Host good morning and welcome to washington journal. The Republican Party will hold it first debate. For the next year or so the United States will be consumed with accusations, and falsehoods as both Political Parties and to gain dominance. Arent all americans looking for peace and prosperity. Our the political divides against the party so great and if they are what does it say about the future of our country . Are you concerned about the growing political divide in this country . We are opening up regional lines. If you are in the eastern or central time zone, your telephone number is going to be 202 7488000. If you are in the mountain or pacific time zone, your number is going to be 202 7488001. You can always text us at 202 7488003. And we are always reading on social media and facebook. You can follow us on x cspanwj. The First Political debate of the president ial election will come up this week. Are you concerned about what the other side is doing . Lets start by looking at this gallup pole that talks about poll that talks about the partisan cap is growing a as well. We talk about foreign trade, immigration, health care, and taxes. Do you believe what those on the other side are saying or do you believe politicians are causing more problems . What do you see causing the growing political divide . Do you see it in media or politics. Lets go to a quote we saw in Time Magazine. This was back in may. One of the things they say is causing the political divide is a lack of Civic Education. I want to bring the quote to you. If we fail to teach the civil dialogue necessary, we will endanger the american progress. Instead of building a Better Future by Common Ground they will only go deeper into partisanship and extremism. Fortunately there is a way out. It requires a new way of thinking about Civic Education. We need to teach students the virtues of democratic citizenship. We need to teach the ability to consider arguments with which we disagree and engage in dialogue with music different in dialogue with people with music different in dialogue with people with views different than our own. We want to know from you, what do you think is causing the political divide . Is it the lack of education, the media, politicians . Lets talk to stan who is calling from alabama. Caller i appreciate you taking my call this morning. The political divide centers on one thing, donald trump and his ascension into politics. Host are you saying you dont think he the country was politically divided 10 years ago . Caller all you have to do is look at the rhetoric and what is going on in this country. My friends are Trump Supporters. They dont know different. They were raised that way. They cant help yourselves. This country has to come to the conclusion that we have to stop all this and come together. Host how do you identify politically . Caller m an i am an american. I try not to identify politically. Host you dont vote for a particular party . Caller no sir. Host what are some of the solutions that will help heal the growing political divide in the United States . Caller for one thing, we have to do away with all this discourse in our politics. I used to be able to talk to my friends about politics but you cant talk to these people. That is a problem. Host describe what happens when you talk politics with your friends. Is it that becomes a screaming match, no one is listening . Caller they dont want to listen to you. They think they have a godgiven right to do what they are doing. That is what part of the problem is. Trump doesnt go with church. He doesnt even practice religion. Host i see that you particularly are blaming former President Trump. Was there political divide before former President Trump . Caller sure there was but nothing like it is now. Host lets go to marie who is calling from the latin pennsylvania doylestown pennsylvania. Caller i believe part of the reason is because people who are in politics talk around things. Government people dont come to the is sue issue. Lawyers have to go to school to find out what exactly anything means. When people are talking to each other, there is so much confusion as to what is going on that they cant even get the point. No matter what it is if you try and get some information, if you call a Municipal Center or government in any way, you are switched around and you cant even talk to anybody. In the newspaper contrives anything they want to talk about. Host do you see, in your personal life, political divide when you talk to your friends, family . Can you talk about Politics Around the dinner table anymore . Caller yes you can. I talk a lot. A lot of my friends are democrats and republicans and we talk in a way we can understand each other. Yes is yes and no is no. When you listen to anybody talk on television, anybody running for politics, they wont say yes. They run around the issue. They will say, if the sun comes up, this and this and this and that could be the answer. They dont say yes. They will talk about anything except for an absolute yes or no. They pass the buck off. It is not my fault it is someone elses fault. I dont know how we got into this but it definitely is the political way of speaking and of understanding if we dont take responsibility for it and push it onto some else like it is not your fault. Everybody has to try to figure out whats everybody is saying and then maybe we could understand whats going on politically, because sometimes it is said that its what youre not saying is the problem and that definitely is underlying a lot of things. It is not what they are saying. Host for a lot of people in this country they have a difficult time talking politics with their friends and family. You say you dont. Tell the rest of us some of your secrets of being able to talk politics with your friends and family without getting frustrated and people getting angry at each other. Caller respect them i respect them. If they have a particular view, that is fine and that is what they think and i respect that. Host you said you have friends that are both democrats and republicans. What part of the political spectrum do you fall on . Caller i was raised republican. All my family has been involved in the military and i respect all the people that have gone into the military, whether democrat or republican, they have to support our country. I believe you have to help people, be caring, but they have to be able to take care of themselves. It is your own personal responsibility to take care of yourself, but it is also your responsibility to help other people. It should be even and we should give steps or a way for everybody to obtain their level of emotional security, actual support, and that doesnt seem to be happening all around. Host lets go to lee who is calling from grand forge, new york. Caller i have two examples of extreme political divide. One i heard this morning. Some 2024 president ial candidate vows to finish the wall. It is being auctioned off for peanuts to stop the wall. My second point of political divide is on student loan forgiveness. The Supreme Court said biden cant arbitrarily make taxpayers responsible for student loan debt. To get around this, bidens department of education of borrowers that 39 billion in taxpayer it federally funded Student Loans will be forgiven in the next few weeks. Host you called and gave us some examples, but can you tell us how we can help solve this growing political divide . What do think we should do to keep the country together . Caller it is very difficult because the political divide is right down the middle. When one wants something the other refuses to give it. It is never going to stop until pigs fly. Host do you think it is possible that we as americans can disagree without being disagreeable . Caller the media is so charged up for and against something and as long as they are not in relation to each other, i cant. Im just upset. Host when you say the media, who are you talking about, cable news, television, radio, your local town newspaper . Caller talking about all of the things you mentioned. If youve listened to one thing on one program and then on another days dispute another they dispute it. The Washington Post and times compared to the epic times, totally different views. They just want to confuse you with a lot of chaos. Host is there any way we as americans can sift through the chaos and make up our own minds about who we should support and who we shouldnt support and had these conversations with friends and family . Do you talk politics with your friends and family . Caller it is funny because i am open for opinions of both republicans and democrats. Unfortunately, i find democrats put up a stone wall. When they talk about abortion they can constantly say that the republicans dont want pro life dont want to have prochoice, that is not true. 76 of the people believe there should be a limit to this at maybe three point five months and they constantly use that as a weapon. Host out you identify politically how do you identify politically . Caller a conservative. I am a republican conservative. Host some politicians say they are trying to help the conversation get after better. The National Government association is starting a campaign they are calling saving your family dinners to help people talk Politics Around the dinner table. Here is one of the first ads pushing this. [video clip] i am the republican governor of utah. I am the governor of colorado. We are here to save your family dinners. You are halfway through your second dose of mashed potatoes and your uncle talks about the election. Maybe you are the one with strong opinions. You know you are right in the other side is a bunch of misguided weirdos, but there is a healthy way to deal with conflicting opinions. Is ok to disagree. It is crucial. Healthy disagreement means that the other side isnt deluded and trying to overthrow american america. Healthy disagreement keeps it out of your social feed. The next time youre uncle or niece or anyone else brings up that one topic that just drives you nuts, take a deep breath, be curious. You might find you are not as far apart as you think. Conflict isnt bad. It is the way we disagree. Please join us in showing america the right kind of conflict. Together we can disagree together. Host lets see what some of the followers on social media are saying about being concerned about the growing political divide in the United States. There is a post from facebook that says the u. S. And the democracy has to reinvent, recommit, reassess whether we want to be a nation of bickering tribes or a republic that engages in civil discourse. Here is another Facebook Post that says my concern is that we have party that is a cult of sex with power, open borders, treason starts in the oval office and trickles down. We are officially a banana republic. Another foes Facebook Post says i do have a concern about a few citizens in Todays Society who assume their political view is the only correct one and use violence to force their view. One last Facebook Post says i am more concerned about the two sides putting more effort into beating the other while the government bureaucracy gets out of hand. Unfortunately, you cant fix stupid. We want to know if you are concerned about the growing political divide in the United States and what you think is possibly causing it. One poll done by the Associated Press said many people blame the media for the growing political divide. A couple of paragraphs from that. When it comes to the news media and the impact it is having on democracy and polarization in the United States, americans are likelier to say it is doing more harm than good. Nearly three quarters of u. S. Adults say the news media is increasing Political Polarization in this country. Just under half say they have little to no trust in the medias ability to report the news fairly and accurately. According to the Associated Press and the Robert F Kennedy human rights, the hole released poll says that along with politicians and Media Companies spreading it but many are concerned about growing threats to journalists safety. Many blame the news media. We want to know what you think about the growing political divide in america and possible solutions for the growing political divide. Lets go to michael calling from pittsburgh. Caller thank you so much, jesse, for taking my call. This is very important to me. I think it is a great topic. I believe with many of the people that the media is causing the problem. I believe the last caller. There are examples of the media extorting things. Watch the Trump Inauguration speech. In 2016 he said he would unite the country and wanted to serve all americans, not just ones who voted for him. He wanted to get jobs out there and improve trade and in a certain way not allowing the china the chinese or another country having the leg up on us. It is things like that. The media after that said he was a racist. They called him a racist. There was no evidence that in the speech. Then you talk about roe v. Wade and the medias portrayal of that. They say the Supreme Court is trying to take away womens rights. That wasnt the issue. All you had to say was the Supreme Court went overboard and that was not estate issue. Was not a states issue. They said it was going to be up to the states. The voters should decide how abortion should be handled in their states as opposed to a panel of nine judges. You go to the border, and the weight everybody and the way everybody said there is no problem at the border. Ever but at the Mainstream Media was saying there is not an issue down there. If you are watching fox news or something that, you can see from the very beginning that it was a very big issue. They were letting people in by the boatload. And yet they would not report that. And yet they said fox is lying. Do they think fox is staging this like they are making an epic movie . It was right in front of your face. Host how do we solve this political divide . How do you have conversations with people who disagree with you politically without being disagreeable . Caller i dont blame the people themselves. Just like the last caller was saying, it is a matter of misinformation. I love cspan because you ring the divergent viewpoints and present both sides of an issue and because you bring the divergent viewpoints and present both sides of an issue and let the people discuss it. The Mainstream Media is not just biased, they want Big Government and are controlled by Big Government. There are a few outlets that try to present the other point of view, but it is so lopsided there is no Wonder Within half of the people in this country feel it is a good thing we have open borders in crime in the cities and all of these things going on. Host you really believe other americans think it is good that there is crime in the city . Caller no, but they werent aware of it for such a long time and they dont understand the underlying cause which is brought about by people who want anarchy in this country because that will force people to look to government to solve the problem. So many of our problems are not solved by government. They are solved by americans who want to do the right thing. Host who do you define as the real americans in that conversation . Caller think anybody that looks at these issues objectively. I think you have to look at the founding of this country. Dialogue is good and people want free speech. That was one of our founding bulls and now the Democratic Party is actually that was one of our founding principles and now the Democratic Party is actually saying it is not. They are trying to restrict free speech. Everythings democracy is so great. If democracy is so great, it is a general overall term but we have a representative form of government where we have to elect representatives to do what we hope is the right thing. If you have democracy, you have complete chaos. Host lets go to diondra who is calling from minnesota. Caller disagreements are more about what is your favorite color, not someones rights. Number two, want to say there is so Much Division going on in this country because it has always been there. They are finally unmasked and they have opened the pandoras box of fascism and they cant put it back. We need more democracy, not less. They are afraid of democracy. They want to stop democracy. I am sorry, you cant have democracy i am in anarchist. You just need to have a little more regulation and less iraq receipt. At the end of the day, these people dont want it. If you want to stop it, we need antifascist action. If you dont think is going to stop things, i am sorry, you are cuckoo bananas. Host let me ask you what do you consider antifascist actions . Caller voting, protesting, doing what you need to do to stand up for your rights in your community, running for local office. Getting the things you want in your area so you can have a nice area that doesnt have fascism and you can have more local government that support your views. Host is that not just participating in the american democracy . Caller it would be, but a lot of people dont think that. People think that is not american democracy. Running for local government they think is bad and we should just run away from that and do whatever the commander in chief says. If it is trump, they wil