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Washington Journal 12/17/2024

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	Vote on the House -approved 2025 Defense Programs and Policy Bill, authorizing $895 billion in defense spending.
	And live on C -SPAN 3 at 10 a .m., NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker testifies on the growth of legal sports betting and its impact on society before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
	We're good to go.
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	Comcast supports C -SPAN as a public service, along with these other television providers, giving you a front -row seat to democracy.
	Coming up on C -SPAN's Washington Journal, we'll take your calls and comments live.
	Then, Benem Ben -Taliblu, with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, will talk about the latest on the situation in Syria and other conflicts in the Middle East.
	And the co -director of the progressive nonprofit Indivisible, Leah Greenberg, discusses how the organization, created after the first election of Donald Trump, plans to respond to a second Trump term.
	Washington Journal starts now.
	Good morning.
	It's Tuesday, December 17th.
	We're good to go.
	I think?
	So we're inheriting big challenges at home and all over the world.
	Again, we had no wars.
	We had no problems.
	We had no inflation.
	We had no inflation.
	We had it less than 1%.
	Perfect number.
	And then we had inflation, the likes of which I say, I don't believe the country's ever seen inflation like that.
	They say 38 years.
	I don't know.
	I think it's probably ever, but...
	We're going to take care of all of it.
	We're going to get the prices down by energy.
	The energy is going to come in.
	We have more energy than anybody else.
	We're going to use it.
	We don't have to buy energy from Venezuela when we have 50 times more than they do.
	It's just insane what we're doing.
	So we will not rest until America is richer, safer, and stronger than it has ever been before.
	And we have a big head start.
	Last time, we didn't.
	And last time...
	We didn't know the people.
	We didn't know a lot of things.
	But by the time we got it up and going, it was incredible.
	Again, we built the greatest economy in history for that period of time, and we'll do it again.
	I believe substantially more so because we understand, number one, the people of Washington.
	I know them.
	I didn't know any of them virtually.
	I relied on other people for recommendations.
	Some were very good recommendations.
	We had some great people.
	Bob Lighthizer I thought was great.
	We had a lot of great people.
	But we had some people that I wouldn't have used in retrospect, and now I know them better than anybody, better than they know themselves.
	Good morning.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	I appreciate it.
	I thought President -elect Trump did a fairly decent job.
	He seems like he's kind of moving to the left a little bit.
	A little bit more moderate.
	So it seems like he's going to govern, if you will.
	A lot less radical than what he campaigned on.
	I'm an independent for a reason.
	I don't vote the party.
	I vote for the person.
	And I did not vote for Donald Trump.
	I think he's a very intelligent crook.
	I really do.
	He riled up the right and he convinced these people that he's going to do all of these radical things.
	And he's not.
	He really isn't.
	Right.
	Where were the places yesterday that you felt like he was moderating?
	I don't think, with border security, I don't think he's going to do what he said.
	I think that he'll find some simple way to slither out.
	I'm a New Yorker, right?
	I've known Donald Trump all my life.
	He's a snake.
	These people who are introduced to Donald Trump eight, ten years ago, they're just now getting to know him.
	But that's who he is.
	He'll rev you up, he'll promise you the world, and then he'll move slightly to the middle.
	And say, well, you know, it's their fault.
	We weren't able to do it.
	But that's who he is, you know?
	So I thought that border security, he moved slightly to the left.
	With respect to tariffs, I don't think he's going to do the 20 % or 25%.
	In fact, I know he's not.
	And so those are some of the areas that the Republicans decided to get behind Donald Trump.
	But it's not going to be what they seem.
	And they're going to be okay with it.
	Because they don't give a darn what this man does.
	They're going to vote for him.
	And the rest of the world just got to get behind him and say, you know what?
	I didn't vote for this SOB, but he's all we got.
	And we're stuck with him.
	That's Brian in Landover, Maryland.
	This is Eddie next in Atlanta.
	Democrat, good morning.
	Yeah, how you doing, America?
	My opinion of the meeting that he had yesterday.
	Sitting down talking the same old talking points.
	You know ain't nothing gonna get done.
	Y 'all, y 'all made a mistake putting Donald Trump back in office, because the only thing he want to do is clear clear, clear.
	All the troubles that he had four years when Biden came in, just like prices when Donald Trump was in in office.
	If people didn't have five thousand dollars In the account, the county wasn't good under Donald Trump.
	It wasn't.
	The food was up, go up and down, just like four years with Biden.
	The lawyer -in -law come raise our rent every year when Donald Trump was in office, too.
	It ain't nothing going to change.
	You know, he ain't never talked about helping the poor people.
	That's Eddie in Atlanta.
	Jim, Dayton, Ohio, Republican.
	Good morning.
	You're next.
	Good morning.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	I would like to say that I am a Trump supporter and the things that this man has gone through in the last four years and what he's overcome make him a pillar of persistence and doing the right thing.
	To take and sell.
	This fencing off in Texas is just another display of the insanity of the Democrats, and I heard a sheriff from Texas make a comment that if a Texas sheriff was voted out of office and he had taken all of the equipment under his control and sold
	it off, it would be embezzlement and theft.
	There's no difference.
	These people need to be prosecuted.
	Where'd you hear that, Jim?
	I heard it on the news yesterday from a sheriff that was reporting on the Fox News channel.
	That's Jim in Dayton, Ohio.
	The first caller this morning brought up tariffs.
	That was one of a dozen or more topics that the president -elect got into yesterday with reporters.
	This is about a minute and a half from that press conference.
	We took in $600 billion and more in taxes and tariffs from China.
	No other president took in 10 cents.
	Not 10 cents.
	Not 10 cents.
	And no, we're going to be doing things.
	We're going to be treating people very fairly.
	But the word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us, India, we don't have to talk about own.
	If India charges us 100%, do we charge them nothing for the same?
	You know, they send in a bicycle and we send them a bicycle.
	They charge us 100 and 200.
	India charges a lot.
	Brazil charges a lot.
	If they want to charge us, that's fine, but we're going to charge them the same thing.
	That's a big thing.
	And you know what?
	The senators, some of them aren't necessarily business people.
	When I give that to them, they say, "That sounds fair to me." -Are you concerned that tariffs might hurt the stock market rise that you have seen and the economy more broadly?
	-Make our country rich.
	Tariffs will make our country rich.
	-But won't they raise prices?
	-Properly used.
	No.
	Well, I didn't have any inflation, and I had massive tariffs on a lot of things.
	We put tariffs on steel.
	If I didn't put tariffs on steel -- 50 % and more -- they were dumping steel in.
	China and others.
	I put tariffs on and it stopped and we took a fortune.
	We made a fortune on it.
	Tariffs, properly used, which we will do.
	And being reciprocal with other nations, but it'll make our country rich.
	Our country right now loses to everybody.
	Almost nobody do we have a surplus with.
	There are a couple of countries and they're embarrassed by it.
	The president -elect yesterday from Mar -a -Lago.
	By the way, that press conference began with an announcement from the incoming Trump administration.
	Here's the New York Times wrap -up.
	It began with an eye -catching pledge, a $100 billion investment in the United States by SoftBank, a Japanese technology company.
	Standing beside SoftBank's chief executive, Masayoshi -san, at his Mar -a -Lago estate, Mr. Trump announced that pledge that echoed A $50 billion commitment SoftBank made after his victory back in 2016.
	That promise was followed by investments in a host of fledgling startups, some that surged and others that ran into trouble, including the co -working company WeWork and a company called Zoom that used robots to make pizza.
	According to Mr. Trump, SoftBank's investment is intended to create 100 ,000 jobs.
	That's the wrap -up from the New York Times.
	This is Jerry in Sour Lake, Texas, Independent.
	Did you watch yesterday's press conference?
	Yeah, a little bit, but same old stuff.
	2 ,000 years ago, the people screamed and cried for Barabbas, and they got him.
	Well, we got Barabbas again, buddy.
	And the chicken is in, excuse me, the fox is in the chicken coop now.
	And all they want is the keys to Fort Knox, and they'll be happy.
	Goodbye.
	Susan, Houston, good morning.
	Did you watch?
	Hello?
	Go ahead, Susan.
	Did you watch the press conference yesterday?
	Yes, I did.
	I just watched it this morning.
	I was particularly impressed with the president -elect.
	I did not support him.
	I was an RFK volunteer.
	I really liked his explanation of the tariffs because I'm a contemporary of his and I always thought that trade policies favored other nations over America.
	You know, our financial trade policies and the trade deficit.
	And I was particularly impressed with his explanation of reciprocity.
	I think it should be approached that way more.
	I think it should be approached more that way as reciprocity rather than tariffs.
	Tariff scares people.
	We all grew up learning about it in civics that tariffs weren't good.
	And yet tariffs or reciprocity of taxation.
	Susan, you said you're an RFK junior supporter.
	Did you agree with his decision to leave the Democratic Party to go eventually endorse Donald Trump?
	Do you think RFK Jr. is going to be confirmed as HHS Secretary?
	And the vaccine schedule, I'm not opposed to vaccines.
	He's not opposed to vaccines.
	I have a grandchild with autism.
	We all want to know what is causing this.
	Nobody's looking.
	And so HHS, now they're going to start to look at what is causing these problems with children.
	So I'm a big fan of his, and he's not a radical, and I hope he'll be confirmed just like Tulsi.
	She's not a warmonger.
	I supported her when she ran in the primary in Texas as the Dems.
	I supported her then.
	And I think that these are great choices for our country.
	R .K. Jr. on Capitol Hill this week having those meetings with senators ahead of eventual confirmation hearings.
	That'll happen.
	Donald Trump yesterday answered questions about his cabinet picks.
	This is some of what he had to say.
	Senators who oppose your nominees, your cabinet nominees, should they be primary?
	If they are unreasonable, I'll give you a different answer, an answer that you'll be shocked to hear.
	If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me.
	I would say they probably would be primary.
	But if they're reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I could see that happening.
	But I do believe that if they're unre...
	I think we have great people.
	I think we have a great group of...
	People, Pam has been unbelievably received.
	You take a look, Pam Bondi.
	So many have been just unbelievably received.
	I think Pete Hegseth is making tremendous strides over the last week.
	He's going to be great.
	Look, he went to Princeton.
	He went to Harvard.
	He was a great student there.
	But he really was from the first day I met him, all he wanted to talk about was military.
	He's just a military guy.
	I think it's a natural.
	This was my idea.
	And, you know, Pete Hegseth gave up a lot because he was going big places in Fox.
	Big, big places.
	A lot of money.
	And he didn't even hesitate when I said, "Do you want to do this?" He said, "Absolutely." I said, "You know, if it doesn't work out, you'll never have the opportunity that you have right now in terms of the world of entertainment or business, whatever you want to call it.
	You'll never have that opportunity again.
	In fact, it could be just the opposite because it's nasty out there." He said, I don't care.
	I have to do it for my country.
	He gave up a tremendous amount.
	If this didn't work, it would be a tragedy.
	But that's what he loves.
	He loves the military.
	I never talked to him about anything else.
	He'd talk about the military.
	He'd come to see me about a soldier that was unfairly treated.
	And could I help?
	That's the only thing I virtually ever talked to him about.
	And I always remembered it.
	I've seen him many times, and I don't think I've ever had a subject on anything other than military with him.
	That's where his love is.
	And he didn't say, well, I'd like to think about it.
	I'd like to talk to my family.
	He said, not even a contest.
	And, you know, he was going through the roof over there.
	He was doing great.
	They have the number one show that Saturday and Sunday with Will and Rachel.
	That was great chemistry.
	And if this didn't work out for him, it would be actually sort of tragic.
	The president -elect yesterday from Mar -a -Lago, plenty of reaction in the political press and on the right from redstate .com, plenty of praise for the president sparring with reporters for well over an hour.
	Here's what redstate .com writes in their wrap -up.
	Joe Biden is technically still occupying the White House for 35 more days until January 20th.
	Hello, good morning.
	Just to make a comment about your most recent statement, him being in command of his press conference.
	At one point he took it a little further to say that we have to reform the press.
	So I think his press conferences will be much more positive in his direction in the future once he gets that situation under control as well as everything else he's promised us to do.
	But the thing that really struck me in this press conference, and no one's commented on it, and I think it's one of the reasons the Democratic Party wasn't successful, is the environment.
	How did he say, we're going to have clean coal?
	Clean coal.
	You know, he is an insult to the intelligence of America.
	But clean coal.
	Now people are going to start saying clean coal and think it's a real thing.
	How do you make clean coal?
	Janet, on the news media aspect, his comments about the news media coming in the wake of that settlement with ABC News, George Stephanopoulos, the president suing over his comments that he made,
	and it was a $15 million settlement, that money going to Donald Trump's future presidential foundation.
	What did you think about ABC News deciding to settle that defamation suit brought by the president?
	That's Janet in Pennsylvania.
	This is Joseph.
	In Mississippi.
	Raymond, Mississippi Independent.
	Go ahead.
	Good morning, C -SPAN.
	The Democratic Party, House of Representatives, tried to hold Donald Trump responsible twice, impeached.
	The senators, Republicans, did not hold him responsible and turned him loose.
	The American people... November the 5th did not hold him responsible and re -elected him.
	There's no way that this will have a happy ending.
	God bless America.
	Blacksburg, South Carolina.
	Betty, Republican.
	Good morning.
	Yeah.
	If it wasn't for Donald Trump, the first time he come in office, Everything was good.
	I'm 80 years old, and what I see with my own eyes, but these people that Democrats call in, they must be getting paid or something, saying stuff that they know what this country don't even look the same.
	Don't even look the same.
	They just bid on that man.
	First time he come down that elevator, they started.
	Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the whole Democrats.
	Some of them's good, and just like the Republicans, some of them's bad.
	Like me.
	I don't care what his personal life is, not whatsoever.
	I've listened to what he had to say.
	And what he said the first time he come in.
	He done what he said.
	So you look at the Republican Donald Trump and look at the Democrat when Biden come in.
	He stopped everything that Donald Trump said.
	And it was good.
	It was good.
	I would have voted for him.
	I would have voted for him if he got up there and done the same thing that Donald Trump.
	I'd have voted a Democrat because I've voted a Democrat before.
	That's Betty in South Carolina.
	We read you the red state wrap -up of yesterday's press conference.
	Shane Goldmacher writes in the New York Times his impressions.
	He was both watched yesterday and was at the first press conference in 2016 that then -President -elect Donald Trump held.
	We're good to go.
	Good morning.
	Also, yeah, Inauguration Day, which is January the 20th, 2000.
	25 is also Martin Luther King Day, so I've been doing MLK all day.
	So, you know, I tell you, you know, I saw the conference as more incoherent lies, and I blame the media.
	I blame C -SPAN and ABC and CBS, because you guys didn't hold this guy accountable for his lies.
	But yet you guys came after Kamala about every little thing when Donald Trump was talking about looking at other people's genitals and whatnot, and you guys...
	Alright, we'll go on to Russell in Massachusetts, Independent.
	Good morning.
	Some real important things are going to happen in the next 15 days before the final day of December.
	Chuck Schumer has an opportunity to present to the rest of the Senate a vote on the Social Security Vantage Act.
	Can you explain to the audience what this involves?
	Yeah, I've watched yesterday's press conference.
	Well, I think that Trump is going to do a tremendous job in the next two years.
	It's going to be unbelievable what he's going to do.
	What are you most looking forward to, Russell, when you say he's going to do a tremendous job?
	Well, I think the thing that drives this country to be its greatest is energy.
	And there's no question in my mind, even if we allow coal production, If we don't want to burn coal in this country,
	there's so many other countries that are loving to buy it from us.
	India, North Korea.
	These places can't survive without the coal that we produce.
	You think we should sell coal to North Korea?
	We should sell coal to any country in the world that needs it to survive.
	That's Russell in Massachusetts.
	This is Ray in Ithaca, New York.
	Republican.
	Good morning.
	Good morning, John.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	I thought it was a very good press conference.
	I think the polling I've seen shows that people like so far the transition.
	I think he has a broad base of support at this point.
	And I think, you know, a lot of the calls of bitterness.
	Let's give the new president a chance.
	I don't think that Joe Biden could have given a press conference that long anymore.
	I don't think Kamala Harris ever gave real answers.
	And that's why they didn't win.
	And I think there has to be some self -reflection in the Democrats of why this is resonating with the American people.
	I think it's resonating because people want some changes.
	And I think so far, so good.
	That's Ray in Ithaca, New York.
	It's coming up on 7 .30 on the East Coast, halfway through this first segment of the Washington Journal.
	Simply getting your response, your reaction to yesterday's more than hour -long press conference by President -elect Donald Trump, his first press conference since six weeks ago, Election Day.
	Several viewers have already this morning brought up his comments about the media, especially in the wake.
	And you need a fair press.
	And the press says, no, I see others.
	I have a few others that I'm doing.
	I'm going to, as an example, we're bringing...
	I'm doing this not because I want to.
	I'm doing this because I feel I have an obligation to.
	I'm going to be bringing one against the people in Iowa, their newspaper, which...
	had a very, very good pollster who got me right all the time.
	And then, just before the election, she said I was going to lose by three or four points.
	And it became the biggest story all over the world because I was going to win Iowa by 20 points.
	The farmers loved me and I loved the farmers.
	And it was interesting the way she did it.
	She brought it down two weeks before.
	She said I was going to only win by four.
	That was a big strike, but that was good because she brought it down from like 22 points to four Or whatever the number was.
	Way up.
	Way up.
	Easy win.
	Never even thought to go there.
	I respect them.
	I love them.
	And they understand there's no reason to go there because she brought it from way up, walk away, which it was.
	And it turned out to be in the election, too, by the way.
	It was a win by many, many points.
	And then she brought it down very smartly to four a couple of weeks before.
	And everyone said, wow, that's amazing.
	He's only up by four points.
	Then she brought it down to where I was down by three or four, whatever the number she used.
	And that was the Des Moines Register, and it was their parent.
	And in my opinion, it was fraud, and it was election interference.
	You know, she's gotten me right always.
	She's a very good pollster.
	She knows what she was doing.
	And she then quit before.
	And we'll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow.
	We're filing one on 60 Minutes, you know about that, where they took...
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	So as you know, we're involved in that one.
	We're involved in one which has been going on for a while and very successfully against Bob Woodward, where he didn't quote me properly from the tapes.
	And then on top of everything else, he sold the tapes, which he wasn't allowed to do.
	He could only use them for reporting purposes, not for sale purposes.
	And he admits that.
	And I think we'll be successful on that one.
	President -elect Donald Trump yesterday from Mar -a -Lago.
	This is Herbert in Camilla, Georgia.
	Democrat, did you watch?
	What did you think?
	Good morning.
	You know, I mean, you know, he's coming after the media.
	Everybody who feels, Trump feels as though everybody who goes against him or say something against him, he feels as though he's infallible.
	You know, but the thing is that I look at John, I don't see him selecting not one black person in this cabinet.
	So it shows me right there, which I already know, I'm 74 years old, that this man, look at us, look at us as second class citizens in the United States of America.
	So I don't expect nothing of Trump.
	God done brought us through slavery and everything else in America.
	So Trump just another, just a pillow that, hey, that we look up to God the most out of control at all.
	I just look at that.
	So, I mean, I don't see the press saying nothing about that.
	Ask them some questions about that.
	Why have you not selected a black person in your cabinet?
	That's what I'm more concerned about.
	Clinton, he had Jordan, black people in his cabinet.
	Jordan was his main man.
	I mean, come on, man.
	Out of all the people he did.
	But I don't see nobody, even your callers, not saying, why have he not been selected?
	We are a pillar to America.
	A villainous country.
	And you don't want to add the people who was here before all other nationalities.
	Other nationalities.
	And here you don't recognize not one of us are capable of having one of your positions?
	Come on, man.
	So, Herbert, the headline from the Associated Press this coming at the end of November, Scott Turner, Donald Trump's pick for HUD secretary.
	There's a picture of Scott Turner there, a story about his nomination, and one of Donald Trump's cabinet picks.
	Do you know much about Scott Turner?
	No, no, I don't know nobody.
	Former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Donald Trump's first term, 52, and the first black person that was announced by Donald Trump to be in his cabinet in his second administration.
	But this is what I want to ask you now.
	Maybe he selected Ben Carson to be over her.
	Why have we got to be over her?
	Why we can't have no top other position?
	So, Ben Carson was in the first administration, Herbert.
	That's what I'm saying.
	That's the only position he feels black people are capable of handling.
	Because, you know, they look at the people who stand in the projects and everywhere else there's a majority of blacks.
	So, this is what he did.
	He ain't put nobody in no top...
	Why he didn't put nobody as Attorney General or something else in his other cabinets?
	We the only ones that control HUD?
	That's Herbert in Georgia.
	This is Brian.
	Good morning.
	My concern is that when he gave the speech, he only talked about getting even with people that have a difference of opinion with him.
	He didn't talk about lowering costs, and he's surrounding himself with billionaires.
	I mean, I'm afraid, to be honest, there's a reason Victor Orban was the keynote speaker at CPAC for the last three years.
	That's Brian in Massachusetts.
	We showed you Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times, his wrap -up comparing Donald Trump's first press conference.
	After he was elected in 2016 to this press conference yesterday, the difference in Donald Trump, the difference in how Donald Trump was seen by those around him.
	Here's another story that does that sort of comparison.
	Donald Trump entering the office in 2016 into 2017, inauguration day 2017, to yesterday.
	This is Gerard Baker in the Wall Street Journal saying...
	Almost exactly eight years ago, President -elect Trump hosted a gathering at Trump Tower for the leaders of America's biggest technology companies.
	The titans of tech were all there.
	Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Sheryl Sandberg of what was still called Facebook, Elon Musk of Tesla, the top dogs at Google.
	The atmosphere at the gathering, evidenced by Mr. Trump's language and demeanor and by reports from participants afterwards, was cordial and constructive, but in a strangely one -sided way.
	Quote, There's no one like you in the world, Mr. Trump gushed to the assembled corporate aristocrats.
	Anything we can do to help, we're going to be there for you.
	The tone was less of that of a new commander -in -chief issuing directives to his troops than of a new company boss eager to impress a team of skeptical management consultants.
	Gerard Baker goes on to write, We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	I think?
	Good morning, how are you?
	I'm just...
	Amazed at somebody who watched yesterday.
	A man who stood up there for one hour, took a total of 33 questions.
	When we've had a president that hasn't had a press conference in months, we have not heard or seen anything from Mr. Biden.
	And when we have, it's been pretty bad.
	His assurance of the polio vaccine yesterday?
	How he called out the middlemen of the pharmaceutical company, his ability to reason, which he was totally against in his first term.
	What you just went over, how he talked, yes, he talked to the businessman like a businessman, because that's what needs to happen in America.
	We just lived through four years.
	Of somebody that didn't even know what was going on in office.
	And I need to say one thing about Kamala Harris.
	We knew she was no good because in the primary, not one Democrat put her through.
	She didn't even get 1%.
	So I would have thought about voting for her, but they had already told me in the primary, this woman's no good.
	So I just took the Democrats on that.
	I didn't need to do my own thinking.
	But yesterday, he put himself out on the world stage.
	The world is happy.
	The Democrats are not happy.
	That's Lawrence in Rhode Island.
	Larry in Albany, Georgia.
	Democrat, good morning.
	Yes, Trump's speech yesterday was trash.
	What Trump is talking about is the same thing he's been talking about.
	Now, Trump said he's going to make America great.
	America great is what he's talking about.
	Larry, you still with us?
	What were those things that made some sense to you?
	And it might be easier if you turn down your television and just talk to me through the phone.
	That's Larry in Georgia.
	Joseph out of Florida, independent.
	Good morning.
	Yes, thank you for taking my call.
	I'm independent.
	I voted for...
	Trump, the first time, could not even think of voting for him the second time.
	And here's the reason.
	I'm fascinated with MAGA, who believes every word this guy says.
	Someone in your show just said, well, he can stand and talk for 30 minutes, 40 minutes.
	Well, he does do that, but he lies.
	Okay, his exaggerations.
	The only thing that's factual is his retribution against people.
	This is more fascinating to me.
	Time Magazine, who named him Person of the Year.
	Okay, and Maga, I wish you would fact check this.
	He had to be fact checked 15 times.
	And they are an independent media.
	Okay, 15 times.
	It's the first time Time Magazine had to fact check a president's...
	Or any person.
	It's absolutely fascinating to me that MAGA spends absolutely no time fact -checking what he says instead of spewing everything that he says as the gospel.
	Joseph, why did you vote for him?
	I assume you meant 2016 you voted for him?
	I couldn't not vote for Hillary Clinton.
	I had enough of the Clintons, and that's why I voted for him.
	And the second time, and that's the only reason I voted for him.
	Okay, it was that.
	It was not even a pro -Trump.
	It was actually, and I have gone Democrat, Republican.
	I go, I fact check, and I just beg people before they say something to fact check, because, and particularly with this guy, he has already backtracked.
	He spent how long?
	Three months, four months, telling everybody that he was going to.
	We're good to go.
	I think?
	That's Joseph in Florida.
	Staying in Florida, this is Larry in Miami.
	Republican, good morning.
	Good morning, good morning.
	I just want to say a couple of things.
	Trump's picks are really ridiculous.
	This Kennedy fella, the guy is obviously an addict.
	He can't walk straight, can't speak clearly, and he's making major decisions for so many people, or will be making major decisions.
	Now, I don't necessarily blame Trump.
	I blame the Democrats for doing what they're doing, and it just gave no choice for anybody.
	To rely upon.
	So Camilla had no choice.
	She wasn't going to win, regardless.
	She wasn't going to win.
	They should have allowed Hillary to come back in and run that campaign or leave President Biden there.
	Trump, he's making some very bad choices for key cabinet positions, and we're in trouble.
	So that's it.
	Do you believe there's a connection between vaccines and autism?
	Well, I don't look.
	Right now, you have some very brilliant people looking at it.
	I had dinner the other night with the head of Pfizer, the head of Eli Lilly, and RFK, as you know, and Oz.
	And we had other people within the administration that are involved in the medical.
	And we're looking to find out.
	You know, if you look at autism...
	So 30 years ago we had, I've heard numbers of like one in 200 ,000, one in 100 ,000.
	And now I'm hearing numbers of one in 100.
	So something's wrong.
	There's something wrong.
	And we're going to find out about it.
	Can I follow up on Robert Kennedy?
	He's on the Hill today.
	He's meeting with senators.
	What do you say to people who are worried that his views on vaccines will translate into policies that will make their kids less safe?
	No, I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think.
	I think he's got a very open mind, or I wouldn't have put him there.
	He's going to be very much less radical.
	But there are problems.
	We don't do as well as a lot of other nations, and those nations use nothing.
	And we're going to find out what those problems are.
	And another thing that came up, the dinner was fascinating because I had Bobby and I had, again, the head of Pfizer.
	You know who that is.
	He's a highly respected man who has run an incredible company.
	Likewise with Lilly, the top two people.
	And we had the head of the industry also.
	So all companies were represented.
	And I said, let's have it out now a little bit.
	And you know what came out of that meeting is that we're paying far too much because we're paying much more than other countries.
	And we have laws that make it impossible to reduce and we have a thing called the middleman.
	You know the middleman, right?
	The horrible middleman that makes more money, frankly, than the drug companies and they don't do anything except they're a middleman.
	We're going to knock out the middleman.
	I'm going to be very unpopular after that statement.
	I don't know who these middlemen are, but they are rich as hell.
	And we're going to knock out the middlemen.
	We're going to get drug costs down at levels that nobody has ever seen before.
	And that really, I tell you, we spent more time talking about that with Bobby and with the executives and Oz, all of them.
	We spent more time talking about that than anything else.
	Thanks, President Trump.
	What about the polio vaccine?
	Well, I'm a big believer in it, and I think everything should be looked at, but I'm a big believer in the polio vaccine, the Salk vaccine.
	Do you think schools should mandate vaccines?
	Do you think schools should mandate vaccines?
	I don't like mandates.
	I'm not a big mandate person.
	So, you know, I was against mandates.
	Mostly Democrat governors did the mandates, and they did a very poor thing.
	You know, in retrospect, they made a big mistake.
	Having to do with the education of children.
	You know, they lost like a year, two years of their lives.
	The mandate was a bad thing.
	I was against the mandate.
	President -elect Donald Trump yesterday at Mar -a -Lago.
	By the way, if you want to watch this whole press conference in its entirety, you can do so on our website at c -span .org.
	Taking your phone calls, about another 10 minutes here in this first segment, getting your reaction to the variety of topics that came up during that press conference yesterday.
	Timbo in Mountain Home in the natural state.
	Democrat, good morning.
	Big John, good to see you, buddy.
	I'll make it quick.
	The godfather of the billionaires and lies has his billionaire cronies sitting around the round table in Mar -a -Lago thinking about all the ways they're going to screw the American people.
	You're going to get exactly what you deserve, America.
	I hope you like it.
	Harvey, Louisiana.
	This is James Independent.
	Good morning.
	Good morning.
	I just got some things I want to get off my chest real quick.
	Let's look at Syria.
	When this man was first elected, within months, he bombed Syria.
	Now he's elected, re -elected, and he's saying that's not our problem.
	That doesn't work well with me.
	He went to Notre Dame, the reopening of Notre Dame, and came back at a press conference and said he was great to represent our country.
	Doesn't he realize that he's not in office yet?
	That's disrespecting the person we sent there, which was Mrs. Biden.
	Jill Biden was our representative there, not him.
	Just because other leaders went there to kiss his ring doesn't mean he was our official representative.
	The other day I noticed a minor thing.
	He did a military salute at a game.
	The only person that doesn't wear a uniform that This man is not all dead.
	Just the same guy that says they're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs, they're making hamster sandwiches.
	He's telling you who he is.
	I say believe him.
	Good morning.
	This is from Michigan, Don.
	I'm retired, 69 years old.
	My biggest concern has been inflation.
	It's horrible.
	I worked all my life.
	The past four years have knocked down my savings.
	The dollar is buying 40 % less now than what it did four years ago.
	This country is suffering.
	People are suffering because of this.
	We need to stop this horrible inflation.
	Young couples can't afford homes at $500 ,000 for purchasing of a home.
	Their food prices are gone through the roof.
	These are the things that are hurting the American people.
	And these things have to be dealt with.
	All the other stuff, yes, very important.
	But take care of your people in your own country so we can actually live a normal life that we had.
	Five years ago.
	And that's all I have to say.
	Thank you.
	Kidu is in New York, independent.
	Good morning.
	You're next.
	And we learned that most of the real estate transactions here in Staten Island are illegal.
	And it's the number one reason we're being, what I would say, murdered by eviction in Richmond County.
	So real estate fraud is a double indemnity for me because of my black indigenous heritage.
	So Kitty, bring me to this topic we've been talking about yesterday.
	So the topic is, you know, again, I was saying And that's something you think he'll do?
	That's Kiddo from New York.
	This is Mackenzie in Staunton, Virginia.
	Independent, good morning.
	Finally bringing, talking about the right points, you know, attacking these medical companies, you know, bringing that dollar back into the state,
	bringing money back to the American citizens to work hard.
	You know, if you look at President Biden, all he's done is fork over billions and billions of dollars over to Ukraine.
	We have infrastructure problems.
	We have healthcare problems in this country.
	It's time for President Trump.
	Mackenzie, you mentioned Ukraine.
	Donald Trump addressing foreign policy, Ukraine, and the conflicts in the Middle East.
	This is about a minute and a half from yesterday.
	There's a light shining over the world.
	We're trying to help very strongly in getting the hostages back, as you know, with Israel and the Middle East.
	We're working very much on that.
	We're trying to get the war stopped, that horrible...
	We're going to...
	We've got a little progress.
	It's a tough one.
	It's a nasty one.
	It's nasty.
	People are being killed at levels that nobody's ever seen.
	You know, it's very level fields.
	And the only thing that stops a bullet is a body, a human body.
	And the number of soldiers that are being killed on both sides is astronomical.
	I've never seen anything like it.
	And rapidly, I get reports every week.
	And it's not even, you know, it's like just going down.
	Nobody's seen anything like it.
	It's a very flat surface, a very flat land.
	That's why it's great farming land.
	It's the breadbasket for the world, actually.
	But it's very flat, and there's nothing to stop a bullet but a body.
	There's no protection, no nothing.
	And what's happening there is far worse than people are reporting for both sides.
	So we're...
	President -elect Trump from yesterday.
	Time for just one or two more phone calls here.
	This is George in Massachusetts.
	Republican.
	Go ahead.
	Hi, how you doing?
	Yeah, I liked it.
	I tried to look at the positive.
	After the elections, obviously, the people have spoke.
	So things like Ukraine, the pharmaceuticals, and what I do like is that terrorists, most people are saying they're going to be bad for the economy.
	But if you know anything about Trump, he's going to be, bottom line, he's using them to basically negotiate before he even gets in there.
	So I'm looking forward to seeing the economy turn around a little bit at a time, and it should be well in about a year.
	So George, part of this press conference yesterday was sort of setting a negotiating position or putting people on notice?
	Yes, definitely.
	Any other issues besides tariffs that you would point to him doing that yesterday?
	Ukraine and the pharmaceuticals basically saying he's like behind the scenes he's negotiating about how they can come to the end of the war and also pharmaceuticals with the with the people from the major companies and his nominees for the positions to deal with that issues and I think he'll bring a lot of the The different procedures or medications or whatever,
	I think they're going to come down in this country.
	We're the biggest, we're the most industrialized country and we're the, what, 33 out of 32 countries that doesn't even have national health care.
	So I think that the leaders of those companies will realize, like, if you don't bring the money down somewhat, you're going to lose it all one of these days soon.
	So, I mean, meaning that the people will go to national health care at some point.
	You have a great day and thank you so much for your service to the American people.
	That's George in Massachusetts, our last caller in this first segment of the Washington Journal.
	Stick around, plenty more to talk about this morning, including up next, a focus on the Middle East and Syria in particular.
	We'll be joined by Ben and Ben Tableau of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and later...
	Leah Greenberg joins us from the progressive grassroots group Indivisible to talk about her plans in her organization in the coming years.
	We'll be right back.
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	We're good to go.
	A conversation now on Syria and the future of the Middle East.
	Ben Taliblu is...
	Well, it's a pleasure to be back with you, and happy holidays to you and the viewers.
	Listen, there's nothing short of historic.
	We're good to go.
	I would still say...
	I would say that we are in merely the next phase of the Syrian civil war.
	There is still fighting between various militia.
	So explain who those various groups are and...
	Who's backing them, whether it's the United States or other regional allies, and how that plays out?
	Sure.
	So up until very recently, the Assad regime, Assad himself, an Alawite, a minority sect of Islam, more heterodox and orthodox, you could say, was backed by two large state patrons, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation.
	And in Syria...
	Russia had historically what really the Russian Empire had wanted for many years, which is a warm water port.
	They had that at Tartus and then later on they had an air base as well at Hameem.
	Basically this was Russia's foothold into the Middle East and it had been a partner of the Assad regime and the Assad family.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	I think?
	Which up until recently had been concentrated in the east and been moving to be co -located in the west with the Assad regime and Lebanese Hezbollah.
	And last, but certainly not least, and I'm sure there's more, but I wanted to cram in as much of the alphabet soup as we could into the present.
	And before we get to HTS, Hayat Ar -Hirsham and Mr. Jolani, who all eyes are on this individual who led the charge against Damascus, is the U .S. force presence, which is about 900 -ish in southeast Syria,
	located at the garrison at Tam.
	Remind folks what the US force is doing there right now.
	Well, amid the drive on Damascus, they've essentially been sitting there.
	Since Damascus fell, however, the U .S. has had airstrikes against ISIS positions in central and eastern Syria.
	You mentioned what...
	Under what authority the U .S. force presence was there, the U .S. was there to fight ISIS, so this was part of the counter -ISIS campaign, and the U .S. had played a pretty powerful role there, both thwarting some of the ISIS advances from Iraq into Syria,
	as really supporting the counter -ISIS campaign on the ground and on the air.
	We're going to go into more of this with Ben and Ben Taliblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies this morning.
	I want to give you a chance to call in and ask your questions, though.
	A lot's happened in Syria.
	And it has a lot of impact in the region.
	Wanted to take this time to allow you to call in and ask the questions that you've been wondering.
	Phone lines to do so split as usual this morning.
	Republicans 202 -748 -8001.
	Democrats 202 -748 -8000.
	Independents 202 -748 -8002.
	A minute ago you mentioned Mr. Jelani.
	Explain who he is.
	What do we need to know about the head of HTS?
	And here, forgive me, I'll be tipping my hand as to how I see this individual.
	He remains subject to a U .S. bounty.
	He has a U .S. bounty on his head.
	He's currently the head of HTS, Hayat Tahrir al -Sham, a designated terrorist organization.
	He's led manifestations of formerly al -Qaeda -affiliated terrorist groups in Syria, beginning with Chepet al -Nusra.
	Then that really collapsed in 2016.
	There was a 2017 rebrand.
	And then beyond that 2017 rebrand, you have the group, which is really...
	You know, much like everything else in Washington where you stand in life depends on where you sit.
	There are many people who take this disavowing very seriously.
	Starting from 2016, some of those people actually end up saying, well, look, how come the U .S. has had targeted airstrikes on a whole host of al -Qaeda officials, not just in Syria but in Iraq, but really around the world, but has never touched this individual despite having a bounty?
	Does that mean there is some laissez -passer or some covert relationship there?
	Sometimes that line of thinking can get into conspiracy if taken to its fullest conclusion.
	But nonetheless, it does raise questions.
	How come this person was allowed to kind of remain on the battlefield while having a bounty?
	You've seen Islamist leaders do this in the past, particularly The country where my parents, my ancestry hails from, Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris was saying drastically different things before he entered government and came into Iran and then really took that country, really in my view,
	with respect, back to the Stone Age.
	So Islamist leaders do have this capacity to kind of fib, to gain a political advantage, and then once they have a political advantage to cement an entirely different and often terrifying reality.
	And we hope for the sake of all Syrians, not just minorities.
	We're good to go.
	Let me come back to Bashar al -Assad.
	We heard from him via a social media message yesterday for the first time since leaving Syria saying that he held out until the end before going to Russia.
	You had mentioned that his main allies were Russia and Iran.
	Why did he go to Russia and not Iran when he decided to flee the country?
	Well, Iran is also not having the best day, or really the best year.
	There's a plethora of articles right now the viewers can look up calling Iran's 2024, Iran's "Anis Horribilis," Iran's horrible year.
	There's been a whole host of regional political military setbacks against the Islamic and Israeli military successes brought to you by the multiple battlefields that constitute the post -October 7 Middle East.
	So in the shortest of terms, and perhaps the most basic terms, Assad wanted to go somewhere where he would survive given the fact that the Israelis were able to kill Ismail Hania, the former Hamas chief in Tehran, at a safe house.
	Assad may have had some doubts.
	As to if the Iranians could protect him.
	There is some analysis that the Iranians and Assad have had a cooling off, even though Iran believes that possessing Syria really is critical to its land bridge strategy, its attempts to resupply Hezbollah, its chief proxy in Lebanon, its attempts to fight this four -decade -long shadow war,
	proxy war, what have you, against Israel and the Middle East.
	Despite all of that, there is some reporting about some tensions.
	I think those tensions are overblown, but tensions exist in any political relationship, whether you're the patron or the proxy.
	And then, of course, one other reason why he may have gone to Russia is that he had already sent some of his family members to Russia.
	And then, lastly, there is a deeper kind of security tie with the Russian state.
	Even though it was the Iranians who bailed him out first, the Russians were able to do it more effectively.
	So he may have thought in terms of capacity, in terms of where my family is, and in terms of longevity, this would have been a better spot for me.
	I want to get to some of these callers.
	First, explain to viewers your organization, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, what its mission is.
	Sure.
	So I've been with FDD now for about 12 years.
	I just became the senior director for the Iran program there, but still cover the breadth and depth of Iran political security related Middle East issues.
	FDD is a 501c3 nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank.
	It's basically a research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
	Actually, today in the Washington Post, we were mislabeled as conservative.
	This tends to happen a lot, unfortunately.
	But we don't take any views, domestic, on healthcare, tax, immigration.
	We have zero domestic policy views.
	We advocate for a strong U .S. presence abroad.
	You could say it's an internationalist in terms of its disposition when engaging with foreign policy issues abroad.
	It was founded shortly before or after 9 /11.
	It was late 2001 or early 2002.
	FDD .org is where viewers can go if they want to check out the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
	Let me get you some calls.
	And just right before, actually, I forgot you mentioned funding.
	We take no foreign government funding or direction.
	So only U .S. citizens, taxpayers, and it's a tax -deductible donation, by the way.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	I have a question for your guests.
	What's the reason behind all the wars in the Middle East, especially 99 .5 % of the wars around the world done by America, British, French, and German -Italians, all combined with so -called civilized countries,
	are focused only... on muslim countries specifically in the middle east because of natural resources or because of land and position and location i'd like to understand i'm from ethiopia originally italians they kill almost 30 000 people in a day and gas them out italians during mussolini i finally died from that i would like to know why i'm civilized countries such as called civilized ones focus in the middle east and the muslim countries thank you very much Thank you, Kohler.
	A good question.
	Yeah, good question.
	In fact, Ethiopia does have a very long and proud history of not being subject to colonization.
	But I believe the scope of the question was wars in the Middle East or wars in Muslim countries.
	Well, there's wars raging all around the world, not in Muslim countries.
	You see right now, Russia, Ukraine, it's not the first iteration of that war.
	Something tells me even if we do get a peace agreement or a stalemate, it won't be the last iteration of that war, given Russian President Putin's appetite.
	But there's lots of reasons for the myriad conflicts in the Middle East.
	I don't believe there's an overarching reason.
	Western colonialism, aggression, imperialism, what have you, I think that has some explanatory power, but exceptionally limited explanatory power, particularly when you get into the conflicts of the present day.
	I mean, you have right now the various battlefields of the post -October 7th Middle East.
	You've had right now, really since the US wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran be able to exploit the kind of failed
	How did you get involved in the civil war?
	Question from Michael Thornton on Twitter, on X these days I should say, asking about what Israel is doing in Syria.
	Should Israel be attacking Syria, annexing parts of that country right now?
	Yes, so there is a debate right now as to how far Israel should be able to secure its interests while there is still this new government being formed.
	I for one think that if the Israelis are going to continue going after Assad regime military assets, particularly the number one priority needs to be and should be the chemical weapons infrastructure, not just the precursors, targeting them in a safe fashion.
	Trafficking in the United States?
	For the U .S. to be able to counter the trafficking in a much more aggressive sense.
	Because the Assad regime actually helped to get revenues from this drug.
	The Iran -Bakshia militias were able to engage in the trafficking, the smuggling across a whole host of jurisdictions that are U .S. partners, from Jordan to Saudi Arabia.
	There's the real threat that this party drug could have or already may have landed into Central Europe.
	So I would also go after the facilities that produce Captagon as well to make sure that the new government in Syria...
	Good morning.
	Merry Christmas.
	My question is, why do we, and I'm kind of like piggy -pagging on the other caller, on the Muslim countries, why do America try to impose our Constitution,
	our way of life on a People, that their culture is differently, their leadership is different.
	It's kind of like we're trying to change a giraffe into a horse.
	If you look at it historically, I mean, it is what it is.
	We need to respect what they are and let their people decide their leadership.
	Look at Turkey.
	That leadership's been there how many years?
	He's been there.
	Old Turkey.
	He's a hard leader.
	I could not stand Hussein that ran Iraq.
	James, I think we got your point.
	Thank you for your question, Carla.
	The degree to which the U .S. government engages in social engineering or forced democracy promotion, I agree with this sentiment.
	That's something the U .S. simply should not be in the business of because we don't have the great track record.
	How do we secure our interests in these countries and our partners' interests in these countries when we're not in that business and when there is chaos?
	So would you support the U .S. going after a terrorist organization like ISIS when it's fundamentally easier to do so across a whole host of jurisdictions?
	I think that from a counterterrorism perspective, you should be going after terrorists anywhere they are because you're supposed to be...
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	Turkey, for example, right now is contested democratically.
	The US doesn't have a policy of democratic promotion because Turkey itself is a democracy albeit a more limited one with the AKP and President Erdogan at the helm.
	But Turkey is very interesting because society is really split.
	You have half of the country that really likes the guy, President Erdogan, and half of the country that really despises the guy.
	So keep your eyes on what's happening on the ground.
	That's not a US -led issue.
	That's an organic debate within Turkey about We're
	good to go.
	Subtitles by the Amara .org community
	I think?
	We spent the first hour this morning on the Washington Journal talking about President -elect Donald Trump's press conference in Mar -a -Lago.
	One of the questions he got was on U .S. troops in Syria and the future of U .S. troops there.
	Let me just play that for a minute and a half and get your thoughts.
	Well, you know, we had 5 ,000 troops along the border, and I asked a couple of generals, so we have an army of 250 ,000 in Syria, and you had an army of 400 ,000.
	They have many more people than that.
	Turkey is a major force, by the way, and Erdogan is somebody I got along with great, but he has a major military force, and his has not been worn out with war.
	It hasn't been worn out with all of the other things.
	I mean, he's built a very strong, powerful army.
	And so we have 5 ,000 soldiers in between a 5 million person army and a 250 ,000 person army.
	And I asked the general, what do you think of that situation?
	He said, they'll be just, they'll be wiped out immediately.
	And I moved them out.
	Because, and I took a lot of heat.
	And you know what happened?
	Nothing.
	Nothing.
	I saved a lot of lives.
	Now we have 900.
	They put some back.
	But 900.
	If you're talking about, too, now that one of the sides has been essentially wiped out, but nobody knows who the other side is.
	But I do.
	You know who it is?
	Turkey.
	Okay?
	Turkey's the one behind it.
	He's a very smart guy.
	They've wanted it for thousands of years.
	And he got it.
	And those people that went in are controlled by Turkey.
	And that's okay.
	It's another way to fight.
	But no, I don't think that I want to have our soldiers killed.
	But I don't think that will happen now anyway because the one side's been decimated.
	Ben and Ben Taliblu, your thoughts on those statements from the president -elect?
	Well, there's those statements and there's also what he said, I think, about a weekend ago where he mentioned that this is not our fight.
	Stay out of it.
	That was his original true social post about Syria.
	And I actually think there's great synergy there.
	And there is a kernel that I actually strongly agree with, meaning the fight over how Damascus at this point in time, after a 13 year bloody civil war with tons of foreign intervention, Is to be governed isn't necessarily the U .S. fight and isn't legally and politically the role of the U .S. forces at that Tanf garrison today.
	But the degree to which we're bringing in Turkey now, because the president mentioned President Erdogan's designs, Turkey's larger designs on Syria, the larger Turkey -Syria problem, which has been a problem really from when the Assad regime was in power, the father Hafez al -Assad, everything from land to water rights,
	the Euphrates River Dam issue, there's tons of issues there.
	There is room for a constructive Turkish role in Syria.
	The problem is the Turkish role in Syria has not necessarily been constructive.
	When we're talking about ethnic minorities in Syria right now, one thing that got Turkey to be more overtly interventionist in Syria, using those Syrian proxies, is of course the US support for the SDF, which was largely Kurdish backed,
	and the territorial gains made by the SDF.
	Really, let me put this as...
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	So we need to keep that alliance more cohesive, we need to make sure that President Erdogan knows that there's certain boundaries, and we have to make sure that President Erdogan can't transactionally use his leverage in Syria to flip us on other issues as well, to say,
	I'll turn off the fire in Syria if you are better on me on this issue, on the F -35 production, on Ukraine stuff, on whatever the issue du jour is.
	Staying on the Kurds for a second, this is by Thomas Kaplan and Bernard Henri Levy in today's Wall Street Journal.
	Well, the US does have a deep relationship with a lot of the Kurdish groups, particularly even the ones that were leading the fight against ISIS in Syria, particularly in eastern Syria.
	I don't think so.
	More lines that aren't respected create actually more triggers for conflict, more triggers for intervention.
	That doesn't mean the U .S. doesn't necessarily have to stand by, that doesn't mean the U .S. shouldn't be standing by the partners that it has had, like the Kurds.
	But it's also to understand that Syria is actually a pretty volatile place, and they're able to at the same time retain relations with a whole host of folks that are somewhat more.
	Great.
	So a very interesting conversation.
	I've been following it closely in the news.
	It's so interesting how different groups are labeled different things.
	For example, the use of the term rebels instead of ISIS terrorists.
	So I think it matters what we call things.
	I'm interested in the extent to which these proxy wars with Russia have continued.
	I would bring us maybe back to sort of Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin.
	You know, Americans are never told the truth about war.
	I think it was Dwight D. Eisenhower that said, you know, beware of the growing influence of the military -industrial complex.
	I would also add to that, beware of the influence of think tanks and their clever names.
	And I'm just thinking of this think tank, this defense of democracies.
	I would just add that you guys are not doing a very good job.
	Democracy is not doing well.
	It certainly isn't doing well in the Middle East, where we're sort of engineering these overthrow of governments.
	It seems like we create more terrorists, we're going after terrorism, and we create more terrorism.
	Thinking about even WMDs in Iraq and that disaster.
	And just again, time and again, the American people are told things that are just simply not true.
	Reporting on Israel and what Israel is doing and how they're actually seizing territory in Syria now.
	And that's not on our news at all.
	So what we cover, we really mislead.
	We do a disservice.
	This program, when they have think tanks on, also do a disservice in terms of often generating good information.
	That being said, this guest seems to be very intelligent, articulate.
	I'll be interested to see his thoughts on what I'm talking about, which is this continued pattern of proxy wars.
	The military -industrial complex and then failed policy after failed policy.
	Got your points, Tony.
	Ben, I'm Ben Talibu.
	Well, I'll politely sidestep some of the intonations about think tanks and the double D in our name defending democracies.
	I'd be curious to know the caller's views on standing with...
	We're good to go.
	Going after the Islamic Republic of Iran's terrorist apparatus in the region, handicapping the acts of resistance, defending against the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, I would say is a pretty good thing.
	So, depending on where you stand in life, we'll find out where you sit.
	But to the heart of your question about proxy wars, not just in the Middle East, but writ large, you know, this has been an interesting pattern.
	An interesting pattern that we even saw for the Cold War.
	Remember, the Cold War was cold between the US and the USSR.
	Because it was hot everywhere else.
	So there's no doubt that the U .S. then and the Soviet Union then had their partners, had their allies essentially fight it out and they were able to arm, train and equip their partners.
	The question is now, as we move into what many have called, some historians like Niall Ferguson, I believe, have called Cold War 2 .0.
	Some authors like David Sanger have called it simply the New Cold War.
	You have people in Congress on the left and the right calling a new axis of evil or new axis of aggressors or new axis of authoritarians emerging where there's the North Koreans, the Russians, the Iranians and the Chinese really all coming together.
	The question for US foreign policy will be not one of proxy wars but what will we do to stop the gains made We're good to go.
	I think?
	That has diametrically opposed views, values, and interests like the Russian Federation to the United States of America allows us an opportunity to actually do well by strategy and do well by our morals.
	But the degree to which we impose it on other countries that are unwilling to take on this task, yes, that's where I would agree with the caller.
	But I wouldn't call some of these conflicts around the world proxy wars today, even though I totally do understand the similarity.
	You mentioned David Sanger.
	His book is... New Cold War.
	Yes.
	We covered it on C -SPAN's BookTV back in the spring when it came out.
	Can you define the term "axis of resistance"?
	Sure.
	"Axis of resistance" is a term translated into English from Persian "mehfara muhavamat" that you began to see in the Persian press between 2011 to 2013.
	It really calcified then.
	The Iranians tried to make sense of the Arab Spring around them because they had crushed the 2009 greed movement in Iran.
	They had seen a whole host of Arab streets protesting against the Arab state.
	The main difference was that the Arab street that Iran had tried to make inroads with did not necessarily get to take over the pro -Western states that used to rule over them.
	And amid this kind of menagerie of chaos that you saw from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, the Iranians tried to rebrand the Arab Spring as the Islamic Awakening to make sure that their forces or their friends in each of these countries,
	be it Egypt or anywhere else, would be ascendant.
	So they wanted the Islamists in each of these contests to be ascendant when the U .S.-backed autocrat in each of these countries would fall.
	Through that... Iran's material support for a whole host of militias turned into terrorist organizations in many of the failed states of the Middle East already.
	So the axis of resistance is an umbrella term that saw the militarization of Iran's foreign and security policy in these failed states at the height of the Arab Spring or what the regime called the Islamic Awakening.
	The axis has components that are created.
	From well in the past, like Hezbollah in Lebanon in the 1980s, or the Barakor in Iraq, or that are co -opted, like Hamas in Gaza, or the Houthis in Yemen.
	Either way, whether created or co -opted, the goal of political and material support by Iran to this axis is control, to control the cycle of violence, to control the situation on the ground, and to be able to use foreign territory to fight against the U .S. indirectly,
	to fight against the Israelis indirectly, because this was one of the lessons of the Iran -Iraq war, to not have conflict on your territory directly.
	Has it worked?
	It has worked up until now, meaning the ability of Iran's current Supreme Leader, who is an 86 -year -old man, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
	He's the longest -running contemporary autocrat in the Middle East today, who is still alive and still in power.
	His legacy is actually not the nuclear quest, in my view.
	His legacy is...
	Helping create political support for this axis, helping build this axis, helping keep the Islamic Republic on this anti -American, anti -Israeli trajectory at A, the height of American unipolarity after the Cold War, B,
	when America was on literally the regime's left and right border with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and being able through with his chief terrorist and former Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani.
	We're good to go.
	For everybody else, against it, a limited war option.
	And that, you could say, was their success strategy from the post -911 Middle East up until the post -October 7th Middle East.
	And through Israel's targeted killings of Haniya, as well as Salah Aruri, as well as Yahya Sinwar, as well as a whole host of leaders of the Iran -backed axis, coupled with the setbacks against Hezbollah militarily,
	coupled with the powerful strikes by the U .S. and the Israelis and even the Brits against the Houthis in Yemen, coupled with the collapse...
	We're good to go.
	Getting a severe beating on the conventional front for its axis is exactly what you see in the Iranian press today, which is the more the conventional deterrent goes down, the more the talk of the nuclear deterrent goes up.
	And that is something the Trump administration is going to have to deal with when it comes into office.
	How is this regime, the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism, going to be acting when max pressure comes back into effect and when it continues to threaten on an almost daily basis that it will go nuclear?
	Soleimani's gone.
	Does this outlast the Ayatollah?
	Well, one hopes that it doesn't outlast the Ayatollah, because the Ayatollah, again, is an 86 -year -old man who's taken hostage a nation of 88 million.
	One of the interesting things of watching the shadow war between Iran and Israel move out of the shadows is what the Iranian population has been saying, and even the ability to spin some of this stuff into jokes.
	One joke that emerged in October.
	Between Iran's October 1st ballistic missile barrage against Israel and Israel's, I think, October 25th or 26th military response was a joke that I heard kind of being spread across Iran and later made its way into social media was what's the difference between Israelis and Iranians when there's a war?
	And the joke or the answer comes back Well, when there is a conflict or an attack on Israel, Israelis run to the bunker.
	When there's a conflict or an attack on Iranian territory, Iranians run to the rooftops to first make sure the office of the Supreme Leader is hit.
	So it's a fundamentally different risk tolerance.
	You know, Iran today, and I think we may have spoken about this before, in the post -October 7th Middle East, in terms of society, It's a fundamentally different place than where the state is.
	The state continues to chant and has its elites and its supporters chant "Death to America, Death to Israel." The population today is in a fundamentally different place.
	You've had the Arab world with the Arab Spring go through this
	Back to the phones.
	Charles, Newton, North Carolina, Independent.
	Good morning.
	Thanks for waiting.
	Good morning.
	Thank you for taking my call.
	And I want to thank Mr. Talibullah for coming on.
	I mean, so much information about the Mideast is so valuable.
	We really hear voices talking about it.
	But I wanted to ask Mr. Talibullah a question about who is going to coordinate the varied influences listed in Syria to bring people.
	Do you feel that the spirit of the Syrian people that I see so brilliantly on the television will seep through to Iran?
	And the Iranian people, thank you very much.
	uh... organizations and groups and terrorist groups and militias and what have you have not disarmed and it's always interesting when some of the shooting stops and the talking starts but the guys with guns continues to retain their guns so uh... one wonders How much the threat of violence is going to dangle over the Syrian transition efforts,
	which we're consistently seeing underway, as well as, of course, this foreign influence factor.
	Turkey certainly has a view.
	Perhaps some of the GCC countries that have also historically in the past funded these Salafi organizations, Salafi jihadist organizations in Syria, they may have a view as well.
	I think President Trump has articulated that this is not our fight.
	How will that line of thinking hold up when he is back in...
	We're good to go.
	I think?
	What will be the ordering principle?
	Not seriously, but literally, when they need to be taken seriously, but not literally.
	You know, there are some...
	So, there are some lines about him saying Syria is weak right now, and then therefore we should not go after, you know, Israel.
	Or, you know...
	There's quite a bit of hedging as to his commentary.
	And there's a little bit of footsie in there.
	There was a caller who asked about think tanks.
	I'd also respectfully like to flag this about the media.
	We've seen paraphrases from Mr. Jolani, Mr. Shara, turn into directly attributed quotes by some media organizations.
	That stuff, I think, is very problematic.
	And I think we can't let anybody speak for this individual other than himself.
	So those who speak the primary languages of the region need to be keeping an eye on the prize.
	What is the prize?
	In which case, that seems to be what most of the GCC countries want, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries want.
	That's why even there were efforts by the UAE and the Saudis to try to bring Assad back into the fold at the tail end of the Syrian civil war.
	Is the prize handicapping Iran's threat architecture and terrorist architecture in the region, in which case the Israelis have done a great job already?
	Conversely, if you're the Islamic Republic, how do you rebuild it?
	That's your prize.
	How do you create this deterrent architecture?
	So the answer really is, Where do you stand?
	And again, where do you sit?
	But I have to tell you, watching this Syrian crisis unfold and having friends who are Syrian, the prize ultimately has to be a government in Damascus that represents the views, values, and interests of the Syrian people.
	And it's, again, so unfortunate that those people who came onto the streets bravely You know,
	where one stands on an issue depends directly on where one sits.
	It's hard to justify our position.
	I mean, we talk about the Turks' involvement and their intent and interests and all the other...
	Tulsi Gabbard?
	to topple Syria because they wanted it to be part of that domino effect.
	There's a lot of questions.
	But as far as where you sit, if you and your family were in Gaza right now, I would want to study you to see how long it would take you to redefine evil.
	I mean, what's going on there, the allowing of the bombing in Syria by the Israeli military, which is with our blessing, I'm sure, if not our direction, is questionable.
	All our involvement is questionable.
	But you know what?
	The genocide that's happening there is just not justifiable.
	It's injustifiable.
	So we have 150 nations voting against us right now, the ICC, criminal court, and everything else.
	So you have to reexamine your position, your stand on what you're doing, even though you want to fight Iran or you want to play, you know, this chess game against these forces.
	The way you're doing it is not going to prevail.
	We're in our little country here in our arena.
	We justify what we do, but the rest of the globe has a different opinion on what's happening right now.
	And you need to open your eyes and see it.
	And there's so much more I can say, but I think you get the picture of what I'm trying to talk about here.
	We'll take your point.
	Let me give Ben and Ben Tellebleu the final two minutes here.
	Sure.
	Pat, thank you for your call, sir.
	No, trust me, my eyes are open and I'm seeing it.
	I've seen the horrors of October 7, seen what happens when the Islamic Republic of Iran has basically unchecked capability to cause havoc across the region.
	The question will be, have you seen the horrors of the Syrian civil war?
	Have you seen what Assad has been doing in his prisons?
	None of this is to justify or to engage in whataboutism.
	There is a whole host, a whole host, a cycle of violence in the Middle East right now.
	But to take the word genocide and apply that to what is happening in Gaza, I think that is respectfully quite far off the mark.
	I do think that the U .S. does need to retain a productive, strong relationship with the Israelis, but also where you can speak truth to power, engage in tough talk where you need to.
	But that doesn't need to mean lining up 150 different nations against your best partner and ally in that region, particularly one that was targeted by the back end of this acts of resistance of this terrorist organization after October 7.
	But again, you agreed with me on the framing where you stand in life depends on where you sit in the short term.
	How can the U .S. I would say three framings, three lenses are important to have.
	One, the counter -terrorism lens.
	Don't forget about that fight because what happens in the Middle East does not stay in the Middle East.
	Often the first test case is what happens to our friend and partner Israel.
	Number two, the counter -WMD fight.
	What happened by going after the chemical weapons program of Assad?
	uh... is i think uh... a net positive not just for the syrian people not just for the israelis but for the americans and for global order you don't want loose WMD across the middle east and number three that WMD fight gets us to the world's foremost aid sponsor of terrorism pursuing the world's most dangerous weapons We're good to go.
	I think?
	We're good to go.
	And I'm sure we'll talk to you down the road if and when that starts happening.
	Benham Ben Talibloo is with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, fdd .org, if you want to check out the work of him and his colleagues.
	And we always appreciate your time.
	Thank you.
	Coming up in about 25 minutes this morning, Leah Greenberg will join us to talk about her group, Indivisible.
	Discuss that group's efforts in the year ahead.
	Coming up next though, more of your phone calls in open form.
	You can go ahead and start calling in now on phone lines for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
	And while you're dialing in, we take you to the National World War II Memorial here in Washington, D .C.
	Yesterday, veterans and representatives from each of the Allied nations gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
	Germany launching that surprise attack on Allied forces 80 years ago yesterday.
	More than 1 million Allied service members took part in that campaign.
	More than 22 ,000 Allied soldiers and civilians died.
	The ceremony honored two World War II veterans who took part in that battle.
	Here's a portion from yesterday.
	It is now my great honor to introduce our World War II veterans.
	Colonel Frank Cohn was born in Breslau, Germany in 1925.
	Colonel Cohn escaped with his parents to the United States at the age of 13.
	Drafted into the United States Army, he bravely served in the Battle of the Bulge, the Rhineland, and Central Europe campaigns.
	Ultimately meeting Russians at the Elbe River.
	Following these historic contributions, he became Sergeant of the Guard for the Nazi prisoners later tried in the second Nuremberg trial.
	Colonel Cohn's distinguished military career spanned 35 years, including tours in Korea and Vietnam, culminating in his role as Chief of Staff of the Military District of Washington.
	Let us honor Colonel Frank Cohn.
	Mr. Harry Miller.
	At just 16 years old, Harry Miller fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a member of the United States Army 740th Tank Battalion, attached to the 82nd Airborne Division.
	His distinguished military career continued with service in Korea at General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters and in Vietnam with the United States Air Force.
	Today, Harry remains dedicated to honoring the legacy of his fellow veterans, volunteering here at the memorial to share inspiring stories of courage and service with visitors of all ages.
	Let us honor Harry Miller.
	Some time now for you to lead the conversation.
	It's our open forum.
	Any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, now is your time to do so.
	Call in on phone lines for Republicans, Democrats and Independents.
	As usual, as you're calling in, letting you know what's on the C -SPAN networks today, including a hearing on legal sports betting.
	Since 2018, 38 states and Washington, D .C. have begun to offer legal sports gambling.
	Today, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will testify on the growth of legal sports betting, its impact on society.
	That is 10 a .m.
	And with that...
	Time for your phone calls.
	It's open forum.
	Shirley is up first in South Carolina.
	Democrat, Shirley, what's on your mind?
	Okay, John, good morning.
	This is the first time I was able to get in while you were there, but I just want to have a few things to say.
	I'm a 90 -year -old woman, and I lived half of my life in New York.
	I was there when Donald Trump's father...
	And his, I call him his gang, brought Donald there.
	I just can't stand the idea of Donald Trump being in that White House because I know a lot about his history.
	I kept up with him when I was in New York.
	I did not vote for him.
	I would never vote for him.
	And I don't understand how all these other people could vote for this.
	He's a crook.
	I just don't have anything to say nice about him, but he is not my president.
	And I thank you for letting me speak.
	That's Shirley in South Carolina.
	This is Kim in Michigan, Benton Harbor, Michigan, Republican.
	Good morning.
	Good morning.
	What's on your mind, Kim?
	It's open forum.
	Then we will go to Maria in Atlanta.
	Line for Democrats.
	Go ahead.
	Can you hear me?
	Yes, ma 'am.
	What's on your mind?
	John, what's on my mind is I used to love to get up and watch y 'all faithfully for 20 -something or 30 years.
	Me and my sister, people say, well, you can't play the race card.
	What's going on with you guys?
	You got a new staff?
	You don't show how I know African Americans anymore.
	You have two, three weeks and nothing but Caucasians, Caucasians, Caucasians.
	And I'm quite sure any subject that you talk about, African American, I mean, it seems like somebody new has taken over.
	Maria, keep watching.
	I'm sure you've missed some of our guests, and I'm sure you'll see more down the road, but I hope you keep watching.
	It's the same Washington Journal.
	We try to be... Here as a place, as a forum for you to call in and have these conversations every day about what's going on on Capitol Hill and around the country.
	What's going on today on Capitol Hill?
	We continue to watch.
	We're good to go.
	Extending government funding by Friday is our top priority.
	Shutting the government down is a one -way ticket to needless disruption of important functions.
	It's never been a winning proposition, and this time is no different.
	Delivering urgent disaster relief
	Mitch McConnell yesterday.
	The Senate is back in session at 10 a .m. Eastern today.
	The House also comes in at 10 a .m. Eastern.
	That's where you'll be going after this program if you stick with us on C -SPAN.
	But it's open for him right now.
	This is Connie in Friendsville, Tennessee.
	Line for Democrats.
	Good morning.
	Good morning.
	Good morning.
	So I'd like to make a comment on Pete Hegseth.
	I hope I'm saying that right.
	That he said that he would stop drinking if he were appointed to the position that Donald Trump wants to have him approved for.
	When you have an addiction, you just can't say that and you just can't stop.
	and and to me he is say the equivalent of hunter biding walking through the house of representatives and and and um hunter biden had a drug addiction he had to go through recovery and and then you know he he got through his recovery and he's in recovery yet the first time they We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	That's Connie in Tennessee.
	This is John in Hampton, Virginia.
	It's Open Forum.
	Go ahead.
	A few weeks ago this month, I was able to visit that exact location.
	I was stationed in northern Germany at 2nd Army Division Ford in Garstead.
	I was with Delta Company 17th Engineers and we supported 341 Infantry Division.
	We had a field exercise and a tour of the Battle of the Bulge and the Ardennes Forest region along Belgium and southern Netherlands and Luxembourg.
	But it was a sight to see, and there was a museum there that we had a chance to go in and look.
	But it was a chilling effect when you go stand in that place and know that a lot of Americans died there.
	However, my dad served in World War II.
	He was in northern Africa and in Italy and Sicily.
	He was out of Camp Polk, Louisiana at the time, Fort Polk, and he was with the engineer unit then.
	It was the 425th Engineer.
	80 years ago, John, what's the legacy today of the Battle of the Bulge?
	We talk about the anniversaries of December 7th and June 6th.
	What's the legacy here on the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge?
	The U .S. military will fight wherever we're told to go by our country.
	However, there's a lot of things that need fixing.
	I understand that the current incoming president wants to go back and get rid of the homosexual and gay and transgender soldiers, but also army recruiter.
	And it is very hard to recruit back then and recruit now.
	I don't care if...
	That's John out of Hampton, Virginia this morning.
	Dale is an independent in Texas.
	Good morning, you're next.
	I don't understand that.
	The second thing is selling this border wall stuff that the government's already paid for pennies on the dollar.
	That makes a lot of sense in Biden's thinking.
	And it just behooves me how he seems to want to end his legacy on being such a petty, childish actions that he seems to be taking against this country.
	If somebody could explain that justification, I'd appreciate it.
	Thank you.
	Dale in Texas, staying on the independent line.
	Tina in Pennsylvania.
	Good morning.
	You're next.
	Good morning.
	I want to wish my fellow Americans a very happy Merry Christmas.
	I hope everybody is well, but I would like to make a suggestion.
	I wish the Democrats...
	Specifically the Democrats and the couple rhinos that we have left.
	Would allow Trump to do Trump.
	He picked these people for a reason.
	Everybody's coming down on Pete Headset.
	He saw battle.
	You know, he's a good soldier.
	He's a patriot.
	I'm tired of the DEI.
	Let's get, let's put this one in because it'll be a first.
	Let's put this one in because the color of the skin, that has nothing to do with the capabilities of doing the job.
	Let Trump pick his cabinet, confirm them.
	If they screw up, he'll fire them.
	We all know he can be as pompous as he can be.
	He will get rid of them.
	We need to sit back and give this man a chance that he did not get in his first term.
	The very first day they were going after him.
	I don't want to see that again.
	For four years, my family has suffered.
	My husband is dying because he was forced into something that everybody in America had to get.
	And I'm done.
	I'm done with it.
	Let President Trump do his job.
	The Democrats need to sit down.
	They might learn something on governing.
	Because I'm going to tell you, we were a heck of a lot better off eight years ago than we are now.
	That's Tina in Pennsylvania on Donald Trump's nominees.
	This was yesterday on Capitol Hill.
	Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, after meeting with Donald Trump's HHS nominee, RFK Jr.
	So I just had a great meeting with Barbara Kennedy.
	I really appreciate his message.
	As you know, I used to be in the hospital business.
	I think it's great to have an HHS secretary that is going to focus on the health of America, which is the most important thing we ought to do.
	I think for all of us, what we're thinking about is how do we stay healthy every day.
	And finally, we're going to have an HHS secretary that wakes up every day and says, how do we keep everybody healthy in this country?
	He's going to have a lot of opportunity to...
	What do you say about vaccines specifically, sir?
	Especially his claim that it's linked to autism.
	What about polio vaccine specifically?
	Can you talk about abortion at all?
	Abortion access?
	No.
	Alright, thank you guys.
	Senator Rick Scott of Florida yesterday with reporters on Capitol Hill.
	Back to your phone calls.
	It is open forum.
	Any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, now's the time to call in.
	This is Elizabeth waiting in California.
	Democrat, good morning.
	Good morning, C -SPAN.
	I just wanted to call and remember my Uncle Henry this morning.
	He was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed and Hickam Field.
	He saw the planes coming in.
	He said he was so close he could have thrown a rock at the plane if he had one.
	And he later helped pull guys out of the bay.
	And then he also went to the European theater and was captured at the Battle of the Bulge and spent time in a prisoner of war camp there.
	But anyway, we are a democratic family.
	I wanted to comment about Trump and the young lady that called earlier saying that let Trump be Trump.
	Well, I do remember what he was like on his first day in office.
	On his first day in office, Trump claimed that he had more people at his inauguration than Obama had.
	And he spent a few weeks trying to prove this silly, ridiculous idea.
	That he had more people at his inauguration.
	He was gaslighting the American people from day one.
	And now someone called in earlier on one of your programs and said there was a photo of Trump.
	He was saluting, standing and saluting.
	And he said that he was representing America at Notre Dame.
	And in his press conference yesterday, he kept saying, Well, we're negotiating for the hostages and this and that.
	He thinks he's president already.
	That's the kind of person he is.
	He's delusional.
	And the other things that Americans need to remember about Trump, he did try to overturn the election on January 6th.
	We cannot forget that image either.
	And finally, the image that I can remember that the press suppressed was him Performing a sex act on a microphone.
	That's the kind of man Trump is, and I don't think the American people can forget it.
	And what I can see now with Trump is he's trying to take credit for a lot of the things that Obama has done.
	Trump is not president yet.
	I mean, sorry, that Biden has done.
	Biden is trying to point out all of the good things he did with regard to the CHIPS Act and the infrastructure building.
	And Trump is going to run in and try to take credit for that.
	And I hope Americans don't let that happen.
	Thank you.
	Elizabeth, before you go, can I ask the name of your uncle, somebody who survived Pearl Harbor and was captured at the Battle of the Bulge and was in a German prison camp?
	His name was Henry.
	And he was very modest.
	And one interesting thing that happened in his life, he passed away in 2011.
	When we went into the Iraq War, you know, there was a lot of footage of bombing Iraq.
	And my uncle had started, he lived alone, and he had lunch with my father almost every other day.
	And my dad went over to get him, and he was still sleeping, and he was just soaring in it.
	And he came out with one shoe on, and we couldn't figure out what was happening.
	So we ended up taking him to the VA.
	And they do a fabulous job with veterans.
	I hope Trump does not dismantle that.
	Anyway, after being surveyed and spending some time, the doctor told me they thought he had PTSD from his experiences in World War II.
	And that's what it appeared to be, because there was nothing physically wrong with him.
	There was so much news coverage of bombings when we first went into Iraq.
	Elizabeth, thanks for telling us about Henry.
	This is Robert in Ohio Republican.
	Robert, just less than five minutes in open forum.
	Go ahead.
	Go ahead, Robert.
	Oh, I'm not prepared.
	Okay, then we will go to Helen in Wisconsin Independent.
	Good morning.
	Good morning, John.
	I'm just calling to advocate that President Trump does dismantle the Department of Education.
	Absolutely.
	I've heard callers on your air who work for the Department of Education say the same thing, and it's true.
	The Department of Education is running the most predatory, unconstitutional loan scam in U .S. history.
	You know, these student loans...
	have been stripped of bankruptcy rights, which is called for in the constitution ahead of the power to declare war and raise an army.
	Actually uh, they've been stripped of statutes of limitations, they've become a license to steal, and the Department OF Education and the Colleges uh, are the two entities most uh, culpable for this.
	I would say to Donald Trump, when he comes in office, the first thing he has to do is return bankruptcy rights to these loans And, I would say, put the colleges on the hook to reimburse the federal government, at least partially, for discharges.
	And I don't mean the smaller colleges.
	I mean the trust fund colleges, the hedge fund colleges like Harvard and Yale, these people that have hundreds of billions of dollars in their endowments.
	That's Alan in Wisconsin.
	This is Nebraska Karen, Democrat.
	Good morning.
	Karen, you with us?
	Then it is Mary Lou in Connecticut, independent.
	Mary Lou, good morning.
	Good morning.
	You know, I'm calling.
	I tried to call yesterday about the UFOs and the drones, I guess they're drones or whatever they are, flying over the East Coast.
	And I believe it's China that is doing it.
	And I believe this is one of the things that President Biden let China...
	Take over the surveillance of this country for money.
	For what we heard Hunter Biden say, you better give me the money because my father is sitting right here.
	And they've gotten at least $10 million, that family, from China.
	Yesterday, it was John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson.
	Who came out and gave a new statement about the drone saying that we have assessed after an investigation that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones,
	hobbyist drones and law enforcement drones as well as manned fixed wing aircraft and helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones.
	We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey.
	Well, why did they let the air balloon fly from Alaska over to South Carolina before they did anything about it?
	Because what is President Biden doing now?
	He is trying to do things so Trump will have a terrible time when he gets in office.
	I'm worried that Trump is going to
	That's Mary Lou.
	James, last call here from California.
	Go ahead.
	Thanks for waiting.
	Hey, how y 'all doing today?
	Nice to see everybody is very, very interested in what's going on with the political scene.
	But I feel like these older people need to understand that it's millennial rule.
	That's why JD Vance is in the White House right now.
	He's a man who went through some very, very times, if you will,
	going through The second Gulf War, the Iraq War, Afghanistan.
	I have neighbors that went through that.
	I have friends who went through that.
	And shout out to Mr. Justin Oxenwriter out in Oregon.
	He's featured on one of the films that actually details the first people into Iraq.
	And we...
	I mean, I was a senior when that happened.
	I was a senior in high school.
	It was the second week of high school.
	Our world stopped.
	And I think a lot of people are forgetting.
	They're focusing on, too many people are focusing on right now, all the delusions that are thrown at us, all the craziness that's being thrown at us.
	But we're forgetting that 9 -11 happened.
	9 -11 destroyed America.
	9 /11 made America hurt, but hurt no more.
	Donald Trump, he's gonna handle his business for four years, but I'm gonna tell you right now, 2028, James Houston II for president.
	Believe it.
	Are you James Houston?
	Thank you, and I am speaking.
	That's James Houston in California, last caller in this segment of the Washington Journal.
	About 45 minutes left this morning.
	In that time, we'll be joined by Leah Greenberg to talk about her grassroots progressive group, Indivisible, and their plans in 2025.
	Stick around for that conversation.
	We'll be right back.
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	Washington Journal continues.
	A conversation now on progressive activism during a second Trump administration.
	Our guest is Leah Greenberg.
	She's co -executive director of the group Indivisible.
	Ms. Greenberg, what's the mission of Indivisible?
	How'd you get started?
	How long have you been around?
	Well, Indivisible got started shortly after the election of Donald Trump in 2016, when my husband and I, we were former congressional staffers, took everything that we had learned about how to operate on the Hill, how to organize locally, how to be effective in moving your elected officials,
	turned it into kind of like a do -it -yourself guide to organizing locally, and just put it on the internet as a Google Doc.
	In that moment, it caught fire with thousands and thousands of people who were horrified by the election of Donald Trump, who had already started organizing locally and who picked up the guide and its name, Indivisible, and started using that as their rallying cry.
	And so we formed an organization to support this incredible grassroots movement of people who were standing up against Donald Trump, who fought to build the Blue Wave in 2018, who fought to save the Affordable Care Act, who fought to get him out of office the first time,
	and who are getting ready right now to fight back once again.
	Why do you think Donald Trump won in 2024?
	Well, I think when we're looking at Donald Trump's victory in 2024, we've got to look first and foremost at the global context, right?
	This has been a year in which incumbent governments worldwide are getting pummeled, right?
	If you look at people who presided over 2021, 2022, the post -COVID inflationary period, there's just very deep and widespread anger and frustration with how things have been going all around the world.
	And we've seen that and we knew that that was the case heading in with fairly low approval ratings for the incumbent president.
	I think we all hope.
	We're good to go.
	Donald Trump was ultimately able to present himself as the candidate of change, the candidate who was opposed to the status quo, and he was able to portray us as kind of in favor of the status quo.
	And that set up for an unfortunate result.
	In retrospect, was swapping candidates a good idea?
	I absolutely think it was a good idea.
	I think if you're looking at the approval ratings of President Biden at the time, I think if you are looking at what Harris was able to do, how she was able to harness an enormous amount of new energy, excitement.
	We personally have a ton of new people who came in out of sheer excitement for the ability to support her candidacy.
	I think she ran about as good as one could ask for with 100 days left, which is a feat that nobody has been asked to do before.
	Did she do everything?
	Who's the leader of the Democratic Party come 2025?
	It is the people who start showing leadership.
	Right now, we are not seeing a ton of leadership across the Democratic Party.
	We are seeing some people put forward ideas, some people start to organize, but we're seeing a lot of people kind of go into you know Democrats in disarray mode right, where we all start questioning everything about ourselves, just um, because we have had an election loss right, and that is not a helpful place to be.
	We should always be thinking critically.
	We should always be thinking about what is our message, what is our brand, what do Democrats stand for, what kinds of policies We're good to go?
	What are some of those agenda items that you think some Democrats are inching over and starting to support?
	Well, I think what we've seen, for example, with certain Democrats flirting with the congressional or with the Doge effort, right?
	Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's effort to, you know, theoretically cut $2 trillion from federal government, which they absolutely cannot do without digging into Social Security, into Medicare, into Medicaid.
	I think any effort that validates that as a real and good faith effort to try and address government reform, as opposed to a transparent cash grab by people who will benefit personally from gutting government services so they can hand themselves fat defense contracts and tax cuts,
	that's the kind of thing where we need to be really clear to people what is happening, that this is a scam.
	Two weeks after the election, your group Indivisible published a new guide.
	It was that original guide that put your group on the map back in 2016.
	This new guide for supporters, what's the message that you're sending in this new guide?
	Well, the message is really simple.
	Donald Trump is made very clear that he intends to come in and govern as a dictator.
	But that's his intention.
	And that is not how power works in American society.
	Power is distributed.
	It lies at the local level.
	It lies at the state level.
	It lies at the federal level.
	If we all organize locally and if we use every lever that we have got, right?
	Our counties, our cities, our mayors.
	Our state legislatures, our governors, our elected officials at the federal level, and we all play our roles because we each have a different role to play based on where we are in the country.
	We can block some of the worst of Donald Trump's agenda, some of the harm that he intends to do to us and to our neighbors.
	We can hold off that harm.
	We can make sure that people understand exactly how dangerous and damaging and personally harmful his agenda is going to be for them.
	We can protect elections so that we're actually able to have elections in 2026.
	And then we can beat them in the term.
	Well, I think we should be real about a couple of the underlying conditions here,
	right?
	So Donald Trump got elected by putting as much distance as he possibly could between himself and his actual Project 2025 agenda, right?
	He literally disowned it in a number of different settings.
	And he was elected, and one of the things that we saw in focus groups was a lot of voters literally didn't believe that he was going to do some of the things that he said he was going to do.
	So his coalition is not stable.
	There's a bunch of people within that who voted for him because they are frustrated about inflation, but did not vote for anything about a Project 2025 agenda.
	So that's one, is that he's not actually got as stable a coalition as people are making out.
	The second is he has a teeny tiny majority in the House of Representatives, right?
	When we were...
	We're good to go.
	That's going to be a real fight.
	And as long as we hold Democrats united, then they are going to have to fight that out themselves.
	And a lot of the things that they want to pass, we might be able to stop with enough pressure, enough outrage, enough summoning of all the power that we've got.
	And if we make sure that people know exactly how dangerous these things are ahead of time.
	Leah Greenberg, our guest, the numbers to call in in this last segment of The Washington Journal, 202 -748 -8001 for Republicans.
	We're good to go.
	We're good to go.
	Bounce this off you.
	This is Congressman Richie Torres, Democrat of New York, in the days after the 2024 election.
	He writes this, Donald Trump has no greater friend than the far left, which has managed to alienate historic numbers of Latinos and blacks and Asians and Jews from the Democratic Party with absurdities like defund the police or from the river to the sea or Latinx.
	There is much more to lose than Twitch and TikTok.
	There is much more to lose, excuse me, than there is to gain politically from pandering to the far left, which is more represented of Twitter and Twitch and TikTok than of the real world.
	The working class, he said, is not buying the ivory tower nonsense that the far left is selling.
	Look, I think this has been one of the strains of the discourse and the hot takes post -election, right?
	And we should be real that anytime you lose an election, certain people who are making one argument on Monday are going to say on Wednesday, yeah, that's why we lost.
	That's my pet issue.
	That's why we lost.
	I think it is a completely...
	Transparent exercise to kind of continue to grind the acts that you were grinding before the election to go in and say a campaign that ran a really aggressive effort to reach out to centrists, a really aggressive effort to flip Haley voters that did very intentional and very aggressive outreach on all fronts to try to broaden that coalition,
	to look at that and say, you know, somehow, some way, this is the fault of the people who are totally not making any of the decisions in the Democratic Party.
	Don't look at the people who, you know, made decisions about deploying a billion dollars.
	Don't look at the people who set up for the conditions that forced Vice President Harris into this, like, last -minute, you know, mad dash attempt to present herself to the voters.
	Look at somebody who's totally out of power and completely not, you know, wasn't making any of the decisions involved in the campaign.
	So, you know, again, I think hot takes are going to hot take, but we should be serious when we're actually looking for answers about what is really going to transform the Democratic Party.
	Let me get you some of those callers.
	We'll start on the line.
	Four Democrats out of the battleground state of Michigan.
	It's Holly.
	Good morning.
	Good morning.
	Good morning, Holly.
	What's your question or comment for Leah Greenberg?
	So David Hogg was on yesterday on another newscast, and he was very frustrated with how the Democratic leadership Leah Greenberg.
	I think that the Democratic Party is a lot of different people and a lot of different places, right?
	When we talk about the Democratic Party, we're talking about all of our own elected officials.
	We're talking about the DNC.
	We're talking about the president and everybody in his administration.
	I think what...
	The caller mentions David Hogg.
	Do you think David Hogg should be in DNC leadership.
	He's running for one of those vice chair spots as reported this week.
	So I represent a network of thousands of local indivisible groups, and when we're going to make a national endorsement of any kind, we want to talk to our indivisible groups first.
	What I would say is that I think that the Democratic, you know, the conversation over the DNC is absolutely a healthy time to be talking about the future of the Democratic Party, the ways that it can and should be doing better outreach messaging, reaching people in non -traditional ways,
	all of the stuff that's being brought up by this conversation.
	This is Patricia in Minneapolis, Republican.
	Good morning.
	Thanks for waiting.
	Good morning.
	Miss Greenberg, didn't you learn anything from the election?
	How did that lie about Trump being for the Project 2025 workout for you guys?
	How about that lie about the dictator thing you said?
	And the other lie, quit trying to scare Americans.
	Quit lying to us.
	They're not going to get rid of Social Security.
	You Democrats have been saying that for decades.
	It's the biggest lie.
	You're trying to instill fear.
	You're trying to divide Americans.
	We're sick of it.
	We're absolutely sick of it.
	You and your far left, crazy, insane ideas and lies.
	Leah Greenberg, give you a chance to respond.
	Sure.
	I think what I would say is that I could have heard somebody call into the show and say the exact same thing about abortion five years ago.
	They're not going to get rid of abortion.
	Don't be ridiculous.
	That's all lies.
	That's the kind of thing that people were saying.
	And in fact, very smart people across the establishment were telling us like, you know, don't worry about the right to abortion.
	You don't really need to be concerned about that.
	Then they got a majority on the Supreme Court and they did what they'd been planning to do for 40 years, which was get rid of the right to abortion nationally.
	And now women are dying for lack of for lack of ability.
	One of our viewers on Aztec wants to know how you're paid, how your group is funded.
	Sure.
	We're funded by donations.
	Our single largest source is small dollar donations.
	We get them through our emails, through our website, through social media.
	So if you are inspired, feel free to go to indivisible .org and sign up for our weekly email updates on what you can do to be strategic or, you know, help support our work.
	And is this your full -time job?
	This is my full -time job.
	Mark is in Wisconsin.
	Independent, good morning.
	Yes, sir.
	Hello.
	Thank you very much.
	I just wanted to comment on the...
	The representative cited the reasons earlier you played.
	Democrat representative said why the Democrats lost the election.
	And I think it's wise for the Democrats to invest early now in accepting why they lost.
	And if they don't, 2026 is going to be a big problem.
	And I believe that the Democrat representative you had, I can't remember his name, but that was a very accurate take on what happened.
	And to say it was a particular hot take on Monday or Wednesday or whatever...
	That's kind of denial to me.
	And so that's all I really have to say about it.
	Mark, I'm trying to remember the representative from last week.
	Was it Tom Suozzi of New York?
	He was talking about concerns about Democrats on the issue of immigration.
	And that's one of the reasons why Democrats lost.
	Was that what you were referring to?
	No, just about two minutes or four minutes ago.
	Oh, you're talking about Richard Torres's...
	The comment.
	Gotcha.
	Leah Greenberg, you talked about Richie Torres.
	We did have Tom Suozzi on this show, and he talked a lot about Democrats not trying to understand why people voted for Donald Trump and talked a lot about the issue of immigration.
	What would your response be?
	Well, look, we've got a lot of folks who organized in Tom Suozzi's district to elect him and who worked really closely with the campaign to get him through.
	And we are an organization that collectively is really clear that when it comes to general elections, we're going to get in line behind the Democrat and make sure that we are collectively pushing to elect pro -democracy candidates and to defeat would -be fascists or fascist enablers.
	So regardless of whether we've got ideological disagreements, We're good.
	Fundamentally, if what we take away from that is kind of about the ideological spectrum, right, left to right, versus the pro -system, anti -system spectrum, people who don't trust the establishment, people who don't trust the institutions, people who don't think that the status quo is working for them,
	and we talk about it in ideological terms in terms of talking about how do we actually reach people who are sufficiently frustrated with how things are going, that appeals about preserving democracy, preserving institutions did not resonate with them, then I think we're missing the boat.
	Are Democrats no longer the establishment party right now?
	Well, I think that when your president is a Democrat, you are kind of de facto responsible for the context and the outcomes, right?
	That is the thing about running as an incumbent.
	We are about to no longer be the incumbent party.
	Donald Trump is about to become the incumbent, and he is going to switch from a challenger candidate, from a change candidate, to a guy who is responsible for everything that his administration is doing.
	And his administration will be stocked with radicals who are doing extreme and harmful and dangerous things.
	We're good to go.
	Who was not sufficiently motivated, excited, ready to show up in November on our own side?
	And who were those people in your estimation?
	Well, disproportionately, I mean, we saw that cities tended to underperform.
	I really don't want to be the person who has very informed takes before we get the voter file back and we're able to speak in real and concrete terms about exactly who did what, which demographic group did what.
	So I don't like to get too into the details there until we have the data to really speak about it.
	But what we know is that, you know.
	We had some real drop -offs in turnout.
	And so that's the other side of this equation is who did we lose to Donald Trump?
	Who did we lose to third party candidates?
	And who did we lose to the couch?
	To Ohio.
	This is Nancy, line for Democrats.
	Good morning.
	All right.
	Good morning, everybody.
	I would like to know, should the Democrats use the filibuster to fight back?
	Yes, absolutely.
	Oh, sorry.
	Is that you're not done?
	Are you finished, Nancy?
	All right, we'll take the question.
	Go ahead, Leah Greenberg.
	Look, I think we've been really clear that we think there are a lot of things about the existing institutional system that are pretty flawed.
	And also, while we're in the existing institutional system, we think you should use all the tools at your disposal.
	And so, absolutely, I think a really core part of our work over the coming period will be blocking some of the most harmful stuff that we can in the Senate by holding the Democratic caucus united to stop it via whatever tools are at their disposal.
	Do you think Joe Biden should have appointed additional members of the Supreme Court?
	Well, I think that court reform is absolutely a topic that we should have been trying to move with more speed and alacrity across the Democratic Party.
	I don't know if it would be realistic to say that the conditions would have been ripe in this term or realistic.
	You know, Joe Biden doesn't have the ability to do that unilaterally, right?
	You need to have 50 senators vote for it.
	That means a real organizing effort across the Democratic Party to move Democratic senators and the broader set of stakeholders into alignment with the understanding that the courts are fundamentally an irreparable.
	We're good to go.
	Not to mention our own fundamental rights like reproductive freedom.
	I think we will see a groundswell of people who are asking, why are we treating this court as legitimate when it does not treat itself as accountable to us?
	What does court reform look like?
	Court reform could look like a lot of different things, right?
	You know, if you start with this fundamental question of why do we have a right -wing court that's been, or a Supreme Court that has been captured by extremist federalist society hacks.
	And how are we going to move forward?
	You could talk about ethics reform, right?
	Because we have seen enormous ethics scandals involving members of the court who are not reporting large amounts of money.
	uh large amount large gifts luxury vacations etc that they are getting from donors you can talk about term limits right because you know we operate in a modern society and we don't have to consistently stick with the system of everyone stays on until uh you know they are no longer physically able to do so you can talk about adding members to the supreme court that is or expanding the supreme court because you would want to recognize or create a system whereby uh supreme court positions are are Sorry.
	Because you'd want to create a system where, you know, who adds, which president adds how many seats to the Supreme Court is standardized rather than kind of a matter of chance.
	All of those are things that are options that one might consider under the bucket of Supreme Court reform.
	But fundamentally, I think the first thing is Democrats have got to recognize that the existing court is fundamentally captured by the Republican Party.
	And then we got to talk about what we should be doing about it.
	To the Granite State in East Kingston, this is Norman, Republican line.
	Good morning.
	Good morning, Ms. Greenberg.
	I've enjoyed listening to you and I'm glad you're participating in the system by forming a group.
	However, you seem to be completely against the incoming administration.
	I would like to know what do you think about the immigration policy of the current administration that allowed so many people into this country and put them into the states?
	What I think is that we have got a broken legislative system that creates the kind of checkpoints that mean that Congress is not able to flexibly adapt and respond to crises in order to address real and pressing needs for Americans and immigrants alike,
	right?
	What I think is that If we had the kind of functioning system that was able to adjust and recognize that a significant number of people are coming in to make sure that cities had the support that they needed to handle that influx,
	and that it was able to craft a coherent response that both observed our obligations under international law and helped to support the people who are working collectively to support the folks arriving.
	Then we would be in a really different situation right now.
	But fundamentally, I think that is one of many ways in which Albuquerque.
	This is David, Democrat.
	Good morning.
	I've been a Democrat all my life, and it's kind of amusing how the Democrats are saying they are, you know, for the American public, people, which they are not.
	I mean, it's evident, seriously, you know, they don't care about us and letting in millions of immigrants that has harmed, murdered,
	frightened people to stay in their own house or apartments.
	We're good.
	The government helped us, and they said the Democrats helped to help the poor people.
	And I thought, okay, I love the Democrats.
	You don't help people no more.
	You take care of them.
	You say we need all these immigrants to do the work that the Americans won't do.
	And that's true to a big extent.
	But why are we telling people, hey, have kids, and if you don't want to do the work, let us know.
	We will give you more food stamps.
	We will take care of your housing costs.
	David, I got your point.
	Leah Greenberg, give you a chance to respond.
	I think we've got a big challenge right now in American society because I think that a set of people who are very wealthy and very powerful across corporations, across Silicon Valley,
	across a number of concentrated interests are telling a story whereby we blame each other, right?
	We blame people across lines of race.
	We blame people across lines of citizenship status.
	We blame, you know, populations like trans kids and we say these are the problems.
	That are really that should drive us, when actually they are distracting us so that they can loot the government, so that they can undermine public education, so that they can attack our health care system and so they can back up a giant truck to the federal government uh, and take the money for themselves.
	And so fundamentally, I think we've got to figure out ways that we tell that story to the American people.
	We've got to figure out ways that we understand that when they ask us to fight each other, what they actually are doing is trying to distract us, so that, About 10 minutes before the House comes in today, we'll take you there live, of course, for gavel -to -gavel coverage.
	We're talking to Leah Greenberg of the group Indivisible.
	How many members are there in your group?
	How many folks do you work with around the country?
	Sure.
	We work with around 2 ,500 active Indivisible groups around the country, and membership is local.
	It's held by the local groups.
	It can be anywhere from a dozen folks in a small town in Tennessee to thousands and thousands of folks in some of our bigger cities.
	So it's a vibrant network.
	It's really shaped by whoever starts an Indivisible group.
	And if you're listening and you're thinking, I really need to do something right now, we're actually doing a training today for people who are interested in starting a new Indivisible group, because we are experiencing a.
	What do you train them to do?
	we train folks on the basics of organizing right how do you how do you have a meeting how do you make asks to people within your group how do you help develop other leaders so that they can take on different parts of the work how do you advocate to your elected officials so that they can hear you and how do you do things that actually make them sit up and listen right how do you know enough about what they care about that you can actually impact them right like they like good press they don't like surprises they don't like bad comments from their own constituents you use their incentives to make them
	At this point, do you know what races you're going to target into 2026?
	going to be working on basically all of them because they are all over the place but absolutely we're thinking about swing states we're thinking about how we're going to flip the house back we're thinking about some of the key senate targets and and we're thinking about the key states that are going to determine the electoral college in 2028 because we got to win those statewide governorships attorney general secretaries of state races to make sure that the people who run the election in 2028 are committed to democracy and are committed to running a fair election To New Jersey, this is George Ann, Independent.
	Good morning.
	Thanks for waiting.
	You're on with Leah Greenberg.
	Good morning.
	It's so refreshing to hear from someone like you.
	I know at this time many are feeling a sense of loss after the election.
	However, I was wondering, since I'm not really familiar with what you're doing, you remind me so much of the early days of Rachel.
	And I'm hoping maybe I can see you on programs.
	Such as Morning Joe, even Fox, Joe Rogan, so that your point of view, everyone can listen to.
	It's facts.
	I have listened to opponents, and I can't really make sense of what they're saying for the reasons they've supported the MAGA.
	You ask them a question, and they die off.
	MSNBC and all of them have the same people on every single day, same experts.
	It's so nice to hear from you.
	You're offering more of a joining and everybody to listen to.
	I really appreciate.
	And the other thing I want to say, C -SPAN, so often when they call to collect money for either the Democrat or a Republican registered as an independent now, I tell them about C -SPAN that they should watch the hearings that you offer and people could learn from them and see what the representatives are doing.
	But you never hear them tell people to watch C -SPAN.
	They can make judgments for themselves and especially at a time like this, we need to see your shows and watch the hearings.
	Thank you.
	Georgeann, thanks for watching.
	Leah Greenberg.
	Well, thank you for those kind words.
	And I, you know, I show up on any program that'll have me.
	So if the Fox News, well, I'm not sure about Fox News, but I'm not sure they want us on sharing our thoughts, but we'll go where people are willing to hear our message.
	If invited, would you go on Fox News?
	I'm sure, I don't know, but I've never been invited, so I think they're not really interested.
	Fundamentally, though, we'll go where people will hear our message.
	Pete Buttigieg, during the 2024 election, got a lot of attention for going on conservative programs and engaging on conservative programs, saying that it was important for Democrats.
	To do that, to be in those spaces, to provide a voice on conservative programs.
	What do you think of that?
	Was it a good use of his time?
	Look, I think Pete Buttigieg is great at showing up and making a really compelling argument for our values.
	I think that the kinds of people who watch Fox News are generally pretty set in their overall commitment to a worldview that is not going to be disruptable by a single really compelling monologue or argument.
	I do think that Democrats need to get a lot better at We're good to go.
	I think?
	Well, I think it's...
	I mean, each of those platforms has both a political platform and a non -political entire set of content, right?
	What I would say is, if I had the choice between another person who's really good at talking about politics on TikTok and I had the choice, and a momfluencer, right?
	Somebody who mostly makes content about taking care of their kids and who occasionally talks about why healthcare is so expensive, why healthcare, even what we have, is under threat, and why Republicans are doing this attack on us.
	I would take that second person because I think that they're reaching an audience of people who might be clicking past that first person in the algorithm or might never see them at all.
	Back to the Garden State, this is Edward in Keyport Independent.
	Good morning.
	Thank you.
	I'd like to congratulate you that you're not taking the tact of trying to out -QAnon QAnon and you're sticking with facts.
	You know, logic with what you're trying to do.
	I would like to think that fascism defeats itself by the idea of, like, how you have to just highlight the idea, like, Latinos are basically one step away from having to wear, like, a Star David in public.
	You know what I mean?
	Minority communities are going to be, like, one step away from having more polluting industries in their neighborhoods and more over policing and police brutality.
	So you just need to highlight these issues and keep up the fight.
	And there's people like, there was no mandate here, you know, for these people to do what they want to do.
	And you know, you guys got supporters.
	So keep up the fight.
	Thank you.
	Well, thank you.
	Thank you.
	And those are absolutely some of the kinds of messages that we need to make sure really get out to communities over the coming years, right?
	Every time the Trump administration changes a regulation that's going to contribute to the polluting and harm done in your community, every time the Trump administration rolls back requirements on banks that will allow them to operate in ways that screw over consumers,
	every time they take an action that is designed to benefit the rich and the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us, we are going to need to make We're good to go.
	A story from Axios.
	It's a very Capitol Hill story.
	It's about seedings on committees in the 119th Congress.
	This story noting House Democrats Steering and Policy Committee voted to recommend Congressman Jerry Conley, the Democrat of Virginia, as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, according to several sources.
	It's a blow to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez's hopes of leading that high -profile panel.
	Is this important?
	What do you think?
	Well, I think this is in the context of having seen a number of challenges within the Democratic Party of younger members or members who are really seeing a role in kind of the public relations aspect of chairmanships, right?
	And fundamentally, what I would say is I hope that all of us within the Democratic Party are looking at the past election.
	An election cycle in which we literally had to switch out our candidate.
	Because of voters' concerns over age and thinking, what do we do to push back against this tendency towards derontocracy, right?
	This tendency towards only having the faces of our party be older folks who are struggling to relate to newer and younger voters who are not able to speak their language, who are not able to, you know.
	Come in and do the things that are necessary to reach audiences that we are struggling with.
	And so when I see somebody like AOC, who is an incredibly compelling communicator, who has really done the work on oversight, who has demonstrated just a deep investment in the party throughout all of her campaigning and work throughout this cycle, coming in and trying to take a role like this,
	I think that's a really powerful potential lever for Democrats to lean into.
	And I hope that people see the potential and the excitement that that could generate.
	You worked in Virginia politics, including for Tom Perriello.
	Remind viewers who Tom Perriello is.
	Sure.
	Tom Perriello was a congressional, he was a member of Congress elected in 2008, who took a number of hard votes in favor of President Obama's agenda, including passing the Affordable Care Act.
	I worked on his congressional team.
	We were unfortunately defeated in the red wave in 2010.
	Do you think he has a place in the future of the Democratic Party?
	Well, I think Tom has played a number of really crucial roles throughout his time, right?
	He ran for governor.
	I was part of that campaign.
	He then turned right around after not winning the primary and spent the entire next nine months making sure that Democrats would win the general election and campaigning tirelessly for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
	He's really invested in the nuts and bolts of party building, and he's also really invested in the kind of communication and approach to politics that helps people hear and see that you are We're taking on the system as well.
	And so I think that his messages and his framing and his learnings about what works are absolutely a part of what should be, you know, what we should be thinking about in the future of the Democratic Party.
	And I think he's a powerful ambassador.

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