corn in particular, and then convert it into ethanol and then we add that to the gasoline. the biden harris team, when the gas prices were really high year ago, wanted to make more of this. this is wasting our soil, time, energy, this quite unnecessary, just a political move. is there any chatter in washington about addressing this? guest: every time the farm bill comes up this is a controversial piece of it because there are a lot of people who agree with the caller that it is wasteful and that it doesn't help the environment and the way that some people might claim, as he

points out there is the electoral policy of -- the electoral pressure of iowa. ethanol is extremely popular in iowa. iowa is the first state in the republican presidential primary season, or primary race, so even though there are a number of people who oppose this idea, it never gets to a critical mass in order to make a change. i've not followed the blow-by-blow of this year's debate, but i've not heard that there is any kind of change of politics of it, even if the policy might be debatable. the politics of it could lean toward keeping this ethanol mandate and keeping those iowa voters happy. host: we got a text from stephen in tampa who says have democrats or republicans made any effort to address the national debt? did the trump tax plan reduce the debt, and what would happen if social security was removed?

guest: there have been some efforts, i believe that the inflation reduction act of president biden passed early in his term, signed early in his term actually did reduce the debt somewhat. there has not been a major structural change that really changes the trajectory of the debt. their public and increase the deficit, extending the trump tax cuts would further increase the deficit. both parties seem to agree with keeping much of those tax cuts. they had a debate about making the top end of those, i think republicans elected to extend all of them, democrats would like to extend them all but not for people making more than $400,000. democrats would also raise taxes on corporations. so those things would bring in a little more revenue. but either way, honestly it is something that is changed

largely since the trump presidency where a lot of republicans used to talk about reducing the debt and democrats were not as focused on that issue. now republicans will talk about it typically when they are out of power, or when they gained power under george bush, donald trump, frequently increased the deficit. he's more focused on tax cuts, tariffs, and he is not concerned with the debt. it has kind of fallen off as a conservative talking point. host: marine, north carolina, republican. good morning. caller: when president trump speaks on the issues and policies, he is at his best and he speaks more intelligent than he comes across to the people. i think if people were voting for him, he would get more votes if he stuck to that plan. that's all i've got to say.

guest: that is something that a lot of his top advisers say. if he focuses on the issues, he can win the election. that immigration favors trump, the economy favors trump, and those are the two biggest issues. we know there's abortion and others that are more favorable to democrats but immigration and the economy are consistently the top issues in polling and trump leads harris on both topics. the issue is his personality and his approach and his personal attacks really turn off a lot of voters. there are voters who might agree with him on policy, but just by his approach, so abrasive that they can't support him. that has been especially true in a lot of the suburbs that used to vote republican and now vote democrat.

advisers have tried to keep them focused on the policy but he is who it is and doesn't show any signs of changing as we saw in that debate. it is one of his biggest challenges as a candidate. host: in the weeks just after the election, the so-called lame-duck session, walk us through how that works, what happens during that time and what impact is the outcome of the election? host: it's a pretty fast-moving time, there is a lot of bills that have to get done and not a lot of time to do it. you have the thanksgiving holiday, you have veterans day, and then you get into december and people are looking for the exit. you have people trying to reach compromises that put the individual spending bills into one big on this bill.

you have other things added on to it. you have people threatening to delay the process because they don't like all these things being combined. but if you are one of 100 senators in your holding of all process and 98 of your colleagues want to get home to their families, that is a tough position to be in. so there is a lot that gets done. they all want to get out of here by the holidays, by christmas. so i do think the elections will have an effect because each party is going to see what leverage they have in january. maybe they will have the white house, maybe not. maybe both chambers of congress, maybe not. host: michel, los angeles, democrat. caller: several years ago i wrote an article called

conditions of the congressman. nine secrets of what really happened. i won't name them all, but one was it is better to pander to big donors than to regular citizens because campaigns are so expensive. and the other one that was kind of interesting was that congress is a steppingstone to a job on k street doing lobbying. can you comment on that? guest: i wouldn't put every member of congress in that bucket, but for them it is the case. house members particularly have to run every two years, and so it is pretty much as soon as one election is done they need to start raising money for the next election, so they do need to keep donors on their side. most pain people are able to contribute $5,400 to their local

congress member and many of them use congress as a steppingstone to lobbying. many former members of congress returned to the capital as lobbyists, making a lot more money with lobbyist as they do -- then they do with members of congress. the other thing maybe in the last 10 years or so if the congress is a steppingstone toward social media fame and tv contracts. that has become a bigger issue because there was once a time where you needed to build your profile by rising up through the ranks in becoming a top committee chair along with the leadership so that they would promote you. they asked people to do it on their own because they have their own twitter, their own instagram, their own tiktok. many have noted how hard it time republicans effective in the caucus together. part of it is that they don't have this carrot on a stick to

use. often the incentives are to stand out, make a name for yourself, de that social media following. and if that is more powerful than the committee chairmanship. host: are there any guardrails as far as being a senator or a representative and then going straight into lobbying? guest: there is a short window, i believe it is either a year or 18 months where you are not allowed to lobby your former colleagues. it's not that long and also what you will see is a former member would get hired by a law firm as a consultant, do a year and within the year, they register to become a lobbyist at that same law firm. it's kind of understood that they are in a holding pattern. host: greenville, north carolina, independent. caller: can you hear me ok? i just want to make a couple

comments real quick. i don't want to keep rehashing the 2020 election but a love these commentators were talking about how voter fraud is very minuscule. first of all, how much is too much voter fraud? one vote is too much if it disenfranchises my vote. and then secondly, it wasn't so much voter fraud as it was election fraud, allowing the liberal judges to usurp a lot of state general assemblies because of coded on the massive mail-in ballot thing, and the democrats, we had a republican couple elections ago, a republican that won, it was overturned and they

had to redo elections. i figure he and i could bring something in because they overturned the election and baited go back. you've got these democrats offering people these rest homes , but a lot of these people don't even have accountability and they go in there and give them. i know some of it goes on not like that and he gives a lot of people, especially during covid, this time the democrats are not going to have covid and these liberal judges to help them. host: let's get a response. guest: as far as the comment on how much fraud is too much fraud, we are talking about

hundreds of millions of votes across the country. i don't think any process with that many people involved is not going dab something that slips to the max, something done incorrectly or even illegally. but i think the broader point here is that when we go back to pennsylvania, the state a covered most closely, we talk about 7 million votes and we know of fewer than 10 that would be incorrect in some way. that that shows you the scope of the problem is just that small. it has been exaggerated about how much a big problem it is. -- changed some of the rules because they didn't want people standing in the long lines at voting places. they were harder to staff those polling places because a lot of them were staffed by elderly

retirees and they didn't necessarily want to be there in that kind of crowded, indoor situation. but most if not all of those policies were mitigated. they were taken to court, there is some controversy because in some cases you have elected supreme court that might have been democratic nominated who validated some of the processes that they went through, the normal, legal vetting process. and again, there's very little evidence that the affected enough knowledge to change the outcome anywhere, let alone the first to cut a landslide wind that donald trump claimed that he had. there are controversies about how much voting should be done in person. those are legitimate policies but there is still no evidence of any significant fraud. the only times we kind of scene fraud that might affect an election, they tended to be much

smaller election fewer people watching and 10-20 votes to actually make a difference. presidential elections, there was a ton of scrutiny on that election. trump had the power of the white house. they did not prove a single fraudulent vote based on their work. host: i want to ask you about the control of the senate, specifically the montana senate race. we are going to take a look at a couple of ads. the first one is jon tester who is unencumbered, emphasizing he will climb back down in values. ♪

>> the truth is that being a farmer can execute and the real world. >> the truth is that i'm able to be a good senator because i'm a good --. it keeps things grounded, it keeps things real.

>> the u.s. senate today, 49 republicans, 51 democrats. jon tester. tester supported keeping liberal new york senator chuck schumer as majority leader. that means more inflation, more chaos at the border, and low functioning washington. tester voted with joe biden 95% of the time. if they good for you and your family? host: so those were the two advertisements. the first one a little bit hard to hear, but he talked about being a full-time farmer, the only one in the u.s. senate, and the other one by his republican challenger. what is going on with the race? guest: this is one of the toughest races out there for democrats other than west virginia which people have basically written off to

consider a win for republicans already. what you are seeing is the two competing strategies jon tester wants this race to be about jon tester. not jon tester the democrat, jon tester the farmer, who can relate to regular montanans. even though montana is a red state, they like jon tester. the second is about making sure this ace -- raises about control of the senate and saying that if you vote for tester, you're going to empower these other democrats that have control of power in washington so the republicans want to make it national issues, the democrats want to make it individual. right now the national messages living republicans seem to have a pretty good lead. in number of independent rating injuries -- indices, it's

looking like that is maybe after west virginia carolyn massachusetts, republican, good morning. my question is hillary clinton whoever that group is, so she's not really to me illegitimate candidate because there are other people who are possibly eligible for that position, but

never given the chance to apply for it or whatever. so what is your opinion about what happened? to me it was like a hoax. host: -- guest: hugely unusual, nothing i can remember in my time covering politics has unfolded like that. joe biden had the primary vote, to become the nominee. the issue is that the nomination process process is determined by the parties. they design availability for innovative and funded. joe biden had not officially become the nominee had not had their convention in members and not name nominee.

that i'm going to go to the convention implementing forward, running cancer and became very apparent very quickly and extremely unusual process, it can united host: host: and bernie, new counsel ohio, independent line. bertie, are you there? in the newcastle. bernie is not there.

in far -- as far as what you're looking at long-term in both the house and the senate the last few weeks, how big of an issue is the looming presidential campaign affecting a congressman and senators of thinking about the last few weeks. guest: nobody wants to shut down which is why even though we are really close to a deadline, you're not seeing a lot of panic about it because the one thing everyone d's seemed to agree on is it would be bad for everybody if there was a government shutdown. not a lot of people are kind of threatening a shutdown and not a lot of freaking out. this takes of having a shutdown,

nobody wants to give the other five a victory. so there is a real safety bill that jd vance cosponsor that the senate might bring up. it probably won't pass right now because it can help sharon brown's, democrat running for reelection in ohio as well. the only thing are kind of the more partisan bills being put forward not pass, but to draw a difficult book. host: host: tomorrow, you can find his reporting at --. more of your phone calls after the break in open forms. you can start calling in now. later we will get updates from users via florida michael mcdonald about the start of early voting. that is kicking off today. later this morning a federal appeals court will hear oral

argument in the tiktok challenge to a law requiring a sale or a ban of the app in the u.s. will get a health review by ashley gold. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. browse our latest collection of products, apparel, books, home decor accessories. there is something for every fan and every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations. shop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. c-span now is a free mobile ad featuring your unfiltered view of what happened in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events with live streams of floor proceedings, hearing for congress, white house events,

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washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are an open forum. we will start taking calls shortly. democrats can call us at (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. as you are calling in, we are going to speak to michael mcdonald, a political science professor at the university of florida. welcome to the program. guest: great to be with you. host: you on the rate the u.s. elections project. what is it and why did you start it? guest: originally just a platform that updates to my research. freeze broadly by media, academics, policymakers.

i want to have a way to disseminate that information. but then in 2008 i started tracking early voting and i was doing that for the national exit polling innovation. so i posted that online and i guess later i figured, well, i'll do this for the election cycle. i've since moved that content over to a new u.s. election lab website host: early voting has started today in pennsylvania, we will put that on the screen. there's a few other states like minnesota and virginia starting on friday and then vermont and illinois next week. how much of the total vote is done before election day? >> it's hard to know with certainty because we've been on an upward trajectory over the past decade as more voting

options are available. people like the option of voting remotely if that is the way they like to vote. and then we had the pandemic and over half the votes were cast either mail or in person early in the 2020 election. so we just went off the charts. and then it reduced again back to 2022 levels. we are still kind of an upward trajectory. i think we are going to be somewhere in 45%-50% of the votes this time around, if we stammer upwards trajectory, but we really won't know until we see people voting. host: as far as the breakdown

between democrats and republicans voting early, what did you see their? guest: generally, overall, democrats tend to prefer voting early. but if we look down to the methods of voting their been some interesting patterns and some of them have been offended by the pandemic. it was generally republicans voting by mail, democrats voting in person early. then when democrats wanted to protect themselves during the pandemic, they switched to the mail ballot and republicans, heeding trump's rhetoric decided they were going to go in person so we saw trends get upended that had been there for a couple decades prior. after the election in 2022, we saw some go back, but not all the way.

we still have this dynamic were democrats tend to -- i think they will tend to prefer in person voting, but we won't know until we get into the early voting period. host: and that breakdown between in person early and mail in or dropbox, how does that impact security? is one more secure than the other, and what happens to those ballots before election day and how are we assured that they are protected? guest: election officials have a number of safeguards in place to make sure that the balance they said at the balance they had identification procedures to make sure someone is not voting for someone else, so there are a number of things in place. and you will find even republican secretaries of state and other officials are saying

there elections are secure. this is widely regarded as secure just the same way that voting in person on election day is. but if there are issues, and is really the mail ballots how people need to vote by mail. one way in which people disenfranchise themselves most frequently is not having pounds procedures. and you have to follow them very closely. if you are going to vote by mail ballot, be sure to follow all of the instructions. each state is different so if you move to a new state, familiarize yourself with the procedures that exist within your new state. lots of election offices have online trackers so you can see if your ballot has been received and it has been a set by election officials. you can have that added sense of security knowing that your

ballot has been received and validated by election officials probably. but please, every election cycle, hundreds of thousands of people have the balance discarded because they didn't follow the procedures. if you're going to vote by mail, just be sure you are following all instructions properly. host: anyway because early votes get counted? do they start counting them as they can then, do they wait until election day? guest: by law the election officials can't count, actually physically count who voted for who until election day. but election officials can do some preparation. if a mail ballot comes in, usually there is an envelope and inside that envelope is another envelope we call a security envelope. the mail sent from the bigger

envelope, that will get separated. election officials may check it over, this piece of paper, that envelope, is that matching up as we expected? does other preparatory procedures. they can be done by election officials, it's just that the actual accounting of the ballot can be done until election day. host: michael mcdonald, political science professor at the university of florida. thanks so much for joining us today. and we will get to your calls right now for open forum. we will start with bernie, new carlisle, ohio, independent. caller: i am so apologetic. it is a beautiful day in america. by the way, i always get a kick

out of people saying thanks for taking my call. i always feel like i'm dialing over and over and over again sometimes it gets through. why is the republican party have brand that they are better with the economy when the last several years, bush handed off a bad economy to clinton, clinton handed off a bad economy to a,, obama handed off a bad economy dividing, the democrats fixed it in the neck administration comes in, ride the wave of the democrats have done and then tells the economy.

who treat have, a business or a prosecutor? he should have added the word successful. an unsuccessful businessman file bankruptcy six times. and in the third question i have, how did trump filed bankruptcy on the taj mahal and still come out of millions of dollars for himself? i don't quite understand that. for someone explain to -- when the economy does better under democrats and worsen the republicans at least at the end of their administrations. host: and here is a republican caller in babylon, new york.

caller: we had hr two which was remain in mexico until vetted. by then harris said to the people we cannot do anything. and for three and a half years they lied to the people and they didn't allow everyone to come in. congress had to put that plan through. they took hr to away. now biden has got to do it. he round up 2500 people, they are coming in, they're coming through now. that's why every state is a border state and i pay $12,000 in taxes and we have 17 different gangs out here. and it's insane. at my sons asked, i have two children over there, and i have three illegal immigrants coming to the door.

-- my husband is a retired police officer. they want to know if the house what, for rent? for sale? i put the cameras up. the cameras don't lie. the crime is out of control and we have to stop it. so, i don't know what it is saying about trump. republicans did not do this. the border is not secure. you can't lie to the people. remain in mexico. hr two. host: we got that. a couple of things on your schedule today, and about an hour a conversation on health care equity and innovation with medicaid and medicare service administrators had johns hopkins university. we will carry that live here on c-span at 10 a.m. eastern. it will also be on our app, c-span now, and online on

c-span.org. c-span2, the u.s. court of appeals will hear it or in -- oral argument in tiktok inc. versus merrick garland a response to legislation requiring bytedance to sell the app, tiktok, or face a band in the u.s.. again, that will be covered live over on c-span two on the app, and online at c-span.org. finally, at 12: 30 today, national economic advisor lyle brainard discusses international economics at an event hosted by the council on foreign relations. live coverage of that is at 12:30 here on c-span, c-span now, and c-span.org. rodni, brooklyn, good morning. caller: good morning, good morning. i agree with your first caller who called in. i can't understand how the republicans can continue to

destroy the economy and the democrats clean it up. but it appears that the 1% and republicans go hand-in-hand and the rest of us go hand-in-hand with the democrats' policies. why we can't get rid of the electoral college that seems to put the republicans in office? so, the popular vote seems to never win. so why don't we go back to what really helps the country? the popular vote. let's get rid of the electoral college. thank you. host: meryl, independent, good morning. caller: i want to say that on this latest school shooting, trump told america to get over it. those are exactly his words. get over it. also, when they, he summoned a

mob to the white house, they tried to assassinate or hang his vice president, mike pence, he said he deserves it. he said that pence deserved it. other people, he's approving what the other people did to him as far as attempting to assassinate. it's his fault. he approves this type of stuff. when he said that mike pence deserved that, then why doesn't he deserve it? i'm not saying that he does, but he's telling other sick people out there that the other side deserves getting killed. so, this is his own fault. i sure agree with the last caller on the electoral college. it's terrible and it allows russia to interfere in our elections, because all they've got to do is concentrate on a few states and the other

countries don't even have a say so. host: sorry, marrow, where did you see former president trump told people to get over it, the georgia shooting? caller: it was on his rally. come on, now, i know you had to see that. when they asked what everybody thought about it. look in your archives. host: where, sorry? i didn't hear what you said. caller: you heard what i said, now, right? am i correct? host: i didn't hear where you said where he said that. caller: he said it. he said get over it. i couldn't believe it. host: this is what i found from "the new york times," that he said this on social media, "our hearts are with the victims and loved ones of those affected by the tragic event in wittner, georgia, children taken

from us too soon by a sick deranged monster." caller: he also said to get over it. host: ok, we'll look for that. i'll have somebody try to track that down. bill. mobile, alabama. republican. good morning. caller: i don't know if your speaker, the expert on voting, has left yet, but my question is -- if you have a person who manages a low income housing project where you have 10% of the population moving every year, not leaving forwarding addresses, and the manager wants to cheat, they have access to the mail. it states -- in states particularly where there is no good signature verification and the votes come out in the ballots come into their mailboxes, the manager can simply pick up the ballots, open them, sign the name of the person to whom it's addressed,

and checked democrat and send it in. there's no way to catch that person who is stealing or cheating on the votes. that is absolutely unacceptable. host: just to go back to meryl's call, this is what we found. nbc news, this is probably what he was referring to about the iowa school shooting. it says this -- on nbc news -- trump tells supporters that we have to get over it after the iowa school shooting. the comments come after nearly 36 hours of silence and one day after his gop rivals addressed the shooting that took the life of a sixth-grade student and injured others. you can take a look at that at nbc.com. the former president, trump, extending condolences following a shoot -- school shooting in iowa that left one dead and

seven wounded before urging supporters to "move forward." i want to send our support and deepest sympathies to the victims and families touched by the terrible school shooting yesterday in iowa, it's just horrible, so surprising to see it here, but have to get over it, we have to move forward. brenda, charlotte, north carolina, good morning. caller: good morning, i'm an educator. i really want to address the fact that we need, as a population, the united states population, we need to make sure that civics is taught in school and is an everyday occurrence. some people just don't understand certain things that happen in our political spectrum and in our society in general, we need to know. we give congress the authority to make these laws. the lady that spoke previously about being confused about how

biden gave up his -- is -- his nomination. he didn't accept it. so it wasn't official. therefore, kamala harris could step in. but i think the democratic party needs to make sure -- the democratic party make sure she had the ability to do that. that's been going on through the process of elections. a couple of other things, i think that the previous caller might have been referring to the jd vance, and about shootings being a part of what's going on in our society. that was an awful statement to make as well. we need to research things for ourselves and stop listening to all the rhetoric that goes around, even coming from our top political officials. former president trump is just, his cognitive abilities are just

deteriorating. we know this, he's an older gentleman and things are going hey where -- i haywire, just like biden. who we love, i'm a biden fan, but i think we need to move on and they need to move on, the republicans and those still up in the air about the previous election, we need to move on. move on. there was no fraud at research for yourself, people, please. thank you, mimi. appreciate your time. host: brenda mentioned senator vance, "jd vance says he laments that school shootings are a fact of life and calls for better security." ken, tampa. caller: i'm an independent, not a democrat. host: did you call on the wrong line? caller: i'm sorry, give me a chance to speak. host: ok, but next time you have

to call on the right line so it's fair for everybody. caller: my thing is -- donald trump sat and tweeted out -- i hate taylor swift. what's he saying when he says something like that? she's an american citizen. he hates her? i've been in the era of strom thurmond and george wallace. we assume that those individuals hated black people. but you never heard them say i hate. how can a person run for president when they tweet out hate, but when other people says that republicans, especially trump supporters, got something to say, they are so hateful, but these mail-in ballots now -- now, we all know that mail-in ballots was created for which --

rich white people on vacation while others were working in life to go. so, now everyone can use the mail-in ballots they want to stop it? the next thing is, when you talk about -- you know, i called in three years ago. no one has yet to answer this question. name a decade, a century, when america was great for everyone? no one came in and said yeah -- 19 this, america was great for everybody. nobody was getting police brutality. everybody could go and apply for a job, no problem. last but not least, why do people, especially on the caucasian side, allow the media to always insult them when they say -- college grad whites vote this way, non-college grad vote

republican? what is that trying to tell us? you keep them uneducated, they will vote foolishly. thank you. host: before you go, i confirmed that you did call on the independent line. i apologize. caller: i'm an independent. the democratic party is just one administrator. host: steve, indianapolis, good morning. host: i just wanted to ask -- i watch c-span all the time. what i see is 90% of the coverage is for kamala harris. 10% is for trump. why is that? caller: do you sit and actually measure that, or is that just an impression that you have? host: that's the -- caller: that's the impression. you guys cover the democratic party at the convention for,

what was that, two weeks? two weeks? nothing. if trump comes on there, for an hour, doing a special, then you guys go and do, you do seven or eight hours on kamala harris. host: it's just not true. we covered all of the dnc, we covered all of the rnc. each one is four days, we covered four days. i mean, i just have to say that that is your impression, but that is not what we are doing. pamela, chicago, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. my name is pamela right and i'm calling from illinois. what i wanted to say was -- do people think that trump continues to say all of these

mean derogatory things -- and i'm sorry that he was -- what -- shot at or whatever? but he cannot continue to be mean and people and do all of these mean things and think that things won't come back to haunt him. so, what i'm saying is, whatever those things are that are happening to him, he's putting them out there in the universe. that's not good. i will just do a malcolm x, the rooster came home to crow. host: here is lita, albuquerque, good morning, republican. caller: hi. mimi? host: yes? go right ahead. caller: hi. [laughter] thank you. i tried to call the other day, but for some reason, it was a different category for the

calling numbers. i finally did call. i am a republican, have been since the 80's when i discovered that the democrats were the baby killers. the abortion, pro-abortion people. that's when i discovered that and i said no no no, you can't call the republicans baby killers. come on. i am a republican. i've been a republican since the 80's. i would vote for trump because he's a republican. i won't vote for a democrat. host: alrighty. you can continue to call in on open forum, we will take your calls until the end of the program at 10 a.m. eastern, but we are pausing right here to talk to ashley gold, tech and policy reporter at axios. guest: thanks for having me. host: we have you on to talk

about the hearing from the d.c. court of appeals at 10 a.m. -- by the way, you can hear that over on c-span two at 10 a.m., it's about tiktok. they are taking the justice department to court about that legislation that passed requiring them to either sell to a u.s. based company or be banned. update us on what's happening today. guest: today we are seeing the doj and tiktok in court, arguing either side. the doj has repeatedly said tiktok being in the u.s. while being owned by bytedance, a chinese company, is a national security threat to the united states and that they have also allowed the content that comes out of tiktok to be manipulated in a certain way that sways

public opinion. tiktok has repeatedly said is no validity to these claims. that banning the app in the united states would not only violate the first amendment rights of tiktok itself, but the millions of users who use tiktok every day, and that banning a single social media app would be an unprecedented action by the u.s. government. tiktok had been working on a national security solution with the committee for foreign investment of the united states prior to this cell or band bill passing and they keep saying let's go back to that, we were willing to install a really serious data security program to show you that we were serious about american user data, but the effort was ultimately abandoned in favor of this bill and tiktok obviously doesn't want to be banned in the united states. host: what are the tiktok lawyers, what is the argument they are making? guest: the argument they are

making is that not only is the law of violation of the first amendment, it's an unprecedented use of government power to shut down a single app and that the government has not presented sufficient evidence that tiktok in the united states as it is structured now, bytedance being the ultimate owner, presents any kind of national security threat. they are also going to argue that lawmakers pass this bill -- passed this bill out of personal grievances over things they saw popping up on tiktok in that it is not based on any kind of real threat that would merit being banned from the united states. host: on the others, what's the argument the biden administration is expected to make? guest: that tiktok is useful, that creators can create a fortune or a career off of it.

the biden campaign, as it was, now the harris campaign, they used tiktok and saw the value in it. what they are going to say in court is that as far as bytedance owning it, the chinese communist party could get into the algorithm and manipulate what americans see. i'm hoping to see more sufficient evidence from the doj that tiktok is actually a national security problem. anything like that has been fairly thinly argue to the public or classified. we will see what they say, today. host: could this go to the supreme court? depending on what happens in the court of appeals? what role are they expected to play? guest: it definitely could. tiktok, if they lose, first they will ask for a temporary injunction, because the law -- if the law doesn't get put in place, then they will appeal to

the supreme court so yes, we could see it go to the top if tiktok loses today. host: i guess in the larger sense, what impact could the case have on the congressional ability and willingness to regulate social media? guest: i like to think of this case is a kind of one-off. the national security argument and the involvement of the spectrum of china here kind of made lawmakers uniquely motivated to do something, whereas when it comes to american companies, like meta, google, snapchat, they are a little bit more prone to protect the lobbyists in those companies. i think that it shows that when congress really wants to regulate, they can get it together and do it, but that it is still a little bit rare. and if this law is not upheld, it's not a great show of confidence that congress is

passing great tech laws. host: finally, ashley, to what extent are the candidates expressing any interest in this case? guest: when the biden campaign first joined, they said hey it's a useful tool for the campaign and continued to support the biden doj and what they were doing in court and they wanted to see it stay in the u.s. and just be owned by someone else. the harris campaign has not waited in. we have yet to hear what she has to say about that. host: ashley gold, reporter for axios, thank you for joining us. guest: thank you. host: you can listen to those arguments from the d.c. court of

appeals, it's happening right after this program on c-span two. here is john in syracuse, new york. john, hello. caller: i would like to correct the previous caller earlier who was advocating for the advocating of the electoral oreo -- electorial college, there is none. it's the electoral college. get it right. these people who are cutting in line, if you are in a grocery store and someone cuts in front of you, do accept it? you accept it if someone cuts in line for you? that's what these people are doing. we have a legal system that allows millions into the company -- the country illegally. these people are simply cutting in line and i would never accept someone cutting in line. i'm a democrat. they got it all wrong. kamala is a big part of this, you know? you watch these people

crossing the river, i'm in your country, now you've got to accept me? we don't. now i'm for deportation. it's the only thing i feel the republicans are correct on. everything else is wrong. host: here's my question for you, will that issue impact your vote? does that mean you will vote republican this november? caller: i live in new york state, which again gets to the electoral college. new york state, it doesn't matter. it's going to go for harris the same way texas is going to go for trump. we only have 10 states in this country that matter. i is for the -- i support the electoral college -- abolition of the electoral college. electorial college doesn't exist. these people getting into this country, they go out on workman's disability.

you think they got workmen's comp. in haiti? these people get a free check and they take it right to the casino. they do host:. host:-- they do. host: all right. gary, good morning. caller: i also want to address the legal and illegal immigration issue. my spouse works for the school district and has for 30 years. the problem these schools are encountering is the individuals with multiple languages, kindergarten through grade, they can't speak. they have teachers, they have special rooms to try and teach these children, but you are talking possibly african -- there are so many different languages. the teachers are hurting. the students are hurting. the immigrants are hurting. i just don't know what the answer is.

i tend to agree with the gentleman before me from syracuse. just seeing and hearing what's going on with our schools is depressing. host: early voting in pennsylvania started today. are you going to be voting early or waiting until election day? caller: i plan to attend physical voting. host: all right, jack, tallahassee, independent line. caller: good morning, c-span. i'm a little nervous, be patient with me. host: you're doing great, just keep going. caller: i don't see how a person can vote for the former

president with his lies. he's been bankrupt six times. all he does is create chaos no matter what. he's been taken to court over 4000 times since the late -- 1998 or something like that. he just creates chaos, no matter what he does. if he gets elected, it'll be bad for the people of the united states. they say he's a great businessman? in the united states, the people of the united states of america don't need a businessman. they need a statesman to represent them, the people of the united states, with the, with the rest of the world.

there's no statesman i can remember for a long, long time. when i grew up, there were a lot of statesman. that's how there was a little bit of tranquility in my lifetime. thank you so much for taking my call. host: all right, jack. let's talk to debbie in missouri, republican line, next. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to say that there are illegal ballots unsigned and scribbled on in every election and there are contested elections ever since they started the mail-in ballot. they don't prove that the voter is alive or that they did the ballot themselves. these ballots are filled out by low-wage workers by the thousands. they are fake ballots, phony

people, nonexistent people that just pad the election. to put it bluntly, they cheat. the democrats are unhinged with the lies that cause assassination attempts, weaponizing our justice system to go after opponents. lies like trump is a danger to democracy. he's a racist. he's a rapist. he's like hitler's, he's a fascist. you've got to stop them. that's what starting all this. host: going back to what you said about early voting, are you completely against early voting? do you only want to see voting on election day? caller: if they have to vote early, they can go to the courthouse and go in front of the clerk. host: so, in person early voting

is good, you are against malin. what about absentee ballots? for instance, if you are overseas or deployed, not in your state, would you be ok with that? caller: i'm ok with that, yes. host: bill, florida, your next. caller: i think that last caller was confused about reality there. she had better check yourself. i wanted to touch on springfield, ohio, coming out of the -- the racism coming out of the mouths of jd vance and donald trump. racism goes back hundreds of years in this country. the chinese, they were demonized in this country. the only people that trump, vance, and the republicans pick

on our marginalized people. people who just come here and want to live a way of life and acclimate themselves. that's all it is. i have met the haitian community here in florida. they are lovely people. most of them, they don't want to hurt. they just want to help their families and provide for their families. i think it's wrong, what's coming out of the other side. i don't think -- it just goes back, it's wrong. i'm antiracist and i'm a white man. i'm antiracist. i've always excepted people for who they are face-to-face. so, i hope that this rhetoric will hurt them in the end. the republicans, i mean. the immigration -- think about this, the logistics of trump rounding -- what's he saying now, 25 million people? the logistics don't work, the numbers don't match. one other thing, if they are going to round of these people

up, think back to vietnam when migrants and immigrants came here. what's the first thing they did? he joined the service. are they going to go back into those same communities and quote "round up -- quote unquote round up those people? what do you think? i'm just going on. host: well, bill, there's a story here in the guardian, jd vance admits he's willing to create stories to get media attention. republican vice presidential candidate defends spreading false, racist claims demonizing haitian immigrants. here is natalia in long island, new york. independent, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call, i would say that c-span

has a slight bias. take a look at the last, look at the app, take a look at the last 10 clips on the c-span app. read the headlines and decide for yourself, does c-span have a bias at all or not? yes, it is very slight and yes, it is trying not to, but unfortunately, as of this moment i cannot give you that title. i invite you to do a "washington journal" on that topic. just wondering, what is the number one headline on c-span this morning? host: valerie, florida, republican line. caller: i'm a former democrat.

before my husband died he voted for john kerry. that's getting off subject. i wanted to say a few things. education in florida is nationwide number one. that's never brought up. ron desantis brought this state back to credible state. he's a wonderful guy who's done much for us and i highly appreciate it. now, fox news, everybody that calls into this show -- i shouldn't say everybody, but most callers always criticize fox news, yet fox news is the only one that started reporting very early about, about biden's condition. there are two main people on fox news who i really -- i highly esteem, mark levine and john turley. my next thought is that -- you don't ever really report

anything positive about trump. so, everybody thinks he's just this horrible bad lying guy. i would like you to bring up the story about this eight-year-old william who was a fan of trump's and got a letter from both trump and his wife. beautiful, very touching moment. amendment four in florida, liability versus six weeks, 24, viability versus six-week abortion ban. i personally would encourage most people to leave that empty on the amendment. it should never have been put on the ballot to begin with. it puts you in an either or situation. also, lastly, is that you seem to quickly find articles that point to everybody's negativity

about trump. you go right to the papers and you find articles that relate to what they are saying, which is very negative. i have never -- rarely have i heard you report anything from "the new york post." can you explain that? host: speaking of president biden, about 10 minutes ago he was leaving the white house and he spoke to reporters saying thank god the former president is ok. here are his remarks. [video clip] >> i think we got a full report so far. one thing i want to make clear, i think the congress should respond to the needs of the secret service. that's what we should be talking about. >> what kind of help?

>> it's up to them to decide if they need more personnel or not. host: maryland, good morning. caller: trump has been very successful in diverting things away from the real problems. if he's elected, there will be no more voting. the people that lose their jobs? he's talking about canceling 50,000 or more jobs. computer technicians, your jobs will be at risk. keep in mind, this will be your last vote if he gets into office. and speaking to the black men,

you cannot afford to vote for trump. you will be a target. you are a target already. if he gets into office, you will be a bigger target. think about what happened to tyree hill the other day. just one of the black men unjustly mistreated by the police. he said he would give police immunity. think about what that would mean for you. life as we know it today would be offended. anyone with plans for themselves or for their careers, for their grandchildren or children, they will be killed. you won't be able to anticipate. what he says will be the law. host: all right. carol, independent line, you are next. caller: i agree with the

previous caller, from the media, there are really two conservative new stations out there. newsmax and fox news. newsnation is coming on the rise. but there's never really any positive. ever since the former president, since he run, it's consonant -- constant negativity, constant negativity. there is never a good story and when there is, someone comes in and throws a negative out there in the negative makes the headline. it just disheartened me that nobody has really questioned kamala harris about when she knew that president biden's mental state was as it is. why has nobody asked any tough

questions? why has she not been asked some of the questions that the former president has asked? you can watch the white house news conferences that they had. none of those, none of those are asked anything. the questions and the attitude that they had when the former president was in there. his press conferences was like a boxing match. he was called a liar. his people was called liars. yet nobody never does the same thing. so, the division is on both sides. but if we are going to treat 11-way, let's treat the other one the same way. host: margie, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: i was enjoying that

prior caller from west virginia, he said it right on the money. i am so livid and fed up with all of this crap that goes on against trump. like the caller said before, negative, negative, negative. these people act like trump went out and committed some kind of massive murder the way they treat him. everybody's against trump. they are right. two stations tell it like it is and prove it with words, ok? she's not held accountable to absolutely nothing. if her and biden really cared about trump always getting a set -- almost getting assassinated twice, they would have had a massive news conference to say that he is not a dictator and all of this. they have said "no." go on day

one to close the border and drill, baby, drill. get it right, people. host: chuck, west virginia, good morning. caller: it's been 35 days since my last call. i want to counter all the people who have said that c-span is biased. never have i heard your hosts express a personal opinion. if there is anything you can be accused of it's just trying to keep people on point and on the subject matter. a lot of times people call in and you have a particular topic at the beginning of the day and people call in and they want to veer off into some other topic. so, i commend you for trying to keep people on point. just one other thing, it's

really amuses me when people call in and they get all indignant over the term democracy. the united states is not a dumb -- direct democracy. that is, we don't put every issue up for a popular vote. a direct democracy is only practiced in a few communities in switzerland. what we are is a representative democracy, which is basically the same thing as a republic. when you keep on saying that we are a republic, we are a republic, well, there is the union of united social soviet republics and north korea is the dprk, the democratic people's republic of korea. so, stop saying that the united states is a republic or a democracy. for all practical purposes, it's the same thing. thank you very much. host: david, maryland,

independent, hello. caller: just a quick note on that last guy, yeah, we are a republic with sovereign states in the constitution really clearly gives the electoral authority and power to those states to do these things. as much as i know people are trying to pass good, federal election reform, watch out, it's got a hold up in court and the states have that power to amend the constitution. but my main point was to correct the record on the gentleman from new york earlier about immigration, saying that that's the only thing the republicans get right. both parties get this wrong. i spent years practicing immigration laws in texas and new york. i just want people to know that there is no line. that was the gentleman's problem. saying people are jumping the line? there's no line to get in and that is fully the fault of congress. it's at the point where it

almost looks on purpose now that they are not fixing this. if you need some context, please go to the beautiful website with all of the supreme court cases, listen to the plyler veto arguments -- plyler v. do arguments from back when i was born. the same argument is then, and economy fully supported by prison labor and immigrants. and congress has mandated that a certain amount of detention beds have to be filled. this crosses parties. clinton re-up to this, very anti-haitian, anti-cuban. it is the mess of congress that there is no line. host: clarify that for us, since you are an immigration lawyer. when he says they are jumping the line, there is legal immigration, there is a line for

that, right? you have to do certain paperwork and meet certain requirements in order to gain legal immigration status, to apply for that from your home country. caller: indeed, indeed. i want to clarify, i'm not a lawyer. you can represent immigrants in immigration court as a nonlawyer because there are so few lawyers to go around for immigrants and it's not like criminal court where you get one if you can't afford one. yeah, the deal is the line, it just doesn't at all match up. that's the part where it all feels on purpose. there are some great think tanks that go in on this and will explain that as far as skilled, unskilled labor, these breakdowns, you almost have to laugh at what is available versus what is needed here. that's why i say go back to that case. it's been this scape of the economy being so fully dependent on this in so many facets.

everyone was called an essential worker? think about who's an essential worker that you know. it ties back to the causes of negativity. present company excluded, our press has no problem not digging into this without ever talking about it. there has been a real solution on the table that would really address it, our actual needs and the things, the people who get to know the people in their community, being where they are from, they are literally moving our community, our economy, and everything forward. let's not spin in circles. let's talk about some real differences. thank you. host: got it, david. barry, east hartford, connecticut, good morning. mary, are you there? caller: yeah. i was calling, i forgot what i was calling. but i was thinking -- i don't like neither one of the people's

, but this is just a statement. my, when i was growing up i always thought that white people were leaders who cared about their country. i think it's about who's going to do best for the country. i listened to trump. trump, when you listen to him, he don't know nothing. i know i don't know nothing, but he knows nothing. he talks like somebody that don't know anything. the other lady, i have problems with her, but the thing is, the country is the most important thing. not presidents and the stuff that everybody's talking about. i think that we should see who is best for the country, you know? white people, poor people, you know, they are going to be just as worse off is us. what you do to one, you do to the other, you know?

these people say i'm voting for trump? he's telling them what he's going to do. he's going to cut social security. he's going to cut all of these things to hurt the blacks and the poor whites, to. everybody's not rich. all them peoples that don't have social security, mothers and fathers, all of them, they are going to suffer just like everybody else. host: former president trump has not said that he will cut social security, though. caller: but when he threatened everybody, that thing of saying that these people are not doing what i said to do, he's already threatened them. he's threatening the world. how are you going to be friends with the enemy of the country, you know? what did he do besides play golf ? and then the stuff that was

already put in place from the black president, you want to give him credit, he came and picked up where he left off, but they don't see that because they only see his color, you know? host: all right, mary. got to move on. terry, democrat, los angeles, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. there are a couple of things i would like to make a point on. one of which, the young lady trying to say something about the economy prior, i just have to say this, i agree with her. when we look at the economy, the first two years of the obama --the trump administration, that was all the results of what obama had put in place. the last two years is what we suffered with, that was purely trump. so, we need to look at the economy.

go all the way back from reagan and each time where you inherit what you have and go from there. the other thing i have to say is that what the former president is saying about the haitians? he's doing the same thing that he did to the central park five. making this up. now you have people riled up. you got white supremacists going into the city and then trying to protect the people that they feel the haitians are basically running over and that's not true. that causes so much discourse and we -- discord. we see this all the time. he makes things up, works it into a frenzy and he continues the same he did with the election. lastly, on voting, we have been voting for years and we have not had a massive voter fraud

situation. there's always been some and it's usually caught. nothing to actually overthrow the government or that part of the government. i think we all need to calm down . this man, mr. trump, is just basically causing discord. we need to start looking at issues and what is best for you. the other thing is project 2025, i'm rambling now, but if people start looking at it, sorry, trump hasn't told the truth since he's been born. his family is even coming out against him. you can start looking at it. he said he's not for it? his policies are right there. host: another schedule for the evening, jd vance will be delivering remarks at the annual georgia freedom dinner of the full and freedom coalition. watch our live coverage of that

event starting at 7:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span, it will also be on the app and online. scott is also in los angeles. independent. hello, scott. caller: good morning to all my brothers and sisters out there. i think you guys have been doing phenomenal work. especially since the conventions. love the music. just getting to hear the music at the conventions, love the doobie brothers, love stevie wonder. just loved it. you are doing tremendous on the open forum. when it comes to this, politics, you know we have the vote coming up and i'm seeing these three candidates -- i will say the three -- biden, harris, trump. i'm seeing these dyed in the wool dedicated bona fide certified liars. i'm not into counting the various lies, you know?

it entertains me to hear that this guy lied 35 times, this one by 24 times. i'm not interested in that. i'm wondering, my brothers and sisters out there, what's their take on when they hear all of this nonsense and it's making this choice? me, as a true independent who listens to what everybody has to say and then lay it out for myself, this is making at an extremely difficult choice. a couple of things i would like to know from the folks out there, again, i could never see this, this hard-core bias that i'm seeing on both sides, you know? you've got 100 issues and these two sides can't agree on one. it's absolutely preposterous. i would like to ask my democratic brothers out there -- i hear a lot from you guys -- i also have a question for the republicans. i would like to ask my

democratic brothers, when it comes to democracy, i hear a lot about it. what was democratic about overthrowing joe biden and bringing in kamala harris? as far as the republicans go, i have so many questions for you guys. but how about these two? why is donald trump become such a terrible, dreadful candidate? he's presented with this issue from bobby kennedy, let's make america healthy again. this is a thing that could cross party lines. there aren't too many things that could do it. he's presented with this opportunity and what does he do? i watched him make a speech the other day. not a word about it. he's a pathetic candidate, ladies and gentlemen. and now i also asked them --

what, exactly, when he took over in 2016, he had the republican house. he had the republican senate. what exactly do they -- did they do for my brothers and sisters? host: all right. velma is a public and from ashland, kentucky. hello, velma. caller: i've been hearing all day about how the democrats got the economy and shape and then the republicans come along and mess it up, but we currently don't have a good economy. someone else was going on about the electoral college being done away with. that was put in place by our founding fathers who had a great -- they had their thing. something lacking today leaders. you know, as far as immigration? i think david from maryland said it, it's almost like it's on purpose. well, four years ago joe biden

invited them in here on to the debate stage. i don't know if it was that same debate, but the moderator asked -- he asked everybody on the stage, democrats are for the nomination -- would you give illegal immigrants free this, for that? yes or no. raise your hand if it's yes. everyone one of them raised their hands except for maybe two people and there was like 10 people on the stage. as far as what's going on in springfield with the pets, i don't live there, so i don't know. and this is not made up, it's a fact that in many countries people eat dogs and cats. they do. i guess they don't have enough food. host: it's not happening in ohio, velma. white, good morning. -- like, good morning. -- dwight, good morning.

caller: everyone, take your blinders off. see what trump is trying to do. as an american, as a military person, we should come together and put the division aside and just look at the facts. that's all you have to do. just look at the facts. donald trump is for the 1%. he's not for the middleman. please, just do that. that's all you have to do. and pray. host: all right. david, pennsylvania, republican. hold on, let me see if i did that right. david, pennsylvania, republican. that was my fault. caller: good morning. i know it's getting short, i want to talk about the accomplishments of biden harris

versus trump. 9% inflation, they've given us credit card rates of 19% to 28%. they have doubled the mortgage rates from what they were when donald trump left office. project 2025 is not part of the trump agenda. it never has been, it never was. when donald trump left office, inflation was 1.4%. we got attacked by the chinese with a covid virus. nine months, trump got us vaccines and got america and others around the world saved with vet scenes. interest rates were so low for everybody, including the middle class. even bernie sanders waited until january 1 2017 to sign his book deal to save money on his taxes. as far as taxes on tips, that's a great thing, tips are a gift from the person that

participates to the servers for the good service. getting rid of the federal tax on social security is an election idea. remember, joe biden and the democrats put the tax on their in the 80's. it was never supposed to have attacks. when you earn it from federal and state as an income tax from both federal and state, to have the middle class taxed on that for 30 years is ridiculous and it's a great plan. you know? donald trump was shot at. they won't give him the proper security at his events and around it. host: i want to -- i wanted to ask if you were voting on election day or early. caller: election day. i'm a committeeman and want to go to the polls then be there.

i'm going to vote that day. liberal politician's, their heads are spinning. they said you must have the date on the ballot if you wanted to be -- want it to be counted. host: got it. jack, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. the main reason i'm calling is -- if i can ask a question, who's trying to attempt to kill the president, a haitian? i'm not talking about all the immigrants, haitians, america a

great country. who makes america a great country, all the immigrants. everyone coming from everywhere else, to this country, to contribute to make the system work. not saying that haitians don't do bad things. even if they do, it's to spend again in the country and this system. patients have never attempted to kill president trump, ok? we have everything now, ai, all the technology, all the money for the world unite.

talking about everyone, every roof, we can make this world a livable place. not a place where we are divided . if people need money here, a paycheck and an income, we can travel to help. that's what creates the, the border insecurity and the people who are running because of the violence, because of the wickedness around the world. host: all i just one to make an observation, some americans are truly suffering. i'm just amazed, every weekend

the next day, stadiums are packed to capacity. the basketball teams, vacation spots, disney. people are paying those praises and it seems like as a country, some of us, not all, but some of us pay for what we want to pay for and then we complain about the price of eggs. we vacation and we go to different concerts, things like that. we pay for gas and travel, stuff like that. it's like you don't worry for eggs but you will pay for concert tickets and football tickets and packed stadium crowds. i'm just perplexed by that. host: