Primaries80 of the and caucuses are behind us. What the Political Revolution has shown is that we can run a strong, Winning Campaign without a super pac and without being dependent on bigmoney interests. As of today and i dont know if anyone else has done it. Maybe they have, maybe they havent. I dont know that. But we have brought out over 1. 1 Million People to our rallies, from maine to california. And that number will go up very significantly because we intend to have a number of major rallies in the state of california. Very importantly, we have won in state after state a Strong Majority of the votes of younger people. Voters under 45 years of age. In other words, the ideas that we are fighting for our the future of the democratic already party and, in fact, the future of this country. Again, im not just talking about people 23 years of age and younger. We are doing phenomenally well and very proud of that. We are talking about people who are 45 years of age and younger. And the reason for that, i believe, is that the issues we are talking about are the issues that are on the minds of the American People. People know whether you are conservative or progressive that a corrupt Campaign Finance system of super pacs is undermining american democracy, they understand there is something fundamentally wrong where the average americans working longer hours for lower wages. They understand that we have a broken criminal justice system, with more people in jail than any other country on earth. They understand that we have got to deal with the planetary crisis of Climate Change and, among other things, impose a tax on carbon. They understand that at a time we have a major growing crisis with regard to clean water. We need to end fracking. They understand that in a competitive global economy, we need to make public colleges and universities tuition free. And they understand that when you have the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, yes, large profitable corporations and the top 1 are going to have to pay more in taxes. Let me now just say a few words about delegate math, and our path toward victory. As all of you know, there are a total of 4766 democratic delegates. 4047 of them are pledged. I. E. They come out as a result of the contests in the various states. 719 are superdelegates. Superdelegates. A candidate democratic candidate , needs 2383 votes in order to win the democratic nomination. Let me be very clear. It is virtually impossible for secretary clinton to reach the majority of Convention Delegates by june 14. That is the last day that a primary will be held. With pledged delegates alone. In other words, once more, it is virtually impossible for secretary clinton to reach the majority of Convention Delegates by june 14 with pledged delegates alone. Top as theed superdelegates to convention in philadelphia. In other words, the convention will be a contested contest. Currently, secretary clinton has 1645 pledged delegates. 55 of the total. We have 1318 pledged delegates, 45 of the total. There are 10 states remaining, where we are going to be vigorously competing. Plus, the district of columbia, puerto rico, the virgin islands, and guam. We believe that we are in a very strong position to win many of these remaining contests, and we have an excellent chance to win in california, the state with far and away the most delegates. For us to win, the majority of pledged delegates, we need to win 710 out of the remaining 1083. That is 65 of the remaining pledged delegates. That is, admittedly, and i do not deny it for a second, a tough road to climb. But it is not an impossible road to climb. And we intend to fight for every vote in front of us and for every delegate remaining. In terms of superdelegates, i would like to just say the following. Obviously, we are taking on virtually the entire democratic establishment. And its amazing to me and i just have to thank our volunteers that we go into state after state. Youve got the senators, youve got the governor, and youve got the mayors all of , them know how to get out the vote. Yet in 17 primaries and caucuses , despite all of that political establishment support, we have won. Of the 719 superdelegates, many of those delegates committed themselves to secretary clinton even before we got into this campaign. In other words, way back then she was the anointed candidate. ,and they said we are with , Hillary Clinton. While she has 520 superdelegates, we have all of 39 superdelegates. In other words, while we have won 45 of the pledged delegates in real campaigns where the spoken, we have won only 7 of the superdelegates. Two points regarding that. First, those superdelegates, in states were either candidate, secretary clinton or myself, has won a landslide victory, those superdelegates ought to seriously reflect on whether they should cast their superdelegate vote in line with the wishes of the people of their state. S. Let me just give you an example of what i mean by that. In the state of washington, we won that caucus with almost 73 of this vote of the vote there. ,73 of the vote. In anybodys definition, that is a massive landslide. But at this secretary clinton point, has 10 superdelegates from the state of washington. We have zero. I would ask the superdelegates from the state of washington to respect the wishes of the people in their state and the votes they have cast. In minnesota, we won the caucus there with 61 of the vote. Hillary clinton has 11 superdelegates. We have three. In colorado, we won that state with 59 of the vote. Pretty strong margin. Secretary clinton has 10 superdelegates. We have zero. New hampshire, we won that state with more than 60 of the vote. Secretary clinton has six superdelegates. We have zero. And that pattern continues in other states where we have one won landslide victories. I would hope very much that the superdelegates from those states where we have won with big margins or where secretary clinton has won with big margins, to respect to the wishes of the people of those states and vote in line with how the people of that state voted. Secondly, and extremely importantly, secretary clinton and i obviously have many differences of opinion on some of the most important issues facing our country. We disagree on trade policy. On breaking up wall street banks. We disagree on the minimum wage. I want to raise it to 15 an hour, she wants to raise it to 12 an hour. She disagrees on whether we should impose a tax on carbon. We disagree with Climate Change. I believe we should. We disagree about the extent to which the wealthy and profitable multinational corporations should be asked to pay their fair share of taxes. We disagree on fracking. I believe weve got to end fracking in this country. We disagree on a number of other issues. But where secretary clinton and i strongly agree, and where every delegate to the Democratic Convention strongly agrees, is that it would be a disaster for this country if donald trump or some other right wing republican were to become president of the united states. Therefore in my view, it is incumbent upon every superdelegate to take a hard and objective look at which candidate stands the better chance of defeating donald trump and other republican candidates. And in that regard, i think the evidence is extremely clear, that i would be the stronger candidate to defeat trump or any other republican. And this is not just on the subjective opinion of Bernie Sanders. Im not here just to tell you that this is what i think or this is what i believe. I think this is really what the objective evidence tells us. This is based on virtually every national and state poll done in the last several months. I know that the polls go up and down, but when you have poll after poll after poll nationally saying that sanders can defeat trump, by in some cases, a much greater margin than clinton, i think it is worth paying attention to that. In a Morning Consult survey, we beat trump by 16 points. She beat him by seven. These are reasonable polls. Recent polls. Him by 15. I beat she beat him by 11. George washington university, we beat him by 10, she beats or three. Fox news has us beating trump by 14. She beats him by seven. She is beaten by seven that she beats him by seven. Everyone knows that you win the electoral vote, taking place in 50 states in this country. And if you look at virtually every battleground state in , arizona, in michigan, in missouri, and in many other states which are up for grabs, maybe one by the republican or maybe one by the democratic candidate, in every one of those states, we defeat trump by larger margins that she does. Further, equally important, but recent elections tell us is that when the voter turnout is high, when people come out in large numbers, democrats and progressives win. People are excited. They come out. Young people come out. Workingclass people come out. People dont always vote, out. People that dont always come out, out. Democrats win. On the other hand, republicans win elections when the voter turnout is low. That is exactly what we saw in the last National Election of 2014, win 63 of the American People didnt vote. There is little doubt in my mind that the energy and excitement in this campaign is with the work we have done. And i believe that energy and excitement among workingclass people, among middleclass people, young people, will translate to a very large voter turnout in november which not only will mean victory for the white house, it will mean victory for senate races, u. S. House races, and governors races throughout this country. This is an issue that i hope the superdelegates will pay keen attention to. I understand that some of them prefer secretary clinton, fair enough. Some people prefer me, fair enough. But at the end of the day, when every person in the Philadelphia Convention understands, we must have the strongest candidate to defeat trump or another republican. And i think they objective evidence is that i am that candidate. Thanks very much. We will take a few questions. We are off to indiana in a few minutes, but let me start with lisa, lera. Are you here . [inaudible] superdelegates. I believe in 2008, president obama convinced several dozen to switch their position. Has wereore of course delegates gone against the person, flipped against the person who lead in pledged delegates. How realistic is this halfway . Bernie sanders let me say it again. We have an uphill climb. No question about it. It is not coined to be easy. Nothing i am telling you today suggests this a be an easy fight. Again, we dont know what is going to happen on indiana on tuesday. Let me put this into your mind. What happens if we do really, really well in the remaining 10 states . And what happens if the polls continue to show that Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate against donald trump . Do i believe that there will be some superdelegates how many . Nobody can tell you. Say, il be some that came on the Clinton Campaign before sanders got in. But i want to rethink this. Because what is most important is beating donald trump. This, and that is and if, but if that scenario plays out, i think you will have a lot of superdelegates who say you know , whats most important . It is most important that we defeat donald trump in november. John, did you have a question . [inaudible] more superdelegates than Hillary Clinton has claimed, another 23 that are uncommitted. Are those kinds of numbers enough to Bernie Sanders no they are not, john, but its just part of the process. In other words, those are delegates when you are dealing with two superdelegates i think there were two points. Lisa asked one question, you are asking the other. 70 of the vote, i think i am entitled to those. I think that the superdelegates should reflect what the people in the state want. Thats true for Hillary Clinton as well. I cant tell you one thing for me and another thing for Hillary Clinton. If she wins mississippi, by whatever, huge numbers superdelegates there should vote for her. Thats one issue. But the issue i just spoke to lisa about is a different issue. And that is while i think i say, hey we are entitled to pick up , many dozens of superdelegates, i think the real struggle will be in the hearts and minds of superdelegates who came on board the Clinton Campaign a long time ago. And they are going to have to go into their hearts, and they are going to have to ask themselves do they want the second , strongest candidate to run against trump, or do they want the strongest candidate . Im not making any productions, nothing guaranteed, but i think some of the superdelegates that announced for clinton before i even got into the race will say , you know what . Bernie has a better chance of beating trump. Jeff, are you still here . Jeff, did you have a question . Newsnald trump said on fox sunday that he is intrigue by some of your message that you have used to take on secretary clinton. Any plans to use that message as soundbites are arguments . Going forward as you continue to the rest of this, do you plan to change your tone, and you and you are contributing to this campaign by helping him advance . Bernie sanders i want to congratulate donald trump, who has managed to manipulate the media in an unprecedented way. Every word he says is three hours on cnn or some other station. No, the Republican Party and trump have the resources to do all the Opposition Research that they want on secretary clinton. They dont need Bernie Sanderss critiques of the secretary. And as i have said before, when you look at a donald trump who wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax of 1 , a the top 2 10 man, despite all of the Scientific Evidence thinks that , Climate Change is a hoax. A man who thinks we should not raise the starvation minimum wage of 7. 25 per hour. I think in the general election matter who runs against him, this guy will not be a strong candidate. I know, and you should know what , trump is trying to do. Piercing it is your voice he is saying it is your voice. It is not the research, the fact you are saying it. Bernie sanders no, i think thats nonsense. Im glad he can get through it. What is a campaign about . A campaign is supposed to be about not just political gossip. It is actually supposed to be about differentiating the points of view the candidates have. Secretary clinton and i have different points of view on a number of issues. And i have tried my hardest not to run an issue oriented campaign, explaining the differences we have. I may be oldfashioned, but i kind of think that that is what democracy is supposed to be about. As you heard me say a million times, i do wish media paid more the middleo why class in this country is disappearing. The grotesque level of inspiration between and thats i dont want to much out of this. Trump is trying in a number of ways to tap into my support. If i lose the nomination he will , not get that support. If i lose the nomination, and we are doing everything we can to win it, and i will fight as hard as i can to make sure donald trump does not become president. Is nicole here . Usa today . John nolan, cbs . John here . Are you here . Did you have a question . What have you heard back in reaching out to superdelegates and asking them to look at your wins and ones you may win over . Bernie sanders again, there are two separate issues. Its not just me. It is people in the states. If you live in colorado, if you live in some of the other states, minnesota, where we have one landslide victories, i think the superdelegates are hearing from the people in their own state saying, hey you know what . , how about representing the people of our state, colorado, minnesota, or whatever state it might be. And we have got to begin the conversation with many of the superdelegates who signed on with secretary clinton very early on. And if, i think the objective evidence, and people say we still have time to go, we have through june 14. If the evidence is there, that we are by far the strongest candidate, we will win some of those folks over. Dan of the guardian . Dan, hey dan. [inaudible] looking back, what prompted you to achieve this . [indiscernible] Bernie Sanders not into legacy, dam. Right now in the next month and a half we are fighting to win every delegate that we can. I have my legacy will be that i was a very good president of the united states. [laughter] mary alice here . There you are. If you do not secure the majority of pledged delegates, do you still believe that superdelegates should switch and back you as you are projecting the opinion of the voters . Bernie sanders well, you know its a funny thing. , right now, we have state after state where i have won landslide victories and superdelegates of said we dont have to , listen to the people. By the way, i hope you will win win the pledged delegates, but at the end of the day the responsibility of those delegates is to decide what is the best for this country and what is best for the democratic party. And if those superdelegates include the Bernie Sanders is the best candidate, the strong as candidate to beat trump and any other candidate, we would welcome their support. Danny freeman, nbc . [indiscernible] in california you said youre going to hold a lot of big rallies. Have there been any Lessons Learned from states like new york were you predicted you would do better that you apply to these upcoming primaries . Bernie sanders good question. I thanks for giving me the virginity to enter that in this opportunity to answer that. New york state, what are we, 42 , 43 of the vote . 3 million independents in new york state disenfranchised. They could not vote because of the crime of writing down the they were independents. I think thats absurd. I cant tell you, and i will not tell you, if they were allowed to vote, and by the way, in most polls, in most contests, we do far, far better than clinton in the independent vote. Sometimes when you get two out of three votes. I cannot tell you that we would have won. I dont know. No question, though, that we would have done much, much better. So we walk into not only are we , taking on i dont mean to cry here, but we know we are getting into. We know what the rules are we , accept them. We are doing the best that we can. But please appreciate that in state after state, where independents cannot vote, we are at a real disadvantage. And its a little bit absurd because independents do vote in a general election. So democrats want the strongest candidate out there to take on a republican, i think its pretty dumb to be excluding independents, and i hope we will fight whether i win or not, to , change those rules. Frankly, in hindsight it is always, you know you could , always think about things that you could have done better. I will tell you about that. At the end thats true for any campaign. Im sure if you talk to clintons campaign, they will tell you the things they could have done better. But i am enormously proud of the campaign that we have run up to this and i hope it gets better. Point, any of you here who would bet that on may 1, Bernie Sanders would have won 17 primaries and caucuses . If you had the odds, a year ago i think you wouldnt be sitting , here. Very wealthy individuals. If you have guessed that is odds, you would be very wealthy individuals. We are very proud of the campaign he ran. Is really here . Millie . Ok, yes. What did you want . And that may be the last question. We have got to catch a plane here. Can you talk a little bit more about what clinton said about reaching out to sanders supporters . Bernie sanders pardon me . Ok, ok. All right, listen thank you very , much. We got to catch a plane to get to south bend. Ok see you. , byebye. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] announcer heres a look from state of the union. Clinton senator sanders has been a passionate advocate for positions he cares deeply about. That has been helpful to the democratic primary process. He has got millions of people into the process, which i think is also very good for the democratic party. But i comes a time when you have to look at the reality, and in a way, i was much closer in both popular vote and pledged delegates to senator obama than is the case right now, but eventually i just decided i had to with raw, and support senator obama. The goal was to make sure we had a democrat in the white house. I am going to be very aggressive in reaching up to senator sanders supporters, but we have so much more in common. We have far more in common than they do with donald trump or any republicans. To the white house coverage continues on the evo of the indiana primary. The eve of the indiana primary. That is 7 00 eastern on cspan two. And ted cruz speaks at a Campaign Rally in indianapolis, that is live at 7 30 p. M. See that on cspan. Madam secretary, we proudly toe 72 of our delegate vote the next president of the united states. [applause] announcer now a conversation on the role of conservatives in the 2016 president ial campaign in the future of the Republican Party. From washington journal, this is just over 45 minutes. Host at the table is the chair of the American Conservative Union, matt schlapp. Thank you for joining us this morning. Matt schlapp great to be with you again. Host lets start off with a recent Washington Post headline. It said that gop elites are resigned to donald trump as the nominee. Are you resigned as donald trump as the nominee . Matt schlapp maybe i would use a different verb. I think donald trump is most likely going to be the nominee. And i think it is a reflection of what has happened in the democratic votes all over the country. And i think that sends a very clear message to this town. And also if you look at the nationwide polls this week on the democratic side between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, he is right there, nearly tied between those two. So i think there is a definite message that is being sent from across the country. Host do you think this socalled Never Trump Movement is finished . Is over for now . Matt schlapp yeah, i think this Never Trump Movement was the problem. Trump wasnt the problem. It was such a reaction, a push back to what the voters, republican voters, were saying across the country. They were basically saying we , dont care if you keep giving donald trump these wins state after state after state. We are going to block it. And that is not something my party should be host ted cruz and four. John kasich are in the race and they have delegates committed to them in the process. Do you expect a fight in cleveland at the convention . Matt schlapp i encourage republicans like ted cruz, who i have a really high regard for and john kasich and carly , fiorina, the prospective running mate of ted cruz, they ought to get in there and fight until the end. And we ought to have this fight go on all the way to cleveland. But eventually, we have to unite and get behind our nominees. So that is going to happen soon. If trump is elected the nominee. We will see what happens in indiana on tuesday and california at the last few states that are left. Host you are the chair of the American Conservative Union. Let me ask you this question. His donald trump a conservative . Matt schlapp i think donald trump is running mostly as a conservative. His message is a reaction to president barack obama. I have talked to him about this. I think he has been a political person who has in here and they there and a bit of everywhere over the years. He has been a sometime republican. But his response to obama is basically very strong conservative themes. Now you know, he is not an , orthodox conservative like ted cruz is, but he is somebody who is definitely leading with conservative issues. And i think that is the big . Mark for theestion Republican Party. The big question for the Republican Party and the larger conservative movement is, will he be reliable on all of the issues that they care about . Which is why this primary process and all of the questions members of the media ask, that is why it is so important. Because once you elect a president , you know it is done. , host let me invite the callers to phone in for questions with the chairman of the American Conservative Union, his name is matt schlapp. The numbers are on the screen. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independent, 202 7488002. You can also post a question at twitter. Ask a question if you like. Cspanwj is our twitter handle. We will talk for a couple more minutes. Then we will start taking your calls. You were at the white house Correspondents Dinner last night. Matt schlapp are you saying that because i look tired . Host no, you look great. What was that like for you . Matt schlapp i hadnt attended in a while because we have a lot of little kids, so i dont have three evenings but i , thought it was great. I actually thought the president was funny. Hell most look like he didnt want this to be his last one. And its fun to see famous people jumping into the sea of politics, all the actors and actresses and other luminaries who were there. And everybody is having a good chuckle at the expense of everybody involved in politics. Host we just spent 45 minutes asking viewers whether this thing was too chummy of a fest. You know, the media with hollywood celebrities, politicians, government officials business officials , these are the people they cover. What is your take . Matt schlapp it is a little chummy. As a conservative, when i go to a dinner like this, i think it is really interesting to hear members of the media. When they are on display at a dinner like last night, and they have a chance to poke fun at themselves, what they mostly do is poke fun at people like me. And when the president has a chance, you know to make fun of , himself, he mostly made fun of people like donald trump and ted cruz. So actually, i think the white house Correspondents Dinner, the town of it is much like what you see in too many papers and too many tv shows. Host lots more politics and discussion with the head of the American Conservative Union. But james is calling now, the first call democratic line from , seattle. Good Early Morning to you, james. Caller good morning. Yes, thank you. Lets start the conservative Ronald Reagan. During Ronald Reagans presidency, the deficit moved from 790 billion to over 3 trillion under reagan. During reagan, Interest Rates were extremely high. Reagan did not drop the Interest Rates until 1986, so this is where the revenue came from. He granted amnesty to over 5 million illegals. Reagan provided welcomes for every third world country overseas from afghanistan to chile. Reagan sold iran missile systems. Reagan also undermined president carter when he was in office. Reagan this is the president you , all hold up as your stalwart. The only thing you all say is that reagan did, he was the white house on a hill, the shining house on a hill. But reagan destroyed this country. He started his campaign in philadelphia, suzuki, down where the bill of rights workers were hurting. Donald trump is doing the same thing that Ronald Reagan is doing. He is trying to get elected with white people. He did everything to black people. He called us welfare queens and talked about us and everything. The same thing that Barry Goldwater and them did. Host all right, james, got a lot out there. Lets hear from our guest. Matt schlapp james, you successfully brought up two of our heroes, Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater. There are the end. I would say that Ronald Reagan , he did a couple of basic things. He was able to restore the spirit of the country, which was definitely lacking under president carter. It is almost like america had lost the sense of confidence. And i think Ronald Reagan brought that back. And he did a couple other very important things. He was able to get the economy humming, get it rolling again. Create jobs in the economy. One of the things that we see is people bring up the deficit with Ronald Reagan a lot, which he grew viewed as a great bipartisan failure, what the thing that he really did do was increase revenues into the federal government. Not that conservatives love the idea that revenues are coming into the federal government but , revenues came into the government because the economy taxes soe cut dramatically. So these are bipartisan that text tax cuts went through. Of course, i think the most important thing is he played an instrumental role in destroying the soviet union. Now a lot of other people did that as well, and the fact the soviet union was based on policies that were not going to endure anyway, but he gave them shove over into the ash heap of history. So Ronald Reagan did some very basic, fundamental, wonderful, historic things for the country and yes, i hold him up. Actually here there is a term , called the reagan democrat. A lot of democrats hold reagan up as a hero as well. He was a great president. Host back to donald trump, what do you make of his tone on the campaign trail . Matt schlapp well, it is hard. You know, i have been on a couple of president ial campaigns. I worked for george w. Bush, and you are brought up in campaigns and in politics to talk a certain way to address , controversial things in a very kind of calm manner. And take the heat out of it. Especially when you are a republican, you are taught to do that on every campaign you run. And donald trump took the rulebook and tossed it aside, and he brings more heat to an already controversial topic. There was something about that that is refreshing to a lot of americans, and there is something to other americans that is very disconcerting. And so, his candidacy inspires a lot of opinions, as you know. And as your show knows. And it is very different from the tone that Ronald Reagan took when he ran for the presidency three times and ran for a and was successful governor of california. It is something we havent seen. We havent seen somebody take this kind of approach and be so successful, but it is a little bit of a function of the times. It is a little bit of a function of how we watch tv with these reality tv shows. We like the unscripted, we like the spontaneous, and sometimes we like almost the absurd. He understands that about the American People, and he is exploiting it for good purpose in politics. Host independent collar from fayetteville, north carolina. Independent caller for matt schlapp. Good morning. Caller good morning to you both. I am watching the whole scenario play out here. We have had eight years. In which [indiscernible] has not carried out its duties in the congress. At every turn, there has been criticisms. There has been all kinds of false statements. Mr. Trump has set himself up as someone who is divisive. The one thing i want to say is this, what ever we do as human beings in anger, we will regret it in tears. The America First party is nothing that is representative of america. To try and resurrect old racism and hatred is only pouring poison in the well, is bringing about division and hatred. We will hope and pray that the have gotten beyond the 21st century, but yet the old ghost that haunts america is alive and well, and donald trump is representing this in a most poisonous, divisive way. Host matt schlapp. Matt schlapp i almost thought you were talking about Donald Rumsfeld for a second there. You know, i think that it is fair to criticize donald trump. It is fair to say he doesnt always strike the kind of tone i would like to see him strike. Or that the American People would like to see him strike. That being said, you know America First, this concept, it , has a historical understanding that people talk about, but what is so terrible with the concept that, when it comes to our economy, when it comes to our Foreign Policy, we take our countrys interests into account first . Now, you can use the lingo and the jargon of what people think these these themes mean, but i , think this is a basic concept. I think they feel like we have lost. And look that is bipartisan , criticism. That is not just criticism of president obama. It is criticism of ice of the president i served george w. , bush. We are all over the globe. We are paying for an aggressive push back around the globe. And were paying for that with our silver, and we are paying for that with the lives of our sons and daughters. I think it is very fair for the American People to ask the question very aggressively if what were doing being in the interest of the country. Because really our sons and , daughters shouldnt be serving anything other than the interests of our country. Who would ever put somebody in harms way without it being in americas interest . And also the second part of that is america doing the right , thing . Is there moral purpose in that Foreign Policy . When it comes to our economy, it is very similar, which is people have seen the global economy, they have seen the ups and the y have seen the downs, and i think we have to be sober and honest with the American People and say there are great downsides to the american economy. Host we should point out our guest was assistant director to george w. Bush. And now maverick asks you this question. The Republican Party has concluded it needs a change, a makeover, etc. Who do you think is responsible for the lack of change . Matt schlapp ok, so the Republican Party is definitely sending a message of change. I think that maverick has got that completely right. You know who is responsible for , the fact that we need to have change . Well, i guess the first person who is responsible is barack obama has been an incredibly successful liberal president with very radical policies. And so the first reaction that , is happening within our party, is that because president obama , has gone it alone, and he is has mostly decided to avoid dealing with congress, was of his successes are with completely democratic votes or his president ial pen through executive powers. There has been a great reaction to that. The reaction by republicans is we have to stop these policies. They are not bipartisan policies. These are liberal policies as they dont take into effect the American Voter which has large republican majorities to the house and the senate. And the second thing that republicans are upset at is a c a republican majority in the senate and a republican majority in the house, and they dont feel these majorities have done enough to push back on president obama. I think it is unfair that these Republican Leaders have been put in a position where you have a president who is going around them aggressively. But obama has changed the rules on all of them and us. But by the same token, the people across this country who these majorities in the congress, they want them to take the extra step and stop these policies. And that is what the politics of america are so chaotic. Host we have a democrat on the line from miami, florida. You are on the phone with matt schlep, chair of the american union. Caller i have a question. Im not really sure about what true conservative principles are. In florida, the governor is a republican the legislature is , totally controlled by republicans. And for instance, their philosophy was not to expand medicaid. Just to give you an example, a consequence there was a young , woman, 32 years old, had three children. She worked three jobs, she cleaned houses babysat, and sold , vacuum cleaners doortodoor. She didnt qualify for medicaid which she would have if the government of florida, the republican guy, expanded medicaid. She went on a vacuum cleaner at someones house one day, i didnt even know they did that anymore, and she drops dead because she didnt have the money for prescription. Can you explain to me why that is in the best interests of america . Why that is consistent with all of the things you have said Foreign Policy should be in compliance with . Why is that in the best interest of america for people like that to die because they cant get a prescription . Host mr. Schlapp . Matt schlapp i worked for president bush, and one of his bipartisan agreements was the idea that Prescription Drugs should be part of the health care system, especially for people who are having trouble paying all of their bills. That being said, you know obamacare has been a disaster. , because obamacare in the end it, it does not enhance what is great about the American Health care system. And what is great about the American Health care system is that we have the top quality around the globe. As a matter of fact, people come to america to get health care , because it is the best in the world. Host but he said that woman didnt have the pills she needed. I guess matt schlapp i guess i go right back to the thing i said we did , pass a Prescription Drug plan that do cover a lot of people. I think what this call was more about was this, still, there are people today under obama who dont have health care. Dont have the health care they need. And really what obamacare is about, it is about it is not about health care, it is about health care insurance. And i guess my perspective is this. After eight years of this president , his signature achievement obamacare, look at the fact that this woman that he described in florida dropped dead after obamacare is the law of the land. Poverty rates in all of the statistics you see on poverty and how people are hurting across the country, they are all up. They are up substantially. After seven years of Obama Policies. And so, you have to ask yourself, obama is the most liberal president and i am 48 lifetime he in my , has had almost a decade to run the table on these policies, and yet you hear from callers as and democrats around the country about how things have gotten worse. And i think that is something i can agree with them on. I think the obamacare solution was the wrong solution. And i think the obama solution for the Obama Policies of the economy have been the wrong types of solutions. I think more americans are hurting today that before he got into office. Host more of your calls in a moment, but here is donald trump as we listen to the front runner talking about Hillary Clinton. Donald trump i think the only card she has is the womans card. She has nothing else going. If Hillary Clinton were a man, i dont think she would get 5 of the vote. The only thing shes got going is the womens card, and the beautiful thing is, women dont like her. Ok . And look out good i am doing tonight. Host the socalled womans card, is that a smart strategy . Do you think . Matt schlapp once again, would i have given him that advice . No. If you are a man running for office, you are running against a woman, the last thing you try to do is attack the woman for talking about the fact that she is a woman. But once again, he throws away the playbook and he is hitting Hillary Clintons strength. And it is a strength. The American People are proud of the fact that we elected the first africanamerican president , and i think the American People want to elect the first woman as president. And most politicians that back thatuld back away from being this historical precedent that could be set. But instead, he goes right into her strength and takes it on and makes people think, well why are , we giving this woman the nomination if you are a democrat . Bernie sanders is the one that we love, but she is the one who will get the nomination. Is she the best . I think if donald trump gets the nomination, i would not have advised him to do that but we will see if it is successful. Host from minneapolis, hey there. Caller i dont know where to start. Thank you for having me on. The gentleman mentioned that people are upset because the Senate Majority is in congress and nothing gets done but you have to realize that nothing can get done if you dont have more than 60 votes in the senate. Ok . People have to look in the mirror. If they are upset with what is going on in washington, d. C. , a better look in the mirror. Because they are voting for republicans in congress and for a democrat in the senate and it is unfortunate that it takes 60 votes to get everything done. A democrat in the senate and it that it takes 60 votes to get everything done. Im a conservative and when i hear people say, there is a majority but nothing gets done, it is the rules of the game. Also, i think the primary process, im so frustrated. I am a conservative. My partyyself has left me. These primaries on both sides, look at what weve got. We are pushing these people who the rightg so far to and so far to the left that the people in the center who actually want to get something done, we are almost 19 trillion in debt. We have kids were graduating who cant get the a job or who can read or write. We have major problems in this country. And we have everybody afraid to get the other party credit. You can pass that because the democrats get credit and you can pass that because the republicans get credit. The middle is saying, what is going on . I hear democrats calling on cspan on cspan only time to say hey, i cant vote for the clinton or Bernie Sanders. Bernie sanders is too far left. And Hillary Clinton is a criminal. And we are stuck in the middle. We have no representation. Michelle. Right, you put a lot out there. Lets hear from our guest. Guest we have 17 republicans running for the president ial nomination. It is hard for you and i to say we didnt have the chance to get behind a candidate we liked. We had lots of choices. More choices than we have seen at a toplevel in our lifetime. That would be my first point. And you are right. When we elect a president , even when the opposing majority, it takes a super majority. 60 votes to get something passed in the senate. It takes a supermajority in the end, more than 60 in the senate and house to override vetoes which is really what needs to happen if you want to get anything done. So there is no question that when you have a democratic president and a Republican Congress you will have stalemates. And republicans in Congress Stand up for things it doesnt happen and somehow it is therefore. It isk it is hard for hard to explain for the Basement Party why progress cant get made but i think it is fair that when you Campaign Across this country and say, give me a republican majority in the senate, we will repeal obamacare and not fund the president s executive order on this or that. That played such a big role in the last election was the president s unlawful amnesty for people who are here in the country illegally. And republican candidates ran on that across the country. And then they decided to not make the fight. Becausetand why republicans have lost the funding fight so many times that they worry about going into the fights again but i feel like the American People feel like if you wont take a president on on funding and your only real power in congress is the power to investigate if you wont aggressively use those powers to get the president , a president could do anything he or she wants. That is what we have seen for the last seven years. That is why there is this reaction in politics. It is on both sides. Unto ohio, zack, good morning. Caller good morning. I am a voter. Generally as both more conservative on the state level and more liberal on the national level. Guest keep voting more conservative. I like that. Caller the reason i do is because im not a religious person that all and that is what mostly has kept me from voting further to the right of the way. About breakinglk the Holy Alliance with religious rights and all that. But that aside, my question talking about how chummy the press is with the government and the administration. Regardless of the administration. Running from the outsider, donald trump political establishment. The powers that be. Hillary clinton obviously, we know that she is what donald trump has rallied against. Career politicians that seem to work for themselves and threw bread crumbs out to people to string them along. We really dont know what donald trump is going to do and it is hard to look from the outside and see if this is for real. Host who is donald trump . Guest thats right. We have terms that get thrown around. Establishment, outsider and you have to define these terms. What i would say is this. Donald trump is a wealthy guy who knows a lot of powerful people. He hung around new york and hollywood and washington for a long time. So it is not like he is somebody who is brandnew to the process. That being said, he is at a time hehis career where i think represents somebody who wants to shake things up in washington and take on the powers that the. I think ted cruz is someone who is willing to do that as well. The message from primary voters on the republican side is clear. Whether it is donald trump or ted cruz or Carly Fiorina or ben carson, their message is this. People who have spent their time in Public Service in washington and in elective office. People who have spent their time in office are not necessarily onlyype of people we want decide who can respond to the Obama Policies. At was a message that was clearly sent. And donald trump is somebody who is approaching the presidency this way. We have done things a certain amount of time and it has gotten poor results. He thinks the country ought to be winning. I know that is basic but i think it the people. People who feel like their paychecks have not been increasing and their job prospects are not created to create less security. They look overseas and see that we are not fears like we were under Ronald Reagan and george w. Bush. And they worry that we are not taking these threat seriously. So i think that on those major issues, donald trump represents a lot of that to independent voters as an new shake on these issues. Host exit polls show a divided gop. Voters are signaling that they will face substantial work to repair the scars of a contentious primary season. What specific steps will donald trump can or should take . Guest as chairman of the American Conservative Union, the largest conservative convention of the year. February 2226 of 2017, so right after the president ial campaign, we will assemble. Us, we have not endorsed in this race. And i have not personally endorse. I did vote for a candidate who is still in the race. Eventually we have to pull together. The reason why we are the conservative union is because we have all different kinds of conservatives. Libertarians and those who realize Obama Policies are wrong. This will be a tough task. I get asked a lot, will we meet and pull together . It is a legitimate question because we are fractured but this is what happens when you have a coalition. We dont agree with each other on everything. We have two major coalitions on the right and the left at the democrats, their nominating process seems to be more tight, she is going to get the nominations because of superdelegates. She will get the nomination because of people who are able to choose their nominees that have nothing to do with the democratic process. And polls show that Bernie Sanders is right there behind her. And he is the candidate that they love. They love him. They like her and they think she makes sense but they dont love her. And her negatives are astronomics. One of your college just calls in and said she was criminal. Donald trumps negatives are high because he sometimes makes imprudent statements. Hillary clintons negatives are high because for decades, a lot of people think that she operates with a set of rules for her when the rest have to operate under a separate set of rules. Host he is say you have not endorsed but do you plan to . Now, we could but up to we have simply been trying to encourage conservatives to look at the candidates, to push them on issues that are important. The American Conservative Union is conservative on cultural and Economic Issues and also on the issues of Foreign Affairs and Strong National security. So we have been urging our issues. Host donald trump chose to not come to your last meeting . Guest that is not accurate. Spoken that had cpac for a number of years. He has a lot of people there who really enjoy him being there. Coming but heg on had had a big night on the first super tuesday. They wanted to give a lengthy speech without taking questions and one of the changes i set up as a chairman is that they get the same set of rules and they will have to answer questions. Givese when people come to a speech, you cant learn that much. They chose to not play under those rules so they could not allow them to come. But it was done with the fact that we will be fair in this process. Host lets move to steve. A republican. Good morning. Caller i wanted to address two things. First, i dispute his characterization. The idea of a socalled cartel barring the leading candidate for the presidency is the most outrageous thing i have ever seen. It shows that his group is a fraud. The first thing you want to get to is the real test that shows why donald trump is the ultimate conservative in the race. Youths of his organization which i consider complete fraud, i would like to list some of the points that show he is the ultimate conservative. What it boils down to is a common denominator of immigration. That is the key issue of this race. It is the reason why the gop have a conservative movement and fail because they withrt Mass Immigration opposition to his position on immigration. First of all i think some of the estimates range as high as 50 million Illegal Immigrants in the united states. I know the number used is serious10 million but estimates go as high as 50 million. All of the other issues that are Crucial Center around that. I will take them off. Crime, guns, terror, western culture and the defense of that. Theal policies and all of socialist policies advanced by the obama administration. Education which is being ruined by the left. Diseases that are brought in by immigrants. Getting worse and worse. Contagious diseases that are going to expand tremendously over the coming years if we dont reverse this. Depletion of u. S. Resources. National defense. All of this centers on immigration. The ultimate position of Donald Trumps immigration and that is the ultimate argument by all of the phony conservatives. Anduding matt and crystal lowery and glenn beck. They all opposed this deportation of the 50 million Illegal Immigrants. That is why matt and all of his friends are traitors. A bar the leading conservative from his organization meeting. They all did the same. Guest let me show you the difference between what i did and what Eric Erickson did. Eric eric some would not allow him to speak because he believes that donald trump was not running as a conservative. We invited donald trump and let me tell you the story. I invited him to come. He got back to me within the hour with a no, right on the letter of invitation. We made our first announcement of the president ial candidacy that donald trump was coming. I was then subject to a twitter attack and a social media attack the fact that we should withdraw our invitation and i was clear that we would not withdraw our invitation. That we would probably allow donald trump to come. So you have me mixed up with decisions of other people in the conservative movement. I was asked to write a piece for andnever trump addition although i love the national otview, i told them i would n do that because i thought in the end, that was destructive to the conservative coalition. When people try to take the leading candidate and dismissed him and to not give any stage with other candidates and not give him the respect of someone racking up delegates and votes, it is a huge mistake. Do i agree that immigration and illegal immigration is a central focus of why people are supporting him . I totally agree with you. I think immigration has been a great thing for this country. And we continue to have legal immigration. But that should only occur to the extent to which it is we have time for a couple more calls. Drop a couple names. Ted cruz, Carly Fiorina he picked her for vice president. Guest she is a special person. A gifted individual. I consider her a friend. You can see it, when she endorsed ted cruz and took to the campaign trail with ted cruz, you could see they were developing a relationship, which they did not have before, and i think ted cruz realize what a talent she has. I talked to Carly Fiorina about when she was considering running for president. We were working sidebyside at the American Conservative Union. What i heard around the country is that they were tired of elected officials. The idea that she did not have one day in elected office usually, you say i have this problem. Surprised she is not the person who popped up and became the outside candidate. So i think ted cruz did a smart thing. Host now connecting ted cruz to john boehner, who this week called ted cruz lucifer in the flesh and said he had never worked with a more miserable sob in my life. Host guest i worked with ted cruz during the Bush Campaign and i worked with heidi cruz. They are delightful, intelligent, and gifted people. What john boehner did if he was trying to herd ted cruz, i think he actually helped ted cruz. It is these dismissive attitudes that comes to often from elected officials in washington, certainly elected republicans, who try so hard to prop up so many other president ial candidates, though clearly the message from voters was they wanted someone like a trumpet or cruz. Rump or say to john boehner, if youre are trying to hurt ted cruz, you probably helped. Host now were going to darwin, democrat. Caller good morning. Moderator, please keep mr. Schlapp on topic. I am following up on florida. There was a story about the lady who messed up and had to stay home he went on still about how the expandednistration Prescription Drugs with regard to medicare, because i work in the field. That is the doughnut hole. However, he did not answer the question. Expandg scott did not medicare for people in that income group to get health care. I got insurance through my job. I am a veteran. I go to the v. A. Compassionately. They love cooperation. And they cannot look up for the poor people. I am a democrat, barack supporter, but i will vote for donald trump. I do not care for the immigrant issue, because i am an immigrant. Donald trump, one reason he will win the election he does not take corporate money. The reason we have these problems, with jobs going overseas, is we cannot tell the corporations to make stuff here, because they support both parties. And they do what these corporations want host thank you for calling pay we are running out of time. Is i basically, the fact do not know this woman, who dropped dead tragically in florida. It sounds like a perfectly horrific story. File all i will say is that she dropped their after she dropped dead after obamacare became law. Has problems that are real and impact poor people. What he has done is done a big shift from medicare to medicaid as part of obama care. I do not think that was the right way to approach our health care problems. And there are Republican Solutions we have heard over and over that could effect Better Change for all of these people, especially poor people. All of the poverty statistics have gotten worse under obama. Host ed is calling from houston, independent pat is calling from houston, independent. Caller mr. Schlapp is really expressing his opinion. Telling everyone who call who was calling in they are wrong. Host on which topic . Caller he told some guy that just finished i cannot even remember what it was, but i wrote it down. To say this, if i do not say anything else. Vote for the person but this year, the republicans have tried their best to smear hillary before she even gets the nomination. A lot of people in this country, all they have to do is hear they do notgative, read up on it, follow it. I do. I am retired. Years. Over 50 i do not need anybody to give me anything. And the republicans do not give poor people anything. Host that was pat. Say it is the sabbath, and i try hard to adhere to the truth. If you feel i have not done that, i will try my best the next time i am on cspan to make you a believer. I will say this again. Hillary clintons problems are not republican problems. Her problems are seated in her own party. I think you have seen the polls 30 of Bernie Sanders supporters will not support her. They view her as a tool of corporate america, and they feel like she has believes that she has a second set of roles for her and she has broken criminal laws over and over. Hillary clintons negatives are sky high, not because she has a problem with republicans, but because she has a big problem with voters across the field, democrats and republicans. So you cannot blame republicans for the problems of Hillary Clinton. Host one more call. We will not have no jobs here. So while you say host youre on the air. One more time, are you there . They are having a fullfledged debate. The biggest challenge for you two years in the moving forward . Guest the Biggest Challenges those people who do not like aspects of a trump candidacy. Will they realize that eight years of another clinton candidacy presidency is such a terrible prospect. That said, if ted cruz is the nominee, if he wins in indiana and sweeps california, will tropical voters will trump voters accept the fact . A lot of people believe this is a trump phenomenon, and if he goes away, this issue in the party goes away. They are wrong. There is a realignment going on in the country. These people who have been voting for donald trump, a large majority of them are voting that would that way because they like what he is saying on immigration, jobs, security, and other issues. To stayement is here and our coalition, and we have to figure out how to put this all together. Host cspans washington journal. Morning, tomorrow transgender jens equality. On the bathroom. On tuesdays Indiana Republican primary and how it is playing out in the hoosier state, craig done. Join the discussion monday morning. Announcer tomorrow, voice of america director delivers usc annenberge center. This is her first presentation since becoming director. That is monday at 12 10 p. M. Me eastern. Monday on the communicant to use communicators, tim winter. According to a report, the to protectnded children from profanity and violence on tv has failed. Nter there is asked it there is actually no series on television today that is rated for children. Youngestold is the appropriate for children to watch. Tv networkshat the themselves rate the shows and the advertisers rely on the shows. So there is self interest in terms of rating those shows. They want to mature only content, therefore tv does not for anything as audience. Announcer watch the communicators at 8 00 p. M. On monday on cspan2. On q a, this week, democracy now