Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Casey, Friday, Delaware Democratic Senator Tom Carper and California Democratic Congresswoman Grace Napolitano.
Watch our interviews with departing members discussing their careers in Congress this week.
Starting at 9 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org.
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 masked 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.
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Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
It is open forum.
You can start calling in now.
And while we are doing that, here is President-elect Donald Trump.
He was at a turning point action conference yesterday in Phoenix, and he talked about immigration policy and talks about a new approach to fighting illegal drugs.
But I've informed Mexico that it just cannot continue.
We're not going to let it continue.
The United States has lost 300,000 people a year.
Think of that.
I don't know.
I mean, how many people, everybody you meet said, I lost my daughter.
I lost my son to drugs to fentanyl, mostly to fentanyl, but to drugs.
Families are being destroyed, and we're going to stop it.
We're not going to let that happen.
And we're also going to be doing something that's, I think, going to help a lot.
We're going to do very big advertising campaigns, just like a campaign for running for president.
We spend a lot of money, but it'll be a very small amount of money relatively.
We're going to advertise how bad drugs are for you, how bad they are.
They ruin your look.
They ruin your face, they ruin your skin, and ruin your teeth.
If you want to have horrible teeth, take a lot of fentanyl.
If you want to have skin that looks so terrible, take fentanyl.
We're going to do what these drugs are doing to you.
Nobody's done that before, and we're going to do it.
That was yesterday.
If you'd like to see the whole event, it's at our website, c-span.org.
And this is thehill.com with the headline: Trump says he's planning a large-scale ad campaign on fentanyl crisis.
You can read that at thehill.com if you'd like more information on that planned ad campaign.
Let's talk to Aaron in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico Republican.
Hi, Aaron.
Hail Trump, Mimi.
How are you?
Good.
How's it going?
I'm from Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, I live here now.
I don't care about immigration, but I used to be addicted to fentanyl.
Anyways, healthcare, right?
That's what Bache said?
Yes.
Luigi Mangioni's arraignment is today.
I hope we see a lot of support for him out there.
He's our new Christ figure.
You know what, Aaron?
He's also an alleged murderer.
Don't you see other ways of showing your displeasure?
We need copycats of Luigi.
This is Christina, Oakland, Michigan, Independent Line.
Hi, Christina.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
And where do I begin?
This country has gone so out of whack.
I find one of the biggest problems we have is all the money in our politics.
That's become big business.
Ever since the Supreme Court, the Conservative Supreme Court, passed Citizens United saying everything is free as a speech, and so is money.
Somebody like Elon Musk can contribute $270 million to get somebody elected that he can influence.
Now, you know, something's wrong someplace.
So, first of all, I think we've got too much money in politics.
Second of all, I think we've got too much religious beliefs.
I'm a Christian.
I had 12 years of Christian education.
I never learned Christ to preach violence.
And that's how you take care of problems by violence.
Just what that last gentleman said.
I worked in the health care field.
I'm a retired RN.
I worked in surgery.
Everything became a business.
It was do more with less.
Push the people more.
Do I think Donald Trump really cares about working class people, of which I was?
No, he doesn't.
He really cares about marketing.
He's a terrific marketer, and that's what is in his favor.
This country is subject to marketing like crazy.
I mean, that's all we do, is commercials, commercials.
I'm 78 years old.
I remember a day when we were told paid TV, you wouldn't get commercials.
Well, now we got paid TV in the form of cables and everything else.
And it's commercial, commercial, commercial, commercial.
Because we are so subject to the influence of marketing, it is ridiculous.
We should start thinking about what's really important and get the money out of politics.
That would be the biggest start.
But it's not going to happen because there is too much money in politics.
Got it, Christina.
And this is a story from Axios that says this.
Congress's age debate reignites over member living in retirement home.
This is Congress's long-simmering debate over the age of its members has resurfaced over revelations that Representative Kay Granger, a Republican from Texas, has been living in an independent living facility in Texas.
The retiring former House Appropriations Committee chair's absence from votes since July has led some of her colleagues to raise concerns.
Granger acknowledged in a Sunday statement to Axios that she has, quote, been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year.
Since early September, my health challenges have progressed, making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable.
Her son, Brandon, told the Dallas Morning News that she has been, quote, having some dementia issues late in the year.
And this is Katrina in Georgia, Line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
I have a laundry list of things, but I'm going to try to keep it short.
I definitely agree with age limits.
And this is a prime example why we need to have age limits.
This country cannot progress forward with people who are of old age or of old thinking being in charge of this country and making decisions.
This country needs to grow and progress.
And without young minds, young ideals, and views, this country will continue to live in the hatred and woes of what it was basically grew on.
In addition, Trump, his thing on trying to fight drugs and things of that nature, Trump has no substance.
Trump has no morals.
Trump is a person who just continues to spew all kinds of division.
And for anyone who thinks that this man is educated, whoever thinks he's a genius, I really do feel for you.
As far as this country, this country is ruled by lobbyists.
Lobbyists has this country.
Us the people, for the people, that's no longer exists.
It's for the people who has money, who can buy votes, who can take over industries, who can continue to feed us horrible food, who can continue to pollute our air, who can continue to just think about how many people, how young people are now, the number, amount of people who are coming up with cancer.
Those questions, our government is felling us.
They're felling us every day.
And until we recognize that these people need to start showing where their money is, start showing who they're backing.
Congress should be an open book.
We should be able to see everything.
They should not be able to invest in certain companies or be on certain panels or in charge of committees.
There's certain things that as citizens, we should know.
It's a money grab.
And that's the reason why they don't want to leave these crazy jobs because they have the best health care, which they don't offer to us.
They're able to see what companies are moving, what companies are going to close or whatever, and so they could be able to move their money.
We are in a farce.
This is a farce.
And until the people of this country take charge and start asking these people to show your hand, we're going to continue to be in the stand that we're in.
All right, Katrina.
And we mentioned this news about the death row commutations.
This is Politico.
It says Biden to commute sentences of nearly all men on federal death row.
The president will block Donald Trump's chance to quickly resume executions.
It says, so this was 37 of the 40 men condemned to death, the second mass clemency in the weeks following the pardon he issued to his son, Hunter Biden.
This is what the president said in a statement, quote, make no mistake, I condemn these murderers, grieve for their victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.
But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.
Now, we mentioned it was 36 out of the, sorry, 37 out of the 40.
So it says here, Biden's commutations exclude three prisoners convicted for what the president characterized as terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder.
They are the Boston Marathon bomber Joe Karsarnaev and mass shooters Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and Dylan Roof, who killed nine people at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
You can read the rest of that at Politico.
Randy in Kentucky, Republican line, good morning.
Good morning, thank you.
I don't know if I'm understanding what you're saying about Biden's situation.
I called in for something else I was wanting to say, but if I could, are you saying that they're going to be free to the public or they're just going to be denied being put to death of these death rates?
It's just that they won't be put to death.
They are actually going to be life in prison without parole.
So how does Biden justify from someone who does a hate crime to someone who kills a bunch of children or whatever it may be?
Those people hate, no matter what they do, when they kill somebody, they hate.
And I've never understood hate crimes.
I've never understood any of that stuff.
But what I wanted to call in for was the lady that was on that before.
It would be nice if you could have other people on with predicting the future of how our economy and how our income is going to be when we get all the AI and all the robots implemented.
We're bringing in this country so many uneducated people that they'll be basically unneeded, just like so many other people that are already here in this country will be unneeded.
You won't need data entry people because AI will, everything will be basically done.
So how much are you going to pay?
How much do people, do they have it figured out?
How much do they want to pay me?
I discussed this with a young person many years ago.
What do they want to pay?
Everyone, just a basic wage?
Everyone gets the same?
And we have some elites that tell us what we do and what we don't do.
And then can I, if I steal your money, say $50,000 a year or even $1 million a year, whatever they decide it will be, if I steal your, if it's not enough for me, can I steal your money?
Or can I kill you and take your money or whatever it may be?
I mean, all this is just so future is going to be so amazing, you know.
The thing that the future looks like it's going to be, though, it's going to be without God.
The future in America and those people is going to be godless.
And you can absolutely never have that.
And communism is godless.
All right, Randy.
Thank you.
And we are in open forum.
The numbers are Republicans, 202-748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
Independents, 202-748-8002.
We will just take your calls, whatever you want to talk about as it relates to politics and public policy, up until the end of the program at 10 a.m. Eastern.
And Robert is calling us from North Carolina, Independent Line.
Hi, Robert.
Hey, how you doing?
Good.
I'm just calling this morning to say I was Democrat.
I was.
But when I saw Kamala Harris kept saying that she going to give this much to this many people, she going to give to pregnant women.
She going to give more to family, people that's got families.
But what about working-class citizens?
Anybody can just see clearly how she lost.
She lost for giving to somebody who wasn't working, giving to the mamas that ain't working.
And we got enough of those people out there that ain't working and feasting off people that's working, taxpayers, money.
And, you know, people get sick and tired of it.
And that's what she was doing.
I was a Democrat until I kept hearing her saying, give, give, give.
But she never said anything about the working class citizen.
And that's why I went to Donald Trump.
Trump is for the working people.
And thank God for AI.
People say we don't need AI.
Come on, man.
We need AI.
People don't even know how to go on the right side of the road.
We need AI.
We need electric cars.
We need that GPS.
Thank God for a GPS.
At least you know where you're going.
These people got so dumb and crazy.
They thinking that AI is going to destroy everything.
Donald Trump going to, you know, it's corporate and this and that.
We made it through the George Bush administration.
We made it through the Ronald Reagan administration.
We made it through even Joe Biden's administration.
And we will make it through Donald Trump's administration.
But we're going to have 12 years of Trump administration.
I bet you my bottom dollar, 12 years, four years, Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump going to elect somebody for eight more years.
He got the government locked down.
He got the Supreme Court locked down.
Let me tell you something.
Another thing.
Democrats just now waking up to say, oh, how did he get this passed?
And how did they change the government?
Well, you got one set of people that's smart, and that's the Republicans.
And you got another set of people that's dumb.
Republicans is like very smart.
They know how to pass a bill.
They know what to do to pass a bill.
Democrats think this way is supposed to be to the end.
But yes, hey, you got food.
You should have changed the government if you wanted to change.
All right, I'm out for Donald Trump.
Got it.
And this is Rochester, New York.
Democrat Berta.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I just want to say that in some states, felonists can't even vote.
But we got a felon going into the White House.
I am so shamed of our country.
Don't know what to do.
And all those who vote for Trump, they're going to see what Trump is going to do for them.
Good morning.
All right.
And this is Larry in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, Republican.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
I want to say in a couple of days from now, Washington Journal is going to be on Christmas.
And I said this last month.
I can't remember who it was.
I told it would be nice if Democrats call on Christmas and not speak of hate because Christmas is a sacred day and you should not speak of hate.
So if you're a Democratic caller, kind of keep your comments civil.
But Larry, shouldn't everybody keep their comments civil?
Of course.
And I'd say there's a few Republicans that way too, but not as bad as the Democratic and the media.
It's so divisive to speak of hate.
And there would be a good program to have callers, only Democratic callers only, explaining what good hate is.
So that's my comment for today, and I'll wish everybody Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Larry.
This is from thehill.com with the headline, President of Panama fires back at Trump.
The canal belongs to Panama.
It says that the Panamanian president shot back Sunday after President-elect Trump suggested the Panama Canal return to U.S. control.
Quote, as president, I want to express clearly that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama and will continue to do so.
The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.
It says the canal is not under direct or indirect control, neither by China, nor by the European Union, nor by the United States, nor by any other power.
As a Panamanian, I strongly reject any manifestation that distorts this reality.
You could read that at The Hill.
And here is Bobby, St. Paul, Minnesota, Independent.
Hey, thanks for taking my call.
I'm from West St. Paul, Minnesota.
And I want to talk about the Melendis brothers.
I think that's kind of faded out with everything that's going on.
And a reminder that the Melendez brothers shot and killed their parents in cold blood.
And I think there was a Netflix documentary that brought this back to be re-examined.
Also, that they were models, the model prisoners.
And my point is that apparently the dad was a sex fiend and was sexually abusing the boys.
And they had flamed a plan and they shot their, once again, shot their parents in cold blood.
And now they're looking to have their sentence pardoned or whatever the terminology is.
But people have to remember that they pre-planned this killing, number one.
Number two, they shot their dad and shot their mom.
Their mom was still alive.
They went outside.
And at that moment in time, that moment in time, they should have rationalized and said, geez, look what we did.
You know, mom's still alive.
The mother that brought us to this world, the mother that raised us as babies, the mother that's got us through adolescence.
So they went back in.
Instead of calling 911 to save their mother, they reloaded and they shot her to death.
And after when they left, they called 911.
And of course, we know the rest of the story.
They came up with this bogus story.
But the mere fact that they had an opportunity to save their mother, but oh, no, no, no, we can't do that because she's going to be a witness is why they should never see the light of day outside of prison.
Thank you for taking my call.
All right, Bob.
That's my point.
Edward is in Arlington, Virginia, line for Democrats.
Hi, Edward.
Hi, how are you?
I'm doing great.
I just want to say a couple of things.
You have to have intellectual, emotional, and or moral short circuits to want to vote for Trump, who is a criminal, insurrectionist, and he should be in jail on mental institution, not in the White House.
Okay, Edward.
And this is Floyd in Iowa, Republican line.
Hey, she's been this business about politics.
It's always been dirty.
Now, they had that fellow that was working with Trump, I think his name is Dan White, had the MMA.
He got out because it was so dirty.
He thought that the MMA was dirty.
He got into politics, man, but he should have known it because even in junior high school, he had to study a bit by Clausewitz.
He said politics is war by other means.
Anything's going to go.
And Truman, president, said if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.
This just in.
Matt Gates, you are the father.
And this is Terry in New Jersey, Independent Line.
Good morning, Terry.
Good morning.
Mimi, if that's your name, I think it is.
Merry Christmas.
The only thing I want to say here, and Merry Christmas to all.
I've been watching you.
I watch and watch and watch.
And don't cut me off, please.
You know, everybody who's sticking up for Mr. Trump should really take a trip down memory lane.
And I think you should show them that.
I wrote you a letter.
No one's talking about the school shootings.
No one is talking about what's really going on here.
And I think that there's so many people I agree with who called in.
People really need to remember.
Women have very long memories.
Take a trip down memory lane.
I implore you to do so.
Have a nice holiday, and thank you for taking my call.
And this is Rosemary in Alabama, Democrat.
Hi, Rosemary.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm doing great.
Go right ahead.
All right.
I just wanted to just make one comment, and that is, how did we ever allow the richest man in the world to buy an election for Donald Trump?
That is my only thought.
Thank you.
And some news for you from this morning.
This is the New York Times about a merger.
Honda and Nissan aim to merge as global competition bears down.
It says Japan's second and third largest automakers hope the $50 billion deal would help them catch up with Tesla and China's BYD in electric vehicles and advanced software.
You could read more about that at the New York Times.
Kendall in Cincinnati, Ohio, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, and happy holidays to everyone out there.
One of the big problems that I hear Democrats coming up with talking about how the President Trump got reelected, this is a problem.
There were 9 million Biden Democrats that disappeared when it came to voting for Kamala.
So anytime Democrats want to question where did the election, where was it won, and whose fault is it, they need to look right within themselves and ask, where did those 9 million Biden Democrats disappear to?
That's huge.
And secondly, I have pushed forward in the first Trump administration and continue to do it now and even the last time to lower the student loan rates to 2% across the board and allow the payments to go to the principal first.
This will allow people to pay their student loan rates off at a lower interest rate and make it much quicker by putting their principal first.
So I just wanted to push that out there.
All right, Kendall.
And I got an update for you on the Matt Gates Ethics Report.
As we mentioned before, that has been released by the House Ethics Committee.
And the New York Post is reporting this morning.
Matt Gates files lawsuit against damning House Ethics Committee probe findings on sexual misconduct.
It says that the former representative filed a lawsuit Monday today against the House Ethics Committee seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to try and stop the release of its damning investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, arguing its release would prompt immediate and widespread media coverage.
Gates filed the lawsuit after denying allegations published in a leaked draft of the report ahead of its official release in full.
And Homer in Florence, Massachusetts, Independent.
Good morning.
Hello, Mimi.
I'd like to point out your biased narrative that you guys put out.
How can you say, geez, Trump going to weaponize the DOJ against his people?
From the time he came down the escalator, I heard all of the squad, concluding Rashida Talib, saying we're going to impeach the MFR.
And then I remember, oh, shift, all of them saying, and then Letitia James and Stannie Willis and that other guy from New York, I can't remember the one that did convict him, but he's not convicted.
He hasn't been sentenced.
So I'm curious about that.
I'm also curious about the narrative that Elon Musk is an unelected billionaire official going to do stuff that's not official and he's not getting paid by it.
Exactly what was John Kerry's job when he was the climazar going on flights, military flights and getting paid, not getting paid, not answering to the Senate or the Congress.
Wasn't he an unelected billionaire that was doing the climazar job spending our money?
Elon Musk wants to cut, cut spending, not spend more money on trying to fix the environment by throwing money at it.
So I appreciate you giving one side of a story from one perspective because I don't remember you saying the same thing about President Trump that you're saying now about how he's going to weaponize the DOJ when the Democrats were talking about weaponizing the DOJ, going after him from the very get-go.
So thanks for half a story and being so biased.
I really appreciate it.
How do you try to do Homer?
Ed in Pennsylvania, Democrat, good morning.
Good morning.
I'm 87 years old and I have a bachelor's degree in science and a master's degree in communications, plus some graduate, 40 graduates beyond my master's.
And I would like to make some comments about Trump.
In my estimation, oh, I'm a Vietnam vet.
And I did my service out in Kansas, Topeka, Kansas.
And there was a university I could attend out in Topeka, Kansas, Washburn University, and it was close to the Meniger Foundation Hospital for Mentally People.
Nate had mental problems.
And I was able to attend some classes in the evening.
So what I observed about this President Trump is that he never accepts any responsibility for the riot at the Capitol.
He didn't express any overall responsibility for his financial problems up in New York.
So he seemed to me like a non-president.
You know, he never accepted that.
I would classify him as a hypocrite.
And a hypocrite is he believes life is what you fake it, you know, and that seems to suit this fellow that's going to be president.
He never accepts anything.
He never apologizes for anything.
He just refers his problems to other people.
Hello?
Yes, we heard you, Ed.
Yes, that is my opinion.
Even the Puerto Rico, they said it was a garbage island.
He never accepted responsibility for that either.
That's why I classify him as a hypocrite.
All right, Ed.
We got that.
And this is Judy in Signal Mountain, Tennessee, Independent.
Yes, I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Israel.
I don't understand how America condones the Israelis from seizing land from everywhere, everybody around them.
They've already taken more land from Golan Heights.
When they say that they are protecting their boundaries, what's the difference between them protecting their boundaries and Putin killing people to protect his boundaries?
I just don't understand how America supports this.
Thank you.
And Kathy in Belton, South Carolina, Democrat.
Good morning, Kathy.
Yes.
I have a prepared speech that is more important than any speech I can imagine.
Peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
I will not be surprised if the earth starts to shake or the sky becomes a vivid blue.
Both can only be done by God.
My name is Kathy, a black female, senior citizen from South Carolina.
I am a first-time caller telling the world that I will speak about God's master plan.
Remember this, Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle.
In this speech, God will lift up the bowed down heads and God will cause those who are proud and mighty to be humbled.
Only then will God lift up their bowed down heads also.
Because it is God's will to help all men saved.
This includes the great and small, rich and poor, free and bound, those rejoicing, and those still in doubt.
Now, for anyone thinking that this is impossible, most would agree with this thinking.
But with God, all things are possible.
All right, Kathy.
And Judy in South Beach, Oregon, Republican line.
Hi, I guess I called in on the wrong line.
I'm a Democrat.
I'm sorry.
Kathy, that was beautiful.
I hope it's true.
Really, I truly do.
But what I'm calling about is Trump and his retribution.
And Joe Biden.
You know, the Hunter Biden thing was really ridiculous.
Hunter Biden wasn't running for president.
Trump, in his adult life, has had, before he was ever running for political office, has filed or he's been sued or tried to sue over 4,000 times.
I mean, this wasn't persecution going after Trump.
Trump did a lot of shady things.
I mean, it's true.
He pretty much was used to getting away with whatever.
If somebody said something he didn't like or something that was true, he would try to sue him for slander.
I mean, this was his way of life, his way of doing business.
Now, since he became president, he's done some pretty horrible things.
I mean, he's done some horrible, horrible things.
He should be held accountable, and the media that calls him out on it shouldn't have to worry about losing their job or being sued by him.
I mean, that's free speech.
So I'm just saying, Trump has been doing horrible things his whole adult life.
All right.
40.
A lot of things.
All right.
Thank you.
Bye.
On the line for independence in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Corey, you're next.
Yeah, I was just wanting to make the suggestion that I think in order to increase jobs or build new jobs, I think they should try to reinstate more assembly lines back into the industries, you know, build more warehouses.
And I think that would help a lot with the economy.
And I also think it's important for military purposes as well.
If we ever go into a war, it's important to have warehouses and assembly lines for producing supplies.
And that could be sent over to Ukraine or whoever.
And we would be making money instead of losing money.
And I also think if we were to do that, that we should have low requirements for people who are coming out of incarceration.
But that's it.
That's all I want to say.
Thank you.
And this is Jennifer in Oak Hill, Ohio, Independent Line.
Yes, I would just like to talk about the WEPGPO that we've been working on for 40 years and it finally got passed.
I heard Mark Levine and Ted Cruz say yesterday that it was for every Social Security recipient.
It is not.
It is those people like me who, when I retired from the post office, they took 20% of my retirement because I was going to get Social Security.
When it came time to get my Social Security, they took 85%.
So I ended up just making donations of my Social Security because I got none of it back.
My husband filed for Social Security disability when he got cancer, and he had six months to live, and they had a waiting period of five months.
He got one check.
And Ted Cruz and Mark Levine need to stop lying on the air and all these other people that are yelling about this because we lost money for 40 years.
Thank you.
And this is Lisa in Shreveport, Louisiana, Republican.
Hi, Lisa.
Hi.
Is there any way that you can quit censoring everything on your C-SPAN?
Like, could you put on people like Larry Sinclair that had sex with Obama?
And can you also put on Tara Raid that was sexually abused by Joe Biden?
Can you put those people on since you're saying that President Trump did all this?
Thank you very much.
Clark in West Virginia, Republican.
Hi, Clark.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Merry Christmas.
That means Christ.
People don't like to hear that now.
They like Xmas, but it's the other way around.
Okay, now listen.
Here's what I'd like to reiterate.
People are talking about, there's too much noise in the background.
Is it me or you?
Hope you're not.
I'm in a studio.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, I'm looking at you now.
But so anyway, I, yeah, I helped support Trump.
Yeah, I might have made a mistake.
But what is why is Elon Musk sticking his nose in our business other than just a bit unless he wants to give some of his billions back to poor people, the people like the lady before us and other people that's hurting, he should just shut up and go away.
Now, that's my opinion.
And you're and Clark, do you are you in favor of the Department of Government Efficiency that he and Ramaswamy are going to be heading up, even though it's not a department?
Well, now he says he's not going to throw out retribution.
But now, if he thinks in his mind that, yeah, he's been done wrong, and you know he said that, then maybe I wouldn't blame him too much, especially the ones that really tried to put him under the bus.
All right, Clark.
And Barb in Long Grove, Illinois sent a text about that.
She said, election contributions come from all sources, large and small.
Those that contribute very large amounts should not automatically be appointed to patronage positions in the government.
And here is William in Virginia, Independent Lion.
Hi, William.
Hello.
Hi.
Go right ahead.
Hokey, hokey, hokey, hi, tech tech VPI.
Solar ex, so are I. Team, team, team.
Merry Christmas, Mimi.
Merry Christmas, William.
Bob in Migrete, Connecticut, Kentucky, Democrat.
Bob?
Yeah.
Aye.
Go right ahead.
Yeah, no, I was calling in regards to, I hear a new law that's coming up back.
And I wondered if it was true that they're changing the age for Social Security to 66 years and 10 months.
Is that a fact that he's going to sign it, Donald Trump, on January, I guess, 20th?
You know what?
I hadn't heard that, but let's do a little bit of research and see if there's anything coming up about changing the age.
I know that that has been proposed, Bob, but I'm not sure that there's an actual bill that is making its way through Congress.
But we'll look at it, okay?
Okay, Mimi.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas.
And Mike in Heartland, Wisconsin, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mimi.
I noticed this weekend you guys spent a lot of time talking about the so-called bipartisan spending bill.
Yet you didn't talk about the frivolous stuff that was in it.
All you talked about was the stuff that we might like as taxpayers.
We didn't talk about the part in there with their emails, people in Congress emails not being able to get looked at.
As Americans, Republican or Democrat, that should scare the hell out of all of us because if we do one bad thing, the federal government is going to go right to our emails.
So if you're going to play it down the middle, start playing it down the middle now.
OK, I heard something about, oh, he's gone.
Well.
We'll try to find that.
Maybe our producer can look into what that was about emails and protecting emails for people in Congress.
I want to get something specific for you so that we don't misspeak on what that provision would have actually done.
Kenneth in Los Angeles, Independent.
Good morning.
Well, good morning.
Thank you very much.
I'm surprised that I got in so early.
I want to encourage people that think that they're not going to be heard to call.
Let's see.
What I would say, what I would say is two things.
One, I think the whole idea of the rich and especially the super rich running this government is a very bad idea.
They're going to serve themselves and they're going to write laws that serve themselves.
The idea of those with the most paying the least income tax is just plain ridiculous.
Secondly, I'm really surprised, regardless of what kind of specific information you can get on a person like Donald Trump, my gut feeling from the very beginning, and I'm talking about before he even got involved in politics, he's not a man to be trusted.
He's a bait and switch dealer.
He'll tell you he's going to do something that he's never going to do.
One other thing, I'm just about to lose my thought.
What is it?
Hold on.
Oh, this is what I was going to say.
You know, what people relate to with Donald Trump is not really his track record, is that he's dissatisfied and he's telling you you're being threatened.
People are relating to that and they're putting into office when he's not going to do anything about it.
Just because he tells you, yeah, I'm sick and tired of all this does not mean, and you are too, does not mean that he's the man to be running this country.
Thank you.
And here's Kathy in Denver, Colorado, line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Yeah, good morning.
I'd like to offer a perspective.
I've been listening for quite some time.
You just don't hear.
As a nine-year-old little girl, I became a rape survivor.
Can you imagine what that brings up in somebody like me when my neighbors have filled in an oval for a rapist and a felon?
Can you, well, no, you can't, you Republicans, because you don't believe anybody that has been assaulted, right?
You and your God, your book of lies, tells you that it's, is this okay?
So we've elected a rapist and a felon.
Oh, my God, you Republicans, I can't even imagine how proud you must feel.
And I pray that no females in your family have to go through what me and all the other survivors have to look at, this piece of trash that we've elected.
He's a piece of crap.
Why can't anybody see that?
He's a liar.
He's a fake.
He's a phony.
And all you women out there, you better be careful because when you get raped, because now it's okay, because guess what?
You get to put rape on your resume and it elevates you.
It elevates you.
Oh, my God.
What on earth is going on?
So all you people that filled in that oval, I hope you're proud of yourself because all the women in your families that have been assaulted or are about to be assaulted, it's a real big slap in our faces.
So you take your Bible and you go to church and let's pray for the rapists because you know what?
Let's get us a pedophile in next time, right?
All right, Kathy.
I will bang Republican line, Axtel, Texas.
Paul, you're next.
Yes, ma'am.
Well, to that lady there, I feel sorry for her because, you know, all my family follows the Bible.
And, you know, I really feel sorry for her because she sounds like she's kind of lost or something.
Donald Trump is, you know, he, I'm not going to say he's a perfect man.
There's nobody perfect.
And I know a lot of people think that he's kind of an old bear.
But if you look back in history, some of your greatest presidents were kind of better.
Louis S. Grant, Harry Truman, a Democrat.
You had good Democrat presidents.
You know, John F. Kennedy was one, Harry Truman.
But the Democrat Party now, there are still good, moderate Democrats out there that are good, you know, but they've allowed their radical left.
The Democrats are just upset because they got beat, and I mean, really beat bad.
And African Americans voted for Tony Trump.
Hispanics voted for him.
All different kinds of, you know, especially Christians and Catholics and Bible, you know, like me and my family.
We all, you know, I'm not saying that he's a perfect man.
There's nobody on this earth that's perfect.
And the only one that was perfect was Jesus.
But, you know, to just go on like she was going on, that's, I feel sorry for her, and I'm going to pray for her.
All right, Paul.
Here is Grant in Savannah, Illinois, Independent.
Hi, Grant.
Morning.
A couple things to mention.
First of all, I thought it was interesting yesterday and goes to show you the variety of callers that you get.
You had one caller yesterday call in from North Carolina that wanted Biden to face a firing squad.
And getting back to Mr. Trump and his speech that he gave in Phoenix apparently yesterday, I agree that the fentanyl issue is a national crisis and needs to be addressed.
But my understanding is that much of the fentanyl is being brought across the borders legally.
I mean, through people that just get waved through.
And at the same time with the fentanyl issue, one of the pharmacists, the pharmacists that prescribe it, often they're not being Penalized or tried or anything like that for their role in continually prescribing fentanyl when they know how it is addictive.
You mean opioids?
Yeah, opioids, yes, yes.
And getting back to the likely pardons Mr. Trump's proposing to make, I think it'd be totally ludicrous that the riders at the Capitol would be pardoned.
When I think about it, back in the early 70s, I was able to go to the Capitol.
And nowadays, of course, the only way any citizen can get to the Capitol and visit it is you have to arrange with your either senator or congressman, make an appointment.
And that's not particularly easy.
So the fact of the matter is, those people illegally entered the Capitol, caused a great amount of harm, contributed to the death of a few people, etc.
And I am concerned about Trump's many proposed cabinet appointees, particularly Robert Kennedy, who could be a very dangerous appointee with his ridiculous anti-vaccine policies, along with Tulsi Gabbert and Pete Hegseth,
all people that are not qualified to be in the cabinet.
And thank you for your time and have a good Christmas.
And here's Joshua in Los Angeles, Democrat.
Hi, Joshua.
Hello.
I just wanted to say one thing about the incoming Trump administration, right?
I am really concerned.
I look at Trump, especially his cronies that's coming along with him, and they all seem to be accused of sexual assault in one form or another.
Think like Robert Kennedy and Pete Hegset, especially Trump himself, who was found civilly liable for rape, I believe, in the Eugene Carroll case.
And especially.
For sexual abuse.
Yep.
Oh, sexual abuse.
Yeah, that's what ABC got sued over, correct?
Correct.
Sexual abuse, because that's so much better.
Especially Trump's policies, too.
It seems to me like Trump is trying to bring back turn of the century, like early 20th century, like imperialism by threatening Denmark and Canada, wanting the Panama Canal and Greenland back, while at the same time supporting these insane tariffs on imported goods, which will bring up prices, especially for electronics and solar panels.
And at the same time, you see Donald Trump taking a more isolationist and populist spend in sort of places that really do matter, especially in the war in Ukraine, constantly chastising Zelensky, while at the same time refusing to read his intelligence reports.
As Keith Kellogg, who's Trump's envoy to Ukraine and Russia, said to Bob Woodward in his book, War, that Trump simply doesn't read his intelligence reports unless you make them over a page long.
And what I'm really concerned about is we have a commander-in-chief who's an abuser, who's a fraudster, who's been divorced and remarried four times, found civilly liable for sexual abuse, and at the same time has a litany of failed businesses coming back after trying to do an insurrection.
And now we're supposed to trust him with basically every facet of our government, which he wants to fill with his own political cronies by reinstating Schedule F and firing all the important people.
All right, Joshua.
Here's Karen in Cheshire, Connecticut, Republican.
Yeah, good morning.
I'm commenting on the woman that said that Trump was a rapist and the whole spiel there.
He's going to so many funerals of the immigrants raping and killing our kids.
So I don't think he's a rapist.
He wouldn't be there.
Biden never showed up.
Second thing: never took a paycheck.
How greedy is he?
How greedy is he?
He doesn't take a paycheck.
I'm going to tell you that all the Trump supporters are very happy.
The Democrats are still crying, even on Facebook.
And here's Frank in Florida, Independent Line.
Yeah, this is Frank.
Yes.
I know it's Frank.
Go right ahead.
I think the problem we're not getting at is the country's problem is called lawyers.
Number one.
Number two, the way they advertise, they will get their customer more money.
That's why we're suffering in Florida on our insurance rate.
Lawyers.
Trump is an easy target for lawyers.
What we're going to do is regulate attorney fees.
Frank in Florida, Independent Line.
Okay.
I think our problem is Trump is not a lawyer.
Lawyers are a problem in this country.
Look how many pages are written for a bill.
Okay.
He's going to hopefully stir up the pot.
In Florida, they advertise we're going to get you more money for your claim, which makes our insurance rates go up.
It's a very simple formula.
We have to regulate attorney fees.
Regulate them.
All right, Frank.
Legally.
Thank you.
Have a good Christmas.
You too.
And thanks to everybody for watching.
That's all the time we've got for today's program.
But we're back again tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern.
always have a great day and happy holidays.
This week, watch Washington Journal's special Holiday Authors Week series featuring live segments each morning with a new writer.
Coming up Tuesday morning, veteran broadcaster and historian Ray Suarez discusses his book, We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century: An Oral History.
Watch live and join the discussion on Washington Journal Tuesday morning, starting at 7 Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org.
The House Ethics Committee has released the findings of their investigation into former Florida Congressman Matt Gates for standards of conduct violations and obstruction of Congress.
The committee's report accuses Mr. Gates of soliciting sex from a 17-year-old girl among other women and buying and using illicit drugs between 2017 and 2020 while he served in the House of Representatives.
The report consists of text messages, financial records, travel receipts, and online payments to various women involved in the allegations against the former Florida representative, concluding that he violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office.
The 37-page ethics report into former Representative Gates can be read in full at c-span.org.
This week, we're showing encore presentations from our weekly interview program, QA.
Tonight, Michael and Robert Mirabel discuss the U.S. government's case against their parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
The two brothers, who were 10 and 6 at the time, share what life was like before and after their parents' execution, the anti-communistic climate in the U.S. during the 1950s, and their efforts to posthumously clear their mother Ethel's record.
J. Edgar Hoover was privy to all the stuff that we have learned since, including the non-involvement of my mother.
And that is the reason why, surprisingly, when the judge was soliciting, by the way, doing this secretly, recommendations on the sentence, Hoover is in writing opposing the death sentence for our mother.
Watch this program and other episodes of QA all this week at 7 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN.
C-SPAN now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org.