we don t have a choice, stephanie, we have to get past it. that s what the caucus believes. that s why we were so unique. i wish we weren t so unique. we didn t need a problem solving caucus, it is congress. we have to be leaders. leaders come and lower the temperature of discourse, bridge a gap between differences and if anybody in a leadership position is not doing both of those, they re falling short of their responsibilities. we have to lead by example. treat each other with respect and civility, respect each other s opinions. that s how any functional relationship in our lives work. that s how congress needs to work. that s what the problem solvers caucus works. i don t want to have a dance party about this, knowing that mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy could be talking a good game about bipartisanship and
so you were a mentor when you were a new senator to ted lugger. great guy. ultimately lost his primary for that reason. because he talked to me. because people couldn t stand to see their member, you know, bridge a gap on a human level. yeah. i think that s sad. marco rubio said it well a couple months ago you can t run a country when half hates the other and find a way to bridge that for many that aren t like us. good. perfect. but no sign we are getting close to bridging the deep very deep political divide. nbc finding president trump with an historic low approval rating for a new president. 40%. out of people who voted for him in november, 90% approved. the white house says things are right on track.
talking it s not just that we re reading different news but we don t talk to each other anymore. i think it would be good civic engagement at some point will require a level of civility i think. there s a lot of problems with our . [ applause ] [ applause ] . . there s a lot of problems with our politics that begin at home. i think we blame politicians a lot for the failure of us of each of us to grasp each other well. so you re mentor when you were a senator, dick lugar. great guy. love that guy. ultimately lost his primary for that reason. because he talked to me. because people couldn t stand to see their member you know, bridge a gap on a human level. yeah. and you know, i think that s sad. i think there s both an empathy gap and a lot of people see politics especially in this