host: good morning. it is friday, october 11, 2024. we have a roundtable on campaign 2024 and talk about how male

voters are breaking the cycle. before we begin on the ongoing recovery effort in the wake of hurricane helene and hurricane milton as we take you through the latest, we are asking our viewers about your experience with government during and after natural disasters. what are your stories about state, local and federal aid after any natural disaster event in your lifetime? phone lines are split regionally. (202) 748-8000 eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 mountain or pacific time zone. if you have been impacted specifically by hurricane helene or hurricane milton, (202) 748-8002. you can send a text to (202) 748-8003. please include your name and where you are from. catch up with us on social media , x, and facebook at facebook.com/c-span. good friday morning. you can start calling now. these are the headlines that

central florida headlines are waking up to this morning from the tampa bay times. at least 16 dead in florida after the storm makes landfall. the orlando sentinel, "milton's misery: storm hits florida along with several tornadoes and twisters." from the sarasota herald tribune, "a trail of destruction left across the peninsula but the tampa area averts the feared storm surge." yesterday presented by in was updating americans about the federal response -- president biden was updating americans about the federal response. here is what he had to say. [video clip] >> defense secretary austin has provided a range of capabilities to the states impacted by hurricane helene and hurricane milton. as we assess the needs, we can get them whatever they need.

to the servicemen and women on the ground responding to these disasters, thank you. thank you for your professionalism, your dedication, and on every mission you are given, you have repeated it again. this is a whole of government that also depends on that a energy, the apartment of transportation -- department of transportation and the department of housing and urban development providing relief for impacted homeowners. fema will open disaster recovery centers all across the impacted communities right away so there is one stop residents can go to to learn about supplies they might need. 3 million are without power. more than 40 million powerline workers have come from around the country from canada to florida to restore power across the state. federal aviation has authorized

florida power and light to fly large drones before other aircraft can get in the sky to quickly assess the damage on the ground so that ground crews can restore power as quickly as possible. the coast guard and army corps of engineers are assessing how fast they can reopen the port of tampa to get fuel, food, water and other basic goods flowing into the area again and quickly. host: that was president biden on the federal response to the hurricane. it was yesterday that former president trump was in detroit. he praised the response by republican state governors in those states impacted by the hurricanes. this is what he had to say. >> before we begin, i want to send our love to everyone affected by the hurricane. it was a rough night. who would have thought a lot of things happening at one time. it just ripped through florida and the people of north

carolina, georgia, south carolina, and tennessee with what they went through with hurricane helene. we had quite a combination. i would like to congratulate the governors of florida, ron desantis, brian kemp and henry mcmaster, they were really hit hard and they have done a fantastic job. the federal government on the other hand has not done but it is supposed to be doing in particular with respect to north carolina. they have let those people suffer unjustly. we are praying for all of those who lost a house or much more importantly, precious loved one and there were many in georgia and north carolina. host: former president trump in detroit yesterday. this morning we are asking you about your experience with

government during a natural disaster. we especially want to hear from those impacted by helene and milton but also any natural disaster in your lifetime. has it been state, local or the federal government that has been the most helpful? we want to hear your story, setting aside this first hour of washington journal to hear from you. we will start in birmingham, alabama. frank, good morning. caller: good morning. frank matthews again. i appreciate you dealing with this subject today. last year we had a calamity where a tornado devastated of all places, selma, alabama right before the bridge crossing. president biden came and he bragged about $5 million that he gave to selma. selma needed almost $1 billion

to deal. it was so ironic as you watched him at the podium, one of the buildings have started to get moss on it from the tornado. the backdrop was that black mold over that building. no one addressed that. it was absolutely insane to see that. for him to even brag about $5 million for selma. all of these people come to selma and spend so much time crossing the bridge. they do not really spend their dollars. the problem with that, a lot of the made reservations for hotels to come down there. they put people out of the hotels that the government was paying for for the people who initially paid for the rooms when those people sitting there came at that time. host: you are talking about federal emergency workers

staying at the hotels? caller: no, it was the persons who had made reservations previous to the president coming and they would not give up their rooms. let me finish this statement. they took a majority of those people and while the president was there and put them in this big center and if you would pull up the video, they had a big fight that broke out with all of those people that were going through a situation because of what the tornadoes had done to them. i thought that was one of the most disparaging and of all places, selma, alabama. when i looked at some of the things going on and what biden and trump and the fighting over who is not doing what, there is only so much you can do when a tornado happens. it happens in seconds. and hurricanes and all of that. this was after the tornado. if you go to selma now, you

still see so much of the damage that the government did not address in selma. host: thank you for the call from birmingham. about selma,. this is irma in redding, california. good morning. your experience during natural disasters. caller: good morning. i am a volunteer vietnam vet. agent orange screwed with my lungs quite a bit. we have had a lot of forest fires here in northern california over the past few years where we had a lot of smoke. we even had to leave our home a couple of times because the fires were so close. anybody wanting to know what it really looks like, you can go on the internet and look up the city of paradise, california and you will see what happens when a forest fire is raging. what i want to say about the response is -- and i don't know

how much fema has to do with it but i have seen this multiple times and we live on the corridor. by the way, you are my favorite. i've been watching c-span for years. i still don't know if you are a democrat or republican. host: [laughter] tell me about the forest fires. caller: what happens is when there is a fire, we start seeing people from all over the state, fire crews. they start coming up and down the corridor from all parts of the western side of the state. other statesmen start coming in. like i said, we in the -- when the country pulls together like that when somebody is suffering from these disasters, we just have -- we just had a fire yesterday. i don't know if it was an uncontrolled burn. just one thing quickly.

i spent one hour last night watching trump. i just watched the obama speech. he ran down trump for over half an hour. i used to be a democrat. i helped president obama get elected the first time. i was looking for change. i registered hundreds of people and raised $55,000. the next time he ran, i did not raise a dime because he did not do a thing he promised. he attacked our liberties. host: stick around for our next segment. we will have a political roundtable and talk about this campaign season. you mentioned paradise, california about six years ago, that wildfire eventually wiping paradise off the map. npr with their story from last year from that wildfire and

paradise, thanking the first responders. gary in berlin, new hampshire. your experience with natural disasters. what have you been through in new hampshire? caller: yes, we did go through flooding last year from the rain and everything. i think the government did the best they could under the circumstances. fema did as best they could with the money that they have to work with. all of these disasters that come along, it is hard to be everywhere at one place. also, these maga people and donald trump need to stop perpetuating these lies at the expense of the misery that the people in florida are going through with these hurricanes that have happened in a two week period. these maga people need to stop.

go down to the south for yourself and see what it looks like for yourself. stop perpetuating these lies. the people down in florida do not need this. they need the government to step up and help them out. donald, maga people, i hope you are hearing me. stop your lies. host: that is gary in new hampshire. back to florida, the governor ron desantis talking yesterday on cnbc about the recovery efforts, the state effort and the federal response. [video clip] >> there was some praise that came your way from president biden who said that you had spoken. then there was this brouhaha over vice president harris reaching out to you and not taking the call and accusations that this had become politicized. what happened there?

>> i am working with the president of the united states. i am working with the director of fema. i am marshaling all of my state assets. we have been doing this nonstop for over two weeks between helene and this. if there's anything i can leverage to benefit my people, i'm going to do it. the fact of the matter is they put out a story saying -- i did not know she was trying to reach me. she has no role in this process. i have been dealing with these storms in florida under trump and biden. neither of them ever politicized it. all of the storms i have dealt with under this administration, although i have worked well with the president, she has never called florida. she has never offered any support. what she is doing is trying to inject herself into this because of her political campaign. as the governor here leading this, i don't have time for those games. host: that was ron desantis yesterday. we are asking about your experience is with the government during natural disasters.

any natural disaster in your lifetime. this is bruce in texas. good morning. caller: good morning. i would just like to say that i was there for ike in texas. i remember it took bush and cheney -- the astrodome -- host: tribe one more time -- try one more time. we are having trouble hearing you. i apologize, we will go on to john in new york. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i experienced in new york we had a nor'easter. then we had a ton of rain on top of that. we had about 10 or 12 inches on the roof.

then we had a warm spell and a serious rainfall of maybe four to five inches. host: are you talking about superstorm sandy? caller: i am talking about a nor'easter in new york. i had good experiences but it was the new york state that came to my aid. i had some mold. i was able to get a humidifier to clean out the basement. i had to clean out a bunch of clothing and furniture from my house. i had a good experience with that. one thing that bothers me with the storm is with the hurricane, all of a sudden the media is trying to restore faith in the -- with biden. he was vacationing on the beach. kamala harris was out there having fundraisers. they did not respond or have any kind of conferences on tv to

tell the people what they were going to do, to stay calm. it took 10 days before they responded on the news media. do not interrupt me. anytime anybody rips into trump, you don't interrupt them. but if you have criticism about that, you are accused of misinformation. disinformation. we have a right to our opinion. donald trump has a right to his opinion i hope. i hope joe biden has a right to his opinion. if it is an opinion from a republican -- host: do you want to come back to the storms? caller: yes. down there, i feel bad for those people. florida got hit hard too. there are deaths down there. god bless those families. the devastation in appalachia

with the hurricane going that far north with that much rain and the devastation that took, i've never seen anything like it. host: let me take viewers to florida, port orange, florida. mark, good morning. what was your experience? caller: good morning. i have two homes in florida. one in north florida and one in daytona and both were hit. helene passed over my home in north florida. my power is out in daytona beach right now. i've been living in florida 50 years. i have a lot of experience with hurricanes. the federal government really is -- has limited involvement with people during any administration. most of everything is taken care of by either private insurance or by local government.

you can get a blue roof put on your home through the fema program and people take advantage of that. host: explain what a blue roof is for folks who have not gone through the process. caller: blue roof -- if your roof is damaged, you can call a number and they will come out. somebody will come out. i have not had it done. but somebody will come out and fix the roof to prevent moisture intrusion and placed tarp over your roof. there is no cost to you. that is a government program. people go back and forth and they are fighting each other over which administration does a better job. in my experience personally, i have seen limited national government involvement. it is just sad what we go through and we have to fight

about it. this is a devastating experience. living without power, i'm calling you and my phone is about to go out of battery. i have to use the generator to charge it back up. that's all i have to say. host: thanks for the call. is your community safe down there? how bad was it in port orange? the eye came over. caller: it is terrible. there is flooding everywhere. i had to get gas. there are no gas stations open. all the traffic signals are mangled. there are a couple that might be working. but they put stop signs out so that everybody has to stop. that is the law. you have to stop at the corner when the light is out and everyone has to take turns. that works pretty well. i could not even get down the main boulevard in port orange yesterday because both sides of the street were flooded.

i've never seen that before. the river is overflowed at u.s. one. people's homes, thousands, hundreds at least are getting water from the river, waiting for the river to subside. it is awful. the whole thing is terrible. everybody needs to work together. thank you. host: thank you. the halifax river right in port orange, south of daytona on the east coast of florida, there is the google map view of port orange. this is sarah in north carolina. worry about in conover -- where about in conover? caller: good morning. i would like this complaining to stop from everybody. most people are doing the best they can up in the mountains. i am getting good reports. american person is up there. -- american p -- samaritans

purse is up there. the neighbors are working together. americans, stop complaining. you have a great day. host: that is sarah in conover, northwest of charlotte, north carolina. cheryl, lancaster, california. good morning. caller: good morning. we have fires a lot out here but not so much recently. the fire department has been taking care of that to prevent fires. they were the past couple of years where the high heat and the fires were burning hotter than ever. there were fires everywhere. they did not do much damage because the back burning and they get ahead of it. the volunteers, when it is really bad, they come out and

during the malibu fire, one put themselves, they volunteer to do it, but they are inmates. either way, it is all good. fires are damaging. i have not been in one, thank god. earthquakes, we have not had any severe ones. i can recall a few good ones. the road workers from the city. when it comes to government like covid and to the hospitals, stuff like that that has come up lately, that is the elite experience that i have had that has been bad is the treatment of getting the shot and for covid, stay in your house. mine graduated a year later with

the 2020 class. these things, -- host: thanks. sandra, port arthur, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. my experience with the government was with reta which happened in 2005 about two weeks after katrina. we all had to evacuate. i was living in an apartment on the second floor. the roof of my apartment was ripped off. i apply for fema. maybe one week or two after that, they came out and surveyed my damage. i did not have renters insurance at the time. the person was telling me you are going to get so much money. in the meantime i had to find a place of my own, which i did

eventually. i was calling fema back about my application and this went on from september to february. they would tell me, your application is being processed. i got so frustrated in february of 2006 that i ended up having to write my senator in texas. when i wrote him about it, he replied back about one week or two later stating that he looked into the process and -- i forgot who the senator was. he apologized for what i was going through and it had been too long since september 2005 since we went through the hurricane. i want to say -- it was in march that i finally got a check from fema. i wrote a letter and told him, i hope i never have to depend on fema. i hope everybody, if you are in

a rental, get renters insurance or some type of insurance because it will be needed with all of these hurricanes and all of the natural disasters out there. you want to depend on your government, but i just don't see. host: you mentioned the 2005 hurricane, the deadliest hurricanes since 1950, katrina. 1400 deaths caused by katrina. rita was on that list, the 15th deadliest. hurricane helene is already in the top five and the numbers are expected to climb as recovery efforts continue. more than 200 people dead at this point. i wonder if the deadliest hurricane of all time, the great galveston hurricane of 1900, how much is that talked about in texas with the hurricane that took somewhere between 8000 and

12,000 lives? is that something that texans still remember? caller: it is talked about. we have been through so many since then that we don't go back. they have short up galveston -- shored up galveston. i go past 87. i am not understanding why they have not built up the barriers since rita. i am not quite sure. there is still a piece where they will go -- where the gulf will come onto 87. we talk about it a little bit. it is not as prevalent as the other hurricanes we have been through. i have been through several. rita, ike, harvey. i cannot remember the one in 2021.

on the gulf coast you take a risk. the only reason i am down here is because my family was down here. if i had known i would be running from hurricanes a lot, i probably would not have even bought a house down this way. host: thanks for the call from port arthur, texas. that book about the 1900 hurricane that came out on the hundredth anniversary that got a lot of attention, eric larson, a popular nonfiction author. "isaacs storm" was the name of the book, talking about the galveston hurricane. eric larson out with that book this year about that time between the end of the election of 1860, abraham lincoln's election and the firing on fort sumter. erik larson is back in the news for that book this year. this is james in texas. good morning. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. when a tornado ripped through missouri, leaving its aftermath, destruction and 153 fatalities, president obama came to joplin within a week. there was a speech at missouri southern state college -- missouri southern state university. spoke to the community and lifted the spirit of the community and gave them hope that the federal government would have their back in their time of need and they proceeded to back it up. during that tornado, st. john's hospital was lifted off of its base and completely destroyed. joplin high school took a direct hit and was completely

destroyed. there is a modern st. john's hospital for medical achievement. there is a wonderful joplin high school rebuilt. it is a fine public education facility. the businesses of joplin were able to rebuild with government aid. the community -- the people were able to rebuild their houses and rebuild their community. that is an instance where a government came through for the people of joplin, missouri. thank you for taking my call. stick on the line for a second. showing viewers president obama, a year later in 2012 went to the joplin high school commencement and appeared there. you can watch it in the c-span archives.

what you think of when i president should go to a natural disaster site? there were questions of the timing of when biden would go or president trump would go for helene recovery and now in the wake of milton, what is the right and wrong thing to do? caller: well, president obama came within a week. it just happened to coincide with memorial day weekend. it was a sunny day. he gave his speech. he backed it up. that was within a week while the city was still in utter destruction. that i though wast -- that i thought was appropriate and uplifting. i don't know about how soon in today's political world, but at least our elected officials should go down and reassure the public that they are there for

them and they are not ignoring them, and that they will be there for them when their time of need comes. host: thank you for the call from texas. tom in duke, iowa. caller: yes, good morning. i want to talk about a natural catastrophe that you have no warning of, an earthquake. i was in the 1989 earthquake five miles away from the park during the world series. oakland, a double-decker freeway collapsed upon itself. it was a very spooky situation. no warning. host: tom, in the wake of that, who was more helpful for you? local government, state government? what do you remember about the response?

caller: it was gridlock. i don't remember the response. i don't recall any responses. it was gridlock for months. host: when did you charter a helicopter to do? caller: photographs. i knew that it was a historic event. couldn't get close. host: are you a photographer? caller: no, just a business owner. we couldn't get close to the mission district, the bay bridge, or the collapsed freeway in oakland because they had a ceiling limit and distance limit. i did get a lot of photographs. it is one event that you have no warning of and it is scary. host: this is one of the photographs from the 1980 nine earthquake from the los angeles times from their archives looking back.

this is kathy entebbe, florida. how are you doing in tampa? tell me about tampa right now. caller: i am headed to go see a fema representative. i am in tampa. i lost a trailer to the storm. first helene and now this one. milton. and i'm headed through tampa right now. there are no streetlights on. tree limbs are down. you can see lisa some intersections directing traffic. -- police at some intersections directing traffic. very scary last night. my brother lost everything in his home in saint pete. my sister lost her house in santa maria. it's devastating for all of us. host: you're going to see a fema representative?

i know that there is a $750 immediate aid and programs on top of that. what do you need? caller: already have the $750 after helene. now the whole structure has fallen in for milton. i'm not sure exactly what the representative will give me, but it is a total tear down. it has been horrific for my whole family this week, but i'm going to hang up and drive. fema has been calling me and getting in touch with me. the red cross has been out to our property. so far, the assistance has been wonderful. i'm going to hang up and drive and i hope everyone has the best and we will get through this florida strong. host: thanks, kathy.

this is angela in carlton, oregon. good morning. caller: good morning. i guess i have been through two of them. the oakland world series, the earthquake hit. the first new station to come on was all the way down in salinas. i was in livermore, california at that time. the other one was the flood of 1996 in oregon. the toilette and river crested at 7:00 a.m. and at 11:00 a.m. we had to stop sandbagging the police station because the floodwater was coming up. the police station was downtown. i was a city park maintenance

worker during that time. host: what was your job? caller: i was a government worker. we were on the scene to take care of it. it took us a couple of weeks to get the city cleaned up. mud was everywhere. i still have a vhs video recording. what is interesting is the news lady, our city secretary had to call the new station to let them know that there was a flood. of course, that his back when the media reporters used to get in the helicopters and fly on location to do news reports. what is more interesting is, the media is the middle between people and natural disasters and government. it is like, we the people. we the people help out people.

being a government worker here, because that is a city worker. take pride in that. host: the flood that you were talking about from 1996, the guard newspaper. what are your thoughts on media today? we have social media. there are other ways to get the word out about natural disasters, at least the ones you can see coming down the road. how that has changed things, especially from your perspective as a former city worker? caller: it's funny. people move in and they build up in the flood zones and they say, oh my god, we've never seen a flood like that. like, guys, that is a wetland that you are building in. host: the national flood insurance program is something we've talked about on this program. if you'll forgive the pun, it is underwater. caller: my experience with

national -- not national, but natural disaster? host: yes, anything else that you wanted to add? caller: well, that is my experience. why would i add anymore unless you have questions about my experience? host: we have 20 minutes left in this segment asking for those experiences. we are setting aside a special line for those who have been impacted by the recent hurricanes. it is (202) 748-8002 on that line. otherwise the phone lines are split regionally. linda and hempstead, north carolina. caller: i am the one who lived in puerto rico for a while. i was on the last flight out just before hurricane maria in puerto rico. i arrived in north carolina just in time to be hit by florence, where we lost our roof.

now, hurricane hugo hit puerto rico. the money from puerto rico, they were supposed to get, they got $4 billion three years later. by that time most of the business had gone bankrupt. so, i lost all of my investments there. the last of the money came in like six weeks ago to puerto rico. here, the rumors going around here about western north carolina, because i am in wilmington, and the rumor here is the stock company which everyone is saying you have to buy stock in this company because biden controls the weather -- this is trump country here -- he controls the weather because their lithium deposits under the area where there was flooding in north carolina and they will be mining that.

so everyone is running out to buy stock in this company. i didn't write the name of it down. host: why do you think that there are so many conspiracy theories right now? caller: trump. host: that is linda and hempstead, north carolina. president joe biden had more to say about former president trump when it comes to conspiracy theories and concerns that he has raised about the federal response. this was president biden from yesterday. [video clip] >> on fema funding, how much time does congress have to act before fema or the sba run out of money? pres. biden: that is a discussion now and i don't want to mislead you. in terms of the sba, it is at the edge right now. i think that congress should be

coming back and moving on the emergency needs immediately. they will have to come back after the election as well. it is going to be a long haul for total rebuilding. it is going to take several billion dollars. it won't be a matter of just a little bit. we are fighting now to make sure people have the emergency needs they need. the dollars to get a prescription or baby formula. the $750 you are talking about, mr. trump and all of those other people know it, so why does he suggest that is all they will get? it is bizarre. it's bizarre. we have to stop this. it is so un-american the way they are talking about this stuff. there will be a need for significant amounts of money.we are already underway trying to calculate what the costs will be because you don't want to mislead anybody. we want to make sure all of the costs will be able to be covered. >> have you talked about speaker johnson coming back before the election to vote? pres. biden: i haven't.

i think congress should move as rapidly as they can, particularly on the most immediate need, small business. >> the vice president said yesterday that fema has what they need for congress not to come back. pres. biden: fema has its needs. that is different from the sba. they are going to need a lot more. >> what did prime minister netanyahu tell you about his plans for retaliation? pres. biden: he is coming over to help with the storm. >> [indiscernible] pres. biden: are you kidding me? mr. former president trump, man, get a life. help these people. host: president biden yesterday talking about hurricane response. we are talking about your experience with the government during natural disasters. charleston, south carolina, gerald, good morning. caller: good morning.

we had a family from orlando who stayed with us to get away from hurricane milton. they are going back tomorrow. i think that the response time has been fairly quick. they were not instructed by their insurance fighter to take photos of the property before the storm hit. the total damage -- host: cameron, alexandria, virginia. you are next. caller: good morning. i did not personally live through these hurricanes, that father is in st. petersburg. with regard to government involvement, from what i understand, even though he is a small part of st. petersburg that is still trying to get electricity back, he hasn't really had any involvement with the federal government.i know that the city government has programs where they will help -- he has this massive, massive tree in the backyard that fell and blocked the entire

road next to his house in the neighborhood because he is on the corner. the city has a program where they will cut the tree back to the property line so it is easier for my dad to deal with it. there hasn't been any word on anything federal going in to help. i just wanted to corroborate the earlier story that someone afforded had more help from local government than federal government when it comes to dealing with this kind of thing. host: this is sandy in houston, texas. caller: good morning. actually, fema helped me out when houston was hit in may. host: how so? caller: they came out, limbs came down on my car and house and my ceiling came in. they were pretty quick to get back with me. they sent out an accessor and he was very pleasant. i had a good experience with

them. host: what did that result in? did you get a rebuilding grant? caller: i am a renter. some of that was to help with the cleanup. all of the insulation came down that i had to clean up by myself. just those kinds of supplies. like, my tv was broken and the windshield on my car was cracked, so mostly to help with payment for those types of things. host: what is happening in houston since the flooding? what are you hearing about efforts to mitigate that in the future? caller: well, not a whole lot. right after that hurricane beryl hit. it was pretty bad. actually, my electricity didn't go out that time. i haven't really heard a whole lot about what they're doing.

centerpoint, the electricity provider, they didn't do a very good job. everybody has been on them about to do better in the future. that is mostly with the talk has been about. since they make so much money, they need to do a little bit better keeping up with, you know, keeping everything running good. host: thank you for the call from houston, texas. the storm continue to make headlines outside of the florida region impacted. this is the washington post. floridians take stock. at least 14 then in milton's rampage. that number is up to 16. millions are still in the dark. the milton death toll is much lower than helene.

that is in the 200's and rising. atlanta, georgia, good morning. caller: good morning. i have a few points that i would like to make. i think that people need to realize and remember, when donald trump was in office he withheld funding for blue states. you are talking about playing politics. in blue states you have maga republicans, republicans, and it democrats in those states. host: how did he withhold funding from blue states? caller: what was that? host: in what way did he withhold funding from blue states? caller: he told congress not to fund blue states. he told the congress. host: how would congress do that, lisa? caller: by not funding fema.

not allowing the money to go to states. understand, from previous callers, they have to understand how government works, ok. when we have tornadoes, that is different than hurricanes. when we have tornadoes, it's usually local government that provides funding. but when we have a national disaster, that is when the federal government comes in. it has to reach so many million of dollars before it is declared a national disaster. that is when fema comes in. we have to understand how our government works. host: this is susan and wister, mass -- in western,

massachusetts -- woster, mass. caller: they couldn't go down for five days, him and that giggling hyena. unbelievable. what do you think? that money goes to the illegal and that war with zelenskyy. come on, people, huh? we can't help our american citizens like this? this whole administration is a bunch of knuckleheads. host: that is susan on ukraine and joe biden and american involvement. joe biden canceled his travel plans to stay in the united states as milton made its way to

florida on wednesday. it was a meeting of allies, ukraine group that was scheduled this weekend at the ramstein air force base. stories in the washington post to continue those discussions and what a victory plan might look like in ukraine. the colors talking about criticism of the biden administration during the hurricane responses. jd vance yesterday added to that criticism in greensboro, north carolina speaking at a town hall. [video clip] sen. vance: i would thank the private relief agencies, charities, americans who took care of their fellow americans. god bless you guys. we should all be proud of them. it would have been a lot worse without them. [applause] look, i think that now that hopefully we are moving to the stage where we are trying to rebuild, as opposed to just recover. i know that we are still

recovering a little bit and that is an unfortunate tragedy, but once we get past that, hopefully in the next few days when we have saved everyone we can save, then it is time to focus on the disastrous federal response to this incredible crisis. what i have learned is, look, two days -- ok, you have the hurricane, western north carolina is underwater. what should have happened is the president and vice president should have sent the 82nd airborne to western north carolina that day and it should have happened right away. [applause] instead, we had a president at the beach and vice president at a fundraiser in san francisco. what you need in times like this is you just need leadership. sir, you put it so well. it is not any one agency. there are a lot of people working on the federal effort doing a good job or at least as good as they can. the problem is all of the

bureaucratic incompetence. i was talking with elon musk about this a few days ago. elon was a centerleft democrat four years ago and now he has a dark maga hat on. if you talk about someone to stop about government incompetence, it's elon musk. what happened is, look, you have the faa, you have fema, you have these relief agencies, and you've got people who have been trained by the government bureaucracy that their job is not to cut the b.s and help people, it is to act like the dmv. what that means in this case is you have a lot of people who could have been helped, a lot of lives that could have been saved. there are details to figure out. i'm sure that we will learn a lot about how corrupt and incompetent our government is. i think the most important thing is we try to get to the bottom of how we had such a massive failure. host: the republican vice

presidential nominee and senator jd vance yesterday. taking your phone calls. your experience with government during a natural disaster and looking for your text messages and social media posts. jennifer writing, my experience taught me that it matters who is running the government.republicans run on making government small and the regulation and tax cuts. they want the government off their backs, unless it is about abortion or the right to discriminate based on gender and sexual orientation. as soon as a disaster happens they expect the government to russian and fix the problem. saying governor desantis in florida is the best at getting things done and the government politicize his things while making things worse. tom says, my personal experiences i've seen the difference between the handling superstorm sandy and tossing paper towels in puerto rico. this is melissa in lake charles, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning, john. i am in lake charles.

we just went through -- it feels like just, but it was august 2020. during covid hurricane laura hit, two miles away from being a category 5. thankfully there were not a lot of deaths, but some people did lose their lives, particularly in the aftermath. it really destroyed the charles. a few weeks later we were hit by hurricane delta. not long after that we had historic flooding. people in this area have had a lot of contact with fema. and the government, in particular. not a lot -- there was not a lot of help for individuals, but they do help with the repairs. the state and municipality repairs the schools and they do reimburse you, although it is years later. the clip that you showed, and

that is in the millions of dollars, right. but the clip that you showed of joe biden a few moments ago, and i know he is a prolific liar, but that is disingenuous about what he was saying about the $750 is just a down payment, there will be big settlements. there aren't really big settlements, especially if you have insurance. that's it, you have insurance and you get what they pay out. if you don't have insurance then fema may help you, but you have to jump through a bunch of hoops. the sba, that is a loan you will have to repay. it's, what i have seen in my experience, and i went through hurricane rita as well three weeks after katrina here in lake charles, so i've never been one to rely on the government. i know there are people who do and they are constantly disappointed. we have blue roofs.

you can look on youtube and see in the past few weeks we recently had the implosion of the capital one tower. it is something to see if you want to see on youtube. it was the tallest building in town. joe biden is being disingenuous. no one is getting a big settlement. they're just not. hopefully they had insurance, a good amount, so that they can rebuild. the other thing i've noticed is these individuals like samaritans purse, a private organization, they were here and helped immensely. also our people were really suffering. we are really helping each other. they provided three hot meals a day and would even let us bring

meals to feed our elderly neighbors. they were incredible, mercy chef. i can't say enough about them. the private organizations are who i see help the most. team rubicon helped people. the baptist church association, i wish that i could remember their full name, but they were literally putting the roof on homes all over the city. i've never experienced the government, especially fema, helping as much as private organizations and churches. host: thanks for sharing your experiences in lake charles. it is time for one or two more phone calls. this is mountaintop, pennsylvania. ray, thank you for waiting. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. my experience with flooding goes back to 1972. i lived in kingston, pennsylvania and at the time we had hurricane agnes.

the floodwaters on the street that i lived on were over 20 feet deep. it was a complete, total disaster. there was no federal government infrastructure. there was absolutely no private flood insurance. now, it has become a requirement. at the time the government stepped in, the federal government gave -- if you rented a home you received a check for $5,000. if you were a homeowner, check for $10,000. you can borrow additional money from the sba i believe at 1%. at the time our congressman was a democrat from wilkesboro, pennsylvania. his name was dan flood, and he took a bill to congress for flood repair and flood aid and he announced himself as my name is dan flood from pennsylvania. the federal government was present at the time. nixon was the president. he came to town approximately

two weeks after the waters receded. he gave a speech of the street from where my house is. the national guard and marine corps were mobilized for assistance. interestingly, completely gone at the time was any reference to global warming and all of the disasters that are being caused by changes in the weather, or whatever. that's nonsense. that's baloney. there has been floods from time immemorial and there will continue to be floods and storms. to simply demagogue the issue for political gain, which is the political game of trying -- we need to have a clean environment, but there have been weather disasters for as long as we been a country, and there will continue to be weather disasters whether there is more development on the coast, more development in valleys and rivers. when we de--- de-foliate,

and the real damage in north carolina, those people, god bless them, it will be a disaster for them this winter. it will be hard, hard, hard for them for the next few years. hopefully, they will make decisions as they rebuild to change their development such that no one will live on the precipice of streams and rivers where the disasters really occur. but that's not really going to change. that's our geography. host: that's ray and pennsylvania. you mentioned daniel flood. there is a picture of a longtime member of congress, daniel flood , and his distinct mustache from congress.gov. our last color in this first segment, -- our last caller in this first segment, stick around. we will be joined by jasmine wright and paul steinhauser.

later, author richard reeves, president of the american institute for boys and men, discusses male voters in campaign 2024. we will be right back. ♪ >> american history tv, saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. at 5:30 p.m. eastern, neil gorsuch and his former law clerk talks about america's founding ideals of democracy, liberty, equality. at 6:00 the gold-medal ceremony honoring the african-american women for their calculation of the 1969 apollo 11 mission, sending men to the moon. at 7:00 p.m. eastern, watch american history tv series

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roundtable we are joined by a pair of political reporters. jasmine wright and via zoom is paul steinhauser. i want to start with your latest piece on the politics of disaster response. the headline, the fox news headline, back to back headlines rock the harris-trump presidential campaign. how are natural disasters playing out on the campaign trail? guest: it is no surprise. hurricanes have been impacting presidential campaigns for a long time. think back to 1992 and president h w bush. his response, fema's response to hurricane andrew was slammed in ford and did him no favors. 2012, superstorm sandy smacked into the eastern seaboard. it arguably helped then-president obama win reelection. we have back to back hurricanes, helene which tore through the southeast doing immense damage

to states like georgia and north carolina, two crucial battleground states. milton, which yesterday we saw go right through florida. and there is still huge mess there. a couple million still without power and the death toll rising. obviously, former president trump, his campaign, you heard the clip from senator vance, his running mate, a few minutes ago. very critical of what president biden and vice president harris -- it is the same administration.they see this as an opportunity to criticize the incompetence of kamala harris. host: what are the campaigns saying to reassure voting access in hurricane-impacted areas, modifying early voting days are changing polling locations if needed? guest: both republicans and democrats at the local level are open to making sure they are retaining access to people's rights to vote in these hard-hit

areas. in 2020, republicans were not really for modification early voting days when it came to issues like disasters.now they are asking for it in states like north carolina and georgia that were hard-hit and will obviously be consequential to president trump's base. getting to paul's point, the former president has use these disasters to criticize vice president harris. vice president harris is using disasters to criticize former president trump because him spreading the misinformation, saying that fema was giving disaster relief to migrants, which has been debunked several times, really falls into the current campaign playbook which allows them to say, look, america, there are two choices in temperament. former president trump and vice president harris. for her to say that he is on synthetic well we have seen her try to show the most empathy to

the american people, it is working in trump's favor but also the vice president. host: you mentioned you are in pittsburgh where barack obama was appearing with kamala harris, with the campaign. this is barack obama a minute and a half from yesterday. [video clip] former president obama: when donald trump shows disregard for our constitution, when he calls pows losers, or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it. they think it is ok. they think, well, at least he is owning the libs. he's really sticking it to 'em. it's ok, as long as our side wins. by the way, i'm sorry, gentlemen, i noticed this especially with the men who seem

to think that trump's behavior of bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. i'm here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. it never has been. [applause] real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining. real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it is inconvenient. real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who cannot always stand up for themselves. that is what we should want for our daughters and our sons, and that is what i want to see in a president of the united states of america. [applause]

host: former president barack obama in pittsburgh. paul steinhauser, what was your assessment of barack obama back on the campaign trail and how the campaign plans to deploy him in the final weeks? guest: this was the first event for the former president. if you look at polling, he remains extremely popular with the democrats. the ratings are above water with independents as well. this is the first of a number of stops he will be making. we are now under four weeks. he is also helping senator bob casey of pennsylvania, who is in a very tough reelection battle. one of the races that could determine if the republicans win the senate or not. what i thought was important about the clip that you played is, of course he was criticizing former president trump. he did that throughout his speech. he was very creative and vicious in some ways in dissecting

trump. but the idea of the gender gap, and we are seeing a tremendous gender gap in the selection. you saw that message tailored to men, to not be susceptible to donald trump's portrayal of strength. earlier at a stop at a campaign headquarters he channeled that message specifically to blackmail voters. we have seen -- to black male voters. we have seen donald trump making gains. this is something the harris campaign is concerned about and one of the reasons former president obama zeroed in on that message last night. host: this is an nbc poll. among men, kamala harris with 40% of the male vote and donald trump with 52 percent. among women, 58% to 37%. jasmine, that pitch by barack obama? guest: the battle of the genders

for sure. there is no better way to tell that democrats are the closer when they bring out former president barack obama. he is the person that democrats bring into close the argument. not only to make the stakes of the election so clear, which we saw in that clip, but to rally democratic voters and get them to the polls early. that is why they are deploying the former president right now. not just because democrats love early voting, they've always had that advantage for the last few modern cycles, but because of the hurricanes and the reporting we will see in states like north carolina and georgia. that's crucial for the former president and vice president harris when she is trying to make these real purple states. there will not be quality polling because people barely have the ability to charge their phone. they are not going to use that charge to talk to pollsters. getting these folks out early will give the campaign the data that they need to know where they should surge those

last-minute resources. this is why former president obama is so effective. he makes the case but also encourages people to mail and the ballots early and also go to the polls early. we know that pennsylvania is a state that provides democrats trouble when it comes to voting because people mail in their ballots but they don't get counted until the last day. were trying to figure out where the numbers look soft and where they should put their resources. he gets democrats e out earlier than most people. guest: the other former president, bill clinton, who like president obama spoke at the democratic convention in august. he will be going over the weekend to rural georgia and north carolina. next week doing a bus tour. that is the whole idea, get out

the vote early. this is something we're democrats, as jasmine highlighted, democrats have been emphasizing this for a couple of cycles. republicans have really tried to catch up. the republican national committee for a couple of years has been having this bank your vote campaign to emphasize that it is ok to vote early. the problem is, their person at the top of the ticket, former president trump, has gone back and forth on this. we remember his comments from the 2020 election. he is stepping on the messenger often when it comes to republican efforts to get out the early vote. host: phone numbers are as usual. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. paul steinhauser is in pittsburgh after traveling with the campaign.

what were you seeing in arizona? guest: is arizona a purple state? people on the ground think it is traditionally republican. i was there for a couple of days. people throughout the political spectrum, from canvassers to organizers to campaign aides, from republicans, democrats, and independents. the vibe that i got is that people are feeling hopeful because of the enthusiasm that the vice president brought to the campaign since she replaced biden at the top of the ticket but they are not optimistic because they are facing a serious numbers problem that they didn't have in 2020. over 100,000 registered democrats have left the state through 2020. democrats have deficits not only traditionally but it has expanded. a deficit of over 200 thousand registered voters and a deficit with independents. a flip from 2020 when they had more independents in that state. when we see the harris campaign reaching out to the mormon

community, to republicans, she has obviously amassed a large amount of high-profile republican endorsers in that state. it is not because of virtue, it is necessity. they need the republicans molded in the image of john mccain who are mormon, who are independent, who are exhausted or don't like extremism, don't like election denialism, but they are having trouble because it is such a tall order. this is a traditionally republican state. a lot of their identity is based in being a republican. it is one thing to say we won't vote for donald trump, but people are finding it is another thing to say we want to vote for the vice president. people are spread out trying to confront this problem in a lot of ways. canvassers are reaching out to independents of color. trying to amass a coalition that

may not have existed in 2020 for the vice president. host: the exodus from arizona, is it covid-related? guest: people don't know. so many people are pouring into arizona. one person told me 200 people poured into maricopa county. a lot of them are registering independent. you can request a republican or democratic primary ballot. there are more independents since 2020, diversifying their interests. they are coming from states like california.obviously arizona and california are two politically distinct states. it is a melting pot. we see the harris campaign not only focusing on republicans were independents, they are focusing on the native community, the tribal community, but also trying to get out the vote from latino men.

that is a place where they are having trouble because the new york times poll harris is down double digits in comparison to trouble with latino men in that state alone. they are trying to amass a different type of coalition that may be didn't exist in 2020 because of all of the changes in the demographics. host: let me bring in callers with jasmine wright, a notus political reporter, and paul steinhauser from fox news joining us from pittsburgh via zoom. the line for democrats, good morning, rhonda. caller: is the topic politics or disaster? host: it is a political roundtable. we have been talking the politics of disaster as well. caller: good morning, everyone. i wanted to say that i am praying for all of the people in florida and north carolina and south carolina that have been affected by these hurricanes.

i went through sandy. your homeowners insurance will pay for you to live somewhere else for two years while your home is being rebuilt. that is how it is in new jersey. i love new jersey. we live in the best state in the country. as far as politics, i'm glad you got a fox person on there. can you tell them to please start telling the truth to their supporters? it is really sad they would politicize a natural disaster and tell people if you take fema assistance they are going to take your property. that's a lie. host: rhonda in new jersey. paul steinhauser on the fact that fema had to publish essentially a fact check for misinformation out there. how unusual is that? guest: extremely unusual.

we were talking about this at the beginning of the segment that we have seen both president biden and vice president harris numerous times this week chiding former president trump for making things more difficult for fema and government responders trying to help those really hurt by these hurricanes. it's a major issue not only for politics but for the rescuers and fema as they try to help people get back on their feet after these back to back dangerous storms. host: grand gorge new york, republican, good morning. caller: i was concerned about yesterday's obama's rally for kamala harris. he and hillary are campaigning for her. last month she called trump a threat to democracy and the world, which i find it ludicrous considering during obama's presidency, hillary was the secretary of state and on national tv gave a reset button

leading americans to believe that russia was american's best friend. on a hot mic obama was overheard telling him to tell putin that he had more flexibility during his second term. when russia invaded ukraine and took over crimea, obama said there were mostly russians there anyway and didn't think to help ukrainian refugees. using campaign funds to establish the trump-russian collaboration -- host: you made your point. russia, ukraine, barack obama, hillary clinton? guest: democrats would see it differently, but largely the

u.s. relationships with russia in 2020 and 2014 are very different than the u.s. relationship with russia now because of the invasion of ukraine and how far they are going. because of how far that democrats and vice president harris, president biden, believe they would continue to go with former president trump in office. this has been a rallying call of the vice president since she replaced biden. biden talked about it when he was at the top of the ticket basically saying that trump said he likes dictators and he would become a dictator on day one. that is something that the vice president has said is a real liability for him and basically making him unable to be president and validates that option for him because of the way that he would cozy up to russia. now, trump has denied these things. trump basically said that democrats are in some ways responsible for the threats on his life, something that i think both parties feel the volume

should be turned down. it was a different place in 2014 with the u.s. relationship with russia and ukraine. host: paul steinhauser, how much do you think that we will be talking foreign policy on the campaign drilling these last 25 days? guest: i mean, listen, we have a lot of hotspots now. we saw what iran did in reaction to israel firing missiles. as of now, if things stay calm it won't be a top, top issue. but on the ground in the middle east or ukraine could instantly change. on ukraine, when it comes to kamala harris and donald trump, there is not that much difference on some key issues. on some, there is. on this one it is very stark. this is night and day when it comes to their philosophies on what to do with russia and ukraine. it is an issue that is

definitely a divide between those two. host: another issue, jasmine wright, that gets attention on the campaign trail and this latest report on inflation. the headline from the washington post, inflation eased slightly in september as the election nears, the consumer price index fell to 2.4 percent in september from a year earlier. the annual rate has not been this low since february of 2021. guest: this is a win for democrats. so much about the selection has been wrapped around the idea of inflation, specifically for arizona. we were just talking about that state. very few states have seen higher inflation that has stayed in the state of arizona. that isn't emigration, but that has become what voters in that state are the most concerned about. what is wrapping around voters' ideas about election and voting. this is a win for democrats, this is something that they said they have been trying to do. the reason why biden has done

these various things in his federal reserve, two separate entities, have done all of these things with the economy after covid to get to this point where we have lower inflation. obviously, when people go to the ballots, their gas is lower, may be their housing price hasn't gone down but things look that are at the grocery store, obviously the vice president talks about price gouging, that is a win for the vice president because so much about these conversations has been that the democrats have really screwed up the economy since former president trump. that people aren't better in the last four years. host: to that point, 2.4% inflation is still positive inflation. the bulk of septembers increase driven by a rise in prices for housing and food. they increased .2% and white 4% respectively -- and .2% respectively. what is on voters minds? guest: overall, the economy is

doing well. do americans feel that way? no. poll after poll shows that. it is so visceral when it comes to inflation. you see it at the grocery store, the gas station, it instantly affects voters. that is why donald trump has had a large lead on the economy. the economy remains the top issue on the minds of american voters. the margin that he has had is not as large as it used to be, but it is still an advantage for him. it is one reason why this is a margin of error race with less than four weeks before the election. host: bob, independent, welcome to the roundtable. caller: i would like to know about kamala, what she did before she got into the vice president's role. i know she and willie brown turned san francisco into a sewer. nobody can deny that. i would like to know her qualifications. she has nothing to do with finances, economics, or the

military. these are important criteria. the only connection i can find with her and hollywood is the fact that she was probably known as wonder woman. host: what is the harris campaign saying about kamala harris' qualifications on the state, federal level, as a senator when they get these sorts of questions on the campaign trail? guest: they should take his words and use wonder woman as a bumper sticker as a new name for her in the final stretch. when i talked to a lot of her allies, they continuously say that she is one of the most qualified people they believe who has run for president because of her long history and politics. before she was vice president in 2021, she was the junior senator of california on the senate intel community. she asked about her military experience. that is a really prestigious committee that senators join where they get classified

information about all of the issues happening in the world. that is where she branded her ability to know about foreign policy. it's not something that all of the 100 senators have access to because you have to be on that committee. before she was on the senate intel committee she was the attorney general for several years of california. california is a massive state with a massive budget. whether or not people feel like she did a good job in that role, she was one of the top executives.that is why she says , i have been an executive in all of these different places. she was in charge of running one of the largest criminal justice systems in the country. before she was attorney general for multiple, multiple years, she was district attorney where she was district attorney where she dealt with smaller issues in the state of california in the san francisco area. she has had all these different positions in which we think of politicians having in their

route to the white house. in these roles, she says it on the trail, she prosecuted transnational crime. that was her first touches when it came to the issue of immigration. she sued all of these different banks when it came to the housing crisis. she does have these various experiences they believe make her more than qualified for this position. and a lot more positions than i think you see for men that have run before. host: greg on the line for democrats welcome to the roundtable. caller: i'm calling today. i wish they would stop all the lies they tell. i be like you to tell dan, i think his name is dan houser, of fox news. host: we will let you talk about

your career include core reporting and give you a chance to respond -- your career in political reporting and give you a chance to respond. paul: we are in a divisive time and viewers have strong opinions about how the media cover this election. that is very understandable. host: what you think about the media coverage or the media that hosts a debate and concerns we have seen about that? do you think we will see another debate? the harris campaign is still calling for another debate in the final 25 days. paul: cnn and fox news have been trying to get another debate. the former president has said that will not be happening. his argument has been early voting is underway and almost half of the country in one form -- in almost half of the country in one form or another, so he says it is too late to do another debate.

it looks like the vice president to debate from two weeks ago will be the last one. host: he made sure to add in the truth social post i think you are referring to that i accepted the fox news invitation to debate kamala but she turned it down. jd vance easily won his debate, and the post goes on from there. on the line for republicans, good morning. caller: when i called, i thought you would be fair and balanced. i thought jasmine would be something like michaela montgomery or candace owens. it is three against one right now against me. i would like any one of them to tell me what five eyes is and if not, i can tell them.

that is about barack " hussein" obama spying on my president before he was president. host: we are focusing on the news organizations themselves and trust in the people to deliver the news themselves. is it because we are so close to the end of the campaign cycle we have got so much focus on that or is that your express the entire cycle? guest: i think there are a lot of valid reasons why people have a certain distrust for the media. i think that has been a trend intensifying over the last decade, this erosion of trust. i think journalists work really hard and we try to bring to you the most fair and balanced news that focuses on context and facts. just because the facts do not

align with your beliefs does not inherently make them wrong. that just means you do not agree with them. the focus on tearing down the media or making it feel like they are only on one side is a difficult place for a journalist to be. journalism has its own responsibilities. i think people are more focused on reporters, individual reporters particularly as we get closer to the election. i know my mentions are usually just a garbage fire. journalists are working hard to give you guys the context and understanding that is required to make a vote at the ballot. i think that is what our job is, no matter the hate or the focus on who we are as people, because at the end of november, we want you to be the most informed you have been this whole year because that is what it will take to make the choice you want to make for the election.

host: i think the viewers are familiar with paul's organization, fox news. what is notus for folks who do not know? jasmine: notus is a new outlet. we focus on examining power in washington. who has it, who wants it, and how they wield it. we are a great place because not only do we have this reporting outlet, notus, but we also have this teaching institute where we bring in young fellows who just graduated college, what to grad school, even older folks, we have one guy, john, who was in the military for a decade and wants to become a journalist. we have other reporters from local areas what to get international journalism. we teach them journalism and want to create this new generation of reporters. we combine it all together into having this scrappy group of reporters doing the best

work nbc telling folks what they need to know before november -- in d.c. telling folks what they need to know before november. host: what you make of the nontraditional media outlets she has gone to to try to reach voters? paul: targeted, in some ways, targeted toward female voters. part of her strategy for victory is to pump up the female vote with women voters. i think some of these interviews are designed to do that. there has been plenty of criticism of kamala harris since she replaced president biden on the ticket in july, that she had been avoiding the media. she is stepping up now but the criticism continues that she has not done many hard-hitting interviews. she did the "60 minutes" interview and then the trump campaign instantly attacked cbs

saying the edited out choice segments and they wanted to see the entire transcript. jasmine: the election will come down to a couple questions. the first is, who is kamala harris? what does she want to do? how will she make your life better than donald trump? i think that media strategy is definitely answering the first two. maybe they are not as hard-hitting. maybe she is not going into depth about her views on ukraine or other issues, although she did in "60 minutes" but maybe not podcasts geared to young people, but she is talking about herself. she is giving substantial answers to who she is and where she is coming from and how she views the world. i think that is something most people did not have a real reference for before. i think it has been successful detailing who is kamala harris and how empathetic she can be and how she can connect with the voters. i think there are other people

who want to hear more substance. that may come or it may not come because we only have three more weeks. at least one of the questions she had to answer was who is kamala harris, i think she has very much tried to in these friendlier media appearances like the colbert show, call her daddy podcast. paul: everybody knows donald trump. opinions are very strong on him. people either love him or they don't. kamala harris is very much an open book. when she took over at the top of the ticket just three months ago. this has been a battle between the trump campaign and the harris campaign to define kamala harris. it has been a major part of the presidential election down the stretch. host: paul steinhauser what do you make of donald trump, especially with upcoming events

in california and new york? paul: is new york in play? is california in play? we have not had a republican win new york since ronald reagan in 1984. why is donald trump with time so precious at this point in the campaign going to these blue states? it is a great question. the stop in medicine square garden will be his second in new york in a month. he was it nassau coliseum just outside of new york a few weeks ago. i was at that rally as well. his campaign is realistic. it is not like they will be winning electoral votes in california or new york. this is more of a media strategy. new york, the media capital of the country. you hold a large rally in a place like madison square garden and it will help you in new york and maybe down ballot. this is more about getting the

message out across the country in the key battleground states. jasmine: what is interesting about his media strategy is the reliance on podcasts and livestream are focused on younger men maybe with some education, maybe no education, trying to get out the "bros" out to the ballot box. there is a risk because these are people who do not vote all the time. he is reaching out to them playing within the gender gap making sure young men feel seen by him and seen enough that they are provided permission to maybe do what their mothers or sisters are doing which is electric donald trump or try to elect donald trump -- electric donald trump or try to elect donald trump the way they have not in the past -- elect donald trump or try to elect donald trump the way they have not in the past. paul: is a crucial part of their formula for victory. host: logan paul?

jasmine: logan paul is a fighter now but he used to be a youtuber. donald trump sat with him and some other folks who i think repel a woman voter. women do not necessarily watch all of these livestreams. it is such a niche group of male voters that do not engage with the democratic party so they are up for grabs. they are trying to motivate them enough to get to the ballot. that is a risky thing trying to get people who do not vote all the time to the ballot. that is how the former president is trying to drum up his numbers, potentially in states in which democrats are trailing republicans -- cleaning

republicans. caller: thanks for taking my call. i am glad you are talking about trump's media campaign. that is part of what i wanted to talk about. i do not think the former president's upcoming dates at coachella or madison square garden have anything to do with whether or not he intends to win the race. i think he intends to use those platforms to speak directly to republicans who feel disenfranchised because they live in states traditionally blue, for lack of a better word. i think it goes full-circle parallel to what we will see with the rally henry ford spoke out in the 1930's -- spoke at in the 1930's or whatever. he wants to speak to people and get them riled up so he can engage in the same behavior we saw him engage in less time. it is not about whether he wins.

it is about trying to make it so he has an excuse when he does not. that is what we should be worried about. thanks. host: paul steinhauser, any thoughts on that? paul: it is clear in blue states there are plenty of trump supporters in these states even though they are vastly outnumbered by democratic voters. maga is alive and well in parts of california, new york, pennsylvania which is not a blue state but a deep purple states. -- state. as for the excuses of charging voter fraud if he loses, it is clear if donald trump loses this election he is probably not going to be accepting defeat. i think that is pretty clear. host: lawrence in georgia, republican, good morning. caller: my comments about the

presidential election. i am not a gambler. but i want my words to go out to everybody to pass this on to anybody you know who is a gambler. anybody who plays the powerball lotto or the mega millions lotto, carmello if she is president is said to collect more in taxes than the person who actually wins the top prize. that amount of money is very hard to win. you have to have half a billion tickets to win that thing. host: your question? caller: wait a minute. all right. what my question is, do you think it is fair that as hard as it is to win the lottery that she should get, the government should get more in taxes than

the person that actually wins the lottery? that is what -- host: a question on taxes. i do not know if you want to talk tax policy. jasmine: i love playing the lottery and going to casinos so i am with you there. i think they have very different views on tax policy, notwithstanding the question of whether the state gets more money from the lottery system. the vice president has tried to show american voters, particularly middle-class which has been an emphasis of her remarks, that she wants to create tax incentives like for housing, like for starting a new small business. she wants to take it from $5,000 to $50,000. she wants to tax people who make over $400,000. she talks a little bit about the capital tax gains trying to separate herself from president biden on that. she wants to fashion her campaign as one that is in

support of the middle class. she has been trying to tell the american people in her arguments that donald trump does not care about you and the middle class. donald trump has been talking a lot about tax cuts, something going to expire that he put in place, not only does he want to put those back in place but he was to create more tax cuts for americans. he brought up one a couple of days ago. they have vastly different views about how they want tax policy to shape their economic message to americans, particularly on the issue we talked about clearly that is so important to americans, their number one issue, the economy. host: let me show donald trump yesterday talking tax policy. [video clip] >> i am also announcing as part of our tax cuts, we will make interest on carlin -- car loans fully deductible. [applause]

so, a man who -- a lot of you are in the car industry -- i met a lot of them backstage. what do you do? i am in the car industry. a lot of them. i talked to a very knowledgeable person. he is sitting right over there. i do not want to embarrass him. he said, where did you come up with that idea? that is the coolest thing. it is like the paperclip. somebody comes up with the paperclip. everybody says, why did and i think of that? --why did i not think of that? somebody came up with the paperclip and made a lot of money. he said i have been in the car industry all my life and never thought about that. it will make it fully deductible , the interest payments, that will revolutionize your industry. that will stimulate massive domestic production and make car

ownership more affordable for millions and millions of working american families. this is a phenomenal thing, if i do say so myself. [applause] host: donald trump yesterday in detroit. paul steinhauser on that proposal and how you think it will play out in the final 25 days? paul: it is pretty clear what he was aiming for in michigan, which is a state where the polls indicated a margin of error risk. there is a political message, crystal-clear. i was with trump to days ago in pennsylvania at a rally. big signs, "no tax on tips," "no tax on overtime." donald trump has been putting up these proposals since the summer. it is a very populist message. i think a lot of working-class voters will like those. the flipside of this is the harris campaign pushes back,

especially when it comes to the proposals from former president trump on tariffs. they say that would be a tax on voter. it would be an instant sales tax that would increase your prices for any product that comes from overseas. i think what is clear with both candidates is neither of them are talking about fiscal responsibility and budget deficits. i think that is something of the past. it is truly remarkable how the republican party has changed. the republican party used to be such a fiscal hawk party, now under donald trump is anything but. jasmine: that is something the harris campaign continues to say about this former president, asking how he will pay for all the different tax cuts and whether the brunt of the tax cuts are going to fall on the middle class, trying to hit that message that donald trump does not care about the middle class. that is what the vice president's campaign said.

he former president's campaign says her policies do not make sense, that they would not create real change for americans and would not get past by either congress come november. the vice president is trying to focus on the middle class where donald trump is focusing on a more populist message. in her "60 minutes" interview, she pushed on how she would pay for the tax credits for new homes, etc., etc., she said behind the scenes i talked to congress and they are in favor of these policies secretly. there is not really evidence to it. i think there is a lack of fiscal responsibility on both sides. but certainly i think for the former president, he says these tax policy ideas but never

really shows his math on things. host: it is still early in hawaii. ted is an oceanview, hawaii. jasmine: i love how white. -- hawaii. caller: it is like 3:00 in the morning here. i have been a farmer all my life . i grew up in washington state as a dairy farmer. i have formed in hawaii 55 years, macadamia nuts. you tend to get a feel for listening to people and making a character judgment. i think a lot of this we can break down into bits and parts they are talking about. they are both good at what they do. most people have a hard time grasping that, the majority of our populace. if they would just go what sounds like it is the truth to them, it would go a long way in this election. host: what is your character judgment of kamala harris and donald trump?

caller: to me, it is dead simple. kamala harris in her career just wreaks a quality character -- of quality character. i cannot say that on the others. there are people in our family that go both ways. i think it will come down to a lot of people have a hard time putting the bits and pieces together. the average american is really going to end up having to shoot from the hip and go, well, i think this feels right. if you do that, we will be making a step forward. host: paul steinhauser, any thoughts on what it comes down to? paul: i think quality of character is a key part of this election. first, the biden campaign and now the harris campaign is trying to paint donald trump as some request none of those qualities. it has been crystal-clear that is part of their messaging strategy for months now. whether that is effective or not, you just heard your viewer

in hawaii where it is 3:00 in the morning. it is another issue that shows how americans are incredibly divided when it comes to these two candidates. host: host: maryland, democrat, good morning, you are on the roundtable. caller: thanks for taking my call. you had a succinct caller earlier who asked a lot of important questions and it was breezed over and not addressed. full disclosure, i voted for barack obama, al gore, considered voting for hillary clinton, and i voted for joe biden. one of the issues the democratic party has and the reason people are considering voting for trump is because they are not addressing the fact barack obama did say that russia was calling, the 1980's were calling for their foreign policy back in russia was not an issue.

media also brought up the fact that hillary clinton did give the reset button to her counterpart from russia. also addressing the fact there were a lot of things done. you had that against donald trump. no b addresses that. hillary clinton and al gore both contested election. host: on russia policy, do you think kamala harris gets tied to the obama administration or the biden-harris administration? how do you think the biden-harris administration has done on ukraine and russia? caller: nobody knows who kamala harris is tied to. she has just been inserted into the election because joe biden was ousted for some reason. we do not even know why. nobody will address what joe

biden is not running for president anymore. nobody will be forthright and say what happened. caller: did you want him to run as a democrat? caller: it does not matter now. i voted for him the first time. there is somebody who did not go through the primary process inserted into the election. max in maryland on that concern, that we heard more of at the time joe biden stepped aside. how much are you hearing that these days? jasmine: i think we are hearing it a lot less. i think max makes an important point. people are confused about the democratic process and all the things that happened. to answer your , the reason president biden is no longer on the democratic ticket is his fellow democrats did not feel as though he can win a race against donald trump. in part because of the june 27 debate. if u.s. president biden, i do not think he would agree. i think he feels he would have a

good chance against donald trump. his democratic counterparts and other folks in the house and congress no longer have the confidence he could win. the poll numbers did not say he could win against donald trump. they were much further apart than they are now with the vice president, which is why he stepped down, putting his country over party. i think there is always the question of if they inserted the vice president. the fact is the vice president's team was incredibly adept at consolidating all of the people, including j.b. pritzker and megan whitman, all of the people in maryland, who people thought would launch a bid if the current president stepped off the ticket.

she consolidated those people in about 48 hours. she consolidated the delegates. i guess my answer would be it is hard to run a primary if there are not people to primary the vice president. she did step up. i think her team was adept at it . whether it is seen as a transparent democratic process is another thing. there was a lot of doubt about president biden's capability after that debate within his own party. that is what led him to step down. host: paul steinhauser, phyllis has been waiting in durango, colorado, good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. i was watching obama this morning the whole hour. he trashed donald trump. my issue is the democrats will not take any responsibility for dividing the country the way it is.

[indiscernible] ok, i am a little[indiscernible] [indiscernible] host: that is ok. we will take that point. what is your take? paul: he's been a good portion of his speech criticizing donald trump -- he spent a good portion of his speech criticizing donald trump and chiding him for trying to sell things to people, including the trump bible. you will hear that from former president obama as well going forward on the campaign trail. that part of his argument donald trump is not worthy of being reelected back to the presidency. as for this whole idea of division, democrats for a long time have called donald trump a divider in chief. that is his mantra. both sides in a heated election are going to be saying things that will upset voters. that is crystal clear. host: paul steinhauser joining

us from fox news. jasmine wright, notus political reporter. we appreciate your time on "washington journal." coming up in about 25 minutes, we will talk about male voters and campaign 2024. we will be joined by richard reeves from the american institute for boys and men. until then, it is our open forum. any policy or political issue on your mind, now is the time to call in. we will get to those calls after the break. ♪ >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events with livestreams a floor proceedings and hearings from the u.s. congress, white house events, the courts, campaigns, and more from the world of

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c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: now the time of our program where we let you lead the program. it is our open forum. any public policy, political issue, state or local issue on your mind, now is the time to call in. 202-748-8000 democrats. 202-748-8001 republicans. independents, 202-748-8002. you can watch live coverage of donald trump at 3:00 eastern and c-span.org andheree c-span now mobile app. sooday, 11:00 a.m. eastern, later this morning,im walz will talk to voters at a campaign rally in michigan. our live coverage at 11:00 a.m. eastern, c-span, c-span.org, and the free c-span now mobile app.

now, your calls this morning. we will start in the buckeye state, mary in akron, republican, open forum, what is on your mind? caller: in october of 2021 as the border and all who were on it were drowning in like bodies coming over for the 2 million-dollar reward for an international human smuggler, it was for information leading to the arrest of the fugitive pakistani that oversaw an intercontinental network that for years transported afghans, pakistanis, middle easterners through the darién gap, costa rica, and nicaragua to the american border. what i wanted to talk about was the american people are not against illegal --not against

immigrants coming to the country. it is illegal immigrants. people coming across that border have crossed six or seven times. military aged men. when joe biden opened up the border, they seen a pathway to get in. when they get in, if they do not pass asylum, a thing they have to do with immigration, they are still allowed to stay in. they can stay in this country up to eight years. you know, redoing it through the court system. i got one more other thing to say. martin luther king was raping and having ortiz alter this country when he was -- orgies all through this country. host: that was mary. this is michelle. go ahead. caller: i was concerned about something i read about the

republicans trying to take this to the courts, the election to the courts, to the supreme court , holding a lot of the votes, the ballots because of the dates being wrong. you know what i mean? host: i am not quite sure what you are getting at, michelle. caller: that the whole election will be held in the supreme court. host: how would that be possible, michelle? caller: because of the dates being wrong. host: that is michelle in louisiana. john in ohio, independent, good morning. caller: hello. i think there is no such thing as having two parties. i think there is one party in this country and it is the party of war. the republicans were slightly

more warmongering than the democrats. now the democrats, seeing the cia and the military-industrial complex and the media as part of that complex has turned against trump, they have become the main warmongers, mccarthyists, calling anybody who tries to ameliorate that or work for peace or détente with russia or china or iran or north korea or cuba or venezuela a putin puppet, a foreign puppet of some foreign country. this is really disgusting return to the worst of the mccarthy period. the democrats are now the main proponents of that.

i fear we are heading for world war iii over ukraine especially. we have been lied to by the media because the initiator of that war was the united states which overthrew a democratically elected government in ukraine, staging a coup and putting in power -- host: i got your point. trenton is in georgia. good morning. caller: i wanted to talk about the 17th amendment. i heard a gentleman on your show a few weeks ago talking about the 17th amendment. callers call in and say people

need to be more attuned to their local and state politics. the 17th amendment did away with -- host: it has to do with the election of senators. caller: yes. the article one, section four, specifically excludes choosing senators from being changed by congress. you know, when all the other -- state elections can be changed. so, i think they need to think about recalling the 17th amendment. that keeps the people more informed. it should keep the people more informed as to what is going on locally and within their state because their state legislatures are going to be choosing their senators. host: they would pay more attention to state politics because of the involvement of

the state government in the picking of the united states senators, that is what you are saying? caller: right. host: that is deborah. lawton, oklahoma, democrat, good morning. caller: i believe the united states or israel or even ukraine, they did not start the wars we are going through, did they? i don't believe they did. y'all need to get [indiscernible] on the show because some of the people who calling our crazy. thank you. host: marietta georgia, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. as a descendant of the slaves who were not immigrants but were captives, big difference, i wanted to talk about the way the democratic party in the california legislature stabbed the black community in the back regarding the legislation that was to be voted on.

the democratic party had the overwhelming majority in both houses of the legislature in california, so the republicans could not stop it from coming to the floor or stop it from passing. a white republican stepped up to the plate even though he was against reparations, but he stepped up to bring it to the floor for a vote and needed only one person to step up to second it. but no democrat stepped up to bring the legislation up for a vote. the republicans called the democrats' bluff. so it was the democratic party that voted against it. host: do you think there will be a time in the future where reparations is a national policy? do you think that is going to happen? caller: i think it can happen. but anything having to do with the descendants of the enslaved,

our government slow walks it. this could have been settled at the very beginning of the initiation of the united states after the revolutionary war when the whites won their freedom from british rule. they could have at that time did right by the dissonance of the enslaved right then and there -- the descendants of the enslaved right then and there but they did not because of the selfishness. from the day the slaves were freed, they fought for reparations. but like everything with this government when it comes to us and getting justice, they slow walk it. host: this is caitlin, staten island, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. white privilege plus white trash equals donald trump. have a good day. host: stephen, lincoln, nebraska, independent, good morning.

caller: yes. i would like to ask everybody listening out there, what are you thinking when you vote for trump? he is an idiot. he is a madman. he might as well be put in himself. kamala harris is normal. she wants to lead. she has experience. she is excellent. i would love to see anybody but trump in office. host: gary is an independent in conner's bill, indiana. good morning -- conners ville, indiana. good morning. caller: i like listening, i learned a lot from you. i was anti-trump for a long time. i have decided he is the lesser of two evils. i am afraid kamala harris is not

only a ticket to world war iii but a ticket to oblivion. maybe i am wrong. at least with trump, we had the keystone pipeline, prices under control, putin in check and everything. i have even heard rumors his friend putin had a hand in him losing the election because he wanted him out of there so he could hit ukraine and not have to worry about getting hit by trump. maybe that is wrong, i don't know. host: that is scary. this is chris, a democrat in north dakota, is it? caller: good morning. i just wanted to mention that if you look at the policies behind the issues, i want you to consider possibly the real issue on the ballot today is misogyny and what degree of misogyny we are willing to accept in our country today as part of our governance and leadership. thank you.

host: mechanicsburg, pennsylvania, frank, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. this is frank from mechanicsburg. i am a lifelong republican. clearly, i will not vote for donald trump nor will i vote for scott. , one of his minions -- scott perry, one of his minions in our district 10. very quickly, i am very concerned trump will completely allow russia to take ukraine. if that happens, i think nato will have to stop with force russia. i am really concerned about china taking taiwan because that is a huge economic blow to the united states. there will be a continuing huge increase in the national debt like there was the last time

because trump added to the national debt more than any other president. finally, i do not think the guy understands tariffs. you know, by him putting heavy tariffs, all that does is increase the cost of goods and services that come into the united states. host: you say you are a lifelong republican. did you vote for donald trump in 2016 or 2020? caller: oh, my god, no. host: who was the last republican you voted for? caller: bush. host: frank in pennsylvania. this is sam in d.c., independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to mention the nobel prize was given to hiroshima, nagasaki survivors. it is funny the survivor when he

was crying compared when 100,000 people were massacred to gaza, for cause is the same thing that happened in hiroshima and nagasaki. host: that is sam in d.c. this is don in troy, new york, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to say although i am not a big fan, she said when she was running to get the nomination for the republican party, nikki haley said wherever donald trump is, chaos follows. do people really want a president who is corrupt, who lies all the time, self-serving? that is what you want for president? at least kamala harris has a vision. she is trying to help the middle class and poor people. trump only cares about himself.

thank you for the call. host: on the nobel prize, an article on the news the caller was referring to. the announcement coming this morning, since we started the program. the nobel peace prize awarded to a japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors for its efforts and demonstrate in through witness testimony nuclear should never again be used, according to the announcement that came out today, a couple of hours ago. this is george in new york, republican, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i just wanted to say that people vote on the issues. that is what is important. when donald trump was in office, you had a protected border and more money in your wallet. for those people on the democrat

line, don't you see what has happened to your border? the millions of people who have come into our country unvetted. don't you care about that? don't you want to know who is in your country for your own safety? i mean, the democrats, mayorkas and his buddies who supported all this should be thrown in jail for this. it is the issues, that is what is important. host: george in new york. the last call is from maryland on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, can you hear me? host: i can hear you, thomas, go ahead. caller: first, i have a quick question for you. when you put up the phone numbers, numerically, 8000 comes before 8001. i was wondering why c-span does not correct that. host: thomas, let me explain. we switch the number on top at

the first of every month between the democrat and republican number. if you watch on november 1, democrats will be back at the top. we do that because there have been complaints about that over the years. just to try to seem as fair as possible, we switch it at the beginning of every month. caller: i understand. but to be correct, just make it out thousand like it is numerically correct. my comment is this election is about right and wrong, good and evil. donald trump has cheated on his wife while she was pregnant or after birth. this seems to be not an issue. he has secrets from the united

states at his house. and also, we just heard a report from bob woodward he was secretly sending [indiscernible] over to russia. these were taxpayer paid for supplies. he had no right to secretly do that. we paid for those, not donald trump! also, he is a segregationist, and no one wants to come out and say it. his partner, jd vance, made comments about fema. we know female has been doing the best they could -- we know fema has been doing the best they could. how could they get to the people in north carolina when all of the roads were washed out and filled with debris? you could not get to the people real quick. donald trump got there a few days later. he did not do anything for the people. you did not see him sitting in a bulldozer trying to move a tree. no!

host:, sour last caller in open forum -- thomas, our last caller in open forum. our next guest is richard reeves, president of the american institute for boys and men. we will have that discussion right after the break. ♪ >> ♪ >> american history tv saturdays on c-span two exploring the people and events that tell the american story. the supreme court justice and his former law clerk talk about america's founding ideals of democracy, liberty, and equality. at 6:00, the congressional gold medal ceremony honoring the african american women who worked at nasa. among their achievements was helping calculate the apollo 11 mission that sent men to the moon.

watch the series "historic presidential elections" explain what made these elections historic, issues of different eras, and their lasting impact on the nation. this week, the election of 1948 when truman defeated thomas dewey to win a full term in the white house. at 8:00 eastern, the history professor on southeast native american tribes during the 18th century and the impacts of colonialism, the revolution, and the emergence of the united states. at 9:30 eastern, the author looks at how eleanor roosevelt used film to remote her political and social causes. exploring the american story, watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2. watch anytime online.

>> with one of the tightest races for the control of congress in modern political history, stay ahead with c-span's comprehensive coverage of k-state debates. this fall, c-span brings you access to the top house, senate, and governor debates from across the country, debates from states shaping your state's future, and the balance of power in washington. follow our coverage from local to national debates anytime online at c-span.org/campaign and watch for real-time live election night results. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is jed reeves, president of the american institute for boys and

men and author of the 2022 book "of boys and men: why the modern male is struggling, why it matters, and what to do about it." in what way is the modern male struggling? guest: thank you for having me on. the key thing is there is a series of different ways in which you can talk about this with may or may not be related. i am sure we will get into some of them. if we start with education, we see there is now a big gender gap with boys and men following a long way behind in school and college. parents will probably recognize this and see high school through college, there is a big gap. on college campuses, we now see a 60-40 split between female and male students for one good reason, a lot more women are going to college, but a bad reason, fewer men are going to college. we have a bigger gap today than we did in the 1970's when it was the other way around. in some ways, we have created

new inequality. it is hard to think about boys and men being behind in that way. we know there are a number of health care issues that affect women and girls, but there are a number that increasingly affect boys and men. there is a huge rise in suicide seen among young men recently and drug poisoning. 40,000 men a year the u.s. is losing as a result of the mental health crisis. those are just two examples from education and health where there are reasons to be concerned about what is happening to boys and men. we could get into a decline in labor force participation among men without college degrees so there is a class dimension to this too. host: what is the mission of the american institute for boys and men? guest: we are a new think tank. i don't know how that will go down with your audience. there are many think tanks. but we are the only dedicated research nonpartisan

organization focused on the challenges of boys and men and promoting effective solutions to help boys and men to flourish. very much in a research-based way, nonpartisan, but also non-zero-sum weight, if i can put it that way. one of the problems with the debate is it is often incorrectly framed as somehow against the interest of women and girls, that you somehow have to choose between the two. it is our strong belief at the american institute for boys and men that we have to ride together. the problem with the current debate is it is often portrayed more as a gender war than rise together moment. that is one of the things we are determined to move past. host: how is the institute funded? guest: we have a range of funders, foundations, etc. one of the most public supporters has been melinda gates who is funding a huge amount of work on gender

equality. i think most people point to the donations she has given to women's organizations. that is still the bulk of the giving to be sure. she gave almost $1 billion not long ago. $20 million came to me in my role as the president of the institute for american boys and men. then we have a series of other research-based foundations across the spectrum supporting our work. we are still a small organization. we are only a year old. we are growing rapidly. we are expanding the space for the conversation but i think needs to happen on all levels about what has happened to our boys. i am the father of three boys, men now, and having a conversation about how we create a society good for boys and girls is taking place. it is taking place around family dinner tables, school boards, right up to the white house. i am pleased by the fact we are

having more sensible conversation about this because for too long the debate has been dominated by more reactionary voices. now, we are seeing that change. there is a broader spectrum of people saying it is ok to care about boys and men. in fact, we have to care about boys and men if we want a forcing society. host: front page story today. you were recently quoted about this issue saying it is striking how much of the debate and performance of the election has been about competing views about masculinity and manhood. what did you mean by that? guest: it is great irony that in an election that was expected to be about women, even before kamala harris was the head of the democratic ticket, became

more of a debate about what is happening to boys and men in different performances of masculinity. that means this is a real issue. that we are having a discussion sometimes between the lines about what it means to be a man, are men having problems or arm in the problem? we are seeing a gender divide among younger voters where you are seeing young women being much more likely on the dems' side and men less so and moving slightly to the right. there is a dynamic developing where the dems are positioning themselves as a women's party and not really talking about boys and men or their issues at all, at least not publicly. the republicans are doubling down on trying to get as many men's votes as possible in part by trying to create an impression and having a performance.

to think about the rnc with hulk hogan ripping up the shirt. it is a policy message that guys are welcome here. they are trying to signal that we like guys and we would love your votes. on the other side, the democrats are doubling down on trying to turn out women's votes. we are in danger of having something akin to a women's party and a men's party. most would agree we have to rise together and men and women both have to do well. host: on monday on this program, we talked about the latest harvard youth poll. if you dig into the findings, he some numbers about the share of young men who talk about their political ideology. by and large, young people in general say that they are moderates. 25-20 nine-year-olds, 48% say they are moderate.

18-24-year-old 48% say they are moderate. it is different when it comes to the other half of young voters. 27% of 25-29-year-olds identify as liberal to 21% who say that they are conservative. the youngest voters, 18-20 4, 20 2% say they are liberal. 26% say they are conservative. the youngest voters are turning right. why? guest: if you look at those numbers by gender, you could see that that is more of the trendy -- trend among young men, in line with our conversation a moment ago. as far as young men are concerned, there are a couple of things going on. if you look at the countercultural moment, there has been a lot of attention to the issues around women. obviously, particularly post-2016, the women's march, the #metoo movement, post dobbs there has been a huge focus on women's reproductive rights,

donald trump's behavior. so this issue of gender and the role of men, and really a rise since 20 of terms like toxic masculinity, which didn't really exist in everyday language before that. young men are reacting against that, somewhat. the new counterculture is actually to be conservative because young people are typically not conservative. they tend to be more liberal and left, especially if your parents are liberal, the counterculture move is to be conservative. it is in some ways understandable for many of those young men. i think a lot of young men feel like the left abruptly doesn't -- left broadly doesn't have a strong message to boys and men and if it does it is framed as a negative one. it is less i think of a stampede to the right. if you look at the polls it is

hard to see a shift in views on policy and you don't see much of a shift against the idea of gender equality. it is more of a sense of young men feeling not seen and heard on the left and seen and heard more on the right. it's more of a cultural thing. host: if you had your way on education or workforce issues, what would you be proposing to fix the problems you talked about at the beginning of the interview? guest: i would definitely try to do something about the cratering share of male teachers in our school. in tim walz, we have the first career public school teacher running for such high office. he would be the first career schoolteacher to have such high office. he talks a lot about his role as a high school coach. when tim walz was a teacher, 33% of k-12 teachers were male. now it is 23% and falling. in high school, it has fallen by

12 percentage points. that is bad generally because representation really matters. we want all of our students to feel represented in the teachers, but particularly for boys. seeing role models just not in the classroom, but also about the after school coach. it's about boys seeing flesh and blood role models.they may have that through their fathers, though not all boys do. it is striking to me that when we have the underrepresentation of women in certain professions like stem or politics, we rightly draw attention to that and work on it, but the share of men in our classrooms is not meriting any attention at all or platforms to try to reverse that trend. quickly, to give boys the option to start later because there is a developmental gap.

schools, especially those serving more affluent populations do give the option for boys to have another year of pre-k. even more than that vocational training. the decline in apprenticeships during high school or career and technical education and technical high schools has been bad generally but particularly bad for boys and men who tend to benefit more from the hands-on learning style. host: the phone lines are split as usual. republicans, democrats, independents. billy in missouri, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, guys. how are you? host: doing well. what is your question or comment? caller: i heard richard bring up the point a minute ago. it's interesting to me because i've been thinking about this for a long time. i think many schools should have

curriculums in school where boys learn how to talk to girls, and girls learn to talk to boys, and there is a socialization aspect and a class on how to talk to each other. here's the thing. everyone is always on their tablets, computers, or whatever and they are never talking to each other. it is either through text, email, or whatever. if they learned how to actually socialize with each other -- because the socialization in and out of school is being totally taken out. nobody even says hi to each other when they are passing by each other. host: let richard reeves jump in on the socialization and loneliness, an issue we heard a lot about during covid with young people, young men in particular.

guest: thank you for the question. i think the relational skills are hugely important. we published work at the institute recently showing a decline in dating in high school. that's difficult to think about because most are quite glad we saw a decline in teen pregnancy and teenagers are less likely to have sex early but that doesn't mean a decline in dating is a good thing. a class where you learn to talk to boys and girls, used to be called recess. you have seen a move to get phones out of classrooms. sometimes they let children have their phones back during recess. all they want to their phones. an inverse consequence of those policies. i do think that a class, finding environments where boys and girls can learn the skills that will be necessary in life, especially romantic life, is important. at the moment that has been delayed.

we are seeing people struggling to know how to interact with each other. one more thing, for all of the good news about the #metoo movement and emphasis on consent and so on, which is generally very good, my experience as a father, we give boys and young men a list of don'ts. don't do this, don't do that, don't presume. a lot of young men say i know all of the things i'm not supposed to do or say but i don't know what the new rules are. i don't know what i should do. young women too, they find young men uncertain about how to conduct themselves. this is something we will have to face as a society with more grace towards each other, even as we continue to push this message about consent and harassment. what we don't want is for our boys to run to the basement because they are so afraid of getting it wrong. host: what is the dad deficit? guest: the result in huge

changes in society meaning it's no longer the case that dads will be the breadwinner and provider. in a sense bound to the family through their traditional economic role. 40% of women are breadwinners. that is amazing news, but for men the role is less clear. we are seeing a rise in the number of kids without a strong relationship with their fathers. that has leveled out, a trend that we saw in recent decades. it's not getting worse today. if anything, it might be getting a little better. if parents separate you often see after a few years the kids lose touch with their fathers. the evidence is clear that fathers are very important to their kids' development, perhaps especially in adolescence. for girls as well. having a good relationship with your father generally, but especially during the critical teen years, seems to be protected for mental health, education, for both boys and

girls. i'm worried that between the message from the conservative right which is, you have to be married here that's only true now for college-educated americans that kids are born inside marriage. most out of college-educated parents are out of -- between the two, dads really matter, but they don't have to be married to be good dads. i'm afraid that the message about the value of fatherhood has been somewhat lost. we are apparently the only institute, the american institute for girls and men, who submitted the idea to the bipartisan senate that they should be paid leave for dads. dedicated that dad leave. there is a suspicion about giving a paid leave just for dads. if dads matter, why wouldn't we do that? host: jill in columbia,

maryland. line for democrats. caller: my observation is males, boys and men, are struggling with the fact that they now have to compete with women who are half of the population and with other groups that they never had to compete with before. that's part of all of this. women don't have to have babies all the time and stay in the kitchen barefoot. in afghanistan the first thing they do when they take over, the males put the women in burqas and send them in the house. i think that the men and boys in this country can learn how to compete with the rest of us. just a struggle like we have to. women, we go out there and we have to struggle because all of the bosses are male until we get promoted over them. you're just not used to it. get stronger, manned up so to speak, learn to compete with the whole population and not just

among yourselves. whiteman only had to compete against each other. they didn't even have to compete against other groups. that is my observation you can get used to it, just work harder. guest: i think that my board will be happy with the admission that i should work harder. i take your question very seriously. you mentioned race a couple of times in your question. a lot of our focus is on black boys and men. we see the biggest gender gap between black boys and girls and men and women. in college there twice as many black women in college than black men. that intersection of race and gender really does play out strongly. i think it's pretty clear that on many dimensions we should be more focused on black boys and men. the broad point is captured in your, get over it, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, type of messaging.

of course there is a responsibility for men to adjust to the new world. certainly not to harken back to a world where we didn't have to compete against women. i will say, actually, 50% of the managers in the u.s. now are women. that's a huge progress. we haven't completed the progress, but it is nonetheless extraordinary progress that we've made.in a recent survey men and women asked if they wanted a female or male boss, most men were not that worried whether they had a male or female boss. women were much more likely to want female bosses. the problem with that analysis is that it's very individualized. if this group is struggling it must be because of them so they should buck up and get themselves together. it is interesting because we've learned from the women's movement that that's not enough. sure women should ask for a pay raise, be more assertive, skills, etc., but there are structural challenges facing

women such as how does the labor market and education system work? we've gone past the point where if we only stayed women, it's up to you and instead look at the structures of the education system and labor market and we see that there is a structural problem rather than an individual problem. that motivates my work. i don't think the only reason that men are doing well in education isn't because they are trying hard enough, the system isn't designed for them. we should change the system and not point the finger at them. the lesson is rather than blaming the individual we should sometimes look at structures. host: the caller used the term man up. taylor swift, one of the biggest female icons, biggest stars in the world, she has a lyric in one of her famous songs that said, if i were a man i would be the man. what do you take from that lyric from a female icon? one of the popular songs that she has? guest: she is drawing attention

to the fact that there is an implied idea of masculinity in the dominant position, the man. my sense of what she is doing is pointing out that that is a very male idea of a dominant position. it comes back to jill's question. it is interesting that you hear that from the left and right, that men should get over themselves. they might say man up. i think that is a profoundly un -empathetic phrase and we wouldn't use that for other groups. when i see the staggering rise in male suicide and drug poisonings, etc., i don't think saying to those men to man is not -- to man up is not an appropriate response than to any other group. i being a man you're supposed to

be invulnerable and get over yourself and not struggle and not have to come to terms with a changed world or struggle with your own mental health, etc. that is a really dangerous message. you get it a lot from reactionary figures.i find it interesting politically that some of the most conservative figures in this space, someone like jordan peterson who is a canadian psychologist who became well-known, they actually demonstrate extraordinary empathy for the plight of young men and understand what is going on with empathy. other people on the others are eye rolling, man up. they would probably be reluctant to say that the other groups. if you're struggling it should only be your fault. that is not a helpful message. host: patricia in camden, new jersey. caller: good morning, america. i call into c-span and i want you to know who i am so when i call.

i mostly call about health care issues. i'm 68 and i'm an inner-city girl. i do want to speak to the mail and their struggle, but there is another elephant in the room. the small area of where i come from, in camden, new jersey, across the bridge from philadelphia, i think, and we never talk about it, even on c-span, hollywood, the music industry, the leaders, the politicians. all of this x-rated immorality that we see on cable, on regular tv now is making all of us struggle. our granddaughters and five year olds, she moves better than i ever could when i was a teenager. my son is 38 and i can tell that he is struggling internally with some kind of anger.

he is a responsible parent and a good guy, but it is the immorality. hollywood, they have a big part they play. host: let me let richard reeves jump in on hollywood and culture. guest: it is obviously important. i think the question is what message we are sending through it about the role of men. you focused on immorality. one of the things that i've noticed is, i don't know if you would agree, but the depiction of men in hollywood has shifted significantly. i would say largely in a positive direction where the presumption of the hero to be a male and rescue the princess -- i grew up on star wars. the idea of the male rescuing the princess is still there, but now you see a lot of female heroes, etc. i mentioned earlier that i'm a dad. the dads in hollywood, i don't

see them as much as immoral as hopeless. the doofus dad. the mom is the sensible one and the dad makes silly mistakes. you see that in a whole series of environments. we have moved beyond that a little bit. it's not that it is not funny, and hollywood can do what it wants, but i worry about the depiction of men in hollywood being a little bit negative or as a little hopeless. it is odd to say, but we have to make sure that the role models that hollywood is setting for men are ones that young men resonate with. host: delaware, the first state, paul come the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i know that we are a very misogynistic society, but what do you think that it says about our culture and morale and he that young men are attracted to someone who has been convicted of sexual abuse, who has cheated on multiple wives?

why do you think that young men feel like it is a threat to their masculinity to vote for a woman? guest: i don't agree with the premise of the question, paul. when i look at the polling, the attitudes of young men towards gender equality continues to improve if you look at. the general social survey. there are no less supportive of gender equality than their fathers. if anything, more so. the trend towards generally be more supportive of gender equality, including young men, seems to be continuing. that suggests there is something else going on. it is easier if you see in the data that men don't want women -- one of our earlier caller saids men want women in the kitchen and go back to the 1950's. that is not what i see in the

data or here in my conversations with young men. it is less of an attraction to reactionary figures. it is more that if there are real problems facing young men in education and employment and mental health, they don't feel like those problems are being talked about by anybody else. they will gravitate to the only people talking about those problems. what happened is that the neglect of the problems of the problems men has created a vacuum, and that is being exploited by reactionary figures. we have to ask ourselves, who created the vacuum? how much have we heard from mainstream institutions about these issues around boys and men? how many policies are we seeing to help boys and men so they feel like someone has seen and acknowledged those problems? it is more about the absence of serious attention to these problems by mainstream institutions that has created the opportunity for reactionaries. host: we played this clip

earlier in the program. 90 seconds of former president barack obama speaking to men about voting for the vice president. this is former obama yesterday. [video clip] >> when donald trump lies or cheats or shows utter disregard for our constitution, when he calls pows losers, or fellow citizens vermin, people make excuses for it. they think it's ok. they think, well, at least he is owning the libs. he's really sticking it to 'em. it's ok as long as our side wins. and, by the way, i'm sorry, gentlemen, i noticed this especially with the men who seem to think trumps behavior of

bullying and putting people down is a sign of strength. i am here to tell you, that is not what real strength is. it never has been. real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining. real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it is inconvenient. real strength is about helping people who need it, and standing up for those who cannot always stand up for themselves. that is what we should want for our daughters and our sons. that is what i want to see in a president of the united states of america. [applause] host: what do you make of that moment?

guest: it was an articulation of the discussion we are having about, what does it mean to be masculine? president obama was talking more about strength and linked it towards men. saying there is something about the way donald trump is appealing that is particularly appealing to men. especially among young men the admiration for the personality of donald trump, in particular, what i see is more of a sense of being -- people say, why are men moving to the right? equally, why are they moving away from the left? they are not hearing very much that is positive there. there is an emphasis on the idea of service and mature masculinity being about giving more than you get. about being a "provider" but in a broader sense.not in the narrow

economic sense but providing time and love to the community. that is the oldest definition we have of mature masculinity. what is difficult for former president obama is he says strength is about responsibility, working hard, etc., and that is what we want for our daughters and sons. the difficulty that people on the political left have is articulating a distinct positive vision of masculinity. if they do that they are afraid they will say do you mean that women cannot be courageous, work hard, or have responsibility? of course women can do that equally. the difficulty here is even if you don't like the distinct masculine role on offer from the right it is at least a distinct masculine role. on the left they are struggling to say -- they know what they are against when it comes to masculinity but not what they are for.

president obama was talking about responsibility and working hard, but then had to say that is what we want for our daughters. if you are a man you say, is there anything specific for the masculine? anything of a specific and distinct role that men can play here? no one has done this yet. to find a way to cross politics that honors men without dishonoring women. that is something that no one has been able to pull off, not even president obama. host: richard reeves is the president for the american institute for boys and men. aibm.org if you want to check them out online. thank you for waiting. caller: good morning, gentlemen. thank you for taking my call. before i talk about the issue that prompted me to call, let me address what two previous callers said.

the first was that men should compete with women. that is hard when men, especially white men and white heterosexual men are at the end of the line for college admissions, promotions at work. the second is the caller who said trump is cheating on his wife and immoral. has -- have democrats realize that kamala harris was a mistress to a married man? is that also an example of moral leadership? the issue that made me call you, is that this issue that mr. reeves is talking about should have been addressed long before. as a matter of fact it is part of the woke ideology that democrats own 100% and should have been part of the campaign.

it should have gone back decades. i thought the inner -- i taught in the inner schools of hartford, connecticut and i saw this coming. males, the word patriarchy, it is a dirty word. the word patriarchy that started with the founding fathers, it was about racism, imperialism, greed, capitalism. the only monsters in american history are white men. the americans talk about patriarchy as being something that must be erased completely. host: you bring up a lot of topics. what do you want to focus on? guest: i think i will focus on the politics of this. i should say that i think it's important that if patriarchy

means a society where men have some inbuilt natural advantages over women we should all want to smash it. the question is, how we know when we've done that? we want a society where men and women have equal opportunities and equal chances to flourish in different ways. we don't want to patriarchy, we don't want the matriarchy, we want a society where our sons and daughters can have equal opportunities. i agree that we have been slow to address this problem. perhaps especially in mainstream institutions and on the center left. i fear that the central left politicians, with honorable exceptions, have trapped themselves in a zero-sum position where in order to signal their support for women and girls they have found it impossible to address some of the issues we've been talking about here head on. that has created this dangerous vacuum where if you're not

talking about it someone is talking about it. i will give you one example that the harris-walz campaign published their economic campaign. what struck me is that there are seven images of the candidates interacting with voters and not a singleit's impossible to imagt the other way around. a publication that did not singly future woman. i'm not suggesting it was deliberate but it's indicative of the fact that the democrats are so duggan -- dug in has being seen as the party of women. they have somehow made it impossible to talk about. the truth is these issues about boys in school, men's mental health, employment, these have been really worrying for years if not decades. i