And infrastructure issues, science issues, environmental and climate change issues, just because of my science background.
Obviously, you're in the progressive pockets.
Are there any other caucuses that you're looking to join?
Of course, I will be a member of the CHC.
So far, that's it.
I haven't made any decisions past that.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
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On this open forum, caller, you are on.
Go ahead, please.
Caller, good morning.
Go ahead.
You're going to have to turn down that television now.
What I was wanting to discuss was everybody wanting to know what happened about the voting.
Everybody know what happened.
Crump had all the billionaires behind them having the lottery going where people can pay their money to hit the lottery to win a million dollars.
That was for one thing.
I wish they quit trying to accuse President Biden and Vice President Kamla of doing anything wrong.
They done nothing wrong.
They done exactly what they supposed to do.
As far as the Social Security, I worked on my job 36 and more years.
I put money into Social Security.
Didn't nobody give that to me.
That's something I put in there.
And they say that Trump is going to run through the Social Security Disorder to go broke.
Okay.
Again, this is Open Forum.
Viewer, you are on the air.
Go ahead with your comment on this open forum.
Hello.
Hello.
You're on.
Go ahead.
Hello.
Can you hear me?
I can.
Go ahead.
Okay.
I was saying that I noticed in the race, the Republicans and the Democrats were racing for pushing to win, pushing to win.
And I don't think we looked at the horses that were running.
And we lost, and the Democrats won.
I mean, the Republicans won, but still, the horses are not the best ones that should be in office.
Who were you?
As far as the choices you had and the choices you wanted, who were the choices you wanted?
Well, I didn't want Biden, and I didn't want Trump.
I thought they were just both too old.
And so Kamala Harris was the list of two evils, let's say, or three.
So I really thought that we both wanted to win.
Democrats wanted to win.
Republicans wanted to win, but they didn't care about the horses that they were running.
Okay.
In Indiana.
We'll leave this here to take you live now.
This is from Oklahoma.
This is Guy from Oklahoma.
Go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Pedro.
Thank you for taking my call.
And Ben, I mean, there is so much to digest over the results of the election.
Can you hear me, Pedro?
You're on.
Go ahead.
Yes, we can.
Okay.
The reason I'm an independent, the reason I voted down the ballot Republican is, of course, the economy, inflation, the border, all these things that are mainstream reasons why Trump took the office.
But for me, the biggest concern I have is all the gaslighting and just the way everything has become politically corrupt.
So, for example, over the weekend, I was listening to the BBC, and they had a liberal lady on there talking about what an outrage and a travesty it was that Trump won, and especially the way he handled the Afghanistan withdrawal was a total disgrace.
But that was Biden.
And I'm just, I'm so sick of the lies.
Trump's Putin's puppet.
The Hunter Biden laptop is Russian information, and on and on and on.
It's just, so anyway, that was my reason for Billy Republican is to get the line out of politics if it is ever possible.
Thank you.
We'll hear next from Dee in Wisconsin, Independent Line.
Hi there.
Yes, hi.
I just have one question.
I heard yesterday on the news that they are trying to make Biden step down so that Harris can take over presidency for a month and a half.
Can they do that?
Is that really what, you know, I mean, what this election is all about, just so she can step in for a month and a half and make him step down?
When you heard that story, why did you react in the way you did?
Because it makes me really mad.
This is a presidency is not a game.
And they're making it a game.
Like she, so that she, Pelosi said, so she can go ahead and have, so she could say she was president.
Dee, you're referencing a story that you heard the other day.
This is from the former communications director for Kamala Harris.
He made the unlikely suggestion that Joe Biden resign so she could become the first woman to serve as the president.
Jamal Simmons offered the thought during an appearance as a panelist on Sunday on CNN State of the Union when asked what should be the top priority for the United States before President-elect Trump begins his second presidency in January.
And though there's no indication that Mr. Biden, President Biden would consider it, Simmons said he quote, resigned the presidency in the next 30 days to briefly make Kamala Harris the president of the United States.
You can find more there, The Guardian, and other news outlets picking up that story from Sunday.
Georgia is next.
This is Mitchell, Republican line.
Hi.
Hi.
Hey, I would like to take a different tact to something I read this morning on the internet, and it was initially from Elon Musk.
But I like the idea that they're maybe going to take a look, a close look, at dismantling the Federal Reserve.
Anyone that's in the know that's read anything about the Federal Reserve knows that it's a quasi-government agency that's not really authorized under the Constitution.
The United States, as a matter of fact, really violates it, in my opinion.
The United States Congress, having sole power to mint and coin money and establish the value thereof, does not make provision for an international banking cartel that sort of installed the Federal Reserve in 1913.
And we look at the mistakes that it's made during COVID, money supply, interest rates, and everything else.
And I would also maybe include in that inflationary thing the stimulus packages that were passed.
But at any rate, we look at.
If it didn't exist, who should take over monetary policy then?
The Constitution says the United States Congress.
Okay, that's Mitchell in Georgia, the federal chair, Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
It was last week during a news conference, was asked if he would resign if President-elect asked him to.
Here's his response.
Hi, Victoria Aguita with Politico.
Some of the President-elect's advisors have suggested that you should resign.
If he asked you to leave, would you go?
No.
Can you follow up on it?
Do you think that legally you're not required to leave?
No.
To follow up on Victoria's question, do you believe the president has the power to fire or demote you?
And has the Fed determined the legality of a president demoting at will any of the other governors with leadership positions?
Not permitted under the law.
Not what?
Not permitted under the law.
Thank you.
Courtney.
There was more there at that press conference.
If you want to check it out for yourself, you heard our guest in our first hour mention this, but when it comes to deadlines and monetary issues, fiscal issues, lawmakers are discussing a temporary measure that would fund the government into March, according to two people briefed under discussion who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The time would give the Senate, it would give the Senate plenty of time to begin confirming the Trump, President-elect Trump's cabinet nominees and the House time to plot out maneuvers on tax legislation without the threat of an imminent government shutdown.
Without new legislation, financing for the federal agencies will expire on December 20th.
The proposed timeline also jibes with the timing of a plan originally put forth by the House Speaker, Mike Johnson.
Again, Mike Johnson set to go before cameras, the House Speaker, at 10 o'clock, about 15 minutes from now from the steps of the Capitol.
We will bring you that press conference when it takes place.
Let's go to Clyde in Oklahoma.
Democrats line.
Hello.
You're on.
Go ahead.
Well, you know, leopard don't change his spots either, but it's still in there.
Six SEALs, six Trump, six bowel in Revelation.
It's King James version.
Thank you.
Republican line, this is from Virginia.
We will hear from Jim.
Yes, good morning, sir, and thank you for taking my call.
I'd like to make several points, but there's not a lot of time, but I'd like to be very clear.
When President Trump was running the first time, we heard these words, fake news.
It kind of puzzled me what he was talking about, but I realized over the years exactly what he's talking about.
And now we know what fake news is.
I would like to know or see how the news media, and I'm not talking about the fake news media, will change.
Will they move back so that they treat both candidates properly?
I mean, there was so much negativity towards Trump.
It was sickening.
And there's so much hate towards Trump.
We need to get back where freedom of speech is exercised in a very responsible manner.
That's all I have to say.
Thank you.
From Missouri, Democrats line.
This is John.
Hi.
Hi, how are you doing?
Thanks for taking my call.
Coming from the Administrative and the Sheriff's Association, I wanted to talk about immigration.
First of all, I want to know how we are going to pay for housing and transportation and everything of these illegals when we're taking them into custody.
We've got to the point where we refuse to take a lot of them because of the cost-effectiveness on the immigration policy.
So that's just my question.
Thank you.
202748-8,000 for Democrats.
202748-8001 for Republicans.
202748-8002 for Independents to participate in this open forum for the next 15 minutes or so.
Let's hear from Monique.
Monique in Georgia, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, how are you doing, America?
I was calling, and like I was giving information and just a thought of, I am a citizen of the United States, and I can't say I never voted, right?
A pummy never voted.
I have many around me that has voted, some that have felony charges that haven't been able to vote for whatever reasons.
But my only concerns is with this election, even when Trump was in from day one, right?
For number one, I think for our generations of all Americans, peoples, let's face it, it is a good thing, right?
And I say it is a good thing because here we have a man of, as they say, respect of all countries.
Okay.
With that being said, if the generation that's coming up now, they're way more advanced.
They're business-minded children.
And we can't keep our children, our youth, in a box.
They're way more advanced than we really are.
And if we, as some of the elections, can push our pride to the side and start dealing with more other youth, like back in the days, I heard one of the young ladies say on another podcast, some of her best days were when Bill Clinton was in office.
And at that time in Georgia, it was kind of tough for us because we had the red dogs.
They had to get rid of all of them, right?
So we're dealing with a corrupt system.
But as I hear my people speak, right, I have three concerns.
Okay, okay, okay, Caller, you put out a lot out there.
So I'm going to hear from Patricia in Oklahoma next.
Democrats line hi.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
The tradition, the transition between President Biden and Trump is coming up very quickly.
I have, it's been reported that Trump has not yet signed the ethics agreement due September 1st.
Will he do that?
And when will that happen?
Okay, that's Patricia there in Oklahoma again, about 12 minutes left in this open forum to the caller's point, which she just made about the transition agreement.
This is reported in many outlets, but CNN as well, saying that ethics agreement that's required for the presidential transition still not signed, at least as of this was on the 9th, saying that he's not yet, the president-elect's not yet submitted those series of transition agreements with the administration, in part because concerns over the mandatory ethics pledge, vowing to avoid conflicts of interest once sworn into office as president.
Mr. Trump repeatedly came under fire from ethics groups for potential conflicts of interest relating to his business and brands.
Both of his and his family's foreign business ties have also come under intense scrutiny through his time as office and on the campaign trail.
More there.
We may see this addressed in the days ahead, particularly as the president-elect and President Biden set to meet at the White House tomorrow as part of the transition process.
Let's go to Robbie.
Robbie in Maryland, Republican line.
Hi, this is Robbie.
I just wanted to know why doesn't Trump do anything about the people that he's trying to go after?
I've seen it on YouTube and, you know, and he's trying to go after a bunch of mobs.
And I don't know what he was thinking because, you know, it's dangerous and, you know, they're going to come after him.
I was wondering, what's his plans on with the terrorists and all that?
And then whatever they want.
I mean, because it's a mess right now.
And dangerous and messed up.
And, you know, and I was wanting to know, is the president going to fix this?
Is he going to have peace?
Okay, Robbie there in Missouri, the Hill reporting this morning that California Governor Gavin Newsom, traveling to the nation's capital this week, amid a push to protect California's policies from President-elect Trump following his victory.
The Democratic governor is seeking a $5.2 billion reimbursement for emergency funding, updates to California's Medicaid program and other priorities during the meeting with the Biden administration.
According to the Associated Press, he left the home state yesterday, expected to return Wednesday during a expected return Wednesday during a trip.
We'll meet with California's congressional representatives.
The trip to Washington comes less than a week after he issued a proclamation to convene a special session of the state legislature in December to safeguard his policies, particularly those regarding the climate, immigration, and reproductive freedoms.
Susan lives in San Diego, Independent Line.
You're on this open forum.
Go ahead.
Hi, good morning.
Thanks so much for taking my call.
I really appreciated that you guys brought on the Heritage Foundation conversation.
I feel like that has been so overlooked through this whole process, not just this year, 2016 as well.
Trump just took their money and their endorsements and their plan, and then he came out and said he never even heard of it.
Talk about lies.
He is the biggest liar.
For him to say he never heard of 2025 after he had been the speaker at the Heritage Foundation, talking about what a great mandate they made.
It's unbelievable that we are about to be a country that no longer has religious freedom, and that is ridiculous.
Heritage is an authoritarian, extreme, right-wing religious organization, and now we're stuck with it.
Why do you think we're not going to have religious freedom anymore?
Well, it's, I mean, first of all, to force it into schools.
That's already happening.
And I don't see how we could have religious freedom when the people who are running our government are all from the same authoritarian, extreme religion.
It's Christian nationalism.
That's Susan there in San Diego.
Let's hear from Tim.
Tim in Clearwater, Florida, Democrats line.
Hi.
Yeah, hello.
In our Constitution, we have supposedly three equal but same branches of government to put checks and balances in.
Does anybody truly believe that that didn't die the other day?
Do you really think that the Republicans in the House and Senate will do anything to check him?
Or the courts who the Supreme Court said he's got immunity?
Republican line.
This is Joanne in Missouri, Republican line.
Hi, I have a really quick question.
I'm just a little curious why everyone is moaning and groaning about all of the illegal aliens already in the country.
How did they get to where they went?
We paid for their planes.
We paid for their food.
We paid for their lodging.
Why is anybody saying anything about how they got here?
But nobody has a problem saying about how they're getting out.
Joanne.
Joanne there in Missouri giving us her thoughts this morning.
If you're interested in Federal Reserve policy, later on this morning, about 10 o'clock, actually, on our network, C-SPAN2, our companion network, it's a discussion with the Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller at the Cleaning House 2024 annual conference to talk about monetary policy, talk about possibly the election and the impact there.
You can see that on C-SPAN too, our C-SPANNOW app and c-span.org, as we've been telling you and showing you House Republican leadership expecting to hold a press conference.
10 o'clock is the slated time on the steps of the Capitol.
And again, you can see it right after this program.
Follow along if you wish later on on the app and the.org.
As we look at the Capitol, I'll show you a brief shot anyway.
Let's hear from Wade in Kentucky, Independent Line.
The left calling Trump a felon is a lot like OJ calling Nicole Scarface.
They caused it.
And I think one of the big factors is we will not allow America to become the Soviet Union.
You can indict political opponents.
You can convict them.
You can try to kill them, but we will not stand for it.
We will not allow it.
And there's a lot of reasons, you know, to vote for Trump.
And I'm ready for him to get to work and build a legacy.
But we just won't stand for it anymore.
In Michigan, this is Frank, Democrats line.
Frank in Michigan, hello.
One more time for Frank.
Hello.
Okay, we'll go to Michael.
Michael in Nevada, Independent Line.
Go ahead.
Yes, thank you for taking my call.
And in the near future, when the convicted illegal aliens are going to be removed and returned to their origin of country, some of these countries will refuse to take them, especially murderers, the rapers, kidnappers, and all the fentanyl distributors, carriers.
And when the plane flies over, if the origin country refuses to let the plane land, then it's an act of kindness.
They should be given a parachute and asked to jump out of the airplane over their country.
And if they refuse, they should be taken and pushed out of the airplane.
Let's go to Tom in Baltimore, Democrats line.
Hi.
Good morning.
I just briefly can.
I have to just think of my mind.
I'm just eight years old, and I was hoping my country would do a little bit better than it has at this point.
I would like to say I've been a working class man all my life, and both parties are supporting slaughter of working-class people in the Middle East, in Palestine, and Lebanon.
And I look at those people as like people of my class.
They're working-class people, like me.
And I don't like to see either party supporting the slaughter of working-class people.
And that's what I've got to say.
Thank you.
This press conference from the House Republicans set to start shortly.
Joe in Long Island, Republican line.
Go ahead.
Yes, hi, Pedro.
You guys got a phenomenal show.
I thank God for your show because people could voice their opinions and their feelings.
But the thing I want to say is that I don't understand it.
I mean, I voted many years ago for McGovern, which was a joke.
I don't understand how things happened in this election from when this man came down that escalator.
How people could see what happened to this country the last four years in this administration, what it did to this country, opened the borders.
And I could go on and on, go on.
And when you think about the talk on the media, it's all about the personality of President Trump.
All about his personality, what he does, not what he accomplished when he was in office.
But if there's a Democratic caller, could you please explain it to me of why you think that Joe Biden, Conala Harris, was the best state for this country, opposed to Donald Trump's personality.
Okay.
Thank you, President.
I forget the microphone.
That's Joe there on our Republican line finishing off calls in this open forum.
Politico has a roundup this morning of these latest choices from President-elect Trump and future choices that will determine his team going forward.
They write that the incoming president on Monday tapped three of his staunchest current and former congressional allies for key roles, naming Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, as his next U.N. ambassador, former Representative Lee Zeldin of New York to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and Representative Michael Waltz, Republican of Florida, to be his national security advisor, with a fourth, Senator Marco Rubio, expected to be nominated as the Secretary of State.
He's also bringing immigration hardliners Stephen Miller and Thomas Holman back to the White House in key policy roles.
The story adding that the move signaled the extent to which the incoming president will both prioritize loyalty in his second administration and seek to leverage it across all the branches of government to carry out his most ambitious and controversial plans.
Again, that is Politico's take on that.
When it comes to the future head of the Homeland Security Department, CNN, reporting that it's South Dakota Governor Christy Noam, expected to be offered that role in the next Trump administration, they write this.
Noam, who was previously a South Dakota representative, will now be tasked with overseeing a sprawling policy, sprawling agency that oversees everything from U.S. customs and border protection and immigration and customs enforcement to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Secret Service.
She had once been on the president-elect shortlist for vice president, though her relationship with Mr. Trump shifted after the negative rollout surrounding the publication of her book, No Going Back, The Truth of What's Wrong in Politics and How We Move Forward, America Forward.
In it, she revealed that she once killed her 14-month-old wire hair pointer cricket when she was not displaying the signs of an ideal hunting dog.
That's CNN talking about who will handle the homeland security issues.
When it comes to taking a look at immigration issues, Thomas Holman is the name that was first coming to the forefront in the last couple of days.
Wall Street Journal writes about it saying as the acting ICE director, he scrapped an Obama administration policy later readopted by the Biden administration that directed officers to focus on arresting immigrants in the country illegally with serious criminal histories.
Under his watch, ICE ramped up its raids on meatpacking plants and other places where Spanish-speaking immigrants were known to gather.
A former police officer, he joined what was then called the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the 1980s, and he spent decades working as a career, as a government employee in various roles, including a Border Patrol agent.
Holman first championed the idea of separating migrant families as a deterrent measure during the Obama administration.
When in 2014, a surge of families from Central America started crossing the border illegally.
The idea was rejected out of hand, but Holman revived it when Trump became president on a pilot program started in 2017 before it was an expanded borderwide.