CSPAN - Washington Journal 02/22/2025

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Feb. 22, 2025 07:00-10:10 - CSPAN

03:09:56

Washington Journal 02/22/2025

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tammy thueringer

cspan 30:45

terry schilling

30:17

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brian lamb

cspan 01:38

dick durbin

sen/d 01:33

donald j trump

admin 04:19

mitch mcconnell

01:20

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david spunt

fox 00:14

j d cash

00:04

marjorie taylor greene

rep/r 00:06

rich mccormick

rep/r 00:26

thom tillis

rep/r 00:13

tucker carlson

dailycaller 00:07

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donna in west virginia

callers 00:04

joe in oregon

callers 00:04

matt baker in cali

callers 00:01

steve in arizona

callers 00:12

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Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		Internet because it works.
		We're Sparklight and we're always working for you.
		Sparklight supports C-SPAN as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front-row seat to democracy.
		Well, coming up on Washington Journal this morning, your calls and comments live.
		And then Principals First founder, Heath Mayo, talks about the focus of his organization's summit this weekend and the future of the Republican Party.
		Also, Terry Schilling of American Principles Project on this week's annual conservative political action conference and the role of social conservatives.
		C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
		Join the conversation.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		This is Washington Journal for Saturday, February 22nd.
		After saying Ukraine should never have started the war three years ago, President Donald Trump reversed course yesterday, saying Russia did, in fact, invade Ukraine.
		And Kash Patel was sworn in as FBI director after a Senate vote that largely fell along party lines.
		And Senator Mitch McConnell announced he will not seek re-election next year and will retire at the end of his term.
		Those are a few of the stories that made headlines this week to start today's program.
		We want to hear from you.
		What's your top news story of the week?
		Here are the lines.
		Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		You can text your comments to 202-748-8003.
		Be sure to include your name and city.
		You can also post a question or comment on Facebook at facebook.com slash C-SPAN or on X at C-SPANWJ.
		Good morning.
		Thank you for being with us.
		We'll get to your calls and comments in just a few minutes.
		But first, wanted to give you more information on one of the stories we just talked about, and that is President Trump and the reverse that he made in saying that Russia attacked Ukraine.
		Here is the headline from Reuters.
		It says in reversal, Trump says Russia attacked Ukraine.
		The article says that President Donald Trump reversed course on Friday and said Russia did in fact invade Ukraine and that Kiev would soon sign a minerals agreement with the United States as part of efforts to end the Ukraine war.
		Trump had said on Tuesday that Ukraine should never have started the war three years ago, prompting a wave of criticism both domestically and internationally.
		Pressed on the subject in an interview with Fox News Radio on Friday, he acknowledged Russia had invaded Ukraine on the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
		From yesterday on the Brian Kilmead show, here is that clip from President Trump.
thom tillis ▲ ● ▼		Would you accept a call from Zelensky today?
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, of course.
		I'm not playing games.
		I don't accept or not accept calls.
		Of course I'll take a call from him.
		But he's been negotiating for three years.
		And just so you know, when you say Russia was the attacker, yes, Russia was attacked.
		Russia attacked, but there was no reason for them to attack.
		You could have talked him out.
		There was no reason that he should have attacked.
		That whole thing was going on for years.
		There was no reason he was going in.
		It should have never happened.
		That war should have never happened.
		And I'm telling you, the way they talk, I said, you know, these guys are going to go into a war.
		This is a, you know, every time I say, oh, it's not Russia's fault, I always get slammed by the fake news.
		But I'm telling you, Biden said the wrong things.
		Zelensky said the wrong things.
		They got attacked by somebody that's much bigger and much stronger, which is a bad thing to do.
		And you don't do that.
		But Russia could have been talked out of that so easily.
		That should never have been a war.
		And all those dead people shouldn't be dead, and all those cities shouldn't be demolished right now.
		So when Zelensky said, oh, he wasn't invited to a meeting, I mean, it wasn't a priority because he did such a bad job in negotiating so far.
		Number one, you shouldn't have had a war.
		And if you did, it should have been solved and settled immediately.
		It could have been.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That is just one of the stories we have been following here at C-SPAN this week.
		But we're asking you for this first to start today's show, what your top news story of the week is.
		We'll start with Marshall in Park Ridge, Illinois, line for independence.
		Good morning, Marshall.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you very much for this opportunity.
		I am reminded of Ronald Reagan's famous ad, Morning in America.
		I think we're waking up today.
		It's really morning, M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G in America.
		We have a president who promised us on day one, eggs are going to go down, bacon's going to go down, gas is going to go down.
		We're going to have excess housing.
		The mortgage rates are going to drop.
		The stock market's going to improve.
		None of that is the focus.
		Here we are enabling a war criminal.
		And I am just devastated on what is becoming of our country.
		It is just amazing.
		What happened to the Republican Party, the party that was the bulwark against the Soviet Union for decades?
		And we have totally forgotten that part of our history and our ability to stand firm for democracy.
		There's an outstanding article in The Atlantic by Timothy Ryback, how Hitler dismantled democracy in 53 days.
		Here we are on day, what, 30, and we're well on our way to seeing our country, our government that has taken decades to put together the expertise that we have in place to run a very complicated system.
		And here we are, that we're just tearing it apart willy-nilly.
		I think, Americans, we need to start hanging our flags upside down, if nothing else, to protest what is occurring to our country.
		And thank you very much for this opportunity.
		You are a treasurer, C-STAN.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's go to Ray in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania, line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Ray.
unidentified		Good morning.
		You know, I couldn't disagree more thoroughly from that misguided previous caller.
		The United States is finally, finally on a course where we can take control and there can be true democracy.
		Our founding fathers had three articles.
		The first three articles of our Constitution was Article 1 was Congress.
		Article 2 was the executive.
		Article 3 was the judiciary.
		What we have now in 2025 is millions and millions of people who report to nobody, who have allegiance to nothing except themselves, who run our country.
		They don't stand for election.
		They don't care about the elections.
		They do whatever they want, and they have squandered billions and billions and billions of dollars.
		If your ne'er-do-well previous caller would just stop to understand, we are $36 trillion in debt.
		The biggest expense we have now on our budget is payment of interest.
		That is money going to nobody for nothing, just interest rates on the debt.
		Our federal government needs to be taken apart brick by brick in every department.
		And that's the most important thing.
		And thank God it's being done now.
		Because if we waited another 10 or 20 years, the effect on every American would be absolutely devastating.
		Wake up.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Ray in Pennsylvania, Stephanie.
		And Hanover, Maryland, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Stephanie.
unidentified		Hello.
unidentified		Hi, I'm sorry, can you hear me?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Stephanie.
unidentified		Yes, go ahead.
		Yes.
		To me, my biggest concern is just how they are indiscriminately just firing federal government workers without even taking the time to understand, you know, what these particular federal workers, what their job duties are.
		And I think it's fine if you want to look at how individuals work, but you have to kind of have a general idea as to what they do before you decide to get rid of them.
		And just because they're probationary employees, because they could be the employees that you want to keep.
		And as far as, you know, the individuals talking about the waste, fraud, and abuse, of course there's waste, fraud, and abuse in the government.
		And I get that.
		But you have to actually prove that there's fraud.
		You have to actually set, you know, prove that it's waste.
		It's not waste because it's something that you don't agree with.
		You have to prove it.
		That's what the OIG's responsibilities were.
		But since they're all gone, I'm not sure who's supposed to actually do that correctly.
		And I'm just, I'm just, I feel more devastated for all the people who have lost their jobs and the level of just inhumane and just non, no one, they just, people just seem to not care as if it doesn't matter.
		And I haven't heard Trump or Elon say anything about the devastation that it's causing people financially, mentally, you know, the impact it's going to have on their families.
		You have people who are going to lose their health insurance, their homes.
		And it's almost as if, well, they're expendable, so who cares?
		So I just pray that people are going to be, they're going to be okay.
		And that's really all.
		I hope in the United States we just get to a point where people start to actually care about one another.
		So, you know, really my take.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Stephanie.
		And Stephanie and Maryland, we'll go to Guy in Oklahoma, line for independence.
		Good morning, Guy.
unidentified		Can you hear me okay?
		Because when I'm listening, my line is extremely broken up.
		Can you hear me all right?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		I can.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead.
unidentified		Okay.
		My biggest story is, of course, the financial crisis that we're in.
		Going back to 2002, since then, we've lost two-thirds of our manufacturing base and our industrial base.
		And these tariffs that Trump is trying to put in place to bring back manufacturing, if we don't bring it back, if we stay on the same course in the next 10 years, we won't have any industrial base or any manufacturing base at all.
		So that's a big reason for the tariffs.
		Another thing is, you know, the budget crisis that we're in, you know, approaching $38 trillion in debt.
		You know, it's a trillion dollars a year just in interest to service the debt.
		Plus, we're negative spending.
		So it's like the guy said yesterday, $2.2 trillion a year negative spending.
		We can't substain.
		And all these cuts they're trying to make, they're trying to save the country.
		About a year ago, when I was a kid, my grandmother bought me a U.S. savings bond for a Christmas present when I was 10 years old.
		People used to buy T-bills, T-notes, savings bonds.
		People don't buy those debt instruments anymore.
		And in the last 10 years, countries have slowly been not buying our debt instruments.
		Last year in 2024, 65% drop off of countries investing in our debt instruments.
		So now, here we are, the Treasury is going to have to put more money to buy the debt instruments to keep the House of Cards from collapsing in on itself.
		We are at the cliff.
		And everything that Trump is doing, cutting and slashing, I mean, it's necessary because if we don't make extreme changes now, in four or five years, the dollar will collapse.
		The government's, everything will collapse.
		You know, they're talking about Social Security, Medicare, you know, only having five or six years left.
		Well, everything will collapse if we don't make a major course correction, and it needs to be done now.
		And it's going to be painful, but better now than a full alarm collapse in five or six years.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Nice guy in Oklahoma.
		One of the other stories happening this week, this from Fox News.
		Kash Patel sworn in as ninth FBI director.
		The article says that President Trump's pick to head the FBI was sworn in on Friday after a narrow Senate confirmation vote.
		Thursday, Patel was sworn in at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ninth FBI director, succeeding Christopher Wray.
		Patel, who is Indian American, is the first person of color to become FBI director.
		It was before the Senate vote on Thursday that Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, spoke against Kash Patel and his nomination.
		Here is a clip from that.
dick durbin ▲ ● ▼		It appears my Senate Republican colleagues are ignoring the many red flags in Mr. Patel's record, probably because they fear retribution from the President and Mr. Musk.
		Let me be clear.
		This is not a partisan issue.
		During my time in the Senate, I have voted for four FBI director nominations before this one.
		Each one was clearly a Republican, and I voted for them nevertheless.
		Historically, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been apolitical.
		I oppose Mr. Patel because he is dangerously, politically extreme.
		He has repeatedly expressed his intention to use our nation's most important law enforcement agency to retaliate against his political enemies.
		Even before President Trump took office, Mr. Patel announced that he would force out FBI Director Chris Ray, who he nominated in his first term before firing the former FBI Director Jim Comey.
		The Director is the only political appointment at the FBI.
		Congress took steps to ensure that this agency remains as apolitical as possible by providing for a single term of 10 years for a director and subjecting the appointment to the advice and consent of the Senate.
		50 years ago, we made this reform.
		We may see it all fall to ashes today.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		After being confirmed on Thursday, Kash Patel posted this statement on X saying, I am honored to be confirmed as the ninth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
		Thank you to President Trump and Attorney General Bondi for your unwavering confidence and support.
		The FBI has a story legacy from the G-Men to safeguarding our nation in the wake of 9-11.
		The American people deserve an FBI that is transparent, accountable, and committed to justice.
		The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust, but that ends today.
		My mission as director is clear: let good cops be cops and rebuild trust in the FBI.
		Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Bureau and our partners, we will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of.
		And to those who seek to harm Americans, consider this your warning.
		We will hunt you down in every corner of this planet.
		Mission first, America always.
		Let's get to work.
		Back to your calls.
		We'll hear from Fred in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Fred.
unidentified		Good morning.
		What I'd like to say is: when you go back to the first presidency of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin said, Ukraine is not a sovereign nation.
		It belongs to Russia.
		I can do anything I want with it, and it's none of the United States' business.
		Two months later, he meets with Donald Trump in secrecy.
		After that meeting, he comes out.
		A reporter says, What about Ukraine?
		Donald Trump says, Ukraine is not a sovereign nation.
		It belongs to Russia.
		Putin can do anything he wants with it, and it's none of the United States' business.
		He was going to do this anyway, Putin was.
		And so Trump knew it too, that they were going to be attacking Ukraine.
		The second thing I'd like to say is the thing that bothers me the most is this getting rid of USAID, because in Uganda, there's an outbreak of Ebola, and medicine was being sent there and medical expertise to stop this outbreak.
		And now they're gone.
		And this is going to spread.
		And if it spreads through Uganda and through Africa, it'll eventually make its way to the United States.
		And we're going to have another pandemic.
		And the final thing: when Donald Trump was supposed to testify before the Mueller Commission, he refused to do so.
		He was given 56 questions to answer by writing, and he answered them all the same.
		I don't remember.
		This president is strange to me.
		He's ruining our government.
		He's doing what the Japanese couldn't do in World War II, what the Germans couldn't do in World War II, what the Russians couldn't do through the Cold War, and he's done it all in one lousy month.
		I think the people should wake up and understand that he needs to be impeached and removed from office.
		I thank you for your time.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Fred in Pennsylvania will go to Doug, also in Pennsylvania, line for independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Doug.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Yeah, it's very sad, like this previous call, but we can thank the Democrats for that, for the ridiculous opening of the border and playing stupid about it, amongst other things.
		But the sickest part is watching this, you know, all the Republican congressmen and whatnot just sucking up to this guy who it's obvious Eli cares what he cares about for himself.
		When he does a couple laps with the airport warning on Bayton or doing a lap down there, you know, like, okay, how's that like saving money and showing that he cares about whatever, all that stuff.
		But, yeah, it's very sad.
		That's all I could say.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll go to Bob in Massachusetts, line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Bob.
unidentified		Good morning.
		To your last caller, I've seen and heard more from President Trump in this last month and days than I saw from President Mumbles before you.
		Actually, I shouldn't say that.
		From whatever Joe Biden was putting out there with him, because it wasn't him running the country.
		Anyway, my point will be, do you guys intend to talk about the major story that broke yesterday?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Bob, there's a lot of news going on.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		You're going to have to be more specific.
unidentified		Major story from yesterday is it was proven by two sets of forensic scientists on two separate continents that Barack Obama's birth certificate is false.
unidentified		There are seven discrepancies in it to prove it was from somebody.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll go on to Steve in Paynesville, Ohio, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Steve.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I want to make a comment about support for Ukraine and for NATO.
		You know, what the President said this past week about Zelensky being a dictator is totally false.
steve in arizona ▲ ● ▼		Zelensky, if everybody remembers when Kyiv was surrounded and ready to be invaded, Zelensky said, I don't need a ride.
unidentified		I need weapons.
		That guy is brave.
		And to the Ukrainian people, if you're listening, there's some millions of us here that fully support you.
		And I just want to say, you know, keep up the fight.
		But as far as the president goes, it's not just him.
		I mean, Project 2025 is in full swing.
		If you read it, there's 900 pages of it, but if you read some of it, they have what's called unitary executive theory.
		They're giving the president sole power, complete power in the executive branch.
		Congress isn't going to matter.
		They can pass the laws.
		The judiciary can interpret the laws.
		But the executive branch, they enforce the laws.
		And if a man of lawlessness is in charge of the law, where's that going to lead us?
		But in 1991, Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons.
		They had 1,900 strategic warheads.
		They had 175 ICBMs.
		They had 44 heavy strategic bombers.
		There were trilateral talks in 1994 between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine.
		And they signed a non-proliferation treaty to disarm, which they did, with their one objective was that they would receive security guarantees from the United States and Russia.
		So there is treaty, and obviously we're ready to violate that.
		And it just seems ridiculous that this president can run roughshod over our Constitution and our democracy.
		And I don't know, I could just keep going, but Trump, his first trip to Moscow was in 1987.
		He went in 2013.
		The Russians were in the White House in 2017.
		He sided with Vladimir Putin in 2018 in Helsinki.
		Connect the dots, people.
		Watch what Putin did to Navalny, his political opponent.
		He gave him Navichak.
		He poisoned him.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll leave it there, Steve.
		A couple callers have talked about President Trump's cuts to the federal workforce, including U.S. AID.
		This headline from this morning's New York Times, Judge Lett's White House coal staff at the chief U.S. Agency for Foreign Aid.
		The article says, in an order Friday, Judge Carl J. Nichols of the U.S. District Court, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that it was no longer justified to stall the agency from enacting the plans, which include placing more than 2,000 additional employees on administrative leave and forcing some workers posted overseas to return home.
		The judge found that the group that brought the lawsuit, an association representing foreign service workers, had not demonstrated that its members faced irreparable injury so far and that it was unlikely to win its case.
		The Trump administration has proposed placing nearly the entire global workforce of the agency on administrative leave while simultaneously canceling a raft of its contracts and imposing a freeze of nearly all foreign aid spending.
		The American Foreign Service Association, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of its members, had argued that the plan was carried out dangerously, potentially stranding overseas workers by locking them out of communication systems.
		It argued that what initially appeared to be a mandatory recall notice requiring overseas workers to return to the United States within 30 days also risked harming their families and children who had settled into lives abroad.
		We have just a few minutes left in this first part of today's Washington Journal.
		We'll go to Jerry in Broadway, Virginia, Line for Independence.
		Good morning, Jerry.
unidentified		Yeah.
		Good morning, America.
		Look, I was wondering if any of your Democratic viewers out there saw that CNN interview with Vladimir Putin a week or so ago.
		You would do your viewers a good service if you would replay that and replay it for them.
		But I tell you what Vladimir Putin said right out of his mouth.
		He said that if our 2020 election hadn't been stolen and Donald Trump had been in the White House, the Ukraine war would not have happened.
		That's straight from Vladimir Putin's mouth.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Jerry in Virginia.
		We'll go to David in Texas, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, David.
unidentified		Oops.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Hi, David.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Are you there?
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm sorry, I'm trying to get it off, Speaker.
		I'd like to bring up something about the economy.
		If they're so interested in our country becoming solvent again, why don't they do something about their friends that have no office in the United States?
		It's a mailbox in Bermuda.
		Why doesn't Elon Trump pay taxes?
		Why don't we have millions of Trump's friends paying taxes?
		It's just a thought, and I have no proof.
		Unlike the president, I can't prove any of that.
		Thank you for your time.
		Good day.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was David in Texas.
		A couple tweets coming in from on X.
		This from Sandra.
		She says, My top story is Kash Patel being nominated to head the FBI because he's been known to spread conspiracy theories, and he is also too loyal to Donald Trump.
		Also, what are we to make about his enemies list in a book he authored?
		And this from J.D. Reding says, the standout news stories from the past week, the unprecedented purge of senior U.S. military leadership by the Trump administration.
		Let's hear from David in Washington, D.C., Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, David.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm a longtime listener, and it's the first time I've ever called in a long time, maybe ever, I think.
		But in any case, what I want to say is: one, as far as the national debt of 37 million or 8 trillion, remember that that's over our whole lifetime.
		And so the average person now makes two, two and a half million in their lifetime.
		And so really our debt is about $120,000 a person.
		And that's not undoable.
		And I think that's important.
		The second thing I want to say quickly is that our current president is dismantling our debt, our force, or our forces in a very bad way.
		It took Roosevelt and Harry Truman and Stimson and General Marshall and the people around him.
		They established a world order that was good until Trump came.
		And what he is doing rapidly is that the countries like Germany and Japan they're now talking openly of having big armies.
		And that is what exactly what we didn't and still don't want.
		And I think that what he is doing, he's playing with fire.
		And thanks very much for.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was David in Washington, D.C. That's it for the first part of today's Washington Journal.
		Next, we will be joined by Principal's first founder, Heath Mayo.
		We will discuss the focus of his organization's summit happening this weekend, as well as the future of the Republican Party.
		Later in the program, American Principals Projects Terry Schilling will discuss this week's annual conservative political action conference at CPAC and the role of social conservatives.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		American History TV, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
		This weekend, on the Civil War, Harry Laver, a military history professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, on the role of African American soldiers in the Union Army in their efforts to gain civil liberties.
		Watch American History TV series First 100 Days as we look at the start of presidential terms.
		This week, we focus on the early months of President Franklin Roosevelt's first term in 1933, including actions taken to relieve economic conditions during the Great Depression.
		On lectures in history, Yale University professor Marlena Downt talks about the life and legacy of slave revolutionary and King Henry Christophe and how the United States and other foreign powers reacted to the 1791 Haitian Revolution.
		And on the presidency, National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen leads a discussion of presidential historians on inaugural addresses and how they shape a president's legacy.
		Exploring the American story, watch American History TV every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org/slash history.
		Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.
		Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
		At 4 p.m. Eastern, Luis Miranda Jr., with his book Relentless, talks about his life as a political activist and organizer in the Latino community.
		Then at 6:45 p.m. Eastern, Nicole Turner-Lee, with her book Digitally Invisible: How the Internet is Creating the New Underclass, contends that lack of internet access is creating economic disparities in poor and rural communities.
		And at 10 p.m. Eastern on afterwards, Professor Eve L. Ewing, with her book, Original Sins: The Miseducation of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, argues that the United States education system reinforces racial inequality at the expense of black and native children.
		She's interviewed by associate press editor Aaliyah Wong.
		Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org.
		Washington Journal continues.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Joining us now to discuss his organization's summit happening this weekend, as well as the future of the Republican Party, is Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Heath, thank you so much for being with us.
unidentified		Thanks for having me.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Why don't we start by telling our audience about the mission of Principles First and why you found the organization?
unidentified		Sure.
		Well, Principles First, a grassroots group of Americans from all around the country coming together to really inject some seriousness back into our politics, some substance.
		I think we're really frustrated with just the nonsense that we see out of Washington all the time.
		And really, it's about putting those principles that have made America great over the course of our history that really make America America back at the center of our politics as opposed to the personalities and even the political parties.
		So that's what we're all about.
		And, you know, we founded it five years ago really to do just that.
		We hold our summit each year the same weekend as CPAC, which I think if there's anything that symbolizes or has come to symbolize the unseriousness, sort of entertainment, WWE style nature of our politics, it's the conference across the river over there where they're wielding chainsaws and rolling gold statues in the hallways.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll talk about some of the principles of your organization in a bit, but I want to give our audience a little bit more background on you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		How would you describe yourself politically?
unidentified		Sure.
		I mean, for the longest time, I was sort of a card-carrying member of the conservative movement, you know, voted for Marco Rubio, voted Mitt Romney before that.
		I mean, I was a Republican.
		And that was before, of course, you know, 2015, 2016, the party really started to venture off course.
		And so now I think I, like many Americans, are sort of frustrated with both political parties.
		And there's really not a home for a lot of us out there.
		And I think that's why this moment is so ripe for disruption, both on the Democratic side and the Republican side.
		I mean, I think the Republican Party has sort of picked what kind of party it wants to be.
		It had that choice in this last primary, and it said, we're an isolationist party, a protectionist party, and we're, you know, hook line and sinker behind Donald Trump.
		And for a lot of Americans, that's just not the kind of politics that they want to see.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Your organization was founded five years ago.
		This is also the fifth annual summit that you're hosting this weekend.
		Tell us about the target audience for the event.
		Who goes to it?
		And what is the focus this year?
unidentified		Sure.
		I mean, it's sort of actually evolved over the years.
		I think five years ago, we were probably, you know, it was 200, 300 of us, and we were mostly disgruntled Republicans that were frustrated with the direction of the Republican Party.
		And I think back then we sort of hoped that there was a way that we could claw back the party from the direction that it was going.
		And I think over the years to today, it's sort of evolved.
		And today you see we have on our stage people like Mark Cuban, who's innovated with cost-plus drugs to reduce the price of consumer prescription drugs, but more of a Democrat.
		Same thing with Jared Polis from governor of Colorado, who's challenged his own party to reduce the prices of housing in Colorado.
		So new ideas, new faces, and I think it's a time for new coalitions in our politics.
		And I'm excited to hear from the speakers on our stage this weekend on what those new coalitions look like.
		Are there new movement leaders out there where those new coalitions can form?
		Because clearly it didn't get the job done in November.
		And we need to start building new allies and thinking through new ideas, thinking outside the box to bring those coalitions that can form a governing majority in the United States.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Our guest for the next 40 minutes or so is Heath Mayo.
		He is the founder of Principles.
		First, if you have a question or comment for him, you can start calling in now the lines.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		Democrats 202-748-8000.
		And Independents 202-748-8002.
		And you can also send us a text at 202-748-8003.
		Wanted to ask you, your summit again is happening this weekend.
		It is meant as a counter program to CPAC, an event that you used to attend.
		Tell us why you stopped going, when you stopped going and why.
unidentified		Sure.
		So I, like I say, in college, I think my first CPAC was I was a sophomore in college.
		And that would have been 2010, 2011.
		And it used to be, I mean, it was always kind of, there were wild hairs every now and then, but back then people dressed up as like, you know, Benjamin Franklin or they were, you know, wielding the Constitution in the hallways.
		And so there was always that flair to it, but it was a place where, you know, conservatives, libertarians, even independents could get together and hash out debates.
		And it was really sort of an intellectual hotbed for the conservative movement.
		I mean, this goes back to Reagan.
		I mean, the first one was like in the 1970s, and Ronald Reagan gave a speech in like a hotel ballroom.
		And it was a serious place for debates.
		And that's just not what it is anymore.
		And I think it was around 2015, 2016.
		I think they had invited Milo Yana Paloulis.
		I'm not even sure his name, but he was just an anti-Semitic sort of blowhard that said just the most outrageous things.
		And I think that has continued.
		You know, they wheel around golden statues of people in the hallway.
		And it just became not a serious place to talk about the challenges that are facing the country.
		And so that's, you know, I haven't been back since then.
		I don't think it's really gotten much better since then.
		And that's why a lot of us said, you know what, we got to start forming our own communities to meet about these things, to talk about the challenges facing the country, because so much of what we're seeing from CPAC and other institutions in Washington, political leadership, just isn't bringing the level of seriousness that the American people deserve.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We will have you talk with a Republican, Vince, in Orange Beach, Alabama.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Vince.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for the call.
		I wanted to see if with RFK and voted in that if there's any chance he thinks that we'll address obesity and the millions of Americans that are on disability and on Medicare and Medicaid and the billions and billions of dollars thrown at morbid obesity and the waste involved with that.
		You get an EBT card and you can go buy a million gallons of soda pop and a million tons of sugary poison and it just proliferates the situation.
		I don't think anybody should be on disability because they're morbidly obese.
		I think they should be coached and helped to lose weight, exercise, and I just think it's an enormous waste.
		I mean, I think Carla raises a great point, Vince.
		I mean, what you're raising is certainly a concern.
		I think making America healthy again is a good idea in theory.
		You know, I'm a little skeptical of RFK being the right person for that job.
		He's obviously espoused some kind of wacky conspiracy theories with respect to other things.
		And, you know, when you're the head of HHS and you're at the top of this field, you really got to be competent when it comes to addressing some of the problems that exactly that you're talking about.
		You got to know where those funding mechanisms are, and you've got to know how to attack it on Washington.
		And I don't know that RFK Jr. is the guy for that.
		I mean, this guy is a guy who is out there sort of spreading wild theories about vaccines.
		And so, you know, that's just not the kind of truth-first leader that I'm very confident in to be able to deliver the kinds of change and reforms that you're talking about.
		Because you're right, we do need to change the system in Washington so that we're not incentivizing unhealthy behaviors because you're right, it's a drain on the system.
		It's a drain on our health.
		And it is a testament of just bad leadership over the years in Washington that allows these funding mechanisms for these bad habits to build up.
		We ought to attack it.
		I'm hopeful now that RFK maybe has been confirmed.
		He can work with senators in Washington and representatives to look at that legislation and the laws to change what he can.
		But, you know, I'm skeptical, I guess I'd say, based on some of his past statements and the types of leadership that he's exhibited in the past, I'm concerned.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from David in Florida, also line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, David.
unidentified		Good morning.
		And as a longtime viewer and sometime caller, thank you for C-SPAN.
		In 2016, a great columnist and guest on C-SPAN wrote about the election and talked about how it's a binary choice.
		I was skeptical of Donald Trump and to a certain extent, particularly I see you're wearing a, your guest, Mr. Mayo, was wearing a Ukraine-American pin, and so do I.
		And I'm not a great fan of what the President said about the war.
		But when you look at the whole picture, there is no place else for a what you called a card-carrying conservative to go but to the Republican Party.
		There is nothing else out there.
		Certainly not the Democrat Party of Casio-Cortez and Summer Lee and all of these up-and-coming rising cohorts of the Democrat Party.
		So that's it.
		This is what we have.
		And I, for one, am going to remain a Republican because overall, President Trump is doing the right thing on so many issues that there is no place else for someone like me and I think you to go.
		So deal with that, okay?
		Well, thank you for the call.
		I mean, I think this type of caller is exactly like so many Americans out there.
		And it goes to the point that I was sort of making about how many Americans out there are just frustrated with the choices on offer.
		I mean, it shouldn't be that we're in this position of having to pick the lesser of two evils every time we go to the ballot box.
		And that's part of what Principles First is about, honestly, is about bringing people together to get better choices on the ballot, to take a stand, like you say, for, you know, when the president makes a dumb comment about Ukraine that is just completely baseless and not true, and he says, you know, Ukraine caused the war in some way when Putin has invaded that country and killed their people, killed their children, destroyed their farms.
		I mean, it's so offensive almost.
		And to have to then kind of swallow all of that discontent and go vote for the guy anyways because we just can't put anybody better on the ballot, that's a problem for our politics, right?
		And so that's what we've got to start doing as Americans.
		We can't just keep waiting for better leaders to come along.
		We've got to start at the grassroots level coming together, building community and demanding better of our leaders.
		So I certainly hear the call.
		I agree with what you're saying.
		The choices on offer are not good.
		But that's why it's incumbent on us as principled conservatives, principled Americans, to come together and put better leaders on the ballot and to stand up and say that we're not going to tolerate it if you keep lying about the conflict in Russia, pulling back from our allies, jacking up tariffs on Canada and Mexico at a time when there is an affordability crisis around the country.
		I mean, these things are inconsistent with what he campaigned for, and he ought to be held accountable to that by Americans broadly, but also his own supporters.
		So I commend the call.
		I agree with much of what you said, and I hope that we see better leaders on the ballot in the coming cycles so that you don't have to feel that way every election cycle when you go vote.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We had a question come in from text.
		It's Kristen in Portland, Maine.
		She says, good morning, Mr. Mayo.
		MEGA has splintered the Republican Party.
		The Democrats, the wounded, I believe, are still a united party.
		Would you consider joining the Democrats in the next few elections to try to rid the grip of MAGA?
unidentified		I mean, absolutely.
		Look, I'm a free agent completely.
		I mean, that's what Principles First is all about.
		But I do think that Democrats need to go through a little period of introspection because it wasn't a good November for them.
		I mean, with all of the absurdities of Donald Trump, they still were not able to cobble together a 50-plus-one electoral coalition that could defeat him and his movement.
		So it's a time for rethinking how the party goes about things, seeing how they can bring new ideas and new people into the party.
		And if they show a willingness and a readiness to do that, I'm here as an American.
		I'm eager if they could put better people on the ballot, better ideas.
		I'm all for that.
		And so certainly I would be open to joining with Democrats.
		And I think a lot of our attendees at the Principles First Summit would be.
		But Principles first, right?
		It's not just going to come for nothing.
		You know, you got to really be out there espousing the principles that make America great and really showing that you're opening to opening up to new voices and new people and new constituencies out there in the country.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		And you are going to have some of those voices at your summit.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		You have Colorado Governor Jared Polis speaking today.
unidentified		That's right.
		No, Polis is tomorrow.
		Yes, but he is coming.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		What does it mean to have voices like that of that position speaking to people who are at your attending your conference and looking for alternatives?
unidentified		Absolutely.
		I mean, it speaks volumes.
		It says a lot.
		We're really proud to have him.
		The fact that you've got someone like him, a Democrat who's really challenging the establishment and his party to drive reforms in his state, all the way to somebody like John Bolton, Chris Christie, you know, people who are in the Republican Party, even had served under Donald Trump in the first administration, but have been ringing, raising alarm bells about his conduct.
		That kind of a broad spectrum of folks coming together, I think, is exciting.
		It's new in our politics.
		That's the way we ought to be thinking.
		We ought to be thinking outside of the box and figuring out how we can build these new alliances.
		And so I'm excited to hear from him.
		And I think it does say it does say a lot about this moment that we're in and how it is time for new alliances and new things and new ideas in our politics.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		And we do have a programming alert for our audience.
		It's tomorrow on Sunday.
		We will have coverage of the principals first summit.
		Our guest just mentioned that former National Security Advisor John Bolton will be speaking, as well as former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan and others will be there.
		Again, that's tomorrow.
		You'll be able to watch live starting at 1 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
		Let's hear from Jesse in Owings Mill, Maryland, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Jesse.
unidentified		Good morning.
		The conversation is just perfect for the comment I wanted to make, or the question I have.
		The Democrats failed to protect us from this happening, this administration getting into power.
		The Republicans are disillusioned with the party.
		I think it's time for a third party.
		And I wonder if the gentleman would consider joining together with disillusioned Democrats and Republicans and independents and forming a third party, because I think now is the time.
		What do you think?
		Yeah, Jesse, I mean, it's a great question.
		I think a lot of Americans out there, I hear this all the time.
		They wonder why there's only two choices.
		And it's a good question, honestly.
		I think the answer is a bit that new parties are just so hard logistically to stand up.
		It takes a lot of money, unfortunately, because our politics is, that's a key element of how our politics work in this country, for better, for mostly worse, honestly.
		So parties are hard.
		But the way change happens in America and what makes our democracy really great is that people speak volumes.
		And you don't, sometimes the movement can come before the party.
		And that's what, you know, some of these third party movements in the past, I think, have come up short because they've tried to start at the top with the party.
		And they say, we're going to form a party and then everybody's going to come.
		But then there's nobody there in the room demanding that that party form.
		So what you got to do is you got to focus on the grassroots Americans.
		You got to go into the country.
		That's why we host dinners in addition to the summit all around the country.
		We've been in Charleston.
		We went to Michigan.
		We went to Nashville.
		Texas, Kansas, everywhere you can think of, holding these dinners, bringing people together, because it starts with the people.
		It always starts and ends, honestly, with the people, and you got to bring them together around those ideas.
		And if from there, candidates start running, some as independents, some may take on a new party banner, certainly.
		I mean, because it's all about the ideas.
		If there's an independent running in a campaign who's espousing our principles, we're lining up behind that person and we're going to give it 110%.
		And you've seen some candidacies that Dan Osborne in Nebraska is one of them, was not a Democrat, was an independent, more of a, it was basically like a third-party run, and he got 48% of the vote in Nebraska trying to shake things up.
		So that could be a model short of a whole new party, is just a bunch of independent candidates out there saying, I don't really fall into either of these buckets, but I do have good ideas about what the country needs to do to solve the problems that we face.
		I'm going to set the parties aside, and I'm just going to speak directly to the American people with my ideas, and I'm going to let the quality of my ideas and the content of my character dictate whether Americans are going to vote for me.
		And I think if we see more of that, I think it could be a healthy step towards a little bit of what the caller is talking about.
		But I think it's a good idea.
		We got to start exploring all the options that we can for sure.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from John in West Lafayette, Indiana, mine for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Good morning, and thank you.
		Thank you for the discussion today, Mr. Heath.
		I've been a Republican my entire life and was a rabid Ronald Reagan supporter.
		And I guess I'll show my age here going back to 1968.
		I'm 72 years old.
		But what I've seen over that period of time is a party that refused for decades to take on the Democrats in a full frontal assault.
		And over that, you know, if you go back many decades, there was a time when my friends would say, hey, there's no difference between the two parties.
		And you know what?
		At the end of the day, when you saw the policies at the end of any Republican administration other than Reagan, all you saw was modest tweaks around the edges of policy.
		You never saw the kind of change that the country really needed until Donald Trump.
		Today, you can't say there's no difference between the parties.
		They are very different.
		And in Donald Trump, you see the kind of movement politically that this country desperately needs.
		And what I hear you promoting is basically a turnback to the Mitt Romney style of political party, which is nothing but Pablom.
		So, yeah, I don't like every policy of Mr. Trump.
		I don't like tariffs, but I do like the notion of equivalency in the global economic field.
		And I think that's where he's landing today.
		So, you know, for every one thing that maybe I don't agree with, I see nine or ten that I adamantly agree with.
		So your movement just sounds like a return to the traditional country club style of Republican Party.
		So I guess I'd like to hear your comments about those remarks.
		Well, thank you for the call.
		I mean, I would disagree with the characterization of us as a return to, you know, the Mitt Romney style of politics.
		I mean, this is a new era.
		I mean, it's 10 years removed, I think, from when Mitt Romney last ran for president.
		The challenges of the country are different.
		And we got Mark Cuban on our stage.
		I mean, I don't think he's like a Mitt Romney guy necessarily.
		Jared Polis, also a guy that's thinking outside of the box.
		So we're really trying to think outside of the box here.
		We can't go back to where we've been.
		Obviously, the challenges are different.
		But to the point about Donald Trump, I'll just say, look, you know, sure.
		I mean, if the metric for what you really want in a politician and a party is just somebody that's going to go in and break things and shake things up.
		And look, I'll agree with the caller that for a long time the Republicans were too timid to take their arguments to the Democrats.
		And I think that is what fed a lot of the hunger for somebody like Trump to come in and really shake up Washington.
		But if you look at the way that he's actually done it, I don't think it's been very healthy for the country.
		I mean, he's really challenging the bounds of executive authority, really pushing the limits of what a president can do, saying he's going to ignore the courts.
		And you mentioned, I think, parity with respect to trade and economics.
		This is not going to be a good idea for the country.
		I hear what you're saying.
		I respectfully disagree with it.
		We have an affordability crisis.
		I agree.
		Inflation was a problem under the Biden administration.
		We got to address it.
		Jacking up 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, I would submit to you, is not a bright idea.
		It's not a wise strategy.
		We ought to be raising tariffs on it.
		We could do it on China, sure.
		I don't think it's the best way to go.
		We could do sanctions.
		But a lot of what he does is just so reactive and impulsive.
		And, you know, same thing with our alliances in Europe right now with authoritarian, looks like Putin on the march.
		And Xi will see probably China over the next coming years make a move on Taiwan.
		I mean, we need a serious person in the office.
		I will agree, I guess, that Trump has shaken up things to some degree.
		But a lot of times, if you just shake things up, you're just breaking things in the China shop.
		And, you know, I just urge the caller to really, really explore and investigate if Trump shaking things up has really delivered on the things that you wanted to see out of Washington.
		Because at least for me as a conservative, someone who wanted to conserve the idea of limited government, reduced deficits and debt, Trump has added massive amounts to our national debt, massive spending.
		We'll see what Doge does, but I think it's sort of trimming fat around the margins and not going at sort of this entitlement spending.
		We've got to reform those programs if we want to get back to solvency.
		And that takes serious political leadership that treats people with respect, that works across the aisle.
		And I don't know that this type of leadership is really going to get us there.
		So I respect the call.
	We've got to have discussions like this, but I still don't think Trump has really taken us in the right direction as a country that we need.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		President Trump has been back in office for a month.
		As of this week, some new polling out from Gallup.
		Just a few days ago, 93% of Republicans approve of President Trump's job performance overall.
		Republicans also broadly approve of the president's handling of immigration.
		That's 92%.
		Foreign affairs, 90%.
		The economy, 90%.
		And foreign trade at 89%.
		Another 80% of Republicans each approve of Trump's handling of the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine.
		He has taken a lot of actions so far.
		We've talked a lot about things that you're pushing back on.
		Is there anything that he's seen that you've seen him do or has talked about doing that you could get on board with?
unidentified		A lot of things that Trump does that I agree with.
		I agree in theory and then he tries to implement or execute and it's just nuts, honestly.
		I mean, like, I'm a supporter of Israel.
		I think all of this nonsense on college campuses about Hamas is crazy.
		Like, we need to stand with Israel.
		You know, what happened on October 7th is a moral abomination.
		And we need to stand with them and try to resolve what is happening there.
		But to come out and say that we're going to turn the Gaza Strip into like a big casino park and like real estate deal, that's just crazy.
		Similarly, maybe Doge, I could get on board with the idea.
		I mean, I don't think any American disagrees that there's fraud, waste, and abuse, and there's ways to trim fat in our federal government.
		But then you put a guy like Elon Musk in, who's just honestly kind of a little not on the level, I think.
		I'm not sure what's going on there.
		But, you know, we go out and we hear that we fired a bunch of nuclear engineers that were critical to overseeing our arsenal, and then we got to rehire them quickly.
		Same with the FAA officers.
		You know, there's been a lot of mistakes made in how this has been carried out.
		And it's just not a good brand for if you really want to cut fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government.
		If we're doing it this way, you know, everybody's going to be pissed and not really want to do this ever again.
		So we've got to do these things in the right way.
		But certainly there are ideas out there that have promise, but a lot of them, I'll be honest, are really, really bad ideas.
		The tariffs, our posture towards Europe and our allies in Europe, vis-a-vis Putin, coming out and saying that it was Ukraine's fault.
		I mean, this is shameful, it's absurd, and it doesn't really look like the America that I've ever known.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		I'm going to show you another question that we got via text and then also Pleias Sot from a town hall that happened this week and wanted to get your response.
		So the question coming in from Scott in Massachusetts, he says he's an independent.
		What does the guest think about the Republicans in Congress right now who remain silent regarding Trump's actions and his rhetoric regarding Ukraine and other issues?
unidentified		I mean, it's just shameful.
		I just, I don't know why you run for Congress, you go through all of this hassle to get yourself elected.
		I mean, it takes a toll on your family.
		You take all your time out of your daily life to go come to Washington and be a representative, to not say anything about what you believe, to not voice your own opinions as opposed to what Donald Trump or any of his people are telling you that you need to say, or else you're going to face retribution.
		That to me is shameful.
		There ought to be 100 different voices in the Republican Party saying 100 different things.
		And I think it used to be that way.
		There used to be factions, there used to be disagreement, but you read the percentages.
		I mean, this party has made its choice.
		It has turned into a whatever Donald Trump says goes.
		And that's how people define themselves as a Republican.
		And that is not, I'm going to say, is not going to be very healthy for the long-term trajectory of the party or the country.
		So I think it's shameful, particularly as the person notes on Ukraine.
		I mean, this is so far afield of anything that America has ever represented.
		You know, everyone from Eisenhower to JFK to Ronald Reagan to Abraham Lincoln in Washington are completely turning over in their grave to hear that we're going to go sit down with Putin and that Zelensky's country that was invaded by this guy who had his friends and family killed, crops destroyed, that it was actually their fault that all of that happened.
		That to me is infuriating as an American to hear our president go on a world stage and say that.
		You had JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference go out and basically lecture the Ukrainians on, you know, war is bad.
		Why are you guys fighting?
		JD, you know, the Ukrainians are fighting to defend themselves.
		They're fighting on their land, in their backyard, defending their families from Putin's, you know, cannon fodder troops that he's been sitting in.
		It's not the Ukrainians that don't care about the loss of human life.
		That's offensive.
		It is Vladimir Putin who does not care about the census slaughter of thousands in Eastern Europe.
		And to have our vice president stand before the world and say those things, I just, I don't know.
		We've heard some frustration from the caller, but I don't know how you can just sit there quietly in Congress and say, oh, you know, he's got a point.
		It doesn't compute for me.
		So it's incredibly frustrating.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Members of Congress have been hearing from constituents about President Trump as well as Elon Musk.
		And it was Thursday during a town hall in Georgia that Representative Rich McCormick, he's a Republican there, responded to a question from a constituent about President Trump's social media post referring to himself as a king.
		Here's that clip.
unidentified		Tyranny.
		Virginia, do you have a question for the Congress?
		I do.
		I do.
		Thank you.
		Tyranny is rising in the White House and a man has declared himself our king.
		So I would like to know, rather, the people would like to know what you congressmen and your fellow congressmen are going to do to reign in the megalomaniac in the White House.
		How do you are today?
		I'm not going to give you my best foghorn link horn response to that.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		But what I was saying, you can go ahead and sit down.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
rich mccormick ▲ ● ▼		when you talk about tyranny when you talk about presidential power i remember having the same discussion with republicans when biden was elected the funny thing is the funny thing is the funny thing is you're sitting here and a lot of you would probably say those january sixes who are yelling just as loud as you who are upset just like you
unidentified		And not listening.
		Hey, hey, let's restore some order.
		Let's restore some order.
		Hey, hey, hey, let's restore some order.
		So yelling at me is not going to get any answer, okay?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Your reaction to that exchange.
unidentified		Wow, I had not seen that.
		And last time I checked, I don't think Roswell, Georgia was sort of a hotbed of left-wing liberalism, right?
		I mean, that's astonishing.
		And, you know, maybe some of those folks will be the principals for a summit this weekend.
		But I think, look, that's the kind of things that's great about America is that, and you see him sort of just flailing around.
		He doesn't know what to say.
		That's what happens when your whole political outlook is just defend Trump, defend Trump, defend Trump.
		When constituents like that just comes out and speaks the truth and lays it on the floor, and now Americans can see what their eyes are telling them.
		I think you're going to see more and more of this frustration at the grassroots level in places that you might not expect it.
		And that's how movements are born.
		That's how we get new ideas and new things in our politics.
		So I commend the congressman, honestly, for having a town hall.
		So few congressmen are having town halls like this.
		So I commend him at least for that.
		But I hope next time he has a better answer because the person that asked him that question is exactly right.
		We got a president that does not care about the law.
		We saw him tweet just last week, I think, you know, it's not violating the law if I'm saving my country, which I think people said was a quote from Napoleon.
		That is not a John Adams idea that says, you know, the supreme maximum of limited government is that of law and not of men.
		And that's been the cornerstone of our country.
		And so I think we're going to see more of this, honestly, particularly if Trump doesn't listen to the voters here and understand that he's really jumped the shark.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		C-SPAN did carry that event.
		You can find it in our video library if you'd like to watch it in its entirety.
		We have a few minutes left with our guest, Heath Mayo.
		We'll go to next to Jay in Walnut, Mississippi, Line for Independence.
		Good morning, Jay.
unidentified		Good morning.
		You know, let me ask you something, Mr. Mayo.
		Are you a never Trumper?
		You sound like one.
		Now, one of my things, you talk about the Bushes, the Cheneys, these type of people.
		They're gone.
		It ain't going to be a Republican Party like it.
		That's the reason so many independents have turned and supported Donald Trump.
		You may not understand that.
		I don't think the Bushes and the Cheneys and the Never Trumps, Never Trumpers understand that, but that's what's what it's going to be from now on.
		That old-type Republican Party, it'll never be.
		So that's my comments, and have a good day.
		Well, look, I think we agree on that.
		I don't think the old Republican Party is coming back.
		I think it's had its time, but the country has moved on, and we're in a new moment.
		And, you know, it's going to take new ideas, new voices, new people to come to the floor and make better arguments about where the country is today.
		So, look, I agree, and I think you're right.
		I think you put your thumb on it.
		I mean, Trump did attract a lot of voters, like the gentleman who just called in, precisely because of that frustration.
		So, folks like me who aren't comfortable with the direction the country's going, who don't like what we see out of this Trumpism movement, this populist movement that he's leading, it's incumbent on us to listen and to hear and to offer a better vision, an alternative vision that, like you say, it can't just be never Trump.
		I mean, certainly I'm opposed to the guy a lot of what he's doing.
		If he was doing something good, you know, I'd listen.
		I'd listen to hear what he was saying, but so much of it, I think, is not what I want to see for the country.
		So, I do oppose it because I don't agree with it.
		But you're right.
		We've got to start going out into the country, listening to our fellow citizens, hearing what the concerns are, and actually addressing them.
		But I'd submit you got too many people right now in the Republican Party who are not interested in doing that.
		They don't know the first thing about how to reduce consumer health care prices.
		I mean, I don't even know if they could tell you how the laws around Medicare and Medicaid even work.
		A lot of these people are not serious.
		They come to Washington.
		They want to get famous.
		You know, they want to start their own, you know, I don't even know, launch their own meme coins and fleece their own voters to get rich quick.
		These are not people that are focused on solving the problems that we're facing as Americans, and we deserve a lot better.
		So I hear the caller's concern, and I just say hear us out because we don't think we need to go back to that era either.
		I don't think the Republican Party of yesteryear is coming back.
		That's not my project.
		My project, the project of Principles First, is to say where's the country going in the next 5, 10, 15 years?
		We've got AI coming.
		We're basically living in a new industrial revolution.
		Over the next five years, I think the country is going to completely change.
		We've got disruptions to markets from health care to law to anything in between.
		Every American is going to be touched by this and going to be affected by this.
		And we've got to get our act together now as a country because that change is coming.
		China is getting competitive with us.
		China is going to be challenging us in Taiwan and other places over the coming years.
		And I just be frank, I don't think we're ready.
		I don't think we're prepared for that type of competitive threat.
		I don't think we're prepared for what we're seeing, the alliances that we're forming between authoritarians in Russia, Iran, North Korea, China.
		I mean, these are big challenges that are challenging the post-World War II norm that America led and the principles that have been established that brought about such prosperity in the 20th century.
		All of those are breaking down, and we've really got to have leaders in Washington who get it, who understand, who are serious about these challenges, and aren't just trying to sell you a bill of goods to get rich.
		And so I hear the caller, but we've got to go in a better direction than the one we're going right now.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Patricia in Detroit, Michigan, Line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Patricia.
unidentified		Good morning.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Hi, Patricia.
unidentified		Pardon?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, you're on.
unidentified		Hello.
		Oh, yeah.
		I just wanted to say that nobody wants to watch and see what Musk, who seems to be the president, is doing.
		But my family came from Poland, and the Nazis are here, and they're going to march us all off to death.
		And nobody wants to think about it.
		Nobody wants to see it.
		But the Nazis are here.
		Well, that's an urgent call.
		I don't think we're quite there yet, but there's certainly cause for concern with the way that we see folks transgressing limits on executive authority.
		I mean, if you're worried about that type of authoritarian threat, which I agree with the caller to some extent, you know, no one is safe from threats like that.
		Not even in the United States.
		I think sometimes we take it for granted and we say that could never happen here.
		I don't think it's happening here yet, but it doesn't mean that it can't someday.
		And that's why it's incumbent on citizens around the country like the caller, like all the callers, frankly, to be vigilant.
		Hold your elected leaders accountable.
		Don't just go along to get along.
		Always question what they're saying.
		You know, Elon Musk, talking about Doge and federal subsidies.
		His companies receive more federal subsidies through the Tesla, the electric cars, electric vehicles.
		His companies receive so many subsidies from the federal government.
		There was one line item in the budget I saw, $400 billion, I think, that there was a DOD line item that was going to purchase Tesla's $400 billion Tesla order.
		And that I don't, I think it stayed in the budget.
		I think it survived the Doge cuts.
		So it's stuff like this.
		I mean, people can talk a good game, but always, when it comes to Washington politicians, always be questioning their motives, no matter how much you like them.
		Always question what they're saying because usually if you pull back the cover, it's not good what you're going to see underneath.
		And I think Elon Musk is just another example.
		So the caller is right to be skeptical, but I don't know that we're at that level of comparison just yet.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Your website outlines 15 principles that you follow.
		They're on your website, so I know they're all important, but which of them do you think are going to be most crucial to your efforts over the next four years?
		And then also talking about the future, is there anyone that you would like to see leading the Republican Party down the road?
unidentified		Sure.
		So, on the principles, I think the key ones that really come to mind are just sort of the basics, honestly.
		Integrity, virtue, and character matter in our leaders.
		I mean, you know, it used to be that it mattered what kind of decisions that you made.
		I mean, you couldn't just be all over the place in your personal life, right?
		You couldn't just be making bad decisions leading to financial ruin in your personal life and then come to Washington and expect for the public to trust you with public leadership.
		And just making sure that people are truthful and honest leaders and not just making things up, making up their own facts to sell to their own audiences.
		I think that's a big one.
		We need to trust the leaders that we send to Washington.
		And then, you know, America's role in the world.
		This is a big one.
		I mean, I think since Iraq and Afghanistan, it is really, you know, the failures there have really caused, I think, the country to sort of reflexively be opposed to any sort of America's role in the world.
		People say we want to help Ukraine, and people think about Iraq and Afghanistan.
		Look, you know, nobody thinks what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan was good and successful.
		We did some good things, but on the whole, there were a lot of mistakes made.
		Nobody's making a defense of Iraq and Afghanistan, but as a country, we are still the leader of the free world.
		We are still the country that helped defeat Nazi tyranny in Europe during World War II.
		That was a good thing.
		You know, we are still the country that defeated, helped defeat Soviet communism around the world.
		And that was a good thing.
		So, American leadership is a force for good in the world.
		And, you know, sure, we can't go around and try to build democracies in all different countries around the world, but to go to Europe and say, we're pulling back, you're on your own, figure it out, that is not the right reaction or lessons to learn from our failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
		We need to move past that simple view of how America leads.
		I think we're going to see some potentially catastrophic consequences from the Trump administration's decisions vis-a-vis Europe on this.
		My hope is that it isn't as lasting and severe, and that we can course correct pretty quickly so that it is in a lasting effect.
		But, you know, there's reasons why a stable world and yours to the benefit of American citizens.
		You know, the channels of free trade have to be protected from everything from like pirates, you see this in Yemen, people attacking our ships and cargo lanes, to just free trade and commerce around the world, just contributing and lifting all the boats of the world and making and giving opportunity to millions.
		That system has to be defended.
		It doesn't just magically arise out of thin air.
		And when we pull back from the world, we see that chaos, bad actors, they fill that void.
		So it's not just this simple idea of we can just retreat from the world, ignore our obligations to our allies, and we can just focus on ourselves and everything will be okay.
		Unfortunately, that's not the way the world works.
		It seems to be the way that Vice President Vance and President Trump seem to think that that is the way the world works.
		But I'm concerned that over the coming years, we're going to get a rude awakening pretty quickly that that's just not how the United States needs to conduct itself as the leader of the free world because whether we like it or not, that is our duty.
		That is our obligation as Americans.
		We are the strongest power in the world.
		We are the greatest country in the world because of the principles that have made us so strong and great over the last 250 years.
		We've got to start taking that obligation seriously again.
		And so that's why I think that that 15th principle of ours is going to be important in the years and even decades ahead.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Our guest, Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First, you can find the organization online at principlesfirst.us.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Heath, thank you so much for your time.
unidentified		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Still ahead this morning on Washington Journal American Principles Project Terry Schilling will join us to discuss this week's annual conservative political action conference, CPAC, and the role of social conservatives.
		But first, it is open form.
		You can start calling in now the lines.
		Republicans 202-748-8001.
		Democrats 202-748-8000.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		right back.
brian lamb ▲ ● ▼		100 years ago, this past August was the beginning of what's often been called the Great War.
		World War I had military casualties of over 9 million and millions more of civilians.
		Professor Sean McMeekin of Bard College, located in New York State, has written nine books since 2003 on subjects that include German history, Russian history, the Ottoman Empire, communism, World War II, and one titled July 1914.
		This last book will be the focus of our conversation with Professor McMeekin.
		World War I was triggered in late June of 1914 by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
		They were gunned down by a Serbian 19-year-old by the name of Gavrulo Prince.
unidentified		Author Sean McMeekin talks about his book July 1914, Countdown to War, on this episode of BookNotes Plus with our host, Brian Lamb.
		Book Notes Plus is available on the C-SPAN Now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts.
		Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.
		Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
		At 4 p.m. Eastern, Luis Miranda Jr. with his book Relentless talks about his life as a political activist and organizer in the Latino community.
		Then at 6.45 p.m. Eastern, Nicole Turner-Lee with her book Digitally Invisible, How the Internet is Creating the New Underclass, contends that lack of internet access is creating economic disparities in poor and rural communities.
		And at 10 p.m. Eastern on afterwards, Professor Eve L. Ewing, with her book, Original Sins, The Miseducation of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, argues that the United States education system reinforces racial inequality at the expense of black and native children.
		She's interviewed by associate press editor Aaliyah Wong.
		Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org.
		Washington Journal continues.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We are in open form.
		We'll go straight to the phones and hear from Donna in Reynoldsburg, Ohio Line for Independence.
		Good morning, Donna.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Yeah, I just think that according to what the last guest said, I believe a lot of what he says.
		I vote both ways.
		I think part of the problem in America is the decline of the middle class and the different places we get our facts, cable, T V, regular news, internet.
		I think that maybe a solution to the problem would be some other way to get the leaders elected.
		Maybe that rank voting over on the East Coast.
		Most people do not vote in the primary, so you get the far left, far right, and bad leaders.
		I think we need a change in how we vote.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Donna in Ohio.
		Dan in Pine City, New York, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Dan.
unidentified		Hi, how are you?
		I'd just like to say, you know, how soon we forget as far as Ukraine.
		Remember Trump refusing to fund the Ukrainians the $300 million unless they would give some dirt on the Biden presidency.
		And, you know, it just amazes me that it hasn't been brought up in all the news and whatnot.
		You know, that seems like a founding message that came out of that whole thing.
		Putin's a smart man.
		As soon as that money was not available, you know, the invasion, that's when the invasion started.
		And Trump is the one who refused the money.
		Am I correct on that?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll go to Sal in New Jersey, line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Sal.
unidentified		Good morning, Tammy.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		Tammy, I like to talk about abortion.
		Concerning abortion, it's not a woman's body.
		It's a human being.
		A clump of cells is not a clump of cells.
		I saw my niece in an ultrasound last year.
		She was not a clump of cells.
		And I would like to say that the overwhelming majority that go to abortion go through deep depression and anguish.
		Many of them commit suicide or have deep remorse.
		I would say most of them commit suicide.
		And then there's adoption.
		Why shouldn't so many couples in this country have their own children?
		Why should we deprive them of being parents and have a family?
		And then I'd like to say that abortionists in this country have killed at least 60 million babies since Roe v. Wade was enacted in 1973.
		Let's look at abortion voids, murdering babies.
		And then I would like to ask the question: how would liberals like it if they were aborted?
		Don't they appreciate their own lives?
		And we're supposed to be a morical and ethical nation, and God will judge us harshly for this wicked sin.
		And just think of all the wonderful, beautiful lives we could have in this society if all these babies weren't aborted.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Sal in New Jersey.
		Floyd in Fredericksburg, Indiana, line for independence.
		Good morning, Floyd.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thanks for taking my call.
		The last guest, things should have fact-checked a little better.
		What I heard is the EVs were purchased by ordered by Biden since it was the gun-ho on EVs anyway.
		So I think that should be fact-checked and brought out that Biden ordering $400 million worth of EVs for the government.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll go to Richard in Cumberland, Maryland, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Richard.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I hope everybody is fine there.
		Thanks, Mr. People.
		The previous guest, I believe his letterhead should be Massa, M-A-S-A, Make Americans Sing Again.
		He has wonderful talking points.
		I'm a Democrat.
		I will vote Democrat.
		I am positive I won't agree with every point he would support.
		But he is talking working with Democrats.
		And he has some wonderful talking points back to values.
		Back to going to human value, supporting the laws and the government and the people instead of individuals.
		Working with Democrats.
		Wonderful talking points.
		And he has wonderful values.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Richard in Maryland.
		This headline in this morning's Wall Street Journal, Ukraine-U.S. Near Minerals Agreement.
		The article says that in an apparent nod to an impending deal, Zelensky, that's Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, said in a nightly video address Friday that teams of U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators were working on a draft accord.
		It says Zelensky was presented with a deal by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant in Kyiv this past week, but refused to sign, saying the Ukrainian side needed to study it further and that a deal should contain some form of security guarantees for Ukraine.
		An agreement could be signed as soon as Saturday today, although it isn't yet complete, said people briefed on the talks.
		The exact terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
		It was yesterday while addressing a gathering of the nation's governors that President Trump talked about negotiations to end the war between to end the U.S.-Ukraine war, Russia-Ukraine war.
		Here's a clip from that event.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		Somewhat historic four weeks.
		We have a couple of things in the works.
		We're negotiating with Russia, Ukraine, trying to get that horrible situation over with.
		It's terrible.
		It's just so terrible.
		I see pictures that you fortunately don't get to see.
		You don't want to see them.
		And that is a killing field.
		You have young soldiers being killed thousands a week, and we've got to get it over with.
		It's bad for Russia, and it's bad for Ukraine, and it's bad for us on a humanitarian basis.
		I've had very good talks with Putin, and I've had not such good talks with Ukraine.
		They don't have any cards, but they play it tough.
		But we're not going to let this continue.
		This war is terrible.
		It would have never happened if I were president.
		But it did happen, so I got stuck with it.
		And the whole world is stuck with it.
		And right now you have a country that has its cities.
		They look like demolition sites.
		Those beautiful towers, those thousand-year-old golden domes that were so beautiful, the most beautiful in the world, they say.
		They're all in smithereens.
		Millions of people are killed.
		I think far more people than anyone understands.
		And we have people that better get to the table and get it ended.
		Should have never happened.
		It would have never happened.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Back to your calls.
		Eileen in New Jersey, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Eileen.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		I'm doing well, Eileen.
unidentified		Fine.
		I wanted to say about your guest before.
		He sounds like a Republican turned inside out as a Democrat.
		He is so against everything that Trump.
		He's only in there a month.
		And all they're doing is picking and every little thing that he does.
		We never had this with Biden because he never came out.
		We never heard from him.
		So you've never had every day about Biden, Biden, Biden.
		The things that he did wrong in his son.
		Give the man a chance.
		And as far as Zelensky in Ukraine, all he wants is the money.
		And he's a crook.
		And he's taking the money.
		I don't even think the people will get it.
		They don't realize that he's like that.
		And as far as the other man, your guest, I think he's one of the swamp.
		He's definitely one of the swamp because they don't like they can't line their pockets no more.
		And that's a terrible shame.
		But thank you, Jamie.
		Thank you very much for letting me call.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Eileen in New Jersey.
		We'll go to Michael in Connecticut, line for independence.
		Good morning, Michael.
unidentified		Good morning.
		How you guys doing?
		Hey, you started off with Trump in the beginning of the show.
		He had to say that Ukraine did not start the war.
		I mean, how could you even say that that happened in the first place?
		And now they're all screaming about the deficit deficit.
		I remember when Dick Cheney was like, deficits don't matter.
		You know, Trump doesn't make any sense on anything he says.
		He's really, really stupid.
matt baker in cali ▲ ● ▼		That's what we got going for ourselves.
unidentified		And he's in charge.
		It's going to come to a head.
		It's all going to explode in his face.
		Trump is a cancer on his country.
		You Republicans.
		Do you see what he's doing?
		You know, Facebook is not news.
		Newsmax is not news.
		Fox is not news.
		This is just stuff that people are making up.
		And you've got to be so insane to believe any of it.
		I mean, people are dumb, but Trump is dumber than them.
		And he's leading this country to where?
		This is making America great?
		By what?
		Raising the prices of everything on everybody?
		Oh, how's that price of eggs?
		I'm going to the supermarket right now.
		$8 for a dozen eggs.
		Bacon.
		Oh, I can't even get bacon because it's so, so expensive.
		What has he done?
		Oh, it's so hard to bring down the prices of stuff.
		You know, I can't believe anybody could believe anything that Trump says because.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Michael in Connecticut.
		We'll go to Pamela in Mount Morris, New York, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Pamela.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I've always been too upset to make any sense when I've called you guys in the past because I was so upset about the possibility of what's happening now.
		It was going to happen.
		And what I would like to say about the man who was in the segment before, I was a late bloomer calling in.
		I only heard a little bit, but I was heartened by the fact that he's a young man who really seems to know the difference between principle and not principles in this country.
		I stick up for everything the Democrats stick up for, but most of all, democracy.
		And I'd like to read a quote.
		It says, the one means that wins the easiest victory over reason, colon, terror and force.
		And that was said by Adolf Hitler.
		The other day, a man called up and he was lovely, talking about how do we, basically, how have we lost our minds and we're believing the stuff that we're believing.
		The woman that just called up from New Jersey is a perfect example.
		Now Zelensky is the enemy.
		That poor man is fighting for his country.
		If that happened to us, there's no way that we would be able to handle anybody saying that we started the war if somebody was invading us.
		Look what happened at 9-11.
		Nobody questioned the fact that we were invaded by someone else.
		And we took a heart to that and did what we had to do.
		So I'm saying to you, do not turn on a country that has been battling to save their country, to save their land.
		And now we have Trump in cahoots with Putin to blackmail this man to get the land.
		And I am really appalled and saddened by the fact that if we lose Luke Ukraine, Putin is going to keep on going.
		And the idea that our own president is involved is outrageous.
		The other last point I want to make, everyone, from the sound of my voice, get Madeline Albright's last book.
		She wrote it when Trump was in the first time, and it fits now more than ever.
		It's called Fascism, a Warning.
		She was a teacher at Georgetown University of History.
		And when you get that book, you won't be able to put it down.
		It gives you an overview of every dictator, and it has a whole chapter on Trump.
		She was amazing.
		She was a wonderful, great woman, and she knows what she's talking about.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		This is Pamela in New York.
		We'll go to Tammy in Lakeland, Florida, Line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Tammy.
unidentified		Yes.
		Are you there?
		Yes, I am.
		Okay.
		I just want to say that I've been a Republican since I was 18 years old.
donna in west virginia ▲ ● ▼		I didn't even know what it stood for at that time.
unidentified		But I, in my life, and I'm 62 right now, and in my life, I have learned the difference between Democrats and Republicans and everything.
		Look, the Democrats, they used to be okay, you know, back in the day.
		And they have changed.
		They have turned and changed.
		And Biden, he really, really destroyed our country.
		And before people start bashing Trump again, they need to realize, instead of talking about it, they need to listen.
		He has a way about him that Delinsky wouldn't come to the table.
		He wouldn't talk.
		So Trump, he did say that about Russia, you know, about Ukraine, you know, and Russia.
		But we know Russia started the war.
		Everybody knows it.
		But Trump is trying to get him to the table, which worked, didn't it?
		See, Trump has a way about him that he puts stuff out there, but he doesn't seriously mean it.
		And if you really, really knew Trump, you know, like I've known Trump all his life.
		I've been through three wives with him, five kids with him, and all the talk shows.
		Everybody loved him until he became a Republican.
		And yes, he does want to make this country, I do believe, because he's rich.
		He didn't have to do any of this.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Got your point, Tammy.
		Wanted to show you this article from the Associated Press coming on the news of Senator Mitch McConnell announcing that he will not be running for reelection.
		It's from the Associated Press.
		It says the scramble to fill Mitch McConnell's Senate seat in Kentucky began as soon as the long-saving Republican lawmaker revealed that he won't seek re-election in 2026.
		Former state attorney general Daniel Cameron jumped into the campaign Thursday looking for a political comeback after losing his bid for governor in 2023.
		Elsewhere in the GOP, U.S. Representative Andy Barr signaled he would announce his plans soon and said he's been encouraged by his supporters as he considers a Senate run.
		Businessman Nate Morris has signaled his strong interest in the Senate race too.
		Other prominent Kentucky Republicans, U.S. Representative James Comer, will not run for the Senate next year but is strongly considering a run for governor.
		In 2027, a Comer spokesperson said: Although the prize is a Senate seat that will be open for the first time in more than 40 years, leading Kentucky Democrats did not rush to embrace the challenge in a state that has turned solidly Republican in recent years.
		Two Democrats holding statewide office, Governor Andy Bashir and Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman, signaled Thursday that they won't enter the Senate race.
		From earlier this week, here are part of Mitch McConnell's, here's part of his announcement that he made.
mitch mcconnell ▲ ● ▼		And yet so often I've watched colleagues depart venting their frustration at the confines of the institution or mourning what they perceive to be decline of its norms.
		Regardless, regardless of the political storms that may wash over this chamber during the time I have remaining, I assure our colleagues that I will depart with great hope for the endurance, the endurance of the Senate as an institution.
		There are any number of reasons for pessimism, but the strength of the Senate is not one of them.
		This chamber is still the haven where the political minority can require debate.
		It's still the crucible in which jurists are tested for their fidelity to upholding the Constitution and lives and laws as they were written.
		The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence.
		And to the disappointment of my critics, I'm still here on the job.
		I yield the floor.
unidentified		Mr. President.
unidentified		Senator North Carolina.
thom tillis ▲ ● ▼		Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the members and staff and spectators in the gallery be allowed to applaud for a period not to exceed 30 seconds.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		and their objection let's hear from gary in pittsfield illinois line for independence Good morning, Gary.
unidentified		Thank you, ma'am, for taking my call.
		Yes, ma'am, I'm a veteran, a Marine, and I'm so disgusted for Trump blaming Ukraine for invading Russia.
		If you go back to February the 23rd, people, 2022, Trump said that Putin was a genius for invading Ukraine.
		Really?
		Come on, look it up.
		You people don't do your homework.
		And for Musk to sit there and tell you that he's saving the country money and eliminating all this, look what Musk has made off of this country, people.
		He's made over $21 billion from our government.
		So he's taking money while he's laughing at everybody else, and we're paying for this.
		You got two gentlemen that's got 17 kids by six different women, and they're telling us how to run our family out here.
		Trump's never had dirty hands, people.
		He's never had dirty hands.
		And on top of this, you got Pete Hesset that fired Mr. Brown, General Brown, that's dedicated his life to this country because of his color of his skin.
		Are you kidding me?
		If I was a Marine today, guys, I would go AWO or I definitely get out with a dishonorable discharge besides serving for this president that's commander-in-chief.
		Thank you, ma'am, for taking my call.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Gary in Illinois, John in Westchester, Pennsylvania, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I just want to make a few bullet points.
		One, my first bullet point is getting back to the last previous call, and she was talking about Trump and how he's doing a great job.
		You've got to give him a chance.
		You can't elect an insurrectionist, a felonist.
		He lies so much about his finance.
		He's not a good business person.
		My second bullet point is that Trump started this whole mess from, I mean, Trump is just a pure liar.
		But I also want to talk about Mitch McConnell.
		Mitch McConnell reminds me of Beau Connor.
		On his deathbed, Bea Connor wanted to resolve himself with all the racist stuff that he did.
		Mr. McConnell started when President Obama was in office.
		Mitchell McConnell's exact words were said he wouldn't make sure that President Obama would never serve another term.
		So the Republicans need to look at their own mirror and see all their dirty laundry before they start passing this buck and say the Democrats are starting this with Biden.
		And for all this Ukraine situation, I think if Russia can get away with Ukraine, we have no idea what's the next step in this European takeover that Russia would do or China would do with Taiwan.
		Thank you for taking my call.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That's John in Pennsylvania.
		And our last call for this portion is Diane in Barberton, Ohio, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Diane.
unidentified		Good morning.
		First of all, I got to apologize to you because last month I called you, Rebecca, and I know you guys use voice without even looking at the TV.
		So I apologize, Tammy.
		Okay, I got a thing I want people to understand.
		When it comes to DEI, it's women, people of color, physically handicapped, developmentally disabled, and mentally ill.
		According to Dr. Philip McGraw on the view years ago when Trump first ran for office, said he is a narcissist.
		Trump then is mentally ill, people.
		Also, I want to say something about the migrants.
		According to someone who was on this show, stated that only 1% of the migrants have done anything illegal here in the United States.
		99% of it is our boring Americans.
		Also, on this show, several times on News Nation and also on 60 Minutes stating between 90 and 95% of drugs that are brought in are from Americans, not from migrants.
		So I've got proof for everything, and people still don't want to listen.
		Thank you, Tammy, and you have a good day.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Diane.
		Our last call for this segment.
		We will be returning to Open Forum in just a bit.
		First, we'll be joined by American Principles Project's Terry Schilling.
		We are going to discuss this week's annual Conservative Political Action Conference at CPAC and the role of social conservatives.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		American History TV, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
		This weekend, on the Civil War, Harry Laver, a military history professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, on the role of African American soldiers in the Union Army in their efforts to gain civil liberties.
		Watch American History TV series First 100 Days as we look at the start of presidential terms.
		This week, we focus on the early months of President Franklin Roosevelt's first term in 1933, including actions taken to relieve economic conditions during the Great Depression.
		On Lectures in History, Yale University professor Marlena Downt talks about the life and legacy of slave revolutionary and king Henry Christophe and how the United States and other foreign powers reacted to the 1791 Haitian Revolution.
		And on the presidency, National Constitution Center president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen leads a discussion of presidential historians on inaugural addresses and how they shape a president's legacy.
		Exploring the American story, watch American History TV every weekend and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
		Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.
		Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
		At 4 p.m. Eastern, Luis Miranda Jr. with his book Relentless talks about his life as a political activist and organizer in the Latino community.
		Then at 6.45 p.m. Eastern, Nicole Turner-Lee with her book Digitally Invisible, How the Internet is Creating the New Underclass, contends that lack of internet access is creating economic disparities in poor and rural communities.
		And at 10 p.m. Eastern on afterwards, Professor Eve L. Ewing, with her book, Original Sins, The Miseducation of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, argues that the United States education system reinforces racial inequality at the expense of black and native children.
		She's interviewed by associate press editor Aaliyah Wong.
		Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org.
		Washington Journal continues.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Joining us now to discuss CPAC 2025 and social conservatives is Terry Schilling.
		He is president of American Principles Project.
		Terry, thank you so much for joining us.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thanks so much for having me, Tammy.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Why don't we start by talking about your organization?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Tell us about the priorities and mission.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Well, I run a great group.
		It's called American Principles Project.
		And how I describe it to our donors and supporters when we're meeting them for the first time is, you know, in this town of D.C., there's all these special interest groups.
		There's big pharma, big oil, big tobacco.
		We call ourselves Big Family.
		And it's because we have the family as our special interest group that we're representing in politics.
		And we primarily invest in campaigns and elections.
		And then we work with politicians during the legislative cycle to pass laws.
		And we pass laws to protect parental rights, the innocence of children.
		We've been heavily involved in the whole debate around transgenderism in this country, specifically around women's sports and protecting children from these gender procedures that are going on all over.
		But one of the fights that we've been most successful in, and I'm most excited about, is age verification online to protect children from adult websites.
		It's been going very successfully.
		We're up to, I believe, 27 states now that are protecting girls' sports.
		President Trump now is doing executive orders and federal actions to protect girls all over the country.
		So all 50 states, girls are being protected in their sports.
		But we're up to 19 states now that have age verification to protect kids from adult content online.
		So there really hadn't been anyone filling the political gap for the American family, running campaign ads, punishing politicians for voting to take away parental rights or not protect our children and their innocence.
		And that's the big gap that we fill, and we're very proud to do that.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		You spoke yesterday at CPAC as you have previously.
		Tell us about the mood at the event this year.
		What are speakers and attendees most focused on?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Well, Tammy, as you can imagine, everyone there is very excited.
		I was actually there this morning for a few interviews.
		The line was out the door.
		And the reason the line's out the door is because President Trump is supposed to speak today.
		They also have Stephen Miller speaking in around 11.
		But I've talked to so many people because they all recognize me from the various shows, but they're very excited.
		They're optimistic about not just the future of America's economy or standing in the world, but they're excited that we have a president right now that's giving them a voice and that's representing them, especially when it comes to the cultural fights that have been going on in this country.
		I feel like so many people that are concerned about the culture and where it's been heading in this country haven't really had any big names or big prominent people defending them in the public sphere.
		And President Trump hasn't been afraid to step in there and wade into very controversial and hot-button issues that get a lot of people in trouble.
		But he's been out there and the attendees at CPAC have been very excited about that.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		And when you talk about culture wars, that's something that you discussed during your panel yesterday at CPAC.
		It was, it's the war on masculinity.
		Explain what you mean by that and how we got to where we are.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, so the title of the panel was called Take This Truce and Shove It.
		And it's a reference to Mitch Daniels, who back in 2011 came out with a concept that in order to be successful in solving America's real problems, which he viewed as the national debt and the deficit, that we needed to call for a so-called truce on social issues.
		And how that played out was incredibly disastrous.
		It ended up being that the Republicans ended up, they stopped fighting on a host of important cultural topics like abortion, like LGBT issues.
		And the bottom fell out so badly that we started giving sex change procedures and gender transitions even to minors.
		And there's been a huge pushback against that, obviously.
		But we talked about how to, what the path forward is for this country.
		And my comments were specifically directed at young men.
		I think that I'm a young man still.
		I'm 38.
		I have four boys.
		I have a host of brothers.
		I have six brothers as well.
		But if you're a young man today and you're watching television or you're watching Netflix or any of our popular culture, you're constantly told that being a man is a bad thing, that masculinity is toxic.
		And the reality is that's not true.
		There are men who are toxic who do toxic things, but that's not masculinity.
		Masculinity is about self-sacrifice, it's about love, it's about doing what's right for other people.
		And my comments were directed to young men to say, if you really want to be masculine, the next step in that is to become a father, become a husband, become a father, take care of other people, serve others, right?
		And I think that the left actually talks a lot about serving others.
		They just do it in a different light, in a different lane.
		I think the easiest and best way, and one of the biggest challenges you can have as a young man, is to get married and to be a really good husband and be a really good father.
		And I think, you know, I have seven children myself, and it's been so formational for me as a human being.
		I have had to do a lot of things that are really tough, a lot of things I didn't want to do.
		I've had to die to myself.
		I've become a lot less selfish.
		I still have kinks to work out.
		But my experience as being a father and being a husband has greatly transformed my life.
		And I would like for other men to be able to see that transformation and experience it themselves because I can't imagine my life without all my kids, as many as I have, or especially without my wife.
		And so I think that there's a whole generation of young men who are missing out on pivotal and very important, incredibly life-changing things like being a husband and like being a father.
		And I want as few men to miss out on marriage and family as possible.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		During his confirmation hearing, it was pointed out that Pete Higseth also has seven children.
		He stumbled when he went to go name all his.
		Can you stop them?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Grace Reagan, Bobby Max, Peter, Abby, and Tucker is our youngest.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		He turns one next week.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		There you go.
		Our guest for the next 35 minutes or so is Terry Schilling.
		He is the president of American Principals Project.
		If you have a question or comment for him, you can start calling in now the lines.
		Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		And Independents, 202-748-8002.
		And a reminder, you can also send us a text at 202-748-8003.
		Wanted to go back to what we were discussing and the war on masculinity and show you this headline.
		It was from before the November election in the New York Times.
		Many Gen Z men feel left behind.
		Some see Trump as an answer.
		And this is a quote from the story.
		In interviews with young men planning to vote for Mr. Trump, they described feeling undervalued.
		They said it had become harder to be a man.
		They valued strength in a president, yet they didn't express bitter misogyny or praise the exaggerated displays of brawn embraced by the Trump campaign.
		Their concerns were mostly economic, like whether they could fulfill the traditional masculine roles of supporting a family.
		So talk a little bit about the impact this is having on our society.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Well, you don't need interviews to find this out.
		In fact, there's a lot of data out there that show that young men really feel hopeless.
		The deaths of despair, for example, for young men are through the roof.
		They're the highest levels that we've ever seen before.
		And it's important to note that deaths of despair are drug overdoses, they're suicides.
		But a lot of young men are giving up.
		And if you look at the trends in our country, way more women, a much larger percentage of women are college graduates now than men.
		I think it's around 55 to 45 percent.
		Ideally, that would be a 50-50 number.
		But something's going on in our country where men feel like they can't contribute or that they're not valued.
		And I think that's both cultural.
		And I also think that there are most likely some government programs that aren't recognizing the needs that men need right now and have right now.
		But yeah, men are, their wages are going down compared to women, and they feel like they can't support a family.
		I talk to young men all across the country.
		I've been to 46 of our 50 states, and I've talked to men in all of them, and they feel like they can't support a family, and that's one of the biggest reasons I get when they tell me that they're not getting married or having children, and they'd like to, but they feel like they can't support a family.
		And I think President Trump has made it clear that he wants to help everyone get a job and make more money, and he's not going to demonize.
		It's one thing to be absolutely supportive of people, but it's a whole other thing to demonize people.
		And I think that's what we've been seeing from our broader culture, at least in popular culture and music and Hollywood, and even sometimes in the news media.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Talk a little bit about the actions that President Trump can take to address this issue, not just economically, but socially.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Oh, that's a great question.
		So look, I think that it all starts with getting back to normalcy.
		One of the things that I've heard from young men outside of the economic concerns is the social concerns.
		There are cases all across the country where children are being taken away from their parents because one or both of the parents disagree with giving the child a gender transition.
		There are cases like Jeff Younger in Texas who lost full custody of his children because he didn't want his sons to get a gender transition.
		And so men see these types of things and they think, what's the point of getting married and having kids if they can just be stolen from me over something as controversial as that?
		So I think that we have to get back to basics.
		We have to start empowering people.
		Our government should not be picking winners and losers.
		It should be making sure that everyone in this country has an opportunity and making that clear that everyone here is welcome.
		Even if you're a male in this country, there's nothing wrong with being male.
		And I also think that we should start having our officials like President Trump speaking out against cultural leaders who are trying to demonize young men.
		And to be clear, Tammy, there are very bad male influences in this country.
		And because of all the attacks around toxic masculinity, there are new heroes rising up, like Andrew Tate, who's incredibly problematic.
		He takes advantage of women.
		He's a misogynist.
		But young men don't know where to go.
		And so they're finding these guys who look macho and they look masculine, but they're absolutely not masculine in any way whatsoever.
		Again, real masculinity is all about self-sacrifice.
		It's about serving others.
		It's about loving your family and your wife first and foremost and serving your community.
		So we've got to get back to basics and start just at least first, the first step is to stop demonizing young men.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We will bring our audience into the conversation and start with Edward in Keyport, New Jersey, Lion for Independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Edward.
unidentified		Good morning.
		So I've been two statements and two questions.
		But anyways, I've been watching CPAC since the stages of Nazi ruin, then when they declared that they're all domestic terrorists, and then last year when they said that we're here to end democracy and overthrow the government.
		And my question is, are there any left-wing events that are headlined by the top party people that have such full of hate speech, civil war, and insurrectionism?
		And my last question is, do you have any problem with men that want to identify that they have hair so they need to get surgery and take drugs?
		Or men that want to identify that they can have sex so they have to take Viagra?
		Thank you.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		I'm all about men being men, women being women.
		I think that there's a really problematic thing going on in this country.
		I think it's being, the whole transgender industry is being cast as a political or a civil rights movement.
		But when you really dig down into it, there's a whole industry around it.
		There's a $4.5 billion transgender industry that's making money off of surgeries and hormone treatments.
		And increasingly, more and more, they're making money off of young children.
		I think that we need to start affirming people and their bodies.
		There's nothing wrong with being a male.
		There's nothing wrong with being a female.
		This whole notion of gender identity is incredibly novel.
		And frankly, it's a fight that the Democrats are losing, and they're losing it badly.
		If you look at President Trump and his record in just the first 30 days, just last week he signed an executive order to protect girls' sports.
		And CNN did a segment on this, and they showed that the polling around this was 79% of Americans were supportive of President Trump's agenda to protect girls' sports, and only 19% were opposed to that.
		But that's not the important number.
		The important number is that before the election, before he took office, the support for that issue was 64% to 30%.
		So what that means is that the transgender industry is losing the argument, not with me, not with President Trump.
		They're losing it most importantly with the American people.
		And so if the Democrats want to keep pushing the concept that men can become women through cosmetic surgeries or changing their hormone treatments, by all means, I hope they do because they're going to continue to lose elections.
		But if they like to start getting America back to normalcy and reining in the profits of a very profitable transgender industry, which typically Democrats tend to oppose profits of any type, especially as it comes to energy, I think that they'll probably stop losing so many elections.
		And Donald Trump might not be in the White House now if they hadn't been pushing the transgender issue on children so strongly.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Rod in Ohio, Line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Rod.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Yes, I just have a couple things to say.
		First of all, you said you were 38 years old, correct?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Yes, sir.
unidentified		And you have how many children?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Seven.
unidentified		In my opinion, the world, the major cause of all the problems that we have in the world, is overpopulation.
		Now, I would like you to let me talk, please.
		I would like you to not justify, I can't ask anybody to justify themselves, but give me your explanation of why you think having seven kids and also having a young kid, I think you said it was a year old or something, 38 years old.
		Why do you think that's the right thing to do when overpopulation is killing this earth?
		I mean, everything flows down from overpopulation.
		Resources.
		I mean, it's not a problem.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Rod, we'll get a response from Terry.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much for the question.
		Frankly, I don't think it's any of your business.
		My wife and I, we love each other.
		We love our children.
		We take great care of them.
		They're very happy children.
		We need more children.
		America's population is declining.
		Our birth rates are through the floor.
		Our marriage rates are through the floor.
		You're worried about overpopulation.
		I don't know where you're getting that.
		We are having a depopulation crisis right now.
		And my mom always said growing up: more hands make for light work.
		And if you want to have an easier time in your country, you want a thriving population.
		A sign of a dying nation is a declining population.
		America's getting older right now.
		And I'm actually doing my part and going above and beyond, not for any purpose besides my wife and I love each other.
		We love our children.
		I understand that you have personal objections to me having seven children.
		I wonder if you would have personal objections to a woman having seven abortions.
		I think these are personal issues.
		I don't know which one of my children shouldn't be here right now.
		I love them all.
		They're all human beings.
		But this is exactly the type of anti-family attitudes that have risen up in America over the last few decades.
		It wasn't always like that.
		would never tell someone that they have too many children.
		That's quite a radical statement and quite a rude thing, frankly, to say to someone.
		But we love our children.
		I might have three or four more or go for more after this conversation.
		So thank you very much.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Carolyn in Benson, Ohio, Line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Carolyn.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Wow, Terry.
		I am so sorry about that caller before.
		I am the youngest of seven, and I loved growing up in a big family.
		So, wow.
		This is totally off the topic.
		I tried to get through to Michael yesterday, a podcaster that was at CPAC.
		I saw him at CPAC.
		But anyway, I just wanted this question answered.
		There's a student from University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
		I'm a big proponent.
		Everybody knows I call in about children because I spent so much of my life in the education field.
		And so I'm very concerned about having young people.
		And I'm so happy that you're working to help the system.
		And same with Heath Mayo before, which I tried to get through to him too.
		But anyway, I'll get to my question.
		This young lady had an internship in the transportation department in D.C.
		And she had just moved there to start it and was just told that she didn't have a job.
		And I know the nuclear people are trying to be contacted to come back.
		And I understand the importance.
		I had an uncle that was in that area of work.
		So I would just love, I don't have any personal affiliations with this young lady.
		I just heard it in an interview she gave.
		And I just, that just broke my heart that she can't finish her education.
		The internship is the last thing for her education.
		And maybe this will bring it to light to someone.
		I used to have JD Vance and Sherrod Brown's email, and they're gone.
		Well, I mean, JD Vance is the VP, but it was when he was a senator.
		So anyway, I'm bringing it to light to you.
		It's in your lap, son.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Well, thank you so much.
		And I'm so happy that you're here.
		Being the number seven in a big family, you know exactly what our family is experiencing.
		It's so filled with joy.
		It's so much fun.
		There's so much spontaneous activities and problems that come up.
		It's challenging, right?
		But that's what America's all about.
		You know, JFK said we don't do these things because they are easy, but because they are hard.
		We do hard, nothing worth doing is ever easy.
		And I just think that, you know, Mother Teresa also said, I'm Catholic, which is the reason why we have so many children.
		We're open to life.
		But Mother Teresa once famously quipped that saying that there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers.
		Children make the world much better.
		They bring joy.
		They bring truth.
		They don't have all the filters that we have as adults.
		So I love children.
		I'm so glad that you're here.
		But listen, I think that there's going to be plenty of opportunities for this girl to get other internships.
		There's going to still be jobs here in D.C.
		But right now, what we're identifying is so many various expenditures of waste, fraud, and abuse that have been going on in our federal government.
		And I think it's really important that we get to the bottom of that.
		And yes, there will be some shake-ups here and there.
		There will be people that do lose their jobs.
		But this is something that's part of life.
		And we are human beings.
		We can fight.
		We can survive.
		We can work hard and find new opportunities.
		I'm from the Midwest.
		I'm from the Quad Cities area.
		And that's an area that has been absolutely devastated.
		Our manufacturing base has mostly left.
		We lost the KSIH plant in Galesburg.
		We lost the Maytag plant.
		We've shipped so many jobs overseas to China and to Mexico and to every other country.
		And so the Midwest and the rest of the country have been going through these downsizings and losing their jobs.
		It's been really, really sad and really, really tough.
		But I know many, many people have recovered.
		They've found new jobs.
		And I think that'll be the same case for any federal worker that loses their jobs.
		But we've got to make sure that we're not wasting money.
		We've got to make sure, though, also that we're not spending money that's causing harm to our fellow Americans or to our country.
		And so I'm happy that President Trump's actually in there looking at these expenditures and actually trying to find the waste fraud and abuse.
		There's going to be a lot.
		I think our budget right now is over $6 trillion.
		That's even 1% of that.
		If there's 1% of waste fraud and abuse, that's a lot of money that could be used towards helping Americans with their education or to be able to afford to have more children like I would like to.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Nicoller talking about actions that President Trump has taken since he's been in office.
		Something he's been focused on is deporting undocumented migrants.
		This headline, it's an opinion piece on MSNBC.
		These Trump administration Catholics are at odds with Pope Francis over immigration.
		I want to read you a quote from it and get your opinion.
		It is an opinion piece by Athena Butler.
		She's a professor of religious studies and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
		She says, the Trump administration, which describes itself as faith-based, is in fact setting itself up for an epic religious and social battle with religious groups over deportation.
		Francis, that's Pope Francis, letter is notable because he took time to write specifically to the bishops of the United States about the way deportations have been categorized by the Trump administration.
		The letter is clear about this, stating, the rightly formed consensus cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tactically or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.
		In other words, labeling all deportees as criminals flies in the face of human dignity and is directly opposed to Christian teachings about love and caring for one's neighbor.
		Your reaction to that?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Well, look, Pope Francis has, I hesitate to ever criticize the Pope, but I think it's obvious that his comments throughout the years have caused great confusion.
		And I think the thing that bothers me the most about Pope Francis on this topic specifically is it's actually 100% within Catholic teaching for a nation to control who comes in and who comes out of its country.
		That is absolutely part of the Catholic catechism.
		And what's been happening is because of the confusion that's been sowed that you can't deport illegal immigrants.
		And to be clear, the Trump administration is prioritizing deportations.
		They're starting with violent criminals that absolutely shouldn't be here first and foremost.
		But the immigration problem in America has gotten so bad that we have Venezuelan street gangs taking over entire apartment complexes in Colorado.
		So Pope Francis, I wish he would have spoken up more during the Biden administration.
		I think it's suspicious that he was relatively quiet about Biden's extreme stances on abortion, for example, which is absolutely a much larger problem for America when it comes to the Catholic Church's teachings than deporting illegal immigration or illegal immigrants who never should have come here either in the first place outside of a port of entry.
		There are rules for being an asylee and coming through and seeking asylum.
		You have to go through a port of entry.
		That is our law.
		And so what Pope Francis is encouraging, unfortunately, is lawlessness.
		And this is having a great impact on America.
		American policy should prioritize Americans first and foremost.
		That doesn't mean, however, that we should harm the human dignity of migrants.
		We should protect them.
		We should, if we're doing deportations, we have to make sure that it's humane.
		And there are no signs right now that President Trump is acting in any way whatsoever in an inhumane fashion.
		But, President, it's unfortunate that Pope Francis has sown so much confusion around this issue.
		And I wish that he would be more cooperative with President Trump and actually help turn America around because we've got so many problems.
		And the Catholic Church has so many good teachings that actually promote and uplift the dignity of the human person.
		I wish that he would speak out more forcefully about protecting the unborn and protecting children, both in terms of online adult content, right?
		He's been silent on that here in America.
		We have no national age verification era.
		That's incredibly horrific.
		We have a whole generation of young men who are getting addicted to pornography and that's their first sexual experience.
		It's absolutely terrible.
		But I wish Pope Francis would allow America to abide by the Catholic Church's teachings and set its own immigration policies.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Rich in Massachusetts, Line for Independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Rich.
unidentified		Hello.
		I just heard his thing about the Pope.
		I don't appreciate him badmouthing the Catholic teachings.
		But the real reason I called was because of the bill that the president just passed on transhumanize them.
		They could still be in sports.
		There's so many sports that are so beneficial to children and young youths all in this world.
		They could be playing not competitive type sports.
		They can play individual sports where just competing would be great for them.
		Like they could play golf, they could play tennis, they could play swimming, all sports that aren't competitive and take advantage of, say, let's say their strengths through the operations and all that.
		I can see where, you know, they might be a little bit stronger, but there are so many things that can build character in these people.
		What do you have to say about that?
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		I agree.
		I think that they're human beings.
		I think that they deserve the best possible care and treatment that we can give them.
		But unfortunately, when it comes to sports, in civil rights law, there's a section called Title IX, and it carves out specific rights for women, and it's aimed towards educational opportunities, and that includes athletic opportunities.
		And so unfortunately, what President Trump is doing is he's actually not the one that is banning males from identifying as women and competing in women's athletics.
		What President Trump is actually doing is he's upholding civil rights law.
		And that's not my opinion.
		That is the opinion of legal scholars everywhere.
		That's the basis of his executive order.
		And so if people have a problem with males now not being able to say that they're women or identify as women and then join the women's locker rooms or showers or restrooms or sporting events and competing against women and taking away their trophies, that's absolutely fine.
		What you need to do, though, is you either need to repeal civil rights law or do something even more disastrous, which is to add gender identity as a protected class to civil rights law.
		So this is a nation of laws.
		We've got to go through Congress.
		If transgender identifying individuals want to compete against women, they can do that, but they've got to change the law and they've got to start winning elections, which is a very big problem for them because so many Americans see through all of the, for lack of a better word, the baloney here.
		We all know what's happening here.
		I think that we should treat these people with respect.
		I don't think we should cause any harm or insult them or attack them.
		But unfortunately, they aren't being given the proper care that they need.
		They're being lied to.
		They're being told that gender affirmation means mutilating your body, giving you cross-sex hormones, blocking your natural puberty as a child, causing great harm.
		And I would encourage you to reach out to detransitioners.
		These are people that most of them are children who transitioned as children.
		I actually was just with Chloe Cole, who's probably the most famous detransitioner in the country.
		She received a double mastectomy at the age of 15.
		And before she was 18, she came to regret that double mastectomy.
		And that double mastectomy came after she was put on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
		So listen, I understand that there's a lot of disinformation and misinformation out there.
		I understand that there are people in this country that want to protect the profits of the transgender industry, which right now annually, the profits of the transgender industry, the surgeries and the hormone treatments, is over $4.5 billion a year.
		So I understand that those are very big profits and that people need to protect them and they need to say a lot of untrue and unfair things.
		But unfortunately, my heart breaks for transgender people.
		I agree with you.
		I think that they are human beings deserving of dignity.
		But we've got to give them the proper treatment.
		And I think that the proper treatment is helping these people accept their own bodies, feel comfortable in their own bodies.
		I can't imagine feeling uncomfortable in my own body and having to wake up in that every day.
		But then I also can't be told that if I don't get these affirmation surgeries and mutilate my body, that I'm at risk of suicide.
		There's a lot of misinformation.
		I'd encourage you to start looking up what a detransitioner is.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Jolyn in Crystal Springs, Pennsylvania, line for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Jolyn.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm calling.
		I want to go back a little bit about the young men of today.
		I'm an 80-year-old mother and grandmother.
		I have, since the late 70s, this is when all of this nonsense started with our young men, our boys.
		The school system itself did not want it to, they got to the point where they did not want young boys to be boys.
		They were feeding them on Ritalin in order to make them, they made zombies out of them.
		And so many of those young boys became young addicts as they got older.
		This has been going on for years.
		It's not a new thing, but it has to stop somewhere.
		I have three grandsons that are in their late 20s.
		Two are married, one is not.
		The one that is not doesn't want to marry because he wants to marry.
		He's got a beautiful young woman that is part of his life, but he wants to be able to support her.
		And they are teaching young men that they can't do this.
		And it's not true.
		It's just not true.
		I'd like to hear a response about that, about what's been going on for years about these young men.
		To me, it's abhorrent.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much.
		That's such a great question.
		I completely agree with you.
		And part of my comments at CPAC the other day was about how if you talk to young men right now, they are inundated with advertisements for pornography.
		They're inundated with advertisements for sports gambling.
		They're inundated with marijuana advertising.
		There's never been more young men that are smoking pot, watching porn, and wasting money on sports betting.
		And it's because they're distracted.
		And we have all of these predatory industries that are preying on these young men and they're distracting them from the real things that they value.
		I completely agree with you.
		Think that America is still the land of opportunity, but it's really tough for young men because if you look at the cultural influences out there, they're promoting all these things that will actually not just distract you from the important things, but they'll cause harm to your life.
		America's not a better nation because we have more sports gambling.
		America is not a better nation because we have more access to marijuana.
		And it's not a better nation.
		It's not a stronger nation.
		More importantly, it's not a stronger nation because we have more access to pornography.
		I think the most beautiful thing in the world is that men and women absolutely need each other.
		We're complementary.
		Men can't live in this world without women, and women can't do it without men.
		That's how God designed it.
		And I think it's a very beautiful system.
		So we've got to start affirming.
		I think that we've gotten away from what masculinity is to where all masculinity is defined as toxic.
		I think we've also gotten away to defining what femininity is and the true heart of that.
		But we've got to get back to basics.
		And I don't have all the answers to those definitions or what those things are.
		But I think that if America really wants to get back to greatness, we've got to get rid of these distractions or at least start limiting these distractions that our young men have.
		Drugs are never going to solve your problem, even if it comes from a pharmaceutical company.
		We've got personal issues and we've got to work those out.
		And it starts with changing your heart and your mind.
		And we can all do that.
		My father, for example, he grew up in the 1980s at the start of the crack epidemic.
		And this is actually when crack was completely new.
		People didn't know what it was.
		And he got hooked on crack because a guy told him that it was better than weed.
		I mean, imagine that, knowing what we know today about crack cocaine.
		And in fact, my dad, through his addiction, he and my mother almost got divorced when they were at four children.
		My mom was pregnant with number four and he wasn't getting clean and she actually filed for divorce.
		And that was what made him get clean.
		He had problems because his parents got divorced when he was in high school and it just spiraled out of control.
		But it was that threatening to divorce him where he got clean.
		And what's so beautiful about it is he totally turned his life around.
		He and my mom went on to have six more children.
		I'm the eldest of 10.
		He was a successful pizza restaurant owner.
		And he actually served one term in Congress.
		He got elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave.
		So you can turn your life around.
		You might have to hit rock bottom, but if you really dedicate, and this is, I'm sorry, let me go back to this real quick.
		This is one of the, my own experience with my dad and my own family is absolutely one of the main reasons why I think that the family needs to be much more of a priority in this country because without the family, without having those four children and that wife, I don't think my dad would have ever turned his life around.
		But he wanted to avoid, he wanted to break the cycle that he had found himself in.
		It's absolutely beautiful.
		And he turned his life around so well that people were surprised when I started writing about his crack addiction because his life was so successful.
		It was hard to imagine that Bobby Schilling from Western Illinois had ever, ever done any drugs, let alone crack cocaine.
		So thank you so much.
		That's the beauty of the family.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Joe in Illinois, line four Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Joe.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning.
		I'm 80 years old, and I come from a family of six as well.
		I'm Catholic, but I really don't appreciate your opinions of the Pope or of the Church.
		You know, sir, if you're a Christian, be a Christian.
		Don't be like Donald Trump, an immoral man, sleeps with prostitutes, pays them off.
		You know, you can't tell me that doesn't go on.
		And the atheist that's working with him is just as bad.
		Now, getting back to the trans thing, you have seven children, and if one of those children decided, or, you know, some of this is bred into them.
		When they're born, they're born with certain aspects of what they're going to be.
		Now maybe, I don't know, between what we've got going on with the environment and everything that changes all of these genes and stuff, I have no idea.
j d cash ▲ ● ▼		But if one of your children decided they wanted to become a trans, what would you do?
unidentified		Would you insist that they wouldn't and they would go to the point maybe to suicide?
		Or just what would you do?
		Thank you for taking my call.
		No, listen.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much, Joe.
		I really appreciate that question.
		I appreciate the opportunity to clarify a lot of the misinformation that's out there and circulating.
		First thing I would do if I found out that one of my children was suffering from gender dysphoria is I would make sure that they know just how much I love them and just how much I support them.
		But I would also sit down and I'd ask them, what do you mean that you're trans?
		What do you mean that you're a woman?
		What do you mean that you're a girl?
		And we would talk things through.
		I would get them the proper help and care that they need.
		What I would not do, however, is I would not support double mastectomies for any one of my daughters so that they could try and become a male.
		I would not support blocking their natural puberty.
		I would not support giving them cross-sex hormones, foreign hormones that don't belong in their bodies.
		I don't think there's anything affirming, let alone loving, about doing these types of procedures to our children.
		God made us certain ways, Joe, and you know that as a Catholic, this is actually becoming more of a social trend.
		When I was growing up, when you were growing up, I guarantee that, you know, I think you said you were 80 years old.
		I guarantee that you didn't have any transgender children in your classroom.
		I don't think people even knew what the word transgender meant until relatively recently, within the last 15 to 20 years.
		It was a very small thing, but it's grown because of it becoming an industry.
		So there's four, I've mentioned this number a few times already.
		It's a four and a half billion dollar industry just from the hormones and surgery treatments alone.
		And so what the nature of industries is that they take those profits at four and a half billion and then they reinvest that into what's called public relations campaigns, government lobbying, and activism.
		And what's happening is that's why we even know about this issue is because they want to make money.
		Now here's where it gets very interesting, Joe.
		Right now, it's a four and a half billion dollar industry.
		Now, if you talk to the leaders of the transgender industry, what they will say is this is relatively small because only a small percentage of people that identify as transgender have actually gone through any type of treatments.
		If we are able, this is a direct quote from a woman named Robbie Catherine Anthony.
		And she said that if we are able to transition all 1.3 million Americans who identify as transgender, this won't be a $5 billion industry.
		It'll be over $200 billion.
		And that's larger than the film industry.
		That's not my quote.
		That's her quote.
		And I think it's atrocious.
		They want to make money.
		They're making a lot of money right now.
		And I don't want anyone making money off of the backs of my children.
		But here's the other thing that's very important for everyone to understand.
		And I love that this is a national show.
		The suicide rates and suicidality, the anxiety, the depression, none of that decreases.
		It actually increases after transitioning.
		And we know that.
		We know that because there's a big tell.
		The federal government, through NIH, funded a $9.7 million study to study the lives of transgender children who have undergone these treatments, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, to find out whether or not their lives have been improved.
		But the federal government is holding that study.
		They haven't released it at all.
		And why is that?
		If President Trump was actually causing harm to these people through these executive orders, wouldn't the NIH and these transgender activists like Johanna Olson Kennedy, who conducted this research project, wouldn't they release that to respond to President Trump and expose him as causing harm to this community?
		Unfortunately, what we've seen from Europe in the CAS report from the UK is that these gender transition treatments do nothing to improve the lives of the people that go through them.
		They just make money for the transgender industry.
		And one thing, Joe, I'll point out to you, since you're a Democrat, is that in Europe, they have socialized medicine.
		They don't have profits in their medical system.
		And what we've seen in Europe is the European nations are banning these procedures almost everywhere when it comes to minors.
		And even in some cases, they're banning them for adults because the results are so disastrous.
		And I think that we could learn a lot from Europe and how they're doing their healthcare system here to protect their people, at least from these types of predatory industries.
		So thank you so much, Joe, for the question.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We have time for one last call.
		It'll be from Jean in Dublin, Virginia, Lion for Independence.
		Good morning, Jean.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		I have to say, the woman that called a couple calls ago kind of stole my thunder a little bit.
joe in oregon ▲ ● ▼		I'm 70 years old and my undergraduate's mechanical engineering.
unidentified		So when the local school district asked me if I would be interested in substitute teaching, you know, I'm one of the STEM people.
		They can't get teachers to help teach, you know, the physics and the calculus and the algebra and all that.
		And I have to say, I was totally appalled at the way I saw teachers treating the boys male students.
		I literally would overhear who didn't realize teachers that didn't realize I was in earshot hearing them quote, and this is a quote, giving the little scroats.
		That's how they describe the boys, lower grades than the girls, because that's what they deserve.
		We talk about the last few years about boys tanking in the last 10, 15 years.
		Well, I can tell you, they don't even get to the starting block.
		And in fact, if you, I know people say, well, I'm just, this is not internet legend.
		There is an MIT study that goes all through this and what's been happening in our school system.
		In fact, I came away from a year and a half of substitute teaching being very much in favor of gender separate education the way I grew up in Philadelphia, the way the public school, the parochial school system did it in Philadelphia, where you had boys side and girls side in some classes that were, you know, both genders were in it.
		It's just appalling what I'm seeing, the boys.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Gene, we're running short on time, so we'll get a response from Terry.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much for that question.
		I have actually started to delve into some of these new studies about the benefits of sex segregated education.
		And it's very, very interesting to me.
		I haven't made up my mind about it, but there are schools here locally that do girls-only education and boys-only education.
		And that's one thing that they point out and brag about is that the girls who are in an all-girls school, they learn a lot better.
		There are no distractions from all those rowdy boys.
		And the boys learn a lot better in their environment.
		There's a school here locally called The Heights, and they learn a lot better in their environment because they're free to play.
		They're free to be ringbunctious and rowdy.
		So I think there might be some merit there.
		I still need to do more research.
		But yeah, look, I think that men being men is wonderful.
		And there's not just one way to be a man.
		There's infinite ways to be men.
		But there's nothing wrong with being a man.
		There's nothing wrong with being a woman.
		It's a beautiful thing, and we both need each other.
		We're both complimentary.
		It's a beautiful thing, and it's a beautiful way that God works.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Our guest, Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project.
		You can find them online at AmericanPrinciplesProject.org.
		Terry, thank you so much for being with us today.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		Thanks for having me, Tammy.
terry schilling ▲ ● ▼		I really love coming on.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We are wrapping up today's show with more of Open Forum.
		You can start calling in now.
		The Lions Republicans 202-748-8001.
		Democrats 202-748-8000 and Independents 202-748-8002.
		We'll be right back.
brian lamb ▲ ● ▼		100 years ago this past August was the beginning of what's often been called the Great War.
		World War I had military casualties of over 9 million and millions more of civilians.
		Professor Sean McMeekin of Bard College, located in New York State, has written nine books since 2003 on subjects that include German history, Russian history, the Ottoman Empire, communism, World War II, and one titled July 1914.
		This last book will be the focus of our conversation with Professor McMeekin.
		World War I was triggered in late June of 1914 by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
		They were gunned down by a Serbian 19-year-old by the name of Gavrulo Prince.
unidentified		Author Sean McMeekin talks about his book, July 1914, Countdown to War, on this episode of BookNotes Plus with our host, Brian Lamb.
		BookNotes Plus is available on the C-SPAN Now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts.
		Sunday on C-SPAN's Q&A, former mafia associate Luis Ferrante shares his book Borgata, Clash of Titans, Volume 2 of his History of the American Mafia from 1960 to 1985.
		In part two of this interview, he explores further details of what he says was the mafia's involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy and discusses Robert Kennedy's battle with mobster Carlos Marcelo, boss of the New Orleans mafia from the late 1940s to the early 1980s.
		You know, a major reason why Marcelo feels that he has an arch enemy that will stop at nothing.
		And if you believe in Omerta and you're a mafia dawn who has lived his life with the idea that I will stop at nothing to get where I need to go, and now I'm faced with someone else who stopped at nothing to destroy me, it's life and death.
		And that's when I think Marcelo made the decision.
		It's going to be me or the Kennedys.
		Louis Ferrante with his book, Borgata, Clash of Titans, Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's Q ⁇ A. You can listen to Q&A and all our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app.
		Washington Journal continues.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We are in open forum up until 10 o'clock.
		We will start with Joan in New Mexico, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Joan.
unidentified		Good morning.
		And I just feel so fortunate to have got through.
		I just want to make one comment.
		Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible person.
		I've just been listening to some news and I've heard it for the past couple days, the cuts he's making to the national parks.
		This is just awful.
		The repercussions this has through people's lives, their dreams, and the future of our nation as a beautiful place full of cherished and cared-for areas.
		We have to remember something about Donald Trump.
		He's a narcissist.
		He has a psychological condition.
		And narcissists like to hurt people.
		And that's all he is doing.
		What he's doing is Ukraine is a sin and a lie.
		We made a promise to them, and we believe in democracy.
		I studied Vaslav Havel years ago, and Pavel made a wonderful statement.
		And that statement was: democracy is like a horizon.
		The closer you get to it, the farther it gets away.
		And perhaps as a nation, we have got as close as we can to understanding what democracy is.
		But we have to really understand what Donald Trump is doing to our world right now.
		Thank you for taking my call.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Joan in New Mexico.
		We'll go to Kelly in St. Peter's, Missouri, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Kelly.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you.
		I am actually calling as a grandmother.
		I'm a veteran.
		I am the mother of a veteran.
		And I have watched the schools deteriorate.
		I have four granddaughters.
		And I was informed by my now teenage granddaughter when she was 11 that, Grandma, I'm gay.
		And I didn't say anything, but I looked at her and I said, why?
		How do you say that?
		And she said, well, grandma, I'm late.
		And she said, in schools, you have to know, you know, if you're gay or straight by the time you're 11, and I just now figured it out.
		She's now 14, doing amazing, and the sexuality doesn't come into it.
		She now has a boyfriend.
		It's just appalling to me that these kids are not going to school and learning.
		And I appreciate your time.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Kelly.
		We'll go to Gary in Connorville, Indiana, line for independence.
		Good morning, Gary.
unidentified		A couple quick points I'd like to make.
		First of all, I know our government is at what, 8% approval rating right now.
		And they, okay, you collect taxes from us, and you can't do a better job than this.
		And I'm mainly referring to, I'm not referring to the Trump administration so much because they're just getting started.
		But let me give you an example.
		Yesterday at Kroger, okay, I was looking, I looked, I went to the egg section, six pack of large eggs were $4.29, and that was the Kroger brand.
		And a year ago, it was like $1.30 or $1.49.
		What are we coming to?
		This is why Trump got elected.
		That was my first thought when I seen that.
		And I didn't vote for him.
		And the second thing I'd like to say is thank God for an outstanding individual like Terry Schilling.
		But he made a couple of really good points.
		One about the pornographic influences and the drug influences.
		So real quick here, I just want to say, number one, as far as the pornographic influences, people, don't let that encourage you to go out and get into sexual misconduct, man.
		They're not trying to make a pimp out of you.
		That's just about them making money.
		They don't care what kind of person you turn out to be.
		And secondly, as far as the drug thing goes, nobody's life ever, ever got better from drugs.
		It always gets worse.
		It always will get worse.
		You look at Elton John.
		You ask Elton John, he'll tell you, I got into drugs because I want to be part of the guys, and I regret it.
		So there are just some things to think about for today.
		Peace out, America.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Gary in Indiana.
		Wanted to show you this headline.
		It's on the front page of today's Washington Post.
		The headline is Joint Chiefs Chair, Other Leaders Fired in Pentagon Purge.
		Says the Trump administration abruptly dismissed the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs and other senior officers on Friday night as the Pentagon moves to bring the military leadership in line with its America First agenda.
		In a post on social media, President Donald Trump said he would replace Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr. and would take the unusual steps of tapping a lesser-known retired three-star officer, Lieutenant General Dan Raising Kane as the next chairman.
		Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a statement distributed shortly after Trump's post, said he would dismiss five other senior officers, including Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as chief of naval operations, and General James Steife as top Air Force officer.
		Back to your calls, let's hear from Kelly in Pennsylvania, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Kelly.
unidentified		Hi, Green.
		I was hoping to talk to the gentleman that was on your show here a little bit ago.
		I was wondering if he was talking about, like with these kids, if he's talking about they want to see more, you know, more babies and they want to see male and female together and all that, which I understand.
		But is he talking about all people or just white people?
		Because I know this white, this Christian white nationalism, which seems to be taking over, it's all about white.
		And it just seems like black people and these LG GTQ people and handicapped people, they don't really matter.
		It's just all like white.
		So that was my question to him.
		Was this pertaining to all Americans or just white people?
		Because there are lots of babies born.
		A lot of people are actually afraid to even get pregnant, you know, for fear of being charged with murder in case they have to have an abortion for a medical reason or whatever.
		I have neighbors that are in their 30s, and the female had her tooth tied because, number one, this world is crazy right now, and there's so much hate, which is just terrible.
		And I just don't, it's just so hard to even understand, you know, what is going on.
		Donald Trump comes on TV and says your son goes to school as Tom and comes home as Pilly.
		That they're, you know, they're getting sex changes in school.
		Number one, I thought that you had to be 18 years old to actually have a sex change, which, you know, I mean, that's up to each individual person.
		You know, that I think the Republican Party has embellished so much on this.
		They have people convinced, like, almost everybody that's a transgender or transvestate or whatever.
		There's so many kids in this world.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Got your point, Kelly.
		We'll go to Charles in Pennsylvania, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Charles.
unidentified		Morning.
		I just wonder what's going to be done with manufacturing.
		President Trump wants to keep jobs in America, right?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, Charles.
unidentified		President Trump wants to keep jobs in America, right?
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Charles, go ahead and make your statement.
unidentified		He wants to keep jobs in America, President Trump does.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We'll go to Ryan in Massachusetts, line for independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Ryan.
unidentified		Hi, I didn't get to call in on your last speaker.
		I thought he made a lot of valid points.
		We can define gender on three roles.
		Number one, people who are mentally delusional.
		Our society should not be pandering to these mental delusionary people, and they should define anybody that gives a surgery to kids like that as a form of child abuse.
		Secondly, to respond to your other caller, President Trump has been doing an excellent job calling out government waste, and he's doing exactly what I, as an independent, voted for.
		Thank God for President Trump.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		There were two of President Trump's cabinet picks who were confirmed this week.
		One of them, Howard Letnick, he was sworn in at the White House earlier this week, as was Kash Patel, the new director of the FBI.
		It was yesterday after Kash Patel was confirmed and shortly before he was sworn in that President Trump responded to his confirmation.
david spunt ▲ ● ▼		If I could, sir, just ask you about Kash Patel, who's going to be sworn in as soon as your FBI director.
david spunt ▲ ● ▼		Talk to us about your reaction to him getting sworn in and the fact that many agents across the country are concerned that they will be fired en masse for simply just doing their jobs.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		No, I think the agents are very happy about Cash.
		In fact, the agents led the charge for Cash.
		One of the reasons I loved Cash and wanted to put him in is because of the respect the agents had for him.
		I think he's going to be, I think he'll go down as the best ever at that position.
		And it turned out he was very easy to get approved.
		You know, I was not sure.
		He's a tough guy, strong guy.
		He has his opinions, and I wasn't sure.
		He turned out to be very, he went very smoothly.
		I don't know if he's in the room now.
		He's going to be in the room very shortly.
		Where is he else?
		I'm saying the right thing.
		I better be careful.
		I will say this about Cash, and Howard understands this.
		One of the reasons that I wanted him is because the agents love this guy and they respect this guy.
		And this is what they wanted.
		And even somebody like Trey Gowdy, who's a very good guy, but known as somewhat of a moderate person, he came out and he came out with a statement that was so incredible.
		He said, Cash is an incredible person.
		People don't realize it.
		When he said that, there was no doubt left.
		It was really a big statement made by somebody that's respected and on the moderate side.
		And I will tell you, I think Cash is going to go down as maybe the best ever when it's all said and done.
		So I'm glad he's willing to do it.
		Thank you, Cash.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		This headline in the Washington Post today, FBI managers are told that 1,500 staff agents will be transferred out of D.C.
		The article says the information came hours before Kash Patel, the Bureau's newly confirmed director, took his oath of office.
		In a message, Patel sent out to all of the FBI's more than 30,000 employees Friday morning.
		He hinted that such staffing changes could be coming.
		The more specific plan to relocate hundreds of staff and agents was outlined to top managers in a separate meeting after Patel's message went out.
		Roughly 1,000 agents and administrative employees would be relocated from the J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington to field offices within cities that the Trump administration has designated as higher crime locations, said the people who were told about the meeting.
		An additional 500 would be reassigned to the Bureau's large satellite headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama.
		Just about 10 or 12 minutes left in today's program.
		We'll hear from Clarence in Bloomington, Illinois, Line for Democrats.
		Hi, Clarence.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I just want to let people know what the Doge people are doing.
		They're stealing the money.
		Everything that's been going on has been done in a movie.
		Does, first of all, Elon Musk, he is an Asperger person.
		Anybody in mental health know what Asperger is?
		It's an extreme form of autism, but they're highly functional and intelligent, but they have no social empathetic skills.
		So the Doge team, most likely all of them have some type of Asperger mental illness.
		And as far as your other person, the chilling, he's a transgender.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's go to Scott in Illinois, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Scott.
		Scott, are you there?
unidentified		Oh, hello.
		Yes.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I've been trying to get on for four months, and I finally get to speak just a little bit here.
		Ladies and gentlemen of the United States, we all remember, except for the young children, I've got great grandbabies, 9-11.
		This country was so together for six months.
		I mean, the patriotism, the love we had, we didn't care who the president.
		It just protect this country.
		Well, in the last 15 years, I'm a Vietnam veteran.
		I got buddies on the wall.
		And, you know, you got to respect all this military guys.
		And everybody is complaining about Trump.
		Just let him do his work.
		And let's just see what happens.
		He's going to be out in four.
		Everybody knows it.
		You know, they're not going to, every day they're going to tell us that.
		And it's not Elon.
		He's just telling Trump.
		Trump has the final say.
		And Trump is on the worldwide.
		He's talking to Putin.
		He's just getting it set up for Zelinsky and everybody.
		You got to understand.
		I've sat in board meetings.
		It's not one man.
		It's everybody man and woman at the table.
		We all put our two cents in.
		But the boss decides which way we go.
		So please pray for America.
		And whatever happened to that saying, America, love it or leave it.
		If you don't like it here, we don't stop you.
		We'll probably give you a plane load.
		You can take a flight to Venezuela, Columbia.
		Just go.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Scott in Illinois.
		We have just under 10 minutes left in today's program.
		At 10 o'clock, we'll be taking you to day three of CPAC today.
		It continues today with remarks from Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, UN Ambassador nominee Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and others.
		You'll be able to watch that live again at 10 a.m. Eastern right here on C-SPAN as well as our C-SPAN now free mobile app and online at c-span.org.
		Let's hear from Mike in Salinas, California, line for independence.
		Good morning, Mike.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I've been a licensed CPA for more than 40 years.
		And right now, there is something, a deadline coming down of March 21 that is the most egregious, overreaching act I've ever heard of.
		And I was speaking to a client last night, a 70-year-old, 70-year-old grandmother who inherited an empty lot that was held by a family-limited partnership.
		And explained to her that if she did not register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinFEN, by March 31, she could be facing two years in federal prison and a fine of $561 a day, a penalty.
		And when she asked me, well, what's the purpose of this?
		And I said, money laundering and terrorist financing.
		It only applies to 30 million small businesses, not large businesses, but businesses with 20 or fewer employees, less than 5 million in sales.
		And large businesses are not subject to this.
		So I'm wondering, why has there been no network, no politician, nobody's taken a position on it?
		And we're looking at Elon Musk.
		How many federal workers are going to be hired to be putting grandmothers in federal prison?
		And I don't understand it.
		And I would like one politician, one elected person, maybe a Donald Trump or an unelected person like Elon Musk, to explain, one, to make the statement, I understand this law, and two, I agree with it, and three, it's the right thing to do.
		And it would be very easy for C-SPAN before that deadline to bring someone on from the National Federation of Independent Businesses because they seem to be the only ones speaking out about this.
		And the deadline and the law has changed five times.
		It's been in different courts.
		And NFIB is fighting for it.
		But it's rather shocking when you're explaining to a 70-year-old grandmother that she may be facing federal prison time for not registering with a financial crimes enforcement network.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Renee in Niceville, Florida, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Renee.
unidentified		Good morning.
		First, thank you for C-SPAN.
		We really appreciate it.
		And I have two things.
		The first one is my top news this week was Governor Pritzker's speech where he said that Germany lost its democracy.
		It only took one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to lose their democracy to Hitler.
		And the second thing is the media, how the Fox News people are always talking about the mainstream media where they're the number one media company in the country, but they're not a news agency.
		Their LLC is not under a news agency.
		It's under an entertainment LLC.
		And that is why I assume Obama wouldn't let them in is because they weren't a legit news agency.
		So I guess that's my points for this month.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Renee in Florida.
		Let's hear from Tony in Iowa City, Iowa, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Tony.
unidentified		Thanks.
		Good morning.
		First, I just wanted to put the people at ease that heard.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Tony, are you there?
		Tony, we lost you.
		Give us the call back.
		We'll go to Andrew in New Orleans on Line for Independence.
		Good morning, Andrew.
unidentified		Hi.
		Good morning.
		Yeah, thank you for having me on.
		Longtime listener and called in a few times.
		I had a few comments on some of what your guests had to say this morning, which I agreed with a fair amount of it.
		I think some of it could have been seen as a little too precautionary for some of the addictions that young men are going through, like marijuana and porn, et cetera.
		I personally, since February 9th, have been taking a break, a sobriety break for a month.
		No marijuana, no alcohol, quit cigarettes, no porn, no sex.
		Just a refresh, a restart.
		And I think none of these things are bad inherently.
		It's hard to say anything's really bad inherently.
		It's just if you abuse what you have and you don't realize that what you can take advantage of is special.
		And so I want to say to all those people out there: you know, it's okay to watch porn.
		It's okay to smoke weed.
		It's okay to drink.
		It's okay to do all these things, but don't let them take your life over.
		You have control over them.
		And then my second point or comment is: I would love to see C-SPAN have Camille Pollia back on.
		I was just watching an old C-SPAN TV book interview with her from the 90s whenever she had sexual persona come out.
		And yeah, I haven't heard much from her in the media lately.
		I know she did an interview with Jordan Peterson a couple of years ago, and that was great.
		But I would love to see her on C-SPAN again.
		And thank you.
		Everyone has a good day.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		This is Andrew in Louisiana.
		Let's hear from Tina in North Carolina, Line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Tina.
unidentified		Hey, good morning.
		What I want to say, everybody knows that Trump has a mental encompassing.
		He's not running the country.
		He's letting his so-called people that don't know what they do run the country.
		And one more thing I want to say: leave President Biden alone.
		If Trump can release all them thugs he just released from jail, President Biden had the right to help his son.
		That's his child.
		And if you American people were thinking, y'all not even helping your own children, look what's going on.
		You forget that your kids and their kids is going to have this problem that's being created right now.
		It needs to stop.
		Somebody needs to step up and put their feet down and stop it because this is unnecessary and it's unhuman.
		They're more scared of than Trump than they are of God.
		And you know something wrong with that picture.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That's Tina in North Carolina.
		Steve in Cincinnati, Ohio, Line for Independence.
		Good morning, Steve.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I agree with that gentleman who suggested that C-SPAN have Camille Paglia come on.
		She wrote a book called Free Men and Free Women, where he suggests that women have to stop blaming men for a lot of their problems, and women have lost a lot of their sense of femininity and community.
		That's all I have to say.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Elizabeth in Michigan, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Elizabeth.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		I just wanted to say that Trump is a sick man.
		And these people that are supporting him, when he gets sick of them, he'll cut them off at the legs, too.
		He's a sick man, and he's destroying the United States within.
		He's done a lot of destruction in the last days that he's been in there this time.
		And he's a sick man.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Let's go to George in Kentucky, Lion for Republicans.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, George.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning.
		I'd just like to say I feel the whole thing's gotten out of hand.
		The internet was more than what we could handle.
		And until we grow up, maybe we should just shut the whole thing down.
		Thank you.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Mark in Honolulu, Hawaii, Lion for Independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Mark.
unidentified		Yes, really appreciate your guest this morning.
		I see it's really wonderful.
		This issue that we're going through now of sexual identification amongst the population in the United States and the world may have something to do with the fact that we're consuming so many chemicals, commonly called hormone disruptors, endocrine disruptors.
		And it's well known that sperm counts of fertility in not just the United States and Europe and Japan and other parts of the world is declining largely because these chemicals and impacts upon us.
		I think you go a little bit deeper than just being concerned about children and their sexuality.
		We looked at what's going on with the side of our own chemical makeup inside of our own brains.
		It's well known, even through like a Harvard study, that we each consume around their credit cards worth of plastic every week containing toxic chemicals.
		These things impact the way we think, we breathe, we act.
		I think we're basically drowning our own chemicals in this world.
		That's the problem we're now facing.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Mark in Hawaii.
		We'll go to Ann in Tennessee, line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Ann.
unidentified		I've got a complaint to make about Trump.
		He's siding with Russia about the war in the Ukraine.
		The Ukraine is an ally of the United States, and Russia and Putin, they're enemies of the whole world, and they're enemies of these independent countries that want to have a democracy such as the Ukraine.
		He could stop siding with Russia and support the Ukraine because Russia destroys the Ukraine.
		He'll go further into Europe and try to destroy the European allies that we have in Europe.
		England and France, they all supported us when we went to war in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
		Even Chris Harry served in the military from England when we were in war with Iraq and Afghanistan.
		And so Trump needs to get off of that soapbox of that supporting and praising Putin.
		All the time it was praising Putin the whole time.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Got your point, Ann.
		We'll go to James in Akron, Ohio, line for Democrats.
		Good morning, James.
unidentified		You know, that wasn't what I called about.
		I agree with that woman about Putin with the things that he's doing.
		Putin's whole thing is, not Putin, excuse me.
		Trump's whole thing, if you look at everything that he says and everything that he does, it affects black people worse than anybody else in the country.
		Every move that he's made has affected black people and women.
		So that's sad.
		But what I was calling about was the guy that was on before earlier from the CPAC people.
		You know, the problem that we're having with the kids in the country, it goes back to a thing that's almost in every school system in the country, if not all of them, I believe all of them, is that they have a no-tolerance rule.
		I'm 77 years old.
		When I was in school, kids got in fights, went down to the office of principal, somebody got suspended, maybe nobody.
		And they talked to him and find out what were you guys, what was the beef?
		What were you guys arguing about?
		What was the fight about?
		And they try and solve that problem.
		Today they don't solve it.
		They have a no-tolerance situation.
		They take both kids and put them out of school.
		If your kid comes up to my kid and slaps the heck out of that kid, they suspend them both.
		My kid was doing nothing but sitting there.
		They suspend them both.
		They don't know what the problem is.
		They don't know why it happened.
		The person that commits the crime, it used to be was punished.
		They've taken all the things out of school that we had wood shop for men, metal shop.
		We had all those things in there, and it taught the men how to be boys how to be men.
		And we had things in schools about job fairs and stuff like that, so that you knew you had to work to get to where you had to go.
		Today, all of those things have been taken out of school, and it's purposely taken out.
		And they teach nobody nothing whatsoever about civics.
		These kids don't have a clue about the branches of government and how laws are made.
		They don't have a clue.
		And that's our problem.
		That's why Trump is president right now, because too many people voted for him looking for something that he can't provide.
		And if they had courses in civics, they never would have voted for someone like Trump.
		And there's no, he's an embarrassment to men in America.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		We will go to Edie in New York, line for independence.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Edie.
unidentified		Hi, how are you?
		I think Trump broke the Democratic Party.
		They're falling apart.
		What is their ranking now?
		22% of the country support them.
		They're falling apart and they're pathetic.
		So they can cry all they want, but it's not going to make a difference.
		Trump's your daddy.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was 80 in New York, and our last caller today, Carolyn, in Tennessee, line for Democrats.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Carolyn.
unidentified		Good morning.
		President Trump has come up with this thing, making America great again.
		Well, when has America ever been great?
		I mean, oppressing certain people.
		Here he comes now with his DEI, whatever that is, and all this old woke stuff.
		I mean, this stuff has been going on for a long, long time.
		So what is he talking about making America great again?
		I mean, it's never been great.
		America has never been great.
		When you oppress people, that's not a great country.
		And I agree with the lady that said he has a mental problem.
		He has a very extremely bad mental problem.
		The man is sick.
		He's a sick man.
tammy thueringer ▲ ● ▼		That was Carolyn in Tennessee in our last call for today's Washington Journal.
		We'll be back tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern, 4 a.m. Pacific with another edition.
		But right now, we take you live to CPAC.
		It is already underway.
		And day three, we'll take you there now.
unidentified		Reclaiming our culture for truth, family, freedom, and the Constitution.
marjorie taylor greene ▲ ● ▼		I think Moms for America is exactly on track and is doing the right thing for the future of our country and our children.
unidentified		Like, Moms for America is going at the heart of the issue.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼		I want to go on the record and say, I'm for moms, I'm for America, and I'm especially for Moms for America.
unidentified		But I am honored to join Moms for America today as we speak out against the horrific mandates.
		With a national network of over a half a million mothers, Moms for America is one of the fastest-growing movements of women in the country.
		The most dangerous place in all of nature is between a mama bear and her baby cup.
		We are the change.
		No matter what, no matter where, and no matter how difficult the obstacles are that are facing us and our families, we will not give up and we will not give in.
		So if not now, then when.
		If not you, then who?
		You came to Washington for one of two reasons.
		Some of you came here for position, for power and fame.
		You came for you.
		But a few came to change this town.
		We came to be sandpaper to a culture that despises truth.
		Are you one of the few willing to stand in the gap for our nation?
		If so, come join us as we make America's national model, our personal declaration.
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