Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20160501

The numbers are on the bottom of your screen. Good sunday morning to you after a big saturday night here in washington. Actually several days of action and activity leading up to this dinner. Well start things off with a tease from the president talking about how he has aged in his view over the years. Eight years ago, i was a young man. Full of idealism and vigor. And look at me now. I am gray, grizzled, just counting down the days until my death panel. Hillary once questioned whether i would be ready for a 3 00 a. M. Phone call. No im awake anyway because ve got to go to the bathroom. m up. In fact, somebody recently said to me, mr. President , you are so yesterday. Justin trudeo has completely replaced you. Hes so handsome, hes so charming. Hes the future. And i said justin, just give it rest. I resented that. But meanwhile, michelle has not ged a day. The only way you can date her in photos is by looking at me. Take a look. Here we are in 2008. Here we are a few years later. And this one is from two weeks ago. And exactly who was in attendance last night . Politico reminds us that its in addition to the president , Vice President joe biden, president ial candidate Bernie Sanders. Former representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, former white House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife. Movie star attendees included gold blum. Jeff star wars lumenarey Carrie Fisher who was accompanied by her pet French Bulldog gary. Just some of the names in attendance last night. Lets go to calls. Rob up first in new york city. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Host what do you think of all this . Caller i was struck by the omedian. He was ok. But he wasnt quite as poignant as and funny as some of the former hosts of this event. But actually i thought he was ind of right on in his maybe intentioned or unintentioned criticism of all these different newscastors who dont really dig into and report on the news. Get this fluff from cnn and from fox and foxs fluff is different than cnns fluff. Host so to what extent do dinners like this lead to the perception that you have . Caller i had the perception obviously as a thinking person all along. But to hear will moore sort of o and make these comecal remarks, which are comedy has truth, is really to me was one of the interesting thing that is come out of it. Nothing is going to change. Theyre forprofit news. But its ashame that we have to go beyond these socalled news stations to try to find the news. That is why people are tuning in to your show and bbc. And you have to reach to get real news about whats going on in the world and then whats going on in government and what it means. Host thank you for your point. He did mention larry will mor the Comedy Central nightly show host who was there last night giving the comedic speech after the president was finished. So the president talked about how hes aged over the years. Larry in this short piece talks about the same thing. You look terrible, mr. President. No, you do. Look at you. Your hair is so white it tried o punch me at a trump rally. The president s is so white he keeps saying all lives matter. All right, fine. Fine. I get it. No. You came in here looking like denzel. Now youre going out looking like grady from sanford and son. All im saying is that in less han eight years you bust two timehonored stereo types. Black goes crack. And apparently once you go black apparently we are going back. Thanks, ben carson. Ive got to be careful picking on you though, mr. President. A couple years ago during this dinner you were like killing osama bin laden. Who are you killing tonight . Host lots more from the dinner coming up, including more of your calls. Heres a little of the facebook commentary on the beltway culture. Nook comments coming in this morning. Jean is on the line from denver. What do you think . Caller for one thing i agree with the last caller, bbc and cspanners as far as getting a true look at things. But i so much admire the president and so much im going to miss his humor. I admire him for staying his course. Host was there a mome last night that caught your attention in particular . Caller oh, you know, thats hard to say. Because a lot of them were good. Ut his particular speech was spectacular. I was agast at the number of people who were there and all the clinking of glasses. Its such a big event thats really pretty amazing. But i do, i can understand why hes tired and why michelle yeah. When he mentioned michelle trying to jump over the white house fence, i was, i thought that was good. If a host our earlier caller said this could get in the way of solid news coverage. Caller you mean, does the event get in the way . Host events like this. Are they a little too close together in the same room. Caller well, im not sure about that. But i do think that, you know, most of the coverage that we see is biased one way or the other and you have to kind of thats why i like cspan and bbc, because i think theyre a little more well, cspan even in is more their coverage. We can see everything thats actually going on rather than as somebodys view of whats going on. Host thank you. I want to remind viewers of the phone numbers. Host White House Correspondent for the hill, good morning, jordan. Host caller good. How are you . Host good. What was the mood like in the ball room . How would you describe things . Guest it was pretty loose. I think the president wanted to go after everybody. He was going after Hillary Clinton, the person who could succeed him in the white house next year, donald trump, ted cruz, and the media. So he was letting zingers fly and i think the audience liked it. There were some moments, it being president obamas final dinner. But i think all and all people had a good time and some people were able to laugh themselves. Host was there a particular line of the night that made everybody especially full of laughter . Guest well, i think the end of the president s speech when he took a page out of kobe bryants retirement speech when he just got up and said, obama out, and literally dropped the mic on to the ground. That got people pretty excited. That was pretty excited and got a lot of laughs. Host we chose to start the program with that. How about the president ial campaign . How much time did the speaker spend on the campaign and what were your take aways . Guest well, everyone in the audience was waiting to go after donald trump everyone remembers 2011 when he skewrd trump at length. Trump was not there last night. But obama took a few shots at his expense saying i want to know where the donald is right now. And he actually took some shots at Hillary Clinton too unexpectedly. Sort of casting her as this clueless old andrews doesnt know how to use social media. He did make a funny joke about i dont know who is going to be in the white house. Who could she be . Maybe her inevitable status as the democrat nominee. So he did spend quite a lot of time on the president ial campaign. And so did larry. Ted cruz being the zode yak killer. So no punches pulled. Host do you see anything changing about this dinner in the future . Guest its hard to say. I know theres been a lot of talk about how many celebrities and business types were in the room rather than journalists. Look, i think it is a legitimate issue. It is a legitimate issue to discuss. But its going to take a change from media organizations and how they see the dinner and how they want to use the guest list if it does change. Personally im not sure if i see those kind of changes coming in the near future. But you never know. Host thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it. Guest thank you. Host well move back to your calls. Caller good morning. I would like to say that the dinner was very well presented. Obama was tastefully funny and surely he understands commeppedy. Especially the movie session with john boehner. All i can say is those tears were pricely. And i would say that will mors place put him in a difficult place. Its hard to criticize the media. From what their donors or sponsors are really will allow them to do at their expense. However, he did strike a nerve when he talked and criticized the media. They didnt take it well. It was almost like a Death Chamber in there. Very, very quiet. But we are concerned as citizens because the media is important. Obamas last statements were just on point. They are needed to keep us informed. And we feel as though theyre being cut to the point where theres no investigative reporting. And that we are only told what the pundits want us to tell. And they never really ask the citizens hardly how do you feel . With the exception of the cspan and opportunities like this. But instead of asking the people and the protesters what are your concerns . Theyll have a News Reporter saying they are concerned about unrest in america. And im saying how do you know that until you talk to them . So getting back to basics is very important because we are very leery of the news media, period, now in america. Host thank you for calling. A piece where we talk with patrick the producer of something called nerd prom. Its a film about the White House Correspondents dinner. He talked about the dinner and his perceptions. Heres a look. I think what it is, somebody kind of mentioned in my movie its not that the dinner contributes to the coseieness it just reveals it. Because theres such a spotlight on the debber, i think that if you are somebody people inside the beltway kind of look at what they see is this how business gets done n this town and to a certain extent thats somewhat true. People outside the beltway look at this dinner and see everybody kind of patting themselves on the back and having drink taking selfies with each other and it looks very clubby. I think tom brokaw in 2011 is one of the first real prominent people to kind of defect. He had gone to his own dinners and say that, if you are somebody outside the beltway and you look at this red carpet and you look at ice sculpturs and parties at the embassy and the competition for guests, this is a town thats supposed to be about a town thats more than that. Not every town in america is supposed to be about civic mindedness but you see it has a unique status where its supposed to be about other people and not ourselves. When you couple that with the idea that reporters having quite low approval ratings, politicians, washington, d. C. Writ large is kind of like the laughing stock of the country if a lot of ways and yet us every year is us patting ourselves on the back. People might look at that and say im not sure why you feel selfcelebration and people dont look too favorably on our town. I think that contributes to it. Host we will read a little pushback from the other side of that argument but lets get bonnie from georgia. Good morning. Aller good morning. Im a little disgusted with this correspond nts dinner. Washington has never been more out of touch with people of this country than they are right now. And with obamas last statement, it just proves what he he is nothing but a chicago politician which is what he was the day he went into office and hat he is today. Host why do you say that . Guest every aspect of this administration has proven that. Host anything else . Guest ia. I cant wait to see donald trump in the white house. Host all right. Lets hear from barbara, connecticut. Good morning. Caller good morning. First i dont agree with just said. T bonnie are you there . Host were listening. Caller i dont agree with anything that bonnie just said. Naturally she would be from georgia and naturally she would be for donald trump because he is so racist and sickening. My president is hardly a thug. He is the best president that weve ever had and hes very fair and even minded and i love president obama. Now, getting to this dinner. I enjoyed every minute of it watching it from cspan. I started at 6 00 and followed it through to the very, very end. I love it. This morning i played it again because i had it recorded. But the comedian what i enjoyed so much about him is that he called out morning joe. Every morning i watch morning joe and he is has gotten so sickening him and mika. I cant even believe shes democrat. Yes, they were so far up trumps behind every morning every morning giving him free press and congratulating him and saying he was doing so good so good. And thats why he got so elevated because he was on that show every single morning. I couldnt it was sickening. So im glad they called him out last night. And im calling him out this morning and saying joe you need to knock it off and stop elevating trump. That is so awful what youre doing. And what you have done. And when the comedian called him out and said that and chris christie, oh, my goodness he is so ridiculous always standing there looking so pitful and fat right behind trump trying to get some little kudos. So thank you. Im so glad. I am ecstatic that they called him out. I dont agree with anything that bonnie said about the the president. Host thanks for calling. Robert writes on twitter. Heres a little bit more from the dinner. The president talking about Vice President biden and the media. Since last year i do have more appreciation for those who have been with me on this amazing ride. Like one of our finest Public Servants joe biden. God bless him. I love that guy. I love joe biden. I really do. I want to thank him for his friendship, for his counsel, for always giving it to me straight. For not shooting anybody in the ace. Hank you, joe. Also, lets give it up for our ost larry. Also known as one of the two black guys who is not john stewart. Youre the South African guy. Right . I love him. I love larry. And his parents are here, who are from evanston, which is a great town. I also would like to acknowledge some of the Award Winning reporters that we have with us here tonight. Rachel. Mark. Leah. Thank you all for everything that youve done. Im just joking. As you know, spotlight is a film, a movie about investigative journalists with the resources and the autonomy to chase down the truth and hold the powerful accountable. Thats fantasy film best fantasy film since star wars. I love you. That was maybe a cheap shot. I understand the News Business is tough these days. It keeps changing all the time. Every year its this dinner somebody makes a joke about changing the media landscape. Every year the Washington Post laughs a little less hard. Host and moving on with your calls. Your view of the beltway culture following last nights big event in washington. Several days of events leading up to the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, about 27 o 00 people there. Each ticket cost 300. Good morning. Caller good morning. I just had a quick comment about not just this dinner but the entire complex of the Democratic Party today. I was a democrat. I am calling on a democratic line because ive always voted democratic. But i am switching to republican. Host howdom . Caller im in chicago and im very disappointed with the president. As a matter of fact. I think he has done a very poor job. Host is there something specific youre thinking about . Caller jobs. The economy. Jobs. The economy. You know, its the economy, stupid. Nothing else matters. And all this glitz and all this stuff isnt going to change anything. And everybody is in on it. Im just disgusted with everything. Im angry. Im not voting for trump because im angry. I think he is on to something. And by the way, i am african american. Host who do you think you will be voting for then . Caller i think that this is where everybody is clueless. Everybody thinks that all African Americans are democratic and they really i think this election is going to be different because i have friends, i have relatives, everybody saying the same thing. Theyre sick of the Democratic Party. And it seems like all of the black people who are in the Democratic Party, the congresspeople, the legislators, everybody is in on it. You know . Theyre in on the game. The game. Its all about the money. Host thanks for calling. Taking that comment a step further is north of boston at twitter. Conner what do you make of this type event and dinner and the overall beltway culture . Caller i wasnt going to watch the show but i tuned in accidentally. But i must say i was a democrat at one time. I was brought up as a democrat. I used to go in the voting booth and vote democratic. But i am for trump all the way. Go trump. Go trump. Im affro american by the way. Host all right. Tennessee. Republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. The tickets cost 300. How much went to the dinner and to the speaker . And if the democrats are concerned about proper distribution of wealth, why didnt they just take the 300 or even increase it so they could give more scholarships for the students that they want to help . It doesnt have to have all this glitz and glamour to do that. And then my second question is why doesnt anyone ever ask Hillary Clinton why doesnt she go on fox news . Is that she wants to present herself to all the people which she limits herself or refuses to go on that network. What does that say to us . And then number three, under what rules do politicians appear on tv interviews . What are the restriction that is they place on the people asking the questions . Before we hear any comments . Thank you very much. Host theres a lot there. We go to a couple articles. I hope you wont watch by accident next time but you will tune us in. Washington post also recently wrote this. Lets hear from matt in massachusetts. Caller thanks for taking my call. I wanted to say that i think cspan does an amazing Public Service when their camera work you see d especially them talking to one another. Because thats the closest the American People get to a limpse of exactly how cozy the they are. You know that because everybody talks about going to the vanity fair party. And there are no cameras around there. Imagine how cozy it is at that party. Thank you. Host heres a little more from the president. Some candidates arent polling high enough to qualify or their own joke tonight. The rules were well established ahead of time. And then theres ted cruz. Host thanks for waking up so early. Caller it was an accident. And i do watch cspan periodically i believe clinton they actually announce the winner prior to the closing of the polls. I got a lot more to say. Lets go to ron in. Irginia i personally think the dinner last night was nothing but a joke. It was thrown to be as a comedian. N word . Him say the my hearing could be bad but i could have sworn. Host at the very end, when he was saying goodbye. Caller well, im trying to think. Obama, i could care less about him. ,he big thing about obama guilty reason he got into that is because i tell people to go vote. The only reason he got it is because people had in decisive and didnt voted. Host jesse from michigan, good morning. Caller good morning. Know, i am very wellinformed. I have a great mind. I have voted for the Democratic Party. They were just taking my vote for granted. I would like to tell some of my african American People that the Democrat Party havent got anything for you. Social security. [indiscernible] man. The same when we were down there in young black men were getting killed. Host did you watch the dinner last night . Caller no. Ew of thet is your vi beltway culture . These dinners . Caller nothing but a joke. This is going on in this country. If they are concerned about the people, come out here. The oldersome of people. Who have worked all their lives. The people who have lowpaying jobs. Will never vote again in my life because i have voted for the Democratic Party. I am not a fool. , some of them just want a black president. [indiscernible] thank you for calling. Mike is on the line from georgia. A democrat. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host did you watch . Caller yes, i thoroughly enjoyed it. People who are humorless are going to be offended when they see people doing better than they are. They will take it the wrong way. There were a lot of complaints about that, about the price being cozy with the rich and powerful. These are the same people who are sources for information within the government. They establish relationships with these people and theres nothing wrong with real. It doesnt mean that just because somebody is cordial that there is something wrong with that. I have heard people complain about this but bush had the same thing. I didnt hear the same type of complaints. Just because people get together and have recognition for people who have put their lives on the line to get a story and show some appreciation. That doesnt mean you turn and are offended about it. Calling in to say that they used to go democrats but the democrats have done nothing i use this analogy. If somebody shows up with half a loaf of bread, and im not saying black people need to have their hands out to ask for assistance with that kind of thing but if somebody shows up with half a loaf of bread, they seem better than somebody who doesnt show up at all. Host mike, thank you for calling. On twitter i have no problem with the Correspondents Dinner. There are countries where making fun of leader gets a death sentence. Here is a little more from the dinner. Donald trump says he will try to be more president ial. He is serious. He says that now, when he boasts about his genitalia, he will only refer to it as his president johnson. Lbj . I cant understand why everybody with kid gloves and then i realize they are the only gloves that will fit his baby hands. Actually, donald trump, his campaign is inspiring. Mass violence. [laughter] turn on the tv i see his family campaigning for him. Gushing all over him. From flint, michigan. What do you say . Chance todidnt get a watch much of it. I think everybody is calling in trying to3p make a serious event out of something that is really supposed to be fun. It is because of so much hatred in this country. But people are having fun. Republicansd together. I think it is nice. Also, i hear so many people that they areing for donald trump and by the way, i am black. They can call in all they want to say that. I am black and i talk to people every day and nobody is voting for donald trump. They can ask like black people are voting for donald trump but it is not true and it will not happen. Host let me mention a couple other ways to see this dinner. We will show some highlights at 6 30 p. M. Today on cspan. You can watch it at cspan. Org. We have the whole thing and it is also cut up into different sections. We have the president speech and Everything Else. If you dont get in in this segment, we only have a few minutes left about the beltway culture, who will visit this again by 9 15. The phone number is on the bottom of the screen one more time. If you havent had a chance yet, it democrats 202 7488000, republicans 202 7488001,. Ndependent 202 7488002 ed, you are on the independent line. Good morning. Caller i didnt realize there was something in the constitution that you have to sell eight tickets at a time. Maybe there is a reason. , you mightse tables not be able to sell all of them because people wouldnt want to in and get everybody together. With just see rich people politicians and celebrities. A bunch of photographers and that kind of thing. Theyre sitting at the tables next to them. Host thank you for calling. The washingtonian recently wrote that the Correspondents Association gave less money to scholarships in 20142015. Political and media hotshots ready their formalwear for the dinner. Washingtonians annual audit of the organization showed the following they write, you see, that they party isnt just an excuse for hollywood celebrities to take selfies with west wing staffers. Its a fundraising event. They worked to ensure a strong free press robust coverage of the president why advocating for the president. Originallyally designated a 501 c 3 Charitable Organization back in 2004 and the organization has funded College Scholarships for journalism students. But when they took a look at the spending last year, here is what we found. Andprofile has risen contributions jumped from 20092013. 232,500. to five at else have only inched 10 higher. 26 in 2013. The piece goes on to say that saysrganizations counsel the decrease in scholarships spending was driven by factors outside the association control. They said they had a significant u and they weregw prepared to make a similar grant of learned the prime movers Grant Program was closed. Were approved at the full amount for the proposed scholarships. Mark is calling from maryland. A republican. Thank you for waiting. Caller the gentleman that called in and complained that have halfats may only a love put the republicans dont have any. I would like to point out that the republicans expect you to earn your loaf instead of getting a handout. And secondly, the comment is the mentioned that democrats and republicans attending the Correspondents Dinner but i point out that the they house press corps, are all democrats. I dont know how to that is. But i would not be surprised to learn that it is true. That is all ive got. Host you can get a later at 9 00. Alan is calling on the republican line. Your view of the dinner . What do you think . Guest i think it is a wonderful thing. Many of those people were not in the beltway before they became correspondents and journalists and what have you. The other thing i want to point the washington hilton is an incredible place. I stayed there and there is a lower level going into the ballroom called the president ial walkway. And anyone in washington should go and see that because there are pencil drawings that are every beautiful pieces of president and first lady throughout history. This is a landmark as far as im concerned. Host thank you for all of your calls. We will take a short break and come back for more of your calls on politics and will be joined schlapp to discuss what conservatives think about the role of campaigning in 2016. Later mont we will look into the issues of money and panel can money and politics with Nick Penniman. I am a little hurts that he is not here tonight. We had so much fun last time. And it is surprising. You have a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras and he says no. Dinner to tacky for the donald . What could he be doing instead . Is he at home using a trump stake, tweeting insults to Angela Merkel . What is he doing . [laughter] thedent barack obama republican establishment is incredulous that he is there most likely nominee. Incredulous, shocking. Lacks foreignpolicy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world. Miss sweden, miss argentina. [laughter] [applause] president barack obama and there is one area where he could be valuable, closing guantanamo. Because he knows a thing or two about running Waterfront Properties into the ground. [laughter] [applause] obama thatsck probably enough, i have more material. No, no. [applause] president barack obama i dont want to spend too much time on the donald. Following your lead, i want to show some restraint. Because i think we can all agree that from the start he has gotten the appropriate amount of coverage befitting the seriousness of his candidacy. [laughter] president barack obama i hope you all are proud of yourselves. The guy wants to give his Hotel Business a boost and now we are praying that cleveland makes it through july. Washington journal continues. Matt schlapp, thank you for joining us. 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 . Guest i think donald trump is most likely going to be the nominee. And i think it is a reflection of what is happening in the democratic votes all over the country. And that sends a clear message. And if you look at the onionwide polls this week the democratic side between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, he is right there, nearly tied between those two. So it is a definite message. You think the Never Trump Movement is finished . Guest yes, i think it was the problem. Trump wasnt the problem. Reaction, a push back to what the voters were saying across the country. It basically said, we dont care if you keep giving donald trump these winds, we are going to block it and that is not what my party should before. Host ted cruz and john kasich are in the race and they have delegates. Do you expect a fight in cleveland . Guest i encourage applicants like ted cruz and john kasich and Carly Fiorina, the prospective running mate of ted cruz, they will fight until the end. And we ought to have this fight go all the way to cleveland. But eventually we have to unite and get behind our nominees. I think donald trump is the likely nominee put will see what happens in indiana and california at the last few states that are left. Host you are the chair of the American Conservative Union. His donald trump conservative . Ningt i think he is run mostly as a conservative. His message is a reaction to president barack obama. He has been a political person who has been here and there and everywhere over the years. He has been a sometime republican. But his response to obama is basically very strong conservative themes. He is not an orthodox conservative like ted cruz. But he is somebody who is leading with conservative issues. And i think that his the big . For the Republican Party. The big question for the Republican Party and the larger conservative movement is, though he be reliable on all of the issues that they care about . Which is why the primary process and all of the questions the members of the media ask, that is why it is so important. Because once you elect a president , it is done. Host let me invite the callers to phone in for questions with matt schlapp. The numbers are on the screen. Democrats, 202 7488000. Epublicans, 202 7488001. Ndependent, 202 7488002 you can also post a question at twitter. We will talk for a couple more minutes. Then we will start taking your calls. You were at the Correspondents Dinner last night. Guest are you saying that because i look tired . [laughter] host what was that like for you . Guest i hadnt attended in a while because we have little kids but i thought it was great. The president was funny. He looks like you didnt want this to be the last one. And its fun to see famous people jumping into politics with the actors and actresses and luminaries to her there. Good chuckle at everybody involved in politics. Host we just spent 45 minutes asking whether the whole thing is to tummy. With celebrities and politicians and business officials these are the people they cover. What is your take . Guest it is a little chummy. As a conservative, i think it is 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, but they mostly do is poke fun at people like me. And when the president has a chance to make fun of himself, he made fun of donald trump and ted cruz. So actually i think the White House Correspondents dinner, the tone is much like what you see in committee papers. Host lots more politics and discussion with the head of the American Conservative Union. James is calling on the democratic line from seattle. Good Early Morning to you. Caller good morning. Thank you. Ronald reagan, during his presidency, the deficit moved from 790 billion to over 3 trillion. Interest rates were extremely high. Reagan did not drop the Interest Rates and that is where the revenue came from. He granted amnesty to over 5 million illegals. Welcoming ford every third world country overseas from afghanistan to chile. Reagan sold iran missile systems. This is the person that you all hold up as your stalwart. Is only thing that you say that [indiscernible] started a campaign in philadelphia, mississippi, 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 talked about us and everything. The same thing that Barry Goldwater and then did. Host lets hear from our guest. James, he successfully brought up to heroes. There he goldwater and reagan. Reagan say that ronald did a couple of things. He restored the spirit of the country which was lacking under president carter. Likemost liken a america has lost the sense of economy. He was able to get the economy rolling again. One of the things that we see is people bring up the death of Ronald Reagan, the bipartisan failure but he did greatly increase revenue. Not that conservatives love the idea that revenue comes into the government but revenue came in because the economy started to grow because he cut taxes. Lets refer that he was dealing with a democratic house. So these were bipartisan agreements. Of course, i think the most important thing is that they played an incidental role. This was based on policies that were not going to endure anyway. So Ronald Reagan did some very basic, fundamental, wonderful, historic things for the country and yes, i hold him up. There is a term called the reagan democrat. A lot of democrats hold them up as a great president. , whatback to donald trump do you make of his tone on the campaign trail . Guest i worked for george w. Bush and you are brought up in campaigns and politics to talk a certain way. To address controversial things in a calm manner. And to take the heat out of it. Especially as a republican you are taught to do that. Trump took the rulebook and tossed it aside and he brings more heat to an already controversial topic. There is something about that that is refreshing to a lot of americans and there is something to other americans that is very disconcerting. So his candidacy inspires a lot of opinions, as you know. It is very different from the tone that Ronald Reagan took when he ran for the presidency three times and was a successful governor of california. It is something we havent seen. We havent seen somebody take this kind of approach and be successful but it is a function of the times. It is a function of how we watch tv with reality tv shows. And sometimespted we like the absurd. from fayetteville, north carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning to you both. I am watching the whole scenario play out here. Carried out his duties in the congress. Allvery turn their has been types of false statements. Donald trump has set himself up divisivee who is as human beings in anger, we will regret it. Is America First Party Nothing that is representative of america. To try and resurrect racism and uttred is bringing abo diseases. We will hope and pray that the have gotten beyond the 21st century but yes the old ghost that haunts america is alive and well and donald trump is representing this in a most poisonous and divisive way. Guest i almost thought you were talking about donald rumsfeld. I think that it is fair to criticize donald trump. He doesnt always strike the kind of tone i would like to see him strike. Or that the American People like to see him strike. America firstd, this concept has a hysterical but whatorical concept is so terrible with the concept that would comes to our economy and foreign policy, we take our countrys interests into account first . You can use the lingo and the jargon. Themes butfor these this is a basic concept. That is bipartisan criticism. Obamas just criticism of and bush. We are all over the globe. We are paying for an aggressive put back around the globe. And were paying for that with silver and the lives of our sons and daughters. I think it is fair for the American People to ask the question about whether what were doing being in the interest of the country. Our sons and daughters shouldnt be serving anything other than the interest of our country. Who would ever put somebody in harms way without it being in the interest of our country . And the second thing, is america doing the right thing . Is there more of a purpose . People have seen the global ionomy and ofs and downs and think we have to be sober and honest with the American People to say that there are great downsides to the american economy. We should point out that maverick asks you this question. It will look and party has concluded that it needs a change and a makeover. Who do you think is responsible for the lack of change . The Republican Party is definitely sending a message of change. Maverick has got that right. Who is responsible for the fact that we need change . That barackrson is obama has been an incredibly successful liberal president with very radical policies. So in our party, because president obama has gone it alone and has mostly decided to avoid doing with congress. He is used executive powers and there has been a great reaction. Policieso stop these that are not bipartisan policies. These are liberal policies as they dont take into effect the American Voter which has large republican majorities. The second thing that republicans are upset that is a republican majority in the senate and house and they dont feel that the message of the majorities have done enough. I think it is unfair that these of the leaders have been put in a position where you have a president who is going around them aggressively. Token, people across this country who elected these maturities wants them to take the extra step to stop policies. And that is what the politics of america are so chaotic. Host a democrat on the line. Mattre on the phone with schlapp. Caller i have a question. About whatlly sure the true conservative principles are. The governors a republican and the legislature is good totally controlled by republicans. And for instance, their philosophy was not to expand medicaid. 3yearold three children, cleaned houses and didnt qualify for medicaid, which you would have if the governor of florida, the republican guy, he had expanded medicaid. She drops dead because she didnt have the money for prescriptions. Can you explain to me why that is in the best interests of america . Why is that in the best interest people like that to die because they cant get a prescription . Guest i worked for president eye partisanof his ideas was the idea that Prescription Drugs should be part of the Health Care System for people who are having trouble paying their bills. That being said, obamacare has been a disaster. Because obamacare in the end is not enhancing what is great about the american system. The american Health Care System is that we have the top quality around the globe. People come to america to get health care because we are the best in the world. We did pass a Prescription Drug plan that do cover a lot of people. I think what this talk more still, there are people today who dont have health care. And really what obamacare is about is health care insurance. My perspective is this. After eight years of this president , his signature achievement is obamacare. This woman in florida dropped dead. Poverty to poverty rates and tistics you see on poverty they are of substantially. Yourself,e to ask obama is a liberal president and he has had almost a decade to run the table on these policies and yet you hear from callers as democrats around the country about how things have gotten worse. And i think that is something i can agree with them on. The obamacare solution was the wrong solution. And i think the obama solution and policy on the economy has been the wrong type of solution. I think more americans are hurting today that before he got to host the office. Here is donald trump as we go back to the republican frontrunner talking about Hillary Clinton. The only card she has is the womans card. She has nothing else going. And if Hillary Clinton were a man i dont think she would get 5 of the vote. The only thing shes got going is the womans card and women dont like her. Womans card, is that a smart strategy . Guest once again, what i have given him that advice . No. You are running against a woman at the last you try to do is attack the woman for talking about the fact that she is a woman. But once again, he is hitting Hillary Clinton strength. The American People are proud of ct that we elected the first africanamerican president and we want to elect the first woman president. Into her and takes her on and it makes people say, well, why are we giving this woman did nomination . Bernie sanders is the one that we love but she is the one who will get the nomination. 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 forblicans in congress and 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. Is chair ofchlapp the American Conservative Union. Take another break and talk to Nick Penniman next. He is with the Organization Issue one. We will talk about the issue of money and politics. And Bernie Sanders is doing a news can a News Conference here in washington today. We will have live coverage of that at 2 30 eastern. And we will show you more from the White House Correspondents dinner. [video clip] pres. Obama we have the bright new face of the Democratic Party here tonight. Bernie sanders. [cheers] [applause] you lookma bernie, like a million bucks. Or to put it in terms you understand, you look like 37,000 in donations and 27 each. [applause] [laughter] obama a lot of folks have been surprised by the bernie phenomenon, especially his appeal to young people. But not me. I get it. Recently, a young person came up to me and said she was sick of politician standing in the way of her dreams. As if we were going to let malia man this year. Not going to happen. Bernie might let her go. Not us. [laughter] pres. Obama i am hurt, though, beene, that you have distancing yourself from me. That is just not something you do to your comrade. Madam secretary, we proudly give 72 of our delicate votes to the next president of the United States our delicate votes to the next president our votes to the next president of the United States. Washington journal continues. Our guess now is Nick Penniman, executive director of an organization known as issue one. What is issue one . Guest it is a new nonprofit focused on reducing the influence of money in politics. Host how are you funded . Guest foundations and individual donors. You have a book that says this nation is on the take. What are you trying to say . Guest we are trying to say the problem of money in politics has reached crisis proportions. Stage four cancer at this point. The public has always been generally aware of the fact that money plays a role in politics, but we make the argument we have crossed a dangerous rush holt to the point that he has created such paralysis and our policymaking that we are losing our democracy. Host what are the examples of this paralysis . At almostyou look every number associated with money and politics, it has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. We have gone from 500 lobbyists 20 years ago to over 1200 registered lobbyists. We have dark money money not disclosed in the last decade. The 2000 election cycle was an advocate of a 3 billion election cycle. This cycle is supposed to be 10 billion. The numbers go on and on. That is the math. What that ends up creating an washington is the inability to legislate on behalf of the common good. Because special interest have such control over our politicians and our policymaking that it is hard to get a lot done. What is happening or not happening that proves the point youre making . You look at almost any big legislative moment, and there were such severe compromises made during those moments that one could argue that the public good was not entirely fulfilled. Take the financial reform, right . Financialf the crisis, the Global Economy almost brought to its knees. The fixes we accomplished, some were good but some did not fix at all. That is not just me speaking. That is also the financial reporter for the New York Times. Do all kinds of stuff around Consumer Protection we have not done. A lot of that had to do with what senator dick durbin said around when doddfrank was occurring, which is the banks own the place. Other example one of the major Rising Health crises in america is obesity. It is going through the roof. It will cost us hundreds of billions of dollars down stream. The news agency, did a sixmonth investigation to report about at times to legislate at the local, state, to address theel obesity crisis. After looking at almost every one of those fights, the sugar, fast food, and corn lobbies won every major policy battle. So you have to ask yourself a question when a reputable news agency looks at a huge issue like that and they conclude that we no longer we the people no longer have the ability to legislate our way out of our was the verych promise that the founders created from the get go. The argument of the book is we are losing our right to selfgovernment. We are becoming more than oligarchy. We are talking about the influence of money in politics. We have lines for democrats, republicans, and independents. We often go to opensecrets. Org. They write the amount raised so far by candidates is 720 million. The amount raised by super pacs supporting candidates is 446 million dollars. What are those numbers telling you . Is another number, which is 158 families supplied half of the cash to president ial campaigns. That looks more like oligarchy, when you have a handful of families in this country supplying most of the cash. That means we are moving to a system funded by the wealthiest among us. System ends upt leaning towards the wealthiest among us. The other problem behind those numbers is that politicians today are spending four hours a day, after their time, just dialing for dollars. There was a great 60 minutes piece done a week ago, and there was a republican whistleblower, representative david jolly, who was talking about how 30 hours a week of his and his colleagues time was spent just dialing for dollars. Host p was on this program. Heres a look at what he had to say. [video clip] ofwe all know the amount money in politics. We can have different opinions on solutions to that. I focused on the amount of time to raise that money. Understand that if you have to raise 2 million for reelection efforts, how much time does it take a member of congress to do that . Incoming members of congress are often in short did to spend four to five hours a day spent four to five hours a day raising money. A horribles just life, first of all. These are people who, to to washingtoncome wanting to accomplish something on the half of the common good. Instead, they are shuttled into these cubicles and closets at the republican and democratic headquarters, where they sit and half thethy people time, trying to raise money. Very few of those people live in their districts. They probably will never meet any of them. My dad is a big five flesher fly fisher. One thing he told me was that if fish, youo catch a have to think like a fish. That is what they have to do in the cubicles. Calls,efore we get to michael at twitter says this is nothing new. Money has always been in politics at all levels. That lubricates it. It is just more out in the open now. Guest that is true but not in the proportions we are seeing today. The 2000 election cycle was a 3 billion cycle. Be 10ar, it will billion. That more than triples the amount. So the amount is overwhelming. Host let me read you something that riley smith, former chair of the federal elections commission, said. He says while money is critical to inform the public and give all of these a hearing, this election proves that money cannot make voters like the views they hear. Jeb bush is not the only lavishly funded candidate to drop out of the race. Rick perry, scott walker, and others also raised and spent considerable sums. Guest that is the notion one or two exceptions somehow proves the rule. Bsurd an observed a argument. If that is true, tell me why thousands of lobbyists are maxing out as much money as they can to the politicians they are trying to a fact, and why the wealthiest people in america are writing huge checks in the medical process. If he gets you nothing, why are they doing it . The it comes to jeb bush, press from the getgo started reporting how he was a lackluster candidate. Can overcomemoney the personality flaws of a candidate. It is taking a tiny specific moment in time and trying to extrapolate that therefore there is nothing going on with money and politics, which does not hold water. Host lets go to the calls. We go back to the open secrets website. They have a chart. The darker bars in the blue about Hillary Clinton represents outside money. The lighter ours represent candidate, committee money. That up so folks can take a look and absorb it while we talked to marion, in virginia. Democratic college. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to ask the cast about obama has about been trying to get pharmaceutical prices down. ,pparently, both elites democrats and republicans, are trying to block it. Is that because of pharmaceutical money . Guest absolutely. One of the first moves made by the obama white house, when they began the push for obamacare, was to strike a huge deal with the pharmaceutical industry, which said we will give you total immunity on drug pricing as long as you do not say anything critical about Everything Else we will do. Way they knew there was no to take on the Health Insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies at the same time, because they have such power over the system. As a result, we do not do what every other major western democracy does, which is use our it comesng power when to Prescription Drugs. We have no ability to bulk bargain with these pharmaceutical companies to lower the drug prices. That was a concession made up front when they began the obamacare battle. Stan, republican caller. Caller thank you to cspan. I would like to ask of this gentleman one question. What is world order . Our country has been going to the dump the last 44 years. The other question is the republican and the national is one human being with two heads. And i am voting for trump. Thank you. Have a good day. I cannot talk about world order. But i can tell you that the order in washington is one that, in my mind and i was a journalist before i started working on this issue is one that is increasingly dominated i these wellfinanced special interest worlden it comes to order, in my mind, american democracy was the most revolutionary and really an even that has occurred in human history. Event that hast occurred in human history. When you look at what the founders said about corruption, they wrote extensively. James madison, secretary of the constitutional convention, was keeping meticulous notes. He recorded the word corruption more than 50 times. What the founders were talking about when crafting the constitution is the kind of corruption that was the bending of the mechanisms of government away from the common good and towards what they called the factions. Today, we call that the special interests. So if there is an order going on, it is not one of the founders wanted. They wanted a truly representative democracy, where we could solve our problems collectively. , as he tossedt upon, is the former executive huffington the post. National Grassroots Organization called the alliance for democracy. Guest i am head of a group called issue one. Huff postf the exectuive. Host just wanted to make sure i followed up. I wanted to make sure i got some of your bio out. Director of issue one, which has been around how long . Guest 2 years. Stewart in go to washington, independent. Caller it occurs to me that a lot of people are considering response to Citizens United. I was wondering if you could dodict, if he is elected, you think he would have a positive impact on what he does on what we are this guessing on what we are discussing . With many things trumprelated, it is hard to tell. He has been outspoken about this problem. Hisas talked about how republican rivals have been bought by the lobbyists and special interests and wealthy donors, and he cannot be bought because he is self financing his campaign. But he has yet to rollout a single policy solution to the problem. It is hard to tell what he would push. It is also hard to tell what kind of test he would apply to any Supreme Court justice coming in about Citizens United, because he just has not gone there yet. He is kind of all problem and not a lot of solution, at this point. At some point, we hope he will really Start Talking solutions. Twitterdy beach on wants to know more about your position on Citizens United. Can you talk about the democrats position on Citizens United while conveniently excluding union money, as he puts it . Guest there are almost to their questions there. Citizens united had really nothing to do about should union money be included or excluded. There was a piece of legislation that tried to move a couple of years ago that would disclose that, and there were concessions made for unions, which is why it died. A trulye going to have transparent and functional system, all of the money has to be disclosed. Union money, corporate money, individual money. We are seeing a lot of malarkey and the system where corporations are starting to arise and then disappear within months to move more money into the system. So the transparency problem is huge. The Union Problem has to be addressed just as much. Host democrats call 202 7488000, republicans 202 independents can call 202 7488002. Looking forward to talking some more of you, including guy, calling from washington. Democrat. Caller talking about the money historyics, go back in and you find Abraham Lincoln had all of the big money going to him when he ran for president. That was in the Republican Party. The second thing i would like to bring up is if you go back and history, all the way back to the ifnding fathers up to 1932, you read anything about the Labor Movement, you will find theor movement was United States became a great country after 1932. My father went to work in the mines. And i am old enough to know how when the Labor Movement gets big , the gets paid gets big. Guest i do not know there is anything i have read about linkedin and major money in his campaign. Campaigns back then were a totally different creature. What i read about was reagan riding his horse around, literally. And we know about the great debates. But money of the time was not a huge factor. Politics were much more local. Much more about handshaking and building coalitions. A lot of the stuff we see today did not exist back then. There is also a profound lincoln warned thishe was after the civil war had been settled he warned about the rise of Corporate Power in massca and the ability of aggregations of wealth and money to start exerting themselves on the political system in a way t would threaten their threaten the integrity of the republic. That is what we are seeing today. Our republic is being threatened i these mass concentrations of wealth that want to exert themselves over policymaking. Host what, if anything, do you expect to change and how will it happen . Realistically, a lot. We are seeing a new Reform Movement arising. Occurreditizens united 2010 we have seen more than 600 resolutions passed at the state, county, and local level against Citizens United. We have seen great victories, which included progressives and conservatives organizing in placesgainst this, like tallahassee, florida. We are seeing an incredible rise in energy. I think Citizens United helped create that. There is such awareness about this problem that people are realizing it is time to mobilize and move. That has been great to see. The significant rise in grassroots energy. One of the reason we hear it so much in the political campaigns this year is in part the fact that you see every republican and democrat talking about it, and the outside of means that it is in the air. Host more calls in the moment, but lets hear more from the republican from florida. Ago, you talk about something called the stop act legislation and what they would do. [video clip] would have a finance director, Campaign Staff that is responsible for the operations of the campaign committee, raising the resources, but as a member of congress, your First Priority is to do your job. The idea is to let members of congress do their job, but the Campaign Stop raise the money. This would only apply to sitting members of congress, not challengers. As a challenger, you can spend your time doing whatever you want. Once you are elected, you hold the public trust. Could thatpenniman, work . Guest sure. It could work. We have to do a whole lot more. It is the beginning to the reform. Let me step back and applaud the representative for what he has done. Theres a long tradition of whistleblowing in this country, and i see is what he is doing us right in that tradition. He is blowing the whistle last the whistle last public servant, and he considers to be an utterly dysfunctional system that is destroying the ability and he Congress Stop act should be applauded for that. We have got to go beyond what he is talking about. There are four things i would mention. Number one, we need to talk about new ways of financing politics. How do we get away from millionaire and billionaire donors . How to be incentivize small donors, the same way Bernie Sanders has, and i have seen ted cruz with small donors. But how do we incentivize more of them as opposed to a few citizens . Number two, ethics. In the state of south carolina, if you are a registered lobbyist, you cannot make a Campaign Donation to a politician because it looks like corruption because when you have announced to the lobbyist that you have some kind of axe to grind with the government, you throw money on top of that and it looks at drives. I would love to see that the comp are still washington. Number three, transparency. Dark money is on the rise right now. You have to eradicated. Finally, we have got to fix the federal Election Commission which oversees finance laws for elections oriented is supposed to but it is an good luck right now and a tweak would fix that. Everyone asks if there is a Silver Bullet to the cause . The answer is no. There is no super bowl it. The four things i mentioned are absolutely 100 there is no Silver Bullet. The four things are mentioned are absolutely 100 . Exertingt a matter of the will of the people at this point. The political will of the people to get this passed and done. Host lots of folks waiting to talk to Nick Penniman from issue one. From michigan, republican. Couple ofhave a questions. How come people with money protect their wealth from people like Bernie Sanders not into poverty, but maybe they would say they should be taxed 50 to like allve money people should have power or kids should have college totally paid for or health care . Was how much should we have to pay in taxes . What should be a tax top amount . We talk about common good, but i think people in Citizens United, that is sometimes the only way they have from some people who try to take money away from that so they can give to the opposite side. If you can give a group of of somebody elses money, you have a lot of people in your paper. To her. Guest i cannot speak to the nuances of Bernie Sanders tax plan but i can talk to the bigger issue, which is lets talk about the hedge fund loophole. This is a tax loophole that allows Hedge Fund Managers to be taxed at a lower rate than almost everyone else in america. Warren buffett, who i think we all respect, has joked about paying a lower tax rate than the secretary does and that is because of the loophole. For more than one decade, there has been an attempt in washington to close the loophole. If we did, it could generate revenue for things like improving infrastructure,. Chools, whatever unfortunately, because of the power of the hedge fund over this town, we have been incapable of closing the loophole. And when Warren Buffett was asked about the, he said we cannot get it done because of the money in politics. Because it is becoming what he called a plutocracy as a result of Citizens United. When you cannot get something simple done like that that may Many Americans agree with, and because of the way the town is rigged, and i think that shows you how difficult it would be to make change unless we first address this problem. Host in new york city, barbara. Caller good morning. The Supreme Court has said that money is speech. Instead of trying to regulate how much money people can give, how about an idea of regulating or same that donors can only get to people to would represent them . In other words, you could only get to the senators who your state or whoever is running for that position, and as far as the president ial, everybody could get to the president ial because the president represents everybody . As far as corporations and unions, they would only be able to give the location where their headquarters are staffed. What Something Like that help or is that possible . Guest that is an interesting idea and personally, as a citizen in america, i love the idea that we are strict giving to congressional districts, so i can only donate money to my congressman. I like that idea, but given where the Supreme Court currently is, that would be hard to pass. I also went to go back to the notion that Citizens United was somehow the death of democracy reform. It was a bad decision, a misguided decision in many ways. There is a part that i agree with as former publisher and journalist, but there are parts that i do not. It is not by any means as this massive roadblock that stands in the way of cleaning up and addressing the problems. As i said, there is legislation to address aspects of this problem and the Supreme Court would have no problem if we, the people, exerted political will over politicians and got that legislation passed and it would take care 75 of legislation overnight. We have to realize that the only Thing Holding back progress in this issue is not lack of policy idea but lack of the peoples power. Lack of us exerting our willpower. Host you notice there are partisans there are part of Citizens United that you like. Which ones are those . Guest before, it should have been a question of freedom of the press. It was an organization that wanted to run something called hillary the movie. And 90 minute documentary on Hillary Clinton. According to this law passed in 2012, outside groups had to cease and desist within 60 days of aprimary or 90 days general election. Citizens united is a nonprofit and in the context of what was going on with Hillary Clinton and barack obama in 2008, the federal Election Commission said no because they are an outside group and this is an ad and not the documentary film. Ind, that was a massive breach of freedom of the press. To airld be allowed that. One of the things that the justice has said in Citizens United was you do not want the court or the judge deciding what is journalism and propaganda it basically shut down freedom of press. From the freedom of press perspective, the hillary movie should have been aired and that was a great part of the decision but they overreached and they said that as a result, any corporation, union, entity would be allowed to spend whatever they want in the election and that has created super pacs. That created the notion of all and ititical giving created super pacs, so they overreached and kept it to freedom of the press and that wouldve been the decision. Host from texas on the democratic line. Caller i think you just answered what i wanted to ask, but what do you into this . What turned on in your mind . Was it the movie thing or what . Guest i moved to washington right after 9 11 and work as a reporter, editor and magazine publisher for 13 years before i got involved in the cause. The ring that drew me to the cause was i saw a really Brilliant Ideas about how this affects our countrys problems and not because they were not constitutional or well thought through or well thought through our research, but simply because a small group of special interest did not want it to happen. What i saw basically was the paralysis of our democracy. We are supposed to have the consent of the government in this country. The whole promise of america is are we hundred million better than a couple. And when we come up with ideas to fix our problems and our problems are so intense, when we come up with ideas to fix them and we cannot turn them into law, that is the breakdown. I saw it over and over as a journalist, so i had this moment, which i realized i had to go to the throat and attack the dysfunction that was standing in the way of us making progress on other issues. Host how big is the organization . Guest 15 staffed and growing and we have a Reformers Group which is a play on words, reformers, so warmer members of the congress, house and government. We have 140 of these men and women who are democrat and republican and they help basically do it jolly was doing and blow the whistle. Say, the game is over, this is a crisis point in our democracy and we have to come together. Host this is a really big issue, are there any victories you are looking at shortterm that you would be happy with . Gett i would like to see into the fac. I think that could happen in the short term. Right now, they have a commission with a 60 million year budget and most of that well be incinerated a couple blocks from here on an annual basis because they are so dysfunctional. A lot of the stuff we are seeing with super pacs this year would not be occurring if there was a functional federal Election Commission because super pacs and not supposed to be, a, coordinating directly with b, they are not supposed they have got to be theyosing the money and are doing either one right now. It is a problem, it could take care of it if we had a functional fac. Host lets hear from dave, republican. Caller thank you for cspan. Basically the biggest problem is the house and senate. I do not care who the president has been coming cannot get past the senate and house. I think trump could probably be the only one who could do that because he would be the only one they would ask me, the person who voted are him, to help him get things passed the house and senate. He would call out any republican or democrat in the house and senate that this not go along with the plan and asked me to stand on his lawn, stand in the barbershop, go to the lobbyists and get him to change his mind because he is hurting america. That is my comments. Trump isain, donald just so unpredictable to be able to figure out which way that pinball would go, but if we could get to the point where donald trump would come out and talk about Real Solutions to this problem, i think that could be a major leap forward. In his president ial campaign and in the president ial campaign in general because we need a real debate between candidates right now about exactly what they would do to fix the problem. So many have escaped by talking using Citizens United as a code word for the problem, but not really not Real Solutions, and that is what we have got to force them into at this point. Anyone watching the program, please, ask politicians to get specific about what they would do to fix the problem. Host susan in florida. Independent caller. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Unitedthat citizens needs to be overturned. I also feel that professional lobbying needs to be there and nationwide. We also do not need the Electoral College anymore. We have good communication. Hopefully, everyone is literate. I think we need to get uptodate on that. As far as congress, i feel they should be [indiscernible] for as many people like that to work on main street and get into the real world. If they do not achieve anything, you should get nothing. Thank you for your time. Guest i think we are all feeling my congress is not accomplishing enough on our behalf these days. I definitely agree with that sentiment. When it comes to overturning Citizens United, i will say that Citizens United was in over reach, it was fundamentally a bad decision, but we do not need to wait for the constitution to overturn Citizens United to start fixing aspects of the problem. If you want to overturn citizens push forou can either constitutional amendment, which is a long process and a question about whether or not to get it over the finish line, or you can send challenges to new Supreme Courts or justices to try to knock down that aspect that needs to be addressed. Is tore practical route send out challenges to the Supreme Court the question whether or not they really got it right in some of the decisions. Host there is a sweet from jd redding, do you believe the new model of the Clinton Foundation donors presents problems . Guest i think it presents a lot of questions. Whenever you have got a couple figures like bill and Hillary Clinton, who have hundreds of millions of dollars around them from all kinds of entities around the world, you have got to wonder to what extent there is a spillover effect and other aspects of their lives and issues as the book servants. Yes, i think it brings up questions, but i dont think they have been definitively answered get. Host lets go to charles in illinois. Welcome to the program. Caller thank you. I applaud your efforts on the serious issue. You said there is no magic Silver Bullet and it would require many changes. I wonder if you feel one of those changes is for the government to pay for the Campaign Expenses instead of having donations . Systems callede Public Financing systems, in aich a politician would get block grant of money to run the campaign if they qualify. Those are interesting, but ultimately, i think we have got to look at creating systems that incentivize small donors to give money for politics that is funded by all of us. One is pay the pipe, call the tune. Right now in america, if youre working for individual donors, pay the piper, they have a better chance of calling the tune than the rest of us. We have got to get to point where we all pay the piper and fore the loyalty of politicians rests on us, which is what founders intended. Number one. Number two, the reason i want small donor systems is because every study that has been done shows that once someone contributes any money to politics, whether one dollar or 1000, they are much more engaged as a result. They keep track of what they are up to, they talk about the politician to neighbors, they write letters to the editor, they call or harass the politician when they are not doing the right thing, so it ends up increasing or enhancing the civic engagement. When we talk about financing politics, i want to see all of finance politics, not just the millionaires and billionaires. Host one last call from florida, from georgia, democratic caller. Hi, joe. I was scrolling through the television and hit on 60 minutes. Whereis a program on congressman have to spend at least 30 hours a week across the street in this noname building hitting up big donors. Senators and congressmen i mean, it is too good to be a be a lie to the a lie. I will leave it at that. Host we talked about this earlier in the segment. What yes, regardless of you think about money and politics, this is a fundamental question for americans. Ourhat the way we want Public Servants, who we paid to tax dollars, they are essentially our employees, is that what we went our employees doing with half their time . Sitting in cubicles and closets asking for dollars from all the people they will never meet . I think the clear answer to that is no, but there is legislation that has been proposed that the expect that could incentivize small donors and get these guys up the treadmill and we need to start pushing at this point. That is the Current System as it is. It is not only killing current people in office but destroying them and distracting them away from doing the work of the public good and it is propelling really good people are getting into office and becoming Public Servants. I think if there is anything that is clear, all of us americans today need better political servants in office right now. Host where can people find out more information . Sueone. Org. Of thatck penniman organization. Thank you for coming on. There is about 35 minutes40 minutes left. We thought we would return to the beginning of the program and ask your view on the beltway culture. We were talking about the white house respondents Association Dinner and whether you think it might be a little bit too chummy in there between the journalist and the folks they cover . Here at the numbers, 202 7488000 the democrats. 202 7488001 for republicans. Outside of the u. S. , 202 7488003. Ndependents, 202 7488002 we will give you time to think about it and then come back to take your calls. In the meantime, work from last nights in there as president obama talks about Hillary Clinton. [video clip] president obama feel the bern. Feel the bern. Hillarys slogan has not had the same effect. [laughter] president obama i have said how much i admire Hillary Clintons toughness, her policy shots, current experience paid you have got to admit, hillary trying to appeal to young voters is like a relative who just signed up for facebook. [laughter] dear america, did you get my poke . Is it appearing on your wall . I am not sure i am using this right. [laughter] not entirely persuasive. Washington journal continues. Host what do you make of the socalled beltway culture . You wanted to get your reaction to last nights White House Correspondents dinner, the ones in the past and events like that and whether you feel like they fun . Pisodes of a break from the daily work in washington or Something Else that is too close to journalists and the people they cover . You will get to calls in the moment, but heres more from the dinner. The president going after john kasich and ted cruz. [video clip] president obama some candidates are not pulled high enough to qualify for their own jokes tonight. [laughter] the rules were wellestablished ahead of time. And then there is ted cruz. Ted had a tough week. He went to indiana. Oosier country stood on the Basketball Court and called the hoop a basketball ring. [laughter] what else is in his lexicon . Baseball sticks . Football hats . [laughter] sure, i am the foreign one. [laughter] [applause] let me conclude on a serious note. Think to thank want to washington and carol for all that you do. Free press is central to our i am just nah, kidding. You know i have got to talk about trump. Come on [laughter] [applause] heading in to the dinner, they write that the politics remains cloudy and he writes that as journalists often described the administration as one of the least press friendly of modern times with stonewalling, investigating and generally snubbing the news media. On saturday night, some of the most medias prominent members andying with the president he writes, anyone seen the contradiction here . He says they party on. The ethical overtone of the proceedings still do turkey. They banned some reporters from attending the dinner since 2007. In an interview, they said they opposed the ban when he was Washington Bureau chief because he felt it did not make the press and politicians because it made the press and politicians look a little bit too cozy for my taste. If there is ever an event that separates the press from the they are supposed to cover, it is that one. It is time to rethink it. See what joseph has to say. Our first call from virginia. Welcome. Republican. Caller good morning. The media is the buffer between the government and the public. Opinion, means, in my it favors democrat administrations and it is sad because there are not a whole lot of republicans that are in the media business. When you have got the gentleman he was number two man at cbs, his brother works in the obama white house. You have George Stephanopoulos heading that the abc in the morning and on the sunday talk shows and in his book, when he , there is amoir quote in there saying he is having a conversation with Hillary Clinton and they say to each other, after bill clinton wo the presidencyn, i love you. How on earth can these people be objective . I know all the listeners out there know what i am talking about. Most republicans are out starting businesses and working a private sector. Most prominent democrats are in the government and are in the media system. It makes it difficult. My last comment because i listened to the show before and i will make this quick, if everybody gets public funding, like the last judgment was saying on the show, good tell here is he goes, well, everyone will get public funding and the same amount of money so that no people are giving money to campaigns and the first thing he said was, first, you have to be qualified. Is can it i am saying run for president now and get private funding from the government . My point is they will make darned sure to keep people out who want to run for president that they do not want to run for president. Host thank you, joseph. But you from edward in jersey city. Independent caller. What do you think . Caller good morning. That segment with the guy from issue one, that was a good segment. Yesterday, there was a segment on from the guy from [indiscernible] money in government is so disgusting. I am from new jersey and i will be treating him and asking him what is he going to do about us in new jersey and for the people of america . It is so disgusting the big money and the beltway culture. As far as washington correspondents, the main comedian, the host, he was very good. He was so good. Earlier around 7 00 or 7 30 when he first opened it up on culture, somebody mentioned how it was like dead silence in the room when he was giving some of his jokes. There really was because he really was hitting them to the gut. The guy was saying yesterday that the republicans are bought and sold by big court and almost 80 of them and how Bernie Sanders is really hated the most by the establishment and im thisy feeling the bern season, and it is a shame, all of this, but that is my final comment. Host thanks. The caller mentioning yesterday, the segment with the young turks representative. Of it, you can watch all of it or parts of it as we cut it up into various pieces at www. Cspan. Org. We will show highlights of the dinner, primarily the president s speech at 6 30 p. M. Eastern time this evening. Also, on cspan. Here is Larry Wilmore of Comedy Central talking about how the president , in his feet, has aged over the years. [video clip] Larry Wilmore you look terrible, mr. President . [laughter] you do. Your hair is so white that it tried to punch me at a trump rally. [laughter] the president s hair is so white, he says all lives matter. Fine, i get it. I get it. [laughter] no, you came in here looking like denzel. Now you go out looking like grady from samford and sons. [laughter] i know it is a dated reference, but you are dated, mr. President. All i am saying that in less than eight years, mr. President , you have two stereotypes that you busted. Black does crack, and apparently, once you go black, we are going back. Thank you, ben carson. [laughter] got to be careful picking on you, mr. President. The couple years ago during this in the, youre killing osama bin laden. Remember that . Who are you killing tonight . Host back to phones. John, independent caller. What would you like to say about the beltway culture . Caller thanks for taking my call. Actually, i really do not like it. It just feels wrong. Student andnalism graduated with a journalism degree and i kind of remember what i was taught in college about the role of the press. President kennedys speech in 1961 and it hits me even today. It was called the president and the press, that is what the speech was called, and it was given to the american Newspapers Association in 1961, and he talked about the Critical Role that the press plays in our history and future. Part of theonly press mentioned in the constitution. It plays a role of informing the people, and keeping the government honest. As a this entire dinner big, giant ball of friends for the media and the politicians are so friendly, so close. It is impossible for them to be objective and did their job. They will say, all the media folks say, absolutely, we know our roles. We can do both. We can be press, go to the dinner and have fun. I dont think the American People believe that and that is one of the biggest problems we have in our country today. We have entertainment and advocacy journalism, and i really think it is dangerous or our country. Host thanks for calling. In real clear politics, they write that if your Vantage Point is growing with the parties in garish social events held in conjunction with the dinner, the criticism does have some validity and he says on the other hand, the dinner is an occasion that aids and generates scholarship money for deserving journalism students, reminds reporters, and editors that politicians are human beings and reminds white house gatekeepers of their own First Amendment publications and it gets them at the republicans talking together in the same room, which is increasingly rare in the Nations Capital but utterly necessary for democracy to function. If you have an historical b ent, this dinner is also a benchmark of sorts, denoting the countrys progress on the long march towards inclusiveness. And historical accuracy requires me to note that the White House Press caps off and had to be dragged, kicking and screaming. That is from real clear politics. Ext caller, democratic caller quick, i was in washington, d. C. , two weeks ago as part of the democracy spring event and i was one of 1300 people that did civil disobedience on the Capitol Steps and brought attention to that issue. Group. Part of that had tohearing what he say. It brings me or segues into this event from last night. It seems everything is for sale. , i wrote the d. C. Metro at the Capitol South station, which had an ongoing is a publiclyat traded weapons manufacturer, but i hope they are paying for that space, but i still do not like it. Last night, they were celebrities hawking tv shows and movies and i thought i was watching some hollywood show and not a white horse Correspondents Dinner, but i do not like that everything is [indiscernible] i think everything needs to get ne democracya where peoples votes and opinions count. Thank you particular call and cspan is great. Host thank you. Carol is from pennsylvania. Caller yes. Host what part of the state is that in . Caller central pennsylvania. Host republican color, go ahead. Republican caller, go ahead, don. Caller yes, i have been watching the segments on the washington White House Correspondents and what i am getting out of the, and i am an average guy, but what i am getting out is it was a Campaign Rally. That is my comment. That is what it looks like to me. Jeremy from fayetteville, north carolina. Independent caller. Caller good morning. Can you hear me . Host yes, go right ahead. Me, the whole culture is just one big freak show. [laughter] is a part of roman and greek culture. It carries on into america. It is that the booklets and glamour and it is something glamour, it is disgusting. Journalism is not even investigated anymore. They looked to be some type of reality persona. That theant to add on denigration is mostly the slaves or children that came over here. That is what the underlying is when they talk about that. America really does not like the negroes and the mexicans. They want to get them added. They have an issue with them, even though they bring life to this country. It is just a sad part of it. Investigative journalism does america deep into how really is. They put on the type of storyline for people to run with victims down the mass population because they do not thateir history lessons they get from the media and the media is getting great charge of the. Thats all i have to say. Host thanks for calling. Donald trumps son was at the dinner and the headline says trumps son will get the last laugh, so they talk about him going into the dinner and asking whether the president would take shots at his father and he did talk about donald trump during the dinner. He said he will take some shots back next year. ,e said in the reception area and that is from the hill. Heres more from the president last night talking about Vice President biden. [video clip] president obama since last year, i do have more appreciation for those who have been with me on this ride, like one of our finest Public Servants joe biden. [applause] god. I love that guy. Bless him. I love the country i look joe biden. I really do, and i want to thank him for his friendship, his counsel, for always giving it to me straight, not shooting anybody in the face. [laughter] thank you, joe. Lets be remiss give it up to our host Larry Wilmore. [applause] as one of the two not jonys who is stewart to review at the South African that, right . I love larry. And as parents are here. They are from a great town. [applause] i also would like to knowledge some of the awardwinning reporters that we have with this tonight. ,achel mcadams, mark ruffalo you foriber, thank everything you have done. [laughter] i am just joking. As you know, spotlight is a movie about Investigative Journalism and the resources and the economy to chase down the truth and hold the powerful accountable. Best fantasy film since star wars. [laughter] , i was maybe a cheap shot that was maybe a cheap shot. I understand the News Business is tough these days. It keeps changing every time. Every year at this dinner, someone makes a joke about the speed changing the media landscape and every year, the Washington Post [indiscernible] host from this tweet from james, both to a culture beltway culture . I thought the word culture meant something good. Lets you from mary, democrat. How are you . Did you watch last night . Caller yes, i did. Host what did you think . Caller it was interesting, but the one thing that did bother me , some off his jokes them are kind of shocking. If he was out on the street or on regular tv saying that, i think the press would have really hounded him. It was kind of shocking some of the jokes. Host what do you make of the mixing of the press with the folks that they cover . Is that a problem for you . Caller somewhat, yes. Is a problemt that because they become friends and sometimes they cannot become sometimes they are biased and not unbiased. Host thanks for calling. Him from littleton, colorado. Independent caller. Good morning, tim. Caller thanks for taking the call. I looked at the night and i see absolutely no problem with this kind of an event. For americansoof is tomorrow, watch the White House Press briefing and how the press comes right back and the tax on all the issues they should, and he will know that everybody is back in their role in performing their task. In challenging the administration and eventually then trying to defend the administration. They have jobs to do. They make a living. They get paid to get this news out there. One night is not change it to read all the days is an opportunity for us to see the personal side to all of these people, so i see no harm in it at all. Host thanks for calling. Bernie sanders, the one president ial candidate at the dinner, he promised you would not wear a tux or suit. There is his promise. He does a Conference Today in washington at 2 30 p. M. And we will have it on cspan. A couple other campaign notes. Tomorrow, couple republican events to show you. Donald trump will be on cspan2 at 7 00 tomorrow evening. He will be in indiana the night before the big primary there. At 7 00 on cspan 2. , there will be a Campaign Rally in indianapolis. After indiana, several other states and all, they do with california later on. This headline in the flesh or in the mind. Trump dominates the race. They also have this in the and kasich cruz planted last stand against trump. Also, a New York Times story that says trump . , theymes are playing write, it is a bigtime for them to deny interest in the vice presidency, but this year with the possibility of donald trump as the nominee, a spokesman for john kasich, who is running against trump, they said, no chance. A, wrotequote hahahah sally bradshaw, a Senior Adviser to jeb bush, when asked if he would consider it. Including nikki haley, senator of south carolina, have been emphatic publicly or with their advisors or alleys that they do not want to be considered as mr. Trumps running mate. That is in the New York Times and they got to talk about the history of the campaign so far. You can read it at the New York Times great marvin is calling for minnesota. Is it dulce . Guest dulce, new mexico. Host sorry, had my lines makes the. Guest i wanted to call and talk about the gentleman you had on about Citizens United. Years, hundreds of politicians who lost, even though they spent the most money, the majority of americans cannot be bought and Citizens United was the correct decision. Host ok. Joy is on the line from california. Caller thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to say that the white house dinner for the press has become a tradition. It is a good night for everybody to have fun and received the kudos and thank yous are doing a great job. Please, let us not forget to have a sense of humor. Thank you very much. Host thank you. Update on the troubles of our campaign bus. Weeks in pennsylvania last , several days ago for the primary, making stops at votes in the college, washington and Jefferson College in harrisburg. The students and professors toward the bus to learn about i wrote to the white house coverage and pennsylvania primary. Our online interactive resources allow you to watch Campaign Speeches and events. All our live at www. Cspan. Org. Responses by following the cspan bus on twitter. It was outside philadelphia, where it visited the middle school to honor seventh and ninth graders for the winning videos in this years competition. To watch all of those videos, you can visit studentcam. Org. Tosay a special thanks comcast and armstrong cable for helping to set up the visits. To get more information on the efforts and the bus schedule, visit www. Cspan. Org and find immunity at the bottom of the home page. The bottommunity at of the home page to learn lots more there. We have under 10 minutes left. Ernest in tennessee. What did you make of the dinner last night in your view overall of the culture . Oflast night and your view the culture . Calling to say that people are not offended by what donald trump says on tv, and that is the only time that republicans and democrats get together. Thank you. Host harold in virginia. Caller yes, this is harold. [indiscernible] they have semiautomatics on the and they work for the fbi. Do one word unless the cia tells them what to say and they monitor everything. That is coming right out of the fbi and cia headquarters. Thank you for taking the call. Host thank you. Out of fort wayne, indiana, more on the campaign and the primary coming up on tuesday. They write that bill clinton was in town to stop for hillary, a shot of the former president there at the Mcmillan Park Community Building yesterday. They say that bill clinton [indiscernible] struggling with opioid addiction and a weak economy. If you have something to look forward to and get up every day, it is easier to look away from temptation, the former president said saturday. This is ahead of tuesdays primary, 1400 people attended the event and Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by 13 Percentage Points in the state of indiana ahead of tuesdays primary. We will be live in prime time this coming tuesday in the early evening after the polls close to bring results and show you some of the speeches and hear your calls on everything. Here is a little bit more from last nights correspondence dinner. This is Larry Wilmore of Comedy Central going after the republicans running for office. [video clip] wilmore donald trump said he will try to be more president ial. He is serious about it, too, but he says now and he jokes about his genitalia in the debate, he will only for to it as the president s. [laughter] lbj . Very good. I cannot understand white everybody treats donald trump [indiscernible] and i realize it is the only baby gloves that will fit his hands. [laughter] actually, frankly, donald trump, his campaign is inspiring. Massive violence. [laughter] whenever i turn on the tv, i see trumps family campaigning for him, gushing over him. Host brian is on the line from washington. What you make of all of this . Listening tooyed that speaker and i enjoyed the show until larry, the host, made the negative comment about cspan and then i realized that i had a feeling in my gut that some of the people he commented about, like barack obama, so i the whole some lines after that hit to the marrow. Host,gard to the last p i was hoping you could make an example of how money has enabled monsters like dennis hastert. That is something that was very obvious. There is way too much money in politics. A High School Wrestling Coach Community wealth like that to pay off hush money to victims. Host thanks for calling. Brian and other callers mentioning our last segment went Nick Penniman. We just talked about the influence of money in politics. Go to www. Cspan. Org. It is all there. If you type in his name, Nick Penniman, that segment will come up. Melissa from california, republican caller. Caller hello. Thank you for cspan. Host you that. Caller host you bet. Caller the money in politics is really corrupt. The whole Propaganda Machine with the media and the Democratic Party is pretty well known to people who pay attention. Is, how canto say Hillary Clinton run for president when she is getting foreign money from the United Arab Emirates . Legal . That be status and danger to our society and to the American Peoples safety. We are at war with radical islam whether people like it or not. Is i crazy, and everybody guess having a party on the titanic. Everybody is dressed up. It is very funny. Host from columbus, ohio, you are on the air. Caller yes, i just want to ask, where do you draw the line between people who have their own show and expressed their own political views and people like Anderson Cooper . I also want to ask the opinion on [indiscernible] people expressing their own political views and the average american does not understand the difference. Host we do not have a guest here. It is just time to talk about the dinner. While more piece from president obama last night. We heard very well more talk about how much he thinks the president has aged over eight years. Heres the president talking about the same topic. [video clip] president obama eight years ago, i was a young man and i was vigorous. Look at me now. [laughter] gray, grizzled, counting down the days until my death. [laughter] once questioned whether i would be ready for a 3 00 a. M. Phone call. Now, im awake anyway because i have to go to the bathroom. [laughter] i am up. In fact, somebody recently said to me, mr. President , you are so yesterday. Just so you know, you have been completely replaced. He is so handsome, charming, he is the future. Tin, just give it a rest. [laughter] i resented that. Meanwhile, michelle has not aged a day. [applause] the only way you can date her in photos is by looking at me. Take a look. Here we are in 2008. Here we are a few years later. And this one is from two weeks ago. [laughter] host one last call this sunday morning. The last word from kentucky on the republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning and thank you for cspan. I wish you would just cut out the funny and do part, which was fantastic, and he has a beautiful wife. I have to admit that. She is dropdead gorgeous. He makes a good comedian and maybe he ought to think about going into that. [laughter] i just want to congratulate everybody there. I was stuck hollywood would stay out and they would just show the newscasters i wish hollywood would stay out and they would just show the newscasters, which is their dinner and they are recognized for that, but i do enjoy cspan. I wish you get rid of the computer. I like the oldfashioned calls. [laughter] host thank you, mary, from kentucky and everybody who called this morning. We are on every day at 7 00 eastern time. Include, our guest will the executive director of the National Center for transgender equality. The topical be the transgender restaurant debate the topic will be the transgender restroom debate. Also, craig dunn of the Indiana Republican primary column and they have their primary on tuesday evening, so we will be on air with coverage tuesday evening of the results, so that program. Ows we thank you all for watching. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you back here tomorrow. [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] here on cspan this morning, newsmakers as next with congressman raul grijalva. Then House Speaker paul ryan speaks about the republican agenda to an audience of young adults gathered at georgetown university. Later on communicators, sam talks about the tv content ratings system. Susan newsmakers is pleased to welcome this week congressman raul grijalva, a democrat representing arizona three. He is the cochair of the progressive caucus in the house of representatives and a longtime member of the hispanic caucus and the senior democrat on the National Resources Natural Resources committee. Thanks a lot for being with us this week. Rep. Grijalva thank you. Appreciate the invite