Transcripts For CSPAN Public Affairs Events 20180219

Michelle obama. Joined by the artists at the portrait gallery, home to the only complete collection of National Portraits outside of the white house. Here is a preview. Each of these artists had to walk into the oval office yikes i almost wanted to start each conversation by apologizing for putting them through this process. Just to get this job they had to come to the white house, to the oval office, and get grilled by the president and first lady. Im sorry. [laughter] im so sorry. It was not lost on us how unnerving this experience was for each one of them and when amy came and it was her turn, i have to admit i was intrigued. I was intrigued before she walked into the room. I hadnt seen her work and i was blown away by the bonus of her colors and the uniqueness of her subject matter. So i was wondering, who is this woman . I am not somebody who is a great subject. I do not like posing. I get impatient come i look at this musti think be done. why is this taking so long . It is pretty torturous just tried to take a picture of me, much less paint a portrait. I will say that working with the artist was a great joy. And his, he and his team made it easy. Of ae in the tradition lot of great artists actually cared to hear how i thought about it. Before doing exactly what he intended to do. [laughter] announcer the complete ceremony, including remarks by former president obama and the first lady, from the National Portrait gallery, tonight at 7 30 p. M. Eastern. Brinkley douglas talked about the influence of donald trump on the presidency, joining cspan on todays washington journal. Fromas brinkley joining us austin, texas. Joining us on this president s day. Good morning. Guest good morning. Host we started the hour talking about qualities of the u. S. President. Im interested on hearing your thoughts on the president s you have studied, what makes for good qualities that people bring to the office. . Craig shirley being the right person at the right time. Particularly, wartime president s. We tend to do rankings here at cspan, and the top ranked president s often had to grapple with war. Abraham lincoln is usually number one for getting us through the crucible of the civil war. And then Franklin D Roosevelt getting us through the second world war. After that, i still believe character matters, that the president is supposed to represent what is best in the american public, and tell the truth to the citizens, that we should be demanding that of our president s. , and tell the truth to the citizens, that we should be demanding that of our president s. We have had president s like jimmy carter who have been very truthful but we dont rank very high, and some president to make ngs up quite frequently fdr would sometimes tell one person one thing, another person the next. He would say, i am a juggler, i dont let my right hand know what my left is doing. So there really isnt one particular standard. In the old days, military leadership was a crucial. That is why so many of the old president s work generals, because you could test your leadership in a situation. So many of our early president s, zachary taylor, harrison, rutherford b. Hayes, dwight eisenhower, were generals. Host when it comes to the previous president s, how they have shaped the office, give us your assessment about how this president has shaped the presidency so far . Guest hard to tell. I keep thinking he isnt asterisk president. Asterisk president. Since the day he was inaugurated, the fbi breathing down his back about obstruction of justice, collusion with russia. At willt know where th all end up you are kind of waiting for something to drop. We arenot been free still wondering if this guy is really the president or just andbody that got elected will be under endless investigation. I like to quote the poet robert frost that says the only way out is through. Thing forink the best donald trump is to go through the process of the mueller investigation, get the report out there. If he has nothing to worry about, then i think he has more of an open chance of gathering more than this 35 of the vote. It is very hard to be an effective president without at least 50 of the public. You need half the public behind you and trump has never had that. He has always been seen as one of the lowest rank residence for a first year, although, no were big andx cuts historic. Even inwas going to ask light of the things you listed, he was able to get a tax cut done, people talk about putting neil gorsuch on the supreme court. Even in the midst of all that, he would have victories . Guest i think those are the two shining moments in his first year. Whoproblem is, he is a bull carries his own china shop around with him. He is clamorous, makes a lot of noise. Maybe we are just a Noisy Society and he represents it. But he steps over his own message and awful lot. When we pulled back, we will look at this age of twitter, and it was a marvelous tool for him when he ran as president , even as president , but lately there is twitter fatigue setting in. Out the weekend, sending all of these tweets. I felt a collective who cares . Potent weapon,t if the tweets dont carry weight because everyone is inflammatory in some way, then i think he loses even more of the power he has accumulated. But really when you look at a president , the big thing is, do they get reelected . The reelection is whether the public thinks you are doing a good job or not. It is hard to see how a president will look when you are in the middle of it. In my mind, donald would be very low, has not been able to get traction in the first year. Doug brinkley, talking about that trump presidency, influence on the office. If you want to ask questions, 202 7488001 for republicans. 202 7488002, democrats. 202 7488003, independents. Mr. Brinkley, when it comes to this use of twitter, talk about how past president s communicated directly to the people. Now in the age of this president , he has the means of bypassing other means of communicating. To not just pick on President Trump, our social media environment is very helter skelter. Im not sure any of us know what is going on with school kids posting, parents dont know about it, people addicted to their electric devices. Is this a good thing for American Society that we are in this social media age . In the past, president s would use whatever medium was at its disposal. I was recently in richmond, virginia. We call virginia estate of the mother of president s, eight president s were born in virginia. George washington, thomas jefferson, james madison, james monroe. In those days, correspondence mattered. The writing of documents, running out policy. Later, virginia president s of harrison, tyler. Harrison died in office after only a month. He was trying to use the inaugural as a way to communicate a big message but he died catching pneumonia. John taylor came in to finish his term. There is an example of a , the war who was great of 1812 leader, the capturing of , fallen timbers, the northwest territory, but only cut the president for a month. Then you have zachary taylor, Woodrow Wilson. By the age of wilson, you have photography, a traveling press corps. Wilson can find ways to reach the public. He is using radio. Fdr uses radio in an extraordinary new way, coming into everybodys home. John f. Kennedy became the master of the press conference, he created it. Ronald reagan using his hollywood background to break the glass on tv and talk directly to the people, move us through his words into a realm of patriotism. So these things keep on changing but twitter is so impulsive. It is that very nanosecond, you are putting in when you are feeling. If ld be angry all day most of us are angry and a cool our jets. But if you really really express your anger, week become a country of namecalling and bitterness, instead of letting things position themselves in the proper way. I think we are much too incendiary right now, and donald trump is a large contributor to that. I assume future president s will have to wrestle with this idea of direct medication via social media. Guest thats right, and it is the wild west of social media. I have three kids that go to school in austin, and there are no classes telling them how to use social media. They just jump aboard. , how is this ways working to the benefit of our society, im not convinced it is. Im not sure generation facebook is a great thing. Others will say, of course it is, it allows everyone to put their life out in the public zone. Itself hasy, cspan been a great vehicle for Public Policy change, covering events all over the country, not just washington, d. C. Star went up,tele we could move images. I could be here in austin and talk to you in d. C. That would have been seen as a miracle to other president s. Telecommunications changes at record rates. It seems to me, the recent manifestations of twitter will probably seem old decades from now but had a real cuttingedge, like a knife over the last year and a half. Talking about the current president s on the office of the presidency. We are talking with Douglas Brinkley of rice university. First call comes from mike, fort wayne, indiana. Democrat line. Brinkley, i will always appreciate when you are on. You are fairminded. Say,l also like to briefly, the deal is, people talk about the current president. Believe, if you go back to the johnson, irter, and know a lot of evangelicals in the south have criticized all of those men. As a black man who grew up in segregation, those men had a backbone. Wouldould not this a not say the things that the current president is saying about individuals, and that is why they are loved in places like the deep south. We can say what we want, we can bury our heads in the sand. Christlikee really when i say this. It is still about race. There is still a backlash over 44th being backtoback. I grew up in paris will, ohio, along the river, not far from south bend. You name three great civil rights president s. Toneed to give high marks kennedy, lyndon johnson, jimmy carter. For civil rights they could not be much higher. Kennedy came in the 1960 running against Richard Nixon and it something very a student, he made a phone call to Martin Luther king after he had been arrested in georgia, and that spread through the africanamerican community. Kennedy was able to win africanamerican votes in 1960. Eisenhower was doing quite well with the black vote in the 1950s. Kennedy claimed it and then stepped up, gave a major televised address on civil admitting james americus into ole miss. At theal but when a long end with the march of dr. King. , what he was able to do for voting rights, civil historic pieces of legislation since the emancipation proclamation. Jimmy carter, out of fairminded, face of the new south. When he was elected governor of georgia, the first thing he did was say, it is time to end the segregation in the south. Then he hung a portrait of Martin Luther king jr. In the georgia statehouse. Alas, not all president s are civil rights warriors. Trump, hee of donald has gone after a different voter, not africanamericans, obviously. Once you say that barack obama was not born in the u. S. And you become the leader of the birther movement, it is hard to appeal to africanamericans. Instead, you pick up the George Wallace segregationist vote in the south, the Strom Thurmond dixiecrat. He put together a Southern Coalition that reminded me of the jim crow ages in many ways. Thats not a new south donald trump was representing, but remnants of the old south, hence, his defense of confederate statues, the mix above rhetoric he gave, a stain on his presidency, when charlottesville occurred, equating neonazi supremacists, bigots to the other protesters there, gave them an equal footing. Dont think donald trump gets high marks on a category of civil rights. On the contrary, he is one of the worst. In the same league of somebody like andrew johnson, who, after lincolns assassination, became president. Host next guest on the independent line. Go ahead. Caller i have two points to make. I am an immigrant. I came to this country 10 years ago. Donald trump, when it comes to immigrants, it is not a good standard at all. Many immigrants voted for donald trump to become president in 2016 but it is not even helping the situation right now because of the way he talks. I cannot allow my daughter to watch tv when donald trump is on. What she says is, i hate this man. Thing, the russians. If donald trump has nothing to hide, how come he cannot take action. They need to act. Host thank you. We will leave it there. Guest those are both very sally and points you make. Ginned up theas antiimmigration rhetoric from the beginning of his campaign in 2016. His symbol became build the wall. Mexicansrly belittled and mexican americans, latino community, did whatever he could to inflame them for his own political purposes. It will not shine well on him in history. He will say it is all about National Homeland security but theres been a cruelty to the way he has done with the immigration issue that i find unforgivable. It is sad that kid sometimes, we dont have somebody who is, that you could tell your kids, i hope you grow up to be like donald trump. I would be worried about parents that say that. Donald trump lies too much, he conflates things, he is a bully, he misuses cyber in a way to divide us. What is there to want your children to learn from . That there are no rules, break them all . Dangle a foot over the line of what is moral and immoral . Yes, he is not a moral leader. People that invested in donald trump are those that believe that our country was sluggish, that we had too much outsourcing , were doing too many factories abroad. He was able to pick up that loose ross perot vote. 19 of the public voted for him in 1992 over that stuff. The sound used to say you hear is the sucking sound of jobs leaving america. Trump went after that vote and got it in ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin. It is an unusual election. He beat the first woman candidate, by a miniscule amount, this issue of russian appearance in our elections that will be talked about for decades, if not centuries. Somethingave to do about russia heading into the midterms in 2018. Donald trump represents kind of a dark underbelly of america. He has put together a coalition of people who do not like otherness. There is enough ob a going on here. To me, it is not gold star stuff in history. As long as the economy harms, the stock market doing well, unemployment going down, people are willing to tolerate a lot. If he does not get us into a major more, he is not, by any means, toast. He could be reelected a second term. Host when it comes to immigration, compare and contrast his approach to it, back to barack obama, how he dealt with deportations. Guest donald trump, when we talk about him, too often, we talk about him being unprecedented. It is unusual that we have one president pulling on so many different strands of American History but there has been a long antiimmigrant tradition in the u. S. I am catholic, my mothers family was from slovakia. There was a movement in our country not to allow slovakians to come in. John f. Kennedy had to combat the idea that he was catholic in a protestant country. Millard fillmore left the white , become a leader in the know Nothing Party. The whole idea of the know Nothing Party was anticatholic antimormon, antijew. We have the alien and sedition acts in the 1800s, repeating itself in the 1900s. Woodrow wilson has an ugly record when it comes to talking about immigration during his presidency. Trump is just part of a tradition. All president s before donald trump in recent times have been much more open hearted about the immigration issue. Barack obama wanted tough Border Security but wanted to give it immediately the dreamers american citizenship and let them be a part of america, because they already are. Dacad trump has been using as a wedge issue on immigration. Of course, now is tying into the building of this wall. This wall is this idiotic idea. Anyone who travels the border in the rio grande, canyons, i guess you are looking at Additional Border fencing in some patches down there. But the whole thing became a giant metaphor for antiimmigration, antimexican sentiment. It is not a pretty chapter in our nations history. Memphis, tennessee. Democrat line. Caller i am a former administrator myself. Trumpsanted to say, influence, he is a powerful businessman, that is the way people looked at him. He has a poor choice of words that gets him in trouble sometimes. Me. Ow that he can help as a president. I know that i have been wronged by the system. Dealing with the v. A. Under the barack obama presidency. , was wondering, is it possible will this president listen to africanamericans, minorities that are wronged by the system, what do you think he would do in order to take people who were secrecy like that under or discreetly got punished for no reason at all, they got their freedom of speech taken away from them. Host we will let our guest respond. I often have trouble when we constantly say that donald trump is a businessman. That kind of insult people that do business in an openhanded way. You dont create Trump University as a businessman. That is somebody who is trying to pull a scan, a carney, a hyper salesman. The casino bellringer. Come on and get rich. I agree with the caller, that is what people were attracted to him. Personality, Political Correctness had run amok. Trumpt so far, donald seem to be a corrective for that. There was a general feeling, lets give it a chance, maybe trump will break the furniture in washington. That is what needs to be done. I think the strongest message isce trumps reelection, he on it now. Can you do infrastructure . Can you bring meaningful employment to states like ohio, michigan, pennsylvania . Can you take those closed factory towns and get them reopen . He speaks the language, the rhetoric of that, but in truth, the tax cut helps billionaires. Now you are getting back to hoping there is a trickledown effect. I think his most powerful moments, not his greatest policy achievements, but these moments are when he used twitter to deal ,ith carrier, ford motors lets get the job here in the u. S. That is where he wants to be. Economicd of an removal agent, somebody who brings jobs back to america. If he stayed on that message and not start constantly abusing people, namecalling on twitter, i think he would be higher in the polls. 35 that he needs to get him through the mullah report once it comes out, meaning perhaps charges of obstruction of justice, the democrats get congress in 18, may move to impeach him, this is a president that has a lot of weight on his shoulders, but his appeal for reelection will be i am bringing jobs back to places where nobody else cared about you. When you talk about this clearly,candal, history and a history of it. Iran contra, monica lewinsky. How is this president handling indifferently than history tells us about past president s handling scandal . The entire first year has been scandal after scandal. Had irancontra well into his second term. ,arren harding was on a roll then he died, and then things blew up after they had a chance to establish policy after the first year. Watergate happened in the second term. The biggest landslide for reelection beating george mcgovern. , it has beenual scandal after scandal, they never seem to stop. Why . Part of it is, there was no public record, there was no military record. By the nature of the work that he does in real estate in new hidingou are constantly money, off and money, getting loans. So you try to obfuscate a lot of his past. We have not seen his taxes which were supposed to be released. He promised it and will not do it. It is kind of ugly when you watch how billionaires manipulate money, move the , and dont offer transparency. There is a kind of taint surrounding donald trump. Two thirds of the country dont trust him, do not think he is reliable, do not see him as a businessman, but a charlatan. Then you have a third of the country that says this is the best president of my lifetime, he talks straight, directly to me. He goes over the lame mainstream media, punditry, is connecting with my feelings and thoughts. Thoseoblem trump has, diehards are a third of the country, and two thirds are not buying the act. Host columbia, maryland. Republican line. Linda. Caller good morning. I think your guest is relying heavily on the polls which were very wrong in the first place regarding his chance of winning the election. I dont think he is very unbiased at all. I think history will show there was minor russian interference on behalf of more than one of the candidates and the leftwing media bias is a much bigger problem than anything close to russian interference. ,nd voter fraud is disguising you know, how popular this president is. To say that he won by a small minority, in the Electoral College only, excuse me, that is not necessarily proven. We need to get into examining our voting machines, our systems, local elections. Has been a lot of anecdotal evidence of votes being destroyed, not counted properly. It is starting to come to light but democrats in certain states dont want to look at that. Host thank you. Guest i am not somebody who thinks that donald trump did not win. The game is the electoral votes and he is clearly president , deserved to be president. The fact that Hillary Clinton got 3 million votes more than him is an interesting factoid for president ial historians but it did not bring her into the white house. We have the Electoral College. Just as george w. Bush beat al gore. The republicans, Elector College in two big elections in 2000 and 2016, have worked in their favor. One of these days, it may work in a democrats favor. Stop dissing american democracy all the time, everything is broken, we are a all of this constantly casting doubt on our system. We are the greatest country in the world. We should be, and are, i think him on how to run free and fair elections. We have hit some stumbling blocks, we will a few more, but we should be proud of the way that we elect people to congress, senate, statehouses, governorships all over america. It has not hurt republicans who are controlling everything right now. As for the callers notion of democratic voter fraud, the republicans are in the white house, senate, congress, the majority of statehouses, governorships. We all need to try to perfect our voting system, but at the same time, not the ride de view. T, in my it is an ugly world out there. Totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head out there. Russia and china do not respect free speech, the first amendment. They are country that will kill their own people, if they air their dissent. We are much more sophisticated, elegant, enlightened than china and russia. I am proud of that fact. That is why i spend my life studying American History. Hanging chadsave from time to time, but we will fix it. Democracy will move onward. Host President Trumps influence on the presidency. Douglas brinkley is our guest. Of you are on twitter ask you this. He wants you to comment on President Trumps impact on permanently changing the incestuous culture in washington and paving the path for another outsider to become president. Guest i dont see it that way. I see him as ransacking our agencies and institutions. Come in and cut 25 of the people from epa, go to state department and not fill ambassador ships, act like Career Service people for our country are somehow the problem. They have been keeping us running all these years. Broken,tics might be but many people who work in the government in the u. S. Are some of the finest people imaginable. As for constantly being an outsider, i think donald trump is a oneoffer. I say that because the pendulum will swing in different directions, just as barack obama was so cerebral, some said professorial, we went the opposite direction with donald trump who says, i dont read books. The pendulum swings back. Is acould be, trumpism realignment of the Republican Party. If donald trump gets through the mueller report, gets reelected i would say that that is what the Republican Party is. People like bob corker of tennessee, jeff flake of arizona, even mitt romney, if he gets into the senate from utah, those people are more tied to the democratic, establishment of view. That is why those types of republican do not have a home in the party. That is why governor kasich would not even go to the Republican Convention in his own state because he said donald trump is not a republican. Maybe the party has changed, donald trump is what the republican brand is. We will know better by 2020. Host edward from washington, d c democrat line. To dr. I give kudos Douglas Brinkley. I agree with him 100 . Let me take you back to the history books. I want the professor to comment on this. Journal gave Hillary Rodham clinton never endorsed anyone in 200 years except abraham lincoln, and one other. Also, the Foreign Policy magazine endorsed hillary. Linton and dozens of magazines in texas also endorsed her. I am ashamed of this president. I am an African American scientist. Stood a good chance of being the scientific administrator for her. She would have been one of the best president s this country ever had. Donald trump was not elected by the popular vote, he was elected by the Electoral College. We have to make sure this does not happen again. Our people need to get on the phone and call up everybody that you know in those swing states and make sure that they vote. People dont realize how powerful this Electoral College is. 530 electoral fellows distributed across the nation. California has five. North carolina has 12. Host let me leave you there. Mr. Brinkley, to his idea of the political structure, as it stands with the Electoral College. If you want to add Something Else. Guest the caller is absolutely right, he gets back to these swing states. Almost tell can you, in 2020, what will go blue for democrats, red for republicans. It comes down to six or seven states. Democrats have to really bring out the vote. For example, Barack Obamas numbers for bringing out the africanamerican vote have to be replicated. Remember, obama won indiana and north carolina. Democrats can never afford to lose pennsylvania like they did. Ohio is going to be an ultimate swing state. I think it is tipping republican right now. To go tolinton needed wisconsin. She did not visit once. Republicans have to pay more attention to florida. The number of people moving in from puerto rico, of course, you are an american citizen, you dont have to apply for anything. They are moving in the tens of thousands, soon to be hundreds of thousands that will be residence in florida, angry at the way the donald trump has not acted to help rico in their time of peril. It used to be cubanamerican votes mattered in florida. It will be the puerto rican american votes. If i were the gop, i would be worried about florida. There is no cap to the presidency if you cannot hold it. Donald trump also talking about offshore drilling in florida. Governor scott saying dont drill, this is the state of tourism and coral reefs, wilderness oceanic zones. What do you mean we are going to start oil drilling . Trump has been off message with the state of florida, and that could cost him mightily. Democrats have to come up with something in the great lakes region. What are they standing for in ohio, michigan . We will have to see how both parties attack these issues in the next few years. Host christine, virginia. Independent line. Good morning, being president s day, i would expect my president to have a higher standard of ethics and honesty. I think the level of corruption has been terrible. I am concerned about redistricting for the next election especially. I really hope the courts can at least hold sway against this presidency. Congress does not seem to be able to. Thank you so much. When we say on president s day we expect our president president s day was created in 1971 by Richard Nixon, not somebody who we think of with truthfulness and ethics. He created it on this third monday of every february as a kind of washing away the idea that i used to prefer honoring George Washington on his birthday. Now all president s kind of get morphed together, and i think something gets lost in the translation. Often times, president s have to tell the truth to the American People. You look at the Washington Post or politico, and you see how often he has lied in his first year in office, it is mindboggling. He is the babe ruth of lying. He is in a category unto himself. Whether people like that or not, that is the new norm. If i can get tax cuts, i am ok with that being the symbol of the u. S. I am not. Think it is problematic to have a president constantly telling untruths. I am not talking about white lies or a blooper. We are talking about systematic disrespect for reality. We previously had a caller say im a scientist. I would like to tell that caller im sorry, we have a president that belittles our nations scientists. When i grew up, scientists were people to look up to, people who used empirical data, people who created incredible things, created the revolution around rock, silicon valley, seattle, the people that brought us to the room. Moon. Scientists gave us our medical advances today, and here we have donald trump routinely dissing science. I find it disturbing. Thee all, we to make sure president has a sanity to them over all. There are times when donald trump swings far off of what we call the zone of normality. He goes up into very weird tangents that can be disturbing. Host we had the president go to florida, particularly in reaction to the florida shooting, this idea of the president being a comforter in chief, how he plays it on versus previous president s. Guest barack obama is the Gold Standard on the appropriate grief counselor in chief. He did such a marvelous job of going to places like sandy hook, tucson, and beyond during his presidency. Bill clinton, i thought, gave one of the greatest speeches in American History when he went to Oklahoma City after the bombing there in 1996. Called in the empty chair of speech. It was a beautifully done moment, Ronald Reagan with the challenger disaster. Donald trump botches those moments. He had one in charlottesville, and he blew it. Withd one here in florida Marjory Stoneman douglas high school, the killing of 17 of hour our fellow citizens. He seemed unsure what to do, started to blame the fbi right out of the gate in an unhelpful tweet. He is not only not good at being a green counselor in chief, he has inflamed britain. They had a terror attack and he writes nasty things about our greatest ally. He is not wanted in london right now. These are problems. This is somebody that kind of tone deaf narcissism that our president has, that he is not able to find the way to heal the country, is another shortcoming of donald trump, im afraid. With that said, i dont believe just because the killer in florida wore a make America Great again means that trump is responsible in some way. Derangedthat is this and crazy, it is unfair to blame a president , a rock band,. Ommercial but trump could have done better on all of these moments. Instead, he goes to quickly to tweets that seem to be selfaggrandizing, be living ,nd belittling Something Else and true to judeochristian healing. Host david, youre are on the line with Douglas Brinkley. Caller thank you for cspan. I really dispute you on every point you make. The thing you say about puerto rico. The people that elect puerto rico the people that have left the mother is so much crime over there. I know that because i am half puerto rican. They have had a runaway. Number two, you are saying everyone voted for trump are the incurables. You also must bring to mind the people that brought barack obama into office were the white people. I could name 20 things where he kept poking his finger in the eye of the United States. Bergdahl, the other guy with the sex change, everything that he has done, the racial things, he has divided the whites and the black so much it is not funny. All of a sudden they were all right. Bringing people, mexicans into this country. This is not a dumping ground for the rest of the world. The rest of the country, the rest of the world should be taking care of their own people. Host we will let Douglas Brinkley respond. We have had a number of callers and you can feel the civility we are having and then you get a car like that who is just raging like a tasmanian on the air, just saying all sorts of things. That is what we are talking about, always having to be incendiary, putting logic and reason and compassion and intelligence, back burnering those instead for a sense of rage. That has been the formula that has worked for trump and has brought in supporters. Im not suggesting that some of those supporters are not justified in their local needs. Who likes outsourcing in cayman bank accounts, money being pulled out of the United States to a broad . Some of the economic populist message of donald trump resonated, and it should. We do need to make America Great again, rebuild American Cities and communities, but what im objecting to is the way that trump goes about it by trying to divide and conquer. Our caller is saying barack obama did the same tactics, so now it is payback. I never found president obamas americans, inllow demeaningnt way, as and belittling as though he then donald trump talks to our fellow people,americans, lgbt africanamericans, women, the president right now has a dozen women charging him for sexual harassment. The language that he uses about women on a regular basis has created the whole metoo movement. He seems to be unable to criticize the white house staffer who beat his wife, will not come public and say how horrible and heinous that is. I dont think people are asking much of a president to be able to respond in some way. But alas, he doesnt, because he is incapable of it, because he feel needs to it because he feels he needs to admit something wrong. The president cannot say i made a mistake. All people make mistakes. When you say somebody says they never made a mistake, you have a problematic person. Host stephen on the democrat line. Caller thank you for cspan. I just want to share something with you guys. Agree, the fence would be unnecessary and futile. These rich people are telling us, build the fence. In the meantime, they are being stocks in airlines, so once the fence is up, they can make money from the airlines. Just gets back to the whole border issue is one that needs to be addressed, we need to have national security, tight borders. I do think there is agreement between republicans and democrats on that. The question is, is this wall our big public works initiative, our moonshot . I have objected personally to President Trump connecting it to the dreamers. I think you need to fight for the wall on the merits of the wall. In the end, it will be a patchwork of what is already there. He needs political cover to say, i said i was going to build the wall, and i did. Most people realize it is unnecessary. We simply need tighter Border Security. Alas, people will find ways into the United States. We are not going to live in a cocoon in the 20th century 21st century. Host donna, independent line. Have a question and then a comment. Are you related to David Brinkley . Guest i am not, but you can imagine i am asked that quite a bit. Book about i wrote a walter cronkite, im afraid i confuse the matter even more. But no relation. Just curious, because i have never seen you before. My comment is, today is president s day. We are supposed to be honoring our president. I have been watching cspan since it came on air, i am 77 years old. I have been really upset. You have done nothing but bash our president since the show started this morning. I think that is very shameful. Why would a guest like you come on on president s day to do that . You are obviously liberal, right . President s day is not kings day. It is not the day to kiss the feet of a sitting president. We are supposed to be talking about past president s, the idea was to talk more about George Washington and abraham lincoln, but the unusualness of donald trump makes him a conversation. , think everyone would agree across the country, all the time. I wish i could be, on this theident day, saying that past year donald trump has treated the presidency with respect the institution demands. Instead, its been a white house in turmoil, resignations whotantly, a president feels something is going to drop all the time. I have not given up that he can change and do things. There have been moments in the first year that have been outstanding. But the Overall Record you get is he creates an echo chamber of disharmony that turns americans against americans. I am not labeling my call or anything. You are right, left, republican, democrat. I know we have republican and democrat lines. Sometimes people just say the truth. Obviously, it is a truth as one sees it. I have written a lot of books on history, i edited the diaries of Ronald Reagan, i was given all of his notes. Three book on Ronald Reagan books. I did a biography of gerald ford. I am just talking straight to you. It is not a hillary versus trump. Hing donald trump has lowered the bar on the behavior of the sidency to an acceptable unacceptable level. You dont find it that way. You find it charming, i guess, that he is every day bashing things, criticizing the fbi, state department, cia. From the first day, he lies about the size of his inaugural crowd. Photographic evidence proves that it was not as big as Barack Obamas. I know it does not bother you because you like the brand of donald trump, and he has many followers. M simply suggesting, he could become a twoterm president. If i were advising donald trump, i would find ways, particularly now with the infrastructure, to find ways to work with the democrats and lessen the partisan sniping and work for a few months i know it is hard in this culture but maybe do one thing that we can do together as americans. Host florida, dana. Go ahead. Caller hi. Is, i think they need to get over the fact that we did not like hillary. We are tired of the clintons, i am tired of her lies. I watched her speech on the benghazi. I am a military mom. She lied. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. You need to address that. She is not going to get indicted for nothing because of the money and the power. And you know that. To you to sit there on president s day and say badly about President Trump is very wrong of you. That is the hatred in america right there. We may not like everything. I voted for him. We may not like everything and approve of the tweets but you are preaching hate. That needs to stop. Host thank you. Mr. Brinkley . Guest i am a christian and i dont have hate. I have no hate in my heart. Have nobodyi will that i disliked because that is how i am, how i choose my life. It is not a matter of hatred for donald trump. There is a disappointment in his behavior. His behavior matters. Watchof kids listened and. It is supposed to be an aspirational role being president. You want your children to say, you can be that. Nobody wants their kids swearing all the time in public. Nobody wants to see muslims belittled, africanamericans made to feel small, wants to mock make it mexicanamericans, treat women meat objects, not without souls our consciences. That is the problem. Who doesnt want him to heal himself . But he carries a lot of weapons of war with him in a peacetime environment. He wants to wake up every day because that is where he grew up in new york city, in the real estate world, gets thingsgs done, you intimidate people. I guess because i study president s, i have not seen it before. Ie caller and i disagree, but think the caller would recognize that this is something different. I tended to like past president s , more than what i see going on now. Anont see this as enhancement on the presidency. I see the presidency as being smaller, our allies around the world laughing at us, the u. S. No longer taking the leadership role in the world it needs to take. Weekly house where staffers are leaving under some sort of controversy because they. Ere not vetted the fbi and the Justice Department honing down on a president right now because he cannot come clean and Talk Straight to the American People. Cannot release his taxes like he promised voters he would do. It goes on and on. We will see how it plays out. Im not suggesting that he cannot be reelected, that Trump Movement is big. But the idea that in the United States we are not allowed on president s day to say what we feel is misguided about a president that reeks of a dictatorial attitude. You have to worship at the feet of donald trump. There is no hatred that i have toward him whatsoever but i problematic behavior. Be normal and run the country. Douglas brinkley our guest first hour, history professor at talking ersity and about President Trumps influence on the x later today a review of our landmark cases series. Akil amar tests are reviews the series. You can also watch on cspan. Org or listen on the free radio app. Cspans history series, landmark cases, with a look at the significant subtheme court sub point decision. Decision. Court watch landmark cases live monday 26th. Ry th for background on each case order a copy of the companion book available for eight dollars . 95. Additional resource there is a link on our website to the National Constitution centers interactive constitution. Tonight, unveiling the portraits of former president barack obama and Michelle Obama joined by the artists at the National Portrait gallery. Here is a preview. Each of these artists had to walk into the oval office, yikes. I wanted to start off by apologizing, for putting them through this. They had to come to the white house to the oval office and get grilled the president and first lady. Im so sorry. It was not lost on us how unnerving this was. When a new came in and it was in need. I was i had seen her look and i was blown away by the boldness of our colorists and uniqueness of her subject matter. I wondered who is this woman . I get in addition. I look at my watch and i think this must be done. So, it is torturous trying to take a picture of me, much less a portrait. Working with him was a great joy. He and his team made it easy. In the tradition of a lot of great artists, actually cared to hear how i thought about it doing what he intended to do. Ceremony on the National Portrait gallery tonight at 7 30 eastern. Coming up, more from washington shirley onh craig Ronald Reagans influence on the presidency. After that the commissioner from net neutrality. And expanded missions. One of the landmark cases from our original series on Fourth Amendment search and seizures. Next, the reagan presidency. Author is Craig Shirley, of reagan rising, years 19761980, and Craig Shirley, good morning. We are talking about influences on presidency, start with ronald way did he shape the presidency we know today . Guest i think he revived the presidency. Previous president s were all well intentioned, america has lucky, weve had basically ged men who have been elected to the presidency. Presidency, some of them are lost in the power, dont nderstand the presidency and diminish from the time of president kennedys 63, ination, november of diminished through lyndon jimmy , nixon, ford and carter. Reagan reinvigerates the merican presidency back to where it was under Franklin Truman and nd harry dwight eisenhower, modern fullyn of chief executive engaged with foreign domestic policy and also, has common too, like Franklin Roosevelt did. He brings the presidency back. Brings restoration. Before reagan was elected when still president , there were a lot of columns and pieces written that say the prez one man now. Ig for we need to have a presidency for he domestic policy and a president for Foreign Policy also by er and implication gerald ford and Richard Nixon, the presidency big to manage the affairs of the nation and affairs of the world. Reagan was when elected and never again was written. That, still since been written since it was in the late 1970s when people were saying presidency was too big for one man. A sense between Ronald Reagan and President Trump . Guest i think so. Become idency hasnt diminished. It did under clinton, that was ore personal problems than anything else. He bushs didnt completely understand the presidency, but the presidency was the way whereas world , leader, but also leader of the nation. Leader of the 50 sovereign states. Clinton diminished the because his personality was diminished because of his personal it was reinvigorated because of september 11th under and continued so under president obama and i tinues today, although think the majesty obviously isnt there with the presidency that was ld trump there under previous president s. Ost what specifically do you see in things hes reinvigorated . Trump in his nt first year, he is pursuing by nd large, hes not a conservative himself and was a registered democrat for a long time and was on the wrong side many, many issues for a long time, he has by and large conservative course that reagan set for the Republican Party. Republican the party, you know, before reagans election in 1980 was not about cuts, not about shrinking of government, not about winning soviet union it was about various pe r permutations going back to the there was man, acceptance, bipartisan acceptance, berlin wall was perm soviet union was thing of perm nance, shes were facts of facts that could be denied when reagan comes in and e changes the Republican Party and philosophy and outlook and attitude toward the soviets and individual. He goes back to what framers and derived, ntended, all philosophy from enlightenment more he individual is important than the state. Eagan brings this back to the Republican Party. Trump, this is reagans ntellectualism and make no mistake, reagan wasnt intellectual. Anderson, aide to reagan, estimated his iq was 175 or higher, reagan read extensively, thought extensively, wrote extinsively, all hallmarks of being a true intellectual. Obviously doesnt, he said himself, he doesnt read books, gets news from television. Dont know if he reads newspapers, or writes or not. An instinctual, instinctual if not real conservative. Craig shirley for the hour, if ou want to ask questions about Ronald Reagans influence on the presidency. 2027488001 for republicans. For democrats. 2027488002 for independents. Twitter at on cspanwj. Ronald reagan ability to are nicate to an audience, there glimpses with donald trump and the modern day . No. St not at all, reagan was just beyond the voice, had a marvelous hat people studied, how sinnerous it was and kayedence and pitch and he was able to soothing tones, which is why he did the radio reintroduced broadcasts during his prez denny, gave press conferences during his presidency. Was s the best thing going reagan himself and his ability he had nicate is that developed that going back to his who, and wrc radio in des moines and iowa back in the 30s. Obviously worked on movies in the 40s. And then in the 50s, fully developed. Coming quickly behind it. So now he is an informed, intellectual conservative with powerful voice and the ideas his mind and his voice and other things came together 1960s. Host trump doesnt show those things . So. St i dont think i dont think so. The other thing about reagan, not just he had a voice tis what did with it. Reagan was always recruiting. He would go before republican in kansas city at the Republican National onvention and at the detroit 1980, when he won the nomination and calls on democrats and independents, 17,000ng to joe locerina, in the audience and before this calls on republicans, democrats and independents to shared coalition of values. The same thing in 1976, when he is iving his what essentially his concession speech, he loses the nomination by narrowest of margins and asked at the last minute to come up to the podium, again, to speak at kemper arena to thousands of americans there millions of people watching around the country. Democrats alks about and independents because they have a platform and message that to the ng them Republican Party. So it wasnt just that he had a oice, it is what he did with the voice. Trump is not a recruiter. New not trying to bring people into the Republican Party. Host Craig Shirley is our for you from all fondalack, wisconsin. Up, good morning. Caller good morning. I was a dairy farmer in northern wisconsin, 295 cows and i was for 36 years and reagan farming, the way arming goes, everything goes. So host harold, how did he mess up farming, in your opinion . Guest yes, he did. He messed up farming. Was over 4000 family farms lost from 1983 to 1993 and the part, over 1000 commit suicide. Google it, if you dont believe it. Host okay, harold, thanks. Guest i dont know how to address that. Grew from 1981 to eyond the reagan and bush presidency and into the Clinton Presidency because of reagans policies. Farm products, we increased is rts and consumption, that i come from a family of all seem ers and they to do very well in the 1980s, i dont know about this situation. Host buffalo, new york, democrats line. Joe is next. Caller morning. Morning. Go ahead. Like to just im a and ive ion welder been a working class guy my whole life. All i can remember from reagan him busting the unions. He took the air traffic out ollers and threw them on their butts and then took the Pension System and he destroyed that. Got rid of all that and made 401 k and it is as far as all the money, seems are all sending money to the top 1 . I know youre tired of hearing that, but im 57 years old, ive dontd all this happen, i have a pot to piss in, i still make the same money as a welder in the 90s. You know, i understand youre to talk up reagan, but could you be a little more onest about the things that happened because of his presidency . Thank you. Host thanks, caller. Been perfectly honest with reagan during his presidency. Into bout to be inducted the department of labor hall of fame for the work he did as the screen actors guild, elected resident labor, Union President to be elected president of the united labor card arried a his entire life up until his passing. Prounion, he got healthy number of union voter 47 of ry 1980, i think Union Households and 1984, omething like 59 of Union Households. Union people, working people overwhelmingly n and always did. Wages went up, as far as patco, was simple, they were public union. They had signed a contract and the contract and like all public unions, whether officers,rs or police or anything else, it is civil ervice, they broke their contract, they went on strike illegally, reagan had no choice, to fire them because they had broken their contract and against the law and meanwhile, millions of stranded anded, i was myself in tucson, arizona, because i couldnt get a flight patco had gone on strike in 1981. Constituted, American Travel remained safe and on time everybody ended up fine. Its just that, you know, he had no choice, they backed him into refused tod they had the offers he made for increased hours, nd reduced work they went on strike. Host strikes me reagan wasnt government end how worked. Is there similarities or shared alues when it comes to turnt president . Guest absolutely. Reagan understood early on, pedro, that power is finite. Power is not infinite. It can be here or there, cant be everywhere frchlt 1932 and rise of the deal, up until 1980, power had been shifting the individual and count and he states and becoming concentrated in washington. Too much power in washington and not enough power in the states and ultimately the individuals. That was his goal, to shrink the power and authority of the National Government and send it ack to the states and ultimately the individuals. He did that through tax cuts, hrough cutting through regulation, through growing the than al economy, faster the budget of the federal government. So increase the power and authority of the individual in the states. That way, trump is also policies. Onservative so there is similarity there between trump and Ronald Reagan. Line, elaine, an from washington state. Aller yes, i have two questions. Even though i feel like im alling in on bash the current president s at a. This . S the purpose of all and is it funded by the russians . To know. Ll i want in are causing dissention america, on president s day, of to days tis a horrid thing do. Guest this is not unique. All president s have been bashed. George washington, who was bashed by the pamphleteers and tabloids of the era. All president s denounce the media. It is just comes with the tariff act, John Anderson had newspaper editor necessary criticized the National Government. Lincoln complained, newspaper necessary maryland and Teddy Roosevelt complained about the media, Woodrow Wilson had nationaled to restrict media during world war i. F. D. R. Issued to say what media say. You couldnt say brought to you by campbells soup. Broadcast Troop Movement or ship movement, they by the National Government. John kennedy stopped subscription of New York Herald tribune to the white house, he didnt like the editorial policy. Nixon, we know all about nixon especially new york times, jimmy carter complained about the media, all president s. It or not, the press is doing its job. Nothing were meet philadelphia in 1787, the framers, you know, if you look first amendment, oddly jammed in there is freedom of mostly about use personal writers, write speech, of government, freedom of religion, all freedoms. But there is no mistake about framers and founders at the time despise the media of the valuable saw them as ally of the people against the National Government. By and large worked for 200 been clumsy mistakes, gone too far, things like that. A check on ted as the excesss of the executive branch. As much as people complain about he media and trump today and i admit tis harsh, the press has presidencytoward the because the press is supposed to be harsh. Host i will ask you to compare contrast, Ronald Reagans response to bad press and this president s . Reagans was far different. 56 movies in e hollywood and some of them quite very good. Ent was criticized. God bad reviews. Thick hide from his time in hollywood. By the time elected president , rolls off ck skin, it him. Privately, might fume or omplain, but never publicly, never let them see him, never histhem see him sweat about bad press conference and so that between ed difference reagans approach to bad coverage and Donald Trumps encourage. O bad host arkansas, independent line, mike for Craig Shirley. Go ahead. Caller good morning, mr. Shirley, thank you for taking my call. Want to ask you about. Is it true or not true mr. Reagan, president reagan, closed the mental institutions . Number two. Hy would the captive necessary iran released shortly after mr. Reagan became president . Do with the iran contra . Elling arms to iran, circumventing the congress . Third. It is a proven fact his economics did not work. Richer got and richer and continued to this day. Thank you for taking my call, i answer in a straightforward answer. Ost Craig Shirley, ask you to focus on iran contra, how did eagan deal with the idea of scandal and again, how this president deals with issues of scandal. Uest first of all, the hostages were released because i interviewed bruce langdon, the charge faire of the embassy, held captive for 440 days. Ayatollah feared Ronald Reagan, that is why they were released, going to take as drastic action to get them eleased or military action against the government of iran and that is why they were released, plain and simple. They were not fearful of jimmy carter, not scared of jimmy scared of they were Ronald Reagan, that was the political and cultural head of mission in tehran. Contra, it was wrong, it happened without his knowledge, without his approval. Its been proven time and again that it was rogue operation, the white utside of house by oliver north to sell rms, reagan didnt know about it, he denounced it. He was the one who called for the investigation. Was completely open to the public, completely open to congress. Exonerated by the tower commission, which investigated democratic ith contraandd musky, iran exonerated Ronald Reagan. Reagan didnt know it was going on. Things do happen in our National Government. Host how we weathered it, then. Well, he viewed it as, took it hard because he saw it s reflection of his own presidency and took a hammering in the National Media and but he g in the polls, did recover in the National Polls by the end of his so idency and did recover even the Washington Post, which had been bashing him for very unfairly most of the time or often, they an editorial the last day of his presidency lauding has densy and the historic nature of it and what he accomplished. Callers last point, lets go back to 1980, we had 18 inflation, 21 Interest Rates, term stagflattion, a that economics textbooks said could not be possible. Have zer or or negative growth and inflation at the same time, it was impossible. Y yet we had that, the country, unerm ployment, as high as 10 by 1981. Six quarters of negative Economic Growth the last year of presidency, the last year and a half of the carter presidency. Standard, every measurable way, we were in dire was the straits and it second worst economic calamity since the great depression. Comes in and changes all that. Interest rates are down, by the presidency, down inflation wiped out. 19 million new jobs created, growing, income minimum wage goes up and every standard reagan improved a lot f peoples lives in the eight years of presidency. Host may of 1985, president airwaves to to the address his desire for additional tax cuts. Ou can see that on the cspan radio library, here is Ronald Reagan in 1985. 1981, our critics charge letting you keep more of your arnings would trigger inflationary implosion, send Interest Rates soaring and destroy our economy. Cut your tax rates anyway by nearly 25 and what that helped falling inflation, falling Interest Rates, and the in ngest economic expansion 30 years. We have made one great dramatic owe it to er, we ourselves now to take another. Fairness, ke of simplicity and growth, we must radiccally change the structure the tax system that treats our earnings as personal revenue of the internal service, radically change system that treats peoples earnings the Congress Much differently regarding the tax they pay. Radically change the system that causes some to nvest their money, not to make a better mouse trap, but to avoid a tax trap. Shirley, daniel rather says this about Ronald Reagans compares to cy and the current president. They both got the u. S. Economy reagan deficit, balanced the budget, tax cuts and defense spending led to budget deficit and furthermore, greater defense spending fuelled fwroeth and consumption and the postwar era, the United States ran large deficit for 46 years and almost pursuing macroincome policies. Uest the cold war, we were in the depths of the cold war in 1980 and by all standards, the g the cold war to soviet union. Soviets were in central america, Southeast Asia fallen to communism, soviet embassy regarded a Forward Operating kgb, in that every union, ble way soviet made it afghanistan, is that cold measurable winning war in 1980, we were losing the cold war and National Defense was pitful. E had gis on food stamps, in 1980. Equipment that didnt work, ntiquated equipment, we had bombers that were flying, first dwight ted when eisenhower was president , still 1980. 30 years later in b1 and b2 bombers, b52 pom bombers. Reagan needed to revitalize to negotiate se from a position of strength. He always said that, always first my first goal is the protection of the American People and that is military standards and by standards. I worry about balance budgets, later. Can deal with that when he left office, he said, wrote in his diary twochlts doing he regretted not more about was deficit spending and abortion, those are two beyond his were just power as president , he had the revitalize National Defense, power to revitalize economy. Revitalize moral of the American People, that is undeniable he successful. Host henderson, north carolina, democrats line. John. Rom caller yes, sir, my concern is decisive years behind Ronald Reagan and the downfall f the president s afterward, why do you think our country meet grown to size we criteria for candidates to meet n order to become candidates for the presidency of the United States . Can achieve anything you want to if you have more carry yourself with highest family. Goingesidents nowdays are downhill with more how can we going to ountry is prosper . Host thank you, caller. Guest boy, thats a good to answer. T is tough the constitution says you have to be 35 years old and a naturalborn american, thats it. Presumably, the primary process, about this, it does bring out the best people it brings out the best in people. Primary process through which candidates go through, 30, 40, 45 state caucuses and the like, nomination, does people. Guably good i would argue by and large, it perfect. Ed, it is not not perfect at all. Been many flaws in it. We now regard harry truman as president. Ar great when he left office in january f 1953, Approval Rating was 22 . Andrew jackson is now regarded s great or near great president. Took 150 years for arthur andrewger to write about jackson. Arc of s you need the time to properly, as the ground fall to the arguments the background is to more avorably or more accurately or fr fairly address a presidency. And sometime guess down. John kennedy was considered to was great president when he assassinat assassinated. He is still considered in the near great category, i would him to be the most romising man ever elected who had unfulfilled administration. There was a lot of promise there. Done, too. Ood things but f. D. R. In some estimation of historians diminished as president. Changes everything. And time sometimes improves of presidency n diminishes es it peoples opinion of the presidency. Host independent line, from Craig Shirley, author of the years. Caller or mr. Shirley, people to e books about people change peoples view, except people like myself, who lived uring the president reagans years, i dont have anything against him personally. However, youre completely inaccurate with i started my Police Career in 81 in and Ronald Reagan subsequent to his years, if his good, why is that it his Vice President changed policies by necessity and im telling you now, that im my whole life without any kind of debt whatsoever, otherwise, i can tell you this, that with the advent of credit cards and the mentality that president reagan and others that started continuedl, but weve in this mindset of spending money you dont have and you going to endhat is up . Thank you very much. Host sorry about that, caller shirley . Caller actually, Many Americans have debt, they have mortgage Credit Card Debt and they live their lives perfectly fine and make their minimum payments go on. Y do budgets matter . I think so. Do balanced budgets matter . So. Hink deficit spending matter . I think so. It. E are priorities to individual he lives debt free, well, congratulations, but there are other people who dont. And so reagan had decided, you know, early on, as i said earlier, the soviet union was balancing ant than the budget. Host with president , the urrent president with recent proposals, tax cut, adigszal spen additional spending, do you think hes changing the Republican Party attitude toward debt . Guest i think hes chafsh chane Attitude Party against debt. Reagan never had a republican congress, he had a republican from 81 to 87, but never had a republican house. Know all the spending bills, according to constitution, must original in the house of representatives. He never had sway over the house to contain e, spending as much as he would like to. About, i said before, worried about the debt and deficit, only so many things you could do. Host gina, in alabama, republican line. Hello. Caller hello and good morning mr. Shirley. I have a couple of three points here. Became a oint is i republican because of Ronald Reagan, i seen him as a im in the fifth district, district of alabama. I went to Point Mallard Park alabama. R, wonderful speech. He was a wonderful, wonderful speaker. Hen after that, my first vote was in 1984. Nd i got to vote for president reagan. I haveo, so pleased, but comes to erns when it like other callers, the concerns with talking about president rump, ross perot was right about nafta, that has been realized now, but hopefully can get our jobs back. Trust rayssions and i and i think 2018 is going to be year, i do have a question for you. Could you explain to people how saved Social Security during his presidency . I will take my answer offline. Have a nd Social Security commission. There was organized by reagan basically in hich redetermine it, refigure it out, it will involve tax increases. Reagan to save Social Security, had to go along with the ncreases to, you know, contributions to Social Security trust fund. Basically it. Reagan was also a realist and do and t he could couldnt do. Social security was popular. Popular. S and george bush tried to, you now, during his presidency, tried to get people to maybe put retirement money into wall failed miserab miserably. Since the time of franklin understand eople contribute to the retirement system through governmentrun invested in ystem, government bonds, you draw it out upon your retirement, eginning age 59 and a half or whatever you choose to do it. Reagan was a realist. He could do ings and couldnt do. He knew he couldnt privatize it just was a , fact of life that he had to accept. From chief in r illinois, chicago, democrats line. Caller that is keith, by the way. Host sorry about that. Morning, mr. Shirley. Reagan ike to credit politicallyg me very aware. I started voting in 1978. Thing really stood out kid that grew up during the civil rights connection between goldwater and reagan. 3rd, in ofh on august all places, philadelphia, mississippi. A speech on states rights and atwater eople like lee working for him. Talking about welfare queens. Think today we know what that led to. And s a southern strategy he it did work. There have been mishopes built reagan, who i felt was a fine president. But the mishope system wrong. We had lebanon, we had aids, we apart from alling drugs. Just incarcerate and leave them on their own. Into health turned out the streets and it all ends with ran contra, and another caller pointed this out. Had it not been for george policies rrecting his economically, we would have had no boom in the 90s. Caller. Ay, thanks, guest where do i start . George bush raised taxes because refused to let graham rugman enact automatically. Reagan signed into law in 1987, hollins, congress came to the conclusion they were incapable of controlling own, so they heir enacted graham, rugman, hollins, signed into law. If you couldnt control spending, there would be automatic cuts in the budget. Eagan signed into law and bush in 1990, the it pledge he made at the convention. And i mean, ive dealt with this a hundred reagan and philadelphia. Campaigned in 1988, but nobody suggesting he racism. On at caller was talking about the county fair, all politicians and reagan ampaign did, too. In the 1980 campaign, reagan did the fall campaign, falsely asserted by Hillary Clinton and others at the county fair. At Liberty State Park in new jersey, surrounded in front americans and of the statue of liberty, which eagan paid tribute to contributions of immigrants to the United States. That is number one. That carter s launched his campaign, fall of campaign in alabama, just tennessee, which was the birthplace of the kkk. Carter was ggesting appealing to white racism by fact is that the there were hooded kkk members launchd on the cart er in his campaign in 1980, confederate battle flag. Arter defended confederate battle flag. We southerners understand battle, which he defended. He was not accepting endorsement but somebody could easily say, well, carter was he didntcism because take on the kkk, just as reagan was soft on racism, he launched campaign at in the county fair, didnt launch at the county fair tis convoluted and not true. Signed Martin Luther king holiday. He was governor of american , appointed retirement associations than any governor in the history, including his predecessor, pat brown, father of the current governor, jerry brown. Abhorred racism. When he was a boy, his father birth of let him see a nation, because of the racist message of the movie. Woodrow wilson was previewing it in his white house. The oodrow wilson loved movie. When he was going to eureka college, there was a football being played nearby. Parents home in dixon, illinois. Wo African Americans were not allowed to stay at the hotel, reagan took his African American parents home s and they stayed there that night nd his parents warmly welcomed them. Both individuals have paid tribute to reagan many, many it is justthe years, smear, it is unfounded smear and factually untrue. Host to terry in florida, line. Endent caller thank you. Good morning. President s day. America. Ys and to pedro, and mr. Shirley . Two questions for you and a comment. Get to the question first and then the comment. First question is, do you think is, has the president lied . That is the first question. I pose that question to the want to nd the call, call in and ask that question, you know, whatever. Question is, about lying. Has he has the president s, now, lied president s and it is a proven lie . Proventable, documented, lie . Thing second, the third is a comment. Comment is that, if , if it shows cowardness, they must be fearing something to lie. Caller. Ay, thanks, guest i dont know what the question is. Think it is has the president lied . He probably has. S a matter of fact, traced history of all president s, they in some way, shape or know, you could say, they lied. You know, carter campaigned in a government as good as the American People. It was four years laefrt as good peep snel or n American People better than government . It is a lie . No, something he intended to happen, it doesnt happen. It doesnt make him a liar. Eisenhower, wight bout soviet hpom capabilities and gary powers affair, appeared on thewers was shot down u2 plane and taken by the ussians and there werent overflights by the u. S. Of the russian soviet union. Reagan himself . Guest probably. Not intentionally. There is difference between telling a lie. And a lie to me, saying something, it is a harsh word. Lie means you a deliberately tried to confuse tried to conceal your true intentions, if you make a make a mistake, that is something different. Host republican line, cliff in angelo, texas, for Craig Shirley. Caller yes, good morning. Just have a couple observations and would like to have your respond. Speaking about president s and as a republican, i see so much of similarity between president and President Trump, a i sort eople have said, of have three observations that both of them, both of wall, breakown for a down this wall, that is to freedom hopefully. Our wall to protect us as a walls inthey both have common, i think. I think they are both strong eaders who believe and this is sort of my second point, beyond both strong leaders, they believe in Free Enterprise in a very big way. It can be proven that works, Free Enterprise. Nd i think you can prove with venezuela, cuba, russia, work. Ism does not i dont know if you can argue that it works. Number three. Both of them in their own way have broken down this that in soorrectness many ways is killing this country. Trump might have said a few fibs and exaggerated and said a few want to take exception to. I think that is mainly msnbc and cnn, and they do 23 hours a day of bashing trump. Well leave liff, it there and let our guest respond. End of eagan was the this presidency, i would perceive is the beginning of the political ain of correction, Political Correctness in america. Reagan did address it, too, one point he says, where do we notion, naul e concept of dividing ourselves, of playing war fare against each ther, heed it is antithet cal to the american experience. Never played off one economic one , one social group, ethnic group against another that, is a new phenomenon. Phenomenon, reagan did raesz issue of Political Correctness. The question, other two ost talked about concept of law and guest yeah. Reagan did recognize the berlin the soviets. For it was erected in 1961 because germans were pouring over the border into west berlin and was an embarrassment to the soviets and so many people were soviet from the failed system. They put up a wall to keep their peep nel and it did work. So im surprised actually trump case our e that arguing for a wall along the mexican border. New orleans, democrats line, george, hello. Caller yes. Name is george green, a pastor in new orleans. Guest is n for the hat, mr. Shirley, host george, you are on, just continue on. Caller my question for the guest, he was saying that, you know, they keep spending and spending, you could never get money, never attain a prosper if you spend more than you have. As a pastor, i teach our about the proper way of budgeting. The second thing, our country principles back to and have moral standards. Decay al standards are nothing our country. The third thing is, i served in years, in y for 13 the military, everybody had greed. I have a problem with African American, native american, we are all americans. We are all americans. To the to get back foundation and principle of love thy brother as you love yourself. Thank you, caller. Guest i agree with everything you said. Of being a int pastor, talk about this residents support from the evangelical community, call it what you will. And what guest yeah, i know. Reagan, if ison to any. Uest support of reagan, evangelical voters first came to 76. Nence in carter ran as a bornagain christian. The pulpit. D from messages and ppeals to evangelical voter necessary america and election 1980, his national trf the cast was hosted by reverend pat robertson. Democratic, was hosted by pat robertson, as a result, 60 of the over evangelical vote in 1976. Betty ford and her interview with 60 minutes prochoice comments, she was proabortion, prochoice, nd daughter and affair and things like that. Betty fords recoiled over that interview and over the issues. Went republican in 1980 because they perceived reagan more pro alliance and carter issues iously economic affect everything, including migrated to who the Republican Party quickly offer the fours years. Started out as democrats. Far as what he says to them, moral america, i dont think nybody would disagree with that. I dont think anybody ould disagree about the u. S. Military or about balanced budgets and deficit spending, that. Like he was right all three points. Host support of religious folks are you president , surprised by that . Guest no. Well, yes and no, pedro. Given his behavior, you would say, well, that really are you is kind of strange thing, im trying to phrase to blical equate it to. Bible teaches about making peace with people who perfect, but at least are on your side. The nk that is what its lical group was on side, he was more to their liking than Hillary Clinton, that is for sure. From colorado, alice next, republican line. Dead morning. Good morning pedro, depend morning, mr. Shirley. You mentioned reagans two doing something about the deficit and abortion. The truly believe that lack of teaching respect for uman life has led to some of our shootings and i blame eachers, parents, the movie industry and no respect is being shown, i hear about, i was at a and talked to a young girl. She said, the kids talk back to time. Eachers all the nobody is holding the children and the parents accountable. I believe that the reagan would be really upset and i really you making that comment. I didnt realize that he did want to do something about abortion. Yes, abortion for some cases, of legal and uld be should be uniquely done. Lack of respect for video games and killing people all the time is just disheartening to me. Host thank you, alice. Guest i agree with the caller. Think that the disrespect of human life led to society, i dont think there is denying that. Urge her to go online. Reagan when he was president rote a short book named abortion, the conscious of the the nation, and in this book, talks aboutlet culture of abortion and how it leads to ortioning society and culture, our life and respect for each other. Nd so this is very much on his mind during his presidency and his ast years of presidency. Democrats line. Caller hi. Yes, im a 68yearold registered nurse and i remember he did. Nd what answer ou to truthfully what he did regarding the ill and in 1980, jimmy cart carter signed the Mental Health when s act from 1980 and Ronald Reagan came in, the u. S. Of that repealed most law and what they ended up doing instead of fixing Mental Health institutions, certainly they were broken and men and cared for people. They sent everybody out of the ental institutions on to the streets. These are the people now who are guns andg murders with these are people who are reagan, it was awful what reagan did, instead f host caller, leave it there, were running out of time. Uest reagan had nothing to do with that. The american civil liberty went people and sued saying being held in mental institutions were being held against their constitutional rights, against due process, the court ruled the aco was right mental institutions thousandsir doors and of people who couldnt take care of themselves were let go on the homeless, had me nothing to do with Ronald Reagan, all the american civil union. Ies host peter in washington, pennsylvania, republican line, we are running short on time, in. Right generated into ike a conflict between to talk to e need g more and see what he would do for our country. Gabriel, y, caller, to in oxner, california, democrats line. Dp ahead. I just want to say, i was in grenada twice in 1979, weeks after e just the leftist revolution. I had a vacation planned and i and i t was wonderful loved it. They were building the International Airport, i walked met medical students down there, we jogged on that thing and when reagan invaded he claimed ater, they had a secret airport down there, it was a military airport. True. As never it was an International Airport for tourism, it was, i think, on the st. Lucie airport, no different from that. Here were so many lies around that, the press was not allowed invugz. Er the medical students were integrated the island. Of i think reagan went in, shortly lebnon en host caller vto leave it there. Apologize. Mr. Shirley. Guest american medical students grenada, school in when flown to the United States, landed at Andrews Air Force and down t of the plane, got and kissed the ground. They were happy to be back in because of thees sovietbacked to create another outpost in the atlantic, caribbean, for the soviet union. Thriving, today is a independent democracy, free republic, free market republic, a result of the invasion to cuban he soviets and growers there. Reagan aig shirley, rising author and founder and c. E. O. Of shirley and the senders president and ceo jeffrey rosen, yellow law , review theil raid 12 historic cases featured in the series. Cspan. Org oron listen live on the three cspan radio app. Cspans history series landmark cases beginning at 9 00 eastern with a look at the call of the maryland. Us, mark the case with oflam back, and author securing a nation. Watch landmark cases monday on cspan, cspan. Org or listen with the three cspan radio app. The companionf book available for 8. 95. For an additional resource there. S a link on our website tonight unveiling the joined by the artist, the National Portrait gallery, home to the only complete collection of president ial portraits outside the white house. Here is a preview. Each of these artists had to walk into the oval office, yikes. I almost wanted to start off each conversation by apologizing for putting them through this process. Just to get this job, they had to come to the white house, and to get derailed by the president and first lady. I am sorry. I am so sorry. [laughter] howasnt lost on us unnerving this experience was for each and every one of them. In, i wasen amy came intrigued before she walked into the room. I wasseen her work and blown away by the boldness of her colors and the uniqueness of her subject matter. Who is this woman . I am not someone who is a great subject. I dont like posing. I get impatient . One of those pictures mustve worked. Why is it taking so long , tryingetty torturous to take a picture of me. Joying with her was a great joy. Th him was a great he and his team made it easy. In the tradition of a lot of they actually care to hear how i thought about it. Doing what he intended to do. Announcer the complete ceremony from the natural portrait National Portrait gallery, tonight at 7 30 eastern. Fcc commissioner jessica about thel talked problems with Identity Theft and the millions of the fake emails found in the Comment Section during the speech on net neutrality