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Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, your calls and comments live.
Then, all this week, watch Washington Journal's special Holiday Authors Week series, featuring live segments each morning with a new writer.
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C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
Join the conversation.
Good morning.
It's Sunday, December 22nd, 2024.
With the government shutdown averted, much of the work of Washington is wrapping up for the year, winding down the last of the Biden administration and preparing for President-elect Donald Trump's second term.
Our question this morning: how are you feeling about the next Trump presidency?
If you're feeling optimistic, 202-748-8000.
If you're feeling pessimistic, call us at 202-748-8001.
If you're not sure, that number is 202-748-8002.
You can also text us.
That number is 202-748-8003.
Just please be sure to include your name and where you're writing in from.
And you can also find us on social media, facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ.
Now, there has been quite a bit of polling looking at how Americans are feeling about the incoming Trump administration, including reporting here in Fox News about a Monmouth University poll.
Finding a majority of Americans are optimistic about Trump's agenda, a poll finds, despite tariff concerns.
A majority of Americans say they are optimistic about the policies President-elect Trump will pursue in his incoming administration, according to a new poll from Monmouth University.
That poll found that 53% of Americans are either very or somewhat optimistic about Trump's second term.
Now, that's a slight rise from the weeks prior to his first term, when just 50% of Americans said they were optimistic.
The only segment of Americans who are less optimistic about Trump's second term than they were about his first term are Democrats, with just 10% saying they look forward to the next four years.
There's been other polling, as reported in Reuters, showing about how people are feeling about Trump more generally.
In a polarized America, 41% of Americans have a favorable view of Trump, according to a Reuters Ipsos poll.
Finding that about two in five Americans view President-elect Donald Trump favorably, fewer than when the Republican was on the cusp of his first presidential term, a new Reuters-Ipsos poll showed.
Some 41% of respondents in the three-day poll, which closed on Sunday, that's last Sunday, said they viewed Trump favorably, while 55% viewed him unfavorably as his January 20th inauguration approached.
That was down from Trump's 51% favorability rating in December 2016 after his stunning victory in that year's election, even though for months he had garnered ratings around 40%.
The post-election boost carried into the initial months of his 2017 to 2021 terms.
Now, those were looks at polling looking at both how people are feeling about Trump's policies as well as Trump in general.
President-elect Donald Trump himself spoke with reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Monday and says that he is now better able to enact his agenda this time around.
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%, a 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.
Now, in terms of the Democratic perspective on the incoming Trump administration, there's reporting here in The Hill.
Democrats recalibrate their resistance to Trump.
Democrats are not planning an all-hands resistance to President-elect Donald Trump, at least not in the 2016 style, when lawmakers, activists, volunteers, and millions of angry voters mounted a party-wide effort to curb his newfound influence in Washington.
Where so much was once unprecedented, Trump is now familiar.
Ahead of January 2025, the lack of a unified Democratic rebuttal to his second term is the latest sign that the party's just beginning to soul search, trying to figure out what went wrong before banding together to bash the GOP.
Now, last week, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut spoke out against Trump's agenda and warned about an oligarchy of wealthy elites trying to take power.
Mr. President, I'm on the floor today to talk to my colleagues about something that is happening right in front of our eyes.
It's a set of events that aren't random.
They're connected to one another that threaten to destroy this country that we love.
Everybody can see it, but for some reason, maybe the exhaustion of the aftermath of a brutal election, maybe the distraction of the Christmas season, maybe just an instinct to flee instead of fight, there are far too many people that are denying to themselves what they are seeing.
What is happening right now is that Donald Trump and his billionaire advisors are unfolding for the country in real time a plan to transition this country from a democracy to a restrictive oligarchy where political opposition is silenced,
where the media isn't free, and where government just exists to enrich a small cabal of elites that surround the man in charge.
I know a lot of my colleagues do see how these dots exist and how they connect.
And I know in your gut, a lot of you see the specter of the disaster that is coming.
But if you don't, I want to spend just a few minutes laying it out.
And to make things simple, I'm just going to focus on three events that happened in the last seven days.
The recommendation by House Republicans that Trump critic Liz Cheney be subject to criminal prosecution.
The lawsuit filed by Trump against an Iowa pollster in an Iowa newspaper.
And the decision by ABC to pay Trump $15 million to get rid of a bogus lawsuit.
And now we're ready to hear your perspectives on how you're feeling about the incoming Trump administration, whether you're optimistic, pessimistic, or not sure.
Some comments we've already received from text and social media.
Sandy in Bloomington, Indiana says, I am quite pessimistic regarding Trump's presidency, beginning with his picks for cabinet members, et cetera.
And then on X, Deb Johnson says, I am very optimistic that our future is in the best hands.
However, the current administration is doing everything it can to take our country down before it leaves.
And another comment from X from Elvin Brown.
I'm very optimistic that Trump will bankrupt our nation.
Now to your calls.
James is in Fort Myers, Florida, and is pessimistic about the incoming administration.
Good morning, James.
Good morning.
Yes, I am quite pessimistic.
Now, remember, I'm just one of these poor people out here trying to make a living and trying to, you know, live my life.
Try to be as objective and fair as I can be about things, but I will tell you, mark this day, of those of you who want to, that two years from now, he will be impeached.
He'll be lucky to even make it two years.
Now, James, what in particular has you pessimistic about the incoming Trump presidency?
Are there particular policies?
Well, there's not hardly anything about it that I find positive.
He's just chaotic this last deal with the passage of the CR and so forth.
He just threw a wrench in the works.
It's like he enjoys screwing things up as much as he can.
Now, I'm not saying that that was particularly right, but I doubt that he knew any more about it than I did.
The man, if he's talking, he's lying.
Okay.
Let's hear from Dan in Louisville, Kentucky, who's optimistic about the second Trump term.
Good morning, Dan.
Good morning, I tell you.
Trump deranges my center and still strong and steady, but the only way he'd get impeached if he, you know, has a bunch of rhinos.
But I believe he'll do good just like he did the first term.
He got quite a bit done, content, being that he had to fight the Democrat, Republican, mainstream media.
You know, he got a lot of things done.
I think he'll get a lot more done now this time because everybody's tired of the same old, same old.
And, you know, it's just like the last four years.
Every time I got the cost of living increase, they took more away than they gave me on something else.
Just like this year, you get a $24 raise, they take $26 from your SNAP benefits.
So every year I get less and less, but under time.
Are you referring to your Social Security, Dan?
Yes.
Yes.
I got a $24 increase, and then under SNAP benefits, they took $26.
It's been like that for the last four years.
I'd rather them not give me a raise, and that way I'm going to be at least breaking even, you know, instead of losing every year.
Under time, I always had extra.
Are there particular things about some of the policies that President-elect Trump has suggested that you're looking forward to?
Oh, yeah.
Deportation, closing the border.
Hopefully, you know, I'm hoping he could bring groceries down because I'll tell you what, it's tight for me.
I'm a diabetic and I try to eat, you know, good.
You know, I like salads, but all the stuff you're getting for salads, it's awful high, you know.
But once prices are up, you know how hard they are to come down.
He'll have a better chance bringing gasoline down than groceries.
People, you know, they think it's like, well, they're used to it now, just keep it that way.
Well, you know what?
If it's going to be like that, the real poor people, they're having a hard time, especially us as elderly and, you know, having benefits cut.
You know, I don't know how they figure it.
You know, they say, well, it's because you're LGE, you know, your gas and electric bill.
Well, they check, they take it at fall.
Well, during the summer, you're not using that much heat and air.
During the winter, my bills double.
Why don't they take it during the winter?
That way they wouldn't be gouging me, you know, taking more from me than I'm getting.
All right, I'm going to go to another caller.
Let's hear from Vincent in Gatersburg, Maryland, who's not sure.
Good morning, Vincent.
Well, I'm not sure about what's going to happen in the future, except that based on Trump's past history, I am sure that it'll be a lot better than right now.
And the last caller, Trump is not going to, Social Security will not be cutting Medicare, Amazon, alveeting, everything will be in place and better.
C-SPAN, DNN, MSNBC, Fox, et cetera.
You folks, my concern is the maltreated.
He's an old man, elderly.
No, I don't go along with Biden, but he's still a senior citizen.
Your own Wall Street Journal say he is not fit to function.
Yet you people, and you C-SPAN is supposed to be on top of all these things.
Seems to me you're covering this up.
Trump would do fine.
My concern is our national security.
Biden can't even sign the bill into effect.
So who is going to sign it for?
It'll look like he's signing.
Who is running our country now?
One last thing.
One caller said he was appalled that unelected officials are running.
Well, let me tell you something, Carla.
We have elected officials right now running our country.
It is not Biden.
And C-SPAN, you just deny these facts.
Anyway, everybody have a Merry Christmas.
And everything's going to be fine with Trump.
Certainly a lot better.
Take care.
Charlie is in Oneida, New York, and is pessimistic about the incoming Trump administration.
Why is that, Charlie?
I just feel that he knows the game a little better now than he did when he was first elected.
And I think the GOP is more willing just to roll over and do his will than before.
I don't see any Republican with a backbone that can stand up to him.
And his agenda is it is taking us back to a place where we really should not be as a country.
We should be going forward.
All right.
Let's hear from Paul in the UK calling all the way from England, who's not sure.
Good morning, Paul.
A little bit.
Hello there.
Yes, I think hopefully fingers trusted.
We'll have a peaceful World, if Mr. Donald Trump does get does sort of give Will peace of elect next few years.
If not, that certain peace after 2013 beyond all that time does the world deserve peace and also peace of all right.
Let's hear from Paul in Cornwall, New York, who is optimistic about the Trump administration coming in.
Good morning, Paul.
Hey, good morning.
I'm very optimistic about the Trump administration, the new Trump administration coming in.
It's going to be a lot better than what we got.
Well, what's supposed to be in the White House right now because no one knows really where Joe Biden is or Kamala Harris.
So as far as I'm concerned, Trump is president.
He's already taking control.
And I want it very much for noticing that 40% pay raise that Congress wanted to give himself, and they put the kibosh on that.
No way through a 40% increase.
I mean, I don't believe it was a 40% pay raise.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe it was 6%.
But let me pull up the exact detail so we can get that number right.
But continue your point while I look for that.
I'm looking forward to seeing the border finally getting secured and getting the fentanyl out of this country.
You know, the Democrats are screaming, oh, drug addiction and this and that, but they do nothing about it.
And as far as everybody else saying, well, the GOP is going along with Trump's agenda, what do you think the Democrats would do if Harris was elected?
They'd go along with her agenda.
That's just the way this is played.
So, Paul, before I let you go, Paul, I just want to read about that 40% number.
So, there is a fact check on that in Reuters saying that the bipartisan stopgap spending bill did not include a 40% pay raise for Congress.
The temporary spending bill scuttled by opposition from President-elect Donald Trump would have made U.S. Congress members eligible for a 3.8% salary increase, not 40% as suggested in posts online that misinterpret a report on congressional salaries.
So, those posts refer to the bipartisan deal unveiled on December 17th.
That was the original continuing resolution.
The revised stopgap bill does not have the pay raise, but that version included a raise to the national debt ceiling.
So, I'm trying to find the exact detail here.
The bill would have ended a long-time pay freeze, allowing lawmakers to be eligible for a 3.8% salary increase in January, which would have been equal to $6,600.
So, that is the detail on that there, Paul.
Did you have any other points before I let you go?
Fact-checking me.
No, I'm glad you fact-checked me on that.
I do appreciate that, but still, they don't even deserve that because the working class in America isn't even getting that.
So, have a Merry Christmas, everybody, next year.
All right.
Carl is in Chicago, Illinois, and is pessimistic about the incoming Trump administration.
Good morning, and why is that, Carl?
Yes.
Hello, there's two principal things that concern me.
One is Trump's unwillingness to even acknowledge climate change, which is our only real existential threat in the world because humans are big animals, and we need a lot of clean air and not overly warm world.
Secondly, there was a book written on how democracies fail.
And one of the principal parts of the book indicated that If the two political parties in Congress yet can cooperate, they can get the work of democracy done.
However, if they think of each other as totally the awful people, they will not manage to negotiate and conclude some logical things.
So I suppose those are the two biggest concerns that worry me about the Trump administration and the Congress we have seen.
Thank you.
Okay.
Arthur is in Winter Garden, Florida, and is optimistic about Trump's next term.
Good morning, Arthur.
Yes, ma'am.
If we can cut the waste in our government, all wasteful projects, that's going to be a very big improvement.
If we can take care of America first and not be getting involved in everybody else's conflicts, that would be an improvement.
Thank you.
So, Arthur, before I let you go, President-elect Donald Trump has suggested and is planning to set up this new Department of Government Efficiency to deal with potential government waste.
What do you think of that proposal?
I think that's a step in the right direction.
Okay.
Jasper is in Memphis, Tennessee, and is pessimistic about the incoming Trump administration.
Good morning, Jasper.
Good morning.
Got a couple of things here, real quick.
Number one, I listen that these old poor Republicans live out in the rural area around these people, around these towns, all these people that these blacks and Mexican that voted for Trump.
Look at the last four years.
Under the last two years Trump was in office, this country was in ruins.
We was out of jobs, people in food lines, left in the stores.
These supply lines broke down.
He was in Mar-a-Lago golfing and trying to hire doctors.
You mean during the pandemic?
During the pandemic time.
The last two years now, they got it real good.
And now he's coming in with the same policies.
The first policy he wants to do is to bail out the farmers.
He the one went to China and they messed it up.
Why should the taxpayers mess up something that he went over and messed up?
You know what I'm saying?
And every time that they're talking about money, these were fucking all they'll say is about money.
There's nothing about community.
Every time that they get in, I hear these old pole jokers calling from out of the country: money, money.
I had more money under Trump.
You did not have no money under Trump.
Trump gave you a tax break, but now your retirement, when you get social security time, you're going to have less.
See, Trump is not going to do nothing, man.
Six months, you're going to see the difference.
We're going to be going back in the depression and recession time because nobody, other countries are going to want to work with Trump.
They already done told them.
So you can fly your little flag and bring this little stuff about.
But we are headed for a hard time, Eric.
I mean, a very hard time.
It's coming.
Thank you.
Jeffrey is in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is optimistic about Trump's second term.
Good morning, Jeffrey.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking the call and happy holidays.
C-STAN does an excellent job.
It's amazing.
This is really amazing that the wonderful blessing of being in a position to everybody have their opinion.
But here's the fact.
It is out just over the top that you have a man.
Nobody's talking about this.
It's fading away.
He has 34 felonies convicted.
You have persons, people out here that has maybe one infraction that can't even have an opportunity to survive.
So, Jeffrey, what are you optimistic about?
Absolutely.
What he's going to do is make sure, reassure, the second time around, are we talking about the wall or stopping drugs?
No, he's going to make sure, absolutely, he's going to get his debt back from the pending charges or litigation on that civil aspect.
He's going to get his money back.
And as far as the drugs-wise, this is just another on a larger scale.
Dave really wanted to, from any president before him, wanted to stop the flow of drugs.
Think about how it was in the 70s in the communities, the black communities, that was destroyed, families destroyed right now to the present because of the drug incestation back then.
There is no way they're going to realistically fix that, what should have been the top agenda in America back then.
This is just now overlapping.
And as far as the people that administration has run in the country, it is just beyond that.
All these educators, the people who are bringing their reviews, are looking at that is no big deal.
Where can anybody else be a felon or convicted with the federal prison and get a job like that?
So it seems like you're not actually optimistic, and you called it on the optimistic line.
So, but Jeffrey did mention policies around drugs, and there is quite a bit of reporting regarding various policies that the incoming Trump administration might do.
This is a poll from the Washington University, the University of Maryland and Washington Post, has done a poll looking at support for various Trump policies, including one of the things that Trump has associated with the drug problem in the United States, which is mass deportations.
And so, in terms of the using the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, 42% of people in the poll supported that idea versus 54% opposing that specific idea.
Let's hear a little bit more from President-elect Donald Trump when he was speaking at his news conference last week about another one of his policy proposals: tariffs.
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, well, 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.
I'm worried about tariffs.
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 in the economy more broadly?
Make our country rich.
Tariffs will make our country rich.
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.
Now, back to your comments about whether you're feeling optimistic or pessimistic about the next Trump presidency.
We've heard from several of you via text message and on social media.
Larry in Milford, Michigan says, I am excited about Trump's second term.
The U.S. first policies will lead to more prosperity and security.
Also, Larry from New Jersey saying, I am very pessimistic.
Trump is very transactional and easily distracted by flattery.
Alan in Huntington, West Virginia.
As someone that loves our form of government, checks and balances, free and fair elections, and peaceful transfer of power, I'm very pessimistic.
All the signs are right in front of us.
The president-elect doesn't respect these, and a substantial percentage of his followers don't.
And then Kristen in Portland, Maine says, pessimistic with hope for optimism.
Trump destroyed the economy with his mismanagement of the pandemic.
You judge a leader by their actions during a crisis.
If we have another unforeseen disaster, I believe he will fail again.
Let's hope he can just coast off Biden's accomplishments, the infrastructure law, the American Rescue Plan, Chips and Science Act, and more.
And on X, BC Vinna says, I was pessimistic the first time and I was right.
It'll be worse this time, guaranteed.
It's a government of, by, and for the oligarchs now.
Good luck getting it back.
And now let's get back to your calls.
Dan is in Atlanta and is pessimistic.
Why is that, Dan?
Good morning.
Hey, and good morning.
Like, how are you doing?
I just want to let you know the reason why we have to bail the farmers out is because of the tariffs that Trump imposed on China.
Of course, the American people are actually paying the bill.
And also, just to these callers, this is a fact that you can look it up and fact check this.
Trump added over about $7.5 trillion the last time he was in office.
And these people are worried about spending.
Trump is going to add about another $10 billion, correct me, another $10 trillion to the economy.
And the reason why he wanted the debt limit raised is so he can add even more.
And all those congressmen who are sit there, you know, doing the last session trying to keep the government open, all of those Republicans, you know, talking about spending, those are the same guys who voted for that $7.5 trillion the last time.
But when the Democrats come in, all of a sudden they want to be fiscally responsible.
They just setting the country up for another massive tax cut.
And during the last administration, outside of the tax cuts, what else did the Congress do?
It was infrastructure week.
They never spent anything.
The only thing Trump did in that first term was just the tax cut.
This is the only piece of legislation that he's going to be concentrating on now.
It's just giving the billionaires another tax cut.
And this is crazy.
I just hate to say this.
And also, and this is in the face of America having under Joe Biden the strongest economy in the history of the world.
And this is just crazy.
All right.
Joel is in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and is not sure.
Good morning, Joel.
Yes, good morning.
Merry Christmas to our country and everyone.
Well, I sit here and listen to all these crybabies calling in, and it's just disheartening.
They think the government owes them a living.
I've never, I've never taken a dime from the government.
I served in the military.
I retired from the military.
I fought in two wars, Korea and Vietnam.
I served in Germany in the Cold War.
But I don't understand why these people are crying so much here at Christmastime.
They should go to church today and thank the good Lord they have food on their table.
So, Joel, what do you think of Trump's next administration?
Are you optimistic?
Why are you sort of on the fence about how you're feeling about Trump's next term?
Well, I don't understand why Trump wants this headache.
He's an old man now.
I'm 82, and he's pushing me.
And he doesn't need these headaches, but the people, they don't understand.
Trump is trying to correct the last four years.
Now, Joe Biden opened up the southern border and let 15 million people in here.
That's where all your tax dollars are going to pay for these people to have a place to live, a place to eat, and all that.
So we got 15 million people, and I don't think Trump can get them out because the ACLU and all these lawyers, they're going to make money by trying to keep these people here.
So I don't see that happening.
And he's been shot at twice.
He probably will not make this four years.
The media are fanning the fire to kill this man.
And they don't have their eyes open, these Democrats.
How are they so well off today?
And you only got a 2.2% pay cost of living.
I don't need mine.
I saved my money, and I'm not a rich man, and I'm not well educated.
You can see how I talk.
I only had a sixth grade education, but I've been very blessed by our God and Lord.
So you people that's crying so much, get down on your knees today and say a blessing to the Lord and have a very Merry Christmas.
Goodbye.
Bill is in New York City and is optimistic about Trump's second term.
Good morning, Bill.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
And yes, I am very optimistic.
I believe in this country.
My family has been here for hundreds of years dealing with this country and their problems.
I'm highly optimistic, and I know that we're going to do better.
I'm tired of the scare tactics.
We have a lot of black people calling in, especially.
And Georgia, you did make a point because they are kind of crying about with all these scare tactics.
Please stop that.
We've been through much more.
America first.
I think that's what this administration is going to start saying.
America first.
And the Democrats needed to learn to deal with the grassroots a little bit better.
Or else it's going to happen again.
So maybe they need to go back and regroup.
And the guy from Georgia, some people are owed from the government.
And until they are paid, America can never be America.
I'm going to land my plane with that.
They have a great day.
Michael is in Massachusetts and is pessimistic about the incoming Trump administration.
Good morning, Michael.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
I'm pessimistic because president-elect Trump has already announced what he wants to do.
The most troubling of all is raising the debt limit, getting rid of it for a while.
This man has bankrupt five casinos and to raise that.
And we're in an area when you're talking a trillion, that's one billion billion dollars.
And he's always proving that he knows how to spend money in such a way as to bankrupt something.
And if he's announcing that that is a key part of his program, I find that very, very, very troubling, particularly given his record.
The other thing is, we all know the devil is a liar.
A liar is worse than a thief because a lie can damage you with damage that you cannot correct.
A thief, you can always hopefully recover what he stole.
And Trump is not only a liar, he's a serial liar.
Lie after If that's not the devil, I don't know what it is.
And then they come in and say that he's going to save America.
He's not saving America.
You know, he brings in a South African, you know, who has stolen blood diamonds and blood gold out of South Africa, for which anyone of color doing that would be in jail.
And they have plenty of them in there because they're branded as blood diamonds and blood gold.
And he's going to come over here and buy our barton soul legislature, legislators, and dictators to us that they're going to shut the government down.
Michael, guessing you're referring there to Elon Musk.
There was, obviously, and his role in potentially delaying the continuing resolution that has since passed.
But last Thursday, Massachusetts Representative Richard Neal, who's a top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, actually chided Republicans for just what you're talking about, Michael, for walking away from that bipartisan deal and being influenced by President Trump and Elon Musk.
Let's listen.
Your currency in this institution is your word.
We reached an agreement.
We came to modest achievements.
And a tweet changed all of it?
Can you imagine what the next two years are going to be like if every time the Congress works its will and then there's a tweet or from an individual who has no official portfolio who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary and they succumb?
This institution has a separate responsibility based upon the separation of powers.
Members of Congress don't serve under presidents of the United States.
It's called the national principle.
I'm in favor of aid to North Carolina.
I'm in age of the support of aid of the farmers in Missouri.
We come to the aid of the American family at moments like this, but you walked away from your word.
You walked away from an agreement.
That's what we're bothered by.
A simple suggestion from the president-elect that you ought to abandon that principle?
And this is what this is about.
This is trying to raise the debt ceiling to disguise a big tax cut that they want to offer later on.
Now, the idea of adding the increase to the debt ceiling to the continuing resolution ultimately did not make it into the legislation that passed.
Let's go to some of the comments we've been receiving from you all via text and social media.
Jim in Rockville, Maryland says, the best prediction of a Trump presidency is to look at everything he's been falsely accusing the Democrats of for years.
Start with weaponizing the Justice Department and lawfare, which he is already engaged in against political opponents and journalists.
The polling from the Washington Post and the University of Maryland actually asked about some of those topics, in particular this idea of firing FBI Director Christopher Wray or having the Justice Department investigate Trump's political rival and found relatively lower support for those ideas compared to those who are opposed,
with 54% being opposed to the idea of firing FBI Director Christopher Wray, 60% being against the idea of having the Justice Department investigate Trump's political rivals.
And when it comes to the media, 88% of the people polled were opposed to putting reporters in jail for writing stories that Trump dislikes.
Let's hear from Kendra in Ashland, Virginia, who's not sure about her feelings related to the incoming Trump administration.
Good morning, Kendra.
Kendra, are you there?
All right.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you now.
Go ahead.
Okay, good morning.
I guess I'm sort of optimistic and pessimistic.
So optimistic, I feel like, I don't know, the media for the next four years is just going to be, you know, tearing down Trump and his administration like they've been doing for the past almost 10 years now.
So I'm not optimistic about that part.
That's more pessimistic.
But as far as optimistic with Trump coming in and his administration, I do feel that he will do a good job.
I do also optimistic about the media will now let us know who's running the country because for the past four years, we don't really know who was running the country.
But because the media always wants to talk about Trump and keep his name, you know, every day mention his name and try to say bad things about his administration or whatever, we'll always know at this point who's going to be running the country.
You know, we're always going to know who's making decisions.
Now, Kendra, are there particular policies?
Are there particular policies that President-elect Trump has suggested that you're either looking forward to or worried about?
I'm looking forward to him closing the border.
I'm looking forward to him possibly, I know when he was running, he was stating that there would be no tax on tips, certain things like that that would help, you know, the middle class.
I believe that he will do a better job than Joe Biden did or whoever was running the country for the past four years at least, because we're not sure if it was Joe Biden and we know it's not Kamala Harris.
Do you have any other questions for me?
No, unless you had any other comments.
No, I think that's it, but I am actually leaning more towards being optimistic.
Thank you.
Okay.
John is in Largo, Florida, and is optimistic.
Good morning, John.
Yes, good morning, and thanks for having me on.
I'm actually wanting to highlight Arkansas, New York's comment.
These are some older gentlemen.
I'm an African-American man, 47 in the state of Florida, in the insurance industry.
And then I have some side hustles that I do to kind of make the vacation money and the things that you want to do every year.
I have a plan for next year.
We're going to try to eliminate some of our debt.
We're going to save our money a little bit more.
We're not going to compete with the Joneses.
I recognize that this is a capitalist society where people are able to sell things for whatever price the buyer wants to buy them for.
So until we, as a nation, decide that we don't want to buy things at a high price, they're able to keep those on the shelf at that price.
So I think we have to take some responsibility personally for that.
And just becoming too social has had us out there just competing aggressively at prices we can't afford.
I do personally believe that we're a little more spoiled than our forefathers and our elders.
The gentleman from Arkansas said he had a sixth-grade education, and he's doing well with his money just simply by staying within his means.
I think that's important.
The gentleman from New York said his family's been here for hundreds of years, and they're making good on the American dream.
And I think it's personal.
It's not this large brush that we can kind of stroke over the canvas.
You have to take a look at what you need and what you have to do.
It's going to be the family dynamic that really breaks through for us.
If you guys are able to educate your kids to kind of stay home now, because the country doesn't need you to run out of 18 years old.
You can stay a little longer, get your education, help your family.
That's going to help as well.
But more importantly, you have to be more responsible, more responsible in our birth of people that we're bringing into our family without the finances, more responsible with our money and what we're doing with it, and more conscious about what we want to do for our future.
Never has a government really came in and knocked on my door and said, John, you got to stop working.
Some years my money goes further, some years it doesn't.
And I have to make that adjustment on where the spending is going to go so I can stretch it out as much as possible.
I've really grown over the last four years in the financial service industry and it's educated me on how money works.
So I'm utilizing that information to kind of help my family and friends to be a little more fiscally responsible.
Ultimately, you have to be an optimist.
We're a country where, you know, we're big on sport.
So he won.
That's how that goes.
We're not going to sabotage things by kind of not participating and not helping.
Ultimately, we want this country to do well.
And if you don't have those insurance policies in place to take care of your family in the long run, then you need not to make it easy on them and they need work ethic.
Americans need to get back to work, put your head down, dig in like your parents did, your grandparents did, and lock into that mentality.
Okay.
JB is in Austin, Texas, and is pessimistic about Trump's second term.
Good morning, JB.
Hey, how are you this morning?
I guess I'm pessimistic because he failed me.
I kind of give the Republicans a chance.
I gave Bush a chance, everybody.
As far as Trump goes, his first tour, I said if he does three things, I'll vote for him for reelection.
And the three things were taxes.
He was going to fix Obamacare, and he was going to fix the border.
As far as taxes go, the tax bill that they passed in December of 2017, I did my 2018 taxes, and it turns out that it cost the price of gas went up two months after that.
And my annual savings on gas was less than my increase in or my decrease in title.
In other words, I lost more having to buy gas than I got my tax break.
As far as fixing Obamacare, I mean, all you had to do was look at TV and watch John McCain give the thumbs down.
They tried, what, 33, 34 times to get rid of Obamacare.
That's how he was going to fix it, by getting rid of it.
Okay, they're still trying to get rid of it.
And watch what they do to it this time with the Doge.
Okay, the next thing he did, he was going to fix the border.
Well, as soon as he picked up on the border wall by misunderstanding what his aides were trying to tell him, he gave up on fixing the border.
And look what he did prior to the election when he turned down the bipartisan bill that everybody who has anything to do with the border agreed was the best thing since sliced bread and that it would have fixed the border, but he needed it.
He needed the border issue to get reelected.
So let's watch what happens.
And he'll take that same bill and he'll take that bill and put it into law after the first two years that he's in office.
He'll take that bill and rename it, just like he did with the trade agreement with U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
He'll just rename it, make some changes around the edges, and that'll be it.
Okay.
Let's get a couple of your comments from text message and social media.
Marcy in Great Bend, Kansas says, pessimistic, all aboard.
It's the Trump roller coaster ride again.
Now that he knows who the great people are, I'm really frightened.
Deb Johnson said on X, I'm very optimistic that our future is in the best hands.
However, the current administration is doing everything it can to take our country down before it leaves.
Elvin Brown says, we already read that one, but let's hear from Greg in Cleveland, Ohio, who says, I will lower prices.
I will end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.
I will end inflation.
I will deport all illegal immigrants.
I will secure the border.
This is not fantasy island.
Speaking of Ukraine, President-elect Trump at his news conference last week spoke about the conflicts in the Mideast and in Ukraine.
Let's hear that.
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, horrible war that's going on in Ukraine with Russia, Ukraine.
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 that.
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 it's what's happening there is far worse than people are reporting for both sides.
So we're going to do our best, and we've been doing our best, and we'll see what happens.
But since the election, I've been working every day to put the world at ease a little bit to get rid of the wars.
We had no wars when I left office, and now it's the whole world is blowing up.
Let's get back to your calls about your feelings about the incoming Trump presidency.
Brock is in Fishkill, New York, and is optimistic.
Good morning, Brock.
Hi, how are you doing?
Good, thanks.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, I can hear you.
Why are you feeling optimistic about Trump's second term?
Well, the people finally got the vote.
We got the popular vote.
We got the House.
We have the Senate.
It's obviously that things were not going well with Joe Biden, and no one even wanted to admit that.
And now that I've been listening to all the listeners, and they still take the same lies.
And it's just, you know, with everything going on in our country right now, we need to all get together and try and make this worse.
And I'll give him a chance.
He's not even in office yet.
Things already seem to be going in the positive direction.
So let's just see what goes.
Now, Brock, are there particular policies that you're looking forward to seeing him implement?
Well, I like him closing the border.
That would really help me and my family.
What other questions do you have?
I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you another one.
No, that was it.
Just wondering what policies you were looking forward to, because I have a story here from the Washington Post looking at some of the questions that they were asking in terms of why swing state voters voted for Trump.
And one of high up on the list was immigration and the border with 15% of people saying that that was one of the reasons that they supported Trump in the election.
Also high up on that list, the economy, that Trump is a business person, then that he was a better candidate with better policies, they liked him better, and then others just because they opposed Harris and the Democrats and Biden.
Jason is in Virginia and is pessimistic about the incoming Trump administration.
Good morning, Jason.
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Good, thank you.
You know, it's funny to listen to people who talk about the border.
You know, before Trump even got into office, you know, Obama deported more people than anybody.
So Trump said he's going to close the border.
That's fine.
Okay.
Close the border.
We talk about inflation.
The two go hand in hand.
So you close the border, we get rid of all of the immigrants.
That $5, that $5 head of letters that you pay now will go up to $9 or $10.
So who are you going to have to pick it?
You know, you might as well shut Las Vegas down because half of the people there that work in the service industry are immigrants.
So you want to go ahead and get rid of all them?
I mean, watch prices of everything go up.
Second of all, with tariffs.
Tariffs go up, who's going to pay that?
Not Elon Musk, because he's a billionaire.
We are the ones that are going to suffer debt because tariffs, just like anything else, those prices get handed down to the people that buy those products.
Let's get rid of Obamacare.
They've been doing that for years.
Getting rid of Obamacare, what do you have to take place of it?
Nothing.
They have a plan.
They have a concept.
They have an idea.
But nothing in place.
It's amazing.
And when Danny went down to Mississippi and Upper Arkansas, people complained about the ACA.
I mean, Obamacare.
They didn't want it.
They didn't want it.
But yet it's still when you ask, well, what do you have?
Well, I'm enrolled in ACA.
It's the same thing.
You know, people, Trump is concerned about one thing, Trump.
You know, it's and the sad thing about it is, well, the good thing about it is, we have 720 days to deal with this.
That's when the midterm elections come around.
Trust me, when people find out that things are getting worse and getting better, trust me, we'll throw them out of office also.
So the Democrats will be back in office.
One last thing.
They've got control of the House.
They've got control of the Senate and they got control of the presidency.
For the first two years, they did that.
Things got worse during that time period.
When you got nutcases in there like Marjorie Taylor and Matt Gates, America will soon learn.
You've got to have a real president that's more concerned about the country instead of himself.
Trump got into office to try to get rid of the, he doesn't worry about the illegal things that he got going on.
But, like I said, we will one day learn this lesson that a president has to be for himself first.
Thank you.
Deborah is in New York and is not sure.
Good morning, Deborah.
Good morning.
Yes, my question or concern is: with media, now Trump says he's going to check me, put media in check, so maybe there'll be less of it.
But what I see, even in the clip you just showed, was Donald Trump on the Ukraine, what he had to say about the Ukraine.
Could somebody tell me what he had to say about Ukraine and ending the war?
He said it's flat.
The people are dying.
Nothing stops a bullet like a person.
What does that mean in essence or in terms of these are the things, constructive things that we can do or that I'm talking about as to end the war, any more than he said about health insurance?
Oh, he was going to come in in two weeks.
He was going to have a wonderful bill.
Almost eight years later, all he has is a concept of a bill.
So I do think that there's a lot to be concerned about.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
Carla is in Wayne City, Illinois, and is optimistic about Trump's second term.
Good morning, Carla.
Good morning.
I voted Trump, yes.
But I had a comment about the Neil clip you showed to Richard Neal when he said that in government, your word is your bond.
I understand.
Yes.
Okay.
If your word is your bond, then why did President Biden lie and pardon his son?
I would like that explained to me.
If your word is your bond, why did he lie about pardoning his son?
Because he said he wouldn't do it, and he turned around and did it.
That's a lie.
It's a lie to the American public.
And then why are you, are there particular policies that you're looking forward to in the coming Trump administration?
Well, the border for sure, because everybody's claiming, no, we've closed the border.
We don't have anybody to pick our lettuce.
Well, what happened to AI?
I thought we had a lot of machinery that's taking jobs right now because I know I go to Walmart.
I have to use a self-checkout half the time because there's nobody working in a register.
So AI can do all that.
They've got farm equipment that can pick lettuce.
They've got farm equipment that picks carrots.
They don't need all these workers because machinery and AI will be taking over every job.
We will be dependent on the government eventually because there won't be nothing for us to do.
So people need to get that through their head.
AI is going to be the death of us.
Okay.
Let's go to Seymour in Scottsdale, Arizona, who's pessimistic about the next Trump term.
Good morning, Seymour.
Good morning.
President Trump-elect has lied to us for eight years.
He threatens to destroy freedom of the press.
He's appointing people that are incompetent.
I don't want Elon Musk involved in running this country.
They are in the process of dividing and conquering the country.
They're not doing like Ronald Reagan tried to do and work with the Democrats.
He is a president who should have been convicted on a lot of things, and he wasn't.
This is a bad man, and the people who want him are unbelievable that they want to trust him.
Okay.
Amin is in Temple, Texas, and is optimistic about the next Trump presidency.
Go ahead, Amin.
Good morning.
I'm sorry, I dialed her online.
I'm not optimistic about Trump.
What I am is scared to death.
Because if the people will remember, whenever the world got to where the leaders thought they were bigger and better and more influenced than God, God stepped in.
Now, Trump, he is not God.
And he has never done anything but lie and stole from anybody he's dealt with.
And now he's talking with Eli Musk.
What he's doing is trying to get all the vegan years together so he can buy out everybody and do what he wants and then dash.
He's no good.
And I'm just so disappointed in the American people who vote for him because I don't trust thieves.
I don't trust liars.
And I sure don't trust somebody that don't want to fight in our service.
And I did.
Thank you very much.
Okay.
And then up next, we have Washington Journal's annual Holiday Authors Week series kicking off this morning.
Eight days of authors that we will be hearing from across the political spectrum whose books we think shine the spotlight on an important aspect of American life.
And starting this morning, we will begin with Gloria Edom, founder of the literary platform Well-Read Black Girl, discussing her book, Gather Me, a memoir in praise of the books that saved me.
We'll be right back.
Since its founding in 1992, the Innocence Project has been responsible for getting hundreds of wrongfully convicted people in the United States out of prison.
Tonight, on Q ⁇ A, Attorney and Innocence Project Executive Director Christina Swarns joins us to talk about the history of the organization and some of the clients they've successfully represented over the years, including the two men convicted of killing Malcolm X in 1965.
At the original trials in the late 1960s, another gentleman took the witness stand and said that he was the person that was the shooter and that he committed the crime with two other people he refused to name.
The jury rejected that information.
But what we know is that the law enforcement actually had evidence that corroborated his statement and corroborated his assertion that he was the shooter and these other two people, not Mr. Islam or Mr. Aziz, who are our clients, you know, had committed this crime.
But that information was withheld.
Innocence Project Executive Director Christina Swarns.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal, where we are kicking off our annual Holiday Authors Week series.
And we're starting this series with the wonderful Gloria Edom, who is the founder of the literary platform Well Read Black Girl, who's joining us to discuss her book, Gather Me, a memoir in praise of the books that saved me.
Welcome to Washington Journal.
Oh, thank you.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
Thank you.
Now, talk about Well Read Black Girl, which started as an online community but has since taken on many different forms.
What is this community and how did the idea for it come about?
Yes, so Well Read Black Girl is a book club, a podcast, and now a nonprofit.
It started off really small, a group of black women reading books written by black women to support them and uplift them, especially when they were in their debut coming out party.
You know, it was their first book, and we wanted to make sure they felt supported and make sure there were enough diverse voices being heard.
And so Well Read Black Girl started, again, very small, but it's grown into a movement where people feel seen and appreciated for their literary works.
And how big is this community now?
Oh my goodness, it began 20 people in a room, but now we have over 400,000 followers on Instagram.
We have tons of listeners of our podcasts, and we have an annual festival each year where people come from all around the country to support the works of black women.
Well, speaking of black women authors, you have a book yourself.
Your latest book is a memoir titled Gather Me, and it's part of a quote from Toni Morrison's beloved.
What does this particular quote mean to you?
When I think about it, I get emotional because it's brought me such inspiration throughout my life.
The idea of gathering people, gathering yourself when you're reading works that make you feel seen, and bringing together community.
When we're talking about books, they're more than just books.
They're spaces for people to see each other, their reflections.
They're inspiration in a lot of ways.
So this idea of gathering myself, these books saved me when I had challenging moments in life, when I wasn't able to find my own direction.
I could turn to a quote, turn to a book, and find my footing again.
So it's very important for me to pay homage to writers like Toni Morrison, Edwards Dandycat, Maya Angelou, all these writers became reflections of myself.
And the specific quote is also Toni Morrison's epigraph.
She is a friend of mine.
She gather me, man, the pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.
Yes.
And that's how books feel to you.
Absolutely.
It is just something that brings me just great joy and love and understanding.
The books themselves have been guides for me, almost like a lightpost in a lot of ways.
Right, because you write about having something of a challenging childhood when your immigrant parents from Nigeria divorced and your father returned to Nigeria, your mother remarried somebody that you couldn't quite relate to.
How did books care for you in those difficult times?
Yeah, you know, that's the beauty of the book.
It's so accessible.
I would go to the library with my siblings.
I would be able to just look at these books and read them and find a sense of hope.
And that's the power of literature.
You can see yourself when maybe you don't have a model to follow directly or you're feeling depressed or alone.
A book can really offer you some support.
And luckily I had great teachers and mentors to offer me support as well.
So this book is really a tribute to all the people that helped me find myself when I was having challenging moments.
We have an excerpt from your book where you mentioned that in school many of the books that you sought were absent from your syllabus.
Can you read a little bit of that for us?
Yeah.
Every year I wondered how my English class syllabus was constructed.
It seemed to me like a kind of contract, a promise from teacher to student.
Here are all the important things for you to learn in order to pass the test and cultivate a healthy sense of self.
Yet the books on my reading list told me that some stories were more important than others.
Slave narratives were occasional, but a resounding yes.
Everything else I yearned for, an array of black fiction, poetry, essays, and memoirs, well, that was glaringly absent from my coursework.
I felt a certain of kind of rebellion when I failed to see the stories that reflected black history.
So yes, Maya Angelou and Frederick Douglass was there too.
But beyond that, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, James Joyce, and I rolled my eyes, the ever-present catcher in the rye.
How would you compare your experience then with what students are encountering in schools today?
Yeah, at that time, my purview was very limited, as I mentioned.
You know, we read Maya Angelou and we had the opportunity to read Frederick Douglass, but that was about it.
A lot of the narratives weren't reflective of the student body, weren't reflective of my own experience.
And I feel like that's happening today.
There's so many diverse voices that are being banned or censored, and it isn't really reflecting the diversity of our country and the beauty of literature that it's so vast and there's an array of voices that deserve to be heard.
And when we have those voices, we're able to see beautiful reflections.
And I think that's so essential for people to see that, especially students, because they're building their sense of agency and their understanding of the world.
And so we need more voices to reflect that.
And it's challenging to see what's happening in schools and libraries right now.
Yes, you mentioned some of the pushback against various Thai schools, but this is also coming from the incoming administration.
There's a story in the Associated Press here about Trump's policies saying Trump wants to end wokeness in education, and he has vowed to use federal money as leverage, saying that Donald Trump's vision for education revolves around a single goal, to rid America's schools of perceived wokeness and left-wing indoctrination.
The president-elect wants to forbid classroom lessons on gender identity and structural racism.
He wants to abolish diversity inclusion offices.
He wants to keep transgender athletes out of girls' sports.
And throughout his campaign, the Republican depicted schools as a political battleground to be won back from the left.
Now that he's won the White House, he plans to use federal money as leverage to advance his vision of education across the nation.
What does that mean, do you think, for the types of books that students are going to be encountering in classrooms?
Yeah, you know, this idea of wokeness, what I see instead is an ability to build wonder, to build curiosity in students.
And when you silence those voices and you take away those books, you are doing a disservice to students.
We need folks to feel proud of who they are and feel reflected in those stories.
Because I had a wonderful English teacher and folks that allowed me to see myself in the books, I was able to become the person I am today.
And that idea of taking books out of schools and banning them and censoring, it's so ridiculous to me because we need those stories.
It's what makes us a beautiful country.
It what makes the educational system so needed.
We need those voices.
I just get frustrated thinking about the idea of books being banned because it's what changes people's identities and their agency.
When you're able to read a book, you're able to become more of yourself.
You know, it's so necessary to have those voices.
And I hope that we're able to fight that and prevent banned books and censorships because we need that in schools.
We need books.
In just a bit, we'll be taking your questions for Ms. Edom.
Here, our number for Republicans, 202-748-8001.
For Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And for Independents, 202-748-8002.
Now, some students may be encountering a situation similar to what you described in the excerpt that you read, where the books that they're encountering in the classroom might not resonate deeply for them.
How did you teach yourself to expose yourself to more black literature in particular on your own?
Yeah, well, for me, it was really about following my curiosity.
So I would go into libraries, I would talk to the librarian, I would just kind of follow what I was looking for at the time.
And me being able to just take a risk when it came to the stories that I read, the things that I was interested in, it exposed me to so many incredible narratives.
And I was lucky enough to go to an incredible university.
I went to Howard University, and that also buoyed me and allowed me to see just the beauty and the brilliance of black history.
And I think young people need to have that curiosity, especially when there are adults in their life that might tell them, oh no, you're not supposed to do that.
The idea is building your son's sense of agency.
Like you need to make your own choices, especially when it comes to literature, because it's out there.
You can't hide from the world.
And it's important for kids to understand that they have choices and they can read things that allow them to build their own sense of self.
I'd like you to read another excerpt from your book where you write about your first experience reading Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Are Watching God and how difficult that was.
Yeah.
It was a leap for me, reading-wise.
I decidedly adult book that Oprah had recommended on her show that was filled with the kind of vivid, difficult language that forced me to slow down and take each sentence in small bites.
There was a rigor to this book that I hadn't experienced before.
It was the first time I had really noticed or thought about the voice of a book, and it wasn't an easy voice for me to understand.
You also said that you often misread things.
So what do you say to people who want to see books like Hurston's removed from curriculums simply because they say kids may not be experienced enough to properly understand them?
Well, that's the second part.
Being able to have a conversation with young people, to be in dialogue, to encourage debate.
You know, we want those things.
So that allows whatever they're reading, it to be reinforced for them to gain a further understanding, to add context and nuance to whatever they're learning about.
It's not simply about reading a book and taking it for face value.
It's having conversations and building dialogues with each other.
Now, you also describe your experience reading James Baldwin and what his words meant to you when you were trying to understand the beating of Rodney King, George Floyd's death.
Can you explain a bit about that?
You know, I have two younger siblings and I was just so protective of them.
And reading James Baldwin allowed me to give context to their experience, understand what they were going through as young men, understand the level of racism that we encounter in the country as young black boys.
And it just gave me a grounding to give them enough nurturing and support so they could feel proud of who they were and feel just very confident as young black boys in the world.
Now, even when you wanted to read these books that you found through your own research, you found that some of the books in your own curriculum, as I understand it, were taught differently, even when you did get them.
Can you lay that out for me?
Yeah, you know, the thing is, everyone has a different understanding of literature.
So the way that some teachers taught William Shakespeare or even James Joyce were, they're all different, you know, but it was the questions and the conversations that followed that allowed me to have a better understanding of them.
And I like to encourage young people to do the close reading, to read in between the lines, to ask questions.
There's no question that it's off bounds.
It's really about going further into the text and having citations and fact checking and building your sense of critical analysis.
So that's what I, you know, the things that I had to continuously reread and reread.
It was building my own self-analysis and being able to communicate with other people about the work.
Okay.
Let's go to your calls now.
Let's hear from Tom in Fort Myers, Florida on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Tom.
Good morning, ladies, and happy holidays to you.
Enjoying the conversation.
So you just mentioned, and their eyes were watching God from Zora Neal Hurston.
That was the best thing I've done all year was read that book.
I didn't know that Oprah at one time recommended it.
I actually read it because it was one of C-SPAN's in that series, the 10 Most Important Books.
I'm saying that wrong, but you did that series with the Library of Congress this year, and that was one of their books.
So my brother gave me a compilation of a lot of Zora's works, and I read them all, and they're just fantastic.
I mean, I live in Florida, so they're Florida-based, and of course, she's from Florida.
So for me to say that was the best thing I did all year, because I'm usually drawn more towards nonfiction, so this being fiction.
But again, it has sort of a Florida history to it.
So that was appealing to me.
But I just thought that was fantastic.
And I'm glad I finally did it.
I once took a Florida history course, and the professor there was trying to get me to read that book, and I didn't get around to it.
But as I say, it was probably the best thing I did all year was read that.
I enjoyed it.
And then all A Siraffe of the Sulane, another one of hers.
Fantastic.
Just fantastic.
So anyway, I'm joining the conversation.
I hope you all have a great holiday.
Thank you so much.
For people who aren't familiar, how would you describe Zora Neale Hurston and her work?
Oh, my goodness.
Zora Neale Hurston is, she is just an effervescent, beautiful, vivacious writer.
Like her words come alive on the page and you are pulled into the story.
So anyone encountering her work for the first time will just feel this beauty.
The way that she writes is it's lyrical, it's full of just beautiful visuals.
And I think that everyone should read her work.
It is life-changing.
All right.
Mary is in Wisconsin on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Mary.
Good morning.
Yeah, hi.
Public School had a book by Maya Angelou, Why the Cage Birds Sing.
And my daughter started reading it, and she was like, wow, I'm not reading this book.
I don't care what grade I get.
And she didn't, because of the sexual abuse.
Yeah.
And she's like, was traumatized by even seeing that on a written word that she didn't tell me about it until two years later.
Oh, wow.
Because I had brought it, Ty started talking to her about stuff that I was why these all these books were being banned.
And she said, Mom, I didn't care what I got for this grade.
But, you know, to traumatize a child, to have him see that, is just awful.
So I don't know why anyone would suggest a book by Maya Angelou that has sexual abuse in it.
Well, I think it's a great opportunity to connect with your daughter and talk to them further about the challenges.
Sexual abuse is a real thing that many people encounter.
And, you know, I think a lot of the books need to be age-appropriate, of course.
So it's, you know, depending on how old your daughter was, it is something that requires explanation and context to the story.
So hopefully it's something that, you know, brought you and your daughter closer together to explore just the reasonings.
It was challenging for her.
But I do understand that not everyone is able to encounter the work at a certain age.
They're difficult topics, of course.
This is one of the things that is brought up quite often around these conversations of book bans that some of the material dealing with sexual topics or abuse or even different types of relationships are not age appropriate for different kinds of children.
How do you navigate that conversation while still exposing kids to these variety of books that you're saying are so important?
Yeah, and again, you know, forgive me if I'm repeating myself.
It's just adding the conversation, the context, the nuance to these stories.
It's not simply having the student read it alone.
It's really allowing them to be in conversation and build a curiosity and have a firmer understanding of what these stories mean and the value of them.
They're going to be hard topics, but it's required.
It's, you know, it builds their self-esteem, their confidence, their understanding of the world.
The world is a difficult place.
Sexual abuse does exist.
Different identities do exist.
Racism exists.
And we can't shield young people from the realities of the world.
And books could be a great tool to enter these conversations in a safe space where there are some guide rails there and some boundaries.
So if they do have curiosities or they feel uncomfortable, they can come to a trusted adult and work through them or their trusted teacher and have a better understanding of what the text really means.
Speaking of these texts, kind of guiding conversations around some really challenging topics, I want to go back to that example of you and your brothers around James Baldwin.
And I believe we have an excerpt there of more from your book related to that experience.
Yes.
My brothers' lives would indeed be shaped a certain way because they were black and for no other reason.
And my own life had already been formed by the expectation that black women could and should move the earth to protect the black men in their lives.
Because we were the only ones who cared enough to do so.
When I read Baldwin's words, I saw Rodney King's broken face and I suddenly understood the anxiety the brutal incident had triggered in me.
Can you talk about how the conversation with your brothers and in your own experience, your family, was shaped from kind of parsing what was a pretty traumatic experience through what you were reading?
Yeah, so with my siblings and my family, again, I'm a first-generation American and our family has encountered numerous challenges.
But because we had books and each other, we were able to communicate these ideas in a way to say that this isn't the only thing that defines us.
We can work through these things.
We can talk together.
We can have a safe space to find a sense of solace, you know.
And I am so grateful for the works of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou because they offered me great comfort and they provided a model for me and my siblings to see that how we could perform the world, how we can continue to have joy and hope despite the challenges of racism and other things that we encountered.
It's not simply something that just happens.
You have to really work and cultivate a sense of curiosity and love for yourself.
And books help you do that.
And stories and narratives, we all have a story to tell.
And so whether you're reading it in a book or you're talking to your family one-on-one, the stories that we tell ourselves are so important and they help us build our identity and our self-esteem, our confidence.
And we can't hide that from students or from each other, adults.
You know, we need to tell these stories in order to have a better understanding of one another and build dialogue.
Let's get back to your calls.
John is in Plainfield, New Jersey, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, John.
Hi.
I can understand what your stories are talking about.
One time when I was like 11 or 12 years old, my teacher read to us the autobiography of Malcolm X.
And I saw some of the same problems I was dealing with being in a special ed classroom.
And later on, when I had to stay home for over a year because of school problems I had with my school system, the aide I had, I read some Lansing Hughes, and also she read me Ernest Thing, The Sun Rise.
Ernest and I.
And she read to me the book The Longest Day.
Great history book.
And I also been getting into a lot of the history books like When I Went to School, I read a lot of books on Vietnam.
And I think books do tell stories.
And I think, like, one of the things I got from Ernest Emily and also from Langzey Hughes, they're very interesting stories.
And one time I was in my high school, I read Ball 4.
Oh, wow.
One of the funniest baseball books you ever wanted to read by Jim Bob and his experience with the Yankees.
It was funny as hell.
And I also got into Art Buckwall.
I read him a little bit.
I found him funny.
This was so encouraging.
Yeah, John, it sounds like books really guided you through what was a challenging period in your life.
Yeah, I mean, it's beautiful to witness the joy that people, you know, the memories you have.
Like, you can, I can remember the books I read in certain moments of my life.
And similar to what he was saying, like, you can just remember the joy that you experience when you have a beautiful story.
Joe is in Rhode Island on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Joe.
Yeah, hi.
You know, books became a big part of my life.
You know, I lived a very active life where you wouldn't think I would read that much.
I did.
And I had got a whole library in my house.
And when I was 13, I wrote Fed for Oregon.
So that was my first grown-up novel.
It was a trilogy.
And it really affected me, even though I was in Brooklyn, and that took place in Chicago.
There was a lot of stuff I could relate to.
And then I got to high school in 10th grade.
We had an English teacher who was great.
She had us actually read instead of just reading the words.
She had us try to understand what we were reading.
And she dissected, among other things, Moby Dick, practically line by line.
And of course, it wasn't a sea story at all, but it was an allegory.
And she had us act out parts from different books in the class.
And we went through Macbeth also.
She didn't waste any time, but what she did was she started the term off with a history of how words came into being and the Latin and Greek bases for a lot of our words.
And she was etymology, I think that's what you call it.
She was such a terrific teacher.
Later on, she became a college professor at Ithaca College.
And I went to a very run-down inner city school, but you could learn a lot there with teachers like that.
And I think books are unfortunately being pushed aside by digital input.
My seven daughter, my daughter's a college professor.
She really enjoyed being in the house with a lot of books.
And my granddaughters, my three granddaughters, are the same way.
You know, Joe raises a really interesting point that I'd love to hear you talk about, which is, you know, this shift from reading hard physical books to digital books to audio books or something like that.
Do you think it matters?
You know, I am a huge fan of audiobooks.
I think that when you're listening, when you're reading, it's important to think about accessibility.
And so that is another way that makes books accessible.
You know, there's incredible apps like Libby at the Public Library.
And the thing is, when we think about technology, there are e-readers.
There's so many ways for young people, for adults that engage with literature that we need to open that up and allow people to see that there's just great ways to engage with work.
Whether if you're reading, you're reading.
I think that's the most important part of it.
So, yes, it's challenging that maybe there are other apps or things that distract from reading, but there are other tools that allow people to also engage with it.
So, it's finding the balance.
We have a question from X. J.D. Redding asks, Miss Edom, what are the current reading selections for the Well-Read Black Girl Book Club?
What are the top three books that you would recommend today?
Oh, my goodness.
So, I'll go with the second question first.
The top three books I would recommend, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
Absolutely.
I would also recommend a new book by Edgwich Dandy Catt called We're Alone, which explores, it's a collection of essays that explores just a variety of different topics, but it's beautifully written.
And then the last book I would say is Toni Morrison's Jazz.
It's such a beautiful book that explores the history of America, the Great Migration, and her writing is so poetic.
Those are three legendary writers that I feel everyone should encounter.
And then, in terms of the Well-Read Black Girl Book Club, currently, we are doing our best to support the new works of writers, so more contemporary writers, more often their debuts.
It's their first book coming out in the world.
Most recently, we were reading a work by Jessman Ward.
She's not a debut writer, but we wanted to support her when her new book came out, Sing, I'm Very Sing.
And right now, we're getting ready for the new year, so we're looking at books at the top of 2025.
So, one of the books that we're excited to read is James by Percival Everett.
And do your book selections skew towards fiction, non-fiction?
We try to do a mix of everything.
So, we'll do some genre selections.
We'll do a little romance, some nonfiction, contemporary literature.
We try to do a little bit of everything.
Okay, let's get back to your calls.
Rick is in Youngstown, Ohio on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Rick.
Good morning, ladies.
How are we doing?
Good.
Good morning.
The reason I'm calling has been distracted by the female in Wisconsin.
I want to point out to her and her mother that thank God she had an opportunity to read a book and that she got upset and she had the opportunity to say she's not going to read it.
Oh, I understand.
You're referring to our previous caller who mentioned that her daughter was quite disturbed by what she read in the book.
Okay, go ahead, Rick.
You have no idea how many sexual victims there are across America in grade school, high school, college.
And it's a problem that has to be addressed.
You don't put it back in the corner and throw the book away.
So unfortunately, that girl was upset by reading it, and I understand that.
But how many females in America have read that book and then finally talk to somebody about being sexually abused?
Think about that, okay?
Now, the original reason I called in was to ask you two rhetorical questions.
Number one, do you think that Donald Trump is severely mentally ill?
Number two, well, let's go back to number one.
I personally think so.
I've disliked him for 38 years.
And the things, the current nominees he has.
So, Rick, I do want to keep the topic focused on the books here, but I understand what do you mean in terms of his Trump's perspective on book bans or something else?
Well, okay, let's go to book bans.
It's 2024.
Are you not surprised at how many books are being banned and burned and removed from libraries?
That should be of a real concern for you.
And that's all I got for today, ladies.
Okay.
Yeah, absolutely.
I am incredibly concerned about what's happening with book bans and the nature of just, again, censorship in schools.
And so I'm doing my best to support individuals that are advocating for, you know, more diverse books and, you know, just diversity in schools and allowing people to really exercise their First Amendment right, which is so necessary for anyone that is learning in our public schools today.
They need to learn how to advocate for themselves and continue to learn about media literacy, how to analyze the text that they're reading, how to continue to give context to the word.
It's so essential.
And it's encouraging to hear the conversations we're having this morning to see that everyone has a very strong viewpoint on how we should be conducting these things and how we should prevent banning of books because that does nothing but silence voices.
And we don't want young people to be silenced.
We want them to grow and have a voice.
Frank is in Selma, Alabama, and is on our line for independence.
Good morning, Frank.
Good morning, and how are you, ladies, this morning on this cold morning here in Alabama?
All right.
I love books.
And I know back in, I've read two books by Mara Angelou.
I read books that were published in 1919 by J.A. Groger as Nature Lead.
I've read books, The Miseducation of the Negro by Carter D. Woodson.
I've read books Brainwash by Tom Burrell.
I've read Raising in the Sun by Mrs. Asbury.
I mean, they've really helped me.
I mean, they have helped, Frank.
They have helped me.
I've learned a lot from those books.
Frank, can you say a little bit more about how those books have helped you?
Where were they?
At what points in your life did they really matter?
Well, back in 1958, when I started elementary school, I didn't read that much.
And then as I grew and went in the Marine Corps and started really opening my eyes up to things, I started reading a lot.
And oh, how they have hoped me, hoped me.
And I just had to get up and call the day because there's some books out there that go deep into the soul.
And that's the reason.
My reason.
I'm so glad that y'all really let me get into this conversation this morning.
And once again, you ladies, y'all have a beautiful holiday and many, more days.
Thank you for taking my call.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I mean, it's so just heartwarming to hear just how books impact everyone and they're memories that last forever.
It really can change your life and your perspective on the world.
So beautiful to witness.
Tim Castleman on X asked if you'll comment on the writings of Thomas Sowell.
Have you ever read any of his work?
Oh, actually, I have not, unfortunately, but I would love to.
I'm going to add that to my reading list and continue.
Okay.
Herb is in High Point, North Carolina, on our line for independence.
Good morning, Herb.
Good morning.
Thank you very much for taking my call.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Just wanted to know if she's familiar with Claude Brown's book, Man, Child in the Promised Land.
Yes, I am.
Great.
That's a book that inspired me many years ago.
And, you know, autobiographies are the books I like because they give me a personal insight to somebody's mistakes and failures.
Or there are folks who aren't familiar, can you give us a little bit of insight about this book and why you chose it?
Well, I just look at it.
It's a guy that overcame a lot in his life.
And, you know, that's what we do in life.
We have ups and downs, but we can overcome them.
You know, you look at Trump.
Trump's a guy that's had a lot of ups and downs.
And think about a book about Trump and all he's been able to overcome with forgiveness or whatever.
And so thank you for taking my call.
And, you know, there's another book about Power Thomas.
Man, I think it's Down These Mean Streets.
You know, in these books, if you can't relate to them, you may want to ban them.
But there are people that have lived these experiences.
So thank you very much.
Thank you.
These, you know, all of these books, as you said, everyone has a story.
You know, everyone has a story.
And it's important for us to allow people to have access to those stories.
And again, not to ban them, but to be in conversation and to build our curiosity and to be able to give context to the story and the history.
It's so important that history continues to guide us throughout these conversations because it motivates so many things, especially with young people trying to figure out their way in the world.
They can cite things.
There's scholarship.
There's a Library of Congress.
There are all these stories and memoirs that we have that again serve as models for future generations.
Speaking of history, there's a question from someone who texted us this question.
Would you please discuss Zora Neale Hurston's skepticism towards school desegregation?
Oh, well, you know, unfortunately, I don't have a citation right in front of me, so I don't want to misquote, but that was one of the incredible things that I really appreciate about Zora Neale Hurston.
She was radical during her time period and had some really robust ideas on desegregation and how African Americans should present themselves in the world.
And there definitely were, I would say, disagreements between certain things and ideas.
But again, it was welcomed, this idea for her to be, to say that, you know, perhaps this isn't what black people should do during this period.
And she's written, I mean, there's scholarship that where she writes widely about these ideas and desegregation and how her experiences attending Howard University and Bard and all these different schools.
So she had some really, really strong ideas, but I don't have a citation to quote Rip right here, so I don't want to misquote.
Okay.
Let's now hear from Otis in Detroit, Michigan on our line for Democrats.
Oh, excuse me.
Hello.
Yeah, you know, I haven't called in in a great while, but listening to this about black books books, period.
I come from a neighborhood in Detroit.
People don't realize it's been majority white from the creation of the city of Detroit, even when the 67 conflicts going here called White Folite Ants I'm Black for this neighborhood in Southwest Detroit from Corktown's more famous in Southwest back to the city in the Southwest.
And our school, I went to school where there were very few blacks.
Now I live in a part of Southwest where this majority black.
They're trying to actually change the name to African Town because World War II veterans built it.
But the first books I started to read, and I must say my ex-wife, a best friend today still was married 40 years, she eat books.
I started to read was Donald Gone.
And Donald Gawn was back doing the black exploitation movies, you know, the MAG Superfly.
Donald Gawne wrote these books to write in Detroit about the streets, the drugs, the murder.
And that's how a lot of us, especially young men, started to read.
I continued on with a lot of my friends.
I was the only one to ever continue on back in high school in the 60s, early 70s.
And there were a teacher, well, there were two white teachers in my life.
One who took me in the summer school in the fourth grade with her grandson come to our neighborhood.
It was, like I said, multi-ethnic majority white, but more blue cop.
It was a blue-collar community.
And one in high school, where I had been kicked out of three high schools and was finally allowed back in the Southwest because I would skip so much more.
So love math, totally math class.
And this white teacher, Miss Haas, I never forget her name.
She told me in this history class, my biggest problem was when I was born at school, because I didn't have anything to identify as a black male in the books in this high school.
They had like Madison Son, I think Black Boy was the only two books that they had for us to read.
And she turned me on when Alex Haley was writing roots.
And Alex Haley, show how old I am, was doing the EP search, was going into the Reader's Digest.
I guess he had a contract with them.
And he was putting them on albums, you know, sections of them, and putting them in the library.
So one day she brought me, and the speed was 78, and she brought me up and she had me listen to it.
So I brought it back once I heard the first album, and I asked, is there another one?
She said he hasn't put one out yet.
But I would have gone back to her class to get that next album.
So, Otis, I do want to give Miss Edom a chance to respond because what Otis is talking about is finding literature where he could find himself.
Yes.
Yeah, yes, absolutely.
You know, the words that keep coming up again and again is just that one unforgettable teacher that introduces you to the book that changes your life, that allows you to see yourself reflected.
And it is essential for all people, especially young black boys, to see themselves identified in the stories so they can relate, they can grow, they can, again, ask questions.
And I was so adamant about having those stories for my two siblings so they could see themselves reflected in the stories.
And I did the same thing.
I was constantly looking for myself reflected in literature so I could, again, you know, build my self-confidence.
There's an interesting comment here that we received from Mary B. in Boston, who recommends Yellow Wife by Siddiqui Johnson and says, Wish I read books like this when I was young.
I would have had the empathy I had after the diary of Anne Franks in high school.
Oh yes, I am very fond of historical fiction and the book she mentioned, I'm also familiar with that.
She is a phenomenal writer.
Can you talk a little bit about that book?
Yeah, so it takes place during slavery and the woman is finding herself in, oh gosh, I can't recall the exact plot.
That's okay, you know, but the yellow wife is historical fiction.
Yeah, it's historical fiction.
And this idea of, again, going to history to tell beautiful narratives, to create an idea of the identities of the young people that were during that time, there's just so much to be told when you're able to cite history.
Anita is in Schenectady, New York, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Anita.
Good morning.
I just have a quick comment.
I appreciate your program so much, and I just wanted to share a quick story.
My daughter, who's a total grown-up now, when she was in 12th grade, had an amazing English teacher who assigned the novel Beloved.
But she was so sensitive, and she contacted all the parents and let us know that there's difficult material in the book and invited us to be part of a book club with our children, which she did after school and not only discussed the book with the kids and the parents, but provided snacks and time to talk.
And it was life-changing.
I still feel emotional just thinking about what a beautiful experience that was and what a lovely, wonderful woman.
I'm going to hang up and listen on the TV because my phone is running out of electricity and I can't find a plug.
But thank you so much.
Thank you.
That is so, I'm so happy to hear you have that experience with your daughter because those are the things that make a world of difference.
A teacher that is considerate and kind and opens the door for parents and children to connect with one another and have these memorable experiences.
And that really, again, supports young people as they continue into the world to have a safe space to ask questions and have these, at times, difficult conversations.
This is the ideal circumstance, I feel like, for teachers to come together with parents and have great dialogue.
James is in Brooklyn, Connecticut on our line for independence.
Good morning, James.
Hey, how y'all doing?
I'm just calling because it's funny I saw y'all.
I normally don't call.
But when I was, I first started raising my kids because I had to do it by myself.
My wife passed away and I had to take over the school and everything.
And I didn't like the dead came on the leaves.
So I went and I bought them.
Guess what?
Moby Dick.
She's talking about Moby Dick.
And we read Moby Dick five times.
Wow.
It was amazing of how much my children learned how to speak and learn the vocabulary of the English language.
So it's something about reading that enlightens a child to help them.
And they both got degrees, too.
So, you know, I mean, I'm so happy and proud about them because I didn't know if I did the right thing because being an African-American, they expect you to, you know, read more African-American books and things like that.
I had them read Marcus Aurelius, George Washington, Largwood Dresses.
And I think that if we go back to the basics to learn some English, you know, the English language better.
I just wanted to know if you thought about that, about reading the Stoics and how they would help.
And the last thing is my question.
Do you think that we should put classical education back into the education system?
Because I think that's why everybody is unaware of really how our government works.
I'll hang up so you can ask my question.
Thank y'all.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Well, it's incredible to hear your experience reading Moby Dick with your children.
That is absolutely wonderful.
And I agree with you.
I feel like classical education, civics education should be a priority in schools.
Again, it teaches students how to communicate with one another and think about big ideas and how they, in fact, impact the whole world.
You know, we're not in a silo.
And I'm, I love, I mean, one of my favorite books right now is The Iliad by Emily Wilson, which is a translation.
And I think all these classics, I talk about the experiences I had reading William Shakespeare and, you know, Little Women and all these books that are part of the literary canon.
And I think they stand, you know, they stand their ground in this beautiful way when it comes to literature, as well as Moby Dick.
The idea is to continue to expand on that canon and have introduced new books and new voices and just grow what adults and young people can encounter in the world.
That's not to limit it, but just open it up even further.
Margaret is in St. Augustine, Florida on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Margaret.
Hello.
Before I ask my question, I have two other authors to recommend if you had not read Thomas Soule.
And that would be Robert Woodson, and I think he's still alive.
And then also Walter Williams.
But no one should read 1619 without getting Robert Woodson's edited book.
But my question is: when you said about being a first-generation immigrant, I quick looked it up.
And I'm curious what your experience is with the difference in culture between what we might call African Americans that are from Nigeria and Barbados and Jamaica and so forth from our heritage African Americans here.
Foundational, I think is the word that they're using now.
I know that Oprah gave up on her charity here in America and went to Africa to put her school because some of our, we need to get rid of racism.
How do we do it?
And a lot of our affirmative action programs went the wrong way.
Do you notice the difference in culture between foundational Americans, some of them, and people from other countries like yourself?
So, again, I'm first generation.
Both my parents immigrated here from Nigeria, but me and my siblings were born here in the U.S.
And I think one thing that is really important to note is the black diaspora, the idea that blackness is global throughout the world.
So a lot of the ideas that are espoused here in the U.S. are also happening in the Caribbean, in Nigeria.
This idea of identity is vast.
And as a young person growing up, I attended a historically backed college.
I went to Howard University.
And it was grounded into us the idea, again, of the black diaspora, that blackness is global.
And what we're learning here in the U.S. is not too far different from what is happening overseas.
And I've really focused on that, that the idea of identity is vast and it allows you to, it contains multitudes.
And so my being of African descent doesn't, you know, divoid me from understanding the black American experience.
I think if anything, it allows me to appreciate it even more.
And being of African descent just allows me to have a greater appreciation for black American history, for the civil rights movement, for understanding the South.
All these things are connected.
We're all interconnected, so that's the way I decide to approach it and really have a great appreciation for the history of the black movement and that movement across the world.
You know, it doesn't simply stop in one place, it's global.
Can you talk maybe about some of the differences in the literature that you can bring in from those two experiences?
Oh, yeah.
Because you have many black authors talking about the legacy of slavery and how that's showing up in lives, both in fiction and non-fiction, whereas maybe some more recent immigrants might refer to the legacy of colonialism in their work.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, there are two distinct paths, but again, they converge.
They come together in so many ways.
The caller mentioned the 1619 project, which really outlines the different ways that racism and slavery have impacted every piece of American society.
And, you know, we have authors like Clint Smith, one of my favorite writers.
His book is called How the Word is Passed.
And he talks about the different landmarks and goes to places like Charlottesville and Thomas Jefferson's Memorial and talks about what that encounter as a black American, what that encounter means, you know, to history and being in that space with formerly enslaved people.
So all these things and these stories, again, are connected.
They're not done in silos, but they're all connected together.
Teresa is in Washington, D.C., on a line for Democrats.
Good morning, Teresa.
Oh, good morning.
I was surprised that you talked to me so quickly.
Yes, I love listening to this.
I just wanted to throw this in.
When I was a kid, my mother used to read to us all the time.
So I kind of lived my life in the library, and I just loved it.
But I think also it's very important that young people, young children, read the classics, not only of African Americans, which I just, I mean, I discovered an area in our library that was nothing but black history.
It was fantastic.
But the classics are very important too.
Books by Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Candide, for instance.
These are books that help you to understand life.
You're beyond racism.
One other thing I wanted to say: oh, books are very important, but today, since so many young people are visually stimulated, I think looking at documentaries regarding history and the world is very important.
And by the way, Chinawa, whose book Things Fall Apart, I have a lot of African books here from Nigeria.
And those are the things that I wanted to talk about.
But the emphasis on documentaries is very, very important to get them.
One other thing, I just want to interject this quickly.
I've been working with NAICE, which is the understanding how fourth graders and eighth graders assessing how they read and do math.
And I'm going to tell you, if kids can't read before the third grade and understanding what they read, it's very difficult for them to analyze what they read.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
So thank you.
Thank you.
That's what I wanted to tell you.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I absolutely read a lot of classics growing up.
A lot of the books that you mentioned, you know, Walt Whitman and Ernest Hemingway, Ralph Emerson.
There were just so many things that, again, shaped my understanding.
And the key piece that you mentioned that is so important is the analysis, being able to not only read the work, but have a further understanding and have context of how it all plays out in history, how you can become enlightened by these things, really expand your horizon.
And the classics are so vital.
And I was very fortunate to read so many incredible books from a variety of authors throughout my time.
Hannah is in North Carolina on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Hannah.
Good morning.
How are you?
It's so nice to hear you talk about my favorite subject, which is blacks and books.
Well, I have a story to tell, make it short.
I grew up in North Carolina, rural North Carolina, and I graduated from a segregated school.
And my first introduction to black poets and writers was through, not through our curriculum, because we had the classics you required to read the classics, but we had nothing, nothing in terms of black writers.
But we had young teachers that had gone to HBCUs in North Carolina.
And so they bought their own books, poems to us and presented them to us.
We were required to recite them like Lansing Hughes, Mother to Son.
But later on, I found my favorite author, and I think she sees at the top, is Zora Neale Hurston.
And I thought that what she did was she presented herself not as a feminist, but a womanist.
And I saw how I identified with strong black women.
And in her book, Men and Mules, I noticed how she sat around with men and she talked.
She was out of her place, so to speak.
And I didn't know anything about her interactions in the North with some of the writers of her time.
But the reason that they didn't really understand, they didn't understand that Zora Neale Hurston came from a community of black people who had their own schools, they had their own identity.
And what she did was she came north and she interacted, but she made sure that she was able to write her story.
And her story was one that I could identify with.
And one other thing was I have a younger Younger sister, who's 15 years younger than I am.
And she went through.
We're just about out of time for this segment, and I want to give Miss Edom a chance to respond to your points before we have to let her go.
Yes, Miss Hannah, this was so wonderful to hear just like your love for Zora Neale Hurston, and it just shows how timeless her work is.
So many colors today have mentioned Zora because of the power of her words.
And I also want to, you know, shout out Langston Hughes, his work, that poem that you mentioned, Mother to Son, is actually what opens up my book because so much of my writing is a dedication to my son and providing him a map of sorts when it comes to literature and legacy and allowing him to understand Black history.
And so I feel like every one of the callers have echoed the importance of literature, the importance of showing up for these conversations to be in dialogue to really understand the power of words and telling your story.
And it's so incredible to hear just all the beautiful beloved memories of teachers, the teachers over time that have really influenced readers and allowed them to see themselves in work.
Well, thank you so much.
Gloria Edom is the author of Gather Me, a memoir in praise of the books that saved me, and also the founder of a literary platform, Well-Read Black Girl.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
This is wonderful.
And this is just the first of eight days of conversations that we're going to be having with some of America's top writers from across the political spectrum.
We're going to talk about a variety of public policy and political topics.
So stay tuned to Washington Journal all week for that, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern, live each day.
And when we come back, we're going to take more of your phone calls on any public affairs topic you'd like to talk about.
Those phone numbers are on your screen.
It will be open form and you can start dialing in.
We'll be back in a few moments.
Since its founding in 1992, the Innocence Project has been responsible for getting hundreds of wrongfully convicted people in the United States out of prison.
Tonight, on QA, Attorney and Innocence Project Executive Director Christina Swarns joins us to talk about the history of the organization and some of the clients they've successfully represented over the years, including the two men convicted of killing Malcolm X in 1965.
At the original trials in the late 1960s, another gentleman took the witness stand and said that he was the person that was the shooter and that he committed the crime with two other people he refused to name.
The jury rejected that information.
But what we know is that the law enforcement actually had evidence that corroborated his statement and corroborated his assertion that he was the shooter and these other two people, not Mr. Islam or Mr. Aziz, who were our clients, you know, had committed this crime.
But that information was withheld.
Innocence Project Executive Director Christina Swarns tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's QA.
You can listen to Q&A and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app.
Ahead of the presidential inauguration on January 20th, American History TV on C-SPAN 2 presents a four-week series, Historic Inaugural Speeches.
Each weekend, listen to inaugural speeches given by presidents after they were sworn in.
From Franklin Roosevelt through Barack Obama, on Saturday, we'll feature President Roosevelt.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
President Harry Truman.
I believe that those countries which now oppose us will abandon their delusions.
And President Dwight Eisenhower.
We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history.
Watch historic inaugural speeches, Saturdays at 7 p.m. Eastern, on American History TV, on C-SPAN 2.
Are you a nonfiction book lover looking for a new podcast?
This holiday season, try listening to one of the many podcasts C-SPAN has to offer.
On Q ⁇ A, you'll listen to interesting interviews with people and authors writing books on history and subjects that matter.
Learn something new on Book Notes Plus through conversations with nonfiction authors and historians.
Afterwards brings together best-selling nonfiction authors with influential interviewers for wide-ranging hour-long conversations.
And on About Books, we talk about the business of books with news and interviews about the publishing industry and nonfiction authors.
Find all of our podcasts by downloading the free C-SPAN Now app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back.
We're an open forum ready to hear your comments about political affairs news of the day.
Our number for Republicans is 202-748-8001.
For Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And for Independents, 202-748-8002.
As a reminder, you can text us as well at 202-748-8003.
Now, also, before we get to your calls, just want to remind folks that later on today, President-elect Donald Trump is going to give keynote remarks in Phoenix, Arizona at a Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action event that will be live at 12.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, and online at c-span.org.
And before we get to your calls, let's actually listen to a little bit more from President-elect Trump at his news conference last week on the Senate's response so far to his cabinet picks.
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 has nothing to do with me.
I would say they probably would be primaried.
But if they're reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I can see that happening.
But I do believe that if they're unreasonable, 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 talk 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 that 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 had 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.
President-elect Trump, they're discussing his choice to lead the Department of Defense on the topic of the military.
There was some news this weekend, as reported here in NBC News and elsewhere.
Two Navy pilots ejected to safety after friendly fire downs their fighter jet.
The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, part of a carrier strike group in the region, mistakenly fired on the jet, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
Two Navy pilots safely ejected over the Red Sea on Sunday after the FA-18 fighter jet they were in was shot down by what appeared to be friendly fire, U.S. Central Command said.
The F-A-18 was flying off of the USS Harry S. Truman when it was downed, CENTCOM said in a statement.
One of the pilots may have sustained minor injuries during the ejection, CENTCOM said.
The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, part of the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group in the region, quote, mistakenly fired on and hit the F-18, it said.
A full investigation is underway, CENTCOM added.
Officials didn't release the fighter's exact mission.
The apparent accident happened Sunday morning in the region between Africa and the Middle East.
A focus of U.S. military assets assembled to protect U.S. personnel, coalition partners, and global shipping interests.
Now, let's get to your calls in open forum, starting with Henry in Mississippi on our line for independence.
Good morning, Henry.
Good morning.
Once again, my name is Henry Joyner.
I'd like to thank God for blessing us all to be able to speak this morning to still be here.
I have two questions.
First question: Why is it that out of all history that we have not learned that wars don't solve anything?
The only people that seriously get hurt during the war is innocent.
Now, if the countries, president, king, whoever have a problem with what's going on with each other, why don't just them two people, just them two people, fight, just them two people with the problem, because the rest of us don't even know each other.
We never spoke to each other, but yet we are.
We've been sent to different countries to kill people that we don't even know nothing about, that never done anything or said anything wrong or done anything wrong to us.
Also, if we do not go and fight these people, we can be locked up just because we don't want to go to another country and kill someone that never done anything to us.
I'd like to know the answer to that question now.
My second question.
My second question is: why do we put people to death with the death penalty for killing someone?
Ain't we doing the same thing when we kill them?
Murder is murder.
All right, let's go to Rudy in Sun City, California on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Rudy.
Good morning, Kimberly.
My last thoughts for the year.
I believe in karma.
I will not be supporting Donald in any form or fashion.
To my Arab Palestinian friends who I supported for decades, that has ended.
And finally, to people of all stripes who took those IOUs from Donald under the guise of inflation and the economy.
Good luck in collecting your 30 pieces of silver.
Thank you, Kimberly.
You have a blessed holiday.
Bye-bye.
Rudy mentioned the people who voted for Trump because of his economic policies.
Thursday, during the debate on the continuing resolution, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries actually attacked Trump and the GOP's economic agenda.
Let's listen to some of those comments.
And so we see a very clear pattern.
The facts speak for themselves.
Democrats are the party of getting things done and fiscal responsibility.
Republicans are the party of massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected, which bring us to this very moment, because this bill is designed to set up the GOP tax scam 2.0, to stick the American people with a bill so you can continue to cut taxes for wealthy donors and well-connected corporations.
and jam working class Americans.
That's what this bill today fundamentally is all about.
That's why Republicans are suspending the debt ceiling for two years, the so-called party of fiscal responsibility.
And in addition to these massive tax cuts, we know how you want to pay for it.
Many Republicans have said this in the public domain.
That we're going to end Social Security as we know it, in Medicare as we know it, in Medicaid as we know it, in nutritional assistance as we know it.
Not support our veterans.
These are all the reasons why Democrats are opposed to this legislation.
Because you're trying to jam working class Americans again, as you have repeatedly done over and over and over again.
Those are the facts.
Some other news we're following this morning of here from Politico.
Trump threatens to retake the Panama Canal.
The U.S. ceded control of the canal to Panama in 1999, pursuant to a Carter administration policy.
But President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that the U.S. would resume control of the Panama Canal if it felt that Panama wasn't honoring the terms of a 1977 treaty regarding the waterway's legal status.
In two lengthy Truth Social posts Saturday evening, Trump accused Panama of charging U.S. vessels exorbitant fee rates to pass through the critical waterway.
He also claimed that the treaties enabling Panama to take control of the canal in the first place also allowed the U.S. to take it back.
I'll read a bit here.
If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in full and without question, Trump wrote.
It's unclear what spurred Trump's invective about the canal.
While China has increased its presence in Latin America over the last two decades and a Hong Kong-based company administers the two ports on each end of the canal, no Chinese commercial or government entity actually has any direct role in managing the flow of vessels through the critical waterway.
Back to your calls in open forum.
John is in Pounding Mill, Virginia on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, John.
Morning.
Just a couple quick points.
I was wanting a programming note: if next time you have a lawyer on your show, not you, but any host, such as Lee's Wheel, I believe, was on a week or two ago.
But next time you have a lawyer on, could you please have them explain in layman's terms what the 32 misdemeanors are felonies, I'm sorry, felonies that Donald Trump is accused of.
Could they explain what they actually are and maybe say what is the minimum sentence?
What is the maximum sentence?
How many people in the United States have been convicted of any of these felonies?
Because apparently we're going to hear about them for the next four years from every liberal that calls in.
And another quick note: if you would watch, or if anybody wants to watch on YouTube, Mark Levin's show last night, it was very interesting about the January 6th.
That's all I have.
Merry Christmas.
Thank you.
Okay.
Ron is in Philadelphia on our line for independence.
Good morning, Ron.
Good morning, Kimberly, and let me thank you for wonderful moderating that you're doing this morning.
I'm here just to, no matter what your political stripe, we all go through sometimes the trauma of loss.
I would recommend a book, and I know we're in the prior segment, Tragic Victory by Diane Davis.
Great reading, about 100 pages, but it shows a path that we all must go through when we lose someone close to us or when we have the struggles with mental illness or the things that change in front of our faces.
I would recommend that book.
It's called Tragic Victory, and it's on Amazon, and it's well read.
The people who have read it seem to have gotten another vision of how to deal with loss.
So I recommend that book.
Thank you for the recommendation, Ron.
Carolyn is in Tyler, Texas, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Carolyn.
Good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I want to go back to the discussion on being optimistic or pessimistic about the upcoming Trump administration.
I'm definitely pessimistic about the upcoming Trump administration.
As a 71-year-old black woman raised in Jim Crow South here, I lived through racial segregation here in East Texas.
I can remember the white-only and colored-only signs for water fountains and restrooms.
I remember not being able to sit and eat at a five-and-10-cent store, delicatessent, downtown.
I remember going to the only elementary school designated for black students here in our area.
Yet, I feel like what is to come for blacks and other people of color with Trump as the president, along with the unqualified people he has picked so far, will result in a rolling back of rights and gains like we've never seen before.
In fact, this rolling back of rights and gains has really already started since the implementation of the Project 2025 plan has started, such as the loss of DEI programs, diversity, equity, and inclusion, that not only benefit people of color, but the disabled, LGBTQIA community,
women, various people, right to choose, banned books, and so much more.
So I am pessimistic because we're actually about to have a person at the hem of our country who has been charged, it is true, with 34 felonies, a person who will likely unravel our democracy to the extent that it becomes unrecognizable.
Thank you for taking my call.
Gar is in Decatur, Georgia, on our line for independence.
Good morning, Garr.
How are you doing, Tia?
Thank you for taking my call.
I'm Kimberly, actually.
Oh, Kimberly, my bad.
That's okay.
What I like to talk about is: have you ever had Denise Spielberg on your book TV?
She wrote the book, Thomas Jefferson's Quran.
I'm going to check our archives, but go ahead in the meantime.
Yeah, and the thing about it is she goes into the depth of how Thomas Jefferson studied the Holy Quran.
In fact, he was trying to learn Arabic.
And a lot of what we got in our Constitution come from the Holy Quran.
And another thing, too, like Hakeem Jeffries, his first name, Hakeem, comes from Arabic, which means intelligent and wise.
And they even say the word America also comes from Arabic, which means commander of self.
In fact, Columbus sailed from Spain, which was ruled by Muslims for over 800 years.
So I wish people would really understand the history of America and how a lot of what we have going on come from Islam.
And the thing about it is that we're in the Middle East and I can't understand why we are over there because it don't make sense because you don't have peace with bombs.
You don't create peace with bombs.
We all know that.
Thank you very kindly.
I wasn't able to find any interviews related to that book in our archives in a quick search, but I did check.
Let's hear now from Brenda in Fort Lee, New Jersey on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Brenda.
Good morning, America.
I'm calling in regards to so disappointed in President.
I can't believe all the different things that went on when he was president for the last four years.
I just don't know.
I've been a Democrat for many, many years, and now I switched over and I'm giving my vote.
I did give my vote to President Trump.
I really hope he does a better, better job, which I know he will.
And hopefully America will turn around and be united, and people will understand that he's for us.
Let's give him a chance.
President Trump, I wish him all the best.
He had my vote.
I gave him my vote.
Thank you for listening.
Next up is Jesse in Shalamara, Florida on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Jesse.
Yes, ma'am.
There are two issues that I'd like to see if someone could help me understand.
The first is the issue of the tariffs.
Trump talks about the tariffs being something that we'll get from China, but as I understand it, the tariffs are on the goods, and the goods are paid for by the companies.
And essentially, that means that the companies are going to charge the people more money for those same goods.
To me, that seems like a threat for inflation, and I just don't understand Trump's thinking that we can get money from China when it looks like the money is coming from us.
And the other thing that I don't understand is the, you know, we have a problem right now getting help to do construction work and stuff like that.
If we deport the people who do that type of work, where are we going to get that labor to do that work?
I mean, if you try and get a workman right now, it takes weeks, even with the situation that we have.
And, you know, to deport people that are working, I mean, I understand closing the border.
I'm all for that.
And I'm all for his, let's get this stuff out of war, but I'm worried about the economy.
So, Jesse, just to your first point regarding the tariffs, there's been quite a bit of reporting on the potential economic impact of the tariffs that President-elect Trump has proposed.
Here's one story from the Associated Press that actually came out last month.
Trump's threat to impose tariffs could raise prices for consumers, colliding with the promise for relief.
It says, if Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25 percent tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation.
Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, booze, and other goods.
The president-elect floated the tariff idea, including an additional 10% taxes on goods from China, as a way to force the countries to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S.
But his post Monday, and this was an article last month, on Truth Social threatening the tariffs on his first day in office could just be a negotiating ploy to get the countries to change behavior.
So, Jesse, your analysis about who pays for tariffs is matched up by many economists as well.
So, at least that's one of your points.
On the border, there's been a few economic analyses of how the potential mass deportations could affect the border as well.
If you want to go look for those, okay?
Let's go to Philip in Jackson, Mississippi, on our line for independence.
Good morning, Philip.
Good morning, young lady.
I just wanted to call and tell people that there's a really good book out there called Run in My Shoes that deals with American and African American and almost all native culture histories of this founding of this country and the actual founding of our culture and civilization.
Because being an African American has a deeper root than oftentimes displayed or talked about when it comes to any subject related to African Americans, it's mostly things that are related to the economy and how it works in America.
But it's a much deeper and I would just say greater sense of knowledge about the development of the planet civilizations rather than just talking about current issues in America when it comes to blacks.
It goes much, much deeper, thousands and thousands of years.
And I think it will enlighten those who want to be able to see a better situation of the truth rather than just the plain same old, same old topics and subject matters that are oftentimes talked about.
And in particular, leadership that's often talked about.
And I think there's one more thing I want to say.
I think the book Run in My Shoes offers a male biographical perspective as well, being a book related to the history and the founding of this country.
So I think it's a really good read, and I recommend people try to get a hold of it.
All right.
Thank you very much for the recommendation.
Steve is in Anderson, Indiana, on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Steve.
Yeah, I got a few things I'd like to talk about.
Mainly, I'm kind of excited about Trump being back in office to where everybody's going to be having to come back to the White House and do the work for the people.
There'll be meetings.
Trump will be having meetings with the, for the last four years, it seems like the whole White House in Washington, D.C. has all been shut down.
Nothing's been done.
Nobody comes to work.
Everybody needs to get to work and do the business for the people.
And this border by Biden, the Democratic Party, I don't know who's actually running this Democratic Party, trying to sell off our steel for the building the wall.
That's kind of ridiculous.
But we got to get this deficit under control.
And I think Trump can do it because we cannot be putting out these bills with 3,000 pages in them.
That's going to end.
You know, all this pork that's being put out here and all these bills that don't amount to a hill of beans, just wasteful spending.
All the countries, 130 countries out here, don't have as much debt as we have.
That don't make no sense why we want to give money to other countries when we're more in debt than any country.
all combined.
We got to quit giving away money to people and start thinking about the American people.
And I believe Trump and his people will start doing that, get our house back in order.
We can't 30, almost $37 trillion in debt, almost $1 trillion just in entrance alone.
That's not getting it for the American people.
Thank you for listening to me.
Okay.
Crystal is in Wilkesbar, Pennsylvania on our line for a Democrat.
Democrats.
Good morning, Crystal.
Yes, good morning.
And the guy was talking about debt, and Trump wanted to add more debt, okay?
So that's funny.
But I wanted to say, I wanted to respond to Trump and that has the guy, I forget his name from Bob.
Hegset.
Pete, yeah, it would be a tragedy if he didn't get this job.
He is a man that tried to sexually assault women.
He is a man that had an assault on his wife with a woman at work.
He is a man that fought a guy while he was in the military, fought a guy and hurt a guy very badly.
You're referring to allegations that have been made against Pete Hegseth.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And not only him, every pick, mostly everyone he picked has issues.
He's picked people who want to demolish departments but want to run them.
And we think that that's great, that millionaires care about us little people, and they're going to do such great work for us.
And if this weekend was a prelude to his presidency coming up, I am afraid of this person.
I am afraid of these people that will change a vote based on a tweet by somebody from South Africa.
Okay?
If you want to send somebody back to Africa, send Musk back to Africa.
But listen, you guys voted for him.
You're going to get what you get.
I'm going to keep on sitting back listening and laughing at this whole debacle of a man who said he would lower the prices of groceries and now has changed his mind about that as well.
But you guys enjoy him.
You guys have a good day, man.
Thank you.
Bye.
Crystal referenced some of the allegations against Pete Hegseth.
Fox News has a story about the President-elect's choice for the Secretary of Defense with the headline, Pete Hegseth may release sexual assault accuser from confidentiality agreement, setting up a public showdown.
This is a bit more on that.
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's defense secretary nominee ensnared in sexual assault allegations, plans to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement he had her sign, according to Senator Lindsey Graham.
Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, told Meet the Press that Hegseth told me he would release her from that agreement, adding, I'd want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted someone.
Graham has said he will not take allegations from an anonymous source into consideration for Hegseth's confirmation.
Allowing Hegseth's accuser to come forward publicly might lead to a spectacle similar to the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during which his accuser, Christine Ford, was called to testify in the Senate about her accusations.
Tim is in Charlotte, North Carolina, on our line for independence.
Good morning, Tim.
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm good, thank you.
All right, I just want to make some quick comments.
I don't want this to go on too long.
Barack Obama, $16 trillion in debt.
Joe Biden, incompetent, treasonous, easily because Kamala Harris sat there knowing this man was incompetent.
I mean, it's outrageous what these Democrats talk about.
Hunter Biden, how many crimes did he commit that he get away with?
The laptop, all this other stuff.
I mean, I could go back to Lois Larner, the IRS, when they weaponized.
The Democrats have weaponized all this stuff way before the Republicans ever.
And the thing is, they won't prosecute these people.
Joe Biden is the worst.
I mean, everybody knows that's treason to let this man sit up there knowing he's incompetent.
He is the leader of the free world.
I mean, it's ludicrous.
It's outrageous.
And these Democrats get on here and cry about Trump.
At least the man is competent.
So, Tim, can you turn down the volume on your TV just because we're getting a bit of an echo?
But I do want you to finish your point.
Just turn down the volume on TV.
I mean, the point of it is that the Democrats are some of the most criminal.
I mean, you know, go back to Bill Clinton, Whitewater.
Look what Hillary Clinton did: 30,000 emails.
I mean, it just goes on and on.
And I mean, the Republicans have problems, but it's just unbelievable.
It's shocking that these people get on here and talk about the Republicans.
Do they not look at themselves in the mirror before they throw rocks at glass houses?
I mean, it's just, it's unbelievable.
And it's shocking that Brian Lamb has allowed this network to go to the left the way it has, because that's what you guys really are.
I've been watching it for 40 years, and it's an abomination.
It really is.
And that's really all I have to say.
Okay.
Gene in Taylorville, Illinois says, I'm so tired of hearing about debt from the Republicans when 52% of the debt since the Bush tax cuts were made law have been the tax cuts.
Look it up.
It's a fact.
Thank you, C-SPAN.
Rick is in Grand Saline, Texas, on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Rick.
Yes, thank you.
I had two things I wanted to mention this morning briefly.
One is one of the best books I've ever read is called The Day America Told the Truth by Patterson and Kim.
It's out of print.
It was 1991 when it came out, and you can still get it used on Amazon.
And it is the largest study ever done on American morality and ethics ever.
And it is full of facts.
Many of them are still valid, even though it's been 30 years ago.
And I highly recommend that book for people who are wanting information.
The other thing I wanted to mention is here before Christmas, I'm thinking of my father who was deceased in 2008.
My father was a lieutenant in World War II in Dachau, Germany, after prosecuting the attorneys.
He was under General Patton's staff, and he was in charge of gathering the evidence against the Nazis for what they did in the concentration camp for the U.S. forces.
And he did a wonderful job.
You know, I just support the Jewish people.
You know, what went on is burned into my memory.
It's horrible.
I won't discuss it here.
But anyway, thank you for today, and you have a great day.
God bless you.
Alvin is in Denver, Colorado, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Alvin.
Alvin, can you hear us?
Good morning, Kimberly.
Go ahead.
Wonderful program.
Pardon me?
I was just saying to please go ahead and make sure to turn down the volume on your TV.
I have.
Great.
I wanted to talk a little bit about Panama.
Are you there?
Yes, we're here.
Go ahead.
Okay.
Okay.
I had the privilege to serve there in the late 90s.
It's a wonderful country, wonderful people.
I was there when we invaded Panama.
My impressions are that they're a proud people who love democracy.
They still utilize our currency.
And I wake up this morning and see this post by the incoming president threatening Panama.
I think it's interesting.
He's threatening our closest allies in the Western Hemisphere.
The people in Panama idolize the United States.
There's a tremendous feeling of love and respect for our country.
And I just wonder how all this, these threats against Mexico, Canada, Panama, the European Union, how will that help the single mom in West Philadelphia who either didn't vote or voted for Trump thinking about the economy?
Okay.
Max is in New Orleans, California on our line for independence.
Good morning, Max.
Hey, good morning.
How are you today?
Hope everything is good.
And as I make my quick statements, maybe if you wanted to, you could answer some of these questions for me, too, if you feel that you could.
So here's something that's been on my mind for quite some time.
First of all, where have all these uninformed Americans been for so long?
Do we not know what kind of person Donald Trump has been over the past 40 years?
Do we not know what has been in the headlines, even in the Inquirer, which he supports?
So it just blows my mind that there's so many Americans that have been duped into voting and selecting someone that has so much disgusting baggage.
Now, here's my real point.
My real point of calling, and this has been bugging me because I haven't heard anybody really bring this out.
And if you want to answer, you can.
So could you tell me since America was formed, what general part of the population held most small businesses, farms, and large businesses, and I'll answer it.
It was, sorry to be, I'm not trying to be pejorative, but white America.
So since America's establishment, the people that have hired the immigrants that come to this country were the people that owned those business, small, private, big, large, and farms.
Now, for decades, those people have used the others from a different country in a very disgusting way, almost modern slavery.
We all know this.
Now, those same people are the loudest ones complaining about immigration in America.
If we take a step back, we can realize who caused this immigration to America.
Most of the immigrants don't come here just because of the weather.
They come because they're going to get a job.
Yes, they're going to get paid less, sort of slavery in a way, but they got a job and they can send money home.
Now, that is the cause of all of the immigration problems of the day.
It was a certain part of the population that used those people to cheat the American system.
They didn't hire people to give them a job and make their life better.
They hired those people to cheat the American system.
So I can imagine why, when Biden talked about adding IRS agents, that a lot of people complained.
And I can kind of imagine why, because a lot of people got very, very wealthy and ahead in the game because of using illegal labor that should not be here.
So it just blows my mind that this group of people may get totally let off the hook for what they've done for the past 200 years.
They caused it.
They started it.
They perpetuated it.
And now they're the loudest ones in the room complaining about it.
And that bugs me so bad because there are so many uninformed Americans that do not realize that.
Or maybe they do realize, but they're ignoring it.
But that is the case.
And that really was my point.
I haven't heard anyone mention that, that there's a certain part of the American population that caused this entire border problem that everyone is now upset about.
And no one's holding them accountable.
No one's going back and looking at records.
No one's going out right now with cameras and taking pictures of work crews and then sending them to the proper agencies to let them know that this company is hiring these people.
They're going to get away with it.
And it blows my mind.
This isn't supposed to be how America works.
Anyhow, that was my point.
I just hadn't heard anybody really mention that.
So I just thought I'd put it out there for a lot of other people to kind of ponder, think about, and realize why this border is the way it is and who benefited from it and who is going to get to keep what they benefited from it from with no, with nothing.
That's all.
That was my whole thing.
Thank you for giving me the time.
I hope you have a great day.
Beverly is in Castiac, California on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Beverly.
Good morning, and happy holidays to you.
Thank you.
I was calling to say what I don't think a lot of people realize is that President Obama, when he left office, he left President, the incoming president, no matter who it was, a windfall.
He had everything in order.
Donald Trump must have thought he had hit the superlatto mega millions powerball presidential jackpot.
Everything was laid out for from the economy to the pandemic to COVID, everything.
And he did his best to run it into the ground.
And then along came the Biden-Harris administration, which I think they should have harped on during the presidential election.
They had to try and clean up that mess.
And it was devastating for them.
They worked hard to try and, they did what they could do to try and get this country back on board.
And now, here we come again with Trump and why he got in?
The country would rather choose a 34-count convicted felon than put a woman of integrity in office.
That's just the way it is.
That's just America for you.
So I don't put my faith in man.
I put my faith that God is still on the throne.
That's how I look at it.
So I, you know, I'm not pointing fingers.
I'm not, you know, looking for anyone to fail.
I just pray that things go well and that we can withstand what's getting ready to come upon America.
All right.
Daniela is in Maplewood, New Jersey on our line for independence.
Good morning, Daniela.
Thank you.
Can you hear me okay?
Yes, very clearly.
That's good, because I agree so much with what the prior Democrat speaker said.
However, I want her not to be so disillusioned with Americans because Donald Trump, for one thing, won with propaganda and lies and the Musk money.
And even though I'm an independent, I'm aware of how much there is opinion and not just opinion, but fact about how the 2024 recent election was stolen.
There's a documentary called Vigilantes Incorporated, which explains with Senator Warnock and Stacey Abrams and lawyers from the NAACP showing how many so-called minority votes of blacks, Asians, Latinos were repressed or stolen.
Even Martin Luther King's 92-year-old relative was, they tried to stop her from voting.
So there's also that plus several technicians or PhDs with computer science sending a letter to Kamala Harris saying how easy it is to hack Dominion voting machines and calling for a hand recount of paper ballots.
I don't know why the Democrats haven't called for a recount of paper ballots because even though my family has been independent for years since the days of Eisenhower, who was the last good moderate Republican and who didn't send up the national debt by cutting the taxes for billionaires and corporations,
when Eisenhower was president as a Republican, he taxed the rich at a much higher rate.
So I remained independent, but I just see all the lies happening, the propaganda that a felon is now and a convicted white, I mean, a convicted sex abuser is elected to be president is disgusting.
I'm trying to get a little bit more information.
You mentioned an issue with Dominion voting systems, which there hasn't been that I've seen credible reports of these sorts of voting irregularities.
And so I'm just trying to figure out where you heard that information about the problems with the ballots.
There is a website called People for Fair Voting.
Now I can't remember the name of it.
But this is a ITPHCs from universities, from fair voting nonprofit organizations, sent a letter to V.P. Harris explaining how easy it is to hack Dominion voting machines and footnoting it with science and all sorts of footnotes, asking her to call for a hand recount of paper ballots.
This has been circulating all over the internet.
I wish I had before me the actual name of the organization.
But if you Google letter or you look up letter to V.P. Harris, these people are PhD ITs or information technologists at major universities and various nonprofits that support fair voting who have written this letter.
They haven't exactly said that the Dominion machines were hacked, but they show how easily they could be hacked.
And it's very fishy that all the, this is the first time in history that every single swing state voted by a small margin for Trump.
So there's a lot of suspicion about it, and that's why these ITs, or information technologists, are calling for a hand recount of paper ballots.
So I've been searching while you've been talking for this letter, and I haven't been able to find it.
The only thing I have been able to find is a reference to a letter on snopes.com that this duty to warn letter that went to Harris alleging a compromised election are misleading.
So it seems like there was something circulating on social media related to this that turned out to not be accurate.
But I did search Danielle and wasn't able to find a reference to that.
Doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
I just couldn't find it.
Let's go to Charlene in Oakdale, California on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Charlene.
Good morning.
You know, I am so sick of these Democrats not understanding why Trump got in.
Well, because it was the majority.
They are the minority.
So they need to suck it up, stop their whining, and shut up.
Thank you.
Have a Merry Christmas and a good day.
Bye.
Okay.
Jessica is in Reno, Nevada on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Jessica.
Hi, Annie.
Hey, I've got a request for an executive order on day one.
I know, and thank you for taking my call.
Merry Christmas to everyone everywhere.
Always, listen, I really do think that President Trump needs to do an executive order on day one with regards to the IRS tax code to amend it for HOA, that is to say homeowners association fees, to include 100% deduction for owners and occupants who may be homestead or whatever.
But the point is, right now, currently, the IRS code only allows if you rent it out or if you have a business in your home, you can write part of your home that you use the HOA fee for.
HOA fees insurance, of course, we are insurance poor in America right now.
Insurance is through the roof for HOA, and there are a variety of reasons, all unbeknown to me, some known to me.
But the main thing is this.
I live in a house paid for and cannot, I've been here 30 years, can't afford the HOA in my retirement unless I can write it off.
I can't afford to live here.
Ron is in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on our line for independence.
Good morning, Ron.
Good morning.
I'm on the line for Democrats.
I believe I called on that line.
But anyway, 25% of the debt incurred in our 240-year history of the United States was incurred by Donald Trump in his four years in office.
So that's a fact.
You can check that out.
But there's a few things that I wanted to bring up about taxes in the hidden taxes or tax shelters.
There's a place called Monseco, Mozak Fonseca, out of Panama, where I think 70,000 companies have placed their taxes.
You wonder why we have so much debt because of all the tax shelters.
And also, the other thing I wanted to bring up, too, was there's a tunnel being built under the Hudson River.
That's under the Biden administration.
Under Trump, he promised both Mario Cuomo and Chris Christie that he was going to help give the federal financing to that tunnel, and he re-negged on it.
So that's the kind of person you're dealing with for president of the United States.
That's my comment for today.
Thank you.
Jim is in North Carolina on our line for Republicans.
Good morning, Jim.
Good morning.
What's your comment?
I would like all these Democrats that call in whining about a man that ain't even took office yet to look at things with an open mind if it's possible.
Just imagine if this president we've got now that's fixing to go in would say, all right, we're going to open up the borders.
Come on, come on, everybody.
Free health care, free Social Security.
Here's your debit card.
All you got to do, vote Republican.
Them guys, these people weren't let over here to work.
They were let over here to vote, and it backfired on them.
I want the Democrats, these people call in sobbing, wake up.
The things the Biden administration done, he ought to be put in front of a firing squad for what he done to this country.
I wish the people could just actually wake up.
So we're not going to have calls for violence on here.
Norris is in Bronx, New York, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Norris.
How are you doing?
I want to talk about history in a biblical sense.
How here to repeat this stuff.
First, I'm going to start with Noah.
We tried to tell the people they were listening about Moses and the Ten Commandments.
And when the people chose the golden cow, Jesus and Barabbas, the people chose the Robbins.
He was a criminal.
Trump and Jesus, the people chose Trump.
He's the criminal.
Now we have the golden cash that's going to the White House.
Have a good day.
Okay.
Benita is in Fort Worth, Texas, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning, Benita.
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Good.
Can you just make sure to turn down the volume on your TV, please, and then go ahead?
Yes.
I wanted to explain and say some things in rebuttal to different things I've heard said.
First of all, it was not by a mandate or landslide that Trump won.
And so when someone says, suck it up, you know, the people wanted him.
Okay, we're talking about 250 million people were eligible voters, but only 155 million or so people voted.
Over 80-something million people did not vote.
And that's the problem.
And a lot of those people, the majority, were Democrats.
So he didn't get with 49% of the vote of the people that did vote.
Okay, number two, when we're talking about hiring illegals, I think the Democrats didn't do a lot to explain and go back and bring up that Trump had over a dozen or so illegal immigrants working at Mar-a-Lago during his first term.
They brought that out.
They said he had special permission because he couldn't find anybody to work in Mar-a-Lago.
Wow.
I guess he should have paid them more.
Third, when Barack and Michelle Obama used to say, when people go low, you go high.
Well, during that particular political time, you could do those things with Congress.
No.
The gentleman that turned around and said that Biden needed to be in front of a firing squad, those are the type of people that Trump tapped into, the violent people.
And so therefore, that's what we have now, because they have been brought out of the darkness and into the light by saying all the so-called free speech that they would like.
We are just about out of time for the show today, but thank you to everyone who called in with your comments and questions today for Washington Journal.
Later on today, President Elect Donald Trump is going to be giving a keynote remark at an event in Phoenix hosted by Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action that will be live at 12.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, and online on c-span.org.
Thanks to everyone, and please join us again tomorrow for another edition of Washington Journal right here at 7 a.m. Eastern.
Have a great day.
This week, watch Washington Journal's special Holiday Authors Week series featuring live segments each morning with a new writer.