♪ host: it is wednesday, october 23. elon musk is making a push to reelect donald trump. liz cheney and bruce springsteen

are campaigning for kamala harris. we want to hear from you. do endorsements matter? have they or will they influence your vote? republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send us a text. that number is (202) 748-8003. senator first name and city and state. you can post on social media. facebook.com/cspan and x at @cspanwj. welcome to the washington journal. we will start with a few headlines. cbs news. elon musk is making an all-out push to reelect donald trump. this is abc news that says harris, cheney work with undecided voters, gop women and three battleground states.

the new york post says trump helps tracking -- frakking at pennsylvania rally. the new york times says bruce springsteen will perform for harris in battleground states. he will appear at a rally on thursday in atlanta alongside the vice president and again at an event next week in philadelphia with barack obama. let's look elon musk at a rally in pennsylvania earlier this month. [video] >> houthi went representing america -- who do you want representing america? absolutely. i think this election is the most important election of our lifetime. this is no ordinary election. the other side wants to take away your freedom of speech. they want to take away your right to bear arms.

they want to take away your right to vote effectively. 14 states that don't require voter id. california, where i used live, is just passed a law banning voter id for voting. i still can't believe that's real. how are you supposed to have a proper election if there is no id? it is meaningless. free speech is the bedrock of democracy. if people don't know what's going on, if they don't know the truth, how can you make an informed vote? you must have free speech in order to have democracy. that is why it is the first amendment. the second amendment is there to ensure we have the first amendment.

host: that was elon musk. this is former republican congressman liz cheney in pennsylvania on monday on why she is supporting vice president harris. [video] >> in this election and especially here in pennsylvania we have the opportunity to tell the whole world who we are. we have the chance to say we are going to reject cruelty. we are to reject the kind of vile vitriol we have seen from donald trump. we are going to reject the misogyny we have seen from donald trump and jd vance. [applause] we have the chance in this race to elect somebody who you know is going to defend the rule of law. you know vice president harris will defend our constitution.

we have the chance to remind people we are a good country. we are good and honorable people. we are a great nation. in this race we have the opportunity to vote for and support somebody who can count -- you can count on. we will not always agree but i know vice president harris will always do what she believes is right for this country. she has a sincere heart and that is why i am honored to be here today. [applause] host: that was liz cheney. we are hearing from you on if you think endorsements matter in the campaign. we will start with rob in new york city, democrat. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. you do a great job. i love watching when you get everybody to engage in all the issues and discussions so thank you for that. how ironic that elon musk,

electric car maker, tesla, is backing trump who poo poo's every electric car on the road and anything to do with solar and wind. electric cars are in particular on trump's hit list, yet -- why is the long backing him -- elon backing him? apparently there is some deal in the works that will come out if trump gets elected for elon musk to get even greater control of the electric charging stations around the country. this is all about money and business. i'm never going to buy a tessler -- tesla ever. . if trump should get reelected i think we are going to have serious foreign policy issues on

our hands. i think his basic m.o. is that he's afraid to look bad. he's afraid to look weak. he will back down -- he will make a backdoor deal with putin. maybe he will tell putin to remove his nuclear subs from cuba and he will brag to the american people look what he did. like his bay of pigs. host: going back to musk, i want to show this from september. an article from reuters. it is reporting about -- trump will task musk to government efficiency commission if elected. why do you think that would be a bad idea for musk to be in charge of something like that? caller: because it will put

money into the hands of -- into his own personal hands and put money into the hands of either trump or his children. there is always some kind of a deal behind closed doors that we don't see. if you let me just say quickly, in terms of foreign policy in terms of china and russia in the future, we will be in big trouble because trump will not want to wind up with egg on his face. he's not going to want to look bad. he will do anything in his power to avoid showing his true colors, which is really someone who does not understand foreign policy. instead of engaging in foreign policy people pretend and back away from it. it will look like he knows what he's doing but he will make america less safe and the world

the safe. host: here is anne in indian trail. caller: i wasn't going to say to think about elon musk but since he stepped on the podium and said he couldn't understand what people couldn't tell the truth, he standing besides the biggest liar ever known in the office of the president and saying that. i'm an independent. it blows my mind that fox, emison bc, the other stations -- msnbc, the other stations. everything on fox's hateful. they have torn, harris apart -- kamala harris apart. they have a reason to go after

her but not the way they've done. yet he is never wrong. i'm not changing from an independent but i would never, thomas they are really good people, vote for a republican again. to the point where you ask about people representing -- i think it's a good idea to have people standing up and talking about popular people. you don't have to follow them. it's an acknowledgment. it salesmanship. you know trump will have that so when outlet kamala have that. she's got some pretty people standing behind her, mostly republicans. that is all they have to say except i don't understand -- i have called a million times. i have called and called and called and i still pray to jesus and a don't understand -- i'm trying to get him to reveal to

me why somebody that is disrespectful, totally going against the 10 commandments and selling all the stuff they sell on fox that represents religion. it is ridiculous. they are covering themselves in god and jesus but they are not. they are hateful people. i don't say that lightly. they tear everybody apart. kamala needs to talk to people. they tear her apart. i knew she was going to, looking like a fool. she didn't but they say she did. everything she does is wrong. anyone who stands up and talk to her is good to me. host: ralph in battle creek, michigan. democrat. caller: it is absolutely stunning to me that the republicans are refusing to

endorse or support trump. i'm talking about prominent longtime republicans. i wrote a quick list here. the vice president mike pence. how many times in history has the that has a president's vice president not endorsed him in the next election? not even running with him. mike pence is rejecting trump. i have paul ryan. the former speaker of the house, republican speaker the house is not going to vote for the republican nominee. it is unheard of. mitt romney. he was the republican nominee for president and a long time republican senator. the fact that this race is even close -- i have john boehner, former speaker of the house. he's not supporting trump. i have a list of the trump generals. john kelly thinks trump is exceedingly dangerous.

there was an article with a taped conversation with john kelly saying trump admires hitler. it is not within the normal democratic -- the normal american discussion about candidates. the other generals that are not supporting. milley is not supporting him. mattis is not supporting him. the generals think trump is dangerous. host: here is wally on facebook who says the endorsement of actors and politicians does not matter in the least. larry on facebook says not really. their opinions mean no more than anyone else's. here's what danica patrick said on fox this week. [video] >> it's been so confusing how when you say maga it is meant to be an insult. i am passionate because it feels like voting for donald trump is

like a vote of reason. it is the rational, reasonable choice. i feel like most of all what this country can be if he gets into office with all of the amazing brilliant people that are supporting him, i feel like they cannot only make america great again but make america great again it's ever been. >> he is promising to usher in a new golden age. he was at the golden arches over the weekend serving fries to people, doing the drive-thru. what about that struck you? >> he has a great sense of humor. he's a man amongst the people. when you wrap that up with the humility he has, the sense of humor he has, the off-the-cuff confidence he has. his ability to be able to go so unscripted and be in so many scenarios where he has to be himself is pretty much all of

them. that is not something you see from the other side which is one of the most endearing and important qualities about him. he's just being him. host: this is the article -- an article about what our former caller ralph was talking about. this is axios. john kelly said trump said hitler did some good things. in a series of audio interviews, kelly raised concerns that trump would rule like a dictator if elected next month. the lease the gop presidential nominee meets the definition of a fascist and claimed he does not have an understanding of history or the constitution. the campaign spokesperson said in an emailed statement tuesday evening that kelly has totally fabricated. it said kelly said that trump told him hitler did some good things and said that he could

confirm previous reports that the former president spoke positively of the nazi leader more than once. here is john in new hampshire, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i haven't called in a while. the last, basically said everyone was not smiling enough and the you smiled and that made me happy. hopefully people at there are smiling also. as far as to endorse his people and who supports people, it's a little crazy as time goes on. a lot of the names mentioned, the generals and people -- excuse me. i'm a little nervous this morning. those generals that were mentioned earlier on were part of the people that wrote that fake letter on trump. people go both ways. even john mccain, he ran. people voted for him because he was going to help do away with

obamacare. he was the last vote and he kept obamacare with his vote, like a thumbs up as if he was some kind of roman. that is why trump was upset with him. trump did have to save obamacare. people deny that. the funding was gone. trump had a choice and made a choice to save obamacare. i know people don't want to hear that. he either saved it, finding it or going away. it was that simple. there were many things people seem to have confused. as far as cheney and other endorsements, i can't even believe the democrats are now saying cheney is a good person. they called her father the devil and they called her the daughter of the devil. i'm not exactly sure where these fake democrats are coming from right now. trump is real. the country needs him.

we don't need wars. we need borders secure. we need to stop all these killings. we need to stop people coming over the border and dying in tractor-trailers. wake up, vote for trump. then we will go forward after that. america needs to be fixed right now. america needs to get great again. host: here is jim from grand forks, north dakota. republican. caller: how are you? that was a great call from new hampshire. i want to talk about liz cheney since you started with that as an endorsement. the gentleman from the hampshire my remember 20 years ago -- i have been a c-span junkie for 25 years -- dick cheney was the most hated man on these airwaves. he was known as darth vader. that would make her liz skywalker.

i don't know which is the darkside. has she turned to the dark side or away from it? look at her father compared to trump. i voted for dick cheney and bush twice. the second time begrudgingly. in 2006, most of us were done with george bush. he was not a conservative. he was a neocon, an ideologue, a nation builder. he lied and give us tens of thousands of men and women either dead or wounded, paralyzed. our wounded warriors come from him. hundreds of thousands of arab people killed by dick cheney. dick cheney gave us the overreach of the 2001 patriot act. homeland insecurity. all these little thousand cuts that affected our everyday life. things like the freedom of movement and the little liberties that began to be eroded. that was dick cheney. i supported it.

that is what made me mad about the cheney's. i was waving the flag all the way up to iraq because i believed they knew what they were doing. i did not believe colin powell and dick cheney would light it these weapons. then they give us the greatest economic downturn in history in 2008. we were in the wilderness for another 10 years until trump brought us up out of nothing after two wishy-washy candidates, mitt romney. who cares about mitt romney? john mccain got their clocks cleaned. i supported those guys too and all those other people mentioned like ryan and the others. host: going back to the endorsement, go ahead. caller: all the people that were mentioned -- trump promised to drain the swamp. one man can't take on the whole thing but he did drain the pond. the scum outside. all the true people not really conservatives in the beginning that we knew from george bush to

paul ryan to boehner to joe scarborough and michael steele, bill kristol. all these people were never really conservative. trump exposed that. they seem to be the most vicious people against him now because -- i think dick cheney is a war criminal. i disagreed with democrats and the rotarians 25 years ago -- libertarians 25 years ago. host: your point is that all the republicans that have endorsed kamala harris or have gone against donald trump are not real republicans? caller: they were rhinos. they were country club republicans. trump is also a turncoat. he was a lifelong democrat. he's a street fighter. he also knows how to use the media. that is really what upset the

democrats so much, that he betrayed them. he became a conservative. host: what do you like about him? caller: i like the fact he's a true conservative. i like with the guy from new hampshire was saying. securing the border is one of the most important things and the other guys never did not. i think like liz cheney, her endorsements are not going to really help with the middle american people. one more final thing. they keep saying he's going to be a dictator. how can he be a dictator when his supporters are the most liberty loving people in the world? we don't want to dictator. we believe in total freedom. the middle american flavor country. the hard-working people that go to work everyday. we do not want to dictator. he's not going to be a dictator. for four-year's had great trade deals. he got rid of nafta, secure the border, kept us out of work. host: got it.

willie in little rock, arkansas. democrat. caller: i'm listening to all this trump supporters. what people don't realize, i was born in 1942. i remember how things was when i was coming up and how things was when i was coming up -- host: yup? caller: i was born in 1942. i remember how things was in the 1940's. i've ever how things was in the 1950's. -- i remember how things was in the 1950's and the 1960's. i remember all the riots in the 1960's. we will have more riots and more killings than we had in our

lifetime. we don't have all the guns at the different stuff back in the 1960's that we have in the streets today. people are not going to sit down and let nobody talk to them like they are children. they think they can do anything to them and nothing's going to happen. host: this is mike who sent us this on facebook. "whoever liz endorses, i'm going with the oose." "if educated human beings warn you of the danrsf a candidate, you should listen, if people who make their listen and championship wrestling indoor somebody, you can remember the professional wrestler is a paid entertainer, not an expert." moses says,yes, it matters as it sways tir fans were

supporters' choices. kamala has huge and powerful endorsement so far to be called to master." -- cult master." here is in michigan. [video] >> all of you watching that are still on the fence, you are in the middle, your independent as i am, or whether you are just still don't know what you're going to do. this is the moment for all decent people. all caring people who want the best for yourself and the best for other people. this is the moment for people who are tired of all the bickering and the name-calling. people who are exhausted by the craziness and the made up stories and the conspiracies. this is the moment you want to get on with your life because you know we can do better and

that we deserve better. you know this. i know you know this. i know you feel this. i have this is what you say amongst yourselves. it's in all the conversations we are having. that you are having. we are better than this. we are better. we are better. we want to create a world where our children will be safe in school again. as my friend and mentor maya angelou always said, when you know better, you got to do better. thank you. so let's do better and vote for kamala harris. host: back to the phones. ruth in great neck, new york. republican. caller: how are you doing this morning? what i want to say is i'm a registered republican but in voting for harris. i just want to say to republicans, whoever is cutting down [indiscernible] at another democrat or community

drive in great neck, they need to stop. republicans need to be telling them to stop doing it. nobody else's signs are being cut down. that is a lie got to say. host: kevin in connecticut, independently. caller: yeah. liz cheney is a true patriot. 50 years of ronald reagan and tip o'neill, these guys had the battles. they discussed the differences. with donald trump, the first two years when he was in the republicans ran the house and the senate. the l.a. thing that came up with a wall -- the only thing that came up was a wall and it did not fix the problem. i would like to tell everybody you have to vote for harris.

when gore lost the election with bush we didn't have to worry about democracy. this time we do. drop is on a revenge trip. he's going to take anybody down that's in his way this time. we have to stay with nato. we get out of nato, who's going to protect us? the cowboys? that is all i have to say. host: this is the washington post. elon musk's problematic $1 million voter giveaway. look at illegal ends announce about trump ally scheme that some legal experts call illegal. which of the very least exploits a loophole. this is regarding musk promising to give away a million dollars to anyone that registers with his pac. elon musk inserted himself into an american presidential election more than perhaps any other uber wealthy person in modern history.

no question that when the world's richest people is going to great links to speak and spend donald trump into the white house. could his latest gambit venture into illegal territory by paying people in effect to register to vote? that is the contention of legal experts who say musk's announced prize to randomly selected registered swing state voters who signed a petition for his america pac appears to be a bribe. i wonder what you think about that. pablo in fairfax, virginia. democrat. caller: good morning. how are you? wow. i have been listening to your program. you said something about bribing. elon musk, first of all, i became a citizen in 2009. i have been voting democrat ever since. this time i'm going for trump. this is why. i think at the beginning -- i

saw what he did during his presidency. i saw what the democrats have done in the past four years. during the 2016 election, trump was the devil. now i see who the real devil is. about bribing, i was talking to some of my black coworkers. they are laughing because the say they will get $20,000 from kamala and start shops everywhere. i told him about voting for trump. host: i was going to say, what was your going to say is your top issue? what is the issue that meet decide on how to vote this time? caller: two things. the economy in the border. that is in front of me. people talk about nato, about europe, ukraine, china. my neighbors -- i have neighbors that have 20 people living in the house. literally.

i see 20 cars in front of me. i see that everyday. i don't see ukraine. i see it in the news but right now i see what is in front of me. i have to pay so much more money for electricity, for gas, for eggs. during trump that was not the case. yes, a lot of people blame it on other factors but during trump there was no worse. i had money. i was able to take my family to disneyland. during mr. biden's presidency -- i feel bad for the man. he works hard. i like him. he seems very genuine. host: pablo, you said you became a citizen a few years ago. can you tell us about the journey? caller: absolutely. i did it right. i got my green card in 2000.

right before 9/11. i waited. i did it right. i'm proud to be american. when i was sworn to be an american citizen i was so proud. that was the culmination of all my work. host: how did you get that green card? how did you get the green card in 2000? how did you arrive in the country initially? caller: i came from bolivia. i'm not sure what you're asking me. host: you apply for a green card in bolivia? caller: yes. i was able to come in as a true green card holder. then i applied -- i stayed for seven years and i was able to become a citizen of the united states. i'm very proud of it. people tell me the u.s. is not good and there is racism.

come on. never once have i gotten any racist comments. yes. life is full of hatred sometimes. at the end of the day america is great and i love it. host: got it. zachary, louisiana, independently. caller: -- independent line. caller: how are you doing this morning? i want to get into about the republican party. my homeboy david duke, when he got ready to run for president he was in the republican party. it seems like every time a racist wants to get into politics he gravitates to the republican party. i have set that. i heard the caller earlier say trump needs to fix america. make it great again. as a black man that bothers me. i'm trying to figure out when it

was great. was a great one we had jim crow? when we had slavery? when was a great? host: let me get you back to our question about endorsements. barack obama has been talking to specifically black man like yourself. does that make a difference to you? caller: well, it should make a difference if someone is politically astute. our biggest problem is we have one of the most uninformed electorates, whether you're black, white, green or blue. that is america's problem. we have almost half of america supporting a racist. anybody who says donald trump is not a racist, they are one. host: let's go to jay in west virginia, republican. caller: good morning. i'm talking to you from a hospital bed. i just had surgery. i lost my eyesight.

all i care about is how me and my wafer going to get to vote here in a couple of days. we are excited about that. yesterday we talked about whether it is policy or character. one of the callers set if i take my car to a dealer, i don't care if my car mechanic has character as long as he fixes my car. we have a car dealer that doesn't have character, he will have a lot more problems. that leads me to the next point. yesterday -- i love this program. i don't get a chance to watch it much but yesterday we had two different views. donald trump in his presentation and joe biden and his on your show yesterday. we saw a clear difference between the way people describe their opponents.

donald trump is using derogatory terms and joe biden is using clear verifiable facts. i taught college for the last 20 years and what we focused mostly on was credible information. , reliable credible information -- reliable, credible information using critical taking skills. it's unfortunate when i hear people speak about some of the ideas trump mentions that are not credible. not reliable. certainly not verifiable. and moments later when i watched joe biden and his presentation speak clearly about the things that impact people on medicare. i will have to be on insulin for a little bit as a result of the surgery. what he has done clearly is

going to save me money and save the american people money. he is speaking about the absolute things that have taken place through his work in the last three years and what kamala harris will continue to do. i'm a lifelong republican but i understand the difference from someone -- between someone who is not credible and not reliable as someone who is really working for the people of america. thank you for your time. host: we wish you the best. are you going home soon? what is the plan? caller: it's crazy. they cut out a pituitary tumor. it resulted in the loss of my eyesight. we discharged for months of recovery. hopefully it will get better. it won't ever be the same but i

just retired in august. we got my pedicure -- medicare part b prescription drug plan. my wife and i work hard. we don't make a lot of money but we saved. we did the responsible thing. we could afford a good-quality part b supplement and part d medicare -- host: are you going to be able to get to the polls in 13 days? are you voting in person? caller: this will be interesting. i have to figure out how to use the visually impaired process for voting. i never expected this. it was very unexpected. it was a possibility but the gravity of it is much different. you are darn right i'm voting. it is going to happen. you can be assured of that. i will proudly vote. host: staying in west virginia, emily, democrat. caller: good morning.

thank you for having me. i come from a long line of democrats. this year i'm going to be voting republican because i believe trump is our best option this year. he is going to be tough on china and other countries. we need other countries to be afraid of us. respect us. we need to get jobs back to america and be wealthier again. wealth equals power. trump has proven himself there. he has wealth that he knows how to generate wealth. america could be wealthy again. we need to deal with the other issues. not to say they aren't important but they are not as important as us being safe. our country being safe. safe again.

and wealthier. thank you very much. i appreciate you for having me on. host: this is john in grenada hills, california. independent. caller: good morning. endorsements matter. what is disturbing to me is that the republicans endorsed trump and they say nothing about his character or lack of it. the people that endorsed harris talk all about her character. to me, the republican party is a gross failure. they have propped up somebody who's been convicted of sexual assault, talks about picking women up by their genitals, has repeatedly been proven to live over and -- lie over and over again. if you watch his rallies, all he does is talk for two hours and damn near lies the entire time. it is disgusting.

the republicans cover for him and live for him -- lie for him and make excuses. that party has got to figure out how to get a moral base. the other thing that is strange is before trump was president he was on a show on television. he was a television barker. all he cared about was ratings. he never was a senator, never a governor, never a house member. they just pulled him from nowhere and propped them up into a super creep. host: milton, hollywood, florida. republican. caller: the folks here have one more time to vote and vote correctly. you are the problem. you see what's going on. covid came to america and what did trump do?

he lied about it. 1.5 million people die from it. it wrecked the economy. he came in on the back of obama and biden and had a good economy. in two years he wrecked that. and people are talking about this guy is good for the economy. are you serious? all you folks voting on immigration -- the bogeyman that the republicans used to scare people who are culturally biased and i was want to go after immigrants. host: if i go back to the question about endorsements, what are your thoughts about that? caller: endorsements are important but the one that came in in the last few weeks of the election with mr. musk, he's very smart. you know what he bought twitter? to fool a lot of people. he lost a lot of money but that is peanuts compared to what he's going to make when he's finished

with all these robots, all the automation stuff coming online. the guy was calling talking about mr. trump, his citizenship and he will vote for him. hispanic guy. they have a program in 2025 where they will do naturalized people -- de-naturalized people. they are going to look at people and randomly select them. host: we will go to shirley in connecticut on the line for democrats. caller: good morning america. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say that endorsements do matter, because what is behind elon musk and his reasoning for backing trump when trump was against all he was doing. the other thing is i cannot understand why the german people

fell for what hitler was giving them. he promised them a car in every garage and all this other stuff to underhandedly go behind and demonize a group of people who did nothing. that is what trump is doing. he is demonizing immigrants who have done nothing but built up this country, who come over here to make a better life for their families. all he can do is disparage people. this is exactly what hitler did and he wants a country like the way hitler was doing the country. have retribution against people who don't agree with him. if you fall for that, like the men was saying that voted for liz cheney and all the others, liz cheney can see this man is a danger to america. all americans should be able to see that. i'm sorry that they can't.

this is america and we have free choice right now. if trump gets in office we won't even have a choice even talk or have the freedom of speech like they keep claiming they want when he says if you talk against them or don't agree with him, he will have retribution against you and others that are in disagreement with him. this is exactly what dictators do. if you don't agree with them, they go after you like putin did navalny at and killed him and looking for his wife to kill her. i believe endorsements matter. when the other side sees the danger of somebody on their side, to you have to take that serious. host: independent line in oklahoma. barbara. caller: hi mimi. i don't even know what to say. i can't even watch c-span anymore. i can't listen to three hours of

lies about trump. why are you letting people repeat the lies that we already know our true? --aren't true? everyday you say things you know are lies. every single day. host: about who won the election? i didn't catch that part. caller: that life. any lie. he talks about kamala like she is dirt. you just let them tell lies. lie after lie every single day. three hours of it. even the people that come on here that you have on here, you just let them filibuster a thousand lies that you know is in true. we shut the border. he shut the border.

50% less are coming. we never had a question about that. you never had a question about them going on january 6. don't even talk about the fact how they went up there. what did they get the feces? out of their pants. you don't tell people. these people are nuts. they will do anything -- anything for themselves. we are not going to have a free and fair country. this is not going to work. you people better stop, c-span. we depend on you for the truth. when they call and set i used to be -- hang up. we don't care what you used the be. just tell what you need to tell. you don't need to tell about what you used to be because you are a liar. they get on the democrats side. every day. there has already been one that

got on there and starts putting on the democrats. you know they are lying. why do you keep letting them lie? that is my question today. host: all right barbara. richard in south carolina, republican. caller: yes. i guess concerning endorsements. to the woman who just spoke, who was inaugurated in january of 2021? joe biden. the system does work. also concerning -- my concern about general kelly's comments concerning trump. it's very concerning. that is trump's history. as commander-in-chief i wanted to look to see what the man did. there is no military expert that has come out and said what he did as commander-in-chief was

not correct. they can't say that about kamala harris. how could any military person close a secure air force base, withdraw to a public airport and leave u.s. citizens there while taking out the military? trump and harris, i wish neither one of them was running to tell you the truth. i just have to vote for what i think is the best person to make decisions. trump makes better decision. host: if you had your choice who would you want to vote for? who would you want to see running? caller: pompeo. i don't know who i would like to see running for the democrats. i don't know. pompeo would have been my choice.

number one in his class at west point and number one and his class at harvard law school. secretary of state, cia. i think he had the background serving in the military. he had the background to be president of the united states. my second would have been nikki haley. host: let's go to long island. democrats. steve, you are next. caller: getting to the actual question that you have and then i will go on. endorsements like taylor swift, she has a lot of young people aware and getting them involved which is really good. when you see these tech guys who are a bunch of strange guys, billionaires. trump and the republican are basically anti-science. anti-green electric cars. elon musk just wants to get in

there and crush the competition to make sure they don't get the contracts and stuff. the woman from oklahoma who went off a little bit, she's right. like i called up. the hispanic guy said he was a citizen but he lived here forever. they do a lot of strange -- one thing about the economy. you had a woman spreading false information about the economy. it is the greatest economy in the world right now. inflation is one aspect. learn where legislation comes from. it would be great for people to learn where things come from. the president hasn't have anything to do with the price of egg or car insurances. they are keeping prices inflated on purpose. you have to watch out. the billionaire class wants to

rule. it is a little scary because trump who has bankrupted six times -- he doesn't create jobs. he flips. he doesn't create jobs. he's going to put on a show for six months about immigrants. he hired illegal immigrants. they will be coming out. they have contracts to bring illegals to work here and there particular industries. a lot of hands and feet and not a lot of education like a lot of trump voters. thank you very much. host: this is bruce in clearwater, florida. independent. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: good. caller: i would like to join the endorsement side.

i would like to know how the palmer family feels after his endorsement of arnold palmer. i think that is -- that tells everything. he will go to no lengths to tell every secret he knows to try to get popular, to get his way. that is sad. that is really sad. we are supposed to trust him with state secrets? country secrets? i don't think so. that will do it for me. thank you very much for listening. host: new york times about elon musk. u.s. agencies fund and fight with elon musk. the trump presidency could give him power over them. this article shows all the different cabinet departments,

independent agencies that are working with trump -- with elon musk's businesses. here is tesla, spacex, and this is some he's getting contracts with them. the defense department is giving $3.6 billion to spacex. nasa is giving $11.8 billion test spacex. -- to spacex. investigations and oversight. musk's companies are facing overlapping federal investigations from all corners of the government. here are the different departments and agencies that are investigating tesla, spacex, neuralink and x. you can see that at the new york times if you want more information on that. ron, sterling heights, michigan. republican. caller: how are you doing? you asked that one question of

who you would like to see president. i would like to see jim jordan as president and trey gowdy is vice president. i wanted to talk about the democrats. a one world government and communist have taken over the top leadership. i believe that trump has been a friend of -- that rich guy. host: elon musk. caller: he wants to put chips and people's brain and hook them up to computers to be led by a man instead of god and control people. trump's son-in-law has 666 on the front of his business. host: come on, ron. let's go to monticello. democrat. caller: endorsements do matter.

three things. greg from texas sent all those people to chicago. i have people in chicago they voted for trump because of the immigrants and they have guns. where did they get the guns from? we know those immigrants -- be careful how you treat people you don't know. the other thing is donald set he was going to deport all haitians and muslims. all this people have brown skin like me. they can grab anybody if donald gets in office that is black. the last thing is, go to your boss. it's a man. tell him he went to grab him by the d and see what happens. host: teresa in texas on the republican line. caller: good morning.

i just wanted to say that character matters. the reason why i say that is donald trump's strong character cap the set of wars for four years -- kept us out of wars for four years. character matters. i don't see harris with a strong character. i don't believe anything that she says or does. as far as that gentleman was saying that inflation is caused by whatever he said, the elite thing that causes inflation is our government. overspending and printing. our government, the l.a. think they create is inflation and -- the only thing they create is inflation and economic turmoil with their nonsense bills. most americans knew what their petty pet projects are and where

our money is going to and where it is wasted on they would be astounded. inflation is deafly caused by our government and no one else -- definitely caused by our government and no one else. host: mike on the independent line. caller: yes. can you hear me? host: go right ahead. caller: great. 2016, i posted that this election will measure the temperature of america. it is so sad that people don't endorse character. i think that somebody has to have character. it is so sad that somebody will believe somebody that constantly lies, not telling the truth. i hate to say it but if this man is elected, i'm an avid person who watches c-span. i don't even know if they're going to let you have c-span anymore, because unless you do

what he wants you to do and says what you want him to sit, you may not have a job. thank you for taking my call. host: on that note we will continue the program after the break. we are continuing our week long 2020 for battleground state series this morning with a focus on the swing state of wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes. scott -- first up is scott bauer covering state government in madison, wisconsin. later, university of wisconsin milwaukee professor emeritus mordercai lee. we will be right back. ♪ >> join us tonight for a live tour the newly opened white house historical association's visitor center at exhibit. we will travel through the three-story center which is located one block from the president's residence at 1600 pennsylvania avenue.

highlights included 1/5 scale of the south facade, a full-scale replica of the oval office and digital recreation of white house rooms where visitors can sit and on cabinet meetings and state dinners. we will take your calls as we tour the people's house, a white house experience live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> as the 2024 presidential campaign continues american history tv presents it series historic presidential elections. learn about the pivotal issues of different eras, uncover what made the election's historic and explore the lasting impact on the nation. this saturday, election of 1968. >> i'm talking about america's future, my vision of that future and what i think i can do. >>

they want to make sure that that fellow is going to be there present they're going to the stock market goes to pieces. >> people are concerned over this nation. by the breakdown of our laws. and it is a sad commentary when you cannot walk on the streets or in the parks, large cities of our country. >> republican richard nixon defeated hubert humphrey and former alabama democratic governor george wallace, who is running out the american independent party candidate. tch historic presidential elections saturdays at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv, on c-span2. washington journal continues. >> all this week the washington journal is focusing on key battleground states, and today we are going to be examining

wisconsin, how things have changed since 2020 and with the public policy issues are motivating voters this year. scott is the state house reporter for the associated press in wisconsin and joins us now from madison. welcome. >> good morning. >> for the last six races have been decided by less than 1% in wisconsin. why is it such a battleground state? guest: it's kind of a microcosm of america, really. we have two very large urban areas in milwaukee and madison that are overwhelmingly democratic. we have a lot of rural areas that are overwhelmingly republican, and then there are some swing communities, some smaller communities that are a little more purple. so you really have a lot of the same elements you see nationwide playing out. not just those presidential elections very close, but many

of our other statewide races for governor and other offices have also been decided by very small margins over the past 20 plus years. >> and it was 2016 that former president trump became the first republican to win in wisconsin. has it been trending republican since then? >> well, it's hard to say since 2016, but democrats have had 14 of the last 17 statewide races they have won. the democrats feel like they are on a roll. we're still seeing very close races for the presidency, running polls in both campaigns have been saying that they believe both of those races are extremely close.

democrats feel like they have some momentum but they are certainly not feeling like they're taking anything for granted. host: the senate race in wisconsin is between incumbent democrat hailey baldwin, republican challenger eric goosby. what is going on in that race and what is it looking like right now? guest: eric is a multimillionaire, he is supported by donald trump, he is a donald trump backer. he previously ran for senate in 2012 and lost in the primary to former governor tommy thompson, them lost to tammy baldwin in her first run for the senate, so tammy baldwin is running for a third term. she is running on her record, she is running on her ties to wisconsin. he's running on things that she's done for the dairy industry, for the agriculture industry. she's even run an advertisement where she has touted a bill that president trump signed. so she's running a typical four

fairly typical bulb and campaign, trying to be immoderate but also appealing to liberal democrats. she appeared with former president obama and governor walz at a rally yesterday in madison. she's appeared at a kamala harris rally in madison. eric is really touchy on the same thing that we see nationwide in the a lot of these races. he's blaming baldwin for not doing enough on immigration, he's blaming baldwin for the economy, and he's also saying that in nearly 40 years in public office that it is time for some fresh ideas from -- he portrays himself as an outsider, he certainly has never held political office before, but he has run once before. he's spending a lot of his own money on the race and democrats are pouring a ton of money into it. at last count it was the fourth or fifth most expensive senate race in the country this year. host: and if you'd like to join the conversation, ask a question

of our guest, you can do so. we are focused on wisconsin. we've got a special line set aside for wisconsin residents. that is (202) 748-8002. -- that is (202) 748-8003. if you are a trump vance supporter, you can call us on (202) 748-8000. if you are supporting the harris-walz ticket, call us on (202) 748-8000. and if you are undecided or support somebody else, it is (202) 748-8002. so scott, who are the undecided voters? how many, if you can gauge this, how many undecided voters are there in wisconsin and what is their demographic? guest: there's always a very small sliver of people who say they are undecided. i would hazard a cast at the polls are showing a very small number. one person or 2%, somewhere in that range.

i would say these people in my experience are perhaps people who supported president trump in the past and now don't know if they want to do that again but they are not completely sold on kamala harris. so you have that demographic. you also have people who believe it or not for c-span viewers don't pay close attention to politics year-round, are following the day today hustle and bustle of the campaigns, and only started tuning for the end, and these may be people who haven't voted before or just haven't been that engaged. so both sides are obviously spending a lot of time in wisconsin, a lot of money in wisconsin trying to engage with those low propensity voters and those folks who are perhaps waffling on president trump but are also not completely sold yet on harris. host: talk about how voting works in wisconsin. i believe early voting started yesterday, early in person voting.

>> correct. can wisconsin you can vote absentee for any reason, no-fault absentee ballots began being mailed out to voters in late september, but yesterday with the first day of a roughly two week period where voters can go cast their absentee ballot in person at polling places around the state. so what we saw yesterday was an incredible influx of voters trying to vote in person. long lines in milwaukee, long lines in madison, long lines and republican areas, conservative suburbs of milwaukee. just a lot of voters headed to the polls yesterday to cast those ballots in person. and before yesterday we had roughly 360,000 absentee ballots mailed in as well, so there will be a lot of activity prior to election day. the early voting period ends on sunday before the election, so plenty of opportunities to vote ahead of november 5.

host: and what happens with accounting and the contesting of those votes? what are wisconsin's rules around that? guest: in wisconsin we are a state where those absentee ballots cannot begin to be processed until polls open on election day. there was a bipartisan bill to change that law so they can begin to be processed earlier, but that was blocked by some republicans in the legislature. we in wisconsin cannot start processing those bills until 7:00 on tuesday, november 5 and if viewers recall, there have been some concerns in the past about how the vote count is returned and larger places that count all those absentee ballots in one location, primarily milwaukee, because they have what is called a central account, where all the absentee ballots, all the ballots are processed and because they can't

start counting those until tuesday, it often leads to a very late return of those vote totals which lead to questions of impropriety when really it is just a matter of having to take all the time to process those votes. in 2020 they returned those votes around 4:00 a.m. on wednesday morning. governor tony evers said he was optimistic they would have it done by midnight. also voiced confidence to be in an interview that she would have it done before midnight. most people are prepared for a pretty late night, early morning on vote returns here. host: there have been some controversy around drop boxes. guest: they were in use in the

2020 election but after that election, president trump and his supporters mounted an offensive against drop boxes, and the supreme court which was controlled at the time by conservative justices outlawed the use of any drop boxes not connected to the clerk's office. so effectively did away with absentee ballot drop boxes. the court then flipped to liberal control, one of the 14 races i mentioned earlier that democratic backed candidates had won. the court earlier this year said the drop boxes are once again legal. so that set up a situation where many communities that have drop boxes before had been back in place like milwaukee, like madison. many other communities had them before decided not to put them back, and those are primarily more conservative parts of the state. so the supreme court ordered made it voluntary.

communities don't have to have drop boxes. they can if they want to. host: let's talk to our collars and start with mary in ohio, a harris supporter. caller: hi. i just really want the republicans to understand and some of the democrats that trump has a 2025 thing that he's going to do to get rid of a lot of things like social security, medicare, medicaid. he wants to be another hitler. he's a terrible man and i hope people will really stop and think about this and for the watch him because he lies all the time. he has raped women, he is a terrible man so i just really hope that the american people will stop and think about it because we don't need another hitler. host: what are the issues that

are really animating wisconsin voters? guest: as i referenced in the senate race, i think you see a lot of similar issues here that are playing out nationwide. democrats are talking a lot about abortion, abortion rights. they are talking about president trump and project 2025. the republicans are talking about immigration quite a bit. in a document person had committed a crime and dilate those issues. the economy is an issue that is high on voters concerns. host: we have a question for you, is anyone organizing alternate electors for wisconsin? guest: vance in reference to 2020 when the republicans here under advice from attorneys connected with president trump

voted in the slate of electors in casey won the state, people who attempted to cast wisconsin's 10 electoral votes for president trump even though he had lost the state to president biden. those people involved in that were sued civilly and they entered a settlement under which they said they would never serve as electors again and there's also a criminal investigation ongoing into the attorneys are involved and there are charges pending their. there's no public attempt at this point being discussed, a slate of electors. the republican party has been very clear that they have no intention of doing that, someone of the elect -- none of the electors who served last time are on the slate of electors this time.

at this point at least that is not something that is being public discussed. host: eau claire, wisconsin, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. my question is one, who did the balancer madison wisconsin to milwaukee. why there was so few and then the day before the last election, the presidential election, and the other presidential election this with mr. morgan, who drove a tractor trailer truck from new york to philadelphia and had mass quantities of ballots, and that is, in my opinion, is an illegal act. so if you could respond to that,

thank you very much. guest: i'm not familiar with either one of those examples that you provided, i'm sorry. host: virginia, harris supporter, good morning. caller: one comment, which is that i wonder currently due wisconsin's wonder about age and ability to keep it going is one of the oldest candidates for president, and then a question about wisconsin election policies, what is the recount policy? thank you. guest: that did come into play in 2020. in wisconsin, there is no automatic recount, meaning that there is no margin of victory or defeat that automatically triggers a recount. what happens is if the losing candidate is within 1% of the

winter, they can request a recount. only the candidate can request a recount, not an outside group, not a voter, not anyone else. and so what happened in 20's president trump had lost, he was within the margin and he opted to request recounts only in the two most heavily democratic counties in wisconsin, and if memory serves me, i think after those recount it changed the vote total by 78 total votes, so a very minimal change following the recount, and that is statically what happens in other recounts. that is why the law is set up the way it is. it has to be a very slim margin to even be a recount. and to the earlier question about the age issue, that is something that is asked about in polls.

obviously it was an issue with democrats and president biden. it doesn't seem to be resonating as large of an issue with donald trump for whatever reason. it is something that democrats talk about as something former president obama talked about and governor walz talked about yesterday in madison, so democrats are definitely talking about it. it doesn't seem to be resonating as much among republican supporters as it was among democrats with biden. host: are there any referendum questions in wisconsin that would increase voter participation in the selection? guest: so there is one statewide referendum that could drive up turnout within local communities, schools, cities asking for more funding. that question was put on the ballot by the republican-controlled legislature. the way it works in wisconsin is if you want to amend the state

constitution, the legislature has to pass a measure in two consecutive sessions, and then that goes on the ballot for voters to consider. only after voters vote on it with the constitution possibly be amended. this fall, essentially if only u.s. citizens can vote, opponents to that say that is not necessary because it is an attempt to drive up republican turnout and to put something in the law that will only create problems down the line, where supporters say there is no reason not to have it in there. we need to be explicitly clear that only citizens can vote. so that is the one referendum those was on the ballot. host: let's talk to judy in rocky top, tennessee, a trump supporter. caller: high there.

i am concerned about the early voting. i could see if it is two or three days before voting day. it is now being utilized as a tool, there's more republicans voting now or there's more democrats voting. my understanding is the early voting was supposed to be kept secret and then on november 5, we would count all the votes. so do you have early voting in wisconsin, and what is the purpose for it? guest: that's a really good question and it bears some explanation in wisconsin. here in wisconsin voters are not registered by party. with any community with absentee ballots, whether cast in person or by mail, there is no way to know for sure whether it came from a republican or a democrat.

the parties will say and look at the counties where they are coming from and say well, this is primarily a republican county. primarily a democratic county. they know how many republicans and democrats have returned. there are certain number of democratic ballots that have been returned in a state. in wisconsin, early voting began yesterday. in person early voting began yesterday. absentee voting has been going on since late september. so after yesterday i would hazard to guess probably over half a million ballots have come in. those ballots are not counted in terms of opening them and figuring out who they voted for until election day. early voting has been controversial here, a two week

window. democrats have always wanted to be longer, arguing that the more time we get people to vote, the easier it is to vote, the more participation you will have. president trump used to be against early voting. this election he and republicans are very much in favor of it. he has been touting it in his rallies around the country and in wisconsin, the same or a publican party in wisconsin is all early voting. yesterday you had many republican officeholders and members of congress casting their ballots, eric toebbe, the senate candidate, he voted early yesterday. on both sides the theory is that if you bank that vote now, you don't have to worry about getting it later, you don't have to worry about a november problem in wisconsin, you don't have to worry about someone getting sick. and potentially you can use your resources to focus on those other people who haven't voted. the person who has voted can do

other things to maybe get out voters on their side. both parties this time around are very much embracing early voting and i think that is why we solve the long lines yesterday on the first day. host: is the wisconsin valley/ fox cities area red or purple the cycle? guest: that they could question, it is an area that is pretty conservative. there are democratic pockets in there, an area that both campaigns have spent a lot of time in, trying to swing voters, and is one of those that i mentioned is outside of madison, milwaukee, not exclusively rural. there are cities in the fox valley with some larger populations, so that is an area that is always hard-fought in wisconsin and one that we will certainly be watching on

election night at the returns come in. host: mike in wisconsin, good morning. caller: i have a question. i'm curious, i noticed that faye collectors pass to mike pence, and during the election with him, that became an issue. he basically lied about he had no role in that. ron johnson was involved in that. i remember him being questioned by reporters and he basically tried to say that he had nothing to do with that when in actuality, he did. so i will take your answer offline, thank you. guest: what i can say on that is that the 10 faye collectors were sued in civil court. they entered into a settlement.

the attorneys involved in that are facing federal charges right now that are pending. there are no charges against senator johnson. if you was investigated as a part of any of this by the state department of justice, we don't know. host: richard in massachusetts, trump supporter. good morning. caller: i am voting for trump vance, the reason is that they are more likable than the other ticket. walz and harris are just people that i just don't like. i'm also a part-time golfer and i so enjoyed donald trump's golfing comment on arnold palmer. not all of them, but he was a likable guy and i'd like to have somebody that is joyful, really, and has a sense of humor and who

is strong and won't be pushed around by putin and the other gangs. host: any comments? guest: likability is something that both candidates are trying to achieve and hope that voters can latch onto. obviously kamala harris when she got into the race talked about bringing joy into the campaign. tim walz, the governor of neighboring minnesota has brought a large element of midwestern vibes, the dad vibe, and donald trump obviously as the caller said is very much liked by his supporters, very much not liked by the other side. and obviously the other site doesn't see the joy factor in kamala harris democrats do. caller: haven't been on in a long time.

i was surprised that kennedy couldn't go through the primaries and that he made it on the wisconsin ballot and he's not going to be taken off the ballot. the only reason i vote for trump is because a kennedy would be in the administration and they are cleaning up the fda, the nih. that is one of the most important things to do right now . 95% of c-span callers just regurgitate what is on the mainstream media. you could have a show where people only get their news or to a lot of their news from truly independent newspeople.

that would be an interesting show. but i think kennedy has a lot of good information, and maybe you could talk on how kennedy couldn't get off the ballot in wisconsin. thank you. guest: robert f. kennedy, jr. submitted paperwork to be on the ballot as a presidential candidate in wisconsin. after he did that, he suspended his campaign and supported president, and he then asked or attempted to have his name removed from the ballot, but wisconsin law says that once you have submitted the paperwork and it has been approved for you to be on the ballot, the only reason you can get off the ballot is if you die. so he filed a lawsuit, it went to the state supreme court and

as i mentioned earlier, the supreme court is controlled by liberal justices, but the ruling that upheld his remaining on the ballot was unanimous. robert f kennedy's name is on the ballot. also shown very minimal support for him, so what effect is being on the ballot or not being on the ballot would have in wisconsin is likely to be very small, but again, it is a state where presidential elections are determined by very few votes. the past two has been decided by around 21,000 votes. so every little thing can potentially have an impact. host: anything on a rumor that 40,000 inactive voters voted? guest: there are a lot of rumors out there. nearly all of them are not true. there are a lot of

unsubstantiated rumors related to these sorts of things, related to voters voting were not eligible for further whatever theory that is out there, and the nonpartisan wisconsin election commission, which is controlled by a bipartisan board has been very clear and very forthright in putting information out there to counter most of these falsehoods that are out there. there is a vast amount of information on their website explaining in great detail the way the voter rolls work in wisconsin and the way voting operates. again, republicans and democrats serving on that commission that oversees elections here. host: david in florida, harris supporter, good morning. caller: yes, i have a question. god created man in his mortal image. but donald trump reflects the

mortal image. i would like to ask you a question. christian women and women in general, actually. we knew marry an moral man like donald trump who comes to your daughter for mary a guilty immoral man like donald trump to be part of your family? i would say not. this is a question that americans have to ask themselves when we go invoke. ask themselves what they want to have this man to be part of their family, because i think when you vote for a president, yanks lead becomes part of your family, do you want this man to be part of your family? i'm sure you don't. thank you. guest: that is a question from ed pastor. host: ruby, trump supporter, good morning. caller: yes, good morning.

i'm a trump supporter and i think that trump has shown what he can do and would do. kamala has made reports on tv where she says she's going to do one thing, turns right around and changes her mind. and i think trump would be the best president. i'd love to have him in my family. host: and here's james and fairmont, west virginia, harris supporter. caller: yes, this is james. the last election, in louisiana, lost 273,000 tons on the ground.

they could not get migrant workers -- the border was so locked up by trump that they could not get them to come across the border. host: we got it, james. comments on illegal immigration, also about donald trump's plans for mass deportation, and what

impact that might have on the dairy industry. guest: obviously wisconsin is not a border state with a southern border. not a border state of canada, either. but this issue has been one that has been talked about a lot, especially by republicans. the dairy industry, obviously wisconsin is a dairy state that relies on workers from all over the place for that industry. there's been a lot of talk about it, as i said, on the republican side. republicans tend to not bring it up as much or at least talked about in terms of president trump's interference with the bipartisan immigration bill that was unable to get through congress that he opposed and have republican block. host: let's talk to justin next in california, good morning. undecided voter. caller: yes.

host: what are the issues that you are looking for that would make you decide? caller: well, first of all i'd like to ask your caller why they weren't able to take kennedy of the ballot but they took president biden off. host: did you hear that, scott? rfk jr. won't get off the ballot, but biden can get off the ballot. guest: it's different because president biden was a democratic party nominee in wisconsin and the party nominated harris to be their nominee before the press was finished so she was able to be put on there, whereas kennedy was running as an independent candidate and he had different deadlines and procedures in wisconsin. host: i want to show a couple of

-- some information about the state of wisconsin. 10 electoral votes. the population is 5.9 million. unemployment rate of 2.9%. that's considerably lower than the national average. does that impact anything at all as far as the voters in wisconsin? guest: we'll see. the unemployment rate has been low here for a number of years. they need to have more people come into wisconsin to take the jobs that are available. so there's not an unemployment challenge, the economy, the state economy has been strong. the state budget is in good shape. there is a budget surplus. a lot of things are going well with the economy. so when you hear voters talking

about unhappiness with, i think they are primarily talking about inflation and the cost of goods and services having gone up, but the unemployment rate as you mentioned is very low. most people who want jobs in wisconsin have jobs and if they don't have a job, they can find one. host: let's go to a harris supporter in tennessee, patricia. caller: good morning. yes, i just want to make a comment to dictator trump. and his supporters they think are going to do farm work and other stuff. these people need to wake up. listen to your ears and vote with your eyes. host: scott bauer? guest: not a question there.

host: let's go to brenda, fort lee, new jersey, trump supporter. caller: good morning. i'm calling in regards to president trump. i really think when he gets into office he will go right back to doing all of the good stuff that he did when he was in office. and he has my vote. kamala harris, if she continues, america is done with. i just don't know why anyone would vote for that woman. not for america. please wake up, people. vote for trump. host: and we got a text from diane in new jersey who said you mentioned there would be problems making sure noncitizens don't vote. what problems? guest: i'm not sure what i said that she is referring to, but

the concern from opponents of the citizen ship question have said that if it is adopted, it is a means for people to gum up the election process in wisconsin by putting words into the constitution that they argue are not needed because right now, only citizens can vote. so adding language that is redundant to what is already there opens the door to potential legal challenges and other things that would not be necessary. host: let's talk to a wisconsin resident. good morning. caller: good morning. i haven't heard this addressed yet. i am 82 years old and tomorrow i'm going to walk into the county building and cast my vote.

i just recently saw on the news that a lot of polling places are getting reinforcement of their locations and concerned about what is going to happen if the vote doesn't go the way either party wants it to. i'm not concerned so much about the democrats, but when former president trump sat there, and remembering january and how terrifying it was, i wish you could address that. guest: you touch on a point that is very much on the minds of election officials not only in wisconsin but around the country, and that is of potential violence at the polls on election day. the chair of the wisconsin elections commission this week saying that her biggest concern,

her biggest fear on election day is that there is heightened security in some locations. this definitely more information there about how to remain safe while voting. obviously, with the voter records out there and the fears, the misinformation that circulates around elections, there is a great concern among election officials about security and safety the selection. host: scott bauer, statehouse correspondent for the associated press. you can find his work at apnews.com. and more of our conversation about battleground wisconsin after the break with political scientist mordecai lee, professor emeritus at the university of wisconsin milwaukee. stay with us.

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visitors center and exhibit. the associate president will join c-span as we traveled through the three-story center located one block from the president's residence of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. highlights include a 1/5 scale replica, a full scale replica of the oval office, and digital recreations of white house rooms where visitors can sit in on cabinet meetings and state dinners. and we will be taking your calls about the exhibits as we tour the people's house, the white house experience. live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. host: welcome back to washington journal. we are continuing our conversation about the about around state of wisconsin with mordecai lee, professor emeritus at the university of wisconsin milwaukee. welcome to the program. so your take on the state of the presidential race right now in wisconsin. guest: in one respect, as a

professor, it is fun to live in a valid ground state. it's almost like a privilege. the people who live in 43 states , we in these seven states are getting a lot of love. it is so political and so politicized that just the other day when i was watching a newscast in a commercial station , i'm used to seeing sort of a political ad here and there but in this case, every single one was political. my charge dropped. i've never seen so much political advertising. some of these ads are just brutal. i've never seen it. i'm finding this interesting as a professor, but as a private

citizen, a resident of wisconsin, i have to tell you, i can't wait until this election is over. the people i talk to here in milwaukee, they all say the same thing. they want it to be over. host: i wonder in addition to the ads, there's a lot of visits by the candidates. have you gotten a chance to go to a rally or meet a candidate face-to-face? guest: there are a lot of visits, i haven't gone to any of the events. i'm starting to see a trend in the in person visits, this week experiencing i think it was four events from the harris campaign, and so far only one of them announced by the trump campaign, by senator vance on sunday. it's early in the week, they do a lot of last-minute scheduling, but to me that is a little off balance. just two weeks ago, there was a

similar off balance. and i'm wondering, this has to be only a guess, if they decided to serve bomb pennsylvania and north carolina so much that they're willing to let wisconsin slide. it's possible that the trump campaign has fewer visits for any number of reasons, but one possibility is that in the internal polling they think they've got wisconsin. it could be the opposite example that it is so close they figure they might lose it, we are only 10 electoral votes, but something odd is going on. i don't know quite what it is, but it might be meaningful. host: go right ahead. guest: i'm not experiencing much doorknocking. i'm getting a little bit in the mail that i will tell you what is really awful.

the messages i'm getting on text, instant messaging. i probably get 10 to 15 a day asking me to vote, telling me to vote, telling me how to vote. sometimes you can tell from the name of the organization if it is leaning left or right, sometimes you can't. i'm getting a ton of so-called surveys, all of which i suspect overly camouflaged, but i sometimes have to turn off my phone because it is too much texting. host: speaking up visits by the candidates, i want to show a portion of the jd vance visit to wisconsin, where he talked about issues of faith and christianity and then i will have you respond to it. >> i want to talk particularly to people of faith because i know we've got a lot of catholics here. i don't talk a whole lot about my faith because sometimes you just talk about other things, he talked about public policy, but i'm certainly a very devout

christian, and i was actually baptized for the first time in 2019. i returned to my faith as a young man. and i say this as a christian, as a person was baptized for the first time a few years ago, there is something releases are with kamala harris is anti-christian rhetoric and anti-christian approach to public policy. that's right, jesus is king. [applause] i don't think that we've seen anything like this in modern american politics. this video, gretchen whitmer, governor of michigan. i agree. but gretchen whitmer does this

really bizarre thing where he acts like she is giving somebody communion, but it is a doritos, and of course gretchen whitmer isn't like a minister of anything, except for a church i don't necessarily want to talk about, but think about how sacrilegious that is. think about how offensive that is to every person, frankly whether you are person of christian faith or not. donald trump indictment going to fight for your right to live your values because that is what the first amendment text. host: your comments on that, the religious makeup may be of wisconsin and also the other thing that he said. guest: well i think this is what we would expect in conventional politics. when you are watching, you do it by addition, not subtraction. here, what he's doing is he is trying to add more catholics to be from voters and trump supporters. and based on the topography of

wisconsin, we haven't about average percentage of catholics compared to some other states. i don't know the latest statistics. i would guess probably 30% to 40%. they have a lot of other poles and direction fekete influence who they decide to work for, but wisconsin was a good place for him to talk about it. host:host: if you'd like to join our conversation with mordecai lee, the members are republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we also have deadline set aside for wisconsin residents. that is the same line that you can use to text us. you can also post on social media. professor, i want to show you an advertisement that the dnc is

running in battleground states including wisconsin, attacking green party candidate jill stein, calling her a spoiler. here it is. >> jill stein, green party candidate for president. so why are trump close allies helping her? stein was key to the 2016 win in battleground states. she helped trump win. that is why a vote for stein is really a vote for trump. >> jill stein, i like her very much. you know why, she takes 100% from them. >> i'm kamala harris and i approve this message. host: is that true, professor? would any jill stein voters in wisconsin becoming from potential harris supporters? guest: i have to tell you that i've not seen that on my tv. maybe it's not in high rotation.

maybe they have an assessment of the wisconsin voter in terms of stein that perhaps they're not as concerned about stein in wisconsin is other battleground states, the political logic is true, and it definitely is true for wisconsin. eight years ago, i think it is fair to say that stein being on the ballot and getting about 2% or 3% of the vote, had she not been on the ballot and had most of those votes going to hillary clinton, clinton would've won wisconsin instead of trump. trump won wisconsin by about 23,000 votes of more than 3 million votes cast. so the scenario could happen again. i'm guessing that the overnight polling is perhaps telling them that stein is not as big a factor as perhaps she was eight years ago in wisconsin, or she

perhaps is and continues to be in the other six battleground states. host: i want to ask you about a house raised in wisconsin, the third district in the western part of the state. incumbent is the gop representative derrick van orden , and they close ally of president trump trump. he is being challenged by republican rebecca cook. what do you know about that race and how that might turn out? guest: anti-western wisconsin, for people who know lacrosse and the mississippi. this should be a competitive race. i think you would presume that an incumbent would have an advantage, and i think in most categorizations, it is leaning republican, but possibly democratic. what they are fighting over essentially is the undecided

vote and be independent vote. and a really important detail to mention, that in wisconsin we do not have voting registration bipartisanship. in other words, when you register to vote, nobody says to you are you registering as a democrat or as a republican? so that makes it harder to guess how the vote is killed, especially based on the ballot, the mail ballots that are coming in or the in person voting based on a person's partisan registration. because there is none. but the one thing i know about wisconsin politics is that we should always get the benefit of the doubt to the voters. there is a very strong tradition in wisconsin at independent voters, not having strong partisan identity as recently as and governor tommy thompson was our governor in the 90's, he

always used to say i presume that one third of us republican, one third are democrat and one third are independent and i as governor, i govern from the middle to appeal to the independents. like other states the percentage of independents has gone down, but they are still there and i think they will determine the outcome of that congressional race. host: mary is in virginia on the line for harris supporters. go ahead. caller: yes, i just want to make an opinion about these political people putting god in their campaigns. they should not put god in it. they need to leave god out of it and just do their political campaigning because there's consequences. the bible speaks of walls and

people are concerned about rumors of walls, but the bible speaks of it. these people, they need to read the bible before they put god in anything. and god is no one to be played with. that's all i have to say. thank you, have a blessed day. host: any comments on that? guest: it's true that we've got the trump campaign emphasizing religion more than they harris campaign, and she identified herself as leaning that direction. i think religion is a bit of a touchy subject. i don't think it's as bad as it was when jfk was running her back in 2008, but it still is a touchy subject and i would be surprised if there were plenty of harris voters who are comfortable not talking about religion just like a may be trump voters were not religiously identified and the sign for him to appeal to catholics.

host: and here is mike in alexandria, indiana, a trump supporter. caller: i'd like to ask what year was it when they took god out of the schools? i think that was a big mistake. i think it was during the democratic party. i'm not sure if it was obama that did it, but it seemed to me like it was a terrible thing to do for kids. our kids seem to lose respect for a lot of things when this happened. i believe we need to get god back into our schools and back into the white house. and another

when is our government going to get back in order in -- to where it does not seem like nobody is in the white house anymore. you know? in other words i know it is election time, but before election for the last three years we have not had anybody in the white house, you know? it is empty. it has just been empty. host: professor. guest: mike, i cannot give you the exact dates when current stopped. it goes back either to the 50's or 60's. i believe it was a decision by the u.s. supreme court when earl warren was the chief justice. and it is more than half a century ago. in my case i went to public

schools in wisconsin and milwaukee in the 50's and at that point in the public school in my suburb there was no prayer in public schools even then. host: we have a question from bakersfield, california that says "does professor lee feel the same uneasiness and uncertainty about election night that many other americans feel? i keep thinking that trump will declare victory before all of the votes have been tallied." guest: i would say that we have two on election night, the next morning and into thursday through saturday, we have to separate ourselves from what the campaigns are saying. in other words people who have a motivation for either planning victory without the facts or claiming corruption without the facts and whatever the complaint might be. we have to in a sense lower the volume on that and up the volume

on the official announcements we are getting from the clerks and civil servants who are in charge of counting ballots. sometimes it goes quickly and sometimes it goes slowly. in wisconsin, i am very comfortable that we have nonpartisan election administration. the numbers might dribble out slowly. that is in part because we have a state law that prohibits municipal clerks from opening absentee ballots. in wisconsin and absentee ballot can be male in or early in person -- mail in or early in person voting. they cannot touch those envelopes or open those envelopes until election day. and so, i think it is understandable that sometimes those larger minas apologies would have a lag -- initial polity -- municipalities would have a lag. the most important thing to

reassure viewers about fraud, all ballots in wisconsin our paper. there is no more machine voting as there was back as i remember in the 60's and 70's where you would go behind a pertinent and you would flip a tab and after you had done that you would pull it open and the machine supposedly registered your vote. in wisconsin every vote is hand selected by the voters and then set into a machine, which tabulates the votes. but it does not eat the paper ballot. four years ago when donald trump paid for a recount in two counties in wisconsin, they had all of the paper ballots and in the recount they counted them all with observers present. and the impact of the recounts did not change who won the county, it only changed in --

and perceptively by a couple of dozens votes whether that went for biden or trump. i have great faith in the wisconsin results. i would encourage all of you where's to what -- viewers to watch the result based on the election administration works and not how campaigns claim the facts are. host: kathy in wisconsin. hello. caller: hello. i wanted to bring up the fact that even though we are nonpartisan the registration, if you want to vote in a primary you have to declare either republican or democrat. in these days of all of you need to go into my vote is a birth date and a name and it is public record and you can go back 10 years to how a person has voted. so, you can get a really good idea.

they say it is a nonpartisan process, but it really is not. the primary, i do not like it. i did not think i should have to register as one or the other. when i discovered that i was truly disappointed. and there were a lot of disappointing things going on in the last election as well. host: would you like to share with us how you are planning on voting? caller: i would not. host: ok. i thought i would ask. professor. guest: it is always good to hear from a wisconsinite. i would like to add to maybe a very important detail. when you register to vote you do not register by party. and nonpartisan elections we have those -- and in partisan elections, every registered voter can decide if they want to vote in the democratic primary

where the republican primary. they do not even declare that to the poll worker. they will handle the ballot that has one column for democrats and republicans or another column if the independent or third parties have the primaries. in the secrecy of the booth they decide if i'm going to vote in the democratic or the republican primary. nobody can link that to this person because they feed their ballot into the tabulating machine. the only restriction is that in wisconsin, during a partisan primary, you can only vote in one party's primary. you cannot vote in the republican primary for let's say state senate and the democratic party -- primary first-aid assembly. that is the one thing. the only record that a citizen

and campaign can later access is who voted primary election day, but not watch party -- which party. host: to repeat what she set about being able to google who you voted for based on your birth date is not true? guest: you can google if they voted. you cannot google if during the partisan primary day that they voted for democrat or republican. and dave is asking this on x. he wants to know about the sanders motors that voted for trump. how big is that subset. guest: i am guessing that it is relatively modest and the reason i think that is that sanders has been in wisconsin at least once or twice at harris events. and campaign events and

explicitly asking the people who supported him to vote for harris. our though -- are there risk on tonight's -- wisconsinites that are sanders supporters but have decided for whatever reason to vote for trump, i am sure there are. wisconsin likes mavericks in terms of election officials -- elected officials and maverick voting. people are crossover voters. in november and two weeks, some of them will vote let's say for a republican first set -- for president and democrat for senate and vice versa. there are fewer and fewer crossover voters but you can be right that there are some sanders supporters that will vote for trump on the presidential line and then on another line will vote democrat. that is common enough in

wisconsin to still be a phenomenon. not as common as 40 or 50 years ago. still, enough to sway elections. host: i want to ask about the impact of the issue of abortion and i will play for you a harris campaign add that features a young woman from kenosha, wisconsin. [video clip] >> the overturning of row almost killed me. i had a blood clot in my uterus that caused my labor to have to be induced. because of the overturn i was not able to get lifesaving treatment sooner. i almost died. and that is because of a decision that donald trump made. >> i was able to get roe v. wade terminated and i am proud to have done it. >> they were afraid that if they treated me in the incorrect way they would be prosecuted and that is appalling. donald trump says that women should be punished. >> do you believe in punishment for abortion.

>> there has to be. >> i believe that women should have reproductive freedom to make the choices about their own bodies. four more years of donald trump mean that women's rights will continue to be taken away one by one. this has to stop because women are dying. >> i am kamala harris and i approve this message. [end video clip] host: what do you think of that and have you seen that ad on your airwaves and how impactful do you think that is? guest: i have seen that on the airwaves in the milwaukee tv market, i have seen it several times. there is also a practically identical version running in the u.s. senate race against him huckabee. i think that this really links back to the conversation about when vance was appealing to a catholic vote. you have a situation where the harris campaign is appealing to

pro-choice women who otherwise are conservative on economics and what otherwise more normally vote for trunk. -- for trump. that is why we are seeing some events in the red county is. milwaukee county is overwhelmingly democratic and the county to the west of us, waukesha is very republican and had a strong record of supporting governor scott walker. and she is trying to peel off a very specific demographic of college-educated women, some are full-time homemakers and some who work who are generally pro-choice, but otherwise conservative and other social and family values. also, there -- some of them do

not like trump. i guess that splinter group of republicans who have not come over. harris is hoping to peel them off and it has been through those ads and personal experiences and is calling on pro-life women to vote for her. as far as we can tell, abortion is a very powerful appeal in terms of people leaning democratic just like inflation and border security are for the trump ticket. host: let us go to massachusetts, a harris supporter. mary jane. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like the professor to compare the voters in his state with the voters in new england such as massachusetts. i feel that i do not understand how people can vote for trump when he has already told them in all sincerity that he is going

to be a dictator and he will take care of the people that did not vote for him or do whatever he wanted. and, here we have kamala, offering everything that you would want on a silver plate. it amazes me. do they not understand that this person cannot possibly care about them? he denigrates anyone who is not white anglo-saxon protestant, maybe, perhaps, catholic. he does not care about the people in general. i am wondering, are the other people in your state and wisconsin are as sure of his real desires and there is compared to kabbalah -- kamala

? guest: sure. i think the trump political phenomenon is highly unusual and highly impressive in the sense for all of the things that mary jane mentioned, to some voters that would be a turnoff that would influence them to have a perspective like mary jane's. on the other hand he has an influence over a category of the electorate who absolutely love him for reasons that have for many different reasons for these kinds of supporters. and that no matter what he says they love and support him. you would have to go back in american history to a politician who had such a hold on people that in any way is comparable to former president trump.

the closest i can get would be franklin roosevelt who had just an incredible pull on some voters, not all voters. people loved him through thick and thin. so, donald trump if indeed fdr is the most recent national politician and president who had such a following comparable. that is mary -- may be why maryjane is so baffled. for lots of us in our bat -- in our lifetimes there has not been anything like it that we have experienced separate from the history books and high school civics. host: stephen, an undecided voter in illinois. caller: yes. my nucleus family i have one person in wisconsin and i am in illinois. and i own a large portion of

that coin and gold and i am worried about the government seizing it. it is how, i am voting either libertarian or for donald trump. i have family down and shut -- in texas who are voting for donald trump. i know they are. my family in wisconsin are voting libertarian. host: went -- what are you going to make that decision based on? caller: vice president harris -- host: i mean the decision between libertarian and donald trump? caller: i will probably do that on the last day. host: ok. any comments on bitcoin and gold being seized by the government? guest: steven, as a professor of government and i will say to you

as i have said to generations of students in my classes, there is no such thing as a wrong vote. whatever you feel is the best decision that aligns with your thinking, that is the right vote. you cannot make a mistake in that respect. it sounds like you are deliberating between voting for trump and libertarian. and there is no advice that i can give you other than to be authentic to your feelings. i think it is reasonable to say that third-party candidates like joe stein that we talked about earlier in this hour and the libertarian candidate that you are referencing is that third-party's are unlikely to get elected president. the number of votes cast for them might and i want to emphasize might, emphasize which one of the two major party candidates when illinois but it might not.

there are plenty of elections where there are votes for a third-party candidate and the winner of that state that have won so decisively that the votes for the third party candidates, had they gotten them would not have affected the election. it was in wisconsin i was referring to where jill stein might have influenced the election. i would encourage you to do whatever feels right to you based on the logic of whether it is close to your ideology, you are voting libertarian or you decide to vote for trump because you feel like if the libertarian cannot win you want to help him win illinois. those are your choices and rationale. host: professor, the state of wisconsin exported three point $8 billion in agricultural and food products in 2023. are there concerns about trump's

policies on tariffs? guest: you have nailed it. this does not get a lot of coverage, but for people who have driven around america, they have seen cars with wisconsin license plates. and some of them remember what the motto is. and that is america's dairyland. dairy farming is central to wisconsin after culture and at -- agriculture and economics. the thing bubbling below the surface is that working at a dairy is very tough work. the cows have to be milked whether you feel like it or not. and it turns out that a lot of the workers in wisconsin dairies are migrants, some of them legal, some of them illegal. i do not think there is any

critical number about the percentage. whether they are legal or illegal they are willing to do those jobs and they are glad to have those jobs based on their educational qualifications or background. there are a lot of wisconsin dairy farmers that are concerned that if indeed donald trump wins and he deport illegals that they will have a major employee crisis. they will not have enough people to milk the cows. this is a reasonable concern. i do not know of these farmers because of that are thinking about who they will vote for. this will be a major point. i am not sure that it would crash the dairy economy, that is putting it a little too apocalypticly. it is not an exaggeration to say that illegal immigrants are probably a substantial chunk of

dairy workers. host: frank in byron, georgia. hello. caller: hello. i just want to say who milked the cows before? before they all started illegal immigrants? somebody did, so they are still there. all of those illegal immigrants will cut the salaries down working for much less money. i was in miami when they had the cuban airlift working for the airlines and i am quite familiar how the government can be to the taxpayer about handing out our money. i did not appreciate it then and i do not appreciate it now. i would do not understand how anyone with common sense and listen to the lies -- can listen to the lies that both put out, because that is politics.

some of them are more verifiable than others. kamala harris' background is really conducive to being a prevaricating or beyond reason -- prevaricater beyond reason. she is obviously a liar and i do not appreciate the fact that americans are naive. i wish they would wake up to the fact that there is a good and a bad and we have a choice. and there is also a choice of who is the best choice, whether he has the best for this country or not, he is the best choice right now for our country. i do not understand what this woman was talking about with abortion. i believe in god, with all of my heart. he has been faithful below -- to me beyond total belief. i have been in children missions

for 40 or 50 years. i am a baptist minister and i love the lord. i do not appreciate a prevaricater like kamala harris. host: let's get a response. guest: i am a city boy who lived in milwaukee all of my adult life and i am born here. i do know a little bit about dairy farming and not a lot. i think it is worth trying to give an explanation to where frank began his phone conversation. first of all, wisconsin has low unemployment, so in words we do not have a surplus of unemployed people who would likely flock to dairy farms if illegal grim -- illegal immigrants were to be deported. i think the other important fact is wisconsin dairy farms used to be what we call family farms and

had relatively small herds. i do not know the precise statistics but the average used to be around 100 head. as the years have gone by, they have gotten bigger and bigger. it is not really family farming where it is the husband and the wife and the kids, maybe a farmhand or two. as they get bigger they need more people. that is a business as much as it is farming. that would explain why there are illegal immigrants working in dairy farms today and why their disappearance would unlikely be filled with other unemployed wisconsinites. host: frank in jacksonville, florida. a harris supporter. caller: thank you for taking my call. the presidential election is very important.

another thing we have to do in this election is watch our candidates running for senate and congress because the senate and congress passed the laws and it is the president's job to sign them into law. i am just letting the people be aware. the president is a great vote, but also make your choice smartly for your congressman and your representatives for the people who pass the laws in this country. i think a lot of voters are not thinking that when they go to the bowl -- go to the polls and vote for president. that is what i want to say. guest: frank, i am so glad that you called and said that because there is a bunch of a population who vote for president and walk out. and with it whether they are pro-democrat or pro-republican they are throwing away the votes for the other offices. in wisconsin we have a big

senate race and we have at least one competitive house race. i would add to that that i encourage voters to go all the way down the ballot to the very last name because we have state senator, state assembly in wisconsin. we elect some county officers such as sarah sheriff and da's according to partisanship. so every single office that will be on the ballot in two weeks or whether they are voting in person now i consider to be very important and i hope people go all the way down instead of fading out. host: there is an article on " the hill" within article senate democrats running away from harris in blue wall states. your state is one of those. have you seen that happening among the senate democrats and in this case it would be tammy baldwin's campaign?

guest: you are right that when president biden was running for reelection that senator baldwin without criticizing him always managed to be busy whenever he came to wisconsin to campaign. she never appeared with him or met him at the airport or was on a podium with him. she was always away. when the press would ask her she would always avoid stating specifically why she was not endorsing president biden or campaigning with him. but, it is a stark contrast ever since harris became the nominee and president biden withdrew that baldwin has been openly enthusiastic about supporting harris. that is an example of her making political choices. host: let's talk to betty, arlington, kentucky. harris supporter. good morning. caller: good morning.

i lived all over the world and different dictatorships and all of this. and trump is certainly a dictator. i lived through a bit where women are discriminated where you cannot get help. but a preacher who says that i am voting for trump. wake up americans. he is against all veterans. host: let's get one more call. albert in california. undecided. caller: good afternoon. i am neither democrat or republican. i want to be independent. i would have voted for kennedy. today, i live in stockton, california. i believe the statement is incorrect when he says some illegals and some not.

the bottom line let us follow the rules. i am a fifth-generation hispanic. we got to accept certain things. i will accept democrat or republican. hopefully, at this point the republicans win. anyways. and like i said, i would say, kennedy. i would vote for him. host: since kennedy has endorsed donald trump, does that mean you will be voting for donald trump? caller: i will keep that confidential. most likely. but i have learned a lot from c-span in the last four years. anyway, i appreciate the gentleman. i learned more and more each day. what i do know is you have to be

legal and pay taxes. i do not care who decides that. california is just -- i have hot water heaters in the era date -- irrigation ditches where the growers out there are treated with such great buses and bathrooms. i am not sure about the dairy, but i would sure like to clean up california. host: professor. the last comment. guest: last comment. i think this is a good place to end because based on his background, it reminds us that as americans we should never make broad generalizations about any demographic group. we should never say things like all hispanics are. all catholics are. there is a lot of diversity in all-american populations. for comment about kennedy, here in wisconsin, kennedy is still on the ballot and the state

supreme court ruled that he had filed his registration and nomination papers and based on the state law he could not withdraw so his name would be on the ballot. the trump campaign is trying to encourage people not to vote for him and reminding people that he endorses donald trump. i suspect there will be a smidgen or maybe a percent or two that he gets notwithstanding because, as i said during this discussion, wisconsin voters are unpredictable. that is the only prediction i will make. host: professor emeritus at the university of wisconsin milwaukee, thank you for joining us today. guest: thank you. host: more phone calls, texts and social media posts coming up after the break. the numbers are on your screen and you can start calling in now. ♪

>> this election night, c-span delivers something different, not just the presidential race but the state races that decide the balance of power in congress. no political pundits, spin, or commercials. just the candidates, the results, and you. follow c-span tuesday, november 5 tv -- on tv, online or the free video app. join us tonight for a live tour of the newly opened white house historical association's visitors center and exhibits. stuart mclaurin will join c-span as we travel through the center located one block from the president's residence. highlights include a 1/5 scale of the south facade and a full-scale replica of the oval office and digital recreations of white house rooms where visitors can sit in on cabinet

meetings and state dinners. we will take your calls about the exhibits in presidential history as we tour the people's house, a white house experience. live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> with one of the tightest races for control of congress in modern political history, stay ahead with c-span's comprehensive coverage of state debates. c-span brings you access to the top house, senate and governor debates from across the country. debates from races that shape the future and balance of power in washington. follow the campaign 2024 coverage from local to national debates anytime online at c-span.org/campaign. be sure to watch tuesday, november 5 for live, real-time election night results. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. host: --

>> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are in open forum. you can start calling you now. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. we will take your calls until 10:00 a.m. eastern. before we get your calls a lot of activity coming up today that you should be aware of for your schedule. first at 1:00 p.m., ohio senator jd vance speaking to supporters at treasure island hotel and casino at las vegas -- in las vegas at 1:00 p.m. on c-span. 4:30, jd vance will campaign in rito -- reno, nevada. we will have live coverage of that on c-span2. we :00 p.m., former republican -- 3:00 p.m., former president donald trump will speak to

voters in georgia along with lieutenant governor. live coverage of that at 3:00 p.m. on c-span. this evening, kristen gillibrand faces off against her republican challenger, mike sparicone in the race for the new york center seat -- senate seat hosted by spectrum news and that will be live at 7:00 p.m. on c-span. at 7:00 p.m. on c-span2, bernie sanders is seeking a fourth term this is -- this election year and he is facing gerald malloy in a debate hosted by vermont public television on c-span2. at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2, so after that debate, chase oliver and the green party nominee jill stein hold an alternative presidential debate. 13 days left to go until

election day hosted by the free and equal elections foundation again live at 8:00 p.m. eastern over on c-span2. all of those programs i mentioned can be seen on our website, c-span.org and also on the free mobile video app, c-span now. now we will go to your calls starting with jess and republican. hello. caller: good morning. i was funny. i went to the trump rally in racine and there were people standing in line for five or seven hours. there were five to 10,000 people and i was curious after last night at the walz rally and i go down there in my truck and i swear there could not be more than 400 people out there. nobody was standing outside. the only people that were there were outside of the memorial

hall. it was mostly homeless people. they are all mingling around. it was kind of sad to see. memorial hall can hold 2000 people and it did not look like 400 people were there. host: tell us about the trump rally. you were able to get in? what was it like? caller: yes. we stood in line for four hours and it was 90 something degrees. it was a beautiful tuesday afternoon. and everybody was mingling and having a good time. the only ones that were causing any problems were the walz -harris people that were yelling and screaming about -- at everyone. everyone else was happy and just going on their way and laughing. when they tried to talk to us, all they did was scream at us. they did not want to hear

anybody's side of the story. it was kind of funny, you know? we had people asking us questions why would we vote for trump. we tried to explain to them and they said no, he has a baby killer and this and that. when you try to turn it around on them they got frustrated and they would start screaming at you. host: ron in colorado. democrat. good morning. caller: i would like to remind people that we are being divided on purpose. you know, divide and conquer, the billionaire class owns the supreme court and all of the people in congress, the senate. and the billionaire class has kept buying everything, the houses, apartments, farms, media. they are going to trash the economy.

they are going to use crypto and make crypto the new currency. and we are all going to be visitors because billionaires are owning everything. and i mean billionaires like putin and musk, and mbs and all of them. they are all in a group together. they do not have an allegiance with this country. musk and peter chill our citizens of three different countries. if you think they care about the united states you are nuts. thank you. host: larry on the independent line in denver. good morning. caller: good morning. oh, this is open forum, right? host: correct. go ahead. caller: it is hard to believe that there are so many trump supporters still after all they have seen and heard, especially if you watched the media buzz

sunday when he was interviewed by the anchor. it is obvious that he is missing. he is mentally ill and has some problems mentally. it might be dementia or old age, just normal stuff. he is mentally ill and it is hard to believe how people can still support him after seeing that. it is hard to understand. host: here is an nbc interview with vice president kamala harris who spoke about what she would do if trump declared victory before the votes are counted. [video clip] >> we are sitting here two weeks away from election night. last election he came out on election night he came out and declared victory before the votes were counted. what is your plan if he does that in two weeks? >> we have two weeks to go and i am very much grounded in the present in terms of the task at hand. we will deal with election night

and the days after as they come. we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well. >> you are saying my team is ready to go and are you thinking at -- about that as a possibility? >> this is a person who tried to undo a free and fair election and who still denies the will of the people? who incited a violent mob to attack the united states capital where 140 law enforcement officers were attacked and some were killed. this is a serious matter. the american people are at this .2 weeks out, being presented with a very serious decision about what will be the future of our country. and it includes whether we are a country that values a president who respects their duty to uphold the constitution of the united states, donald trump has said that he would terminate the constitution.

the american people are being presented with a choice about whether we want a president who understands that america must stand strong as a leader around the globe or an individual. and donald trump who openly admires dictators. a recent report said that he gave covid tests to the president of russia during the height of the pandemic and americans could not get their hands on them. these are the choices for the american people. the choices for the american people is the choice to choose to turn the page on the division and they hate, and to bring our country together knowing the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us. and we can be optimistic about a new generation's leadership that is focused on what we have yet to achieve to uplift the american people. >> if you win it is impossible that the federal court cases will continue on. he is facing those felony

charges. would you consider a pardon for former president trump? >> i am not going to get into those hypotheticals. i am focused on the next 14 days. >> is there any part of you that subscribes to the argument made that a pardon could help bring america together and unify the country and move on. >> what it -- i will tell you what will tell you what will help us move on, electing the president of the united states. [end video clip] host: this is devon. you are on open forum. caller: i love c-span and watch it every day. i think you guys do a great job. i was wondering and i just got back from china and they were talking about researchers who have cured type one and type two diabetes. when i got back to the states i asked my doctor, aren't you happy because another country

has come up with a cure for diabetes. and they said they are many years away from that. and i said if another country has come up with a cure through stem cell just like hiv like in germany and multiple people have been cured, how come they do not do the same here in this country? and my next point is i know that c-span -- host: what did the doctor say to that? caller: my physician said we are not there yet. and they would have to do -- they posted in the "journal of medicine" but they would have to do additional research year to see if it is proven according to like efficacy and things like that. and i said if they have already

had the studies and the original cure back in 2011, this is 2024. and i urge them, you guys should move forward because just like for covid how countries piggybacked off of other countries to see how different techniques and different vaccines worked and did not work, we should do the same thing for that and see if we can help our people here. host: and you are going to say something else. go ahead. caller: and my last thing is i love c-span and i watched the different debates and i was going to ask c-span if it is possible that they could maybe have one open presidential forum where people call in like we do today where it may be they can have the top presidential candidates may be on for an hour or two and just take questions from everyday people like they

do for us calling in and the house and senate debates if that is possible. host: all those candidates are welcome to come onto washington journal and take calls from our viewers. so, if they are willing to do that we would be happy to host. dallas in dexter, missouri. democrat. caller: i am a democrat, but this is not political. i saw enough evidence on the tv that the object that struck candidate trump's year was not a bullet. a bullet leaves the barrel of a rifle, traveling between two or three times the speed of sound. and that bullet, if it was a

bullet, also, there is a photograph of trump's upper portion of his body and in the same frame was an object that looked like the object that hit his year was a dark looking object. host: here is what we have on that and this is the associated press. the fbi says that trump was indeed struck by a bullet during the assassination attempt. that is what we got from the fbi. this is gloria in chattanooga, tennessee. independent. hello. caller: i just wanted to say something to the christians or so-called christians, i hear. i am not for abortion on the main. i do believe in exceptions. i believe they should take care

of that early if it is possible. but these christians that say that they cannot vote for trump because he lies, well who amongst us has not told a lie. and who amongst us has not been caught in that. at least he has not done that in the white house. i know one president who did but he is out there promoting kamala. so i cannot vote for anyone that is for abortion on demand. i do not want to have to answer that when i get where i am going. i will not answer for abortion on demand. thank you. host: this is told see gabbard speaking yesterday saying -- tulsi gabbard speaking yesterday saying she is joining the republican party. [video clip] >> for those of you here or those watching at home who are

independent-minded people like myself who love our country and are committed to the constitution, and freedom, the democrat party has no home for a place for people like us. but we do have a home in the republican party, where we are welcomed by -- with open arms by president trump and so many of you who love our country. [applause] and, it is because of my love for our country and specifically because of the leadership that president trump has brought to transform the republican party and bring it back to the party of the people and the party of peace, that i am proud to stand here today, president trump and announced that i am joining the republican party. [laughter] -- [applause]

[cheering] i am joining the party of the people, the party of equality, the party that was founded to fight against and end slavery in this country. the party of common sense, and the party led by a president who has the courage and strength to fight for peace. [cheers and applause] so -- as we stand here today with 14 days until the most historic election of our lives, and my message to my fellow americans regardless of your political affiliation, now is the time for us to stand together to save our country.

there is nothing less than that on the line. a vote for president trump is a vote for a big open party that welcomes people from all backgrounds and walks of life. [end video clip] host: that was tulsi gabbard speaking yesterday. we are back to calls. las vegas, a republican. melissa good morning. caller: i am going to vote for donald trump because -- host: i am sorry? i guess we lost her. rudy in georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: in 2008 i was the chairman of the office of faith community based program -- group in jacksonville, florida. i knew the group but most of the pastors and the angelical's were promoting this idea of character

counts and their prevailing ideas of faith. it appears now that the truth is on life support. the truth is in critical condition. one of the chiefs of staff and members of his staff, they heard him say point-blank things about him praising hitler's and you tune into fox news and some of these other channels and they say well i don't believe he said that and i never heard he said that. when i was in high school we used to have to give reports on current events. if that was taking place to get -- today if someone gave current events from fox news and another from c-span, the objectivity of c-span who calls the conflict with some of the stuff that takes place in fox news. if we cannot stand on the truth,

or character counts and be the real moral majority because someone politically we may favor, we are in trouble as a country. host: sally in illinois, independent. good morning. caller: i do not know if you would please have a representative of the united farmworkers. host: what do you want to hear from the united farmworkers? caller: called in about -- our economy. host: i'm sorry, you are going in and out. if you could try and call back on a better line. david in maryland. republican. good morning. caller: i would like to ask my fellow republicans a question. do you know that there are

estimated between 10 and 12,000 north korean troops in russia right now being trained and outfitted with uniforms and etc. whether they are going to fight for russia and ukraine is an open question. my question to my fellow republicans, how can we stand up for donald trump who is backing putin, and has already made statements against zielinskyy, how can we do that in this place with all of these americans who have fought and died to establish this country fighting against communism when his career is with an openly

communist country. i welcome you guys coming in. host: here's an article from nbc news from you mentioned. "north korean troops have been sent to russia, u.s. confirms. the comments by defense secretary lloyd austin where washington's first confirmation of a major development that has seen south korea and ukraine sound the alarm in recent days." you can see that on nbc news. carol in winslow, illinois. democrat. hello. caller: hello. thank you. host: go right ahead. caller: i am really concerned that there are no reason why middle income people should vote for trump, because he is probably going to do away with a lot of these like obamacare, health care and a lot of these

family programs and if he does away with social security, everybody is going to start. i do not understand how a convicted felon with all of his bad character, 25 sexual assaults, and lying and all of the lying he does, how could you consider him a christian? that is not what christians do. it is unbelievable that these people cannot wake up and see that they are losing their freedom. that is why he stole all those boxes from the light -- from the white house. he thought he would just take those with him because he does not care about being anything but a dictator. he does not care about people or those in bad positions like veterans and those with disabilities. i just hope and pray that people wake up because christians do not lie or rape or assault women or cheat the irs or defraud a bank.

i do not understand why he does not have to concede because he is not eligible for the presidency as a felon. what happened to justice in this country? host: let us go to new york. independent line, john. that morning. caller: can you hear me? host: yep. caller: i just want to ask a question. i spoke to several trump supporters and they seem pretty comfortable with a dictator. i cannot say -- they do speak about dictators and they seem to be if -- accepting of the fact that he will be. my second point is that elon musk could give out millions of dollars for people to register to vote but you cannot give for the lives in georgia, that seems a little bit of hypocritical. i am 66 years old and throughout my life all i saw was prices go up.

inflation is what they call it. throughout my life i have only seen prices go up. that is so much -- that is all i had to say. host: miguel in american. -- maryland. republican. caller: thank you for having me. host: you are welcome. go ahead. caller: everybody is -- i think they are using tv draw -- talking points against donald trump. i do not think he has a bad guy and i do not care about the indictments. this is all stuff that has been thrown out. i think him wanting to end the war between ukraine and russia, i think that is a great thing. i do not want anyone to die in israel and palestine either. all of that stuff needs to come to an end and we need to get the world back. kamala harris will not do that. joe biden did not do that. donald trump is a man to do that. host: can i ask you about

ukraine. you brought up ending the war in ukraine. donald trump has said he could end it in 24 hours. the question is would you be in favor of ukraine ceding part of their country to russia to end the war? caller: i think that is a given at this point because russia has taken over i do not know if they are counties or whatever or districts inside of ukraine. i think -- i mean, they have already taken that. who is going to give it up. will anyone tell israel to give up pieces of palestine? no one is going to do that. i think that russia is in the right in the war with ukraine for my opinion. and that is because america and that is because america and nato has been setting up missile bases in ukraine and russia, right on the border.

if someone was doing that in mexico, we would be upset, you know what i mean? host: here is billy, colorado, independent line. caller: i wonder if people can see the larger macro picture and compare this century to last century and to understand -- i will be 60 years old my next birthday, and i watched our society be engineered into a more marshaled society. first with the crack epidemic -- actually first after the civil rights movement out of the 1960's, when the whites abandon the cities. then they pumped the cities full of drugs, than they put crack cocaine all over the media to make white people afraid of blacks and now they want whites and blacks to be afraid of immigrants, and it is to get our society more and more martial, meaning more militaristic.

we hold our firefighters and officers in reference when they do a job there. for -- they are paid for. i am blind and the first think donald trump --the first think donald trump did when he was in office was take two dollars for me in food -- host: billy, are you going to vote in, i guess 13 days? caller: yes, ma'am, i already voted. host: were you able to vote in person? caller: i voted in person because i think that is the most secure way to do it. and i had my wife's sister take me and my wife to the voting location. we are both blind. we both live on a very small

income. life has been hard for me my entire life. i picked tobacco in eastern of carolina as a child, and now you can get a child of any race, creed, or color to pick tobacco in 90-degree heat. i did it. i worked in trash recycling, ditch digging, rode on the back of a garbage truck blind because i was desperate for money. i live on less than $1000 a month -- host: how long have you been blind, you don't mind me asking/ caller: i was declared blind in 1983 and my parents died when i was 14 and i worked for $.80 an hour in raleigh, north carolina. you talk about slave labor. host: can i ask how you were able to vote -- was it a braille ballot? caller: no, ma'am.

this time when i voted we went into the voting location and my wife and i were escorted by a poll worker and they took us to a computerized machine. she filled out the ballot on the machine par my answers. it was put in an envelope, and i deposited it into a voting box. now, i had to trust that individual to mark my answers as i spoke them. i had to be willing to have some trust in that person. god willing, that person was trustworthy. host: all right, billy.. here's scott in los angeles, independent line. caller: hello to everybody out there in c-span land. first of all, i love the way you from the shop and i think

you do a tremendous job. as far as this election goes, what we have is tremendous lying going on both sides. it makes it a very difficult choice. it would be kind of cool if you guys had a laugh track because, for example, donald trump, he is throwing a picture of ms. carroll, e. jean carroll, and he asked to this lady is good-- who this lady is. donald trump is always talking about, oh, she wouldn't have been the choice, oh no, she would not be the one. and yet ladies and gentlemen in the listening audience, what donald trump did is he said e. jean carroll was his wife. now, that would be a good spot for a laugh track, ok? being the true independent that i am, i would also like to thank miss liz cheney for what she brings to the table. here is a lady who absolutely excoriated mrs. harris in 2020

-- i saw this in print. she excoriated her on every last issue she stood for, and yet here we are four years later because of her tremendous hatred for this donald trump character. and i would just say to all the people in the listening audience, all of this nonsense has got to come to an end, ok? the hatred of the other team, the not agreeing with one out of 100 of their ideas is very unreasonable. this election is giving us just a horrific choice, in my humble opinion. i know there is millions out there who agree with this, and it is a very difficult choice. but more than anything, love you guys at c-span -- host: all right, scott -- caller: whoever picks up the

phone is tremendous. you are all very kind out there, and i wish you all the best. host: and on that we will end this program. we will be back tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern. thanks for listening -- thanks for watching, have a great day. we will take you to the brookings institution in washington, d.c., where white house national security advisor jake sullivan will talk about u.s. international economic agenda. [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]