right around then we were doing a pretty mediocre segment with steve scully when mom shocked the world and called in to tell us to stop bickering. host: is your family, the country, less or more divided than it was? guest: um, i mean, probably not. there were certainly a lot of things posted on twitter. things posted on twitter after the trump election. election returns were more unified in that we had a republican president when the popular vote, which hasn't happened in a long time. guest: that's no longer true. guest: yeah, because you all just keep counting votes. guest: he won the plurality but not the majority. something we can talk about, john. guest: see what that does for you. look, thinking about things that have not changed over the last 10 years, they passed the affordable health care act, brad thinks it was a success. i don't. that hasn't changed. our mother -- guest: the american people -- guest: she's as sharp as ever. doesn't get around quite as good. you know, she is the thing. the other week i was with her, she, brad called her, she asked when brad was coming home for

in other words, steve scully said we've got a call from raleigh, north carolina, that's all i heard. then he said the name joy -- joy is my sister, my mom is joyce. my sister wasn't living there at the time, but i didn't hear the name. all i heard was raleigh -- i thought someone from down south. that's what surprised me so much. i mean the clip is a big part of me going -- gosh, it's mom. such a shock. host: i promise you that if a joyce from north carolina calls and in the next half-hour, we will bumper to the top. in the meantime let's talk to earl in redding, california, you are on with the woodhouse boys. caller: thank you very much. i find this a very interesting discussion with these two gentlemen. i got motivated to call today -- i tried to call every 30 days. i'm an agent orange volunteer. guest: thank you for your service. caller: thank you. i live on social security and a veterans agent orange, ok? here are some facts i want to share with brad. he's big on facts. tell me if i'm wrong, please, both of you, i will get off the phone, but i want to give you a couple of facts t

right around then we were doing a pretty mediocre segment with steve scully when mom shocked the world and called in to tell us to stop bickering. host: is your family, the country, less or more divided than it was? guest: um, i mean, probably not. there were certainly a lot of things posted on twitter. things posted on twitter after the trump election. election returns were more unified in that we had a republican president when the popular vote, which hasn't happened in a long time. guest: that's no longer true. guest: yeah, because you all just keep counting votes. guest: he won the plurality but not the majority. something we can talk about, john. guest: see what that does for you. look, thinking about things that have not changed over the last 10 years, they passed the affordable health care act, brad thinks it was a success. i don't. that hasn't changed. our mother -- guest: the american people -- guest: she's as sharp as ever. doesn't get around quite as good. you know, she is the thing. the other week i was with her, she, brad called her, she asked when brad was coming home for

i think we were doing a pretty mediocre segment with steve scully when mom shocked the world and mom called in and told us to stop bickering. >> is the family, the country less divided than in 2014? >> i mean, probably not. i mean, there was certainly a lot of things that were posted on twitter, everything about thanksgiving after, you know, president trump's election. i think the election returns were a little more unified in that we had, you know, a republican president win the popular vote, which hadn't happened in a long time. >> that's no longer true. >> well, yeah, because y'all just keep counts votes. >> he won the plurality, but didn't win the majority. that's something that we talk about. >> well, let's see what that does for you. but, hey, look, you know, i was thinking about things that have not changed over the last ten years. i mean, they passed the affordable health care act. brad thinks it's a success. i don't. that hasn't changed. our mother -- >> the american -- >> our matter -- >> the american people -- >> sharp as ever. she doesn't get around quite as good, but, yo

steve scully is our moderator, the host of the briefing, a senior fellow to the former members of congress association and bipartisan policy center and you may recognize him from c-span where he was a political editor. his most impressive credential is he was a staffer for senator ted kennedy. mr. scully: thank you very much and welcome to boston to the mk institute. do you feel at home? guest: i had a chance to look around, stunningly like the senate when i stood behind my desk in the middle of the second row with lindsey graham on one side in senator cornyn on the other, most senators move every two years and you get to sit on the desk that is left, it's a great congressman in a great way to have a sense of what the senate is like and what happened. senator heitkamp: i was the hundredth senators so whatever was left, 99th was maisie, we were elected at the same time and she was my family in hawaiian, we decided we would never part. we would always sit next to each other so it limited options, elizabeth warren sat behind us, kamala harris sat behind us so the back bench was better than th

right around then we were doing a pretty mediocre segment with steve scully when mom shocked the world and called in to tell us to stop bickering. host: is your family, the country, less or more divided than it was? guest: um, i mean, probably not. there were certainly a lot of things posted on twitter. things posted on twitter after the trump election. election returns were more unified in that we had a republican president when the popular vote, which hasn't happened in a long time. guest: that's no longer true. guest: yeah, because you all just keep counting votes. guest: he won the plurality but not the majority. something we can talk about, john. guest: see what that does for you. look, thinking about things that have not changed over the last 10 years, they passed the affordable health care act, brad thinks it was a success. i don't. that hasn't changed. our mother -- guest: the american people -- guest: she's as sharp as ever. doesn't get around quite as good. you know, she is the thing. the other week i was with her, she, brad called her, she asked when brad was coming home for

in other words, steve scully said we've got a call from raleigh, north carolina, that's all i heard. said the name joy -- joy is my sister, my mom is joyce. my sister wasn't living there at the time, but i didn't hear the name. all i heard was raleigh -- i thought someone from down south. that's what surprised me so much. i mean the clip is a big part of me going -- gosh, it's mom. such a shock. host: i promise you that if a joyce from north carolina calls and in the next half-hour, we will bumper to the top. in the meantime let's talk to earl in redding, california, you are on with the woodhouse boys. caller: thank you very much. i find this a very interesting discussion with these two gentlemen. i got motivated to call today -- i tried to call every 30 days. i'm an agent orange volunteer. guest: thank you for your service. caller: thank you. i live on social security and a veterans agent orange, ok? here are some facts i want to share with brad. he's big on facts. tell me if i'm wrong, please, both of you, i will get off the phone, but i want to give you a couple of facts that i se

in other words, steve scully says we have got a call from raleigh, north carolina, and that is all ieard. and then he says the name joy. joy is my sister. joyce is my mom. my sister is not living there at the time. all i heard was raleigh, and i said, it is someone from down south. and that is what surprised me so much, and the clip is a big part of me going, oh, gosh, mom. i was so shocked. [end video clip] host: that original clip was from 10 years ago, right after the second interview that one of the brothers wrote an editorial article in the carolina journal. in part, he said brad and i -- he's talking about the viral clip -- are using fame to discuss politics in a measured and respectful way with their families. we believe and continue to believe that you can have sharp disagreements without leaving -- believing the other side is evil. yes, you can disagree without being disagreeable. brad and i have strived for that and we have succeeded more than we have failed. back to your calls. john, pennsylvania. caller: good morning, merry christmas. yeah, getting back to that gentleman.

in other words, steve scully says we have got a call from raleigh, north carolina, and that is all ird. and then he says the name joy. joy is my sister. joyce is my mom. my sister is not living there at the time. all i heard was raleigh, and i said, it is someone from down south. and that is what surprised me so much, and the clip is a big part of me going, oh, gosh, mom. i was so shocked. [end video clip] host: that original clip was from 10 years ago, right after the second interview that one of the brothers wrote an editorial article in the carolina journal. in part, he said brad and i -- he's talking about the viral clip -- are using fame to discuss politics in a measured and respectful way with their families. we believe and continue to believe that you can have sharp disagreements without leaving -- believing the other side is evil. yes, you can disagree without being disagreeable. brad and i have strived for that and we have succeeded more than we have failed. back to your calls. john, pennsylvania. caller: good morning, merry christmas. yeah, getting back to that gentleman. i

steve scully said we have a call from raleigh, north carolina. that is all i heard.hen he said the name joy. joy is my sister. my mom is joyce. i never heard the name. all i heard was raleigh. somebody from down south. that is what surprised me so much. the clip is a big part of me going, of god, it's mom. i was so shocked. host: dallas woodhouse wrote about this for the carolina journal. among the things he said, "brad and i use are fleeting fame to encourage people to discuss politics in a measured and respectful way with their families. we believed and continue to believe you can have sharp disagreements without believing the other side is evil. yes, you can disagree with out being disagreeable. we succeeded more than we have failed." john in new york on the line for democrats. caller: this is john. sometimes it feels -- how can i say -- weird. republicans always think that democrats are stupid. democrats think republicans are stupid. because of their beliefs. take the books, like in florida. people in florida want to get rid of books. just out of spite. just to g

steve scully said we have a call from raleigh, north carolina. that is all i heard.hen he said the name joy. joy is my sister. my mom is joyce. i never heard the name. all i heard was raleigh. somebody from down south. that is what surprised me so much. the clip is a big part of me going, of god, it's mom. i was so shocked. host: dallas woodhouse wrote about this for the carolina journal. among the things he said, "brad and i use are fleeting fame to encourage people to discuss politics in a measured and respectful way with their families. we believed and continue to believe you can have sharp disagreements without believing the other side is evil. yes, you can disagree with out being disagreeable. we succeeded more than we have failed." john in new york on the line for democrats. caller: this is john. sometimes it feels -- how can i say -- weird. republicans always think that democrats are stupid. democrats think republicans are stupid. because of their beliefs. take the books, like in florida. people in florida want to get rid of books. just out of spite. just to g