we want to get an accurate result. one of the things we have been warning about in the reports is that our foreign adversaries may take the opportunity in the days following the election where they could be uncertainty about who the winner is to really create that wedge to undermine american confidence in the legitimacy of the vote, sew partisan discord, formant violence. we need to be vigilant. we have a role in protecting and preserving our democracy and the foundation of our democracy is our ability to vote, to have free and fair and safe and secure elections. we all need to come together to preserve that sacred right. that right. host: the agency is cisa, and jen>> washington journal contin.

host: ja'ron smith joins us. he spent four years as an advisor in donald trump's white house. what were some of the roles you served in projects you worked on? guest: i served as director of urban affairs and revitalization policy and became a specialist for domestic policy. ultimately, i was the deputy director of domestic policy and also served time leading the office of americanized nation. host: what have you been doing since? guest: social impact work, and i have some campaigns around mental health, around public safety, and i have done advocacy work around criminal justice reform. host: this piece from " newsweek," "donald trump is bedded fading from a huge political he -- huge political realignment among class lines." what did you do? guest: what we did in our firm

is that we established a research report and we looked at the poorest medium and average income households, and we found that some of the poorest households come from some of the most polarizing caucuses and members of congress. for example, on the four incomes were white, black, and hispanic. and the members who represent those districts are the members of the freedom caucus. and on the left it is members of the hispanic caucus and the congressional black caucus. we found that in some of the highest median income average incomes come from some of the wealthiest districts, which are usually some of the bipartisan caucuses like the problem solvers caucus and some of the groups that are pushing for bipartisanship.

what we found with that is that some of those poorer districts, the reason why you are seeing such polarizing reactions are because people are trying to push the current establishment to do more for the constituencies because things have not changed. we are arguing that we are seeing a real realignment. trump came in and i have been associated with congress over 20 years so i have seen this stuff go out. i was part of the tea party movement. jim jordan started the anti-poverty caucus or the original person who talked about the opportunity economy which was tim scott. it was not until we had a president like president trump started to kind of work on issues that helped working-class voters. you see a different republican party than the party i came into. it is not a party of a working class, but you are seeing a different democratic party that

represented more of the elite individuals. and we are seeing less trust in institutions like media and big corporations, even jeff bezos came out with a news article talking about how people do not trust newspapers anymore like " the washington post." what we are seeing is a real political realignment where you are seeing more working-class voters want to vote republican. host: class by setting media narratives is something you talk about. what are some examples of that? guest: for example, look at the u.s. nca -- usmca policy. during the biden administration where high inflation costs and less opportunity. and so people are voting their pocketbooks and that is the mose deal between mexico, canada and america and it was a focus on the working-class voters, unions and more jobs into the united

states. easier to create more supply chains and people saw that as real movement by the party to help working-class voters. what they saw under the trump administration was high wages, low inflation and more economic mobility. in the four years that preceded me in 2000, economic mobility has been at an all-time low. during the biden administration where high inflation costs and less opportunity. and so people are voting their pocketbooks and that is the most important issue. and if you look at public safety and immigration. i think that the democrats have started to lose trust with some of the voters that they have talked about advocating for for decades. host: what did you make about maybe two weeks ago or a week about the debate over donald trump working at a mcdonald's and whether that was authentic or not?

guest: i think it was authentic. i have had my experience with the president where it first of all he likes going to mcdonald's. even talked about us going once when i was riding with him but it takes a lot to go through their for a president. i think that what he sees as a cure for all of the issues we are dealing with in america is everyone having success. he thinks that success for the least of these -- will erase these class differences. he said a part of the reason he ran for president is because he could not sit back and watch these wide disparities continue to happen. so when you hear the slogan make america great again it is about making america the land of opportunity for all americans. host: ja'ron smith taking your phone calls. the phone call split as we have been doing as we get within a couple of weeks of the election. if you are trump-vancil porter, 202-748-8001.

if you are a harris-walt's supporter -- walz supporter, 202-748-8000. if you are undecided or neither, 202-748-8002. did you listen to any of kamala harris' interview yesterday? guest: i did not hear all of it. host: she denied that she has a problem with support from black men in this country, would you agree with that? guest: i think that she surrounds herself with some of the most elite african-americans in the country and is a bit disconnected from working-class black name -- lack men. i traveled the country working on public safety and having seminars on how people can have -- can buy a home and use that to build wealth. i find more working-class individuals whisper to me and said the economy was better under trump and i do not trust harris. she has not had a record of doing things that are

affirmative for black americans. when she ran for vice president along with joe biden they promised a voting rights act and they promised police reform and they failed to do both. i think that is something out of a leader. we need to have a leader willing to work with both sides and get things accomplished. and president trump that record. he passed a historic criminal justice reform bill that freed 30,000 people from prison. we have had low recidivism rate as a result of that reform. he did stuff around opportunity zones and helped with supply chain with the emergency capital investment program which put money into csfi, something that the democrats had not done in a long time, focused on the capital structure to help working-class and new entrepreneurs. use a variety of different red waves that president trump has

build trust through policy and i think all you are hearing his empty promises where she has had no history of accomplishing whatever she runs on. host: we have a few callers. aloe -- out of new castle, delaware. the line for undecided. go ahead. caller: good morning. yes. i -- if i could believe what you are saying and the evidence is in what you see and not the words coming out of your mouth. you say that all of these programs were put in place to help the middle class. but, it is not. i do not see them. all i saw were efforts to take away, and the differences that you are saying that he are -- he is doing these things, i do not why because his actions look like he is trying to help the rich more than the middle-class

or average people. and at the same time, and i hate to get distracted. but you are saying that he is saying how he feels about minorities and people who do not have and you are acting like he is not saying these things and people should believe that he is for them when he is obviously not. and it pains me to see a man as intelligent as yourself and well spoken talk on his behalf as if he is someone we should trust. he is telling us and showing us who he is and what he will do. host: got your point. jump in. guest: thank you for your question. i think the issue with the democratic party is that they have continued to issue rhetoric over decades that the republicans are for the rich and that the republican party is racist. and that they are the party for the working class.

i think that that has hit a ceiling when barack obama was elected and he promised hope and change. we lived through one of the greatest recessions known in our generation. and we also did not have the access to capital or jobs or criminal justice reform. and then you had president trump come in and he created a robust economy where they said there would not be growth, the type of growth that we had right after world war ii when we would have a very robust economy. he was abler -- able to deliver on criminal justice reform and do stuff around working with police and communities and hbcu's, which at that point in time had several of them had dealt with financial issues and were at risk of closing. he was able to step in and do the work that obama and bush did not do. and at the same time keep the country safe.

what you have been listening to is a lot of rhetoric, which is why most people do not trust the news anymore because what you are actually seeing and feeling is the ways of the biden economy. but when trump was in office before the pandemic, we had robust numbers that created the lowest unemployment rates for african-americans, hispanic and asian americans. that came from his policy changes. the media did not cover that work. the media did not cover when the president wrote a plan called the platinum plan that he has re-committed to that gave half a trillion dollars of new capital to black americans. the media did not cover all of the families he brought in whose loved ones came from the first step act. i would push you to maybe look outside some of the media that you are consuming and get the real policy wins that are

happening and try to listen less to the rhetoric. host: kamala harris was focused on monday when the media did cover coming to donald trump. she was on the club shayshay podcast. not me play little of it. [end video clip] >> we are looking at donald trump, somebody who has never been understanding of the issues that affect the communities about disparities. i'm going to talk for example when he was a landlord he denied rent to black families. if you look at what he did in terms of taking out a full-page ad in the new york times against the central park five which were a bunch of -- they were not young adults, they were teenager. lack and brown teenagers. took out a full-page ad calling for their execution for crimes they did not commit. they were innocent.

donald trump who set up the first black president of the united states the birtherism, to have people question whether he was born to try and diminish. and most recently you look in this election, legal black immigrants in springfield, ohio saying that they are eating their pets. so, part of what we have to help people understand is do not think you are in donald trump's club, you are not. he is not going to be thinking about you. do you think he is having you over for dinner? [end video clip] host: your reaction. guest: i do not have to go all the way back 30 or 40 years dimension comments that he might have made in the 80's. i can look to his administration and see how president trump led the country by doing historic work around access to capital and criminal justice and around access to education and creating a robust economy. you look at vice president

harris' record. her record does not even show that she cares about those communities. she goes out with elite celebrities. but maybe she had a town hall with some working-class individuals and ask them, why she led an economy that raised prices on individuals. and her only plan to fix this issue is more spending, which is going to make it harder for people to establish a business and make it harder for individuals to fight -- to climb the economic ladder. what we are talking about is a real record between two different administrations. a record that she has that showed that we did not have a robust economy and working-class individuals were hurt. and then a record that present drum that helped all americans including black americans. i think she can use the rhetoric as much as she wants, people are looking at the records and if

they will be better off. most people are looking and saying i am better off under trump. host: lancaster, ohio. jenny. a trump-vance supporter. caller: i have a question for you. when donald trump was president, he stopped giving other countries money for abortions. is he going to up that again where he is not going to give other countries money for abortions? why do we have to give other countries money for abortions anyway? guest: you are talking about the mexico city policy. i think that any republican president, especially donald trump will continue to do similar policies like that. because, if we are going to spend money we will focus on america first. democrats have historically said they were for working-class individuals and it was not until present trump develops the

america first agenda that democrats had to come behind him and try to support some of the same policies. if you look at the trade policies and maybe some of the tariffs on china. joe biden has backed whatever donald trump has put in place. and now they are talking about all of this stuff around working-class individuals and they are hurrying along to try and get in front of these working-class individuals and try to hold them at record that they just do not have. again, i think people are looking at two different administrations. if they had the experience of being a part of, and they have decided they are better off with trump. host: columbia, south carolina. chris on the harris-walz line. caller: i love c-span. but you guys have hit a new low. i do not know who this guy is or why he has beef with kamala harris.