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c-span through c-span radio is easy. tell your smart speaker play c-span radio and listen to washington journal daily at :00 a.m. eastern. important public affairs events throughout the day, and weekdays, catch washington today. this to c-span any time. play c-span radio. c-span, created by cable. >> washington journal continues. host: welcome back. we are joined now by david corn, washington your chief for mother jones magazine to talk more about the inauguration of president-elect donald trump tomorrow. good morning. guest: good morning. host: we are less than 24 hours i guess at this point -- well, it is in the afternoon come a little bit more, coming up before donald trump is inaugurated the 47th president. what is your assessment of the political moment that the country is in right now? guest: i think it is fraught

right now. donald trump comes in with an extremist agenda that he himself has talked about trying to seize more power for the president, trying to eviscerate federal agencies and the civil service. he's talked about retribution, he is looking to put inexperienced loyalists into some of the most important positions in our government. pete hegseth, not like what he says on fox news, but this guy has never run a large organization and running the pentagon is a major job. tulsi gabbard is a putin apologist and she was an apologist for syrian dictator al-assad and now she's going to be in charge of the intelligence community? robert f kennedy has said there has never been a vaccine that has been safe or effective? he's never run anything that big himself and now he's in charge of our public health system? i think there's a lot of possible danger ahead. bird flu is on the rise and here is robert kennedy who tried to

stop, he petitioned the fda to stop the covid vaccine and some of the darkest days of the covid pandemic. so will he not try to give us a vaccine if there is a bird flu pandemic, will he try to block that? that could cost the lives of many, many americans. we are moving toward a very extreme agenda. cash patel has never run anything like the fbi and he has an enemies list which even published in his book of deep state enemies including some republicans that he believes should be investigated. so now he's going to be in charge of the fbi as inexperienced as he is. we are going to have a lot to look at in the coming months. if trump slaps on his across-the-board tariffs, the price of avocados and everything could go up for working-class

families and everybody else. we will see what is going to happen in terms of rounding up undocumented immigrants, but that could be a very ugly thing to see as well. there was a lot at stake on the selection. trump put forward a very, very harsh view of what he wanted to do, very ideologically driven, but also driven to serve his own interest. we will see how that plays out, but we got a taste of that this past week just the other day when trump announced his own cryptocurrency and all the experts that i've read say it is kind of what they call rightful, of the people announcing it can make a lot of money but only because they for the people who buy into it, so here is one of the largest grips of all time -- grippeds of all time -- grif

ts of all time and he is entering office as a guy pulling a gigantic scheme. host: i will give full physical more information about this crypto your mentioning. the trump meme: double again. making his stake with $58 billion or more, president-elect trump launched his own cryptocurrency friday night when this article first ran and as of sunday morning appeared to have made more than $50 billion on paper for himself and his companies. the stunning launch of the trump coin caught the entire industry off guard and speaks about his personal influence than the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration. it also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have more than $50 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 48 hours previously. that story was actually updated just 47 minutes ago, so even

though the coin launched on friday, his stake in it is now worth $58 million or more into the warning from axios. i want to get back to the inauguration. what do you think is different heading into the second term from what the conditions were in 2017? >> i think there are a lot of differences. when we entered first time, people are keeping distance for him. there's a lot of questions that his ability to be president. i personally think that with the covid pandemic, he wasn't a good manager of a nation and of the country and that he broke a lot of promises. he claimed they were the infrastructure week, we never saw it. he claimed health care better and cheaper than obamacare, he never even put out a plan. so there are a lot of things that can go wrong they didn't go

right. and yet four years later, after leaving the presidency, he's been able to convince a lot of americans that he has an idea of what to do but also corporate america. to me, the biggest change we are seeing, and i wrote about it this weekend, is that for years ago the capitals follow white nationalist, christian nationalist, neo-nazis and extremists who were kicking the you know what out of law enforcement officers in order to serve trump and to stop the peaceful transition of power from donald trump to joe biden. we had thousands of people attacking the capital is basically an attempt to subvert the constitutional order. and now four years later when he returns to the capital, is people returned the capital, it

is not these extremist radicals, it is jeff bezos, mark zuckerberg, elon musk. so a lot of corporate america has decided to accommodate trump. they are scared of his tariffs and his power. he has said he will extract the same for the same people who feel that his opponent, and are already scarce. they are bending the knee, they're coming out and giving support. even bill gates wiping a wonderful philanthropist over the years, but if the target of a lot of fiercely theories any said that he was impressed by donald trump i don't think he was impressed, he just doesn't want donald trump 50 tariff regulation or even profit that may target him or his interest. so i think trump stated desire to have more power use it on the

supreme court has graded and more immunity to do whatever he wants, essentially, as a lot of people running scared. post: you mentioned that you learn about this, donald trump will need a police state woman is agenda. he stayed in the fees that it's going to get very ugly. obviously this is a pretty fun statement to make. what do you mean by this? yes: i was looking at few things in particular. one was is valid to the fort 11 million people. never been done before, and i think to find these people, and these are not all criminals. the first round the deportation period for a lot of, record. and it will basically be short-circuiting the process, denying them to process and still been aware there to defend. but some point if they are true

to their word, from the his orders, they want to go after anybody who you that is undocumented that meet people who have figure 10, the year for half, part of the community, and for find people like that is going to require snitching they are going to be spying on people, physical and the expanded surveillance and they are going to have pick line. that is what i mean by police state tactics in the same thing that the civil service. again, i'm not making this up, this is in project 2025, other trump aide for for the thing. they want to break major civil service, everyone that works for a federally, only few run by trump boy with. so how do you determine who was a trump loyalist or not? he started looking at who gave political contributions, you have someone in the state department ratting out someone when they hear that britain

faith in the negative that donald again, to luke out people who they don't think our soil, that will require police state technique. the leader going to see people, and vacant corporate america running scared, there's and people within the federal government running in not doing their jobs, but of doing the job that the earth. we saw the first trump administration scientist and research the fourth the field, if they put out a report that contradicted from the policy or 80's, that they were punished. and remember, this is a thief in make it flop in shovel. trump keeps saying that climate change is a hope and we have stronger wildfires from the wharton evidenced with is and what like north carolina. he still won't do anything about climate change. anyone who wants to may lose their job.

host: you were talking about groups of people who may be running scared in the new trump administration. there is a story that trump's return to power has old and new critics and skeptics reconciling with a new normal. leaders who shunned trump or battled him are seeking to bolster their ties or extend olive branches. later the article saying, where in 2016 many saw a fluke, trump this time swept the swing states and won the popular vote. his victory came after the attack on the capitol criminal indictments. now executives are bending polind a proverbial knee by abandoning their social and environmental agen manners that could appeal to trump. leaders of media platforms

appear to reorienting coverage b less antagonistic. des have taken a wait-and-see approach to a new president with whom they already have eight years of experience. what is your take on the state of what used to be called the resistance? guest: they are talking about corporate america and the media. i think the story is spot on. abc settled the case that put millions of dollars into donald trump's pockets. we had a news report this past week that the owner of cbs news which is looking for help from the federal government on some regulatory issues has considered settling with donald trump about another ridiculous lawsuit that would put money in his pocket. the president is powerful. when he was first president, he was more incompetent and had people around him who put up guardrails.

we have heard multiple stories about things he wanted to do. people ignored him, convinced him not to do it, or it did not happen because he did not have the attention span to get things done. this time, he is coming in with shock troops more focused on what they want to get done. thus, i think there is more fear from corporate media, and that includes corporate america and corporate media. you have the new management team at the washington post trying to curtail some harsh coverage of donald trump. people are leaving. reporters are fleeing the washington post as the post tries to figure out how we can attract trump voters. this is a tea leaf reading. they reported jim acosta will be

moved to midnight. maybe there are other reasons to do that but it looks as if they are trying to throw a bone to trump by doing that. you have a guy who has authoritarian impulses. he tried to blow up american democracy declaring he won an election he did not win and inciting violence he is now poised to excuse and justify with pardons. i think that is sending a shockwave of fear to a lot of people throughout society. i think democrats still have not found their footing and have been waiting and seeing or not being strong enough, particularly on some of the inexperienced and extreme appointments donald trump has put forward. host: let's get to some

questions from our callers. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001. independents, 202-748-8002. bob is an logan, utah, on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning, c-span listeners. when trump gives his speech, i hope you talks about the stories told a number of times. he tells about a woman who nurses a dying snake back to health and the snake turns around and bites her. the snake tells her, you knew i was a snake when you took me in. that is all i had to say. i would just like to hear him tell that story again. thank you very much.

host: what are you expecting from trump's inauguration speech? guest: is that a question to me? host: yes, sorry, go ahead. what do you think? guest:'s first inauguration speech was dark and ugly and talked about american carnage and very little about hope. he has run a campaign of fear. he argued haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs and would not back off from it even when officials in ohio said it was not true. and he and jd vance promised they would still look to deport these people, remove them from the united states. i think at the end of the day, the inauguration speech does not matter. i do not think it matters what he says on monday.

it is what he does monday evening with executive orders and what he does on tuesday. trump has never shown a sympathetic side. even during the covid pandemic when tens of thousands of people were dying each week, he never visited the family of someone lost. it was always about me and his numbers and look how good i am doing, i am doing great at press conferences. i do not know. he will speak to his troops, the maga folks. at the end of the day, there is such a long line of broken promises over the last eight years from donald trump. health care plan, never saw it. helping working-class families with the big tax cut for the wealthy. the deficit went up more under him that i think any other president.

it does not matter what he says at this point. host: gina is in mississippi on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. mr. corn, i just want to laugh and say there is nothing worse than a sore loser. i think the biggest issue with you democrats is that you have told so many lies about donald trump on national tv that the american people figured out the game all were playing -- y'all were playing. not even mention the fact you put a poor, demented, sad man as the president of the united states that anybody with a

functioning brain could see was not well. and he did nothing but destroy this country for four years, no matter what you cite. -- you say. there are slander laws. when you get on national tv and you tell a lie -- host: you are raising a lot of points. which ones are you asking mr. corn to respond to? guest: i would like to know, since she called me a liar. back that up. what did i lie about? caller: oh, come on, give me a break! you have said president trump was a racist and all that crap y'all have been saying for the last 10 years. host: gina, are you talking specifically about things mr.

corn has said or democrats in general? guest: i am not a democrat, i am a journalist. host: she hung up on us as well. go ahead. guest: the funny thing here is she starts out by saying democrats are for losers -- sore losers. there has never been a bigger sore loser in american history than donald trump. he would not recognize the fact that he lost in 2020 and then he schemed privately to try to retain power. he tried to blow up american democracy. he tried to subvert the constitutional order. this tells me everything you need to know about donald trump. when rioters were attacking the capitol and screaming "hang mike pence," he sat in the oval office watching tv. his aides said you have to do

something and he did nothing. he swore an oath to defend the constitution preview broke it that day. when mike pence was under threat and could be harmed, he said "so what?" so do not talk to me about sore losers. there has never been a bigger sore loser than donald trump. and to say that joe biden destroyed the united states. look out your window. what is destroyed? inflation has gone down. we have the best economy of any western nation. he managed the covid vaccination program well. covid is still with us but it is not killing as many people as it did at the end of donald trump's term. we have manufacturing revitalized. chip manufacturing. you may have issues with things that he did. things are far from perfect. the housing market is terrible and so on. the hyperbole that he destroyed the country? crime is down in a lot of

measurements as well. i do not know what to say about people who use such hyperbole and cannot even see that their own guy clearly, and just a last point about racism, donald trump spent years lying saying he had evidence that barack obama, the first black elected president, was not born in the united states, was born in kenya. he kept saying i have evidence, i'm going to produce it. you never did. that was just conspiracy theory. that is why people call him a racist. host: homer in missouri on the line for democrats. good morning. could you turn down the volume on your tv first? caller: i am going in the kitchen. mr. corn, do not forget the central park five. i want to ask what you think about biden in 2023, should have

stepped down, he was supposed to be the bridge. harris was only appointed vice president. she was never voted as vice president. she was appointed by biden. after that debacle of the debate , oh, my god, you talk about painful, ugh, and then you just give harris the reins. 14 million people did not vote. guest: let me agree with you. i think it is pretty clear biden should not have run for a second term. i think he was ill-served by the people around him. we have seen reports the last few days sometimes they did not give him all the polling data and they formed a protective cocoon around him which has happened with other presidents in the past who are past their sell by date. in those days, there was not as

much media scrutiny. i think biden could probably be president but he was not up for the job of running for president which are two very different things. by the time that was obvious, undeniable after the debate, it was the right thing to do, to move quickly. i think at that point in time, it was too late for the democrats to hold an open wide primary, open convention. that would have been very chaotic and might not have even come up with a nominee the party could get behind. in a difficult situation, they swung behind kamala harris, vice president, who had served for three years. being vice president is a tremendously great training for being president. i think that was the only hand that they were dealt and they

had to go forward with that. at the end of the day, donald trump had been in the public eye for nine years, president four years. she spent 100 days running for president. it was not a landslide. she lost by 1.2, whatever it was , it was one of the closest elections we have ever had by the popular vote. she did not do terrible. she did not do great. that is just the way it played out. i do blame biden and his people for not having a more graceful exit and allowing the democrats more time to pick another nominee. host: angela is in california on the line for independents. good morning, angela. caller: good morning. i want to thank you for taking my call. i have a question i need to ask about tiktok. it is amazing to me how everyone is thinking, and the young people on tiktok are saying they

are going to defy the united states government and go with another chinese owned company. i want to say china has manipulated the youth. they are sending fentanyl here for our youth. do you think they are attacking the future of our army? it looks like they are going after the youth, our police and army for the future. can you answer that for me? thank you. guest: that is an interesting way of looking at it. the whole tiktok ivanka could have been avoided in a lot of ways. donald trump spent years saying he wanted to ban tiktok, hated tiktok because it was chinese owned, which is true. now he is like, i love tiktok, why? because he did well on it during the election. it is all about him.

i think tiktok does present some real privacy and national security concerns that get to what you are talking about. i am not sure it has been fully used by the chinese government for propaganda or to change the views of young people who may or may not joined the military. all of these social media networks all use algorithms and algorithms decide what you get to see and what you do not get to see. it does give the people running tiktok a lot of power in terms of boosting some material or suppressing other material. i think there are some real issues that could have been dealt with in a much better way than the outright ban because now donald trump and others are saying i do not want to ban tiktok anymore.

the problems that exist because of tiktok still exist. saying ban or know ban is a binary way of approaching this when what we do need our laws and regulations that would create more transparency for tiktok and deal with privacy issues that are significant. host: there are reports the tiktok ceo is planning to attend president trump's inauguration tomorrow. let's go to tony on staten island on the line for republicans. good morning, tony. caller: how you doing? david corn, i watched your show all the time. he is giving me palpitations. guest: tony, it is too early in the morning for that and i love staten island! caller: he is a liar about everything, january 6. ask him how many people died january 6?

guest: i watched january 6, i thought 140 cops injured. you beat up a cop and get off? that is fine with you? it is fine to take a flagpole and shove it into the face of a cop and beat him? it is fine to go in and put fee sees all over the capitol? host: tony, did you have a follow-up point? guest: the standard is not whether cops died. i am not saying cops died that very day. caller: just answer the question. guest: cops were injured that day, 140 cops were injured. some so severely they have not been able to come back to their jobs. caller: answer the question! guest: i just told you. i just said no cops died on january 6. host: we are going to move on. we are going to brian in maryland on the line for

democrats. good morning. caller: thank you, c-span, for taking my call this morning. here is my point. i grew up in a time not long ago, i am a 43-year-old guy, where the republican party by a large would have completely rejected donald trump, would have realized this is a person completely unfit for office who lacks any level of seriousness, any substance, any actual care for policy specifics, for leadership. we know he was rejected by most of the party. their choice was jeb bush, marco rubio, and a handful of others, and he was a last resort for them. this is a direct byproduct when you put party over country, when you are willing to defecate on the constitution for the recent caller talked about ai.

i think it would be great if we take the framers of our constitution and found out what they would say about donald trump. with all these brilliant ai people in silicon valley, i'm sure that could be done. let's find out what they would think. i think we can make that happen. when it comes to truth, i know our incoming president elect has a platform called truth social. this is the equivalent if o.j. simpson had a platform called "fatherhood. this is crazy stuff. i'm concerned for our country. i do not say that lightly. i voted for john mccain. mitt romney i gave serious consideration to. i am independent. it is revolting and tragic and i blame social media. 50% or more of our country gets their news primarily from social media and not mainstream media that has been demonized and maligned. we do not have a collective truth.

truth is dead in this country and that is a tragedy. guest: i agree. i think you put a very cogent case forward. donald trump when he started running for president, and he has done it up until now, gets out there and says you cannot believe the media, you cannot believe the press. when the washington post over the course of his presidency details 30,000 lies, falsehoods, misrepresentations, 30,000, that is the number. more than 30,000 actually. his people say that is just the press, we cannot believe them. when i was at a trump rally right before the election, i had a bit of an epiphany because i think about this stuff a lot. i realized many trump supporters -- for many trump supporters, trump is the media. they believe what he says. when he says they are eating cats and dogs in springfield, ohio, talking about haitian

migrants, they believe that. when abc news,, washington times, the wall street journal, or even the republican governor of ohio says it is not happening, they do not believe them. donald trump is their source of information. he says we have never had an economy as good as my economy when i was president, that is not true. or we have never had a worse economy than now, that is not true. people believe him. when it comes out of in the rest of the media -- what comes out in the rest of the media, they put aside. it is hard to have a debate about the national issues we need to discuss. host: let's see if we can get to a couple more folks before we have to let you go. robert is in oregon on the line for independents. good morning. caller: good morning. i voted for barack obama twice

and donald trump three times. a couple of questions for david. i do not necessarily agree with you but you are informative and i like that. what was kamala harris thinking when she nominated or selected tim walz as vice presidential candidate? i knew it was game, set, and match when that happened. the company did not vote for joe biden and did vote for donald trump for primarily one reason, competence. people see the country going in the wrong direction. all they want is for somebody to put it back on track. who do you think will be the 2028 democratic candidate in the next election? guest: thank you for your comments. i really wish we could agree or at least disagree agreeably these days.

a lot of the callers disagree with what i say and are not nearly as polite as you are. i appreciate that. i would question you on donald trump's competency. the first time, he said he would do something on health care. he could not even put together a plan. he mentioned infrastructure again and again pretty with builder. he did nothing on that. it was all photo ops. i do not think he handled the covid pandemic well. i think that was mismanaged. to your question of 2028, i predict now i have no idea what to predict. i think it is wide open. i think donald trump has changed the way people see the presidency, maybe for good, maybe for bad, and there could be all sort of people who are

not part of the political process at the moment, corporate executives or celebrities of other sorts, who might jump into the race. a lot of elections are usually about reactions to what we just went through. we will have a couple of years to see how donald trump acts as president this time and what he does and what he succeeds in and what he fails at trade that will -- what he fails at. that will shape the playing field for whoever will be the candidate on the democratic side. host: janiece, go ahead. caller: good morning. the first thing i would like to say is i am an african american woman who voted for trump. i also question barack obama's birth certificate. i am sure that does not make me a racist.

the new york five, i am sick and tired of hearing about that one. the united states thought they were guilty and they confessed. trump just put out a front page ad. that does not make him a racist i have not heard a single person come forward and say trump has ever spoken about black or anybody else in a negative -- any negativity as far as race is concerned. he talked about people, not their race. talk about january 6 with the police officers, they fabricated this story so much to the tune nobody knows what is true with january 6 because we are told there was secret service, and tea for, all -- antifa, all

these other people. i know there are white nationalists, i get that. host: i want to let our guest respond to some of the points you raised. guest: anyone who does not watch the videos of january 6 and does not come away with the obvious conclusion trump supporters are violent and beat cops to try to stop trump from having to leave office, i do not think their powers of judgment or observation are fully sound. i think they are for propaganda. there is no evidence antifa was involved in this. there is no evidence any fbi, deep state -- donald trump's i go to the capitol -- donald trump said go to the capitol.

they were proud boys who let people in. the guys with the horns -- the guy with the horns, the qanon shaman. they were trump supporters. thousands have been prosecuted, trump supporters. the fact you can look at this and believe it did not happen, that these people were innocent or led astray by five fbi informants in the crowd, it is stunning. it shows you do not want to believe, you do not want to see the true side of trumpism. on the racist question, people can google the long history of racist remarks and actions trump has including going back to the housing company he and his father had that was sued by the justice department for racial discrimination. if you do not look at january 6 and see it for what it is, saying donald trump is not a racist, i do not think you have

a lot of validity there in terms of critical thinking. host: let's go to nick in gaithersburg, maryland, on the line for democrats. caller: i am a registered democrat. but the last four years, i have come around. i would like to ask corn about the media hypocrisy. may 20 9, 2024, the white house attacked -- was attacked. trump was rushed into a bunker and the media celebrated it. they clowned them on it and everything like that. fast-forward to january 6, it is worse than the holocaust and all this stuff. the double standard made me realize how full of crap the media is. if you could address that, that would be great. guest: it does not telling he is

much of a democratic caller. whatever happened with black lives matter, and people want to point to that to excuse january 6, i do not get. these are two very separate things. you want to argue the black lives matter protests were not handled right, go ahead and do that. but to use that to say january 6 was not a singular event in american history where an american president who denied election results and was plotting covertly to stay in power sent people to the capital and then did nothing when they violently attacked it, and he was trying to exploit that to remain in office. he abandoned his constitutional duty that day. whatever you want to say about black lives matter has nothing to do with donald trump sitting in the white house saying, eh, i

like this violence, let's see what happens, maybe it will help me out. that is despicable. if you want to support that, it is your right to say i do not care about preserving the constitution. host: we are going to have to end it there. thank you very much, david corn, the washington bureau chief or mother jones, also has a newsletter for mother jones called "our land." thank you very much for your time this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: next, we will be taking more of your comments in our open forum. we will put the numbers up on your screen. you can start calling and now. we will be -- you can start calling in now. we will be right back. >> a new chapter in u.s. history begins this monday with the presidential inauguration of donald trump. for the first time since ronald

reagan's inauguration in 1985, this extraordinary day will be held inside the capitol rotunda due to frigid temperatures. watch c-span's live coverage where we will take your calls and speak with attendees in washington. this historic day begins at 7:00 a.m. with live coverage, including the out going president reading the president-elect at the white house. we will bring you the swearing-in ceremony as donald trump takes the oath of office, becoming president of the united states, followed by his inaugural address. see the departure of president joe biden, the presidential parade inside d.c.'s capital arena. witness the inauguration unfiltered. no commentary, no filler. just the sights and sounds of the presidential inauguration as it happens. watch c-span's inauguration

coverageay on c-span, c-span2, c-span now, and online. c-span, democracy unfiltered. >> the day before his inauguration, president-elect trump will be at arlington national cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony. this afternoon, president-elect donald trump will attend the paris inauguration -- pre-inauguration victory rally. watch live coverage at 3:00 eastern on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> the c-span bookshelf podcast

feed makes it easy to listen in one place or you can discover new authors and ideas. we are making it convenient for you to listen to multiple episodes with critically acclaimed authors is guessing history, biographies, current events, and culture. listen to c-span's bookshelf podcast feed today. you can find all of our podcasts on the free c-span now mobile video app or wherer you get your podcasts and on our website. ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we are in open forum ready to take your calls with comments on the news of the day. democrats, 202-748-8000. republicans, 202-748-8001.

independents, 202-748-8002. a report on gaza. a report the red cross is heading to pick up the hostages and trump wcomes the expected release of the hostages saying on truth social, three wonderful young women will be first. armed men are also parading through gods and cities as the cease fire takes effect -- gazan cities as a cease fire takes effect. hostage mothers are asked to come to the meeting point at the idf base near the gaza border. they are to accompany their daughters as they are taken to the hospital. we will be following this. i want to point out we will be

following coverage of many of the events leading up to the inauguration of president-elect trump tomorrow. today, there is a wreath-laying ceremony scheduled at 12:45 eastern at arlington national cemetery where president-elect trump will be doing a wreath-laying ceremony. we will be carrying that live on c-span, c-span now, and c-span.org. later today at 3:00 eastern, there is going to be a pre-inauguration victory rally at the capital one arena in washington, d.c. we will be carrying that as well. in the evening, there is scheduled to be a candlelit dinner at the national museum president-elect trump is scheduled to attend ahead of his inauguration as the 47th president tomorrow. let's go to your calls. helen is in california on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: that morning.

-- good morning. host: good morning, go ahead. we are in open forum. caller: i want to disagree 100% with that snake in the grass guy you just had on, corn. he goes off talking about january 6 and all of the lies that trump tells in all of the crap he was spewing. it is just the same old playbook the democrats want to keep turning over and over. i hope to god when trump gets in we will find out the real story about january 6. we will find out why. i wanted to get on with him and ask him, why in the heck do we have all these people coming in across the border? what is the purpose in that?

i would have loved to have heard his explanation. this is ridiculous. this is what we should be concerned about. he kept saying trump says our economy is the worst in history. people are dying out here! whether it is the worst in history or not, it is bad. ok? host: are you talking about from the drug crisis or just in general? caller: pardon? host: when you are talking about people dying out here, are you referring to the drug crisis, the opioid crisis, or something else? caller: oh, talking about people not making enough money to put food on the table, about the economy. you bring up the drug crisis? yes, that. there has been so much in the last four years.

obama wanted to transform america. well, he sure transformed it all right. it is down the bleep-hole. let's watch our language and go to joe. caller: good morning. you have been doing a fantastic job all morning long handling some of these irate callers. you should be ashamed of yourselves, you have no respect! no dignity. you are talking about inauguration a 47th president on a holiday that was supposed to be for dr. martin luther king. how about we talk about why is that the case? think about that. the other comment i wanted to make is the tiktok ceo supposedly is going to be a v.i.p. on the trump inaugural idea, whatever that is that is going to happen. he moved his stuff outside, from

the outside to the inside. i think some caller previously made a good point, because he did not want the embarrassment of the crowd size. you know how he loves the crowd size. by putting it inside, they can say the crowd size was unbelievable, if you could say that. those are my comments. you have been doing a great job. there are a lot of irate callers. some are moseley misinformed -- some are moseley -- grossly misinformed. look at what trump did in his first term. did anything get fixed? obviously not. his second term is for the rich preview will have the oligarchies, the ai companies, jeff bezos and things of that nature, they will be in charge. you know what is going to happen? i predict a lot more jobs will be lost during the next four years because of automation and

robotics. mark my words, things are going to be so much where she will not be able to afford prescription medicine, food. it will take away your jobs. then we will see what you think about obama. that is all i have. bye-bye. host: joe said the tiktok ceo is planning to attend the inauguration tomorrow. tiktok is going to sponsor a trump inauguration party and the ceo is expected to attend the event. tiktok is spending $50,000 on an inauguration party honoring influencers who helped donald trump spread his campaign message according to the party organizer. it is scheduled for today, the deadline for the company to spin off from its china-based owner or be banned.

the ceo of tiktok is expected to attend that event. let's get back to your calls in open forum. david is in new jersey. good morning. caller: thank you. i wanted to make a comment about head start which is in project 2025 because it is always the iconic target of the american right since it came out of a president resurrecting the new deal, the great society, the war on poverty. head start, the issues with head start that are not discussed are the community action programs that stand in between the recipients. and we can all argue all we want about who should receive head

start, issues of immigrants and head start, generational poverty and head start, we can argue about that indefinitely. statistics on whether it does give a head start or if it is just a glorified babysitting program, those are all debated. but what is not ever pointed out is these community action programs like the one that runs head start in flemington, new jersey, they wait until communities fall below the federal poverty line such as in flemington and they rushed in with a variety of programs including head start, but they exploit the workers. we can debate all we want about who should receive this. people do not understand. in the middle of that enormous money stream are community action programs like the one in new jersey who into this area. i have seen it firsthand, workers exploited to the degree

they are exploited. the people who get these grants treat the federal dollars like their own. they keep the employees barely above the federal poverty line so they cannot themselves get medicaid and food stamps. that is never checked. every requirement for the children is checked but nothing for the employees. final point. let's not forget programs like affirmative action and head start were created to address generational poverty in the united states. that is three groups. that is african americans, very poor caucasians in places like appalachia, and native americans. head start has an early head start component. you can walk into this country pregnant and enroll in early head start keep your child in there until age five. we can debate whether we want to do that or not but we have to stop exploiting employees who

work for head start with greedy community action programs. thank you. host: debbie is on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say i have a complaint, not about you, but they are cutting into the open forum a lot with all of the news and stuff that we get throughout the morning. you are good about it and john is good about it, allowing the people to talk. i would just like to say about corn, january 6 was a mostly peaceful protest. the capitol police were guiding them through the building and opened the doors for them, the protesters. there is only a small

feces accident. it was not like it was all over. there were some antifa people there and they are in prison now. so, that is a lie. as for joe biden, he um -- he is taking credit for the hostage release and the cease-fire. he did nothing for four years. it is a joke that he did anything except for opening the borders and allow all these immigrants to come in. and get us into a lot of national debt. host: ok, rené is in vista, california, on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that people really need to do more independent research before they

vote. they need to check all of the c-span channels, go to their local libraries and things, and really look into what everybody's history is and what people have contributed. people talk about trump's prior time in office. i do give him credit for the space program and forgetting the vaccinations started for covid but he also told lies about covid with the ivermectin and the other product. one of those products, he had stock in, so he was getting money by telling people to take things that were going to harm them. additionally -- host: which product are you talking about that trump had investments in where he would

make money off of it? caller: not the ivermectin. it was the other product. i cannot remember the name of it offhand. let me -- and then i also wanted to say that people also need to do independent research because somebody earlier talked about him not being a racist but if they went back in history, especially looking into the court system, they would find trump and his father were brought to court for not renting to certain populations for their buildings. and then, people also need to research the bills biden put through. i disagree on the infrastructure.

biden has done so much pain he took over when the --the economy was horrible. host: i want to follow up on the, you made earlier. i was able to find an article from 2020 about what i believe you were referencing, that trump previously had stakes in the maker of the antibody cocktail which was one of the covid-19 treatments at the time. this is an article from 2020, previously reported he earned capital gains from the manufacturers of two of the medicines he had taken as part of his covid-19 treatment plan. but those were from a 2017 disclosure form. his subsequent disclosure forms including the 2020 form did not list regeneron or gilead.

it looked like he previously was involved with those companies but not at the time of the pandemic based on this reporting. caller: it was not that medicine. it was hydroxychloroquine. host: not going to be able to look that up at this moment. want to get to some other folks. let's go to ernest in florida on the line for independents. caller: good morning, good job. i'm calling about something bothering me. the oligarch interests, they have different interests. they have one common interest which is the big tax break. i am wondering, how will they trump administration align these interests of the oligarch with the american people at large to

pass laws that benefit the american people? i hope we have gatekeepers to protect the american people. also, final point. january 6. i have seen a lot of people talk about it. i do not need anyone, i do not need the press, i do not need anybody to tell me what happened . i saw what happened. the fact that a group of people forced entry, that was enough for me, that was enough for me. they forced entry, that was enough for me. there was nothing peaceful about january 6 prince sorry, but i saw what happened. they forced entry. that was enough for me. great job, thank you. host: i did look a little more to reference the previous caller's statements about

trump's involvement with covid treatments. it seems the one that she was referencing hydroxychloroquine also had some connection but not necessarily what she was saying. this is a story from fox also from 2020. trump's promotion of unproven drugs is cause for alarm, but not because he is making money off of it. trump indirectly owns a minute stake in the company but that does not seem to be why he is promoting it. the company that made it is so know for -- sonofi. a government official repeatedly endorsing a product they have a minute stake in would be an

efficient. sarah is on the line for republicans. caller: it is hard to pronounce, it is in indian name because we are a legacy of great people that came to this country and that are still here. the reason for my call is it is sad to see the approach these people are taking to us. this is not being done for, or by you, but being done to you pretty both sides or using behavioral psychology to manipulate you. they undermine trust because when you take out trust, you have the ability to change perceptions. that is what is being told to us right now from every direction, a perception that is not reality.

covid was the starting of this. ai is a brand term for a software market. tech is the precursor. you have joe biden's infrastructure bill that live in illegal cameras, -- layered in illegal cameras. you are just going to make a statement without being mirandized? this stuff is intentional. look at insurance companies on how they are maligning the human being and stressing people out to the nth degree. why are there so many mini storages going up? to they know people are going to need storage for all of their stuff? what is america going to do with this? trump is just an example of the market. pay for wind, air, the sunshine.

it is a diversification of commodities across the planet. they want india, africa, and they want these other countries because they contain important minerals to get the new market going. this is all a diversification of markets. you can see it. blockchain money takes more power and energy than anything else. data centers take more energy than anything else. we have to have that power, that consistent energy. ok? we have a governor in this state that wants to bring the chinese here. you have a federal government telling you they are the enemy and there is a balloon flying over your country. that is not true. they are obviously not an enemy. they make a lot of our products. they are a business partner and want to bring their businesses here. host: mike is in new york on the

line for democrats. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, go ahead. caller: the first thing i want to talk about is this david corn character you had on earlier today who is so hateful you could see it in his face. he was just spewing lies about donald trump. that is the reason the democratic party lost, because of people like him and his mother jones or whatever it is. i listened to him this morning and i could read his body language. he is so hateful. he hates trump and he hates the american people. my next point is everybody talks about donald trump and what he did not do and how bad he is. donald trump brought respirators to new york and brought hospital ships here when covid hit. nobody talks about that.

nobody talks about nancy pelosi and her making all these millions of dollars with insider trading. joe biden, his family made all this money. talk about all the guards, he was in bed with them over in ukraine, that is how he made his money. for all of those years, joe biden, i don't like to say this, but he really was not the president. he had some issues, and i do not like to harp on people because of their medical issues, but that was the truth. kamala harris was inept. the people spoke. why don't people understand donald trump is president now? you have got to get behind him. you have to be behind the man. forget about what happened in the past. we are talking about looking ahead to the future.

host: ok, john is in westborough, massachusetts, on the line for independents. good morning. caller: hey, how you doing? host: good, thank you. caller: i voted for reagan and bush and obama. i voted for, either way, i have been leaning more democrat lately. when i hear like the last caller, he makes points but he is talking about the past. and then he is saying, why don't we get behind trump because we have to forget about the past? i agree with him. we should get behind donald trump. he won election. it was not because he was an amazing candidate. it was because we had no other candidate on the others. kamala harris was a horrible candidate and they would have

had a better shot with joe biden staying in. it is time to move on. just let go and enjoy it because it is going to be a lot of fun. host: those four more years start tomorrow. we will be covering all of the inauguration ceremonies live on c-span, including some of the events happening today. at 12:45 eastern, there is going to be a wreath-laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery. at 3:30, there is going to be a victory rally at the capital one arena also in washington, d.c. you will be able to find those events and many more related to the inauguration on c-span, c-span now, and at c-span.org. thank you to everyone who called in today for "washington journal." we will be back again tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. have a great day. ♪

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> a new chapter in u.s. history begins this monday with the inauguration of donald trump. witness democracy in action with c-span. for the first time since 1985, this extraordinary day will be held inside the capitol rotunda due to frigid temperatures. watch c-span's all day coverage where we will take your calls, hear insights, and speak with attendees.