On the show. Host the open your book with a story based on your own neighborhood. It sets the stage for what you talk about. Can you tell us that story . Outside ofve washington, d. C. 100 democratic household. A lovely neighborhood. Number of block parties. The biggest one is called porch fest. There is a parade with all the kids. It begins with the hobart street pledge. One year it went like this. All are welcome here on our street, be a woman, gay, straight, white or black. Everyone but republican. It was meant as a joke, what it really was not a joke. If you peel into the data around polarization, you know how deeply it has affected us. In that moment the pledge was a wakeup moment for me to say as a country we need to think about this, and this is my little piece of it. Host what was your perception of republicans before you did this book . Guest the Washington Post did a word plow. Give me one word to describe republicans. For the democrats, they came back the top words role negative. Racist. Selfish, i did not like to think i thought so. In truth i probably did. If you had to characterize it. I think i had to deal with that. I thought half or one third of my fairly countrymen and relatively negative terms. Host when you decided to directly interact with republicans you went through a whole series of events. Give us a flavor of the things you did. Guest i did a lot of things. I want to churches. You can understand republicans without knowing evangelicals. You have sort of explore different parts of the country. I want to youngstown, ohio. I want to liberty university. I talked to conservative intellectuals. I tried to get all sorts of different experiences. At one point i saw a quote in the paper from the head of Heritage Action saying what people did not know, the awesomeness of america. Had you find it . I went to tucker carlson. How do i find the awesomeness of america . Pigaid go pick Hunting Hunting in texas. I try to have a variety of experiences. For the philosophical to meeting people in diners and their homes. Guest republican like me. If you want to ask him questions about not only his experiences and the things he learned, you can call the following numbers. Republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. How did your democratic leaning friends respond to this . Mixe next reception a reception. I learned not to talk about it too much inside my house. Host why is that . Guest i think my family, like a lot of democrats, had a concept of what i would find. As i came back and shared stories, they were interested and wondered whether i was learning too much or taking too much of the other side. Host when you were exposed to that, where they write . Right . Guest when i went out there i found lots to admire. Many things i think i disagreed with a continued to disagree with. The fact of the matter is no one has a anopheles on who is right and who is wrong. Turns out we are exceptionally moderate people, we just dont know that when you hear it in the mean environment of the political environment. I learned it is easy to find Common Ground with people you sit down and talk with them and understand their experiences, they listen to your experiences. It is quite a great way to extend democracy. Host ken stern, our first call is henry from michigan. Democrats line. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Indicted,ort has been gates inlose aide rick this russian scandal. I believe this indictment is going to have something to do with the russian scandal. I am wondering if the people that you came in contact with in your travels across america who support the republicans, if they will take this seriously, that their president is possibly a traitor. Probably a traitor. I get a little perturbed when i hear people called in saying america is a country of laws, but when it comes to the now attorney general Jeffrey Overgaard sessions jeffrey sessions and other Trump Officials lying to congress underh, under o oath, no other american citizens would be allowed to have a do over. Guest i actually started this project before trump was a candidate, or a serious candidate. Many opportunities to question the premise of the book, of polarization of the country is an issue polarization. We dont disagree anymore than we used to. I think i learned in the conversation with lots of trump voters. Not being a trump fan myself, i dont support him as our president , ive had lots of opportunities to sit down with the voters and understand why he appealed to them and not to me. I found lots of different reasons. Your iy, to get to think we can explore those impressions more what this indictment of some former associates will change that . Im not sure. I think a lot of people have gravitated towards trump for his issues or politics, but also because as i talk to people in this year they feel like he has not been given a full chance. I think this will feed into that narrative for some voters. Host you write there is another side to the story, mr. Trump knows his audience, an audience equally indifferent to the nuances of policy. Andill build their wall restore america to the time when the White Working Class was more than a punchline and a Stephen Colbert monologue. Guest one of the reasons President Trump is the president is because the White Working Class voted for him by a gap of 39 . When ive explored this with people in kentucky, the white workingclass is on a 30 year losing streak. Income is down, Life Expectancy is down, opioid addiction is up. 40 of the country can have a particular feeling, but as a gross generalization they feel like the current political system, democrats or republicans, have not served them well. They were interested in someone as unlike that is possible. Bernie sanders. There were people that supported sanders. They think of trump as being there champion against the establishment. I am not sure that is an indictment from the establishment. Shawn from washington. Caller another thing that is up is suicide among the white workingclass. Lets be clear who picked this fight. Lets be clear with the polarization comes from. Throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s American Workers were represented by labor unions. 35 to 45 and everyone benefited. Lets be very clear for this polarization comes from. The labor unions were destroyed when Ronald Reagan fired the workers in 1981. The air Traffic Controllers got fired. That blew a dog whistle that they can ignore the labor laws, prevent unions reorganizing, the e Gary Clearview picked this fight. It was the conservative republicans, and by god they will reap the whirlwind. Thank you. Guest im not sure who is going to reap the whirlwind. Republicans are doing extraordinarily well in this environment. I think you are right. One of the reasons the working class is doing poorly is because of the loss of labor unions largely in the hands of republicans. There is an irony, but it is lost when people are looking for a life raft in a storm. I think people are angry, they are upset. They feel they have been abandoned. They are looking for anyone. They could have come from right or left. Host republicans, 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. What were the perceptions of those talking to you going into this . Lets the polarization step back. When we have a better perception of each other . Have goneand left o far away from the democratic vision or the vision of america . The answer is no. By and large we had not changed our views and how we think about policies. What is what has changed is how little we know the other side. There is an extraordinary poll the Washington Post did in virginia which asked trump voters if they had Close Friends or family members voting for clinton and vice versa. About 60 on both sides did not know anyone on the other side. That extraordinary, thinking about your circles in virginia. When you dont know the other side and when you go to conservative media and liberal media, is extraordinarily easy to demonize everyone in stick figures. I think they have the same demonization of democrats as democrats do of republicans. People were extraordinarily welcoming to me all over the country. This odd guy asking odd questions. They welcomed me into their houses, the restaurants, hunting trips, church pews. I learned to love the right. Does not mean i learned to agree with everything the republicans think, but i did grow to have a bond of affection that lincoln talked about. Host marcus, stafford, virginia. Democrats line. Caller i guess my comment is based on the title of his book, how i learned to love republicans. Left or right, up or down. Americans want something different. For the most part virginia is more of a conservative state, but more in the middle. Not so much extreme right. It seems to me most americans want the same thing. They want to be able to earn an honest living, their kids to have more than what they had, to save money, retire. I just think politics has gotten so devices that people lose focus. Everybody basically wants the same things. That his name comes up because he is the president. Accused of divisiveness because of his rhetoric. Most people want the same things. I would like to get the speakers opinion on that as far as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, the american dream. How is it we have so much of a divide when people want the same things . Guest i think you are exactly right. By and large, we gravitate towards the middle. We are playing between the 45 yard line. When you sit down with people, they are not all that different on the issues. Sam adams was the first openly gay mayor in portland, work and who forged alliance. Eight out of 10 issues, i will agree with them. Why are we talking about the two when we should be talking about the eight . Why are we so angry when the issues have not changed as much as we think they have. It is a lot in the media environment. I think it is part of the way the media has evolved. Division, onsts on issues, on anger. The Political Parties are the same. As they have divided they had become more on intense interests. Americans have not changed their view on abortion and 50 years. The last year the democrats touted the most prolife prochoice platform ever. Democrats and republicans were aske the most profamily, prolie platform ever. Why are they so happy they are the most when people have not changed and gravitate towards the middle . , i would come back a skeptic about the political process. Host you wrote an oped in the new york post. You write, when you are a liberal and everyone else is as well, it is easy to fall into groupthink. How did you come to that conclusion . So, that is the narrative of the book. When youre surrounded by democrats, you are right on everything. To borrow a phrase from the radio, we are right, they are wrong, and thats the end of the story. A lot of what i heard around the country was anger at the media. The approval ratings, the trust rating of the media is in the 30s. I think that is because they felt locked out of the conversation. They did not feel their issues were being heard. That is not because of the media itself. The Mainstream Media was to include issues but it is not part of their bubble. Host criticism from republican quarters. He wrote this about it. Host the notion our groups falo groupthink, to borrow a phrase, here horse i will not repeat the rest. By editors have been diligent and intellectually curious. Guest i tend to agree with that. The reporters i know at npr are all those things. Where i disagree with brian is to fundamental things. Possibly all those things at the same time, but then subject to groupthink and not recognizing the rest. I think brian possibly deny get that. I think it is important to say things to my colleagues, former colleagues. If you are doing something on e, you would never have never think it is appropriate to only do that with white reporters, no matter how good those reporters are. You need other points of view on lots of issues. Why do we think its appropriate and politics for Mainstream Media to do that, with employees that are by and large democratic constituencies, probably vote democrat and have a liberal inclination . Host close to a spent decade. I was eventually pushed out. Disagreementthe over the future of visual media, because i took the video i took the view that visual media was the future. Host a republican is on the line. Thank you for waiting. Mine. your story is like i happened to turn this on today. Im going to go on to amazon and get this book. As i was growing up, i read a lot and i listened to a lot. Haderception i conservative views but i voted democratic often. As i saw all of the media, i noticed that almost all of cbs,thing i was watching, abc, npr, National Public tv. They were all liberal. Thinking, why is this not fair . So i would like to ask you, why of my think that a lot friends, we disagree. I perceive npr and others as being extremely biased. And if it were not for fox news, we would have nothing that would affirm our views or even be fair. If you could comment on the fairness of other medias . One thats point is ive heard lots. In my travels. It isnt an unusual point of view. And i think people were often his viewut it post reflects a big part of the country. Nprake, having been part of for him as a decade as the quality of the reporters and the reputations of others, it is nuance. We lose nuance in the highly charged atmosphere. It inat i said before, your post and my response to brian manns piece was, look. I know that reporters try to be balanced. They talk about it and they think about it but it is hard when you all, from the same orientation, by and large. It affects what you think is important and what stories you think are important. And that is what reporters do. They sit around and think about what are the important stories of the day. And those are cultural and inmate biases. That is what i was saying. You hear the media criticize President Trump, what goes through your mind . Go through my lot mind when i think of trump. Media and trump win on conflict. Comes out anddent talks about the new york times, he is the Single Person keeping them from failing. Equivalent of the signaling to his base but it has nothing to do with the underlying truth on either side. Conflict wins for trump and the media. So that is what goes through my head. Ien he accuses of fake news, do believe that is destructive because it isnt true. There are challenges but not the issue of fake news. And i think it is also the other thing i would say that i wrote about is that i think it is destructive when a president challenges other institutions of democracy. And undercuts them. He has done that with courts and congress and the media. And whether he is right or wrong, i think the president needs to be more circumspect. To virginia on the independent line. Caller good morning. The question i have for your guest is that if i heard him correctly, what motivated him to because republican is of the loss of jobs for the caucasians in the ohio valley. And places like that that he visited and talks to them. What they say about identity policies . You i am independent, i dont care whether you are persuaded to become a republican. R a democrat but more importantly, what should be the American Issue or agenda, that should be driving. Verybody not because of one way or the other. Guest just my political orientation, i have been a. Ifelong democrat from cradle i became a republican and changed my Party Registration because, as Atticus Finch said in to kill a mockingbird, you want to understand someone, you should understand their point of view. , i wentnd of this republican and then democrat again and then eventually went independent. There is wisdom on both sides. I learned a lot but i havent abandoned my prior views. Environment,ical democrats and republicans are not serving the country very well. Im more comfortable being an independent where i can choose. I see myself now as a professional skeptic of the country. Host on twitter, this question asks you specifically, did you change her views on any issues . Yes, at the urging of my , gunr, taking a few issues control was one, poverty programs was another. Climate change is another. And trying to change myself or nuancedt has being more or complicated than i had seen it before. And each of those issues as i talked to experts, i try to see how climate changed looks from the coal mine. Hunter in texas. I really did begin to change my views and gun control was one. I am for gun control that i think that it misses the point. If we want to reduce violence in this country, we should do what we have been doing which has relatively little to do with gun control and gun control regulation itself. So i changed my views and i came away with the notion a lot of the things we talked about is how complicated people are and as actually closer together than you would think. Post code the book is called a live picture this afternoon of the White House Briefing room. We are waiting for sarah sanders. It was supposed to start at 1 00 but its been pushed back to 1 15 p. M. There will be a number of questions about the indictments today of President Trumps former Campaign ManagerPaul Manafort and rick gates indicted this morning as part of special Robert Muellers russiastion into effect on the election. At the wall street journal discussion and the Trump Administration as part of this mornings washington journal. Here to talk about that in the impact on the banking industry, president and ceo, good morning. Can you tell us about this book and why it matters . Guest this matters to every american that has a Checking Account, savings account, debit card, pretty much every american. The Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau pastor rule that does Financial Institutions in tiny print at the back of these long contracts nobody reads every time they open a savings account, Checking Account, or credit card. It says you give up your Consumer Rights and you are ced or 50,his vote the yeas the names are 50. The senate being equally divided, the Vice President votes in the affirmative. The joint resolution is passed. And that was the Vice President mike pence that broke a tie repealing the role that wouldve made it easier for consumers to sue banks. Of that markets incorporated. Good morning. Tell us about this vote and why it matters. This matters to every american that has a Checking Account, savings account, debit card or credit card. Which basically means every american, right . This was about the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureau that pastor rule that said Financial Institutions cannot sneak in tiny print in the back of these long contracts that nobody reads , every time they open a savings account or Checking Account or credit card,. In the back it says you, the consumer, give up your Consumer Rights. And you are forced to go to arbitration to settle any disputes. Car orget injured buyer you trip going out and other people do the same thing, you dont have to go up against a corporation all by yourself. You get to join with other injured consumers in a classaction lawsuit. You get to go to court. In an open proceeding, you have a lawyer that represents the class and you can get compensation. This rule said Financial Companies cannot force you, the consumer, who has been ripped off into these arbitration proceedings. You can go to court and sue the bank. Congress, the republicans in the Trump Administration, they said no. The Financial Institutions want to force you to arbitration proceedings which are secret, biased, and unfair to consumers. Wheninancial institutions virtually every single time in arbitration. This it were not going to allow thencial institutions to house and Trump Administration said the Financial Institutions dont like that. Were going to allow them to force you to court. It took away consumers rights to go to court and get relief. This is what he said. The data shows that when consumers turn to arbitration, there are forced to rely on classaction lawyers to fight their case. They generated big headlines, people making millions. It really is laughable, these objections. Every bank lobby in washington said arbitration is great for consumers. Its quick, cheap, easy, and you get a lot of money. Why do you have force consumers and to arbitration. So great and so easy. If any of that was true, consumers would love arbitration. They would be forced to arbitration because those claims are simply not true. And this is one of the problems because, what sealed saying . Old saying . Very few people, consumers who won and arbitration, they want more money. Almost nobody wins. When 1000. 10,000 people go to class actions at 5000 people when 100, who is better off . This is the key. 100,0,000 people lose which is what happens in the Financial Institution, each consumer gets ripped off. To each consumer, its not worth it to either sue or go to arbitration. 25, 50, you have tens of millions of dollars. Of other big downside forcing consumers to arbitration basically means 99 of consumers ripped off will never get any compensation. The institutions get to pocket the money. They are incentivized to rip people off. No even if there were incentives, there are no deterrence. Customers dont usually know, if they find out. They have no effective remedy and its not a threat anyway. It creates an upside down incentive system. Viewers can call in and ask questions. Most read issues. 202 you can post questions or comments on our twitter site. You can also post comments on the facebook page. We are a nonprofit independent advocacy group. We represent the Public Interest in the financial markets. Sachs, the, goldman biggest banks on wall street are in washington at the regulatory agencies. Theyre trying to bend the rules, laws, and policies which they are entitled to do. The problem is, theres nobody on the other side to represent the Public Interest and push back and be a counterweight to the private sector interest. , it better markets does is engages in rulemaking, right research reports. Which rulemaking agencies are the sec, the ftc, the treasury, and the fed. We fight for the consumers and investors in the Public Interest to make sure that their interest is a priority in washington. They certainly should have a voice like anybody else. Their interest should not trump the Public Interest. There are lofty dollars, campaign cloud. Dictate and determine what the outcomes. Host what youre claiming as far as the influence of lobbyists on that one. Every single Consumer Protection agency in america was in favor of the Consumer FinancialProtection Bureaus rule to protect those. Wall street lobbying and Financial Institution lobbying america, it couldve been one of the quotes earlier from the head of one of the biggest wall street lobbying groups. Thank goodness this rule failed because it wouldnt of help consumers. His multimillion dollar annual salary depends on promoting the interests of wall street. With all these people, this is the difficulty out in america. You hear people say these things. Wait a minute, who are they really representing . Why are consumers not using it. And by the way, why are all the wall street lobbyists in favor of forcing financial consumers into arbitration . Lets go to some calls. Pikesville, maryland, on the republican line. Go ahead. Im not exactly sure of the role of the guest. My question or comment regards Overdraft Fees. Banks routinely charge Something Like a 35 Overdraft Fee when the amount of overdraft can only be as little as five dollars. Yet they get to charge and 35 Overdraft Fees. I find that thieving. Consideredt is not the interest, but rather something else. Can the guest comment on that . You are not alone in Overdraft Fees. Financial institutions are adding on another fee and youre getting nichols nickeled and dinemed to death. Choicers dont have much among the big Financial Institutions. It consumers tend not to move from one bank to another and its a problem of Consumer Choice and being locked in. Fees sneak up on you. You are 100 right that these fees there no relationship to the actual cost that the Financial Institution in curs. They are patting profits by moving money from their pockets from your pockets to their pockets. There are almost 6000 banks in the united states. Only 30 or 40 have billions of dollars. Community banks are much more responsive to their customers because they are much more grounded in your local community. You want to be looking at the Community Banks and the Smaller Banks that tend to be more respectful of customers and they want customers happy. Unlike the local branch of the too big to fail branch that is worried about patting profits to the maximum amount. Caller i did experience some of that arbitration. And i was really not very educated on it. To wells fargo in the back of the fall. Lostillions of people that their homes, i spent four years it was really intimidating with the wells fargo huge, rich lawyers. , the judgeregiver was really on our side. In an arbitration fight we didnt know we were in. The group that sued wells fargo, they put us into it and we won. Over one million to 2 million that we won. Lostgured we probably 150,000 building the home from scratch in 2006. \ we went down to save our home. E. Vickys story is way too common. When the financial crash happened in 2008 which was largely caused by high risk, andgal, criminal conduct not only did 27 million unemployment up on within months, but there were 16 million foreclosure violations. And somewhere in the neighborhood, underwater homes mortgages that cost more than you can sell for, it was almost 30 . A lot of people ended up in the position vicki was in where often, unemployment was losing their jobs, losing homes, and depleting savings. When youre ripped off by a huge institution, they have all the resources. The have an army of lawyers. What often happens is i have to go to my bank account, take the how do i figure out, beat this army on the other side class myself . That is why actions are so important in this country. What they enable people like vicki to do is to join other people that have been hurt similarly. They dont have to pay for the lawyers. Classaction lawyers represent the class of injured consumers. They go to court and they sue. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Dontmbers of the class pay the lawyers. The only get paid if they recover enough money that the court in the separate hearing decides they are entitled to any money. Its the case any people dont when theyllars, but recover, they get more than zero, which is what they wouldve done otherwise and none of that goes to pay for the lawyers. The lawyers get paid by a determination of the court. She did get some recovery, and thats good. It is often the case in class actions and virtually never the case and forced arbitration. Andhave to hire a lawyer you are forced, alone, to fight the Financial Institution and their army of expert lawyers. That is why you will virtually never win in arbitration. Caller do you know when the last time Banking Institutions had their charter revoked . Guest good question. I dont know that. I cant think of when it happened, and it is pretty rare. You bring up a pretty good point. When Financial Institutions in outrageous, egregious, predatory and illegal conduct. Is one more slap on the wrist and it is always inflated. Is this kind of selfinterest to inflate those numbers to basically deceive the american public. Wall street wants you to think they are being punished. It of that is true. It happens over and over again. If you are a Community Bank and is something wrong, they throw the book at you. If you are one of the biggest banks in the country, you are called to big to jail. Too big to regulate, too big to jail, too big to fail. Regulators,ime that prosecutors, a life it official start thinking about very serious meaningful sanctions on these banks. Lets start prosecuting individual bankers. 2008 was the biggest financial crash is the great crash of 1929 and caused the worst economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. How many bankers went to jail from big, powerful wall street banks . Zero. It cannot be the case. I set it to the sec and other people supposed to be prosecuting. It cannot be the case. Sincee the biggest crash 1929. A loss of trillions of dollars based on predatory scandal. Not working or they are so grossly incompetent that they should be fired. Caller part of these class actions, i get this thing in the mail and i sign it and send it back. Some of the smallest checks of ever seen. Im a lawyer. I read through this. The amount of the attorneys fees is mindboggling. It is staggering that i almost feel it is a scam. I have no idea how the fees are earned. But the people who are really affected ask a loosely absolutely get nothing. You raise a very good point. Let me be clear. Not all class actions either when, when a lot of money, for our meritorious. And youre right. I dont know whether or not that is the strength of the case, weakness of the case, the particular example you had, or is an abuse of the classaction process. I dont know. There are times when people dont recover anything or recover small amounts. Often the problems is, the lawyer has a lot of money and what we should do is address those problems in the process. We shouldnt do is say to ripped off consumers, you will effectively have no ability to whater anything, which is forced arbitration means. We can fix the arbitration process so consumers see that it actually is unbiased, fair, low cost, and effective. And we get rid of policing those cases where the lawyers get to millions of dollars and consumers either get a coupon or . 87. The likelihood of fixing the arbitration process, it is a private proceeding. The better thing to do is to fix the classaction process. So that those cases, however small they may be, consumers dont get host our guest of better markets incorporated p or he is president and ceo a better markets. Com. We go to the democrats line. Caller good morning. Host hi, james. Lot of faxy bring a thatmean so much facts mean so much. I have two questions. Like pass mike pence casted the deciding vote to overturn this i want to do some and see about what interests they have in this. Number two, i am going to write down the website. Contact with in somebody like you or you because it is so much more information that i can drop from you. Last but not least, you are right, i will definitely do research on the banks. You, it is the best show on television and everyone should watch it. Our website iswww. Bet termarkets. Com . We had lots of information. It is how washington is tried influence washington. One of the things people have forgotten about mike pence being the deciding vote is that candidate donald trump ran as the most antiwall street candidate since franklin down the roosevelt in the 1930s in then Delano Roosevelt 1930s. He said it you shouldnt vote for Hillary Clinton because she is in the pocket of a wall street. He said when Hillary Clinton gets to wall street, she will bring all the bankers and put. Hem in the administration what we have seen is the biggest flipflop in history. Candidate donald trump is antiwall street. President donald trump has embraced wall street and a way that is unimaginable. Effectively merged the white house with wall street. The president of Goldman SachsPresident Trumps chairman of the National Economic council. He runs the National Economic policy for the united states. It should not surprise anybody that Vice President pence would go up to the senate and cast the deciding vote to deliver to wall street one of its biggest wins and decades. This is at a time when the American People voted for a candidate who said not only wouldnt he do that, but that he was going to do the opposite of that. The American People should focus on not what you plan washington haveelling us and what we seen is a slap in the face to the American People. Not only did the president embraced wall street, but now consistently he is voting against the interest of main street and slapping consumers and forcing them to lose their rights and discriminating against them effectively, saying you cannot have the same rights as every other american consumer. Host the president is expected to name the next head of the federal reserve. Why the paper highlights that it could be j pollak. ,ho should be the next chair and what do you think about the names that have been tossed around . It, i wouldsaid guarantee here she would not get picked. I will not do that. I think there are strong candidates. They have very different views. The knows what the president is going to do. I would like to start the briefing today by addressing a topic i know all of you are preparing to ask me about, and that is tax reform. [laughter] sara couple of you got it. It will be introduced by the house and wanes committee. It is going to a open process in the house. The Committee Plans to mark the bill next week starting on monday. The house is likely to consider the bill the week of november 13. In order to stay on pace,