different college classroom and hear about topics ranging from the american revolution, civil rights, and u.s. presidents to 9/11. >> thanks for your patience and for logging in to class -- >> with most college campuses closed due to the impact of the coronavirus, watch professors transfer teaching to a virtual setting to engage with their students. >> gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, but reagan met him halfway. reagan encouraged him. reagan supported him. >> freedom of the press, which we'll get to later, madison called it freedom of the use of the press and it is indeed freedom to print things and publish things. it is not for what we refer to institutionally as the press. >> lectures in history on american history tv on c-span tv every saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, also available as a podcast.2020 that's martin with us this morning, tea party patriots d tt cofounder and delegate to the 2020 rnc convention.i am m remind our viewers why you wantt started the tea partyo patriot. >> thank you so much for having me. i'm an alternate rather than a delegate. i want to make sure no one gets upset and i'm clear about that. we got involved in 2009 because of the out of control spending we saw in 2008 and 2009 with rne banknt. bailouts and stimulus bills. and we were upset with the out of control growth of government. and we started doing tea parties in february of 2009. we did one again on tax day on april 15th of 2009 and then later that year in september, w. did another one, the taxpayer march in d.c.ight we've had some wins.concer we've had some losses. when we look at the spending spi right now inng washington, we a very concerned about that. we think that it's time to stop the spending that we are seeing right now, offer a payroll tax holiday which i understand is off the table right now.work i still think it would be the right thing to do. to and work to help get americans e back to work so that they are able to provide for their d one- families. >>cord "the washington post" spg headline, i'll read it to you, y u.s. budget deficit shattered one month record in june as spending outpace revenue by 864 billion. a huge spending increase and hs sharp fall off in revenue led ti the large gap.t the deficit in the past nine months has breached 2.7 trillion. do you hold theg now president responsible? >> i think that what we'reandem seeing right now is largely because of the unprecedented pandemic and the response to the pandemic. as i have watched what has happened with the pandemic, i have not been taking a lot of swipes as far as spending goes with either the democrats or the republicans. i think it is as too much.. i -- and i have felt that way from the beginning as they began spending so much to respond to the pandemic. but the people who are in they washington are doing what they always do. they wring their hands, they worry, and they spend more money. concerned ow i'm and because the to wi debt is so hi. that means that our children ane our grandchildren are going to wind up being responsible for this n debt.they and on top of that, our children and our grandchildren are not is school right now getting an education, the education that they need. and that is going to put them an a disadvantage later in life.un. so, we're kind of giving it to our children in a one-two punch, and that concerns me greatly. >> when republicans held both the house and the senate and the white house the first couple of years of the trump durin administration, did they spend responsibly? >> i think that even during that time, they still continued to be spend. we sawcaat reductions in govern regulations which is good because that reigns in some of the size of government. i hop but thee, spending still is ver very high and has been.now we one of the a things that i hope that should president trump be re-elected -- and i know we're o looking at massive spending rightam now. i understand. i understand that.t us i think that he needs to find a way to get a balanced budget amendment passed. he needs to find a way to get uc towards a balanced budget and t' let that be a part if he wins a second term to turn that into a legacy he can lead.th i don't know that he will doe that. but it's something i very much int to see happen, and i've talked tot people within the tg administrationet about that. in fact, i have brought it up so often they probably get tired on hearing me mention it.t' >> a group of republicans have formed a group called project [o lincoln, opposing the president's reof he election bid. here's a new add they put together on the president not being a conservative. >> i'm an ex-navy seal and ree h american combat veteran and law conservative. i don't agree with joe biden on many of issues, but one thing we agree on is that we are a natio. of laws and the constitution is a sacred document. it's a document that i fought for and sochl my friends died pd for. protecting our freedoms and thei rules of the game istu a fundamentally conservative act.c president trump shows no such respect for thee constitution.at he andat his cronies disrespect freedom ofof assembly, due process, and states rights.he ae joe biden will conserve the constitution. he will conserve the rule of law. he will conserve the american dream as we've promised it to our children. trump is weak.ca today trump is not conservative, but he's the most easily fixable problem in america today. a vote for joe biden in this election is a vote for our constitution. >> the lincoln project is responsible for the content of thisis advertising. >> when i listen to that, i trm agree with whoever isp' speakini that ide lovency the constitutid i want to the rule of law in this land. whatpe we saw at the end of th obama administration and also throughout much of president trump's presidency is that people who hold the level of power were investigating his campaign, were spying on his campaign, and were doing all osd that they could to ignore the rule of law.. theyey violated what they were w supposed toas do in proper procedure when is they went ma-d beforeen the fisa court. at po they did not respect the rule of law. and that was the obama/biden i administration who did that.havn we can look at what's happeningn in portland and seattle and vion other places around thece count, and i have not seen biden speaking out and condemning the violence, the takeover and destruction of private propertys and the lackay of respect for t rule of lawi in this country. so, to say that biden respects that, i've yet to see him condemn it. i just don't -- i don't think that thatof t meshes.ent condemned what happened with the improper use o of then fisa court to presidenr trump.st simply think that t that person is not right.n how o and i understand that this is oc going to wind up being a left/right issue, and it depends on how you view the world and where you get your news as to what you think of this, but i -- i just -- it does not add up.hes i don't think that president trump is weak. i think that he is strong. and he has been a good presidens and will be a good president if he wins re-election. >> and you will be voting for a the president in 2020. >> i will be voting for the tio president.ha and i am an alternate to the ho: republican national convention. should i have been a delegate, i would have cast a vote for him to become the nominee. >> will you be going to the at jacksonville portion? >> i don't -- no, we won't be e because i don't think there is going to be a jacksonville portion at this point. so, i am not going to be in gu jacksonville for esthat.on' >> and what abou' north at carolina? what have you been told about how this will all play out?abouh >> i don't know exactly what's going to be happening in north carolina. i am not positive about that. i think that things arere changing so often that i don't know.t the republican national ven a we convention, i think, is trying to figure out exactly what was going on. and it was just thursday or friday of last week, which is not even a week ago yet, that e the president said he would not be going down towhwh jacksonville. and i think that everyone is scrambling to try to figure oute exactly what is going on. the chairman of the state party in georgia, david shaffer, he found out the president would not be in jacksonville when ke everyone else in america did, during the briefing.host so, i knowi know our state parts scrambling to make adjustments and notify everybody and go from there. >> okay. let's get to calls. charlotte in tuscaloosa, alabama. a democratic color. >> charlotte, before utah please turn off the television. >> i just did. >> okay, go ahead. >> yes. my name is charlotte. i want to ask miss martin. she's talking about the spending that the nation is going through right now from the government. there were signs that i was looking at on c-span and other news casting that said defund the police. you need to defund trump and his frivolous activities on his golf courses and resorts down in florida. that's a lot of money that is being taken away from the people that need it. those in health care. he's rushing for a vaccine. i hope we get it, because so many of my people. i'm a black woman. yes, i know you have a problem with the democrats, but this is ridiculous what we are being led into authoritarianism. this man wants all power. he wants to be a king. i did not vote for a king. i voted to be a christian in my heart. >> jenny beth martin. >> charlotte, thank you so much. i think there are things we can agree on. i am also a christian and so i know we can agree on that. when president obama was president, his family took vacations and they went around the world. when speaker pelosi was speaker the first time around, some people were very upset because she was taking airplanes, military airplanes or whatever to go from washington d.c. back to san francisco. there were people on the right who complained about that kind of spending. i have been one who is very reluctant to complain about that kind of spending when it happened to democrats. i also haven't done that with president trump. i think that sometimes when you're the leader or even the speaker of the house, you have to be able to move around the country. these are the people who are interested with the power, whether ... you didn't vote for trump, i didn't vote for pelosi but i would not have. either way, i respect the will of the voters. i think as a country, we have an obligation to make sure that the people who will be put in power are protected and safe and that they are also able to have a little bit of downtime. it's just something ... that kind of spending is not the kind of spending that i focused on as much. i do understand what you are saying. there can wind up being a lot of spending that goes on, so i understand that concern. it all adds up. but i think i've been very intellectually honest in holding both sides to the same standard. we that is not these then i'm focused on as opposed to the much larger government spending. i personally think that all the spending across the board should be decreased across the board by at least 1%. that's one thing that i've always maintained. if you decreased it by 1% every year,,. >>,. . >>. . >> we're listening kim. >> oh i didn't know. it doesn't matter, we have three different visions. they used to say the democratic used to be the races party, the republicans used to be the races party. invasion the republicans, the democrats and the tea party. the people change. they're like three different pile of sheep. in the tea party, you are all the sheep back in 2008 that stood on the congress and started yelling as soon as we wanted health care. as soon as we wanted our gay people free. as soon as we wanted a lot of things. this is the vision of the democrat. we want to diverse party and we want to be free. you are the party of rand paul. you are the party of sarah palin. y'all are claiming your president, donald trump is yours. we are all christians. then we have the republicans, the cream of the crop is in our team now. i'm so glad because i watch you and started screaming. the tea party is moving. i pray they don't come in our party and think they didn't. if my sister is still listening, the little republican who all her life has tried to lock her little sister up, this is what it is about. each one of us are hurt with our issues, our personal issues, but don't just shake your head yes. it's about our moral compass. our democrats are good and we have good republicans. the tea party, you are all good to, but you are the wacko party. the cuckoo party. that is your president. you claim him. >> kim? >> i'm really surprised by much of what you just said. i am a christian. your right. i don't think everyone shares my exact same religion, i don't expect them to. you mentioned something about that. our organization really has not waited into social issues. rriaso what you're saying abouty marriage or any of that, those are not issues that we were focused on. we've been focused on the fiscal issues and working towards constitutionally limiting government. whether you voted for president trump or not, he is the president of the united states of america. if you are an american, he is our president. we will be united -- united we stand. we have to remember that. when obama was president, he was my president. he was your president. he was everyone's president. there are some things we need to go back to and respect and understand. i would say this to you, whether you like the outcome of an election or not, and there's been plenty of elections that i don't like the outcome of and i'm sure you can say the exact same thing, -- i respect the system that produces those results. i respect my fellow citizens who vote the way that they vote. i never go around saying that isn't my president or any of that. that isn't how we are going to solve things. as americans, i think that all americans, regardless of your party, should agree that we should not be judging people based on the color of their skin. that is flat out wrong. i'm from atlanta and i grew up knowing about martin luther king jr. and have always worked to make sure that i'm judging people by the content of the character -- their character. not by their skin color. >> stanley in morgantown, pennsylvania. republican. you are next. >> yes. america needs president trump to win reelection. trump should ask vice president mike pence to step aside and be replaced by senator tim scott of south carolina and get the black vote and get ashore win. i've been listening to attorney leo terrell, robert whitson i'm carole shrine. i think they are in agreement with this. what do you think? >> i don't think that is going to happen. as far as i know, vice president pence will continue to be the nominee for the vice president. i've not heard that senator tim scott even wants to be considered for vice president. i don't think that is going to happen. honestly, given what is going on with the coronavirus and covid-19, the fact that vice president pence heads up the coronavirus task force. i think he's in the right place at the right time and needs to continue in that position. >> cathy in martin bill, louisiana. republican. >> good morning. jenny beth martin. you're very brave and take place of the tea party cofounder. initially, i know when you started the organization that you were targeted by the fbi, the irs, the dea, the dea cute. every possible organization that there was was weaponized against the tea party. i'm so glad that you all survived because the country does need conservative people. i'm worried about how the money is spent. i live in st. martin bill, louisiana. 30% poverty level plus. my best friends are black. i spent christmas and thanksgiving with these people. they're not just best friends because i say that and it helps me look good. i love them. it's not fair what is happening to president trump. he's working very hard for the black people. he hasn't taken a salary the entire time that he has been president. he plays no more golf than obama did. when obama was in office, when he was elected, no i did not vote for him but the morning after the election i woke up and i pray for him. i realized that god has a plan. i know that he could possibly help the relationship between the blacks and whites. that did not happen. things did not improve for black people. look at all the black cities, the cities that are run by democrats and what the black people are going through including my city and state. if there's anything that could happen to help. the money that is being spent and to help trump do that. i bet you anything that if he is reelected, he will address those issues and he will be the one person that could possibly do something about these issues. >> jenny beth martin? >> thank you very much. i want to make sure i clarify something. tea party patriots was definitely targeted by the irs. that definitely happened. you are conflating me a little bit with kathy angle brett from texas. she was the one who was targeted by the-y -- dea and the irs and the fbi and maybe some other organizations. the fact is, we know what it is like to have a government who abuses his power and uses the power to basically weaponize that power against citizens. it's one reason why when i saw what happened to george floyd's, and i understand that the loss of life is much different than targeting of the irs, the thing that is similar is that when somebody has power and they abuse the power and use it to harm citizens, there is a problem with that. it's something that i have been able to understand at a different level than many other people. i know what happened there was wrong and i also understand that anyone who has power, when they are abusing that power against citizens, it is not something that should happen. >> susan in rock phil, connecticut. independent. >> hi jimmy beth, good morning. >> good morning. >> i want to ask you, first of all it's nice that people are happy that trump doesn't take a salary. i know as part of the tea party, you took to salaries. one is consultant and one is ... i wanted to know why you were against the puerto rico bank restructuring and against trying to save people's homes and mortgages in 2008 when you and your husband owed thousands, like 500,000's worth and you took bankruptcy to restructure your business. trump has done so many times. i don't understand this, it doesn't make sense. i urge people to really research who they are supporting. thank you. >> thank you very much. i have taken a salary and i do take a salary. when i work for the super pac versus the 5:01 seat for, there are legal reasons why i have to make sure that i'm being paid appropriately and from the right organization. that's part of why it seems like there's more than one source of income because there is. as far as what happened with my ex-husband and i, we went through financial crisis and we did file bankruptcy. when you say something about people keeping their houses, i'm not sure exactly what you said there. i will tell you what happened with us. we filed bankruptcy and we did not take the fanny may or freddy mac loan that was offered to us to stay in the house that we could no longer afford. in fact, we were offered that after filing bankruptcy, after the bankruptcy was complete. for whatever reason, somehow in the bike room see we did not fill out paperwork that would've allowed us to keep our house. we cannot even afford to reopen the bankruptcy to adjust that paperwork. we realized that if we cannot reopen it, we can't afford to do that, we couldn't afford to be in the house. we started over, we lost our cars, we rented houses, i still rent a house. we were offered this money and we refused to take it because we did not think it was right for our neighbors to pay for a house that we can no longer afford. in fact, we were cleaning our neighbors homes during that time in order to pay for utilities and to pay for things to get us back on our feet. he had a business, it failed. a legal structure in place inis order to file bankruptcy in this country. that existed when he started the business and in the existed when he ended the business. it exists for individuals. we fought individually. as far as puerto rico, there is not a structure in place for a state or territory to file bankruptcy. they need to be responsible with their taxpayer dollars. just like i did not think it was right for neighbors, i can no longer afford. i don't think it's right for people in other states to pay to bailout one state or a territory that can no longer afford the obligations they had. >> chad in new york. democratic color. >> hi jenny. thanks for taking the time. i'm just having some issues trying to connect the dots between what the republicans are saying with how they support black people. it's martin luther king, invoking what he has done to perpetuate this sense of overall well-being with everybody. from the personal twitter account of the president we have today, it's just one tweet after another a basically fomenting racial wars. whether it's retweeting trump supporters who are white supremacists, or whether it's not going to john lewis is funeral. list goes on and on. black lives matter in front of trump tower. i want to know how the party itself is okay with the leader of the nation is basically inciting civil race wars. thank you. >> i completely disagree with you. i do not think he is inciting a civil race war. you are the one who is judging people based on the color of their skin. i'm not. i'm not invoking martin luther king. i grew up in cab county georgia and then in floyd county georgia. martin luther king's county was right next door in fulton county. it isn't something that i invoke. it's something that i was taught and we strive for break hard hard and the city of atlanta. to make sure we look beyond the color of someone's skin. martin luther king junior was from my home city. it means a lot, whether we are white or black, we understand the sacrifices that that man and his family made. i do the best that i can to live up to the vision that he had for america. >> made this in fort lauderdale, florida. independent. >> yes, good morning. i wanted to ask you miss martin. the president said he won't have time to criticize mr. obama for going to the golf course. when he was running for president, he said he would be so busy that he won't have time to go to the golf course. this man has been on the golf course more than 90% of the time that he has been in office. taxpayer money paid for those trips. she mentioned the obama family going on holiday. if she checks back, mr. obama paid for his holidays. mr. trump has five kids and when they travel, that's a lot of money for the taxpayer to have to cover all of them. secret service to protect all of his children. again, that's a lot of money. but now that it comes to helping folks who are out of their jobs because of covid, the republicans can't find money to help out the regular day folks in the country. but we can pay for mr. trump and his family to fly all around the country. what happened to the wall that mexico was supposed to pay for that the taxpayers are not paying for? >> jenny beth martin? >> first, president trump has not spent 90% of his time on the golf course. that's just simply not accurate. i am focused on what he has produced as president. that is where i am focused. before the pandemic, we had the best economy that i have ever seen in my adult life. we had the lowest unemployment that i have ever seen. it was a historic low unemployment across all demographics. that was good for america. i want to be able to get back to that point. it's good for all american families because then you have the ability to have more of what you want in life. whether it's vacation time or things that you want to buy or just more time with your family, you have more opportunity at that point. you mentioned something about the secret service and the presidents family and protecting them. again, when the people vote for elected people, we have an obligation to make sure they are protected. i don't have a problem with that. i did not have a problem with it with president obama. i will not have a problem with it with the future president or speaker pelosi. that is what we need to do and that is not something i'm going to argue about. there was another point i believe you made. you said something about republicans not caring about the average american who is working hard in this country in the midst of the pandemic who may have lost their job. that's simply not correct. when we look at the spending bills that have already happened and passed, republicans and democrats voted for these, they were bipartisan bills. republicans and democrats voted for it. the argument that they made, i would tell you i think there was way too much spending. we can agree. just understand i think there was too much spending. both parties make sure that there was an employment for people who lost their job. in fact, you get paid more if you're unemployed then you may have gotten when you were working. there is an issue with that. the fact is that it happened. if you owned a business, you had an ability to go take a loan out to pay for payroll so that you could keep people employed and continue to pay for their salary and payroll benefits. that helped average american families so that they did not have to get laid off. they could continue to work and to earn a salary. that helped average americans. both of those programs did. the point is that republicans and democrats both in that case during the midst of the pandemic, the argument is at that they were looking out for every american by doing that. >> republicans are now proposing to reduce that enhanced federal unemployment benefit from 600 to around 200. 70% of persons lost wages. what do you make of that? >> i think there winds up being an unintended consequence oftentimes when the government gets too involved. if you pay people more to stay unemployed than they would have been paid to be employed, then it creates an odd incentive that might make people say i can just stay where i am without being employed and i won't worry about looking for a job right now. by lowering that, it lessons that a little bit. i do think there should be a payroll tax holiday. meets every single american and business owners also would be able to keep more of the money that they earn for a short period of time. so in essence, if you go back to work and get a job, you have this payroll tax holiday and you're getting a little bit of a bonus for going back to work while that holiday is going on. i think that is a good thing to do because it also has consequences to it. the consequences are urging people to get back to work and you get a bit of a bonus for doing that. >> steve is a republican in webster, massachusetts. you are next. >> good morning. it's an honor to be here today. some of the most powerful words i have ever heard from an american president was president trump on 25 september 2018 to the un general assembly when he said we will never surrender america's sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy. if we put this into the context of today with what is going on with the wuhan virus and the cover-up which many believe happened by the world health organization which is led by a ethiopian director general. china gets much of its natural gas from that country from east africa as well. all the globalists like to say fossil fuels are bad for us. etc. i would like our guest to put this in context. because i do appreciate the president standing up to china and trying to create a global alliance etc. your comments please. >> i appreciate the fact that the president is standing up to china. we have issues there that we are going to have to address as a nation. whether we do it now in our own setting and terms or we do it later when it is forced upon us if we don't deal with it right now. i appreciate the fact that president trump and pompeo are both working to bring this to the attention of americans and the fact that there are issues going on that we need to address. as far as what happened with the wuhan virus and covid-19 and the world health organization, your right. president trump said several years ago that we are not going to, i'm not getting the code exactly right, but we will not be held accountable by an unelected bureaucratic organization. i think that is part of the reason why he is withdrawing from the world health organization. again, it's a bureaucratic, unelected organization. >> kevin -- kevin in texas. a republican. >> yes. good morning johnny beth. i've been a tea party protester since 2008. before president obama took office. like yourself. during that time, we were the coop's and then we were the cell outs to the koch brothers. today, where the trump supporters. one caller said he's yours. i don't think trump is a tea party kind of guy. sometimes i wonder if he's really a republican. he's a populist. part of his populist agenda does appeal to people like you and i. the regulation, the corporate tax cuts. of course, the spending is out of control. all that demonizing of the tea party people, i see the same thing happening within the black lives matter movement. they take the extreme and make them look ridiculous and then they want to say there the democrats. i would like to see the tea party not so much distance themselves from trump, but make a distinction between what we believe and what trump does. and also, have support for the black lives matter movement. they are a lot like us. thank you. >> thank you for those comments. here is what i would say. i think there are people who are going out and protesting with black lives matter and that movement. they are well meaning people who do not want to see racism in this country. in many cases, they are average americans who we can all agree, judging people by the color of their skin is wrong. that is what they are trying to do and trying to stand up for that. when you delve into the organization and the founders of black lives matter. the people who are running the organization. there are real problems with what they are doing and what they stand for. i don't think that the average person who is going out on the street and standing with that movement agrees with everything that they stand for. i am concerned about that. when they say they are trained marxists, that concerns me. because that is not sticking to the constitution and respecting the constitution of the united states. so you can agree with a sentiment and also delve in and understand exactly what is going on and stand up against that. i did the same thing as we watched what happened with the resist movement and the women who are getting up as part of that. what i understood a lot of what they were standing for. i may not have agreed with them, but i understood their motives and agreed with their first amendment rights to do that. when attacks were coming towards a lot of them, i said you're attacking average americans. i've been attacked in such a way. i wondered if the things i was hearing were exactly right or not. i've done that. i've looked into black lives -- matter and that concerns me. i've also personally heard, in my travels several years ago, in seattle washington someone standup who is part of occupy wall street. he had been trained with occupy wall street and he said, we can disagree on a lot but we can agree that we love our constitution, our country in the first amendment. he said he did not like the first amendment. he said he did not love our country and wanted to completely destroyed and replace our form of government. i think that kind of sentiment is the sentiment that is driving antifa. antifa does not love our country. they have very bad motives and we need, as americans, regardless of the political party, to understand that. while a lot of things were said about the tea party movement, one thing that was not said is that we were destroying property, taking over private property and claiming it as our own or rioting. it does not matter what political party you are, you should be against riding in our country. if you are not standing up against that, i think there's a problem. and as far as being called things like the tea party has been called, were facing issues today. i'm in washington d.c. because i'm helping doctors from around the country tried to explain what they are seeing as they diagnose and treat and help people beat covid-19. over the last several hours, we had a video from a press conference that went viral. all these social media platforms have taken it down and we are being attacked. it's real doctors who are treating real patients and we continue to be attacked today. >> you can learn more if you go to tea party patriots .org. jen beth martin, we are out of time. thank you for the conversation this morning. >> thank you for having me. a house subcommittee looks at the budget shortfall including the covid-19 pandemic and its impact on immigrants. live coverage begins wednesday at 9:30 am eastern on c-span three. former fema director, quick