Transcripts For CSPAN3 Cal Thomas 20240707 : vimarsana.com

CSPAN3 Cal Thomas July 7, 2024



i think it's gonna come out when republicans the big lie it's the throttle fraud. >> that's robber in connecticut. >> cal thomas marks his first appearance on this network back in 1984 over the subsequent 38 years, he has been back some 67 times, joins us this morning after day two of these january six committee hearings. mr. thomas, sir, are you watching? do you think the committee members are making their case so far? >> john, it's always a pleasure to be on c-span. i think they're making their case from their perspective. one of the things that troubles me is that there is no cross-examination. there are no lawyers or members of the committee who are challenging anything that is being said. the script has been written, if you look at the large teleprompter, the big television site that is sitting in front of the committee, all of the members are reading statements that have been written either by them or for them. as we know, the former president of abc news was called in to choreographed this entire affair. if the goal is to convince people who were trump voters and supporters that he was wrong about the outcome of the election, which i think he was, then there ought to be at least some people on the other side to cross examine some of these witnesses. there aren't. the first soundbite used by liz cheney on thursday night at the opening primetime session, left out an important part of trump 's urging of the people to go down to the capital. he said, demonstrate peacefully and patriotically. that was cut from the sound by. so, i think there is a pre determined conclusion from this committee. what bothers me are statements made yesterday by adam schiff and zoe loeffler, who both said that they believe there is enough evidence to refer criminal charges to the justice department. i'm writing in my column on thursday that this could set a very dangerous precedent. i am not sure other than the hard-core trumpers, how many americans would like to see a former president prosecuted, possibly convicted, and put in prison. i don't think that would be good for the country. it would set a standard for republicans who might want to do the same thing to a democratic president further widening the gulf that is already widened in this country. i think that if this goes to the justice department, then president biden could embrace with gerald ford did for richard nixon and issue a pardon. perhaps, -- if trump guarantee never to run for office again. this kind of stuff just continues to poison the atmosphere at a time when people are affected by gas prices, food prices, inflation, and what looks like a recession just around the corner. >> i wonder if you caught that interesting exchange yesterday at the justice department after the hearing in which reporters turned to garland and said are you watching? he acknowledged, yes, he would be watching. that those who are working on the january six cases are watching these hearings as well. >> well, i think the initial ratings were 20 million on thursday night. i doubt if they're that high for the one yesterday. but 20 million in a nation of over 300 million is still relatively small. again, the goal of the committee, supposedly, is to convince people that trump was in denial about the last election. and he tried to change the results illegally. if you're going to make that point, that i think that the public deserves to believe that the hearings are fair and balanced. i don't see how a lot of trump supporters are going to view it that way. >> what are your feelings about the events of that day? do you think the former president bears any responsibility for what eventually happened up here? >> people are responsible for their own actions. we hear a lot about gun violence, guns are violent, people are violent. someone can use the gun for good, to defend themselves, target practice, hunting, whatever. the same gun could be used for evil, to shoot up a school, or to rob a store. so, i think we've taken a lot of the individual responsibility and accountability, blaming other forces, other people for our own actions. yes, i think trump ramped up a lot of the doubts and hatred and anger of these people. but whether he should be accountable, this is gonna be very difficult, i think, to prove, if it ever goes to court, that words alone incited a riot. you know, the old line about crime fire in a crowded theater, there had been attacks on the capitol before, as the guy with the heritage foundation wrote, a really good piece starting in 1954 with the puerto rican fanatic shooting up the house of representatives. one other thing i would like to know, that is not coming out of this hearing, president trump said that he offered 20,000 national guardsmen to nancy pelosi and muriel bows are, but that they turned him down. subsequently, it appeared that there might be another threat on the capitol, speaker pelosi ordered fencing put up around the capitol to protect it. fences up now at the supreme court in anticipation of the decision by the court on roe v. wade. i think there are ways to protect, i think there are ways to defend. but i think more could've been done to protect the capital from this incursion by a violent mob. >> syndicated columnist, cal thomas with us in the segment of the washington journal. easy place to find all his columns. cal thomas.com, you can follow him on twitter at cal thomas. easy enough. republicans can call it two or two -- if you want to chat with them, democrats to a 2748 8000, independents to a 2748 8002. as folks are calling in, mr. thomas, you mentioned the abortion case, the mississippi abortion case before the supreme court. take us through what you think, how you think this plays out here sometime in the next 2 to 3 weeks. what it means for that debate in this country going forward. >> well, i think it's important, john, to look at some people who supported the outcome of roe v. wade. and who still impose the legal reasoning. i think this was at the heart of the samuel alito memo. you had people like lawrence tribe of harvard, a noted liberal, who argued against the way that the case was decided. you'll recall, perhaps you will still recall, that harry blackmon, he wrote the majority opinion for roe, he found a quote, penumbra in the 14th amendment, the right to privacy, that included the right of a woman with no input from the men, by the, way the father, the husband, the boyfriend, or whatever. gave her complete autonomy as to what to do with the unborn child. so, the legal reasoning is what is under attack here. i think they're gonna be demonstrations, there already are. it's interesting that there are two federal laws, which prohibit the, any attempts to influence a federal judge. one of them even says that you can't demonstrate outside of the supreme court. yet, attorney general garland is not enforcing these laws. his failure to do that, it's to provoke people to show up outside the homes of brink of an awe and barren who has young children, seven children. i think this is a terrible thing. i would say the same thing if pro-lifers were demonstrating outside of the homes of liberal justices. we have to have confidence, at least to some level, you know institutions or they're going to be undermined and they will not be, but if it's a general buffer. >> we get to some of the other key debates in place on capitol hill. but plenty of cause for you sir, we'll get to them. tommy in virginia, line for democrats. you're up first in this segment. >> good morning -- >> good morning. >> i am a democrat and my question to you is, my understanding is that the republicans were invited to participate in this committee, but they all refused, mccarthy et cetera. so how can you say that it's not a fair hearing when they turned down the opportunity to participate? >> well, the way it went was that mccarthy wanted to select members from his party, his wing, and nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, turned him down and appointed to anti trumpers, his signal of illinois, who is retiring, and then jamie of wyoming, who is way behind in the polls in her reelection bid, because she knew that they would take the same line as the democrats on the committee. so this controversy about this. but republicans ought to be able to appoint to a committee who they want. and i think that that would have a increased the credibility of whatever outcome there was, even if there was a majority democratic vote to do whatever they wanted to do. >> do you think in 9/11 style commission to investigate this would have been the right way to pursue this? and you do you think republicans in the senate were wrong to filibuster that? because that effort was tried, and it did not succeed. >> while you know, we had a warren commission after the assassination of john f. kennedy. we had a 9/11 commission. i think it's important for the public to be able to believe the conclusions that come out of the congress on these and other issues. and when you have people from the outside who don't have a vested political interest or financial interest or a specific outcome in mind, and to -- weigh the evidence and cross examine witnesses, i think then the credibility of the conclusions are greatly enhanced. but when you have all of the members who clearly are against donald trump and what he did, i like the call early who, i think this would be my position, trump did a lot of great things, we had lower gas prices, low inflation. he did the covid rollout brilliantly. but his narcissistic personality is more daytime in. so i would agree with that color. but i, i'm all for the outsiders and fewer of the insiders. because i think it boosts confidence in the outcome. >> annabelle, new york. this is tim, a republican. good morning. >> good morning, guys. mr. thomas, i was a longtime member of the twitter universe. and to be honest with you, they've just got untenable there. and i couldn't, i couldn't remain. let's put it that way. so i went to truth social and was, yeah, i was given a lot of good views and everything like that. and that brought up something about these, you know, the proceedings that are going on. and i got, i got suspended. it was almost immediate. it was scary how fast it was. and i'm trying to understand what i did wrong. i mean, i did brought up a couple of points about how these were republicans in donald trump's, you know, circle that were, you, know that were testifying. and on truth social. well, this is supposed to be the place for free speech that i thought i found, you know, a respite in. can you explain to me what's going on here, sir? i mean, i don't think i like this at all. >> well, yes, i've read reports about that. and i think this is the stuff of censorship and propaganda. you sense of things that don't ratify your own point of view, your world view, and you allow in only those things that support that worldview. true social, i mean, you know, what is truth, pawn just pile as pilot asked. truth, veritas, is the motto of harvard. and at the latest comment with they had a room of liberal commitment speakers at the law school and at the regular school, and -- in 1978, the new york times and even some of the harvard faculty denounced his speech, which was a critic of the law. so i'm all for the free speech. i'm with the late battle, one of my favorite people, who said that the answer to speech you don't like is not less speech, it's more speech. and that's what i would just. >> what's your approach to being a syndicated columnist in today's world? -- but is your touchstone for how ago you go about your -- ? >> i'm worried about the future. janet, which owns a lot of papers in the country, it just announced that it was doing away with most of its opinion pieces for the silly reason that it said we don't want to think people want to think. well i don't people tell people what to think i tell him what i think and they could make up their own rights. i read a lot of liberal columnists. one of my favorites is going down, a friend, of the new york times. and i don't use this -- of course i don't agree with you all the time. a readout their ideas from different perspectives for two reasons. for one, it helps we understand what people of a different point of view believe and number two it reinforces my own beliefs in many occasions. and so how do i get my ideas? well you know it's the daily news cycle in washington alone. you never run out of material. what's going on in our public schools, what's going on in our culture. i think there's just a wealth of material out there to write about. i -- and as you said earlier, for 38 years and it's a great privilege to be in the newspapers. i mean i read columnists growing up, people like joseph kraft and george will is the only one that's been added longer than i have. robert novak, scotty rested in the new york times. these were some of my favorite mentors i would say along with the people i worked with as a copy boy, as a kid at nbc news in washington. but those days and those kinds of journalism are rapidly disappearing and one of the reasons i think is that younger people are no longer engaged with the newspapers. they get the stuff off of social media and they go to websites that basically reinforce their own opinion. that's not growth, that's reinforcement did we used to do a better job of understanding what other people believe and when did that change? >> well i think watergate and vietnam were the two major factors that contributed to the cynicism in this country about journalism you, know, the media, the polls -- university gallup, many other polls for many years have shown that the media is now on the level of congress and it is in disapproval. and i think that's too bad. you know, the press was it's the only entity mentioned in the bill of rights and even the the press at that time in the 18 century was very hostile to even people like george washington and thomas jefferson. the founders understood that a free press was a key to a free society. and just as you can't get in shape by watching an exercise video, you have to go to the gym and work out yourself, you can't get your mind in shape by just reading things or watching things, seeing a particular that work whether it's msnbc or fox news for cnn that reinforce your point of view. that's not growth. so i think skepticism is a good thing. but cynicism is a very bad thing and i fear that we have now embraced cynicism to our national detriment. >> michel in connecticut, don for independence. good morning. >> good morning, how are you? >> doing well. jan with cal thomas. >> hi. i just want to say, kyle thomas, i think you're a very well-rounded person. and i'm the same. i get my sources from different news. so i'm aware what's going on on this side, that site, and i try to piece things together for myself and come up with the answer i really appreciate them putting this hearing on but i don't think it's really fair. i think it's one-sided. they should have equal people on both sides, they should have a majority and minority leader up there. i just think it's very unfair and i think they're making a huge, huge mistake doing it this way. it's not letting the country settled down. and i think we're going to be in a lot of trouble. >> yeah. well, yeah, i heard some critics since yesterday. i think it was from zoe lofgren, member of the panel, congresswoman, saying that trump had raised money off of this, off of this hearing. well so is adam schiff. and so are some of the others every time you see something going on in washington one side or the other sense out of fundraising that are. this is one of several reasons why i believe in term limits. get these people out of washington for they become corrupted. the founders never under believed that politics should be a full-time job. back up until really the early 1900s, people came from businesses and farms and other professions, the legal profession, to come to washington and do public service for emitted time then they could go home to real jobs. but now they come and stay for 30, 40 years, basically, until they drop almost dead almost, and get totally out of touch and it's a primary interest is not in promoting the general welfare, it's promoting their own welfare. not everybody of course. there's some decent service in both parties. but the trend is toward a permanent sea in office where people never have to make a balance sheet, they never have to pay anything on their own. they never have to produce a product and if they retire or if they are defeated they get a pension that lasts the rest of their life. now, you wouldn't want to jump like that? we make it too easy for them to stay. we ought to make it hard to stay. >> to florida. this is tag, line for democrats. good morning. >> yes sir kyle. >> jackie with us. >> i'd like to answer your question. here i'd like to know why it is when you -- the committee and the republicans that -- come on. you put it in a way that the democrats didn't get republicans on there and that is not the case. they were offered -- two of the people that they wanted to put on their one said it was a tourist day in the other said nothing would happen. and now you -- have your life, and you wanted people on there to be honest or would you -- anyhow i, think he would say no. >> well again, it's what the public thinks in the end. and the purpose of these hearings ought to convey the image that they are fair to those people who supported duller trump and who supported his policies. and i'm just concerned about the outcome. you're just playing to your basis in this case the anti trumpers, look i said earlier, if you are listening, that i think an outside commission would have been better. i think it would have had more credibility than just having elected officials up their. but for whatever reasons the republicans rejected that and they contributed to what they have now so i don't think they could really have any credibility -- that budget. >> two rows out of apex, north carolina. nine for republicans. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. yes, i am watching the kangaroo court about january 6th. but keep this in mind. our election was clearly rigged to start the new world order for every country has to be on board, say they want bankers. as for adam schiff and jamie raskin, they both do before they ever walked up to that podium that hillary clinton paid for the fake dossier. they colluded with a lie. the guy playing biden right now is clearly a droplet. >> our, who is the office. any thoughts? >> watson, i think one of the things that needs to happen during credibility to the elected governors post covid, when of course all of these mail in ballots and drop boxes were allowed, which helped four but the conspiracy theories that continue in the minds of some people. somebody said. i i think, georgia with the law that was passed down that, we made it easier to vote and hard to cheat. so i'm always been one who with rare exceptions which showed up on election day at a polling place and cast my ballot with illegal drivers license and an i.d.. i think if we got back to that as the norm, and for people who? are either handicapped, sick, unable, out of town or whatever, then you make an exception for them. but the norm ought to be showing up and voting in person? with a proper i.d.. i think that would diminish a lot of these conspiracy theories and put more confidence in the election outcome. >> what are your thoughts on the states and, there are several, mostly out west, who do all mail in balloting. do they need to rethink that? >> well, i think so. you know, we just had this pennsylvania supreme court ruling which allowed, in contravention to the law in pennsylvania as i understand it, ballots to be counted that were not signed or not signed properly. there are reasons these laws are passed and the rea

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