sell democracy out for fascism. host: eddie, illinois, democrat. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. the previous lady on talking about the strengths in an undertone voice, i cannot agree more. the last years, all you have heard about his they are coming across the border, they are rapists, they are from here, they are from there, they are doing this, that. then eight yearsover to eight y, talking about springfield, ohio, they are eating the cats, they are eating the dogs. it is always haitians or latino or the blacks or whatever country comes to his mind, he

just spews out stuff. the fact checkers on television state it, get his people will stand there and say what he says is true. all i know is if i had a child whose pregnant wife was in labor and he cannot get it going he would be in jail. this one has 31 indictments against him. not by joe biden, not by anybody but his own peers and he has the nerve to stand there and to face another person -- and deface another person. it does not matter that kamala harris is a female. "she just turned black." i don't understand where the common sense has gone. host: that does it for this morning's washington journal.

we will be back tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. with another program. we take you now to the american values survey looking at priorities for americans in 2024 and beyond. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> this morning the brookings institution this hosting a discussion on the findings from their annual american values survey. that event expected to get underway shortly. live coverage on c-span.

>> this morning the brookings institution is hosting a discussion examining the finding from their annual american values survey. that event expected to get underway shortly. live coverage here on c-span. >> i want to welcome everyone here today and everyone who watches or hears this. this is a very exciting day for us. this is the 15th joint effort by brookings and prri, cooperating on prri's extraordinary annual

survey. 15 years is a long time for an institutional marriage. robbie jones of prri said we are way past the seven year itch and this is been a fruitful partnership for my colleagues and i. it has been a wonderful partnership. we have learned a lot from robbie, from melissa who is the ceo at prri. we are grateful to be here. some of you may have read columns lately by ezra klein in new york times and my colleague jean robinson in the washington post and also our friend and colleague elaine said stop reading polls, stop doom scrolling. after this event you can stop reading polls. not just because i am obviously biased, but also because the

survey really sheds important light on issues we should be thinking about as election day and perhaps its aftermath approach. in a campaign where the words "enemies within" have become part of the campaign dialogue, this catches out not only polarization. you thought we couldn't get more polarized? this survey suggests we are even more so. also as robbie will show -- no one does power points as well as robbie in his presentation in a moment, there is real division about the role of violence in our society and in the electoral process. it is a very troubling time that is a country we need to come to

terms with now but also after this election is over. i want to thank catalina navarro of brookings who has done so much, particularly to pull this together today. one of the great things about this partnership is we have always had awesome some respondents to this survey. a veteran and somebody who has been there with us is joy reid from msnbc. at the brilliant a.b. stoddard of the bulwark has joined us today. even if you are not a numbers guy, which i confess i am, you are in for a real treat today. in the process of enjoying that treat you will learn a lot of stuff you did not know. welcome, everyone, and i want to welcome, the president and founder of prri, the author of some extraordinary books.

robbie has been at the forefront of demonstrating the racial and racist past within our religious traditions but also pointing the way towards reconciliation. his last book -- let me plug the last book. title should have written down. it is "the hidden history of white supremacy." it has a section on efforts communities have made to achieve reconciliation. a profit of problems but also a profit of solutions and he knows a lot about numbers, robbie jones. [applause] robbie: welcome, everyone. it is great to see a full room. we are coming back from covid, still. it is nice to see everyone in

the same room. a quick thank you to ej and bill , i feel old, joy told me i should use the word seasoned. i thought before i jumped into the numbers i would give a highlight reel of the 15 years and some findings that have had a long shelf life as we have gone along. just a few quick ones. i will not take too much time. all the way back, the 2010 to the present. if you can think back to what politics looked like in 2010 compared to what they look like today. we've been tracing these trends along the way. remember the tea party? we were one of the first people to break that the tea party was actually a rebranding of the old

christian right. that half the people who claim to be a follower of the tea party also claim to be part of the christian right. that was not how the tea party was branding itself. there were branding itself as a libertarian movement. we found that only about one in 10 americans were true libertarians. in america if you are economically conservative you tend to be socially conservative as well. the other thing we've been paying attention to is the sorting of political parties by race and religion. remarkable today that the republican party is 70% white and christian in a country that is 41% white and christian. the democratic party today is 25% white and christian. the racial and religious polarization, in addition to the ideological and political polarization. the other thing we -- in 2016 when trump first entered the scene there was a lot of debate of the role of the white working class.

is it economic anxiety or cultural anxiety? it turns out it is both. we were able to quantify that if you're going to make a recipe for white working-class attraction to trump it would have to be two parts cultural anxiety and one part economic anxiety. one of the things i constantly still get lack jaws when i mentioned is sometimes the assumption about where religious groups are on particular issues are completely wrong. among american catholics, the catholic church, the hierarchy has staked out a strong position on lgbtq rights and abortion. it is not at all where catholics in the pews are. most of the time we tracked this they look pretty much like the general population. that is to say supportive of

abortion rights and supportive of marriage equality. that is something people often do not know. we've been tracking demographic shifts as well and we were able to track -- we were one of the first just put a spotlight on the fact that during the tenure of our first african-american president we experienced a seachange in our religious demographics. we went from being a majority white christian country graphically speaking, if you take all white christians together, we were 54% white and christian in 2008. that number today is 41%. that seachange happened during barack obama's presidency. part of the thing that sets the stage for a lot of anxieties and nostalgia and resentment we are seeing is the shifting demographics in the country when we had a very visible symbol of that change in the white house. finally, one of my favorites and

one that has the longest shelf life and is still getting you to print almost 10 years after we asked the question is the question about candidates character and how much it matters for people. in 2011 we asked the question was do you agree or disagree that a candidate who commits an immoral act in their private life can still behave ethically and perform their duties and their public life? when we asked white even chuckle protestants this question in 2011, only about 3 -- when we asked white evangelical protestants in 2011, only about three in 10 said yes. and we asked this after trump received the nomination in 2016, it went from three in 10 to seven in 10. during that same period trump's favorability went from the mid-40's percent up to about 70% in that same period. with that i will jump in to where we are today and hopefully

we have some things that will stand the test of time today to the very challenging moment we find ourselves in in this election cycle 15 years of doing this survey, you see the long-termrends in the presentation. this is a fairly large survey, over 5000 interviews. the typical political poll you see run by me, this is about five times as big as typical poles in the media. we want to thank the carnegie corporation of new york who has been a long time supporter of this since the beginning. also the ford foundation, the uua project as founding this year -- for funding this year. where are we? we asked the standard question if we are heading in the right direction or wrong direction. we will count three levels and

give you a sense of where people think we are. in the country it is pretty dark out there. it is only democrats who are a majority saying we are headed in the right direction. independence bank to 29%. report -- independents down to 29%. republicans at 6%. in the local community the pattern still holds but the numbers go up. about half of republicans say things are going in the right direction. they are divided. independents and democrats at 7%. there is my personal life and hear the partisan split goes away. most americans think in my personal life things are going in the right direction. that tells you a little bit about how to read those big numbers, it is more complex a picture in the top numbers often tell you. another question along these

lines, this is been a standard question. we first asked in 2013, not just today, i will to hat to bill on this one. we were sitting around a table and thinking about how to ask questions about the countries changes. i think a lot of people think of the 1950's as a benchmark time. they think things were better or worse in that somewhat mythical golden age. sure enough, when we asked this question it has all along the way been a huge divider by party. we asked it in 2013. it was 55% democrats and 23% republicans saying things have changed for the better in this country. the gap is still there but it has gone up. among democrats it is 68%. republicans remain fairly steady. this little blip of 46% is the

end of trump's term. there was this one moment at the end of trump's term people thinking things were going for the better and as soon as he loses it drops back down to this historic place. this is a big divider in the country today. what about this year? we had about 10 questions about what were the most critical issues for your vote in this election year? i will give you democrats and republicans. there is some overlap but not a lot. here are the top things democrats say are critical issues for voting in the country. there are four that reached a majority of democrats. the health of our democracy, the cost of housing, abortion, and health care. abortion is unusual for democrats historically. this is a post dobbs phenomenon that we are seeing abortion jump

up as this high of a priority. you see crime and immigration are quite low for democrats. i will leave these up and put up the republican numbers. you will see there is agreement on the health of our democracy, barely, although as we will see democrats and republicans mean something very different by the health of our democracy. where there is agreement is the increasing cost of housing and everyday expenses. we also have jobs and the economy here, it is not jobs in the economy, it is inflation. it is not just generic economics. it is this increasing cost component that is driving democrats and republicans. the things that are really driving the vote among republicans, immigration and crime. e.j. mentioned the enemy within, the fear on things within the country going wrong, that is part of what this is reflecting.

these are also obviously racially changed things. look at abortion among republicans. way down, particularly compared to democrats. almost twice as many democrats say that is a critical issue for voting as republicans. that is an inverse of what we have historically seen until the last few years with the striking down of roe v. wade. just to give you this comparison , here is what critical issues look like in 2020. the last election cycle, immigration and abortion the two t election cycles. in 2020 far more republicans at abortion was a critical issue for voting and immigration. look at 2024, how these things have changed position. today abort 29, immigration 71. you see how this is driving the

election in different ways. we asked the question another way. the last one is what you think is critical. we ask you -- we asked it in a harder way that was a litmus test. would you not vote for a candidate that disagreed with you, would it be a dealbreaker on the question? i will show you immigration and abortion. these are the percentages that say they would only vote for canada to shares their views on these issues. here are the parties, republican, independent, democrat. even when we ask it this way it is far more republicans who say immigration is a dealbreaker that abortion is a dealbreaker and the inverse is true among democrats. a majority of democrats say i would not vote for a candidate who disagrees with me on the issue of abortion. the other one i will show you are christian nationalism adherence.

we also attract the support for christian nationalism in the country today. to give you the overall numbers, about three in 10 americans today affirm tenets of christian nationalism. the u.s. should declare itself a christian nation. u.s. law should be based on the christian bible. christianity should exercise dominion over all areas of u.s. society. among those who share those views, they look kind of like republicans. a majority of republicans do affirm christian nationalism. that is part of the reason you see this overlap. among those who say they agree with christian nationalism is being driven more by immigration than abortion. among those who are skeptics, it is more abortion than immigration. seeing immigration, one of the other long-standing questions we asked is what do we do with the

11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the u.s.? what is the right policy to deal with them. we did a lot of good work back in 2013 to come up with a three-part question. i will show you one part. the question basically says how should we handle people in the country illegally? should we allow them a to become citizens provided they meet certain requirements, allow them to become permanent legal residents but not citizens, or identify and deport them? it has all three parts. this is just the top part. these are the people who say we should allow them away to become citizens provided they meet certain requirements. what is noticeable was until 2016 we had a majority of republicans agreed with this statement. it was a consensus across party lines. as you can see it drops and drops.

one little blip in 2019 where it goes back up, and then it consistently drops and now the bottom has dropped out. only 36% of republicans today agreeing with that statement, down from 53% when we first asked this question in 2013. democrats have remained pretty steady. you can see this divide, you can see the mouth opening. it is basically a 20 point gap in 2013 that has now blown up to a 40 point gap between the two parties in 2024. here is one -- e.j. mentioned the rhetoric we are hearing. there are number of questions that eyes the social scientists never thought i would write. this is one of them. we need to know how many americans believe that

immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country. less it be lost on any of you, that language is straight out of mein kampf. it turns out that one in three americans agree with that statement today. you'll see where that one in three come from. this is a classic case of asymmetric polarization. republicans are far more outside the general population then democrats are. 61% of republicans today affirm the statement. only three in 10 independents and only 13% of democrats. there is only one religious support that has majority support. this is what evangelical protestants. this is the group that supported trump eight in 10. you can see the effect.

white catholics are the next group out, but they are still below the majority. are there groups are at the general population or below the general population in terms of the religious landscape. this is a truly alarming situation to find this kind of rhetoric finding this kind of support among one of our two major political parties. this is a national poll and where it is really true if you're trying to figure out who will win the election a national poll will not answer that question. it only swing state polls that will make the difference. i want to see the religious landscape. we like many others, these numbers are from the large sample from the end of august and the beginning of septemr. we did go back to check the numbers again a few weeks ago and they have t really moved. i am showing you the bigger sample. the basic divide among registered voters at the national level and here is the

divide. as always in the amerin religious landscape, the two groups always at the polls are white evgelical protestants and african-american protestants. there is no group that votes more and has been more supportive of trump than white evangelical protestants. no group has been more opposed than african-american protestants. the other thing you will see is the groups that tend to support trump are white christian groups. one shorthand way you can describe the american electorate since 1980's you can boil it down to this. white christian groups vote republican and everybody else tends to vote majority democrat. that has been a clean divider since ronald reagan and all the way through. trump has largely held onto that voting pattern over the last few

election cycles. not a lot of changes. what might be the most remarkable thing is there are not a lot of shifts given what a different kind of candidate we have at the top of the ticket in the last few election cycles on the republican side. when we first started doing the survey, every year there was news articles writing about the god gap and said the more likely you are to go to church the more likely you are to vote republican. i always thought there was something wrong with that. what is wrong with that is it is mostly true for white people. if you break it down it looks quite different. here is white americans by attendance. those who attend weekly or more, the bottom a tent seldom or never. those who attend weekly or more, 76% voted for trump, only 20% went for harris. it trips by the time you go

seldom or never. even among white people that is largely ineffective white evangelical protestants and is partly structural. there are many mainline protestant churches, methodist, presbyterian, episcopal, who do not offer more than one service a week. the category that is weekly or more is stacked into white evangelical protestants. here are hispanic americans. the pattern still holds but it is the attend monthly part where it crosses the line. it is only the weekly or more group that is most likely to support trump. once you get to the monthly or more it tilts the other way. here are african-american protestants. it is the exact opsite. the more likely yoarto go to church the more likely you are to support harris among african-americans. you see the pattern tilting the other way. r.i.p. the god gap.

threats to democracy in the 2024 election. we only go back to 2021 because we started asking questions about political violence after the insurrection on january 6. we do not have to go back before that because it is not something we imagine it would be a likely thing to ask about. the question asked is because things have gotten so far off track american patriots may have to resort to violence. you're the group divides on that question. it remains fairly steady. ups and downs. the main thing to say is we have three in 10 republicans today agreeing that true patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country. only 8% of democrats and 18% of independents.

three in 10 is nowhere near a majority, but three intent is a lot of people. one of our major political parties saying we may have to resort to violence. we decided to ask two other questions that had violent implications to them. i will show you the patterns on both. we cannot just cherry pick one question. we asked one about armed poll watchers. there is been a call for people to show up to the polls armed to the teeth to watch and verify the vote. this question, do you agree or disagree that to ensure fair presidential election we'd need everyday citizens to show up even if it makes some people uncomfortable. the second question is the same one i just showed you, in general we may need to resort to save the country. the third is about voter fraud and everyday americans needing to rise up even if requires violence.

if the 2024 election is compromised by voter fraud, everyday americans we need to ensure the rightful leader takes office, even if it requires taking violent actions. here is the first question about armed poll watchers. about three in 10 republicans. these are people who are sympathetic or adherent to christian nationalism, it is a ll one third of that group who favors armed poll watchers. democrats it is around one in 10. the second is when we saw. three and 10 republicans saying true american patriots may have resort to violence to save the country. the last one is that everyday amicans may need to rise up. a little bit less on that question but the pattes are still clear. republicans about twice as likely as democrats to say this and if you affirm christian

nationalism may be almost three times as likely. we should let this sink in. this is quite alarming. i have looked these numbers a lot and have to remind myself that this is a big deal. this is something quite new in the country. the other question we have is not exactly about violence, but it is about a coup. support for trump overthrowing the election if he is not confirmed as the winner, he should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes to assume his rightful place as president. i will give you a couple of attitudinal measures along with demographic ones. among those who believe people who are convicted for violence on january 6 are political hostages, and we have a question about that, three in 10 of them say if he is not declared the winner he should do whatever it takes to assume office. among those who believe the 2020

election was stolen, it is about one quarter. it is 62% of republicans who believe the election was stolen from president trump today. then this one is just republicans who have a favorable view of trump is nearly one quarter. they say if he is not confirmed should do whatever it takes. here are the christian nationals on the same number again. do whatever it takes. this is interesting. this does not say anything about legitimacy. it just says if he is not confirmed, this is what we should do. this is a nonpartisan poll show we did ask the same question about harris. if harris is not confirmed the winner she should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes. your democrats with a favorable view of harris, about one in 10. half as likely as republicans with a favorable view of trump. those who disagree about one in

10, those who reject christian nationalism a little less than one in 10, those who disagree that those convicted in january 6 there hostages, it is single digits. about half of the republican side. looking back at january 6 to give you the lay of the land, this first question is on the disagree side. people who disagree that trump broke the law to stay in power are almost all republicans. 82% of republicans disagree that trump broke the law compared to 9% of democrats. here is the number that the election was stolen from donald trump, 62% of republicans believe the lie that the election was stolen. about half of republicans believe people who have been convicted by a court of law for their role in the january 6 the tax are patriots who are being held hostage by the government.

down into single digits for the democrat side. that is all pretty dark and worrisome. i thought i would end with three things where there is still agreement on substantive issues. here is one. three quarters of the country agrees we should require supreme court justices to retire at a certain age or after a certain number of years instead of serving for life. you can see it is nine in 10 democrats and six in 10 republicans. that is about as strong as you will get in this current environment for agreement on a substantive issue like supreme court justice tenure. the other is laws that make it illegal -- opposition that make it illegal to approve abortion pill for medical abortions. 68% of americans oppose restrictions. you will see even the majority of republicans oppose restrictions on the abortion

pill. eight intent democrats but even a majority of republicans. finally ivf, if anything should be the third rail in reproductive health it is this. 85% of americans oppose laws that make it illegal for people to seek out in vitro fertilization or ivf to have a child. look at the partisan. i cannot think of anything else where i can say there is no statistically significant difference between republicans and democrats on these issues. that is quite remarkable. on that sunnier note i will wrap it up and headed over to the panel. -- and hand [applause] it over to the panel. -- and hand it over to the panel. [applause]

>> we now begin the panel discussion phase of this event. for those of you who have not seen my face for the previous 14 years, i am bill colston, a senior fellow in government studies at brookings. it is my pleasure from this all-star panel. if i were to do justice to the resumes of all of them we would not have any time left for a panel discussion so i will not. i will simply introduce them. you've already met robbie jones. to his right but stage left or reverse, who knows, is melissa

jackman, who is this -- is melissa deckman, ceo of the public religion research institute. to her right is a.b. stoddard, a veteran columnist and political analyst, now at the bulwark. we also welcome back joy reid, who is the host of the readout and a political analyst for msnbc. each panelist will have about five minutes and if you look to your left you will find catalina navarro who will hold up a one minute card when you have one minute left and a stop card. in order to get in all of the

panel and the very high volume of internet questions i will be a tough cough -- a tough cop. you can see i have some pork from the american people in that. -- i have support from the american people in that. [laughter] i would ask you if you have not done so already to please silence your cell phones or pagers. with that melissa, over to you. melissa: good morning. first off, i want to welcome everyone here on behalf of prri and extend thank you to the brookings institution. this is the 15th annual american values survey and has been our longest standing partnership in the most fun.

catalina, thank you for keeping the trains running. i want to acknowledge the incredible work of our staff. we have 10 full-time employees at prri. i'm am amazed by the good work the staff has done this fall in turning around the survey. please take a look at the survey. follow us on social media as well. i would like to speak about the role of gender in this election. i am a political scientist who has studied gender in politics for more than 20 years. i too am seasoned. i've never really run across an election in memory where gender themes have played such a prominent role this year. take the rnc convention. i found it notable that when trump was introduced to accept his party's nomination goes dana

white, he is the head of the ultimate fighting championship and this is what he said before he introduced trump. he said this man is the toughest and most resilient human being i have ever met in my life. i would also say the selection of jd vance represents a different gender plank that speaks to more traditionalist patriarchal views of america. we are all very familiar with his comments made to tucker carlson when running for senate about the threat posed by a childless cat ladies to america. he singled out childless democratic leaders such as kamala harris by name, saying how does it make any sense we have turned our country over to people who do not have a direct stake in it? he has also floated the idea of having parents have more voting rights than non-parents. this worldview he is talking about is one where making children makes you more invested in the nation and that is more

politically deserving. it is a very pro-nato list view of america -- is very pro-natalist u of america which may have serious policy implications for a potential second trump administration, especially what you can read in project 2025, which is the heritage foundation blueprint for a second trump administration. project 2025 calls for banning abortion nationally, banning the morning-after pill, but also advancing an idea of personhood for fetuses which would threaten access to ivf, which we just saw is the one thing uniting the nation, apparently, that most americans strongly support access to ivf. what does it tell us about how gender will play out? the gender gaps in american politics has been with us a long time, typically speaking since 1996 american women have tended to back democratic presidents

and men have tended to back republican candidates. in 2020, men broke for trump 53% compared to 45% for biden while biden's advantage for women was 55% to 44%. according to him so's, they gave -- according to ipsos, they gave us more recent data. men are breaking for trump 51% to 47% and harris has an advantage among women voters 54 percent to 41%. what is more important is not just on the sex of the voter but knowing their attitudes about gender. that is far more important. one of my favorite questions from the prri archives is we typically ask americans each year, do you think society has become too feminine. when we first asked that in 2011

42% of americans agreed that america is too feminine. where are we today? we have gone through the #metoo movement, there is a rise in young feminists making big strides in american politics. it is 42% of americans think we are soft and thin and -- and feminine. we've not seen much difference. if you look at the gender break about half of american men agree with that but 38% per of american women. among partisans, only 20% of democratic men agree that america has become too soft, while two thirds of republican women agree america has become too soft and feminine. with gop men it is 80% to agree. the abs, if we look at that measure among registered voters in a two way race, we find 80% of americans who agree society has become soft and feminine tend to vote to donald trump

compared to 77% of americans who disagree society has become soft and feminine and are attending to vote for kamala harris. what does this tell us about other voters we are hearing about? there are slots of concern about democrats that -- there is lots of concern among democrats that trump is making inroads among men and latino men and black men. if you look at the measure isolated to those groups, only 42% of young men aged 18 to 49 agree society has become too soft and just 34% of black men. 42% of hispanic men agree. i do not think that doubling down on those masculine themes we are hearing all the time from the trump ticket will necessarily bring young man or black men were latino men to vote for trump. i think it has the potential to animate lots of anger among young women.

i have written a book called the politics of gen z and i have taken a deeper dive into the divide we are seeing among young women, and i document how gen z women are the most progressive in american society today and therefore more likely to identify as feminist compared to their mothers and grandmothers and gender equality has become a huge thing among young women. the talk we hear from trump will animate the younger women to turn out in higher numbers this election cycle. i think the strongman language is about trying to motivate the base of donald trump and jd vance. talking about childless cat ladies and the need of having a great protector as donald trump has been saying lately is geared more at trying to get his base to turn out for this election cycle. we will know pretty soon whether or not it is effective. thank you. william: thank you so much. a.b.: i have two 23-year-olds

and a 21-year-old and because social media is intentionally using algorithms to separate them and make girls more conservative -- and make boys more conservative and girls more liberal so i'm worried about having grandchildren. i want to -- melissa just said it is not as sticky as we fear. pew had a finding a few months ago that four in 10 young men believe that advancement for women has come at their expense, which is concerning. and trump and the bro zone and the ministry or try to amplify that for them that they're getting left out and cut out. women -- there will be a boomerang effect for trump condescending to women that he needs to be there protector. i was fascinated by the findings in the survey. i find the same things alarming

that robbie outlined about violence. my main take away is that tribalism is a hell of a drug and so is fox news, newsmax. if you dive into the numbers and find what people's opinions are and where they are getting their media, there is a direct and wretched correlation. when i look at where we are in this election, i write for the bulwark and we hope to be donald trump and we hope harris is seen as a change agent in the electorate and not as an incumbent. what we found in these numbers is the pessimism in the electorate is bad news for harris. the wrong track numbers and economic stress numbers are concerning. 66% believe the economy has changed for the worse in the last four years. that is not true and is not in

the numbers. that is a shocking finding. inflation and price hikes, those are new, so for people experiencing new prices for the first time in their lifetime, that is creating so much anxiety that we saw inflation highest among all voters and abortion lowest in terms of the top several issues. that is concerning for harris in terms of what will energize people. immigration was less salient as a litmus test issue, i was surprised to find it more of an issue for independents than it was in 2020. the country is so dramatically shifting right on immigration and it shows in the survey. the path to citizenship down. support for dreamers down 10 points since 2018. in six years. the support for the wall 10 points up in eight years.

the 57% number showing the influx of immigrants into communities is burdening local committees and their social services. 57% overall is a high number. immigration has grown more salient than abortion, even though it is lower in litmus test numbers it has grown in salience more than abortion since 2020, post dobbs. i find that stunning. america's reputation has changed for the worst in the last four years. 65%. america's reputation around the world, this is a stunning statistic. 65% of independents concurred with that, which i found really depressing. they are skeptical of party, they are less tribal than republicans and democrats.

for them to view our situation -- you could take the afghanistan withdrawal and separate that out. i found that stunning. 53% agreeing that trump broke the law to stay in power. that is a low number to me. 54% of independents. seven points down in one year. it reflects an acquiescence on the part of the electorate as a whole to trump's corruption and criminality and authoritarianism that is very concerning and concerns me going into the election. 49% agree there is real danger of trump being a dictator. 49%. nearly one third of all republicans say patriots may have to resort to violence. i was going to use robbie's positive ending on ivf. [applause] [laughter]

i have two children as a result of ivf and this number 85% made me very happy. and also the scotus numbers, the fact that 73% of the country understands how our three branches of government work and that there should be some age or term limits on the supreme court justices service. i thought that was very encouraging as well. i look forward to the discussion and thank you for having me. joy: i want to echo the thanks to bill and melissa, robbie, my favorite pulling guy, my buddy e.j., catalina, a.b. i think i'm a little seasoned.

my kids are similar in age. i do not feel too old. when i went through the survey i went right to four things. the first is the question of political violence. i do believe this election is a litmus test for american tolerance for fascism. the elements of fascism are rooted in this nationalistic drive for more babies for the state, for women to be subordinate to men, for a strongman driven nation, and a deep state-based religiosity. all of that is in these numbers. the question of whether people must resort to violence in order to ensure that the right person becomes the leader of this country. americans who trust conservative news outlets are the most likely to support political violence, 41%.

followed by those who most trust fox news. i believe we have a media problem and some of our media is leading people towards fascism. the second number on that list was the question of america has become too soft and feminine. i think that is a fascist litmus test because it tests the question of whether men and women accept the idea of modality -- of modernity. if you look at countries that practice the most oppression of women, or even if you go back to previous fascist countries like south africa, if you look at society where women are suppressed, you have elements that include political violence and include lack of abortion access. these things go together. the question of whether a society is too soft and feminine , it was alarming to me that a majority of hispanic protestants agreed.

that is not shocking because it is a social thing. 25% of black protestants also agree. the places where you're seeing trump resonate among people of color, you can look to that. anecdotally i can tell you you hear a lot of complaints within some black religious folks and even black men and women were latino men and women about what they see as a feminization of society. i went to that. this question of whether or not immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country. this is one of the most terrifying things you heard a presidential candidate say because it is straight out of mein kampf. it shocked me to have 23% of jewish respondents agree with that because that is straight out nazi talk. 19% of black folks agree with that. 60% of republicans are agreeing. that should scare everyone. the last one which i think might

have been the most scary for me is the question of whether we should corral undocumented immigrants into armed camps. white evangelical protestants, 75% are the most likely to favor militarized encampments. the majority of white catholics, 61%. the catholic church is rooted in the care for the immigrant. i have not been catholic since i wasthe majority of white cathol, 61%. six, we became methodist which is when our church where you going watch football after, that i became a baptist. i've been all of them. i can tell you the catholic church is the most pro-immigrant church. for you to have a majority of white catholics say there should be armed camps, white mainline non-evangelical protestants, 58%. 56% of mormons, a formerly persecuted group of american

religionist agreeing there should be armed camps. 42% of black protestants. 33% of hispanic catholics. i wonder, we are booking this on the readout, the question of whether latinos who believe this think that your average border patrol official or national park member or police officer is going to be able to tell who is an undocumented immigrant and who is not. they will just see your color and hear your accent. i am always curious what makes them think they won't take marco rubio when they see him or they will not see the son of jd vance. he has a brown child named vivek. how is he safe in this scenario? i don't know. christopher russo is married to an undocumented immigrant from

thailand. does she think he believes the average cop will be able to discern this particular asian person is legit to be here? there are a lot of black people who cannot tell from a latino. i have relatives who you might think are hispanic but they are black. i have police in my family. they can barely deal with the social services aspect of their job, let alone being required to discern who is undocumented or not. more than half of americans who attend church weekly or more, 57% believing there should be armed camps. those who attend church a few times a year, 51% favor putting illegal immigrants in encampments. that is the scariest thing in this survey because it shows american tolerance for fascism is growing. it is not getting better. the one piece of good news that will make americans feel less bad about themselves regarding

the survey is this is a global phenomenon. this is not just happening here. if you look at the election in argentina, if you look in venezuela. the difference is americans have viewed ourselves as not capablef falling into fascism but in the 1930's we came about that close to supporting hitler's. this is not a country that's been immune to fascism ever. it is just with usually all of our anxiety has been hyper directed at black people. but right now melissa is correct we are in a moment where the fight is even more so over gender. and it is a question of whether america will be willing to tolerate the leadership of a woman and asked -- and is that a woman of color, this will be the ultimate litmus test for whether america is capable of becoming a fascist country will find out on november 5 or if their lawsuits may be sometime in december or january.

>> on that cheerful. [laughter] >> not bringing the joy. [laughter] >> ok. let me tell you what's can happen now in the next half hour. it will be divided into two segments. in the first of those two segments, i will address questions to the panel, sometimes to specific individuals, sometimes to the panel as a whole. and then we will turn to questions from the floor interspersed with questions that we have received online. and when it comes time for questions, please introduce yourselves by name, by institutional affiliation if you choose and think it's relevant. and then state your question.

there will be no time for speeches as that would be deeply unfair to the many questions but we are going to get more than i fear we have time to accommodate. so let me begin with a question for robbie that we in fact received online which is such a perfect question that i've decided to throw it this way. here is how the question reads. please clarify the difference between two groups. the first group, christians who believe that religion has a legitimate role in public life. the second group, the people you called christian nationalists that you have really pioneered the study of. so what are those differences? >> it's a really important question. i'm guinness a one quick thing

to joy's comments about the encampments. we have now heard trump calling for an alien enemies act which would be the thing you would do to marshall those kinds and just as a reminder that act is how we got japanese internment camps in this country. this is not something we have not done before. it's not even theoretical. i just want to put that point out there. it's really important point. we have a long tradition in this country of religious groups having all kinds of appropriate influence in public life. separation of church and state but that doesn't have a separation of religious input in public life. and our measures of christian nationalism were specifically designed to respect that difference. we designed the questions to measure christian nationalism we make sure that those were not just things about christians having influence in public life but they were about christians

having dominance in public life. so when you say u.s. law should be based on the bible, that's not just influence that's dominance of one religious tradition determining law in the country or if we move from art christian traditions we won't have the country anymore. the only way we are truly american is to be christian. it's all about a kind of hierarchical view of where christians sit vis-a-vis other citizens. and we did a study in 2023 with brookings where we have a whole study looking at questions we asked, a set of five questions that we used and we also were careful to make sure all five of those questions statistically held together so you can measure how tightly correlated they are, a very high correlation and other sophisticated factors to make sure that they hang together. one's not going this way and the

other. so they're all pushing in the same direction. the content of them is all about dominance in the theocratic views. we find that it's about three in 10 americans who are in that category of holy agreeing or mostly agreeing with those statements. two thirds of the country leaning the other way. again a majority of republicans, 54% who affirm that christian nationalist view and evangelicals to affirm that. >> thank you. i am now going to move on to a series of cultural questions for the panel as a whole. based on the survey. and the first of these cultural questions concerns the issue of crime. which i think may be a sleeper issue to some extent in this election.

here's one of the findings of the survey on crime. 52% of hispanics and 50% of african-americans see crime as a critical issue. compared to only 40% of white americans. how should we understand these numbers? >> i will jump in and say because a disproportionate share of black and latino americans live in cities, live in big cities and disproportionately live in cities where crime is higher because they are under policed when it comes to protection and over police when it comes to arrests, crime is sort of an ever present issue more so in black and brown communities. if you are a white american living in an affluent suburb, you really only think about

crime is what you see on fox news in which you envision a world in which black and brown people are marauding through the streets raping and killing. that's what you view as crime. your officers are friendly, you know them by first name. they might come to sunday lunch. you don't encounter them in a friend -- unfriendly way even if your kids are smoking weed or doing harder drugs they are unlikely to be arrested for it. if they are it's more there likely to give a break or get away with non-adjudication. there are different experiences with it. we saw this with the mayor's race in new york city where black voters were heavily invested in the idea of crime-fighting because again crime isn't really fought very much in their community and they cannot count on the police. and they are experiencing that issue in a different way. i would not read that into more support for donald trump or republicans. i think it's people reflecting their own reality.

william: other reactions. >> in 2020 there was any erosion from the democratic coalition for biden among latino and black voters on this issue. you saw biden in his term repeatedly fund law enforcement in greater amounts and then say several times in the state of the union other addresses that he wanted to fund the police to try and put this defund the police slogan republicans used very effectively against democrats in 2020 two bed once and for all. because there were voters who formally voted democrat who needed more police protection in their neighborhoods. so that was a pivot that was made several years ago by biden that was very explicit. in reaction to the data they saw out of 2020 election and i think

what's also fascinating about the survey is the fact that i think social media tends to make voters enjoy -- and joy is a perfect example if you're protected from these issues but you see them on social media. when these videos are seen a people looting or crazy behavior and walgreens and crazy behavior on the subway. things are checked -- terrible elsewhere but the first to see this in the data things are moving pretty ok in my community but out there the whole nation is going to hell in a handbag. that i think is the result of people being on social media and it was so much that it was years ago in terms of the state of the country versus the community. joy: it's ironic because fox news is right across the street from 30 rock.

william: would it be fair to conclude from these numbers and your elucidation of these numbers that in minority communities nonwhite communities the call is for both more policing and better policing. >> i think there's been a very clear the charlamagne interview that came up and that was one of the issues is black communities do want to leave. who -- want police. the police are generally called from immigrant communities. largely italian american. when they were coming in, it's a working class job. irish-americans become police, there are a lot of caribbean americans, a lot of black immigrants come in because it is a good pension job. so you have a lot of people who are police or people of color. the idea of defunding their -- the police and their own

economic lives. committees of color want them in the community they just don't want them killing people over a traffic stop. so there is sort of a both ends. i also think people tend not to know the relationship of the president is to the police. they are seeing everything as the president is the quarterback of everything and they're not really understanding a different president doesn't change the police but you can do police reform which of course are republicans blocked when they tried to go to congress. >> if i may be permitted a personal note for we shift to the next topic, the president i worked for bill clinton proposed that the federal government sponsor an additional 100,000 cops on the beat as we said at that point. you are absolutely right that it is predominantly a local function but the federal government can play a role if it chooses to. moving on now to immigration.

which i believe is the issue that elected and did most to elect donald trump in 2016 and if he wins this year will be the issue that puts him over the top again. i noticed in the survey that the american people are somewhat nuanced in their response to this issue. let me tell you what i mean. we've talked about finding about poisoning the blood of our country, about one third of americans go along with that. immigrants increase crime slightly more. but immigrants in local communities almost six in 10. so what does this tell us about where we are as a country on immigration when you strip away all of the rhetoric. is there a real issue there?

joy: i am the child of two immigrants. it is -- the thing about this, the real world experience of white springfield residents is that haitian immigrants come to town and save their town because they take jobs that were badly needed to be filled. they open businesses, their upstanding members of the community. but how quickly they are easy to demonize on a couple neo-nazis at the city council say that is a source of whatever problems you have pointed those folks. and essentially suggested the death threats. when they had done nothing else other than -- and so unfortunately immigrants, whoever they are throughout history are easy to demonize. florida tried this game and they have to root out all of these immigrants and undocumented and illegals have to go and then they tried it.

and when all of the latinos who were working in farms and agriculture and doing all the construction said ok goodbye, adios. they were like weight don't go. we need you. and they were going into places like hialeah and miami and begging people to stay. because it turns out know there's not an issue. without new migration we are europe which is an aging population that got rid of money -- many of its immigrants when brexit happened. brags it screwed them over because he got rid of the people who are your nurses and doctors, if you go to paris right now, take the africans out, paris won't function. they are doing all of the jobs. but make paris function. so it's easy to demonize people but go ahead and get rid of them. the country will not grow. we won't have a large enough workforce. we do not have a height of

birthrate to sustain the replacement of workers without immigrants. so without immigrants good luck to the united states. >> one quick thing on this. i think the ideological shifts i've seen, immigration used to be approached in a more pragmatic way for the country. we had a whole effort. it did not work. and under a republican president it was going to come up with comprehensive immigration reform. that was something that was plausible and are not too distant past. and it move from pragmatism to ideology. and the other move we've seen even in 2020 and 2024 is the move from the wall to the enemy within. that's been a different move. immigrants are out there but now that immigrants are in there. i think it's more the emphasis on that kind of fear tactics and

vermin, they are not human, their animals. that kind of language as well. >> but what's encouraging and the data backs this up in your report that americans don't believe there's more crime, they are not as reactive to trumps rhetoric about vermin as republicans are. that's the general population. you guys don't have this but abc news on sunday showed 53% support up 20 points in eight years. 20 point since donald trump became president. mass deportations in the country from internment camps. it's knocking to be our local cops because local law enforcement's mass deportation internment plan that far out sees the capacity of our local law enforcement.

this is madness and americans i believe the shift, i believe it is an issue. i don't think it should be but this turning to the right is directly connected to the fact we are becoming more isolationist and when harris was on with charlamagne last night one of the questioners said why are we sending money overseas and we are broke and we have all of these needs here. that is a completely fair perspective. i think that immigration and all the crazy things they're saying on fox news and facebook feeds into that. but we are hurting in this town and maybe it's a town that has the benefit of springfield from immigration coming in but i don't want any resources going to anyone but the residents here. what's also heartening about springfield is ohio this month said they don't believe the lies

about the haitian residents. i think americans are largely still tolerant, but they are drifting to not really a fear of the other, it's not replacement theory or that their criminals it's that we don't have enough resources and we cannot defend ukraine's sovereignty and it doesn't affect us anyway. we really need to spend money at home and the same with immigrants and taking care of them. >> the reality of immigrants is not that it's harmful. that it's not a real harm to the country. you make a really great point because there was recently an issue where a rapper went on a grant on the social media about the city of new york, this program where they were providing ebt cards to

venezuelan migrants who were in shelters being shipped from florida, ron desantis went into texas, grab these venezuelan immigrants and started sending them all over the country. they have no green card that cannot work they are stuck in the shelters and because they are in the shelters they weren't eating the food it was getting thrown away and wasted because it was generic food they do not need. so the city of new york comes up with this program and it was a -- it saved the city money to give people these ebt cards where they can go to local bodegas and stores and buy the food they wanted. people are actually eating it. and he goes on his social media and does what you're talking about and says you see that, the hood cannot get any money. lack communities are struggling and they are taking this money and a set of spending it on us theorist set bending it on these illegals. this is the way the right-wing

media is turning black and brown people against each other and even some latinos, those immigrants are criminals. my family or not but they are criminals and all the money is going to them. it turns out the ebt cards were created by a black company that innovated the specific kind of card that is easy for people to get and use if there on bank. this is a black business that was benefiting from a program that saved the city money and actually cut the expenses of taxpayers. so when you tease it out it turns out it was the opposite of what he was saying. this was helping the community and it then turns out the money was being used is completely separate from any money that is going to african-american communities. it is disinformation. >> i have so many more questions and i'm very reluctant to

interrupt the spirited exchange on the hottest issue in american politics. but you've been patient for 75 minutes and now it is your turn. we will start with the gentleman right here on the aisle and the roving mike will reach you now. >> this may be off topic a little bit but these findings about gender and the country getting softer does that have any implication in business where we want more women ceos especially in the tech sector? >> i would just say if you look at young people, women are more likely to go to college and actually would recommend to your listeners the battery of questions about america's attitude that was interesting that we did not get a chance to talk about. i suspect that part of the gender divide when it comes to college is really making college less appealing. there's a history of studies and sociology that finds once

application for more feminized men don't want have anything to do with them and also the salaries go down. but i do think in terms of trying to get more women to embark on those kinds of stem careers i think what often happens in american society, women are often waiting to have kids if they are having them at all so it's really hard to know sociologically that women are still doing the double shift at home. and so i do think we still have to reckon with women's full participation in the economy in certain fields. and i think that's feeding into the narrative about all the troubles we have in america becoming less strong and we let women take control. women's gains of, of the expense of men. one thing we hear all the time and see it showing up. it's pretty troubling because

it's again a lot of women have made and is been hard-fought. a lot of the self-esteem and confidence and young girls to achieve the sorts of things. i do think there are many indicators showing young men are falling behind, i think we can address those problems. but certainly we are still mired in these important conversations by gender. >> way in the back. >> hello. i am a journalism student, my question is for joy. i am a big fan. i was just wondering what can someone you guys talk about so many important issues, big issues. as a college student i can speak about of people my age that we want to do something about this. i'm 20 years old what can i do about this. what would your advice be to young people who are engaged and involved to help make sure our

country ends up ok. >> thank you for the question and congratulations on making it here today. being interested in these kinds of conversations shows that you are ready a leader. i always say even if you're not old enough to vote you have a voice and your generation are the most connected and the most amplified generation in history. you all have access to that phone in which you can speak to multitudes whether it's a few hundred of your own followers which can be amplified to thousands to people your age to potentially millions of people. you have the equivalent of a show on msnbc for a lot of these people. i think the most important thing is to keep talking, keep communicating. especially young women. this is an age. back when i was in college there was an album of public enemy and

now i think there is a fear of a planet in which women are truly equal. i think in particularly women of color who are already on need to have these conversations. white women as well. white women are still the one group of women who are tending to side with the side that wants to suppress them. so i think having those conversations and being vocal and staying informed and doing what you are doing. >> also vote please. >> sorry. >> i think one of the things that would be fantastic for democracy and i want -- bill clinton talked about it. universal voter registration would be game changing in this country. if we didn't have to have these fights over who gets to register its automatically people became registered and were able to vote i think it would change so much. >> i would quickly add the most

because you are more dust you are globally connected and community minded in your generation more than anyone us before us, you have a real opportunity to really lean on political reform. so joy makes a very important point. talking about these issues and ways whether it's how we can vote more easily to also how we can mitigate the effects of gerrymandering, final four voting. all these things that open up the system it depends on your generation and that's a way for young women who are politically engaged to talk to young men who are politically engaged not about leaders of the parties but about ideas and policies and reforms as a way not to fight and a way to converse. and build more trust. >> also consider running for office pray there more than

500,000 elected positions and it's always been a challenge getting women to run more generally and a lot of collecting shows a lot of people are out there running for office. can't make policy changes until you have an elected position. think about running for local office. it makes a huge difference and we need more women to do it. >> we need a microphone upfront here. >> thank you bill for doing such an awesome job here. i could not resist asking you a question. i have to say. i want to sort of directed to maybe in particular on the data because we've been saying we a lot and we americans about immigration but in some ways i found most depressing about these numbers is the collapse of the possibility of bipartisanship on behalf of a pragmatic solution. the warning of our traditional question here really closely matches i think it's fair to say george h. w. bush is immigration plan.

it was a plan supported by john mccain. it was for a while by marco rubio. more republicans in congress who supported that kind of position and when you look at our numbers on that to kill a question 36% of republicans. the collapse is farm -- from republicans from 53 to 36. still a majority. i would suspect that it is republican leaning independents and the democrats of gone up. the question is about political leadership because while i agree what i wanted to disentangle was how much is this increasing concern about immigration working about immigration across the board versus republican. i want to ask a lot of this is the influence of donald trump's rhetoric and campaign and i think it's influenced the view of people who have chosen to stay in the republican party. what would you see going forward about these numbers.

how much do you think these reflect the trump influence on the republican party and what opening is there for pro-immigration republicans and conservatives, there used to be quite a lot of those. thank you all very much. >> i want to be hopeful that if donald trump is done with at some point in his party, because it is such a cult attraction that there will be an opening not -- a pragmatic pro-immigration reform champion with the passing citizenship at more reasonable perspectives on immigration and solution seeking to try and find a voice because right now they just want the base of the republican party wants trump and they are not going to stand at a rally site for four days in advance wearing t-shirts for jd vance. it is not the same thing. i hope there is an opening for

different perspectives we cannot see right now if that day is going to come. but generally yes, i remember republicans saying yes or republicans came to the table and wanted to work with democrats but it was still a promise with their base. it's -- this move to the missile -- middle has become an issue if trump wins the election democrats will be very upset about what could've been done what should have been done. that is a problem. i think it's stirred up the base rate he has not changed a lot of minds. the republicans -- i'm eating marbles today. the republican electoral pretending they agree with trump who definitely would like to go right back on some kind of

reform but for now they are completely quiet. >> two different things from the data. from that number. >> it's a majority. i think it's 53. low 50's and gone up. >> we've seen this in our data would you ask separately you get much higher numbers. with three options which is immigrants living illegally in the country, should we allow them to be permanent legal residents or should we deport them. you ask that way deportation is 25%. when they have other options on the table. that goes to the pragmatism, i think the biggest thing is there is this sense for republicans in particular there is a sense of the kind of chaos versus order dynamic we saw in focus groups and in our data recently you may remember we had several versions

of the question. and the more requirements we put in the question, the higher republicans -- you had to learn english, pay back taxes. every time we added a requirement republican support went up and when we took any mention of requirement out and the current question providing certain requirements but we took that out altogether. so there is that pragmatism thing. the bigger question is when you've been painted a picture that immigration is an invasion, chaos at the border, that undermines any sense of pragmatism and problem solving. and you've undermined the ability of government to even administer a solution. and one last point on this thing about the focus group in north carolina we did in 2016 on this issue and was among republicans

and i'll never forget the response. i'm a small government conservative and we try to deport 11 million people that would be the largest federal program the country's ever seen parade i'm not up for that. >> i don't know how much you dug into because isn't it the identity of the immigrant sprayed if you ask the question would you like to deport european immigrants, would you like to deport german immigrants, would you like to deport -- isn't it because the immigrants because trump is being very specific pray he is saying venezuela, congo and haiti. he's identifying the immigrants as black and brown. >> absolutely. he's not talking about danish immigrants. >> donald trump's mom and his family, a two out of three wives were immigrants. they are saying she could stay. >> no doubt. >> ok folks. [laughter]

got to blow the whistle here. i have one more question, an online question before i will call up -- to pronounce the benediction. [laughter] we are running out of time i am sorry. so here is the online question which i think is an appropriate question. it reads as follows. given that in every election someone has to lose, how can those on the losing side be encouraged to channel their disappointment or constructively. is there a role in civil society. please some brief answers and then ej will end the session. any good ideas? [laughter] >> being willing to lose is a democratic patriotic view.

that is the essence of democracy. that we are willing to do our best, to persuade everybody weekend and turn out everybody weekend. at the end of the day if we lose we are willing to live with the result. that's what democracy means. i think a recommitment to that and thinking about what do we do , well we live to organize and persuade another day. that's what we do in a democracy. it's really hard but if i am concentrating to thing about the democratic values we reinforce and support this election it is commit yourself to the results of the election without any kind of waffling on whether i myself think it was a free and fair election. if it's determined to be free and fair i will abide by the results even if i lose. >> we have one answer stand on democratic principles. any other reactions. >> i think about times in recent

history when al gore decided to essentially concede the loss in 2020 when i think arguably his case was stronger in some ways of winning. i do think there some thing patriotic about an important and vital to democracy to really concede when you lose. i am not at all hopeful donald trump if he loses, that that will happen. i think what we need is we need other actors, whether it is civic leaders, religious leaders, political leaders to acknowledge the results of the election. especially if donald trump were to lose we need leadership to say look the election has been had, we know the results were fair and free, we need to move on. i don't necessarily think it will happen. i suspect if harris were to lose she will concede similar to what

hillary clinton did in 2016. >> john mccain's concession speech i want to recommend as one example of this as well. >> to answer a little bit differently i think we are seeing both parties dug in on mobilization in the last couple of years instead of persuasion. i've been very impressed how shrewd harris has been as a candidate, she has ditched her 2019 position and wiggled through some tough questions in interviews with i think the proper response which is she has been vice president for almost four years and she wants -- she values consensus. she basically is where the country is and is not where she was on medicare for all, not where she was on trans surgeries for prisoners which are a big bulk of trumps ads during football games. aimed at making men crazy. and saying she is a radical. so what i really hope is that

the democratic party will move to where the country is in an attempt to build a bigger coalition to win the next election and they have on immigration and i hope that they will continue to do that in response to the election should they lose. i think republicans lose we will not see that moving beyond their base and trying to move to where the middle of the country is. the middle of the electorate is pride that is too bad because what you're supposed to do after you lose is a party is say how can we convince more people next time because politics is supposed to be addition. what they try to do is intertwine more people that agree with them that they can register to vote. they are not actually trying to come to the middle to solve problems. i have my doubts about the republicans. i hope if harris loses the democrats will find a way to continue what she was doing which is to come to the center of the electorate to appeal to more people to win next time. if we will have another free and fair election in another four years.

>> keeping up my tradition of being the most ironic member of the panel given that my name is joy i will point out that only once in the last 20 years have republicans won a popular vote in a presidential election. and yet they have exceeded to the presidency twice in that time. the demographics of this country are around 80% of nonwhite people vote democratic and around 60% of white americans vote republican on average in every election and as robbie has pointed out in the survey has pointed out the republican party overwhelmingly is a white christian party. and so the odds are kamala harris will win the popular vote. we have a system in this country taste on the slavery period in

which the american people do not elect the president. the electoral college elects the president. so you can lose an election in which hillary clinton got 3 million more votes. and the only way for kamala harris to win the election is to probably get 4 million or more additional votes over donald trump. we already know. i can make two predictions. , harris will win the popular vote and black men will be the second highest percentage of voters for kamala harris. it will not be them if she is not president. just want to fill that out there. behind black women. so the question i think is framed in a way that only has one side be accountable for standing up and being adults and pretending like the losing side in a football game. only one side is required to do that. we know if kamala harris wins by 3 million votes and yet does not

become president she will concede. that is a no-brainer. we also know that if donald trump does not win the election he will not concede and he will proceed to try to bring us to civil war. and try to drag the election through the courts and have mike johnson make him president or have john roberts make him president. we know how this is going and we know where it is going. i think we need to examine the system does not allow the winner of the popular vote to become president. if vice president harris wins and democrats retain house and senate we need to have a serious conversation about the state of our democracy because it is lacking. and then the last thing i will say is if donald trump does win there will not be a democrats go back and figure out how to get more voters and figure out how to change their position, there will be camps. there will be project 2025. there could be arrests of people like adam schiff, there could be

nancy pelosi being hauled off to jail. and if you do not think that that is possible then you really do not understand that there is no american exceptionalism. we are a country like every other country. if you ran against his party went to jail. that happened in my father's lifetime. maduro is putting people in jail if on your whatsapp they find that you are saying things against maduro. that is happening right now in our neighboring country. these are happening in our neighborhoods. there is -- our democracy is much more like a latin american democracy then it is like england or germany or any part of europe. we are a latin american country so everything you see happening in brazil, venezuela, it could all happen here. there isn't can it be an opportunity for vice president harris to be the bigger party because we will be fighting for our survival as a democracy and

some people will be fighting for their actual survival. so i think the question misses the point because if kamala harris does not win it is not clear that there will be another election. that is the stakes unfortunately. >> but also we should say he is going to declare victory regardless. he could win this out right, if it looks like harris is winning it will go on for weeks and he will try to burn the country down for two months at at 7:00 on tuesday night at 8:30 is going to declare victory so everybody needs to prepare for that. >> the veneer of control over this panel. [laughter] >> i love living in a vigorous democracy. some wonderful discussion, you framed some of the great questions i want to thank joy, maybe, melissa and robbie for his patented wonderful powerpoint. i want to say two things,

there's a nutrition book by tim shank looks at the careers of doug and stan, two pollsters. it made me realize why this project is important. i apologized by the way, we wanted to have platinum 15th anniversary coins for everyone who attended today. but we ran out of money once we paid for the pole so we couldn't do that but thank you for joining us. it made me think what tim put in my head, people knock pulls all the time and there are problems with an obsession with who's up and down tomorrow but polls really are democracies themselves. if you study public opinion you are studying it to understand how people think and why they think what they think and if you disagree with public opinion your job in a democracy is to figure out how to persuade people to change their mind. and so on this question of

democracy, one of my favorite book titles was larry o'brien, very close to president kennedy, department chair of the democratic national committee. his book was called no final victories. and when democracy works that's the great thing about democracy because if there are no final victories, there are no final defeats and you can fight again and you can win the next time and you can persuade people the next time. i want to congratulate our panel on this project we have had going for so long and let us all pray for our democratic republic. thank you so very much. [applause]

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contest is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness and make an impact. your documentary should answer this year's question, your message to the president, what is is most important to you for your community. whether you're passionate about politics, of the environment or community stories. c-span is your platform to share your message with the world. with $100,000 in prizes encoding a grand prize of $5,000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact but also be rewarded for your creativity and hard work. enter your submissions today. scanned the code or visit studentcam.org for the details on how to enter. the deadline is january 20, 2025. c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more including buckeye broadband.

♪ >> buckeye broadband supports c-span as a pubc service along with these otherelevision providers giving you a front row seat democracy. >> representative elissa slotkin and former congressman me rogers there parties were speck of nominees in theace to represent michigan in the u.s. senate participated in a debate hosted by tv in detroit. the candidates were ask about economic policies, the manufacturing of electric vehicles, international conflicts and women's reproductive rights. the race is rated as a tossup.

>> things like school districts. >> each candidates will have 90 seconds were opening statements, one minute to answer questions with a 32nd rebuttal and 90 seconds for closing statements. wxyz's live debate starts right now. >> now live from the seven news detroit studios this is michigan's u.s. senate debate. >> good evening and welcome to michigan's u.s. senate debate hosted by wxyz.

it is one-hour dedicated to getting voters the answers they truly deserve. thank you so much for tuning in. i am carolyn clifford. >> i'm alicia smith. >> on channel seven editorial director chuck stokes. candidates thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. a few days ago we met with two of your representatives who -- for what you call a virtual towing cost to determine who would get the opening statement, the closing statement in what order and who would get the first question. ms. slotkin you have the right to open up the first question. mr. rogers at the end of the debate you will have the closing statement in the last word in the debate. we -- you will also go first when it comes to time for questions. your opening statement per you have 90 seconds. >> thank you for the whole team for being here.

i'm a third-generation michigander and i represent michigan's seventh district in the u.s. congress right now. my life began in service at 911. i happen to be in new york city on my second day at school. 9/11 happened. i got recruited by the cia, did three tours in iraq alongside the military and came home and worked for two presidents. one democrat and one republican proudly. i believe service should be nonpartisan. at the end of the day i'm running for senate because i believe in my bones we need a strong and growing middle class which means jobs with dignity and making sure we can attack the costs that are eating a hole in your pocket. i think it's part of the democratic process to just talk about the differences between us and we have a lot of differences. on the role of the middle class, bringing manufacturing back from china, on protecting our rights and our democracy. the good news is we both have records.

mr. rogers was an politician for 20 years so we don't have to guess about what we've done or will do because we had the opportunity to be in the seats and cast important votes preyed i hope we can talk about policy issues today and not throw insults because of the end of the day it's about trust. who do you trust to listen to you, learn and fight on your behalf in washington. thank you for having me and i look forward to the debate. >> thank you for the opening statement. mr. rogers it is time for your opening statement. >> thank you channel seven, the panelists were being here and elissa for taking the time as well. this is the most important question we will ask during this campaign. are you better off than you were four years ago. i've traveled the state and talked to a lot of people. the simple answer is absolutely not. i talked to a mom in grand rapids, a mother of four, she works part-time, her husband

works full-time at a small factory shop. in tears she described how she had to go in the last two or three days of the month to a food pantry to feed her four children. this is not the only time we have heard that story unfortunately across the state. the policies out of washington dc have been crushing to our families. the fact that i talked to a young police officer whose stepdaughter was killed by an accidental overdose of sentinel with a cigarette that was laced with it. because of a wide open border that is allowing in criminals and cartels to run the show. 10 million illegals coming to the united states. i talked to autoworkers across the state, people who are affiliated with autoworkers. their number one concern, ev mandates are killing their future and jobs. we need somebody who can go back and that busy on the very first

day to bring results on grocery prices, on the border, on killing eve e mandates. i look forward to having your vote and a discussion here this evening. >> thank you for your opening statements. mr. rogers do have the first question and it is about the economy. the economy continues to be a top concern for voters especially right here in michigan. in fact about eight in 10 registered voters, that is 81% say the economy will be very important to their vote in this election. people are struggling as you know to pay for groceries, childcare, gas and housing. how would your specific policies help working families here in michigan? >> some really important things we have to do quickly. this is why think you want to send someone with experience to get busy the first week. we know trillions and trillions of dollars of spending by the biden harris administration, 100% supported by my opponent

has driven up grocery prices, gas prices, energy prices. your housing prices have gone up. we must get control of the outrageous and wasteful spending in washington. we have to make ourselves energy independent. all of those votes that tried to steer us away from having our own destiny decided by being energy independent is wrong and what it's done is raise your prices at the pump, your prices at the end of the month. all of that needs to be corrected. you have to do a few things. you have to undo the regulation $1.6 trillion of regulation. new regulation in the last four years and you have to make sure we curtail spending to get our economy back on track. >> thank you mr. rock jurors. ms. slotkin you have the same question. how would your specific policies help working families in michigan. >> is the number one issue i hear about inflation and cost of living you can go to the grocery

store gas station anywhere without someone pulling you aside and talking about how they are making choices around what they buy and save. for me if there was a silver bullet that could have been fired to solve inflation it would have been fired. i work on three things we have to bring supply chain's home in manufacturing back home to the united states. good paying jobs, benefits so we can afford more of what we want to buy. we have to attack the cost that are major parts of our budget. health care care, prescription drugs, child think of housing and how much people pay, we have to attack those costs. lastly you have to save more of what you earn, that means a tax policy that supports the middle class, that promotes a strong middle class. these are three specific things i believe would help with inflation. >> thank you congresswoman preview of 30 minutes or. >> this is where my opponent and i differ most definitely.

voting for increased taxes on the middle class does not help talking about supply chain but doing nothing about it. and then lastly when you talk about budgets in the u.s. government, voting for every big spending bill that came down the pike in support 100% of the biden harris administration has cost us all of these cost and our groceries, gasoline and housing prices. >> ms. slotkin's you now have 30 seconds for rebuttal. >> this is where i said it would be important we understand and think truth about our records. mr. rogers has voted against middle-class tax cuts over and over again. 80's constant. to the idea that somehow he cares about the middle class, his voter record says the opposite. the most important thing is to be honest about the conversation and say we have a problem we know we need to deal with it, attack the biggest problem,

people's budgets, prescriptive drugs and housing that's what people expect or washington. >> the second topic tonight, ev's in manufacturing. i will address this question to you first. in our competition with china, are we investing too much in battery plants and ev's that a majority of consumers are not willing to purchase yet? you have 60 seconds. >> i do not care what kind of car you want to drive. i do not drive on and ev. i live in a dirt road on a farm that's not likely my future. the fundamental question is who'd we want to make that next generation of vehicles you better believe i want that to be michigan and not china. right now everyone knows china is eating our lunch on these vehicles. go to europe, they have 30% market share. american knows that we haven't always gotten it right and it comes to seeing the next generation of vehicles. in michigan in the 70's and 80's

we did not think anyone would drive anything but a big vehicle. very fuel-efficient vehicles and then the japanese came in and ate our lunch. the koreans came in and ate our lunch. by the way, it also means saving auto jobs. it make sure in the heart of the district in lansing we save the 700 jobs that are at that plant because we are upgrading it. i want to build them. >> i will repeat the question for you mr. rogers. are we investing too much in battery plants and ev's that a majority of consumers are not willing to purchase yet. >> thank you. this is really important. what a candidate says and what they do in office for the last five years is really important. voted for the ev mandate at least three times. as soon about four weeks ago doubled down on her position on ev mandates. i am telling you it is ruining our car industry.

5000 auto dealers wrote an open letter to the biden administration and said you are killing the car business, please stop with eeev mandates. if you think about what's happening, they mandated you have to drive that car and my opponent signs and nda that allows the chinese battery company to go -- outside of goshen to facilitate her votes on ev mandates. same with the $500 million rebuild of the gm factory. you're promoting chinese technology in america. it is wrong, let's go to hybrids. people are buying them and you don't have to mandate the people drive them. >> 32nd rebuttal, miss slotkin. rep. slotkin: there is no ev mandate. my position of my opponent, says he cares about american manufacturing but doesn't want to compete against china. for those of us in michigan

during covid, we learned our lesson that we outsourced too far to china. our supply chains. we made the decision to bring them back. i want that manufacturing here. i don't care what you drive. i want to build them. mr. rogers: nothing has happened since my opponent has been in office on bringing manufacturing back to the united states. she has lost 29,000 manufacturing jobs since she has been in office. 29,000. the ev mandates, they are going to cost, according to the ford ceo, about 400,000 manufacturing jobs in the state of michigan that will go away with ev mandates. that is unacceptable. you don't have to do it. we can build hybrid cars in america and sell cars that people want to buy. >> let's turn our attention to foreign affairs, particularly international conflicts. the u.s. has spent nearly $18 billion on military aid to

israel since the october 7 attacks. about $60 billion in military assistance to ukraine since russia's invasion. the united states senator, as elected, will you authorize more budget spending on two international conflicts where there is no cease-fire and no clear resolution in sight? esther rogers? mr. rogers: let's start with israel. we just passed that anniversary of the most brutal terror attack ever. they were robbing people, kidnapping them out of their homes, brutally murdering them and their children in front of their families. then they drove these people into tunnels in gaza. you cannot have a cease-fire until we get the hostages back, pure and simple. then you can have a conversation of what comes next. hamas does not want that. they want to continue to fight in israel.

and we have to pivot to the real problem in the middle east, which is iran. iran is funding hamas. they are training them, they are giving them weapons. the same with hezbollah in the north. they are funding them, giving them weapons. same with the houthis, they're giving them weapons, training, and even what ships to shoot. >> will you authorize more spending? yes or no? mr. rogers: i would make sure we support israel, our great ally in the region, to support themselves and i would do a lease program with ukraine. >> same question to you. rep. slotkin: it is hard to understate how these conflicts have been roiling michigan. whether it is israel or gaza or what is going on in ukraine, we have a large polish american community watching this closely. these issues have come home.

for me, i think it's important to have a strong american leadership role in the world. i work for democrats, for republicans, but the one thing that was consistent was the idea that there should be a strong american leadership in the world. what is going on in israel now is deeply painful. we need a negotiated cease-fire where hostages come home. we go to a different phase of the conflict, iran has complicated that by firing ballistic missiles, some of them hypersonic, at israel. putin invaded, the first democratic state to be invaded since world war ii. i believe we have a responsibility to defend the democracies and arm the ukrainian so that they can push back on putin. >> to be clear, you are comfortable with the spending? rep. slotkin: i am comfortable with the spending and the strong leadership role in the world. mr. rogers: probably the biggest difference between my opponent and i, she is the architect of the nuclear iran nuclear deal.

supported the fact that we released iranian oil into the market, gave them billions and billions of dollars, which is bad judgment, after bad judgment, after bad judgment. it was all on the heels of afghanistan, which was an embarrassment for the united states, which my opponent supported. if you look at the bad decisions, bad decisions, now we are engulfed in the middle east in a way that will be hard to extract ourselves, and still show engagement in the world but not entanglement in the world. rep. slotkin: there is one of us on the stage that has sat in a war zone and taken iranian rockets and mortars, who have gone on dangerous convoys, dodging iranian iuds. one of us has studied the roles that they played in facilitating money and weapons to their proxies, to the terrorist groups around the region. i take a backseat to no one on how hawkish we will be on iraq. if they want to talk about long

employments in the middle east, mr. rogers knows all about that. he authorize the war on iraq. i don't want to get into another 20-year war in the middle east. >> which is what we are doing now. >> the next question is for you, mrs. slotkin. it is about abortion. abortion and reproductive rights remain a hot button issue post-roe. how will you address this in a way that supports individual rights and differing viewpoints? rep. slotkin: this is very clear for me. i didn't support overturning roe. codifying roe v. wade came in front of the u.s. senate, i would vote for it. i voted for proposition three in michigan in 2022. for me, it is crystal clear. mr. rogers has voted for every bill, every band, every restriction on abortion that came in front of him for 20 years. he had a 100% voting record with his party and never broke wants. now he will come out because he

put his finger in the wind saying i need to win an election, so he has changed his position completely and wants you to believe that he will be a protector of women in the u.s. senate. i can't tell you how strongly i believe that you have people tell you who they are when they vote. he has shown us who he is. don't trust him on this issue. >> mr. rogers, how do you plan to address this topic in a way that respects individual rights and differing viewpoints? mr. rogers: this is the most heart wrenching decision that a woman would ever have to make. i think it is best made with her family, with her partner, with her faith, with her doctor, where she lives. michigan came together in consensus. i know that my opponent wants to make this as divisive as humanly possible, and i get that. it's unfortunate. misrepresented so many of my positions on this issue. i will tell you this, the state

of michigan and the people of michigan went to the polls and voted. they voted to make abortion legal, and they put it part of their constitution. our constitution. i won't do anything when i go back to the united states senate to undo the votes of the people, their position, their concession, their compassion when it comes to this issue. >> thank you so much, mr. rogers. ms. slotkin, you have 30 seconds for a rebuttal. rep. slotkin: mr. rogers voted 56 times for every bill, ban, and restriction on abortion that came in front of him. that is not misrepresenting. i am so sick of people who don't understand women's health, who don't understand reproductive rights, who don't understand that this is about the rights of our grandchildren having the same rights as their grandmother. saying one thing and doing another. michiganders do not believe him. he will not protect you. >> you have the final 30 seconds

for rebuttal. mr. rogers: it is unfortunate she is taking the stone on something so completely untrue. i've stated my position clearly. if you care about all women, this is probably a great time to talk about title ix where my opponent said i'm not protecting girls in sports, and i'm not protecting girls by allowing men into locker rooms. both of which she voted for. if you want to protect women, there are other ways to do it. i think that is an outlier in this particular debate and it doesn't put you on team normal. >> we have to leave it there. you have the next question. >> mr. rogers first. immigration has been another hot button issue in this election. it is complex. i will ask the next question with two parts in mind. what policies would you propose to one, enhance border security and, two, improve the legal

immigration system? mr. rogers: it is hard to do in a minute, but the first thing we have to do is reinforce the remain in mexico. it has to happen. you have to take away the ability of people in other countries to fill out an app and come into the country. we are finding that 10 million persons coming across the border because of a wide open border. unfortunately my opponent supported all of it. we have criminals in fentanyl and human trafficking at unprecedented numbers coming across the southern border. you can see the problems everywhere. the sheriff of oakland county was talking about another series of raids by illegal immigrants last night in oakland county. this is a problem that we have to deal with. we do remain in mexico. you can't have a discussion about what legal immigration and reform looks like until we secure our border and protect our citizens and make it easier for people who are here already

trying to go through the system legally to get into the country. >> 60 seconds for mrs. slotkin on that. how would you enhance border security and how would you improve the legal immigration system? rep. slotkin: as a cia officer and pentagon official i spent my life redacting the homeland. for me this was easy. i have done more border legislation than any member of congress, democrat or republican, in michigan because no one is proud of what is going on at the southern border. what is going on is a symptom of a broken immigration system that is not working for anyone. not for the people at the border, not for immigrants, not for businesses who need labor, not anybody. for me, it is every country in the world has the right to know who is coming and its borders. we have to do more to secure it. we had a deal on the table. the sad thing is we were actually doing what most michiganders want. democrats and republicans in the senate were sitting together, conservative members, bro

members, and they were hammering out a compromise on the border. mr. rogers and his allies came out against it. they would rather have immigration and border as a political issue than actually do the real work and get things done. >> mr. rogers, 30 seconds to underscore the policies that you proposed for this. mr. rogers: quickly, the bill that my opponent talks about was voted down in a bipartisan way because it was a terrible bill. 2 million illegal immigrants guaranteed to come across the border every year. that's nonsense. that is a nonstarter. if you look at all of the things that they say, we will work on it, we will send a letter, none of that worked. if you talk to the mothers or families of people who had children raped in this country by illegal immigrants, you would know how serious this issue is, and how office gating your position isn't going to get it done. -- obfuscating your position

isn't going to get it done. rep. slotkin: if it was such a bad deal how come the people who work here in detroit who actually work on the border endorsed it? do you know better than they do about how to secure a border? that to me is what democrats and republicans are supposed to be doing. hammering it out, taking out the press and twitter and hammering out a compromise. that is what americans expect of their leaders and we were doing it. mr. rogers and his allies said this is too good of an issue to use. if i was back at the pentagon where i used to work and i looked at a problem and i said it was really dangerous but i do want to do anything about it for political reasons, i would be fired. >> this next question touches home for many americans and many people right here in the state of michigan. the u.s. surgeon general has declared gun violence a public health issue. considering current gun death rates, mass shootings, and two

recent presidential candidate assassination attempt -- thankfully, they were not successful -- do you believe america needs stricter gun laws? yes or no and why. rep. slotkin: yes. for me, i grew up in michigan. i grew up with guns. i have only positive memories of my dad teaching me how to shoot skeet and target practice with my brothers. it is part of our culture for many michiganders. i carried a clock -- eight glock in a war zone. the idea we can't go after the number one killer in america is broken. i was representing this district where we had two school shootings in my district. oxford high school and michigan state university. there has been nothing worse, in my experience, then explaining ptsd to a 14-year-old who all he did was sit in his social studies class while one of his fellow students shot up innocent

children. to me, we have to, as democrats and republicans, gun owners and non-gunowners, go after the number one killer of children in our communities and our schools, by suicide, by accident. it is the responsibility of leaders to protect children. >> same question. do we need stricter gun control laws to curb the violence in our society? mr. rogers: we need to enforce the gun laws that we have. we also need to deal with middle health issues that are happening in our schools. this generation of americans is under mental duress and distress like i have never seen before. it means that we will have to come together on how we get ahead of these problems. banning guns is not going to do it. the two shootings that happened in michigan were handguns. everyone talks about the other kind of guns. we need to get at the root of the problem which is mental health. if we don't tackle the mental

health issue, we will be in trouble. i will tell you the difference between where my opponent is on this. just cut 93% of all school resource funds and mental health funds, including oxford, by the way, where the shooting happened. this is unacceptable. there are other ways to do it. i did it my personal life when i was in the private sector trying to get dogs into schools so that they could be a deterrent to shootings happening in schools. there are things we can do. the notion that something your chest isn't going to get it done. -- thumping door chest isn't going to get it done. >> your rebuttal? rep. slotkin: all you need to know is gun violence is the number one killer of children under 21 in our country. are you going to do something about it or not? my opponent doesn't want to do anything about it. why?

because he has a 100% rating with the gun lobby and they give him campaign donations. it's really easy to understand why politicians in the face of murder children do not do anything. they don't do it because they receive campaign donations and they are scared. they are scared because they do not want to lose their election, and it's terrible. mr. rogers: with all that passion you would have thought my opponent would have introduced a series of bills in the u.s. congress. she did not. i am in law enforcement for a big chunk of my life. i was an fbi agent, i worked the streets, everything from gun violations, human trafficking, drug cases, organized crime cases, and listen, i understand what victims are in the way we get at this problem. the way we do it is constructive dialogue with these schools, with mental health, and with smart precautions that save kids. not the huffing and puffing that you hear here and the

name-calling. >> let's talk about education. mr. rogers, this is for you first. michigan's education system ranks 41st in the latest best states ranking. we underperformed in key areas like reading. how would you improve michigan's k-12 education system to ensure that all students, regardless of their zip code, have access to high-quality learning that prepares them for the future? you have 60 seconds for this question. mr. rogers: you could take an hour on this particular issue. my wife and i have been very engaged in literacy efforts here in the state of michigan and elsewhere around the country. this, to me, may be the biggest civil rights issue of our generation. our kids are not learning how to read. in michigan, 39% of third graders could read at grade level. 39%. if you do not read in the fourth grade by the fourth grade you have a 70% chance of going to

prison or being on welfare. this is so unacceptable. the good news is there are great ways that we can get around it. we support reading reclamation programs where they go into the school, they take these kids out for an hour a day for intensive tutoring. this is the secret sauce. they do it with phonics and get kids reading at grade level. the amazing progress that we could make if we invest in these reading reclamation programs to get kids reading again would change america. forbes said $1.7 trillion to our economy if we have reading at the 12 grade by the 12th grade. >> how would you improve michigan's k-12 education system to ensure all students regardless of their zip code have access to high-quality learning that prepares them for the future? rep. slotkin: obviously, it is the responsibility of any leader to make sure the next generation gets educated. everyone has equal access to education no matter where you

live, what community you are from, and it prepares you for the jobs of the future. that is the responsibility of any society. to me, the federal government is responsible for a lot of funding to make sure that we get our schools fully funded. we have a problem with that in michigan. we have a problem with how much we pay our teachers. they are making choices to leave teaching. there are places in macomb county where they have struggled to staff schools five days a week even after covid because they don't have enough staff. we have a generational problem with our education system. for me, i am a believer in public education. mr. rogers and i may differ on this. one of his biggest supporters is betsy devos who is very clear about her theory of education. she literally wants to defund public schools. she was our secretary of education but now wants to get rid of the secretary of education position. for me, i believe in strong public schools. >> thank you, congresswoman. a rebuttal. mr. rogers: i am the youngest of

five boys. my dad was a shop teacher at a public school. all five of us went to a public school. my opponent went to an elite private school. it is an experience you have to have to understand the challenges of public schools in michigan. this is the other thing. my opponent likes to talk about everything other than what we are talking about. betsy devos, i'm not sure how that has anything to do with us trying to improve education for our kids. i will tell you this. in the last five years, she voted 100% -- >> your time is up. mr. rogers: she voted 100% biden-harris, by the way. had to get that out. rep. slotkin: it is clear how betsy devos is connected to education. she was the secretary of education come the longest serving under donald trump, and she end every member of her family have donated to you for years. it would make sense that you adopt her approach to education, demonizing public schools and

public school teachers. i don't believe in that. every kid in every corner of our state should have their access to education. >> let's turn our attention to health care and affordability. i will address you for this first question. research from the cdc showed the high cost of prescription drugs has had adult skit medication, put off refills, or take smaller doses. it is heartbreaking. there are those worried about the bigger picture. rightly so. as health care costs continue to rise, many americans struggle to meet basic medical needs. what ideas would you propose or support in order to obtain an affordable health care system while maintaining high quality medical care? rep. slotkin: this one is particularly personal to me. i lost my mother in 2011 to

ovarian cancer. when she died, she didn't have medical insurance. the same week we are finding out about her diagnosis is the same week and month that we are filling out the paperwork for her to declare bankruptcy. i believe in the united states of america all people deserve access to health care that they can afford and prescription drugs are way out of people's price ranges. i don't know if you have to imagine what i would do on this, i would have done it. we would vote have medicare negotiate drug prices. everyone understands cosco. you buy in bulk and you get a lower per unit price. medicare was prohibited from negotiating drug costs, like cosco. people like mike rogers voted for it five times. voted for it five times. how is it possible to vote against medicare negotiation to bring down the price? for me, we start there and we had more and more drugs that we can negotiate and get cheaper prices. >> what ideas would you propose or support to obtain a

affordable health care system while maintaining high quality medical care? mr. rogers: thank you for that. this is also personal for me. i was a cancer survivor at the age of 19. we were able to beat in and i went to the united states army and served as an officer, special agent with the fbi, congress, amazing. my father was also a cancer survivor, kidney cancer and had a rough go of it, but he beat it. he was, as my family would say, tougher than woodpecker wood to beat that thing. when we hear this rhetoric about if you don't do this, it is this. the bill that they supported still has our prices, ozempic for example is $800 and in france it is $80. it means the united states is continuing to support the rest of the world when it comes to research, development, and cost of prescription drugs. i would go back, make sure that we do average sales price, including international, to

bring their prices up and hours down. we shouldn't be paying for foreign governments' medical and medicine when it comes to prescription drugs. >> rebuttal. rep. slotkin: this is rich. this man voted five times against medicare negotiating drug prices. now he is upset that france pays less than us. he did that. upset that canada pays less than us? he did that. he voted five times. that is a matter of public record. google it. it is public information. the idea that someone who voted against medicare negotiating is somehow now the champion of it, i have a bridge i want to sell you if you think that this guy is going to protect you. mr. rogers: look at the prices that have gone up in the last six years when my opponent was in office. not only have prescription drug prices and premiums, but premiums in health care. some notion that today she has the gall to stand before you and

say, everything is wonderful on your prices, it is not. it is not because of the way they approach this. they did advantage foreign governments over u.s. providers and medicare. i put medicare prescription drug when i was in congress way back when as part of medicare. the first time it's ever happened. >> candidates, there are thousands of michiganders who are senior citizens watching the two of you debate. the questions that we got from them, this ranked pretty high on the list. according to the social security board of trustees, the social security administration will be unable to pay scheduled benefits in full or on time starting in 2035, just a little over a decade from now, if there are no changes in the current system. if elected, what specific legislation will you offer to strengthen the system that serves as a financial safety net for millions of americans?

mr. rogers? mr. rogers: to me, it is so important that we strengthen and protect social security going forward. again, my father and my mother, who are wonderful people, they didn't come from wealth, but they worked their entire lives, they counted on it. it was important to them to make sure that they didn't fall into poverty when they retired. it is the same with my in-laws, the same issue. they survived on social security and medicare. there is so much false advertisement, candidly, on this. if we are going to solve social security we have to have a bipartisan commission that sits down and goes through the numbers and puts their party politics on the outside and worries about the seniors on the inside. my opponent had five years to do something and have done nothing. if you think about what is at risk, it's significant. you will hear a lot of nonsense,

but i tell you, this is an important issue for the seniors and families and you shouldn't let them scare you into getting your vote. >> mrs. slotkin? rep. slotkin: the senior citizens of this state can know exactly what they are going to get with mike rogers. he voted to privatize or cut back social security and medicare over a dozen times. look at it. it is an open record. you can't deny that you voted for those things. you voted to increase the age of retirement from 65 to 67. you did that. that is not made up. you voted against seniors allowing to negotiate drug prices through medicare. you did that. we don't have to guess what mike rogers will do. he has shown us who he is over and over and over again. why? why does someone say to themselves i will vote against allowing medicare to negotiate? i will vote to privatize social security and medicare? why do you do that? you have donors demanding that

of you. you are getting campaign donations. it is pure, unadulterated greed. he takes over $1 million from the pharmaceutical industry. why are we surprised when he votes against medicare being able to negotiate drug prices? >> your opportunity. 30 seconds to answer some of the things i heard you under your breath saying, not true. mr. rogers: dishonest in this debate and you should be ashamed of yourself. this is may be the most important issue. i get you want to scare people, but think about the last five years. 30 years ago, a quote, i'm telling you what is happening now, people are afraid for their future in this state. they can't afford groceries. their heating bill is up and they cannot afford it. you know who gave them all of that? my opponent in the last five years. you don't hear her talking about those successes. because it has been so harmful for our state and our seniors. i'm going back to washington and fix it. >> your rebuttal.

rep. slotkin: he voted over a dozen times to privatize or cut medicare/social security. he voted to raise the retirement age. his quote, we need to rethink retirement. this is not trying to scare anyone other than to outline his record. i'm not throwing insults. just own your record, mike. you voted these things in your own time within your own free will. you had a choice. you sat in that job and you made that choice. >> i have the next question. it is to you, mrs. slotkin. it is about climate change. climate change and energy independence are critical issues, especially with michigan experiencing more severe flooding, hurting so many communities. how do you plan to balance environment of protections, energy needs, and economic growth while addressing these increasing climate-related disasters? rep. slotkin: we have not been hit as bad as other places, but we have been seeing the changes

happen in our state. farmers talk about the warmer winters. we had more flooding in our lake communities. in the years while mr. rogers was away we are doing with this. i had republicans and democrats talking about how we need to plan infrastructure for more storms, more severe storms. i believe that climate change is real and we need to do something about it. for me in, we know that we will need more energy. everyone has energy in their pockets with their phones. we have increased energy needs. i do and i believe what i was trying to do at the pentagon, which is an all of the above approach. i want to invest in traditional sources, natural gas, wind, solar, nuclear, all of those things help us maintain our independence but increase the amount of energy we know we will need. we do that and at the same time make our climate cleaner. >> mr. rogers, how do you plan to balance environmental protection energy needs and economic growth while addressing these increasing climate-related disasters?

mr. rogers: this is a huge, important issue and i'm glad my opponent has had an election year conversion to be for all of the above. the votes to stymie our ability to be energy independent has been pretty brutal for people in michigan. when you look at the cost increase, huge. more in gas at the pump, more in gas for their electric bill, and it is really having a devastating impact. i believe that we can get there if we are smart. we don't do the ev mandates because it sounds good. we are jeopardizing 400,000 working people in this state. 400,000 people by these ev mandates. we shouldn't do that. we can't get there. you have to do modular nuclear reactors to try to get our electric read up to snuff. let the market decide and take us. hybrids we should build in the state of michigan. we should be proud of them. you don't have to plug it in, it

get too down the road. if we can do all of these things we can get to a better climate. >> mrs. slotkin, 30 seconds for rebuttal. rep. slotkin: when we talk about climate change, every michigander on a bipartisan basis care's about our lakes and rivers. that is our heritage. it is in our blood. to me, there is nothing more important than protecting those great lakes. it is the responsibility of anyone elected. we have different records. we have different feelings about protecting the great lakes. for me, i think that it's the number one issue and it is something that we passed many pieces of legislation to do all kinds of things for the great lakes, but it starts by understanding we have a change in climate and a responsibility to do something about it. >> you have the last 30 second rebuttal. mr. rogers: you can do both but not at the expense of people who are worried about their next meal. the policies that have been coming out of washington, d.c., where my opponent has voted 100% with biden and harris, have been

devastating to our state and cost. you can protect the great lakes, you can have a better electric grid, you can produce hybrid cars that keep people employed in michigan, but you can't do it by big, heavy government mandates that are costing you money and costing your job. >> that will do it for climate. you have the next question. >> thank you, carolyn. mr. rogers, according to the education data initiative, 14% of michigan residents have student loan debt with the average amount being $35,790. nationwide, only 18 other states and the district of columbia have higher college debt then the state of michigan. are you for or against forgiving student loan debt? how do you propose to address the rising cost of higher education? mr. rogers: this is a huge problem for all generations, but this generation particularly.

here is what i believe. i don't believe that your neighbor should write you a check for your school debt, but i do believe that you could provide a service to the country of which we need to work it off. we have desperate need for school counselors. let's make sure that if you have that debt and you spent time in a public school during school counseling you get relief on your student debt. we have not recruited a military class for the army, navy, air force, marines in all four years, the last four years. that is a problem. there are ways that you can pay back your student debt. go into the military. it is a magnificent thing. i served as an officer in the army. four generations of rogers served. my son, my wife's family water generations that served. it's a great way to give back. let's find a way to give back to your country and we can help you in that way. >> are you for or against forgiving student loan debt, and how do you propose to address

the rising cost of higher education? rep. slotkin: for this generation and the generation before, people are living under a mountain of student debt. even at our great state institutions, 50 years ago the state was paying 75% of tuition and student 25%. now that has flipped. the student is paying 75% and the state is paying 25%. we should cap student loans at 2.5%. we have students taking out loans for 12% interest and they are leaving under that debt for the -- living under that debt for the rest of their lives. going to school is different than building a deck on your house. it is an investment in society. capping student loans. actually we may agree. we should have a program in michigan where, if you agree to serve in one of the really important, much needed job professions, teaching, nursing, mental health professionals, fire, first responders, police, you should get tuition reduction or tuition free if you sign a commitment to stay in michigan

and work in those career fields. it may be something that we agree on. >> you are against forgiving student loan debt? mr. rogers: how we forgive it i think is important. i agree with my opponent. i believe that service is important. we have gotten away from that, and i think that if you provide a need, a service for a need that we need in michigan, or around the country -- i think that this is absolutely the right way to get students to understand that you signed a contract, you have some obligation. some obligation could be a great service to your country, number one. the other thing we have to do is stop raising prices for these kids so they can afford their student loan payments. >> i wish we had all night long to answer these questions. thank you for going with our time constraints. 30 seconds for you. you are for forgiving student loan debt? rep. slotkin: i am for 2.5% on all student loans. for me, i don't think doing debt relief all in one fail swoop for

one group of young people solves the underlying problem. it doesn't help a michigan state student who is a freshman now. we have to do something about the debt. there is a bunch of different ways to do it and for me capping student loans at 2.5% is the way that i would propose. we need to do something on this issue, because this generation isn't facing the same even playing field that the last generations have had. >> thank you for your answer. carolyn? >> this hour has flown by. we are now to our final question of the night. it goes to you, mrs. slotkin. with rising partisan divide, the spread of misinformation and growing incivility in political discourse, what specific steps will you take to encourage bipartisan cooperation, safeguard democracy, and promote respectful dialogue in congress and among your constituents? rep. slotkin: i think because i come from the national security world, really, you don't ask people how they vote. you work alongside them for 15

years and you have no idea because it doesn't matter. for me, civility, decency, respect between parties is a positive thing. we want two healthy parties that debate the role of government in our lives, how it should be. we know that we are going through a period of instability. for me, you have to start with our democracy. it's critical that every decent person supports the democracy that our founders believed in and set up. that is our birthright. i have a real problem with the misinformation and disinformation that is spread about our election. for me, as someone who barricaded herself in her office on january 6, i know what it means when senior officials openly talk about misinformation and disinformation about our democracy. i think everyone has the responsibility to support free and fair elections and i will respect whoever wins the next round of elections. >> do you want me to repeat the question? mr. rogers: i think i got it. i served as chairman of the

house intelligence committee and proved that you could be bipartisan and get big things done. it isn't easy to do. honestly, it took us a long time. but my vice chairman, i was the chairman as a republican and my vice chairman was a democrat. we ended up coming together, working hard, spending time line by line in a budget that is 78 billion dollars and cut 7.5 billion dollars at the height of the iraq and afghanistan war because we decided that it was more important that we work together than be partisan when it comes to national security. that takes leadership. it takes effort. it takes a lot of work. it isn't just throwing a boat here and there, it is about digging in and getting it done. i think we can do this. and passionate believer in it. my wife tells me that my eternal optimism may be a genetic defect, but i tell you we can get back to this. what we have to do is go back and fix the problems happening to families in michigan. it is so important. >> you have 30 seconds for a

rebuttal. rep. slotkin: the only way to fix our system and the polarization is if we start by reinforcing our democracy. what is really concerning to me is the 2014 mike rogers was happy to be bipartisan. the 2024 mike rogers a couple weeks ago said he is worried about "shenanigans" in our voting systems in southeast michigan. we know what that means. he sits next to mr. trump as he spreads misinformation. our democracy has to be sacred and i want the 2014 mike rogers back. >> thank you for that. chuck? did i miss your rebuttal? mr. rogers: first of all, the reason 2014 mike rogers is absolutely here. here is what is different. your gas prices are up, your grocery prices are up, your energy prices are up, housing prices are up. people are afraid not only for their kids to buy a house, but if they can stay in their house.

this is the most consequential election i've ever seen. the policies, 100% my opponent voted for all of the policies that gave us these bad outcomes, including ev mandates. all of that has to be fixed. we get that fixed, we will get along just fine. >> congresswoman, congressman, thank you for your answers to our questions. it is time for your closing statements going back to what i said at the top of the show. mrs. slotkin, you go first followed by mr. rogers. rep. slotkin: thank you, moderators, appreciate the time. i will end where i started. at the end of the day, your vote is about who you trust more to come, to listen, to learn from you, and go fight for you in washington. we outlined really big differences between us. middle-class, bringing supply chains home, competing with china. they are big differences on

substance and style. to me, there is no greater responsibility of an elected official than to represent all michiganders. i want to make a particular outreach to the republicans watching this debate. just like my dad, republican lifelong, who felt like the party had left him. for all of you wondering where you have a home, you always have an open door in my office and i will always listen based on the merits and substance of your argument. there is no monopoly on good ideas. i think that the only way we go forward is with decent republicans and decent democrats debating and push and pull in a civil, decent way. at the end of the day, i think there are real differences on substance come on style, but also motivation. for me, as someone who served my entire life, who proudly worked for democrats and republicans, bush and obama, for me, this is about our country into doing what is right for the place that we love. mr. rogers, i fear, has different motivations.

at the end of the day, i appreciate the opportunity to talk with you, to earn your vote. thanks for the debate. >> mr. rogers, you get the final word. mr. rogers: thank you. i've traveled all across this great state. literally, i've met thousands and thousands of people. michigan families are hurting. any of the fancy talk, or let's look what happened 30 years ago, needs to be set aside. what happened in the last four years, i talked about this in the beginning, are you better off that you were four years ago? my opponent voted 100 percent with biden-harris on all of the things that have raised your prices. i ask you this, if you are worried about your grocery prices, if you are worried about your job being here from heav eeev mandates that might -- heavy ev mandates that my opponent supported, if you wonder what the next generation of housing costs are for your family, i ask for your vote.

i've done it before, and i will tell you this. i will go back to washington, d.c., i will work as hard as i can as a guy who worked on an assembly line, a guy who is the youngest of five boys, a guy who served in the u.s. army as an officer, a guy who worked the streets in street crime watching human trafficking at its ugliest, drug trafficking at its ugliest. know this, i will fix the border and secure it for our families. i will do something about the education system in america. i will bring your prices down. i will go back to washington and make that change. i will have your back when it comes to november 5. >> thank you so much for a very spirited debate and a civil debate. to our viewers at home, thank you so much for tuning in. we will have a complete wrap up on seven news detroit at 10:00 and 11:00. if you want to watch the debate in its entirety, go to our website. >> we've got you in the morning

as well. continuing coverage and live, expert analysis of this debate all morning long starting at 4:35 and 6:00 on seven news detroit this morning. >> don't forget to vote on tuesday, november 5. you can vote three different ways, absentee ballot, early voting, or just show up and cast your ballot. from all of us here, thank you. good day. ♪ >> with one of the tightest races for controlling congress in modern political history, stay ahead with c-span's comprehensive coverage of key state debates. this fall, c-span brings you access to the top house, senate, and governor debates from across the country from races that are shaping your state's future and the balance of power in washington. follow our campaign 2020 four coverage from local to national debates anytime online at

c-span.org/campaign. be sure to watch on tuesday, november 5 for live, real-time election night results. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. >> today, a memorial service is being held for ethel kennedy at st. matthew's cathedral in washington, d.c. president biden will deliver a eulogy in her honor. former presidents barack obama and bill clinton will attend. mrs. kennedy, the widow of robert f kennedy, died last week at 96 following a stroke. live coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. you can watch oc-an now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. >> weeknights, encore presentati american history tv' is 10-part series congress invess, exploring the impact and legacy of some of the mgnificant house and senate investigations.

tonighta joint house-senate investigation into the r administration's sale of missiles to iran with proce going to the rebels and ago while work. also c-span now our free mobile video app, and online at c-span.org. >> the house will be in order. >> this year, c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill. providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policy is debated and decided with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> good morning. thank you for being with us today. this headline from "the wall street journal." the battle for swing states is tied. trump has edge on top issues.

voters in the seven battleground states see donald trump as better equipped than kamala harris to handle the issues that they care about the most. and border security, yet are divided about yet they are divided about which candidate should lead the nation the wall street journal poll finds. looking at a breakdown of where the divide is among the parties, a poll out last week breaks down the top five voting issues for the two parties. republicans, the most important issue for them is the economy at 66%. immigration, 63%. terrorism and national security, 60% say that is extremely important. 52%. taxes, 46%. for democratic and democratic-leaning independent

voters, democracy in the u.s. is the top issue at 58%. and types of supreme court justices, candidates would pick, 57%. abortion comes in at 49%, saying that is extremely important. and healthcare and education coming in at 45% and 40% respectively. this morning, we are asking you what issue is driving your vote. you'll hear first from joe in arkansas on the line for democrats. good morning, joe. caller: yeah, the first thing is my vote, the economy. my understanding, unless i'm wrong and you can correct me if i'm wrong, when donald trump come in office, he had inherited a real good economy. when he left office, the economy was going bad. now everybody seem to think that he had the economy that he left out with. it was barack obama. he lived off barack obama's

economy. but people for some reason don't want to give obama credit. obama, when he come in, bush left him in bad shape, and he brought back what trump had when he came in. that's what i don't understand, how do they say trump is the one that had the best economy? look how the economy is now. it was down because of the pandemic, and it's on the rise now. host: joe, is the economy your top issue? caller: yes. host: is there anything specific about the economy? caller: yeah, my 401-k is out the roof. everything is going up from the time trump left office, best thing about it. everything went up. and he started getting on tv saying the economy is a mess. what do people believe? they believe a man that lie every time he open his mouth? if he was judge judy, how you know a teenager lying? mouth open. how do you think donald trump open? his mouth open. thank you. host: that was joe, former

president trump was in chicago yesterday. he spoke at the chicago economics club. during the interview, he was asked about the issue of tariffs. here is a clip from that interview. >> you talk about tariffs. you look at the american economy, 40 million jobs rely trade. it accounts for 27% of g.d.p. you cut that off, that's also going to affect many, many business people here. tariffs also have another side. isn't that something that you have to acknowledge? you could be plunging america into the biggest trade war. you're going to stop -- there are tariffs already. >> there are no tariffs. all you have to do is built your plant in the united states and you don't have any tariffs. >> a lot of places like this, there are a lot of jobs that rely on foreigners coming here. you're going basically stop trade with china. you're talking about 60% tariffs on that, 100%, 200% on things

you don't like. you're also talking about tariffs on the rest of the world. that is going to have a serious effect on the overall economy, and yes, you're going to find some people who will gain some individual tariffs. the overall effect could be massive. >> i agree it's going to have a massive effect, positive effect. it's going to be positive, want negative. no, no, i know how committed you are to this. it must be hard for you to spend 25 years talking about tariffs as negative and then have somebody explain to you that you're totally wrong. if you don't -- >> 40 million jobs is a lot of jobs. >> they're all coming back. >> 40 million jobs in america that rely on trade. >> are you ready? john deere, great company, they announced about a year ago they're going to build big plants outside of the united states, right? they're going to build them in

mexico. >> you pressured them and they're going to stop. >> i said if john deere builds those plants, they're not selling anything in the united states. they just announced yesterday they're probably not going to build the plants, ok? i kept the jobs here. and i'll keep -- john deere will stay here. host: for this first hour of "washington journal," we are asking you, what issue is driving your vote? gregory in sherman oaks, california, on the line for democrats. good morning, gregory. caller: hello. good morning to all of you. the issue that i am most concerned about is the issue that's usually referred to as climate change, although actually it's really climate destruction. we are destroying the most fundamental thing of all, which is our world. the economy, our quality of life, our avoidance of war, just decency all depends on preserving a reasonably

functional environment. sometimes referred to as god's creation. if somebody wants to worship god, destroying the most manifest sign of god is sacrilege, not to mention destroying our future prosperity. we're going to have wars and conflicts and disease and agricultural disruption and every other kind of problem as far as the eye can see, because we are ignoring this problem, including this all-important election. i think that people who are voting this year need to understand that they really have a power that very few people in very few points of time ever have, which is actually voting in a way that determines the shape of the world at least in the rest of the 21st century and probably for multiple centuries toome. we're gettin what's called

1,000-year storms. this is not even 1,000-month storms. they're barely 1,000-week storms now. even that is years in the future. we are creating a world that' going to be unusable to live in, and every future generation is going to look back on this states, if we vote republican and vo for trump, with total disdain. trump even took us out of the migratory bird treaty, not to mention the paris climate accord. this is insanity. host: steve in san jose, california, on the line for republicans. good morning, steve. caller: what i've got to say is probably going to be your only call on this subject. and that is, what is driving me

toe vote republican is the insidious lust for power that i see in the democratic party. if they get in power, they've already expressed a willingness to make two more states, puerto rico and washington, d.c. they've already expressed their willingness to abolish the electoral college. they've already expressed their willingness to stack the supreme court. this demonstrates to me an insidious lust for power. once they get in power, it will take years and years of destruction to get another republican back in the presidency.

host: steve, what is your concern with puerto rico and washington, d.c. becoming states? caller: well, puerto rico has nothing to offer other than welfare. it would be another state that we give money to rather than receiving benefits from. washington, d.c., in the constitution, it was never meant to be a state because of the politicians that live there. the electoral college was put into place because during the time of the founding fathers, they were having problems ratifying the constitution, and the complaint was that big states with high populations,

california, well, california wasn't a state, but new york would decide the presidency. if they abolish the electoral college, then there is a fear that very small states will break away from the union. host: palmdale, california, on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you so much for taking my call. i want to first say many blessings to all of the people who are suffering from all the storm damage that's been going on around the country. and also all of the people right now, all the women and children who are trying to protect themselves from all of the atrocities going on with wars around the world. the issue i'm going to be voting on right now, obviously, is two

issues. one is going to be, of course, this immigration issue that is keeping used as a political football by one side that never wants to solve the issue. i'll give a perfect example about that. during the trump administration, there was plenty of border issues. we remember the kids and the migrants in cages and the separation of children. trump tells us that he was the one who corrected the border, it was those states. the only reason he was able to use the closing at the border and remained in mexico, i want to remind all of the listeners and viewers, is because of covid. the second that covid was announced that it was starting to be over when biden came in, he had to rescind that, which means that all of those people who are waiting at the border, which was thousands and thousands of people trying to get their cases heard, were then

starting to filter in to the country as they have done for decades because of our laws. so the reason why we need to get congress in here and get some work done is because they're never going to get anything done when people want to play political games like they have been for decades. if they want to get something done, we need congress to do that, not political rhetoric. host: vice president kamala harris is in the middle of a media blitz. she's been making several appearances on various shows. this headline from today's "washington post," let's not fall for it, harris urges black americans not to sit out the race. the article says looking to shore up her support with a critical demographic of black men, kamala harris charged during a town hall tuesday that donald trump had no plans to help them and extorted those

voters not to be fooled by trump or anyone who would take you out of the game by not voting. the article goes on to say, harris' wide-ranging interview with sharp amain, a co-host of the breakfast club program that is enormously popular with younger black voters, came at a moment when she is trying to shore up softer than expected support within that demographic. says over the course of the hour-long interview on tuesday, harris said several times that she is clear-eyed about the problems facing black men in the united states and the historical factors that make it harder for them to prosper. harris says she's determined to do more to help them build wealth and expand their access to capital. harris on monday released an opportunity agenda for black men, including such proposals as forgivable loans for such small businesses and renewed attention

to health problems that disproportionately affect that group. yesterday, as we mentioned, vice president kamala harris had that interview with charlemagne. here she is being asked about her proposal and the timing of her agenda. >> i've been in this race about 70 days. you can look at all my work before those 70 days to know that this is what i'm talking about right now, it's not new. it's not for the sake of winning this election. this is about a long-standing commitment, including the work that i've done as vice president and before when i was senator and before that. in fact, a lot of what i'm doing that is about my economic opportunity, an opportunity economy, was born out of the work i did as vice president, before that as senator most recently, to get access to capital for our entrepreneurs. the work that i did in the senate was about getting a couple billion more dollars into our community banks and then building on that when i became vice president.

i created, it's called the economic opportunity council, bringing in some of the biggest banks and technology companies to put more into the community banks. i'm going to tell you one of the reasons why. because i have been aware for years black entrepreneurs only get 1% of have not tour capital funding. of all the venture capital funding, only 1% goes to black entrepreneurs. we don't have the same rates of access to capital, be it through family or through connections, which is why i've done the work of putting billions more dollars and working to put billions march dollars into community banks, which goes directly to the community. my work around the $20,000 is building on that and understanding that i convened, for example, i said this earlier, a group of black entrepreneurs way before i was running for president in my official office at the white house to hear some of the obstacle that is they were facing.

one of them was what we need to do around getting folks the help to just be able to buy the equipment they need to run their business. often times we found when black entrepreneurs and black people apply for credit, they're denied at a higher rate than others. we have also seen, and the data proves this, that all of those -- the realities also tend to dissuade black folks and black entrepreneurs from even applying for credit. my point is to work on every way that we can approach the issue, to encourage people and to invest in their ambition, because i know the ambition is there. i know the challenge is there. i know the innovation is there. and certainly the hard work ethic. so this is not new work for me.

host: we are hearing from you for this first hour. what issue is driving your vote? in addition to calling us, you can also shoot us a text or find us on social media. these comments coming in on facebook. reproductive freedom. perry says immigration, foreign pocy, economy. stephen says ending the genocide inaza, stopping the rises of fascism in america and tackling the climate crisis. lawrence says border security and the economy. back to your calls. will in tulsa, oklahoma, calling on the independent line. good morning, will. caller: good morning to you. thank you, c-span, for taking my call. good morning, america. my primary reason, what drives my vote, the overall,

overarching reasoisonald trump's inability to tell truth. but toe specific, 187 minutes he sat in the white house, for over three hours on january 6. he can't be held responsible for the actions of others unless he gave them a detailed map of what to do, which he did not. but he motivated them to express themselves. rudy jail yani was there, trial by combat, stoked up the crowd. but he is responsible for sitting idly inside the white house, watching a riot occur in our only capitol, the building known as the capitol. hundreds of people, thousands of people outside, hundreds stormed in, breaking doors, breaking

windows. he sat in the white house observing this, because he took it as a personal compliment. took it as a benefit to see, to show america how passionate people can be for this man, donald trump, how dare they take away my white house. how dare they take away my generals. so he saw it as a personal compliment. that's how deranged he is. and after much vocal urging, he finally came outside and reluctantly said, all right, guys, we love you, we love you, go home. but it's just disgusting. i want everybody in america to think. that man, donald trump, sitting in the white house next to the oval office, sitting there staring at a television screen watching what we all watched. host: amanda in mississippi on

the line for democrats. good morning, amanda. caller: my vote is the danger that donald trump holdsen side democracy, similar to what the previous caller said. the same kinds of things do drive my desire to vote. i voted already in mississippi. and he tends to want -- i call him a dictator wannabe. he is scary. back in the old days, he would have been charged with some type of treason. and he's a pathological liar, a convicted sex offender. he also has many felonies, and he needs to be in jail.

that's what's driving me, and i voted. host: a couple of callers bringing up the issue of democracy in the u.s., according to gallop is the second most important issue to voters. 49% saying it is extremely important. 36% saying very important. 11% say it is somewhat important. 4% say it is not important. curt in anaheim, california, on the republican line. good morning, curt. caller: good morning. how you doing? hope doing well. caller: repeat the question again. host: what issue is driving your vote? caller: economy. national security. just being responsible, not

blaming others. host: when you say the economy and national security, is there a specific part of the economy you're concerned about? is there a certain part of national security that you care more about? caller: not a certain part, but i reflect back on 2016 to 2020. i think we had a great economy. i think we were doing really well regardless of covid. i like running the country like a business. if you run a good country like a good business, it will take care of itself. same thing with the family. i hope and pray that donald trump is elected, and i want the best for everybody. host: that was curt in california. woodward, iowa, on the line for democrats. good morning, jill. caller: good morning. thanks for taking calls from americans. i do appreciate that.

there's only one thing that counts this time, thanks to the supreme court, and that is character, because the guard rails have been removed. and trump's character is on display every day, how poor it is. but i think even with a little deeper digging, people can see how truly ominous it is. if you would look up the rod of iron ministries, there were speakers from the rod of iron monday industries. they had, i don't know, a convocation or something recently. both anyone flynn and bonn homan, who is related, i think he's an ice director that trump was planning on bringing back. they were speaking in very violent terms when they spoke to this group, telling them about what they are pretty sure trump is going to do when he gets back in, and i believe general flynn said it was open the gates of hell. we don't need any people like

general flynn back in our government. the economy is important. but it's not running our country like a business. i was a social studies teacher for 30 years, taught the preamble to the constitution, which has the purposes of government in it, and profit is not one of the purposes. domestic tranquility, defense, you know, there's all kinds of great purposes that are stated in the preamble of the constitution. the united states needs a good government. we are not a business. i just can't believe that he went to wharton and doesn't understand that not one opiniony, not one penny of a tariff is ever paid by a foreign country. they are all paid by consumers. it is a disincentive for consumers. you won't to want buy anything,

because all of the costs will be higher. if it was something imported into this country. host: you're a former social studies teacher, looking at the gallup poll, it looks like 38% say that that is a very important issue, and 47 percent percent say it is very important. how do you feel about education as an issue? caller: well, the problem is people, get your religion out of education, and make sure that education is solid. no teachers are out there grooming students. i love this statistic. maybe people will still trust the ncaa. all this trans stuff, it's so sick. there were only 40 trans athletes out of 500,000 ncaa athletes in 2023. that's a statistic on the ncaa website. i don't think they're partisan. they are making big, big issues

out of things that are not big, big problems. they're prying into, again, i'll go with tim walz. mind your own damn business. and when it comes to education, public education, where everybody is educated is what must be supported if you want to have an educated public that is capable of electing a capable government. host: ken in tampa, florida, on the line for independents. good morning, kenneth. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. how are you? caller: i am good. my main issue is the economy, immigration. but at the end of the day, i'm not afraid of anything, but i'm just concerned of the racist attitude that donald trump displays. you know, i'm going say, even with c-span, because c-span

understands that 90% of their listener are white people who are over the age of 50. and they cater to them to not try and balance what is going on. now, i called almost four years ago to ask a simple question, the donald trump model of make america great again, and no one has yet called in and said america, what day, what week, what decade, what month, what century america was great for everyone. now, last thing is, the gentleman that calls that says democrats win, washington, d.c. and puerto rico will be 52nd and all that. both of those are areas with minorities as dominant. it's like we're losing our

country, but who are they losing their country to? it's fear. donald trump shuts down yesterday for 39 minutes. if that was joe biden, what do you think the right would be saying? i mean, america need to get past a racist attitude towards other people that looks different. me being a black man in america, 28 years i served in the military. we have always had black people that don't understand what's the issue. and when they talking about catering to black men, when 40% of them either in prison or some type of conflicted felon against them because they fail to

-- ♪

♪ >> in the name of the other, the son and the holy spirit, the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all. in the waters of baptism, ethel died with christ and rose with him to new life.

may she now share with him eternal glory. >> we continue this celebration, by warmly inviting and encouraging you to join in the opening hymm, in the red warship hymnal -- worship hymnal. joyful joyful, we adore you.

number 611 in the hymnal. ♪ joyful joyful we adore you lord of love drive the dark of doubt away giver of immortal gladness

fill us with the light of day all your words with joy surround me stars and angels sing around you chanting bird and flowing fountain praising you each turn to lee -- you eternally you are giving and forgiving ever blessing, ever blest

wellspring of the joy of living ocean depths of happy rest loving father, christ our brother let your light upon a showing teach us how to love each other lift us to the joy divine mortals join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began god's own love is reigning o'er us, joining people hand-in-hand ever singing, march we onward victor's in the midst of strife joyful music leads us sunward

in the triumph song of life ♪ ♪ joyful, joyful, we adore you god of glory, lord of love hearts unfold like flowers before you opening to the sun above melt the clouds of sin and sadness drive the dark of doubt away giver of immortal gladness fill us with the light of day ♪ ♪

>> good afternoon everybody. please take a seat. thank you all for your patience this morning. friends, distinguished guests. as my grandmother would say, looking around this incredible place, surrounded by friends, families, allies in her campaign for justice and peace, aren't we lucky? on behalf of my family, i want to thank you, for coming together to celebrate the amazing life and legacy of ethel kennedy. our beloved matriarch, and without a doubt the world's

greatest grandma. thanks for coming from far and wide on short notice to be here. my grandmother comes from a long line of strong personalities. she dedicated herself to a long list of righteous causes and campaigns. she leaves a long line of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. and continuing that tradition, she is presiding from heaven over a long celebration of her long life. sit back and relax, folks and enjoy the show. we know for certain that she will. to start, i want to ask your help to recognize a few people. first, to kim and ann, who led the care teams who cared for my grandmother. there are no words. we love you and thank you.

[applause] to the folks who somehow got 1000 people in this cathedral, and got us here on time, mostly, christina and her team, ike, nicole, lynn. you guys are magicians, thank you. to our entire family that came together to put this together over the course of the last couple of days, thank you for working together to honor grandma. mr. president, mr. president, mr. president. we are grateful that you are here. i can say without question that you were her favorite. [laughter]

my grandmother's life was a life well lived. she saw every moment as an opportunity to learn, to compete and battle for what was right. whether it was on the world stage or at the backgammon board , bacon goes with everything. if you want to get to 90 usually devil legs, fried chicken, and clam chowder. while on a 26 foot sailboat with 18 passengers, three dogs. that life is best enjoyed in the company of others.

elbows off the table, always. there's always room for one more. cabinet secretary's, movie stars, priests, poets, the kid next door. new friends who became old friends, the occasional person who wasn't invited back, and the few who were never invited in the first place. whoever you were, there was always a seat for you. she thought people were worth believing in. whether ba.4, family, or country , there is life to be found even in the darkness and laughter really was the best medicine. using action and words to make the world a better place.

to respect the humanity in all of us. life is to be lived. none of this is promised to us. what a privilege it is to see another day, to grow old, to get more time with the people that we love. mind your manners but don't you dare waste one precious second not enjoying the ride. we gather today, she was a joyous partner in life, a spiritual matriarch that embedded the american belief that our nation could be a better people for the world. to have shared this, those who she knew and she loved. thank you, for your friendship

over all of her remarkable 96 years. thank you for bringing us together. may there always be room for one more. [applause] >> let us pray, god and father to whom mercy and forgiveness belong, hear our prayers, a woman of deep faith with many

titles whom you have called out of this world because she put her hope and trust in you we pray that you carry her home to heaven and she enjoys your eternal reward. we ask this through our lord jesus christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit forever and ever, amen. >> i asked president barack obama to come forward. president obama: good morning. president biden, president clinton, speaker pelosi, friends, admirers, it is a great

honor to be with you today to say a few words about my dear friend ethel kennedy. most americans got to know ethel as a wife, mother, grandmother, you could hear some of those great-grandchildren as we speak. the woman who standing alongside her husband helped the idealism of an entire generation. helped raise a legion of changemakers and public service. she was proud of those roles.

she loved family just as she loved friendship. as anyone who ever met her nose, she was a lot more than that. while bobby was shy and serious, ethel was not. she was a spitfire from a young age. some of you have heard the stories, the school yearbook, in college, demerits for a long list of infractions including chewing gum and disorder in the tea room. i can only imagine what that was like. that spirit did not leave when she left school when she was

married, had children, became a grandmother. there was the famous party where she pushed the fellow cabinet members into the pool, the touch football game where she bit the rider on the ankle. of course the cast of family pets, dogs, horses, chickens, turtles what made her mischief special was how it was always joined to kindness and generosity, perspective.

in the same way that her joy, her love for people helped feed a righteous anger towards the many injustices in our world. her life had more tragedy and heartbreak than most of us could bear. she would have been forgiven if at any point she had stepped away from public life. after all she had her family had been through. that is not who she was. we know the story on the train she famously walked up and down

the aisle. in the years that followed she kept doing what they intended to do. fighting for what is right, supporting causes that she believed in. encouraging those willing to take on the powers that be. lifting up the stories of those whose voices had been set aside. so her children, great-grandchildren felt the responsibility to do the same. she became a passionate advocate for everything from juvenile justice, civil rights, environmental protection, well into her 80's she is still out there marching for something.

through the center she created, she salivated journalists, activists, educated people about threats to human the gritty. she was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to support any cause close to her heart. a bucket of ice water over her head. i remember this because she tried to talk me into doing the same. i wrote a check instead. probably the only time i ever said no to ethel. she wasn't too happy about it. as serious as ethel was, she never seemed to take herself too

seriously. there is no pretension, no attitude. she treated everybody with the same respect, same curiosity, the same humor. her ability to connect to people high-end love regardless of background, her capacity to see the best in you and not just assume the worst made her such a force for change. what a gift it was to have her on your side. she had a way of believing in you i don't remember exactly the

date, shortly after i spoke at the democratic convention. i had just emerged on the national scene. i'm not sure if i had been sworn in to the senate. it was like being shot out of a cannon. suddenly this small woman marches right up to me and grabs me by both hands. i realize it's ethel kennedy, which is even more disoriented. she says i like you. you are going places. i said you are so kind, it is an

honor to meet you. she cut me off. you know you are going places just make sure you enjoy the ride. she didn't have much patience for sentiment because she was too busy enjoying life and getting stuff done. if she were here today i would imagine her whispering to somebody that it's time for me to wrap up. let me end with this, we live in a time of such rancor and division and loneliness and we isolate ourselves with gadgets,

diversions, we are encouraged to chase after things, we have trouble distinguishing what is true from what is false and we succumb to those voices that find it profitable. in resisting such voices we saw ourselves becoming sin assists. what better time to remember the life ethel kennedy lived. a woman who understood our salvation comes from turning towards each other, not turning away. someone who reminds us that life goes on no matter how deep the grief. that there is joy and purpose to be found no matter what hand we

have been dealt. each of us has the power if we so choose to make somebody else's life a little bit better. that we could have some fun and make some mischief in the process. what a gift. i sure did love ethel kennedy. i miss her. i miss her smile, warmth, generosity, gr -- may god bless her and may she rest in the eternal peace. [applause]

>> i ask nancy pelosi to come forward. speaker pelosi: again, mr. president, mr. president, mr. president, how great for her to have three great presidents of

the united states. we all know the passing of ethel kennedy is a deep personal loss for her beloved family and friends. i'm honored and grateful for the opportunity to share some thoughts about her from an official standpoint and also from a girlfriend standpoint. as we all know after the tragic loss of bobby, there was a profound dedication to carry out not just their commitment to expanding opportunity, promoting civil-rights and promoting a more peaceful world. we talk frequently about hope

because people would say where is hope. her deep faith in what we said, hope is sitting where it always has been. right between faith and charity. her deep faith in god and goodness of others, her faith in the charity of others gave her hope as well. she gave us strength to help america cope in establishing the robert f kennedy center for justice and human rights, which he carried on. they transform their communities , her lifetime of service for the nation and was honored the

presidential medal of freedom for that recognition. [applause] i met her maybe 60 some years before president obama in 1960 when my father was fresh out of being the mayor of baltimore and chair of the jfk campaign for president of the united states. the first event we had was tea to welcome the kennedys to maryland. my father was the mayor, he became the person putting on the tea. the kennedy ladies would have an abundance of flowers, music, all of the rest.

he saw this as such a great honor for baltimore to welcome them. ethel gave him that day, it meant everything to him. that is how we met her through her kindness. he was determined it would be a spectacular event to model the rest of the nation. over the years i saw her humor and communication skills, she was a great writer, storyteller, and funny person in addition to being a person of great faith. her 90th birthday party, some of you were there in florida was like a sweet 16 party. it was so much fun.

the guest of honor was so beautiful and full of joy. everything that we talked about was what we were going to be doing for a long time to come at this party. we shared stories about her. in 1979, larry bird was signed by the celtics. signed by the celtics and ethel was asked to have a dinner for him. you know basketball, they come to the dinner. his hand was bandaged. a table full of kennedys and

sportsmen it was noisy and then all of a sudden, a very uncommon thing happened, there was a lull in the conversation. we hear the mother and ethel proclaim, larry, telus, what role did your mother play in your basketball success? [laughter] as usual, she was a mother first. another was, forgive me, these were the stories ethel told. when aarti buchwald was going to be the godfather of one of the children. as he told us, all of a sudden he went to the back of the church.

she ran back and said are you ok? why did you leave the altar? he said i'm ok, i'm just not sure i'm ready to renounce satan and all of his works. he did resume his responsibilities. ethel enjoyed her politics. each year until recently we would join ethel in hyannis port . it was always spectacular. everybody wanted to be there. we would go sailing, go out pretty far, it would get cold, windy, this and that. we would come in and the so relieved, we were freezing cold.

she would get off the boat and then went out again. you know that, this was later in life. she was a national treasure, we all know that, just a remarkable woman. the matriarch of a great family. the breadth of her advocacy, the legacy of resilience and hope is such an inspiration. she was the personification of the gospel, not that one, a different one. that too. the one i'm holding now is matthew seven, verse 11. this is ethel being very biblical. ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. knock and the door will be

opened to you. all of her charities and priority. it soon became as time went by the tournament, she came and played. she was remarkable. in every way she not only had the idea, she had this and how to get things done, she fully participated in every way. her fortitude and determination inspired all who had the opportunity to know her. i don't know that it was much of a secret. i began with my father because my brother was a big supporter,

we had a whole tradition. motherhood has overtones in all languages. like magic, it weaves a pattern full of joy, tears, patients, love. she went on to say we must listen to our hearts as well as our mind. ethel understood this better than anyone. to the children and great-grandchildren, six and a half, almost seven decades, we prayed with ethel. that was part of the relationship. when we heard the news, we

prayed for ethel. now children, we pray to ethel. god truly best -- blessed her family in america, this was an extraordinary, special, god-given person to us. as we play to her that she may rest in peace. [applause] thank you. [applause]

>> thank you. >> mr. president, mr. president, mr. president, madam speaker, honored guests, members of the kennedy families, we are all here friends of ethel kennedy. thank you for coming today. i'm kathleen kennedy townsend and as the eldest child, i have overcome my shyness to say a few

words. 96 years is the lifespan given to you. our mother planned at least 150 years of activities into her time. she was a mixture of attributes, some of them seemingly contradictory. she was competitive and generous, fierce and fun-loving. rigorously faithful and reflexively dismissive of authority. her license plate was upside down at christmas "ho-ho ." stop signs were always mere suggestions. everyone in our family could

offer stories to prove these descriptions true. i want to relay a few things about the early years of her marriage to our father. the story begins when i arrived. a lot of mothers would take their four-year-old to the playground, swing on the swings, build sand castles, go down the slide. joe, bobby, me were at the senate committee hearings where dad was investigating the mob. my first sentence was i refused to answer that question.

she thought it was important that we knew what dad was doing. only afterwards when she take us to the botanical gardens and the nashville -- natural history museum. we were there because we were part of what mom thought was the most important role. no one who met mom thought she was going to be towered by convention. she defined herself first as mrs. robert f kennedy. that meant surrounding daddy with love and fun, athletic children who could discuss history and politics and pray regularly.

we practice touch football on saturdays. if you could touch it, you could catch it. in the fall, we go to baltimore to watch johnny united for the colts or wherever to cheer navy with roger staab working -- staubach working his magic. both of our parents love to ski. mom had hers engraved "lovely ethel cha cha cha." both of our parents also love to ride. this was when virginia was filled with cows and bales of hay and the beltway had not been billed. mom had taken a number of my

brothers and sisters and me riding on the cia road because it was quiet and we could gallop as much as we want. as we were returning home one afternoon, mom leapt off her horse and she discovered starving horses. she immediately said we must bring them to our house. which she did. the owner sued. horse death was then a hanging offense in virginia. i think i was in third grade, my father was the attorney general and my mother was on the first

page being portrayed as a horse thief. luckily my father found her a good attorney. she was vindicated and her attorney became an excellent federal judge. mom thought it was important that we get attention. when we lived at hickory hill she had two or three different dinner times, 6:00, 6:30 and a later one if daddy was going to be late. giving the younger children a chance to talk. we were quizzed on current events or history. does anybody know the answer?

mom also quizzed my carpool about how we met. this is kennedy is driving, what happened today. we learned about the filibuster immigration act, and of course about what dad was doing. mom's first mission was daddy. she would tell him he looked great, spoke beautifully, and made sure there were reminder cards where he would memorize the quotes he used in speeches. she stopped in the kitchen with chocolate cake and ice cream. we always had guests, georgetown, hickory hill, hyannis port. there were more people than beds so the guests got the bed and we children. a tent -- got a tent.

i counted 100. for once, she said no. you could have friends and your friends could have friends but no friends of friends of friends. we were able to play capture the flag but no lunch. summers on the cape were busy. mom was a champion rider, swimmer, sailor, tennis player, and ballerina. she and daddy wanted us to be athletes too. we rose each morning for 8:00 mass every day. [laughter] we then would come home to hurt

chart -- to her chart of daily activities, baseball, sailing lessons, swimming lessons, softball game, reading, dinner. we would play miniature golf and go to the bookstore where each of us would select a book. bob's love of reading came from her own mother, who owned a bookstore. our days ended with bible reading and the rosary. once my grandmother rose asked me what we read at night and i said the bible. what? catholics don't read the bible.

that was mommy. devout but determined. if she had daddy made a decision, that would overcome any canon law. she did like telling the story of how when she met pope john paul ii, she told her when we visited the cardinal in 1964, mom said she was hungry and the pope had made her a grilled cheese sandwich. she veered between the heavenly and the earthly without apology. she love that i enjoyed my catholic schooling but when i decided after my sophomore year it was time to try coed

education, that is boys, daddy supported my move. there was a culture clash from the beginning leaving my peers who polish their shoes every morning to join fellow students who didn't wear shoes. she did attend my graduation, she didn't like it and she did not like the speaker. in protest she spent the time memorizing the magnificat. i think mom could relate to the lines on this day all generations will be blessed, the almighty has done great things for me. that was mom. she was here for us on earth and certain of being elevated by her partnership with daddy and her devotion to god.

particularly saint anthony. daddy's legacy became hers and she never wavered over the 74 years of their marriage from june of 1950 until the final days last week. those of you who have seen my sister's wonderful documentary have seen proof that mommy never believed in intersection. she knew who she was and what she believed in. she never hesitated to put in the work needed for success. most of all, the spirit of gratitude that despite all of the tragedies that darkened so many of her days, the almighty

had done great things for her. that's why she glowed when she acts with such enthusiasm how lucky are we? we have been lucky. we live so long with you, all of those years with daddy. we will expect you to have heaven much better decorated before the holidays and we are comforted that you will always find a place for us at that table. [applause]

>> thank you, kathleen. i would like to welcome kenny chesney. >> several years ago i was at a friends house in malibu, california. they invited me to dinner. as geography would have it, i sat right next to kennedy. i told her i was in the process of making a split still for

espn. i thought it was about 35 minutes too long. she said how long is it? 35 minutes that's when i knew we were going to be friends. she invited me to come to the kennedy compound to meet the family and meet her mother. the moment i walked into ethel's home, she and i shared a soulful bond. i have so much gratitude for that friendship. every time i was around your mother, she made me feel great. she felt like sunshine. that's the reason i'm here today to sing this song. ♪ >> ♪ you are my sunshine my only sunshine

you make me happy when skies are gray you never know dear how much i love please don't take my sunshine away the other night as i was sleeping, i held you in my arms. when i awoke i was mistaken so i hung my head and cried. you are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy

when skies are gray you never know deep how much i love you please don't take my sunshine away ♪ [applause] >> thank you. i want to welcome my aunt, sheila kennedy, for reading.

>> a reading from the book of revelation. i saw a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and first earth had disappeared and there was no longer any sea. the new jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared like a bride. i heard a loud noise saying look , god lives here among human beings, he will make his home among them. they will be his people and god himself will be with them. he will wipe away all tears from their eyes. death will be no more.

the first things had passed away. i am making everything new, these words are trustworthy and true. he said i am the alpha and the omega. i shall give water freely from the well of life. anyone who proves victorious will inherit these things. this is the word of the lord. >> thank you. i want to welcome a dear friend, martin luther king the third.

mr. king president biden, president, president clinton, speaker pelosi, especially to this tremendous family, thank you for inviting me to be a part of this memorial service honoring ethel kennedy. i want to send my heartfelt support to all of the kennedy family. they called out to the mother, grandmother, great-grandmother,

we have already come together for this gathering to mourn the loss of a great american matriarch. to celebrate her remarkable life and her unflattering commitment to the cause of a compassionate nation and world. i have long felt a special kinship with the family. i've had rewarding friendships with so many of the kennedy family members constantly making their contributions to our nation. i work together with the kennedy family members on many projects.

for justice and humanity in our nation, i experienced misses kennedy's wonderful hospitality, they hosted numerous fundraisers and she was a strong supporter of racial justice. in particular, a builder of bridges, greater understanding of goodwill and hope for a better future. it is not an easy thing, very often on short notice. to make sure everyone feels welcome and included, that makes a lot of dedication, sensitivity, grits, no one did

that better than ethel kennedy. we understand much of what the families have experienced. we also have an understanding of the painful sacrifices we have been called to endure, it is the kind of shared journey through a transformational epic that involves new idealism and hope despite the differences in our respective journeys, i believe we endured through the decades to come, respect and love has kept us together. i remember one mrs. kennedy came to our home in 1968 after my

father was assassinated, that was the first time i remember meeting mrs. kennedy. my mother went to the kennedy home to express her condolences after the assassination of senator robert kennedy. i was deeply moved and profoundly impressed by the remarkable courage and dignity mrs. kennedy displayed in the days after her husband was assassinated. ethel kennedy was not only about one of america's greatest leaders, she was promoting social justice in her own right. she chose instead to stay involved. that was at the heart of the kennedy legacy.

my mother, caretta scott king, cochaired an advocacy campaign called a time to remember. we must help lead a movement to help others with the devastating loss to family members of gun violence. they worked hard for it.

now you lobby congress to take action against gun violence and give people hope and inspiration to overcome tragedy. as the sun of a strong mother. when i think of all that is involved -- in fact, i remember much later in 1995, president clinton when you invited me to indianapolis, you may remember after my father was killed in 1968 that indianapolis, there were over 100 cities burning. indianapolis did not go up in flames because robert f kennedy made such a profound appeal to that city. i remember at that park in indianapolis was dedicated.

just as it was not random that martin luther king jr. found a wife strong enough to endure the challenges of the civil rights movement, it was no accident that bobby kennedy found a wife and partner could follow the unrelenting swings and perils, greater leadership requires great companionship. one thing i learned from my mother is that beside every great leader stands a very strong partner who refuses to be intimidated or distracted i am so honored to join in the celebration in the luminous life of faith, today i join with

millions, how grateful we are. ethel kennedy rose to the challenges of god's plan. we will long remember her vibrant legacy with love, respect, ongoing commitment. thank you and god bless you all. [applause] >> thank you. it is my honor to ask president clinton to come forward.

president clinton: father mcmillan, all of the kennedy family, president obama, thank you for what you said, kathleen, speaker pelosi, the first time i've ever heard kenny chesney sing a cappella, it was beautiful. thank you, martin. to all of you gathered here, i

was trying to think of if i could say anything that would add to what others have said, i doubt i can but i will try to do it. your mother was the cat's meow. she would flirt with me in the most innocent ways. arbor once i said why not a replacement population, all of the politics are anti-immigrant, we need more people like you. a couple hundred thousand and we are back in business. she said that's not a good idea.

i said first of all, she really wanted to be your mother, grandmother, mother-in-law. she was an amazing fireball of continuous energy. it was wonderful to be around her. i remember, i loved all of these valentines cards. they are very political, i have one with president biden, president obama, they are wonderful. my favorite one had about 16

pictures of all of you, various family members, all cut out with small heart shapes. always had a little bit on them. i keep looking at it and looking at it. . i actually have a picture of it here. i love the little poem. roses are red, violets are blue. i am surrounded by love.

but there is still room for you. [laughter] i think that is the way she made all of us feel. there was still room. there is an incredible capacity to expand. i love listening to the speaker talking about her experiences with her. you just had the feeling that nobody should be this upbeat, being through everything that she has, and yet, she is totally on the level. in a cynical, divided world where it seems like we always do with people trying to play us, trying to play, she was on the

level. day in, day out, person income a person out. always making you feel like you made a difference. i remember back in 2000, right as i was leaving the white house , hillary had been elected to the senate, to the same seat robert kennedy had occupied as a senator from new york. so, ethel called me and said, if i needed any instructions on how to be a senate spouse from new york, she would be happy -- [laughter] she would be happy to provide it free of charge. [laughter]

then when we moved into this old farmhouse, about 125 years old now, she gave me this amazing gift. a letter signed by george clinton, who served in two stints as governor of new york for 21 years. we were not related. she knew what the deal was. there is this amazing letter. so i hung it up in the entryway to our house and people say where in the world did you get that? ethel kennedy gave it to me. she said it was part of her husband's collection.

so, i may be the only person who actually got a training certificate and how to be a senate spouse from new york from ethel kennedy. i cannot even begin to say how grateful i am that she lived to be 96, that she had her energy and brainpower and her love power right through. i cannot -- and it would be wrong to dredge up every memory -- but i am telling you, i never saw her, even on sad occasions when we observed anniversary of her husband's death, i never saw

her when she didn't have her game face on. even when her heart was heavy. i think the lesson of those 96 years and all those children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, is that the god she worshiped wanted all of us to be more other-directed. to think more about how our words impacted other people, how our deeds affected other people, how our lives showed what we were for or against.

i wanted to say that every time i think of her -- i thought of her ever since she passed -- i think she is the embodiment of, the definition of love that st. paul wrote about in first corinthians, not romantic love but agape love for your fellow human beings. a total immersion in the wonder that every human life possesses. and she did it naturally, you'd think. but when you get hit by as many times by life blows as she did, it is a discipline. you have to decide whether you

will keep your heart open or shut it down. whether you will still keep reaching out to people or clench your fist. whether you dare trust and dare love one more time. for almost a full century, she kept on giving it a try. there was always one more time. but there is still room for you. think about how we live, think about how we think, think about what we say about each other especially now in this political season. think about ethel. there is still room for you.

we got to clear the room now. it is our job. thank you. thank you for being my friend, thank you for being hillary's friend, thank you for caring, thank you for the family you built, and the untold families you inspired. the good lord knows, if anybody ever deserves a quality escort to the pearly gates, it is you. god bless you. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, mr. president. ladies and gentlemen, i will ask you to bear with us for a quick second because we have a surprise not on the program. we are incredibly grateful and honored to have a singer who my grandmother loved, decided she would join us. please welcome sting. [applause]

♪ ♪ if blood will flow drying in the color of the evening sun tomorrow's rain will wash the

stains away something in our mind will always stay i have this final act to clinch our lifetimes arguments but nothing comes from violence and nothing ever cools the need an angry star before we get our fragile on the rain will fall like tears from the storm. on and on the rain will see how fragile we are

♪ and on the rain will fall like tears from the star, like tears from a star on and on the rain will say how fragile we are, how fragile

we are how fragile we are, how fragile we are how fragile we are, how fragile we are how fragile we are ♪ [applause] >> says look just like that at

our family sing-alongs, right? i would like to ask rory to come forward and give some remarks. [applause] >> thank you. president obama, president clinton, president biden, we are so honored for you all to be here. thank you, nancy pelosi. she was such a huge fan. she had a crush on you three and she loved you, nancy, for so many decades. i can say this about kenny and staying as well. thank you all. it's a great honor. mommy was all i ever had but i have to say, to me, she was more, so much more than i ever could have hoped for.

as her youngest child, the 11th, i know that for her my birth into this world was bittersweet. she told me this. i asked her only once, i asked her during the making of my documentary "ethel." of course it is sad to think of your arrival as anything less but pure joy. but i understood what mom was saying, that mixed into the joy, the sweetness, was her awareness that her father -- my father would not get to meet me, to hold me, that he was truly gone. and so, for my mother and me, it was just us, but then i know from my other 10 brothers and sisters, for douglas who was one, up to kathleen, already 16, for them, too, it had become

just us, all of us, and mommy. we were in it together. it must have been a lot i imagine for a 40-year-old widow to carry, a lot for anyone. yet, here today, looking back, what a thrilling, fun, funny, meaningful, what a deeply loving journey it has been. one of the greatest gifts from my mother was her commitment to me. she was my staunchest advocate. to have a parent believe in you so completely without hesitation, always and forever, to have her belief so fully in your potential, to feel her in your corner. as a young teenager, i remember in high school, i was maybe 14, and there was much in the news about apartheid.

upsetting with protesters getting arrested outside the south african embassy on a daily basis. it was on a school night i think, my brother douglas and i had been watching the nightly news reports, and we looked at each other and said let's get arrested. of course, having said this, we didn't quite know how to accomplish this task. we were nervous telling mom but we marched into her bedroom and announced we want to get arrested to protest apartheid. my mother looked back at us and without missing a beat she said, great, i will drive. [laughter] so we piled into an old convertible and drove down to the embassy. douglas and, indeed, were arrested, handcuffed. being the only girl, i was

shoved by myself into a separate squad car. i remember feeling my heart in my throat, the metal cuffs on my wrist, the streets outside getting dark. then i looked up, this terrified teenager, to find my mother standing bear at the side of the car staring down at me with the biggest, widest smile on her face. she could not have been more proud. [laughter] now you see, as a young child, i thought it was just me, that mom believed in just me, that i was special. but what i came to understand was that, to mom, all my siblings were special, that she believed in all of us and in my father, too. earlier i mentioned my documentary "ethel," and then making the film, examining her life, interviewing her and all my siblings, if i could point to

one the lesson or when discovery, i learned what a central role mom played in all that my father accomplished, and that he became. to a large extent, that was because she believed in him. she was in his corner. she was his staunchest advocate. historian arthur's wrote about my parents relationship. for robert kennedy, it was the best thing that could've happened. he never had to prove himself to her. ethel gave him unquestioning confidence, unwavering direction, unstinted love. and i think it is true that her support, her love, lifted him up. and that was truly one of her superpowers. because if you met my mother, you couldn't help but fall under her spell. and that is because my mother loved people, she believed in

people, in every innate potential. this included inner-city communities in bedford stuyvesant come in at a included pro-democracy activists, malawi rights activists in indonesia, so called on the truffles -- untouchables in india, the list goes on. my mother came eager to help, to support, to fight, to be your staunchest advocate. in 2014, as earlier mentioned, she was honored with the presidential medal of freedom. thank you, president obama. as was the white housenorm, she was allowed a handful of guests, three or four family and friends. but true to my mother's norm, she said i have my nine children, my sons and daughters in law, 35 grandchildren, and i'm not going unless all of them can come, too.

? president obama, to your credit, she relented. she is a hard one to say no to. i remember being in line, with mom introducing each of us to the president. kathleen was a fearless politician and an advocate for the elderly. joe was heating homes across the globe. bobby was saving the planet with this environmental work. on down the line it went. she could not have been more proud of each and every one of us, even though it was, in fact, her day. she was the one getting the medal of freedom. but then it made perfect sense because in truth, she deserved that medal, was due to the very quality i'm talking about, a life spent leading others, supporting others, and

advocating for others. so many wonderful things are being said about my mother today, and i am so deeply grateful. hers was such a beautiful and impactful life. despite all the hard stuff, the loss, she was blessed, she was 96 and lived fully every day right up until the end. and yet still, it is a sad day for me, very sad, and it is hard to believe that she is gone. to me, it feels that the world has lost a good deal of brightness. she was so vital, so vivid. when i think about moving on -- and i know that i well -- when i think about moving on without my mother, my advocate, feels like a challenge, but i will try my best to look at the world through her eyes and to believe

in the human potential. to take in her final lesson to believe in myself, in you, in all of us, but also to believe in life itself, that life matters. while we are all here together, we need to help each other, to support each other, to fight for each other, just as you did, mom. love you always. thank you all. [applause]

>> thank you, rory. everybody, please welcome the st. mark's square -- martin's choir. ♪ >> ♪ and keep you make his face shine upon and be gracious to you

the lord turns his face toward you and keep you peace amen, amen, amen amen, amen, amen may his faith be upon you and a

thousand generations and your family and your children and their children, and their children may his favor be upon you and i thousand generations your family and your children and their children, and their children may his favor be upon you and i thousand generations your family and your children and their children, and their children may his presence go before you, go behind you and beside you all around you and within you

he is with you, he is with you ave maria maria [singing ave maria]

♪ [applause]

>> thank you, ms. tate. i want to welcome my uncle max for reading. -- a reading. >> the second reading is from the book of ecclesiastes. i saw all the oppression that is committed under the sun, see the tears of the oppressed, no one to comfort them. see the power their oppressors wield.

no one to comfort them. there is a season for everything and a time for every occupation under heaven. a time to give birth and a time to die. a time to plant and a time to uproot what has been planted. a time to kill and a time to heal. a time to knock down and a time to build up. i time to weep and a time to laugh. a time to mourn and a time to dance. at a time to throw stones away and a time to gather them in. a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. a time to seek and a time to

lose. a time to keep and a time to discard. a time to tear and a time to sew. a time to keep silent and a time to speak. a time to love and a time to hate. a time for war and a time for peace. what do humans gain from the efforts we make? although god has given human beings and awareness of the passage of time, we can grasp neither the beginning nor the end of what god has done. i know that whatever god does will be forever.

what is has already been already, what will be is already. god seeks out what has gone. this is the word of the lord. [applause] >> next up in the program are some reflections from a number of my cousins. it is not every grandchild, i promise, but it is a lot of them. those guys coming up, just remember to introduce yourself. say your name before you give your reflection. come on over.

>> hello, i am chris david i was my grandmother's favorite grandchild. [laughter] >> i am sarah. i also think i am my grandmother's favorite grandchild. >> for the beauty of hyannis port and the sea, may we always cherish the ocean and see you wonder in the natural world around us. >> let us carry on grandma's

spirit of adventure, embracing the joy of the outdoors, from water skiing and sailing to downhill skiing and rafting, always with gratitude and enthusiasm. >> we pray to the lord. >> kat kennedy townsend. for all those who suffer under the hands of unchecked power, or victims of war, for refugees attempting to flea conflict, famine or climate disaster, may they feel hope, may we choose leaders who choose compassion. and maybe all work together as grandma showed us toward a world of justice, forgiveness, peace,

and love. we pray to the lord. >> kate kennedy. for a spirit of gratitude to fill our hearts, we sit down to eat, that we may recognize the tireless labor that planted, harvested, and prepared our meals, including the farmworkers with whom ever grandma merged. the committee developed over lively debates filled with compassion and stories of courage shared around the dinner table like we did so many nights in hyannis port, and the bellies full of grandma's favorite crispy bacon, mayo and butter. may we pray to the lord. >> my name is michaela kennedy cuomo. let us pray for all beings, that we remember, while we cannot control the wind, we may always

shift our sales and appreciate the sun for its warmth, the clouds for their shade, the calm and the storm all the same, and greet you today with the refrain as grandma did. aren't we lucky? lord hear our prayer. we pray to the lord. >> hi, my name is mickey kennedy. let us pray for all women, that they may be embraced with dignity and respect for the spirit to all of the uplifted and for the rights to be protected. maybe work together so that young girls are not afraid to speak their mind of value in which grandma instilled in all.of us for this we pray to the lord. >> hi my name is georgia kennedy bailey,. let us pray for the love of family, for the stories shared on sailboats, during charades games, the gatherings around the dinner table with always room

for one more. grandma made sure that everyone felt welcomed, that everyone felt the warmth of family. her children, her in-laws, her nieces and nephews, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her friends and friends of friends, her guests and guests of guests. family matters most to grandma and she made us all her family. for this, we pray to the lord. >> hi, my name is bridget kennedy bailey. my grandmother dedicated her life to social justice and human rights. she marched with cesar chavez in support of the farmworkers movement. she sat with native americans occupying alcatraz.

and just six years ago, at age 90, she joined the hunger strike to protest the separation of families on the u.s. mexico border. in her honor, let us pray for those who suffer from injustice and for those who have the courage to stand up against it. for this, we pray to the lord. >> my name is zachary kennedy bailey. let us pray for humor and lightness. my grandmother had a very mischievous spirit, from incinerating her college dean's demerit books to painting a high wish horse green. she taught me to seek forgiveness rather than permission and promise not to tell my parents if i escaped to her. in her honor, we pray for the mischievous and playful souls. for this, we pray to the lord.

>> my name is mariah kennedy cuomo. god made animals to be our companions and for grandma's many companions may we pray, including her dogs which she loved so much, especially jefe, the horses she rode with her children, the bunnies she gave to her grandchildren each easter, and the many creatures she welcomed into her home. lizards, snakes, turtles, birds, komodo dragon, a seal, and donkey, but not dakota mundy. for this, we pray to the lord. >> in honor of our grandma who taught us to raise our voices and love and justice let us always find the courage to

champion the cause is uplift the marginalized and uphold the dignity of all people. may we stand firm in our principles, speak truth to power, and advocate for what is right. for this, we pray to the lord. >> my name is claire kennedy. >> i am cary kennedy meltzer. >> grandma was sensitive and caring to all those who struggled with health, visiting not only family and friends who were in the hospital but acquaintances and houseguests. we are think what that she enjoyed good health late into her own life and has now found peace. >> yet, for all those who are struggling with their health and all the pain that can bring, physical, financial, and emotional, we wish for their comfort, peace, and care. we pray to the lord. >> i am rowan kennedy.

grandma taught us the love for games, competition, and that losing is no fun. she taught us that the government should values of kindness and inclusivity which she imbued in her grandchildren, could be easily leveraged for competitive advantage. [laughter] so for every fake word used during banana grabs that we pray grandma would not notice, but every time a cousin feel too guilty to tackle their grandmother in a football match, and for every emergency room visit that leads to the opposing team to forfeit the capture the flag game, we pray and give thanks to our grandmother for encouraging us to try harder, play more, and hopefully when. for this, we pray to the lord.

>> grandma taught me that chewing is done with lips sealed. that elbows do not belong on the dinner table and that hand soap can also be used on the mouth. [laughter] she also taught me that all rules are meant to be broken. grandma knew the value of both manners and mischief and she showed us that if you abate all the rules, you miss all the fun. we pray for those who arrived at her dinner table without prior instruction from mrs. manners. we pray to the lord. >> our names are riley, george, and beau, and we were grandma's favorite grandchildren. [laughter] for all those that we lost before, for all the mothers and brothers and sisters and fathers

and cousins and spouses and nephews and nieces and aunts and uncles and sons and daughters. >> joseph, rose, joe, jack, rosemary, kicked, pat, jean, teddy, bobby, eunice, sarge, george ,ann, georgeanne, george, james, pat, ann, johnny, jimmy, rush, peter, chris, alexandra, steve, john, caroline, patrick, arabella, mary, cara, michael, david, josie, saoirse, maven, gideon. >> we pay for strength in our grief and grace in our morning, and we thank god for the light that they all shined on us during their time on earth and the light we will continue to feel in their presence beyond. >> for this, we pray to the lord.

>> hello, i am cara ethel. grandma embodied the mantra, the more the merrier, whether playing touch football with 50 people of all ages and abilities, or captaining an eight-person sailboat with 27 crew aboard, perhaps not comfortably but certainly merrily which was more important to her, or pulling up an extra chair at her dining table, or 77 at thanksgiving. she was the most inclusive person i know, both in her work and in her life. in her spirit, let us all enthusiastically invite those around us, no matter their station in life, into the conversation to behold, the games we play, and the love we share. for this, we pray to the lord.

>> last one, we promise. >> i am senator kennedy. >> my name is max kennedy. we pray that we may embrace life with the same joyful spirit our grandma shared with all of us, singing loudly. >> ♪ do a diddy ♪ >> loving deeply. >> even if you are losing at backgammon. >> and sharon generously with others. >> even if you have to share the microphone. >> may we always remember that every day holds the potential for celebration and for gratitude. whether through song, laughter, or simple acts of kindness. >> we pray to the lord. >> lord, hear our prayer. [applause]

>> next, i would like to welcome greg and lucas. >> good afternoon. >> i am here on behalf of my

entire community in florida, the farmworkers, people, coworkers, here with my colleague laura. she is also part of the coalition of farmworkers. wow. [speaking spanish] >> my colleagues and i are here today from florida, the land of swamps and hurricanes. >> [speaking spanish] >> and the company of so many distinguished champions of this great democracy. >> [speaking spanish] >> because ms. kennedy knew it takes all of us from farmworkers to presidents. >> [speaking spanish]

>> to defend the human rights that she held so dear. >> [speaking spanish] >> she was the very rare person who cares not who you are but what you do for democracy, freedom, and human rights. >> [speaking spanish] >> i came alone as a teenager to what would become my beloved adopted country. >> [speaking spanish] >> looking for work in america's tomato fields and citrus groves. >> [speaking spanish] >> after growing up in a one-room dirt poor shack along

with my five siblings. >> [speaking spanish] >> it was a big family, not quite as big as the kennedy's. [laughter] >> [speaking spanish] >> and 30 years ago, when we as farmworkers from immokalee, began our fight against forced labor, sexual harassment and wage theft in the field -- >> [speaking spanish] >> ms. kennedy, together with her daughter carrie, stood with us from the very start. >> [speaking spanish] >> athol saw the promise in our early efforts to bring brutal farm bosses to justice when no one else did.

>> [speaking spanish] >> she awarded us in the rfk human rights award two decades ago. >> [speaking spanish] >> lifting us up from immokalee's dusty street to celebrate our efforts in the hollowed halls of the u.s. senate. >> [speaking spanish] >> she picketed with us in the streets when we boycotted taco bell. >> [speaking spanish] >> she visited us in the fields and in our homes. >> [speaking spanish] >> and she brought her friends with her to immokalee to join the fight. >> [speaking spanish] >> she brought leaders like john

sweeney of the afl-cio and senator bernie sanders. she used her powers of persuasion to convince mcdonald's executives to join our growing program for human rights. >> [speaking spanish] >> and she led marches with us in palm beach, not once, but many times. >> [speaking spanish] >> i would push her in her wheelchair along worth avenue. >> [speaking spanish] >> along worth avenue, passing jewelry and other stores. >> [speaking spanish] >> her straw hat shielding her from the sun. >> [speaking spanish] >> her friends and neighbors would stop her and they would say, ethel, what in the world

are you doing? >> [speaking spanish] >> and she would say, come along and march with us for justice and freedom. and many of them dropped what they were doing, and they did. >> [speaking spanish] >> and as president obama said, after all, who could say no to ethel? >> [speaking spanish] >> thanks in part to her dictates of untiring support, it is never just about showing up, it is about sitting around. -- sticking around. >> [speaking spanish] >> today, we can say that we have built the most effective

human rights enforcement program in the u.s. agriculture industry. >> [speaking spanish] >> the fair food program. >> [speaking spanish] >> that has eliminated modern-day slavery and sexual violence in the fields. >> [speaking spanish] >> and has forged america's strongest workplace protections in the middle of this ever worsening climate crisis. >> [speaking spanish] >> our partners include 14 of the world's largest corporations and the future of the program is bright. >> [speaking spanish] >> mrs. kennedy, for all this, we want to thank you. >> [speaking spanish] >> and as we believe in mexico,

the country in which i was born -- >> [speaking spanish] >> a person only truly dies when they are no longer remembered by anyone. >> [speaking spanish] >> so you, señora et al., a true force of nature, will never really leave us. >> [speaking spanish] >> you will never really leave us because you will always live on in our hearts and in our memories, in immokalee, and anywhere a farmworker harvest the food that feeds our nation. [applause] >> as lucas said, mrs. kennedy

was a true force of nature, but unlike the hurricanes that ravaged our home state every couple of weeks these days, she changed the world with an uncommon grace. her greatest joy, her superpower came in helping others find and amplify their own voices, an share power with those that the rest of the world considered perilous. her embrace of our work in immokalee connected us to history, to the history of the civil rights movement, to the history of the farmworker movement, to the history of all who have fought to hold his country accountable to its great promise of equal justice and equal rights. and she gave us the courage to grab that arc of the moral universe and bend it with everything that we have two this day, that much closer to

justice. among her many loves, ethel kennedy loved people who do hard work. and workers in the field across this country love you, too, eth el, and they will carry you in their hearts always as we continue your work to make this world a kinder, more equal, more humane place. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i would like to ask my aunt cary kennedy to come forward.

>> thank you, joe. as hillary clinton famously said, it takes a village, so i am not going to thank everyone who made today possible but a special thanks to my cousin tim shriver, christina taylor, ike bonder's, linda laney, who are just extraordinary these last days. [applause] and a special thanks to those who brought mommy down this morning. speaker pelosi, she loved you, just loved you. she was so delighted to see you every time, you and paul.

president biden, president clinton, president obama, you know, president clinton said that mommy flirted with him, and you know that she loved each of you. but as she used to say, get in line. [laughter] a few weeks ago, i called her from italy, and i said, mommy, i am in italy. is there anything i can bring you? she said, and italian would be nice. [laughter] my name is carrie and i am the daughter of ethel kennedy whom we call mommy. i have worked with mom for nearly 35 years at robert f. kennedy, jr. and writes. her last four years, we lived six blocks from each other in hyannis port and had dinner nearly every single night. i am the seventh of 11 children.

think about that. 11 children. mommy was the most courageous person i have ever met in my life. some of my earliest memories are of mom piling six or seven of us into the convertible along with two or three dogs and a football and driving us to the department of after seeing my father, we would go to the basement of the justice department where there was a tunnel to the fbi building and where we would watch the sharpshooters practice. at the time, the head of the fbi was j edgar hoover. he was not known for his sense of humor. he once said the two biggest threats to american democracy are robert f kennedy and martin

luther king. my mother saw a suggestion box and took out her telltale red pen. while she gathered up the kids and the dogs, and astute fbi agent brought it to hoover's office who had it immediately sent down to my dad's office. walking through the door of his office, he was reading the suggestion and it said, get a new director. [laughter] this was an early lesson from my mother in the importance of speaking truth to power. there would be many others. fast forward a family ski trip in steamboat springs, colorado, in 1973 when i was 13 years old. we set out a gang of 20

siblings, cousins, friends led by billy kidd, the director of skiing at steamboat. when he lifted the out of bounds rope and directed us to duck underneath, we narrowly followed our host off the groomed runs confident we would find our way back. but i veered off course and missed the tracks and mom followed me. she took the lead and we spent the two of us, the next seven hours thick with pines and aspens trying to get back to the ski lodge. we boarded streams, fields, slipped backwards and nearly fell off when the melting snow collapsed beneath her weight.

we played charades as we acted out which animal we thought they might have been, elk, moose, marmots, and mountain lion. we saw falcons and possibly an eagle. were they coyotes or wolves? we couldn't find a road, a trail. we shouted for help. as our fingers and toes grew numb, she lifted our spirits. we recited the charge of the light brigade and we sang moon river, lots of beatles songs, and every bert bacharach song ever recorded. mum told stories that kept me laughing.

she told about her brother and how she and her college roommate through the demerit book into the incinerator so she could go off campus for the weekend and watch daddy at the harvard yale game and of how she managed to win the sailing cup. i remember that walk through the woods as one of the most fun, cheerful, exciting adventures of my childhood. it wasn't until the sun disappeared behind a distant peak that the ski patrol finally caught up with us. we nearly gave up, the head patrolman said. a half-hour longer and we would have turned back. mum looked relieved, but the ordeal wasn't over. by the time we bushwhacked to a road, the big dipper was clearly visible. we arrived at the lodge as the rest of the gang was finishing dinner and mum, the consummate

storyteller, launched into a harrowing tale, one worthy of a stephen king novel about a nailbiting day long nightmare. the entire table was riveted. yet throughout all those hours when we were lost on that mountain, mum had never let on she might have been afraid or in doubt or in pain. i was shocked as she described being lost in that wilderness with no means of reaching the outside world, no feed -- food to eat, no match to make a fire with night quickly falling. an x-ray of the following morning would reveal she had stress fractured her fibula. saying prayers before bed, i realized that happy tune she whistled during those perilous hours in the wild had kept us going and had likely saved our lives.

she demonstrated that she could laugh in the face of danger rather than letting the danger inhibit her. mum was a widow with 11 children ages 5-22. she was always surrounded by people, but when she put her head down on the pillow at night, she was entirely alone. as with that escapade on the mountain, those around mum never knew her fears, anxieties, troubles, and what all that stress might have caused her. instead, she was singing and telling stories and making everyone happy and laugh. it was a lesson on how to survive, how to summon the courage to overcome your fears for the sake of someone else, for the sake of a greater cause and to do it with a loving heart. there were so many other moments

when i witnessed the same courage and selflessness. i witnessed it most clearly in her work supporting human rights. after daddy died, mum founded the robert f kennedy memorial to carry forward his unfinished work on social justice. she wanted to create a living, dynamic organization that would address emerging issues in changing times, but would always be ground -- grounded in his vision of a just and peaceful world. the fire she and kendall burned with her pastor and four does nash -- justice, her personal commitment to fairness, generosity, kindness, courage, and love. a lot of people think of her as a widow, all of which she was,

but she had a calling, a professional commitment to social justice and human rights. after i graduated from law school and went to work on behalf of human rights, she became my teacher and then my colleague and my partner. our first trip together was to kenya to advocate on behalf of democracy access who had been in prison for criticizing autocratic leadership. at our meeting, i laid out the litany of human rights abuses, and the country and spoke about the seven lawyers and political leaders than in jail. he said none of it was true and falsely claimed that they had tried to blow up a police station and, by the way, how about human rights in your own country? mom stepped in, summoning all

her irish charm she spoke of visiting kenya with daddy decades earlier, of her great admiration for the country and its people and for its history and perhaps surprisingly for his commitment to freedom. once her compliments had warmed him to her. she said, now mr. president, we both know those lawyers are innocent and we both know they must be freed. i believe you will do the right thing. when word got out about this meeting, ruling parley apartment terry and's burnt mom in effigy, but she was undeterred. six months later, all were freed. with her courage and selflessness as well as fierce determination, she made that happen. her mission was to keep daddy's legacy alive, but she leaves to

us a legacy that is truly hers. my father has been gone for 55 years. it is a light that shown from deep within her. she let that light shine. her light shone when she got on that plane. it shone as she marched with tiananmen square access. when she flew to alcatraz to join the indians who seized it in protest. she let her light shine when she visited cesar chavez in prison, when she flew to mexico to free environmental activists. when she helped to restore clean water so children no longer died of cholera. as you just heard, she let her light shine in palm beach when

she marched up 4th avenue to protest nelson peltz. nelson peltz, in case you know. she found meaning in her life, her tireless work, the people she called the real heroes, people she could help by deploying her power and access to the powerful in partnership with the frontline leaders for justice. she was not a congresswoman. she was the widow of the senator who died 50 years earlier. she was committed to returning daddy's memories. now we are left to advance and

celebrate her legacy. it is a legacy of a remarkable woman advanced the father, her name may never appear annoyed valid, but it is enshrined forever. family and countless friends, but in the hearts of the people whose causes she made her own and whose life she changed forever. i will just end with this story. it involves someone who was never president but who played one on tv. martin sheen has served on the board of robert f kennedy human rights for several decades. he is not only one of our greatest actors, but a deeply spiritual catholic. he once asked my mother for her view of what heaven might be. he said, i used to think of have

vanessa place you go, but i have since come to understand that heaven is a state of being, which you can create right here on earth, as we strive to imitate christ in the quest for justice and in our kindness, empathy, generosity, charity, faith, and love. what do you think? and mum looked at martin and kinda fortified said to him, no, no, no, no, heaven is where you go when you die and you have a big reunion with all of your family and friends. [laughter] and that is where she is now. at that big party with daddy and jack and teddy and george and ed and michael and david and mary and gideon and of course her dogs. enjoy it, mum.

from all of us, thank you. [applause] [applause] >> folks, i'm honored to announce one final surprise. a dear friend of my grandfather and grandmother has joined us and offered a special musical tribute. please welcome stevie wonder. [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> i give all praise to god. i give all praise to god for allowing me to be here. i have been on a tour. i decided to do one because of the very woman we are

celebrating today. i wrote a song that is really my song to the nation, to our nation, my first love song to the nation, which simply says can we fix our nation's broken heart? i know we can, but it takes us coming together. as a united people in love, not fake love, but real love. this is why i'm here, to give you and share with you my love. i think you for allowing me to be here. ♪

>> ♪ our father in heaven our the kingdom, come they will be done on earth as it is in heaven

give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors but lead us not into temptation but deliver us from people -- evil for thine is the kingdom is the power and the glory forever

amen, amen ♪ ♪ [applause] [applause] ♪ isn't she lovely isn't she wonderful isn't she precious

i never thought isn't she lovely ethel was lovely ethel was precious giving her life to the world i can't believe what god has done isn't she lovely made from love ♪ ♪ [applause]

[cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> please be seated. not you, mr. president. you are up next. [laughter] president biden, ladies and gentlemen.

[applause] [applause] >> thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. i'm sure you are clapping because i'm the last speaker. that was worth a partial concert. he said if i'm get it grammy, i'm going to give it to you. the only guy in this whole darn church or can't sing a note. [laughter]

my dad used to have a band he said, you can't carry a tune, you can't sing, you can't dance, but i love you anyway. [laughter] thank you for everything. thank you for being so good to us. president clinton, president obama, distinguished guests. the kennedy family, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and extended family. it has been an emotional journey listening to all of you. i knew i was going to be the last speaker. i thought, how did that happen? it brings back so many memories. ethel was always there for so many people. she played an essential role in my life as well. maybe a little different than with others. she was there as soon as i set foot in office as a 29-year-old kid before i got sworn in. i was in teddy's office, i was

only 29. you had to be 30 years old to be sworn in and i wasn't there to get. i got a phone call. from a fire department by my house. there had been an accident. tractor had broadsided my wife's automobile christmas shopping. december 18. killed my wife and killed my daughter and my boys weren't expected to live. when i lost my family, and she was there, joe, your mom was there, then. as soon as i got elected president, i received a letter from your mom. the letter was titled, mrs. robert kennedy. it had very neat handwriting, she had written she took great comfort in knowing the country

was in good hands. she had no idea for a 29-year-old kid how much it meant. some of you know, bill knows, i didn't plan on sticking around after that accident. she said she was honored and proud there was a bust of her husband bobby kennedy in my office, the oval office. i had only two political heroes in my life. dr. king and bobby kennedy. not a joke. i didn't realize my two colleagues who were president now, you get to pick what you want in your office and i wanted to be able to see both of them from the resolute desk by the fireplace, dr. king and bobby kennedy. and days later, another letter from her. i know all of you look forward to each year, a valentine card.

a valentine card. which in our house, valentine's day is known as jill's holiday. [laughter] i guess jill is a practical joker. it was no surprise, it was no surprise that jill loved ethel's that yearwood said, i'm not sure the hundred others who received it felt the same way, because apparently she sent that card she sent to everyone that year. it was the picture of me and ethel surrounded by hearts. [laughter] you think i'm kidding. it meant a lot to me. i'm telling you. on the card it said, i'm not biden my time waiting for you, valentine. [laughter] then in her handwriting she said, 'cause he is no ordinary

joe. [laughter] i don't know how many of you got that damn valentine, but it meant a lot to me. [laughter] i have received a lot of honors in my life, but that might be the best one i ever received. [laughter] [applause] you know, yes, ethel was mrs. robert kennedy, he was one of my heroes, but i always knew her as ethel kennedy. in her own right. i loved bobby kennedy, i only met him once when i was at syracuse law school and he was campaigning. but i admired him so damn much. i told john kerry this, my buddy, i could picture bobby at my kitchen table with my dad and my mom. i could picture him there. but you know, ethel was a hero in her own right. full of character, full of integrity, and empathy.

genuine empathy. she was a great athlete in her own right for real. she was a mother. there is nothing from my perspective that she could not do, nothing. four years later, after bobby, after she lost her beloved bobby, she invited me and my boys to her home, after the accident. left my family broken, having lost my wife and daughter, and my boys barely making it. she got me through a time i didn't want to stick around.

i wanted no part of being in the congress or the senate, i mean it. we reelected a democratic governor to find a replacement for me. but teddy and ethel kennedy would hear none of it. you know, the fact is she did for the country, ethel helped my family find a way forward with principle and purpose. we saw how she picked up bobby's cause and stamped her own mark on our country. marching for civil rights that you heard about today. and so much more. she once said for anyone to achieve something, you have to show a little courage.