Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 01202020 20240713

Member for the president s Reelection Campaign, talk about the africanamerican vote. As always, we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Washington journal is next. Host good morning. This is the federal holiday marking the life of dr. Martin luther king jr. Today is the National Holiday and this is a live picture of the mlk memorial in washington, d. C. After about 20 years of planning and fundraising, this memorial twoopen to the public in thousand 11. The mlk holiday became law in 1983, signed by ronald lakin reagan into law. How are Race Relations doing as we enter 2020 . Are they Getting Better . 2027488000 is your number. If you think Race Relations are getting worse, 2027488001. If you are not sure, 2027488002 is your number. You can send us a text at washington journal. The number is 2027488003. Please leave your name and the town you are calling from. You can post a comment at facebook. Com cspan or a comment at cspanwj. Usa is the front page of today and they feature Martin Luther king jr. The third. Son sees reason to hope, but a dream unfulfilled. There is a shot of Martin Luther king jr. The third with a photo of his father and grandfather. Of the another photo young Martin Luther king the third with his parents. He was 10 when his father was assassinated. Had he lived, we would be in a dramatically different place. If you look deeper into the story, he said we probably would have resolved racism. That is what Martin Luther king the third said. As the nation pauses to honor kings life and legacy, king the third says his fathers work remains unfinished in the country has yet to overcome voter suppression, poverty, police brutality, and money other injustices many other injustices. 2018 revealed only 1 in 10 africanamericans believed the u. S. Had achieved all or most of the goals of the civil rights movement. We have lots of calls already. Jerry in detroit, good morning to you. How are Race Relations in the u. S. In 2020 . Caller first of all, good morning. Greetings yet again and happy new year from motown. Host same to you, sir. Ways, i think in some Race Relations are getting worse, but in some ways because speaking as a 54yearold most man, i think conservative white people are deeply entrenched as far as their hatred of africanamericans. They always try to invoke or quote Martin Luther king. I asked this question a year ago when i called, whether or not Martin Luther king was every bit as revered, love, and admired and respected and embraced and every bit as much of a hero and an inspiration to white people as he has been to black people. I would like to make one other point if i may, please. Whitey when i listen to people call on the republican line, especially those who buy into a lot of the lies about dr. King, accusing him of everything infidelity,ism and to me, it speaks a lot about the of particularly conservative white people and i have more hope for the millennial generation of white people and i say that because they have not been tainted by the same racial hatred that has in other words, the conservative side of the baby boom because i think there is less racism a young younger white people than there is among older white people. They are more likely to embrace dr. King. Starting usyou for off. Walter calling from connecticut. What is your take on Race Relations in 2020 . 65yearold a africanamerican. I was in third grade when john f. Kennedy got assassinated and 1968, i was 12 years old when. R. King got killed i am trying to think in a mindset because i think the iesident sets the tone and grew up in a 95 white neighborhood in the 1960s and i worked at my job 45 years. I think it is worse because i had never seen the vitriol. I can deal with policies, we can disagree on certain things, policies and laws, but the rollingdr. King must be. N his grave even africanamericans, we have to get their act together. Why all the negativity . You look at the politics of people running for office and wasof that and to me, i always optimistic things were going to get better. I always thought things would get better. I was told when they go low, you go high. It looks to me it is almost like a wild, wild west. Diane 65 years old, i hope things get better for my grandkids. I hate to be negative, but i think things we have a president that calls people names and congress, they just seem like i hate to be so negative, but i am trying to find some positivity. Athens, georgia, lots of calls coming in this early on Race Relations. What do you think . Caller what i think, honestly, i am truly grateful for cspan to giving us the opportunity. We have three different generations. We have a 54yearold man, 65yearold man and here i am at 42 and i am not sure if Race Relations are Getting Better. What i am sure of is this is not the vision dr. Martin luther in thed 20, 40, 60 years future. I am quite sure the level of aigner rents and buffoonery ignorance and buffoonery we are projecting one another is definitely not with dr. Martin luther king would have imagined. Third president , donald j. Trump, i hope he is reelected and we, the american some sort of stop of what theses democratic individuals are trying to do taking this country into a socialistic direction. Thanks for cspan. Host more of your calls in a moment. Shot ofasting legacy, a the mlk memorial in Late Afternoon before dusk, people gathering on the eve of the holiday. Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the day of service designated to encourage americans to volunteer to improve their communities and we go to a live picture about 7 09, 7 10 in the morning in washington. Cold, brisk, probably a good crowd later on coming to view the monument, 30 foot high monument of mlk and we have some a facebook comment on Race Relations. Dennis writes a department it depends on your starting point. Today is the best blacin history for wax ks, whites in the u. S. Mlk carol writes in a text it would be a shame to discuss it as a majority of the country is and how trump has divided the country. We deserve so much better. This was the story over the weekend in the Washington Post, black americans are deeply pessimistic about the country iner trump whom more than 8 10 describe as a racist. Poll ofm a postipsos africanamericans nationwide. The article says black americans today offered a bleaker view about their community as a whole and express determination to limit trump to a single term in office. We thought we would play a short clip of President Trump in november at a black voices for trump rally talking about what he sees his administration doing for the black community in the u. S. [video clip] when i ran for office three years ago, i looked at the bleak, dismal record of the Democrat Party and asked to the Africanamerican Community what the hell do you have to lose . I came offstage that night and all these professional handlers they say, sir, i dont think they are going to like that. I read a list, last in crime,ast in homeownership homeownership. I am just reading off a list. That is when i said it, it was not part of the script, i do my best work off script. I hate to say this, i also do my worst work off script. You never get in trouble when you go by the script. Workmy best in my worst and it makes things very exciting. That was my best work. It was in very it was a very important statement to be made because the democrats have let you down. Then i made you a solemn pledge that whether you voted for me or not, i would be your greatest champion. Host a little bit more from the Washington Post piece and we will get back to calls. They go deeper than the president , the pessimism goes well beyond assessment of the president. A 65 majority of africanamerican say it is a bad time to be a black person in america. That is shared across income, generational, and political lines. 77 of black americans say it is a good time to be a white person with a wide majority saying white people do not understand discrimination faced by black americans. Claudio writes at facebook, obama made them worse. Trump is fixing his mess. I have kids in school during both administrations and have experienced it, trump is the best president we have had for all races. What do you think about Race Relations in this country these days . Caller i think it has gotten worse and it will continue to get worse. We have a rally in regiment, virginia, that is all we need to low need to know. And hisconnell greatgrandfather may not know was a major slave owner and when he was asked about reparations, he said he was not responsible for the death of his forefathers, yet he is willing to benefit from their wealth and that is the problem. Racism is not about individuals, it is systemic. Like ort about who you who your friends are and how you feel about somebody. Patrick is on the line from florida, good morning to you. Caller good morning, cspan. Not to be harsh, but i think cspan has some nerve talking about Race Relationships. Let me give you a couple examples before. Oldests european the european chartered city in america is Saint Augustine established by the spanish. The longest running state capitol, santa fe, established by the spanish and you always aleng up the white, m historians when the history of america starts, when the white people came to america. Got to do something about japan. Nope. Again in 1936, after they brutalized and 1937,ed 500,000 people in went to the u. S. Congress, no. Finally got an economic embargo in 1940, never once heard the word appeasement used by any white, male historians on cspan. Gassed iranians three times and the kurds three word and never heard the doesnt reagan understand American Values . I heard that all about obama. George bush senior was the last u. S. President who dared say illegal sediments and netanyahu ran over to america and basically called george bush senior a liar. Do you know how many white males i have heard on cspan have said obama does not Like Netanyahu and that means obama hates israel . On cspan istick right now ignorance. You let some guy go on about socialism in america. Host thanks for your points, taking part in the program. Evan from south san francisco, california. What would you like to say about Race Relations . Caller are you talking to me, yvonne . Host sorry, yvonne, go ahead. Caller that guy woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I dont really know, i just know all this rhetoric with our new president has not been really nice. I dont know what to think anymore. I always thought it was Getting Better. Now i dont know. Host what do you think could be done to make it better if you are just not sure . Nice may be some more kindness would be nice and maybe our president s should not throw out democrats hated this we are all americans, we should stand together. That is it. Host yvonne calling from south san francisco. Race isa tweet, pronounced both ways. It used to be a melting pot of everyone working to working together and now everyone has taken up corners. Neither side will compromise, it is a draw for the country. Lets hear from deborah as we continue to take live looks at the mlk memorial in washington, d. C. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you . Host i am doing well, what would you like to say about Race Relations . Withr in my world dealing Race Relations happened about six months ago, i am a great grandmother and so my neighbor, who happen to be a millennial, to bes children happen the same age as my greatgrandchildren. When he moved into the neighborhood, i did the neighborly thing, i introduced to his kids and the dogs because we are going to be neighbors and we happen to be sharing the same backyard. I am doing the neighborly thing, me and my husband and then there the kidscident with and i told him, i do not get involved in kid stuff. To take it to a higher level like it is racism. It is not racism. I have no problem with you as an adult. Just happen to have kids what got in our way was the media. The media. All they kept talking about was this president is this, this president is that, democrat this. We are trying to deal with getting along because , i have all type of married myat have kids. This intense situation between me and my neighbor, he went out i got a rope he built a fence out of some type of wood so we have not spoken in six months. The other day my husband went outside to go to work and you know what he said . Good morning. I am so sorry, i did not understand. Moore writes at facebook, much, much better in rural america. We are united, one people, all the same family. We have people of all colors, religion, sexual orientation, etc. We live in peace and love together. One more piece in the Washington Post. We cannot give up on kings promised land. The day we set aside to honor Martin Luther king is like no other National Holiday because it is simultaneously a celebration and a rebuke. In what is a very troubled passage for our country, we should not forget how significant it is we reserve a date calling attention out to a former president and founder 1776, butevolution of a staunch critic of our injustices, that is how he begins the piece, we cannot give up on kings promised land. Lori from maryland, good morning to you. Caller good morning. Lets say God Bless America on thisn luther king day and crying lady things you do a flow job letting people over your heads and keep going. Color, i am 82, i have been black for a long time, i dont enjoy hearing the uniquely unqualified person in the white house accuse offs holell of being from s countries. We can disagree fervently about things and still sit down and have dinner, pray together. People to pray, we have a uniquely unqualified president , but we have an amazing god who will answer our prayer and remove him, it doesnt take violence. Him by 3 million votes. For come to the polls, dont worry about this fight, Mitch Mcconnell will not be there. He has already told everybody that, god will be fair. He is already impeached, that is permanent and if they dont remove him, we can remove him. All we have to do is remember you at the pole. God bless. Host here is a story in politico about the president , he is shocking black voters by trying to get their votes. The west side gazette bills itself as broward countys oldest and largest africanamerican owned paper for five decades, the fort weekly florida when readers opened an addition to find a fullpage ad from the Reelection Campaign, many could not believe it. The story goes on to say his Reelection Campaign spent about a Million Dollars in an effort to make inroads with black voters and more is coming. They are making the basic point in the piece if he can at least even get a couple of Percentage Points more of the black vote, that that could have a. Ignificant effect on the race that story at politico. Com. Cory booker was recently on cbs this morning talking about what he sees as the lack of diversity. [video clip] i am very concerned, i remember the reaction when Kamala Harris dropped off the stage. It was almost like here is a woman who won in california and she could not even get to iowa. How can we have a situation creating that dynamic . We have got to find a way as a nation, both parties, to understand we are a diverse nation. I was stunned when i got to the senate about how little diversity there was on senate staffs. We are a better nation when we bring Hidden Figures together with white, male astronauts. The Democratic Party, which represents the true rainbow coalitions of america has got to do a better job of getting more candidates running at all levels supporting a system that doesnt benefit big money, but big values, what are the values of our party . New berlin,go to wisconsin, Race Relations in the u. S. As we enter 2020. What do you think . Caller new berlin is a suburb of milwaukee, wisconsin, which has got in gotten a reputation for one of the worst places for black people to live, which is a horrible reputation. I had to call to respond to the first gentleman from detroit. It hurts my heart to think black black a number of people believe the things he does. I am a 58yearold White Conservative woman and a trump supporter even though he has got major personality flaws and is vulgar. I dont believe he is a racist. Anyhow, basically all of my friends and family also are White Conservatives. Not one of them has hatred for black people. His comment about that really hurt my heart. I wish dr. Martin luther king had lived and if he could have helped Race Relations and the way people feel about each other and the belief that people have, which is just not true. Another gentleman called and said talked about the neonazi rally in virginia. I heard about the rally, i dont believe it is a neonazi rally. It is a gun rights rally. Host it is a gun rights rally, which we will be talking about shortly. Believe Race Relations may be getting worse not because of President Trump and his ball garrity and his racism, which i dont believe he is vulgarity and his racism, which i dont believe he is racist, but listening to the mainstream whichand social media, has a lot of negative things about it. Thinga horrible, horrible people believe things about other people that are not true. A black woman called before and talked about god help us. God help our nation and help us to love each other and not believe everything we hear about people who are different who vote different from us. From seven, maryland. What are your thoughts on Race Relations . Caller i really believe Race Relations are way better than ago. Were 30, 40 years barack obama was elected. The one thing we need to stop doing, i am a democrat. We have to stop labeling donald trump as a racist. He says thing that come says things that come out in a different way. There were people in the wrong on both sides. There were people being violent on both sides. For him to come out and say there were fine people on both sides, that sounds horrible. Most of the people that were with the statue and the protesting, they were there for the wrong reasons. Donald trump is not a reason, lets stop with that. Guy just signed off on john is on the line from california. Your thoughts on Race Relations . Caller good morning, everyone. I am a 71yearold white guy. I would like to give a shout out to elijah cummings. Even though i am a democrat and he is a democrat and i am a republican, i respected him as a statesman. When i was 16 or 17, i went down into that area and saw for myself what went on and i went to bootstrap during college and i went to college in believentral l. A. And i President Trump is not a racist. About black ore white and the black community that votes democratic as a block is a huge mistake because democrats really treated you bad in the south in the 60s 1960s and why you would vote for democrats confuses me. Forant Economic Prosperity all americans. Black, white, any color. If you get behind good, sound, economic policies, things will get better. When we were kids, they were hanging people. It was horrible. In some ways, it has gotten better and Martin Luther king died for a cause and i always felt the greatest thing my generation did was we desegregated. We saw it and we changed it and it has gotten better. The hatred that has come out on the internet, it allows people hide behinds that the internet and i think that is the worst thing. I dont hate anybody, i just want everybody to be successful and i think that is how donald trump feels. I think we ought to give him a chance. This thing about impeaching him and give the guy more of a chance. He is doing a great job for all americans. After 7 30 inst the east. We are going to talk now about the gun rights rally happening in richmond, virginia, later today. Something our callers have mentioned. Forrights activists gear up rally. Officials warned about the potential of violence. Allie locket with the Richmond Times dispatch. Good morning. Give us the backdrop on this rally. What is the rally about and how is the governor has the governor responded to it . Caller it is good to be on with you today. The rally happening today is lobby day, it happens every year and it is hosted by a Gun Rights Group in virginia called the Citizens Defense League and they have had this rally peacefully for 17 or so years. Mechanism fory a gun rights advocates to speak directly to our General Assembly members who are actually in session today even though it is a holiday. Come and protest and make their voices heard outside on capital square, but this year is expected to be much greater partially because of the new democratic majority in our house newsenate that are pushing Gun Legislation forward. There are 8 measures governor thatam has pushed forward Governor Northam has pushed through. In senate has already passed kind of reaction to the expected crowd, which we have seen numbers up to 50,000. Governor northam has declared a state of emergency and has banned guns from within the capital square, so just within the grounds right in front of our Municipal Legislature building. That has not stopped folks from showing up armed. There are folks protesting outside the capital grounds. We have seen people with large isault style weapons, which one of the measures being looked at. It has definitely already started to get exciting on the capital grounds this morning. The gates opened at 7 00 a. M. , so we are about 35 minutes in. People have been showing up since 5 00 this morning. Host what will you be looking for . Some are comparing this to the charlottesville incident that happened a few years ago. How tense are things right now in richmond . Guest i would say they are very tense particularly because of charlottesville. We had a rally on the Year Anniversary of the charlottesville event in richmond, a very similar event where people were protesting the potential movement or destruction of the confederate statues we have along monument avenue. This event is different, specifically about gun rights and gun control, there is no beingerate issues discussed in the General Assembly at least in regards to this. It has definitely been tense. We have three Police Departments working in conjunction with each other, capitol police, the Richmond City Police Department and state police are all on the ground and around the ground patrolling today. Host when this is over, you had mentioned the governor and the new Democratic Legislature are working on several pieces of legislation. Which would be the most significant to you think this year . Uest that is hard to say there are several that have already passed through the senate a one handgun a month bill, which we have already had a law in place that restricts or limits people to buying one gun a month. I think universal background checks would be a significant especiallyinia, because there is what is called the gun show loophole right now where you can buy from an average citizen or a dealer without having any sort of background check. Be a game changer in terms of things and i think slow down what we have seen as a record in gun sales in the state, they have soared to the secondhighest monthly total since 1990. Host allie rocket is a crime and safety reporter for the Washington Times dispatch. Thanks for setting the stage and talking about further gun related action. Appreciate your time this morning. Host the event we will be watching in richmond. Bobby on the line in union, south carolina. What do you think about Race Relations in the u. S. These days . It is Getting Better in some ways. Win racetions relations get better, sometimes it squeezes out a larger group. To find thatgoing area to where people can say i am an american without having to secondguess where they are and where they stand . Agod a man tell me years that black men, we feel privileged when we are in the military and this and that and the other and we get to kill people that maybe we wanted to kill years ago or whatever the case may be and i found that to be asinine. Host anything else, bobby . Caller i am listening. Host go ahead and finish up. Caller what i want to say is we have to think about america. I see america and American People as brothers and sisters. I dont see us no other way. I really dont. You stand with your siblings in the home in your home is being attacked. I want to know all of these different opinions and colors and Everything Else we have in this country that are somewhat separate right now, what is going to happen when america is being attacked . Arent you going to want to draft some of those people that dont look like you . The only thing you want is for them to be able to shoot a weapon, run, do these things to defend a nation that is always trying to disregard those people. Black men have been fighting in america since 1841 in the military and i found find it insulting in this date in time we have to find holes and Everything Else to judge where people are in america. We are all american citizens and above all, we are brothers and sisters as american citizens. Host thank you for calling. Barney in florida. Your thoughts on Race Relations in the u. S. On this mlk holiday . Caller Race Relations in the. S. To me is Getting Better hello . Host we are listening, please go ahead. Caller Race Relations is Getting Better, but you have a Certain Group of people that use to stay in power, such as our president. He used race to get elected and showed their true colors. Got time for what he is doing. Everyone is trying to make a living and enjoy their lives, but you have a group of people who always use race to stay in power. They are going to tell one side he is taking your stuff, tell the other side he is taking your stuff while they are stealing all the stuff. Host thanks for calling from florida. Donna writes about Race Relations. Our question, are Race Relations Getting Better or worse . Politicians make them feel worse. If you have not seen this story, it is at npr. Org and elsewhere, u. S. Navy to name an Aircraft Carrier after a world war ii hero named doris miller. The navy will name an aircraft character carrier after doris dorie miller, a cafeteria eapt into action. Were aold they 22yearold mess attendant, cooking and shining officers shoes and they go on to talk about the details. They will name this Aircraft Carrier after this man. From charlotte, North Carolina, what would you like to say about Race Relations . Caller good morning, america, thank you for taking my call. I just want to get right to the crux of it and i will do it quickly because i know i am limited on my time. Will use a word i learned this is a very interesting word and i invite all guests listening to the sound of my voice to look up this word, diaspora. That means displaced people of a race from a place they were taken, diaspora. Displacedericans are and economically disadvantaged in the United States of america because we were taken from our land, our country. A lot of us, they are saying 80 of us were taken from ghana, which is a country on the west coast of africa, which the president asked africanamericans combat. The come back. They have a castle in ghana with a prison at the bottom of the castle where they chain the slaves up and they have a door that the last place the slaves see as they left the continent was the door of no return and put onto these slave ships. You have taken our name, our culture, our god away from us, given us your name, took us into your country, and we have or 1616hip from 1619 when the first slaves touched these shores, we have citizenship because we fought for this country and died for this country. You can have your citizenship back. Usu pay us for what you owe i and we can go back home to ghana. They said we can buy land and citizenship there as soon as we touch ground. Wespora should go back and should establish ourselves in our homeland if you want. If you dont want, i feel we forld be paid recompense the economic disadvantage meant disadvantagement america has caused us. Host thank you for your participation. Some of the political headlines, Washington Times talking about President Trump. Good record, bad press, 5050 odds for reelection. Democratic candidates struggling to earn the trust of older black voters. Michael bloomberg in the daily news, counts megabucks for homes. They are talking about a speech he made in tulsa at the site of a 1921 race riot announcing plans to aid black americans. Endorsedork times has two candidates for president. A full two page spread, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren are the democrats top choices for president. Any hope of restoring unity in the country will require modesty, a willingness to compromise, and the support of many demographics that make up the american coalition, young and old in red states and blue, black and brown and white. For senator warren, it is understanding the country is more diverse than her base. Theremes goes on to write will be those who satisfy the editorial page is not sending it favoring candidates one that should be played out in a public arena and the privacy of the voting booth, that is the purpose of primaries to test strategies that can galvanize and inspire the country. They are the best equipped to lead that debate, may the best woman win. We move on to adams, oklahoma, where tom is waiting to talk about Race Relations. Good morning to you, tom. Caller morning. I think the fact race is even a topic in the country right now is ridiculous. I dont mean to laugh about it, it is just nonsense. Mlk would be extremely disappointed in all the work he did in his time. It is hard to really come up with words with what to say. The media are the ones putting all this out there and if anyone thinks about it, they are the ones who put all the negativity out there. All the major news media. Host go ahead and finish up, tom. Caller my biggest question is why are they not hitting the topics of good things happen in this country more and more and the fact that people think certain demographics are getting lower wages than others. I have never seen that. We are all getting the same and i think the working class is the majority of america and i think something needs to be done more about how to help the working crass and his whole race thing should be abolished. It is ridiculous. Host there is a live shot of not far fromial the National Mall in washington, d. C. This monument was first open in 2011. We will expect lots of crowds today and we will continue to take live looks. William, you are on the air. Go ahead, please. Okay. i am on the air, i dont believe america is a racist country. I believe the little bit of racism that goes on is the work people. Ted there is not that many of them and the media blows it all out of proportion and the politicians also want to divide the races so they can get the black vote, the brown vote, they so theydivide people can pander to Certain Groups. That is what it is about, it is not a fact. It is not a reality. It is an illusion created by the mass media and the press and the politicians. Want thereeople that to be racism. Somehow, there are people that want racism. They want to divide. Politics, south bend mayor, pete buttigieg, running for president on the democratic side talking about black voter support. [video clip] the black voters who know me most are supporting. That is why elected officials have gotten into this race, by far, most of them are supporting me and i am proud my campaign is cochaired by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and to have support in iowa from some of the most recognizable black elected leaders. The biggest mistake we could make is to take black vote for granted and i never will. The reason i have the support i do is not because any voter thinks i am perfect, it is because the work we have done facing some of the toughest issues communities can, not from the luxury of a debate or Television Panel or committee room, but on the ground. Issues from poverty to justice in policing and we have been nationally recognized for our work as a raceinformed city on delivering greater economic justice. We have led the region in transparency around the use of force in policing. There is a much longer way to go in my community and around the country, but i will be a president whose personal commitment is to continue doing this work. Host we will continue to take a few more of your calls on Race Relations in the u. S. Sue, you have been waiting in maryland, good morning. Caller hi. Thanks for host taking my call. Host you are welcome. Caller thanks for taking my call. Host you are welcome. Caller it is my understanding mlk was assassinated as he was about to address issues of economic inequality. Threatme a much greater and he has always been a greater threat to the 1 who owned 99 of the speech and the news on stations being supported by huge corporations which are multinational. Racialg us by a long, line is beneficial to the 1 . Mlk was getting ready to really speak about a Higher Quality of life for the working poor, middleclass, and i have to give a shout out to to disabled people. To disabled people. It is one of the deciding factors in qualityoflife. Trump thinks because he inherited money from his father makes him a rarefied person and i think it is difficult for him to understand the types of disempowerment that can occur when you are trying to make ends meet in a regular living situation. I just have to say one more thing about the disempowerment and disenfranchisement of females historically. Not only do did women of any race not get the vote until the wass, but Land Ownership prohibited or limited unless you were married. There is more than one kind of disenfranchisement that has occurred and historic this impoverishment dis impoverishment. The more the media speaks truth about the american situation things that are so important they get dropped and we are at each others folks about the crumbs throats about the. Are we being rewarded when we work or being cared for when we are ill, when we are really in need . Host want to squeeze in a couple other calls. Curtis is a veteran. Racism is worse because it is more out in the open. The prejudices people are hiding behind religious beliefs. We have daniel from chicago. What do you think about Race Relations in the u. S. These days . Caller i think they are getting worse and it starts at the top. All the white people who are listening who dont understand this should really open your eyes and look. A president who has appointed 83 federal judges who in this real laws country. These 83 judges are all white. They will affect us more than anybody. Lets look at the race of all the people who work in the white house, including interns, they are all white. These people affect what is going on in this country. This man is a total racist. If you dont open your eyes and see what is really going on like the guy who called in and said the Democratic Party was the in theolding people up 1960s, democrats and republicans switched in the 1960s. People do not want to open their eyes and see what is going on. He appointed all these judges that are totally white. They will never see a black aspect of their life and most of judged by the American Bar Association were not even qualified. There is no way in the world you cannot be a racist if you dont have black people in your life and the people you work with. Host want to get mark from michigan. You are the last call. Caller good morning. Getting betterns in the country . Are for a group of people who have empowered , give to society, they are great people, a beautiful people. They are being emulated by how they look. Big, beautiful, lips. Nice, round, derrieres. Is Race Relations Getting Better in this country . Andce is something you run compete in. Either you come in first, second, or third. We understand this group of the unitedave in states of america is a group of people that was brought here solely for the income of the country and all others who came benefit from that opportunity. Host that was the voice of mark from redford, michigan. Thanks, everybody, who calledwen the president ial campaign a little bit later in the program. Coming up next, inside elections editor Nathan Gonzalez will talk to us about President Trumps impeachment, playing out in 2020. Later we will talk with democratic strategist michael ,tarr hopkins and paris dennard talking about the black vote. This is washington journal. We will take a look at life pictures from the mlk memorial in washington. Start coming in today. We will be right back. Host on this mlk day, we will take time to talk about impeachment and politics. Big, big week, big month ahead of us. Nathan gonzales is with us at the table, editor and publisher of inside elections. Commentatortions from roll call. Guest good morning. Host this New York Times editorial, they are throwing their weight behind two democrat candidates for president. Senators Andy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, for various reasons. What do you make of this double endorsement . Guest is unique both in how they did it and also in endorsing two candidates, but it is something i have been thinking about for years. It is time for newspapers to stop endorsing candidates. For a couple reasons. First of all, im not sure how many people are waiting around for a newspaper to tell them who to vote for. I think that that time has gone. But also, you and i know that there are walls within the Editorial Board, the reporting side, i think most people either do not know that that exists or they do not believe that that exists. When an Editorial Board makes an endorsement, people assume that the whole paper is in the tank for that candidate or those candidates, and i think that hurts the reporting, the journalism side. Andow it is a big deal in the New York Times is a wellrespected paper. But overall, it would be better if newspapers said lets give as much information as possible but let the voters decide. Host this leads me to ask you about impeachment because these two senators, or 2 are two out of four senators who will be inside the Senate Chamber for the next two weeks, not campaigning in iowa or New Hampshire, at least not a lot. What impact will the impeachment trial have on the trial . Guest i will tell you in a couple of weeks. The narrator of is that the senators will be trapped on the floor six hours, six days a week, and it will benefit Vice President biden or mayor buttigieg. I am not sure it plays out that way. Michael bennet is running. They will have access to scores of reporters waiting for them as they enter the chamber, as they exit the chamber. It is different for those voters in iowa. Candidates are not hiding from the voters. I think democratic voters are well aware of where these senators are. It is a job that they have to do. And they have staffs, field teams. They have a presence there even if they are not physically there. And most of them have been there for a year or more, so i am skeptical that their physical presence is going to matter as much as maybe what we have been seeing over the last few month. Host they think and solace has been following this for many years now. Guest it makes me seem old. Host you are not alone, but president ial politics and congressional races as well. Which we will get to. We have lines for democrats, republicans, and independents this morning. Not just in 2020 but in impeachment 2020. Press, junketsd 50 50 odds for reelection as prognosticators rethink models. So if it is 5050, to what extent is impeachment impacting those numbers . Not seen that specific model. I think the president s chances are slightly lower than 50 50. I think it depends on who the nominee is. I dont think it has to be President Biden Vice President biden to win. If the president wins, it would look similar to 2016. It will be an Electoral College victory and not a popular vote victory. I am skeptical that impeachment is going to be a game changer. I think it is a historic event, but over the last year specifically, when you look at the media, we tend to treat everything as a game changer. Everything is breaking news everything matters, and when you look at the president s job Approval Rating, at the beginning of january 2019, it was 53 43 approve, 53 disapprove. I believe at the end of december 2019 it was 44 approve, 53 disapprove. It was virtually the same, and i think from my standpoint, from a handicapping standpoint, i am going to assume nothing is going to budge Public Opinion one way or another on the president unless proven otherwise. We will not know that until we see how people, voters reacted across the country to him. Host lets hear from the n appearance did a last night in austin and took time to talk about impeachment. [video clip] pres. Trump we are achieving that no administration has achieved before. What do i get out of it . I get impeached by these radical left lunatics, i get impeached. But thats ok, the farmers are sticking with trump. They are sticking with trump. [end video clip] radical left lunatics. Is that a theme we are sticking with this year . Host these are terms that he has been using or he is going to use for the next 10 months. Just within that clip, there are a couple of key things. One of them is that two things more than one thing can be happening at the same time, that the president is helping americans on one level, and that ukrainianith the president is inappropriate. Both of these things can be the same at one time, but he also is going to he is going to try to use impeachment to try to rally the base. I think the base will be with him and will be energized the question is, democrats already are convinced he is guilty. Folks in the middle that are balancing they do not like the tweets, they do not like some of the circus that involves the president and the white house but they believe the economy is heading in the right direction, that is the key. His job Approval Rating on the economy is consistently better than what it is overall. But if he loses that over the next 10 months talking about farmers sticking with him. Farmers have given the president , andprisingly long leash that should not back away in the next 10 months. That will make it harder for him. Host lets get a call in for nathan gonzales. Mike from chicago, illinois. Democrat, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. Has destroyed the president ial in our country. In addition, trump has increased tensions with iran. For the First Time Since world war ii, our bases were hit by rockets. The Trump Administration has been caught in another lie. No innocentsat were harmed. Youragon says commentary ec . Host to what extent do these issues affect the campaign . We have not heard questions about the debates until just this past one. Mike expresses concerns as a lot of americans have, particularly on the democratic side there it and we talk about Foreign Policy as an issue in the campaign, i think that it would require there to be more evidence of a specific threat on our homeland, or having significantly more troops involved in a conflict overseas for it for Foreign Policy push above the economy or health care in terms of priorities for voters on issues. Those things could happen over the next 10 months. That is the key one of the things we cannot project as people who watch elections. What is the breaking news going to be like in the late summer and early fall . That is going to dictate a lot of the conversation. It might be about the economy and farms and jobs, but it could be about conflict overseas or threats to america. Tennessee,ng from republican caller. Hey, cal. Caller the problem is the democrats have tried hard to overthrow this government. That is treason. , they allncy pelosi ought to be arrested and charged with treason because that is not right. My biggest problem, my biggest will hire someone to try to assassinate this president. This is a shame. This country is so divided at 50 50 or more. I support trump. I think trump is doing a great job. Thank you. Hopefully nobody goes to the extent you were talking about there. Cal, you expressed concerns that many republicans have. You clearly support the president , most republicans do support the president for Different Reasons sometimes, but the threat of what could happen if democrats are in charge that is a key rallying point for the Republican Party and President Trump in this election, that even if they are not happy with everything he does or tweets or says, they do not want socialism, government takeover of health care, some of the terms the republicans will use. They do not want senator sanders or senator warren to be in charge for Different Reasons. Gonzales, usa today in the New York Times, democrats are pushing to tap witnesses, and it has a new urgency, an effort to fill in the gaps, they are saying, seeking to sway some of the gop before the start of the president s trial. Theyn the gop are realistically thinking they could sway in this impeachment trial . Senators who are running for reelection in states int Hillary Clinton carried 2016, Senator Cory Gardner and senator Susan Collins. It will be media event, but we have been watching these senators for the entire cycle. They have been vulnerable for the entire cycle. I am not sure how persuadable they are. I would suspect that gardner and collins would vote along with the rest of the Republican Party and support the president before acquitting because i think they have seen how some of their colleagues, when they have backed away from the president , have been hurt. Set lender senator kelly ayotte of New Hampshire they saw that when you back away from the president , you risk losing Republican Voters. I am trying to imagine, if senders gardner or collins or any of them vote to remove the republican president of the United States, Republican Voters will enough Republican Voters will move away from them in the reelection, where it will be impossible for them to win. It is not easy because they still need some democrats and s pendenta heard senator Susan Collins surpassing Mitch Mcconnell as the most unpopular republican senator. How did that come to pass . Caller she represents a small state, you cannot have a personal relationship with everyone in maine, but you probably can more so than many states. I think a lot of it started with her vote to confirm justice kavanaugh, and some of the shine came off of that. We have seen a steady decrease in her personal favorability ratings. Her job Approval Rating. I think on the ballot test, when you ask with you, and the general election, support Susan Collins or her likely nominee, Susan Collins is still leading in that ballot test. But that could be a lagging indicator based on these favorable or unfavorable ratings. Curious,case youre collins leads list. Others, cory gardner, arsenic sally, Elizabeth Warren, rand mcsally, livesha with one, rand paul. Joni ernst is probably in a second tier of vulnerable senators. I want to bring up one other nuance about the impeachment. Particularly gardner and collins democrats are not necessarily they are talking about his or her support for the president , but they are also specifically talking about, why are you against witnesses, or why are you against more information coming forward . In part because they want to try to get at that brand of being the defenders have of being moderate or openminded or different than typical republicans. In the case of Susan Collins, we have Video Evidence of how she reacted during the bill clinton impeachment about calling for witnesses and needing more information. So they are trying to use that as defining them as hypocritical or not as openminded as what they have portrayed themselves to be in the past. Back to theget callers. Mississippi, democratic caller. Thank you for waiting, colleen. Caller good morning the reason im calling is in mississippi where we live, they have taken channel 15, channel 33. I pay 124 a month plus taxes for dish. These are local channels. When our paper gets cut off, i mean, what are we doing . Get less than 800 and month. Can we live off 800 and month . No, we cant. We pay more taxes, more everything just to buy groceries. From people ont food stamps and we are disabled. Kathleen, do you have a comment on the 2020 race, impeachment . That is the comment. We have been here. We have worked all our lives, since the age of 13. And i am United States citizen. I am disabled. Outhe says we need to get and work . How much more work have we got . Kathleen is clearly in a tough spot. Not all of it, in spite of the news about the economy doing better in some avenues, there are clearly people in the country that are not doing as well as others. I think it is important for this election, not just at the president ial level, but at the state and local level and getting out and voting for policieso are making that affect their lives in different ways. Host we have joe from falmouth, maine. Go ahead, joe. Caller thank you for taking my call. I want to make a few comments about senator collins. The reason her polling has gone told de blasio ford that she was not assaulted. She never spoke to the woman, never called her, never talked to her. She was told by the republicans to do that, and she did it. She lied right out loud. How about if you were raped and were notlins said you raped, youre making it up. Never talked to her, never took one minute of her time, went on 45 minutes in the senate floor talking about garbage. That is why the people in maine did not vote for her. Number two, she said she would fight to the death, that they would never be anybody taking away preconditions out of the health laws. And what happened there . She voted again and again to get them out. So the reason she has lost her popularity, it is just like Mitch Mcconnell. He is number two. You lie to your constituents to protect your 174,000 a year job. Host thanks for calling, joe. Joe, if you are indicative of other independents in maine calling on the independent line, senator collins is in trouble for reelection. On Brett Kavanaugh was clearly polarizing. Millions of dollars of Campaign Funds from across the country that would be available to the democratic nominee in maine after that primary is over, senator collins she has proven that she has won tough races in the past, but this will be her most difficult reelection. Talked about senator gardner here. Frameee phrase of the the freezeframe of senators that are tossup seats. We speak to them and they races and plugin impeachment. Guest tillis represents North Carolina. North carolina continues to be the emerging battleground state. Publicans have done a little bit better there, but he is likely to face a democrat named cal cunningham. Raceect that to be a close , when he was first elected was extremely close. It is also going to be expensive. North carolina has multiple media markets and those will be flooded. Senator mcsally of arizona i would put her as the second most vulnerable republican senator, even ahead of Susan Collins. She lost the senate race in 2018. She was an appointed that she was appointed to the seat. I am not sure why we would give her an advantage. She has proven to be a good fundraiser, but she is running against mark kelly, the retired astronaut husband of former congresswoman debbie giffords, who is maybe the democratic the best democratic fundraiser on that side of the aisle. So she has a tough race. She has clearly chosen to go all in with the president. Thee is no guarantee that president will win arizona again in 2016. She got into this back and forth with one of the most inspected cnn reporters on capitol hill, calling him a liberal hack, and instantly turning it into fundraising. Im sure some people agree. And a lot of people do not like cnn in some of those corners, but to pick him, i dont know how authentic it looks. I think her reelection chances will probably rise and fall with the president s standing in arizona. Host where talking with nathan gonzales, analyst from roll call. Publisher of inside elections. From is on the line virginia, democratic caller. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Democrat voter. It is not that i prefer butcrats over republicans, they have their equal positives and negatives. My concern is today with this involved i have been from day one with donald trump as president of the United States. Withncerns are very severe donald trump, and i did not vote for him. I voted for Hillary Clinton. Won thern is, she popular vote, and lost the election due to the Electoral College voters. I have since learned that mike , was, the Vice President also a member of that Electoral College voting. My concern is that if it happened once, cannot happen again this time . It not happen again this time . It saddens me that i can vote , whout my personal opinion should be Vice President of the United States, and it is wiped away with the Electoral College votes. Person be so involved in electing a president isthe United States when it taken away from this Electoral College voting process . About mikeifically pence being an elector, i will have to rely on email or twitter feedback in checking in after the fact. To your other question, you are not alone in terms of people who believe that the Electoral College is a flawed and antiquated system. The system was set up when our country started in order to make sure that the smaller states or smaller populations were not dominated or overrun by areas and states that had more population. Everyone elseto to decide what is the better system. Where i could concerned is that if voters where i get concerned, is that if voters view the president ial race as illegitimate because of winning through the process that is laid out, that becomes problematic. One of the hallmarks of our country is that we have elections and there is a winner and a loser, and the loser licks their wounds and moves onto the next one. But if we cannot all agree on the outcome of the election or agree that the election is legitimate, i think that becomes a much deeper problem than the specific results itself. Host continuing campaign 2020 coverage on cspan with various candidates events, especially in iowa and New Hampshire. David is calling from newgate ash from gaithersburg, maryland from gaithersburg, maryland. Caller thank you for taking my call. Womanlad to follow the talking about the Electoral College because i am calling the independent line. I am way to the left, always have been, but i cannot stand the way the liberal elites and democrats act on things like this issue of elections. They want to complain about the Electoral College. Harvard law review just published something ridiculous about busting d. C. Up in a bunch of states just to reform the constitution. It is about states. We are the United States. Im sorry, but states control the elections. That is what it is. The Electoral College, if you want to complain, get involved at the state level. Statehouses control things. , i sorry, mr. Gonzales believe it is going to become a liberal talking point about small states. It is to protect the entity and sanctity, if you will, of the state. I was living in new york until i came back to maryland here, and working there in the city, the city hall there and the statehouse even in new york, they are accessible. I can find them in the community. Liberals have the illusions of grandeur and they want to scale up all their ideas and make them federal and everything. But if you want to change the way your electors vote, you can do that at the statehouse. I just wish there is a chance to connect on the two sides if we emit if we meet in our states. That is a point i want to make. Guest you bring up a lot of good points. One of them that i can envision coming to pass is that if we get to october, november of this year and voters do not like the choices that they have, they do not like President Trump or they may not even like the democratic nominee, there are other elections going on in races for the u. S. Senate. All house seats are up, there are 11 governorships across the country. Even working down to the city level. Those are all important elections for the reasons you laid out. With the Electoral College, sometimes democrats are coming at it from a couple of different perspectives. One is that they believe the system is antiquated, old and we need to change it. It some of them, i believe is political opportunism. They think they have identify the demographic trends of the country and are tired of multiple elections but it does not take a lot for, in this case, President Trump to win that popular vote. If there were to be a left of center thirdparty candidate who took just 3 away from the democratic nominee, that Hillary Clinton won by more than two Percentage Points in 2016 in the popular vote, but if you had a left of center, thirdparty candidate who took a few Percentage Points from the democratic nominee, President Trump in this case would have a plurality. Then i would come back to the demographic and say you wanted to change the rules. Was it because you believed in that or because you thought democrats were going to it would be advantageous for the Democrat Party . Host the house seats we will put a list on the screen of tossup seats. We know that is an open seat. Some of the names out there, rodney davis, lauren underwood, mets pros, kendra horn, joe cunningham, you had mentioned ben mcadams. Talk to us about which of these races are most interesting to you and which might be most impacted by the impeachment story. Joe cunningham of south carolina, ben mcadams and utah they represent some of the most republican districts currently held by a democrat. When we get into the impeachment process, as the impeachment process conversation really what isp, there was notable is that even though they are in a vulnerable they are in vulnerable districts with vulnerable reelection races, they have chosen to support the impeachment or the removal of the president along with the rest of the Democratic Party. One race that is not in the top that is indicative is congresswoman slotkin of michigan, representing suburban detroit. Started, theiry rnc was trying to hold some of these new members, their feet to the fire, by airing advertisements, trying to be active in town halls. On one level that is fine, but in this case, republicans do not have a toptier challenger. They have got a candidate who got into the race in the Fourth Quarter in the fall of last year. We will see if she develops on the flipside, Elissa Slotkin was able to raise more than 1. 2 million in the last three months of 2019. So there is this kind of i feel like more of the narrative was about democrats particularly facing a blowback on impeachment , and then it is going to be a backlash like it was to republicans in the 1990s with clinton. In this case, it is energized democratic donors and it is putting congressman slot congresswoman slotkin she is able to be in a Strong Financial position heading into this race. Host lets take a look at how some of these is playing out on tv with ads early in the impeachment process. You can see the Republican National committee launched a stop the Madness Campaign, featuring tv ads that targeted house democrats. This has absolutely nothing to do with politics. I would like to impeach the best right now. This is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from happening next year. He really should be punished. That charlatan in the white house. I am not running for anything except the impeachment of trump. We cannot accept a second term for donald trump. If we do not impeach the president , he will get reelected. It had absolutely nothing to do with politics. Nathan gonzales, anything more on that stop the Madness Campaign . Guest there were somewhere there are credible challengers, and whether are not, maybe that would inspire someone to get into the race i did know my i did not know my congresswoman or congressman was voting that way. ,e will see the end of the year financial campaign, finance reports are due at the end of the month. We will see if republicans, republican challengers have been able to capitalize in the same way we have seen some of the democratic numbers we will see what that looks like and what that means for the election going forward. Host lets go to las vegas, independent caller jim. Tim. R it is actually i am a retired marine. We bounced all over the last 15, 30 minutes. The initial thing i was going to talk about was the military aspects, one person with the hispanic voice who was saying trump doesnt know anything about the military. But lets forget that. The initial thing is impeachment, correct . My problem is, the commercial you just put on. What are we supposed to believe . This stupid thing that is where it comes to us to individuals to do our homework, which most of us are too lazy to do our homework. We let the idiot box decide what we are going to do, and we do not really know that pelosi i thought big game hunting was illegal in the United States. Pelosi is handing out her pens to people, and people were taking pictures of her with her pens after she signed the license to kill the big president. Correct me if i am wrong. Not the house it of representatives job to do all the investigating and bring all the evidence together . Once they have that together, then they proceed to bring it over to the senate, and back when billy bob got impeached, bill clinton, how did they take him over . They ran him over at night in the hallway so it was not a big parade, the macys parade. But is it not the house of representatives job to do all of the investigating, so that when they bring it to the senate, they then use they bring all the evidence, than they have a trial and decide, is he guilty or not guilty. Is that inaccurate . Is that the basic breakdown, or am i offbase . Guest i think the challenge with that is that the president and the administration have not let some key individuals testify , or have their voice be a part of this. So i think there are missing pieces that democrats continue to desire. I think that this is not we do not have a long, large sample size for how this works. The constitution lays out some things, but it is not specific in other ways. Some of the frustration, two things can be true at the same time. Democrats have been out to get some democrats have been out to get the president since he was inaugurated and that is certainly true. The president did something inappropriate. Those both have to be mutually exclusive, but i feel like our conversations get constantly boiled down to, democrats want to impeach him from day one, so this is all illegitimate. And just because he was elected or they want to do that doesnt mean there should not be in investigation into phone calls or things he has done. Tim inere is a text from rhode island. The Judicial Branch was formed to stop a dictator. Trump is proving the legislative branch during his administration is the branch that creates power. They will do anything to get it back. President trump is making the house and senate look useless. Guest i feel like these arguments, years from now when there is a different president , we are going to perhaps have some similar conversations. Depending on what body or branch that you control, you are probably going to complain about the other one. That is maybe the benefit of having three branches of government and the system we have, that there is a balance, a system of checks and balances there. But democrats complaining about abuse of power by the president will probably have a slightly different stance when there is a democratic president i am not saying that is a year from now, five years from now, longer but where you sit is often indicative of where you stand. I did not come up with that. I will use it. Host what has impeachment meant to fundraising for both numbers, both members both members, both sides of congress . It continues to be huge, democratic fundraising. Democratic voters are energized by President Trump being in office, and trying to counteract that. The president s fundraising has been very good. A lot ofues to raise money. I do not think the president is going to if he loses reelection, i do not think he will lose because he did not have enough money. I think he will have enough money to communicate to voters. A little bit of the missing does republican fundraising look like at the house level . We have gotten a few. Top House Republican challengers are raising the 400,000, maybe 500,000, whereas on the democratic side, they are raising 700,000, eight hundred thousand, in some cases more than 1 million. We are getting vulnerable republican senators fundraising. That it has been out of the park or when someone like Martha Mcsally out of arizona had a good quarter, or that mark kelly is raising more in that race. Line,tammy is on the republican caller . How are you doing . I am a cubanamerican who came here to escape communism and fidel castro. I have worked all my life. I am a 61yearold widow with an 18yearold daughter, and i was kicked off of Social Security, survivor Social Security when my daughter turned 16. I have worked most of my life. Even when i am working, i do not clear more than 13,500 a year. And of course i am under obamacare, but my teeth are rotting in my mouth. I have a bad wisdom tooth. My daughter needs her teeth taken care of and they will not help me. I guess part of my question is, and i used to be republican. I used to be a john bircher, farright extreme. I have been democrat for years, but part of my question is, why in the world is nobody addressing the poor and the fact that we are working poor and we utts anding our b nobody talks to us. What is going on . And a sore as trump, he is an abomination. He needs to go. Host thank you, tammy. Guest democrats are trying to talk to folks in your position, talk about inequality, economic inequality. You saying that you do not feel like voters or candidates are talking to you it is clear they have more work to do, at least with you. I continue to believe the economy is going to be a top issue. Kiefer voters who might key for voters in your position are dont who think who think the status quo is acceptable. Do others believe that things are not great but we are headed in the right direction, or that we need somebody else to take over and to move the country in a different direction to make sure those that are not doing as well economically are going to do better . That is the fundamental fight in this race. Dottie from georgia, republican. Good morning. Caller how do you think the Durham Report is going to affect the elections . Thank you. Is because i am early in the morning, but host tell us why you are asking, caller. Caller i am asking how you think the Durham Report will affect the election. Host but why is that important to you . Caller i just wonder if they determined that President Trump did all this, how it will affect him. Durham report of the Russian Investigation and how it will impact the election this year. Guest i think most people have made up their minds whether it was legitimate or not before the outcome came about. I guess i fall back to the first five minutes of our conversation , that if it has not already changed Voter Opinion about the president , i am skeptical that it will moving forward. Just overall with foreign interference in the election, i would expect other countries to try to do it again. Just look at the results and sort of the chaos with the conversation at a minimum that started in this country. I expect other countries to try. The other question on us is to decide if we are going to be impacted. How savvy are we being as consumers of news or social media to realize, these are outside forces that are trying to influence my thinking. It have influences . Will other people try to have influence . Host President Trump is headed week, business leaders, politicians, and the like. When he comes back, will we continue to see more of these Campaign Style rallies while the impeachment trial continues . Guest i think the president loves the rallies. He loves being on the stages, he loves the applause. That is where he is i think on a rallyther be stage than sitting in the oval office. I do not expect that to that will be a staple of the president s schedule and campaign no matter what is going on. That gives him an opportunity to speak his mind. He speaks his mind on twitter, but to speak directly to voters in another way about what is going on, whatever happened the day before or during that day, microphone into the on that stage. Host he is not shy about talking about impeachment. Not shy about talking about any subject. Host mr. Gonzales, you refer to people who are not happy with the Electoral College system. Would you agree that the reason for their missed placed satisfaction, dissatisfaction, is a lack of Civic Education in this country, making the case between getting Civic Education or not getting it and not appreciating the way the Electoral College is set up . Guest we are talking about hundreds of millions of people, so i think that there is a varying, was that people are maybe disagreeing for Different Reasons. I believe some people have a full knowledge of how the system was set up, and how it is supposed to work and dont like it, for there are problem people who do not understand the Electoral College system and do not understand why it was originally put in place and disagree with it. I hesitate to make a sweeping conclusion on why people but it is possible that some of them do not know exactly why it was put in place in the first place host . Lets go in the first place. Host lets go to iowa. Caller hi. I dont understand like this Electoral College. Hello . Host yes, and i should point out, you are in louisiana, not iowa, correct . Caller louisiana, correct. Host youre asking about the Electoral College. What dont you understand . Caller i dont understand why people want to get rid of it. In louisiana, i go out and vote and i want my vote to count. What is the sense of me to go and vote if we do not have the Electoral College . Host thank you, joy. Guest joy, i think the counterargument would be someone living in los angeles or new york city, where no matter even if President Trump is not going to win california, even if he loses california by 10 million, 20 million, 30 million votes, i am just picking and choosing numbers, that the democratic nominee is going to get the same number of Electoral College votes coming out of california. It does not change. There are voters in other areas who believe that their vote does not count because their or thece on the election proportion of Electoral College votes from the nominee from their state is the same, even if the margin is greater. Host lets take a look at another ad, a recent ad by the conservative american taxing network. With democratic representative kendra horn. Here, it is always clear. And family. Impeachment, it is like up session. Why not focus on securing the border or fixing the Opioid Crisis . There are so many issues to work on. Washington needs to get their priorities straight. Maybe kendra horn should get to work and fight about the issues that matter. Host message there about priorities. Guest we talk about how republicans republicans do have multiple credible candidates against kendra horn there will be a primary in the how and we will be watching that primary plays out. The overall message i think is something we are going to see, it is important that we show the ad because that is a message we will see from republicans for months now, and i think it is going to be up to democrats to demonstrate how they have been working on other issues. The house has had legislation they have passed. They have not gotten anywhere in the senate. How many know what they have been working on. Advantage,sing democrats will use that to communicate to voters to say, yes, you have seen impeachment on tv every day, but these are the issues we have been working on. Voters will decide whether they democratst the priorities were out of balance in terms of the time spent investing in the president versus working on other issues. Host 10 minutes left with our guest. on the democratic line, oliver. Caller hello, gentlemen. Is everybodyg why turning their heads well, not everybody, but some are turning their heads about what trump is doing. They got him on paper, they got him on tape, everything. He been lying ever since he has been in office, just about. The American People are believing what he is saying why should we . As far as the electoral votes, the electoral votes were taken away from the people that are putting their votes in. Just go back to the way it was and everybody vote, and when they vote, the votes would be from the American People, not from what they want to put. Host thank you, oliver. Is an i think there entire party that is trying to hold the president accountable for the things he is saying. There are a good number of Media Outlets trying to hold the president accountable for what he is saying. I think when you talk with supporters of the president , it is interesting to me because some of them believe everything the president says, that he cannot do anything wrong, and that he is when he speaks, that is the truth. Other republicans have a different view, that maybe he is not 100 truthful, but that he is necessary. He is a necessary vehicle to achieve other means, that two Supreme Court justices being confirmed, and lower court judge that have been confirmed, that ends justify the means when it comes to the president. A onstant there is sort of a constant barrage, what the president tweets and says, there may be has been a dumbing down of facts on being able to fact check every phrase, every sentence, every concept he puts out there because there is so much, and i wonder if he is being held accountable to all of that. Caller fromblican oklahoma, billy. Caller i just wonder how these democrats get away from all of this. They had a false dossier, which they lied under oath. They have been against the president since day one. We know that hillary had over 2 million illegal votes done by amazons, by google, and was behind it. And then you have all these illegals crawling over here crossing the border, voting illegally for hillary, for democrats. And now they are trying to do with the Electoral College, too . This is about fraud. This lady says she came from trying tose she was escape communism . They are trying to push communism. These people need to wake up, pull their heads out of their a fresh breath of air and realize what is going on. , people thatocrats live in her district and she is in congress and how does that work . Guest billy, multiple members of congress do not live in their district. You do not have to live in the district you represent, you just have to live in the state you represent. There are a lot of Different Things that you threw out there. Even if you want to believe that there was something inappropriate about the 2016 election, that does not mean that the president did not do anything wrong in the call with the ukrainian president or isnt doing something wrong in general. I think those two things do not line up. Are nots citizens who legal in this country voting in the last election, i do not think there is evidence of that. I know the president talks about that specifically in california, and trying to i think he views he believes that some people view his presidency as illegitimate because he did not win the popular vote, so he tries to use that, what you are saying, there is no evidence of that. The president is often complaining about an election that he won. He is complaining about, talking about voters coming and voting illegally. I cannot imagine or i try not theention too much if president loses, what is he going to think . He is complaining about an election that he won. Host lots of republican retirements in the house this year especially. Is it an unusually high number . 26 housethink republicans are not seeking reelection. A few of them are seeking other office. Many will retire and will not be running. On the flipside, nine democrats are seeking reelection. Is more than average for a cycle. For various reasons. Maybe one of the key ones is that there is not a lot of evidence that republicans are on the brink of winning back the house majority. If you are right now in the minority, navy you have been on the hill for a long time and you realize how terrible maybe you have been on the hill for a long time and you realize you can have a platform but in the house in the minority you really are powerless. May be haveembers not experience life in the minority before and are realizing this is not a good use of their time, so they are moving on to other things. Host lets add a couple more names to the conversation. Senate seats in play we talked about Susan Collins and joni ernst. We know that kansas has an open seat, doug jones in alabama, john cornyn in texas. Also david produced the two georgia seats, who would you like to see come out . West doug jones in alabama, have not really talked about him. He represents alabama, very conservative in a republican state, i would inspect them to vote with the Democratic Party. His path to victory is not convincing a large number of republicans because i think those republicans are with President Trump he needs to tost democratic turnout probably historic levels. That is part of the reason why i think you will see him go with the democrats when this is all over. Kansas is an emerging race. Pat roberts is not running for reelection. It is an open c. Secretary of state mike pompeo, some republicans the white him toas trying to get run. He is a former congressman from kansas before he took the administer of jumper he decided for now at least that he is not running, and what that does congress and roger marshall, the first district, is running. It increases the potential that of kansas kris kobach from a handicapping perspective that is probable because he lost the 2018 election. It was not a close race and that seed would be at risk. The Kansas Senate seat would be at risk for republicans if kris kobach is the nominee. That is why the primary will be important. Lawrence,s hear from from california. Caller i have two things i would like to say. One of them is that right now there used to be, what is it, in the stock market, trump is taking all the credit for it being so high . Three years ago, there was 9000 900 companies on the stock marked. 9900 companies on the stock market. 4400 there are less than companies on the stock market. Refore, supply and demand supply is down, demand is high, stock market goes up. , employment. Is right now there are 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, every day. Isyou take that, that 300,000 people. Of that 300,000 people, to any 5 of them do not have any money for retirement. Money than have less 25,000 in their retirement account. Peoplee are 300,000 with a month, 25 are not do not have enough money to retire and have a parttime job. So if you take that away, basically there should be 225,000 or less jobs created every month. And you are going to see that coming on all the time. A fact that this is a couple of things come to mind. Willension and retirement be an increasing part of our conversation as the baby boomer generation moves into retirement. The promises that were made to that generation are going to be a conversation in can we sustain that. I feel like sometimes republicans are a little too confident on the president s reelection chances based on the economy. Normally, when the economy is doing well, the president is reelected. The challenge is that this is not a traditional president. Even though the economy is better than what it was, overall. The president , because of other things he has done and says, he is not getting some of that bounce we normally see. Thanks a lot as always for your time and insight. Guest thank you. Host we have one hour left in this washington journal. This is a federal holiday, marking the life of dr. Martin luther king jr. Here is a live picture from the mlk memorial. When we come back, we will talk about race and campaign 2020 with Michael Hawkins and paris dennard of the trump 2020 Advisory Board. We will be right back. [indiscernible] press the button down and see what you get. Press the button down and you can look at it. More of the sights and sounds this monday of this federal holiday, marking the life and work of the reverend dr. Martin luther king jr. The crowd is showing up on the typical, brisk january day in washington d. C. Joining us is Michael Hawkins, who is a democratic strategist and paris dennard who is on the trump 2020 Advisory Board and black voices for trump. Start with the spirit of mlk day. Race relations in this country, how would you assess Race Relations right now and which of the president ial candidates do you turn to for Race Relations . Lets start with Michael Starr hopkins. Obama, wet president have seen a kneejerk reaction to having an africanamerican president. Things of gotten better since dr. Martin luther king was alive. We are starting to pivot in more dangerous territory. Things of gotten more confrontational. There is a wage gap between africanamericans and other communities. We have a long way to go. Candidates, is of dont know if there is a candidate in terms of race and those issues very i think there is a lot of room for them to grow. Host how about you . Guest i think as we celebrate the life of dr. King, i can think back to a 1968 poll that showed dr. Kings disapproval was at 70 something percent. Unpopular during the last year of his death. We can look now to see that his Lasting Impact on the work that he did transcended any pull at the time. When you look at the candidates today, i turn to candidate the candidate i am supporting, president donald trump. I think any of the candidates on the democrat side would love to have the record President Trump has as it relates to the Africanamerican Community. When they go to the debate stage, however the democratic nominee is going to be, when they stand next to donald trump, donald trump will be able to talk about the things he is done as president , the promises he has made and kept. ,he democrats on the other side will not be able to talk about their record of achievement. They will talk about things they hope to do or things they would like to do. The difference is President Trump can talk about a very strong record of achievement that has impacted the black community in a positive way. Host the number is on the bottom of the screen for democrats, republicans and independents. We are looking at campaign 2020 and black voters around the country and what they are thinking as the voting is about to begin. Our guests are Michael Starr hopkins, a democratic strategist and a state for students for obama, implored her, correct . Guest i was. Host what was that experience like for you . Guest it was an amazing experience being in florida. Even on election night, it showed the president elect would become president. Many of us did not believe it. We didnt know the country was ready for an africanamerican president. It was an amazing feeling to see that come to fruition. Host you are a Founding Partner at Northern Star strategies. Work with companies, candidates to help get their brand out and message them and do outreach. Paris dinar, what is black voices for trump about . Guest it is a new Coalition Group that the campaign created, pushing President Trump. Thatf several poll issues the president has with the campaign. We are proud to serve on the advisory bird Advisory Board is with dr. Almeda king, a longtime conservative activist. We are trying to get the message out to the black amenity that was launched several months ago in atlanta, georgia. The president , Vice President and several members of congress and cabinet members were at the event. We are going across the country. We are going to be in raleigh, North Carolina today. I was in philadelphia last week. We have been in richmond, going to the black community, directly, and telling them about the good things the president is doing and hoping they will take their voice and go back to their communities, their family, their churches, their schools, their colleagues, their friends and family to talk about what they have learned and the impact of the president on their lives. Host we will get to your calls in a moment. Here is President Trump last year at a black voices for trump event. Pres. Trump when i ran for office three years ago, i looked at the bleak, dismal record of the Democrat Party and asked the Africanamerican Community, what the hell do you have to lose . What do you have to lose . I came off stage that night and all of these professional handlers, right, i dont have too many handlers but they say sir, i dont think they will like that. I said no, look. I read a list, lasting crime, lasting homeownership, last in economy, lowest wages. I said wait a minute, i am reading off of a list. And i said wait a minute, thats what i said, it was not part of a script. I do my best work off script. I hate to say this. I also do my worst work off script. [laughter] never get inyou trouble when you go by the script, right . I do my best and worst work. It makes things very exciting too. It was a very important statement to be made. Honestly, the democrats have let you down. You a solemn pledge that was that whether you voted for me or not, i would be your greatest. Your reaction to what you heard . Guest i find it laughable. It is hard to understand someone saying that they believe in the work of Martin Luther king, while also denigrating collin cafferty. It is hard for me to say he supports the work of martin with the king while building a wall to keep immigrants out. This president has referred to african countries as swhole countries. I wanted to believe that when he was elected that he would be a present for all people. He has gone on to divide the country even further. Host i want to run this headline by you in the Washington Post. In a poll, black americans are deeply pessimistic about the country under trump, more than eight in 10 of them describe him as a racist. Guest i think that when you have a power the power of the hard toam media, it is overcome the sentiments of the media that calls him a racist on a regular basis, in the face of the facts. We can talk about the claims that they make. We can look at the facts. The facts are that this is a president who has done a tremendous job in impacting the black community, whether it is the first step back in a historical criminal Justice Reform or record unemployment. Or the black community this president is doing things that are disproportionately impacting the black community in a positive way. That is the record that he is running on. T is a record that guest when it comes to the black Unemployment Rate under president obama, it was 16. 8. Under President Trump, it went from 16. 827 . Under President Trump, it has gone from 7 to 6 . Believe that president lowp has created a record unemployment, that is like saying i crated a house and you painted the door so i get credit for building the house. To ournt trump referred first africanamerican president as a muslim. He tried to disqualify him based on something we knew was not true. It becomes disingenuous to claim that President Trump is for the Africanamerican Community. Guest it is not a matter of being disingenuous. We can talk about things of the past and the present. The Unemployment Rate is historically low. For the black community. When youre the president of the United States of america, you take credit for the economy you have. The facts are, he has had hbcus. Dented support for he is the first president to go speak at the hbcus. I dont know why president obama didnt go for eight years. I know h President Trump went in the first three years. His record is strong. His accomplishments are significant. Host let me start getting phone calls for our guests. In raleigh, north kelowna, ray is our First Independent collar. Caller republicans and democrats are always about unemployment for blacks. We bring in a Million People in this country, every year. If they are doing their jobs out of there, we can fill them. Opportunity, no why are you still bringing more people in the can unity . Thank you. Host lets hear from our guests. Guest i will speak for democrats. We are not for open borders. We believe there should be Immigration Reform. Opportunityhad the to have Immigration Reform and republicans backed away from it after supporting it. There are a lot of low skilled jobs that americans have not done. There are a lot of jobs that are High School Science jobs, democratic jobs that americans have not done. We have trained a lot of foreign people. Immigration is a complicated issue that we should be bipartisan about it. Has raised an ray important issue in terms of immigration. It has been pretty terrible. I think that one of the things that people do not focus attention on is the impact of illegal immigration on a lot of the urban centers and urban communities in terms of housing, in terms of jobs and in terms of the economy. Illegal immigration is something that we need to handle. We need to deal with it. I am glad that this resident has dealt with what other president s were not able to do in terms of doing something about the crisis that was on the border. Especially with building the wall. Host on to evelyn. Caller hi. I want to make a comment that i dont see how the republicans , parisrticularly dennard, i dont see how you see what good trump is for. All he has done is make a lot of racist comments. He has divided this country even more so than ever. You talk about all of his accomplishments. When you have someone like him in office, that the grades the minorities, particularly africanamericans and people of color, what good is that. So what . You have a good economy. People are fighting and killing each other, even in the communities. You seem like a really smart man. Especiallyy of you, in the African Unity are lost and confused, following this abomination in the white house. Look at all of the things they are doing. Host that was the voice of evelyn in texas. Lets hear from paris dennard. Guest i think she is misguided in terms of her opinion about the president. When she says that he denigrates africanamericans, show me an example of how the president of the United States has demo graded denigrated africanamericans. He has uplifted africanamericans and supported african a mickens and hired africanamericans to some of the highest positions in the country to work and advise with him. Criminallook at Justice Reform, because of criminal Justice Reform alone, 3000 africanamericans are home for the holidays with their support because of his. Record a president whose is strong for the black community. What we have to deal with, the challenge for president s like my self and the black voices for Trump Coalition is to break through the noise and tell people to look at the facts and do the research about what this president is actually doing and has done for the community. Host let me show this new york headline New York Times headline to you, Michael Starr. Its as democrats struggle to win the trust of black voters. Would you agree and if so, how come . Guest i think there is apprehension on which candidate to support. I think part of that goes from the 2016 election. We have seen the Africanamerican Community is usually later to come around to a candidate because we want to see where White America is. Where White Americans support. We saw that in 2008 with president obama. It was not until after he won in iowa that africanamericans supported him. There is a belief that we have been tricked before. We want to see who other communities support before we are willing to just throw our support behind someone. Host what do you think about the double endorsement of Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren . Guest it was the anticipation. They did a big show and big reveal. A big fan of a double endorsement. Especially of two people who are diametrically opposed. One of them falls in the moderate lane and the other falls in the more liberal, sanders lane. It does not match up to me. Speak toeither of them the black amenity more . Community more . Guest i dont think so. They have not been able to hone in on the message that works for the Africanamerican Community. I think everyone will be compared to barack obama after his presidency. It is tough to do that type of outrage. Outreach. I think we are worried about people coming in during election season, trying to gain our support and leaving as soon as the elections are over. People have to form longterm relationships. In florida, outside of orlando, good morning. Caller thank you very much. Guests basically have opposite outlooks on the way they see donald trump affecting the black community. It is the entire community. It is a common denominator. I wrote a book called running in my shoes. I hope you will take a definite look at the perspective that i bring to the table. I was an experimental student at Saint Stephens school in virginia, where they integrated the school slowly. I was able to account for many of the diverse opinions of my schoolmates. What i want to say is this. Himself as then leader of the country just represents the voices of many people and the way they feel. It is not really donald trump. It is the voices of the people and how they feel. It ise to look at what all about in terms of his influence on the United States and its leaders. One of the main reasons i am against don trump and there are reasons i am for donald trump, it is not an all or nothing situation when it comes to dealing with human people. One of the things that really bothers me. I just want to make an endorsement for Bernie Sanders over joe biden. I think he has been the most consistent personality in civil rights, in america. Let me get back to that point. Donald trump has basically is basically putting forth a policy, economically that is going to ruin not only the United States but the world when he ignores the reality of disruption. This is the most critical problem. He d regulates carbon fuel. And all of the things going on with climate. If we dont build an economy on dealing with the problem of the seo in the atmosphere being bought out by corporations who have been silencing us, i dont care about anything else. The common denominator that will bring us together is fighting a common issue. That is surviving on this planet. I thank you very much. Host thanks for calling. Guest i think philip touched on something that is important. How president is talking to and represents the forgotten people. Forgotten men and women of this country. Whether you are a bluecollar worker from pennsylvania or a young, africanamerican mother, from oakland, california, the president is talking to and represent people who, for many years, have been forgotten. That commonality he has with them, the way he communicates, the way his policies have impacted committees of color, especially, are all positive. When people hear the president , they feel that he is talking to them, talking about them and representing them. And fighting them, quite frankly. That is what America First is. The policies hes putting in place, for so many years, under democratic control, in a lot of the cities, people have felt forgotten. Host what is missing in that assessment . Guest i think the Historical Context of it. Arerecent africanamericans suffering is because of things like redlining. Things like segregation. The fact that our Public Schools are funded by property taxes in areas where there is very low property value. Schools are going to be warsaw. I understand why paris is saying what he is saying. All you have to do is look at what the president has said and the way he has treated people. The reason that the president has become popular is because of reasons of politics. He says what people say. The president says the things that people say behind closed that they dont usually say in public. For a portion of the country, that has become popular. It is not good for the country. Host fred in maryland, republican caller, good morning. Caller good morning. I want to thank mr. Parris for what celebrating doctor might live king day is about. It is about uniting the country, not falling into the herds where they want us to hate. He realizes we all bleed red and we are all americans. Destroying ouris country with the democrats. They pulled the bag of tricks out with the bait race baiting and antiamerican, blaming each other. It is not working anymore and we are finally seeing through it. The black community is starting to as well. They realize it comes down to policies over hatred. Most americans understand we will take a paycheck over a handout any day. We are giving the opportunity to President Trump. He is our First Citizen president. We are not following the norms of politicians. I remember on the gdp group, under president obama, is antibusiness policy. It was 1. 2 . Trump has us up to 3. 9, almost 4 . Critics said it would never happen. Everything he has promised, he has checked behind. Appreciate mr. Parris for stepping up and doing the right thing and not falling into the same norms that most of the black museum has done. Another thing, one thing with Ralph Northam. Here he is, pictured in blackface and democratic voters vote him in. His voice as Lieutenant Governor has been accused of Sexual Harassment and raped. We have joe biden making comments saying we will put you in chains. These are scare tactics. I dont understand how the democrats can keep falling for these same old sad stories. Hopkins,hael stauch the last that he made . Said Martin Luther king america bro a check that came back insufficient funds. He said wrote a check but came back insufficient funds. Americans were enslaved. Upon the ending of slavery, they were put out with no land, no Institutional Support and told to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. That is why he said that it is tell someone without boots to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. War Ralph Northam blackface. Sexual harassment should be nothing new to the trunk campaign. He said he wanted to grab women by inappropriate laces. Our discourse has to change. Our president has to do better. I dont think the Trump Presidency is indicative of what we can do and as good as we can be. Guest one of the things dr. King also talked about was how he wanted poor blacks and poor whites to come together and form a coalition. That is some of the things that this president has been focused on. When you look at his attention to rural america, these forgotten men and women need a voice. They need somebody to fight for them. When you look at the policies of this president and the things that he is doing to eliminate the individual mandates for obamacare, or trying to fight for reducing the price of prescription drugs or have a transparency when it comes to how much it costs when you go to the hospital, these are things that people understand and appreciate. Veterans choices. There are so Many American veterans who dont have the attention and the care that they deserve and need coming out of washington, d. C. Thempresident has shown that there is a champion. That is what it is important for us to not just look at it through the lens of what he is doing for the black Community Men andforgotten black women, both urban and rural, coming together and having somebody to believe in. He is aspirational and inspirational, through not just rhetoric through policy. To policyill get back in a moment. One thing i wanted to bring up , while we wereon the to on the topic. There is a picture of monger the king the third, with his father. Martin luther king the third, with his father. He actually said that we would have resolved racism, had he still been alive. That struck me, reading that. Reaction to that . Guest i dont think that we will ever get rid of racism. For some people, racism is profitable. I think it has been used to divide the country. I think it will always be there. I think our failure to address the outcomes of racism and the issues that have come about because of racism will calls us to never really deal with it. No doubt thats dr. King was a transformative figure. I think what his son is talking about is having someone, for such a long period of time, had he lived, be putting racism and racial issues with the moral authorities that dr. King had, at the forefront. Dr. King was not afraid to challenge democrats in the white house who were in office. Jfk and lbj. This was the president going up against them and challenging them. Years, especially the eight years under president obama, the Africanamerican Community and africanamerican leaders, socalled leaders and organizations, naacp and the like did not step up to the challenge and challenge this president. President obama, on issues of race and support in the black community. The fact under president obama, things like him cutting hbc you funding should not have happened. I think there was an economic collapse. There was a lot of things that got cut during that. Came when President Trump about in office in his first term, he said i will cut federal government across the board. He said i will not cut hbc you spending. He did not cut hbc you spending. He said i will not cut hbcu spending. He did not cut hbcu spending. Host we are talking with Parris Dennard and Michael Hawkins. Half hour left. We are going to kelly on the line from ohio. Them a credit color, hey, kelly. Caller thank you. Good morning, a couple of things. As far as what trump, President Trump and his administration are doing with obamacare, and undermining it, it is causing the Health Care Costs to go up. That is what i see. Health care going up, based on what they are going through. The other thing i want to mention is the unemployment. I would view the unemployment for blacks going down to 5 would be good. You have to look at what is behind those numbers. So, are blacks Getting Better jobs in the private sector . Are we still talking about 90 jobs 90 of jobs in the government sector . Of the private sector jobs, or they just minimumwage . If you can say that 80 , 70 of thatobs that unemployment blacks and africanamericans are giving is in the private sector and in minimum wage, i would say they are doing better. Until i see what is behind those underlining numbers, i will not say that the blacks are doing better. Host concerns about health care and economics. Guest the president said from the start that he wanted to repeal obama care but had no plan in place rate he started his first term having an opportunity to put his own health care plan. After eight years, republicans had nothing. As we were talking about Martin Luther king, do you actually think what luther king wouldve supported President Trump, in all honesty . Guest i dont know dr. King wouldve supported . I know that dr. King has supported republicans in the past. I think that dr. King was one who was about issues. I think dr. King could have gone behind some of the issues that and the policies President Trump has been champing championing. I think he would have been supportive of criminal Justice Reform and opportunity zones. I think he wouldve been supportive if the president called him to take troops out of afghanistan and iraq. I think there are a lot of things President Trump and dr. King couldve found Common Ground on. The problem is their refusal to work with this president. Instead of doing things that bring this country together, focusing on things that are divisive, we could be focusing on things that are positive. We could focus on things that are doing things to improve the lives of African Americans. That is not what democrats are more focused on impeachments and russian hoaxes then doing anything to support the african community. Anything toan doing support the african committee. Guest in terms of democrats working with republicans, the house has put over 200 bills up and they are sitting in the senate, dying under Mitch Mcconnells watch. Impress have tried to work with the president on multiple issues. The president has said while impeachment is going on and rushes going on, we will not work with you. That is not providing leadership. The president wants his way or no way. That is not leadership. That is not how you work with and opposing group. And opposing group. It is what your action an opposing group. It is what your action shows. We have monique on theost line from washington, d. C. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Mr. Hopkins, you stole my glory. Everything you said was on point. What i wanted to say, obama stabilized the economy. When he got it, it was in shambles. While i do not understand is, they wont give president obama due, becauseat is President Trump would not have been able to give his friends and family a 1. 5 trillion tax hard, it was not for the strenuous work that president obama and the democratic legislators have done. It gave the man gray hair. It shows he put in work. What shocks me is, i keep , iring the other gentlemen missed his name. Host Parris Dennard. Caller he keeps talking about the democrats not doing this. The democrats not doing that, stop using labels. Stop the one point punches. This is america. One thing, that we as americans do, we look into other peoples business. We are nosy. We find facts. We dig. When it comes to the President Trump, today, trust me. They might look and look and dig for president obama information and they cannot find it. They found stuff with trump. Costing them the actions. Suck it up, deal with it. Give president obama his due that he stabilized the economy. For trump to come in and do all the stuff that he is doing now. For a person like me who ask he pays taxes. I will be continually paying a high volume taxes for people with no insurance. I dont care if you do call it attacks. Thank you very much. You laid a lot out there. Lets give that to paris tomorrow. To unpack. E is a lot i think monique talked about labels. And how we label people. We have a two party system. Impact to find ways to the American People in a positive way. One of the things the tax cuts had and there is the opportunity zones. Senator tim scott walked in the Overall Office and told the president oval office and told the president about his agenda. President trump got behind it 100 . Had it not been for President Trumps encouragement and support of tim scott, it would not have gotten into that piece of legislation. That is what leadership is about. A lot of the things the president has done is because he used the pulpit and formed coalitions to get things done. At the end of the day, we can talk about rhetoric and talk about things of the past. We can talk about stories and accusations. We have to focus on policies at work and having factual evidence about the things that this president is doing. The things this president is doing, when it comes to the economy, when it comes to education, when it comes to health care, when it comes to colonel Justice Reform, are positive for the black community. Host michael star hopkins, let me show you the daily news. Michael bloomberg, when you look at the Washington Post version of that story, the former new york mayor visited the site of one of the worst racial massacres in american history, which happened in 1921. He announced new economic policies to help black voters recover from generations of systemic discrimination. What do you think of his efforts . Guest i applaud him for coming out and saying he was wrong for stop and frisk. I applaud him for his policy announcements he has made. I think his candidacy, one of the things that makes africanamericans nervous in terms of white candidates coming to africanamerican treaties during election years and after elections are over, leaving again. I applaud those efforts. Coalitions support around those. I think he is going in the right direction. Host let me show you cory booker on cbs, talking about diversity in the Democratic Party. He was asked if he was concerned that the debate stage was not diverse enough. Guest our member i remember when Kamala Harris dropped off the stage. Said sheen in my life one california twice but she cannot get to iowa. We have got to find a way as a party, as a nation, both parties, to understand that we are a diverse nation. I got to the United States senate and was stunned about how little diversity there was. Shots worked to change a lot of that. We are a better nation when we bring it in figures together with white male ash on. That is how we go to the moon. The Democratic Party, which represents rainbow coalitions of america has got to do a better job of getting more candidates running at all levels, supporting a system that does not benefit big money but big values. What are the values of our party . Host Michael Starr hopkins . Guest i think that the debate stage is all white is problematic. Especially given that early on, we were wondering whether someone who was older, white male would stand a chance in this primary. And now, the debate stage looks the way it does. I think it is problematic. It goes to the influence of money and politics. Decision to make donors a threshold for the debate stage. Host parris dinar, i have an article i want to show you as well. Hillary clinton 189 percent of the africanamerican vote won 89 of the African American bow in 2016. President trump had 10 of support in 2017, 10 in 2019. I bring this up because of a political story that says trumps shocking black voters by try to get their votes. They are making the point hes reaching out to them, anyway he can. They are making this particular point as to why. He received just 8 and is conceding he will never win a slice. If you can get into the low teens, it could alter the outcome of a close election very smart move . A good way to spend time, resources . Guest i think, absolutely. One of the things that is funny is that 8 of the black voters if you go back in 2016, President Trump had 0 . 1 of the black unity. It turns i he does better than senator mccain and senator romney did when they ran for president , getting 8 . I think that the president s commitment to the black committee and engaging with the black community is impressive, genuine and real because, when you look at the fact that he has only a percent of the boat put so much attention and time and it was ad effort, fully funded coalition. There in arson is senior advisory role, helping with that and other things. Running ads in black newspapers and black radio, spending money to do that. Having engagement events in churches and Community Centers and blackowned businesses across this country. In raleigh, North Carolina, today, it is a real effort. I think they are right. It is not unheard of for republicans, president ial nominees to get doubledigit support in the black communities. The highest percentage came with president nixons 32 . Past president s after that on the republican side have gotten doubledigit support. The president can make these incremental adjustments to his numbers by being consistent, putting up the facts and showing he is serious about earning the vote of the black community. The last point i will bring up, there are some of the people that are outside the bubble and dre not being pulled polle or talk to. There is a Small Business owner who did not vote for President Trump last election and is now a republican and voting for President Trump. A millennial, nobody is pulling her or talking to her. I meet people like her all the time, black people who are saying i wanted to know what this president is about. I did the research, i have looked at it and i am going to support him. I think that is how you will see President Trump make a difference from the a percent he got in 2016 and have an increase. If he does that across the country, in particular states, pennsylvania, virginia, ohio, florida, it is going to make a difference. Host does this concern you . Guest it doesnt concern me. I am glad he is reaching out to Africanamerican Communitys. I hope he follows it up with frederick an action that matches that belief. I always think about it, i have the blood of both slaves and slave owners running through my veins. Ilove this country but understand the complex the of race in america. It scares me when someone like President Trump stokes the flames and stokes that division. It costs lives. We saw it in texas, in the shooting at the walmart. His immigration rhetoric has consequent is. We have seen in charlottesville, the consequences of that rhetoric. I may disagree with the president but he is still the president and i want him to succeed. And he succeeds, we all succeed. I dont feel like we are all succeeding. Calling frome is orange, california. Caller good morning. Host i want to good morning. Caller i want to comment on mr. Dennard. The White House Initiative was started in 1981 for hbcus. Every two years, it has to be renewed. Every president has increased the funding except for President Trump. He can go to the library of congress and look at the data, which is what i have used every year. It will show, adjusted for inflation or not, trump has not increased it. Still, hbcus specifically graduate six out of 10 women in the United States. Sayst had to call in to that it is indefensible for him to sit there and say he has done more for hbcus. I am using the library of congress. Thank you for taking my call. Host mr. Dennard. Guest ive reshaped the call about the impact about hbcus. That President Trump signed the executive order theebruary of 2017, quickest of any modernday president. I know his support has been unprecedented. The increase in funding has come under this administration. You dont have to go to the library of congress. You can go to the members of congress and ask them. You can look at data points that are there at the white house website. I was there when he signed the exec aborted. I was there when he met with over 80 hbcus in the oval office, something that had not been done before he was president , when he spoke to the hbcus conference. That is something no president had done before. The data is there that this president has increased funding. When you look at the fact that the president and this administration wiped out the debt that was owed to hbcus, that were impacted by Hurricane Katrina, who have fought and lobbied congress and the president passed for this piece of legislation to happen, it did not happen. I dont know why president obama was not able to get it done in his time in office. I know that under President Trump, it was able to happen. The debt that came from the impact of Hurricane Katrina was wiped out because of this prestons leading effort president s leading efforts to support hbc. Us. Guest i dont know where to start when it comes to this notion that the president is this big supporter of africanamerican communities. Republicans seem to forget that in 2008, president obama came on and had the biggest financial collapse since the great depression. After solving that, we had people like President Trump and Newt Gingrich refer to him as a welfare queen. To use race baiting language that made it harder for the president to address africanamerican issues. Anytime we touched on them, when we touched on issues like trayvon martin, if i had a son, he would look like trayvon martin, republicans went after him. Hthey said he was trying to channel up racism. You want him to solve the problems but then, when he tries to address any of them, you dismiss him as just race. Aiting guest i wish he would have been the black president and nominated an africanamerican to the spring corporate i wish he wouldve made black issues more of the center hallmark of the campaign and presidency. Wish he would not have daft up someone who called him the letter inword. It is unheard of. That is what this president did. You and i both know that there guest you and i both know that there is a burden we take as africanamerican men that we dont always get to say what we want to say and have the reactions we want to have because there is a response ability on us that is not on other communities. It is on us to be responsible in the things we say and the way that we act and treat other people. Likeeason that people Jackie Robinson were so successful was because they did not punch the fan that was saying things to them. They did not react to everything. They had a responsibility and a burden that was greater than themselves. The same is true for president obama. He was not just the africanamerican president. He was not just the black president. He was the first africanamerican president , ever. Everything he did was going to be examined for years after. Guest we are different. When i have a seat at the table, i use it. If you do not use that power and authority, then it is for nothing. I stand up for my committee with every opportunity i get. Get we will jump in and cynthia from san diego. Caller i just wanted to say in 2016, i voted for President Trump, as an africanamerican. I was a lifelong democrat. Honestly, i have had it with the democrats. It was time to do something different. I changed my party to independent and i plan on voting for donald trump again in 2020. I will make it short, mostly, the reason is why is it, if the democrats love black people so much, why is it that we are at the bottom of all statistics . Groups are doing well. Home ownership, education, they dont have the Health Problems we do. Criminality, black people are at the bottom. All the while, we have been voting for democrats, left and right. We get nothing in return. This whole people of color nonsense, we are not people of color. African americans issues are different from other groups in this country. We need to focus on what it is that makes our countries communities at the bottom of the list. Host thank you. Michael star hopkins, why dont you take that . Guest i will say that no other group in this country has been enslaved on american land. When you look at the problems the Africanamerican Community faces, there is an interconnection. Homeownership, if you are someone who has committed a crime, you are no longer eligible for student loans. You are no longer eligible for housing loans. If you are no longer eligible for student loans, it makes it harder for you to get a job because of a lack of education. If you are not able to buy a home, because of the fact that there is a criminal record or because of things like redlining, it makes it harder to have generational wealth. Compared to other communities, africanamericans have the lowest generation of health passed down Generational Health passed down. You have to look at the whole approach and say what has happened over time and how do we fix this . Host paris dinar, is there a democratic candidate that you think can be the president . Guest absolutely not. That is why the president is so, in his reelection. When you look at the people that are rising to the top on the democrat side, none of them have the experience or record to combat him, in terms of what they are going to be able to present to the American People, which you will have to be to the, to stand next president and say not just what they want to do or things that could have done. You have Bernie Sanders, senator sanders and senator warren, Vice President biden, they have been in for a long time but they have not been able to get things done for the American People. They were not able to do things with criminal Justice Reform. They were not able to do all the things this president is doing for not just the black community, but the country. When you dont have records of achievement, it is going to be an uphill battle to unseat the sitting president that has the record that any of them would love to have. Host what is your biggest critique of the president . Guest my biggest critique is iact that he, sometimes think there is times when the as notnt can come across really who he is behind closed doors. If the people were able to get to know the president that i see, the president that is caring, compassionate, intuitive to the hearts and minds of people, there have been many times the president walked over to me in a situation and said how are you doing . We know it is challenging out there and things have gone on. How is your family . Is there anything i can do to support or help you . I think that sometimes, the president puts off this image that he is this tough guy and does not care. I think that those who know him and work with him and have known him for years, his friends were close to him, i think george w. Bush had the same issue. There was a disconnect with how people saw him and how they were behind closed doors. Host lets go to roy in woodstock, georgia. Caller good morning. I have to agree with mr. Dennard, early. Ier. There is nothing positive from cnn and msnbc. We have heard about Stormy Daniels to the russia conspiracy. Kavanaugh, the jim comey thing. This is on msnbc and cnn. When president obama suggested that we do not watch fox because if you watch fox, he wouldnt vote for himself, i think that is what we need to listen to. It has broken families apart. Some listen to fox and some listen to cnn. To hold the news media accountable for the destruction they are causing. Host thanks for calling. Michael starr hopkins, critical of the media, that color. Americanthink the public needs to do a better job of sifting through what stories they are reading and doing their own research. There is a lot of confusion about what his opinion versus what is news. I think that that is something that confuses a lot of people. I think it is on us to do our homework. I think you should be reading five or six different sources and forming your own opinion. Not just picking whatever you get, whether it is msnbc or fox news. We have to do our homework. It is on us. Guest i think it is important for the American People to understand that the media is powerful and that they are trying to create a false narrative about this president. The important thing to do is, what michael said, do your research. If your an africanamerican who is trying to figure out who donald trump is or who to support, i would encourage you to do the research. Does,t what the president how he stands on issues of criminal Justice Reform and supporting Small Businesses. Do the research. Cut through the noise and do the research for yourself and come to your own conclusion to find the truth about who this president is and the policies that have been put in place. Host mary from grand rapids, michigan. Democratic caller. Caller hi. I have been listening and i have a question and a common. Where there a time was going to be a bomb or nuclear. Chernobyl. Ough we have dangerous with nuclear. I have another question for america. You said research. , youre said donald trump h and hisans drump people came here from germany. Can anybody let me know is that Research True . Is that his real name . Guest observations host observations on the president , anybody want to pick that up . Guest mary brought up an important issue, national security. And how this president is in a different type of tactic in terms of engaging with foreign leaders. What we do know is that since his engagement with kim jongun in north korea, we have not had the nuclear test. We have seen a positive move forward in terms of getting trade deals with china and with the United States, canada and mexico. Hopefully, we wont have any further issues with iran in terms of the retaliatory actions from them. This president , even on the vocal stage, has been fighting for the American People in a positive way. That is something we should be proud of. Guest if you asked our allies, they would Say Something completely different. Preston trump has unde undermined nato. He has sent love letters to kim jongun, someone who killed toricans and has continued read the profile of his nuclear capability. We have been on the verge the Obama Administration was not true. Bluster by the president does not mean we are safer. Tough words has nothing to do with our actual security. It is usually the person who is blustering that is the weakest. I think that is true with President Trump. Host we are out of time. We say thank you to our guests, Michael Starr hopkins, and paris dennard. Appreciate your time. Pasts for your calls these three hours on this mlk holiday. We will see you back here tomorrow at 7 00. Enjoy your day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] for the third time in history, a president is on trial in the u. S. Senate. Watch live tuesday on cspan two