♪ host: good morning, it is tuesday, december 30 first, the

final washington journal of 2024. we will end the year by looking back as the other was in politics. we will spend three hours hearing from you about your top political story of 2024. to join the conversation, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can send a text, (202) 748-8003. if you do, include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media. on x, @cspanwj. on facebook, facebook.com/c-span. you can start calling in now. it was a momentous 2020 four. c-span networks from gavel-to-gavel coverage of the house and senate, landmark supreme court cases, and an historic presidential election. here is a into pure compilation, looking back on the other was on

the c-span network. >> my name is jason, but i am known as jellyroll. >> my name is brett favre. >> i am the ceo of tiktok. >> have you apologized to the victims? would you like to do so now? they are here. you are on national television. would you like now to apologize to the victims? >> all eyes are on iowa. >> i am suspending my campaign. >> the new hampshire primary. >> the time has come to suspend my campaign. >> did not qualify as insurrection. >> this will be my last term is the republican leader of the senate. >> it is not how old we are, it is how old our ideas. >> it does bring people together. >> without presidential immunity from prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know it. >> the republican-led house will

not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill. >> on this vote, 311-312, passed. >> declaring the office of the speaker of the house representative to be vacant. >> the yays 359, 47 with seven answering present. >> hopefully this is the end of personality politics. >> this is being televised live on c-span. >> for the next 90 minutes will be live from a new exhibition. >> what is so great about c-span is, you hear every side. >> this was a rigged, disgraceful trial. the real verdict will be november 5. >> we would be well-served to remember the long, cherished tradition we have in this country of settling our political differences at the ballot box.

>> today's decision almost certainly means there are virtually no limits to what a president can do. >> look, if we finally beat medicare -- >> it was a bad night. >> trying to push me out of the race. i'm staying in the race. [gunfire] >> speaking tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics. >> the most significant operational failure of the secret service in decades. ♪ ♪ >> i proudly accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> i decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. ♪ >> just over 100 days before an

election, democrat party bosses forced joe biden off the ballot. >> the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. no place in america for antisemitism. >> give us the tools faster and we will finish the job faster. >> here to nominate kamala harris. >> i accept your nomination to be president of the united states. >> you know what that means? >> i am talking now, if you don't mind, please. does that sound familiar? she went out -- never touched by human hands. >> certainly falls into the general definition of fascist. >> a good-looking group. hello, everybody. >> there is a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean now. i think it is called puerto rico.

♪ >> thanks for being with us on election night. >> look what happened. >> this will truly be the golden age of america. >> the outcome of this election is not what we wanted. >> democrats have fallen a few seats short. >> we will raise an america first banner about this place. >> a new day in the united states senate and in america. >> politics is tough. medication is not a nice world, but it is a nice world today. the transition will be a smooth as it can get. i very much appreciate it. >> you're welcome. thank you all. host: that compilation is available on c-span's youtube page, all of our social media sites. this morning on the washington journal, we are asking you what

your top political story of 2024 was in the year that was. republicans, democrats, and independents, phone lines as usual. we are spending three hours december 31 with you, taking your calls. we are starting in baltimore, maryland with will on the line for democrats. caller: good morning, c-span. i would like to talk about jimmy carter. yesterday, your program focused on jimmy carter. a lot of callers called in and were basically calling jimmy carter a lousy president, the worst president. i'm here to set the record straight. ronald reagan sabotaged jimmy carter's efforts to free the hostages. he swore not to negotiate with terrorists, but as you remember, the american hostages were freed

on inauguration day. ronald reagan's inauguration day. in it the dots. jimmy carter, no matter what he did, couldn't free the hostages, but they were freed on ronald reagan's inauguration day. we later found out he sent american weapons to iran. lying to the american people that we would not negotiate with the terrorists. facts. we later found out it came to be called iran contra sale. he funded the contras in nicaragua against the army by smuggling cocaine into america, crack cocaine smothered all the urban american cities, destroying generation of young black and brown people and some white americans. america, when you judge jimmy carter and you call him the worst president, know for a fact that ronald reagan sabotaged

this honorable man. ronald reagan is your worst president. host: will in baltimore, maryland. the front page of usa today focusing on the late president jimmy carter. simple decency is the headline. farewells to jimmy carter poor in from plains, georgia and around the world. president biden declaring january 9 a day of mourning, ordering flags to fly at half staff from 30 days from sunday. jimmy carter will lie in state at the u.s. capitol starting january 7. events planned from plains, georgia to here in washington, d.c. and a state funeral being held. joe biden will be giving a eulogy at the funeral on january 9. details coming out yesterday. asking you for your top political story of the year. this is glenn in corpus christi, texas, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning c-span.

new year's eve. my top story this year was donald trump won the election to be president. the vote on friday is the most important vote of the 25th year. the republicans, some of the republicans, are going to sabotage the vote for speaker of the house. their ego is too big, and the unity of the republican party is going to be broken. this leaves the door open for the democrats to get a speaker in the house, and that man is going to be hakeem jeffries. the republicans are very, let's say they are not, they just have a slim majority in the house, and that has been broken by the senile, i guess you could call

them, egos stripped jokers that are going to sabotage the republican speaker of the house. that is going to be a damage to donald trump's policies, because the democrats will not pass anything that donald trump puts down in the house to pass. this is the most important vote of the 25th year. and friday is going to be a sad day if the republicans don't vote for johnson to be speaker of the house. host: 119th congress meets at noon on friday. that first vote in the house of representatives is for who will be speaker in the 100 19th congress. yesterday president donald trump endorsing speaker mike johnson for another term. as the wall street journal notes, johnson worked the phones to try to tamp down rumblings of republicans who suggest

republican seek an alternative leader. "johnson is a hard-working religious man who will do the right thing and we will continue to win," trump said on his social media page. a prominent johnson critic, the republican of kentucky, has said he was unmoved by the trump endorsement, reiterating on monday he would oppose johnson for speaker. several other said that they were undecided. one more defection could cost johnson the speakership. we will see what happens. you can watch with us on c-span on friday at noon eastern when the new congress meets. your top political story of the year, this is lewis in colorado, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning, jon. my top three. number three, probably the election. really important. the same reason i voted for traub in 2016 -- trump in 2016.

the supreme court. number two, the corruption in washington, including the media. i'm enjoying watching the media try to survive the sheer cover-up of biden's failing everything. and most importantly, jon, the number one story has been since the invasion the attack in israel the hostages being held by the terrorist organization known as the palestinians. that is my top story. the palestinians holding americans hostages still to this day. host: you bring up the election. what was, for you, the key moment in the election? what was a turning point that you think will be remembered when election 2024 is written about in history books? caller: that is a tough one.

it could be the debates. it could be trump getting shot. it could be the cover-up up the assassination attempts. there in the pennsylvania. so, probably the debate. i'm going to go with the debates probably the turning point. it was a massive exposure of the cover-up and corruption in washington. host: louis in colorado. this is one of those key moments from that cnn debate in june between joe biden and donald trump. [video clip] pres. biden: for example, we have 1000 billionaires in america, they are in a situation where they pay 8.2% in taxes. if they pay 24%, 25%, they would raise $500 million -- billion

dollars, i should say come in a 10-year period. we would wipe out debt. we would make sure that all the things we need to do, child, eldercare, continuing to strengthen our health care system, making sure that we are able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i have been able to do with the covid -- excuse me, dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if we finally beat medicare. >> thank you, president biden. mr. trump: he did beat medicaid, he beat it to death, and he is destroying medicare. host: the headline from the washington times, their look back on 2024, noting that biden's declining abilities were in the spotlight only after the debate, noting wilson in her story, that the country started to take note of his mental

decline but the worry about his abilities or lack thereof was not on the front pages until the june 20 seventh debate against then-republican presidential nominee donald trump. this is jazzman in west frankfort, illinois, republican, go ahead. caller: my favorite one was when donald trump -- actually two. the mcdonald's cohort. then, when he got elected again for the presidency. also, i got cards from him signed personally by him. i really appreciate that, mr. trump. i'm so glad we got him again. host: what was it about donald trump at that drive-through window at that mcdonald's in

pennsylvania? caller: i think it was great he could go out there and show other people that he can do more than just presidency stuff. he can go and show people that he's got heart. host: jasmine in illinois. anthony in detroit. independent. political moment of 2024? caller: i guess it wasn't one single moment, but every day it is the images of what the united states is backing in israel and gaza. it is an industrial scale of slaughtering and killing. that hung over biden's presidency and overshadowed everything he's done in the last two years. now it's trump's problem.

is he going to put america first or israel first? it remains to be seen. host: what you think of donald trump's relationship and how he will deal with benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister? caller: i think he took a lot of money from miriam adelson, who has a big interest in that topic. so, i don't think it will be very peaceful. he will give israel what they want. host: what did you think when benjamin netanyahu spoke before a joint session of congress this year? caller: disgraceful. here disgrace -- pure disgrace. host: here are some of that speech from back in july. [video clip] >> from what we know israel is funding the anti-israel protests going on outside this building. not that many, but they are there, and throughout the cities. at the message for these protesters. when the tyrants of tehran, who

murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting, and funding you you have become iran's useful idiots. [cheering and applause] some of these protesters, it's amazing, absolutely amazing, some of these protesters hold up signs protesting gays for gaza. they might as well hold up signs saying chickens for kfc. [applause] these protesters chant "from the river to the sea," but many

don't have a clue what river and what sea they are talking about. they not only get an f in geography but an f in history. they called israel a colonial state. don't they know that the land of israel is where abraham, isaac, and jacob raised, jeremiah preached, and david and solomon ruled? [applause] for nearly 4000 years, the land of israel has been the homeland of the jewish people. it has always been our home. it will always be our home. host: benjamin netanyahu in the house chamber five months ago

back in july, july 20 fourth, 20 24. we are asking what your top political story of this year was. taking your phone calls all morning long on the washington journal. this is kevin in the show me state of missouri. democrat. go ahead. caller: am i on? host: yes, sir. caller: i think the biggest was when trump got shot. that guy, thomas kurt, i believe his name was -- host: i apologize for those comments. independent, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. two top stories for me. one was the election and the other was the book written by the former chief of the united states capitol police about pointing out clearly what took

place on january 6. i think that is still a big story for this year. it was conspiracy by outside forces, and competence by government bureaucracy, the optics by political perspectives -- politicians perspectives, and the ignorance of nancy pelosi and donald trump. i think those things really put our nation in a bad position. still at hand today. the former chief of capitol police lays it out well in his book, courage under fire. host: the definitive account from inside the capitol on january 6, that is the book by the former chief of the capitol police. dd know much about him before the book? caller: only what we saw on the television where pelosi and several other politicians, and i am an independent.

i like to be a political as much as possible but i only knew about his disgraceful release and that he was a good, useful idiot for them. he was a useful idiot for them to throw him under the bus and try to avoid any responsibility on their own. host: what you think of the folks convicted of various crimes related to january 6? caller: amazingly enough, on our podcast this year i'm cooking up a story. i had to bite my lip all day long just to try to keep him talking instead of throwing out my opinion on it. i think that is totally disgraceful that a lot of terrible, terrible, terrible , terrible dark things happened to us as american citizens that day. in of them -- any of them who did anything criminal should be in jail and stay in jail. those who didn't should be

rounded up and taken in because of their useful idiotness themselves of being caught in the moment of, ain't this cool. not that it might be wrong, but they might be over-punished. that is kind of how it is. host: you run a podcast? caller: yes, we have a great podcast. we have 56, 50,000 viewers. it is called cooking up a story. it is mostly with people who are former first responders, military, police. there are also other things on there that are more fun, a lot more fun, but it is a good insight and actually giving people healing moments where they've had a chance to share their stories. there is a gentleman who had his leg blown off in afghanistan or iraq, i can't remember, and he didn't cry then, but he had tears in his eyes when he shared

the story. host: why did you start a podcast? are you still with us? i think we lost bill in arkansas. the podcast is cooking up a story, i believe he said. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i find it amazing that no one has really brought up the most important story. the treasonous donnie who tried to take over the country with not only the capitol riot but with the false electors and other things that he has done. no other person hasver tried to take over the country. if you or i ever tried to do the same thing that he has done, we would be in prison for the rest of our life. host: you think he is taking over the presidency come january 20?

he will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the united states. what you think about the 2024 election? what you think was the key moment in the election? caller: i don't know. you have a guy who is on stage talking about the size of arnold palmer and giving a blow-job to the microphone. i have no idea how anyone could have voted for this person. he is an idiot. i think our country is in grave danger with all of the people he is trying to put into, underneath him. i really hope and pray that our country survives this guy who actually tried to turn us into a communist country once and i think you will do it again. host: he will give his inaugural address monday, january 20. on election night he addressed the nation after being declared the winner of the 2024 election.

[video clip] >> thank you, very much. wow. [chanting "usa"] well, i want to thank you all very much. these are our friends. we have thousands of friends in this incredible movement. this is a movement like nobody has ever seen before. and, frankly, this was, i believe, the greatest political movement of all time. there has never been anything like this in this country and maybe the world. now, it is going to reach a new level of importance, because we are going to help our country heal. help our country heal. we have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly. we are going to fix our borders.

we are going to fix everything about our country. we made history for a reason tonight. the reason is going to be just that. we overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it is now clear that we have achieved the most incredible political -- look what happened. [applause] host: november 6, 2024. we're looking back at the year that was in politics, asking you for your top political story. john in troy, new york. republican. caller: happy new year. host: happy new year to you. caller: the two biggest stories in my opinion were the debate and the border. the democrats were showing everybody, telling everybody that the border was on --

was under control. all you had to do was turn on your tv and you could see 300,000 people storming the border every month. the last call from pennsylvania when you said that trump will be terrible, the opposite is true. i don't think the country as we know it today would have survived another four years of buying and. the second was the debate. the democrats and the media to a large extent were covering up his dementia. it was pretty obvious to me. i have a parent who experienced something similar. it was obvious to me the last two years something was going on with the by then. once his walls were down, his protectors were not around, when he was on stage in the debate, it was plainly obvious that the democrats were lying about biden's mental condition with joe scarborough saying that he was the sharpest that he had ever been and all of the other bs. the democrats were lying about the border and lying about biden's mental condition. on top of that, he was the most

incompetent president in my lifetime and i'm over 60. whereas jimmy carter was overwhelmed by debates, biden was the cause of a lot of problems for the border. he caused the inflation with his $2 trillion spending plan. host: you have a lot of criticism of the media when it comes to the joe biden and how they portray joe biden. you said every time you turned on the tv you could see what was happening on the border. do you think that the media did a good job of covering the border story? caller: i will be honest. i would watch msnbc and fox news. you could see it on fox news. msnbc completely ignored it. the major networks paid minimal attention to it and it was a huge problem. there are people sleeping on the streets of new york city now. these are just unvetted, let them all in. biden and mayorkas say they need

more money for the order. -- for the border. so it wasn't such and i -- such an eye sore seeing people piled up around the border. fox news would report on in every day or every couple of days. you could see. to deny it, for the democrats to say that it wasn't at issue , or that it was under control, was telling you the sky was orange, not blue. the same for biden's mental condition. it was plainly obvious. the blank stare, the fumbling, the stumbling. it was just his condition was plainly obvious. if they were lying about those things, what else were they lying about? host: got your point. to the volunteer state, this is charles in memphis, democrat, good morning. caller: yes. i agree with everything that the caller from pennsylvania said.

we have a convicted felon in office. how could we do that? how can we live with that? i would also like to see the trump and harris debate. play that. you never do. host: charles, what do you think was the key moment in the election? wise donald trump going to be the 47th president of the united states? are you with us still? i think we lost charles. rome, new york, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. guest: host: what you th the top political -- what you think the top political story of the year was? caller: two, the top supreme court decision that the president is immune from what he does in office. the other one is, what is being talked about, to eliminate

birthright citizenship. i think those two things, the supreme court fundamentally changed the basis of what is america, that no man is above the law. the supreme court just put someone above the law. to end birthright citizenship, that too goes back to the founding fathers that made americans become americans. why people wanted to come here. host: what do you think of the supreme court? caller: well, the supreme court already put donald trump above the law. the members of the supreme court don't even have to follow the rules that the lower federal judges have to follow. when someone says, when you have

two maybe three supreme court justices who have accepted gifts that none of us can imagine and say, oh well. what are you going to do about it? host: this was president biden after the supreme court's final decisions of the term in july expressing his concerns about the direction of the supreme court. [video clip] pres. biden: this nation is founded on the principle that there are no kings in america. each of us is equal before the law. no one is above the law. not even the president of the united states. today's supreme court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed for all practical purposes. today's decision means there are virtually no limits on what the president can do. this is a fundamentally new

principal and a dangerous precedent. the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the supreme court of the united states. the only limits will be self imposed by the president. this decision today has continued the court's attack in recent years on long-established principles in the united states. from gutting civil rights, to taking away the woman's right to choose, to today's decision that undermines the rule of law of this nation. four years ago my predecessor sent a violent mob to the u.s. capitol to stop the peaceful transition of power. we saw with our own eyes. we watched it happen that day. an attack on the police, the ransacking of the capitol, the mob hunting down the house

speaker nancy pelosi, the gallows erected to hang vice president mike pence. now that man has in the mob to the u.s. capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day. the american people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election. the public has a right to know the answer about what happened on january 6 before they are asked to vote again this year. now, because of today's decision, that is highly, highly unlikely. host: president biden on july 1, 2024. asking you for your top political story of the year. the phone lines for you to call in. looking for your texts and social media posts. lisa writing in, saying that it was the trump assassination attempt. i believe the media wasn't talking about a week later the story that led was joe biden's terrible debate performance.

democrats got a better candidate is still failed to win over independents. anthony saying i can't choose between the genocide of the palestinian people and democrats stealing the 2024 primary from their voters. donald trump convicted of all 34 felony accounts and wins the presidential election. i still can't choose. matthew saying that it was president trump's election victory after impeachment and politically-motivated felony convictions and surviving an assassination attempt. many experts on social media told me that he would be in jail by now. looking for your comments and phone calls. talking to you all morning on the washington journal. chris, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning. it seems to the most important stories have been elephants in the room. they have been non-stories. preeminent among them is having a foreign policy establishment

that has been pathologically attached to playing a game of nuclear chicken with russia. the fact that we are so upset to the point of minimizing the risk of nuclear war with our obsession of using ukraine as a means to unseat pruden is appalling -- unseat putin is appalling. not far behind is the demolition of gaza, and how we have had our military fingerprints all over that demolition, and the death and carnage that has gone with it. and kind of attached to that, is leaving our border open while provoking the muslim world, who

has a reputation for terrorism. while we are doing this in gaza. host: on ukraine, what you think happened with the war in ukraine next year after donald trump assumes the presidency? where do you think this goes? caller: whew! i am hoping for the best. that is the big question. there are reasons to hope. of course, mr. trump is the only candidate saying anything about the risk of world war iii. he had that going for him. he seems to be willing to talk to mr. putin. mr. putin seems to be willing to talk to mr. trump.

our obsession with putin is beyond repair. much of the russiagate hopes were about preserving the illusion of putin as some grand, demonic energy of the united states as if it were still the cold war. host: do think vladimir putin is someone that the united states can work with? caller: of course. i mean, why wouldn't we? all he wants is to not have ukraine join nato. all he wants is not to have western military forces on his doorstep, just as we wouldn't want soviet military forces on

our doorstep in the 1960's. host: it was in the fall that donald trump met with volodymyr zelenskyy to talk about the future of u.s. support for ukraine. here's a little of what he had to say coming out of that meeting. [video clip] >> we will see how it works out, hopefully it will work out, if it does we will work very much with both parties to try to get this settlement, and try to get it worked out. it has to end at some point. he is going through hell, this country is going through hell. like it has happened anywhere. no one has seen anything like it. a terrible situation. i will say, had a great relationship. it was very honorable. when they did the impeachment hoax, it was a hoax. a democrat hoax, which we won. one reason we won so easily as when the president was asked, it was a phone call over the

president, he said, he could grant that, but he didn't do that. he said, president trump did absolutely nothing wrong. he said it loud and clear. the impeachment hoax died right there. he could have said, i don't know. i will tell you this, he was, it was like a piece of steel. he said president trump did nothing wrong. we had a very nice call. he congratulated me. i remember that. he could have played cute. he didn't play cute, so i appreciated that. we had a very good relationship. have a good relationship with president putin. we win, i think we will get it resolved very quickly. host: then-candidate now president-elect trump.

brooklyn, new york, independent, go ahead. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. what is your top political story of the year? caller: good morning, foundational black america. my top story is the election. i love the fact that 10 million black men did not vote. kind of skipping over the fact that a black man got killed in the correctional facility in upstate new york. the man got killed by six white supremacists and nobody is reporting that on c-span. more importantly, the election was the most important thing. it showed our power. it showed black men's power by not even voting. look what they did. they blamed it on us, on black men. obama did it, oprah did it,

everybody blamed the black men. they're still killing us on the street. they are killing us while we are in custody of the penitentiary system. pointing out the fact that white supremacy is alive and well. it shows in the election. look, 80 million white people voted for donald trump. fine. along with other black men and women who might have voted, a small number, but those people voted because he is the supreme ruler of the white supremacist ideology. he gets away with everything. the man has become a felon but you promoted him to be our president. this is ridiculous. going back to the election, the power that we showed in our non-vote when they come knocking on our door, we want reparations. have a great day. be one, everyone. host: gauge in st. charles,

missouri. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. my top story of the year is how donald trump was able to get away with 34 felony charges and a plethora of public outrage and win the presidential election. also, one other thing that i think is significant is how kamala harris referred to the american people --. host: new york, republican, good morning. caller: c-span today is really pressing my blood pressure. i am african-american and republican. this top story of the year is a combination of things. i will briefly say, everybody is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.

african-americans, i am african-american, murder more african-americans, black people murder more black than the kkk, proud boys, or any organization. this, tennessee, atlanta. i'm tired of black coming on this show talking about somebody is that klan. we kill more people than anybody else. this year, donald trump, 30% of african-american men voted for donald trump. hispanic, 40%. young people, he won the young people vote, the senior vote, every demographic donald trump won. people are so amazed. we want to talk about a threat to democracy? here is a threat to democracy. the u.s. supreme court said no one is above the law. correct. the u.s. supreme court said joe biden can give forgiveness of

student loans to anyone he picks and chooses this is not a pick and choose situation. a threat to democracy. how could the obama administration and george clooney and some elite donors to the democratic party force joe biden out. that is a threat to democracy. and then we talk about the immigration situation. when these immigrants came, these illegal white people ran them out. there are over 400,000 people with signs looking for their parents under joe biden. we need to get this correct here. look at the cases against trump. jack smith -- host: this is robin in cleveland, tennessee. caller: my name is robin, i am from cleveland, tennessee. i would like to be allowed the same attitude as you gave this man before me without them lies.

my top political story of the year was white women voting against their own self-interest. nobody has benefited from affirmative action and dei more than white women. like the man said before, that is not true. it wasn't 30% of black men who voted for donald trump. no, they didn't. no, they didn't. to me, what tugged at my heart was the death of jim carter, and the comparison between jimmy carter and donald trump, republicans should be embarrassed of how far they have sunk as far as their standards. let me know that their religion is smoke and mirrors. their affiliate g2 the workingmen is smoke and mirrors. what we learned at the end of last year and this year is everything about white supremacy

is still alive and well. white supremacists run our government. white supremacists run our law enforcement. the black man from new york, you cannot complain about a black man being killed by white men and then brag about 10 million black men not voting. that sounded ridiculous. that sounded ridiculous, dude. those 10 million could have let her win. what i'm going to do is grab me some popcorn and watch this play out. guess what, we are built for this. black people are built for this. we are going to see if these poor white people are built for it. when elon musk basically told them the truth about themselves, that basically it has been white affirmative action for 400 years, and y'all -- host: are you still with us? we lost robin. tim in pennsylvania.

go ahead. caller: the war in ukraine is number one. that is preliminary to world war iii. all of the evil people in the world who hate america, the president of china and that kind of stuff, it is the billionaires behind these leaders who want to see divided states go down. then they can control the world and give everybody a monthly stipend that you have to live or die on, and all of the elites will keep all of the money. they are already building bunkers in morocco for after world war iii. the clintons are over there and other big billionaires are building these big, you know, bomb shelters. we are funding iran, democrats funded iran the last four year s. why?

to build a nuclear bomb. they're starting this crap in israel to start world war iii. you can take all of the strife in the world and it wouldn't amount to anything compared to a nuclear bomb. host: why would anyone want to help start world war iii? caller: ask joe biden. he got all of the money from ukraine and people around the world funding his family for who knows why. it's evil. you have good and you have evil -- host: that is the caller from pennsylvania. this is newman in san antonio, texas, democrat, good morning. caller: talking about this here political story of the year. the political story of the year is people calling in with outrageous comments they are making. i don't know what to say no more. this election, showed me i don't know. it is the people i'm worried about, not the politicians.

the politicians run around with all of these puppets on a string. i wonder, where do some of these people get these thoughts that they are saying on this here tv show? where'd you get all of these things from? host: have you been concerned about the people, this concerned, headed into previous years? caller: yeah. ever since 2016, you know, i speak to people and i tell them, talking about the election, i said, trump didn't do anything. don't get me wrong, things that he says upset me, but trump didn't do nothing but open pandora's box. every night we see how everyone in this country thanks and feels -- thinks and feels. it is not the politicians. they are playing these people

like puppets and they are showing us. the people i'm more scared of is not the politicians. like i said, this last man from new york, why would the rich people on the planet want to kill everyone? then how would they make their money? i say, man, what planet are you living on saying all the billionaires and rich people want to start world war iii? kill all of us and they are living in bunkers? they know once they drop a nuclear bomb the planet won't be worth living on after that. host: marshall in nashville, tennessee, republican, go ahead. caller: good morning, jon. host: top political story of 2024. what do you think? caller: before that, a little bit of housecleaning. i had to stop becoming a racist many times when i call into c-span. i am in between jobs and able to

watch every morning. it would be just as reprehensible for me to call in and say all black people rely on the government for a paycheck as it is for some black person to call in and say white people, all white people. you don't know me. you don't know who i am. the ideology that these types of people -- host: do you think that we are getting better on race relations in this country? you think in 2025 we are in a better place than we were in 2020 or a worse place? caller: it is hard to say. in many cases, when you look at the news media it is worse. host: why is it worse 25 years later? caller: i thought you said 2020. you're right. host: 2000, whatever. caller: the reason being is, you

have a black on the steps of a courtroom calling for black vigilantism. thankfully the people of new york didn't listen to that man. i'm grateful they had more common sense than he did. but this is the atmosphere. i sometimes look at it and say, do i need to be afraid to walk out my house waste on the color of my skin because of what other people are saying -- based on the color of my skin because of what other people are saying? host: you called in by saying you call in and you have to keep yourself from being a racist. do you think you are racist? caller: i don't. i will tell you why. the person who called in after the man who spewed out all kinds of ugliness against white people, he stood up and i have so many associations. i don't have any friends, i will

be honest, but i have so many people i associate with and talk with. we don't look at the color of your skin. we look at the content of your character. for me to be logged in and a general way because of the color of my skin is just as wrong as me judging a black person based on the color of their skin. host: marshall in tennessee. on staten island, good morning. caller: yes, sir. the dawn of the dead looks like what is happening right now. the whole society of the united states is, especially the society of people who are elderly who depend on social security and medicare, all of these people are tending to be pushed all the way back into poverty by this new administration with talks about

giving tax cuts to the rich. and talks about -- being cut. this is terrible. how do people in this country who have elderly relatives, mothers, grandmothers, fathers, so on and so forth who depend on social security and medicare to keep them above poverty, how do these people go out and vote for billionaires to rule over their lives? you have another billionaire in the white house, i'm talking about musk, who wasn't even elected able to call shots as to how to trim the budget by $2.5 trillion. are these people idiots who voted for this administration? host: matt in new york.

this is mckeesport, pennsylvania, independent. caller: you got it. it is mckeesport. pittsburgh. 12 miles out of pittsburgh. is it jon? host: yes, sir. what you think the top story of the year was? caller: the top thing of the year definitely was the election. i didn't think trump was even going to win. i was a bobby kennedy supporter. the first time in my life and ever donated. i'm 73 years old. that i've ever donated or campaigned. i donated to his. host: do think that was the turning point in the election, when rfk junior came out to support donald trump? caller: no. no, no, no. the biggest thing was that trump won. he not only won, -- i want to get something across. i have been watching washington journal here since brian lamb,

clinton was president. i used the call back then. i think you could call once a week. i have been a listener. this is the last time of ever going to watch your show because the clientele -- i don't even know what a racist is anymore. i am a white steelworker, u.s. navy veteran. i've never seen color in my life. i'm starting to see it. this country has real problems. forget about the border. trump that are sent in the 82nd airborne to straighten out our inner cities, new york city has a lady lit on fire with lighter fluid a couple of weeks ago and people walking by. we've got problems here in the united states. call ourselves a christian nation? the unsafest place for a baby is inside their mother's womb, for god sake. i don't care who the president is.

trump ain't no friend of mine, but i don't mind him being rich. he is going in rich. all of the other politicians, most of them, go in wealthy little bit, but smalltime millionaires. i want to let you know, you still have a good show, but i don't like being called a racist all the time. i don't even know what it is. then if you mentioned benjamin netanyahu, are you still there? host: i am lessening to you. caller: benjamin netanyahu spoke to our congress. the senate -- i think you just played a clip. my daughter was here with me, probably the smartest person i well, elon musk was there. they introduced netanyahu as his excellency. i've never heard anybody being

introduced as his excellency in front of our senate and congress. then they don't say anything about what is going on there, you are anti-semi. i am not anti-anything. i'm an american, but i know there's some things going on there that surely aren't too kosher but it say anything, no pun intended, you are anti-semi. so you're either racist or anti-semite. we've got to get over all these labels and try to love each other. thanks for taking my call, i appreciate it. host: what does it take to get us to love each other in 2025? new mexico, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, i think 2024's biggest story, there is a

little bit of a back story a little while ago i was on twitter and they saw a post from a politician, i forgot their name, but it was about kamala harris. host: this is donald in spokane, washington. republican, good morning. caller: good morning. i just would like to mention the top political story for the year would be out of montana. i think there is a new thing for a judge who was caught with inappropriate purchases however that is not what i am calling about. i'm calling about judge deborah christopher. she was forced to resigned on a vote from the montana supreme court for her egregious acts concerning the people of montana

. host: why is this your top political story of the entire year? caller: i'm so glad you asked get this former judge decided to do this to me and my son 10 years ago and as of now i have my son and i would like to thank all the people that were involved in bringing this corruption down. not that all judges are corrupt because it took two very good, outstanding american judges and many others to bring her to justice. so now many families will likely not burdened by this judge and her behavior on the bench bruning people's lives. host: we are spending all three hours on this december 31 taking your phone calls, asking for

your top political story of the past 365 days. a look back on 24 phone lines, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. we've got two more hours with you this morning hearing from you all morning long. california, independent. good morning, what is your top political story of the year? caller: the top political story is the politics that is going on in israel. you know, the hypocrisy in america's policies. that is what it is all about. being exposed, because empires fall.

this empire has completely fallen. empires fall from within, and donald, who led what happened in the capital. furthermore, it lets you see that america is doing the same thing and is decaying from within. host: michigan, republican, your top political story of the year? caller: i do not believe that americans are racist. i've been the auto industry for 25 to 30 years. one time a fella came up and said can you give me a price on a detail? and i said yeah, go see him over there. and he said that slim black kid, and he was the manager.

and i said we don't know no color here and he looked at me and said man, that's pretty cool. and i said that's mike. so with that said, some of the news stations basically promote racist propaganda, and we've hired many, many different at this at ease -- ethnicities. host: what isn't it going to take for us to know no color in the united states in the years to come? caller: just being kind, saying how are you today. not only the driver of the vehicle, but their wives, their kids. for example, i've seen a

balloon. his birthday? howell are you? five. i gave him a five dollar bill and his dad said you didn't have to do that. and i said no, your carwash is going to cost five dollars. host: are we a kinder nation today? caller: i believe so. host: what do you see that makes you say we are a kinder nation today? caller: i'm an outgoing person and dealing with the public you can sense things. i said man, are you ok? she said my mother just died. the person behind her started honking. said look, i'm dealing with this

woman, her mother just passed away. and i told her if you ever need to talk, come back. and it is just simple things. if you have a heart, use it, show it. host: looking back on 24, what is a news story where people showed part? -- heart? caller: that is a hard thing to say because there are so many examples. a lot of politicians give money and some of them just give it for a photo op, but i think he wants the best for it.

they've got to look out for the main simple things of life. host: asking you for your top political stories of these past 365 days. phone lines for republicans, democrats, and independents. columbus ohio, democrat, go ahead. caller: i think my top political story would be what happened in gaza with people just being demolished. i think that probably has to be

my top political story, to see people destroyed. host: what did you think of this campus protests about the war, about congress's reactions. we saw a lot of committee hearin here in washington, d.c. which the presidents of universities came up to talk about these protests. >> i think they tried to bring it to the attention of what was gog on, but i think they should have said hey, that ain't your business, we do what we want to and there is nothing you can do about it. host: that is glenn in ohio. house republicans held a news conference at columbia university in new york in the wake of some of those campus protests. your speaker johnson from equal and that news.

>> the house has been investigating a number of these campuses. there is a nexus to federal funding. if these campuses cannot get control of this problem they do not deserve taxpayer dollars. you seen our education and workforce committee have the oversight hearing. we've brought the president of universities to congress to testify under of and using accountability. there will be much more about. we will continue to work on legislation to adjust this at the federal level. this congress, and i genuinely believe there is bipartisan agreement on this, will stand for what is good and what is right. we are going to do what is right by america. we respect free speech. we respect the diversity of ideas, but there is a way to do that in a lawful manner and that is not what this is. host: speaker mike johnson back in april on the campus of columbia university. he's going to stand again in

july -- to be elected speaker on friday. speaker johnson hoping he will gain enough votes for the speakership. yesterday the headline from the wall street journal about speaker johnson and that vote, donald trump backing him on his social media post yesterday: johnson a good, hard-working religious man. he will do the right thing and we will continue to win. if just a handful of defections occur in the republican ranks he may not be able to secure the speakership. we will find out together friday at noon. looking back on 2024 and also looking ahead to the new congress, one of them is a first for diversity in congress. when it comes to diversity in

congress, the first woman and person of color to represent delaware in the senate when she is sworn in. angela alsobrooks will be the first black woman to represent maryland in the senate. the pair will be the first black women to serve together come friday. delaware voters elected the first openly transgender member of congress, sarah mcbride. wall street journal front page today, the headline looking back at the financial picture of the past year and also past 24 months. u.s. stocks roaring through the lackluster showing. 57 record closes even with a record stumble on pace for the best consecutive year 1997 and

1998. those are some of the front-page headlines this new year's eve. we are asking you what you think the top political story of the past year was. carolyn is in massachusetts, independent. host: yes, good morning, how are you? host: i'm doing well. caller: i think it is a good day. top story of this year of course, the top one with the election of donald trump. i actually wasn't optimistic that he was going to win. i somewhat expected kamala harris to win simply because of all of the bad press that donald trump got with being convicted

and his personal civil lawsuit. i really thought that that would bring people to elect someone different. one of the problems that i've seen is the quality of people who have run for president, and my take on it is, you know what they say, it is the lesser of two evils. and even though i called in as an independent, eileen republican because that is how i grew up. i grew up in a family of small business owners, polish immigrants, so i lean toward the small business owner and a think donald trump always has been in favor of that. host: so who would you like to see running in 2028? caller: firstly, i love the

speaker of the house mike johnson. i think he is well-educated, i think he is an articulate speaker. i myself am a christian and so i identify with his spirituality in a lot of respects. so i think he would be a good choice. i'm not sure if he even has that type of aspiration, but i'd like to see him move up. host: you think he will still be speaker on friday? caller: that's a tough one. i listen to the conservative news in the morning. we have a local radio station and it is a conservative radio station. they have all of the conservative newscasters, some of which i don't particularly care for, but i tried to get

both sides of the story, which by the way i kind of latched onto c-span a couple of years ago. not a big tv watcher, but during the 2016 election i ink that is when i started to watch, and then more in 2020. i like the idea of what you do on the program is getting all views. the democrats, the republicans, and the independents. i myself have run for political office several times. i actually won this year but for health reasons i had to step down. host: what office did you win? caller: local counselor at large in the city of gardner. that is a difficult spot to win, but i have a high social media presence and because i started out running at the top for house

of representatives in the state a couple of times, and then we had a long-term mayor here who has been here for 12 years, and i felt running against him would be a good way to sort of show people that we really needed a change, and come to find out he quit two days after he got elected, which confirmed my idea that he wasn't really into the job anymore. host: are you going to be able to serve at all for your counsel? caller: i don't think so. my health issues kind of keep me at the doctors offices a lot. i'm 69 years old, i'm 70 next year. i know a lot about government

just because of running so many times and learning a lot that i think i would have a good chance at running for mayor in the future, but i don't really think that is a good idea given my health. host: thanks for the call and best of luck with your health in 2025. he started off with speaker johnson, the subject of one of the lead editorials by the editor of the wall street journal, the house gop speaker test is the headline where republicans reelect mike johnson or will they melt down again? voters expect results and the gop won't be able to dodge responsibility now that they are in charge. if republicans can even elect a speaker without a meltdown, it will bode ill for the next two years. democratic speaker hakeem jeffries in 2027, if not sooner in the end of the second trump presidency.

bradley, marietta, georgia, democrat. friendly, do me a favor and turn your television down, otherwise i can't hear you. caller: can you hear me now? host: go ahead. caller: basically, we're going to find out if trump is a russian asset or not. if he turns ukraine's completely to putin, so we going to know for sure. host: what would be capitulating to putin, is there any ending to this conflict, or how do you see an ending to this conflict that is not a capitulation? caller: ukraine should not be told whether or not they are

going to be joining nato were not the proposals that trump gave to putin, and what rush is coming back with, honestly i hope this war does not end very quickly because i hope ukraine, they can hold out. you cannot defeat a country when you are fighting on their home turf. i just think it is political. if ukraine goes down, we are actually getting a bargain, just invading their country.

the next biggest story is probably going to be in the controversial, but luigi mangione. i just think it is incredible. these health care insurance companies are serial killers. they are killing 30,000, 40,000 people every year just for profit. host: you are not condoning murder, i hope. caller: absolutely not. but you have to understand when a population or people are pushed to a limit, to be honest with you, the fact that these ceos and these for profit health leeches, they have to -- host: are you still with us, bradley? north carolina, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing. story of the year for me are the ones that we this.

a primary one that we missed, the representative from north carolina, he went on television and talk about the lifestyle of the republican party, and that it was drugs and sex-filled. and now we have matt gaetz and the ethics committee that shows that that literally is what the republicans do. so that is the story that has been missed and that we should return to. journalism has failed us with that story is not being told. there were a lot of call this previously that mentioned racists and racism. as a young black man in america there are a lot of things we read about and we know to be true. racism isn't necessarily a person.

a racist is someone that believes in a racist system. the american system was built on racism. i'll give a government agency as an example, the fbi. i think there's been about 10 fbi heads, every single one of them a white male republican. host: do you think we would not be a racist country if a black man or woman was in charge of the fbi, with that help? caller: no, i'm just using that as an example of the system being for one group of people. there's no way a black man with 34 felony charges would be president. no way. and anyone that is a thinking human being an american know that to be true.

post: wilson, north carolina, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. yes, the top story is how the grinch stole the presidency. but biden helped him. he really helped him all the way. the biggest thing that biden did was fail to support the israeli people in removing netanyahu. netanyahu had a 15% approval rating. 3 million people every day. this man was on his way out, all biden had to do was push them out. host: how could he have pushed him out? caller: five supporting the israeli people and commanding

that they get someone that was not a felon just like trump in their presidency. you don't support nobody unconditionally, that is stupid. this man was just like trump. he signed a deal with the devil. i wish you could pull it up, because he don't say that no more. this was after he got elected. he kept christopher wray as fbi director who was appointed by trump, and that he wasn't interested in getting trump. so he thought trump would go away. and then until liz cheney the

republican came out and exposed everything and everything, then he said we've got to do something about it, but it was too late in the game. terrible. i think that also another victory was george floyd. host: we are talking about 2024. caller: i'm saying these are the things that got trump elected. the grace that stole christmas is the story. host: south dakota, republican, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think c-span is probably one of the best media outlets out there. we get to talk to and learn about the american people and that is really great. i think the biggest story of the

last year has to be the election of donald trump the american people finally woke up to what was happening in the biden administration that was unsustainable. you let millions of people cross the border. we were headed toward unsustainability with biden i believe. i think the waking up of the american people is absolutely the biggest story of the year here in the united states for sure. i just think that he thinks that most other people at a level that trump and elon are thinking about sustainability in this country.

that is the number one thing in this country, we have to have something that works for our great, great grandchildren. i'm a nine years old and i just feel like that is a huge story. host: how old is your great great grandchild? caller: a little bit more than two years old and is cute as a bug's ear? host: what is her name? caller: winter. host: i hope winter has a lovely 2025. this is david in new york city. democrat, good morning. caller: good morning, thanks for letting me on to speak this morning. really two major stories, i can't stick with one. the first is just how divided the country is, and how we really allow somebody who is

betraying his country, we've come out of covid strong, inflation has been a little behind because the economy got hot after we came out of covid, but we are really strong. half the country believes that is not the case, and i believe we are seeing con into believing the story and voted in oligarchs and think it's going to be a lot of pain. host: that last caller said that the country, magic immigration is one of the issues. where does immigration fit in the border fit into the picture that you would just painting of america in 2024? caller: the border is a

disaster. you heard me talking about the economy, coming out of covid. we have to create a system where people can come to this country, the greatest country in the world, but it has to be done in an orderly way. the other top story is the climate. the second of the two hottest years and recordkeeping of the temperature. i'm very concerned that if we don't move steadily toward different energy sources and renewable energy, the world for our children will be very challenging. and finally i have to say this

has been a year when i've seen people -- who i never thought would. so there is optimism there as well. host: is america showing love for each other in 2025? caller: i don't know if america is going to find love for each other in 2025. i hope that individuals find ways to come together, thank you. host: david in new york city. we are halfway through our program. this december 31, this new use easily or turning this program over to you. how republicans, democrats, and independence, and assess social

media posts. here's a few more of those. roanoke, geniathe top story of 2024 is of course kamala harris has candidate fopresident. a demonstration opposition against donald trump and see so ma diverse groups join together to support the mpaign wasn't firing. it gives me hope that america is closer to electing a woman as president who could solve many of the issues caused by a lack of basic humanity. that is just one of the social media posts. facebook, trump getting elected as the top story of the year. it is a heck of a political comeback story. just insane not one specific story but rather a threat running for many. the dnc hasn't chosen a good top of the ticket candidate in my lifetime. bill clinton and obama, they contested primaries against dnc-candidates. we need change in the party if

we want to make a meaningful change for this country. and a text message saying what was actually accomplished in washington this past year? no one thing particularly stands out. that is my top news story, the infighting in washington. this is james and rock creek, ohio. republican, good morning. caller: i just want to say the top story of this year i was a is the assassination attempt on president trump. i feel like those were very pivotal moments in his campaign. especially for me as a young man, i'm 17 and i think that he has probably been one of the better candidates i've seen for president during my lifetime so far.

andy had. i just think that is probably the best story this year or the biggest. host: here is that moment from butler, pennsylvania. >> look what happened. [screaming] >> are you ready, on you. move, move. go. are you ready?

keep in down, move. i've got you. let me get my shoes. get down. host: july 13, 2024. president trump, then-candidate trump at a rally in october. and here is a portion of his remarks when he returned. >> 12 weeks ago this evening on this very ground a cold-blooded assassin named silence man to silence the greatest movement, maga, and the history of our country. maga. we love maga.

for 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his snipers perched not so far away, but by the hand of providence and the grace of god, that villain did not succeed in his goal, did not come close. he did not stop our movement, he did not break out our spirit. he did not shake our unseat -- high-yielding resolve to save america from poverty, hatred and destruction. yet we are here this evening in record numbers. this is a big crowd. this is a big one. not only to mark the triumph of american spirit, and you know that, this is really truly in the truest sense spirit over

evil and adversity, but also to pay tribute to some of the best and bravest we have ever known. this field is now a monument to the power of our first responders, to the resilience of our fellow citizens and the sacrifice of a loving and devoted father, a really great man, you know that. host: that was october 5, 2024. we are asking you for the top political story of the year on this top -- last day of the year. fargo, north dakota, line for democrats. caller: i think democrats got ripped off in the polls when they put their ballots in their and the machines jammed up and stuff.

that is just one of the things. host: you don't think the results of the election were accurate? caller: that's right, that was a ripoff. it was great to put back in there. host: what would it take for you to believe donald trump won election 2024? caller: nothing. he has a mental illness, everybody can see it. and don't hang up on me. host: how did you feel when there were some republicans calling into the show and they didn't believe the result of the 20 election when joe biden won? caller: i don't know. all i know is i love joe biden, but at the end, he seems to have dementia or something like that. he doesn't seem to have it all put together. and i have one other thing i need to mention.

ever since donald trump has been reelected, i've not received my check -- host: have you talked to the social security administration? caller: yeah, and for some reason they can't even give me any answers. but i want everybody to call in. if they are having problems like i'm having with not getting my check, i am scared crapless. host: talking about election 2024 and the results of election 2024, joe biden making that historic move to drop out of the race with just months to go until election day, a president dropping out of the race, the first time since lyndon johnson made that decision to not run for reelection. this was joe biden addressing the nation back in july.

>> when you elected me to this office i promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth. the sacred cause of this country is larger than any one of us. i cherish that because, cherish it so much. we must unite to protect it. in recent weeks it has become clear to me that i need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. i believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for america's future, but nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. that includes personal ambition. so i've decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. it's the best way to unite our

nation. there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. but there is also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices. yes, younger voices. and that time and place is now. host: july 24, 2024. asking you this morning for your top political story of the year. oregon, can. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. the top question here is donald trump, and mainly this is for all of you never-trumpers and your dark hearted feelings towards him. you have all benefited from the first three years of his presidency. the last third year you cannot benefit from because we got hit by covid by china.

but he did the best he could with what he had with the people that they told him to listen to and that most of them were back stabbing him all the way out. so you need to just cool it and accept the election. you've only got four years to worry about this guy and then desantis, and then rob zombie or somebody else will be in there to carry this on. but this country was divided by barack obama and his administration, who still runs this country. kamala and biden were puppets put in by the obama administration. host: why do you think the former president still runs this country? caller: obama? because he started it. i voted for barack. host: how did he start division in the country? caller: >> that? host: how did he start division in this country? caller: he promised a lot of

things he was going to do and he never did. i never voted for a second time. host: and that created the division in the country? caller: yeah. he basically said there's no way that a billionaire could ever come in and take the presidency away from this job. caller: georgia, democrat, good morning. good morning, thanks for taking my call. the question is what is the most important political story, and i was thinking about this earlier. it's not really a political story, but 2024 is on track to be the warmest year ever on record, surpassing 2023. that is a huge story that i don't think get enough airtime.

but in terms of the political story, i would have to say jimmy carter's passing. the president after him, ronald reagan, he was such a criminal. the hostages thing, and after jimmy carter the republican party started falling off the rails and now we have a train wreck for a president elect as trump. everybody says that russia was a hoax. i would remind the republicans that it wasn't hillary clinton that started that investigation, it was actually the guy from arizona, i forget his name.

his team started that investigation, and they didn't know what to do with it, so they handed it to hillary clinton. but trump's ties with russia go back a long time. when he started off in his career, one of the first places he went for his tv's was a russian friend company in new york selling tv's. that russia thing isn't a hoax. so anyway, that is my take on it. host: that his gym in tucker, georgia. started off by talking that jimmy carter. the tribute an op-ed and looks back on the former president continuing into these papers. this is the editorial board of the new york times. america needs more discarded. this is usa today remembering

jimmy carter for what he truly was carter greatly enhances reputation and also what did after his presidency. rather than cash in, he tirelessly serve the causes these, human rights and affordable housing. carter was perhaps the most un-imperial of all u.s. presidents. he started the tradition of walking part of the inaugural parade route and favoring the fireside chat over the oval office address. he led the life of an unassuming man who you might bump into. nothing short of extraordinary, one that deserves -- in the era of self-aggrandizement. jimmy carter's services are coming to the u.s. capitol next week, january 7 through the ninth. during that time he will do lying in state in the rotunda,

they will be ac on january 9. president biden is set to give a eulogy at that funeral, and the funeral procession for carter begins on january 4, on saturday that will include a stop at his farm, a stop in atlanta at the state capital, and at the carter presidential center in atlanta. one more op-ed today, it comes from charles hurt in conservative commentary pages of the wall street journal. jimmy carter was a highly successful expert and truly no president had more success. he kept on teaching sunday school, helped build homes for the poor and devoted his life to eradicating diseases in third world countries. mr. carter was a kind and decent man who lived a long life and with mary for a very long time.

in this world, these things are great accomplishments. also in today's washington times. this is david in nordic, independent. go ahead. caller: how are you doing today, thanks for what you just said about the former president because i really liked him. i was in the military when they kind of eased him out of there, but i thought he was one of the better ones that we had. host: you think he was one of the better ones at the time, for one of the better ones post-presidency? there's been a lot of talk about that, was he great in his time or was he a great former president? caller: he was a great president, period. they just sabotaged his presidency because he would not give in to israel. they made him a one term president just like they did bush. they were both navy guys and they didn't want to send planes

and things over to israel. that is what that was about. anyway, they used the russians to discredit him. anyway, i want you to do me a favor. there's been a lot of talk about how oj simpson killed his wife and they knew that. could you all do a show on that? host: why are we talking about o.j. simpson, we are talking about the top stories of 2024. caller: it is not coming out that he did not kill them. when can we do a show that says he did not do that? host: we are not on oj, we are working on the top political stories of 2024 here this new year's eve. this is mark in honolulu, up early, independent. caller: yes, i think the unsung story really is that the united states is governed largely by private corporations.

you mentioned earlier the wall street journal which is of course owned by rupert murdoch owns fox news and the new york post, and in the u.k. and australia and china. msnbc is going to be carved out later this year. a spinoff incorporation in the political ways of the time. host: in a world of so many new east -- news choices, would you trust? caller: all these people babble on these radio stations, with little snippets of news and the public needs to move away from spins and think for ourselves.

host: so are you ok with the a- section of the wall street journal and just not reading the op-ed pages, is that what you would prefer? caller: i think the wall street journal does have some significant reporting sometimes, but they are all owned by these large corporations. there's a certain amount of bias in some way, but i do appreciate the fact the wall street journal is reporting the news independent and does show both sides. but at the same time, the editorial of the wall street journal, we need to be aware of the fact that we are being manipulated by the large corporate voices that are owned by oligarchs. host: do you think people can read and op-ed and not be

manipulated by it, and opinion page? that not every op-ed is going to manipulate you? caller: i think who owns this media, that would be more the story. who are these board members, what is their financial agenda. but transparency, the better off thinking for ourselves. host: this is dexter in cincinnati, ohio. the morning. caller: legacy media is probably

the biggest story. and people going to social media to really find out truth and there is a lot of brilliant people on podcasts, there really are. host: let podcasts do you listen to? caller: rogan has anywhere from nuts to very smart people. these are not people that are affected by working for big pharma. there is a place for media. america is not a rich country. they can overlook a lot of trump

laws. all this deep state propaganda, the censoring of media, that is why they want to get in control of social media right now. host: who wants to get in control of social be your right now? caller: the feds before mosk took it over. it is a deep state situation and right now they want to squash disinformation and misinformation. they just want disinformation to come out, not the truth. host: virginia, independent. what was the top political story

of 2024? caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. my top political story is donald trump the election. donald trump has a reputation of being a fraudster. he is a felon and a rate best -- rapist. he wound up winning the election, and all of the sudden we are supposed to believe that it wasn't corrupt. from a man who has been corrupt all his life. host: you don't believe the results of the corruption? caller: i do not, i believe that there was some trickery there, that elon musk has something to do with it. host: headed you feel when some republicans after 2020 said they didn't believe that joe biden wo n the election?

caller: i feel like i feel right now, that they can't be trusted. host: you didn't trust the results of 2020? caller: i did trust the results of 2020. host: but not this one. caller: i think that because of all of the talk about the 2020 election, we don't want to talk about it now. i haven't heard anyone say you know trump has been a fraudster all his life. host: you haven't heard people say that? caller: i haven't heard anyone say that other than people on the street. host: do you think kamala harris should have conceded the election, or no? caller: i think she should have

conceded the election because that is the way our country should run. there needs to be an investigation on what happened here. his money and his starship, a lot to do with what will happen on the election. host: this is the day after the election, kamala harris conceding at howard university here in washington, d.c. >> you have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world. and so to everyone who is watching, do not despair. this is not a time to throw up our hands, this is a time to roll up our sleeves. this is a time to organize, to mobilize and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice,

and the future that we all know we can build together. many of you know i started out as a prosecutor. throughout my career i've seen people at some of the worst times of their lives. people who have suffered great harm and great pain. and yet found within themselves the strength and the courage and the resolve to take the stand, to fight for justice, to fight for themselves, to fight for others. so let their courage be our inspiration. let their determination be our charge. and i will close with this. there is an adage a historian once called a law of history.

true of every society across the ages. the adage is only when it is darki know many of you feel like are entering a dark time. but for the benefit of us all, i hope that is not the case. america, if it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars. [applause] the light, the light of optimism, of faith, of truth and service. host: vice president kamala harris back on november the sixth of 2024. we are asking for your top story of the year. patty and georgia, republican.

caller: good morning. before i'd say my political story i just want to say about president jimmy carter and his wife, it is a sad day in this world when we lose such great people like those and everything they have done i can see their faith in everything they have done and i think that is a good thing. i am not personally myself participating in organized religion but i can see the goodness in those two and i think it is a sad day. host: are you going to go to any of the events in georgia? how far is canton from planes? caller: from there i'm not exactly sure where it's at. i am a ways away from their but i've been down to the carter center and i think it is a great place. they do great things there. host: we've covered plenty of events on american history tv

and book tv on c-span2 from the carter center and all of them are available at our video library. patrick was there something else you wanted to say? caller: my top political story of the year would have to be the presidential election. i considered donald trump to be the most influential president in my lifetime. there are a lot of things we are learning now about the way government works that just wasn't reported on in the media and stuff like that before. there's a lot of things that you know with the rise of conservative media now we have two different opinions, two different views on the way things work so when you put it all together and you make the logical research choice then you will, we learn a lot more about how government works and what politicians -- i would say

career politicians are all about. i think donald trump is probably the most influential president in my lifetime. in 2016 i supported ted cruz, but in 2020 i had to support him as well as 2024. i don't believe we should have a progressive -- i don't think the country is ready for a progressive president at this time. i don't believe it was then. i think president biden has shown us that. a lot of his views -- he used to be a moderate. i never considered him to be a moderate. he did you know, turn more towards the progressive side of politics than the center side. i -- i think he's proven the country is not ready for a

progressive president. the country has long been ready for a female president that's no doubt. host: do you mind if i tie together the first and second thing you talked about, jimmy carter and donald trump. c-span has its historians survey of presidential leadership where the president leaves office, a ranking of presidents asking more than 100 presidential historians to rank the presidents. jimmy carter came in in the most recent survey, 26th. down from 22nd? in the first survey came out back in 2001. middle of the pack, lower middle. what do you thing about that ranking of jimmy carter? and where do you think donald trump will eventually fall in that ranking? caller: well, you know, i'm not a historian so you know i

couldn't really give -- and my personal opinion, i don't think jimmy carter deserves to be in the middle of the pack. however, i'm sure a lot of people do believe that based on his you know time as president, based on his politics. i am not old enough to remember what he was like as governor of georgia, but um -- i don't know how he did that. as far as president goes, there wasn't anything positive that he had done that would grant him higher. like president obama when he -- when he enacted the um, you know affordable care act. a lot of people you know saying it's bad and terrible. i have mixed feelings with that. i'm a staunch conservative. you know, i don't believe they are handling health care in the proper way in this country. i do believe that the aca has

helped some people who really needed to be helped, who really need that help. so i don't believe you know president carter, should be in the middle of the pack. probably a little bit higher than that. that's my personal opinion. host: appreciate that. if viewers want to check that out, the survey results available online on our website right there. presidential historians survey at c-span.org. this is linda in connecticut. thank you for waiting. caller: happy new year john. good morning. my top political story quite frankly goes back a little bit further than the current day. i remember when joe biden was campaigning the first time. he said he was going to be a bridge to the next generation. i'm a democrat and i heard joe biden basically saying he would

be a one term president and was going to allow for the next generation to come and i was pretty shocked when he ran -- decided to run for election again because that's not what he said and i liked joe biden. i think that that led to trump's second trump presidency because he gave a mixed message to the democrats. that's what i expected. host: you think a new generation of democrats has risen up? caller: they are going to now. because there is no choice. but i believe with 20/20 hindsight, if joe biden would have stuck to what he said the first time when he ran that he was going to be a bridge. he came out of retirement to unseat donald trump and he was

going to be a bridge to the next generation, to me i don't think he should've tried to run for reelection. host: to go down the what if a little bit more. if he had done that, do you think kamala harris would have been the democratic presidential nominee in 2024. caller: no. i think we would've seen someone like gavin newsom, andy beshear, potentially you know, i don't know beyond that. host: could they be donald trump? caller: i think if then the democrats would've had a primary they would've beat donald trump, absolutely. especially because they are both media savvy. i don't think america is ready for a progressive but the gentleman before me said, but i have another thing giving deep

thought to. the other thing is you prompted me earlier today when you asked about the good in america and when do we see it. we see it every time there is a natural disaster. we see it every time schoolkids are starting school with school supplies. we see it with people from connecticut holding up personal trucks to bring water and food to north carolina. i wish you would do was show about that. do a three hour show on americans acts of kindness, everyday acts of kindness that americans do for each other does not matter, red or blue. when i see a natural disaster, my husband and i go to the closest food bank to the natural disaster and call them directly

and donate to them and will donate a little bit to the red cross fund. we are not unusual. everyday americans do extraordinary things and i wish you would do it three hour show on that. host: i appreciate the suggestion. why just natural disasters. >> that's the thing that comes to mind. i mention school supplies. public schools do phenomenal amounts of charity work with the communities. the businesses and the small businesses, large businesses, grocery stores. we are forgetting. we are throwing away the baby with the bathwater when we forget the amount of charity that goes on in our country towards every aspect. public schools are phenomenal with what they are involved

with. it is incredible. we have a synagogue here where a woman has collected new sneakers to donate to the kids in bridgeport new haven, the two closest big cities, so they could have sneakers for a high school that are stylish. this is a little synagogue in orange, connecticut. they have done it for years. there are countless things that go on in this country and we forget about it. we are so involved in toxic politics but we are forgetting the amount of incredible work that goes on in this country. host: thank you for the reminder for everyday acts of kindness. certainly happy to hear about those. happy 2025 is randy in iron river, michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. we've kept track of every

accident in michigan in the last one he four months. we have 9340 alcohol accidents. we have 241 all drugs. in the last 24 months we have had 18 thousand 152 alcohol accidents. we had 4401 for all drugs. we have this separated out by how many doctor prescribed drugs. 3.6% of all accidents on the road were from doctor prescribed drugs. host: where are you getting your numbers from? caller: these are all from every accident it reported in michigan. we have 990 smoke shops in our state. we have 1862 illegal drugs accidents in the last one he four months. 41 from cocaine, 70 from heroin. 201 for pot. this is important. this is 18,152 alcohol related

accidents in michigan. we have all this pot being sold everywhere. we only had 201 accidents from all pot in the last 24 months. 51% of all the time our cops spend on the road is for alcohol related accidents. if this isn't the most important thing that we have to deal with in our country, this is the biggest lie we've ever put forward on the american people. host: what was the lie? caller: the biggest lie was how dangerous pot is. when you have 201 potheads getting picked up in the last 24 months versus 18,152 and we have all of this pot in michigan, it is legal here. there are four smoke shops right here within three miles from me. you are really going to tell me all of this pot being smoked there's only 201 people who got picked up in michigan versus

18,152. host: randy in michigan. this is mike, republican hillsboro. go ahead. caller: good morning john. happy new year. my biggest story of 2024 was of course president trump getting elected after trying to be assassinated two times and my favorite news stories was the democratic donors and kamala harris paying for endorsements of oprah -- oprah winfrey and that crook al sharpton. those were my favorite of the year. anyway, happy new year. host: this is sarah, democrat. good morning. caller: hi, yes i just wanted to say one of the biggest political events for 2024 for me was in the supreme court. i know the election has been a

very popular topic this year as it should. but, the supreme court decision concerning trump and the power of the president has been very concerning considering everything that's been going on. i know they are trying to get back to the framers interpretation of the united states constitution, bam not quite sure alexander hamilton would be very enthused with their interpretation of the energetic executive powers. for me that's a very big deal, of the trump of the u.s. ruling especially considering trump was elected and moving into the next four years. but it is all good, we take it one day at a time. host: before you go in 2025, u.s. news & world report looking at next year, it's shaping up to

be another pivotal chapter as justices prepare to address contentious issues ranging from gun regulation, gender affirming care, free speech as of mid december the court agreed to hear more than 50 cases this term which of course ann's in the summer of 2025. what's your expectation for the supreme court this year? caller: my expectations for the supreme court i hope are to take on more of the right. i know they have been really addressing states rights and i hope they continue to maybe protect the previous ruling and maybe look more at the constitution is a living entity and moving forward and hopefully everyone continues to remain respectful of the rule of law. host: explain what you mean by the constitution is a living entity. that discussion very much a part

of the discussion around the supreme court. caller: yes. certainly thinking about it in the point of view that we have to make sure that the right that we have as a society that we hold that we may not have possessed in 1776 or 17 -- later on in the 1800s. continuing to adapt our protocol and our political agenda to make sure that everyone's rights are protected and upheld and that everyone has the opportunity for success. not to change it so completely, but the cost of living has been absolute dramatic considering in the past five years house prices of rose 50%. i know the supreme court cannot really do much about that at all , but it is just a thought that

popped up in my mind. host: this is ken in south carolina, good morning. caller: yes, please don't cut me off. there's a lot to talk about. first of all, jimmy carter yes habitat america was great but all the taxpayers fronting the bill for his funeral, he probably wants the money going to a good cause. for 2024, the biggest ripoff was vice president harris. she was not nominated by the people, she was appointed by the delegates and the powerful people for president. she wasn't equipped. she wasn't intelligent enough. for the mass of illegal immigration, it's atrocious. host: who would you have liked to have been nominated? caller: on the democrat side? host: yes.

you are calling in on their wobbler can line. caller: i'm a republican. it wouldn't have made a difference because donald trump was the best candidate. i'm kind of skeptical of elon musk because he saying in the next 20 years the u.s. will need a universal welfare system due to robotics and the impact of immigration the influx of illegal immigrants from around the world since we have the smallest minority and i don't understand why black people are not against illegal immigration. as far as palestine, 40,000 people killed and starved out of hunger during the israel attack and i believe that was a preplanned attack just like 9/11. everything -- host: why would they want something like october the seventh to happen? caller: because to push their agenda. it's bigger than me and you.

the powers that be, collateral damage is nothing. you see how they report -- host: this is carol in texas. good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning john. happy new year and thank you for taking my call. i really appreciate you being there and appreciate you letting the people run the show today. it's really good if c-span2 do that. the biggest story to me politically was the historical thing of biden dropping out of the election. he dropped out much later than lyndon johnson did in 1968. but i think too many young people or people who aren't born yet and don't remember 1968 so all of that history of humphrey being the nominee for 1968, humphrey was also a vice president and he was nominated

-- took the nomination without winning any primaries. it's very similar to what happened to kamala harris when she was vice president and she took the nomination and hadn't won any primaries. in the outcome was pretty much predictable. i'm old enough to remember all those things. host: what about robert kennedy running in that election? caller: which election sir? host: 68. caller: he probably would have been the nominee, but of course he was assassinated after winning the primary in california. that was after. if young people in this country are worried about the state of this country, they need to go -- worried about the outcome of the future of this, go read three years of history, 1967, 68 and

69. 1968 was full, you had the tet offensive in january in vietnam, a sitting president started losing primaries and dropped out of the race. the main candidate was assassinated. your most major figure of racially quality who was always peaceful, martin luther king, was assassinated and you had riots at the national convention in chicago. a sitting vice president who hadn't won any primaries became the candidate. and a president was elected, richard nixon, who turned out to tell some of the biggest lies in history which was he was going to get us out of vietnam and he escalated the war so that in 72 when he ran again we were still involved in fighting in vietnam

where we have lost i think almost 60,000 people. host: were you alive in 1968? caller: yes sir. i'm over 70. host: when people say this is the worst it's ever been in this country we are more divided, people call this program and say that during 2024. do you think it was worse in 68? caller: i think it was worse in 68 in the respect that you had so much violence breakout because of the war. and because of the assassinations. there was an attempt on trump's life but he wasn't assassinated and he is still alive and he became president. but i think this is the worst it's ever been, was 68 the worst it's ever been. i don't think it was the worst. host: then have to go to the

civil war if it was ever. caller: for me. i've seen 14 presidents in my life. the only reason i got to see two of them which was eisenhower in truman was because they were john f. kennedy's funeral. the assassination of john f. kennedy, a sitting president in dallas texas was the low point in my lifetime. the other low point was of all the 14 presidents i've seen of only seen one who refused to leave office without violence and that was donald trump. and here he is elected again. storming the capital. we cannot ignore it. they stormed the capital in january 6, 2021 and now if you don't believe in america and second chances, now the guy who's responsible for that, who caused that capital to be

stormed, to me in my lifetime, the lowest point that i've seen in america when a sitting president said go crash the capital. i don't like the election. that is a terrible thing that happened. it's the worst thing. host: you mentioned viewers reading about making 67, 68 and 69. if you prefer to watch their history as well it was 2018 on this program the washington journal dated a 10 part series called 1968: america in turmoil and we took on various aspects of 1968 including the vietnam war. you can watch all of those episodes on our website at c-span.org. that was the promo cover for that america in turmoil series. again available for you to watch

today. "1968: america in turmoil." this is robert in florida. independent, good morning. we've been talking about the top political story of the year. caller: happy new year. as regards to the last speaker, the storming of the capitol. donald trump offered muriel bowser and offered nancy pelosi troops which they refused. muriel bowser is now on the news trying to make nice with donald trump as of late if you haven't heard. if you look at the bigger story of the year, donald trump's reelection. and if uncovering of the deep state corruption we have seen. 34 convictions that work couple together and we were right before our eyes and then you had the two impeachment attempts and then you had the events occurring where you have people

who were in bed with ukraine china and russia and the mayor of moscow's -- it's just despicable. host: what are the conviction non-conviction. caller: conviction nonconviction you had 34 cases hobbled together by the attorney general of new york that the statute of limitations was over with and people would not have been convicted of those so-called felonies if it wasn't donald trump. these were made up and they are going to be overturned. if it was anybody else it wouldn't have happened. the statute of limitations was done with so they had to retool everything to get them to stick. host: this is cindy, republican in connecticut. good morning talking about your top political stories. caller: happy new year.

for me the top political story of the year was the outrageous onslaught, nonstop top political story of the year. every day there was a barn buster, there was no relief, you could not come up for air. it really is almost impossible to pick one. i'm 63 years old and yes, i remember 608i was young. and i remember the turmoil. this year i think was probably worse. our country has been through so much pain and starting with covid. i just feel like the media, the gas lighting that we had to experience to terrace all apart is the top political story of the year.

just the misinformation not by the conspiracy theorist because when you go a year ahead of each conspiracy theorist the conspiracy theorists were pretty much right. so for me the top political story of the year is the gas lighting of the news media. hiding joe biden's cognitive decline, all of the lies about donald trump. the, the political law fair. you know i think the media owes us all an apology because the american people like the former caller from orange, connecticut, a democrat i agree with her wholeheartedly. we as a country we get along fine together. it's our government and our media that divide us. host: this is dale in columbus, ohio. caller: happy new year to

everybody. my political story of the year is i think when donald trump was trying to get his cabinet together and almost all the people in his cabinet they always have issues pray donald trump has some issues when he said grabbing women by the private parts. people in the cabinets he has the same issue. and then robert kennedy. i did a lot of research. robert kennedy was a 14 year heroin addict. they do all that research online. what it makes to me about donald trump -- what amazes me about donald is how can you build a monument in the world and it was built in september of 1793. not one time when these people were climbing over the capital and destroying property and all

this stuff, as a million dollars worth of damage but not one time to the president of the united states as a republican, not one time he ever went down and told security thank you for protecting the capitol. people got injured, people have died. i can understand he wants to pardon these people. it seems like you have to have a law somewhere. 34 counts fallon. the documents case. we seen them hiding documents all over mar-a-lago and you still support this man. robert kennedy -- host: that's dale in ohio. 9:30 on the east coast. half hour left on the program. we will ask for your top political story of the year. c-span in our end of year compilation put together some of those moments we've covered of course the house and senate and

the committee hearings across capitol hill and on the campaign trail. this is some c-span top moments of the year. [video clip] >> 2024 was a momentous year for c-span. from continuing our decades-old tradition of providing gavel-to-gavel coverage for the house and senate to key committee hearings and press conferences, the landmark supreme court cases and to a historic presidential election including both the republican and democratic national conventions. here's a look back on the year as we prepare for what's expected to be an action-packed 2025. >> my name is jason, but the most i am known as jellyroll. >> i appreciate the opportunity to be here. >> i am the ceo of tiktok. >> have you apologize to the victims? would you like to do so now. they are here, you are on national television. would you like now to apologize

to the victims. >> tonight, all eyes are on iowa. >> i am suspending my campaign. >> the time has now come to suspend my campaign. >> the events of shameful, criminal and all of those things but it did not qualify as insurrection. >> it's how old are ideas. >> this program does bring people >> together. >>without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution there can be no presidency as we know it. >> the republican-led house will not be jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill. >> i think providing legal aid to ukraine is critically important. >> the bill is passed. >> declaring the office of speaker of the house representatives to be vacant. >> the gays are 359, the nays are 43 with seven answering present. >> this is the end of the

personality politics. >> tonight this event is being televised live on c-span. >> for the next 90 minutes we will be live from a brand-new exhibition. >> what's so great about c-span is you hit every side. >> this was a rigged disgraceful trial. the real verdict is going to be november 5. >> we would be well served to remember the long and cherished tradition we have in this country of settling our political differences at the ballot box. >> today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. >> look, if -- we finally beat medicare. >> they are trying to push me out of the race. >> take a look at what happened. >> get down. [gunshots]

>> i want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in the politics. >> the most can operational failure of the secret service in decades. ♪ >> i proudly accept your nomination. >> i decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. >> just over 100 days before an election, democrat party bosses forced joe biden off the ballot. >> the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos. no place in america were antisemitism. >> give us the tools faster and we will finish the job faster. >> we are here to officially nominate kamala harris. >> i accept your nomination for

president of the united states. >> you know what that means. c-span don't play. >> i'm talking now if you don't mind please. does that sound familiar? she went out -- never touched by human hand. >> certainly falls into the general definition of fascism. >> hello everybody. >> there is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. yeah, i think it is called puerto rico. ♪ >> thanks for being with us on election night. >> look what happened. this will truly be the golden age of america. >> the outcome of this election is not what we wanted. >> house democrats have >> fallen a few seats short. we will raise in america first

banner above this place. >> the american people have spoken. >> a new day in the united states senate. >> politics is tough and in many cases it's not a very nice world but it is a nice world today and i appreciate very much the transition that so smooth it will be as smooth as it can get. i very much appreciate it. >> you are welcome. thank you all. >> the house is coming in at 10:00 a.m. eastern today for a brief pro forma session. we will take you there on c-span when that happens, gavel-to-gavel coverage. until that time we continue with the washington journal on this december 31 of 2024. you looking back, phone lines for republicans, democrats and independents for you to call in about 25 minutes left and it is richard in california. good morning.

caller: you really hit it today. what an excellent illustration of what's been going on. what is my top story. i think -- pardon me i have a tickle. i think the whole political situation it's much like going back to the 60's. i'm in that same group. i'm holding in my hand at the moment the san diego union tribune founded in 1868 political cartoon from november 17 and it shows the star wars scene in the bar with all the different looking strange people and it's titled so it's official we are all getting jobs in trump's cabinet and sitting in the middle of it is jd vance.

these kind of commentaries are right on. i think the comparison of kamala harris compared with donald was to personality types. you have harris, who conveys a jocular and affable personality who can also get the business done. then you have the other guy, donald trump who rejects -- projects personality of disappointment anger and payback. that appeals to a lot of people. there are many people who were disappointed. looking back in the 50's and 60's it was like that then. so many people assassinated, so much turmoil. they shot those kids on the campus on ohio state. i think donald trump is going to take us back to that kind of time if he has his way. i hope they can control him. his cabinet picks. host: i think i found the

cartoon, the political cartoon you were speaking of. i will put that on the screen for viewers. matt gaetz will not be in trump's cabinet of course. what do you think of the rest of his picks and you think anybody else will not make it through the confirmation process. host: i hope to god robert kennedy does not. he has -- the awful editorial talking about every kind of unspeakable disease that we don't get so much now is coming back and already we have measles coming back because the anti-vaxxers who don't believe vaccines work you know, the friends of mine who had polio as kids all have bum legs and stuff. they are using crutches adult to get around. it's just a whole pile of vaccination that saved us from many different horrible viruses

centuries now since they cover the b bionic plague. >> that's richard this morning. good morning. independent, go ahead. >> i want to thank c-span and yourself and the other people for producing such a wonderful show. i think personally is a retired military person in my 70's that the number one decision this year that will have the greatest impact for years to come was the supreme court decision to allow the commander-in-chief of this country to be free from crimes committed "officially as president." i think what it does is it has brought about basically a legitimization of criminal activity. i am a retired military person in my 70's. i have been in war and not been in war. i've been in peace and lived all

over the world. i am afraid that this'll make some people angry but even as a person who's served, this decision is critical because our presidents have during my entire life, from johnson on even though i was born in the early 50's and i'm in my 70's. i believe every single president we have had since then is a war criminal. i can't believe that i served a country that i loved and a principal of people that i loved. we resorted now to genocide and being the prime reason for genocide to occur in this world is us. we are walking towards world war iii and i think it will occur next year. host: when did you start feeling this way and did you feel this way when you served in the military? caller: i did when we invaded

iraq. i had been over there. i knew enough that it was lies, that both the parties bought it. i know they buy these lies about israel. i know even when you the media speak, maureen dowd talking, she brought a note about the discussed with putin in ukraine and the death. she never mentioned about netanyahu or even about the united states. we are providing the genocide. we are killing innocent people all over the world. it's not just in the middle east. host: when did you get out of the military? caller: i've been retired for most 20 years now. i retired around 2005. host: do you regret having served? caller: no i do not regret serving my country or the people. i do regret that the government that i served in the people that

i've served have gotten lost to read that the principles i still believe in but i don't see them and i'm an essay one thing. the problems we have whether they be with the democratic party tried to do this year to usurp the democratic process, the election of a criminal and a con man. the press has been abysmal. your program is the one i listen to other than internet programs for foreign news. whether it be overseas or whatever. i don't know what's going to happen. i do think, and i will say this and most people think i'm crazy for saying this. but the united states does the one thing that is most criminal, it worships the dollar and i am a very devout catholic who believes you cannot serve god and man.

in the ides states for some reason i think because they became a world power, they are just another empire. george bush said the constitution was nothing but a paper. i guess it is like the magna carta. host: this is brian in salt lake city, utah. good morning. caller: how are you guys doing. host: a few minutes left before the house calls in. caller: a bit ago a lady stole my thunder. joe biden the media covering up for his cognitive decline. grandma had alzheimer's. three years i saw and when he first became president i said there's no way he's going to make it a year and that's what it slowly started, the media covered up for it. the media is supposed to keep our government in check. when the media is in the back pocket of democratic party it doesn't work so since she stole my thunder on that. but nancy pelosi, these 1500

pages of we have to pass it to see what's in it. you know what they need to do is pass it and see there's term limits and it and nancy pelosi gets no more health care never gets paid again and sign it so we need to see it. the thing about trump, you need to be convicted, sentenced you need to be sentenced before you are convicted of any of that and it's like it was, it was statute of limitations and that's probably about all i have to say. i love my country and i hope we can do it and all these people hate trump, he is going to make it great, sit back and enjoy. get on board with all of us. host: this is chris in texas. independent good morning. caller: good morning john. happy new year.

i live in el paso right on the border and my biggest political thing this year is ken paxton going after the other organizations that actually help migrants. that's what they are there for. he also is falsely accusing them of being stash houses and smuggling people and it is just -- it makes me sad that those places are in place and have been for a long time and he is trying to shut them down with paperwork to prove -- he wants them to give all the information on the people they help. host: how is the border situation in el paso right now? caller: nothing like on the news. there's no migrants coming across the border in droves. there's no fentanyl getting handed out on the street corner. el paso is one of the safest cities in america and has been

for a long time. i am just so sad that the people in texas voted for ken paxton and greg abbott. nobody in austin or el paso voted for him. host: why do you think democrats have such trouble winning statewide in texas? caller: it comes down to the money i believe. host: so you don't think there is enough national money that comes in to some of these races when ted cruz is up for reelection or the governors races, they just get outspent? caller: yes. absolutely. the one with the most money gets the most votes. it's sad that way but that is america. host: to the bronx, peter, a good morning. are you with us?

we go to chesapeake, virginia. bob, good morning. caller: good morning john. the big lesson to learn from 2024 is about joe biden's mental collapse. the washington post, the new york times, cnn, msnbc and so on deliberately covered up joe biden's declining mental deterioration. in order to advance their own agenda. and biden's incompetence was exposed in the debate with trump , they had to turn against him in order to cover up for their own faults -- false reporting. the lesson to learn from this is they cannot be trusted to tell the truth. therefore, c-span should not quote them without quoting the washington times, of the new york post, fox news and newsmax.

otherwise, c-span will be perceived as spreading false and biased information. that is my opinion. you guys need to stop quoting the new york times and the washington post. host: you never want to see what they are writing again? caller: well, it looks like i just got through telling you. the lesson to learn is they deliberately covered up a president that was not even capable of doing his job. and they would've kept right on covering it up except for the fact that he exposed himself in the debate. when he exposed himself in the debate what did they do? they turned against him because of their own -- host: mountain home, republican good morning. caller: good morning.

the story of the year is trump. that's it. the people are happy, they are expecting good things to happen and they are excited about it. as far as the supreme court goes, joe biden may benefit from that ruling. he's got a reason to worry about it. thank you. host: juanita in washington dc, democrat. caller: 2024 is that a woman was nominated to be the president of the united states. we have had 46 men who have taken the experiment known as america and have royally messed it up. so i think it is time for us to give a woman a chance. she did not win because of her politics. she did not win because first of all she's a woman and second of all she was black. let me say one other thing. as far as mental decline. anyone who thinks donald trump is mentally fit needs to go see

-- host: what did you think about hillary clinton as a candidate in 2016. caller: i voted for hillary. i thought she should've one. as i say, we've had 46 men who have totally messed up this experiment. that's why we have donald trump in office now. we don't have donald trump in office, we have elon musk in office. anyone who thinks donald trump who will run this country after all the money elon musk gave him to win the election, there is something wrong with you. host: london, kentucky. charlotte, good morning. caller: good morning. my story of the year is term limits. especially the supreme court. these people that were voted in 20 or 30 years ago are not the same people now and neither is the united states. i believe that the supreme court definitely needs term limits, or at least so many years i need to

be recertified and be voted in. also congress only has a term of two years and they spend that two years raising money to vote to run again. i think term limits should be also imposed on congress. congress should be extended a little bit may be to three or four years so they are not doing anything but running and working for the united states. that's my comments for today. thank you for taking my call. host: what would supreme court recertification, are you talking but another confirmation hearing? caller: correct. because the people who were voted in 30 years ago are not the same people they were back then. and our country is and. everything changes in the supreme court i believe should also change. host: would that make the supreme court justices -- subject to the politics of the

time of whoever is in control of the house and senate when the recertification came up? caller: i believe it depends on what's going on in the country, not necessarily who is in party. these people like i said they are just not the same people, they change their values, things change in the united states and the supreme court needs to change with them. host: that is charlotte in kentucky. just about five minutes left in our final washington journal of 2024. the house is set to meet in a brief pro forma session. we will take you there for that gavel. what happens today and the house will meet on friday to end officially the 118th congress and then begin officially the 119th congress, the speaker vote will be the first action that takes place in the house there you can watch that here on c-span.

gavel-to-gavel coverage on c-span for that. senate is set to meet as well on friday. our last program of the year and we've been spending simply hearing from you. asking for your top political story of the year. a few more calls here. democrat, good morning. caller: i listen to the program all year and heard calls continuously about migrants pouring into the country and the rapists and thieves and murderers. i want to read forbes found trump's businesses hired at least 1006 hundred 70 temporary foreign workers in 2008. in 2023, mar-a-lago requested visas for waiters and waitresses, seven hotel desk clerks, 17 housecleaners, supervises the food prep and

serving workers, 24 cooks and five bartenders per the department of labor. thank you very much. host: darrell in eastpointe, michigan, good morning. caller: good morning john and thank you for c-span. i have to look at it a different way. i'm an independent and through -- we've been wondering for the last 10 years for example this country is headed in the wrong direction. incomes trump for a second term, 34 indictments, for impeachments that failed plus all the documents he had in america overwhelmingly voted for him both political and state votes. i don't know what it means. it's above my pay grade but here's what i've decided to do.

november the fifth, 20, we elected him. i'm saying to myself that november 5, 2025i will analyze what he's done from his election day till then. he has been sponsored by a man who is so rich. he's got 140 millions of dollars. i have watched elon musk for years since he developed his first computer and sold for $500. everything he's done for american society has been positive. he picks up drums gauntlet. i think that could be a very positive thing. i'm still not sure. host: what will determine success in that analogy -- analysis on november 5 of 2025. caller: success will be cutting down the size of government, getting a balanced budget and

may a constitutional amendment to get balanced budget. both sides of congress. my grandchildren, my grandchildren and robert kennedy coming in and changing our diet and saving the united states young people for the next 20 or 30 years. this could be the turning point. i think it's very important to make solid judgment but right now because of all the noise going on. host: this is amelia in west bridgewater, massachusetts. independent, good morning. caller: you asked earlier what americans -- where americans will find love. i live with a trump supporter, i am anti-trump. i've never liked him just based on the things that he's done and said.

it's not my opinion the trump believes his own supporters are ignorant and spineless, just from the simple fact that he said he could shoot someone on fifth avenue and not lose support and what does that really say. my top story would be the american people. i wish they would open their eyes, listen to what he says. this is the present we elected the talked about genitalia, the late great hannibal lector, taking over the airports in the 1700s and dancing at a town hall. i don't think most americans would have voted for kamala harris if she was up there dancing in her heels at a town hall when she is supposed to be answering questions. i do challenge trump supporters to please just stop and listen to what he says and watch what he does. host: do you do that with the person you live with? caller: i do. i try so hard but he just goes

blank and does not want to hear it. he just offends. it is kind of terrifying. i care for him, he is elderly. he relies on social security it is crazy, he won't listen. he just keeps defending the indefensible even when i say listen to what he is saying about you. he just goes blank. i can't get through. it is sad. host: amelia in massachusetts. our last caller in this 2024 on the washington journal but we will be back here in 2025 tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, have a great tuesday in happy new year. [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]