Campaign 2020. Professor grant, good morning. Guest good morning. Host lets get into the major news of the week which was the appointment of senator Kamala Harris of california and of course of Howard University to the democratic ticket as former Vice President joe bidens Vice President ial candidate. What did that mean, first of all for women in politics, second of all, for Howard University . Guest it is a big deal for women in politics especially. It has not been often that we could see women represented in the top of the ticket. In 2016, we had Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee. That was the first woman who secured the nomination. Geraldine ferraro and shirley hisolm. We can count those people on one hand. This is a historic moment and that we are increasing the number overall. Historic because it is also the first black woman who has been nominated for the Vice President ial slot on a Democratic Party ticket. That is a big deal for black women and women in general. It is a big deal for Howard University, which is a historically black college in washington, as many of your viewers know i am sure. She is the first trend that it candidate that graduated from a historically black college or university to be named to the Democratic Party ticket. Howard university and alumni are excited. About thexcited possibility of a person who went to our school might be the next resident or Vice President of the United States of america. Host how did we get to this moment . What were the historical currents that led to senator harris getting on the ticket with joe biden . She is not the first woman on a major ticket. She is not the first black woman to run for president. Scribe for us how we got here. Describe for us how we got here. Guest the things you mentioned, that she is not the first woman or black woman are important things. I think about politics in long stretches. I would start with reconstruction. I think like men paved the way inblack men paved the way their participation. We get the 19th amendment where women get the ability to vote. We get the Womens Suffrage Movement and Delta Sigma Theta working on voting. We get other people throughout we history of this nation, we haveley chisholm Geraldine Ferraro. I think all of these are little cracks at the ceiling that suggest that women can participate in politics at the highest level and that have paved the way for harris to have this nomination now. Host are there special pressures that senator harris will face as the Vice President ial nominee, as a woman . And as a black woman . Are there special pitfalls or criticisms that she is going to face, given who she is on the democratic ticket . Guest absolutely, i think that is true. We have seen that play out. Donald trump seems to have one of three ways to think about women. They are either beautiful, nasty or they are wrong. Him employeady seen language about her being nasty here. We have seen questions about her ethnicity and whether she is or is not black. I dont think that makes any sense. We have seen people talking about her past life. Questionsere will be i think that are specific to her as a woman that we do not ask of men. In terms of her blackness, i think there will be significant questions that people will ask of her as a black woman that they do not ask of other people. I think they will make some of these things more important than they are. We know and the Research Tells Us that black women are often thought of as angry. They are expected to be nurturing. I can imagine that she is going to experience a situation where some of the attacks against her will suggest she is mean, not nice and not approachable. And these other things that we do not expect of men and these other things that we assign to black women specifically that dont necessarily fit. We are not all angry. Some of us are very happy. This is a very happy time for many of us. I think that, for sure, not only her gender but her race and her gender are going to come together through attacks and through questions that we would never see for people who are men or people who are potentially white women or other types of women. Host let me remind our viewers that they can take part in this conversation as well. We will open up our regular lines for this talk. Which means republicans, we want to hear from you at 202 7488001. Democrats, your line is going to be 202 7488000. Hearendents, we want to from you as well. 202 7488002. Keep in mind, you can always text us your opinion at 202 7488003. We are always reading on social media on twitter at cspan w j and on facebook at facebook. Com cspan. Whoshia, two women attempted to run for Vice President in modern history were Geraldine Ferraro and sarah palin. Geraldine ferraro on the democratic ticket and sarah palin on the democratic ticket. Neither woman was elected with their ticket. What did we learn about women campaigning nationally from those two elections that we can expect to see coming up this fall for senator harris . Caller i am glad guest i am glad you mention sarah palin. She is absolutely a part of that history. She has talked about the things she experienced in that campaign and recently posted on instagram where she was talking to senator harris about the things that she thinks she should be thoughtful about. Here are the names of some things you want to think about. And keep the people you think are closest to you. Howe were questions about sarah palin fit in the party and how the party was involving her and questions about how she could fit into her own campaign. There were some differences there that i think caused the problem. I think she also had to fight some sexism. Thes unclear exactly that kind of sexism she faced will be the same that harris will face. I think the same was true for Geraldine Ferraro, which was earlier. It was a different time and notion of what women could do. I think some of the issues she had had to do with that. I think in both instances, you have to have a strong residential candidate. I would hesitate to put the blame or too much weight on these two individuals as people who were responsible for the winning or losing of the campaign. I feel the same way about harris. I think it is important to think about the top of the ticket and the strategy as you think about what might have gotten in their way. Host i want to read from what sarah palin actually said to senator harris when harris nomi was announced. Congrats to the democratic vp pick. Climb a dong climb on Geraldine Ferraro and my shoulders. Palen offered six pieces of advice. It included out of the chute trust no one knew. Dont get muzzled, and dont forget the women who came before you. What do you think about sarah palins advice to harris . Guest i think that is good advice. I think some of these things, harris will be familiar with because of her time in the senate. Palen was in the governors seat sarah palin was in the governors seat. I think she will be familiar with some of those things. I think there is a good camaraderie to have for her to be as friendly as she was prayed i think it is a good idea. I think that advice is good advice. To some extent, i think harris will have to trust people around her who she does not know. A few of the people in bidens camp were sent over to work for her. I dont know whether that is something they negotiated in advance or how you deal with that. The job is just huge. You have to have some people around who you dont know. I think that the advice is good to be thoughtful about what they are doing and being thoughtful about being muzzled. She was chosen for who she was. I think palin was chosen for who she was. Part of the problem palin had was that people worried about her preparedness, worrying about how much she read or did not read. She did not have the time to get up to speed on some of the things for the election. Those are not things that i think harris has to deal with. Host lets let some of the viewers join the conversation. We will start with mary, who is calling from dallas, texas on the republican line. Good morning. Caller i have to say, i am tired of being thrown around like just thrown around. There are a lot of people out here who are not racist. This going to say that race thing is just creating a division. Ofhink people a lot people are past this race thing. It keeps being thrown up and thrown up. One more thing, all of you people out there who talk about this president and him wanting to do away with mailin ballot inc. , i was going to say balloting, i was going to say absentee. Not just throat pallets out. Throw ballots out. Host go ahead and respond. Guest i think mary is right that there are a lot of people who are not racist. I would like to talk about any number of things other than racism. I would like to talk about the great migration and Current Issues in black migration because that is what i research. Even though you might not be racist and a lot of people might be racist but there might not be racist, there are some people who are. Until we all get our friends and each other together about not being racist, this is a conversation we will continue to have. I agree with you totally. I would like to stop having this conversation but we cannot stop until racism stops. Host lets go to judy who is calling from clayton, delaware on the democratic lines. Good morning. Caller thank you very much for having me. I want to say two things. Number one, i think it is time that this country comes out of the dark ages and starts understanding that there are strong women who have leadership roles and have had leadership , margaretistory thatcher, crean Elizabeth Queen elizabeth, that are capable of doing the jobs required of this government. Frankly, the majority of women in this country that are Single Parents would hold a lot of this country together. The other thing i dont understand is how President Trump can get away with flagrantly violating the laws up destroying institutions, violating the laws, destroying institutions, jeopardizing everything else. I dont understand why people arent reacting to it like they should be. I dont know what we can do to change it and make sure our votes count. I have to vote absentee because i dont have the ability to go to the polls anymore. I want my vote counting and i dont understand how this man can undermine anything everything that constitutes our american democracy. Toave family that goes fighting before the revolutionary war. Guy thinking he can dictate how this country needs to be run. Host go ahead and respond. Agree with you about Women Leadership. Women have been leading all over the world. It does not make any sense that women have not had equal opportunity to lead in the United States of america. On the question of donald trump and the erosion of institutions, beennk i would say it has a slow going thing. Americans trust in certain parts of the government has been diminishing over time. I think the diminishment of that trust has led to a place where some of us dont question things the way we should question things because we dont expect the government to be responsive because when we are upset. We dont think we can speak up and have our voices be heard. I think that is how the electorate got to this place. The other thing about why nobody is doing anything, our government is designed in the comps constitution to be slowmoving. Designed tocourt is be a reactionary branch. It has to be the case that somebody files a formal complaint and the complaint works through the court system because before someone can do anything. Because we have congress which is fractured and far away from each other on the issues, because we have people who are fractured and far away from each other on issues, it is difficult to get anybody to Work Together to agree that something is wrong. A large mass of people. And then to go through the steps to correct the things that are wrong. That is something we would expect to happen through lawsuits or congress by passing laws that change or reprimand the president for his behavior. Host you are one of several signatories to a letter that was sent to the news media by several highprofile Women Leaders called we have her back. Can you tell me what that is . We have her back is a letter people the signed signed even before joe biden decided who the president took candid Vice President candidate was. In the weeks leading up to the election, we saw some of the discussion of women took routes that it would never take for men. Harris was, kamala called ambitious repeatedly and that ambitious was described as problematic. There have been many ambitious politicians who preceded her. Most politicians are ambitious. When it is men, it is not described as a problem. When women got together, they said maybe it is the case that some people are not intentionally trying to be sexist or racist. But if you are doing those things, we have to call it out. And let us try to give folks a different way to frame these issues. Example, in the conversation about a potential black woman about as Vice President , there were narratives black women against each other. The question was why does this have to be the case . All of these women are stellar and qualified, couldnt we talk about that without having it having to make it seem that they are at odds with each other . Or reduced to judging them on the basis of ginger gender. I want to read to our viewers part of this letter and have you explain more about what the letter means. Been subject to stereotypes and tropes about qualifications, leaderships, looks, relationships and experience. Those stereotypes are often amplified and weaponized for black and brown women. Attempts at legitimate investigations of the campus have repeatedly turned into misguided stories that perpetuate impressions of women as inadequate leaders and brown and black women as worse. Can you point to any specific thing that you have seen in the media that actually does this thing you say here . Think that, i anytime you hear somebody talking about whether a woman is smiling enough, whether she is kind and friendly and you dont hear anybody asking whether donald trump or mitt romney or bill clinton smiles enough or is kind and friendly, that is what we are talking about. When you hear people bringing up she dated this person in the past and this was the nature of her relationship with this person, that is what we are talking about. When we have these ideas that people are supposed to dress a certain way and that the dress ,hat they wear is different talking about Hillary Clintons pants and why she doesnt wear skirts is the kind of thing we are talking about here. I think the point of the letter is to say lets not deal with these stereotypes. Lets not deal with the superficial things about what color my lipstick is or whether i am wearing a skirt. Lets talk about real issues. Lets take me as a person who knows about politics, who has governed before and lets deal with those things. Lets talk to voters about the issues that matter. Whether Hillary Clinton wears a skirt is not important to how she might govern a nation. Host how would you rate the Media Coverage of senator harris so far . Guest i think the lead up to her announcement was very bad, to be totally honest. I thought she was held accountable for things that did not make sense and i think she was held accountable to things that a man would never be held accountable for. He ran for president four years later and got that. We juxtapose the idea of him as being very ambitious and clear about that ambition and harris, who was not on record asking to be the Vice President at any point before she was named Vice President , you see the disparity. I think that was a huge problem. I think it is a little bit better in the days that have followed since she has been announced. I worry that given some of the attacks that might come from those who do not support her, it could be the case that the reporting on those things might lead to some stereotyping or, if it is not a spicy or interesting campaign, that folks might turn to some stereotypes and other issues as a way to cover her. That is the opposite of what we want to talk about. We want to have the media and pendants like me talking about superfluousthese things related to her. Host lets go to our phone line from new talk to mike jersey on the independent line. Good morning. Caller thank you and good morning, keneshia. I just want to say that i think Kamala Harris was simply selected because she is black and she is a woman. That is basically a political gambit that biden had. He has, entirely, the right to do that. The question i have, lets get into the role of leadership. What has Kamala Harris demonstrated in congress or the senate as being the leader . Leadership qualities are reaching across the aisle to see the other persons view. Did that manifest in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings . I doubt it. She was voted the most liberal senator in congress. Does that suggest she can reach across the aisle and be a leader . I submit, no. I would like to hear your explanation other than this oop, where she has demonstrated leadership with all whites and blacks in congress. Thank you. Guest thank you for that question. I think the first thing to acknowledge is that even if she was chosen because she is a black woman, Vice President s are chosen because they can bring things to the ticket that the president cannot. Tim kaine is from virginia. State, the a purple democrats wanted it to be blue. They chose a white male. They would not choose a white female because they thought they needed balance. Chose herhat they because she is a black woman and it is separate from the way Vice President s are chosen is problematic. Sarah palin was chosen because she was seen as reppo sending a new part of the Republican Party and she was young, energetic and a woman. We could go through all of the all of thel tickets, candidate tickets and you would see over and over, a pattern of people choosing individuals they think will balance them. John f. Kennedy was young and from massachusetts and shows lyndon johnson, an elder statesman from the south because he wanted to engage the south and he wanted to demonstrate he had a person around him who was older. Even if she was chosen because she was a black woman, which i think makes sense given that joe biden owes his nomination to black people, that would be fine. That is a thing that happens in american politics. In terms of her leadership, she is a member of the senate. She has worked with rand paul. That is one instance of her working across the aisle to get something done. I dont think it makes sense to minimize her time as a District Attorney or as attorney general because i think you know that many of the people who work in those positions have diverse political opinions. That is not always a liberal bastion. If we were making the claim that this person does not know how to work across the aisle, i think i would be more fair. The criticism professors get about living in an ivory tower and it all being liberal is closer to the truth than the idea that a person who was a District Attorney or attorney general was working in a liberal bastion. I will push back against this idea that her statelevel experience does not display leadership. I think it is been the case that she has been working across the aisle to get things done. On washington journal, everyday taking your calls live every day on the news of the day, and we discussed policy issues that impact you. The 100thning, anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. And we talk about the history of women in politics with the director of Rutgers University center for american women in politics. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern sunday morning, and watch our live coverage of the Democratic National convention monday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Watch live or ondemand at cspan. Org or find the latest Convention Schedule information. Keydaily synopsis of convention events, signup for our newsletter at the standout at cspan. Org. President trump held a News Conference at his golf club in bedminster, new jersey, before taking questions he talked about his administrations response, the economy and his hope that College Football can be played in the fall. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States, donald j. Trump