Princeton universitys eddie glaude discusses his book begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own. At 9 00 a. M. , columnist and honor author kristin tate discusses her recent column about what she discusses as an exodus from cities in blue states. This is washington for december 23. Today is the last day of work for the attorney general william barr who turned in his resignation earlier this month. Several opposites criticizing his tenure in the office, not recommending a special counsel for either hunter biden or the past election. Others praising his efforts, including post Mueller Report and actions concerning actions of roger stone. You can give your opinion in the next hour of the tenure of the outgoing attorney general and what you think his legacy will be. One line for republicans, one fordemocrats and one independents. At 2027488us 003. After theeds announcement of the resignation of william barr including his tenure from the Washington Post. If you go to its opinion pages, toe of the opeds reads recall some of his past, it was bar that held up the relief on Robert Mueller on the russian interference and misrepresented its content at a news conference. He gave misleading testimony to things, among other to barrsobjections summary. Barr stopping stepping into includingent bidding, lying to the fbi amongst other things. Jennifer rubin also adding to the list of the tenure saying the new attorney general and the Biden Administration should conduct a top to bottom view of actions establishing an egregious effort of his actions and to prevent another attorney general and his subordinates from besmirching. Barr gets no credit for adding a few more items to the serial hisrace of his eye the office. Another says when he concluded the evidence presented against time,did not at the the argument that barr made that he was very concerned about the , he arguedharging the evidence to go after an executive branch official had to be set extremely high. One could agree or disagree with his view of the power of the executive branch. For those who assume he was manufacturing a rationale to let trump off the hook were proven wrong. Many statements over the years including the most recent ones taking a look in the last press conference he would give before leaving the position. He will remember it was during that press conference he was asked about those issues of Election Fraud and potential investigation. [video clip] the president has continued to make the case there was fraud in the election. You have already made your statement on that. Do you believe there is enough evidence to warrant appointing a special counsel . Is this something he appears to be thinking about, perhaps Sidney Powell . Do you believe there is any reason to do that . Have you already given your opinion to the president of the white house . As you said, i have already commented on fraud. Areme just say that there fraud in most elections. We are too tolerant of it, and im sure there was fraud in this election, but i was commenting on the extent to which we looked at suggestions or allegations of systemic or broadbased fried that would affect the outcome of the election. I already spoke to that and i stand by that statement. The idea of appointing a special counsel, would you answer the question on whether you believe there is enough there, given what you have already said . Do you believe there is enough evidence to warrant a special counsel to investigate that . If i thought a special counsel was the right tool and was appropriate, i would name one, but i have not and i am not going to. Host again, that was most recent statements of william barr. We will show you others as attorney general and you can talk about what you think the legacy will be during his time in office. Republicans, one for democrats and independents. If you wish to text us this. Orning, you can do that feed. Wj is our twitter a couple of people posting on facebook. Erin, when it comes to the attorney general saying, in my opinion, i believe President Trump realizes he made a bad choice. He did nothing to investigate biden and ukraine. He allows several of President Trump associates to be deemed criminals with suspect evidence, adding the words, he was a failure. Peter on our Facebook Page also saying when it comes to the worst attorney general, the worst enabler of the president. The rule of law evaporated the most and for what . Again, the facebook, twitter and you can text us as well. Phones will be on the screen. Ken in illinois. Democrats line on talking of this legacy of william barr. Start us off, go ahead. Caller happy holidays to you and america. Good morning, cspan listeners. Point, steveme scully is brought back. This is the season of forgiveness. That with the two emails that came in, as far as sycophant andas a not concerned with the preservation of justice and doing well of the Justice Department at all. Host what do you base that on . Caller well, a number of things. For one thing, and i was going to begin to mention, that he has always been a proponent of the unitary executive. He was a proponent when he was previously the attorney general. Well, andot turn out this round did not turn out well. His legacy is going to not serve whatsoeverica well he was more in support of the administration that he served then the law. Than the law. Host ok, lets hear from danny. Caller good morning. As bill barr was more perform how he wanted to or how the president wanted him to, and now that he is walking out the door, he is acting like a real american. Toldst seems like he was what to do and he did what he did. Just like the color before said caller before said, he is going to live with that. Host what convinces you about . Caller just like the Mueller Report. He was brought in on that. Mr. Sessions was walked out the door. He was brought in, and these things keep piling up. Evidence ofou see corruption. Host ok, mike in North Carolina. Republican line. Caller good morning. Post slamming bill barr, that is rich. , number one, he works for the president of the United States. He is not an independent counsel. He does not set the agenda. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch of the government. Lets get all of that clear for everybody out there that is throwing around accusations of this, that in the other. If we want to compare it, which i dont like to do. He did this and that justifies this. I dont know if it was president obama who said it or if it was attorney general holder that said it, but they admitted that i am the other guys wing man. They go handinhand. It is a tough tightrope to walk. Host was there a quote who said that . Caller thank you so much. You have access to Research Resources there are grotesque. At your desk. Im not here to get into he did this, so this is ok. We are still arguing about russian collusion. There was not any. There simply was not any. Russia did whatever they did and maybe President Trump benefited hacked, but nothing was no votes were changed. If they got onto our Facebook Pages and on our internet and threw up false information or whatever, that is unfortunate because we live in a free society. It is just one of the downsides. Host what about some of the criticisms of the handling of the final Mueller Report by william barr when he made the statements in the press conference afterward. I think some of the criticism is pointing directly back to that. What do you think of that as his tenure or legacy . Caller i have not read the full Mueller Report. I was not interested in it because i considered mueller to be a partisan hack. His testimony in congress was just deplorable. He did not run number this, he did not remember that. He just was out of it. Barrsst looked comments on the report, again, i dont feel qualified to comment on it, but once again, lets keep in mind, any attorney general works for the United States but is hired and appointed and serves as all cabinet officials do at the pleasure of the president. Host ok, that is mike in cary, North Carolina. I will take you back in history. Back in april of last year, the release of the findings of the Mueller Report. The press conference that was held by the attorney general. Here are some of the statements he made in connection to that. [video clip] again, the special counsels report did not find any evidence that members of the trapped campaign or anyone associated conspired or coordinated with the russian government in these hacking operations. In other words, there was no evidence of the tribe Campaign Collusion with the russian governments hacking. The special counsels investigation also examined russian efforts to publish stolen emails and documents on the internet. Thatpecial counsel found disseminated some of the stolen documents to entities it controlled, d. C. Leaks, the gru transferred some of the stolen materials to wikileaks for publication. Wikileaks and then made a series of document dumps. The special counsel also investigated whether any member or affiliate of the Trap Campaign encouraged Truck Campaign encouraged or played a role in the dissemination efforts. Under applicable law, publication of these types of material would not be criminal unless the publisher also participated in the underlying hacking conspiracy. The special counsels report did not find that any Person Associated with the Truck Campaign illegally participated in the dissemination of the materials. Finally, the special counsel investigated a number of links or contacts between the Trump Campaign officials and individuals connected with the russian government during the 2016 president ial campaign. Contacts,ewing these the special counsel did not find any conspiracy to violate u. S. Law involving russian linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump Campaign. That is the bottom line. After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the russian government sponsored effort to illegally interfere with the 2016 president ial election, but did not find that campaign or other americans colluded in those efforts. Host several factchecks after those statements by william barr, including the Associated Press about the findings. One of the things they found saying, the report makes clear the investigation did not assess whether collusion occurred because it is not a legal term. The remark there were multiple contacts between the Trump Campaign and russia. The campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen. Again, that was some of that statement from april of last year. It is part of a look at the tenure of william barr. We are asking you to. Call in this morning from alexandria, virginia, democrats line. Go ahead. Caller thank you for accepting my call. I would like to say will bar might be changing his mind because President Trump is not going to be in his seat. No matter what he do, he is still going to leave a bad legacy behind. All the republicans is. To stayr lied and tried until the end, but it is not going to work. Host when you try tos when you say he tried to straighten it out at the end, what do you mean . Caller there was no fraud in he said there was no reason to investigate bidens son. He would have said something ump got mad at him because he didnt say anything about the investigation abide in. Of biden host spring, texas. Independent line. Caller i definitely agree with the last caller, barr trying to clean house a little bit on his way out. I like to remind the caller before that that don jr. Did send an email which stated that, if it is what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer. This email, that is collusion right there. That is him conspiring with the russians right there to get Hillary Clintons emails. I dont know how to make it any more clear. Host when you say clean house, you mean what . Caller clean up his house, his image, his record of being a trump toady and rubberstamping everything trump comes with. He couldnt go along with it. Like anyone who disagrees with trump, this garnered his wrath. We see that is the mark of a totalitarian. Either you walk the party line or you are the enemy. Host from brett in illinois. Go ahead. Independent line. You are next up. Caller hi. I just wanted to thank you and thank you for cspan. I wanted to call. I took note of a gentleman earlier saying bill barr works for President Trump. Just a reminder for everyone out there, the attorney general is appointed by the president , but works for the American People. The president of the United States is not his number one client and should never be, no matter if it is a democrat or republican. Far as the holder comment about the wingmen, i dont recall what context it was in, but it seems to be thrown around. Host when it comes to his legacy, what do you think . Caller i think he is going to be known as somebody who basically did more as the president s attorney then the attorney for the American People. Tolso wanted to point out everybody to please read the Republicanled Senate Intelligence Report on the 2016 russia and the election. It is clear it was not a hoax. The Trump Campaign had over 100 contacts with the russians. I cant be any more clear than that. Host we go back to the topic at hand. James, republican lined. Line. Caller i have been listening to the callers. Some of the things are somewhat worrisome. A couple of calls ago, the fellow said that the comments from Jared Kushner or one of the trump children, i love it, when someone apparently notified him he or she had on something to do with collusion. Host but to the topic of William Barrs legacy, what do you think . Caller i think his legacy is going to be fine. I think probably the legacy of eric holder is the one that will be in question. Host when you say William Barrs legacy will be fine, what do you mean . How do you clarify that . Story onhere is the whatever the history is, his treatment would have been different had germany won world war ii. I dont think this is going to sully trump surgery reputation whatsoever in the future. That is not to say certain people would write accounts of it and try to sully it because that is the way it is with historians as well as people teaching. Host and the attorney generals reputation . Caller beg your pardon . Host the attorney generals reputation, what do you think . Caller i think his reputation will be intact and he will come out as an honorable man. Let me touch something. This really is what prompted my call. Host let me stop you there only because this is what we are gauging from William Barrs concern. Louisiana, democrats line. Caller good to talk to you. We have not talked in four years. William barrs legacy is going to be stained. He sat back and let the president do all of this wrong. The Republican Party did the same thing. The reason why william barr is going to be stained is because the republicans did not step up. If they would step up, they know what is going to happen to them. Host when you say william barr and all of this wrong, what do you mean . Caller he is just sitting back and destroyed undercover records and stuff. He found these people guilty. These otherbefore things about the man having his resume. It is the same thing. He let crime get away. He has got the evidence. Man, these people are doing wrong. All of these people committed a crime. They get away with a pardon. It is not right. Now, we are turning our own people against one another. Jim ok, we will hear from in winchester, ohio. Republican line. Youer i just want to thank for the show you have. It gives everybody an opportunity to speak their mind. As far as william barr goes, in my mind, he is in washington and they have to be really careful what they do up there because they have a country to uphold. I think william barr played the game like he should have, just like any other attorney general did. I cant imagine how hard it must be to just work in washington. Host when you say he played the game, meaning what . Caller you cant go prosecute everybody. Of theind, most politicians are guilty of crimes, simple crimes, hard crimes, whatever. Just like bill clinton meeting on the tarmac, nothing happened. You cant go around it and prosecute everybody because i think it would tear our country down. Ands there to keep control do what he can just like everybody else. The country is too big. You cant tear it down. Everybody has their own opinions. Ands like the republicans the democrats got opposite opinions, but it is a big game up there and everybody is angry, but you cant tear the cou ntry down. Host here is the new yorker assessment and a piece they published saying that what may bar unusual were the disparate qualities he exhibited as attorney general. He was aggressive, confident and astute. At a time since legal nasa nations were devilishly clever legal machinations were devilishly clever. He was also not simply a trump acolyte. Decades he has a consistent legal philosophy, he adamantly opposes the Supreme Court activism of the 1960s and 1970s that legalized abortion, curtail the powers of the president and reduce the freedoms enjoyed by religiously observant americans. Eraas a committed reagan conservative fervently advocating a law and order approach to criminal justice including strong public support for the police, the use of overwhelming force to restore order and appointment of the death penalty. Post offering an oped adding that barrs letter to the president residing with highlights of his tenure including working closely with leaders in mexico to fight the drug cartel, cracking down on chinas exploitation of our economy and workers. In one speech that for the sake of shortterm profits, American Companies have succumbed to chinese influence even at the expense of freedom and apologies for that. I lost that portion. Expresses freedom and openness in the u. S. He adds his second ball call to service, i had a very nice life, he told the chicago tribune, but i saw what was going on with the use of the Justice Department as a political weapon and i was concerned about it. You can add your opinion to the mix at this time up until 8 00. Lane in west virginia, independent line. Caller william barr went in there just to limit the damage the for the fbi and the department of justice. We sat here for four years and watch the members of the department of justice, the Democratic Party, Mainstream Media and social media collude together to take down our president. William barr just ran in there to limit the damage to the fbi and the department of justice. Host is that an appropriate act, do you think . Caller no, it was not. He ran in there to cover up for the deep states so that people did not see how deep it was. It is massive. Everybody you all say picked for his cabinet, he did not have anybody left. He had to pick from the swamp. Everybody else ran out. Host rick in los angeles, democrats line. Caller i agree. The Democratic Party is the correct party. We can go back to president kennedy who hired his brother as attorney general and they both had to have their way with marilyn monroe. Host to william barr, what do you think of his legacy . Caller i think he is going out as an empty suit. He worked at the pleasure of the president. Eric holder was fast and furious. Lewis lerner. Eric holder did not hold anybodys feet to the fire. The democrats are a corrupt party and that is why i left. Host so did william barr do a good job or not . Caller no. He did not cover the president s back. He just went in there to limit the damage of the deep state. Very well spoken. Host why do you think it is the job of the attorney general to cover the president s back . Caller Robert Kennedy covered his brother back, didnt he . Nobody said anything about that. Host that is an example, but why do you think it is an appropriate role . Caller because it sets a precedent for the president. If he can hire his brother and there is no conflict of interest, then what are we talking about . We are talking about conflict of interest. That was a glaring conflict of interest and nobody said a word about it at the time. Host lets hear from james in massachusetts. Democrats line. Go ahead. He hung up. Alabama,to newmarket, independent line. Caller good morning. Echo off, i would like to a previous caller in that i also urge you to bring steve scully back. I think the guy has done his time. Barr at first as a political hack for President Trump, the way he handled the Mueller Report and other issues. I have to say, he has rehabilitated himself in my eyes my past couple of months, the way he has stood up for what i harmsare institutional and standing up to the president for his hackneyed actions particularly during this transition period. Host what examples would you give of that . Caller of him standing up to the president . Pushing back on the idea that he does not need a special counsel for looking at inidents of systemic fraud terms of overturning the election in one or more states and not seeing a need or does not have the authority to seize voting machines, to not have a special counsel for hunter biden. He seems to push back on Sidney Powell, in general, which i think is appropriate. He has also, if i go back before that and i just had a thought and am starting to lose it. There are several examples. Host you gave a good number. Larry in mississippi, republican line. Quotationjust read a out of cbs news that someone said that william barr is one of the best attorney generals he ever worked with. Guess who that was that made that quotation . Host i suppose you will tell us. Caller it was joe biden. Host and so what do you think that those of us far as the legacy portion of William Barrs tenure in the office . Caller just to let you know that the man knew what he was doing. Host how so . Caller he just did a good job. If joe biden said he did it, apparently, he knows what he is doing. Host to take you back in time a little bit when it comes to the tenure of william barr as attorney general, as part of his job, he does appear before committees in congress to offer oversight of the Justice Department and talk about various issues. In july, it was during a House Judiciary Committee he was asked about the use of teargas in lafayette square. Heres part of the exchange. [video clip] do you think it is ever appropriate to use teargas on Peaceful Protesters . It is appropriate to use teargas when it is indicated to disperse. On Peaceful Protesters . Sometimes, unfortunately, Peaceful Protesters i ask you to look at this video. [video clip] this is the video capturing the nations attention. Vy that video was of a na veteran being beaten and by officers. Do you think that was appropriate . There seems to be gas in the area, i dont know whether it was directed at him. Do you think what happened was appropriate . The Inspector General is reviewing that. Do you think he deserved to get pepper sprayed and beaten to the point of broken bones . As i say, the Inspector General is going to review the incident. Do you think americans who show up to peacefully protest should expected to be beaten and pepper sprayed and have their bones broken by federal officers . I dont think what was happening immediately around the courthouse with a peaceful protest. That is not my question. Reclaiming my time. My question is, do you think is the top lawenforcement official in this country, that americans who show up the peaceful protest should expect to be beaten, teargas . I dont think Peaceful Protesters should face that. The firstrotecting amendment at least as important as protecting a building from vandalism . I have not posed a question. We have fought for the freedom to speak freely and you are attempting to take that away and furthering the president s agenda. The Justice Department is theonsible for protecting rights of americans not to serve as the president s political director. Host again, many of these things we are shown you, you can find online at cspan. Org. We have been talking about William Barrs legacy as he leaves the office today. You can leave comments for our second hour as well. One line for republicans, one for independent, one for democrats. Andou wish, you can text us you can also post on our social media sites. Highlight other news concerning the president. Six people highlighted in pardons and clemency including George Papadopoulos pardoning. Several others receiving clemency. Those are the pictures of the six men involved. It was also yesterday the president called in an address 2000he white house for a stimulus check versus the 600 currently being part of the covid relief bill that was passed in the house and senate. Awaiting the signature by the president. Democrats saying as of thursday, they will take up. Tenure and legacy, the attorney general. Dayton, ohio. Hello. Caller good morning. Rat leaving aa sinking ship. Everybody ought to remember when we got a new president , and he hires an attorney general, that the same thing you are saying for barr should go for the new guy. Host what do you mean by that . Caller they said it is ok for president rk for the and to do his work. Picks a guy that did his job, it should be ok. Host you described him as a rat. How do you qualify that . Caller i think you covered of iran conflict and the russian. Host ok, we will hear from eric and glenn burnie, maryland. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller i just think that everybody has amnesia about what went on when trump was elected president. Senateld the house, the and Robert Mueller was the republican that took the job to investigate russian collusion. Fired started because he the attorney general, i mean, the head of the fbi. Barr, seeing what was going on, came in and try to rectify or try to protect the president , which should not be his job. Host how so . False readingsng on what the Mueller Report actually said. Started,id, it was all republicans were in charge of everything. They keep calling out some kind of democratic witchhunt and all of that. It was not a witchhunt. It was the republicans doing what they were supposed to do. Host eric in glenn burnie, maryland. This is a text saying barr is an honorable man who follows the constitution and law vilified by the president. Minnesota. N in margaret and illinois saying william barr is a good man and did an excellent job. Claiming itsylvania was attorney general barr that look the other way in the iran contract under reagan and look the other way when the biden crime syndicate. Must keep getting pictures of his children and grandchildren in the mail on his desk. Waiting for electoral outcome. Another saying he was able to temper some of the president s more outlandish ideas. It may have been a lot worse without barr around. Ityou wish to communicate, is off of twitter this morning we are learning the health and Human Services Department Says the Trump Administration will purchase an additional 100 million doses of the covid19 vaccine from pfizer. That is Kristin Holmes reporting. Bill inmichigan michigan. Independent line. Caller something i have goes back to the reaganbush era where he was attorney general for a while. Following him a little bit between then and now, to me, he has an authoritarian streak to him. He likes to try to give the president more power than what i think the president should have. I know a lot of other people think the same way. When he starts opening up several cases like Michael Flynn and goes in first down and things like that, i have a big heblem with that and the way redacted the Mueller Report and things like that. I think he is just authoritarian to the point that he is dangerous. Host from keith in pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller right. Simply put, i think his legacy is going to be irrelevant. He has no point of view, no passion. Does not really stand for anything when questions are pressed for him. Stuff like that i think is not going to matter. Host when you say he has no point of view, what do you base that on . Caller i forgot about that tap you tape you played about two minutes ago when they were asking him about the pepper spray and tear gas. He just seemed so scared about giving his point of view and answer. He wanted to please everybody, he wanted to please no one, he wanted to please the president. It didnt matter because he has no point of view. Host republican line, william in pennsylvania. Caller hello. Host you are on. Muel he was not protecting the president , he was protecting him from the deep state because the whole mueller thing was part of deep state and he knew that, so why was he going to condemn the president when he knew it was all part of deep state. Host how do you connect that to deep state specifically . Caller it was all part of the gig to get rid of the president and we all know about that. Not playinge was for the president. He was doing when he was supposed to do. That is what my opinion is. Host is that the job to do what you are supposed to do and not play for the president . Caller of course. He was not supposed to do what the media said either. That is what everybody things he should have been doing. That is all i have to say. He was doing what he was supposed to do. Host candace joins us from tennessee. Independent line. Caller hey. I wanted to start off by saying william barr has a great name as far as a literal name that his parents gave him at birth, but he seems to be like another person has mentioned, compromised possibly by getting pictures of his children or grandchildren in the mail. How you brainwash a person or group is shock, isolation and dr. Nation and promise of reward. This predatory brainwashing recipe also offers a solution, which is usually in the form of pharmaceuticals. Host how does all of that apply to william barr . Caller because he is in control of the justice system, supposedly, and they have lost all moral and ethical high ground making them irrelevant. They are participating in crimes against humanity. Host how so . Caller with this lockdown. Isolation is a part of how you brainwash people. Host but how is that part of the Justice Departments role . Caller they should be calling out these tactics. From a predatory system that they are a part of. Host that is candace in tennessee giving us her thoughts the morning. This is chris in birmingham, alabama texting us saying, general bars time gets a d plus. Biden with his pick of garland, yates or jones is going to have to restore the citizens confident back in the to the department into the department. It is the departure of justice, a lot of angry americans. From texas, this is russ saying job fortected his future ags follow the law and knew his stuff. Mike in orlando, florida also texting us saying just another person who at one time had a stellar reputation in d. C. Circles, but to scrape to disgraced himself. Again, texting us is available at 2027488003. Houston, texas. Caller another fine mess we are in. Ry time conservative is conservatives are in administration, we have this. You have to do back to the reagan administration. Reagan should have been impeached for iran, but barr failed to look at any of it. Host what about his tenure specifically under the Trump Administration . Was stuck in the middle between a rock and a hard place because he did something that seemed they would have tried to kick him out. Host when you say he was in a rock and a hard place, what do you mean . Caller a lot of things they wanted him to do. You say i really didnt see that, just like tear gas. Everybody saw the tear gas, the guy got sprayed in the face. I really didnt see that. Come on. I hope trump signs the stingless package and god bless america. Host michigan, democrats line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Good morning, america. It is funny how the guy that is under investigation, mr. Trump, gets to pick the guy that is going to determine his guilt or innocence. What is this . Some kind of Kangaroo Court we have going on . My god, i have never seen this in my whole life. Host but every president picks and attorney general. Caller i guess he picked the guy that is going to do the best good for him, not america. Host what do you base that on . I guess if you dont count all of the charges that he should have been brought up on, this guy should have been going to jail. Him and his cohorts. The whole lot of them. They sat and twiddle their thumbs while he met with putin for 2. 5 hours. As far as im concerned, they are all a bunch of treasonous dogs and should be shot. Host ryan in washington state. Independent line. Caller good. How in the world are all of these trump stirs calling trumpsters calling in and forgetting about the epstein scenario, the guy that barrs dad hired to teach young kids when he was not even qualified to be an instructor. We know the scenario of all of the corona use that went to his private island. Host lets go to mike in phoenix, arizona. Democrats line, good morning. President identified his legacy. Cohen was a lawyer for criminals. Is cohen too,r that is his legacy. Host how so . Caller the president was running a criminal enterprise. Cohen protected that. Host how so . You made those parallels, how so . Caller because all of the criminal activity of the president , the people around the president , barr sought to mitigate any enforcement of that. Host that is mike in phoenix. We will hear once more from the attorney general and take you back to last november. He delivered a speech at the federalist society. [video clip] in recent years, both the legislative and judicial branches have been responsible for encroaching on the president s constitutional authority. Let me first Say Something about the legislature. As i have said, the framers fully expected intense pulling and hauling between congress and the executive. The pasttely, just in few years, we have seen these conflicts take on an entirely new character. Immediately after President Trump won election, opponents inaugurated what they called the resistance. They rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch and his administration. Resistance is the language used to describe insurgency against rule imposed by an Occupying Military power. Connotes that the government is not legitimate. This is a very dangerous and indeed incendiary notion to import into the politics of a democratic republic. [applause] what it means is that instead of viewing themselves as the loyal opposition, as opposing parties have done in this country for over 200 years, they essentially see themselves as engaged in a war to cripple, by any means necessary, a duly elected government, a prime example of this is the senates unprecedented views of the advice and consent process. Exercises are free to that power to deem what it call what it deems unqualified nominees. That power was never intended to allow the senate to systematically oppose and draw out the approval process for every appointee so as to prevent the president from building a functional branch of government. Host again, all of these things we are showing you are available on our website. If you type in the attorney generals name, you will find everything we have taken in of things he has said, press conferences, appearances before congress and the like. That is available at the website. From nate in illinois, says the attorney general will be remembered as another yesman for the president that got his bad side when he would not blatantly break the law for him. Jeff in done woody georgia says william barr was brought in to shut down the Mueller Investigation that has enabled a reckless president to pardon war criminals and business associates. A dangerous precipice. Frommarilyn, we will hear maria. Good and thank you cspan. You are always wonderful to hear. Just quickly, i admit i have towns down listening to the news the past four years. I cannot say i followed everything with barr. I know people have worked with him and thought he was a very fair man, but the truth is, he is working next to a narcissist. I think everybody on both sides know that. Perhaps, like the other caller, it could have been a lot worse. I think the biggest damaging thing was black lives matter. I think he needed to set up more. That hurt a lot and still hurts. It is just a comment, but i appreciate your Radio Station very much. Host cspan radio is available locally here in the metro area. If you have serious xm, we are available there, too. You can also listen on our free radio app on your phone. All you have to do is download it from the store and listen along to not only this program, but other things we air on the network. From New Hampshire, this is gary. Independent line. Caller good morning. First of all, im happy william barr is leaving. He did not do his job he was supposed to do. Secondly, i am disgusted the news came down but the president is not going to sign the relief bill and Tell Congress gives an extra 2000 stimulus. Get the eight out to the people and then negotiate something higher. That i think he just made Statement Last line on video as far as his desire to see 2000. That bump up increase to 2000. Caller right, but it could threaten or delay getting the eight out to the American People that desperately, like myself, that desperately need the aid. Host so when it comes back to william barr, characterize or expand upon your initial thoughts of his tenure at the Justice Department. Caller he did not do a good job whatsoever. Host why so . Caller his attitude, i did not like the way he answered congresss questions. I did not like what happened at the protests when the president wanted that photo oppen front of the church, getting rid of those people like that. He did not do his job. Wait, wait host North Carolina. Republican line. Aller i think bill barr did great job until recently when he decided not to hold a special counsel for hunter biden. That will be taken care of, i hope. Everybody needs to remember when it comes to the russia story, the hillary clinton, it was about three months ago John Brennans email came out showing hillary clinton, it was her idea. She thought it up. Cnn and the media ran with it. That is a fact. That actually happens. Host let me take you back to the special counsel statements about hunter biden. Why do you think the attorney general should have acted . Soner when you have his under federal investigation, you have his brother under federal investigation and his sister, jill bidens sister is also under federal investigation. Nobody ever talks about that. That is why people call his family that crime syndicate. Host if that is the case, why do you think the attorney general held off even appointing a special counsel if all those things are true . He is because i believe pitstop at trump right now and wants to get a little bit of payback. Host payback for what . Caller payback for trump over time. He has a tendency of going out people and egging people on trying to get under peoples skin, which i personally love because im sick of politicians doing nothing, spewing a lot of mouth and never doing anything to actually help like this stimulus. It is 600. They just gave out 1200. I have five kids. This is going to do nothing to help me. Luckily for me, i own my house and i own everything i have. Jay in wakes forest, North Carolina. One of the offshoots insinuated on was the investigation being conducted by john durham into matters. Fox news saying john durham is making Good Progress with his investigation into the ordinance of the trumprussia probe. A source familiar with the investigation told fox news that durham is now frequently working out of washington, d. C. He and some members of his team had been doing their work in new haven, connecticut over the summer. You will remember it was william barr who appointed durham as special counsel in october, but only made publics decision to do so december 1. William barr said he wanted to provide his team finish their work. Again, fox news reporting on that. Lets go to janet in west hollywood, california. Caller how are you, thank you for letting me comment. I feel that william barr is a scholar and a very knowledgeable attorney and given the circumstances with the coup against President Trump, he did the best job he could. I feel his legacy is intact and im going to say it is obvious we have a divide in america, but 75 million did vote for trump. And if there is no fraud proven, did vote for biden. Our perception is divided. I think every american now questions the amount of corruption in our country. China,nfiltration from be it from oligarchs, corporations, foreign money, domestic money, Controlling Congress the Supreme Court and the executive branch. President trump was not a great speaker, but his intent and his deeds, the legacy will stand. I believe William Barrs lifelong legacy will stand. Host we will take one more call on this topic. Ron in michigan, independent line. Caller people have got to understand that lincoln made a great quote when i was reading one of his books. One was, given manpower and you can determine his character. Down. Hose a path to go he came to a fork in the road. He took the path that trump wanted him. He did not take the path to shy away from trump. My answer for the legacy of barr is that his lawyers, all of his friends will determine his legacy. The people will be writing an awful lot about him and whether he was rightwhether he was righg will be determined by books going forward. I disagree with trump. I dont agree with everything he has done, but the fact is that i can look at his character and determine whether or not he was an actual good leader for our country. Argue until you know what. Up this hourishing when it comes to comments about the legacy of the attorney general. We appreciate all of you calling in. We will continue with our authors week on our program this week. Joining us, kristin Princeton University professor eddie glaude with his book, begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own. Later on, we will hear from author kristin tate, about what she describes as quote, and said this from cities in blue states. She will tell us why, and what it means for politics. For our first segment, because this book deals a lot with the thinker, James Baldwin, we wanted to show you a part of a speech that James Baldwin gave back in 1979. It was at the campus of uc berkeley. [video clip] i want to point out a paradox. The only people in this country who have any notion of who they are, the only people in this country who have any notion of who they are, are the black people in this country. [applause] i will tell you why. Italians got here, or the greeks or whoever, there was a moment in his life when he had to start to speak english, when he became a guy named joe. That meant he couldnt speak to his father, because his father could not speak english. A profounda rupture, rupture. The sun became a guy named joe, and never found out anything else about himself. Whiche out of a history, was never written down. The connection between father and son, mother and daughter, until this hour and in spite of the danger in which we stand, and all that i know is happening all around us every day, we forged ourselves out of this fire. [applause] that, and we have with what we can deal now lies before us. I aint got no jobs to give nobody. I know i aint got no money. I know many things must be done. I know that i cant do them. But i also know, i dont have to do them alone. We have never been alone. Every white person in this country, i dont care what he says or she says. Knows one thing. Know what i want. But they know they would not like to be black here. [applause] host that was James Baldwin speaking at uc berkeley. Our guest joining us has a new book taking a look at baldwins writings and applies lessons for today. Eddie glaude from Princeton University. The book, begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own. Thank you so much for giving us your time. Guest it is my pleasure. Host can you talk first, about your relationship with James Baldwin and what drew you to him . Guest my relationship with James Baldwin is a complicated one. He informs how i think, philosophically, how i describe the american project, how he thinks about race and democracy. More importantly, he has given me a language, to manage my own interior life. In some ways, to deal with my own rage and anger, and to give me permission to love in spite of that anger and rage. I encountered him in graduate school. I started reading him in undergraduate in atlanta. It was in rajoy at school that i encountered him and i began teaching at my first job in bowdoin and fell in love with him ever since. Host can you elaborate . Guest i wasnt mature enough to read baldwin. Baldwin believes in the socratic victim. In order to say anything about the country, about the world, you have to engage your own engage the messiness of your own interior life. This is what i might what i meant by my own interior wounds and vulnerability. I wasnt mature enough to read him, and then in graduate school, i was reading in the privacy of my own study, in seminars at princeton, i would read him with my wife and suddenly i would have to encounter blushed faces, red guilt, this kind of ridden glance. He made people uncomfortable, because he spoke such unvarnished truth. I was uncomfortable having to manage that. I would at that time, i was taken with Ralph Ellison and the mask as their road, fit perfectly. He was more comfortable and philosophically distant and objective. I didnt have to deal with my own mess. I tended to gravitate toward ellison but baldwin was speaking to my spirit. Host the topic of your current book, begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own, give us the perception that mr. Baldwin had of america, and how you apply that to your writing. Guest the spine of begin again no name ins book, the street. It was the first book of essays he published after the assassination of Martin Luther king jr. Baldwin struggled with the fact that the country would in fact murder this apostle of love. What did it say about america, about white americans that king would be shut down in tennessee . 1969, baldwin collapsed. He tried to commit suicide. Street was this book and he was trying to describe it as americas betrayal. How do we deal with the fact that this country has turned its back on its principles, on the idea that black folk are equal and should be accorded standing and status in society like everyone else . Moment aftern this eight years of barack obama, and the country elected donald trump, someone whos political career was launched on birtherism, who appealed to white hatred and white resentment. I did not think someone i did not think the country would elect someone like him. I felt betrayed. I found myself saying what theyve done, looking saying look what theyve done. I felt betrayed. I knew baldwin felt that same way. I started mining what he called the ruins of his work. I started going through those 7000 pages of writing. There, i found the book begin ofin, and at the spine that book, no name in the street, where baldwin deals with his disillusionment. Host you say in part this will demand a new american story, different symbols and robust policies to repair what we have done. I dont yet know what this will look like and my understanding of our history suggests we will fail trying, but i do know that each element of support is moving toward beginning again. Could you take us further . Guest there are moments where the country found itself at these crossroads. Involve whether or not we are going to be otherwise. You think about the collapse of radical reconstruction, and that moment when we found the modern u. S. Nationstate with the passage of the civil war, the emergence of the and what do we get in response . We got jim crow in the south. Him anglosaxon is anglosaxonism to define the country broadly and our imperial ambitions abroad. We doubled down on our ugliness. We are in the mid 20th century with the black freedom struggle. We passed the civil rights the Voting Rights act. What did we get in response . The tax revolt in california, calls for law and order. We eventually elected ronald reagan. We doubled down on our ugliness in that moment. Here we are, at a crossroads. We are in the midst of a broad moral reckoning. The country is broken. The question is, will we choose to be otherwise, or will we double down on our ugliness . Will we seek comfort and security and an idea that this is a white mage a white nation in the mold of europe . History suggests we will not do very well, but we are not bound by it. We are only informed by it. Hopefully we will make a different choice. Host our guest is with us up until 9 00. If you want to ask questions about his work and the themes he is talking about, give us a call. For the eastern and central time zones. 202 7488001 for the mountain and pacific time zones. You can text us at 202 7488003. What was going on in the country that gave us barack obama for two terms . What happened with the election of President Trump . Several things happening at once. We were exhausted by the bush years. Remember, during the bush administration, this massive protest not only in the United States but across the globe with regards to the iraq war. Organizing with regards to a living wage. There was a kind of Massive Movement in the streets, and in some ways, barack obama became the object of that organizing. That is one element. Another element would be the demographic shifts in the country were making themselves known politically. The fact that the nation is way,ing in a very serious a majority minority nation. We are beginning to see that evidence in our policies in 2008. Over the course of eight years, barack obama comes in on this relevant activism and as a result of the demographic changes and the brilliance of the campaign. Over the course of eight years, those demographic shifts explode in interesting sorts of ways, and we see what social scientists called a backlash. I dont like that language. We see the galvanizing of white resentment over those eight years. The moment he is elected, we begin to see an uptick in white identity groups, white hate crimes. We see the of Publican Party in some ways playing with that fire. We also saw the tea party. We saw the gutting of the Voting Rights act and the like. Over the eight years of barack obama as presidency, Barack Obamas presidency, we saw an of the resentment, and it resulted in the election of donald trump in 2016. Host lets let you talk to some of the reviewers. Barbara in new york, you are on with eddie glaude of Princeton University and the author of begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own. Go ahead. Caller good morning, dr. Glaude. Would you make a note of my question . I think you stated one time that baldwins attacked was an act of patricide. Could it have been an act of revenge for unrequited emotional and physical love . I think Richard Wright wrote the backs the backs the best sex scene between a black man and a will black woman. In my opinion, the United States is on its way to becoming a totalitarian state with the lockdowns intended to destroy the middle class. Would you say a few words about the strain of pragmatism philosophy, the ends that justify the means . Host we will let our guests respond as he wishes. Our guest respond as he wishes. Guest thank you for your question. I dont know of evidence that it was unrequited love in terms of his relationship. Was in someright ways a father figure. Career would not have been launched without Richard Wright. There is a reason baldwin chose to live chose to leave the United States and moved to paris. There was a sense that he had to kill the father in some ways. Im not sure that is the only motivation, but that is what it feels like, in terms of his engagement with native son. Baldwin gives a different account, but his personality is such that it makes sense. In terms of the 16 in richard scene in of the sex Richard Wright, i dont know if that is the best but if that is your opinion, im willing to be convinced. We would have to talk about it. Pragmatism is more than just means justified by the ends. Pragmatism as a philosophical orientation orients us to the world in such a way that our actions matter, right . In determining outcomes. If we engage in intelligent action, we can actually choose or achieve the kinds of ends that we aim for. This in atalk about straightforward way, if we want to move from this understanding of the less ethical pragmatism as the same as something called practicalism, that is a different kind of orientation. We are not just talking about what is practical. We are talking about a sense in which human beings have the capacity to act in the world and transform the world circumstances. We can get into that some other time. Host constance is up next, from virginia. Caller good morning. Glaude. R. I read your book two months ago and what i remember most about where heis that part is weary of its incessant liaison history is wary of its incessant liaison with time, because time and history have never seen eye to eye. Time lapse at history time laughs at history because time and time again, time traps history in a lie. Madee that passage, and sure i remembered it so i could repeat it to you. Did you want to ask our guest a question . Caller no, i just wondered to say i want you and i love you. You are the most handsome man i have ever seen in the world. Have a happy holiday, everybody. Be safe. Host thank you very much. Guest i love that. Thank you so much. You got me smiling. Host because she used the word lie and part of her statement, you talked about in your book, the lie is the center of the american image or americas perception. Expand on that. Guest at the heart of americas self imagining is this idea that amended john with ribs description, this is the shining city on the hill, that america is an example of democracy achieved. That is the story we tell ourselves to keep us from looking at looking our failures in the face. White problemthe in 1964, and he says, and i am paraphrasing, the founders of the nation who said they were christian new that they confronted a problem, that they had these people they had enslaved. They had to say in effect that they were not human beings because if they were not human beings, then there would not be a problem. Baldwin says that lie is at the heart of our present trump. Innocenceo secure the of the way in which america has been organized, to secure this idea that white people ought to be valued more than others, that architecture,ral organizing so much of our lives in this country, and it has organized so much of our history, so much that wb dubois talked about it, Martin Luther king talked about it. The lie keeps us in this lie protectshe this illusion of innocence that we have in this country. That seems to be collapsing all around. Host from washington, d. C. , jeanette, good morning. You are on with our guest. Caller good morning gentlemen. I am excited and looking forward to reading your book. It is in my stack. I am really excited to get to talk to you. Baldwin feel like james was a real intellectual, and sometimes i feel like that word is overused, but he truly was. You said something earlier that he advocated kind of unexamined life, which i feel he did kind of an examined life, which i feel he did. Being able to hold up a mirror to the world around him and make sense of it, and help people learn what was going on in the world, and the things we didnt see. He was very honest about how white men feel threatened, and it kind of informs their behavior. What i am curious about is how does he gain that kind of insight, let only into himself when he was able to translate it so beautifully into his work and talks, but was he someone who did psychoanalysis . Do you just wake up one day and you are that brilliant . I am curious about that. I really respect your work, and thank you for bringing a light to him. A voraciousin was reader. It requires a stern discipline. You not only have to be willing to engage in that self interrogation, but you have to throw yourself into the bibliography. It is not just natural talent. Obviously he is brilliant. He was a mediocre high school student. These stories danced around in his head. There is also the fact that he is reading henry james, he is reading prost, dostoyevsky, everything you can imagine. He describes himself in that library in harlem. Listening listening, to the rhythm, the pitch of black english, inhabiting the eloquence and rhetorical brilliance of the king james bible. All of this kind of informs and shapes how he is thinking about himself as an artist. You combine that with baldwin is an advent and adamant watcher. He describes the world as he sees it, as it is coming to him. The sensory data that his eyes provide for him. I think when we think about baldwin, it is not just attribute in get to genius. That much is true, but he is also this amazing artist who worked hard at his craft. Inember, baldwin was born 1924 in harlem. He grows up in depression harlem. He is not in sugar hill. He is in the hood, as we would say. He willscircumstances, himself to becoming one of the most amazing writers the world has ever produced. That is a matter of discipline, stern discipline, a matter of attention to craft, as well as host i want to play a bit of James Baldwin, speaking at the National Press club in 1986. He is answering a question about a hot about how to improve race relations. I want to hear what he has to say and then compare and contrast your own views on the topic. [video clip] i want to establish white history week. [laughter] the answer to these questions is not in me but in the but in the history that produces these questions. It is late in the day to be talking about race relations. They deteriorate or improve . I am not a race, and neither are you. About the life and death of this country. When i talk about white history week. White people dont know who they are or where they come from. Thats why you think im a problem. I am not the problem. Your history is. As long as you pretend you know your history, youll continue to be a prisoner of it. You can liberate me, but you cant liberate yourselves. We are in this together. Finally, when white people talk about progress, all they are saying, all they could possibly mean is how quickly and thoroughly i become white. I dont want to become white. I want to grow up, and so should you. Thank you. Host mr. Glaude, what do you think . Guest such powerful words in this moment. There is so much there. The first thing we hear, is the radical inversion at the heart of baldwins corpus. The problem isnt us. The problem isnt blacks. It isnt the culture of poverty. The problem isnt laziness, or propensity to be criminals. The problem isnt ability to learn or intellectual capacity. The problem is this ideological construction of whiteness that requires the and word the nword. As baldwin says, ive never been the nword. Why do we need this word . Is first thing baldwin does he inverts this problematic. To talk about the history of white people, and i invoke the history of white people, what does it mean to think about this ideology of whiteness . How did it take root in this country . One could tell that story through in the through immigration law. We think about the first naturalization act in the United States, having everything to do with white men. What is this whiteness signifying . Waldman says quote unquote, whiteness. He makes a distinction in the evidence of distinction between those who happen to be white, and white people. White people is ideological and moral choice for baldwin. The last point is so important. Whiteness for baldwin signals or signifies a kind of immaturity, a refusal to encounter the ghastly failures in history that has been done in its name. Whiteness is this illusion of innocence, the space by which we think we are perpetually in a never never land, that we are simply lost boys and lost girls and what is distinct of about never never land is we dont have to be held accountable, we dont have to hold ourselves responsible for anything. Baldwin says in that moment, we have to grow up. I dont want to become white. I want to become mature. I want to be a mature human being. What does that mean . I want to face the difficulties of what it means to be a human being on his or her way to death, which means i have to embrace life with passion, or to paraphrase that moment. I think that formulation was brilliantly chosen because it speaks so much to our current moment, and it is true. It is true. Host lets go to jacksonville, florida. Rick, you are on with our guest. Caller good morning mr. Glaude. On msnbc a lot. Is for me being a 64yearold black man from south carolina, who came here because of opportunity. Like black folk are in an illusion of being an american, because we have died protecting this country from Crispus Attucks to whatever. When i heard you Say Something, you were disappointed, i got so much on my mind when it comes to blackness, black folks. We paid taxes to support racism and ideologies of weight is pure and black is negative. As blackion that we americansrying to be and never being respected for nothing that we do. Even you, with all of your scholars and accolades, you could come down to south carolina, and you might be called the nword. Us. Have no respect of it does not matter if we are a man in your position or a black fellow sleeping on the street. Host rick in jacksonville, florida. Thanks for the call. Professor, go ahead. Guest we heard a version of that sentiment from rick coming out of the mouth of doc rivers, coach of the philadelphia 76ers and the former coach of the l. A. Clippers, in response to george floyd, if you recall. Why do we continue to love america, if america does not love us . It seems to be a reasonable conclusion to draw, as we Witness Police wantonly killing black folk. As we tell the stories in our family, of people who have suffered insults for people who did not survive the violence of white mobs and the like. I dont want to deny the reasonableness of that is notion, but america the possession of white folks. Those who embrace white ideology dont own this place. My greatgrandmother is born and buried in mississippi, on the coast. Members who have put their blood, sweat and tears into the soil of this place. America is as much hours as it is anybodys. We have to claim possession of it. Not as it is, but as we hope it to be. As we aspire to be. I respond to brother ricks comments, because i dont want to deny the substance of his claim, but i dont want to suggest, and this is an insight i gained from ralph ellis, that america is an argument to be had, not a conclusion to draw. I want to have an argument about what this place is, and what it can be, and i come out of a tradition that brings something very unique and special to the table, when it comes to making that argument. America is not the possession of those who claim to be white. It is not the position of trump voters or trump or the Republican Party. It is ours. It is ours, not a black folk or white folk, and weaned us we need to stand on that with every ounce of energy we have. T you write that restless at a provincial election alone will not satisfy their hunger. A moral reckoning is upon us, and we have to decide once and for all whether or not we will truly be a multiracial democracy. What are the elements that that is happening . Guest im not sure. We found ourselves in a moment where we are in the streets and we saw folks embracing black lives matter and the like. The results are still in. We will see whether or not america, which has a tendency to do this, they tend to congratulate themselves to early before they finish the job. We are in that moment still. Im from the gulf coast, i use this analogy often. I lived through a couple hurricanes. You have the front end of the hurricane which is very violent, and then you have the eye, which is calm. We are in the eye of the storm, but we cant be comfortable because the tail is coming, and the tail is just as violent as the front end. We are at the precipice of possible change, but we will have to see whether or not america will confront the fact that we are broken as a society, and that brokenness evidences itself in different forms. The short answer is that we will see. Chair of guest is the africanamerican studies at Princeton University. Eddie glaude, also the author of the book, begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons for our own. Vanessa in oklahoma. You are on. Caller good morning. I am calling from tulsa, oklahoma. Of course that is the infamous place of the massacre from 1921. With thentimes struck inability for us to really grapple with the true relationship, the disrespectful nature that White Supremacy gives us. In that vein, the word reconciliation is stirred up all always say that its kind of like a cuss word ,ere, because of the community the black, white and native american community. There is not a relationship to understand who to reconcile with, but that relationship of violence. Any thoughts on that, professor glaude . Guest thank you so much for that question. At the end of begin again, i travel to montgomery, alabama. The purpose of that trip is to visit the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for peace and justice, what is known as the lynching memorial. What is so fascinating about what Brian Stevenson has done in montgomery, in the cradle of the confederacy, is that it is not a monument or museum to celebrate americamph or story of overcoming racism. That is not the narrative. In some ways what he is trying to do is get us to confront the violence that has defined this nation. The bloodsoaked soil is literally in the museum in jars. Those metal, those steel jars literally in the museum and are the memorial. Lynchings thatse took a quick that took place across the country, even in my hometown of jackson, mississippi. What stevenson is saying and what i say in the book is that truth and reconciliation are sequential. First you have to tell yourself the truth before you can reconcile. Ist americans want to do like people want to run past sanity and just get to easter sunday. They dont want to deal with what saturday represents. Part of what stevenson and i argue is that first weve got to tell the truth about the line. Why did tulsa happen . Why did wilmington, North Carolina happen . Tell the truth about the violence that is in the soil of the country. Precondition the for reconciliation which becomes the basis for repair. If you dont tell the truth, then there is still distrust, still bad faith. America has become so adept at lying to itself, even having a liar in chief. Weve had one for the last four years in my view. Host we have a viewer off of twitter who asks this question. This guest who seems rooted in history keeps mentioning the Republican Party but seems oblivious to the history of the Democratic Party sponsorship of the racial atrocities of the past. Guest it is not a story of just one party. Book, read my colleagues the first civil right, we talk about the parser will the state, the democrats are a part of that story. The frame of american politics is not just a republican story. It has everything to do with democrats and their capitulation to it. The two party system in the United States kind of soaked in the kind of racial reality of the country. Nobody has clean hands here. Let me just say this. I am an independent, politically. But we need to be honest about what the Republican Party today, stands for, and that is not to let the democrats off the hook. Lets not engage in both sideism, where you have this side and that side. There are particular people in this country right now who are trafficking in white grievance and resentment and fear for their own political gain, and we need to understand who they are. Host we will hear from paul in indiana. Caller this is been a great pleasure, listening to this. I would like to ask the doctor if he could recommend a good history of africa. Since i retired 12 years ago, i have been interested in history, and found i have gone fairly far back into my own history, as a descendent of bavarian present bavarian peasants who came to the United States after the failure of the 1848 rebellion. Bred inre abolitionists the bone of the five brothers that came over and died fighting for the union in the civil war. I wanted to find out more about the slave trade, and about the history of act of africa, back before 1600. It is almost impossible to find any history of africa that doesnt start with the west, other than the northcoast, part of the roman world, egypt and all of that. As far as the interior of africa, there is almost no history of africa. I was fortunate enough to have a nigerian friend who had some information and told me about the empires of the interior. Greattioned a few names, states that ruled the interior of africa until the slave trade. Host we will let our guest respond. Guest i dont want that is not my area of focus, but there are some wonderful works out there. Me, and i will get you a list of texts. I think about the modern relationship between africa and the u. S. , and i want to give you some specific scholars. I dont want to risk sounding ignorant by touting some titles. I want to speak directly to your interest, to the interior part of the continent. Let me think about that more. Host let me follow up with if someone who has never heard of James Baldwin or is not familiar with him, but would you recommend as a starting point . Guest i would say the same book i recommended to president elect joe biden. The library America Library of america collection of baldwin nonfiction. I think that volume is so important because you can start with the early work and it will take you all the way to his later essays. The only problem with that volume is it does not include the evidence of things not seen,s last writing about the atlanta child murders. You can read from his early days to the leader days and get a sense of the continuity of things and worthy accents change. I would recommend that book. It is this book right here. Host there you go. To president biden, you had a recent oped about what faces him coming into office and particularly the topic of race relations. What faces the president elect . Guest remember, baldwin wants us to reject that phrase, race relations. Fromber the video footage the National Press club. He wants to reject that phrase because it puts us within a certain kind of frame. He not only has to deal with this kind of racial reckoning where we finally uproot this idea that white people are to be valued more than others in this country, but i think he also has to deal with selfishness and greed. That the 74 ay 74 billion people who voted for donald trump are all racist. That is too easy. It is in part true in some ways, but it is too easy. There is a sentient there is a sense in which a large number of those folks arent racist in any explicit sense, but they are selfish. They are worried about their own 401k, their circumstances, their portfolios, their neighborhoods, so when you have a policy where people are self interested, only concerned about their aims and ends, it undermines any robust nation robust notion of the public good. The last element, he is going to have to deal with our dead. I urge president elect bidens team to use his inauguration as a ritual moment to recognize our dead. They will be close to 400,000 americans who have died of covid19 by the time of the inauguration. Weve had no public ritual of mourning. When president lakin when president lincoln gave his second inaugural, it wasnt of the most important speeches in the country and he gave it against the backdrop of the carnage of the civil war. The weight of those dead on his shoulders. President biden will have to begin his presidency with the weight of 400 housing dead on his shoulders 400,000 dead on his shoulders. It will have to be a ritual space, to acknowledge those dead and to mourn, as well as to give voice to an agenda that will speak to the selfishness and racial reckoning we are experiencing. Host one more question about the president elect. He promised the most diverse cabinet in history. Is he meeting that promise in your opinion . Guest he is doing fairly well right now, but i am less interested in representation in terms of faces. More interested in although symbolic representation is important. We need a cabinet that looks like america. I am also interested in policies that will reflect a fundamental shift in how we think of governance in this country. He is on a good road, particularly with holland and others, but i am more interested than different faces in high i am less interested in different faces in high places than i am in policies that will transform this country. Host our next caller in elk grove, california. Caller good morning mr. Glaude. Ive seen your face on tv. I didnt know you were as deep as you are, but i am very impressed and im thinking about getting your book. Baldwin, the stuff he was saying, i will look further into that also. Cspan, i heard people talking america because america doesnt love us. Im not going anywhere. This is my home. Im black, or what they call black in america. Im also native american. That doesnt want to get acknowledged about the mixed black people in america, because dont like that because they dont like that. They just want to say you are black, that is it. I know who i am. It is our struggle in this life, 400ing with these people, years of history of them always trying to set us back. It is not going to stop, but it is our job and our legacy to keep fighting this hate and ignorance. Thatin said on that piece the white people dont know where they came from. They came from us. Sapiense from the homo that left out of africa, and they know it. They might not like it, but it is the truth. Host thank you very much. Tost bernard, i want reinforce a claim i made earlier, that america is an argument to be had, and it is not settled. That is an echo of my pragmatism. It is not settled. America is not what it will always be. It is an argument to be had. We need to continue to make it. We come out of a tradition that makes it. One of the things i do in begin voice toedro is i give baldwins rage because i have it, myself. Being and youman see what we have seen and experienced what we have experienced, you cant help but be angry. Rage lights the kiln. Folks who were talking about leaving, talking about america not loving us, folks who were disappointed, i understand that. I experience those emotions myself. But america is an argument, and lets have it, its put forward a claim about what we could and should be, and fight like hell for it. Host fort washington, maryland. Hello. Caller yes. To say this to the professor. This problem of racism, particularly in america, i would professor to dig beyond theck American Experience here. To scripture. To the the car on koran. To the 12th sur can the koran, and you trace back all the ills that have happened in this country, because people lied on the creator of the heavens and earth. Host thank you. We will let our guests respond to that guest respond to that. Guest there are different ways to account for the hell we catch in this country. There are different ways to account for the contradictions of the union, of the people that that we of the people do of the evil that we do. We are as complicated as we are. Once, as baldwin said, disasters and miracles. We have to account for the asasters that we are, but fragile and fallen as we are, there is a chance for a miracle. I understand there are different ways to account for it. Host i asked you about the president elect. Lets talk about the Vice President elect. What do you think faces her as she takes on this new role . Guest first of all, i want to acknowledge the historic significance of her election. Thinking about all of those wash women in atlanta in the night in the late 19th century, thinking about Betty Lou Hamer and ellen baker, all of these women who struggled for a more just america. As the wind beneath her wings. She is not the culmination of their efforts, i want to be clear. She is a result of their struggle. I think she is going to face an interesting challenge. If the Biden Administration decides to tinker around. On a basices down centrist democratic agenda, she will face an interesting challenge from grassroots organizers, from folks outside of that administration. That thereunderstand are certain expectations that will be part of the demand. Im actually interested in how she will respond. We will see. Host one more question about this administration. Today is the attorney generals last day, as far as his position. In our first hour, we talked about his legacy. What do you think that is going to be . Guest i heard a lot of that conversation. I think history will not be kind to william barr. Donald trump is just the tip of the iceberg. We tend to fixate on him, but there have been a host of actors around him, near him, who have enabled the erosion of democratic norms. I believe this is the way to understand our current state. Im going back to the storm analogy. Butuse can survive a storm, it has to go through a stress test to see if it is livable. It can still be standing, but the damage done is such that it needs to be it is not inhabitable. What we have witnessed over the last four years, the erosion of institutions and bill barrs role with regards to the doj has been enormous. I dont think history will be kind to him. He has been a central actor along with Mitch Mcconnell and others in jeopardizing american democracy in my view. Host staten island, new york. Elizabeth. Caller hello. Absolutely, barr with this in legacytration, he has a back then. It is an honor to be speaking with you. You have been educating me for the last few years, watching you on television. I picked up the book, the invention of the white race, at the beginning of the pandemic. It was a little too deep for me, so i had to put it down but im going to be reading it again. I calling from the neighborhood where mr. Eric garner was killed. Impact thisirect last year on wanting to squash getting justice for the last six years that we have been fighting. Fortunately to some extent, new york city was able to take take somefrom of that after him and possibly make some of it right. I wanted to know what you think about how our country is going to look after this pandemic. Aoc a few months ago saying if we dont fight, especially in terms of the class warfare that has been happening over the last 40 years, we may see a very different city as well as a different america, following this pandemic. Host thank you, elizabeth. Guest a great question. I think we stand on a knife edge. There is no retreat back to normal. We cant go back to what it was before donald trump. Remember Alan Greenspan said the great threat to american democracy was wealth inequality. Barack Obama Barack Obama talked about the deep inequality between those who have and those who dont is a threat to american democracy. We know that this version of capitalism is bankrupt. It is clear. There is no return back to normalcy. Police were still killing us back then. Everyday ordinary people were still struggling to make ends meet. We can go on and on. People want us to go back to normal, and then king listed all the things that were normal back in the day. Part of what we have to do is fight vigorously for a new america. We need a third founding. Another,trade one for get rid of trump and assume biden is the answer. The Biden Administration is just a means to an end. What is the end . The end is a more just america. We have to fight with all of our hearts, our courage and our conviction for that new america. Moment, it, in this dont know if the country will survive it all. I dont want to be a kind of jeremiah or melodramatic, but i dont know if we can survive a bad choice again. But we will see. Host lets hear from william in North Carolina. Caller good morning, young man. How are you . Guest i am blessed. I said how are you, but anywhere. Host we are running out of time. Go ahead. Caller the new america is the new heaven, the new earth in which we will create. Has nod and the spirit color. Andreated everything anointed in these uncalled gods, and therefore there is so much confusion. The end is nine, and i am that one. Host lets coaching anthony in st. Paul, minnesota. Caller good morning, pedro and professor. I would like to mention like the previous colors that there is a great followup with information regarding preamerica colonization called stolen another one called for columbus. Another opportunity i took advantage of recently was one small step. It allowed me to look into that organization and opportunities that were presented. A previous caller also mentioned the Democratic Party and why you werent highlighting them. A lot of people are not aware that the democratic ku klux klan also fromre mostly the Democratic Party. A lot of people dont know that. If you could highlight possibly theern day highlightings of such artwork as a so and others was stolen in that form. Host ok, caller. Anthony. Professor, if i may interject, we saw the removal of the statue of robert e lee from the u. S. Capitol, to be replaced. What do you think of that moment, when it comes to the larger issue we saw with the removal of confederate statues . Guest it is just the beginning. The celebration of those who were traders, enemies of the u. S. Nationstate who were defending slavery, sacrificing their lives in defense of that evil institution. The fact that we continue to celebrate them in the iconography of the country suggests at least to me, how backward we actually backward is not the right word, how we failed to confront our history in this sense. This is a good beginning, but it is not sufficient. Let me say this quickly, baldwin made the argument that he wanted us to do something unprecedented. He wanted us to create a self without the need of enemy. That is the new we are aspiring for, that i want to risk every fiber of my being in defense of. That is what the aim is. A more just host there is much more in the book, begin again James Baldwins america and its urgent lessons by eddiewn written glaude. We thank you for your time and joining us. Have a great holiday. Host thank you. Coming up, we will hear from a column sheabout wrote looking at the exodus from blue cities. She would talk about what that means for our politics when washington journal continues. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Cspan was created by americas Television Cable companies in 1979, today brought to you by these companies who provide cspan as a public service. 61 million americans have some form of disability. We are in less than 3 of the film and tv shows. A majority of those roles are portrayed by a by nondisabled actors. As someone with a disability, we want to see ourselves represented. Not only are we seeing ourselves represented, but it is going to help destigmatize this disability. Representation gets society used to everybody. It makes the world a more inclusive place. Founded the film disability challenge in order to see people with disabilities represented in front of and behind the camera. On q a he will talk about this years winning films. On sunday ontern q a. Washington journal continues. Tate,this is kristin author and journalist. Welcome. Guest thank you for having me. Host your recent oped looks at the state of blue cities. What made you interested in this idea . Guest i have been interested in this for years. Thest recent book, liberal invasion of red state america came out. I have been observing that republicans have been fixed on illegal immigration. I see the actual change in this country happening because of domestic migration, not necessarily because of immigration. I wrote my book prior to this year about the shift from people moving from blue states to red states. Little did i know that the exploring would explode on an unprecedented level. What we have seen since covid emptying out of big cities. It so happens that the megacities happen to be located in blue states which have higher tax rates in the country. Of two typesto one of places, other cities in red states or to more sparsely Populated Areas within their home state. That could be moved from new york city to syracuse or a move from new york city to florida. These trends are huge. They will have consequences to these cities that are losing residents. Host in the wall street journal there is a story looking at this. It was from Bookings Institute which says that californias population declined for what seems to be the First Time Since 1900 as the state lost 7500 residents. 10 states are likely to even lose one congressional seat over this. It goes on from there. Is there a why to all of this . Guest it is a perfect storm of factors. You have covid. For the first time for many families, they are realizing they have a choice, they dont have to live in big cities especially as corporations allow people to work from home. Just as importantly, our quality of life issues. City,ces like new york you have some of the highest tax rates in the country. The cost of living is exorbitant. The average cost of rent is Something Like 3000 a month. For many families that is not possible. If you have children and need more bedrooms, that is more expensive. The crime is really up this year in new york city, it is up 50 from this time last year. Inot of this is happening one safe part of the city, the Public School system the city. The Public School system is a failure in many ways. You add all of these factors up and a lot of families think why should i stick around here when i could go to florida or texas or arizona and live a comfortable life where i can afford a house and my mortgage will be less than my rent here in the city . I dont have to worry about crime. My children can attend a nice school. Covid has allowed a lot of people to really start asking themselves these questions. Of course, when you removed income tax, that allows families to hold on to more of their money and provide for their families in ways they were not able to living in these expensive men expensive men cas. Mec tate joining us for this conversation. If you want to after questions, 2027488000us at for republicans, 2027488001 for democrats. You said that some of these places, red states supposedly, why are people going to those locations . What is the appeal . And they stillst have a hip city vibe people like. I live in houston, texas. It is a large city, you can enjoy wonderful restaurants, worldclass museums, a metropolitan population. But you can a large house in the city limits which is not possible in this big cities located in blue states. Meanwhile, you dont have to pay income tax. A big part of it is looking for affordability but also being able to enjoy the metropolitan lifestyle. There is a significant population of people also moving to less more sparsely Populated Areas in blue states as well and red states, too. Places like burlington, vermont or syracuse, new york, places where they would not have been able to do their jobs. Because of covid allowing them to work from home, but who want that more rural lifestyle, many are able to do that. It is a combination of being able to hold onto money and also being able to perform your job in these places that previously youre not able to do so. Host because we live in the age of covid, telecommuting is part of peoples experience. How does that change what is going on in these states. These states . Guest it is heating up this trend not just the exodus from large cities but also large corporations. In new york city, Financial Institutions are downsizing their footprints in new york to save money. They are opening offices in other cities across the country. Citigroup, all of these places are staffing up in other parts of the country. Moving to the houston area, oracle is living saidornia, elon musk has he is moving to texas and taking his employees with him. As we see corporations making these moves and bringing jobs to other parts of the country, you are going to see people follow those corporations. It could create significant shifts in populations that will have an interesting political impact. Cities areexas absorbing some of the largest numbers of domestic migrants. Closing thecrats gap with republicans in large suburban areas. Thedemocrats did not get blue wave they wanted in 2020, but they are closing the gap. If this continues, we could see these traditionally red states like texas go to democrats. California used to be a very conservative state. Demographics are similar to what californias were in the 1990s before democrats began their winning streak in the state. If these corporations keep moving and bring workers and new people move in for the jobs to these traditionally conservative red states, we could see a very significant political realignment that could change the way Politicians Campaign for decades to come. Host our first call comes from california. In california, you are on with our guest. Go ahead. Caller i live in orange county, california. It is a red bastion in the blue state. San diego is also becoming very red. We are trying to get rid of governor newsom. It is coming out of these two counties. Increase diego had an in aliens and 40 of them have covid19 and gavin newsom what to give them vaccines over american citizens. And other places are going blue. Everybody got so angry and so many people got hurt that it may not be going red but it is definitely going purple, the state. Guest there is definitely going to be blowback against the leadership in these places that are losing residents. I often say it is frustrating to see the leaders of some of his blue states and cities on policies that created the exodus in the first place and cities the exodus in the first place. Part of the blasio, solution is to raise taxes on people who stay. We have heard them both threatened to do that. In california, voters in San Francisco past an overpaid executive tasks executive tax. A certainxecutives amount more than the median salary which sounds great but that is going to drive corporations out of the state at a faster rate. If that of trying to make cities more affordable and more pleasant and cracking down on crime, it often seems like the leaders in charge double down on the destructive policies and unfortunately this speeds up the exodus. It also causes folks who stay behind to rethink maybe this isnt working and it creates blowback against leaders in charge which is happening in some pockets of california. Host brian lives in virginia, independent line. Hi, how are you . Guest host go ahead. Caller i am an independent because i dont agree with everything both classes are doing. One when they both doing wrong . The best thing is to get in there, work with both of them and go from there. Put somebody in from the poor class that has done it, that understands some of those aspects. Brian, thank you. Guest i think we need more people in Public Office at all levels who have experienced what it is like to work for living and turn a dollar and are not necessarily beholden to one party or another. Why you are is seeing populism on both sides of the aisle. Embracingt the right rightwing populism with someone like donald trump and on the left you have another form of populism embracing Bernie Sanders and alexandria ocasiocortez. These d. C. Careerists who are out of touch with the working class dont know what it is like to work for a living because they have been in office for decades. I agree with the caller, i would love to see more people like him throw their hat in the ring and really represent the people they serve. Host gilbert in louisiana, democrat life. Democrat line. Caller what is going on with this coronavirus situation, it is unbelievable that we go through what we go through as for our leaders to put us through this. It is unbelievable. I dont understand why our leaders put us through that like that. Host thank you. Covid has been devastating on multiple levels. It has exposed the lack of leadership in many areas. I would argue on a health level and economic level that many of the decisions being made are harming people not just healthwise but economically. Look at l. A. , they have been t down with Outdoor Dining they have shut down Outdoor Dining which has been devastating. Evidence that Outdoor Dining has led to spread of covid19. Meanwhile in new york city, leaders shut down schools with evene notice to parents though schools lead to a low spread of covid19. They interviewed about 30,000 people working at Public Schools only two out of 30,000 dont quote me on the statistics but Something Like that. It puts parents in a tough position. They have a position where people are suffering healthwise, we are not getting them the help they need, especially with the stimulus bill which gives out 600 to people. On top of that, you have these lockdowns that are often not based on science or data that are really strangling business and killing the employees who work there who can no longer make a living. We have seen such a failure of leadership at every level of leadership every level of government and we need to stop start thinking smart. Host we have seen several leaders from cities and localities make the plea to capitol hill as far as aid to help them balance their budgets. What do you think of that request . I am against bailout on a state and city level with a few exceptions. Mostly because of cities that are requesting a lot money have been in financial trouble for years, long before covid. Last year, new york was facing a multibilliondollar whole hole in their budget because they did not collect as much revenue as they needed. Places like to see these get their financial house is in order instead of forcing taxpayers to subsidize years and years of financial irresponsibility. I dog said that, understand these are precedented unprecedented times. We need help to the businesses that have been harmed by this and the individual people who are out of work. I would like to see the money go to the people and businesses rather than these localities that have been in trouble for a long time. The last thing we want to do is encourage them in irresponsible spending habits that were happening for the pandemic. I think a lot of leaders are using the pandemic as an excuse to bailout years and years of poor decisions. Host we have if you are that asked about these trends. They ask how long before corporations adjust salaries to reflect the low cost of living . There no their location guest right now we are not seeing that happen. If you get a job at the headquarters and now allows you to work remotely, i have not heard any stories that you have moved to florida where costofliving is lower and that is why we will decrease your salary. That is why you see people flock to more affordable place is because the salary goes further their. I have not heard of that trend happening but i guess we will have to wait and see. Host we will hear from mike in North Carolina, republican line. Hope you will let me get my comments and questions in without cutting me off. I understand people moving out , l. A. , newcities york, they are all democratic run. For years they happen run into the ground. The people moving from these states, they voted for these democrats year after year. I lived in North Carolina and unfortunately we have a democratic governor. These people when they leave these states, they need to leave their democrat mentality in state they left and when they turnto a red dont try to it into a blue state because that hurts the people that actually live here. Guest in texas we have a saying which is dont california my texas. A large part of my book looks at that trend exactly which is people moving from blue states to red states because of the cost of living in the quality of life and continuing to vote in favor of the policies that cause the problems in states they fled. When people make these moves, theyre not thinking about politics. Theyre thinking my rent will be lower, the crime rate is lower, i got a new job in this city. Time toeople all the live in texas for North Carolina or florida you have got to reach out to your new neighbors and explain to them why your home state has flourished, why jobs why you to have jobs and still live pleasant lives. You need to reach out and explain these things because i fear if we dont and if these new domestic migrants do continue to vote in favor of the states they fled, these red states could go permanently blue. I am from New Hampshire and it used to be a purple state. As bostonians moved to New Hampshire, the whole bottom half became blue and now the state as a whole i would argue is a democratic state. Our entire state legislature is democrat. We have a republican as governor but that is it. I hope a similar trend does not take over texas and florida and turn those states blue. If that happens, it is over for republicans on a National Level in terms of elections. I dont see how they would win the white house again. Host what is Young Americans for liberty. Liberty . Guest we are a Youth Organization that tries to educate youth about the constitution, liberty, freedom, and mobilize youth for races. We believe changes happen at the local and state level. We are forgetting libertyfriendly candidates selected for office. At the quote we are an Educational Group and teach them what they dont here in the classroom about the constitution. Host our guest is with that Organization Also the author of . Of the liberal invasion of red state america. Democrat ing on a on the democrats line. Caller your guest is referring to new york and people leaving their and that people can work at home and low class and middle class people cant work from home. Upperclass is thriving. I dont know if the lower classes or middle classes are moving to those red states. One other thing, talking about taxes and conservative and liberals. Taxes, nowes say cut we are in a crisis. How are we going to pay for the needs of the people without having adequate texas . Taxes . Uate liberals are talking about individual rights, etc. Conservatives have just one thing in mind, power and control. Countryd control in the historically is institutional white power. Guest you brought up several things. Thatpletely agree with you these trends are more favorable to upper income earners. More than 60 of the people leaving manhattan make more than 100,000 a year. Part of why i am interested in this trend and why i think it is important for people to understand is that it is devastating to workingclass and lower income people. When you lose high earners, you allow that cap space and that means more revenue for infrastructure and things that you need to make a city function. Know i keep i bringing up new york but it is a great model because it is our biggest city. When you lose that revenue, it is devastating enough that the poor get hurt the most. There is no acknowledgment from the leadership that they need their billionaires to make that city function. When you keep raising taxes on them, it worsens them out. They will keep leaving and the end result will be worse. Thendly, i would say that covid lockdowns have been devastating in new york to people who are more workingclass and cannot work remotely, particularly when you look at restaurant workers. These people have been out of work and income for almost a year. My stepmother runs restaurants in the boston area. She has these employees, she loves them. The revenue is down, they were closed for a long time. These people who work for her and restaurant workers and similar workers around the country are not getting the help they need. They are not making income. When you see these restaurants be shut down for more than a year, this keeps going on. As more restaurants closed permanently, those people will be out of jobs. I think youre going to see some lower income people leaving blue cities when there are not enough businesses in businesses around to employ them. Those businesses will be in red states that have allowed businesses to flourish. Firstee with the callers comments and i hope we see these trends reversed. As the tax base fleas, we could see some dark times in our cities as the critical funding also leaves with the high earners. Professor ats a the university of pennsylvania that writes this once the pandemic is over, knowing new businesses will replace ones that closed, once the businesses are back up and running andy demand has been met, you will see caudal cash College Graduates fall in the ranks behind those families that may. Accelerated guest youre going to have fewer People Living and working in the area to go to the restaurants in the theaters and to go to these other cultural institutions. If those people and employees are gone, that means there is good to be less of an incentive for people to start a restaurant put a life savings into various businesses. There is this other aspect of is not easy to describe which is the culture of a city. If we see more young people and white color workers leaving new york and San Francisco, the new cultural hubs are going to be where their. Austin, texas and nashville, tennessee these cities are where the younger people are moving. As these cities absorb or young working people, that is where you are going to see the exciting new cultural institutions pop up. Rigor to see a large number of restaurants and theaters and museums being created. Citiesy is that these like new york and l. A. As they , theyounger population working people at high earners, you might not see the restaurants come back and replace all of the ones that shut down. Some new restaurants will reopen some will be open and some new restaurants will come up, but it is sad to think that a city like new york or San Francisco may not ever come back to its former glory. It may come back, but it will take a long time. Host our guests website is kristinbtate. Com. She is the author of the liberal invasion of red state america. Thank you for your time this morning. Guest thank you very much. Host we will finish out the program by getting your calls on Public Policy issues. Heres how you can call us. 2027488001 for republicans, 2027488000 for democrats, and democrats 2027488002 and independents 2027488002. We will take those calls when we come back. Listen to cspan listen to cspans podcast the weekly. We are talking about the use of lameduck sessions to tackle big legislation. Podcast the weekly where you get your podcasts. Beingh a relief package approved by congress and vaccines beings to be did, use our website to follow the response to the outbreak. Watch our searchable videos anytime. All at cspan. Org coronavirus. Washington journal continues. Up a President Trump put video yesterday addressing several things, but also addressing the need for more direct stimulus in the relief package. [video clip] pres. Trump despite this wasteful spending, it provides taxpayers with only 600 each in relief payments and not enough money is given to small businesses. Small businesses and restaurants whose owners have suffered grievously. They were only given a deduction for others to use. Year period must be withdrawn which will allow owners to obtain financing and get their restaurants back in condition. Congress can terminate it at a later date but two years is not enough. Congress found plenty of money for Foreign Countries and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the American People who needed. It was not their fault, it was chinas fault. Im asking congress to amend this bill and increase the low 600 to 2000 or 4000 for a couple. Im asking congress to get rid of the wasteful unnecessary items from this legislation. Or elsea suitable bill the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package and maybe that administration will be me. We will get it done. Host part of his statement from yesterday, in particular for the 2000 request, yahoo news reports that nancy tweeted to to republicans refuse the monthly president wanted. Democrats are ready to bring it to the floor with unanimous consent. Lets do it. Chuck schumer said we spent months trying to get to get 2000 checks but republicans blocked it. Trump needs to sign the bill, we are happy to provide more aid. That is one of the things that took place yesterday when it comes to the relief package. Also, chiming in on the idea of more aid as he is preparing to administer for come into a new administration was joe biden making comments on that yesterday. [video clip] and in leaders house and senate deserve credit for the compromises to get this done. Like all compromises, it is far from perfect but it does provide relief at the critical moment. Said, this i have bill is just a down payment in addressing the crisis we are in. There is more work to do. Early next year, im going to put forward to the congress my. Plan for what comes next. We will need more help to distribute the vaccine. We will need more testing in order to be able to open our schools. We will need more funding to help firefighters and police, many who are being laid off as i speak. The same with nurses, risking their lives on the frontlines. The same for millions of hurting families who are not able to put food on the table, pay rent, or the mortgage. Unemployment is extended for 10 weeks. It is going to take longer than that. But congress did its job this week and i can and i must ask them to do it again next year. Host it may be the state of the Coronavirus Relief package that is your top policy issue. It may be Something Else, you can give us your call. 2027488000 2027488001 for republican, 2027488000 for democrats, and independents 2027488002. Amelia starts us off. Caller good morning. I agree that the 2000 would be great. Thate need to understand the democrats have been fighting for this for months. Congress, they congress is made up of the house and the senate. The Senate Republicans have been stopping this money for political interest, for the interests of the corporations. It is time for the people to pay republicans are for congress, theyre not for the working class or the poor. Hear from andrew in ohio. We will hear from andrew in ohio. These my top concern are democrat myths about we keep hearing about minimum wage. Congress has raised minimum wage 22 times and only 22 of workers make minimum wage. It would be entirely irrelevant. Earnerse top 1 of wage when they pay more than the 99 on income tax. The top 1 wage earners pay more than the bottom 99 . They are paying their care their fair share. 12 of americans have at least one year in the top 10 and 73 of americans have at least one year in the top 20 . Europe is getting rid of all wealth taxes. The netherlands and the island and island have gotten rid of west texas. Host karen in florida. Concern is that as americans we try to make arguments that are politically expedient. In the conversation about the attorney general, a caller came in a call came in saying that but whenarr is great you asked him what his legacy instead of making an argument about what worked for the American People. This thing about blue states and red states, the People Living in the blue states need to understand that all of these things are designed to divide us. If youre living in a red state, your Social Security, your education, all of these things are funded by funding from the blue states. New york, massachusetts, california, all of these liberal states are subsidizing these red states. There is any argument to be made. Look what is going on in these red states why they are depending on the federal government to subsidize the lifestyle they live. To the aidit comes package that was released, the 6000 page bill if you want to read that you can go to our website. It talks about tax provisions. This is the New York Times saying it includes extending a 2. 5 billion brick for racecar tracks and allowing a writeup forthis meals business meals. It also lowers taxes on alcoholic beverages. Know break is bigger than the deductions on the paycheck protection program. Businesses have been lobbying the irs to deduct spending from the programs loans. Steven mnuchin said deducting 101 tures by tax violated tax 101. Congress approved regulation legislation that would create two smith money smithsonian museums. They were blocked this month, they would be made by private donations and public money. 310,000 the more than 310,000 squarefoot latino eum would cost more than the bill would create two councils to make recommendations to the Smithsonian Ford of regents for Design Construction for the museums as well as the location on or near the national mall. We will hear from barbara in oklahoma city, democrats line. I cant believe this last guest you had doesnt iserstand greed is what killing america, the billionaires. We need no billionaires in our state. When i was young, you couldnt have a monopoly. Monopoly is destroyed countries. They have destroyed best and that is what is wrong. They have destroyed us and that is what is wrong. The 1 pays nothing, i dont know where that guy got it. The richest men in america pays no taxes. Cup pays no taxes, brags about it trump pays no taxes, brags about it. That is why they are trained to get it from the poor. We have no money so they cant get it from us. The billionaires are your problem. They are rich, greedy. If you dont do something about but, we are going nowhere write down the tubes. Host we will go to david in michigan, independent line. Caller really good show this morning. Thank you for eddie glaude. That should be a mandatory requirement for pacifica high civic students for high school students. Is that red states are the welfare states. The gentleman said this earlier. Your second guest was talking about the invasion of liberals into red state america. I hope it happens. Is typicallyrica the poor states, the least educated states, have the poorest health care systems, has the poorest infrastructure, has the highest unemployment, is more susceptible to natural ultimately if they had to fend for themselves they couldnt balance a budget. Lets get real and realize that the red states do not exist without the Charitable Giving through taxation of disproportionate shares of money generated by urban areas and blue states. Host that ashost david in michigan. The trumpons given by administration, pictures in the paper this morning. Pardon george and people accused of killing iraqi citizens as a blackwater contractor. College pardons under pardons under Collins Hunter collins. Collins. Congress, all they do is give money to other countries. People here in the United States who are citizens are only getting a 600 check. That is pitiful. I want to tell you Something Else. I want to tell you he was responsible for this. You are. You knew that congress and the democrats want to put money on the side for Something Else to meet their own benefit. You never said anything about this, pedro. You should be on the line. The lastid, i spent two days highlighting stories about this element of this bill. Atase dont point the finger us when it is the actions of congress responsible for this. Go ahead and finish your comment. Have been listening to you guys, you put everybody in misery. I think you are giving us too much power but we will move on. From virginia from west virginia, democrats line. Caller happy holidays. Are not responsible whatever that previous caller was talking about. You have been very even. All, the 600 stimulus check is kind of offensive. Rent isage cost of 1800 to 6,000 give or take. , im a father, and i am providing for the household. I dont understand that. I am seeing in germany, theyre getting 7,000 on a monthly basis. Host have you been directly impacted by the pandemic, then . The entire office i work for has been impacted. Difficult. Everyday there is something and every day i have to handle something. I have bills. I have my car payment. People are not making enough money. They need help. If i had 600 in my account, with 300 of it would go. Host lets hear from california, republican line. Bill isthis is stimulus the typical reason why we voted for trump. These gigantic bills of the democrats. Democrats giveaway other peoples money. Conservatives giveaway their own money. This is typical of the swamp. We would rather go hungry then see another bill like this go down. The president vetoes this bill and they have to rework it. Host what did you think about your request the president made yesterday for extra money . Caller i think the extra money is a good thing because it will do what needs to do. The bottom line is that the tax for. This bill is bigger than host host the bill then the bill. Host do you think the president should veto it . Caller absolutely. Before i will swallow this bill. Host hundred giving his thoughts. On the incoming Biden Administration, the Washington Post looks at what the administration was to do with immigration policies. For president elect promised a program that requires tens of thousands of asylumseekers to wait their hearings in mexico. Asylumseekers will take months because they need funding for judges and place. In place. Said. Do what i it is going to take probably the next six months to put that in place. The president elect is saying he was not dragging his feet but setting up the guard rails to find a solution for the immigration issue instead of creating a crisis. Jeffrey is in middletown, new york. Democrats line. Go ahead. Hi, pedro. Agree with the president even though i am a democrat. The American People need more money. For 600 is pitiful. Imagine people that fell behind in their work desk in their mortgages in their mortgages. The republicans and democrats should come up with Something Better than 600. Theyre making more money then the little guy in america. We are the richest country on earth. What seems to be the problem . Instead of them fighting each other, they should come together and get something for the American People. We deserve it. Thank you. Host that is jeffrey in new york. When it comes to the relief bill, the Airline Industry getting a part of that. This is from the wall street journal. Wagesll covers airline and benefits from december 1 to the end of march and bars and restaurants are furthering people during that period. Bringes inc. Lands to workers back but caution it may be temporary. We dont show anything that shows an increase in bookings in the next few months. Rick, from iowa city. Hello. Go ahead. Say i i was calling to support what the president says about the bill. If they would take all the extra spending out that doesnt need to be in that bill, it doesnt have anything to do with the cares act and just address what the peoples needs are. They can go ahead and give the 2000 and they could take a special interest outs from the bill special interests out from the bill. I think it could have been done months ago if congress got together and quit playing politics. I think we need some new lead in the congress and the house. Get those people that have been in there for years and have term limits and get rid of those people and get new people in their. And maybe this country could get back to normal. Host diane in maryland, republican line. Diane. Caller north dakota . Host my bad, hello. Caller i have several things i want to talk about. Fact, i used to work for a company that says it is a u. S. Company but it is a muslimowned company. Systematically they are replacing americans with people on visas which i think needs to be addressed. The 600 extra in unemployment that people got where is the tax relief for that . Now that we will have to pay taxes on that 600 extra a month and people are still without jobs. , thate Social Security needs to be increased. People are suffering. There is not enough to meet our expenses. Other countries are getting thousands of dollars a month through this pandemic. We could easily get 600. Host diane mentioned unemployment. Has ashington Journal Program looking at concerns about fraud in states across the country. Unemploymenteived requested they believe to be tied to fraud tied to billions of dollars. Deeds use stolen Social Security numbers, birthdates, and other personal information to apply for the benefits. Illinois is detecting and plucking 341,000 fraudulent claims. Michigan has fielded more than more 90,000 reports than 190,000 reports. Arkansas has been inundated with reports. Ry hogan and top deputies california has struggled with unemployment fraud that has that haslogs created backlogs. Market is next, democrat line. Caller thank you for cspan. My number one Public Policy would be Climate Change. I am very relieved that joe biden has released a plan to do something about it. I know we have a lot of problems, people are suffering. If it gets any worse, the weather is going to be the number one problem. I understand that people are having a hard time. I want to point out that this pandemic started with wildlife, bats. Are gettingnimals sorry, i am tired this morning. Their habitats are decreasing because of human activity. That makes the animals sick and they pass it to humans. I had lyme disease, that is bad in the northeast. These pandemics are going to get worse so we need to do something about Climate Change. President onworst Climate Change we have ever had. He has gotten rid of every environmental regulation he could. He has gotten more exploration of fossil fuels. It is basically a lifesaver. Host we are going to try to get in karen from texas, republican line. Caller i am a registered republican, i have been since 1969. This year i voted for joe biden. That is not the point. The point is congress. Congress is not doing any of us sent acrossthey bills that are 5000 pages with a lot of hidden agendas to be signed and doing it at the last minute. Why did you vote for joe biden . Caller because he is more conservative than donald trump. How so . Use of caller he has some kind of sense to him. I never did think trump was even eligible to be president. Karen in texas giving us her thoughts. Line. Illinois, democrat caller i did not vote for trump but i am elated he will veto that bill and ask congress to give more. Covid19 does not have a democrat or republican label. It does not have a regional level, it does not have a black or white label. There is no firm indication that the president is going to veto it. Some suggest he hinted at it unless there is new reporting. In regards to all of that, stay close to what happens over the next few days here in washington, d. C. We invite you to if you want to read this bill, 5600 pages plus, you can go to our website, the congressional chronicle section, there is a box. If you click it, the text of the bill will appear, and if you wish, to read this bill and everything in it. That is it for our program today. Another addition of washington journal comes your way tomorrow morning. Announcer stay with cspan for our continuing coverage of the transition of power as president elect joe biden moves closer to the presidency. With the Electoral College votes cast from states across the country, join us on january 6 live at 1 00 p. M. Eastern for the joint session of congress to count the votes and declared the votes and declared a winner for president and Vice President. And finally an january 20, the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States. Our live coverage begins at 7 00 a. M. Eastern from the state house, to congress, to the white house. Watch it all live on cspan, on the go at cspan. Org, or listen using the cspan radio app. Bidenstelect joe nominating connecticut Public School commissioner to be his education secretary. The president ing elect this morning at the official presentation. We will have live coverage at 11 15 eastern here on cspan. Also i 3 30 eastern today, an operation warp speed briefing on covid19 vaccine distribution. We will have live coverage but you can watch both events live online at cspan. Org or listen on the free cspan radio app. With covid19 relief legislation approved by congress and Coronavirus Vaccines being administered, use our website to follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. Watch our searchable video anytime on demand, and track the spread with interactive maps, all at cspan. Org coronavirus. Youre watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Americas created by Cable Television companies in 1979. Today, we are brought to you by these Television Companies to provide cspan2 viewers as a public service. Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb b riefed his state on their response and pandemic. Indians have Health Officials talked about the distribution of the Coronavirus Vaccine and senator todd young joined the briefing to discuss the 900 billion relief package awaiting the president s signature. We do have a full show, so we woult