>> coming up on "washington journal" we will take your calls and comments live and then reese garman discusses latest of elements in the trump transition. also brat and dallas woodhouse, brothers and strategists on opposite sides of the local divide talk about efforts to bridge differences this holiday season. "washington journal" starts now. join the conversation. ♪ host: good morning. the house returns at noon today. the senate back at 3:00 p.m.. we begin with a question about your trust in the news media. in the wake of the 2024 election we what to hear from you about

what you think of the news industry and where it stands in the eyes of the american public as we head into 2025 at the start of a second donald trump administration. phone lines split by political party. republicans (202) 748-8001. democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text. (202) 748-8003. please include your name and where you are from. catch up with thousand social media. on x it is @cspanwj. on facebook it is facebook.com/c-span. go ahead and start calling in. a couple of stories and columns in today's newspapers that prompted this question about your level of trust in the news media. here is one by roland fryer, professor at harvard university who studies journalism and economics.

he says americans have complained about media bias for years and it is hard to neither onto something. the country is divided evenly on partisan lines while donald trump comfortably won the electoral college the popular vote margin fell within two points, and yet the media rarely tries to appear neutral. from news coverage to editorial columns different outlets offer radically different views of reality and all of this raises a question, why are media outlets biased even when delivering basic news coverage? we will dive more into that column, one of the columns that inspire this morning's question. here is another story from over the weekend about abc news and its settlement with donald trump. it is said to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by the former and president-elect donald trump. the agreement was a significant concession by a major news organization and a rare victory for media bashing politician,

writes the new york times, whose previous litigation efforts against news outlets ended in defeat. under the terms of the settlement, abc news will donate the $15 million to mr. trump's future presidential foundation and museum. the network and its start anchor george stephanopoulos also published a statement saying they were great remarks they made about mr. trump during a televised interview in march. abc news is owned by the walt disney company and will pay mr. trump an additional $1 million for legal fees. the story goes on to say several experts in media law said they believed abc news could have continued to fight given the high threshold required by the courts for a public figure like mr. trump to prove defamation. a plaintiff must only show that a news outlet published false information but did so knowingly , that the information was false or there was substantial doubt about its accuracy. mr. trump sued abc and mr.

stephanopoulos in march after the anchor asked representative nancy mace, a republican of south carolina who has spoken publicly about being raped as a teenager, why should continue to support mr. trump after he was fined liable for rape and a 2023 civil case in manhattan. in that case a federal jury found mr. trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer e. jean carroll but did not find him liable for rape. the judge oversaw the proceedings later clive our fight -- later clarified that because of new york's narrow definition the tribe did not mean mrs. carroll had failed to prove that mr. trump raped her as many people commonly understand the word rape. in the wake of that story we want to hear from you this morning. your level of trust in the news media. republicans guest 2: -- republicans (202) 748-8001.

democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. we begin with tim out of kentucky, line for democrats. caller: the only thing i can say is i will not trust anything coming straight out of the trump administration. i don't know what we are going to do, but i am not going to believe anything they say. never. that is all i have to say. host: do you trust the media? caller: it depends on who it is. i pretty much know who is a reasonable source and i source it out, i do a little research on at. i do not take anything for granted and i take everything

with a box of salt. host: who is your reasonable sources right now? caller: i mostly rely on reddit, believe it or not. there is a certain politics subreddit you can go to and they have 30 or 40 or more different sources that report, you know, and then you can go to the comments in read the comments and make a decision on whether you can believe it or not or eight gives you a little bit more resource to figure it out. just in general, nothing that

comes out of the trump administration should be believed. i look at all of the fox news people. host: that is tim out of kentucky. independent out of new york, good morning. caller: caller: i have to say national coverage and international coverage. i follow both of them. when i follow the international coverage of the united states one thing which hurts me and started questioning is the wmd fiasco. this was a time my eyes were wide open how the media got it wrong. after that i seat how they cover the international news, including the syria coverage.

the guide was a nicest guy and all of a sudden -- the guy was an isis and all of a sudden he is a hero. the media is crating a story which meets its own interest. [indiscernible] host: you don't think that bias is a national coverage? why would it be more biased in international? caller: it is on the national side, too. when it comes to national coverage it opened my eyes after 2015. the national election. when the media started treating donald trump -- they did not

give him a chance from day one and that all of the russia, the russia. it turns me off. i was following cnn, i stopped. and then i said we need the media anyway. we cannot live without media. it is time for corporate america to wake up up this is an important instrument for civilized society. without the media we will be another tyrant country. we need the media but the media has to be held accountable for what they are reporting. there should be some accountability. i do not see any accountability in media except the company paid $15 million for defamation. that might be the case but we need to hold the media accountable. host: you talk about turning off cnn. a story about viewers turning

off cnn and msnbc. it is wall street journal. cable news loyalists have grown a lot less loyal to cnn and msnbc while viewers are flocking to fox news in the wake of donald trump's win. ratings have tumbled. the decline is far worse than what happened the last time donald trump won in 2016. msnbc averaged 603,000 primetime viewers from the day of the election through december 8, down more than half of the networks year to date average through the election. cnn was down 46%, 400-1000 viewers. fox news is up 12%, averaging 2.7 million viewers. viewers turn away in disgust when it is the other side having a postelection euphoria said a researcher at syracuse university. she said democrats and republicans grow disenchanted with the media and society.

after joe biden won in 2020 fox news primetime viewership fell buys 6% and following barack obama's win in 2012 fox news primetime viewership was down 13%. a ratings rebound is possible once donald trump is inaugurated. the steps he take ryle up liberal viewers -- if the steps he take rile up liberal viewers enough to bring them back in front of their tv. this is tyrone in new york. democrat. >> i have no faith in the media because there is no real accountability for bringing boldfaced liars on their network. i was listening to a gentleman saying there should be type of system that will tell the american people which news agency is more reliable, which is not.

you go to the store and you have a or b or c or f, they should have some way or monitoring. he was talking about doing ai and regulating which news agency has more of a true nature that can put out more accurate information. you cannot have a media organization being sued for multimillion dollar lawsuits and they saying their reputable. you have to have a station where when you turn to it they say they are less reliable or something like that. host: there are organizations that do that and we have had some of those organizations on this program. news garden is one of the organizations that comes to mind. have you ever checked out some of those sites that try to do that?

(202) 748-8000 -- caller: those are social media sites, those are not the mainstream media sites. host: what they are doing is writing the mainstream media sites at all different news organizations. caller: i guess i have not gotten to those specific ones. i am an american. i want things laid out easily for me like most americans come he did not have to search for these sites to see which media organizations more reliable than the other. we want to be able to turn on our tv and see that abc has an f or fox has an a or however they can do it to make it more accessible to the american public because we do not want it to be complicated, we want to have things laid out for us like two-year-olds, like we are all babies.

a lot of us have this childless mindset that we want stuff laid out right in front of us. that is more of an acceptable way where people can make a more informed decision on what they are looking at. host: thanks for the call from new york. remi in brooklyn park, maryland. republican. caller: good morning and thanks for taking my call. it is a good subject we are on this morning. let's start with why it is we have what we have. we have the airwaves which are free. unfortunately the corporations have to buy a license to broadcast. you automatically know it is one of 16 or 17 three that are agencies that are actually having the oversight on what goes out to the american people. my point is this. if you want to find out how

manipulated they have to be to take us from one direction to the other, we simply have to go out to al jazeera that has the airwaves for a while. all of the sudden they are gone. it was because at the time al jazeera was broadcasting it was not in conjunction with what the podcast -- with what the politicians of the day wanted to go. let's fast track to where we are today and how we are being gas lighted by the ufo phenomena. they say the number plate or. -- they say the names, it was ufos and now they were referring to them as drones. no one is asking the hard questions, you have f-16s that can go up there with cameras to locate and give us credible information about what we are dealing with, and the politicians we are dealing with right now, all is distraction.

that is my comments about the media, politicians who have to pay their way through and what we get to see. host: that is remy in maryland. back to the column in the wall street journal. his answer to the question he posed earlier about why are media outlets biased even when delivering basic news coverage, he talks about the economics of media bias. years ago the associated press wire copy and broadcast television networks had to appeal to a broad american public to maximize their traffic. the entire country's eyeballs were there for the taking for journalists to keep their own biases in check. many cities had dominant newspapers that do not want to alienate the local community. then cable news came along. when fox news debuted in 1996 and msnbc deliberately shifted left around 10 years later there was no surly -- there was an

early example of how a different strategy could succeed economically. he writes hardly any new sources today can hope to have broad-spectrum appeal as consumers of every persuasion can find a product tailored to their own worldviews. that reinforces viewers trust in the sources or encourages them to sample other products. there is never been a better time for someone who wants to read broadly or live in their own bubble. that from the wall street journal, that column that helped prompt this question about your trust in media. this is william in ohio, independent, good morning. caer: good morning. first i would like to congratulate the idiots for winning the presidency, i think it was wrong fox news hped him out, i mean the trump network. now all of the left networks are jumping onoard and i think it is disgusting. the man is unfit to be president.

i know he will be our next president and itase upset. that is what we are stuck with d now the networks are sucking up to him so they do not get shut down and that is bad for america and the american people. host: what you think about this abc news settlement over the weekend? $50 million settlement going to -- $15 million settlement going to donald trump's future presidential foundation? caller: that money should be paid after he pays e. jean carroll and his taxes in new york. he should not get it until then. do you understand where i'm coming from? host: that is william in ohio. this is early in pennsylvania. independent as well. caller: i am glad to see you. i hope they can put you on more often because you are one of the best. host: what you think about this media bias question? caller: first of all, all modern

media is nothing more than propaganda instruments. why? our first amendment guarantees us to have freedom of the press. the freedom of the press has been compromised. most of the news outlets are coming from think tanks or vested interest organizations and groups and institutions. they have nothing to do with displaying what is going on for the american citizenry for a challenge or force against government overreach. instead they coerce and persuade and convince the public that whatever the officials present is the absolute truth.

where did you ever see an investigative reporter on any network or local news channel? what do they normally say? we are waiting for the police are some official to provide us what is going on. we will get to the bottom of this -- you do not see we will get to the bottom of this independently and we will tell you and report what is going on. none of this occurs. it is all presented public relation format. this is not news. this is programming. i hope the public can get off of their rear end and don't be blaming politicians. politicians are nothing more than instruments of the establishment. host: that is early in pennsylvania. this is a different column in the wall street journal about the prevalence of conspiracy

theories. "until recently debunking conspiracy theories was the role of the mainstream press. sadly the reputation is in tatters after their covid biases , their insistence president biden was as sharp as a tack in their cheerleading for wokeness, millions of americans now rely on podcasters and other crackpots and that is not good, either. we live in an age of loosey-goosey truth. the twittersphere labeled misinformation. fact checkers are checking every trump utterance. " this is james in maryland. republican. good morning. caller: that is what i was just about to get on.

i think the younger people are going on podcasts and x and tiktok and getting their news and information. it is an age difference. the older people will listen to fox more than they do cnn or msnbc. host: is it a matter of the mainstream news channels getting to those places where younger people are going? another headline, "the legacy news media is chasing tiktok users" is the headline from the business section of the wall street journal. is it that they are not meeting the younger viewers or readers where they are? caller: i'm not sure about the advertising part. i see that my kids get on tiktok. they do not watch tv anymore.

host: i'm not talking about advertising, i am talking about the legacy news media having their own tiktok pages and engaging those people and engaging those people in their news media content via these different social media apps and ways the younger people are using media. does that make sense? this whole story is about the legacy media going to tiktok and tried to put their content more on tiktok. caller: that is how they will try to get a hold of them. i do not know if that will work. i think the younger generation is easily manipulated using different ways. not the cable networks anymore. host: here is one stat from that story. in october and november of this year 88 of the top 150 political

tiktok accounts five use in the united states were content creators according to data at the wall street journal. 51 were publishers like the new york times, msnbc, fox, and cnn, while the rest were associated with candidates or political parties. 88 of the top 150 political tiktok or's were not legacy news sources we are talking out. angela is next in houston, texas. independent. good morning. caller: i want to thank you for having us able to call in with you all. numb of the other -- none of the other networks have the guts to do it. and we'd we say things you ask us questions back. -- and when we say things you ask us questions back. i've been watching all of the outlets on tv. i do not do the internet things.

i think it is sad when these news outlets play a clip about what somebody says but they do not play the whole clip in order to try to distract what they are really saying. i think it is awful, i think it is sad, i think it is putting panic in a lot of people. they are scaring people into thinking everybody will lose their social security, which i am on. it is wrong. we do not know if they will do it. i have a suggestion that might sound silly. we need an organization that when the news media does not put a whole clip on, to put forth what they are saying. we need to find them, hit them in the pocketbook. they will stop. they did it to candace owens on a hearing she was in front of and that young lady eight their lunch by bringing up you did not play the whole clip.

i think it is set and i appreciate, i think you are all of one ofhe honest news media out there. if you listen to msnbc, it is awful and they do it with a smirk on their face. the way they chan narratives of what people say. host: you think that happens with fox news as well? caller: i watch all of them. i really do. i am retired and bored and i cannot believe i am doing it, it is all of them. you hit them in the pocketbook, big-time fines come and watch it go down. host: do you think, and we just saw the settlement with abc news and their lawsuit with donald trump, do you think we will see the news suit more in the future? -- do you think we will see the news sued more in the future?

caller: i do. i am not a big donald trump supporter. i think you might start seeing it more and it should be done more because money talks and when you hit people in the pocketbook they will stop doing what they are doing. it is a shame the way they are putting panic in the american people. i would say let this man do what he says he is going to do. if it don't work then blast him on the media, but what if it works? what if one of the things he says he will do work? then what will they say? host: that is angelo in texas. ronald is in oklahoma. democrat. caller: good morning. your name is john, right? host: yes, sir. caller: i am ronald from oklahoma and i was in the military for 20 years. when i got out of the military i served for operation defense

command. i was a data collector, i did every job you could think of. i work for the army hotels. i met so many people, you would not believe it. in germany come all across europe, all over the place, i met so many people and they are all the same. they all want the same things. they all want to live, liberty, life. there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 to 500,000 americans that live in mexico. they are american citizens. host: bring me to this news media question we are asking. we are asking a question about trust in the news in the wake of campaign 2024 and as we head

into 2025. where you think the news media stands in the eyes of the american public today? caller: that is a good question. cnn, msnbc, fox news, x news, all the newscasts and podcasts, people on tv doing town hall meetings. if you really want to believe donald trump go ahead and believe it. he has already been impeached twice. he has been convicted twice, three times. 34 times indicted. 91 more times to get indicted on stealing secrets from the united states and sharing them with russia and china. now he is inviting china to come to his inauguration. believe what the news media is saying, believe it. it will be a stupid is as stupid does. you know what they say, there

are lies, there are damn lies, then there are statistics. goodbye, john. host: a few of your comments as we approached 7:30. we ask you about your level of trust in the news media right now at the end of 2024 as we enter 2025. this is ben from washington, comes to media, follow the money. who funds the source. that decides what they will support. my advice is publicly funded and multiple sources from all sides to get an idea of what is really going on. one more from joseph in north carolina, i care about the weather report, i do not care for or pay for or watch fox or msnbc or any of the 24 hour news agencies. now we have the modern technology trying to justify their mistakes. this is diana in jeffersonvil,

indiana, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i will keep this short. cnn, fox, a msnbc, for the most part, these are not journalists. they are entertainment networks. that's how i feel. host: what you watch? caller: well, iatch cnn and fox. both are the two i watch. host: do you read any newspapers, do you get a newspaper at your house? caller: no, i do see things that pop up on my phone. i do read that. host: via what source on your phone? caller: well, it just pops in. i can't tell you. just pops in. host: do you trust news alerts from your phone? caller: depending on what they

are. so not necessarily. host: give me a recent example. caller: ok, i can't do that. [laughter] i'm not prepared -- i just called in to say i think these are mostly entertainment networks. host: got you. thanks for the call. this is lauren from montgomery, alabama, independent. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to talk with you. i think c-span and washed -- and "washington journal" are very straightforward and objective. i want you frequently, and i appreciate the independence and the objectivity and the call-ins. what i do is differentiate between tv news and print media. i think one of your independent caller's a few minutes ago, from texas, made a very clear case. that is that tv news is

populated by activists, not really journalists. of course, tv news is constantly interrupted by advertising, which creates a kind of stress, as a viewer would watch it. i think they are all biased. if you look at msnbc and compare it to fox -- and i tend to be a conservative -- i can still see the fact that they are populated by activists, not so much by reporters or actual journalists. now, i disagree television news and its jittery -- i distinguish television news and its jittery nature and constant interruptions by ads with print media. i read both the wall street journal and the new york times. if you are objective, you can

see the selection of topics in the new york times is different from the selection of times -- topics in the wall street journal. and the depth of reporting in both of those newspapers is very, very good. then look at the editorial pages. that is where the clear bias comes out. the new york times editorials are very liberal, very biased in that direction. wall street journal editorials are very biased in the conservative direction. but i do, as a conservative, find the more interesting. so i just want to complement c-span, "washington journal," and i want to make that distinction between tv news and print media. host: on print media, several newspapers, including the washington post here in d.c., this year decided not to make presidential endorsements. there was a lot of pushback on that. do you think that was a good idea?

two, you talk about the lead editorials. should newspapers have editorials? does that color the objectivity of the news in the pages before? should newspapers have an op-ed page? should there be an opinion from the newspaper in the form of an editorial? caller: i certainly think so. it gives away the sort of inclination of the ownership and the top editors. it gives away some of the bias in the selection of topics and in the details in the reporting. i have no problem with that. in fact my some of it i think is almost funny. it is so reflective and transparent of the internal biases of a for example, the new york times and the wall street journal. one thing i like so much about c-span and "washington journal,"

as one of your previous callers mentioned, you allow call-in. you allow interaction. and the newspapers and the mainstream tv channels very seldom allow that. host: well, we couldn't do a three hour show if we do not have the interaction. it is what makes the show. coming back to the question, do you think it was a bad idea to not do a presidential endorsement by the washington post? would you prefer just to have editorial board say -- caller: i think it was a giveaway that they were so worried about the nature of the harris campaign and her, frankly, word salads, that they were embarrassed by it. i think they saw, probably, the rise of the trump momentum. and i think that's the reason they deferred. they were embarrassed.

host: what do you think -- what do you think? host: well, here is what role in fire things, who has that column on media bias. and reserved a special spot for donald trump in this universe of media bias. he says it is difficult not to grant a special spot to donald trump, though doing so mostly requires stepping away from economic theory and into the realm of punditry. mr. trump's populace, almost crude brand of politics, is distasteful to the educated journalists -- educated liberals in journalism. get that style turned out to be lucrative. as a washington post headline noted, after mr. trump left the white house, trump predicted news ratings with tank if i'm not there. he wasn't wrong. this, nation of vulgarity and profitability proved potent,

especially when mixed with journalists' natural desire to see themselves as heroes, bringing down corrupt politicians. mainstream outlets leaned into donald trump's coverage. they did so, however, with outrage rather than objective reporting, which attracted more liberal viewers. he is a contributor of -- and found it equal opportunity ventures. his column today is one of the reasons we asked this question. clay, a republican, and wisconsin. good morning. caller: thank you for taking michael, sir. i think the people get confused. there is a difference between journalism and pundits. a lot of these nighttime shows have entertainment, yes, because they are pundits. my favorite newscast is bret

baier's special report. but i watch them all. cnn -- now they have to pay an apology for not being journalists. i love watching c-span. i can't wait for some of these confirmation hearings. because don't trust the news. watch it live. watch the whole committee meeting, not 10 second snippets. i was so frustrated because we watched a two one half year lie from news networks, and even the fbi was paying off social media and sold it to america about the russian collusion. was -- it was so frustrating to watch. even one of my favorite, i guess, politicians, paul ryan,

believed it. he became a never trump or, believed the lie, and we were sold to what by elected officials, like adam schiff. and what does he do? he gets a promotion by selling a lie to america that cost millions of dollars. we got it sold to us by the media. so journalism is darn near extinct. it's really sad to see. there's no walter cronkites anymore. george tough novelist li -- george stephanopoulos lied to us -- host: this is another recent story, just last week. i wonder what your thoughts on this story are. a former fbi informant accused of falsely claiming joe biden and the president's son hunter accepted bribes agreed to plead

guilty to federal charges, according to court papers. as part of the plea deal, he will admit he fabricated that story that became central to a republican impeachment inquiry in congress against joe biden. caller: well, the mere fact is we have bank records that the biden family has taken millions of dollars from our greatest adversaries. there's witnesses. and now, with the pardon, he will pardon himself, and the biden family walks away with $25 million, including his grandchildren. look at the pardons he's offered. people who have embezzled millions of dollars. judges who -- the judge for sale for children.

at least, please, i want to hear the whole story. i want to hear both sides, whether it is republicans or democrats that are hurting this country. i want to know about it, and i want to either be able to hold -- vote them out of office or hold people accountable through our justice system. i pray to god -- i say amen this man got reelected. i do not agree with his personality sometimes and things he says, but he will save america. host: this is bill out of california, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, i do trust the news media. of course, all i watch is msnbc, because i am a democrat. but i love their programming. i love jonathan capehart and joy read.

they just have really great programming there. yes, i do trust msnbc. host: bill, there has been a lot of talk, in this age of news media fracturing and having different perspectives on things, to have a balanced news diet. it sounds like you have no interest in going outside of msnbc -- caller: i listen to all the other ones. fox news, you know, watching all the cases of people on public transportation -- that is ridiculous. but msnbc, yes, i love that. i love them. they have good programming there. i trust that media, and i think they are doing as good a job they can in this environment. host: this is robert in

michigan, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i have one big question. why is abc paying $50 million ransom? how do you defame a convicted felon? we need to take a good look at our laws. host: you do not think they should have settled? caller: no. this is a blast to america. host: that is robert in michigan. more from the new york times story on that settlement. a professor of law at the university of utah points out in that, in the wake of that settlement, saying major news organizations have often been leery of settlements in defamation suits, both because they hear a dangerous pattern of

doing so, and because they have the full weight of the first and i meant on their side. going on to say what we may be seeing here is an attitudinal shift, compared to the mainstream press of a decade ago. today's test is far less financially robust, far more politically threatened, and exponentially less confident that a given jury will value press freedoms rather than embrace vilification of it. abc news, for their part, not elaborating on the precise reason for deciding to settle with the president-elect. we are pleased parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms of the court filing, a spokes person for the network said. this is nancy in florida, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing today? host: i'm doing well. caller: i have very little trust in the media. i agree with some of the callers

that they just tell part of the story. in one of your great programs, i found that very interesting, because you were talking about the media than. i tried so hard to get in that day and couldn't. i think one of the most upsetting i've been is when they talk about that both sides incident in charlottesville, virginia and never play the full clip of it, which you have. he was not talking about the nazis. he put them down. another thing, with a campaigning, all the different lies they've been telling, too. just very disappointed in the media. and msnbc i find to be one of the worst offenders. mostly to the viewers and to the

voters. they insult the people that voted for trump rather than talking about the issues that do divide us and talk about the politics of it. they insult the voters. one of the worst stations. the other station -- well, cnn is starting to insult some of the voters now. but at least the more conservative stations, they don't. they don't insult the voter. host: when you say they insult the voter, how do they do that? caller: "you have to be stupid to vote for him," "you're a nazi" - -whatever they call trump, they call his voters. i don't even turn on msnbc anymore. i just can't watch it. host: this is shirley in cleveland, democrat. good morning, you're next.

you with us, shirley? then we go to diane in missouri, independent. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well. caller: i tell you what, i love listening to this show, because it really gives me a feel of what is going on out in the country. i don't watch a lot of the medias. i do watch cnn when i am traveling out of the country. i just am blown away -- everybody is pushing their agenda. it didn't used to seem to be like that. i don't trust a lot of it. i do like print, the wall street and the new york times. but you have to selectively decide your own mind on the issues. because i do not think we always get the full story. host: when you say "it didn't used to be like that," probably

the best way to show that is this gallup poll. it is americans' trust in mass media. the green line here is those who say they have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in mass media. back in the 1970's, that number in the high 60's and into the 70's by the mid-1970's. starting around 19 80 or so, you see a steady decline of trust in media, and you can see it throughout the 2000's. today, those who say they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the news media, in mass media is how they asked the question, 31%. those who say they have no trust at all in mass media, 36%, higher than those who say they have a great deal of trust. this is gregory in california, republican. good morning.

caller: good morning. thanks for the call. i believe, whether you're getting your information from the left or the right, you can't decipher it and piece it together -- if you can't decipher it and piece it together, you might have a mental illness, as far as i am concerned. it is your job to put the pieces together to make it correct for you. i don't know if that makes sense or not. host: how do people learn to do that? put the puzzle together? caller: that starts at a young age. i think it starts at home. you got to have a good foundation, quality education. as far as i am concerned, that is hard to come by these days.

the solution is not easy. it is concerning. host: do you have kids? caller: i don't. i got a lot of nieces and nephews -- host: if you are trying to -- caller: it is concerning to me that people are getting the information incorrectly. it's scary to me. host: if you're trying to teach your nieces and nephews how to do that, in a time where there are so may different places you can get your news from, what is your best advice to your nephew or niece? caller: oh, man. you know what? that's an excellent question. this might sound crazy, as i entered earlier about mental illness.

but god of any sort, or a higher power, actually helps. i'll just leave it at that. i don't have the answers, but the way that the system is being run is very concerning. thanks for taking my call. host: that is gregory from california. less than 10 minutes left. this is mark, orange park, california, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i recently reread "1984" in preparation for the second coming of il ducce. in the novel, orwell created duck speak, which was literally quack like a duck. it was used in reference to noise babel coming from screens the party made everyone watch.

for opponents, it is all abuse. when used in reference to allies, it is praise. but it is all the same thing, quacking like a duck. they pretty much summarizes orwell's views. not mine. i trust the media. just passing it along. host: you might be interested. the national book festival, put on by the library of congress, we interviewed a professor at american university here in d.c. about her book "orwell's ghost s," including the impact of "1984," when that book came out. an interesting interview. you can find it at booktv.org, if you want to watch it. this is lester, independent. caller: good morning. first of all, i love c-span and how you covered the hearings and let people call in.

as far as trust in the media, i do not completely trust them. you have to take the good with the bad and figure things out for yourself. i kind of lost trust in them in the way they treated bernie sanders when he was running for presidency. host: that is when you started to lose trust in the media? what did you see in that? caller: i saw the lack of coverage given him. they were giving more coverage to hilary and more coverage to biden. it seemed like they just wasn't giving him the same coverage. host: that is lester. this is mike out of washington, d.c., republican. good morning. caller: yes, good morning. marcus garvey said whoever controls the media, and the press controls the mind. i was in the military, and i've seen the cia in langley and

stuff like that, and the super pacs and how they give money to these big media organizations. i lived in baltimore, where the "baltimor sun" has been much gone down, because they lied and targeted minority groups. you saw that, a lot of minorities switched back to republicans. minorities traditionally -- democrats, since 1865, like kkk and propaganda and jim crow and stuff like that. like joe biden, if you're black, vote democrat, taking minorities for granted. donald trump saw all of that. i was in atlantic city, and don lemon, the whole world -- i told him about the immigration thing. people were calling me. it is about what you see on the

ground. the media people, the new york slimes. they were part of slave trade and everything. the news media is so biased. they are supposed to be neutral. people are starting to see that. host: so where do you go for your news? caller: on the ground. i worked on the school systems in d.c. the immigration thing, you see this whole thing going on, and they bring them in, and the department of education failed us, because they are not giving us the resources for these kids who do not speak english and all different parts of the country. they are giving them free food and hospitalization and everything. the media, they don't even come out and speak to the people. you see it right there. you have to see things with your own eyes. host: this is dawn in texas, democrat. good morning. caller: yes.

i'm calling because these people who are trump lovers, they don't know the whole story behind trump. i'm 90 years old, and we've never had our country, republicans or democrats, identify -- they work together. i was 11 years old when our beloved franklin d. roosevelt died. my brothers fought in world war ii, or this country would be under a dictator, as trump would love it to be. his wife of his children said -- people don't realize this co untry and the men that fought for it, like my brothers -- host: there was a column in the washington times today comparing

donald trump to franklin roosevelt, saying that both spoke to americans in a way that was similar and was able to hold america's attention. what do you think about that comparison? caller: there's no comparison for donald trump and franklin d. roosevelt. franklin d. roosevelt started so many programs. after the war, world war ii, got us back on our feet. i remember all of those. i lived it. these people -- and another thing people probably don't know that are trump lovers, in europe, they outlawed fox news because of its lies. and murdoch came over to america and started his fox news, which

are mostly lies. host: that's dawn in texas. time for maybe one more call. we did want to wrap up before that, with one more paragraph from the piece in today's wall street journal. it is the economics of media bias, the column we have been returning to in this first segment. this is how he ends that:. he says, with several papers declining to make presidential endorsements this year, one hopes there is a future for unifying objective sources of news. my hunches it will get worse before it gets better. i am skeptical there is enough demand for objectivity and believe there are powerful, he says, there are powerful economic forces pushing media audiences that red meat they desire. if we truly want less media bias, we need to stop consuming the unhealthy options on offer. the market will give us what we want.

gail in texas, republican. go ahead. caller: yes. i just want to state that i do not trust most of the media. and it took years. years. for years, i used to trust the media. but i have to tell you, one of the things that really is very, really upsets me is the january the sixth i was sitting at home and i was on facebook. and i happened to come across a posting by jake sullivan. and his statement, he was videoing the attack in congress. and i thought what is he talking

about, there is no attack. anyway, i watched this video, he was videoing what was happening. and in this video that i was watching, i actually saw, witnessed people, patriots being directed into and throughout the capital by capitol police. i happened to witness ashli babbitt being shot. and you know. host: the people who are currently in prison for various crimes that they've been convicted of validity january 6, do you think any of them should be in prison? caller: no, they weren't convicted.

no one has been convicted. host: the people who are currently serving jail sentences have been convicted. caller: convicted for insurrection. that is a fake. that is a phony. how do you have an insurrection when you have capitol police directing them into and throughout the capital. how does that happen? i called them. i called everyone about what had happened. host: our last call in this first segment. plenty more to talk about including up next, it is the week ahead in washington preview. we do it on monday here. and later, brad and dallas

woodhouse, brothers and political strategist from opposite sides of the political divide discussed efforts to bridge political differences this holiday season. stick around. we will be right back. ♪ >> this week, the house and senate are in session for their last scheduled week of work for the 118th congress both chambers are facing a december 20 deadline to pass government funding to avert a shutdown. the senate also plans to vote on the program and policy bill known as the ndaa. onuesday, charlie baker, presidenof the national collegiate athletic association testified for the senate judiciary committee investigating the growth and legalized sports gambling since the supreme court ruling in murphy versus the ncaa. watch live on the c-span networks or on c-span now,he free mobile video app.

also head over to c-span.org for scheduling information or to watch a live or on-demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we've been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting powered by cable. for more than 45 years, c-span has been your window into the workings of our democracy, offering live coverage of congress, call-in programs and unfiltered access to the decision-makers that shape our nation. and we thought all without a

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deadline for the government the past. start with what needs to happen this week if congress is on track to pass the government funding bill. >> the government is not going to shut down. negotiates -- negotiations are ongoing. the plan was for them to release the test resolution yesterday. it was supposed to be sometime in the early afternoon, early evening. and they didn't release it. and the reason why is because republicans really want aid, and then he democrats to support it. republicans want this, we need to get something out of it. currently there is a lot of back about what they are going to add. 100% funding for the bridge in baltimore that collapsed, among other things. so this back-and-forth is to try to get negotiations. additionally there are some republicans really upset about

health initiative bills that have been trying to get in there. that is really upsetting people. so there's a lot of stuff that is upsetting to the point where republicans are going to need democrats to vote for in order to asset. democrats know that, so they are trying to get their money's worth. you are going to need to give us something in return. host: how does that funding come up? guest: one of the biggest things is the farm bureau really puts out that farmers need this. they need this kind of aid. in the farm bureau is really big and a lot of the rural districts especially. so this is really something that republican started pushing for. again, as i said, they don't necessarily oppose it. you still need our support so we are going to give something in return.

host: i they do pass this, how long is this? guest: more than likely beginning of march. johnson really wants to get something into march, and there are a lot of republicans upset about that. they are going to have to be dealing with senate confirmations so they are going to have to be dealing with a lot. additionally, there's likely going to be a 217-250 majority. a very slim majority if you have matt gaetz, national security advisor, elise stefanik who likely will be confirmed by then so she will be a member of the house anymore. that's going to be in no margin type. you're going to have no margin for error and we are already talking about how it is hard to pass any kind of legislation. host:: but they will have a republican senate.

guest: but again, they are going to need 60 votes to get anything past. they are going to have to kind of do some bipartisanship there to get that 60 vote threshold in the senate. bipartisanship in the house doesn't really go over well because people, especially a lot of the hardliners, you need democrats to at least compromise a little bit in order to get past. host: what is the alternative? 12 months, nine months government funding bill? guest: they should really no alternative. it likely wouldn't pass, there's a lot of members that i talked to said to clear the decks. get funding to actually do the spending bills, actually do the appropriations like they are supposed to with only four days now. that is not a possibility.

people realize that this is now his only option. he said there's a lack of leadership right now. instead of actually doing the appropriations process, they keep kicking the can down the road. i'm going to vote for, let's just do the job they were sent here to do. host: you talk about a march deadline complicated confirmations that will be happening at that time. where are we this week on confirmations on coming to capitol hill? guest: first time as a nominee's going to be meeting with centers, so he's really going to be paying attention. he did not have a good end of the week last week, mitch mcconnell kind of came out basically saying we should kind of back off this skepticism of the polio vaccine.

mcconnell is a polio survivor himself. there are people who are going to have some tough questions, especially about all these vaccines. especially when you look at mcconnell who is a polio survivor, he knows the effectiveness of these vaccines and he doesn't want to see the is going away. he's going to have to answer the tough questions. but also democrats have expressed an openness in the hearing about we are going to see how this goes. host: the headlines continue this morning. this is the front page of the new york times, kennedy aid files to revoke shots for polio. so is mitch mcconnell meeting with rfk jr. this week? i imagine that would be a place reported would be gathering if that happened. guest: i don't know if it will

be this week when i do know he is going to be meeting with them sometimes for the confirmation hearing and he is going to want answers to these questions. the headline is that that is what mcconnell is referring to, something he does not want to be reading on the front page of any newspaper. he will be meeting within 100% before the confirmation. host: anyone else you are watching for? guest: he kind of salvaged this, there's reports that ron desantis was being considered as a replacement. he was really struggling. he salvaged this, he kept fighting. he pushed forward with the help of people like donald trump, jr., jd vance. they all kind of put this pressure campaign because they saw senate republicans folding after matt gaetz and effectively pursuing the matt gaetz nomination and you are not the attorney general, we don't want

you to the attorney general. they knew republicans would be emboldened to say we can destroy these nominations. they don't want that to happen. breitbart the sort of running all these endorsements from centers saying we plan to vote for him, they preemptively got word of a new yorker story that was running up ptech seth. they kind of ran a story attempting to discredit him prior to the new york -- publishing the reaction. pushed these campaigns that -- advocate for hegseth. like what i was saying before, we can't give up on pete hegseth. sources telling me if trump were to replace and with ron desantis, how bad it would look. same we elected donald trump to get his nominees and now he is caving into the senate. there is a whole campaign for

senate republicans to vote for, and while he's not out of the woods yet completely, he's definitely in a better place that he was just two weeks ago. host: talking about the week ahead in washington, always interested in taking your phone calls as well. phone lines split as usual. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8002, independent. if you want to read his stories, it is notice.org. for viewers who are not familiar, what is that? guest: is a little plan on -- a little play on scotus. we have basically reporters such as myself and others cover national politics, energy and environment, the doj. and there's also a fellowship side of it, which is we have 20 fellows now where these are

people who are not necessarily new to journalism, but some might be fresh out of college. we have one person who is a veteran who kind of got out of the military, wanted to get into journalism. we are trying to help them get international news and it is the best way to have a teaching hospital. sitting in a classroom in journalism school. so we are teaching them to come up on the hell, they get to cover stuff, they get to go out on the campaign trail. they get to go into kind of local witness areas and cover states, cities, a really cool kind of style and the kind of learning by doing as opposed to just having someone tell you had to do journalism. host: why a teaching hospital for journalists? >> he really stalled. a lot of times in order to do journalism, it is kind of hard to get a job appear for a little while.

journalism doesn't pay very well. highly competitive cover national news, and local news where i spent three years and local news, i love it. it is getting harder and harder to find good local news outlets because they are getting bought by hedge funds and also they don't pay very well. his idea was he really wanted to train a new breed of journalists to kind of bring them up here and teach them how to do it. the idea was to have a two-year contract and then afterwards the idea is that d.c. news, whether it is back in the state, covering national news, it is working out well. they are doing great work out on capitol hill. host: we just did an hour long segment on trump in the united states and american views on the news industry in the wake of the 2024 election as we enter 2025,

as we enter another donald trump administration. where do you think that stands as somebody who can look at it from the inside out? guest: the trump news is down. people are watching the news less. they are getting their news through other mediums, whether it be podcasts or different new segments. something that definitely be have to look internally and say why are people not following us, what are we doing? it is just an objective fact that people don't trust us anymore. i think it is more of an introspective thing we have to look at and say why don't people trust us? what have we done for the past 10 years that has led to this point and really how do we get the trust back from the american people? it is something that i think we have to do and really commit to it. host: patio bring that into a story about funding the government last friday? how do you build trust on a

story like that were a lot of this is happening behind closed doors, we are not seeing the text of these bills that we are hearing about what is in it and with the arguments are and what is holding up? guest: i think just being fair, listening to people and getting both sides. opinion or what you think is best. i think it kind of goes with building relationships as well. when you are working on a story, people don't want to just hear you talking to them if you think they are stupid. they want to feel heard, they want to feel listened to. talking to these people who are involved in these things and then reporting the news as facts. obviously there's some objective truth that you implement in. you don't just go talking to a member of congress who might be opposed and say you want a shutdown, that is kind of dumb. you actually listen and say we will put that point in because a lot of people in america will see that point and say i agree

with what they are saying. host: so what else is happening on capitol hill that could impact americans at the end of a lame-duck congress when we are all focused on the regular end of the year funding, the scramble, the potential for government shutdown? people may not be paying as much attention to it and down the road we are going to find out that is the thing that actually has a lot of impact on people? guest: they could pass the nda this week. host: can you explain what that is. guest: it is basically the annual defense act to kind of give anything they can do. it funds things, kind of give the military more power here and there, and it has to be authorized every single year. for the most part, it usually is pretty easily bipartisan.

in recent history it has been more and more difficult. it always passes pretty overwhelmingly. mike rogers of the house services has certain thing that he wishes were not in it at this point in time, and one of the things i believe was kind of no funding for gender surgeries for military members. and i think that was something that members of the house committee looked at and said we don't need the nda on that issue. we could have trump who is going to address this on january 20 and some people are kind of upset about that because the nda, historically they just want to do the job for the overall hot button issue. host: question from twitter, in your opinion what are theop three legislative prioritiesor congress in the first week of

the new congress with the trump transition in mind? guest: reconciliation is going to be a big one. they are working on what it is going to look like. basically where you can pass something in the senate that is filibuster-proof and all you need is a simple majority to pass. it is basically how pardoning powers get their big issues through. biden did it multiple times and now trump is going to do it. the talk right now is what more reconciliation is going to look like. that is one of the top priorities. if there's two bills, the first bill would be border energy, these big issues that are not necessarily tax-related that trump has talked about, which would be just a simple majority in the house and senate to pass. in the second priority would likely be taxes. reauthorization of the jobs act from 2017 more kindly known as the trump tax cuts.

raising the salt caps which is something trump promised to do like something -- like no tax on tips. those things right there are stuffy will also be focusing on. and also border security at large. yes we will have to go through congress, but he has said he is going to do that by executive order that he could do on the first couple days. host: why is reconciliation a sort of get out the 50 vote majority-free card for the party in power? guest: is basically just a way where -- not everything it is used for. you can't just have broad priorities and say i want x. they have to agree that this falls under this reconciliation measure. it is a way of more easily getting -- at times they

rejected part of the biden reconciliation plan and kind of narrowed the scope of it. it is a very narrow scope that the parliamentarian has. host: and we think an immigration bill would be something that would be allowed to use reconciliation for? guest: he is definitely going to push to get that through, yes. they talked about using it to secure the border, things like energy. the language is still being worked out obviously. they can't just do every single priority that trump has completely into a reconciliation bill. host: who is the parliamentarian? guest: they are going to have to be the person, the same, more than likely. host: clarksville tennessee, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? mike, is something that is very

simple in what we can understand as we move forward with elections and using the football analogy for our positions. one of the things we did this election is that we dropped the ball. we had a good quarterback, joe biden. he dropped the ball, but instead of us coming and huddling up, when there was a referee throwing the yellow flag, we walked off the field. so we can't do that in the future. we have to come together and huddle up and decide what is our next play. my belief is that if i were a campaign manager, i would have had joe biden in the future naming any candidate. anyone possible the very next

day, reiterating the questions from the moderator of that debate that the democrats know how to pivot, and we pivoted really quickly, but i think the football analogy comes easy. so you have a good day and merry christmas and happy new year. host: any thoughts on that? guest: i think that she kind of just expressed her opinion on where she views the democrats. sounds like she thought the democrats did well in the election. i think they did kind of come in on the margins on the house. net positive even though they did still lose the house, there was a net positive. they lost the white house and the senate, but it sounds like she things the party is going in the right direction. host: jacksonville, florida, republican. caller: good morning and thank

you for taking my call. i'd like to know if the ndaa, if the military pay raise stays the same percentage of rates that they suggested. guest: i do believe there was a pay raise. i do believe that that was in there. host: are you former military? caller: yes sir, i sure was. i did a couple of tours in vietnam, afghanistan and iraq. host: military pay in general, how do you think it is today? caller: as far as being enlisted, i can't get over that congress looks after our jr. enlisted so well. i think it is going to be like 14.5, that would be great for those guys. host: under the deal reached by the house and senate, the national defense authorization act will allow all servicemembers to receive 4.5% pay bump next year, junior

troops a 14.5% pay bump. guest: that is something they are really pushing for, something they really advocate for. to the college point, they believe that the servicemembers do deserve higher pay, they do deserve a raise for their service and what they've been doing. that was something that was really important to give in negotiation over the finish line. host: a couple minutes left, what didn't we get to this week that you are going to be covering and watching for? guest: i do really think that government funding is going to be one of the biggest things. i think they are going to come out -- there are some people who want just one straight bill of reconciliation. his worry is that a lot of people do not want to vote for tax cuts. sometimes it might bolster the national debt. he wants to put everything together.

you want this, you are going to have to vote for taxes. that is all one bill. he separated out, people are all going to be happy about this priority of the republicans, the -- the redmeat issues and they are not going to want to vote for tax cuts. so those negotiations are going to play out over the next couple of days and they are going to be johnson who has not necessarily come out and said where he stands. he's told me that he believes reconciliation packages likely is going to happen but they are still kind of working and talking about that. funding can be a big deal. what it means until 72 hours after the taxes for these. right now we are looking at thursday with the government shutting down on friday and really cutting it close here. it tends to get done. host: government funding the words of the week, and it sounds

like the words on capitol hill. you can go online to see the work by him and his colleagues and we always appreciate your time on washington journal. coming up this morning, later we are going to be joined by brad and dallas woodhouse, political strategists on opposite sides of the political divide. we will talk about bridging the political divide during the holiday season. but first and for the next 30 minutes, it is your phone calls. now is the time to call and tom on the numbers are on the screen and we will get to your calls right after the break. ♪ >> james bradley's biography of martin van buren is the first full-scale portrait of the eight

president in four decades. he is the coeditor of the martin van buren papers and teaches a public is reprogram at the state university of new york at albany. in his introduction he writes this biography will show reaching the nation's highest -- was not van buren's greatest achievement. he built and designed a party system that define how politics was practiced and power wielded in the united states. van buren is known as the principal founder of the democratic party. >> james brandon with his book "martin van buren: america's first politician". onhe c-span now mobile app andle wherever you get your podcasts. are you a nonfiction book lover looking for a new podcast? this holiday season try listening to one of the many podcasts c-span has to offer you

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washington journal continues. host: half an hour for the open forum where we let you lead the discussion. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. as you are calling in, some notes on today's programming on the c-span network including on c-span two in about a half hour, a discussion presidential transition. the donald trump going through a transition effort with five weeks until inauguration day. a symposium on presidential transitions is hosted by the government executive group and you can watch again on c-span two, c-span.org and the free c-span now video app. and speaking of president-elect donald trump, he said to speak

from palm beach this morning at 11:00 a.m. eastern. we are going to air his remarks live on c-span. 2:00 p.m. eastern today, the national opioid fund has provided some $21 billion to local governments to address the affluent crisis and how that money is used. you can watch live on c-span3, c-span.org and c-span video app. with that, open forum asking you what is on your mind. this is california, republican. caller: good morning. the news media, the nature -- major networks like abc, nbc, cbs. if they want to restore their credibility they've got to quit misleading the american people like they have been since the clinton administration. you tune in and i heard several

callers mention trump is a convicted felon. why doesn't 60 minutes do an in-depth study of that biased judge and that corrupt attorney general that changed the laws, changed the statute of limitations to file these trumped up charges against donald trump? and then compiled a jury from the most liberal area of the country to find him guilty. the same way with the rape charges, democrats are really good at digging up somebody from the distant past, some lady that will claim that they were sexually assaulted by an appointee, by a republican or a candidate like that, and they never do an in-depth study of that rape charge that was never

tried. trump wasn't convicted of that. what happened with this lady after 30 years got into a civil court in the most liberal area in the country and they found against donald trump and she was all over the media for about 24 hour's. and people could see how u n-credible she was and you don't see her anymore. why doesn't the media -- host: your complaint is about the media, so what media do you read or watch? >> i watched fox, i watch msnbc. watch msnbc this morning. one of the most discredited guys in the media who told us for three years that joe biden was one of the smartest guys around, he had all his faculties and he ran circles around this is

slamming every appointee that donald trump has made. host: if you think he is so discredited, why do you continue to tune in? caller: because i want to see what he is saying, i want to see if he has seen the light. host: and you don'tthink he will? caller: it doesn't look like it. not according to this morning. i don't understand how we can step by and let abc news, perfect example. we watched the debate that kamala harris literally mopped the floor with donald trump, that was so unfair and it didn't even cost trump a vote. the moderators were unfair. it was obvious. the jd vance debate, the same way who mopped the floor with democrat candidate but the fact checked jd vance at every turn and come to find out the fact-checks were incorrect.

they did something they weren't supposed to do, which was fact check one of the candidates. and when she did fact check the candidate, she was wrong. and those people are still on the air. george stephanopoulos, one of the biggest democrat hacks and the world is still the head of abc news, and they lied about donald trump and his $10 million to abc is a drop in the bucket. host: it was a $50 million settlement that came out of the weekend but that is john in california. miles in texas is next, democrat. caller: hey, yeah. having to listen to all that, it is perfectly apparent that donald trump has actually never done anything wrong, so i would ask john from california can you name anything that he did wrong? because it sounds like he was a perfect gentleman with that woman in the dressing room.

anyway, whatever happened to jeffrey epstein being the news? talking about discredited ladies, what about a discredited gentleman? how come we don't talk about him anymore? he came out and said that he was best friends with donald trump for 10 years. so you can imagine -- well, you can't because you don't think trump ever did anything wrong. and that seems to be a thing about propaganda nowadays. you convince people that one of the most disgusting individuals to ever walk into the white house is almost like jesus and they even referred to him as jesus sometimes. have you ever heard that? host: where do you see him referred to as jesus, give me an example. caller: marjorie taylor greene said that even jesus was tried and convicted, talking about how -- i don't know. you can't convict someone who is perfect. i was surprised because i got in

on the very first try which has never happened, but i really appreciate c-span but listen, they stole the selection. that is one thing i've felt since the election happened. why do i say that and why am i the only person that says that? it is because they always cheat. and this time apparently nobody cheated anywhere. miracles happen every day with donald trump. host: when you say stolen election, there was a whole lot of controversy around comments of donald trump saying that in 2020 and democrats were very upset at him. so when you say stole, what do you mean? caller: it is an easy word to use. i would say they manipulated the election because all you have to do is be smart, and they are not. but they did try once before and they did fail. you can learn from your mistakes. elon musk has more money than

anyone in the world. there's no telling what he was able to do. the problem they figured out how to do it. a lot of people didn't vote. and in all of the other people that voted for taylor swift and decency and justice. it is just sad. waltzing into fascism. host: you mentioned elon musk. a story in today's washington times were donald trump goes, elon musk follows. the story noting where they have appeared together. elon musk pouring at least two other $27 million into efforts to help donald trump. another place the two were together, the army-navy game over the weekend. donald trump watching the showdown between the military service academy with the president-elect's entourage.

new jersey, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i was wondering how trump's true core of white nationalists was going to be rewarded and now we see that anybody who has been in the military recently knows that somebody wearing those tattoos that he wears is a white nationalist 99% of the time. and what he has written, you can see this is the reward that trump is giving to his core, making this guy head of the military and the united states. host: have you been in the military recently? caller: i'm too old. i was talking about currently. host: and they told you about the tattoo? caller: that is their opinion of people who support those tattoos

in the military. ok. and tulsa gabbard, she didn't know about assad. that was a place where she would go to get a direct line with putin, and she is putin's intelligence chief of the united states of america. that is what he wants to put in there. no respect for the people of america, trump. host: joe, dayton, ohio, republican, good morning. caller: good morning from a rainy day in ohio. the first thing i would do is wish you and your family and c-span a very happy holidays and a beautiful new year. host: thank you. caller: i just want to tell you, i want to thank you and i told you this before last month that

you, c-span showed the truth, and i was really impressed with all these trump rallies and all this stuff, you showed every single word that he said. you showed the truth. cnn, msnbc, all they showed was his picture, they turned the volume off and then they told you what he was saying, which was all lies. but you know, you don't have to look any further than the january 6 committee, how they didn't show you all the facts. and again, i mentioned that the last time i called. i wish c-span would show the general milley deposition, a sworn deposition. i saw it, that donald trump did request the 11,000 national guardsmen on january 3. that was a sworn deposition by

general milley. but of course the media doesn't want to tell you those facts. but other than that, no, i don't trust the media, and i do trust you and i trust c-span. you guys show the truth. i want to thank you for everything and have a great rest of the year. host: this is bob and amsterdam, ohio, democrat. good morning. caller: there are a lot of different women in ohio and i can't find one that voted for trump they voted 67% against abortion, they voted to legalize abortion. and now all you find is like the guy said, these tattooed -- i don't even know what to call them. they run around here and they have their guns strapped across their shoulders.

why didn't they go into the army if they wanted to do that? i did my time. and one more thing. putin said that he took this country and all he had to do was buy one man to get it. isn't that pathetic? host: where did you serve? caller: i served in vietnam, army 87th airborne. host: in washington and others around the country, on the 80th anniversary of the battle of the bulge, 1944 during world war ii, i wonder what your thoughts are as underserved in the military, the legacy of that battle. >> that was terrible because these guys were coming down and they were just cutting them to pieces. and they still overtook that whole area there in normandy and everywhere. the 82nd airborne, there were some bad guys in the 82nd airborne. they don't put up with nothing.

these guys did not vote for trump. they hate everybody there acquainted with because he is such a sissy. he runs around with elon musk, that idiot jumping up and down on the stage, and we gave him all his money. he didn't earn anything. he bought tesla, he bought everything. he didn't invent nothing. and these people saying well, him and vivek ramaswamy are so intelligent, so tech-oriented. it is a bunch of hogwash. host: this is mike in stockton, california, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. what we have here is i guess those forensic scientists really

learn how to use the machines to manipulate votes, i guess. not being charged with insurrection, i thought the definition of insurrection is to stop it, not for congress or the government or whatever. and they go over there with roger stone saying you can go in and buy a couple of police and they will let us in and all that kind of stuff, and republicans keep calling in. this is terrible. these are people we have to live with and they keep accusing other people of stuff. donald trump literally did things illegal and immoral, yet

they just accused like the salem witch trials. you keep accusing democrats of stuff, no facts at all. the facts will come out. he is going to be president and i hope you enjoy the new america . elon musk and ramaswamy, we've been sold out to a foreign entity, don't you see that? host: a lot of attention over the weekend to that $50 million settlement between the president-elect and abc news. the caller mentioned dominion voting systems. it was back in the spring of last year that fox news agreed to pay dominion voting systems nearly $800 million to avoid a trial in the voting machine company lawsuit that at the

associated press put it promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election. this is marcy in north carolina, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. we've got a lot of angry people out there today. i've got one story that will pretty well explain your media. back a few years ago, they're worth this nine-year-old girl that was taken across state lines to kill her baby. that was a liberals perspective on it. then the conservatives found out that the one that had raped her was illegal. so they pushed the illegal part of it. so the liberals got to kill a baby, the conservatives got a lockout and illegal and then both of them moved on. nobody cared about this child. nobody cared whether the child

had gone back into that same situation, nobody cared whether she was safe. nobody cares what happened to the legal, -- illegal, what happened to him. it is a quick pitch and everybody pushes their own agenda. right now, newsnation probably has the best coverage with the so-called balance to it. but we have to see through it and know what they are pushing and we have to know the difference between right and wrong. host: this is, out of kentucky, democrat. what is on your mind? caller: my mind is on -- the lady just said that, where did they come up with the stuff?

how did she find out all that stuff? how would she even know? trump was a draft dodger in all of that, he would party with epstein. where do they hide all of the stuff from? they want money. that is all they do. elon, he ate satisfied with the billions he's got. he's got to get more from the poor. they know the truth. they want the money. i don't watch any of it, but anyway, i just don't understand why they can't face the truth. donald trump had the judges get him even elected. he bought them out.

host: which judges are you talking about, tommy? caller: thomas. he's been taking money from billionaire harland fry don't know how long. host: you don't trust the supreme court, tommy. caller: i think he voted for him to run. he had how many families against them? host: that is, in kentucky. this is greg in ohio, independent. caller: i called a few months ago and i'm going to say it again. same exact clown that was just on there. you guys have all been brainwashed by the media. you people make me sick. yeah, i am a maga but i'm not one of you idiots. host: atlanta, republican, good morning. caller: it's funny.

the lady called about the nine-year-old girl. we already knew about it. and then the next one says where did they come up with this stuff? they don't have facts. donald trump has no facts. and it is true, the media has lied about trump for nine years. but boy, the democrats and even some republicans just gobbled it up. they hate has got to stop. these people saying don't miss next time. why do they want that person killed? a grandfather. that is the real issue, the

media has vilified trump to make him not look like a human. he is a human. he is a person. and i just do not understand. trump is trying to fix america and people just continue to hate. thank you. host: james, democrat, good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm kind of shocked that we are going back in time when we argue against using vaccines as a deterrent against disease. if anything, covid should have taught us that you can't build a wall to keep out certain diseases. the fact of the matter is when it comes to vaccines, the united states should really be a policeman for the rest of the world. finding or discovering or doing anything we can to prevent

diseases in other parts of the world. there are parts of the world that they don't have the sophistication or the ability for whatever reason. there's wars going on, there's all sorts of reasons why vaccines or diseases develop in places. and again, something we should have learned is that these things can spread around the world. the idea that polio, they had a tickertape parade for the guy who invented the polio vaccine. that saved millions of lives over time. and i just don't understand why supposedly smart people are using the language that they do about vaccines. host: a story on the front page of the new york times continuing from similar headlines remove

the weekend and late last week, the lawyer helping robert f. kennedy, jr. take federal health officials for the incoming trump administration has petitioned the government to revoke the approval of the polio vaccine. the aide has been working on behalf of the informed consent action network, a nonprofit whose founders a close ally of mr. kennedy. the aide also represented mr. kennedy during the presidential campaign story profile in today's new york times. this is angie in tennessee. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i guess one of the things that i'm sitting here listening to is when you bring these people who are democrats, all they do is spew hate and non-facts. and you as the media are not calling anybody out. they are sitting here saying all these things about trump this, trump fat and you haven't called out one single thing so therefore the media is

irresponsible and has always been irresponsible i guess. and when these people get on here they are spewing the exact things as msnbc viewers and it is hate and it is vitriol. trumped arrangement syndrome truly is real. i've never seen anything like this. people just spew garbage but there is no fact. host: angie, we will have callers usually on the democratic line called in and say almost exactly what you're saying but will say your republic and colors are spewing hatred, your republican callers are spewing lies from fox news. both sides are using the same words against each other. caller: look at this. the epoxy of the democratic party. just sitting here talking about rfk and him wanting to pull vaccines off to make sure things are all right for people. but they didn't have a problem when joe biden opened up the border. they told everybody to get a vaccine or you will die. that is what they told the american people.

the media said if you don't get this vaccine, you will die. with that right? we now know. they told us to stay six feet apart from everybody. we now know that is just something they made up on the spot. host: did you get the vaccine? caller: no, absolutely not. and now look at it. and i am in a business where i see how it is affecting people. it is affecting women in their thyroid, it is affecting men in the heart. it is almost to the point where we are sitting here today watching our government tell us that the drones in the sky aren't real. they are not seeing what we see. so i don't understand why these people continue to listen to this regime that is in power right now in the mainstream media which we all know obama was back so they could spew propaganda. and common sense is no longer. hillary clinton said it best.

their leader hillary clinton said it best when she said that they need to be deprogrammed. the democrats need to be deprogrammed, they sure do. host: this is ramona in georgia, line for democrats. caller: good morning. can you hear me? yeah, i've been watching c-span for many, many, many years, and i've come to the conclusion that i personally would like to do a spinoff of c-span like you guys have got. c-past. to see past all the lies that people portray. because c-span, they personally normalized racism. they personally normalized white supremacy. they personally normalized

trump. and we minorities don't have any say so. i would like to have a line for only minorities. host: you think that would help, having a phone line for minorities online every day? caller: yeah. i don't think any white people should be allowed, i don't want any white people because they have c-span and they run c-span. host: ramona, what we have is the callers, the people who call in everyday have influence on c-span. it is why we have an open forum, why we have people call into talk issues that are going on. -- talk about politics. you don't think it's working? caller: there's a whole sector and the minorities don't have a say so. how many times have you heard a

chinese person call you live? or a mexican? you know what i mean? host: we have had discussions about specific issues in different communities and have talked during the election, at one point there was a specific focus on black men voting in the election around when barack obama made those comments, it was for black men to call in and react to that exclusively. every day. caller: a segment? host: every day we have people who identify what they are. they do it voluntarily, but most people who call in don't necessarily say who or what they are. so i can't tell you what every caller today, what their race is. caller: yeah? well, i can. i can tell. he needs to be done.

roland martin, i'm sure he does a great job about representing us with what's really going on out there. you know what i'm saying? i'm just so tired. the resurrection or whatever? they had a tour. i was like what? a tour? you can't fact-check them. i love you all and everything. thank you, god bless. host: that was ramona. we've got one hour to go, stick around. brad in dallas woodhouse -- and dallas woodhouse will discuss how to bridge the political divide during this holiday

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brothers brad and dallas#= woodhouse on and it made for a viral moment when the mother called and. you made a documentary, what was it about? guest: it was about when dallas and i squared off in 2009, 2010, over the passage of the affordable care act. he had an activity he where he was running americans for prosperity in north carolina and i was at the dnc helping obama in the white house past the affordable care act. right around then we were doing a pretty mediocre segment with steve scully when mom shocked the world and called in to tell us to stop bickering. host: is your family, the country, less or more divided than it was? guest: um, i mean, probably not.

there were certainly a lot of things posted on twitter. things posted on twitter after the trump election. election returns were more unified in that we had a republican president when the popular vote, which hasn't happened in a long time. guest: that's no longer true. guest: yeah, because you all just keep counting votes. guest: he won the plurality but not the majority. something we can talk about, john. guest: see what that does for you. look, thinking about things that have not changed over the last 10 years, they passed the affordable health care act, brad thinks it was a success. i don't. that hasn't changed. our mother --

guest: the american people -- guest: she's as sharp as ever. doesn't get around quite as good. you know, she is the thing. the other week i was with her, she, brad called her, she asked when brad was coming home for christmas. she's really excited to see him, as i am. it's very different. he lives in d.c. host: are you spending the holidays together? guest: we will be flying out for christmas eve. the funny thing is, when mom talks to brad, she lights up, gets so happy, starts calling robert preston and gets those 76 trombones ready. a celeste of choir. the next day, i ran some errands for, brought her some coffee and whatever else. she told me twice that she was going to cut me out of the will.

[laughter] guest: that's not true. guest: yes, she did. twice, said she'd cut me out of the will. i said -- mom, you can't stop me from being your pallbearer. she said -- why would you want to do that? a said i'm not going to miss my opportunity to let you down one more time. host: explain what you do now. guest: i work with two sister organizations. american majority and american majority action. great grassroots organizations started in north carolina about 18 months ago. i was the first director. brad has got a big national platform and he works on that. i stay home, close to the important swing state of north carolina. i train candidates. i trained a lot of activists this year on the conservative

side about the north carolina election integrity, which is pretty good in north carolina, and the importance of early voting and voting by mail, which as you know, republicans, somewhat led by trump had taken a sour look on. that puts us at a's strategic advantage. our activists, our paid staff also, president-elect changing his tune on that, we were able to turn that around and have for the first time in the history of the north carolina have republicans outnumber democrats in early voting. host: brad, explain what you do now. guest: first of all, this is exactly how the holidays go. dallas doesn't let anyone else say a word, he constantly interrupts. this is what i'm looking forward to on christmas eve. my primary job right now is one that i'm very dedicated to and it goes back to -- the job

doesn't go back, but it goes back to my experience in working on the affordable health care past the affordable care act. i'm the executive director of a group put in place to stop trump from repealing the affordable care act. we were successful in doing that. we moved on to make health care a potent political issue and expand of the affordable care act, get medicare the power to and a good book -- the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices and protect medicaid. we are now in that fight again and have added to that line of work in that we are trying to stop rfk junior from becoming secretary of health and human services. for a host of reasons. one, we care deeply about the affordable care act, medicare and medicaid, which is all under the auspices of hhs and cms. but we also, we care about the

lives of the american people. rf -- and the rfk junior views on infectious diseases, scientific research, and vaccines, not only will it kill people but it has killed people. we are fighting that nomination tooth and nail. host: i imagine you are in that fight again. if you get into a fight around christmas time, who is the one that usually separates you? do you try to avoid talking politics? guest: there's no chance that we will avoid talking politics. i am always the one that will walk away, because i just can't take so much of dallas woodhouse. guest: there is some truth to that, but i think it's a little different. if you are going to be honest about it, we may razz each other a little bit in person, but he has less tolerance for bickering that he did 10 years ago because

he gets it from his republican wife. guest: don't bring my wife into this. [laughter] guest: no, but i think that's it. i will say this, we are just as likely to bicker about other things besides politics. you know? and we are able to talk politics. we argue sometimes but let me just say this, i want to say something about my brother, right? i am a lot of what i am, just the good parts, brad, if there are any, because of my brother. he is older, you know? i became a television reporter in part because i started in a performance background, show choir, plays. my brother did that first. my taste in music. i still listen to huey lewis and the news. i love springsteen. where did those tastes came -- come from? my brother. i was a journalist for a number

of years and when i made the switch in politics, even though i was on the others, my brother was very helpful. so you know, today a lot of times, like during the campaign, there's no point in us talking who is better, trump or, or, or, or whoever they are running. joe biden, kamala, however. but we that she didn't tell me trade secrets, but i can call him up say -- i don't understand why someone did something or why a campaign might do that or we might call out to laugh about it. there's always playing up the bickering, but we get along. i still, i still learn a lot from my brother. host: from viewers who would like to learn a lot from the two of you, the phone lines are open for the viewers to call in. phone lines as usual, republicans, independents, numbers on your screen.

brad, you said you are more likely to walk away at some point, but a lot of people in america choose to not even engage in the first place with family members they disagree with politically. there was a survey last month, 72% of americans hoped to avoid any political discussions this holiday with family members that they don't agree with. 38% said they plan to avoid family members they disagree with politically this holiday season. why is it better to engage and then walk away rather than not engaging at all? guest: i think it is important to engage. it was interesting, i was listening to some of your callers before we came on. you know this, you deal with it, listening, talking and moderating these calls every single day. we have, with respect to people who are active politically or who pay attention to politics, we have people just living with

separate sets of facts. there are people who still believe after, after a bunch of people in the government, senators, members of congress, neutral observers have come out to say those are airplanes over new jersey, a bunch of people believe for whatever reason, mostly on the right, people believing they are drones. we are just operating with two separate sets of facts. the results of that survey, i think, were sad. if we could operate with the same set of facts and then disagree on the policy solutions , which is what i think we were doing in the not way recent past, the last 15 or 20 years, but now we are not even agreeing on the same set of facts. we are not agreeing on the efficacy of vaccines, even though, even though it's been proven. the pope -- rfk's own allies want to withdraw approval for

the polio vaccine, even though that efficacy habit -- has been proven over and over again. that's a new set of not real facts, but people operating with a different set of beliefs, not even a separate set of facts, there's only one set of facts. dallas? so, i think that's one of the reasons people in that survey say they don't want to engage, because how can you have a conversation when people are not operating from the same set of facts? host: dallas? guest: i have a different answer. brad brought up the drones. one thing is when you have an administration that has so bald-faced lying. joe biden, his health was great. he's tap dancing. that's a problem. guest: that is -- that is -- host: hold on. what's he have to say? guest: i have to tell you, merry

christmas, no one is going to have a merry or christmas than jimmy carter. republicans win against him for 30 years and we will be running against the disgraceful end of the biden administration. now he's not around. we don't even have a functioning president at the moment. other than the president-elect. we make a living at this, right? we have to be able to turn it off. we cannot be consumed by all the time. i love my brother. i think he's misguided. i don't think these people. i know he's not. he's a good man, you know? it's a little different here in north carolina. i ran the republican party in north carolina. i tried to defeat a lot of democrats. i have friendly relationships with democrats across the aisle and in the legislature. i don't think they are bad people.

you know, i don't think -- brad and i, we are talking about it. ever since george h w bush won in 1988, kind of a third reagan term, otherwise the parties flip back and forth. clinton, bush, obama, trump, biden, trump. it's cyclical, you know? neither one of us -- you know, i don't believe that -- that this -- that this past election was the most important in my lifetime. i don't believe 2020 four was, i don't think 2016 was. they are all important, you know? i do believe in the fundamental greatness of the american people. guest: do you ever take a breath? guest: no. you know, i think, i thought biden was a horrific president. host: on that point, let me come

back, let me come back, let me come back to brad little bit. [excessive crosstalk] host: i've got plenty of callers waiting to talk to you as well. guest: here's why people don't want to engage in political discussions, it is the crap coming out of his mouth, the what about his him. you cannot believe the airplane -- the information coming out of the government because you think the administration may have lied about something else -- which is not true, by the way -- [excessive crosstalk] host: hold on, now. guest: people had eyes on president biden. everyone can make that assessment for themselves. by the way, i hope you try to run against joe biden for years. he has put in place the best economy of any industrialized country in the world. we have the lowest unemployment we have had in 50 years. lowest unemployment of blacks, latinos, we passed an infrastructure bill that was a running joke in the trump

administration. here's my prediction, here's my prediction -- two months from now, one month after he is sworn in as president, donald trump will be trying to take credit for the joe biden successes on infrastructure, on the economy, for the chips manufacturing. for low unemployment. by the way, the other thing joe biden did, he ended the pandemic that trump exacerbated through his failure. the biden legacy will be a lot -- host: let me bring you guys some calls here. guest: i want to see one final thing -- [excessive crosstalk] guest: we had an election, it's over, he lost, the american voters in the greek with anything he just said. host: honolulu, hawaii, kyle, early this morning, independent, good morning, you are on with the woodhouse brothers. caller: hello, gentlemen.

how are you doing? being from hawaii here, i don't think it's a matter of bridging a political divide. if this last election showed us anything is that a topic from the pres eat -- previous segment, the press really went up against trump and he still [excessive crosstalk] -- he still won. if there is a political divide that exists, its working in the sense that the american people are still going to make their own decision with everything. they say that trump is not a political party, it's a movement. we are seeing it. he got his second, he got his second term. he doesn't have to take credit for anything. he got validation with this reelection and he's going to do what he wants to end it looks

like he has started already. he's putting -- pardoning the j six people. that's big. that's big. it's going to get there. guest: that didn't sound much like the independent line. let's start with that. that would be a travesty for this country and for the rule of law, if he pardons the people who ransacked the capital, who crapped on nancy pelosi's task, injured 100 officers, some of whom died. that would be an absolute travesty for, for the american people. so look, donald trump was elected. he gets his shop. this was no mandate. this was no romp. he is now behind in the popular vote to the other candidates in the race. he was the winner in the key battleground states by 1.5

points or less. by less than one point in wisconsin. the democrats won four senate races in the states he won. we ran the candidate off the field in north carolina. we narrowed the majority. but the republicans have it in the house. at some point, when the people that he's nominated, you know, go through the nomination process, they will be down to about a one seat majority in the house for a number of months. you know, he's the president-elect. he will be the president. he will get to run his agenda. but this was no mandate for him. as a caller said. what the caller said is exactly one of the problems. donald trump can now do whatever he wants. host: dallas, let me give you johnny on the democratic line from cincinnati. johnny, go ahead. caller: yes. this is john. i'm just trying to understand

why, you know, at these dinner tables, people, these smart people you got, you got to smart guys up there now, throughout the campaign, you all have never really looked or tried to connect the dots. the republican party came on the scene and said it's wide open. every republican always said the border was wide open. because joe biden was there. and then once they got here, they said joe biden won't let them in here. that's crazy. host: dallas? guest: a couple of things i want to say about the biden administration, the entire reason for the biden candidacy

was to put an end to trump and trumpism. he ran the office in this clandestine way. trump is stronger than he's ever been. the biggest force in american politics by far, the biggest force in politics in the world. i agree with my brother that he cannot do whatever he wants. in some ways i feel like biden did that. like the voters didn't sign up for these big spending bills. they didn't sign up to be humiliated in afghanistan. it's interesting but my brother said and i agree with him, sort of getting back to policy debates. in a lot of ways we kind of did that, right? the democrats had to replace president biden with miss harris. they already knew the flaws of trump and the things they didn't like about them. what drove the election? immigration, inflation, the

economy, and crime. those are important issues. it happens to be that the democratic positions as perceived by the american public were on the losing side of that. host: coming up on 9:30 on the east coast and we are chatting this morning with brad and dallas woodhouse, two brothers on opposite sides of the political divide. guest: one thing i want to add and i think brad would agree with me, this mystery of bridging the political divide, that's what a legislative body does. the house in the senate, bridging the divide. it's not that brad and i need to bridge a political divide. it's the ability to have a rational conversation, maybe get animated, disagree, and walk away friends and not think, not

think you know that the other person is people, bad, going to hell because we disagree politically. i think bridging the political divide is kind of a misnomer. host: how did you end up on opposite sides of the political divide? guest: well, my brother is older. he was certainly more conservative when he was younger. i grew up through the reagan years. you know, he was my personal hero. brad went to washington. i think he was always, you know, i never really thought of them as a liberal. by the way, i think my brother is very good at what he does. he would never say this, but i suspect when they were having these calls around washington, d.c., the biden people, the harris people, if they had listened to him a little more, they would have done a little better. maybe a lot. maybe not enough to win, but he

could have helped more if they had listened to him. i'm just a more conservative person, you know? he went to washington and as i said many times when this question comes up, nothing good happens when people go to washington. host: is that fair, brad? guest: you know, i started in politics as a, as a democrat. my mom is a democrat. our parents are democrats. we grew up -- my father changed parties over the years. he was a democrat than he became a helms republican and a ross perot independent. he was like a -- i'm going to vote for the best person. kind of what he thought was the best person, he migrated to that political party. i began as a volunteer for david price, now a former member of congress from north carolina. i have been a democrat my entire career. you know, i don't even think

about ideology as much. conservative, conservative liberal, progressive. i think that the government is here to do a few things. one, protect and defend and provide for, for security. but i think it is to help the least among us. i mean if government is not helping to level the playing field -- like right now, we have -- dallas, you wanted to defend this position, we have the republican party drafting a budget bill for next year right now which will take medicaid away from poor people so that elon musk gets the benefit of the trump tax cuts being extended. to me that is just the wrong priorities for the, for the american people, for the people on medicaid. not with elon musk. that's what makes me a democrat. host: a minute ago you mentioned

your mother. it was about this exact time when you appeared on the program last time, 10 years ago, your mother called into this program. joyce woodhouse is her name. this is that moment from 10 years ago. [video clip] >> you are right that i'm from down south. >> oh gosh, it's mom. >> i am your mother. i disagree that all families are like ours. i don't know many families that are fighting at thanksgiving. quick sets are mom. facts i was very glad that this thanksgiving was the year that you two were supposed to go to your in-laws. i'm hoping you will have some of this out of your system when you come here for christmas. >> we were not together this thanksgiving. we are most years. >> i love you both and i would like a peaceful christmas. host: dallas woodhouse, you mentioned your mom. how is she doing?

guest: still sharp as a tack. doesn't quite get along as good as she did, but neither do brad and i. i have noticed of that on that clip, she said she loves us both. she didn't say she didn't say she loves us both equally. for the record. we know who she loves more. when brad comes to town -- you never -- one thing i want to say about that flick that is interesting, i always remember it -- it did not sound to me at the time like it does when you play the clip. in other words, steve scully said we've got a call from raleigh, north carolina, that's all i heard. then he said the name joy -- joy is my sister, my mom is joyce. my sister wasn't living there at the time, but i didn't hear the name. all i heard was raleigh -- i

thought someone from down south. that's what surprised me so much. i mean the clip is a big part of me going -- gosh, it's mom. such a shock. host: i promise you that if a joyce from north carolina calls and in the next half-hour, we will bumper to the top. in the meantime let's talk to earl in redding, california, you are on with the woodhouse boys. caller: thank you very much. i find this a very interesting discussion with these two gentlemen. i got motivated to call today -- i tried to call every 30 days. i'm an agent orange volunteer. guest: thank you for your service. caller: thank you. i live on social security and a veterans agent orange, ok? here are some facts i want to share with brad.

he's big on facts. tell me if i'm wrong, please, both of you, i will get off the phone, but i want to give you a couple of facts that i see. i lost 20% of my fixed income in the last four years. that's a fact, ok? that's $2000. 2000 that i donated to homeless and veterans and to help people, you know, deal with wounded, what have you, and i can't do anymore. another fact is -- for two years we listen to adam schiff pushing russia, russia, russia. was i on the same planet as you two? is that what happened? it turned out to be alive? and then you want to call this an insurrection? you know, here's a bunch of people that believe in the second amendment and nobody brought any guns to the insurrection? is that what happened? guest: let me just say this

caller -- caller: no, no, let me finish. let me finish. i'm almost done. i'm almost done. black lives matter, these other organizations, for two years, locking policeman up in their own police station and setting it on fire? where were those prosecutions, gentlemen? host: brad, he originally addressed you on that. guest: i don't know how we lost $2000 on his fixed income. i will say this, joe biden didn't cut social security. donald trump will. joe biden didn't cut medicaid. president trump will, almost certainly. there were weapons, many, many weapons. guest: can't we both say -- guest: no. hold on.

[excessive crosstalk] guest: hold on. he addressed all of these questions, but he's not living in facts. many people and black lives matter were prosecuted after that. yes, there were weapons on january 6. this is the whole thing. we are not operating from the same set of facts. i honor him for his service but i think he's wrong to get -- wrong about the insurrection. there were definitely weapons confiscated. by the way, beating the police officer with a flag pole? that's a weapon. host: william, georgia, outline for democrats. caller: good morning, fellas. i think that brad hit it early on in the conversation when he said we can't agree on the same set of facts. i think the reason we cannot is

because the facts don't line up well for the republican party. you guys just elected a convicted felon who was awaiting sentencing over a prosecutor. that alone is ridiculous. not looking at the sexual assault allegations that he had that he was found liable for. the exit out of afghanistan, you guys bring that up all the time, that was all set up by donald trump's failure in his surrender to the taliban leading to the collapse of the afghan government. so, you guys are very selective on what facts you want to get detailed with. usually those are conspiracy theories and not really facts. host: dallas? guest: i will say this, november facts lined up well for us. host: do the two of you have children? guest: yes, i have two boys. i have a son in college, nc

state freshman. another thing that unifies me and brad, we are both big wolf packers. i have another son who's home and of driving age. brad can talk you about his wonderful son who i guess we'll be going to college next year. i hope he comes down here and i can see him more. he has a daughter who is tough around the hockey rink. she can knock it over and get the best that hockey rink and i'm excited about that, she's tough as nails and it makes me think she will be a republican. [laughter] host: do they have political leanings? do you talk politics with your kids, your nephews and nieces? guest: i don't talk politics with dallas's children and i don't principally talk politics with my children. i've never been the one who feels a need to indoctrinate my kids to be like me or to take my positions. my wife takes a bit of it

different view. she's have more conversations about politics and i've had to. my children, and i believe dallas's of children as well, are fiercely independent. they will decide for themselves. they are not going to be swayed. i will say one thing that does really concerned me about our politics in about my children, that is the amount of misinformation, disinformation that is fed online. you know, my kids are online. i know that dallas's kids are online. i know it something that parents struggle with. i know i struggled with it. that is a big, big concern of mine. you know? look, i have a son getting ready to graduate high school and go to college. he will be 18 in may. he will be an adult and can make a decision about how online he is and the information he believes and doesn't believe,

but that is a real challenge for parents in this, in this modern era. guest: we should get the opinion of the caller about where he should go to college? guest: doesn't know yet. he has applied to a lot of places. institutions in north carolina and across the country. he's been a great student. guest: we would love to have them. brad is a great father and a great brother. guest: you are a terrific father and a good son. guest: he is right about our, our kids being fiercely independent. i will tell you, that is an extension for my mother. she is fiercely independent like you have never seen. we talk a lot about our mother and yes, our mother and father raised us to be politically

active, to be politically minded, to be civic engaged. civicly engaged. we have an autistic nephew. my sister's child. lives here in north carolina. after the tremendous publicity we got out of c-span and mom calling, we were able to do an event years ago to help raise money for the autism society which was great. but i will tell you something else about my mother that i think is really incredible, she installed something in us. we were talking about our kids being fiercely independent. i love brad's wife to death. she's fiercely independent, strong. my wife, christine, she's fiercely independent, strong, hard-nosed, you know?

i don't think that guys like us could have been ready to marry, love, and accompany these strong women in our lives if we had not had the, the model and the learning experience from our own mother who is that way. i think of that as one of the great gifts that mom gave both of us. host: joyce, if you are watching out there, we say hello to you and hope you are doing well. we will see if we can keep it civil until 10:00. ted, independent line, minneapolis, good morning. caller: i wanted to talk about bridging back the political divide. it's almost impossible. especially when you have all of these propaganda tv stations going on right now. fox news is a commentary. cnbc is a commentary. now you've got problems with

these other channels, also. these lawsuits that are going on. it's just gotten to be pretty crazy. what i would really like to speak about is the national debt. i think that if you look at how this country is going in the hole so bad, it's really the white elephant in the group. nobody wants to speak about it. i will never understand how the democrats and the republicans cannot get together and get this thing under control. host: dallas? guest: the simple answer is that it requires really hard choices in washington. i agree with the caller concerns. guest: i will say this about the national debt, you can thank trump for a big part of it. $6 trillion in -- $6 trillion

from the first trump tax cut, extending it will costs another $4 trillion. host: money we should be spending. -- guest: money we should be spending. guest: we are cutting taxes but we continue to spend the money so it balloons the national debt and it balloons the deficit. if we were going to continue to spend that money, spend that money on national defense, health care and all these other things, we shouldn't be cutting taxes by $4 trillion and cutting medicaid to boot. guest: let me say something about that, i don't want to get into a big discussion about health care, but going back many years ago when brad and i started these conversations, 2009, 2010, brad reminded me of something that he was right about. something that he said in the past, that people would like it. i don't know if they like it, but i will say, to me here are

the two legacies of the obamacare thing. one, if you really look at it, you hear about all the market exchanges and all of that, a minimal amount of people get their insurance through that. over 20 -- [excessive crosstalk] guest: over 20 million -- guest: right now the federal government, something they won't continue to do is pay more for the expanded part of medicaid where they put 25 and 30-year-old single able-bodied men of working age on medicaid, then we pay for sick and pregnant poor people, the creation of medicaid. [excessive crosstalk] guest: you are making -- [excessive crosstalk] guest: they consolidated the

health care market. pharmacies, though -- they are merging everywhere and they just wrung out all the competition. remember all the obamacare lies? you can keep your doctor? live. live. you can't disagree with things that obama said that were not true. host: brad, then we will get to more calls. guest: everything he just said is alive. 20 million people get their health care through the marketplace. 25 million have gotten it through expanded medicaid. every state in the country where medicaid has been expanded, the economy is stronger and we have seen a reduction in chronic diseases, everything from heart disease to diabetes. and then what he's saying is something not true. yes, we have stronger health care in this country but ending

the ability of medicare to negotiate for seniors and repealing the affordable care act is not going to make health care better. enhancing and expanding those programs, bringing more people coverage at lower costs is the way to do it. host: i'm sure we could have a health care discussion for the rest of the segment. jack, hamilton, ohio, republican, good morning. caller: hey, you guys have really made my day. to dallas i would like to say -- dallas, you have been so complementary to your brother and his family. you have been conciliatory. your brother is nothing but mad and angry. i'm thinking you are not getting inviting -- invited to christmas dinner. guest: the christmas dinner is at my house. you know? my brother is a fierce advocate. if he gets an hour on national television, he's going to keep fighting for health care.

he's going to fight for what he believes and that's fine. i know how much i mean to him. guest: look, first of all, to the caller, i set on this program i think he's an excellent father, he's an excellent son to his mother. he is an excellent brother to me. i love dallas, 11 fiercely. host: you said that it is important to engage and establish that you are spending christmas together. is there a time limit to engaging, though? is it one day? is five days too many? guest: i think five days is a lot. i think about this as like moments when you are together were on the phone where you engage for a few minutes. at some point, like dallas here, dominates the discussion, interrupts, drones on, and at some point it's enough. you have to call a timeout. i think it is important to try.

it is important to try. if we didn't try to engage one another in political discussion, we would have a hard time having a relationship. fortunately, we have a relationship. guest: politics is not the most important thing in my life. i work in it, i believe in it. but you know, i go to church at 9:30 on sundays to get my salvation. politics is not the be-all and end-all. we used to take long trips together, political differences, but we were just fine. brad and i are always busy with our kids, which we love. older into retirement age, i hope we can do that again. then we will move on to shuffleboard, maybe go on a cruise. if i get out of hand, he will

throw my ass overboard and it wouldn't be a terrible way to go. it's what the government does to you when you are on government health care, anyway. host: this is raymond, florida, on the line for democrats. raymond, go ahead. caller: guys, how are you? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: political divide, you kind of need it. if you want to be the u.s., there has to be a divide. multiple opinions on the -- on separate sides, if not it would be russia or north korea. even being a democrat, the gentleman who called from california who wanted to know where the $2000 went in the fixed income, that's disingenuous saying you don't know where it came from. doing basic math, that guy probably spends $100 per week, 20,000 -- 20% inflation.

throw in the gas. i don't want to talk about all the other discretionary things or gentleman has to do -- deal with. don't do that to that guy. he's a veteran out there working hard and you are saying it's not reality and its a lot of the reason you guys lost. guest: brad didn't say it wasn't reality, he just said he didn't -- guest: dallas, dallas, for god sake. i wasn't questioning whether or not he had lost $2000, but i didn't know what he was, what he was referring to and i did say, and i do say, that i appreciate his service. host: george, michigan, independent, you are on with the woodhouse boys. caller: you guys are brothers, you look like you don't even know each other, just separate sides of the fence. one word answer. dallas, do you love brad?

guest: more than you can imagine. caller: brad, do you love dallas? guest: yes. caller: why are you guys bickering so much, then? this is what's wrong with the country. stop, guys. stop, please. this is my time. stop. stop talking so i can have my time. i don't have much time. host: we are hearing you, but let me let the gentleman respond. go ahead. guest: well i actually [excessive crosstalk] guest: we need these discussions. brad, i, you know, brad and i can bicker in disagree and move on. that's the problem. it's not disagreeing. i agree with the caller that said elections are not really necessarily supposed to be unifying, right? they are a way to count which

side won. we have a healthy democracy. i don't think that democracy is under threat. democracy is good. host: one of the viewers on twitter wants to know if there are any issues that the two of you agree on. guest: political issues? none that i can think of. one thing that i think that people don't appreciate about congress is there are a lot of high profile, high profile disagreements. there is a lot of disagreement on a lot of those issues. but they also get a lot done. it's like dallas said, at one point they have to agree on a funding bill in appropriations. they always agree on reauthorizing our national defense strategy, our national defense authorization. i'm sure that if you went down

every issue under the sun, you could probably find more things we agree on then you might, but there have been some real issues in this country, the future of health care being top of mind, top of mind for me, that i don't think you would find much agreement from us on. host: five minutes left. cookie, good morning. caller: hi, jon. thank you for c-span. i've been watching for years. i think that dallas has a big problem with a big brother. always trying to override what he says. i'm with you, brad. i think your mission is worthy. hang in there. thank you. guest: thank you, i appreciate it. host: dallas, any response? guest: it is not just my brother

i try to override. [laughter] host: do you think that people try to psychoanalyze your relationship too much? guest: people can do what they want. we have had our story told a number of times. i hope that people can, can learn that the people that unites us is love. love for our mother, love for our deceased father, her sister and all the kids in the family. love for speech, love for nc state university, love for the country. we don't have to believe the same path to get us to the same place. like i said, i'm fortunate. i will be fortunate to see brad at christmas. no matter what, the disagreement is -- no matter what the disagreement is, we will go out and throw the football with the kids, watch whatever game is on tv and have a nice christmas. we always do.

the only reason i would want to go to washington is to see him, not anything else. i think again, there is a way to disagree and not walk away mad. we do it all the time. host: brad woodhouse, why is it so hard for americans to believe what's being described? love of country was one of the things he mentioned. why is it harder for people to seem to be able to do now? guest: i think it is partly because people are in particular more engaged in politics and i don't know that it is true that all americans are that divided and cannot appreciate love of country and patriotism. i hope that's not the case. i think that we live in a

country where people get their information from a source and that source tells them that the other side is wrong, tells them the other side's people, that the other side is lying. really strong language. people, i don't want to say brainwashed, but people accept it as a fact, you know, that one side of the political divide is terrible and the other side is righteous. i think it can sometimes get hard to get beyond. some of these things mean so much. take mom. mom is not politically active. the health care issue was really personal to her. personal for the reason that dallas brought up earlier. we have an autistic nephew who, no telling what he would do if he didn't have access to medicaid. it's something she's very

passionate about and i might be hard for her to get over someone who disagrees on something like that to get to the other things. guest: putting 25-year-old men on medicaid threatens my nephew, that's my issue. host: we will let the little brother have the last word for now. we will -- we will see what happens at christmas. guest: why should it be any different, he always gets the last word. host: brad woodhouse, dallas woodhouse, thanks so much to both of you. merry christmas. guest: merry christmas. host: we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. eastern, 4 a.m. pacific time. have a great monday. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024]

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