Administration. I limassol, justice correspondent. National review Senior Editor rob mesh put new roof. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal is next. Host still shining over a city and nation shock i the insurrection attack 12 days ago, the u. S. Capitol stands heavily fortified but ready for its role in the swearing in of the nations 46 the president on wednesday. Joseph r biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Good morning, its monday, january 18, 2021, the 35th annual observance of the Martin Luther king jr. Holiday and the aftermath of the january 6 attack in anticipation of wednesdays inaugural. We will be showing you later today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Our 2006 documentary on the u. S. Capitol in we will spend the first hour of this program asking you what would the founders think of our republic now. The lines to use, democrats call 202 7488000. Republicans, its 202 7488001. Independents and others, 202 7488002. If you want to send us a text, its 202 7488003. On twitter, we are cspanwj. And we will look for your posts as well, they are already at facebook. Com cspan. Throughout this hour we will show you the highlights throughout the 2006 documentary, the capital, which will air today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan. First, though, some news from the capital, a hearing on the inside attack, fbi vetting troops in d. C. And the massive undertaking reflecting the fears gripping washington, d. C. Following the fears of the insurrection. On to our topic of informed policy, the headline about the founders, the attack, and their headline, the founders didnt see this coming, the u. S. Constitution is breaking down in ways that the designers recognized from history but thought they had guarded against. One of the pieces in the Foreign Policy article that we noted says that today both the nature and viability of american democracy are being tested. For the founding generation of americans the first principle meant an ideological commitment to democracy and deeper aversion to tyranny host host that is from Foreign Policy. Our opening question for you this morning, what with the founders think of our republic . Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. All others, 202 7488002. Looking ahead to wednesday, Inauguration Day and the resumption of the 117th congress, we have Senior Reporter from the hill, alex bolton. Let me ask you first about the inauguration. We understand rehearsals are taking place today. Can you give us any other information or updated information on the schedule . Guest as you know, joe biden will be taking the oath of office at noon on wednesday at a date and time prescribed by the constitution. After that, 3 00 to 4 00 in the capital, that is when people will be allowed to go back in. The question is whether the articles of impeachment will be sent in this week or later. As far as the inauguration goes. Vice president biden, president elect bidens staff has confirmed that he will be outside during the inauguration, despite security concerns. It will be much different than previous inaugurations. Much more limited access for reporters. Colleagues sent out a memo last week by the Pelosi Office informing folks that it will be, in the past members of congress would go out to the risers through to the west front of the capital. That access is going to be restricted. What the Security Forces are doing is really closing down the flow of people between the west front. Inaugurations, usually they walk out the door to the risers, press included. Its much more restricted this year and i think thats because there is this lingering fear, even though there are 20,000 National Guard troops, there is still a fear that the risers provide a breach point for the capital, so it just kind of shows the state of shock that folks are still in after that january 6 attack. Interesting notes on guests, Vice President mike pence will be there. So will former president s clinton, obama, george w. Bush, but jimmy carter, 96, will not be there. And then business will continue. Another note on the schedule, there are a bunch of confirmation hearings in the schedule in the senate scheduled for tuesday to fill joe bidens cabinet. Janet yellen to be treasury secretary, avril haines director of national intelligence. The head of the Homeland Security department, tony blinken is the head of the state department with lloyd austin, those are all scheduled to happen on tuesday so there really is a busy day on the hill. Host certainly a busy time for the senate, at least. I want to focus a bit on that with the pieces you are publishing this morning. The trump Job Performance rating remains strong among republicans, making the chances of finding 17 republicans who will convict on an article of them pete schmidt. They wrestled with purging trump from the party. How soon do you think the senate might take up the article of impeachment . Guest that really depends on when nancy pelosi sends the article to the senate. Under the Senate Impeachment rules, soon as the Senate Receives the article of impeachment, the indictment has to proceed immediately. So, its really up to pelosi in terms of the timing. She has control over the lever but she will be making that decision in conjunction with joe biden and Chuck Schumer and i think there could be some concern, at least in the biden inner circle, that if you start the impeachment trial, this could last a while and Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell, who is giving up power as majority leader, sent out a note recently talking about, or a statement in the last few days talking about there have been three president ial peach meant trials in the president in the senate. The shortest one has gone 21 days. It wont be quite so simple in the senate as in the house. Its a trial. You have to give citizen trump at that point, you have to give the accused a chance to mount a defense and that is going to take some time. It could take two weeks to get the hearing done, so in the meantime biden needs to fill his cabinet and also he just unveiled his 1. 9 trillion dollar covid relief package that democrats said was a high priority. Chris murphy of connecticut wants to do covid19 before moving on to an impeachment trial so theres a real debate as to whether to hold those articles of impeachment to get the Biden Cabinet filled in his key appointees confirmed to get this covid19 package moved, which is the highest priority of anything. Host we appreciate you being up early with us and updating us on things. Thank you very much. Guest thanks a lot. Host our opening question, what with the founders think of our republic . Doing this in part to talk about our 2006 documentary on the capital that will air today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Eastern. Calls waiting, just want to give you a look at how some of the documentary starts. Here it is. [video clip] the dome is one of the worlds most recognized symbols of american democracy. People should come here and think about the america that they know. We installed it at the place of hope. The irony is that it was slave labor that built this temple for freedom. The framers endowed the institution with a few extremely important policies. Host thats from our 2006 documentary, what with the founders think of our republic . Peggy, welcome. Caller yeah, good morning. I dont think they would be very happy. You cannot destroy democracy from the outside in. You have to destroy from the inside. China sent us a virus and russia sent us a trojan horse in the name of donald trump. There was a quitclaim payment to activists one month before the riots. It makes me very sad. Thank you. Host pennsylvania, ken, thank you. Morning. Caller thank you. Our Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves. The attack in the capital was just as bad as the attack on pearl harbor. Those were socalled americans, but the attack on pearl harbor, we all came together. I just dont see that happening anymore. What happened to america . Thank you. Host here is sofia in the bronx, new york, republican line. Caller yes, good morning, bill. Im going to be try to be fast as much as i can. For the moment right now, our republic, im a conservative republican. Nancy pelosi saved our republic. One distinct star was the right at the capital. They opened the capital until 3 a. M. , bill. She waited until it was counted. This woman is beautiful, intelligent, and shes 77. This is not the first time she has saved us. Its the second time. When we shut down for 35 days, the government, the democrats and the conservative republicans after years of anyway, she told him you want your speech on february 4 . You can come, but you have to open the government. She did it. We have seen it all from the moment that we are saved. But i cannot sleep. I cannot be strong until wednesday after 12 00. Thank you, sir. Host westminster, democratic line. Caller thank you. My dad was a part of the greatest generation ever. He received two purple hearts, a bronze star in the silver star. Fighting against wannabe dictators like trump. My older brother couldnt and didnt avoid the draft to vietnam. In fact dad was there and was asked if he wanted to see them executed and his were reply was ive seen enough killing. Anyone who had a relative in world war ii or vietnam should be ashamed to still support someone like trump. And about the insurrectionists involved in the attempt to overturn a democratically elected election. They want an autocratic leader and they dont even want to put on a mask to help protect their fellow americans. Then some of these same people even wanted to complain about having to walk through a metal metal detector after what happened at the capital. This after they have forced our children to do this for years because they are too chicken to do anything about sensible gun control. Sounds hypocritical, doesnt it . Host tony, arkansas, republican line. Caller one thing i want to say, the Founding Fathers, when they first did this and they was gonna decide the presidency, the winner became president in the lit the loser became Vice President. That way one could watch the other and make sure that neither one was screwing up. Am i right . Host youre basically right. Do you think that kind of system would survive today . Caller well, if it would, we wouldnt have had the problems weve had with one entity running the darn thing. Thats not really a republic if you want to know the truth of it. What they needed was a senate, president , Vice President winner and loser and then have a popular vote where the representatives, though they dont represent anybody anymore, they represent their own ideals. Because we are supposed to have a popular vote in the state they represent, i guarantee they wouldnt win it. Host you are saying the members of the house dont represent their districts anymore . 6 caller caller no, sir. Not a lot of them they dont. Let the popular vote go behind it, the president is the winner, the loser is the Vice President and will get back to the right idea. Host if you put yourself in their shoes and think back 200 and 40 years to the, you know, to the writing of the constitution, can you imagine how difficult these arguments were in philadelphia . Caller everybody had their musket rifles, they didnt have the automatics to protect themselves. The government once you not to have an automatic rifle or a semi automatic rifle to protect themselves. You think im going to have a bolt action gun and protect myself with three shots, he could shoot me 15 times in the second. Its not fair, its not fair. Im just going to stay home. But im the happiest man in america, 87. 50 in my bank account. Thank you, have a good day. Host all right, just two days to the swearing in of joe biden and Kamala Harris on the west front of the capital and we will show you that documentary later today, the capital. This opinion headline, George Washington foresaw the capital riot, its why he hated Political Parties are co he wanted to unite americans and believed that Political Parties were antithetical to the goal of uniting. The American Revolution he claimed was successful in notes are part no small part host washingtons nightmare, thats the opinion piece in the post. George washington had a hand in the design of the capital. Heres a look. [video clip] after choosing the site for the capital in 1791 and laying the cornerstone in 1793 it was his desire that the building be completely done and ready for congress to occupy in 1800. His vision of the building was something large, magnificent, to command respect. Make americans of every state love their country better and he hoped that it would be first in the affections of all americans. Thats his legacy. While his aspirations have been more than realized, his hopes for the Congress House being finished by 1800 would go unfulfilled due to construction, labor, and weather delays. As you look at the capital as it is today, it does not resemble at all the building in its early years of occupancy, when the house, senate, and Supreme Court all shared space in a small box like structure on the northern or senate side, from 1800 until a similar side house wing was completed just to the south in 1807. It would then be some 19 years later, 1826 that the building washington desired to be done by 1800 and is now called the first capital, would be finished, complete with a central section and rotunda lying beneath a wooden and copper dome connecting the two wings of the building. Host our capital documentary, rearing today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Eastern. What would the founders think of our republic, thats our question in the first hour. This text from stephen, note trumpsters, they are fighting for allies sponsored by traders in the government. I like what you have done with the bathrooms, founders are keen students of rome and were dubious of empires in their time and would see our country today to be exactly what they wanted to avoid. A militarized imperial state dominated by monied aristocracy. Tell tony from arkansas that ive got 50 and three cents in my bank account and blew on facebook said that they would see antiamerican idealists controlling the tools of culture , media, entertainment, even big tech and sports in addition to education. Blake is in leland, mississippi, on the independent line. Caller i just want to, i just want to tell america that they love the fact theyve got 18 times as much as the black man. They blame immigrants from around the world. The pot isnt no bigger in when they come to this country they come to our neighborhood, our schools, our jobs, our opportunities. Remember, they love it. They can have all the marijuana in the world but they will pull over the black kid. Looks like someones going to pay the price. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. I did on my own. You didnt do it on your own. You didnt like what was going on. They dont like whats going on. Host maryland, democratic line. Caller i believe the Founding Fathers would have seen it for what it is, and attempted coup. Definition of coup being a violent overthrow of the government in this case by two branches, the executive and the legislature after seeing the president and some members of congress where they are under investigation for this. You also have members of the Police Department under investigation and in the crowd you had some firefighters, some police. So thats what it is. The only one of that wasnt involved it appears is the judiciary. So, good for the judiciary, but this looks like it was an actual attempted coup and insurrection is not a Strong Enough word. Host democratic line, virginia, what with the founders think . Caller they are probably rolling over in their graves and there are tears coming out of the eyes of mount rushmore. Ive been noticing you allow people to lie and you allow them to lie longer, but the democrats who cut off. The guy from mississippi, i dont have a problem with mexicans. You know what . Im doing good and im black. Our parents made us make their way our way. Made us earn it, made us go to school. Trump is a lie. The media helped him lie. They never challenged his lies. This is what happens. This man has destroyed our country. Weve got 300,000 people dead, almost 400,000 people dead, 3 million sick . How many unemployed . 12 million . How many Small Businesses have failed . Come on, and he wants to be president again . He should want to run from it. Host today marks the 35th observance of the federal holiday, dr. Martin luther king jr. Day across the country. David in the Washington Post, opinion piece the force of nonviolence. host kind of reflecting some of that, this is congressman jim mcgovern of massachusetts tweeting this morning about the holiday, saying that dr. Martin luther king saying that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality, which is why we need to honor his words with action. Thats from congressman jim mcgovern. Our capital documentary asked oars in it the role of slave labor in building the capital. [video clip] the irony is that it was slave labor for the most part that built this temple for freedom. Freedom for some was predicated on enslavement of others. The capital was in fact constructed by slave laborers, as well as free blacks. I wonder what they thought of laboring at the capital and building this structure that was going to house the senate and the house and our representative government. I cant imagine working under those conditions and not being free myself. It says something terrible that freemen raising a symbol of freedom that was built by slaves. My favorite part of the capital on the senate side, the last original part of the capital where you can see some of the original sandstone, the huge blocks that were laid by enslaved laborers. Because it is original it hasnt been touched and it is something you can actually see and it gives you a dramatic view of what slave laborers, the type of labor they did. The blocks are so huge. I cant imagine having to lift them using simple machines. It must have been difficult, wrenching labor. Host part of our 2006 documentary, the capital, airing at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Today, images there of the attack on january 6 as we continue with our conversation about what the founders would think of the republic. Roberts, henderson, kentucky, good morning. Caller good morning, sir. Thank you for taking my call. The Founding Fathers would probably be happy considering that they were hypocrites. They fled from england from the oppression of the king and came to the colonies and then enslaved people with them. Hypocrisy is forever sewn into the fabric of america and donald trump tapped into that hatred. So, the Founding Fathers would probably be impressed because the document itself is flawed and so is the concept because you cannot advocate for freedom from the king and at the same time reduce other human beings to the level of an animal and then writing laws that did the same. Donald trump tapped into the ugly hatred of america that has forever been present and is sewn into the fabric of america and the only way it will be removed is when you teach those who hate you that they are themselves an extension of the black man himself because he is the father of all civilization. Thank you very much. Have a blessed day. Caller next in lafayette, louisiana, brent, republican line. Caller two things. The Trump Supporters seem to be, even if they arent Trump Supporters and they disagree with whats going on with the democrats, they have tarnished that, the trump supporter. And since we talking about slavery, if you go back to when, when the spanish gave land to the people along the Mississippi River on the east side, there was one guy that came from mississippi, 123yearold guy with 750 slaves. I never knew that until i had that tour of that plantation. Since i heard that, it puts a different perspective on slavery that i think a lot of people have no idea and realize nothing about it. Thats what i want to comment on. Host thank you for sharing that. Harold, california, on the independent line. Go ahead. Good morning. Caller i would say, if i was a founding father, i would say why are you still paying taxes . The congress, the senate is not doing anything for the people. Why do we support them . They need to step up to the plate and start working for the people. You know . Its a sad thing thats going on. The gentleman from mississippi had a good point. Thank you. Host ok, 202 7488000 is the line for democrats, 202 7488001 is for republicans. Independents and others, 202 7488002 tonight we will be reairing our 2006 capital documentary today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Eastern as well. Giving you a look here next at some of the paintings in the rotunda of James Madison. Lets take a look. [video clip] these were great paintings showing the events of the American Revolution and the question was whether congress would buy them and when congress appropriated the money to commission him for four of his great American Revolutionary war scenes, the function of the rotunda as a memorial to the American Revolution is sanctified and these four great paintings are commissioned specifically for the room. They are not just bought by congress, but the idea is that some will go on the house side, some will go on the senate side and they are intended for the rotunda. In conversations with the president , James Madison decides that it shall be lifesized. The event is to be commemorated, the declaration of independence. The surrender in saratoga. The surrender of cornwallis. Finally, interestingly, washington resigning his commission. That was James Madisons idea, that painting would conclude the series. Some had thought bunker hill or another military engagement but James Madison said no, washington resigning his commission was such a significant event, returning military authority back to the Civil Authority that had granted it in the first place, he said it was such an active heroic selflessness that it must be remembered as an event just as great as the beginning of the war, the turning point of the war, and the conclusion of the war. With the theme of independence from Great Britain providing the backdrop, the first ceremony ever held in the rotunda took place in 18 [no audio] host and you can see that painting in the background, the resignation of George Washington , resigning his commission. Of course, images there are from january 6. Our line for democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. All others, 202 7488002. A couple of comments by text and twitter. Michael and portland says that being men of their times, they would be more horrified by the ravages of factionalism and the rise of populist mass movements and the unscrupulous presidency in the failure of the uneducated elite to retain power. They would consider their plans and hopes in wreckage and would say that we need to do a lot better about educating the electorate. People are too easily led by their passions and not by reason. The Founding Fathers would be in amazement at the scope of says it citizenry that they could have not fathomed. Poor men, immigrants, blacks, nonchristians having advocates devoting and they would foam at the mouth at the recent insurrection as aberration and bruce says that they would be shocked that black men can vote, let alone hold the presidency and probably pleased no one talks about our founding mothers. Central islip, new york, jim, republican line. Caller high. They would be surprised, they would be surprised at how our government doesnt seem to be protecting us. Did you see how fast the fence went up around the capital . And we cant get them to protect us at the border . Weve got to fight for that. Thats why we voted for trump. The levers have been pulled out from underneath the working people of this country and i dont hear anybody saying anything. Nobody noticed this fence went up. We have been saying that this country is being invaded by people who are not simulating. They are taking our jobs. Theres elites on the program all the time, but you dont have the working people. They dont live here, they wouldnt live here. This town has gone to hell. This is happening across the country and they are not protecting us. Host news from reuters about a potential conflict at the border. Migrant bound caravan hungers down after guatemalan crackdown with hundreds of honduran migrants huddled in eastern guatemala after domestic Security Forces used sticks and teargas to halt the passage of the u. S. Bound caravan just days before Joe Biden Takes Office and reuters writes that as many as 8000 migrants, including families with young children, they have entered while mollisons friday fleeing poverty in a region rocked by the coronavirus pandemic and backed by hurricanes in november, there is no food and water and there are thousands of pregnant women and babies and they dont want to let us pass. Long island, new york. Lets hear from troy, democratic line. Caller i work for a company [indiscernible] host you are breaking up, troy. Sorry about that, your phone is breaking up too much. Decatur, georgia, go ahead. Caller happy Martin Luther king day to all americans. A man of peace, love, and nonviolence. I would like to quote James Madison, who once said that a country that continues in war cannot maintain its freedoms. We spend more money on the military then what, the next 10 countries combined . They would also say no wonder we have been in debt since 1836. The usa has been in debt since 1836, thats what the Founding Fathers would be saying. Thomas jefferson, what did he say . He feared to bankers more than standing armies. Thats what the founding army Founding Fathers would be saying. Host thank you. Martin luther king day, a video opinion piece from the son of Martin Luther king. He had another dream. If he saw the issues of poverty and income inequality that exist today, he would be greatly disappointed. Feeding hills, massachusetts, good morning. Caller our fathers would be upset that in 1929 the house cap membership at 435, ending the representative republic. Since 1929 we now have a growing number of representatives, constituents to representatives, some represent one million people. We have over 2000 and the house of representatives today if it was not cap, but as it ruled there would be like 900 and 60 today and it would be harder to have fortyyear congressmen and harder to impeach a president based on party lines and as you grow the house of representatives, the districts would change, making it harder for the incumbent to keep a 40 or 50 year seat. Do you agree . Host patricia, i hope i get this right, watch city arizona . Caller good morning. Once it was clear that the chaos started on pennsylvania avenue, pence should have invoked the 25th. By the ninth it was very clear. They wanted pence dead. It was clear that pelosi would have been executed. Pence has a duty not only to his fellow congressmen but to us, the people that vote, the only time i ever voted republican was for him, trump and pence, he has a duty to us to remove trump and replace him, put up barriers, doors. The Police Office had to stand by and watch. One had to take a 19yearold young ladys life. Her mother said that she was the type of girl that would have died for her beliefs and i would like to ask her what did her 19yearold believe in so strongly after only two years of adulthood . Because shes dead. So, she can no longer give her voice of her precious immature beliefs and if her mother has those same beliefs, pence had a duty to the constitution to protect it, us, its people from these exact actions. So, no trump has had seven days and is making heroes out of the insurrectionists and every citizen of this country that was there is failed by his not being removed. People that stormed the capital, they succeeded. One reason, the element of surprise. Planning for this started as early as december 21 if not earlier. Host patricia and arizona mentioned the role of the Vice President , critical of the Vice President. Tweeting this image, the Vice President returning from Vice President pence landing in d. C. On sunday night after his final official trip in office, stepping on air force two and pausing for a minute to look around and take it all in. Heres the picture with his family out at joint base andrews. East meadow, new york, republican line. Nick, good morning. Caller high, the founders would be turning in their graves right now. They set this country up so that everybody who works for the government, raises their hand, takes an oath of office to uphold the constitution, when you get into what nancy pelosi and her band of thugs are doing, they are not doing the job of what the auto of what the oath of office. They are actually defying what the forefathers had in mind. Its, its breaking up our country. We are in total disarray because of nancy pelosi. The democrats are not the democrats that they work when john kennedy was around. So, you know, its just not working out the way everybody is running the country. One thing that we are doing right now is we are allowing colonization of our country with china and russia. This is whats going on. Its been going on for 20 or 30 years. People have not really looked into this. But if you take a look and analyze, the chinese will own us very, very shortly. Host on nancy pelosi, a tweet this morning from cnn, in a new criminal court case against a woman alleged to have entered the capital on generally six, the tipster raised the possibility of a laptop being stolen from the Speakers Office to potentially sell to russia. Eric, democratic line. Good morning, america. This is a sad day for america. But i want to reflect on our history. We know the story of tulsa, oklahoma. A sovereign nation. The same people today that attacked tulsa, the grandchildren of the people that attacked tulsa that went into the white house. Not the white house, the capital. We have to remember, they were following the american clue clocks clan after they saw what fascism was doing in america to the blacks here and to the people of color in america, they felt they had the same right to do the same thing to the jews in europe. Because they lost the war. American fascists were upset because they helped them win world war i. Again, this is nothing new for the people of color. Tulsa was a sovereign nation. Tulsa, oklahoma, a sovereign nation. Like the capital of the United States for the cherokee people and they disregarded that, they dont have respect then and they dont have it today. They dont need to lie about communism and socialism. Its just straight racism. Everybody knows this. Host for those of you further interested in what hes talking about, the tulsa massacre, we did programs on that last year in 2020, you can find it on cspan. Org. Asking this morning about what the founders with think of the republic. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2021] for deming 202 7488000 free democrats, 202 7488001 for republicans. For all others, 202 7488002. Paul manafort, the realization of the founders fears, thats the headline. When the Constitutional Convention was drafting part of the constitution that would soon become the president ial pardon power, george mason unequivocally oppose the provision saying that the president ought not to have the power of pardoning because he may frequently pardon crimes advised by himself host askings morning about the founders in advance of our reairing of the capital documentary from 2006. [video clip] seeing the dome under construction by the tens of thousands of Union Soldiers that march through washington facing an uncertain future certainly gave them and instilled in them a sense of a continuation of the country. It was a symbol that wasnt lost on many, the great white dome was rising slowly above the capital and was a potent symbol of the future of a United Country and it was seen as a sign of the successful outcome of the civil war, reuniting a country that had been torn asunder over the issue of slavery. On top of the symbol of unity is the statue of freedom. Authorize before the war began but put atop the dome in december of 1863 while the war raged on. The most interesting part of my research so far has been the statue of freedom cast in bronze by a slave laborers. I think its interesting because its so ironic that the statue of freedom was cast by an enslaved person who was freed by the time she was raised atop the capital because emancipation came to washington on april 16, 1862. Free for over a year when she was raised atop the capital. Host our documentary heirs again tonight at 8 p. M. Eastern as we look at a more recent photo from the past week or so with National Guard troops surrounding the capital. Comments on twitter about our question this morning, this one says it would be disappointed that the institutions created to prevent someone like trump have been challenged to the core and they would strengthen congressional oversight. Founders knew that the day would come when the people would need to stand up to a tyrannical government and gave us the right to do so says john from texas and that its good that this arcane artifact is headed to the dustbin of history and they would have understood that political thought has to advance over the decades. We have been stuck in a ditch for many years now and reality is the best antidote for societal lethargy, according to harry. Mark, ellicott city. Founders imperfect, most would be beholden to slave labor and inherent White Supremacy and would be quiet sympathizers of trumpism. I know for a fact that they would call the writers traders to the constitution. Host we will hear next from diane in enterprise, pennsylvania, go ahead. Guest caller caller the founders would be horrified by the fusion of government and corporate interests the way its being used to silence opposition to the oligarchy being formed. On the riots, the biggest difference i see between the riots at the capital and the riots over the summer is that the riots over the summer were Corporate Funding mutant militias to attack fellow citizens. The rioters in the capital confronted leadership and while i dont condone the breach of the capital, i do see the difference between attacking and destroying the lives of your fellow citizens while being funded by corporations and petitioning your government directly. The other main difference, no fires, no looting and no graffiti at the capital riot. Just a couple of thoughts there. Host there was plenty of vandalism there, diane. Fire extinctions were used, there were explosions and works in the capital and plenty of damage and five deaths resulting from the attack on the capital. Spokane, washington, james, independent line. I think that the caller i think that the elephant in the room is demographics. Its pretty simple. Theres more people, less jobs. People getting diff getting disenfranchised. Credit cards going up, house payments going up. Theres more people and the more people that are disenfranchised, thats the unrest. Its, you know, a lack of ability, lack of upward mobility driving these people to do what they do. They can believe whatever they want to believe but if you get down to the root of the problem its that people are being disenfranchised. Theres no economic security. They are looking, wanting, needing more and there is no outlet for them and thats going to have gigantic spinoffs and until that gets fixed, until the social structure gets fixed, and theres a i dont know what you want to call it, a respect courtesy, its not going to get any better. In all honesty, im not an antitrumper, but hes been a disaster, you know. Just fomenting violence, you know, anticivil discourse is horrible. Host appreciate that, james. This is from the hill. Biden calling on americans to volunteer on mlk day, making National Service a key part of the inauguration week and the committee is urging americans to participate in virtual volunteer opportunities or with limited in person components. Random array, minnesota, heres tina on the independent line. Hello, thank you for taking my call. I think if anything the founders would be disgusted by the way that we have destroyed the planet. The unending wars, the destruction that we have caused everywhere. Including within our own country. Thank you. Host thats tina in minnesota. Its been mentioned since the attack that the last time the u. S. Capitol was invaded was 1814, before the war of the end of testing of the war of 1812 by british troops for the burning of the capital in the white house. Heres the part of our capital documentary that addresses that. [video clip] with a very inferior force they swept the americans aside and came to washington and burned every public building. They burned the capital, the white house. They didnt burn the one place they were told records were kept. That was the patent office. Clearly the nation suffered a humiliating blow when the british burned the capital and the white house. Congress came back shortly after the british left and convened in temporary quarters on f street and one of the first things they debated was whether or not to keep the capital sitting on the potomac. There was very bitter feuds about the city as some held it as a failed experiment, a rather silly thing to do to create a new city just for the federal government. That did not hold up against those who reminded their colleagues that the city was founded by George Washington. That George Washington pause name was invoked time and again to great effect. It was his city, he had laid the cornerstone at the capital and selected the design and we had no choice but to rebuild here on the potomac and in order to honor washington, one must repair the public buildings on their original sites according to original designs. Of course, thats what they did. Host part of our capital to lock capital documentary rearing today at 1 p. M. And 8 p. M. Minnesota. Good morning. Caller happy Martin Luther king day. I want to point out the prior to bacons rebellion, most americans were indentured servants, blackandwhite. Our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, they talked to jefferson about the book where he pointed out that the egyptians were black people and how we were suppressing black people. The United States want a printing the book but they left out the part about black people. Most white people were grandfathered into the United States, just like russia, most whites werent free in russia until 1862 and indentured servitude petered out around 1830. So we are just drinking the koolaid of propaganda in this country. When we talk about black, its not just egypt. When verrazano, and italian traveled up the coast of the atlantic from new york to florida he was saying the people looked like ethiopians. You know . Host all right, abby, maryland, republican line. Welcome. Caller thank you for cspan and thank you for taking my call. I want to point out the irony that the socalled slaves, either they were slaves, who built the capital, were building their freedom. Because in the capital is where the legislation took place to freedom. To me its symbolic that that building has lasted. Their work was almost, it lasted in perpetuity. To me its very symbolic of the slaves in egypt who built the pyramids. Host all right, connor city, independent line. Caller james, love that. Two calls ago, good information but yeah, we are very much kind of allowing the government to get us hung up fighting amongst one another when, like, really, its extremely simple whats going on. Theres not enough to go around. That holds true for power. It holds true for people being heard, for money. They have us just fighting amongst ourselves and like every Single Person who has been on today, i agree with. We have had a mass industrialization, the fleeing of corporations from the United States. Host just a reminder on our documentary, the capital again is airing today at 1 00 p. M. And also tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Go ahead, you are on washington journal in this week a president ial transition with the impeachment on wednesday. Two guests joining us to discuss topics related to it. First, another perspective from the National Review. All ahead here on washington journal. Announcer wednesday, joe biden will be sworn in at the president of the United States and her Nations Capital. And in light of the attack on the capital and the temporary closing of the national mall, the traditional inauguration ceremony has been modified. Follow our live coverage as the day unfolds starting at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Watch the arrival at the capital , the inauguration of joe biden and Kamala Harris, and the inaugural address. The inauguration of joe biden, beginning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern wednesday. Live coverage on cspan and cspan. Org or listen live on the cspan radio app. On tuesday, a day before the inauguration, watch confirmation hearings for two Incoming Biden Administration nominees. At 10 00 a. M. Eastern, Senate Finance Committee Hearing for janet yellen to be secretary of the treasury. Janet yellen previously served as chair of the federal reserve. And at 3 00 p. M. Eastern, the Senate Armed Services Committee Confirmation hearings for lloyd austin to be defense secretary. If confirmed, retired general austin would be the first africanamerican secretary of defense. Watch live coverage of the confirmation hearings on cspan, on demand at cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. Tonight on the communicators, we will talk about what lies ahead for the Telecommunications Industry in 2021 and potential issues on the Biden Administration when washington, d. C. Reporters. I think it would be safe to assume there to be some sort of change to section 230. I dont think any of these sweeping changes that President Trump or even joe biden during the campaign, that he is likely. Democrats have confirmed that section 230 enables Tech Companies to look the other way while incitement of violence from disinformation spread on their platforms. Obviously, given the events of the other week, of the violence on capitol hill, those are not going away. Announcer tonight, on the communicators on cspan two. Washington journal continues. Host during his next as a correspondent for the nation magazine. Our witness to talk about the incoming biden ministration and the progressives, potentially the role of progressives or certainly be progressive viewpoint. Welcome to washington journal. Guest thanks for having me. Host joe biden said in the last couple of weeks that after he was elected, he would be the president of all americans. In the wake of what has happened in the past two weeks, 12 days, how does he go about doing that . Guest obviously not all americans want him to be president and some are going to resist that violently, apparently. So he has got his work cut out for him. I think that the way people try to be bad, to be the unifier, is bypassing broadly popular legislation. Lets remember, and i try to remind people of this throughout the trump iraq, that trump era, that while trump was a uniquely dangerous narcissist in chief, he governed like a fairly standard hard right republican. His policies were fairly standard hard right republican policies. The thing that we have to remember is that those policies are broadly unpopular. They are broadly unpopular cannot give People Health care during the pandemic. It is broadly unpopular to make tax cuts at the very top for the very wealthy and provide no relief to the middleclass and workingclass people. So i think when biden says he is going to be the president for everybody, part of what he must mean is that he is going to have legislation and enact laws that are broadly more popular than what we have seen previously and hopefully that will bring some people who are skeptical about his administration onto our side. Host the potentially skeptical progressives, not just those on capitol hill, the bernie sanders, the aocs of the world, how does the Biden Administration include them, both physically, are the people in his cabinet, for example, who are known progressives, and in terms of his policies . Guest the fun thing about being progressive is that we dont have to be invited to the table, we are at the table. People like that will advocate for their positions. The difficulty here, and i hate to have this, i hate when people set it up as this data between moderates and progressives, we broadly want the same things. We broadly want a more free and fair and equitable society. The left is unified around those goals. We broadly want more health care and safety. We broadly want everybody to get through the pandemic alive. The disagreements are how we get there and how aggressively we moved to get there. Biden is a slower horse in the race. He is a slow and steady turtle. I tend to favor policies that are a little bit more fast and hardhitting, and that is a conflict, but we need to stop acting like theyre at the battle of the titans. As a question of how quickly can we do the things that we all agree need to be done. And i think that at the push forward in this administration. Host what about the voice of the Vice President elect . Guest it seems like she is going to have a major role in this administration. In terms of not just out front, she has already been as out as any Vice President in the past. I imagine shes not going to win all the battles, i imagine more broadly we will not know which battles she has won or not. But she is going to be a voice, she is going to be present the entire time and i am hopeful about that. I think that is generally a good thing. One thing that we saw from biden, maybe this is true during the campaign, man does listen. The man can be moved. He is not a person who is afraid to evolve, to change his mind. Sometimes that is not great. Sometimes he changes his mind in the wrong way, but he is willing to listen to people and he is going to be moved by compelling arguments and compelling facts. That alone is such a departure from what we have had for the first four or five years im almost excited about the opportunity to yell at biden. He will be somebody that you can yell at. And that is different and new. At least compared to recent history. I think that is kind of the role of Vice President harris. One of those forces trying to p ull biden perhaps anymore progressive direction. Host your phone calls and comments welcome. 202 7488000 democrats. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents and others, 202 7488002. To give some viewers and listeners more of an idea of where our guest stands, the headline can be no unity with seditious republicans. You write in this article that unity is the word that white people use and they want to accommodate and appease the forces of White Supremacy. It is what antislavery white in the north compromise and unite with greatests and murderers rapists and human being to help farm animals in order to have a constitution. It is what made Abraham Lincoln offer charity instead of malice to the violent insurrectionists. Just eaten. Is the word white people and vote when they advocated the imprisonment of outside agitators like Martin Luther king and john lewis during the civil rights. Unity is what oppressors always call for when they seek amnesty for their actions. In your comment, and i will just say this for the radio listeners, f unity. The cause for unity from Kevin Mccarthy, senator marco rubio and a number of republicans who have enabled and emboldened donald trump years are nothing more than a veiled threat. Except violence already committed or raised additional violence against you. Any additional thoughts on that . Guest i think i wrote that just about right. You can tell that the people calling for unity are full of it because they never do it when black people are accused of crimes. You never see them call for unity when a black person is accused of crimes. Instead, they call for the harshest possible punishment. You didnt see these people call for unity. That was a perfect opportunity where the majority of the country said that we should wait into the next president ial administration that she was such an important justice that her death was so untimely and unfortunate that we should unified and have this election that has already started. Where with the culture unity then . They didnt have it. They had an opportunity to win and they pushed the advantage. That is what republicans do all the time. In this time, after they have screwed up, after they have incited a riot, after some of them have made seditious comments, now they want us to not prosecute them, cannot hold them accountable for what they have done . Nah, that is not what we should do. Host we have calls waiting, let me share the comments of josh hawley following the violence. We shared a photo of senator hawley out there greeting protesters with his raised fists any notable photograph, but he had said after the attack that mob violence is always wrong, the democratic debate is not mob violence, is how we avoid that violence. Debate on the floor of congress likely debate that is provided for during the counting of electoral is one of these. It is a forum for registering disagreement, airing different views and resolving these differences peaceably. Your thoughts . Guest first of all, that is intellectually dishonest. He was arguing for the overthrowing of an election by throwing out black both. That is not one among many. That is not Many American flags. That is not where it is. There were people in 1863 that had a different view about whether or not black people should have rights. That was not a disdain, that was a war. What josh did was give credence to the lie that started the right. The lie was that the election was somehow stolen or manipulative. They gave aid and comfort to that lie and that is why we had an insurrection against our capital on january 6. And what is the account ability for that . I am not saying that is a jailable offense, im not saying you can throw him in jail, but there should be some professional accountability for his words and actions. Host let me bring to you the comments of ron klain who was asked about whether or not certain republicans would be invited, including senator ted cruz here is what he had to say. Invitations to numbers of congress coming from the joint committee of the congress that runs the inauguration, i believe all members are invited. Dont know who is planning on attending were not, but look. I think what is more important than which members of Congress Attend is what metrics joe biden will have to the country on january 20. That is the message of moving this country forward, the message of unity, the message of getting things done. That is what he will be talking in january 20. As you notice at the outset, people come back to the white house after getting that speech at the capital and take some immediate action to move this country forward. I guess the question is whether or not biden is being naive. If yes getting the oath of office and he looked out to the audience and he sees ted cruz and josh hawley and mo brooks and Kevin Mccarthy and Steve Scalise and a bunch of these people whose actions, whose lies about the election led to the loss of life, these other the people youre going to be trying to work with . Host what i will say is this. 93 senators in both parties, obviously, voted to confirm the electoral results on january 6. Senator mitch mcconnell, a very conservative republican, stood in the senate and made it clear that joe biden won and that he opposed these efforts to overthrow the results of the people. Host which viewpoint do you side with that conversation . Guest i have never been for normalizing these republicans, i have never thought that was a good idea. I have never thought that treating them like it is all ok is the right way forward. So i tend to agree that even having these people like ted cruz, like josh hawley at the inauguration gives them a legitimacy that they no longer deserve. But again, im not trying to run the entire country. Biden is trying to be the president for everybody. He doesnt see himself as a unifier, he thinks that is the way to go. The man won the election, he won the primary. Youve got to give him some leeway to do what he thinks is right and hope that he turned out to be right about those things. I will say that my issue with the inauguration, i cant even guess to the ted cruz and josh hawley followings because i am so worried about the actual, physical safety of joe biden and Kamala Harris and nancy pelosi. We have armed insurrectionists who just stormed the capitol and promised to come back with more guns to finish the job. We have a failure of Law Enforcement and we have so many people within the Law Enforcement community who are complicit with these insurrectionists, and while we had a few heroes, we also had a few sympathizers. I dont know who the administration can trust. We have a secret Service Agent being investigated for supporting the protesters and the insurrectionists on january 6. It just seems to me that we are at a time in our country where the continuity of American Government suggests that we should not have the president and Vice President and speaker of house all in the same place at the same time. We are letting these people fly on planes together for fear that bad weather will decapitate our government. The inauguration, the openair public inauguration where all three of them are the same place alone seems to dangerous, much beyond having to deal with hawley and cruz. Host you can read our guests article this past week on the piece. I no longer trust Law Enforcement to keep biden and harris save on Inauguration Day. David, good morning. Caller good morning. I just wanted to make a comment on the Founding Fathers, is that ok . Host sure, go ahead. Caller i believe that the Founding Fathers themselves wanted to address the issue on slavery. I believe that they were doing it because they said no, we cant come to a conclusion, and they settled that dispute 89 years later after the civil war. Thank you for taking my comments. Host we are asking our founders what the viewer think about today. Guest first of all, if the founders were here today, the first thing that would say is what is up in the air . That flies . It was a long time ago. I dont think that their view is all that relevant to modern society. Anyway, clearly they were proslavery. They wrote a constitution that was proslavery. They wrote in their document that some people were only 3 5 of people. These work flavors and colonists, they were not great men. They had a great idea, but they were not good guys. About trump, they literally warned us about demagoguery in the federalist papers. If you think of the constitution as a product the federalist papers were the advertisement for that product. And in the advertisement, for sure, hamilton, madison and jay wrote a lot about how partisanship could lead to a demagogue in the office of the president. Which would be badly country, and that is exactly what donald trump is. So, yes, they saw trump coming a mile away. They didnt necessarily see barack obama coming a mile away, which is why they are bad people. Host michigan, the line, good morning. Caller good morning. Anyway, thanks for taking my call. You know, as all of us, we are 99 together. This is Martin Luther king day for love and peace. That is what this world really needs, is to note why Martin Luther king was on this earth. You know what Martin Luther kings real legacy should be . And that he brought the country back and brought the people that are supposed to be running this country ahead of the government. The people are supposed to be giving the government, they are supposed to be getting them work as far as problems are. Instead, the government is running the people. This democracy is not made for government running people. People are supposed to run the democracies. I dont know how our constitution and bill of rights got there, but that is what the problem is right now. The 1 has corrupted washington and that is what our biggest problem is. We have to get the 1 out of washington. I know im a little upset, but this 1 at the police included with them and they are the one that killed black children. That is why they dont come home at night. That is all i have to say. If we take the gun from the police, your children wont come home tonight. Thank you. Host any thoughts . Guest look, im happy to eat the rich along with the next guy. The thing that king wanted most was justice. The thing that he wanted most was fairness. And he was willing to use any means he could to get toward justice and fairness. He believed in nonviolence, he believed in nonviolent agitation as the quickest and most effective tactic to get toward justice and fairness, which is why, in his own time, lots of people hated him. He was not popular in lots of places in this country. Because he was viewed as an agitator. He was viewed as somebody who would not wait, who blasted the urgent need for justice and fairness and would not wait his turn. That is the legacy of Martin Luther king. As we sit here with an administration that promises to change our situation and to bring us away from the darkness of the past four years, i would just advise people that urgency is Martin Luther kings legacy. Urgency, not complacency. Host randy in alabama, good morning. Caller yes. First thing up, you need somebody who aint as racist as the man up there now, and yes, i am a democrat. The democrats in the 16 years, they dont do more. As long as you have somebody like this man was on your show now, you dont really have rights, because he is a racist human being, just like arrested them in the media. Host why do you say our guest is a racist . Caller you can listen to the way the man talks. He dont talk about nothing but dividing the country, not healing the country. As long as we have got people like that in the country, we are going to have another civil war. Host i will let our guest respond if you choose to. Guest does that man think that justice is divisive . Does that man think that fairness is divisive . Because if he doesnt think that justice and fairness is divisive, that he should have no problem with me. Because what i want for this country, for myself and my children and yours and your children is justice and fairness. You give me that, we got no problem. That man doesnt like me because he understands that justice and fairness would make the country not fit for people like him to live in. Host maria is next up. Atlanta, georgia, democrat line. Caller good morning to all. Yes, i have a question in a have a comment. First of all, i am so frustrated with the country, i dont even know anymore. America is not the greatest country, we have proven that in the way we treat people. 600 and all that stuff, no health care. What other countries would do this . I have a question for the guest. Does he believed that the first start of getting getting things together with people i personally believe you can have that in here in this day. That is what i feel, i would like to hear his response. Host thank you. Guest first of all, please vote. It is all weve got. Voting is all we have and i know it is not enough, voting is not enough, but it is a start. So please vote. I believe that the constitution is a racist document. I believe that it was written at a time when the people were racist, it was written to support a white supremacist state. And it is structurally still that document. Now, it has been updated. I tend to think, and this is my view, not everybody agrees with me, not everybody on my side of the aisle. I tend to think that the 14th amendment with the guarantee of equal protections and substantive due process for all is enough that if applied to the rest of the document, to save the constitution from its original source, to redeem the constitution from the racism and bigotry and sexism of its founding. I believe that the 14th amendment, fundamentally, does the work if we simply apply it. So my fight, my struggle, my battle is always against conservatives who tell me that the 14th amendment should be limited, tabled, and physically put in one section of the conversation constitution and not read for the entire message. That, to me, is why i fight so hard against people like Amy Coney Barrett or neil gorsuch for some of these republican jerks they put on federal courts. Because they dont believe that the 14th amendment is allowed to fix everything. I believe that the 14th amendment is allowed to fix everything. If you dont believe that, if you dont think the 14th amendment is going to fix everything, then i would end up where the caller was and send the constitution is wrong and you should start over. Lets remember what happened in south africa after apartheid. They did not just leave some ornaments on the front stoop and say all right, we are good now. They started over in a Constitutional Convention that, this time, included all the people in south africa, white, black, and other. They took two years and they wrote a new constitution. That constitution is actually right now, for my money, the best written constitution in the world because it was made by an inclusive body. Our constitution was made by only rich white men after the civil war. The amendments were made by only rich, white men. And i think that is a fundamental flaw that we do not apply. Host do you support it all, this movement on the conservative side to call a convention of the states . Is that a solution at all . Guest that is a tough one. Look, it depends on how you would call the delegates. If you called the delegates inherently racist structures, equally representations of the land and the people, for instance, then, no, a new Constitutional Convention would result in the same failures of our previous. If you called a truly inclusive Constitutional Convention, if you called a convention where you had equal, diverse representation of all the different people and genders and races in this country, and put them together and gave them kind of free range to do what they needed to do to make things right, i would probably at least like to see what they came up with. At least they would have a chance to vote to ratify what they came up with. Host our guest is a graduate of harvard with a degree in political science, government, and his law degree from harvard as well. Next up is not in North Carolina. She depended line. Robert in North Carolina. Independent line. Caller we have a racist publican party. Donald trump should go to jail. He lies about even the vaccine, now the second shots. They are not where they are supposed to be. He has done nothing but disgrace the country and his family also should be locked up. In the Republican Party needs to regroup or get out of politics because they are ruining the country. Guest boom. The Republican Party has allowed itself to be captured by this man. You have seen it happen to be like ted cruz, who when he was running against donald trump, was able to tell the truth about donald trump. But now he has been fully captured to the point where he supports insurrection to keep donald trump in power. Not because he wants donald trump and power, but because he wants the people who support donald trump to support him one day. Sad is not exactly the word i would use because ive been trying to tell people that this is who republicans are my entire life, so for me, it is a little bit more, i told you so. But it is clarifying that it is how desperate some of these people are for power, that they would literally say anything inservice to a man who they know is wrong, inservice to a man who they know does not share their ideals. They will say anything for more power, and that is scary. They have allowed themselves to become that. Host there is a new congresswoman from missouri, cori bush, who after the Electoral College count made a motion to expel, propose a resolution to expel republican members who voted against those electors the encounter. What are your thoughts on that . Guest i come down on the side of yes. Is a close thing. I dont want to pretend like it is not a close thing. Voting for people and committing evil are two different things, and we have to somehow keep in our heads straight etc. Our season levels here. I would worry strongly about a world in which congressman are kicked out of congress, Congress People are kicked out of congress because of how they voted. That is a very dangerous road to go down. However, it is also, as weve seen, very dangerous to try to convince people that the foundational structure of american democracy is lauded, corrupt, and manipulated based on no evidence. These people have spent two months lying to the American Public about the state of this election. Lying. With no evidence about the election. They spent two months doing that. There is a vote to continue doing that. Again, based on no evidence, because they thought they could impress trumps most rabid supporters. Matt lies, that two, fundamental live, lead to a revolt at the capital where five people died. There has got to be some accountability for that. There has got to be some accountability for that. And so that is why i support cori bushs resolution with the understanding that it would take a lot for me to support resolution because fundamentally, i think the congresspeople should get to vote however they want to vote about whatever they want to vote about and have that boat be reported and used against them in elections as opposed to through extortion. I think this have to be a very rare punishment, but in this case, they lied for two months, and people died. What is the solution for that . Host lets go to richard in louisville, kentucky. Publican line. Caller i was a sophomore in high school when Martin Luther king was assassinated in tennessee. It was an all boys school, our school was integrated. In one of my friends was africanamerican young man, he was the bestdressed guy in school, he was sharp. But we always debated, we always argued, and worse, being a young white boy, i did not have all the answers and everything, and i did see something through his eyes, and i thought then killing Martin Luther king after hearing his speech, just how crazy has this road gone world gone . But i ask you, facebook, twitter, if all these companies were not here to silence dr. Martin luther king, he was able to speak his mind so that we in this country can understand the plight of what is going on. Thank you very much. Guest so i think that was a backhanded, because Martin Luther king would have been silent in his own time, we have to let insurrectionists and violent threats plural freight proliferate online without control. I think that with the point there. Its not a terrible point. Ask a terrible point. I believe in the First Amendment, exactly because i know that if i didnt believe in the First Amendment, the first thing that would happen would be a white government would silence me. So i appreciate the point. The difference, of course, is that the First Amendment is supposed to protect us from the government. This is the case, where literally is a civil rights case. The government cannot tell the private press what it can and cannot print. That is the protection that the First Amendment offers. Private actors obviously have the right to print or not print, to voice or not voice, to give thought were not give thought to whatever they like. That is freedom, baby. The thought that the senate which is so vital to protecting us from government control, which i absolutely believe in an absolutely, the caller is right, if there is not a First Amendment, the government would silence people like Martin Luther king and malcolm x and al sharpton and me and michael harriet. Obviously the Fourth Amendment is important to stop the government from doing so. But the private companies, the Tech Companies, they are the ones who are supposed to get to make these decisions, and the way that we keep them from silencing voices that we like is to vote with our feeds. The reason why twitter will not take black people is because black people bring the culture to twitter. That is a business decision. All these republicans have spent most of their lives telling me that we should let the market decide. I am the progressive, i am the one who thinks we should not let the market decide who gets housing. Republicans think that they should. Republicans will be the ones to tell me if i get health, if i get a good job. The market can decide all that. But now the market is saying we dont want insurrectionists and republicans are like, i think that is bad. Nah. The market is deciding on this speech and that is ok. The government cannot decide on speech and that is critical. Host headline from reuters, twitter locks the account of Marjorie Taylor greene, republican who promoted qanon on sunday. A political newcomer known for promoting the faceless and theory. We hear from joyce in woodridge, virginia, independent line. Caller yes, my name is joyce. The thing that im concerned about, the thing that i want to say is that i think the nation should repent. That is the first thing. We have turned against each other. We need to meet in the middle row, the democrats and republicans, and we need to make information. We should not have two different types of information going out. Because that has been the reason why we have all of this of people in the country. I think that the media should check before they put news out, make sure it is true, dont just put something out there because it is going to sell more newspapers. Make sure it is true. One more thing i would like to say, i remember watching the cowboys shows, and they try to be so out of, if somebody did not have a gun, somebody without a gun would not shoot somebody who was unarmed. Somebody that had a gun would not shoot someone in the back. All these were considered cowardly behaviors. Now, we have allowed all of this to go on and when the police should a black person in the back, nobody says no, because we have decided that lies make more sense to us than truth. It is my comment. I hope he will try to embrace truth in the future. Guest i am all for truth, truth is great. To go back to the previous caller, this is the limit, right . The government cannot be in the business of determining what is truth. It just cant be. And the reason why is because too often, it will determine the law. That is the reality. Too often, the government will determine what is true wrong. We cant allow the government to come in and say you can publish this, you cant publish that. You can say this, you cant say that. That is not the proper role of the government, i know that because they will abuse their power. It is the proper role of private industries. What she says, the media should check to make sure things are true. Obviously i think they should do that. Obviously i think that the media mostly does do that. The issue is that some media does not and that media happens to be popular with a particular brand of white supremacist. That is the actual problem. Host let me ask about your work ahead at the nation. In covering the Incoming Biden Administration, does it get easier for you to address difficult issues, having an administration that you obviously would agree more with then the outgoing Trump Administration . Guest i am looking forward to the bind and ministration. I mean that gleefully. There are issues that i want to fight about that have nothing to do with should we have a country . You know how much time i have had to spend the past four years fighting over that stupid wall . That stupid wall that was never going to get built anyway, that was always a bad idea, that was never going to happen . You know how much time i have had to waste explaining to people why the wall is illegal, why it wont happen, why is not a National Emergency . I dont have to do any of that anymore. I can fight about actual issues lecture the minimum wage the 20 or 15 . The things that i actually care about are now finally back on the table with the Biden Administration. Of course are not going to agree with the Biden Administration about many of those things. And going to be on their left. I am looking forward to that fight, that being angry and arguing for a Better Future as opposed to being in a constant, defensive crouch just trying to stop trump and his republicans from irking people. No, its going to be more easy and more fun once biden is in office for a critic like me. And totally looking forward to it. Host a couple of comments on twitter. This one saying not all of the founders were proslavery. Adams and hamilton come to mind. They wanted to keep the 13 states together in the south with proslavery, so the compromise. Not a good compromise, but it was what they could get. Your thoughts . Guest they could not have made me, mise. I am so antislavery that i would not compromise with slavery. So, sure. Adams, hamilton, antislavery northerners. They really thought slavery was a bad idea. Such a bad idea, they would not put the word slavery in the constitution because you know what was more achy . Keeping people as slaves. That was the fight they should have had. They should have had the civil war if they were so antislavery. Host a question from text, asking about the Supreme Court. Ive seen talk about expanding packing the Supreme Court to counter the rightward direction of the last appointment. Can you ask him to talk about is a little, specifically does he think it is possible, what will be the effect . Guest i was really into port expansion before the election when i thought there was a real chance that we can win the senate by a comfortable margin. A 5050 senate any political reality situation, i am less confident that we can get core expansion package through. I am broadly confident that there will be some reform. Ive talked about one of many reforms to go along with term limits, to go along with ethics reforms. I think we can get some of that. And depending on how the court shakes out, i do think there is still a chance that we could expand the courts Going Forward in a way that would be more diverse. One of my arguments for court reform is not like, we need to elect justices who are democrats. I can envision a world where we split the justices between the parties. Given the close divisions of the senate, i think it is going to be even more tough than i thought it was going to be before the election. Host you can read this commentary, his writing at thenation. Com. More ahead here on washington journal. Up next, we will look ahead with another viewpoint from the National Review all coming up with your calls and comments as well as washington journal continues. On january 6, riders breached security and caused extensive damage to the u. S. Capitol for the First Time Since risk troops burned the building in 1814. Coming up monday, revisit cspans original production of the capitol for the history, art and architecture of this iconic congress to grant public spaces and private rooms offlimits to the public. Watch monday and in a car p. M. Eastern on cspan. Listen to cspan podcast. This week, the inauguration and have Previous Administration handled the transfer of power. Find the weekly where you get your podcasts. Wednesday, joe biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States in our Nations Capital and in light of the attack on the capital and the temporary closing of the national mall, the traditional inauguration ceremony has been modified. Follow our live coverage of the day unfolds starting at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. Watch the arrivals of the arrivals of the capital, the swearing in of joe biden and Kamala Harris in the inaugural address. The inauguration of joe biden beginning at 7 00 and noon on wednesday. Live coverage on cspan and cspan. Org, or listen live on the cspan radio app. Announcer washington journal continues. Host we welcome a Senior Editor for the National Review joining up this morning to talk about a legacy of the Trump Administration, looking ahead to the Biden Administration. Good morning, sir. Guest good morning. Host lets start with the Republican Party President Trump leaves office. What do you think the state of the Republican Party today is . Guest well, you know, when President Trump won the nomination in 2016, and a lot of people predicted that it would cause complete political disaster. Center lindsey graham, who had been one of his rivals for the nomination, famously said that. I think you would have to say that didnt happen. President trump defied expectations and won in 2016 and republicans are in reasonably good electoral shape by recent historical standards right now. They are at a near majority in the house and senate, even if they dont have either one of them right now. They have got most of the governorships in the country. On the other hand, they are deeply divided right now. That, i think, creates a question as to their future viability. Can they find a leader who can bridge that divide and set a new direction that is maybe a little bit less defined by his personality and the arguments about them. Host there is an assessment that the division was not really there, the contesting of the 2020 election and certainly, the Electoral College count and finally, the events of 12 days ago, the attack on the capital that have driven those divisions in the party. Guest i say this after the election, there was kind of a sigh of relief on the part of a lot of elected officials. They thought they were going to hold the senate, they were gratified and surprised by how well they had done in house elections. They became much larger than people had thought they would. They had thought they were going to lose seats, and they didnt. It seemed to a lot of republicans that the path forward was trumpism without tru mp that the electorate had rejected him personally but had not rejected the Republican Party. Of course, that left open the question of what trumpism actually is and whether he would get a Party Without trump and whether you are going to continue for stay, but i think that the last two months have been a pretty jarring experience, obviously not just for republicans because trump really sort of set this course madness and a lot of the party followed him and other parts of the party pretended to agree with him. Host a piece published by bloomberg opinions, trump should be impeached, convicted, and disqualified. You think is important that the Senate Moves Forward with the impeachment trial . Guest i do. I think congresswoman liz cheney was correct when she said there has not been a greater betrayal of the oath of office then the one President Trump engaged in. He tried to overturn an election, he had a campaign of lies and conspiracy theories for two months that i think wouldve been impeachable even if they had not led, as they did, to the violence on capitol hill. Host review surprised by all of this, have ascended . How this ended . Guest nobody thought that trump was going to save the day after the election, well, i li lsot i lost fair and square. That is not a surprise. The extent that have actually played out, i think, has still been pretty horrifying to witness. The example that when the electors voted, that might put some of this to bed, but it didnt. And you had very few republicans were willing to stand up and say that the president was saying was untrue. That in fact, or the president was saying was frequently lying. At the same time, you have republicans to, when it counted, were not willing to enable the president. We have intelligent has been appointed registered judges and Election Officials who did the right thing, but particularly with the leadership in washington, leadership was pretty hard to come by. Host our gas talking about the legacy of the Trump Administration, or of the Republican Party. We welcome your calls and comments. Free democrats, the line is 202 7488000. Independent, 202 7488001. For all other, 202 7488002. I want to place in comments over the weekend from fox news sunday. He was asked about what he thought the feature of the Republican Party looked like. Here is a look. First of all, the gop had a very successful election. Yes, we did not win the presidency, but every other level, we had success. Conservatism and Republican Party is alive and well. Right now, we are fractured as a result of President Trump and how he has handled it, the postelection results and challenging Electoral College. That has had some division. But our party will come back together. We are going to have a tough six months or more coming up. We are going to have a lot of soulsearching that is going to be done, and is going to be a fair debate as to the direction of the already, both in terms of trumps influence over it, but it is also going to be about policy and trade in Foreign Policy and bidens agenda. I welcome that policy debate and i think we ought to get back to the conservative principles that have made our party and hopefully, it will move away from that personalitydriven that has led us to where we are right now under President Trump. Host the arkansas governor talking about soulsearching in his comments on fox news. Guest yes. You know, i think that a lot of what he said makes sense. I would, even though he was saying the same thing i was saying earlier, i would just add that is true that the Republican Party has been weak at the president ial level since the cold war. There has only been one time a Republican Party candidate has won a majority or even a plurality of National Popular vote and it has been when it has won electoral majorities, it has done so very narrowly. Of course, 2000, extremely narrow. 2004, pretty narrowly as well. I would say it is not as if everything was smooth sailing. In terms of soulsearching, absolutely. The Republican Party should do some. I dont know whether that is actually going to happen, but i think that republicans need to ask themselves the question about how they ended up in this situation where, again, youve got a leader of the party, the leader of the country spreading unhinged conspiracy theories that lead to violence. Host let me ask you about practical effects for republicans govern on a National Level a closer minority for the republicans in the house, they gained seats in the house versus the democrats. As we know now, they will be up 5050 u. S. Senate with Kamala Harris breaking the tae bo in the senate. Guest right. One of the reasons republicans were pretty confident right after the election was they remembered that their party did quite well during the Clinton Administration and during the obama administration, that there was a pretty rapid bounce back in the 1994 and 2010 elections, the first midterm elections. That could happen again. The problem from my point of view, one lesson republicans drew from that experience if they dont need to have their own agenda. In the short term, that kind of decision can make sense. In the long run, it sets you up for failure in a think we saw that when republicans had unified control of the government in 2017. All of a sudden, they had legislate of health care and they were not able to do it. And they spent months flailing because they never had put a network in opposition to come up with a consensus position that was politically sustainable. And i think theyre going to be really tempted to follow that same course. Host in the 117 congress and the house, what potential problems may be had after the attack . You pointed out liz cheney and her stance on the election, her stance on the attack and her calls the cause for her to step down after the conference chair. Guest i think it is going to be an enormous challenge and Kevin Mccarthy, by coming out in favor of cheney staying set himself up for a test. Whether the more rightwing or protrump elements of the party are going to listen to him is an open question. I dont think his allies are going to be helping mccarthy on that front, but i think he is right to think there are some real risks in moving entirely in the proconspiracy, pro insurrection wing of the Republican Party. Host we have calls waiting for our guest. The Senior Editor with the National Review. Delaware, good morning. Caller ok, thank you. Im calling about a legacy of any president. They all work under article 16 of our constitution. And they are not any of them honest, really. Whatever source is put on and called injustice. They are out of your promoting injustice rather than justice. Article 16 is the roosevelt, wilson, jackson power which leads the rest of us powerless. Because when you start taxing money our capitol, taking it away from us and deciding who to give it to, and we get very little of it, and we have to strive to make more and more as our taxes go up and up and other people get more and more benefits they are living a better life now and we have to work 24 7. Host thank you, caller. Ramesh . Guest i can certainly sympathize with the unhappiness, especially around april, but i am not sure that we can have a government capable of doing what almost everyone in the country would want the government to do without having an income tax. I do not think there is a radical alternative to income taxation. Although i do think we could have a better tax code. Host here is dee in washington, d. C. Caller i was thinking about Donald Trumps legacy and i have a friend who says always talks about how terrible he is. I would always say he is bad but bush is worse. He started the war, millions of people died, our Service Members were wounded, but what happened on the 6th, i had to go to my son and say, i think trump passed bush. Just fermenting this for his own political gain, i think maybe his supporters will still hold them in high regard, but i think his legacy is pretty bad. That is all i really wanted to say. Anyway, thank you for cspan. Host what do you think from the Trump Presidency my get lost . Achievements that my get overshadowed by what happened on january 6. Guest i do not know if it is going to be overshadowed. It has maybe been over the last few weeks, but i think that the changes in the federal judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, have been pretty momentous and are going to be longlasting. It is something that may be putting a little too much faith in. Ultimately if you do not have majority of the country, if you lose elections, that having a conservative judiciary is not going to allow you have the conservative policy victories you want. But it is a big deal. I think we have already seen some of the impact of having a more conservative judiciary. Some of the other triumphs or policy achievements of the Trump Administration, i think, are more likely to be wiped away more quickly. For example, trumps deregulation were good, were economically helpful, but i do not know if that was built to last. I think the Biden Administration will be able to undo a lot of that over the next few years. Host what about in terms of political legacy for future candidates who run like donald trump . Both on the national and state level. Guest that is an open question. Does the trump style, lets call it, translate to other candidates . Can they adopt it and succeed . I dont think we know the answer to that question. I suspect what we are going to see in republican president ial politics over the next few years are people who try to keep a sort of pretrump republican agenda, but tried to be more combative and aggressive and trumplike. I think you will see people try to be more in favor of a trump agenda but tried to tone down the combativeness and try to run as trumpism without trump. I think we just dont know. We will have to have a market test to figure out which of these formulas works best with republican voters. Host we had a caller yesterday who suggested trump should for his own party. He has enough support he can separate from the Republican Party and form a trump party, a separate thing from the gop. Is that feasible . Guest if you remember back to the 2016 president ial race, one of the ways trump was able to neuter criticism was to threaten. That he would take supporters with him and he would run as a thirdparty candidate or not support the republican ticket. That threat i think is something that weighs on republican minds. I think a lot of officials understand that trump is not particularly committed to the party and would be perfectly happy to leave it a flaming wreck if he thought it was in his interest or felt like doing that. I think that is one of the reasons why republicans have been so unwilling to criticize him for all of the provocations he made. Host lets go to statin island, new york. Stan on the democrats line. Caller im a big fan. I remember William Buckley and i would be curious to get the guests opinion about what would William Buckley be thinking right now and how would he have approached the Trump Presidency . Guest thank you for that question. I was a great admirer of bill buckley as well. I do sometimes ask myself that question, but the answer is really unknowable. He was such an independent thinker and he could be very unpredictable. We do know that when he wrote about trump in, i believe it was 2000, he was extremely hostile. He viewed trump as guilt all the way down. But on the other hand he came around to being very hostile to the iraq war and maybe that would have made him more sympathetic to the challenge trump posed to the Republican Party in 2015 and 2016. It is just impossible to know. Host William Buckley guest let me just host was the founder of your magazine. Go ahead. Guest of course. One of bills greatest achievement was to expel conspiracy theorists from the ranks at the cost of himself in the magazine politically. Kicking out the John Birch Society at a time when leadership was saying things like, Dwight Eisenhower was a secret communist. I think that was really important for the health of conservatism in the country. Unfortunately, that kind of intellectual pathology has crept back into the Republican Party and this white house. Host lets go to ardelle calling from louisiana. Caller happy new year, cspan. Host thank you. Caller trump has broken every chain commandment there is and when he was running for office the republicans talked about him so bad and nobody supported him. But they all now support him considerably. But i dont think that joe biden and Kamala Harris are going to make it through their terms. Some way the followers of trump are going to assassinate both of them and i hope this is not true. But i truly believe that it is. Thank you. Guest i think that call reflects a fevered political atmosphere that we have right now and we all have to hope and do what we can to keep that in check. Host here is robert in of rural, indiana on the republican line. Caller yes. I have never seen such a mess in my life. These guys you have got on there today talk about racism. Didnt Kamala Harris call joe biden a racist . Yet, she is Vice President and everybody in congress, all the blacks of their talk about racism. Host ramesh, i want to ask you about the 1. 9 trillion proposed for covid relief. Here are the comments the president elect from last thursday on that and why he thinks americans need additional aid. [video clip] the very health of our nation is at stake. The rescue plan includes immediate relief to americans hardest hit and most in need. We will finish the job of getting the total of 2000 in cash relief to people who needed the most. The 600 already appropriated is not enough. We just have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table. Even for those who kept their jobs these checks are important. If you are an American Worker making 40,000 a year with less than 400 in savings, maybe you have lost hours or doing fewer shifts, driving the truck or caring for the kids were elderly, you are out there putting your life on the line to work during this pandemic, and worried every week that you get sick, lose your job, or worse. 2000 is going to go a long way to ease that pain. We will also provide more peace of mind for struggling families by extending Unemployment Insurance beyond the end of march for millions of workers. That means 18 million americans currently on Unemployment Benefits while they look for work can count on these checks continuing to be there. Plus, there will be a 400 per week supplement so people can make ends meet. This gets money into the pockets of millions of americans who will spend it on food and rent and other basic needs. As economists tell us, that helps the whole economy grow. Host ramesh, what are your thoughts . Guest i think it makes sense for it to be his political priority. I think a lot of it is going to be popular and that is going to help. First of all, the policy rationale is pretty lacking and with congress as divided as it is a lot of it is going to be hard. For example, the 15 minimum wage that is part of the covid relief package i think would be a big mistake. It would be devastating in a lot of states with a low cost structure. I dont know how that is going to get past congress. I am not sure they are going to be able to have the votes for that. It does not mean that is not a good political issue. The 2000 checks, or really 1400 checks on top of the 600 already approved, i think that is a pretty popular move. It will help some people, but the idea it is going to stimulate the economy, that is unlikely. Basically what it will do is make the federal governments Balance Sheet worse and household Balance Sheets better, but not have a huge net positive effect or much of any positive effect on the economy overall. Then there is a grab bag of other things, some of which i like and some of which i dont like. But i dont think this is a package overall that is narrowly targeted to the challenges of the covid economy. Host you pointed out the provision on the minimum wage. Why is it we see this in both democratic and Republican Congress is, administrations as well, that in these large packages policy issues and pet projects are put into these large bills making them even larger than they may have been if they did not just address the problem at hand . Guest you can go pretty far back and find legislation that becomes legislators sometimes call it a Christmas Tree where everybody puts something on or put something under the tree, because they know it is going to pass or they have a good shot at passing. I think it has gotten a little bit worse in recent years because congress has fallen out of the habit of routine legislation. You only pass big legislation in emergency circumstances. Youve got to raise the debt ceiling or youre not going to be able to pay the federal debt. Or you have some crisis like the coronavirus shutting down the economy. So people have more incentive to try and pack that legislation because otherwise the prospects are pretty grim. Host lets hear from tony from pennsylvania on the independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I have enjoyed this conversation. I know there has been a lot of talk about how horrible trump has been for the country and the lies that were told. I think i would want to revisit the era of dick cheney and george bush and really think about the iraq war, the lies, how he misled the American People into that war. At the time when those lies were more harmful, i think we have killed half a million iraqis in the process, destabilized the middle east, and have ushered in a lot of pain here because we have taken the trillions of dollars for that war and spent it over there and we do not spend it here to help people with health care, raising income so people can have better lives. As i listen to our guest i see someone with a lot of privilege that does not see the pain of the American People. That does not see or understand the pain of 30 of trump voters are living on the margins on the margins are vulnerable to his lies. I see someone who is out of touch like most of our corporate media. He is not trying to. I do not think his bosses want him printing narratives like the one im am talking about. I do not hear him complaining about the trillions that obama gave away to the large banks to bail them out. I dont hear him talking about the bailout we gave that gave, i think it was 0. 94 to the American People. Now we have joe biden, oh, i want to bailout the American People. No you dont. There is a way in which trump does lie. I am not a fan of trump by any means. I do see that he is a threat, but i want to say there were times when i really liked what he had to say. Occasionally he told the truth. There was a murder of journalist in turkey were trump came back and said, look, the saudis buy arms from us and money owns the narrative. Money owns what is right in this country and abroad and there was something very ugly happening in the world. I will take my answer off air, but thank you. Host we will hear from our guest. Guest tony has looked deep into my soul and motivations, which is pretty impressive. I guess i apologize for talking about the things i was asked about and nothings wished i talked about. Host bruce in alabama, republican. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I think trumps legacy is pretty much over. I think the democrats all he went through for four years, i do not see him ever being able to run. We need nikki haley to step up. We need her to run. I really believe she would be a good first woman president , legitimate president , and we need her. Nikki haley, if you are listening, your country needs you. You need to run for president. Thank you. Host potential candidate . Ramesh . Guest i think nikki haley agrees strongly and gives every sign of wanting to run for the 2024 nomination. We are just going to have to see whether she can pull that off. There are a number of challenges ahead of her. She is very widely liked among republicans. However, like everybody else, shes going to have to navigate the trump versus antitrump divisions in the party. I think a lot of strongly protrump republicans are going to dredge up things she said against trump in 2015 and 2016 and hold that against her. Then there is the question of, you know, what is her agenda . Does she speak to some of the economic concerns that we associate with workingclass Trump Supporters . Or does she follow a more pretrump conservative economic agenda . I think she has given some conflicting signals that. Host let me ask you about 2024. Not me, if you are in seattle, dave, would you guess to be surprised if trump would run ivanka in 2024 . I think he is referring to florida . Guest the republican primary against review host i see. Guest there is some chatter. No. Nothing could be surprising anymore. I think she does have political ambition which is kind of interesting because rubio and ivanka trump have worked more closely together than any other republican senator and ivanka. The issues they have tended to concentrate on have overlapped. They worked together on family leave, they worked together on the child tax credit. But policy can be an unsentimental business. I would not be surprised if there were a clash. Host george in greenville, mississippi, democrats line. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to speak to the trump legacy. I believe in everyman having a second chance. I believe god forgives us all for the things we do. But trump has told a lot of lies. He parted men who broke the law and i think we ought to uphold the law and trump parted a lot of criminals that lied to the fbi. I dont think god is pleased with it. I dont think america is pleased with it. One of the things i found out about conservatives and democrats is the conservatives will leave things like they are. They never want to change. They never want people to have a better life at the democrats sometimes, it gets too much. We have got to do what is right. We need to look at the bible and sit with the bible is saying and god is saying and then we follow those lines. You never had a president say he could go out in new york city and shoot somebody and still be the president. You never have a president who says, go to the capitol and use force. We never had that in the history of this country. Host george in mississippi. Ramesh, do you think donald trump talked about establishing a separate media network. Do you still think that is a viable option for him . Guest well, i wonder whether he would really start one or just take an existing one. You know, he would have a lot of hurdles to overcome and i think one of the things we have seen over the last months you look at the most proTrump Networks have had to make embarrassing settlements because of lies they spread ever called on legally. You have got to wonder what kind of legal liabilities you would be opening up if you were a Trump Network broadcasting that same kind of thing. Host we hear from joan next in alabama, republican line. Caller good morning. Host morning. Caller i would like to say that you can talk until the cows come home, so to speak, but sand is the bottom line for everyone in this nation. We are all sinful and jesus christ is the answer. We need to get back to the bible and the truth. I thank you and that is all have got to say. Host joan in alabama. Lets talk about the Incoming Biden Administration with the inauguration two days away. Ramesh ponnuru, the first couple of days we see executive actions overturning things that happened in the Trump Administration. What are you looking forward to or expecting . Guest the administration has told us a lot of the things it is planning to do. The Incoming White House chief of staff put out a memo on saturday where they outlined priorities and a lot of it is going to be stuff that includes reversing a lot of the republicans executive orders. We have moved toward a pingpong style governments where there is a lot of first day, first week in any administration after a change of party. The republicans tighten up taxpayer funding for organizations that promote abortion overseas and the democrats loosened that again. We are going to see a lot of that this time. Some of the things the Trump Administration put in are going to take longer to undo because the administration, the new Biden Administration, is going to have to follow procedures act in undoing some of those things. A lot of that is going to get tied up in court. But i think we have had a tendency toward executive government over the last few decades and that seems to be accelerating. Host next is matt calling from westwood, new jersey. Caller thank you. I would like to state some facts about the president s legacy which your past two guests have either ignored i am disappointed that cspan should have a more equal time to President Trumps supporters. Fact, President Trumps legacy veterans twice allowed veterans to get doctor care when they need to instead of waiting in line and dying as they had in the past administrations. S. Fact, President Trump getting these vaccines with his warp speed which no one thought would take place. Fact, President Trump bringing back jobs to americans because he felt the pain of americans who were fired, laid off. Factories shipped overseas courtesy of people like Hillary Clinton and mr. Biden and the democrats, as well as some republicans in name only, such as your guest, who is a trump aide or. Host we will get a response. [laughter] guest i actually agree with some of that. I think the better thing was building on an obama era piece of legislation, but i thought both administrations moves on that were positive. I think neither got a handle on the admin straight of problems with Veterans Health care and there is quite a bit of work left to be done. I think operation warp speed was successful and was, as the caller said, more successful than people thought it was going to be. I think that is outweighed by some other problems, including those with distribution which we are seeing right now. I just think both parties have vastly exaggerated the effect president s have on the economy. The first three years of trump were very good economic years. They were not great changes in the existing trend. You had a positive in the late obama years that continued under trump until the Coronavirus Crisis hit. I would not give trump all of the credit for those first three years. Nor would i say the crisis following that was entirely his responsibility either. I think that wouldve happened under any president. But both of those things wouldve happened under any president. Host ramesh ponnuru, Senior Editor with National Review. You can read his articles at National Review. Com. We appreciate you joining us this morning. Guest thank you for having me. Host coming up, later today on cspan we are going to reair the 2006 documentary on the capitol. Given the inauguration is two days away and still 12 days since the attack of the capitol, we thought we would ask you in the last half hour, what with the founders think of our republic . Heres how to join the conversation. Democrats call 202 7488000, republicans call 202 7488001, independents and others 202 7488002. We will be right back. Announcer the United States Supreme Court heard three oral argument this week. Listen to them at cspan. Org Supreme Court. The justices heard oral arguments in a case on the detention of nonus citizens and bond hearings while they await court hearings. They also heard arguments in the case concerning a Georgia College student civil suit against the school for violations of free speech and exercise of religion rights. Amg Capital Management llc on injunctions and monetary relief under the federal trade commission act. Listen to u. S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments at cspan. Org Supreme Court. Announcer on january 6 rioters breached security and cause damage to the u. S. Capitol since the first time they burned the building in 1814. Coming up tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, visit the original reproduction of the capitol. Taking you through time for the art and architecture of this iconic home to Congress Since 1800. Granted special axis into thousand six to private rooms offlimits to the public, watch the capitol tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Announcer listen to podcast of the weekly. This week the inauguration and how Previous Administrations handled the transfer of power. Find the weekly where you get your podcasts. Announcer washington journal continues. Host on washington journal some of our video inside the rotunda of the u. S. Capitol and the statute of the reverend Martin Luther king jr. This was shot as part of our 2006 documentary, the capitol, that will air today on cspan. You can find online as well at cspan. Org. We will spend the next halfhour asking you about what the founders with think of our republic. 202 7488000 is the line to call for those of you who are democrat. 202 7488001 for republicans enter independent and others, 202 7488002. It is the 35th observance of the Martin Luther king holiday. A couple of tweets and comments from lawmakers. Senator of south dakota with his tweet and a shot of the monument in washington. Today we honor the life of dr. Martin luther king jr. , who dedicated his like to bring greater equality and justice to all. We continue to be inspired by his tireless pursuit of a more perfect union. From Bennie Thompson for mississippi, he dared share the dream we call reality. The birthday was observed on the third monday of every january and has been since 1986. That was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1983. Throughout this half hour we will show you some of the documentary that will air tonight at 8 00 eastern and this afternoon at 1 00. Lets take a look. [video clip] the impact of jefferson is most clearly seen in statuary hall. With the south wing completed during jeffersons presidency the house moved out of its temporary quarters in the north part of the building and into their new chamber in 1807. In that room you see allegorical statuary, you see the wonderful corinthian columns. When the hall was first used in october 1807 it was generally claimed to be one of the most beautiful rooms, if not the most beautiful ring, in america. Imagine being a congressman in 1807. Most came from rural districts. You came to this unfinished capitol in an unfinished city, but still, you go to the interior of the south wing it must have been breathtaking. Host again, that is airing today at 1 00 p. M. Eastern and 8 00 p. M. Eastern. We originally aired that in 2006. Our question, what with the founders think of our republic . This is from Foreign Policy. The headline, the Founding Fathers did not see this coming. The constitution is breaking down in ways designers recognize from history and thought they guarded against. Today, both the nature and visibility of american democracy are being tested. The founding generation of Americans First principles meant democracy and an aversion to tyranny. The founding generation of statesmen saw their task is combating tyranny at home and abroad. Their legacy was a mixed one that established liberty and oppression, freedom and slavery, as between strands of u. S. History. First caller is dennis in grover, North Carolina on the republican line. Good morning and welcome. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Host you bet. Caller i think this government i am independent and i look at the democrats and republicans and i think this whole country is showing some craziness. The whole world is looking at us and laughing or something. These people are supposed to make the laws and do things right. It is all in pieces. That is my opinion. Host walter is next on the republican line in st. Johns, arizona. Caller good morning. Host good morning. Caller the question, what with the Founding Fathers think of the republic today. Host yeah. Caller if we snapped our fingers in the Founding Fathers appeared, they would marvel at the technology. But when they looked at what government had developed into, you know, in plain language, i would like to own stock in a baseball company. They are not conditioned as we are today to accept the corruption and the bias that is taking place. So they would be extremely angered. Like i said, i would love to own stocks in baseball because i would get as many bats as i could, and start banging down some doors. Going back to the 6th, the trump intelligence was extremely lacking. The only thing violence benefited was the entire democratic party, not the republicans. If trump was aware the capitol was going to be raided, he wouldve told his supporters on the comment he made that the crowd had been infiltrated by subversives and they are planning on storming the capitol. He wouldve asked his supporters to stop that. To build a barricade and if anyone tried to infiltrate the capitol, to turn their backs and walk away because it did not support him. He would have made that clear in his speech. Host this is the reporting in the wall street journal. Proud boys season call to washington, help lead capitol attack. They write, the leader of the farright organization known as the proud boys shared a cryptic post on the messaging app telegram, what if we invaded . This was sent to followers reading january 6 is the day in america. The Washington Post reviewed many messages across social media platforms where they rallied supporters after being mostly banned from facebook and twitter. The group repeatedly invoking President Trumps rhetoric leading to the protest and they built momentum toward what became a violent showdown. We are asking what with the founders think of our republic . We want to let you know every day on the program there are a number of folks who have a great conversation online. Some of that we share with you. There are so many that we cannot get all of the regulars on, but one of those is wild and wonderful. Sad news about one of our regular viewers. He said, it is with Great Sadness that jan, jodi, and i that our good friend and regular, karen buchanan, passed away yesterday. She has been battling covid19. We will miss her common sense, good nature and with. Lets take a moment today to remember her. We will miss karens posts and personality as well in washington journal. Kelly is next in bluefield, west virginia. Caller hi. I think the Founding Fathers would be turning over in their graves. America needs to wake up. I am an independent and when you think about the democrats and republicans im talking about joe manchin, Susan Collins and the rest of them when they touted what they were going to do, but left out the earmarks and money going to foreign countries, was a slap in the face to the American Public. So my message is to these people and cspan is to publish these things and let the American People now about the earmarks and all the other things know about the earmarks and all things. Host peter is in florida. Caller how are you . Host good. Thank you. Caller i think the founders would be disturbed with what is going on. I think any civilian that does what he did should be arrested. Regardless if he is the president , and the people that stormed the capitol should not be pardoned. I think this is just not right to do this to our democracy. To try and stop an election. These republicans think this is correct and this is how we should act. This is not how we should act. Whether you are democrat or republican, whether you are president or not president , you should not do what you do. You are the one that had people struck the capital by your words. Host thank you for that, stephen. Albany, new york we hear from julian. Caller i would like to comment on the forefathers and as far as they did as far as democracy. They did a very good job. We need to talk about what happened and what the blm protesters would have done instead. Host we go to deerfield beach, florida. Barbara, go ahead. Caller i want to welcome joe biden to americas justice. I want to greet you so intensely. We are behind you, alongside of you, before you, under you. We represent one half. Of america. As a woman, as a believer in truth, justice and freedom. Freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of oppression, freedom of worship, we should put these into our children. As an educator we must tell our children what we have. This unique experiment, and we all believe in it, men and women, children, black, white, any color, any religion, and the world will accept us. Host Kamala Harris set to become the next Vice President. Resigning from the senate. Part of her statement setting, as i resigned from the senate, i am preparing to take an oath that would preside over it. That would be split between democrats and republicans as well. Many potential tiebreaking votes coming up. A look at the Capitol Series from 2006 and information on a couple of former Vice President s, Thomas Jefferson and aaron burr. [video clip] as members of the press are escorted into the suite of offices used by the Senate Republican leader, they walk into an inner sanctum of the building not seen by tourists. Into the rooms were Thomas Jefferson, henry clay, and Daniel Webster walked. Into the very beginning of the capitol history. Aiden hundred to 1800 to 1802 they met in these rooms. After 1802 it was the library of congress. From 1806 to 1808 they came back in. From 1800 to 1810 this was the heart and soul of government. I should mention front of that window where the speakers chair was in 1801 it was Thomas Jefferson and aaron burr standing on either side of the window. The speaker was in the middle and this decision of who would become president was made. 36 consecutive vote because this was the house of representatives. One was going to be president and the other Vice President. 36 votes later Thomas Jefferson became president right in front of that window. Pretty remarkable. With his election in the house. Host again, the documentary airing today at 1 00 p. M. And 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Question, what would the founders think of our public . Couple of comments on twitter. Richard says, they would think it was time for another revolution. They should have added term limits. People did not live as long back then and they had no idea how corrupt politicians would become , that was from dee. John says, i think it would find trump a patriot invited a traitor. Norm is on the independent line. Caller thank you for taking my call. I am concerned. I think what our founders would think not as the previous caller said i do not think they had in mind how corrupt it could become. Mainly because of the corporate greed that runs everything i often make the statement we are no longer the United States of america, where the corporate states of america and they own and run all three branches of our government and regulatory agencies that are supposed to protect we, the people, from those corporations. They need to dismantle citizen united. We need term limits. They need to stop gerrymandering districts. It used to be you could vote a miscreant out of office by voting. Now if somebody decides they want to rerun their campaign, they automatically 90 to 95 are going to get reelected. We do not have much control over what is going on in government. I do not think that is with the Founding Fathers intended. Host thank you for that. Maryland, next we hear from kevin. Caller how are you doing . A lot of people are saying they would be rolling over in their graves with all the lies and cheats. It blows my mind. I dont like the idea of rioting , but they still hide and hide 70 things with the news so many things with the news. But they never show any of this. You get bits and pieces. Not to get too heavy on that host werent there busloads of antifa people on the other side . Caller they were streaming it. Host where did you see the stream . Caller so many different ones. You will find 70 pictures. They even have pictures of patriot claiming up the mess other people made. Nobody else shows they were cleaning. Host heres a piece from andy taylor who covers the capitol hill for the associated press. What biting canning cannot get from an evenly divided senate. By dan and cannot get from an evenly divided senate. A mob of zealots ransacked the u. S. Capitol and reshape the National Political landscape. The unexpected new balance of power, giving democrats only the barest control of congress, has been comes across as for the president elect. The road ahead for his ambitious legislative agenda remains complicated and murky. Hopewell junction, new york, eric, good morning. Caller good morning. My father taught history many years, god rest his soul. Host what grade level did he teach . Caller he taught the upper grades in high school. Host great. Caller taught history and he loved history, but the Founding Fathers kind of set this experiment in motion. I think they said to the future, you know, if you can keep it. They were not the most agreeable fellows themselves to themselves. They argued quite a bit. But they obviously had the upper hand as far as finding compromise and a common good they could agree with his and we are. Than we are. I will say cspan brings the good. I have been watching you for 30 years and you definitely shaped my view of america. It is a very different from a social media influenced algorithm view. I got to watch the diversity of people throwing their stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. It is a beautiful forum. I know our Founding Fathers would say you are bringing the good to the people and helping them understand their country better. Host let me play devils advocate a little bit. Put yourself back in 1787 or so and all of the founders, they came from disparate locations and different communities. They had just fought a war of independence. Certainly they brought not only different ideas and experiences, but fresh memories of having fought, in many cases and, in other cases, people they knew had died for the creation of United States. Caller it was an amazing time. Tragedy brings compassion and empathy and wisdom i think. They all came out of a conflict like that and looked to each other and that was their common bond i guess. Host on that, and the question following would be is now one of those times . Following the incident of the culmination of the election and the attack on the capitol . Caller it is certainly a splash of cold water. I am not so confident i hear people say this all the time that have of america leans one way and half the other way. I did a christmas poll on if people were nice. It is sort of my Little Washington journal. Do you think most people are nice and i ask them what you think most people have told me . I have all these people answering this question. I get very little animus. I have spoken to many people who do not share my views and we have a conversation about whether they think most people are nice. [laughs] host i appreciate you calling back. We will talk to you again. Josephine is next on the independent line. Livingston, new jersey, welcome. Caller good morning. My watching this wednesday in horror who wouldnt be . There was a photographer who followed the people right in because he is a, get this, war correspondent. It looks like we were at war. The only way to describe it. What with the founders think of what is going on . I dont think they would ever imagine this sacred house would be treated with such disrespect. Everybody was screaming, the constitution, and there is a group of people you know the guy with the horn . They were on the Senate Podium praying to god. Dont debase this building. I have one thing to ask, i beg of you. Governor schwarzenegger, the former republican governor of california, was an immigrant. He gave an eight minute speech. Please, i beg you, play it. Look at it from an immigrants eyes. Host josephine, i think we actually played it when it came out last week. It has aired on the cspan network and i think you can find it in the video library. She was talking about the war correspondent. The writer is from the new yorker. He is a correspondent for the new yorker. His video he posted online and you can find that at new yorker. Com. He shot all the video is that report. In waterloo, iowa, lets hear from brian. Caller yes. I would like to say that what happened last week in the capitol was not precipitated by the outcome of the georgia election. What happened in the capitol and i do not agree with what happened, let me make that clear but what preceded that was the democrats in congress wanting to impeach trump before he took office. That was a violent attack on the republic. That was a violent attack on the republic and everything they did after that continued the assault on the republic. What happened last week was a culmination of things that occurred the last four years. Again, i do not agree with what happened, but i was not shocked by it. Host heres a couple of comments on text and twitter before we wrap up. Are there South Carolina says, the founders would be appalled. Violence on the capitol, violence in the summer with attacks against courthouses and police stations. The obvious hatred of america by americans and the effort to destroy monuments to their honor. Chris in new jersey, the founders would be surprised the republic they created lasted this long. Benjamin franklins comment about our republic, if you can keep it, still replies. Rene in virginia, the Founding Fathers would be turning in their graves. The revolutionary war was fought to escape the monarchy, not revive it, like trump and cope 45 want to do. The Founding Fathers were not perfect by any means, but the smart ones would see trump for the desperate he is. Tyrone in new york city, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. We got to remember the Founding Fathers, when they put this together, they only had rich, white men able to form the country. Women were not voting, poor white people were not voting, enslaved people were definitely not voting. When you set up a system where the minimum amount dictate how the maximum out of people live it is going to be a recipe for disaster. King said, two of the most Dangerous Things is ignorance and stupidity. All of us of ignorant of some things. But we use conscientious stupidity to forward our agenda. You are not going to deal with reality. That is what we have here. Host thank you. Tyrone mentioned Martin Luther king and a tweet from his daughter, bernice king, saying as you honor my father today please honor my mother as well. She was the architect of the king legacy and founder of the king center. One more call. Davis in michigan. Suzanne, go ahead. Caller your callers are very handsome this morning. I just want to say, i dont think they would be so shocked. And envisioned a republic in that they would know there would be change, and they would know that. Jefferson absolutely did. I think what happened at the capitol was disgusting, uncivil, and we live in a Pluralistic Society in which we are expected to do our duty and civility. I just want to remind everyone, be civil, be kind in your thoughts and actions. All the conspiracy theories are bunk, as my dad would say. Host some good guidance for any day but particularly on the Martin Luther king holiday. Our documentary on the capitol airing tonight at eight 00. Enjoy the rest of the holiday. See you tomorrow morning at 7 00 eastern. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you are watching cspan, your unfiltered ul government. Cspan was created by americas Television Cable companies in dean 79. Today, we are brought to you by these Television Companies who provide cspan2 viewers as a public service. January sixth, riders breached security and caused extensive damage to the u. S. Capitol for the First Time Since british troops burned the building in 1814. Coming up tonight at 8 00 eastern, we visit cspans original production of the capitol for the story of the history, art, and architecture. Granted special access in 2006 by congress to grant public spaces and private rooms offlimits to the public. Watch the capitol tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan. Wednesday, joe biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States in our nations capitol. In light of the attack on the capitol and the temporary closing of the national mall, the traditional inauguration ceremony has been modified. Follow our coverage starting at 7 00 eastern. Watch the arrivals at the capitol, swearing in of joe biden and Kamala Harris, and the inaugural address. The inauguration of joe biden beginning at 7 00 eastern. Listen live on the cspan radio app. Facebook. Com cspan. Throughout this hour we will show you the highlights throughout the 2006 documentary, the capital