The things that are important. Because of that, i have a ratification and confirmation of my belief in the possibilities of democracy. Host if you were to sit down with our friends from oklahoma guest i understand your perception but look at the people your same age who are black or brown, ask how you might have offended them, the privileges you enjoy the we didnt and if you hear from somebody who is your. A young person like me stirring up problems and putting fear emotionally dangerous territory. Ask somebody your age what they think and after you hear them you might hear me. As i was to you and figure out a way beyond that and the differences we have to negotiate a Better Future because of our common embrace of democracy. Host tears we cannot stop, a sermon to white america, Michael Eric Dyson is the author. Booktv is live at the university of Southern California for the 22nd annual Los Angeles Times festival of books, chamber of commerce, pictureperfect day on campus. Uclas crowd. We go back to the hancock villain and show you the next panel on the Republican Party, radio talkshows hugh hewitt, peggy grande and corey fields who talks about the elephant in the room. Live coverage on tv. [inaudible conversations] welcome, everybody, to the la times book festival, the grand old party for him. Thanks for joining us, my name is john thomas, your moderator for today. I am a republican political strategist, i do hard talking head stuff on cnn, thanks for joining us. I wont do a lot of the talking today because we have a distinguished panel today that has written some neat books. The format will be we are going to have a conversation partially about their books but also about the state of the Republican PartyNational Elections and see how that evolves into that for 30 minutes, and you can ask directly of our panelists. Lets start with our first panelist, hugh hewitt, talk radio host you see on tv all the time and the name of the title. We did not bring copies of our books. Are you doing a book signing . Usually pulling it up at cspan, brian lamb is dying and laughing. It is called the fourth way, building a permanent republican majority in the aftermath of Donald Trumps election, it came out, it was not supposed to be written. Simon and schuster said would you consider writing a book about how republican deal with the new president and i said happy to do so and my next 60 days were spent in front of a keyboard working away on the fourth way so you got to say the name of the book 7th way, the fourth way, 5 times. If you are in tvland it is for sale afterwards. Go ahead. I am a professor of sociology at stanford university, and africanamerican republicans, both are idiots in this book. The office in two 24 years, black republicans across the country and wrote a book, what is it like to be black in the Republican Party, is that post obama or the obama post obama era. The book covers the experience of race, identity and politics the right. Peggy grandy brought her book which by the way you can go to area one after this and have a book signed but peggy woods, Ronald Reagans personal assistant, posts presidency, no one knows Ronald Reagan better than peggy grande and you have a new book. Thanks for having me, call the president will see you, now, my stories and lessons of reagans final years and covers 15 years after he left the white house where he left his final legacy and i feel i am the luckiest woman in the world, i sat outside his office door every day and served as executive president , there are all kinds of stories i learned and how he inspired and changed my life and how he still inspire and change lives and im attentive to details. I would be embarrassed if i had. Lets kick it off with a broader question about how the gop, how you, the majority in control, trump cant seem to get things done unless by executive which building coalitions which not just republicans but building minority coalitions and more stakeholders to the table what is the secret to success . I finished a piece in the Washington Post and there will be a piece about Donald Trumps 100 days which have been more successful than i anticipated because of the nomination, confirmation of justice course which, my old boss got two of those so he already has one, president obama got two, normally two per president that is a key seat that could have changed forever. He has had a great 100 days. He has passed 513 congressional review laws, which repeals a regulation within the last 60 legislative days and permanently bar the door to the agency coming in and he has the column begins , the Foreign Policy of donald trump could not be more different president obama. The eight words i some of the obama legacy are leading from behind, redline, aleppo and libya with the strike in syria, dispatch in north korea, trump has had a remarkably successful start with a lot of incredibly big errors including a federal judge a socalled federal judge, branding people in the media as enemies of the state. The mistakes have been made but he has had a very successful 100 days. He doesnt or on the hill. The coalition interestingly enough, might be a nice segue, he is getting along with the black caucus because they want the infrastructure built. I think what we are seeing some ways is a pretty complicated in terms of response to population and what we are seeing, the president having you with realities of governing, in some ways around issues of certain black republicans and minorities in the country, more pratfalls than successes expressly at the level of rhetoric, the ability to build bridgees crossed minorities so it will be interesting to see what happens from a legislative standpoint. And the Building Blocks of making inroads with voters i think in some ways it has been interesting because even in the book i talk about different kinds of republicans, some are more successful positive relationships and some are marginalized. The experience of having the book come out now there is a sense that it is outdated because one of the interesting thing is even black republicans who were party supporters, party loyal are expressing a deep dismay with the new Administration Similar to traditional part of the royalty. That is a point, get in line. A lot of traditional gop coalitions. That is uniquely a black issue . Not at all but i do think to the extent of the constituencies in the party, inroads, week to begin with as you can see, especially stressful. If your lobby within the party is so marginal to begin with, can you at best to feel like there is for john further marginalized. What do you the fact, look at the africanamerican voting block, 90 perhaps 90 vote democrat. Cold, calculated the winning elections where should the gop be spending time . And if the majority of the africanamerican base is staunchly democrat, how do you make an argument to the Republican Party, action, need to stop doing what got you a majority and go to a voting block that is staunchly in the credit that it is hard to shake. I dont necessarily black republican are the one for me it is like that strategy, i do think part of the message is not just kicked in the column. One thing about black republicans is incredibly symbolic. Part of the argument becomes to the extent the notion of diversity is becoming a national norm. It is important to create a space where the party is open to anyone and that means reach stretching out to nontraditional audiences. You can talk about to some extent, outreach to black voters becomes approximately your record on reaching out through different audiences of symbolic importance. I like to joke black republicans often operate as canaries in the coal mine which i saw happening with black republicans was reflective of broader transition so the shift in black republicans from the 1960s to black republicans today should mirror a shift in the party to the extent, in the 60s pro black and pro republican. It is difficult to imagine the landscape of that being a successful model of what that means. You do Ronald Reagan on a personal level. What lessons did you learn about that reagan could teach donald trump about getting this done . From a leadership standpoint more than a policy standpoint, Ronald Reagan was about finding things we agree upon. We disagree in 1000 ways but there have to be two or three things we agree upon but lets use that to move forward and build a conversation or dialogue and Common Ground we can work toward so from a leadership endpoint that and he was an excellent communicator but great at connecting dots between policy and people so it is one thing to be legislating on the hill but can you connect the dots back down you can you connect them to ordinary everyday families, communities, homes, Ronald Reagan did that really well and i think a lot of things are happening in washington dc but can he connect those 2 homes and families and moms and kids, happening in washington also beneficial to you as a family and supportive. We have an embarrassment of riches in terms of control but we seem to be squandering with much infighting. What would you the Democratic Party seems fired up. We were talking before the panel began. I went to la, there was a protest going on. Couldnt get out of my house because they were blocking the driveway. You were saying the heat on the democratic side is starting to simmer down. How long will that last and should we be worried as republicans that republicans are not fired up protesting in the streets for things they believe and that might hurt us . Most americans are exhausted, i was at the end of 2016. If you look at the kansas fourth Congressional District republican turnout dropped by 100,000 people. The republican candidate won because democrat turnout despite the hashtag resistance dropped from 80,000 voters to 55,000 voters so they went down by a greater percentage than republicans did. John ossoff did not live in the district, gave an interview on your new network, was asked when are you going to marry that girl . It was the longest silence i have ever seen on television and i dont want to give anything away. I was in dc when the womens porch happened, it was enormous, significant, 2 Million People strong, 600 venues across the United States last weekend for tax day and 120,000 people in 100 venues. Protest so much, people like to do things on their weekend like go to the la festival of books. I see it just dissipating completely and if Chuck Schumer forces a shutdown of the government as he promised to do over border wall funding on the 100th day i dont think it energizes his base at all beyond the hard but if he does deny Donald Trumps big four thing is, he got one of them, that will help us. There is a side of me that wants Chuck Schumer to carry through to shut down the government. I hope Chuck Schumer does that. Was role do you think the media plays in painting the gop as antiminority . Interesting question. To the extent that it reports on what happened, and active part of it. The experience of black republicans i spoke to will complain about media coverage, it is normally pretty negative. Antiblack or that. One point i make in the book is what seems to happen is there is a certain kind of black republican selected into success so one way to end up successful as a black republican is talk about other blinds, race doesnt matter. Black republicans say race doesnt matter. Black republicans represent the entirety of all black republicans so there is also a group of black republicans, black power being republican is best for black people. And that act find themselves worth herself marginalized. And fox news needs a black republican, get the guy who matters. In that regard to the extent whenever you see a black republican they are disavowing any relevance for race discrimination, in media it is bad, but i am not going to present media doing a hit job on black republicans but black republicans have become available and look a certain way. The next question we should be asking ourselves, why cant you be a successful black republican if you are problack people. Where i was going is if you look a lot of Mainstream Media outlets, even it seems trump is changed the nature of coverage in the sense of even when there are republicans who are minority on most of Something Else they are not. Now you have republicans minorities who are antithe president. Framing so antilatino i feel like now can parties getting it from both sides from a media perspective. I certainly africanamerican republicans, women republican groups, certainly they think about the trump election as a disappointment, we have a road in the Party Structure that compassionate conservatism of george w. Bush souring into a kind of populism, white populism and a fasting under donald trump. It is not surprising to me that racial minorities the party have been affected deal of with disappointment. The extent to which there is a broader scope of antitrump sentiment that creates a space in the party allowing things to be vocal about it. Everybody antitrump, there is not much penalty for speaking out and that creates more space for minorities in the party, did not have to stand to unite the republican friends. And that regard, part of it is part of it as well, antitrump sentiment, for people like that. The complaints manifestation of a feeling of like what they were slowly but adding better for minorities within the party and this happens. Hugh hewitt, what the fact that a lot of publicans dont campaigns, they pander, run issues. An issue like jobs. To what degree are we shooting ourselves in the foot because we dont pander . I hope we dont ever. I did four republican debates and we had doctor carson, africanamerican, arco rubio, ted cruz, carly fiorina. It was remarkably diverse, donald trump, not really a traditional republican so i think 2016 is an outlier. Donald trump got 7 of the africanamerican vote, mitt romney got 4 . If donald trump is able to take that gain and replicate 7 to 10 or 11 it shatters not only the blue law which is in charge in wisconsin in the upper midwest that revolutionizes american politics. And to a certain extent it wasnt politics. I dont think he is a racist, the least homophobic president we ever had. I believe he has a completely different brand of politics that will change all these calculations. It doesnt change will heard from san antonio. One of the great hopes on National Security along with mike gallagher, is an africanamerican on the ground in afghanistan. I dont want to pander and promote people because of race or ethnicity or gender but it is nice when the party reflects more of the american spectrum, and openly gay man. And likely the ambassador to nato. The Republican Party has always been about what do you have upstairs and what do you have in terms of talent and i wanted to be that way. To some extent how parties run themselves and make leadership decisions. And one thing that is important to think about is the nature with identity politics. And doesnt pander to raise. There are a lot of black republicans from my experience, fundamentally would disagree with it. The party aggressively panders in a way that plays on racial fears and racial anxiety and so this isnt me. It is best to think of this as reporting unfortunately we are experiencing some technical difficulty in life coverage of the Los Angeles Times festival of books. Stay with us and we will return to Live Programming as soon as possible. Here is a look at the current bestselling nonfiction books according to the Los Angeles Times which topping the list is southwest followed by recollection of his childhood in a rust belt town in ohio third on the list, bill oreillys most recent release old school. Next, David Stillman and joan if stillman discover the working behavior of generation the. Catherine burns at number 5 with a collection of stories about risk, courage and facing the unknown. Are look at current nonfiction bestsellers according to the Los Angeles Times continues with chris hayess exploration of race in america. That is followed by trevor noahs the more of growing up in apartheid south africa. Rounding out the Los Angeles Times bestsellers for this week is the book of joy about the dalai lama. The hidden life of trees. And a look at the future of humanity. That is a look at the best nonfiction books according to the Los Angeles Times. This weekend Live Saturday and sunday from the Los Angeles Times book festival. You can watch these authors and more on our website, booktv. Org. Here is a look at authors recently featured on booktvs afterwards, our weekly interview programs. Washington times National Security columnist provided his thoughts on how the United States can outpace global competitors in the Information Age was former chief of the new York Police Department internal Affairs Bureau describes his work investigating corruption in the police force with rhode island senator Sheldon Whitehouse offered his thoughts on legislative decisions influenced i private business and specialinterest groups. In the comi