I'm of the feeling now, it's like we have three parties.
We have Democrat, we have Republican, and we have mega.
But as far as President Trump's past people, there's a long list of people that do not support him and have had nothing nice to say about him.
I mean, besides Mike Pence, Mark Mealy, there's this, you know, first Secretary of State is first, even Nikki Haley had said stuff about him and changed her mind.
H.R. McMaster, who was the National Security Advisor.
There's a long list of people that were in the White House.
And Trump did pass an executive amendment.
Was it F, Executive Order F, they were calling it, you know, about the civil servant job, which is part of the Project 2020.
Schedule F.
Yes.
Yes.
So, Diane, how?
Yeah, how are you feeling about your Senate candidates?
Are you going to be voting for Larry Hogan?
I'm porn.
I really like Larry Hogan, but I'm, on the other hand, I'm concerned with giving the Senate control, you know, the Republicans control of the Senate.
I've got my ballot, I've filled the mail-in ballot, I filled out everything except for that.
I keep petering back and forth.
I don't care for Also Brooks.
And I really like Hogan.
He did a good job when he was governor here in a Democratic state.
He was Republican for two terms, which is unusual for Republicans to get anywhere.
A lot of analysts are saying that it's looking like the Republicans will take control of the Senate.
Anyway, I mean, even without Maryland.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I've heard that, and they think it might flip-flop where the Democrats would get the House and the Republicans will get the Senate.
I do think whatever happens, we need a balance.
One side needs to be Democrat, and one side should be Republican just to help keep things in check.
That's one of the reasons why when they did the Constitution and when they put this country together, they had, you know, they set it up so that it was hard for any one person to control things, one party.
I think they need to do things more bipartisan and work things out, not, you know, it's my way or the highway, which is the feeling I get with actually both parties have done it.
All right, let's talk to Sue in Flat Rock, Indiana, Democrat.
Hi.
I would like to say that I would never vote for a man or a woman who aligns themselves with hate groups.
Now, Donald Trump did say during a debate with President Biden to the Proud Boys, stand down and stand by.
Do you remember January the 6th, 2021, the attack on the Capitol?
In order for our government to work for all people, the states need to vote out mega people, House Freedom Caucus, better known as Tea Party, and any other party that does not care about gun control, women's rights, the border.
I also would like to say this message will go for the Democrats too.
It is time for the Republicans, in particular, the Republicans, to take back their party.
One last comment.
John McCain was a hero, and I don't care what Donald Trump said.
He was a hero.
Thank you for listening to me.
Andy in Lewiston, California, Independent Line.
Yes, good morning.
Refreshing.
The last caller.
Very refreshing to see some Republicans who get it.
This MAGA MAGA drive.
And Trump, who obviously the constructor of it is just the scum of what we have here in America.
We have a wonderful country.
Yet we've had an individual who, through his cons and such, made it to the top and therefore has created a platform for this scum to come up.
And your guest, I commend him for his honesty and his bravery.
His fellow Republicans should take his example and get some courage.
These guys like Lindsey Graham and Marjorie Greene, who kind of represent this radical group, we really need to get them out of this country so that we can become a United States again.
All right, and we are in open forum.
If you'd like to call in, you can do so in the next, I guess, 15, 18 minutes or so.
The numbers are 202748-8001 for Republicans, 202748-8000 for Democrats, and 202748-8002 for Independents.
NBC News here has latest updates on early voting.
So here's mail-in and early in-person votes cast nationally at just over 43 million.
Of those, 42% are registered Democrats, 40% registered Republicans, and about 18% other.
Let's talk to Paul in Birmingham, Alabama, Republican.
Hi, Paul.
Hi, how are you doing?
Good.
Ma'am, here's the issue, the problem with your last guest, Chris Dent.
He and all the Republicans, and probably Charlie Dent, probably all the Democrats, almost none of them are concerned about balancing the budget.
They're just concerned about funding the government.
We need to do what we can to fund that government.
Not balance the budget.
We have $35 trillion in debt.
We have a $1.5 trillion annual budget deficit.
And most of your colleagues don't even realize this.
And most of the politicians don't even talk about it.
It was hardly been mentioned during any of the debates.
So we need to shift further to the right, become fiscally conservative, balance the budget.
That is the biggest problem we're facing right now as a nation.
Okay, and Paul, how do you recommend doing that?
We got to cut the expenses.
We keep on growing and growing the government.
Shrink the government.
The government is not effective.
They don't provide very good services.
So shrink it.
That's what Donald Trump wants to do.
Do you think that there should still be tax cuts?
Because Trump wants to do that as well.
Let's put it this way.
Joe Biden and a lot of the leftists in the country keep on saying, pay your fair share.
The rich need to pay their fair share.
Well, unfortunately, the rich are paying almost all of the taxes.
41% of the country pays no federal income taxes.
So how is that fair?
It's a lot easier to make a case that you're not paying your fair share if you're paying zero rather than paying almost all of the federal income taxes.
All right.
And here's Tony in McNeil, Arkansas, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I have a two-part question.
The mega-Republicans, they don't understand when Trump was elected, he inherited the policies of Obama, President Obama.
Then, you know, they should ask theirself, how is it that Mike Pence and George W. Bush are not endorsing Trump.
Thank you.
Let's talk to Russell.
Winchester, Virginia, Independent.
Good morning.
Yeah, good morning, Mimi.
Good morning, America.
I don't really care if you like Donald Trump or if you dislike Donald Trump.
To me, all you have to do is look at January 6th when you had a commander-in-chief who refused to send help when the U.S. Capitol was under assault.
This tells you the man is completely unfit for office.
I was out for a walk the other day, and we have a national cemetery here in our little town.
And I walked through there and looked at all the Civil War statues.
There was a burial place for people from Ohio, from Illinois, honorable people that stood up for the Constitution when we needed it.
And I'm asking this of the Republicans today.
Stop this insanity.
Vote out Trump.
Vote out the enablers.
Let's get America back on track.
Thank you.
Susan, a Republican in Stewartsville, New Jersey.
Good morning.
Thanks for taking me.
I'm looking for some insight on if you have any info about election integrity.
Over the past maybe three or four days, I'm having anxiety.
I'm hearing how a judge in Virginia is allowing, well, it's only 1,600 non-documented, I hate calling people illegal, but they're non-documented people here, the right to vote.
Now, I'm born here the way I've been taught.
You need to be 18.
You need to be a citizen.
Whether you're born here or not, you need to have proper paperwork in order to vote at our poll, at our city.
Susan, let me just give you a little bit of information on that Virginia case.
That is in the post.
It's on the Metro section.
It says, appeal by Virginia to purge roles is rejected.
Fourth Circuit upholds ruling blocking removal of suspected non-citizens.
So what this is about is the governor of Virginia has started to purge the voter rolls of those suspected of being non-citizens.
The problem is that it is within 90 days of an election.
And there is a federal law that states you can't do that because it doesn't give people the opportunity to prove that that's not true or to appeal that decision.
They will be taken off the voter rolls and they will not be able to vote.
So that's kind of what's happening.
It's not that a judge is saying that it's okay for non-citizens to vote.
Does that clear things up?
A little bit.
I'm a nurse, so a lot of this is over my head.
And I just feel like, where are we if we're going to allow things like this to happen?
But I'm glad you cleared it up.
And I just hope everything is peaceful and safe on November 5th.
And another thing, Susan, is we are having another segment in about 10 minutes, so don't go away, about election integrity with somebody from the Heritage Foundation.
Okay, so make sure you watch that.
Thanks for taking me.
All right.
Carrie and Maryland, Democrat.
Hi, Carrie.
Carrie, are you there?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Good morning.
I'm Carrie.
How are you today?
Good.
Good.
I'm calling because everyone's talking about inflation and we should.
But no one is speaking about the children that are being taken to these rallies, children who are watching television.
Their minds are being equipped with this vigoral anger, hatred.
And you want to know why they're picking up guns?
Because your leaders in the other party, which is Republican, they are doing nothing but putting hatred into the hearts and minds of these little people.
We need to be thinking about them.
And yes, this country is on the wrong track.
We are all responsible to some degree.
Check out who you're voting for all the way down the ballot.
So for me, we need to get the country back.
We're living in a great country.
Everybody should be welcome.
That's all I have to say.
And God bless all of us.
Bernie in New Carlisle, Ohio, Independent.
You're next.
Well, good, beautiful morning to you, Mimi, and America.
And I always get a kick out of people saying, thank you for taking my call.
And I always feel like saying, you're welcome for dining over and over and over again so I can get in.
Anyhow, two things.
When Representative Dent was there, can you hear me?
Yes, go right ahead.
Oh, okay.
When Representative Dent was there, the topic was the future of the Republican Party.
I don't know what the future is, but I know right now I consider the Republican Party a criminal organization because of all the voter suppression things going on around our country.
The fake electors on and on and on, purging the voter rolls and letting people not know until the last minute so they can't even re-register, et cetera, et cetera.
Secondly, I have this question.
If there's anyone out there in the legal realms, prosecutors or whatever, who could tell me why Donald Trump is running around a free man with 34 felonies on his record.
Two young men who came to my home recently, both of whom had what I would call a minor felony thing happen.
Both of them spent several weeks in jail and then were released until they could go to court.
And why is Donald Trump running around the world?
I'd like to know.
And down in Florida, the judge down there who dismissed the papers case.
Yeah, Trump gets away with things of this nature that are just beyond the pale for him.
And last but not least, character to me is one of the number one issues of our president.
And Donald Trump's character has been one of divisiveness, been one of violence.
I can see why Lindsey Graham maybe has changed his strikes because he probably got threats and his family probably got threats because these people are absolutely activated by Donald Trump to be violent and to threaten people.
Just look at people working in the polls that are being threatened.
It's amazing.
Thank goodness what happened to Rudy Giuliani happened so that he's going to be a very poor man for doing what he did that threatened the lives of two poll workers in Georgia.
So I just know our country is not where it needs to be.
I made a sign for the front of my home and it just says, it quotes Rodney King from way back in 1992.
Can't we all just get along?
Steve, an Indianapolis, uh, Republican.
Good morning, Steve.
Good morning, Mimi.
Yeah, I've been sitting here just listening to these Democrats talk, and I really don't have any idea if they even if they even follow anything other than stupidity.
I am just amazed at what they do and what they say.
And most of them are from California or something like that.
Well, give me an example, Steve, of what you're calling something stupid that they're saying.
Well, like, like, oh, we got to get rid of Trump.
He's the devil.
Whoa, Get a life.
Look at what you're backing.
You're backing the Democrats that ain't got enough sense to pour this out of a boot.
Oliver in Spokane, Washington, Democrat.
Hi, Oliver.
Yes, how you doing?
Good.
Basically, I have three points I want to look at here.
Okay, Donald Trump and his dad were sued for not rent to minorities.
Then again, he loses universal lying to people.
And so for his race, look at what he did to the Central Park Vibe.
Then we come again to what he said about President Barack Obama.
And look at all the racist things he's being said lately.
I'm wondering when somebody's going to quote him on this.
He said that the illegal aliens is taking away the blacks and Hispanic jobs.
So what he's saying, he'll see worried about him taking white jobs.
He ain't worried about him taking Arab jobs, Filipinos and all of them.
If anybody pays attention to this man, he is racist to the court.
Not only is he passed, and that's all I want to say, but he got a vendetta against the American government.
All the money that the government sued him and his dad out of, and what are he losing Trump universally?
Why do you think he has charges Secret Service members more than what it costs when they stayed in his place?
The man is no good.
We need to wake up.
Thank you.
You're Sue in Alpena, Michigan, Independent.
Good morning, Mimi.
Good morning, America.
I've got a couple of things that I want to share with everybody.
You know, part of the problem with a Trump, typical Trump voter, is they attack, attack, attack.
And they get that after Trump himself.
You know, we're independent.
We can think for ourselves.
We like some of his policies.
Some of his policies we don't like.
But we don't attack, attack, attack.
And even in my family, the untruths that are going around, like Trump donated $25 million to North Carolina.
And that's not the truth.
And then their defense says, well, that's your opinion.
Seems like facts don't matter at all.
And I'm talking about policy.
Now, Harris is too liberal for me because I am an independent.
But Trump's office, you know, his four years in office were not that great.
He, you know, with a deficit, it went up like crazy.
You know, it went from 14.4 to 21.6.
The murder rate rose.
The number of people that lack health insurance rose.
The trade deficit was ridiculous.
And we're giving these farmers all these subsidies.
So, you know, I don't understand.
And that was three years in his office.
And then the last year with a pandemic, that was a nightmare.
So, you know, I think that we need to talk about facts, not how stupid somebody is.
Because I didn't notice that a lot of the callers that call in, you know, it's like name calling.
Talk about policy.
You know, that's what we want.
Got it, too.
And also for your schedule, coming up in about 45 minutes, right after this program here on C-SPAN, you'll hear from Doug Emhoff.
He's currently the second gentleman.
And the co-authors of the book, Remember the First Ladies, will discuss the possibility of Mr. Emhoff becoming the first FIRST gentleman.
And that event is hosted by American University.
And you'll see that live right after this program.
And here's Paul in Naples, Florida, Republican.
Good morning.
Yeah, I'm calling and I've listened to some of the people discussing what their ideas are and everything.
And don't get me wrong, I got relatives in Ohio and California, and they've been there since the 50s and 40s.
So, I mean, my parents moved here to Naples back in the 60s.
And, you know, things have gradually progressed with more wealth, people buying property and doing stuff.
But, you know, with a lot of these people that do have businesses and they go ahead and supply more jobs because if they can get tax breaks, they can build their businesses bigger, hire more people to have jobs.
I'm just not for all these jobs being given to immigrants.
All these jobs are being filled by people that aren't American residents.
I mean, you know, it's kind of like we're backing up.
Everything is given to them.
You know, I don't see how we're going forward with this, you know.
And, you know, the other thing, if you came down the escalator back when you, back when Donald Trump came down, they were going after him before.
And that's all it's been for the last eight years.
They've been going after this guy.
They didn't go after Joe Biden when all the facts were there.
I mean, and conspiracies actually turned out to be true with the guy, you know.
So, you know, we all do well to help other countries.
And I always used to hear my parents say, they used to say stuff like, you know, we help all these other countries, but what do they do for us?
My parents are gone.
They've passed on.
And I always used to hear them as a young kid, I'm going to be 60.
And I hear these people saying this: that we help all these other countries, and then none of these other countries help us.
But yeah, we're supposed to, you know, endure, you know, all the debt of everybody else.
Got it.
Richard in Millsboro, Delaware, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I just wanted to say that I'm a lifelong Democrat, and I'm voting for Harris.
I think that character is a big issue with the Office of the President, especially.
It sets an example for the rest of the country.
And, you know, I think that there's no question that Harris has won the contest, hands down in that regard.
And Donald Trump has been a kind man and a crook for his entire career, frankly.
I just don't see how he can possibly avoid being tagged with that kind of reputation.
And joining us now to talk about Campaign 2024 and election integrity is Hans von Spokowski.
He is Initiative Manager and Senior Legal Fellow for Election Law Reform at the Heritage Foundation.
Welcome to the program.
Mamie, thanks for having me.
So it's been four years since the 2020 election.
To what degree do you think that elections are more accurate and secure?
Generally, overall, we're in better shape than we were in 2020.
And one of the good things that came out of that election was it made a lot of state legislators realize that there were vulnerabilities in the system they ought to fix.
And so there were a series of reforms passed in many states.
And a number of states improved the security and integrity of their election process.
No, about 43 million people have voted already for early either mail-in or in person.
Do you support that?
Do you support the ability for there to be early voting?