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Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, your calls and comments live.
Then we'll discuss the incoming Trump administration agenda, immigration and the border with New York Democratic Congressman Adriano Espayad.
And Wisconsin Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany talks about the incoming administration's plans and House Republican priorities.
Also, former CIA Russia analyst George Beebe on the Ukraine-Russia conflict and how the incoming Trump administration might impact the trajectory of the war.
Washington Journal starts now.
Good morning.
It's Wednesday, November 13th.
President-elect Donald Trump is in Washington today to meet with President Biden.
Before that, he'll meet with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
With control of the White House, the Senate, and most likely the House, Republicans are set to have a trifecta in Washington.
We want to get your thoughts on that.
Here's how to call us: Democrats, 202748-8000.
Republicans, 202748-8001.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can send us a text at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name in your city-state.
And you can post your comments on social media, facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and X at C-SPANWJ.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
A few things to update you with before we get to your calls.
Here's the front page of the Washington Times.
It says Ratcliffe named to CIA, Musk to Efficiency Agency.
And a little bit more on that efficiency agency from the AP.
It says this: Trump says Musk Ramaswamy will form outside group to advise White House on government efficiency.
It says President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new, quote, Department of Government Efficiency, which is not, despite the name, a government efficiency, a government agency.
The acronym Doge is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.
Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House, quote, advice and guidance and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to, quote, drive large-scale structural reform and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.
He added that the move would shock government systems.
And back to Capitol Hill.
Here is Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday with reporters outside the Capitol on the election results and working with President-elect Trump in January.
We got extraordinary candidates.
We flipped blue seats to red as we planned, and we kept this majority.
We expect that the majority will be larger than last time.
We still have a number of races outstanding, but we're very optimistic about those.
And we are looking forward to governing in unified government beginning in January.
It's true that on Tuesday, voters rejected what they really felt was the misery of the last four years.
We're moving on and we're turning the page.
And this is something that the American people desperately need and deserve.
We are going to raise an America first banner above this place.
And you saw a demographic shift that I was talking about on the campaign trail for over a year with new demographics, new groups of persons who had not traditionally been with the Republican Party who came on board with us because they believed in what we were saying.
They believed the answers that we were providing for all the great challenges facing the country.
And we made them a commitment to do that.
And we will.
And as the new members return now, we lay the groundwork for the next Congress and we usher in this new day in America.
Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate.
It's true.
It was a decisive win across the nation.
The American people want us to implement and deliver that America First agenda.
And we have to do that while we have that energy and that excitement beginning on the very first day of the Congress in the new year.
And here's some news from the New York Times.
Jack Smith plans to step down as special counsel before Trump takes office.
The prosecutor who investigated and charged Donald J. Trump plans to finish his report and leave the job before he can be fired.
It says that the goal is not to leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect's promise to fire him within, quote, two seconds of being sworn in.
It says that Mr. Smith, who since taking office two years ago has operated under the principle that not even a powerful ex-president is above the law, now finds himself on the defensive as he rushes to wind down a pair of complex investigations slowed by the courts and ultimately made moot by Mr. Trump's electoral victory.
We're taking your calls this morning and we'll start with Danny in Hampton, Virginia, Democrat.
Hi, Danny.
Hello, how are you doing?
Good.
Yeah, I think that Trump has just sworn in a lot of yes men instead of turning and picking the most qualified people.
And that's my feeling on it.
All right.
And Danny, is there certain people that you think are qualified or particularly not qualified?
Yeah, the person that he picked for the EPA, he's not qualified.
He's just going to try and end up doing right-wing politics and eliminate the left-wing EPA credentials.
All right.
And about the Secretary of Defense, here's the Washington Post on the front page.
Trump taps Fox host Hegseth for Defense Secretary.
It says that President-elect made his most significant cabinet choice and set up his toughest Senate confirmation battle yet, tapping Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran to be Secretary of Defense.
Trump has taken a special interest in staffing the Pentagon, believing he was stymied by civilian and military leaders who resisted demands in his first term to withdraw troops deployed overseas and use the military to put down domestic unrest.
Hagseth has long kept close ties to Trump, and the former president has continued praising him and watching Fox News, even while criticizing the network as a whole.
Hagseth served in the Army National Guard in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He's touted his military record and best-selling books in pursuing the nomination.
His selection was not widely expected before Trump announced it yesterday evening.
And Michael's calling from Smithfield, North Carolina, Republican.
Good morning, Michael.
Good morning, Mimi.
This is Michael from 400.
I have just moved to Smithfield.
Oh, why'd you move, Michael?
Well, it's the county seat, and that's where it's happening here in Johnson County.
Okay.
I guess that's where it's happening.
Go ahead, Michael.
What do you think?
Well, the Tri-Fact could be a problem, but it's what the nation wants.
And I know with this past Republican House, we were able to get things done with a Democrat Senate and a Democrat president.
So it makes me worry a little bit that the Democrats may fight Republicans on a very far-right agenda.
And do you want to tell us, Michael, how you voted?
Yes, for you, Mamie, and greater than anything.
I voted Ms. Harris for president.
Mrs. Harris.
Yes, I did.
And what about down ballot?
I did not vote for Mark Robinson as governor.
I voted for Mark Stein.
That's twice I've had to vote for Democrat governors back to back.
It's embarrassing, but as a Republican, but hey, you've got to vote for the right person, and that's how people should really wake up and try to break party lines more often and go for that right person, no matter who they represent, whether they're an Independent or Republican or Democrat.
And Michael, before I let you go, what do you think about Elon Musk and the government efficiency agency?
Well, where's Bill Gates at?
I mean, why can't we have a Democrat opinion?
That's the problem with politics, with parties, the certain parties we have now, particular parties, is that it should be Bill Gates and Elon Musk.
Absolutely.
This is something that if you'll go back in the archives I talked about a year or two ago, why are they not involved in government, the top being theirs?
And looks like it's a good start to something, but where's Bill Gates at?
All right, Michael.
And this is the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor yesterday on the election results and congratulating President-elect Trump.
One week ago, a near-record number of Americans carried on the grand tradition of voting in a national election and of passing the torch peacefully.
There are many things we can say about what happened last Tuesday.
It was not the result many of us wanted.
But we live in a democracy where the will of the people is respected and followed, and the American people have spoken.
I congratulate President-elect Trump on his victory, and I look forward to speaking with him soon.
And I congratulate Vice President Harris and Governor Walls for running a historic campaign.
They can be proud of the incredible work their team has done over the last four months.
The values Vice President Harris ran on will live on.
Individual freedom, opportunity for all, and working together to build a safer, stronger nation.
And for those of us who have been given the honor of representing the people of our states, we look forward to serving, to governing, to working in a principled and bipartisan fashion to reward the trust the American people have placed in us.
Now, to my fellow Democrats across America, it's natural and appropriate to feel deep disappointment, grief, and even anger in this moment.
I understand those feelings.
It never feels good to come up short.
But when you do, you get up, you dust yourself off, you learn, and you prepare to do better in the future.
You study what occurred.
We will do that.
And we have a text from James in Florence, South Carolina.
It will be great to have a Republican trifecta once again.
Now we can finally get some real work done in this country.
The Democrats have ruined this country, and last week the people spoke up and said enough is enough.
It is now time for the best four years in our wonderful country's history.
God bless President Trump, and may the Lord guide him in all of his decisions.
Here's Webster in Hamden, Connecticut.
Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
How are you, and thanks for taking my call?
How about a point and a question?
It's like we had one candidate screwing hate, another one talking policy.
I just happened to see something on TV this weekend.
It was an exchange between Professor Claude from Princeton University and Stephanie Roe.
If you could find some of that clip, would you mind playing a little bit about how this wasn't about the policies and all that stuff?
It was entirely about basically hatred and explain to the American people how this all played out.
Because I'm listening to one candidate talking about doing something for the country.
The other candidate is talking about hatred.
And some of these pics and things that's going up in there, that's not going to help us.
It's not going to help the working people, and they should know this.
Those people he put in there is all billionaires and millionaires and stuff like that.
And they don't know any of the people that's out there working and voting for this guy.
Thank you much.
Jerry in Los Angeles, Independent Line.
Hi, Jerry.
Oh, good morning.
A trifecta.
Well, looks like we're going to have a very interesting four years.
The 119th Congress, I hope it's much better than the 118th.
I've been very negative as a result of the 118th dysfunctionality.
So I'm looking forward to what will happen with the 119th.
I'm a little bit optimistic.
Wait and see is pretty much how I'm looking at this.
All right, Jerry, and this is onthehill.com.
It says this: Conservatives plot challenge against Johnson in internal speaker elections.
It says hardline conservatives are plotting to challenge Speaker Mike Johnson for the gavel during Wednesdays.
That's today's internal House GOP elections.
Four sources familiar with the matter told the Hill.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
They said the conservatives are planning to nominate an alternative candidate to Johnson for Speaker during Wednesday's internal elections.
It says that they are still discussing whom to nominate, and one source cautioned that the opposition could fall apart.
Quote, there will be a nomination.
We'll keep track of that.
If anything happens with that, we'll let you know.
And here's Frank, Mart Texas, Republican.
Good morning.
Yes, ma'am.
Glad to talk to you, ma'am.
I'd just like to say that Trump and his people, he's nominating some excellent people, and they got their work cut out for them because Biden and Harris have messed this country up so bad.
I mean, he'll get it done, but it's going to be very difficult because, you know, they've met so many terrorists, killers, rapists, drug dealers, some of them that were flying into this country.
And the Democrats, you know, they just turn a blind eye to it.
They just want to push the race and the hate.
Down here, all in my area, we have wonderful Christian black people.
I mean, and Hispanic people.
Some of them are my very best friends.
So, Frank, let me ask you about the actual legislative priorities.
What are you looking for since the Republicans are going to control both houses of Capitol Hill and the White House?
What are the actual legislation that you want to see?
Well, I want to see them seal the border up, pass a law and get, you know, or now he's going to do it through an executive order first, and then later they'll pass a law to seal the border up and do it right, you know, get it right.
That way the Democrats can't come back and lie and cheat and let in killers and murderers like they did this time.
So I guess you do want to see mass deportations right away.
Well, he's going to go after the killers and the drug dealers and the child molesters.
He's going to go after them first.
You know, that's going to occupy him for quite a long time because Biden and Harris let so many of them in.
And Iran, them terrorist countries, you better enjoy it now while Biden's in because it's fixing to come to an end.
He's fixing to fix Iran's little wagon.
He's fixing to straighten Iran out.
And how do you want him to do that?
Sorry, how do you want him to do that, Frank, for Iran?
Hello?
Yes, yes.
I was saying, how do you want him to fix Iran?
Well, first, he'll put oil sanctions back on them and drive their oil up like he had before.
He'll undercut their markets.
And, you know, Iran makes their money through oil.
Well, Biden let them open their oil fields up.
And Trump's also going to use our excess oil through the federal lands.
He will sell that oil to our NATO countries and pay off our national debt.
And what that's going to do is bring down interest rates.
All right, Frank.
I got to move on to Rosa in Thomasville, Georgia, line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Yes, good morning, Brett.
Thank you for taking my call.
I remember that in September of 2020, President Trump spoke at the Security Council and announced that the vision for the future is not globalism, but nationalism.
And this is the agenda that he is putting forward with all of the others.
And I think it's an agenda of fear and scarcity.
So people voted, I think, out of their fears.
I don't feel optimistic.
I believe that we're going to find that he's not a miracle worker, that many of the people who are committing murders are from this country.
And there are terrorists in this country that are shooting up our schools and killing our children.
What is he going to do about that?
I don't feel optimistic at all.
And as a Christian person, I don't believe that fear is the way to go, that the outcome of it cannot be good.
I thank you for taking my call.
All right, Rosa.
And Sandy in Bloomington, Indiana says, maybe with the GOP trifecto and the economy tanks, mass deportation causes grief and havoc, and the Middle East boils over, people will finally realize the Democrats weren't so wrong.
And here is John in Ramsey, New Jersey, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, look, as an independent, I really lean to the left when it comes to gay rights, abortion, and legalizing pot.
However, when you're talking about safety and security and the military and the things that matter first to get things done, you can't go and have a fake election and say that this guy, Biden, had 80 million votes when we know it was about 65 million.
They cheated by about 15 million votes.
Trump won that election, and you could tell because he won this one with the same amount of votes he had, and the Democrats fell down to 65 million again.
The fact of the matter is the Democrats had nothing right.
They wanted to do the opposite of what Trump did in his first term.
It was a complete failure in every single way.
And now they're afraid to admit it.
The first thing he did wrong was commit treason and have that Afghan removal be such a screw-up that it disturbed anyone in this country who had half a brain.
Then you go and you send a Chinese balloon over our country without shooting it down.
Now, first of all, if you want to straighten things out, all we have to do is sanction China, Mexico, and Russia.
I also believe that $10 trillion of our debt is now owned by China.
If we take that away from them and don't give them the interest on it, they're not going to be able to wage a war.
The Democrats are kidding themselves with everything they're saying.
And the fact that they lost is because they were just full of rhetoric the whole time.
Kamala Harris had nothing to say.
She had no policy for anything that had anything to do with money.
Nothing.
She explained absolutely nothing.
And Trump went out, busted his ass, and did what he had to do.
Well, I thank you for your time.
Rhonda in Manito, Illinois, Democrat, good morning.
Yeah.
What rhetoric I never seen.
Yeah, I mean, you've got to go back and look who Donald Trump's family was.
Who did they live under?
They lived under Adolf Hitler.
His first wife called him a Nazi.
J.D. Vets called him America's Hitler.
And that if you think this guy is religious or anything, he doesn't have a religious bone in his body.
And all he did on stage is puke out venom.
He's the one that quoted Hitler's points, the blood of our country.
Berman.
That's who he is.
So what do you think is going to happen, Rhonda, now that he's in the White House and Republicans control Capitol Hill?
I think he's going to put his little sickle fence people like Noam Huckleby, which is a joke because Huckleby even had a cancer thing that he's here, which was fraud.
And that nobody did anything about that.
And you got this guy, Secretary of Defense.
What a joke.
This guy, he was a National Guard person.
And Fox knew.
Rhonda, and the Washington Post is tracking the cabinet picks and other administration officials.
You can see here who has been called.
So Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, Defense, Rhonda was just talking about Pete Hegseph.
Homeland Security Secretary will be Christy Noam.
Secretary of State is expected, but not quite announced, is Marco Rubio.
Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe.
Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, Lee Zeldon.
And Ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik.
Here is Dave in Clifton, Texas.
Republican, good morning.
Good morning.
As regards Pete Hegseph, I don't think anyone's looked into his background.
He served in Iraq, Afghanistan.
He has two bronze stars.
Hello.
How many bronze stars does Austin have?
Hello?
Yes, yes.
Go ahead, Dave, with your point.
Okay.
I'm sorry.
He's a graduate of Princeton and Yale.
General Milley, have you ever seen combat?
This man's loyalty and credentials are unquestionable.
I really don't understand the emotional uproar, but then again, that's all Democrats have, is emotion.
They failed to investigate.
I'm an ex-Marine, and I ask you to question your use of language.
You call a baby a fetus.
You call Americans black Americans.
I'm an American black.
I have neighbors who are American Hispanics.
They're not Hispanic Americans.
That only serves to divide our country.
I'm sorry.
We're all Americans first.
Please, when you identify, self-identify as an American, and then your race, ethnicity, or if you want to be American gay, go for it.
But please identify as an American first.
Sorry, Dave.
And Dave brought up Pete Hegseth for defense and his military background.
So here's Time magazine for a little bit more on his background.
He has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.
After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, he was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Guantanamo Bay.
He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.
According to his Fox News bio, he has a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
As Trump formulated his first cabinet following his 2016 win, he reportedly considered Hegseth to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He again considered Hegseth when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.
And Marty is in Newport News, Virginia.
Oh, by the way, Marty, before you start, what you're seeing on your screen is President-elect Trump's plane leaving Florida on its way en route to Washington, D.C. As we mentioned before, he is planning to meet with President Biden and also with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
If we see him arriving here in Washington, we'll show you that as well.
Okay, now, Marty, go ahead.
Hi, Mimi.
Yeah, I'm more than the Democratic vermin that reside in this country.
I guess that needs taken out.
Anyway, as far as the Democrats having an autopsy or whatever on this election is useless.
It's only going to matter.
It's only going to take a matter of a couple years.
Trump will have us in a recession.
I mean, who knows what else?
I mean, putting in place people like Heinrich Kimmler, aka Stephen Miller, is just, you know, it's crazy.
What do you not like about Stephen Miller?
He is Heinrich Kimmler reincarnated.
Okay, but Marty, let's leave off the Nazi references.
Tell me policies.
What is it that's bothering you?
What do you think that Stephen Miller is going to do?
Oh, it's going to be a bloodbath with this immigration thing.
I mean, they're going to be killing these people left and right.
I mean, it is going to be bad.
And this idea with the executive order to the generals saying that if you're not Trumpy enough, we're kicking you out.
I mean, this is, you know, people don't understand what's going to go on here in the next four years if this whole planet survives it.
But I mean, it will, like I said, there is no autopsy to be had because the American public is like the alcoholic that has got to keep having that drink of Republican so that maybe it'll straighten me out.
It's going to have to come down to a Great Depression like it was in the 20s for us to get out of it and have a string of Democratic wins like Russia.
So why do you think Democrats lost in this last election?
The American public is basically stupid, ignorant, and very racist.
That's why they lost.
There wasn't no, Paula Harris, as far as I'm concerned, when she was on Fox News, I heard one word that she stumbled a little bit on a 40-minute interview.
And she just put Brett Bear to shame.
But it doesn't matter.
The propaganda will survive, I guess, or whatever.
All right, Marty.
Let's talk to Mike in Arvada, Colorado, Independent Line.
Good morning.
How are you?
Good.
Pardon me.
I noticed during this whole thing here how upset everybody is.
We're still Americans and it's still 49 to 50.
Why is everybody acting like this is some sort of mandated landslide after all we've seen?
And luckily, being an independent, I still have a chance to get into the White House staff, probably a millennium staff.
If I was a Democrat, I wouldn't have a chance.
Do you think, Mike, that they should include some Democrats in the cabinet and the staff?
Vice President Harris had said she would include Republicans.
What do you think?
Well, of course, they should split it 49.50 like the civilized democracies do it out of the propaganda.
But luckily, the job I've been offered in the White House is satisfying Melania.
So I will.
All right.
Let's go to the White House briefing from yesterday.
Here's Press Secretary Karine John Pierre asked about President-elect Trump's meeting in the Oval Office.
In the meeting tomorrow, can you tell us what are the top issues that the president is bringing to the agenda tomorrow?
How long you anticipate the meeting lasting as you having seen your staff there?
What's this going to look like tomorrow?
So look, President-elect Trump is coming to the White House because the President invited him as part of this transfer, peaceful transfer of power.
There's going to be a pool spray at the top in the Oval Office before the meeting commences.
And so you all and some of your colleagues will certainly have an opportunity to hear from or to see that, to see the two of them sitting down together.
I don't have anything beyond that.
I don't have an agenda to share.
We try to keep these, certainly these types of conversations private and just don't have anything beyond that to share.
This is part of the process.
When we talk about peaceful transfer of power, this is what you're seeing.
It's kind of the beginning of that.
When you see the current president and the president who's coming in sitting down in the Oval Office and having a discussion, don't have any details to share at this time.
And let's talk to Bill.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Republican.
Good morning, Bill.
Thank you for having me this morning.
The country is pretty divided still.
And already before he even takes the oath of office, all the negativity, it's not going to help the country.
We've got to get it together.
That's all I'd like to say today.
Thank you.
And Richard in Pinole, California, Democrat.
Good morning.
Yeah.
Wow.
A lot to say here.
You can't say it briefly.
You know, Trump is a convicted felon.
He's had two impeachments.
He tried to overturn an election, which is basically an insurrection and, you know, overturn our democracy.
He's, I mean, the most, Christian people, are you kidding?
He's the most un-Christ-like president we've ever had.
He has no integrity, but he does have an agenda.
And the agenda is not really about Trump.
It's really about the people that influence Trump.
That includes all the rich people have an agenda.
They know he's kind of like a puppet.
You know, certainly they can pull his strings and he'll jump.
And it's a very dangerous agenda.
He said he didn't have anything to do with the 2025.
There's Stephen Miller.
He's part of that.
He's had the head of who was putting 2025 together flying around in his plane.
You know, I mean, it's people are just so, I'm going to say ignorant because they're uninformed about what's really going on.
But the people that really kind of support that there's kind of a grade of people that voted for Trump, but the people that really support him are suffering from a psychological condition called denial delusion.
You can't talk to them about truth.
Everything's a conspiracy.
You know, you listen to people and they talk about Democrats like there's some demonic group.
Well, the people that are really influenced like a cult of personality situation, like, you know, like James Jones, right, is the people that really follow Trump.
And they're already fueled by racism and bigotry, of which he targeted.
You know, he targeted a certain group of people, made them special, and that everybody else is the enemy.
That means you don't have to look at yourself at all.
So, I mean, we're really looking heading toward a disaster with Trump because who's going to tether him?
See, unfortunately, the Constitution, we found out we can't get rid of somebody like Trump.
Impeachment doesn't work.
It's political.
You can't indict him.
I don't know where in the Constitution says that somebody, the president commits a crime.
You can't indict him.
I don't know where that came from.
So we're in a really dangerous.
It just depends on how much damage he's going to do.
He's going to give the tax breaks.
He's going to increase the, he had one of the worst deficits in history.
He's not going to support people, the blue-collar workers.
He used to bankrupt them when he went bankrupt.
He bankrupted a thousand blue-collar companies because he did through his bankruptcy.
The only money that he has after his sixth bankruptcy was Russian money from Deutsche Bank, which is a Russian money.
All right, Richard, I got to move on.
Ricky in Philadelphia Independent, good morning.
Oh, yes, Mimi.
Good morning.
Hello?
Yep, go ahead.
Oh, yes.
My main thing is, well, it is a good thing, you know what I'm saying?
We want to bring some of Tricebug governing because of the American people voted for it, you know.
I know I've been hearing a whole lot of talk about, you know, what Trump wants to do, this, and that.
And I look at it overall whole is the Democrat have been lying to people for a good while.
And mainly to the middle and lower class, you know.
If you ever look at it, like most of these Democratic metropolitan cities, it's the same problem.
You know, crime is up.
The economic is bad.
You know, people have a hard time buying grocery and I'm putting in a gas in a car.
And with the Harrison Waltz, that got to be the worst, that got to be the worst campaign running since Walter Mondale.
And pretty much, you know, like with Trump, you know, the economic was good before COVID, you know what I'm saying, came in and, you know, dropped the economic, you know.
All right, Ricky.
And here's an article on the Hill that says, here are the GOP's top legislative priorities under Trump.
It says that Speaker Mike Johnson has been working with Senate Republican leaders and Trump for months on items they can quickly push through Congress in the first 100 days.
Both Senator John Thune and Senator John Cornyn, two of the contenders to replace Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, have been involved in the discussions.
It says the goal is to avoid the disorganization and clashes that emerged despite a GOP trifecta when Trump took office in 2017 and thwarted his legislative agenda.
Hardline conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, for instance, helped derail Trump's early attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
This time, Republicans believe they are more prepared to execute.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a recent letter to colleagues that while Trump can make many changes through executive action, Republicans have to lock in the policies.
Rhonda, Freehold, New Jersey, Democrat, good morning.
Good morning, America, boy.
What a sad, sad time for America.
It's a very dark time for America.
And I would like to say, on a spiritual level, because I love God with all my heart and soul, that America is in a lot of trouble.
I wasn't too upset when I saw him pick the lady as his chief of staff from New Jersey.
I said, oh, God, maybe we'll get some common sense in here.
Maybe somebody will calm him down.
But then when he made Stephen Miller his assistant.
Deputy Chief of Staff.
Yeah, we're in trouble, guys.
I want you guys to go on YouTube and look at Stephen Miller.
His pupils turn black.
He's a demon spirit.
Oh, come on, Rhonda.
Rhonda.
And they are going to tear our country up.
They're going to deport all these babies.
My granddaughter has babies crying in her classroom.
Her best friend, who's a little Mexican girl, 10 years old, she said, Mom, she said, she didn't talk the whole day.
She never opened her mouth.
She's in shock.
If people think that there isn't a God in heaven that's going to watch these people go into these districts and take these babies from their mothers again, why doesn't Joe Biden pardon the DREAMers?
Why don't the Democrats do something bold?
Donald Trump would do it.
That's how he got elected.
Because he's bold.
All right, Rhonda.
And this is Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
He was on the Senate floor yesterday with his take on the election results.
A week ago today, the American people stood to be counted.
They lined up to make their voices heard, and the message they sent was resoundingly clear.
Four years ago, they watched Washington Democrats take an economy that was primed for recovery and douse it in reckless taxing and inflationary spending.
Over four years, they watched consumer prices rise more than 20%.
As they made tough choices at the grocery store, felt the pain at the gas pump.
They watched Washington Democrats deflect blame for the worst inflation in four decades.
And last Tuesday, they said enough was enough.
Four years ago, they watched Washington Democrats' campaign on slashing ice and halting construction of physical barriers along the southern border.
Month by month, they watched as this unseriousness and willful neglect turned into the worst humanitarian and security crisis at the border on record.
And last Tuesday they said enough was enough.
Four years ago they watched Washington Democrats campaign on defunding the police and going soft on crime in cities across America.
Their fears of unchecked violent crime were proven justified.
And last Tuesday, they said enough was enough.
Last week, American voters were desperate for leaders who could deliver safe streets, secure borders, stable prices, and strength abroad.
So they chose to hire Republicans.
They maintained a Republican majority in the House.
They created a decisive Republican majority in the Senate.
And by a wide margin, they put the White House in Republican hands once again.
And we are taking your calls this morning for the next 15 minutes on President-elect Trump being in D.C., meeting with President Biden, GOP leaders on the House, and the governing trifecta for Republicans.
This is Perry in Sparefish, South Dakota, Republican.
Thank you for C-STAN.
It's the best media happening going, I believe.
And I think McConnell said exactly what needed to be said there when he said we couldn't go on.
We couldn't go on doing what was happening the last four years.
We're heading towards total collapse when you have billions of dollars going into people coming across the border and just throwing money at any problem that could cause the inflation in this country for crying out loud.
This is the best happening that the people in the United States of America put in Trump for a reason.
We couldn't go on.
We were going on.
It wasn't going to work.
And that's the main thing about this.
We have to grab hold of things here.
The fiscal thing in this country must be handled properly.
And I really look forward to the House being one it is to be able to do that and the Senate to approve it.
That would be fine.
We'll probably have to go through a little bit of tough times here, but we've got to get a hold of this country because what was happening in the last 40 years was unsustainable.
So Perry, I want to ask you, since you're in South Dakota, your Governor Christy Noam is being tapped for Secretary of Homeland Security.
What do you think of that pick?
She is just straight up honest with things.
She works well with people.
She's done a great job here in South Dakota.
I really respect her.
And she understands what has to happen as far as the border goes.
This border thing is, it's crazy.
We can't take care of millions and millions of people and make this whole thing work.
And I think she understands that.
And she'll be a good, good government employee.
She really will.
All right.
And here's Alice, a line for Democrats, Valencia, California.
Yes, this is Alice speaking.
In all of the rhetoric on both sides, no one ever mentions big business having posture responsibility for people coming across the border illegally.
They go into the country, they have factories, manufacturing, they don't pay livable wages, no benefits.
You have these people coming here to survive.
The bottom line is that all that they were interested in, big business is interested in, pardon me, is the bottom line.
They exploited the people of Mexico, and I feel that they're partially responsible for the massive immigration that we have because the people come here to survive.
And when they get here, they're exploited by all sides.
Now, with the massive exportation that's anticipated, who's going to mow the lawn and clean the rooms at Mar-a-Lago?
I am seriously looking forward to the midterm.
The only thing I can do is have a wait-and-see attitude toward this government.
And Richard, Lincolnville, Maine, Independent.
Good morning.
Where in the world is all of this hysteria coming from?
It's like somebody kicked an anthill and all of these little critters come running out.
Oh, my God, what's happened?
Look, education is the bottom line.
If without a good educational system that's actually educating, you know, we've had over 50 years of sagging, they call it education, but it's not.
It's indoctrination.
Something's got to give here.
And, you know, just being upset because your little parade got stomped on, give it up.
Try something new because what you've been doing don't work.
Thank you very much.
Richard, since you mentioned education, do you think the Department of Education should be abolished?
I don't know about abolished, but I think there certainly should be a house cleaning.
All right.
And here's Mitchell in Mala, New Jersey, Democrat.
Good morning.
Morning.
I've been trying to take all of this in over the past week since the election and sort it out in my head, which I think I've been doing.
At this point, I mean, the country's made a decision.
I think it's a terrible decision.
And I think there are going to be serious consequences for that.
But I don't think there's anything we can do with that.
I was actually, and I'm actually glad to see that the House is going to go to the Republicans because my feeling is this.
There are two main issues that seemed to motivate the voters.
One was the economy, and two was the border.
And I don't think the fixes that are being proposed are going to work.
In fact, I think they're going to backfire seriously.
And I think that Democrats should just stay out of the way and let them fail because the country needs to see this.
The proposals.
So, Mitchell, let's talk about the proposals.
Let's talk about the border.
How do you think the Republican plan would fail?
Oh, in many ways, because what they're talking about doing is deportation.
Now, my son used to be an officer in USCIS, which is the Immigration Service.
And he put forth deportation orders.
And he says, Dad, he says, look, they're saying they want to deport criminals and terrorists and whatever.
He says, we've been doing that forever.
And he says, we're already locked up.
He says, you know, people who, which doesn't mean that people won't commit crimes, of course they will, like in any percentage of society.
But they're not going to eliminate that problem.
And then you're talking about doing mass deportations.
So a lot of people who came in, in fact, the majority, I think, of the people who came into the country undocumented were given temporary asylum.
So now you're taking away a legal status that has been given to these people.
Imagine all the lawsuits that are going to come out of this.
I mean, the immigration courts are going to be so backed up, and probably the Coaching General are going to be backed up with this problem because they haven't solved it.
Because Congress won't deal with it.
And then you look at all the moving parts.
If we do have a mass deportation, okay, I mean, it's going to cost billions and billions of dollars.
You're going to have to find ways to find these people.
You're going to have to, are you going to be working in cooperation with the government?
How are you going to benefit people properly?
You're just throwing something together really quick.
It's going to cause absolute chaos.
I don't even think it's doable.
And the thing is, also, you know, with the economy, if you take out a lot of these people are doing labor, that's necessary.
So if you remove them from the society, prices are going to go up.
And then you have, and the other thing is that the Biden administration finally has immigration down to a manageable point at this point.
So what are you really solving?
And then you go back to the economy.
So what are they going to do with the economy?
All right.
So you think on day one, your food prices are going to go lower?
Your prices are never going lower.
They're not coming down ever.
Okay.
What we need to do, of course, is to raise the wages to be able to deal with that.
All right, Mitchell, I got to move on.
And here's Charles in McCune, Kansas, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Oh, I, you know, I'm not a, I've never been politically involved.
I'm 72 years old.
I am a veteran.
What really amazes me of what's going on today?
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can.
Go ahead, Charles.
Because I turned my, I muted my TV.
What blows me away more than anything is, first off, if they hadn't opened the borders and let everybody in to begin with, this problem wouldn't even exist today.
Number one, number two, when you have 320,000 children that they don't have an idea where they are, that's the negligence of Biden and Camela and everybody that went along with that.
And I said, that just totally amazes me.
They don't talk about a thousand people that died trying to get to the border.
And then they turn around and they lie to the media and hide the truth from the Republicans, which is they should be thrown out of office for doing that alone.
How can you believe anything that's said to anybody when they're not honest?
And if they can't be honest, they shouldn't be in office.
They're supposed to be for the will of the people of our country.
And it just amazes me.
I've been on needle's end and I have never followed politics my entire life.
I've always worried about surviving.
And I'm not worried about surviving today.
I'm 72.
I'm ready to die.
But it just makes me so sick.
And I don't understand how people can keep saying that Trump is a bad man.
Trump is not a bad man.
He doesn't have to do what he's doing.
He's got enough money to buy his own island and just zero everything out.
He's fighting for our country and he's doing the right thing.
And anybody he picks, there are no perfect people in this world.
But if you're going to lie to people, and then why would our president turn around, I'm not talking about Trump, I'm talking about Biden.
Why would he hide all this time, three and a half years hide, and not say anything to the American people and demonize the Republicans?
All right, Charles.
And this is Harold in Merchantville, New Jersey, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Morning.
Obama deported 3 million people, and the Democrats loved it.
And anybody who gave money to the Democrats, you got fleeced.
She paid millions and millions of dollars for these celebrities to come upstage.
I gave her $10, and I'm pissed that she gave my money to these billionaires.
Did you vote for her for Vice President Harris?
No, no.
So why'd you give her the $10, Harold?
Because I was.
And then I saw how she had questions, and she had nothing.
And the Democrats thought it racist because Biden could have been removed by the 25th Amendment, but they didn't do it.
And if they did that, she would have become the first black woman.
Democrats thought it racist.
And for somebody to say they can't get their lawn cut, you think that's all these folks do?
Cut grass?
They're intelligent folks.
Thank you.
Linda, Orange, Connecticut, Democrat.
Well, good morning.
First of all, the cost of removing mass removal of immigrants, rounding them up and deporting them, has been estimated at approximately $315 billion for one year.
And we're concerned about our fiscal situation.
The United States is the most successful economy in the world right now.
The IMF is touting the United States economy as uplifting for Europe's economy.
There's so many things that are said on this show that are non-factual.
And I don't think the people are not being honest.
I think they're just misinformed.
We have to calm down and just start looking at facts.
The incoming administration, I fear that they're going to do an awful job, and it's going to cost the nation dearly.
And I hope I'm wrong.
I really do.
But we all have to calm down.
Have a good day, everyone.
Here's Emma in Washington, D.C., Independent.
Hi, I'm actually just really happy because I feel like the voice of the working class has been heard in this election.
And for once, you know, the working and middle classes didn't just submit to the Democratic Party.
I feel like whatever consists of a real labor movement in the United States has finally just asserted itself and said, we're not going to submit to this economy anymore.
And that just makes me incredibly happy.
So what are you hoping is going to happen now that the Republicans are in charge?
I think there's going to be an economy that is more fair to working people.
I also think that— In what way, though, Emma?
Give me specifics.
Well, I think that inflation is going to come down.
I also think that immigration is going to be brought under control.
I think there's going to be more manufacturing kept in the U.S.
And I think the fact that this rebuke has happened of the ruling class is important because I posted something online saying I was happy about the election and just the wave of verbal abuse I've gotten from people calling me ignorant, deluded, a rube.
That kind of rhetoric is why Trump won, because we're tired of being spoken to that way.
All right.
And Zach, Columbia, South Carolina, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, good morning.
Hey, guys, does it really matter?
I don't care who the president is.
They don't give me nothing.
They're always paying taxes.
I'm overpaying in taxes, so I don't give it.
I don't care who the president is.
But why they don't like immigrants?
The country is turning in the next 20 years, all the white people are going to be old.
They're scared they're going to lose the country, man.
But you got to have people coming into the country.
You got to have young blood coming into the country.
You got to have workers coming into the country.
Reason why they don't want the Mexicans and foreign people over here because they depend on the government too much.
White people, they get all the government money.
Hell is only 12% of black people, 13, 14, 15% of Spanish people in America.
Who else get all the damn money?
They are.
They're disbanded because they're not getting all the damn money.
Let's go to the line for Democrats in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Will, good morning.
Good morning.
Point of information.
All right, you keep talking about a trifecta.
I assume you're talking about the House, the Senate, and the executive?
Yes.
All right.
You're mistaken.
The trifecta is actually the House, the complete Congress, the executive, and the judicial.
Little point of information.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
Alex in Barrett, Delaware, Republican.
You're next.
Alex, are you there?
Yeah.
Yeah, I just wanted to say about how Biden was lying when he kept telling American people that he can't do nothing about the immigration until Congress helps him out with it.
And then a couple of months before the election, he does something on his own.
He lied to everybody watching, and no one wants to talk about that.
And another thing, Obama deported 3 million people, and these people calling in saying they're all against him, the Trump deporting people.
What's wrong with these people?
I don't get it.
It doesn't make a bit of sense what they're doing.
And they talk about what it's going to cost to deport these people.
What do you think it's costing to keep these people here?
This is crazy.
That's enough.
Peter in Melbourne, Florida, Democrat.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I'm obviously a Democrat.
I've was working at the polls and everything and standing on corners with signs that promote Harris and Waltz.
And I'm just hoping that the people's hate for Donald Trump turns into dislike, and maybe we can all get along and work towards some of his good ideas and give him the opportunity to prove who he is.
I think we've seen him before, and we're going to see him again, and we're going to just roll with the punches.
All right, Peter.
And we will end that segment right there.
After the break, we'll speak to two lawmakers about the new Congress and former President Trump heading back to the White House.
Up first, Democratic Adriano Espeat of New York and later Republican Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin.
We'll be right back.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're joined now by Adriano Espayat.
He is a Democrat from New York, also a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees and Democratic Caucus Senior WIP.
Congressman, welcome to the program.
Thank you, Mimi.
Thank you for having me.
So your thoughts on the election?
Well, reboot time for the Democratic Party.
We have to listen to the American people, take a deep dive into our party and figure out what's the path forward.
I think in many ways elections are cyclical, and this is one that, although it did not favor us, it gives us the opportunity to reconnect with the American people.
What do you think went wrong?
Why do you think they were angry?
And what changes do you think need to be made?
Well, I think the American people were upset with high prices, pocketbook issues, making ends meet on a regular basis, on a weekly basis, rent, of course, food, the price of food, of gas, the things that often are not talked about because they may not be sexy in the political debate, but are very important to a mama or dad.
So we have to listen to them.
In your state of New York, a very blue state, not to state the obvious, former President Trump got 30% of the vote.
That's double his share in 2016.
He did better than any Republican in that state since 1988.
Why did he do so well in your state?
Well, it's funny that those are the numbers.
But in my district, for example, I got 84% of the vote.
So obviously many people voted for the president and voted for me as well, Democrats.
So I have to engage those voters and figure out why they felt they needed to vote for him and see what are the issues that are relevant and important to them, work with them in solutions to those problems that I think are important and often are only talked about during the election cycle, but obviously impact families on a daily basis.
A lot's been made about Vice President Harris losing support from Latino men in particular.
Your heritage is Dominican.
Tell us what's going on in that voting block.
Well, I think that what's not being looked at is that she also lost support from President Trump really got the majority of the vote from white men, white women, and other sectors of the electorate, just Latino men.
I think the Latino community.
But it has increased, though.
Yes.
Yes, it has increased.
The Latino community often feels forgotten or ignored.
And when a population feels ignored or forgotten, they venture out and they look for alternatives.
And so we must engage Latino men hand-on, listen to, make sure that they feel they're at the table, that they are at the table, and that in fact they're part of the decision-making process that impacts their daily lives.
That's very important as we move forward in New York City, in New York State.
We've seen how, for example, in New York County, a Latino judge has not been ascended to the Supreme Court in the last 10 years.
There hasn't been a Latino elected to citywide office ever in New York City, although the population is fairly high.
And in a place like the Bronx, which has the highest concentration of Latinos, there are no borough-wide electors there.
So Latino men feel left out, off the table, and they wander off from the original party that they had allegiance to that they felt connected to because of many issues.
We must reconnect with them.
Do you think that the Republican messaging that illegal immigrants are coming to this country and taking your jobs, the legal immigrants, do you think that that resonated with people?
It may have resonated, but it wasn't exactly true.
Unemployment is very low.
In fact, 40% of agricultural workers are undocumented, and many other people may not want to do those jobs.
We're going to see the economy hurt if we indiscriminately begin to have a massive deportation policy.
Hurt in what way?
Well, we'll see some have estimated that the GDP could be hurt by just slightly over a trillion dollars.
That the agricultural economy, which is dependent on folks, will be hurt.
That construction will be hurt.
We know that home building continues to be a major challenge for that industry, and they need a new force of labor.
And therefore, if we begin an indiscriminate policy of massive deportation, the economy could be hurt.
Now, they're not talking about indiscriminate deportation.
They're saying we're going to start with convicted criminals, etc.
What do you think of that?
Shouldn't that happen?
Do you agree with that?
I agree that immigration laws should be enforced within the parameters of the law.
But a massive deportation policy could get sloppy if not inhumane.
And so, once you start splitting kids' children, little kids from their families, from their mothers, we know what happened last time.
We heard the little children cry in the middle of the night and how it shook America.
It hurt moms from both sides of the aisles.
Republicans and Democrats weren't feeling too good about hearing a little girl, a little boy shout for their mother in the middle of the night because they have been split apart.
My office was active in bringing families together.
Some mothers had to travel 3,000 miles to reconnect with their children in New York.
So I don't think that's what America is all about.
If you have somebody that's a convicted felon from another country, they should be deported back, absolutely.
But within the confines of the law.
And our guest is Edriano Espeat, a Democrat from New York.
If you'd like to join the conversation, you can do so.
Our lines are Democrats 2027-8000.
Republicans 202-748-8001.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
Let's talk about government funding.
You're on the Appropriations Budget Committee.
What's the Democratic strategy for the upcoming deadline, government funding deadline, December 20th?
We should avert a government shutdown at all costs.
It doesn't help anyone.
It doesn't help Americans that are receiving social services.
The national security community will be hurt, as well as services will be interrupted across the board.
So we must avert a government shutdown.
There has to be a fair percentage of funding for social programs and for the military complex.
Very often we see that the budget is bloated for the military and those programs for daycare services, for social security, for Medicaid, Medicare, for education are cut dramatically.
So we must have a delicate balance that protects both sides.
Let's talk to callers now.
Earl is up first, a Republican in Seneca Falls, New York.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Three things.
Why would the current president of Ukraine want to give up any more land with the so-called negotiations with Putin to what is this America first business?
My parents went through that in the 1930s.
And, oh, geez, now I forgot my.
Okay, well, we got two things, Earl.
Well, regarding Ukraine, I mean, Europe is expecting to see what's going to happen next in Ukraine.
Everybody wants peace, but we all know that Vladimir Putin has a gluttony for moving forward, and now it is the Ukraine, and tomorrow it could be Poland or any other European country.
So the European Union and its economy are bracing to see what happens next.
We must play a constructive role in making sure that Ukraine is protected, that their sovereignty is protected, that the European Union is held together, and that the economy of the European Union, which is so directly connected to our economy, is healthy and strong.
And we've got a call from England on the line for Democrats.
Paul, good morning.
And I'll let you guys as well.
The question is, do you think the Democrats win again in a few years' time?
Do you think when it comes to the next election, do you think?
Do they win again?
Do you think?
In the next presidential election, Paul?
That's right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, first, in between that, we have the midterms.
So the tradition has been that there has been a change of leadership in the midterm elections.
There's sort of like sleepy elections where voters get to decide whether or not their local representatives and senators are doing a good job in their respective districts.
And so we will begin to rebuild and focus on the midterms to make sure that we regain, if we don't keep the majority in the House of Representatives, that we regain the majority.
It is important to have all voices heard in a democracy.
In this case, this past election, it seems that the voters favor Republicans, but I am sure that in the midterms we'll have some substantial gains.
Let's talk to Gina in Decatur, Alabama, Republican.
Hi, Gina.
Hi, how are y'all?
I just have a couple of questions.
I'm 100% first-connected disabled veteran, and I got a Huntsville VA for my care.
And we've been going outside for care in the private sector, and it's been a lot better.
And my son's current military, and I have two questions for you, sir.
I'm Gen X, and he's Gen Z.
And would you consider voting for Means and Social Security for people within 10 years of retirement?
Because I don't think Warren Buffett needs a Social Security check.
And I noticed you gave the military a 19% raise in the House in the budget, and then now the Senate, that's for junior enlisted soldiers.
My son makes peanuts, and they took it down to like 5% in the Senate.
So you would like to know what you do about Social Security and giving the military junior soldiers a raise so they don't have to draw food stamps.
Okay, so the question about Social Security and then junior soldiers giving them a raise.
I believe in giving soldiers better pay.
I also believe that the Social Security system should be held together, should be stronger.
We should do everything we can to ensure that there are no future pitfalls in our social security system, that generations are protected as you continue to pay in, that the future is not compromised.
That will require, obviously, more responsible budgeting.
That is why it's so important that we avert a fiscal shutdown on December 20th and that we continue to be fiscally responsible as well as socially responsible with our veterans that put everything on the line so that we could enjoy our democracy.
We must, for example, also, Mimi, address through a supplemental the Hurricane Celine in Milton that devastated many parts of the country.
We should have a supplemental to ensure that those countries, those sectors of those states are rebuilt and that people get on with their lives.
So that is an additional piece of budgeting that we should do, as well as the farm bill.
I think we have the opportunity before the end of the year to pass the farm bill so that we have not only agricultural policy in place, but food security measures put in place to ensure that everybody eats and no one is hungry across America.
Brenda Manchester, Washington, Democrat.
Hi, Brenda.
Hello.
Good morning.
I have so many thoughts.
It's going to be hard with them swirling all around to get them on.
First, I want to say all the Democrats and to you, Mr. Representative Esfiat.
I hope I'm saying your name correctly.
Yes, you did.
Stop all the hand-wringing.
Stop all the hand-wringing.
We had an excellent candidate.
The thing that Republicans do is they insist that they are great at governing and bad at messaging.
It's the other way around.
We're the bad messengers and excellent at governing.
That is true.
We lost to a marketing genius that is a master manipulator.
That's hard to beat.
When you have integrity and character, you're not going to win against someone like that.
That's that.
Also, as far as a mandate to all the Republicans out there, 2008 was a mandate.
That was a mandate.
And Barack Obama still came in and said he wanted to govern for everybody.
These Republicans that win on these very splim margins, that is not a mandate.
That's not a mandate.
And one last thing to everybody that insists that Donald Trump is doing this for the people because he's so rich, he doesn't have to do it.
He milks the government.
Look at the contracts.
Look at how they stay at his hotels where he even jacks up government rate.
How is that possible?
He ran to stay out of jail.
And sadly, I do believe he's going to be successful.
And look at the people he's putting in.
All the sycophants.
The people.
He's got TVs up at Mar-a-Lago.
He is judging everybody on how they speak of him.
That's his only qualification.
How much do you like me and how well will you serve me?
I always want every president to succeed as I do this one, but I am very fearful that it's not going to happen.
And once again, Democrats are going to be expected to mop up another Republican mess that no one's going to remember.
Thank you.
Thank you, Brenda.
I do agree that we must do better with our messaging.
And I also agree that it wasn't a total, although at the end of the day, Republicans may control all three branches, it wasn't really a blowout.
And in terms of the percentages of the votes.
So we do have hope.
The Democratic Party is a party of hope.
We will engage with the voters again, and we will recalibrate our messaging to ensure that we are speaking to working class and middle class America.
I think it's important that we must listen to and speak to those folks that are concerned about pocketbook issues.
She did mention cabinet positions, and it's expected that President-elect Trump will name Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State.
As you know, Senator Rubio's parents are Cuban immigrants.
How significant is that for the nation's Hispanic community?
Well, it's the first.
His concentration has been in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Obviously, a Secretary of State has to deal with a broader scope of international politics.
I hope he's up for the job as we continue to engage with worldwide crisis in the Middle East, in the Ukraine, and other parts of the world.
It's a very, very compelling and demanding job.
You know, he has served in the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, so he has some experience.
But this is a big and demanding job.
I hope he's up for the job.
We've got a question for you on text from Doug in Florida.
He says, on Meet the Press, Senator John Barrazo said, quote, after cutting taxes, money coming into the Treasury actually went up.
Is that really the case?
Well, if we cut taxes for the very rich, we will see a decrease in revenue and an increase in our deficit.
That has been the characteristics of the strategy applied by the Republican administrations to cut taxes for the very rich, for the 1%.
And we see how that contributes directly and disproportionately to a growing and ballooning deficit that continues to be a major problem.
We want to see some tax relief for middle-class America, for working-class America.
We want to see how we perhaps entertain the child care tax credit that was very important to working families that are struggling on a daily basis and not to the multi-millionaires that are relying on cushion tax cuts that will not contribute to additional revenue for our government.
Pat in Stockton, California, Republican, good morning.
Pat, are you there?
I'm here.
Yes, I'm here.
Go right ahead.
So my question is: you keep saying that people will be deported that are agricultural, manufacturing, and housing and building.
Those people have green cards.
They are not committed to courted.
So why do you keep saying that people will be deported that are doing important jobs when they're actually green card holders?
According to the USDA, the undocumented population in the agricultural sector is 41%.
That was back in 2018.
And the American Immigration Council estimates that the GDP will be impacted by $1.1 trillion if this massive deportation strategy is implemented.
And so these are the numbers.
These are just the numbers, and that's how they are.
You know, we never see prosperity in our history, at least at a substantial level, unless there's immigrant labor there.
So yes, some industry, such as the agricultural industry, will be directly impacted if this is applied.
This method of massive deportation is applied.
There are concerns that in the process, even U.S. citizens that may be typecast or maybe profile could find themselves on the deportation track.
Congressman, we got a question for you from Kristen in Portland, Maine, who says, an earlier C-SPAN listener today suggested Biden be bold and pardon the DREAMers.
What do you think of that?
I believe dreamers should be given an opportunity, absolutely.
Dreamers are young people that are here.
They came to the United States when they were one, two years old.
Many of them are nurses.
Many of them are teachers.
They're homeowners, small business owners.
They contribute to America, to our economy.
And with the exception of that card, that green car, they're everyday Americans.
Can President Biden do something about that without Congress?
He has considered the DACA initiative that has been shut down by the courts, but that is a consideration.
And President Biden, I'm sure, will consider many actions before he leaves.
I suggest and I encourage that that be one of them.
Steve in Freeland, Maryland, Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
Mr. Espianado, this is for the entire legislative branch.
We have 535 members that make up the legislative branch.
All of them are egomaniacs.
You have an approval rating year after year of less than 14%.
You have the inability to pass 12 appropriation bills.
I think one of the reasons that is because you guys are off, not in session.
You're off, if we call it recess, more than you're on.
We can't keep the lights on.
I mean, that's just the basics.
We can't even keep the lights on.
We're going to print another $10 trillion this year.
It doesn't matter who the president is.
Because if we do not reduce the size of our federal government, we are never going to make headway.
That means the people that administer me, the people that work there, we have become just too big.
We really need to try.
And I know that's not going to happen.
I'm 60 years old.
I've seen this time and time again.
This is why I get so upset when people think a president's going to change it.
The way we're going to change this country is through the legislative branch.
If we cannot work together, 535 members work together to move common sense policy forward in this country, we are going to bankrupt.
And we talk about this every year.
This will be the next topic on C-SPAN.
The federal budget, the deficit.
But nobody wants to address what needs to be done.
All right, Steve, let's get a response.
Well, I do believe that government is a force of good, that veterans get services through government, that moms that have to go to work get daycare services through government, that the Medicaid program and the Medicare program that are the ones that provide access to health care for seniors and for families get their services through government.
We were able to cap insulin at $35 a month this past session.
We saw the positive impact of that new policy.
That was done through government.
As we brace to see whether the Department of Education will be dismantled or not, we feel very strongly that Title I, which provides additional funding for those districts that have high percentages of families living on the poverty level, that's done through government.
So government could be and is a force of good.
And so I don't believe in dismantling government.
I am not an anarchist.
I don't believe that we should have no government.
I believe in a republic.
And yes, I am an appropriator, and I agree with you that through the appropriation process in a bipartisan way, the American people want us to work together to ensure that we pass a budget that's responsible, that is balanced, and that addresses the deficit.
The deficit cannot be addressed if we continue to provide major tax cuts to the very rich.
We're just not going to get the kind of revenue in that we need to provide for the services that are needed on a daily basis by the American people.
All right, Congressman, Representative Adriano Espeyot, a Democrat of New York, member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees.
Thanks so much for joining us today.
Thank you, Mimi.
Thank you for having me.
After the break, it's open forum.
You can start calling in now on any political issue on your mind this morning.
Here are the numbers.
Democrats 202-748-8,000.
Republicans 202-748-8001.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
I will be speaking with Republican Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin on what he sees as Donald Trump's mandate as he heads back to the White House.
We'll be right back.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We are in open forum, but first we're going to speak to Representative Tom Tiffany, Republican of Wisconsin and member of the Judiciary Committee and also a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Representative Tiffany, welcome to the program.
Mimi, it's good to join you this morning.
We'll just get your reaction to the election last week.
Well, you know, I come from northern Wisconsin, the 7th Congressional District, and they were difference makers, my constituents.
We had places that turn out 80-85% traditionally, which is a really good turnout in many counties in rural and northern Wisconsin.
We saw a turnout of up 90% or more.
My hometown, Oneida County, 94% turnout.
A lot of those low-propensity voters that everybody talked about, they showed up and they outvoted Dane County and Milwaukee County in Wisconsin this election.
And there is a funding deadline on December 20th.
What do you support?
Will you be voting for another short-term extension or what direction are you going to be going in?
Yeah, you know, not a big fan of the continuing resolutions.
We should be drafting new budgets, but I think in this instance, the voters spoke on November 5th with a new Congress and a new president, a new direction.
And so I think we should push it off until after the first of the year.
Let the new president, let the new Congress decide what the budget is going to be.
So I would support a continuing resolution into 2025.
You serve on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
I want to ask you about President-elect Trump's mass deportation policy.
How do you expect that to play out?
How many people would be involved?
So we had a mass importation program over the last four years under the Biden-Harris administration.
We can do a mass deportation program.
I think it starts by getting the violent criminals out.
What is it?
There's over a million people that have records of, you know, not just entering our country illegally, but of crimes that they committed in their home countries.
And I think you start there.
I mean, remember, we have 13,000 murderers, 15,000 rapists that are in this country.
You start there and remove those people.
And I guess violent criminals would already have deportation orders.
What happens after that?
Would you be in favor of going into workplaces, doing raids there?
And then also separation of parents from their children.
If you're here illegally, you need to go back and get in line.
And I think what we do is the humane thing is say to people that you can come back in our country, but you need to willingly leave at this point.
If you're going to insist on staying here illegally, then we're not going to be able to let you in in the future.
And I think if we put it to people that way, get in line.
Because remember, so many of the people, millions of people that came in illegally over the last four years, they jumped the line.
That's not fair to people who want to do it the right way.
Let's do it the right way because we all believe that we should have an immigration system, a legal immigration system, that benefits America.
So let's make sure that those that are coming into our country are doing it legally.
And for those that did not do it legally and have children that are American citizens, would you be in favor of separating those families?
You need to return to your home country.
I mean, we talk about this separation.
There's 320,000 children right now that are documented that the Biden-Harris administration has no idea where they're at.
These families have been separated.
In some instances, they've been separated by their own parents who have said, I'm going to send my children ahead.
I don't think that that's humane to begin with.
So we need to reverse what has happened here, especially over the last four years.
People that came into this country, they knew the Biden-Harris administration was working against the will of the people.
That was proven on November 5th.
This is a cornerstone of the Trump agenda.
It is time for those who are here illegally that they go back.
And last year, the University of Wisconsin estimated that more than 10,000 unauthorized workers are employed in Wisconsin's dairy farms.
That's your home state.
What kind of impact do you think a mass deportation policy might have on that industry?
So very familiar with that.
So there's just a couple steps here that need to happen.
Number one, we secure the border.
Second of all, let's make sure able-bodied Americans are working.
I've seen estimates of five to ten million people who are Americans who are able-bodied that are not working.
Let's make sure that those people are working.
Then the third thing is to have a legal immigration system that benefits America.
And if we need labor like that, I'm very familiar with it, having grown up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin.
I talk to these dairy farmers.
If there is a need after that, then we should help fill that void.
But let's do it legally.
Congressman The Hill is reporting this headline, Conservatives Plot Challenge Against Johnson in Internal Speaker Elections.
You're a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Are you guys planning to do something as far as the elections happening today for leadership?
From my perspective, we're just going to go through the process that we always do after every two years in picking leadership.
And I think everyone from the newest member who is from the state of Wisconsin, Tony Weed, who was sworn in last night, all the way to leadership, they all know who's setting the agenda here, and it's President Trump.
I think everybody's going to be on board in regards to that.
But there's always a discussion in regards to the rules and things like that.
So I think some of the process stuff will be debated.
But we all know what needs to get done in 2025.
And Congressman, can you tell us where you stand on the option to vacate the speaker's chair?
Are you in favor of retaining that option?
Yeah, I think we should leave it there.
It's been there for 200 years, and I don't see any reason to change that.
I understand what happened last session, but I think people would be very, very hesitant to use that again as it should be.
But it's been in place for 200 years, and if someone has a proposal to change it, put it on the table.
I'm happy to take a look at what they propose.
And finally, Congressman, your top priorities for the first 100 days of the new Congress.
Oh, it's to get America back on track.
I helped write HR 2.
Let's pass HR 2 once again to secure the border bill.
Let's get that done and have a Senate that'll pass it this time.
Let's get back to energy independence.
We cannot be prosperous as a country without having low energy prices.
That's going to be one of my primary focuses sitting on the Natural Resources Committee.
We do that, and we're going to get America back on track real fast.
All right, Representative Tom Tiffany, Republican of Wisconsin, member of the Judiciary Committee and Freedom Caucus member.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Good to join you today, Mimi.
And we are in open forum.
We will go straight to your calls and start with Joe in New Orleans, Louisiana, Democrat.
Hi, Joe.
Good morning.
Morning.
In my opinion, the Democratic Party should stop pointing fingers at each other and moaning why and what happened.
I think that Ms. Harris, Vice President Harris, did not win because the country, the United States of America, is not ready for a female president, even though she had all the qualifications that could be, in that she is the current Vice President of the United States.
And that the real reason is, as I said, the United States is not ready for a female president and certainly not one of color.
John is next in Tulaire, California.
Republican, good morning.
Good morning.
Good to be on this morning.
I've watched C-SPAN since the Currence Thomas series.
That lady called from New Orleans.
You know, we elected Barack Obama.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.
I don't want to get distracted because they've got other topics, but this Ropo-Dope campaign that Kamala ran, she had to do some press conferences.
She had to answer some questions.
She passed on a question about Prop 36 in California that has to do with low crime.
If she had done more of that, she probably would have done better.
Had nothing to do with the fact what race she was or what gender she was.
Anyway, going from there, your congressman that you had on from New York that said 40% of ag workers, agricultural workers, were undocumented.
I take exception to that.
I'm involved in the ag industry in California, and we've got a lot of Hispanic workers.
And I will guarantee you that if there were 20% of them that were undocumented, I would be shocked.
What Trump needs to do, they need to put the onus on the employers to not hire illegals.
They do need to get the criminals, those guys that beat up the policemen in New York City, for example.
Where are they today?
Are they still in the country?
As far as I know, they are.
From drunk drivers to petty theft, if you commit a crime in this country and you are here undocumented, you need to be deported.
It's that simple.
We can produce enough criminals of our own without.
John, would you be in favor of deporting all illegal immigrants?
Well, here's the thing I think we miss.
A lot of those are going to deport.
And here's a family of four and a husband and wife, hardworking two kids.
It would tear up my heartstrings.
I've got to admit that.
However, they jumped the line.
It's like the congressman you just had on from Wisconsin.
He sold a lot of my thunder because they do jump the line.
And there are good people that wait in line.
Now, maybe we need to do something to speed the lineup.
I don't know.
I'll tell you what I'm really in favor of is a guest worker program that a person can come here, they can work, they can make some money.
It expires, they can go back, they can come back again.
A lot of the illegals that are here, if they could go home for a period of time without having a lot of trouble getting back in here, they go.
Yeah, I'm in favor.
If you're here illegally, you need to go back home.
It's that's right.
Here's Carl in Inwood, West Virginia, Independent Line.
Yes, finally, I got back through.
This is Carl from West Virginia.
I called this election eight months ago.
The country is still 62, between 62 and 65% white.
They want to keep it this way.
The judges know it.
Everybody knows it.
Don't cut me off.
I got one more thing to say.
That's why Trump won.
And his vice president, his ancestors, go back to manifest destiny.
I want to all you black folks, I know the Indians know about it.
Look that up.
This is what's happening to this country.
And in other news, this is ABC reporting that Biden hosted Israel's president at the White House amid a peace push.
And we have a portion of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and President Biden in the White House from yesterday.
On behalf of the people of Israel and the nation of Israel and the state of Israel, to say to you, Mr. President, thank you very much.
As we say in Hebrew, Toda Abba.
You've been an incredible friend of Israel and the Jewish people for decades.
And we will never forget, ever, in history, how you stood up with us in our darkest hour, which became our finest hour.
How you came to Israel a few days after the barbaric attack of October 7th.
How you helped us and supported us with words and deeds.
And I want to express our heartfelt thanks to you, Mr. President, which is a great legacy that you stood up with the Jewish people and the state of Israel, as you always did.
So I brought you a little gift, which is an archaeological artifact from the foot of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which has the word Joseph, your set.
And as you know, in the Bible, it is said that Joseph will strengthen Israel.
And clearly, Mr. President, you've done it.
Thank you very much.
Well, I hope my father heard it.
My father was what we call a righteous Christian.
Couldn't understand why we didn't move more rapidly back in World War II than West.
And anyway.
That was a great legacy of your father.
Well, it was.
I remember how I got in trouble.
We were friends even back then when I said years ago as a senator, I said, you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist.
And I know you are.
Clearly a Zionist, Mr. President.
Well, God love you.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for being here, Kyle.
How are you doing, buddy?
It was yesterday in the White House, and this is Edgar in Houston, Texas, Democrat.
Yes, good morning, Vimy.
Two things I'm trying to make sure I can bring up.
First thing, the board is saying, that's the political football that they've been kicking back and forth for years.
When Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to the people that have come across that border, The Republicans refuse to hold big businesses accountable.
Now, had they done what they were supposed to do at that time, then the immigration situation wouldn't have gotten as bad as it has come to be.
The other thing is if they want to balance the budget, all those Republicans that keep calling in talking about the money and all that, all they have to do is use the same formula that Bill Clinton used, the very same formula.
Everybody pays their fair share of taxes, and everything will be much better.
We can get closer to balancing the budget.
Yellow?
Yep.
And here is Jeff in Darby, Montana, Republican.
Hi, Jeff.
Good morning.
I am hopeful that this election was the beginning of the end of identity politics.
I really think the American people are sick and tired of being divided up by race and gender.
And I think the coalition that Trump built belies that fact that this is all about what race you are or what gender you are.
I think the policies and the problems that we face transcend those boxes that they want to shove us into.
And I'm really hopeful that we can start seeing each other as Americans and all wanting the same thing regardless of our race or creed and begin to come together.
All right, Jeff.
And an item for your schedule for later today at 11:30 a.m., a House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee holds a second hearing on the government's investigation into UFOs, also known as UAPs, unidentified anomalous phenomena.
That's live.
You can watch that on C-SPAN 3 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.
It's also on our app, C-SPANNow, and online at c-span.org.
And let's talk to Michael, Manor, Texas, Republican.
Thank you so much for taking my call.
And yes, I did vote Republican in this election cycle.
However, I do want to preface that I'm not the archetypal Red Hat Republican.
I did vote for Biden in 2020, and I've voted for Obama in 2012.
I do want to touch on a couple things.
First, I know fluoride has been mentioned on C-SPAN a couple of times on this pod, I mean, on this caller line.
I do want to cite the United States District Court September 24th, 2024.
The ruling was the court did find that fluoride at levels typical, not atypical.
C-SPAN reported that it was double the amount.
The amount was 0.7 milligrams.
It did pose a raise.
So C-SPAN doesn't report, Michael.
We read an article.
Okay, I do apologize.
What I want to say is the key point was that it did pose a risk of reduced IQ in children.
That key point being that substantial and scientific, credible evidence was found that fluoride did pose a risk to human health.
So I did want to pose, just cite that.
Secondly, I do want to touch on the tariffs concept.
I just want to point out that prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, tariffs did contribute to about 95% of the United States revenue and didn't directly contribute to the United States boom during the Industrial Revolution.
I know a lot of people are concerned about prices going up for the consumer.
I personally do believe that that is contingent on Trump being able to implement an energy plan that is low cost.
And then you couple that with low inflation, low interest rates.
And I do believe that consumers won't fill it to the degree that it is perpetrated into the media.
I believe it will bring billions of dollars of investments into the United States as well as create thousands of jobs.
I'm near Austin, Texas, and Trump implemented that with Tim Cook back in the last election cycle.
And what do you know?
We have a gigantic apple plant now in Austin, Texas that employ.
Hold on, Michael.
You said since before the Federal Reserve was created?
Correct.
Yeah.
So, which is 1913.
I just looked that up.
It was created in 1913.
Correct.
So before the Federal Reserve was created, tariffs were the main moneymaker for the United States.
They were attacked at the port of entry.
And do you think that that would be the case today?
I mean, fun fact, a big proponent and lover of tariffs was everyone's favorite president, Abraham Lincoln.
So I do believe it is a way that the United States can bring.
We've got to move on.
Gary in Berlin, New Hampshire, Independent.
Good morning.
Hi, good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
First of all, you know, I think this is a shame we are in the situation we are in as far as Trump getting back into office.
Number one, I blame Mitch McConnell.
If he had done his job and impeached him in the second impeachment trial, Trump would not be allowed to run anymore.
Am I correct on that?
If I'm not correct on that, please correct me.
It's just a shame that Trump is being also, it's just a shame Trump is being allowed to get away with the crimes that he has committed.
What about the people that are in office in jail rather for the January 6th riot?
I'm not saying what they did was right.
They had no right being there.
I'm not diminishing that.
They committed a crime.
Yes, they should pay.
But what gives Donald Trump the right to pull what he pulled and get away with it?
He is setting a bad example for this country and our future generation.
And also, as far as the felonies, I think the felonies on employment applications should come off.
Now, what's going to happen is that felons are going to fight that on there.
They're going to say, well, if he can be elected, then I can get a job with the felony on my record.
So with Donald Trump being elected, this has set an awful precedence.
Charles in New Jersey, line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm an 86-year-old veteran.
And what I want to say to America is that all the people that they went to prison or jail, they got out, clear their record.
Just like you did Trump.
You have enough people to work in America.
Trump got 34 charges.
People, if they got out and went to jail and come out, they got one or two, maybe three charges.
Clear their record.
Then America be doing something.
And Billy in Leland, North Carolina, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, America.
I'd like to say something about a lot of the lady that had called in about Trump and the January 6th people.
Most of the January 6th people, you know, were trespassers.
That's what their charges were.
We allow millions of people to come across the border, and I think that would be trespassing, but they're allowed to come in.
We house them, feed them, medicate them, or whatever they need to have.
But one thing I want to call about is this immigration deal.
It's really a simple thing.
We have a system set up like an unemployment office.
You know, we vet the folks that are coming in.
You have the industry here in America, whether it be plumbers, electricians, whatever companies submit that, hey, I need X amount of workers.
And we allow the folks to come in through this process, vet them.
These are the jobs we have available, whether it be dairy, welding, whatever, whatever their capabilities might be.
And also, along with the apprenticeship programs that's been spoken about.
I'm 60 years old.
I went through the school systems where we had shops.
We had electricians, you know, shops to where people could bring appliances in.
We'd work on them.
And people would, you know, further their education and end up where they're at.
But I think a lot of this, that we step on our own feet, that it is a simple process.
Unemployment, Office of Work Good around the country and every municipality.
So I believe that if we did something along that basis with our migrants, it would help out John Joe Plumber in Michigan, electrician over in Texas.
I mean, we could fill jobs and also get a lot of the folks that have been spoken about that are sitting on the sidelines that, you know, let's be honest, they could be out here doing stuff.
They're out here terrorizing the streets.
You put them eight hours out there, you know, terrorizing a job site and getting paid decent.
But anyhow, thanks, America, for all right, Billy.
And some news from the Wall Street Journal.
Spirit Airlines moves towards bankruptcy after filing after Frontier drops merger bid.
It says the budget carrier is in advance discussions with bondholders over a filing that could occur within weeks.
And here's Roseanne in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
Democrat.
Yes.
Are you speaking with me?
I didn't get the name.
Yes.
Go ahead.
Go right ahead.
I think Bernie Sanders is absolutely right when it comes to the Democratic Party not looking after the blue-collar worker.
Now we're doing blue-collar, white-collar, whatever.
And don't get me wrong, an education is so very important.
You want an informed populace that's able to think for themselves and analyze what's going on.
But with the blue-collar people, they are really angry because they're not being heard as far as, you know, the Democrats have gone really white-collar.
They're not looking at the people who really do the work in this country.
And it's being taken over by corporations in every single aspect.
Our educational system is being taken over by corporations.
You have administration.
My daughter is a teacher.
And administration is making six figures a year.
And these poor teachers are just dealing with meetings and meetings that really have no effect on the actual teaching of our children.
And as far as Trump goes with his isolationism, how are you going to do that in a world-based economy?
Almost tons of our country has been sold to foreign entities, and he's going to be an isolationist.
I mean, this is not new.
It's old.
When they signed the NAFTA agreement, you know, corporations headed out of the country so they could get products made way cheaper there than here.
How are you going to bring that back unless you're going to go for less Wall Street profit and care for the people of this country?
Thank you for taking my call.
All right.
And that was Roseanne.
There will be more opportunities for you to call in during open forum later in the program.
Up next, former CIA Russia analyst George Beebe discusses the Ukraine-Russia conflict and how the incoming Trump administration might impact the trajectory of the war.
Stay with us.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're joined now by George Beebe, Director of Grant Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, formerly CIA Russia Analysis Chief, and also formerly special advisor to Vice President Cheney on Russia.
George Beebe, welcome to the program.
Thank you very much.
So President Biden is meeting with President-elect Trump at the White House.
President Biden is expected to urge Mr. Trump to continue supporting Ukraine.
Why or why not?
Should he follow that advice?
Well, I think it's quite clear at this point that if the United States were to withdraw its support for Ukraine, that Ukraine would simply collapse.
And we would not be in a situation where we could have a negotiated compromise end to the war in Ukraine.
It would simply be a matter of Ukrainian capitulation.
Russia would then dictate the terms of a settlement.
That wouldn't be good for Ukraine, clearly, but it wouldn't be good for European security or for American interests at all.
So in approaching this challenge to forge an acceptable compromise, one that's durable, one that protects American, Ukrainian, European interests, and is acceptable to Russia, we have to have leverage in that kind of negotiation.
And that means we have to continue supporting Ukraine while we're negotiating on all of this.
This is not just a matter of stopping support and reaching a deal.
We're going to have to continue support and begin to negotiate.
How likely is that, given the Republican Senate, the Republican, most likely the Republican House, the Vice President JD Vance has been very upfront about saying, I don't care either way what happens to Ukraine.
What do you think is going to happen?
Well, I think Trump is in a position by virtue of the mandate that he received in the election to put forward an agenda that will get Republican support.
And I think our representatives in Congress are smart enough to know that you don't go into a negotiation unarmed.
You're going to have to have leverage on all of this.
And simply withdrawing support from Ukraine is not going to produce the kind of deal that I think is in everybody's interest.
What kind of deal is possible?
Well, I think we're going to have to recognize that this deal is about more than bilateral issues between Russia and Ukraine.
This is not just about where the border between those two states is going to be drawn.
It's also about the broader European security architecture, the balance of power that exists between the West on the one hand and Russia on the other hand.
That is one of the fundamental reasons why the Russians invaded Ukraine, to address what they believed was an acute security concern, where they saw Ukraine becoming increasingly a de facto ally of the United States.
And that was something that they believe was very much threatening to Russia's national security interest.
In many ways, this is not dissimilar to the situation the United States faced in 1962, when Cuba decided it wanted to be a military ally of the Soviet Union and bring onto Cuban territory weapons that were profoundly threatening to the United States.
With the Cuban missile crisis.
That's right.
And in that particular case, we had a confrontation.
Now, the situation in Ukraine has other complexities layered on top of that, but that is one of the fundamental issues from Russia's point of view.
So we're going to have to address that if we're going to reach a settlement in Ukraine that addresses everyone's concerns on this.
So that means.
So how do you do that, though?
I mean, do you guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO?
Do you withdraw NATO forces farther away from Russia?
What are the options here?
Well, ultimately, we're going to have to reach a deal that protects Ukrainian security without bringing Ukraine formally into the NATO alliance.
I think that's not a realistic prospect.
It's one that Russia will fight to prevent from happening.
But we can't simply offer that to the Russians without getting something in return.
The Russians are going to have to make concessions on their part.
Like what?
Well, I think ultimately we're going to have to reach some deals on arms control and confidence in security building measures.
Things that will be put in place to monitor a compromise settlement in Ukraine so that everyone can be comfortable that Russia will not reinvade.
We're not going to have a repeat of what happened in 2022.
And we're not going to have a repeat of what happened in Afghanistan when the United States withdrew there and Ukraine simply collapses.
So that will require putting in place provisions to separate forces, to do so in a way that's monitorable, and also do so in a way that Russia is satisfied that the West is not going to put, for example, missile forces on Ukrainian territory that would be threatening to Russia's security interests.
And if you'd like to join our conversation with George Beebe of the Quincy Institute, you can do so.
Our lines are Democrats 202748-8000, Republicans 202-748-8001, and Independents 202-748-8002.
You can also reach us by text at 202-748-8003 and on social media.
Some news outlets have reported that President-elect Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine.
From your knowledge of Putin and Russia, how do you think he's reacting to that?
And how do you think he reacted to the election of Mr. Trump?
Well, I don't know if that phone call, in fact, took place.
The Russians, of course, are denying that any conversation took place.
I don't know what the truth is in this case.
But when it comes to escalation, I don't think that's something that Putin wants to do.
I think his approach to this war has been to fight a war of attrition, one that slowly grinds down Ukraine's ability to put well-trained, effective soldiers on the battlefield.
But initially, his strategy was to take Kyiv, and I don't think he realized that the Ukrainians would put up such a defense.
Well, I think that's right.
I think his initial strategy was essentially to foment a coup d'état that would seize the Ukrainian capital, replace the Zelensky regime, and put in place a more amenable government from Russia's point of view.
And that clearly failed.
He then regrouped and adopted a different approach to this war.
So I don't think he wants actually to escalate.
Escalation is not to Russia's advantage.
They would like the current dynamic to continue because they feel that the correlation of forces on the battlefield plays to Russia's advantage in all of this.
Now, would Putin escalate if necessary?
He has said that he would under certain circumstances, such as if the United States were to provide Ukraine with long-range military strike capabilities, that it would enable Ukraine to threaten Russian military infrastructure deep inside of Russian territory.
He wants to deter that and has said that if that were the case, Russia would in fact react.
He's not specified how it would react, but I think he's clearly signaling that there are lines that he is prepared to defend in all of this.
The United States is going to have to think through carefully how we approach this.
What do you make of Elon Musk's involvement in this?
There's reporting that he joined the call with President Zelensky and President-elect Trump.
And of course, he has been involved because of Starlink, which is his product that allows internet access through space.
What do you think is going to happen in a Trump administration?
Regarding Elon Musk, yes.
Well, he clearly is going to have a role at this point.
It's been announced that he and Vivek Ramaswamy will be heading this new non-governmental organization that will provide outside advice on government efficiency, waste, fraud, and abuse, that sort of thing.
So when it comes to Ukraine, he's going to have a voice.
Now, is he going to have a voice on Ukraine?
I think clearly he's somebody whose advice Trump has sought on this issue, and he's been someone that has clearly come out in favor of a compromise negotiated settlement in Ukraine.
So I expect that he is going to continue to have an influence.
Now, is he going to have a formal role in trying to forge a negotiated settlement in Ukraine?
I don't know the answer to that.
I'm not sure anybody has determined yet what Trump's Ukraine negotiating team is going to look like.
I think that's still to be determined.
We're going to take calls, but before we do, I want to ask you about the 11,000 North Korean troops that are in fighting now in preparing for our counteroffensive, according to the New York Times in Western Russia.
What's your assessment of a potential involvement of North Korean troops?
Well, I think this is something that reflects a couple of points that the Russians are concerned about.
One is Russia for a long time has regarded the war in Ukraine not so much as a bilateral conflict as a broader conflict with the United States and NATO.
One that they're outnumbered in, and they're quite concerned that this war could escalate into a broader conflict with NATO.
In that regard, they believe they need allies.
And I think North Korea is an issue that we ought to think about in that broader context more than in the narrow sense of what Russia needs to prevail in Ukraine bilaterally.
So I would regard the presence of North Korean troops as a card that Putin is playing in this broader geostrategic competition, one where he's signaling to the West, Russia is not isolated.
We have allies.
We have supporters beyond the West.
And we can bring that to bear in ways that matter in all of this.
What's North Korea getting out of this?
Are they just outright being paid by the Russians to send troops?
Well, I don't know the answer to that, but I think the North Koreans themselves benefit in some ways.
They get military experience that can be beneficial to them in addressing their primary military concerns with South Korea.
So that's an advantage strictly in terms of gaining experience.
Also, I think the North Koreans have some geostrategic interests at stake here.
They are also looking at China, and that's a complex relationship for North Korea.
There are elements of cooperation and partnership and support.
There are also elements of concern there.
And tightening their relationship with Russia, I think, gives the North Koreans a little bit more room for maneuver in dealing with China as well.
All right, let's talk to callers, and we'll start with Pat in Keyport, New Jersey, Republican.
Hello.
Putin has been on record as saying he viewed the dissolution of the USSR like the worst thing that could ever happen.
He violated the Budapest Memorandum, which guaranteed Ukraine security guarantees, guaranteed their sovereignty, and that was 10 years ago.
Of what value is any agreement that we reach now going to be?
How long would it be honored?
Thank you.
Well, I think that's an excellent question.
I think a lot of people have that concern in mind.
And I think it's useful in thinking about this to think back on history.
How did we deal with the Soviet Union?
And we put in place provisions over the years during the Cold War that allowed us to manage that confrontation with the Soviet Union in ways that reduced the risks that it would spill over into direct conflict between the United States and Soviet Union, those two nuclear superpowers.
We didn't trust the Soviet Union to adhere to those agreements because of the goodness of their heart.
We put in place verification and monitoring measures that made sure that they would comply with things.
And we also structured the agreements that we reached in ways that advanced Soviet interests as well as American interests, so that it was in the Soviet Union's self-interest to adhere to those agreements.
And I think those principles can apply today.
We don't have to trust Putin to agree to uphold things simply because it's the right thing to do.
We have to structure agreements that serve Russian interests as well as American and other interests.
And we also have to put in place the monitoring and verification means to ensure that there is compliance.
And we can do this.
We've done it before.
Let's talk to Roger in Port Angeles, Washington, Independent Line.
Hi, Roger.
Hi, good morning.
Thanks for taking my call.
I have a question.
Trump made a promised-made, promise-kept statement on his closing arguments.
And now I'm hearing that we're going to push this negotiations out to next year, 2025, after the inauguration.
But my idea is why doesn't Trump, through strength through peace through strength, tell North Korea to take their troops home now?
That at least would show some of us that are stuck in the middle on this unity thing that maybe we can start coming together as a country if we have some kind of leverage.
You spoke about peace through leverage.
That is leverage, in my opinion, that he could just say, pack your stuff up, go home.
All right, Al, I'm interested to hear what you got to say.
Well, I think this peace through strength idea is an important one to discuss.
When you're dealing with great powers, nuclear powers, you have to negotiate things, recognizing, first of all, that you're not going to get everything that you want.
We're not going to defeat Russia on the battlefield.
We're not going to force Russia into some sort of regime change.
We are going to have to compromise, and you want to use the leverage that you have, that strength that you have, wisely as a foundation for negotiating agreements that are as advantageous as they can be for American interests.
But there also has to be a diplomatic component to this strength.
You have to use military strength wisely as a foundation for smart diplomacy.
So in dealing with Russia and dealing with North Korea, we're not going to be in a position simply to dictate to them, do this or else, because the question will immediately arise, okay, what's the or else?
What are you going to do?
And oftentimes, if the choice is, well, if you don't do the or else, we're going to escalate into nuclear weapons use.
Well, that's not a very good position for the United States to be in.
So before we issue ultimatums to other countries, I think we have to think this through.
What happens if they reject the ultimatum?
What do we do?
Are we humiliated and embarrassed because we can't enforce what we've insisted that they do?
So we have to be careful about simply telling other countries, do this or else.
Robert is in Webster, New York.
Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
Mr. Beebe, concerning Russia, it appears that our military planners overestimated Russians' conventional power.
They thought they'd take over Ukraine in three or four days.
I'm wondering, with Putin in the past, having used tactical nuclear weapons as a threat against Ukraine and us.
Is it a paper tiger?
Are the nuclear weapons in Russia, have they deteriorated as the conventional forces or conventional force has deteriorated in this conflict from disuse or not putting funds and energy into their nuclear deterrent?
From your perspective, are we too afraid of Russia or are they still quite a force nuclear, in your opinion, sir?
All right, Robert.
Well, I think that there is that impression right now in the United States and in parts of Europe that Russia has not backed up the red lines that it has rhetorically drawn,
that the United States has been too cautious, too timid, too reluctant to challenge the Russians, and that we ought to be bolder in crossing Russian red lines and forcing the Russians into situations where they're likely to back down.
I think that is a mistake.
I think, yes, you're correct that a lot of military analysts expected the Russians to prevail much more quickly in Ukraine than obviously they have done in retrospect.
But I think that to draw the conclusion that Russia's nuclear arsenal is not effective and that Russia is a paper tiger and that we can afford simply to cross Russian red lines with impunity would be a mistake.
I think they clearly have a very capable nuclear force.
They don't want to use it.
I think they recognize that nuclear use would result in a catastrophe for Russia as well as for the United States and the world.
So they don't want to go there.
On the other hand, we have to bear in mind John Kennedy's advice after the Cuban Missile Crisis, where he said the chief lesson was don't put a nuclear superpower in a position where it has to choose between humiliation and using nuclear weapons.
And my concern would be that if we cross Russian red lines with impunity, we would be doing exactly that, putting Putin in a position where we would have to choose between nuclear use and humiliation.
And that's a very dangerous position for us to put Russia in and ourselves in, quite honestly.
George Beebe, Dan in Palm Bay, Florida is asking you, how is the Quincy Institute funded?
And is George Soros a major contributor?
Well, the answer to that is on our website.
You can go to quincyinst.org.
We publish full information about Quincy's funding.
We take contributions from American individuals and institutions, and I think The Soros Foundation was one of the initial contributors to Quincy.
We had a variety of other contributors as well.
So one thing we don't do is accept any funding from foreign organizations or individuals or from organizations tied to the U.S. defense sector, the military industry.
And we try to be as transparent as possible in who we are getting funding from.
What do you think about the sanctions currently in place against Russia?
Do you think President-elect Trump, once taking office, should lift any of those?
Well, I don't think we should lift anything immediately.
I think those sanctions are leverage that we can use in a negotiation, cards that we can play, both positively and negatively.
And what we need to be able to do is to be able to lift sanctions in return for Russian concessions, in return for Russian compliance with agreements that are reached.
But we also have to hold out the possibility of toughening those sanctions in the event that the Russians are not willing to make reasonable compromises over Ukraine.
But we certainly shouldn't preemptively lift anything because that would be playing a card that we have and getting nothing in return.
This is Jim in Sherman, Texas, Republican.
Hi, Jim.
Good morning, Mr. Deebee.
I worked in the intelligence community in the early 80s.
I'll have my own thoughts on the subject, but I'd like to get your thoughts.
What missteps do you feel, if there were missteps, occurring during the Obama administration, Trump administration, Biden administration, regarding Ukraine and Russia?
And how do you, what do you think the ultimately, how will this be settled?
Will there be some sort of line where Crimea and some of these other areas of Ukraine are lost to Russia?
Is that really the peaceful outcome that we should expect?
Maybe not what we ultimately want or what Ukraine wants, but what's the reality of this?
Thank you.
Well, I think fundamentally we've not had a viable, well-considered strategy for dealing with Russia.
We assumed many years ago that Russia was in essentially a long-term strategic decline and that as a result, Russia would be too weak to prevent the continued eastward expansion of NATO and that as we approached Russian borders,
as we moved the alliance into parts of the world that were extremely important to Russia, very strategically sensitive, that Russia would be too weak to prevent it from happening.
And I think that was a mistake.
Clearly, not only did Russia object to the prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, Russia increasingly was in a position where it could exercise a veto over those potential memberships on the battlefield.
They did that in Georgia in 2008, and they have been doing so in Ukraine since 2014.
And that has, I think, produced the situation that we're now in today on the battlefield.
So what I think we need to do is put together a viable strategy where we understand clearly what American interests are, what's most important to us, and then assemble the tools that we need to make sure we can achieve the goals that are important to the United States here.
And we've not really done that.
I think there's been too much wishful thinking.
too much declaratory policy that's not connected to real capabilities on our part.
So there's been a mismatch between what we've tried to do and what we're actually capable of doing.
So we've got to reconcile that.
We need achievable goals in Ukraine and vis-a-vis Russia.
And then we need to use the leverage that we have to achieve them.
That's what has to happen right now.
It hasn't really happened under the past several presidencies here in the United States.
Ed, in Randolph, Massachusetts, Line for Democrats, you're on with George Beebe.
Hi, George.
Thanks for talking to me.
Look, George, I was just wondering, is Hungary part of NATO?
Hungary is, in fact, part of NATO, yes.
And isn't his close relationship to Putin of some kind of importance to us?
Or is he definitely a puppet of the Putin administration?
This is Viktor Orban.
Right.
Well, I think portraying Viktor Orban as a puppet of Putin or close to Putin and Russia is an oversimplification of that relationship.
Hungary has decidedly mixed feelings about Russia.
Obviously, there is a long and very painful history between Russia and Hungary.
And one of the most notable examples of that painful history was the 1956 situation in which the Soviet Union actually invaded Hungary.
Hungarians have not forgotten that at all.
And there's not a lot of warmth of feeling among the Hungarian people or within the Hungarian government toward Russia.
On the other hand, I think they're pragmatists.
They recognize that they need a relationship with Russia that is not a state of war, that there are interdependencies between Hungary and Russia.
There's a broader relationship between Russia and Europe that has real effects on Hungarian national interests.
And Hungary also has a sizable Hungarian minority in Ukraine itself that is affected by this war.
So these are all factors that I think Viktor Oroban is taking into account in putting together an approach to Russia that is far more complex than either adversary or friend.
It's closer to somewhere in the middle.
We have a question on X from Ajika.
What happens to the oil in Ukraine?
And I'd also like to add to that as far as Russia being a major exporter of energy, what happens?
How can that be used as leverage?
Well, there's not a lot of oil in Ukraine itself.
There is a fair amount of natural gas, but Hungary has been a critically important transit state.
There is a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory that connects Russian gas production to consumers in Europe, including in Hungary, by the way, which is one of the variables that Viktor Oroban has to take into account in thinking through this situation.
And that pipeline pumping natural gas is continuing to function.
The Ukrainians have not shut it down, and the Russians have not shut it down, which is quite interesting because it serves both Ukrainian and Russian interests for that gas flow to continue.
The Russians get access to markets in Europe, Hungary, among others, and the Ukrainians continue to earn transit fee money from all of this.
So what's going to happen on all of that is an interesting variable.
It's one of the reasons I think the West has some leverage over Russia in a negotiation.
Do you think that the Trump administration will want that Russian energy flowing at full capacity, even if it means a lot of funding going to Russia, because that could impact oil prices, gas prices here in the United States and bring them down?
That's right.
I think we've got a variety of different interests in all of this, some of which are in tension with one another.
Obviously, the United States wants to be an important energy supplier to Europe itself.
That's something that we can make money off of.
And the degree to which Russia is a competitor for those markets in Europe, that's something that we have to take into account.
Now, on the other hand, we have some other interests beyond just that narrow energy competition, geostrategic interests.
Ultimately, we're going to want a situation in which Europe is not in a state of dysfunction, that there is order in Europe, not a situation where there is ongoing conflict in Ukraine that brings the European economy into a state of crisis.
So I think we're going to have to balance our desire for an increased share of the European energy market with also a desire to stabilize Europe and to have Russia buy into a broader vision of European security that it can accept as well.
So this is going to have to be a balance on our part.
One more call.
Sam in Washington, D.C., Independent Line.
Yes, good morning, Mr. Bibi.
Mr. Bibi, I found you to be really knowledgeable and very honest speaking.
I was very impressed when you brought President Kennedy.
And also, I'm really kind of disappointed by lack of the information by some of the colors being so arrogant and contemptuous and demonize Russia.
By no means, I'm an apologist for Russia.
But in the art of war, it said, if you don't know your enemy and you don't know yourself, you're definitely going to lose.
And prime example is when we are dealing with Ansar La, a bunch of rappers, they don't have no military, no Air Force, nothing, except the will.
Now you are dealing with nuclear power, which this country considers as a gas station with the nuclear power.
I think it's a grave mistake for our politicians because they are very inapt.
They don't do their homework.
And they just spew this misinformation and disinformation.
I think there's a great deal of opportunity.
All right, Sam, let's get a response.
Last words, George.
Well, I think understanding your adversary is a critical part of all of this.
If you don't have some ability to put yourself in their shoes, see things from their perspective, you're going to get surprised.
They'll do things that don't make sense to you.
But also, you don't understand your own leverage in the relationship, what you can bring to bear that can maximize the chances that you have for advancing your own interests and doing so in a way that doesn't spiral into a direct conflict.
And that's particularly true in dealing with a nuclear superpower.
So that is, in fact, something that we need to be able to do as we attempt to resolve the war in Ukraine on acceptable terms.
All right.
That's George Beebe, Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
You can find more of his work at quincyinst.org.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Thank you.
And coming up, more of your calls for Open Forum until the end of the program.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We are taking your calls.
Before we do, just want to show you real quick President-elect Donald Trump has arrived.
This is just from moments ago.
He has arrived in Washington, D.C. He's having meetings with congressional Republican leaders as well as President Biden at the White House.
This will be his first time in the White House since leaving office almost four years ago.
And let's start with Colin in Cincinnati, Ohio, line for Democrats.
Hi there.
So I'm glad that you actually mentioned Trump making a visit to the White House today because that's one of the things that's been on my mind a lot.
And specifically in that realm, what the Democrats can do, considering the fact that the Republicans are looking like they're going to clutch the trifecta in terms of the government,
I think the Democrats need to look back to the Obama years at what Mitch McConnell was able to do and what Paul Ryan was able to do in terms of utilizing minority power in the legislature to gum up and to maybe make things more difficult for the Republicans to get things done.
Okay.
And John, College Park, Maryland, Independent.
Hi.
I think the only solution to the problem in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians is for Iran to develop biological and chemical nuclear warheads and share that technology with countries like Jordan and Egypt and surround Israel with the threat of a preemptive strike and see how they will...
react to it.
Maybe that would stop the killing of all these innocent people on both sides.
Because if you look at the United States and Russia, right, they both have this mutually assured destruction.
And I think that that same dynamic would come into play, and that would make Israel more amenable to a two-state solution.
So I think that those countries should develop those nuclear arms and surround Israel and then make Israel be more open to negotiating two-state solution.
And you're sure that those weapons wouldn't fall into the hands of any terrorists or people that might use it to actually use it, not for deterrence?
Well, if it's maintained, but I mean, these countries have standing armies, they have security, and they shouldn't, you know.
But I just think that now, since Israel has that threat, I think everybody else should have that threat.
And I think that Israel knows that, you know, there's a threat of a preemptive strike, then they wouldn't be more amenable to negotiate because the United States and Russia, right, they don't want to be, they're well aware of this mad destruction.
So I think that that would be the only solution.
Maria, Atlanta, Georgia, Democrat, good morning.
Good morning, Mimi.
Peace fan family.
Can you hear me?
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Oh, okay.
I'm a longtime VRC fan.
I've been watching you guys for 20-something years, and people know not to disturb me from 7 to 3, pardon me, 7 to 10.
But my sister, and I've been wondering, do you guys have new people that do your program?
Because y'all are definitely not fair and balanced when it comes to your guests.
We see too many Caucasian people, even in one segment for three hours.
I can count the number of African-American people that have been on there in the last three weeks.
And I really know for a fact any subject matter that you talk about, they can give their opinion.
But it's just Caucasian, Caucasian.
Sunday through Saturday, day at the day.
And I know for a fact this is true because I get up every morning and I'm not.
Lately, I have not been interested in watching your people because you're just not fair and balanced.
And I hate to believe you guys after 20-something years, but you need to be more fair and balanced.
So your opinion of fair and balanced is racially balanced.
Is that what you're saying?
Yeah, yeah.
Just have more people giving their opinions besides Caucasians, Caucasian.
You have seven to ten, Caucasians, Caucasians.
I'm not saying you have to be BET or TV1, but you can have more people.
I'm going to maybe have a new program director.
I don't know what's going on.
Maria, let's take a look at actually the White House press briefing was yesterday where Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about aid to Ukraine.
Here she is.
I know you don't want to get too far ahead of the conversation, but I did want to point to something that Jake Sullivan said over the weekend.
He said that President Biden would have the opportunity over the next 70 days to make the case to Congress and the incoming administration that the United States should not walk away from Ukraine.
So is foreign policy going to be on the agenda for tomorrow, Ukraine specifically Israel's war with Boss?
I'm not going to get into the details of what's going to be discussed tomorrow.
That's not something I'm going to get into here.
But look, you heard from the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, our commitment to Ukraine.
I mean, that is something that we have showed for almost, what, three years since Russia's aggression into Ukraine.
And you saw the president's leadership, global leadership on this.
When you think about making NATO stronger, when you think about the partners and the alliances that he's been able to bring together, more than 50 countries have gotten behind Ukraine.
And continuing, we talked about this on September 29th when we talked about surging aid into security assistance aid into for Ukraine so that they are able to beat back Russia's aggression.
So you've seen our commitment.
We've been very clear.
We don't even need to say that privately because we've been very public about that.
And getting to just went back and forth about making sure that we get a hostage deal and so that we can get hostages home, all hostages home, who have been held by Hamas.
And let's not forget Lebanon.
We want to make sure that we get to a deal there too.
And we're negotiating there.
Those negotiations continue.
And so our commitment has been very clear.
And our global leadership, this president's global leadership, has also been very, very, you know, very prominent, if you will, on the global stage.
About 13 minutes left in the open forum for this program.
Jennifer, Santa Margarita, California, Democrat.
Hi.
Good morning, Mimi.
Good morning.
Stan.
I just wanted to ask you a question because I'm very concerned about, well, a lot of different things being a Democrat and also being a native California.
I'll give you a little background.
I do ancestry and my family is actually both related to Stephen Hopkins from the Mayflower.
So we've been here a while, but I live in a state that had Hispanic people living here before we got here.
So I've always lived with immigrants.
I don't have, I feel like I'm the newcomer, to be honest.
But at any rate, the thing that's concerning me is I think we're turning into something that I've read about but never seen.
I understand that we're going to allow cryptocurrency into our economy now.
And there's, you know, Elon Musk owns his own company called Dogecoin, D-O-G-E.
And now he has just been appointed along with Ravasami, who ran for president too, sort of, to head this commission to take all the fat out of government.
And the acronym for it is Department of Government Proficiency.
Yep.
Thank you.
Which spells it, Mimi?
Yep.
Thank you.
And do you think that seems normal?
Because I'm 67 and I don't.
Yeah, that was intentional, Jennifer.
Yeah.
And does that seem like a banana republic might do something like that, like advertise your companies while you're working for government?
All right.
And Gary, Newport, Connecticut, Republican.
Newport, Kentucky.
Oh, sorry.
What did I say, New York?
Little difference there.
Yeah.
No, definitely a big difference.
Newport, Kentucky, Gary.
Yeah.
I originally wanted to talk about Ukraine and what's wrong with diplomacy with Russia and China and, you know, what Trump did before.
But you had a call around there before that said that Democrats should figure out a way to resist everything that the Republicans want to do.
Maybe there's some of the stuff.
Did they ever think that some of the stuff might be something along what they want to do too?
And it might work for everybody, but that's not working for the people.
And that's just exactly what Democrats learned in this last election.
You're not working for the people.
If you're resisting stuff constantly, constantly, and I watch MSNBC and CENN, and everybody comes on there is figuring out from Harvard, Princeton, professors, everything, giving their opinion about how to resist Trump.
Gary, not working.
Gary, you mentioned Ukraine.
What do you think should happen in Ukraine?
Should there be continued support, military support, financial support?
What are you thinking on that front?
Well, obviously, the last four years, that's not working.
And constantly throwing money at a losing proposition isn't working.
We need to get in there and get to the table.
And Trump has talked to these people.
He gets criticized all the time.
Colin Powell said one time he had to shake hands with some pretty bad people.
So what's wrong with talking and getting back to diplomacy?
And another thing, too, we're starting to put contractors into American contractors into Ukraine.
That's exactly how Vietnam started.
So they better think about it.
It has a war to get.
So got to be open about anything going forward.
Might work.
Jacob, St. Albans, West Virginia, Democrat.
Yeah, about the Ukraine war with Trump coming back into office.
I look for Ukraine to be forced to surrender because Donald Trump has already praised Vladimir Putin countless times.
In Helsinki, Trump agreed to letting he agreed for Vladimir Putin to interrogate U.S. intelligence officers.
So how is Donald Trump good for this country?
And Brian, Yorkville, Illinois, Independent.
Hi, good morning.
I'm calling it in regard to some specific calls that you've gotten that are so racially hateful that I know your policy of letting anybody speak their mind within certain limits, but this I hate white people equivalent of blaming the state of the election and whatever dissatisfactions with the issues on white people.
It seems like you're digging yourself a deeper hole than what got you to the results of this election.
And I think it's all in our best interest, but to you people specifically that are claiming that point of view to reassess your values, because that's what got rejected last week was what a lot of us, including myself, see as I'll take this woman who wasn't voted in by anybody through the primary process because she's a black woman rather than she's the best person for the job.
All of a sudden, she had magical qualities to her that people that wanted her in ascribed to her that she'd never shown, and it was transparent to the point you guys got rejected.
And that's basically what I wanted to say.
Thank you.
All right, Brian.
And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was on the Senate floor yesterday, and he talked about Democrats losing the majority in the Senate.
Here he is.
Last Tuesday brought a mix of success and disappointment for Senate Democrats.
In the final analysis, we hoped for a better result.
As happens from time to time, control of this chamber will change from one party to the other.
To Senator Brown and Senator Tester, we could not be prouder of the races you ran.
More importantly, we could not be prouder of the legacy you have built here in the United States Senate.
You are some of the finest people I've ever worked with in this chamber.
To both of you, I say thank you.
Job well done.
Job well done.
I've spoken to both Senators Tester and Brown a couple of times this past week, and they're not the ones to get down on themselves.
They're not ones to get down on themselves.
They're going to be just fine, and they'll continue to do great things for their home states and for our country.
But I feel for the people of Montana and Ohio, who will now lose two incredible leaders.
To Senators Rosen and Baldwin, we're thrilled that you're coming back for another term, despite all the headwinds and obstacles you faced back home.
In fact, despite a difficult year for Democrats, four of our most contested seats will remain in the hands of Democrats.
And in one other state, the votes are still being counted.
Let me repeat that.
Despite a difficult year for Democrats, which everyone predicted would be a place where we lost all of our seats almost, despite that, four of the most contested seats will remain in Democratic hands, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin.
And as I said, in one more state, the votes are still being counted.
Donald Trump won all those states, but so did our Democratic colleagues and colleagues to be.
That was on the Senate floor yesterday, and what you're seeing on your screen is Leader Schumer with all the newly elected senators.
These are the ones coming in in January.
And this is Jim, Cincinnati, Ohio, Democrat.
Hi, Jim.
Good morning.
I have not heard much analysis about the electoral turnout.
I voted for Kamala Harris, but I see she got nearly 12 million less votes than Biden did in 2020.
Donald Trump seemed to have gotten almost exactly the same number of votes that he got in 2020.
So to me, it seems like we as Democrats just had a weak candidate who could not inspire an additional 12 million to 15 million people who otherwise chose not to vote.
And I think all the hand-wringing Democrats are doing about messaging, I just think it boils down to having good strong candidates.
Rodney Canton, Ohio, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I didn't want to pawn and get too much into numbers or too much of a debate.
I really just wanted to hope that the people of America seen as America came together for the Republican Party to win the race.
I feel like the Republican Party may not have won the race without the confirmation from the Democratic Party.
Former President Biden speaking up saying, I support this new president, this former president to be our future president and everything.
I really feel like we lose sense of the peace, the love, and everything.
We take God out of schools from doing the Pledge of Allegiance and everything.
And I feel the love comes from more of the Democratic side.
And I just really hope that we really come together, emerge together, and really help make America great again.
I really do hope that, just that.
Not so much talking about each other, the numbers and everything else.
I really hope that we just really stick together and keep moving forward and back each other, whether you're blue, red, Democrat, Republican, it shouldn't matter.
I just really wanted to put that out there.
All right.
And Owen, a Republican in Karuna, Michigan.
Go ahead.
Hi.
My name is Owen.
And I think that what Trump's going to do in the White House is going to be very good.
I hope we get peace with Ukraine.
We get that figured out.
And we need to have the same moto like Trump did, where he tells foreign countries like North Korea, if you mess with the United States and our allies, we're just going to bomb you.
I think that's what needs to happen.
All right, Owen.
And just an update from USA Today.
This is the front page.
Fight to succeed.
McConnell heats up.
It says that President-elect Donald Trump's allies are adding their voices and pressure to this week's high-stakes election to pick Republican leader Mitch McConnell's heir, who will play a major role in the incoming administration's vision for the country.
Trump allies Tucker Carlson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others are weighing in on the critical vote for the next Senate Republican leader.