be so involved in electing a president of the united states when it is taken away from this electoral college voting process? guest: specifically about mike pence being an elector, i will have to rely on email or twitter feedback in checking in after the fact. to your other question, you are not alone in terms of people who believe that the electoral college is a flawed and antiquated system. the system was set up when our country started in order to make sure that the smaller states or smaller populations were not dominated or overrun by areas and states that had more population. i leave it up to everyone else to decide what is the better system. where i could concerned is that if voters -- where i get concerned, is that if voters view the presidential race as illegitimate because of winning through the process that is laid out, that becomes problematic. one of the hallmarks of our country is that we have elections and there is a winner and a loser, and the loser licks their wounds and moves onto the next one. but if we cannot all agree on the outcome of the election or agree that the electi

look at voting rights in the united states as law professors discuss the voting rights act, the electoral college, and state voter id laws. hosted by the american constitution society. >> good afternoon everyone. my name is kara stein, i'm the -- we are always pleased to be here, i would like to reflect every year that i was in law school we did not even exist. and now we are in almost every chapter, in every law school across the country, we have a chapter. i encourage you to talk to my colleagues who are here. if you are not already involved, please get engaged. we need you more than ever. i want to introduce our interim president. to tee up this panel discussion, this year as the nation heads into a presidential election season, we felt compelled to pick up on the theme of this whole conference, pillars of democracy, to ask questions about how our structures of government, and the components thereof and our values and commitments are working together, or not. so we asked the question, our democracy and federalism friends or foes? to lead us through this discussion, we could not be more pleased

well too but it is about fairness because think about if the electoral college was abolished you would just focus on 5 or 6 states you'd be focused on getting every vote out getting to everybody because right now you know that ok there are certain states that are foregone conclusions and certain candidates want to spend time there if you're a democrat why even go to the so-called fly over states or for republican why sways time in california but if there's no electoral college one person one vote it encourages candidates to get in front of everybody republicans know that all of their candidates would be dead on arrival for the popular vote we saw hillary clinton 3000000 more votes than donald trump that's why they're fighting to keep the electoral college let's not act like that's not what this is about here but the fairest system and people been making this argument for decades would be to go to just the popular vote winning we do that with every other race. ok well. again let's say you that it's a procedural issue but you're looking at the democrats are looking at power and so they w

>> what you're saying is that if we didn't have the electoral college, we would just be -- americans are so selfish, they're only going to consider what's good for new york and l.a. and seattle. i'm gonna go campaignate, in the population centers in order to get the most votes. >> right now, they d't go ever campaign in california or new york, and they never get a visit. that is just wrong. it's just --t's just not -- >> well, that's not true. every single candidate comes through new york city every ek and twice on sunday. >> well, because it's the media capital. and it's the money capal, so they come here to get money. >> and they go to silicon valley for money, and they l.a. >> they don't go to schenectady. they don't go to schenectady.. >> that's tr >> and they don't go to >> i guess the point i'm making, though, is, doesn't the electoral college, because it forces us to reckon with less-represented parts of the country... >> that was not the reason it was set up. >> but it's one of the effects now, i agree.ve >> states, so they could count their slaves as 3/5 of a human so they c

be the last american president to be elected by the electoral college. want my second term to be direct vote. a system of the president has become a hot button issue among some democrats in recent years after al gore in 2000 and hillary clinton in 2016 both won the popular vote but went on to lose the presidency after losing the electoral college. our next guest is the author of the book, freethinking u.s. election law. he's a former federal prosecutor and current law professor at the university of memphis. good to see you. i thought i was going to bring you back about this topic. before you answer the question, because i still work? currently the electoral votes are allocated to each state based on population, i believe right now for the 2010. if you could, brief us on why it's initially set up. >> the electoral college is initially set up first as a smaller state to get them to agree to sign up competition. the second is a slaveholding states to get them to agree and third because the founders didn't really trust regular voters to make that decision. t

they want to complain about the electoral college.arvard law review just published something ridiculous about busting d.c. up in a bunch of states just to reform the constitution. it is about states. we are the united states. i'm sorry, but states control the elections. that is what it is. the electoral college, if you want to complain, get involved at the state level. statehouses control things. , i sorry, mr. gonzales believe it is going to become a liberal talking point about small states. it is to protect the entity and sanctity, if you will, of the state. i was living in new york until i came back to maryland here, and working there in the city, the city hall there and the statehouse even in new york, they are accessible. i can find them in the community. liberals have the illusions of grandeur and they want to scale up all their ideas and make them federal and everything. but if you want to change the way your electors vote, you can do that at the statehouse. i just wish -- there is a chance to connect on the two sides if we emi

>> well, donald trump himself in 2012 said that he believed that, i think electoral college, he was completelytoral and thought it was horrible but in 2016 when it helped him he's 100% for the electoral college, the electoral college does say that the runner-up would be the vice president, so you would have a runner-up as hillary clinton. rob: all right, we will leave it there, kathy and chris. interesting debate this morning, we appreciate appreciate your time. have a good one. >> thanks. >> you too. >> thank you. jillian: 20 minutes until the top of the hour, the deadly virus that originated in china attempts to gain a foothold here in the u.s., what we know about the cases confirmed ahome and how people can still spread the disease even if they don't feel sick, we will be right back. jillian: good morning and welcome back, travelers on high alert as deadly coronavirus spreads rapidly across the probe, 5 confirmed cases now in the u.s. rob: pretty scare. aisha joins us how infected people can spread even without symptoms. >> you could actually have the virus for 2 weeks before you can see sy

quick tweet from john in north carolina who says it could be an electoral college landslide, but the popular vote will always be massive in failing blue cities. the color mentioned former vice president joe biden who came out with then add following the president's trip to the nato anniversary in london. >> world leaders caught on camera talking about trump. several world leaders mocking donald trump. >> they are laughing at him. [laughter] leaders mocking him for being completely off ballot. worried. are >> the world sees trump up for what he is -- insincere,

in thepped the scales electoral college to the president.ote: voters showed up to for the u.s. senate or house, their local elections, but they do not vote for president. i do not like either one of them. who madelked to voters that dramatic choice of either voting for obama twice to voting for trump or being a republican, not liking trump's compartment, and being say a george bush guy -- a jeb bush guy or a marco rubio guy and finding themselves eventually voting for trump, they are insulted when you say that russia had something to do with their vote. independentery about how they get to their decision. that russian -- that russia influenced them, they find insulting. host: our next colors from illinois, independent line. caller is from illinois, independent line. caller: democrats do nothing but taxes, closeraise factories. they have not done anything by way of legislation to help anyone like the handicapped. patact passed by democrats -- changed life for the handicapped around the world. when the republicans are in, they do not care abou

the electoral college favors them. as steve just mentioned, the last two republican presidents were elected by the electoral college, they lost the popular vote, at least bush did the first time. why don't democrats do better in the electoral college? because there votes are too few places. in california, there are millions of extra democratic votes. democrats after 2016 that they could save a lot of money. the way to win the election in 2020 was to give incentives to democrats to move to pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan. if they had followed through on that advice, they would probably be in a better position in november 2020. seriously, the electoral college is divisive. it is divisive by party. that's not going to change, at least not in my lifetime. changet going to restitution late. to get a constitutional amendment, you need the support of an overwhelming majority of americans. we don't have that. where not going to have that. host: tenet is in richmond, virginia. is in richmond, virginia. i'm would like for

it has only given one major decision on the electoral college. to take a pledge saying that they will vote as the popular vote does. what the tenth circuit court does, okay, they can do what they want in choosing the electors. when they show up on the electoral college in december to cast their vote, they become in essence federal officers and the state can't touch them at that point. >> that's why it sounds like an open and shut to me. pete williams, we'll be right back. thank you. williams, we'll be r back thank you. ♪ hi dad. no. edon't try to get up. hi, i'm julie, a right at home caregiver. and if i'd been caring for tom's dad, i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. that's because i'm trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind. we'll be right there. we have to go. hey, tom. you should try right at home. they're great for us. the right care. right at home. you should be mad your neighbor always wants to hang out. and you should be mad your smart fridge is unne

at some point they will have to fight for the 100,000 odd votes that swung the electoral college.college game. >> absolutely snowhow would you say to one of those people, hey, this is how you can win while maintaining your democratic values? >> first off, win the game before you start trying to declare the victory conditions and saying i'm going to do x, y and z. ideological promises are a trap. when you build a plan and a policy in modern campaign, that's an invitation for me to put my in other words to work and look for your 600 page healthcare plan and find ten things to scare the crap out of people, make ads about them, and then you run for the hills. you don't understand why people suddenly can't -- they say things that are not true and deeper in the weeds. take the fight where the fight is. the electoral college is the only game in town, so you've got to fight in wisconsin, florida, pennsylvania, iowa, arizona and a handful of states. the election is over in california. i know how they're going to vote and mississippi, those things are done. you have to fight where you fight

whether you like the electoral college are not, there is a rural skew to the electoral college.he founders set it up that way. big state, small state compromise. until you change the electoral college, that will continue to be the way we elect presidents. rural areas have a disproportional influence in the electoral college and hillary clinton lost in 2016 because democrats did not perform well in states like wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, even florida has a significant rural component to its electorate. so this is not a bad place for democrats the cycle to come and test their message and learn about how to address problems and concerns rural americans have. host: would you tell our viewers a little bit about your history covering caucuses? mr. yepsen: i am born and raised in jefferson, iowa and had no great aspirations as a young reporter about covering politics for the largest newspaper in the state. i was really excited to get a job at the des moines register in 1974 as a young reporter covering local government. i was given pieces of the 1976 campaign and more senior rep

>> reporter: the issue is how the electoral college works. election day in november you are not actually voting for the candidates themselves. you are voting for a slate of electors who have agreed to vote for those candidates when the actual vote for president happens. that's in december and when the so-called electoral college meets. now, the question is when those electors go to the polls, must they vote the way their state popular vote did or are they free agents? are they free to vote as they wish? the 10th circuit of appeals this summer said they're free agents. this is a case of colorado of a man supposed to vote for hillary clinton in the last election, because that's the way the colorado popular vote quent, but he didn't. the state threw out the vote and kicked him out and found somebody else and he sued and the 10th sir kitt of appeals said when the founders never said anything of electors being bound. 30 states require them to vote adds the state did or say that the votes thrown away if that happens so the supreme court is going to

the electoral college gives people a voice.ing to do away with all of that. steve: explain why they want to do that. >> they want to do that because they are tired, especially on the democratic side, right, they are tired of having to talk to people in the middle of the country. they know that they have huge numbers of voters in california and new york. there are 10 million people in los angeles county alone. that's more than most states. right? if think could run a campaign just based on those areas, it would be much easier and a huge advantage. steve: plus, you know, hillary clinton, we have heard from her a million times. she won the popular vote. she should be president of the united states. so, and you look -- it was al gore as well who won the popular vote but did not win in the electoral college. it's like wait, we had two wins taken away from us. let's go for something. so they have come up with something called the national popular vote bill. explain how this is kind of an end around, a loophole for the electoral colle

justices will be hearing arguments involving the electoral college. >> are electors required to voteline with their state's popular vote or can they vote as they wish. here's nbc justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: it's a big question because you can well imagine that in a close election, one or two electoral votes could make a difference, and if electors are free to vote however they want, one or two electors could decide the presidential election. 32 states have laws that say the electors chosen on election day when people go to the polls and vote for a presidential or vice president candidate, they are choosing a state of electors from that candidate's party, and whichever candidate wins the popular vote in that state, that slate of electors is the one that shows up to vote the electoral college votes in december. the question is can the state require those electors to abide by the popular vote in their state. 32 states say yes, they must, and the supreme court is going to decide whether they have to or not, whether those laws are constitutional. the lower courts are

we're never going to change the electoral college. because to change the electoral college you have to get a bunch of small states who benefited from it to agree to get rid of it. do you think that's going to happen? it requires a constitutional amendment. we haven't passed an equal rights amendment act. there's no argument against equal rights amendment. women should be treated the same way as men. we haven't passed that. we're not going to change the electoral college system. all these people talking about these theories i'm like, listen, our country is like all of us. i think every single citizen of this country is -- has the potential to be inherently beautiful, right, in good, but we're all also flawed. we're all imperfect. our challenge is to have the best in us overcome our imperfections. that's what our country is. i think it's a magnificent country, but it's not perfect. it has imperfections. our system of government is not perfect. but it's the best one out there. and so people say to me, you know, you want to throw it out a

promise but it seems to me that what has occurred is that particularly through the fluke of the electoral college of vocal minority has taken over on the levers of government. i think it's contrary what's going on is contrary to demographic trends so i don't think this is something that's going to last i would like your observations on that because i'm hoping, frankly, that this is the last gasp of a very conservative 1950s view of the world whose unfortunately latched onto donald trump as standardbearer. >> robert, thank you, we will get a response. >> inks robert, i love atlanta i don't like it's traffic though they been saying the republican party is on its last gas since john mccain lost to barack obama. political parties change all the time to stop there's always sort of a movement and change. to your point about how conservative it is, i would argue that donald trump's style is certainly not traditional conservative republican i will say, his policies are but i think you might benefit from reading the book and that this party this new coalition is a does conservative as the coalition that t

. >> let's abolish the electoral college. >> the electoral college needs to go. >> get rid of the electoralollege. >> laura: while for now they may trust voters in places like new york and california, they don't trust them in places like south carolina or michigan. this is why they cannot lead to trump's record on the economy or foreign policy stand on its own. not because they care about ukraine or because they really think trump is conspiring with another country to rig the 2020 elections. in fact, i'd argue that impeachment phone call is itself a form of democrat election interference. and by the way, the democrats are fine with using impeachment as a political weapon. oh, boy, are they fine. because they see impeachment as a way to punish not only trump but us. after all, we elected him. remember, they called us deplorables. we are clinging to our guns and our religion. when obama said punish your enemy, he was talking about you. cory booker last week used the word "despicable" to describe trump voters. the left now is so radical that they believe any election result is crooked if it do

quick tweet from john in north carolina who says it could be an electoral college landslide but the popular vote will always be massive and liberal in failing blue cities. you can send us a tweet at c-span wj. selena, the caller mentioned former vice president joe biden who came out with an ad earlier this month following the president's trip to the nato anniversary in london. let's watch. >> world leaders caught on camera laughing about president trump. >> several world leaders mocking president trump. >> they are laughing at him. >> my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. didn't expect that reaction, but that's okay. >> world leaders mocking and ridiculing him for being completely off balance. >> allies are deeply worried about it. they think he's becoming increasingly isolated. manager is very wrong. -- something is very wrong. >> the world sees trump for what he is, insincere, corrupt, dangerously incompetent and incapable in my view of world leadership, and if we give him four more years, we will have a difficulty of ever be

we are never going to change the electoral college. to change the electoral college, you have to get a bunch of small states that benefit from it to agree to it. it requires a constitutional amendment. we have not passed rights amendment act. women should be treated the same as men, what is the argument? we are not going to change the electoral college system. everyone is talking about these theories. listen, our country is like all of us. i think every single citizen in this country has the potential to be inherently beautiful and good. but we are all also flawed. we are all imperfect. our challenge is to have the overcome our imperfections. i think this is a magnificent country but it is not perfect. it has got imperfections. our system of government is not perfect but it is the best one out there. me, do you want to throw it out and start from scratch? i don't know, it has a good track record. if you look back over history, you look at medicare, social .ecurity, civil rights act you look at all these great they were done in a bipart

under the electoral college yet the majority of votes in the electoral college. that is a debate for the american people to have. that is why i don't support removing him even though there have been legitimate concerns and indictments. i think he did do something very wrong with the call to the president of ukraine. with what we have seen with respect to the callers, i think the american people should make that decision, not senators who are under pressure from the intellectual lead from the capital. colorado springsd come republican. , thank you olsen for what you do. i know you're taking criticism. lady, if they will look at one american news.com, it will explain everything about hunter biden and other things that went back to 2014. it is a three-part investigation and it had been turned over to william barr and the department of justice. they are looking into it. it explains what popped up lately and the other things that were going on with hunter biden. it is document it with witnesses , and paperwork. it is legit. exactly whatlain trump was talking about to

sometimes it benefits the swing stators, the electoral college. sometimes it benefits the party in power was suppressing the vote to the party out of power whether democrats or republicans. the point is the core promise of arepresentative democracy that we are equally represented has been defeated in our democracy and that's the core reform we've got to find a way past . >> such a powerful analysis and it is powerfully bipartisan or as you say nonpartisan. your constitutional theory book talked a lot about translating the values of the framers in light of a new understanding and changes in society. to what degree did the framers anticipate and unrepresentative democracy and to what degree is our current unrepresentative democracy a violation of the hopes of the framers and maybe start with the senate which has changed over time but you argue was not what they expected the senate was a great compromise, especially for madison as you know. who, but also wilson looked at the senate as a terrible conflict. madison for a while said it was not even goin

maybe not forever, but 2020 will still be an electoral college fight.democrats have to get into the swing states and work their tail there. democrats have fallen short in florida a number of times. unless you have a superstar like barack obama, they struggle in florida. so it's important they get down and do the organizing in the swing states that matter and where trump squeezed out. in four states, over 100,000 votes. you've got donald trump in the white house. this will be a game of narrow numbers and margins. they'll have to do very, very aggressive campaigning in the swing states and get out of california and new york and pre tending that they're going to -- they can't pretend they're going to have to campaign in the blue states where they know the election is over. they also need to not try to swing places like texas, if you could put those resources into a place where you could swing like florida. so there's a lot of logistical and political tradeoffs that are going to happen here. the third big thing about this is in the end of the day, and it lo

could one of them put a end to the electoral college as we know it before the 2020 presidential electione trump administration making school menus and michelle obama is not going to like it. we start with julian turner digging into document trump and what parnas has to say. >> reporter: parnas work hand and glove with rudy giuliani with 8 of ukrainian officials. there's a lot to unpack tonight, new text messages from robert hide, congressional candidate messing with the belgian phone number. in response to a photo of yavanovitch, my contacts are check-in adding i will give you the address next week. hide replies awesome. later the belgian number reports to hide nothing has changed, still not moving, big check today again. then it is confirmed we have a person inside. there is also this, what is that message? >> he is in real crane. >> reporter: and assistant to msnbc, hide is totally unreliable claiming he doesn't know donald trump or rudy giuliani and is frequently drunk. >> why did those exchanges happen? >> i don't believe he was drunk or he was trying to make himself bigger so most o

writing this editorial, the risk i would not take, an independent candidacy could split the electoral college and allow congress to elect an extremist. yet, he also attacked donald trump set saying he has run the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign i can remember. then he delivered a fiery speech at the 2016 democratic convention. in 2018, he switched his affiliation back to democrat, and donated millions to candidates launching speculation that he would run as a democrad. mike bloomberg has been about the numbers. in fact, his current slogan is, in god we trust, everybody else bring data. and that was his view of the presidential race as an independent one year ago, when he released a statement saying this, the data was very clear and very consistent, given the strong pull of partisanship and the realities of the electoral college system there is no way an independent can win. that is truer today than ever before. in 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would split the anti-trump vote ande end up re-electing the president. that's a risk i refused to run in 2016 and

and the changes have major implications for control of congress and even the electoral college. if house seats were allotted using 2019 estimates, states that bei backed president trump would gain seats and while the seats that went to hillary clinton such as california, new york and illinois, they would all lose congressional seats. even former industrial powerhouses like pennsylvania, ohio and michigan will see losses. i want to bring in carlos w corbello. and also victoria, and let start with you, let's put up the projected gains. there are seven states in all, five that voted for trump in 2016 that would pick up seats. and so on balance, it appears that this would help republicans in the presidential elections if the 2012 and 2016 electoral college voting patterns hold. >> right. and the issue though that we need to dig in further is that lot of this has to do with the state legislatures. and in the 2020 election, who is going to capture that. because for the most part with few exceptions, it is at the state level in our statehouses such as the one behind me that determine w

they want to do away with the electoral college.y question on that is if hillary clinton had won in 2016, would we even be discussing the electoral college? it seems like it would have worked fine then. i am both optimistic and pessimistic and i can only pray for our country and that people will come into this new year -- host: we will go to massachusetts next, somerville. this is mike. happy newy -- caller: year, everybody. i am a little pessimistic especially speaking after witnessing the impeachment .ssue it brought up the fact for me that there is a lot of anger on .oth sides also that it seems hard for people to verify factual information. there is a lot of misinformation going on and politically, we are at some sort of turning point as it stands right now. i just don't know. i think the factual information and money getting in the way of politics is skewing everybody's reality. we are all the same people, all in the same country. we all want the same things and i think there is a lot of issues to tackle like climate change and

campaigning in state that they say, would wanted to have cut their power by getting rid of the electoral college >> that is interesting take too. in other words, the irony democrats are barnstorming iowa an some of the states whose voting power they wanted to get rid of by abolishing the electoral college. >> they always want to change the rules. they changed rules on impeachment. they get supreme occur decisions they don't like, they stack the court. now all a sign they don't have confidence that our agenda will beat president trump's agenda. liz: do you feel like this is an constitutional, democratic from day one. >> i'm not sure it is unconstitutional constitution give as lot of latitude. the way they proceeded without a vote, the way they did it. liz: i'm talking about proceeding without a vote. >> with that. liz: that is not democracy. >> people are free to advocate what they want but the actual process she did was, i mean look, i think that when people complain about partisanship it is overblown. the founders expected people to be partisan but they expected some rules. nancy pelosi just cr

but my question is do you think the electoral college in this 21st-century serves a purpose? i think we wouldn't have russian bots and gerrymandering and all of that if we had one person, one vote and not an electoral college. >> here's the problem. and i don't favor that and i'm going to tell you why because i don't want california and new york to decide whose president. now look, he raises a legitimate point. we have, i respect him. the guys taught government history for 40 years, are we going to sayhe doesn't know what he's talking about , he does but what the founders decided is the tiny little states need to matter as much as the big states so you texas, california and a handful, illinois and we don't quite matter and i can, i can't prove it here but if we get it that way, candidates would never be in flyover country and they wouldn't go to the small states. but i think he raises another good point . and that is i think one of the biggest problems, one is the problem of gerrymandering. what does that mean you study that the only things we can remember from the ninth grad

and not just the popular vote, but the electoral college. what is she saying there, and does this speak to the balance between head and heart that the party's always up against, and does this speak against the kind of purity testing you and i have talked about that we've seen especially this cycle? >> so i think it's both. i really, truly believe it. i'll tell you why, brian. i think, yes, polls after polls after polls show that what voters want -- and we're talking about black voters -- as well is they want to beat donald trump. that is clear. we've seen this in the last three years in the electoral process and how democrats have come out in record numbers and what democrats have been able to do in key, key races. but the thing is we need a movement to win in november, and i say this all the time. and what i mean by that is we have to have a lot of people come out. we need overwhelming numbers of people. we need that coalition, young people, black voters. i mean everybody to come out. and so to do that, there has to be a little bit of heart

i am not here to challenge an electoral college but at the minority voted for trump.reed, but again it's very important institutions are being preserved. it seems now that every party is trying to bend the rules in its own favor. and personally if i feel the two-part system that we used to know, it's exhausted we should consider doing other things because there are so many groups under one tent. whether it's left or right. so america should be more creative and reorganize its political system based on the constitutional principles of the founding fathers. gerry: i want to talk about something else really quickly something which i think you are even more famous. considered by many, gary chris bars the greatest chess player in history not author of a number of books. his most asked recent experiences deep thinking when machine intelligence thinking in human creativity begins. gary had a famous chess match. >> two matches. gerry: is 20 years ago by a computer. one of the things again that is worrying so many people in the world today and causing some of these stresses we

who is elected president this thless electors, people chosen to represent their states in the electoral college2016, but decided to buck the system. >> back in 2016, if you electors decided to go rogue, arguing it was unconstitutional for their states to force them to match the popular vote. one in colorado and three in washington state. colorado removed and replaced its faithless electors, washington state allowed them to do it, but find them. both cases ended up in the court, and there was a split in the decision, so now the supreme court will weigh in. in a close election, it's possible to imagine a scenario in which flipping four electoral votes could change the presidency. critics of the effort to allow electors to vote as they wish one of a situation in which they face incredible pressure and coercion, while the country weekweeks weeks to figure to the present will be. the plaintiffs say we are thrilled the the supreme court will take of our cases. the state had no right to penalize us for exercising a right to vote. the other big case added to the docket today involves the little sisters

they want to do away with the electoral college. my question on that is if hillary clinton had won in 2016, would we even be discussing the electoral college? it seems like it would have worked fine then. i am both optimistic and pessimistic and i can only pray for our country and that people will come into this new year -- host: we will go to massachusetts next, somerville. this is mike. happy newy -- caller: year, everybody. i am a little pessimistic especially speaking after witnessing the impeachment .ssue it brought up the fact for me that there is a lot of anger on .oth sides also that it seems hard for people to verify factual information. there is a lot of misinformation going on and politically, we are at some sort of turning point as it stands right now. i just don't know. i think the factual information and money getting in the way of politics is skewing everybody's reality. we are all the same people, all in the same country. we all want the same things and i think there is a lot of issues to tackle like climate change a