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July 6, 2025 10:01-13:07 - CSPAN

03:05:48

Washington This Week

Participants

Main

cal thomas

24:08

kimberly adams

cspan 32:08

Appearances

brian lamb

cspan 00:41

greg abbot

00:41

karoline leavitt

admin 00:42

rosie rios

01:06

Clips

bill christison

00:04

donald j trump

admin 00:07

dr james thorp

00:15

leonard nimoy

00:04

tej gill

00:19

Callers

ben in tampa

callers 00:11

donna in texas

callers 00:16

douglas in unknown

callers 00:06

gene in georgia

callers 00:13

jt in texas

callers 00:05

kevin in ohio

callers 00:14

mike in alaska

callers 00:36

victoria in montana

callers 00:09

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Speaker	Time	Text
unidentified		C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country.
		Coming up Monday morning, we'll talk with the Pew Research Center's Hannah Harding about a new survey showing the political dynamics that led to President Trump's electoral victory in 2024.
		Then, Brett Samuels, White House reporter for The Hill, brings us the White House news of the day and previews the week ahead.
		And Roger Zakheim, director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, discusses his organization's public opinion poll on foreign policy and national security issues.
		C-SPAN's Washington Journal.
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		Former President Bill Clinton talks with his co-author James Patterson about their latest novel, The First Gentleman, a White House mystery that leads to the first gentleman facing trial for murder.
		And then, author interviews from this year's Freedom Fest.
		First, Freedom Fest founder and author Mark Skousen shares his book, The Greatest American, about the life and ideas of Benjamin Franklin.
		He's followed by Pacific Research Institute Vice President Tim Anaya with his book, The California Left Coast Survivor's Guide, where he and his co-author criticize the Democratic Party's governing of the state.
		Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow examines the life and writing career of Samuel Langhorn Clemens, better known as author Mark Twain.
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kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning.
		It's Sunday, July 6, 2025.
		President Trump and the GOP spent the first part of the weekend celebrating the passage of their signature tax and spending legislation, but are now getting renewed pushback over the new law from the world's richest person.
		Elon Musk is using his platform X to lambast the deficit spending the new law will require, and he's announced that he plans to launch a new political party to, quote, give you back your freedom.
		This morning, we want to hear your thoughts on Elon Musk's claim he will launch the America Party.
		Our phone lines for Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		For Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		And for Independents, that number is 202-748-8002.
		If you'd like to text us, that number is 202-748-8003.
		Please be sure to include your name and where you're writing in from.
		We're also on social media at facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ.
		Now, news of Elon Musk making this announcement has been picked up in quite a few places, including here this article at foxnews.com.
		Elon Musk launches America Party after Trump signs historic spending bill, Waste and Graft.
		The tech moguls' new political movement comes one day after Trump signed the $3.3 trillion Big Beautiful bill into law.
		Elon Musk says the two-party system is broken and he just launched a new political party to prove it.
		On Saturday, Musk announced on X, the social media platform he owns, the formation of the America Party, calling it a direct response to what he described as a corrupt political establishment that no longer represents the American people.
		And he ran a poll on his website on X to see how people would receive a potential new political party and then found that over 1.2 million votes were cast, with 65.4% saying yes.
		And then he posted on Saturday: by a factor of two to one, you want a new political party and you shall have it, Musk posted Saturday.
		When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
		Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.
		Now, this is our question for the hour.
		What do you think of Elon Musk launching his America Party?
		But we are also following the tragic news out of Texas about the floods there and the ongoing search and rescue efforts in the hill country of Texas.
		This is on the front page of the Washington Post and other newspapers this morning.
		Fatal flooding leaves Texas in anguish.
		Dozens are dead.
		Many more feared.
		Rescuers save hundreds.
		27 girls are among the missing.
		A nightmarish search and rescue operation continued Saturday as authorities frantically fanned out along the rolling Guadalupe River looking for survivors of the fierce flooding that has killed at least 43 people, 15 of them children.
		Later on this hour, we'll have an update from Texas with the latest on that news.
		But to our question of the hour about Elon Musk launching his America Party, let's go to Betty in Georgia on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Betty.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I don't know because you know Elon Musk started this stuff with Trump.
		And now he's backsliding on something else.
		So I don't know whether I trust him no more than I did Trump because this world, the United States, it's done got in bad condition.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And what would you want from an additional party if indeed this, what would you want from a party like an America Party, as Musk suggests?
unidentified		Okay, well, I think, well, now on that, I think that would be a good idea.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And what would you want differently from a party like that compared to the Democrats and Republicans?
unidentified		I would like for them to be like it was before, more Democratic and not like we over there like prudent.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Let's hear from Herbert in Romulus, Michigan on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Herbert.
unidentified		Hi, good morning.
		Listen, as far as a third party, I think it's probably a good idea.
		Elon Musk, no, I don't trust him at all.
		I think what all these people that are supporting Donald Trump, honestly, I think they're going to be really surprised.
		This man is going to bankrupt this country.
		And then working class people and retired people are going to pay the price because they're going to lose everything they own.
		Rich people are never going to lose anything.
		They're going to gobble it all up.
		So I think people thought following this man, and he's done nothing for the working class.
		Everybody complained about Biden, high prices.
		Prices are even higher now.
		It's ridiculous.
		I mean, this man's doing nothing for the working class.
		So I just think, you know, they're going to be a lot of sorry people.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Arthur is in Florida on our line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Arthur.
unidentified		Yes, ma'am.
		Yes, it is a real regret that splitting off into the political parties that is a regret, but in all repeats would have a clear choice that just maybe it might be time to consider not only there being third parties, but them having time on TV to tell what they stand for.
		Then the people can decide one way or another.
		I'll give you time.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, Arthur, what would you want differently from a new political party?
unidentified		America first.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Do you feel like you don't get that with the Republican Party?
unidentified		I won't believe that, yes.
		I'm just saying that we need to realize that we need to protect America and not always be the world's referees, the world's policemen.
		Take care of America first.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Louis is in Highland Park, Illinois, on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Louie.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'd like to say this to Mr. Musk, if he's listening to the show.
		Every American has one thing in common.
		We're all getting older.
		When you get older, you get more injuries because you're spending more time on earth and you get more diseases.
		It's just part of the aging process.
		In your party, Mr. Musk, please add a provision for health care for every person in America.
		Health care is extremely expensive, and it's necessary.
		That's what I'd like to say.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Let's hear from Timothy in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Timothy.
unidentified		Morning.
unidentified		How are you?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Fine, thank you.
unidentified		So I'm going to make two statements.
		And the first one's going to be sarcastic.
		People, I'm 73.
		People ask me, why have you never voted?
		And this is my answer.
		I got in line to vote once, and the guy behind me asked me, who are you voting for?
		And I said, George Washington.
		And he said to me, George Washington, he's dead.
		And I said, are you kidding me?
		I got out of line.
		So that's a sarcastic statement when I say I never voted.
		Here's how Americans vote.
		They vote to keep the other guy out.
		And then when the guy gets in that they voted, they're really sorry they voted for the guy.
		So that's why you need a third party.
		And number two, I've been in business 50 years.
		You don't put a tariff on everything.
		You put a tariff on the industries that you're trying to protect.
		So I've been in the garment business 50 years.
		If you want to put a tariff on sweaters, you put a tariff on sweaters.
		You don't put a tariff on people that mortgage their home and they go into business and then they get whacked and they have to sell their house.
		That's uneducated and it's a stupid thing to do.
		So yes, we definitely need a third party.
		I've been talking about a third party for literally 25 years.
		I have a huge business in Ukraine and they have 12 political parties, 12.
		And if you know other countries, a lot of countries have more than two parties.
		These two parties are finished.
		You need a third party.
		The problem is to have a third party and you have to have a billionaire backing you up for a third party.
		But how are you going to get ignorant Americans to vote for a third party?
		You got to give the guy a chance because the two-party things is just nobody's voting like a Democrat.
		They're just voting to keep the other guy out.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		The Washington Post lays out some of those concerns that you raised about the challenges of third parties, saying six of the biggest challenges facing Musk's new political parties, new political party.
		Among those challenges, institutional barriers and ballot rules.
		The United States winner-take-all electoral system is not welcoming to third parties.
		You have to win outright in order to get anything.
		So it's not like in other democracies where you start a small party and you get, you know, 20 to 30% of the vote, and then you can get some share of the seats in the legislature and build from that.
		Beyond the winner-take-all system, if Musk wants to buoy federal candidates in different states or eventually establish a third-party presidential candidate, his new organization will have to comply with varying requirements for getting on ballots.
		Other issues that could pose challenges include historical headwinds and recent challenges going on, the scope and strategy, as well as other issues like divisions among his potential audience and garnering political allies.
		Kelvin is in Joppa, Maryland, on our line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Kelvin.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		What I would like to see in America Party would be a structure similar to what you have in recovery, where the people and the groups, the city councilors, the counties, and things like that throughout the state sits on top.
		Then you have the districts and then the different states, and then all these corporations and also financial entities would be at the bottom.
		So it would be an upside-down triangle.
		That in itself has worked for over 90 years in recovery.
		So that type of structure, if the United States went to it, you would see a total change in theology and thinking and attitude and behavior.
		Those are my thoughts.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
		Next up is Roland in Detroit, Michigan on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Roland.
unidentified		Brian rising to you.
		What are we doing?
		A third party to continue the racist imperialist madness that's impacting Haitians and Mexicans and other people who are considered people of color, black people.
		What this country needs is a complete reset.
		Talk about getting rid of the swamp.
		All of these institutions and parties and policies need to be reset.
		America, you are not a lily white country.
		You really never have been.
		So trying to push this narrative that, oh, we're going to get rid of people in the Sudan and from this country and Venezuela and all of this is complete madness.
		They need to get off of that tip and face reality.
		Some people say, I need to face reality.
		But I think the real deal here is that this place is a melting pot for people from around the world and it will continue to be.
		And Elon Musk has nerve to talk about a third party, an abject racist.
		Uh-uh.
		Give me a break.
		America, let's do better.
		We can do better, but we've got to get rid of all of this foolishness, all these policies and crap, you know, and trying to push us to a place of pure white supremacists.
		A lot of white supremacists.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I think we've got the idea.
		I want to go to a couple of comments that we've received by text and social media.
		This one from Don, an independent in Floyd, Virginia, who says, I am 100 for another political party.
		The two we have are horrendous.
		And then Omar in Ellicott City, Maryland says, I hereby denounce the Democrat, Libertarian, and Green parties.
		And above all, I denounce the grand old party.
		I am now just an American.
		And we have Chris in D Field Beach, Florida, who says, I like Elon's idea of starting his own party and giving Trump a run for his money.
		Yesterday, I heard he called Steve Bannon a fat slob.
		I find Elon very rude for saying that.
		Very hurtful to cut down a person with body shaming.
		And then on X, BC Venice says, MAGA was launched to give you back your freedom, but that was a lie.
		Back to your calls on whether your thoughts on Elon Musk launching the America Party potentially.
		Layla is in Garland, Texas, on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Layla.
unidentified		Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
		I think a third party is a poor idea and just complicate our voting system.
		I am a Democrat, and I encourage all Democrats to vote Democrat and let the Republic Party and America Party be divided.
		When I say America, I think of our country, the United States of America.
		And I don't think that we need a third party complicating our political system, especially by someone like Leon Musk.
		Thank you so very much for taking my call.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		John is in Malta, New York on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Thanks, Kim.
		Thanks for taking my call.
		You know, when you talk about third parties, if you go throughout American history, there's been third parties, and of course, they're just a reflection of the dissatisfaction that we have politically in our country.
		You know, you go back to the late 1800s, you had a third party populist party, which came in.
		They just wanted free silver to make things easier for farmers.
		And you've had other third parties.
		But the one that sticks in my mind the most, of course, is Rosh Perot when he came out with his third party.
		Basically, all third parties do is they split the vote between themselves and another party and allow the other party to win.
		So, excuse me, third party concept, while it might seem good, really isn't the answer, in my opinion.
		I think what has to happen is, you know, the two parties have components in their platforms that might make sense.
		And I think what people have to do, especially with the existing Republican and Democrats, is wise up.
		You know, when these politicians just don't perform and doing what you want them to do, you've got to remove them from office.
		There has to be more primary.
		And I think based on that, I think you can have needed reforms.
		There's no reason why we had to have this chaos we have in the country today.
		There's no reason why we have to have the deficit that we have if politicians were prudent and did things not for their own evil, but on behalf of the country.
		So, people, please get educated, get organized, and get active.
		And I think that's a benefit for the country.
		So, thanks for taking my call.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Michael is in Kansas City, Missouri on our line for others.
		Good morning, Michael.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm glad you took my call.
		I am a Republican.
		I used to be a Democrat, but I'm a Republican now.
		And Donald Trump is the best president we ever had, says Franken.
		And the reason these Democrats are griping, because they get paid more than we do, and they're trying to get their money.
		They don't pay taxes, and they pay more than we do.
		I'm proud of you, Business.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Elon Musk launching the America Party.
unidentified		I'm a Republican.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What do you think of Elon Musk potentially launching a new party?
unidentified		I don't think he should be a new party or anything.
		I think the reason he's griping about that is because Donald Trump kicked him out because he's a bad politician.
		He wanted to get rid of Social Security.
		That's all I got to live on.
		And a lot of us don't have very much now.
		And I make less than minimum wage.
		And that's not right.
		When these Democrats don't pay taxes, they paid more than we do.
		That is not right.
		The only of us pay health insurance.
		We have to pay Medicare and they don't.
		That is not right.
		And I think we ought to get rid of these Democrats who don't pay taxes, get their houses, and get our money back.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Why do you think the Democrats don't stay from us?
unidentified		They don't.
		Because I checked it out.
		They don't pay taxes because they think they're privileged.
		That is not right.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, let's hear from Mark in Interlock in Florida on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Mark.
unidentified		Hey, I think it's very comical of Elon to be talking about forming another third party, number one on that American party, when he's not American.
unidentified		And he paid all that money.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Elon Musk is an American citizen.
unidentified		Okay, I'll give you that.
		But what I will say is, given his background is family history, they're not American.
		They're South African.
		And for him to be talking about an American party is comical because he just helped pay for Trump to get in office.
		So people like the guy a few colors back said need to wisen up.
		They need to stop just like this caller before us getting sucked into this whole rabbit hole of left versus right and they need to stop this tribalism.
		Stop the tribalism.
		Hey, I don't like everything that the Democrats do, but there are some policies that Republicans may have that I do like that may make me want to vote for them.
		But if they're not aligning with my views, man, no, I'm not going to vote for them right now.
		So people need to wisen up.
		There's nothing wrong with adding a third or fourth party, but if you're going to do it, you got to do it right.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What is doing it right?
unidentified		Wisening up.
unidentified		People need to stop getting, they need to get out of their bubble.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Mike is in Whitefish, Montana, on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Mike.
unidentified		Well, good morning, Kimberly, and good morning, America.
mike in alaska ▲ ● ▼		This is what happens when our elected officials, our president, he doesn't do what the people want him to do.
unidentified		We elected him to clean this country up.
		It's so infested with communism from the top down, you know, from the inside out, top down, whatever.
		It's ridiculous that Americans, good Americans that were born and raised here, we have to suffer.
		We've been suffering for 50 years.
		I want the IRS gone, like he promised.
mike in alaska ▲ ● ▼		I want Kash Patel to get rid of the FBI building, like he promised, not because it's got cockroaches in it or it smells, because it's corrupt.
mike in alaska ▲ ● ▼		I mean, he's not doing the people's bidding, and this is what happens.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Who is he?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Are you talking about Trump or President Trump or are you talking about Elon Musk there?
bill christison ▲ ● ▼		I'm talking about President Trump has really dropped the ball on us.
unidentified		He's not really doing anything that we wanted.
		Congress is so corrupt.
		All they can do is go on vacation.
		And like Federman, if he has to work a little bit, oh my, he gets all upset.
		But we need to claw back our money and give the Americans a break.
		We're sick and tired of Ukraine.
		And people like Senator Ukrainer out of North Dakota.
		My gosh, he made a living out of arming Ukraine to kill the Russians.
		The Russians are actually our friends.
		They tried to get into NATO and Clinton wouldn't let them because Clinton is so corrupt.
		I mean, like Walmart, Walmart's biggest military weapon, the greatest weapon Walmart has, is Walmart.
		I mean, China has, is Walmart, Costco, Harbor Freight.
		They sell nothing but Chinese junk.
		You use it once, throw it away.
		It's like our bombs.
		All our tax money.
		I mean, why do we need an IRS if we can print money endlessly without control?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Elon Musk launching a political party.
unidentified		I think it's fantastic, and it's going to, it's a slap in the face in Trump.
		I mean, he hasn't learned yet.
		I don't know if it's from taking the vax or what, but Trump is ignoring the people's will, and Elon is not.
		Elon is a fantastic American.
		And let's remember what happened to South America.
mike in alaska ▲ ● ▼		I mean, South Africa, that's coming here.
unidentified		We have it here right now.
mike in alaska ▲ ● ▼		And if Trump, if the Barbie dolls, Bondi and Christy Noam, the dog killer, if they don't get their act together, I want them gone.
unidentified		I want them fired.
		I want Matt Whitaker put back in.
		I don't know what's going on, but we need to get rid of the women in politics.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Glenn is in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Glenn.
unidentified		How are you doing?
		I just want to tell all your Democrat friends because C-STAN leans left and they pretend they don't.
		So you're probably putting your hand over there to turn me off already.
		Elon Musk has paid $10 billion with a B in one year in taxes.
		So don't ever say the rich don't pay taxes.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Glenn, did you turn down?
		Oh, you're done with your comment.
		All right.
		Let's hear from Robert in Worcester, Massachusetts on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Robert.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		I want to talk about George Washington because it's the 4th of July.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, our topic this hour is Elon Musk launching a new political party.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Do you have comments on that?
unidentified		Look, Connie, the black Americans ought to take over the Independent Party.
		Never mind the Democrats.
		Never mind the Republicans.
		All black Americans ought to take over the Independent Party.
		Do you understand what I'm telling you?
		Because the Democrats don't do nothing for us, and neither do the Republicans.
		The third party ought to be the black party called the Independent Party.
		You get me, yellow girl?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Arnold is in Palm Beach, Florida, on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Arnold.
unidentified		Good morning, and thank you for taking that call.
		You know, on Musk starting a third party, you know, the opportunity for Musk is probably if he was able to accept the reality of the ever-present success of irony.
		I really believe if he led a people's revolt and getting a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United case in 2009 that allows the free speech designation of the First Amendment to allow people to fund these elections.
		I think the irony of a wealthy man to lead a revolt, a people's revolt, to get money out of our country government's system.
		It's a fact.
		It's what we disputed in regards to forming our nation and the lives that have been lost since our revolution.
		I think a people's revolt led by a man that can accept the success of the irony.
		He could do it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Let's look at some comments we've received via text message and social media.
		Mike in Hillsboro, North Carolina says, all I have to say is anything is better than the Democrats.
		Nick Oliver says, competition is good.
		The GOP and the DNC have indeed been a uniparty with regards to legislation and spending.
		Trump has been a disruptor force and things are a bit better, but after he's gone, it's likely his changes will not stick.
		Political parties, billionaire financed.
		And Barb in Long Grove, Illinois says, launching of the America Party by Elon Musk is a good idea at the time.
		It offers a fresh face to politics and an opportunity for anyone disillusioned with other parties to voice their opinions and take a direct effect and take action to affect.
		And then Teresa in Little Rock, Arkansas says, I would like a common sense party, but it will not happen.
		Look at the no labels party that pulled both Democrats and Republicans.
		Look at RFK after leaving the Democrat Party to run for president.
		The challenges of getting on the ballot in states.
		Elon would be wise to select specific candidates and support them.
		Thanks.
		Now, as we mentioned earlier in the show, we are following the tragic news out of Texas with the floods in the Hill Country there and the dozens of people killed, along with the ongoing search and rescue operations that are still in progress.
		At a news conference yesterday in Kerrville, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott talked about his state's efforts in locating flood victims.
		Let's listen.
unidentified		What I have observed in this community over the past 24 hours is what I call quintessential Texas.
		When Texans face a challenge, we come together.
		We unite.
greg abbot ▲ ● ▼		And that's exactly what's happened over the past 24 to 48 hours in this community.
unidentified		Nothing more than extraordinary devastation.
		And the worst thing that could have happened in this community fell upon it.
		They could have fallen apart.
		They could have fought against each other.
		But instead, they understand the importance of unity.
		That's what Texans do.
		That's what we will continue to do.
greg abbot ▲ ● ▼		Along those lines, something else to double down on what I said last night.
greg abbot ▲ ● ▼		We will be relentless in going after and ensuring that we locate every single person who's been a victim of this flooding event.
unidentified		We're not going to stop today or tomorrow.
unidentified		We will stop when the job is completed.
greg abbot ▲ ● ▼		Between now and whenever that day arrives, when the job is completed, this is a 24-7 operation day and night because we know that we are looking for Texans and Americans and we put them as our top priority.
unidentified		We will find every one of them.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Now for an update with the latest from Texas, we're joined now by Berenice Garcia of the Texas Tribune, who is a Rio Grande Valley reporter for the Texas Tribune.
		Good morning, Berenice.
		Good morning.
		So I'm looking here at the article that you published last night with some of your colleagues at the Texas Tribune at the time saying that the death toll was 43 as the search continued for missing girls and other survivors.
		That 27 girls from the Camp Mystic summer camp remain missing.
		What's the latest?
		What's changed since last night?
unidentified		At this moment, that is the latest whole death toll that we have from that from the tragedy.
		The Kerr County officials haven't had any updates as of yet this morning, but I'm sure that as the day goes on and as search and rescues continue, that we'll probably unfortunately hear about more bodies being discovered.
		But hopefully we'll also have news of more people who were previously missing who were then who were then found.
		So yeah, at this point we just have to sit tight and wait to hear more.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So can you give us an overview of what happened and how this got to be so bad so quickly?
unidentified		Sure.
		So, you know, it just wasn't really expected.
		It was just a lot of rain that came down very, very quickly in this area.
		Unfortunately, this area is known to be prone to flooding.
		But I guess, you know, within the, I guess people just weren't, you weren't expecting it to get as bad as it did, unfortunately.
		But they did receive the National Weather Service to start issuing out notices of a flood warning overnight, speaking Thursday night into Friday morning.
		But at that time, people were either asleep or they might not just have been aware of their phones because they were just or sorry, excuse me, they probably were asleep or they were in an area where that just didn't have strong signal.
		So kind of unfortunate and how they got kind of caught up in the storm and how people were caught unawares.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Yes, and in particular, we're seeing these images and hearing these stories about the various summer camps in the area and this contributing to the number of children killed.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Can you talk a bit about that?
unidentified		Yeah, so along that area, there are a lot of camps we're hearing.
		It could be about 20.
		And there were some that thankfully weren't open at the time, but unfortunately, Camp Mystic, the one that we've been hearing about lately, the private Christian camp, that one was open and about 27 of their members, girls, are still missing.
		And it's really quite tragic.
		It's, you know, it's been really difficult hearing about the parents still searching for their kids.
		And, you know, it just, like I said, got out of control really quickly.
		And unfortunately, it just became pretty difficult for them to evacuate the area.
		But yeah, I mean, we're still hopeful that we're going to hear more news about that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		As you've been reporting this story, what kind of stories have you been hearing from folks in the area?
unidentified		Well, I mean, you hear a lot about people who were caught in the storm and in the flooding, having to climb up into high elevated areas, people climbing onto trees, hanging onto trees for hours until rescue came.
		You know, just people just not hearing from their loved ones and being just frantic about wanting to hear what could have possibly happened to their children.
		You're also hearing people who have been through this before.
		They talk about the flooding in 1987 that occurred in that same area and, you know, having to search through bodies or search for bodies, excuse me.
		And they said that this is actually worse, that this is even worse than what happened then.
		And they're just, I mean, surprised that this happened again despite knowing what could have happened or what could happen.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What kind of state and federal resources are being allocated to the search and rescue effort?
unidentified		Well, we have we all have state, we have, of course, you have the local law enforcement, but we also have the Texas Division of Emergency Management deploying their emergency first responders.
		We have the National Guard.
		The CBP is also involved.
		The Water Patrol Unit is also involved.
		We have DPS, of course, is assisting.
		It's just various different agencies at all levels that are participating and coordinating on this effort.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And have the water started receding yet, or what is the forecast looking like there for that region?
unidentified		Yeah, it has receded, but even today, there still continues to be a flood watch, which is different than a warning.
		It's not a guarantee that Club was going to continue, but there continues to be a flood watch in portions of the Hill Country and east of the I-35 corridor there, according to the National Weather Service.
		And so there's expected to be about two to four inches more of rain today.
		But there are some pockets of areas that could see as much as 10.
		But that is until about 1 p.m. Sunday.
		But I can imagine that that might be extended till later.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And when are you expecting more updates in terms of the progress of the search and rescue?
unidentified		I imagine that the local law enforcement will hold another press briefing sometime in the afternoon.
		They've been pretty consistent with providing updates throughout the day.
		So they'll probably have them have one locally sometime this morning and again throughout the day.
		Yeah, so I'm sure that they'll be continually updating.
		They've been very transparent throughout the process.
		So yeah, we'll probably see one within a few hours.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, thank you so much to Berenice Garcia, who's the Rio Grande Valley reporter for the Texas Tribune.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I appreciate your time this morning.
unidentified		Good.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
		Now we're going to return to our question of the hour about Elon Musk launching the America Party.
		We're going to go back to your phone calls.
		Gary is in Albany, Georgia on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Gary.
		And can you turn down the volume on your TV, please, Gary, and then go ahead with your point.
unidentified		Thank you.
unidentified		Now we're going to take a brief question.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right, we're going to go to James in Harvey, Louisiana on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, James.
unidentified		Good morning and good belated birthday of America.
		I don't know how to do this short, but I'm going to try.
		The word is us.
		It's we.
		The number of parties should not matter.
		I think all Elon Musk is doing, and anybody else thought him another party, is just giving us another category to describe ourselves as Americans when we vote.
		It doesn't matter how many parties we have, I think, because instead of us calling ourselves Americans first, we call ourselves Democrats or conservatives or whatever.
		When this country was first formed, and we just had a birthday, that we had more languages spoke in the colonies than we have in this country today.
		But they came together.
		So whatever will bring us together, and one of the gentlemen said it earlier, we need to get more educated, we need to get more active, and we need to actually do something instead of just voting for somebody to do it for us.
		So it really doesn't matter.
		I really think having no party like we did when the country first started, they weren't political parties.
		So that's my opinion.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Claude is in Littlestown, Pennsylvania on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Claude.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I'm fine, thank you.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What do you think of Elon Musk potentially launching a new political party?
unidentified		I think it's the wrong thing to do because we have two parties now and they have trouble getting along.
		The way I feel, I'm a Republican, and the way I feel is that we need to stop this bickering and fighting, work together, and try to work things out for the United States of America.
		I mean, we're all Americans and citizens, and if you just start a third party, it's just going to make things even worse.
		And I just want to say one more thing.
		People say that President Trump ain't doing nothing.
		I think he's doing a great job, not just because I'm a Republican.
		I feel that any party, if you've got a good president in there and they're doing a good job, should receive the credit.
		But I do agree with Elon on one thing: no government waste.
		We got to stop wasting taxpayers' money.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Next up is Clyde in Lawton, Oklahoma, on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Clyde.
unidentified		Man, it's tragedy.
		Does anybody lose their life just over flooding or anything?
		Even though we're either side of the border, it doesn't matter.
		You know, I mean, thank you for taking my call.
		But, you know, in this world, I got one in the Bible that says the deadly wound.
		Well, that's what's next, people.
		Go ahead and look it up.
		It's in the Bible, letters that God wrote to you.
		Thank you.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Jim is in Florescent, Missouri, on our line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Jim.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I guess my thought on this is: what's Elon up to here?
		What's he trying to do?
		Is he looking for political power or is he truly looking for political leverage?
		And here's the difference.
		If he's looking for power, he'll try and form a national party.
		He'll get creamed and then he'll go away.
		The ham-handed way he handled that election in Wisconsin, where he made it all about himself, kind of leads me to believe that.
		Now, here's the thing: if you look at the House, the makeup in the House of Representatives, right, the Republicans have about a five or six seat majority.
		There are a lot of close districts.
		If Musk turns this into a race for House seats and he could pick up maybe a dozen seats, not all of one party or the other, but just in the close districts and focus on that, at the end of the day, if either party can't get to 218 seats, Musk is going to have a lot of leverage.
		It won't all be about Elon, but that party, with his money and his backing, could be successful.
		Now, personally, I doubt that's going to happen.
		But if you focus on it that way, then I think there might be a chance.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Jim, do you think that this party would peel off voters from the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, or potentially bring in new voters who maybe aren't affiliated?
unidentified		I think maybe a little of both in close districts, if that's where he focuses.
		But if he nationalizes it, he's just going to matter.
		He's not going to win anything.
		And it's either going to go to Republicans or Democrats, like it always does.
		I don't think there's any chance in the Senate, and certainly not for President.
		Russ Perot proved that back in the 90s.
		But there's probably, he'd have to do his research and look into it.
		But, you know, a dozen or so close purple districts, one way or the other, and swinging seats his way, where if he could do it, that's how I could see it happening.
		But other than that, I don't see it nationally being a factor other than peeling votes off, like you say, from one party or the other.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		There was some polling from Gallup last fall on support for third party for a third political party in the United States, and Gallup polling found that it dipped to 58%.
		69% of political independents, 53% of Democrats, and 48% of Republicans favor the creation of a third party.
		And that said, because the Republican and Democratic parties do, quote, such a poor job of representing the American people, marking the 12th consecutive majority-level reading in Gallup's trend that stretches back more than two decades.
		While down five percentage points from last year's record high, it is still on par with the average 56 percent support level over the course of the trend since 2003.
		Only once in the initial 2003 reading have a clear majority of Americans believe that a third party is not needed, with 56% saying the two major U.S. parties do an adequate job of representing the American people.
		And that was back in 2003, the last time the readings said that.
		Now, let's look at a couple of comments we've received via text and social media.
		Jeff in Dearborn, Michigan says, Elon Nader, been done before, doesn't work next.
		And Greg in Dallas says, there's no point in attempting any reforms until we get corporations and extreme wealth out of politics.
		The money must be reformed first.
		And Greg in Cleveland, Ohio says, why would I trust someone who flipped flops and turns his coat?
		Your calls on Elon Musk launching the America Party, as he's calling it.
		Jane is in Kenner, Louisiana, on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Jane.
unidentified		Hello.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I think it's the funniest thing I've heard in months about political situations, that he's decided he's going to run a third party.
		Basically, Elon Musk doesn't have any clue about how government is run.
		Obviously, him and his Muskrats going through all of the civil services and all of the different sectors of the government, and he just went slashing it with his chainsaw and his little group of just barely 20-somethings computer guys.
		That proves he didn't have any clue what's going on, and he has no empathy whatsoever.
		I don't think it's anything, but he's pissed off at Trump because Trump didn't take his advice with the big, beautiful bill.
		I'm sure there was plenty of conversation about it beforehand, before it went to the House of Representatives.
		But literally, I think that's the primary reason is he's pissed off.
		And as soon as he gets another thing he wants to deal with, the American party will just go by the wayside.
		Maybe it'll have half a dozen people in office, but basically, nobody's going to vote for somebody that Elon Musk endorses.
		They saw that for sure.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		He endorsed President Trump, and many people voted for him.
unidentified		I know, but that was a little bit different.
		If Elon gets anyone to run for, I don't know, Senate or representative and pose a whole bunch of money.
		Well, the business he did in Wisconsin, was it?
		Where he dumped a lot of money into Wisconsin, and he just wasted a pile of money because everybody voted against him and for the person they wanted.
		Honestly, they might laugh him out of the entire country.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Robert is in Marina Del Rey, California on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Robert.
unidentified		The problem with Musk is that third parties are based on candidacies.
		So you take 68 with George Wallace, or you take Garose runs in 92 and 96, and then they tried to create the Reform Party.
		Elon Musk can't run for president because he's not a citizen.
		And anyone who's going to get involved in what he's trying to do, is he going to spend a billion dollars to self-fund a new political party?
		Because that's what it's going to take to get it off the ground.
		And anybody who's interested is just going to expect that he's going to fund it.
		And my understanding is that the reason why he got out of the Doge situation is that it was plundering Tessler and his brand.
		And he moved away from it because the politics was hurting his businesses.
		So I don't know how, I mean, he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about a name for this party, the America Party.
		I mean, you know, there's something strange and disturbing about this guy.
		You can't create a political movement because you're pissed off at Trump.
		It's just not a reason for anyone to want to get involved in something like this.
		It comes off rather silly, quite frankly.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Jeff is in Crofton, Nebraska on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Jeff.
unidentified		Yeah, I really agree with the guy, the last caller.
		There's no doubt there is something very, very strange about this.
		And I'm not quite sure who caused us to spend.
		Right now, the big beautiful bill has $150 billion in it to help ICE remove people that should not be here.
		People who California is putting on their Medicare roles, spending money, giving them driver's license, and they're not the only state.
		We're spending a ton of money on things that the last party made us spend money on that we shouldn't have to.
		And there's a ton of stuff that we still haven't uncovered that they probably got money still going out.
		This is not something that you start a new party with.
		You've got to get people to stop.
		The Democrats never said a word, a word for four years about 10 million people coming in our country unaccounted for.
		And now we're going to spend all this money to get them back out.
		And now somebody wants to start a new party, please.
		That's not the way to do it.
		We got to get a good press who's honest and move on and get this thing taken care of and get this country fixed.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Patrick is in Grand Rapids, Michigan on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Patrick.
unidentified		Hi.
		Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
		I'm in that group that believes, no, we don't need a third party.
leonard nimoy ▲ ● ▼		And the reason I believe that is at a more higher level, parties evolve.
unidentified		They change.
		The reason people want a third party is because they want something different.
		But if you look at both political parties ever since the Civil War, they have flip-flopped as far as their basic philosophy goes.
		One party used to be kind of cool, cold, I should say, on civil rights.
		Now they're very strong at civil rights.
		Another party was the traditional conservatives, and now that's kind of flipped.
		How did that happen?
		Because subgroups out there decided they wanted some action.
		The Tea Party eventually evolved into MAGA.
		So I'm basically saying people just have to express themselves and the parties will change along with them.
		We also do need to address some things about how elections are handled because that I think is the core issue.
		And a lot of people have already provided details on election financing, and that needs to be addressed.
		So I'm going to pull that back.
		Thank you very much for taking my call.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		Jim is in Lakeland, Florida, on our line for Republicans.
		Good morning, Jim.
unidentified		Hi.
		Thank you for letting me speak.
		I would say that from the standpoint of Trump, or rather, Musk wanting to keep the government from spending so much money, he's on the right track.
		And I just want to see more indications that we don't need to spend that extra money.
		We've got too many rhinos in sheep's clothing in the Republican Party that we aren't able to stop the printing presses from printing additional money when we're going broke.
		The $33 million deficit is a nation killer, and everybody needs to understand that that is the most important question here.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Raul is in Wilson, North Carolina, on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Raul.
unidentified		Yes.
		Good morning.
		This is another foreign government.
		And the reason I said foreign government is because of the money that this guy got.
		He's got more money than a lot of governments do.
		Elon Musk, I'm talking about.
		And he's getting into our politics.
		Now, Russia, other countries, Israel, a lot of countries has really gotten into our politics and controlled our media to divide us like this.
		And they did it through the media.
		And all this left-right, live conservative, everybody's got a label for everybody.
		And what this did is put us in different corners.
		It used to be just Democrat and conservative.
		Now you've got far-left, moderate.
		And it's just ridiculous.
		And both parties, if Putin was running this country, if we didn't see who was in the White House and Putin was behind the curtain, I couldn't see the difference.
		Now, when Trump got in, and I'm going to tell you something.
		Khrushchev said a long time ago, we will bury you, America.
		And he meant through the media.
		I didn't think that could happen before, and that was a long time ago, way back.
		But that's exactly what he did.
		They have controlled our media, came over, and the straw that broke the camera's back was Donald Trump.
		Once they got Donald Trump in there.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So, Raul, can you bring this back to Elon Musk's potential political party that he said he's going to launch?
unidentified		It's another gimmick.
		It's another gimmick to have the Republican Party still in there.
		He's going to pill off votes for the Democratic Party.
		This man can't even run.
		He's a foreigner.
		It's just like a foreign government.
		That's what I was trying to get you to understand, ma'am.
		This is another foreigner coming in here, making America look stupid.
		And they're doing it through the media, and the media plays right into it.
		And all these people that y'all guys have been having on your show that Russia has been putting up there, from the NRA to the Heritage Foundation, and to all these people that every week I see you put C-Stan put up there.
		Now, I understand you probably don't know what you're doing, but what you've been doing was promote these people.
		They're come over, come up on your show, over talk whoever's up there.
		And you might get three callers in.
		And all they do is sit up there and run their dirty own mouth and brainwashing American people.
		This is a brainwashing of the American people through the media, through foreign governments.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Charles is in Watertown, New York on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Charles.
unidentified		Yeah, yeah.
		Great to hear you.
		C-SPAN doing a great job.
		My people, Democrats and Republicans, all smart.
		Listen up.
		But they have to really realize $37 trillion is a lot of money.
		Nobody's talking about how to cut back.
		Democrats and Republicans, if you hit $50 trillion, less than 10 years, that's it.
		Our dollars are worthless.
		And nobody out there talks about George and what Elon Musk is doing.
		He's doing a favor.
		Get rid of the debt.
		I think let me hear you.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		All right.
		A couple more comments that we received online or from text.
		This one from Sam in Pennsylvania, who says, third party might ease the nastiness between Dems and Republicans.
		And then Greg in Dallas says, there is no point in attempting any reforms until we get corporations and extreme wealth out of politics.
		The money must be reformed first.
		Now, that's all the time that we have for this segment.
		But later on, Washington Journal, Amanda Littman of Run for Something will join us to discuss her group's effort to help elect young progressives to public office and the state of the Democratic Party.
		But up next, we'll have syndicated columnist Cal Thomas to discuss the Trump administration's policies and the overall state of U.S. politics.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
		And tonight, on C-SPAN's QA, we're joined by former U.S. Treasurer and the chair of the America 250 Commission, Rosie Rios.
		She'll talk about several of the events that will occur over the next year, including the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade back in June and other initiatives that the public can participate in leading up to the anniversary.
rosie rios ▲ ● ▼		The movement and the moments.
		And let me just say, there's a couple of moments that are unprecedented that have never happened before in this country that are being planned as we speak.
		That is so unreal.
		If I showed you the screenshot of what we're planning, your first reaction, as it was for our commission, was, you've got to be kidding, it's happening.
		And it is happening.
		So stay tuned.
		Much more to come.
		But again, what I'm most excited about is continuing our programming long after 2026.
unidentified		America 250 Commission Chair Rosie Rios tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's QA.
		You can listen to Q&A and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app.
		From the beginning, C-SPAN was there for every word of debate, every vote.
		C-SPAN was there, giving you around-the-clock coverage through all-nighters into the early morning hours with record-breaking back-to-back votes in the Senate.
		We're going to press on until victory is won.
		I yield back.
		And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries giving the longest House speech ever.
		Only on C-SPAN could you witness the full story unfold, unfiltered in real time.
		The Yays are 218, the NASER 214.
		The motion is adopted.
		We're sort of celebrating like the biggest bill of its kind ever signed.
		And it's going to make this country into a rocket ship.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		It's gonna be really good.
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		And C-SPAN is there to commemorate every moment.
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		Washington Journal continues.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We're joined now by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas.
		Welcome back to Washington Journal.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Always a pleasure to be with you, Kimberly.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, thank you so much.
		And I'll actually start off with following up on the segment that we just had in our previous hour about Elon Musk announcing on the platform he owns X that he plans to launch a new political party, the America Party.
		Your thoughts on that?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, the America Party reminds me of what Alabama Governor George Wallace tried to do back in the 60s.
		He formed something called the American Party.
		Third parties have never worked in America.
		They sound great when they start out.
		People are frustrated, and rightly so, at both parties, Republicans and Democrats, who never seem to live up to their promises.
		Remember when the debt was a big issue for Democrats?
		We've got to stop spending because our children and grandchildren are going to be loaded down with this debt and their lives will be ruined.
		Well, now the Republicans don't care about debt and they keep loading up even with this big, beautiful bill, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
		There's a misnomer for you.
		This bill adds $4.1 trillion to the debt through 2034.
		And it would add $5.5 trillion to the debt if made permanent.
		And the interest on the debt is over $700 billion.
		No wonder Elon Musk has called the Republicans the porky pig party.
		I love that.
		There's your third party.
		Everybody will get that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I'm looking here at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's website listing 15 major problems with, at the time, the Senate's reconciliation bill.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And number one on the list is that it would add $4.1 trillion to the debt through 2034, more borrowing than any reconciliation bill in history, would add $5.5 trillion to the debt if made permanent, more than the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the Chips and Science Act combined.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Here's the way they play the game in Washington, taken from one who was born here.
		You get a few good things.
		Tax cuts permanent?
		Very good.
		No men and women sports?
		Great.
		Expanding school choice programs so people, particularly in inner cities with failing public schools, can have a choice to either go to a better public school or even a private or religious school.
		All that's good stuff.
		There's some other good stuff in there.
		So they hype that in order to get support for the bill.
		But on the other hand, you've got, as we've just read from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, you've got all this new spending.
		Now, the president, Republicans, claim that economic growth and the tariffs are going to make up for the debt.
		$36 trillion is a lot of money, and that's going to require an awful lot of economic growth.
		I don't think you can do it under present circumstances.
		Now, the Democrats are going to go out and try to sell this or unsell it for the 2026 elections, as they always have.
		Grandma is going to be thrown into the streets.
		People are going to starve to death.
		We've heard this for years.
		We heard it during the Clinton-Gingrich welfare reform measure, where they said the same thing.
		But instead, when able-bodied people, and that's the key, able-bodied, if you're able to work and you're not working, you're not going to get Medicaid.
		You're not going to get some of these other benefits.
		And in 1996, with the Clinton-Gingrich welfare reform, people didn't starve.
		They went out and got jobs and contributed to the economy, their tax dollars, and hopefully dignity for themselves and their families.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Now, there were quite a few Republicans, particularly in the House, who made a big deal, especially when they saw the Senate language, that they couldn't possibly swallow this much deficit spending.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What happened?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		President gets on the phone.
		Speaker of the House gets on the phone or gets people in a room, a small room, and say, look, if you want to avoid being primaried, if you want political contributions, because in Washington, the most important thing, and I'm saying number one on virtually every member's list, is getting reelected.
		It's not doing the public business.
		It's not promoting the general welfare.
		Now, I know that sounds cynical, but you look at the record and that's the way it always has been.
		And as long as you put your own political career first and the country second, things are never going to change.
		That's why I'm a big fan of the Convention of States provided for in the Constitution, where the people call a convention and we get a balanced budget amendment in the Constitution and a lot of other reforms.
		These people stay too long.
		They come in and they say, we're going to reform Washington.
		No, no, no, they're going to reform you.
		You come in with the highest ideals and you leave with the lowest track record.
		And look at people like Schumer and others who have been here 40 years.
		They've never had a real job.
		They can't identify with people who have to pay their own bills.
		They got all this free stuff that other people can't get.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		You mentioned earlier about how the Democrats are going to be messaging this bill.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Representative Richard Neal, who's a top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, was doing just that, referring to this bill as a scam.
unidentified		Let's listen.
		So under this bill, here's a fact, Mr. Speaker.
		If you made a million dollars last year, you're going to make a plus of $96,000 in the next tax filing season.
		That's a fact.
		But here's the real fact and the scam that's being presented to the American people with this legislation.
		So if you made under $50,000 last year, you're going to get 68 cents a day in terms of your tax relief.
		The Senate was too generous.
		They were at 73%, so the House wanted to go back to, on the Republican side, 68 cents.
		Here's the real kicker.
		For a party that has preached fiscal rectitude that I've listened to in all my years here, all my years here, voting for the balanced budget amendment, taking up all of these pursuits in terms of fiscal rectitude, they're borrowing $5 trillion additional dollars to pay for a tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us.
		$5 trillion is being added to the debt.
		I call attention to that because they're taking away health insurance from poor people.
		Hospitals are going to suffer.
		Medicare is going to be cut.
		The child credit will leave out the poorest.
		And seniors are threatened with much of the necessities of everyday life.
		SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare, and the ACA are all about to be gutted in the name of a tax cut for the wealthiest amongst us.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		You know what I mean about nothing changing?
		The same lines, the same script for over 50 years.
		It never happens, but they use it to scare people.
		My late friend Bob Beckel, who managed Walter Mondale's 1984 campaign, said his mother used to call him from Florida where she was retired and said, Bob, I'm seeing all these ads.
		They're going to take away my Social Security.
		They're going to take away my Medicare.
		And Bob would say, don't worry about it, Mom.
		Just vote for Democrats and the next day you'll have it all back.
		That's the kind of cynicism.
		But let me point out something.
		And the Congressman's right about Republicans who used to be physical hawks and now they're harmless as doves.
		As Kim Strossel writes in her latest podcast, the real driver of debt has been and remains Joe Biden's blowout spending on entitlements and climate, which this bill at least begins to scale back.
		And speaking of a debt crisis, few things would more rapidly push the U.S. closer to one than the economic downturn that would accompany a $4.5 trillion tax hike at the end of the year.
		Now, the Democrats always talk about the rich and they're getting, but the rich pay most of the taxes.
		Half of the country pays income taxes, the other half doesn't.
		The rich pay high taxes, and the rich are rich because they created businesses, they work hard, they invested wisely.
		So when I was a kid, I never envied other people's success.
		I wanted to be like them.
		There's not a single pot of money, and if you take more than me, it's unfair.
		We have in America, this marvelous country, unique in world history, an opportunity consistent with your skills, your persistence, your desire to work hard, to make something out of yourself, and to have a wonderful life.
		But the politicians say, no, you can't do it without government.
		And if you do it without government, we're going to tax you more.
		We're going to regulate your business.
		And in New York, we're going to take over your grocery stores.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		We're going to be taking your calls.
		If you want to take over the conversation with Kyle Thomas on our phone lines for Democrats 202-748-8000, Republicans 202-748-8001.
		And Independents 202-748-8002.
		Before we get to our callers, I want to ask you about one of your recent columns.
		What does it mean to be an American?
		Let the countdown to 250 years spark a national conversation.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		I think we have to begin, Himmerley, with our great national model, that's motto that's on the seal Of the United States, e pluribus unum, out of many, one.
		In the last 50 years or so, we've become out of one many.
		We are hyphenated Americans now, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, transgenders, gay Americans, all these other things.
		Whatever happened out of many, one, the uniqueness of the United States is that we have been able to celebrate whatever differences there may be, external differences, philosophical differences, and come together as one people.
		America, as I wrote, has always been an idea in search of the ideal.
		We have failed on numerous occasions, most graphically on slavery, but we tried to make up for it.
		The denial of civil rights to people who were endowed by their creator, not by government, with certain inalienable rights.
		We've tried to make up for that, spending over $11 trillion at last count on welfare and other things to help poor people, particularly minority poor people who needed it, to climb out of poverty and have a better life.
		So we try to make up, but that presumes that there's a standard by which to judge right from wrong.
		And in our culture today, we don't seem to have any standards.
		It reminds me of the late Groucho Marx, a comedian who said, I have principles.
		If you don't like them, I have others.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, let's get to your calls.
		Greg is in Texas on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Greg.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Deep in the heart of.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Hey, Greg.
		Hey, good morning.
		Yeah, Kyle Thomas.
		I just wanted to come in on something because this is how our country is being ran.
		If you don't have it, how come you got it and I don't have it?
		This country, listen to me.
		This country has been operating this way.
		American citizens are fighting against each other for I want mine, and if I ain't got it, you can't have it.
		Foreigners done came over here, they stuck together.
		You fight against other people in America.
		America's fighting citizens of color and white fighting against each other because they want what the other person got.
		Listen to me.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What's your question, though, Greg?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What's your question for Cal?
unidentified		Okay, my question is: I'm getting to the point.
		You got to let me finish.
		This right here, what's going on?
		There's no such thing as a person sitting over here working and getting food stamped, ain't working and getting food stamped.
		There's women out here working and got kids that out here got to work and got to have food stamps because these companies, corporations are not paying nobody.
		They employ, listen to me, they're employing these foreigners, Hispanic people coming over here.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So, Greg, I'm going to let Cal respond.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, Greg, I don't know what you don't have that you would like to have, but I said to Kimberly earlier that this is a land of opportunity.
		You can't look at other people and say, they deserve this and they're not getting that.
		What about you?
		What can you do to improve your life and be an example to others to follow your example?
		You know, we used to do this when I was growing up.
		You'd see somebody who was a successful entrepreneur, a successful business person, and my parents and friends and schoolmates say, Boy, I want to be like them someday.
		But now we just focus on entitlements, greed, envy.
		You know, when I was growing up, I was taught inspiration followed by motivation followed by perspiration improves any life.
		You're not stuck where you're born.
		If you can't make it here, to paraphrase the song New York, New York by Sinatra, you can't make it as well anywhere.
		And so you've got the opportunity here, Greg, and the thing to do is to seize it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Greg also mentioned a couple times about foreigners coming into the country.
		Now last week President Trump visited a Florida Everglades detention processing and deportation camp for undocumented migrants that was put together in really a matter of days and it's been labeled alligator alcatraz.
		Do you think this was appropriate and what kind of message do you think the president was trying to send?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		I would like to see some more humanity come out of this.
		We are human beings.
		We have value because we're human beings.
		We're unique.
		because we are human beings.
		We are not a fish.
		We're not a worm.
		We're human beings and we deserve to be treated with dignity no matter what our background may be.
		Now yes, the worst of the worst and the criminals and the child rapists and others, terrible people, we should get them out.
		But they should be treated humanely.
		And I think that's one of the things that's missing from this administration.
		And that is a sense that people have value and they're not just commodities to be ground up and used for our own purposes.
		On July 4th, just two days ago, there was a naturalization ceremony at George Washington's home in Mount Vernon.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		You aired it on C-SPAN.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Yes, you did.
		And these people, these wonderful people from other countries, other belief systems, other political worldviews, other races, came legally to America through the process, did their homework, studied the Constitution and other things that are required before you take the oath, and then they took the oath of office at George Washington's home.
		That's the way to do it.
		Those are the immigrants we want.
		At the same time, yes, there are people who are fleeing persecution and all kinds of other terrible things.
		They need to be properly vetted and if qualified, allowed to come into the country either with a green card, temporary visa, or whatever.
		But this whole idea of just rounding people up and throwing them in a cage and applying a clever label to it is reminiscent in some ways, although the analogy breaks down, of Gestapo tactics, frankly.
		Rounding people up.
		That's not good.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Paul is in England in the United Kingdom and is calling in on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Paul.
unidentified		Good morning.
		And I think I have anniversary to the 250th anniversary of American independence.
		The question I want to ask now, do you think Ila Musk is the answer, do you think, in future times, or any of independent parties instead of Republicans and Democrats?
		Do you think that's a good question?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, thanks for your call and rural Britannia.
		I think that the founders of our country didn't want political parties because they said that we would wind up at each other's throats, basically.
		I'm paraphrasing, but they were right.
		And yet they were formed.
		And the Democrats claim that Thomas Jefferson was their first Democrat president.
		Of course, Republicans claim Abraham Lincoln.
		What I would like to see, and I wrote a book about this several books ago, is what works.
		We know what works.
		We know that one-in-one is two.
		We know that planes take off at a certain speed.
		We have a lot of facts on our side.
		We know what works economically.
		John F. Kennedy cut taxes.
		There was an economic boom.
		Ronald Reagan cut taxes.
		There was an economic boom.
		Calvin Coolidge cut taxes.
		There was an economic boom.
		So we know these things.
		But one party wants a continued control of people's lives and grow government.
		And the other claims, although this big, beautiful bill doesn't really sustain that claim, wants to cut spending and give people more freedom.
		So I don't think any one person, this is going to require the United States, people of this country, to wise up and to stop looking for what their government can do for them of what they can do for their country, to paraphrase JFK.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Kristen is in Middletown, Ohio on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Kristen.
unidentified		Yes.
		Hi.
		Hi, Mr. Thomas.
		I'm wondering, if you're cutting a trillion dollars in Medicaid, that isn't just illegal immigrants and men sitting on their parents' couch.
		Where is a trillion dollars being cut?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, you'll have to read the bill.
		I mean, it's 940 pages.
		One thing the Democrats did do, Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader in the House, is require the whole 940 pages to be read.
		Now, most of these bills are passed, if you pay attention to what's going on in Washington, and you should, without members reading the bills.
		They're put together by staff based on polling, based on all kinds of other things, but not based on the interests of most Americans.
		So I don't know if it's a trillion dollars being cut from Medicaid, but I think what is important is that able-bodied people who are able to work and who are not working and who are on Medicaid must get job training if they need it and get a job in order to continue to receive benefits.
		So it's not cutting the benefits per se.
		It's saying you can still have the benefits if you qualify for them.
		And I think that's perfectly reasonable.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		It's also reducing some of the funding to states for Medicaid programs, correct?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Yes, it is, yeah.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Carla is in New York City on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Carla.
unidentified		Hello.
		Hi, Mr. Thomas.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I'm such a big fan.
		You're a practical guy.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
unidentified		I think I'm practical too, and I really like that.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, please.
		Who are you going to vote for in the mayor's race?
		Who are you going to vote for?
unidentified		I voted for Scott Stringer, but unfortunately, he didn't get in.
		But we'll see what goes on with this guy, Zorani.
		I mean, I'm not thrilled about it, but we'll see.
		I do think we need a lot of changes here in New York City.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		So come on to Florida.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		No taxes there.
unidentified		Okay.
		My question is about retirement and Social Security.
		I don't understand how they can keep giving people Social Security raises if they think they're going to run out of money in 2033 or 2034.
		That just makes no sense to me.
		My second point is, would it really be so terrible if they privatized Social Security?
		No.
		Because all the government would have to do is mandate that you take 6, 7% of your salary, and you can take that money, and you can do whatever you want with it.
		You can put it in crypto, CDs, stocks, bonds, whatever.
		You don't like it one year, change it the next.
		No big deal.
		Maybe then the employers wouldn't have to pay a tax, and then they can incentivize their employees by giving them maybe better wages, a pension, something to that effect.
		And if they did that, maybe we could cut the Social Security Administration to a fraction and then talk about government savings.
		I'm sure that would be a big savings down the road.
		And that money would not be going to the government.
		It would be going to the economy because I'm sure the banks, excuse me, the brokerage houses, small businesses, people who sell annuities, people who, you know, investment councils, people just...
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So, Carly, you've laid out quite a few ideas.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Let's play Cal.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		I'm voting for her.
		She's all right.
		Let me tell you, this has been tried for years, of course, but the government doesn't want to give up any power or any control over your life.
		Now, I'm a big fan for reforming Social Security.
		I think people who don't need it shouldn't get it.
		You're above a certain income level, unless there's an emergency, a provision that could be put in there.
		You don't need it.
		Jack Kemp, the former congressman from Buffalo, New York, former New York Jets quarterback, tried to do this, reform Social Security.
		He wasn't successful.
		Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the House, tried to do the same thing, came up with a solid plan.
		There were some problems with it, but it was better than anything else I've seen.
		And the Democrat response was a commercial with an old lady in a wheelchair being thrown over a cliff.
		And that's not a legitimate response.
		Here's what the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget says: this bill accelerates, the big, beautiful bill, accelerates Social Security and Medicare insolvency to 2032, a year earlier than under the current law.
		So there are reforms that can be made, but Congress is going to have to make them.
		And everybody doesn't deserve Social Security.
		One of the big lies, of course, is that, oh, well, it's my money.
		I put it.
		No, it's a tax.
		It's not your money.
		It doesn't go into a little box in the Treasury Department with your name on it.
		So when you turn 65 or whenever you decide to retire, you get the money out of that box.
		It's a tax.
		It's a tax.
		Then that's what the big lie is about Social Security.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Gordon is in Laramie, Wyoming on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Gordon.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Hey, Gordon.
unidentified		Good morning.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Love your license plates with a bucking horse.
unidentified		Say it again.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		I love your license plates with a bucking horse.
unidentified		Steamboat, the Bronco, right off.
		Hey, thanks.
		Yeah, I'm people who call me a rhino are the actual rhinos are forgetting.
		And you mentioned Convention of the States, Article 5.
		Sounds like a good idea.
		We do need more naturalized citizens.
		People who are being deported that have been paying income tax, Social Security, and Medicare.
		Trump's stealing our money right out of our pockets.
		And the lady mentioned Alligator Ellie.
		Yeah, Trump is inappropriate, period.
		That's all I got, I guess.
		Thanks a lot.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, what's your real position there?
		Yeah, I think there's a lot of money being made.
		The president's kids are still selling all this stuff.
		Some have called him grifters.
		I mean, he's selling Bibles, which is kind of ironic since he doesn't read it, apparently.
		Can't quote a verse from it.
		And he's selling all this other shtick.
		But there's too much money in politics.
		I mean, I do like the British system where it's five or six weeks of campaigning, not 365.
		I mean, after the last election, Kimberly, you know this as well as anybody.
		They start talking about 2026 and 2028.
		It's always about the next election.
		Let's focus on the problems and what actually works and solve them.
		We're not talking about a cure for Alzheimer's.
		Please let that come soon.
		But there are a lot of other things that we can cure.
		They don't want to do it because it's about control.
		That's why we need term limits.
		Get these people out before they're corrupted.
		Recycle trash in Congress for the same reason because each left in one place too long begins to emit a foul smell.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		You're echoing some of the points I think we're going to hear from our guests later on about wanting to have more turnover in Congress.
		Let's now go to Deanette in Portland, Oregon on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Danette.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I really am a little bit shocked because I agree with Cal Tom on more things than I have in the past.
		I agree with his immigration pretty much because these people who are masked with no ID, who come and pluck people off the streets, they are kidnappers, in my opinion, and they should be arrested.
		Anyway, the other thing is immigrants contribute so much to this country.
		So many have been here so long and were not made citizens yet.
		And if they've committed no crimes, let's make them citizens and stop this.
		I feel the line to be a citizen has stopped.
		And I remember when Ronald Reagan said this whole immigration thing is nuts, he made everybody who was here almost who wasn't a criminal a citizen.
		And it got that monkey off our back for a long time.
		And I'm highly Democrat.
		I voted for one Republican in my lifetime, and that was really George Bush Sr. for the second term because my husband went to Operation Desert Storm.
		He was a guard in the guard and came back alive and well, and we won that war.
		And his son said, let's go to Iraq.
		And the senior statement is a good question.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I want to let Kyle respond to some of the points that you raised.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, thanks for coming my way on some of these things.
		That's very nice.
		I think that Iraq was a mistake.
		There were no weapons of mass destruction discovered, despite what President George W. Bush said and Tony Blair, then the Prime Minister of the UK.
		And we make mistakes in some of these things, and we need to try to fix those mistakes, although it's pretty hard to fix someone who has died or has had a limb amputated.
		But here's the problem.
		I hate to repeat myself, but I think it's important.
		The founders never understood, never expected politics and serving in public office to be a career.
		These were people for many, many years, well into the 19th century, who worked on farms and law offices and businesses and came to Washington after being elected to do public service, to really serve the public.
		But now it's become a career.
		Some of these people have been there 40 years, like Chuck Schumer, and they even brag about it and their institutional knowledge, as they call it.
		Well, how's that working out?
		The institutional knowledge.
		We need some fresh faces.
		The problem with all of this, of course, is that to have term limits, the very people who benefit from politics as a career would have to vote it in.
		And that's not going to happen.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Scott is in New York on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Scott.
unidentified		Yes, good morning, oh, man.
		This isn't what I'm calling.
		I'm going to say, though, the mega actually is the third party, took over the Republican Party.
		But that is not why I'm calling.
		Also, I want to tell these people that are calling in every couple days, we know who you are.
		You don't sound real smart when you call every couple days.
		Make it a 30 day.
		Now, I heard Mr. the head speaker Johnson talking about the Biden family, you know, the crime Biden family.
		And the one Biden boy, well, he never worked for the government.
		Here's what I'm wondering why.
		Nobody's looked into why Donald Trump's daughter was a member of his cabinet.
		And she flew over with the cabinet to China to do government business.
		But while she was over there doing government business, she met with businessmen over there and got different patents and different trademarks and made all kinds of money.
		She might not have took any money to represent us in government, but she made over $600 million in the four years that she was representing the Trump administration and our government.
		God bless all of us.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Scott, let's let Cal respond.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		You touched on this earlier.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, well, you can't go to China and get trademarks and patents.
		That's something that happens in the United States.
		But yes, there is too much of that.
		You think of Harry Truman, for example.
		And David McCullough has written a brilliant book about Harry Truman.
		He went down to Union Station, not far from the studio here, after his presidency, after Eisenhower was elected and sworn in.
		And there was no security.
		He got on a train and he went home to his hometown in Independence, Missouri.
		Those days are gone.
		Now, and it used to be you would only sell the presidency after you left office.
		Reagan was offered, I think he went, he got a million dollars for a speech in Japan.
		But now a lot of them sell their products, their product while they're in office.
		You remember the Clintons' coffee clotches where big donors would be brought in to meet the president and Hillary Clinton.
		I mean, this kind of stuff has been going on.
		It's not unique to one party.
		I think there's too much money in politics.
		We need a limited campaign season.
		We need free TV time for people to make their cases before the public and then get on with the election.
		I mean, what was it, two or three election cycles ago was the first billion-dollar election.
		That is obscene.
		Imagine what could happen with all that money being used for other things.
		It's terrible.
		But it doesn't change.
		It will only change if the public elects people who bring real change.
		So it's really our fault in the end if we keep voting for the same people and expect different results.
		Definition of insanity.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Our caller referenced trademarks and patents in China that went to, he was referencing Ivanka Trump.
		This is a story from the Associated Press in 2018 during Trump's term that China granted 18 trademarks in two months to Trump and his daughter.
		The Chinese government granted 18 trademarks to companies linked to President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump over those last two months, according to Chinese public records at the time.
unidentified		All right.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Richard in North Carolina on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Richard.
unidentified		Yeah, everybody's talking about needing change and let's fix this and everything.
		And you're a syndicated columnist, right?
		Yes, sir.
		Have you done anything about the spying on Trump's campaign?
		Have you done anything about all the lies about the Russian dossier?
		Sure.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		You can go to my webpage, CalThomis.com, and scroll down through the years, and you'll see some things on that.
		New York Post, of course, has taken the lead on this.
		They've been brilliant on all of it.
		And, of course, their reporting has been denied until recently by a lot of Democrats and even many others in the media who claim that it was all Russian hoax.
		Yes, I've written about it.
		Thanks for your call.
unidentified		You ready?
		No, no, no.
		Okay, you're talking about Trump's family and the kids and everything and the money that they've made.
		Yep.
		Okay, but what about what?
		You people, you're sitting there lying to us to our face and you think we don't see it.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Who is you people?
unidentified		You.
unidentified		Me?
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		What kind of lie have I told?
unidentified		C-SPAN and the FBI, the CIA, all of you people have just been lying.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		All of you people.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Wow.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Richard, is there something specific that you feel like we are lying about today?
unidentified		Today?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Yes.
unidentified		No, it's not what you're not lying about it, but what you are.
		Well, yeah, you're lying about the money that his children have made and how it's criminal.
		It's not criminal.
		They were doing this before they ever got into politics.
		Okay.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		William is in Atlanta, Georgia on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, William.
unidentified		Hey, how are you doing?
		I think it's just being a little ingenuous because we know that the United States for some reason has to be number one.
		And then they have a segment of people in the United States who think they are Americans and they need to be number one.
		With these people wanting to be number one, they need to put somebody down.
		It seems like they live for it.
		So it's to put any minority down, is to put any country that doesn't have nuclear weapons down.
		When I watch the destruction of the United States in the fall of the United States, I just look at the people who claim it and I watch them tear it down.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So, William, this kind of relates to Cal's column that we referenced earlier.
		What does it mean to be an American?
		What do you think it means to be an American?
unidentified		There is no America because the people don't know the history of the country.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		That is a good point.
		That is a very good point.
		So much of our history has been rewritten in the public schools and at so many universities.
		It's one of the reasons you see these violent demonstrators from the river to the sea and Palestine will be free and anti-Israel and anti-Jewish threats to Jewish students who want to simply go to class or go to the library.
		People don't know their history.
		You may have seen some people interview some of these demonstrators, ask them, which river, which sea are you talking about?
		They don't know.
		They don't have a clue.
		And a lot of people don't know the principles behind America's founding.
		So you're exactly right on that point, and thanks for making it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Ken is in Tampa, Florida on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Ken.
unidentified		Yes, good morning, Mr. Cal.
unidentified		A pleasure to speak with you.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Mr. Kim.
unidentified		And I'm happy to follow the person when you talk about history.
		And just like, for example, what I like about you is that you like to tell it like it is and you keep it real.
		Now, being a black man, I'm retired from the military.
		I'm 64 years old.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Thank you for your time.
unidentified		And the deal is, and the problem with America is that we still struggle with racism.
		Now, I'm trying to make this quick, Kimley.
		Now, back in the day, I remember watching Walter Concrete, and they were in the GM factory, and people were beginning to make $20 an hour, this and that.
		So make a long story short, they were interviewing this gentleman, and he said, look, I would rather pay more taxes than to have one of those N-words working beside me.
		To where back then, it took one worker for three people to sit at home.
		Now it done flip to where it take three people to support one person to work from home.
		So it comes back to where you reap what you sow.
		And I'm not trying to use the race thing, but white folks, fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers created this.
		Now you got people sitting at home thinking that they're entitled because of how America created a system to keep certain people at home.
		So now, when you got all these immigrant, all these people coming across the border, and like you say, Americans do have a conscience.
		The reason why they are so hard on sending all these people back, because that system wasn't designed for them to just come along.
		I'm not sure.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I'm losing track a little bit here.
		Are you referencing sort of the historical legacy of racism and how that's showing up in the modern economy?
		Or are you talking about immigration?
unidentified		Wow, that's exactly what I'm saying.
unidentified		How what you just said about racism is showing up now in 2025 and before.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, well, let's let Cal talk about this.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Here's one of the problems in the media, and I've written about this on occasion.
		So much of the media focus on violence in the inner cities, shoplifting, other people who are not white engaged in unlawful or unwise behavior.
		This has an effect of putting in the minds of the majority certain images and certain beliefs.
		I have long advocated that the media spend more time focusing on successful minorities.
		There was a guy on the radio years ago called Paul Harvey, who was extremely popular, and he would engage in this segment called The Rest of the Story.
		And many of those stories talked about people who were born into difficult circumstances, black, Asian, Hispanic, whatever they were, and how they overcame them.
		This used to be the story of America, a land of opportunity.
		It was not the final verdict on your life that you were born into a poor family, that you were of a certain race, that you were on what they used to call the other side of the tracks.
		Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court justice, is a perfect example of that.
		Brought up by his grandmother with no indoor plumbing, dirt floors.
		He's now an associate justice on the Supreme Court.
		That's the kind of thing we used to promote in America.
		But now we're promoting the opposite and are shocked to find we get more of it.
		There's a race industry in this country, and I'm not the only one to say that.
		There are people who benefit from keeping us divided.
		I want to focus on those who are trying to unite us.
		And that is the essence of America.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Sal is in New Jersey on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Sal.
unidentified		Hi.
		Good morning, Mr. Thomas.
		Good morning, Sal.
		I just had a few points.
		I think, like you said, the Constitution with immigration was written back then, and the way they looked at the country was different than what's going on today, I think.
		so it needs to be, like, reformed a little.
		Next, I was asked about...
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Excuse me, what part would you reform?
unidentified		Uh...
		The way immigration.
		I think when you said people come here legal citizen, when you walk on the grounds of America and you become a citizen, I think that's idiotic.
		If you don't have, you know, be vetted and everything and to be looked at, you just can't just let anybody just walk onto the ground and go, you're a citizen of America.
		To me, that sounds absurd.
		And then you have a child here, and then you're a citizen too.
		And the other thing I was going to answer, did anything ever hear anything recent about the airplane who was going to Epstein Island?
		And the third thing, and the third thing I was going to say was, I think it's going to be very hard for this country ever to come into total peace because we have so many different nationalities of all the people.
		They all have different religions, different outlooks.
		And I think they have to come together and want to be American citizens and go by our traditions.
		And if they don't look at it that way, I don't think it's going to ever have calmness in our country.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, that's what we had, of course, in the early 20th century, especially with the Irish.
		Now, the Irish were discriminated against when they came in, but they managed to assimilate.
		And now we celebrate the Irish, not only on St. Patrick's Day, but on a lot of other days.
		Look at all the Irish bars that are scattered all over America.
		I just came back from China in an Asian trip.
		I found an Irish bar in Beijing, of all things.
		So I think there is a way to assimilate.
		There is a way to accommodate.
		And it requires goodwill.
		We are all basically, I mean, my heritage is partially Irish.
		Did one of those DNA tests.
		My favorite guy on this is Skip Gates of Harvard, who's done this wonderful series on PBS called African American Lives.
		He did these DNA tests on a lot of people to find their back to their slave history ancestors.
		But then he decided to do a DNA test on himself, and he found out that he was 60% Irish.
		I said, Skip, you don't look Irish.
		And that's the point.
		We're all mongrels.
		We're all part of this grand gene pool of life.
		So racism is basically hating a part of yourself.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Tony in Columbia, Pennsylvania on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tony.
unidentified		Good morning.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Can you turn down the volume on your TV, please, Tony?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Then go ahead.
unidentified		Okay.
unidentified		My question is: if the insurance industry caps medical at $1 million on your insurance policy, why is it that the government ain't giving us free health care?
gene in georgia ▲ ● ▼		Being that we spend billions to other organizations, other countries, when there's only, and I'm taking it at the high number, 400 million people in this country.
ben in tampa ▲ ● ▼		We could give everybody a $1 million health insurance for their lives, as the insurance industry does, and give everybody free health care.
unidentified		Make it make sense why we just don't put money into an account like Social Security, and everybody gets free health care.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Well, there is no such thing as free anything.
		Somebody has to pay for it.
		I used to have property in the UK, and when I had minor injuries, you know, a scratch or whatever, I'd go in to what they call it, the surgery, and I would get immediate help, and I didn't have to pay for it.
		I was paying property taxes on the place that I own there.
		But a friend of mine who had to have a knee replacement said he was put on a waiting list for six months.
		Six months.
		And so he went private and paid the extra money and got the knee replaced right away.
		So you are right in the sense that drug prices are still too high here.
		Every administration promises to bring them down.
		Some of the drugs that I have to take, if it wasn't for insurance, it costs $700 or $1,000 for a 30-day supply.
		Well, in Canada or Mexico or South America, you can get it for pocket change.
		I've actually, well, I'm not going to admit that.
		I might get arrested.
		So there is a great inequity here that needs to be fixed.
		And once again, you brought up a problem that we know the solution to.
		Maybe not your solution, but it can be done.
		What we lack is the will to do it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, that is all the time that we have for our segment.
		Thank you so much to syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, who is also author of many books, including A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America.
		Thank you very much for that.
cal thomas ▲ ● ▼		Thank you, Kimberly, for having me.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Now, coming up later on Washington Journal, we will be joined by Run for Somethings Amanda Littman to discuss her group's effort to help elect young progressives to public office and the state of the Democratic Party.
		But up next, we're going to take more of your calls and comments on Open Forum.
		Our phone lines again for Democrats, 202-748-8000.
		For Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		And for Independents, 202-748-8002.
unidentified		We'll be right back.
brian lamb ▲ ● ▼		This year, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
		Netflix is offering a five-part documentary series titled Turning Point: The Vietnam War, directed by Brian Knappenberger.
		The series includes never-before-seen footage of the war from the CBS archives.
		Also included in the documentary are interviews with participants in the war, both from the North and the South.
		One of the most frequent voices heard during the series is Columbia University professor Leanne Hong Nguyen, born in Vietnam in 1974.
		She is the youngest of nine children and was brought to the United States by her parents in 1975.
unidentified		Author Leon Hong Nguyen with her book, Hanoi's War, an international history of the war for peace in Vietnam on this episode of BookNotes Plus with our host Brian Lamb.
		BookNotes Plus is available wherever you get your podcasts and on the C-SPAN Now app.
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		c-span democracy unfiltered in a nation divided a rare moment of unity This fall, C-SPAN presents Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins.
		In a town where partisan fighting prevails, one table, two leaders, one goal, to find common ground.
		This fall, ceasefire on the network that doesn't take sides, only on C-SPAN.
		Washington Journal continues.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We're now in open form, ready to take your comments on the news of the week and anything else that's on your mind in regards to national politics.
		But first, let's get an update on the ongoing search and rescue operations in Texas after those devastating floods.
		Here's a story from the Associated Press that the Texas floods leave at least 51 dead, 27 girls missing as rescuers search a devastated landscape.
		Rescuers scoured a devastated Central Texas landscape of mangled trees, overturned cars, and muck-filled debris Saturday in an increasingly bleak mission to locate survivors, including 27 girls who have not been seen since their camp was slammed with a wall of water in a historic flash flood.
		The flooding in Kerr County killed at least 43 people.
		The updated number is 51 now, including 15 children, and at least eight people died in nearby counties.
		Authorities have still not said how many people were missing beyond the children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County, where most of the dead were recovered.
unidentified		We'll be following that story this morning as well.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		But let's get to open form.
		We will start with William in Triangle, Virginia, on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, William.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Carol Tommas was talking about how the media promotes race, blacks and browns as, you know, the evil people.
		I'm 70 years ago.
		I can remember coming up in South Carolina and listening to that water car attack.
		And every time they did a story on welfare, it was always a black person, usually a fat black woman with probably two or three kids around her.
		And they're doing these stories on welfare.
		And they portraying blacks as, you know, the only ones on welfare.
		Same thing with crime.
		They portray blacks and browns as committing all the crime.
		I mean I looked at the FBI statistics.
		White men commit more crime in America than anybody else.
		But they use percentage so they can, since blacks are a smaller percentage of the population, they use that as a way of calculating it.
		So blacks are browns of the largest show, the largest percentage of people doing crime.
		But if you put raw numbers down there, if you line all the black rapists, white racists, brown racists together, the line and the white guys are probably double what the black and the brown do.
		And that's how they keep us down and keep us in a negative form, black and brown people.
		And in the immigration thing, white folks are afraid of being the minority in this country.
		Okay.
		And that's why they're trying to get all these brown and black people out.
		They're afraid of being the minority in this country.
		And things progress the way they are.
		It's going to be a minority country.
		I served 20 years in the Marine Corps and 100% disabled revealment.
		And I'm in pain every day for serving this country.
		But they portray us, black people.
		That's censors still.
		Thank you.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Frank is in Waltham, Massachusetts on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Frank.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		How are you doing?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
unidentified		Kim, can you hear me?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Yes, I can.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Go ahead, Frank.
unidentified		Okay.
		I don't know what that guy just said.
		Was he a Democrat?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		He did call in our line for Democrats, but it's your turn now.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What are your thoughts on open forum?
unidentified		It was nothing but hate.
		They got to stop hating.
		You are a beautiful woman.
		You understand?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
		Did you hear?
		Any other comments for open forum?
unidentified		They got to stop hating.
		I'm not talking about Democrat and Republicans.
		They just got to stop hating.
		Stop hating.
		Excuse my friends.
		I love you, Camps.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thanks.
		Brian is in Salem, Massachusetts, on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Brian.
unidentified		Good morning, and thank you for C-SPAN.
		I just wanted to comment on a couple of things.
		Like the last gentleman talked about hate, but I watched the president on his 4th of July speech when he said how Republicans hate him, and that's why he hates Democrats.
		And it's a sad fact.
		My second point is the woman that wants to privatize Social Security.
		We privatize medicine, and now we have the most expensive health care.
		But I believe the last time I checked, we were ranked below Ecuador.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
		Stephen is in Santi, California on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Stephen.
unidentified		Yes, ma'am.
		I just want to bring up this thing you were talking about, Texas and the floods and the FEMA issue.
		Trump has basically hammered FEMA.
		And they're saying on the news that, you know, FEMA's down in Texas, all this stuff.
		Hurricanes, floods, fires, like in California, they're not subjective to politics.
		It happens.
		And in this country, we're supposed to be taking care of everybody, tax-wise and everything else.
		I think everybody needs to get together in this next election and take a good hard look at who the hell's in place right now and fix this problem.
		I know you got progressives coming up.
		I think Jamie Haskins is presidential myself because he's constitutionalist.
		And we've gotten so far away from the Constitution, it's sad.
		And The people in this country need to wake up no matter what party they belong to.
		I thank you for your time.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Rob is in Richmond, Virginia on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Rob.
unidentified		Thank you, Kimberly, for having me this morning.
		This is what I want to ask a lot of the Republican colleagues that support Trump.
		They voted because he said that the immigrants were taking away from their health care and their food stamp services.
		So these are two-part thing I want to ask them.
		First, how is it better?
		Let's just say he's taken them at his word and they were taking their service away from him.
		Seems now with this deal that they've increased it, I think it's like over $200 and some billion dollars for like ICE.
		A lot of it was going towards like detention centers just for one year, that so-called alligator alcatraz.
		$450 million for 1,600 beds.
		That's $1.2 million a day.
		So even if you took them at, they're still taking away tenfold their services from, if you want to put it that way.
		And secondly, I want someone to ask him at a press conference: well, now he's up to saving, which I'm for immigration.
		I think that they should allow these people that over here fast-track visas or whatever citizenship.
		But someone should ask him when this press conference says, now that he's on board, because his donors, the farmers and the hospitality, are saying that he can, you know, he wants them to stay here.
		Ask him, well, who's going to pick up the tab for the Medicaid that these health services, these immigrants have to use and for the food assistance they're using?
kevin in ohio ▲ ● ▼		Because it seems like that his bill just got costlier in price because in essence, he's going to let he's backtracking on it, which I, you know, again, I have no problem with immigration, but he has to explain that this is actually going to cost more money.
unidentified		And are the farmers that are going to offer health insurance, or hospitality that offer health insurance?
		And that's pretty much what I would like to ask them.
		Maybe a Republican caller can answer that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Next up is Kay in Anderson, Texas on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Kay.
unidentified		Well, hi.
		I'm calling from a very small, very red county.
		And in my senior club, you can't even go in there and try to discuss politics because Republicans will shoot you down.
		And so I quit going to my senior club.
		In regard to what I would like to see as a party, I would call it the Centrist Party.
		And I would like to have Liz Cheney and Amy Coastburg run.
		And if not that, the Clintons.
		They're probably the most intellectual people around this world.
		And I've had both of them run together.
		That's my story.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, it'll be interesting if you stick around for our next segment with our guest who is encouraging younger people to run for positions within the Democratic Party as well.
		Next up is William in Walcott, New York on our line for Republicans.
		Good morning, William.
unidentified		Good morning, and how are you doing, dear?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Fine, thank you.
unidentified		Yeah, I just want something that's never going to happen, but should happen in this country.
		They need to do away with Republicans and Democrats and independents.
		They just need to do away with all of it and just have everybody vote for one party and do away with all that nonsense.
		And we wouldn't be fighting with each other over Republicans and Democrats and who's better and all that.
		And another comment about prejudice.
		Everybody, if you're prejudiced, if you think somebody's prejudiced against you, that's all I got to say.
		You know, nobody's prejudiced.
		You're making yourself being prejudiced, thinking the way you think that people are prejudiced against you.
		Don't you understand that?
		All right, dear, that's about all I got to say.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Mustafa is in Jackson, Mississippi on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Mustafa.
unidentified		Hi, that's Jackson, Michigan.
		Thank you, Kimberly, for you.
		Excuse me.
		That's okay.
		You're doing a wonderful job.
		One does that Michigan and Mississippi thing.
		So as a proud U.S. Army veteran and a proud black American whose ancestors built this country, I would like to discuss real briefly FBAs who are descendants of freedmen escaping a plantation and watching the Democrats crash out with ratchets like Crockett and AOC simply because of their benign neglect toward the FBA community and their anti-black racism and anti-black misandry toward the FBA community.
		I would also not blindly follow or vote for the anti-black Republic Klan Party either.
		So going forward, I would support a party based on policies that I feel affect my family and the FBA wider community.
		Currently, those are four issues within the political realm that FBAs are focused on.
		And I'll be real brief, Kimberly.
		Lineage-based caste reparations for black American descendants of Freedmen, an anti-black American hate crime bill, stopping and deporting the Harris and Biden illegal economic illegal alien immigrants, and restarting the Freedmen's Bureau.
		Lastly, I would implore you and your listeners to please stop referring to the foundational black Americans by the misnomer of African American.
		It helps create ethnocide against black American descendants of freedmen.
		We are not generic Africans or people of color.
		Some black people were here prior to slavery.
		Furthermore, an ethnogenesis has taken place.
		And before I leave real quick, one of your callers mentioned Black and Brown Coalition.
		There is no such thing.
		The white Latinos, their self-description, are just as anti-black racist as all other groups.
		Thank you for taking my call.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Renee is in Westchester, Pennsylvania on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Renee.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Yes.
		Race is a joke in America.
		I did a DNA.
		I'm considered, I call myself black American.
		And when I did DNA, more, I don't know, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of white faces popped up.
		These are people who go as white Americans.
		In their DNA, they have African blood.
		They have it in their background.
		There were a lot of people doing slavery post-slavery that the word passed.
		They went as white people.
		They were mixed.
		There are a lot of white people in America that are not European, 100%, 99%, whatever.
		They are, they have, there's a lot of people.
victoria in montana ▲ ● ▼		And then the people that, as myself, black American, I have a whole bunch of European blood in me.
unidentified		So American people, period, maybe not the Native Americans and some others, but definitely the Latinos.
		They're very mixed blood.
		We're all very mixed blood.
		So race is a joke in America.
		I'm sorry.
		That's all I wanted to say.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Randy is in Kentucky on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Randy.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you.
		Just wanted to say about your tax code and all the things that that how that works and how simple simple these things are.
		You have the rich people that make all the jobs because they have businesses and they got rich by having businesses.
		And then they have the workers that work for them.
		And all tax money, state, federal, and local, comes from business.
		And if the worker pays their taxes, they work for a business to get the money to pay their taxes.
		Now, communism says that we want to take all the rich people's money and divide it up between everybody and don't have any job incentives.
		That way we'll all starve to death together.
		And you have all the fascism because the wolves, the communists, are nipping at their heels of the rich people, rich corporations.
		They run to the government for protection and get in bid with government.
		And the communist government wants to take over all the means of production.
		It's just always a battle between the rich and the haves and have-nots, the wolves and the prey.
		And just stop.
		Just realize what communist nation that we are right now.
		And to have a commune, live in a commune, you want to have a godly commune.
		You don't want to steal from somebody else and receive stolen property that the government gives you, that somebody they stole from people forcefully, so that they could give it to you and make themselves gods.
		That's what the first commandment in the Bible is, don't make yourself a god.
		And that's what everybody wants to do.
		That was original sin.
		They wanted to make themselves gods.
		And you just cannot do that.
		You have to just have a godly government instead of a devil evil government that forces everybody to do everything.
		You don't own your children.
		You don't own yourself.
		All your money belongs to the government, God.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay, Randy, I think you've got the idea.
		I'm going to get to some other folks.
		Let's hear from Wolf in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on our line for independence.
		Good morning, Wolf.
unidentified		Yeah, I'd like to point out that we've never had such a venal president.
		You know, he sued George Stephanopoulos and ABC for the dire sin of mislabeling him as a rapist rather than a sexual assaulter.
		But then if you look at what Elon Musk accused him of a couple weeks ago, he said his small hands were all over the Epstein tapes.
douglas in unknown ▲ ● ▼		But surprisingly, he hasn't sued Musk, who from what I hear is a very wealthy man.
unidentified		So I think that should be investigated.
		And really, throw the bum out.
		He's monetizing the office.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Next up is Edna in Illinois on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Edna.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Thank you for taking my call.
		I am the proud niece of five African-American brothers who served this country from 1939 to 1945.
		Thank God.
		They're all gone today.
		They would not recognize the country that they fought for.
		All at the same time, five brothers.
		I am really proud of their service.
		I was 10 years old when they came out of service in 1945.
		I am 90 years old today.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Edna, I want you to finish your point, but could you turn down the volume on your TV and then please continue?
unidentified		Okay.
unidentified		Okay, can you hear me now?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Yes, go ahead.
unidentified		Okay, like I said, I am a proud niece of five brothers.
		All these brothers served this country at the same time between 1939 and 1945.
		And they all came home safe, thank God for that.
		Not a one came home in the condition of this country today.
		When Donald Trump came down that escalator, he brought hate.
		He brought everything that this country does not deserve.
		And I cannot understand people still voted for an Indian.
		He's destroying the country, people.
		Remember, when you vote again for these midterms, vote for the person who's not have a whole lot of money behind him.
		Vote for the person with best money.
		That's the person that will help you, not the person that's getting millions of dollars to get out there and make a fool out of you.
		I love you, America, but you have got to stand up and stop the mess because it is killing everybody.
		Thank you for taking my call.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		John is in Jamestown, North Dakota on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I must say that I am a first-time watcher of your program this morning, and I just would like to say this country has become, it is no longer made in America.
		It is no longer sourced in America.
		It is only sold in America.
		Let's work on that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What do you mean, John, that it's only sold in America?
unidentified		Well, what I'm saying is, you know, let's bring some more jobs back, you know, back home.
unidentified		Let's focus on, you know, home here, our backyard.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So what do you think of the president's tariff policies in terms of that potentially bringing more manufacturing back to the United States?
unidentified		I don't see it happening yet.
		I mean, it kind of just seems, you know, the bullying, the fear-mongering, and all that, you know, from any political party or, you know, anyone in office and the media.
		It's, you know, ridiculous.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, thanks for watching for the first time today.
		Let's go to Elizabeth.
		Thank you.
		Let's go to Elizabeth in Michigan on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Elizabeth.
unidentified		Yes, good morning.
		You're doing a great job as always.
		Thank you.
		Unless you are a Native American, you are not, you are an immigrant in the United States of America.
		The United States has been built on a lie.
		They've mistreated most ethnicities in this country at one time or another.
		And until this man that's in the White House is out of the White House because he's really strewing out a lot of hate and he's ruining a lot of people's lives until he's taken out of that White House and we can get someone in that unifies people, not divides.
		And he's such a smart aleck.
		He thinks he's really intelligent and he's not.
		He's not intelligent.
		He's a sick man.
		And until he's out of that White House or assigned in some way and stopped doing all these things to ruin people's lives, we're being destroyed within.
		And it's a sad situation.
		It's a sad situation that we've gotten in.
		And the very people that have he that voted him in, he's destroying their lives and they can't see it.
		And all of the people under him are afraid of him.
		That's why they don't stand up like men and women and follow the law.
		They're afraid of this nut.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Gloria is in Lobelville, Tennessee on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Gloria.
unidentified		Good morning.
unidentified		I hope you have a beautiful, very calm day.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you.
unidentified		I want to share with you a poem that I wrote many years ago.
		I've been sharing it with some of my people I see in the stores.
		They say it's good.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Gloria, just turn.
		Make sure the volume on your TV is turned down, and then we only have a little bit of time left for the segments.
		But go ahead.
unidentified		There, I just put the mute button on.
		All right, my poem goes, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, non-believers, including you, in the eyes of our Creator, we're sister and brother.
		Get on with your life and accept one another.
		For in my own family, we very seldom all agree.
		But one thing we all agree on, to love and accept our full lives long.
		For just as God created the earth and the flowers in all of the colors, he also made us as sisters and brothers.
		I call that poem One Race Human.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Okay.
unidentified		And when I share it at the stores, they say, that's beautiful.
		I don't know how to get anything published.
		I'm too old.
		But I don't mind sharing the words of love and acceptance, which is all this earth really needs now.
		Okay.
		That was all I had to say.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Let's hear from Rich in Broadheadsville, Pennsylvania on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Rich.
unidentified		Yes, thank you for taking my call and happy birthday, America.
		But I digress.
		Teddy Roosevelt once said, a true patriot is loyal to the Constitution, not to a party or an individual.
		That is what I see in this country today is how people are dedicating their soul, every waking hour, to this guy in the White House.
		I respect the office, but I do not respect this person who is number 47.
		And I would like to make a comment on the floods in Texas.
		I've been watching both, you know, all the networks.
		Where's Ted Cruz?
		I see Chip Roy.
		I see the governor.
		I see the lieutenant governor.
		I see local.
		Where's Ted Cruz?
		Also, in this big, beautiful, bogus bill, why are we still, I think Democrats are focused too much on one message.
		How about what they're going to do to giving oil subsidies, giving subsidies to the oil companies?
		Don't they make enough?
jt in texas ▲ ● ▼		You know, and what about Native American reparations?
unidentified		I'm tired of hearing all this.
		Let's respect the Native Americans.
		Let's respect the treaties.
		Let's respect their land.
		Let's respect what they believe in.
		This country, I am ashamed to wave the flag because if I wave the flag, I don't want to be considered a fake patriot.
		And I'm sorry, but these Republicans out there, these Trumpers, you're all a bunch of fake.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So that is all the time that we have for open forum today.
		We are going to, after a brief break, we are going to come back and be joined by Run for Something's Amanda Littman, who will discuss her group's effort to help elect young progressives to public office.
		And we'll also talk a bit about the state of the Democratic Party.
		We'll be right back.
unidentified		July 4th, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
		And tonight, on C-SPAN's Q ⁇ A, we're joined by former U.S. Treasurer and the chair of the America 250 Commission, Rosie Rios.
		She'll talk about several of the events that will occur over the next year, including the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade back in June and other initiatives that the public can participate in leading up to the anniversary.
rosie rios ▲ ● ▼		The movement and the moments.
		And let me just say, there's a couple of moments that are unprecedented, that have never happened before in this country, that are being planned as we speak.
		That is so unreal.
		If I showed you the screenshot of what we're planning, your first reaction, as it was for our commission, was, you've got to be kidding, it's happening.
		And it is happening.
		So stay tuned.
		Much more to come.
		But again, what I'm most excited about is continuing our programming long after 2026.
unidentified		America 250 Commission Chair Rosie Rios tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN's Q ⁇ A. You can listen to Q&A and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app.
		From the beginning, C-SPAN was there for every word of debate, every vote.
		C-SPAN was there, giving you around-the-clock coverage through all-nighters into the early morning hours with record-breaking back-to-back votes in the Senate.
		We're going to press on until victory is won.
		I yield back.
		And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries giving the longest House speech ever.
		Only on C-SPAN could you witness the full story unfold, unfiltered, in real time.
		The Yaser 218, the Naser 214.
		The motion is adopted.
		We're sort of celebrating like the biggest bill of its kind ever signed.
		And it's going to make this country into a rocket ship.
		It's gonna be really great.
		America marks 250 years.
		And C-SPAN is there to commemorate every moment.
		From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the voices shaping our nation's future, we bring you unprecedented all-platform coverage, exploring the stories, sights, and spirit that make up America.
		Join us for remarkable coast-to-coast coverage, celebrating our nation's journey like no other network can.
		America 250.
		Over a year of historic moments.
		Only on the C-SPAN networks.
		Washington Journal continues.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Welcome back.
		We're joined now by Amanda Littman, who is the co-founder and president of the group Run for Something here to discuss young progressives and the future of the Democratic Party.
		Welcome to Washington Journal.
unidentified		Thank you for having me.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So can you tell us a bit about Run for Something, what your group does, and what led you to found it?
unidentified		So Run for Something was born of the ashes of the 2016 election.
		I had worked for Hillary for two years in a number of campaigns before that.
		And shortly after the loss in 2016, I started hearing from people I'd gone to high school and college with: hey, Amanda, you're the only person I know that works in politics.
		If I want to run for office, what do I do?
		Who do I call?
		And at the time, there wasn't somewhere you could go if you were a young person newly excited about politics that wanted to do more than vote and more than volunteer.
		So I reached out to a whole bunch of people with an idea.
		What if we solved this problem?
		One of those became my co-founder, Ross Morales-Friquetto.
		We wrote a plan, we built a website, and we launched Run for Something on Trump's first inauguration day, committed to recruiting and supporting young diverse leaders running for state and local office all across the country.
		We thought it would be small.
		We'd get maybe 100 people in the first year.
		We had 1,000 in the first week.
		And as of today, we're up to more than 215,000 young people all across the country who've raised their hands to say they want to run.
		And we've helped elect more than 1,500 millennials and Gen Z to state and local office in 49 states plus DC.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		And have you seen any of those folks make it up to the federal level yet?
unidentified		We have, which has been one of the coolest parts of doing this work.
unidentified		You might be familiar with Run for Something alum, like Representative Sarah McBride from Delaware, Representative Jasmine Crockett from Texas, Representative Yasimin Ansari from Arizona, Emily Randall from Washington, Suha Subranyam from Virginia, and of course, a number of our folks who are running for higher office this year and into next, like Mallory McMorrow running for United States Senate in Michigan, Zach Walls running for United States Senate in Iowa, and about more than a dozen at this point who are running for Congress for 2026.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		You're also the president of Run for Something Civics, which works to end the, as you say, gerontocracy.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Can you explain the gerontocracy and what this group does?
unidentified		The gerontocracy is a government fought for and by older leaders.
		You know, I often get a lot of pushback on the work Run for Something does.
		Our PAC explicitly focuses on endorsing candidates 40 and under.
		But young people are wildly left out of government.
		You know, the average age in the House is 58-59.
		In the Senate, it's 63-64.
		But the median American is about 39 years old.
		And we know that when young people are in the rooms where decisions are made, the outcomes are different.
		We've seen this happen in practice.
		When a young Run for Something alum, Berhana Zeem, took a seat on the Cambridge City Council.
		He transformed zoning policy for renters in particular, passing some of the most ambitious housing policy in the country, making it a city where young people could stay and live and grow families.
		It is so, so important to bring younger voices into office.
		So Run for Something Civics specifically is our 501c3 arm meant to really educate and inspire young people to see themselves in public office.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		One younger person in progressive politics who's recently gotten a lot of attention is Zoran Momdani, who won the New York City primary.
		How significant of a win do you think that is?
		And what can Democrats or other progressives learn from that in terms of races moving forward?
unidentified		I think Mamdani's win in New York, which is I'm a proud New York City voter, is transformative for the Democratic Party because it models a new way forward for us.
		He brought out an entirely different electorate.
		Folks 34 years old and younger were the largest share of the voting pool in that Democratic primary.
		If we want to get young people to vote, we need to give them someone to vote for.
		And beyond that, since Mamdani won about two weeks ago, Run for Something has seen nearly 9,000 young people raise their hands to say they want to run.
		This is the biggest organic candidate recruitment surge in the lifetime of the organization.
		As many people have signed up with us since Zorin won on June 24th, then after Trump won in 2024.
		It is a monumental sea shift in how people can see themselves in power.
		We're going to see more young leaders who can communicate authentically and passionately about the issues that really affect people's lives.
		Things like cost of housing, cost of childcare.
		Not every candidate is going to be running on the same exact ideology, but we're going to see young leaders step up and really talk about the issues that matter on the platforms where young people get their information.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Those may have been some of the issues that Mr. Mamdani was running on, but that's certainly not the narrative that's being pushed about him by especially the White House.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I want to play a clip of White House Press Secretary Caroline Lovitt earlier last week talking about Mr. Mamdani.
karoline leavitt ▲ ● ▼		The Democrats are doubling down on craziness and radical policies that are undermining the very fabric of our country.
		Just look at the Democrat nominee for New York City Mayor, Zoron Mindami.
		He's a Democrat socialist, really a communist, who proudly calls to defund the police, peddles anti-Semitism, praises pro-Hamas groups, wants Israel abolished, and believes wealthy Americans should not exist.
		Those are his words, just as recent as this weekend.
		Meanwhile, under President Trump's leadership, Republicans are fighting tirelessly for everyday middle-class working Americans who re-elected this president.
		And we're carrying out a revolution of common sense.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Are you at all concerned about this narrative?
unidentified		No.
		Republicans have always found a way to make whoever the Democratic leader is or any Democratic leader sound like a socialist or an extremist.
		They called Joe Biden a socialist.
		This is the kind of playbook they are always going to return to.
		I think the Democratic Party needs to not be afraid of finding leaders who have really strong value systems and understanding that if we have leaders who stand for something, of course people are going to disagree with them.
		That doesn't mean we should shy away from taking risks and getting exciting candidates who can bring people out.
		I'm not worried about this at all.
		They were always going to find someone to attack.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		We're going to be taking questions from our callers in just a bit.
		For Democrats, that number is 202-748-8000.
		For Republicans, 202-748-8001.
		And for Independents, 202-748-8002.
		Before we get to the callers, I want to broaden the conversation to the Democratic Party more broadly.
		How would you characterize the state of the party at the moment?
unidentified		A little lost, but we are finding our way.
		And I am cautiously optimistic, if only because I have seen the surge of young people saying, I don't want to let this party define me.
		I want to define this party.
		You know, since Trump won back in November, we've had nearly 60,000 people raise their hands to say they want to run, telling us proudly, I am done waiting my turn.
		I am done being told it is not my time to lead.
		So I think we're going to see these candidates step up.
		They're going to be running for city council, state legislature, school board, library board, all across the country into this year and well into next.
		And they're going to be redefining the party in the process.
		So yeah, things are a little bleak, but I think the future of our party can be bright if we're willing to do the work for it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What do you think of Elon Musk's announcement that he plans to start his own political party?
unidentified		Godspeed.
		Starting a third party is very hard.
		Ballot excellence is really difficult.
		He's got a lot of money, so he can do it.
		And I don't think that most people share his ideology around the way that we should benefit the rich.
		So Godspeed and good luck.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		We have a question from Mary in Boston who says, please ask your guests to make the expansion of Medicare to all a campaign goal among young American candidates.
unidentified		I love the ambition.
		I think for run for something candidates specifically, we work on state and local offices only.
		So we don't have a policy litmus test.
		Most of our candidates are not running for offices where that would even be a possibility for them to do.
		But we really encourage people to think about how can you make health care more affordable using whatever levers you might have in your control.
		And I think it's going to be an exciting part of the hopefully 2028 presidential primary where we really get to redefine what our party believes in.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Ann is in New York on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Anne.
unidentified		Good morning, Amanda.
		Thank you so much for what you are doing.
		As a lifelong Democrat, I'm going to be 67 next birthday.
		I think young people are the future of the Democratic Party.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		Nobody my age or older should be president.
unidentified		I think your platform needs to be affordability and basic human decency.
		You know, we tried to set up democracy in the Middle East, and that didn't work because they're not wired that way.
		Hopefully, autocracy won't work in America because we are not wired that way.
donna in texas ▲ ● ▼		Cal Thomas, who was on earlier, who is certainly not a liberal icon, even he had difficulty with us building concentration camps and disappearing people off the street.
unidentified		I feel like if you can appeal to our basic human decency and go hard with affordability, you have a winning message.
		Thank you again.
		I think you are spot on.
		It's something that so many of our candidates are running on, especially because they're running for the kinds of offices that can really affect how affordable it is to live somewhere.
		Things like housing are decided by city councils and municipal governments.
		Things like child care are often shaped on the state legislative level.
		There is so much work that we can do in state and local government and that we have to do in state and local government over the next couple of years to make these places where people can stay and thrive and survive.
		And I am so proud that so many run for something candidates are really championing those issues.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Chuck is in Syracuse, New York on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Chuck.
unidentified		Good morning.
		So I want to thank our guests for promoting young people to run for something.
		They are running for something in progressive-led cities like Chicago.
		They're running for their lives.
		We had 50 people shot, six people fatally, and 4th of July violence.
		They're running for their lives in Louisiana, New Orleans, Kansas City, Queens.
		They're running for their lives.
		So thanks to people like Amanda, we have young people running for something.
		If they want to join a winning movement, they join Young America's Foundation.
		I will say there's definitely one reinterpretation of Run for Something.
		Every run for something candidate works to reduce gun violence.
		Every run for something candidate works to tackle these issues in the way that makes sense for the offices they're running for.
		We have noticed, and I think you will be sure to check the stats here: gun violence rates and homicide rates and murder rates are much higher in red-run states, in conservative-run states.
		And in places like Chicago, it's because the guns are coming from places like Indiana, where gun laws are much, much laxer.
		So that's why we're so proud to support candidates who want to make streets safer for people of every age.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Derek is in Lakeland, Minnesota on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Derek.
unidentified		Good morning, Teespan.
		Good morning, America.
		Okay, first thing is you worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign, one of the worst candidates, most pathetic candidates I've ever seen, other than Kamala Harris.
tej gill ▲ ● ▼		And if you want to get young people when they're young, they don't really have experience, and you want to keep their college and their educational institution ideology going, then that's the organization you're going to try to pick these ignorant people from.
unidentified		So good luck with that.
		Go, America.
		Thank you for the best wishes.
		You know, we have found that the best way for young people to get experience in governance is the same way that everyone gets experience as politicians or in governance, is to run for local office to win and to really prove that they know what they're doing.
		They are incredible at connecting with community.
		They're showing up in places others don't, and they're making the case to voters one by one.
		We trust voters to make those decisions, and they are winning.
		So it's working.
		Thank you for the good best wishes.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		This argument about experience came up in the New York City primary as well.
unidentified		It did.
		And I think for us, we really look at what kind of experience matters.
		You know, for Zorhan Mamdani, he'd been a state legislator for four or five years.
		That is meaningful governance experience.
		A number of the candidates he was running against, including Andrew Cuomo, yes, had years of experience as governor, but what he had done with that experience was assault women, corruption, kill seniors in nursing homes, have to resign in disgrace, being called out by many of the people who later endorsed him, bullied people.
		That's not the kind of experience we need in elected office.
		It matters what that experience looks like.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Larry is in Nagadoches, Texas, on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Larry.
unidentified		Yes, I thank Amanda for what she's doing.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Larry, can you turn down the volume on your TV?
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		It's a little hard to hear you.
unidentified		I'd like to thank Amanda for what she's doing.
		And it's been a long time.
		Wait, we need more young people in politics.
		We really do.
		So keep doing what you're doing.
		And we need more people in politics because I talk to a lot of young people and they know more about politics than some of the people up there in office, especially that one we got for president.
		So keep doing what you're doing.
		I got your back.
		Thank you so much.
		Thank you.
		I appreciate that.
		If any of your viewers want to help what we're doing, runforsomething.net/slash donate is where you go to chip in.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Walt is in Indiana on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Walt.
unidentified		Amanda, what would be your top three agenda items for the national government?
		So Run for Something doesn't work on federal elections, so we don't think that much about what the national government should be doing.
		But I do think every elected official at every level should be thinking about what you can do to tackle cost of living.
		And that in particular means focusing on housing, especially for first-time buyers and renters, for people who are entering the housing market in a way that it has never existed before.
		Childcare, the cost of childcare is outrageous and it is drowning people.
		It is making women leave the workforce.
		Mostly women leave the workforce.
		It is making it almost impossible for people to make their careers happen or to live where they want to live.
		And then I would think more broadly about transportation, thinking about helping folks, helping build communities where you can walk to the places you want to be, where we're less reliant on cars, where public transit is a bigger part of these infrastructure systems.
		Because we know commutes make people miserable.
		Car center car culture can make it really hard for you to care for your loved ones to be with your friends.
		So those are things that I would encourage every elected official at every level to tackle to make life better.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Your most recent book is When We're in Charge, The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership, which came out in May.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What's the message of your book and why did you want to put this out now?
unidentified		When We're in Charge is The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership.
		It's a book really about leadership for millennials and Gen Z.
		And in it, I make the case that it is possible to be an effective, authentic, compassionate, boundary leader who treats people well and gets things done.
		And to do so in this moment, both in politics, yes, it's about politics, but also it's about work.
		It's about community.
		It's about our relationships with each other.
		It is so much more than politics.
		And I thought it was important to put out right now in particular because we are all experiencing how it feels to live under a leader and to many of us have worked under leaders who treat people like crap, who do not care about how you are experiencing their leadership, who aren't goal-oriented, who are meandering from one thing to another, who are ego-driven, not team-driven.
		And I wanted to put out a playbook for those who wanted to do it differently.
		And I've loved hearing from young people and older folks who have read it who have said, I have never seen myself reflected in a leadership book before.
		This is the first time I've ever felt like someone understands what it's like to be in charge in this moment.
		So I love hearing from our readers, and you can get it wherever you get your books.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Kevin in St. Petersburg, Florida, asks via text, Why are you recruiting progressives only?
		There are young conservatives.
		If you were legitimate, you'd be anybody run for something.
unidentified		Are you funded by George Soros?
		Remember something recruit exists to recruit and support young, diverse progressives to run for local office because I think that's what we need more of to get better government and better leadership.
		We are grateful for every single one of our funders across the space, ranging from, I think at this point, almost 50,000 individual givers who've given whatever they can.
		There are organizations out there that exist to support young conservatives.
		Good luck to them.
		I think our candidates are going to beat theirs nearly every time, but Godspeed.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Maria is in New York on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Maria.
unidentified		Yes.
		Hi.
		Good morning.
		I just want to, first of all, I'm over 60 and I have a 25-year-old who's in college, finishing college.
		I just want to thank you, young people, for taking the baton and moving forward with improving the quality of care that people give each other in this country.
		As you said, I agree with you 100% that it's important that we exist as a community, not divided by terms of skin color, financial levels, or anything to that effect.
		One of the things I notice when people call in, and it's really very sad, is that they constantly demean other folks for no other reason other than what their ideology is.
		That needs to stop because it says a lot about this country.
		And one of the other things I'm going to say before I hang up is I love young people.
		They're actually smarter than more than 50% of the people in this country, adults.
		They read better.
		They have more of a global perspective on life and global communities.
		And we need that.
		That's how this country moves forward.
		I am sick of us trying to exist in the dark ages.
		I applaud you, young lady, and I wish you the best of luck.
		Thank you.
		Bye-bye.
		Thank you.
		And I will say, if you want to be inspired, if you want to feel hope, if you want to see optimism in action, look to a young person running for local office.
		This is someone who cares enough to change their career, change their life to ultimately change their community, and I think change the world.
		They are doing a brave and hard thing that is even braver, requires more courage now than ever before.
		And they're willing to do it because they love their community enough to fight for it.
		So I agree with you.
		I think young people are stepping up to lead and are going to transform the world in the process.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		What does your training look like for new candidates in terms of helping them fundraise or what kind of information are you giving them?
unidentified		So everyone who signs up at runforwhat.net to tell us they're interested in running gets invited to one of our introduction conference calls.
		The next one we have is July 15th.
		We're actually kicking off a whole new pipeline program.
		So depending on where you are in the stage of running, we have all kinds of materials, curriculums, videos, worksheets, guides for you to help figure out what to do next.
		Need help figuring out how to find what office to run for, how to file to get on the ballot, how to write a campaign plan?
		We've got all of that for you.
		We work with hundreds of partners across the country, both national, state, and local, to make sure that candidates can get the resources they need.
		Once you have actually filed to get on the ballot, you can apply for Run for Something's endorsement.
		We've endorsed more than 3,000 campaigns across the lifetime of the organization.
		And if you're endorsed, our staff will work directly with your team.
		Whatever it is you need, we will help you find.
		We help connect you to funders, we help get you pressed, we help promote you across social media, we connect you to organizations that can get you volunteers and more money.
		We connect you to other folks running and who have run in the past because running for office is very lonely.
		And endorsed candidates are who we track through to Election Day.
		So we stick with you, win or lose.
		We are in this for the long haul.
		That's how we've built such incredible connections with our alumni, many of whom I've said earlier, are now running for higher office.
		And we're able to stick with them through that process too, as emotional support and as part of their team.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Jeff is in Indianapolis, Indiana, on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Jeff.
unidentified		Good morning, ladies.
		How are you doing, Amanda?
		Doing great.
		What's on your mind?
		And, you know, I just want to say we need more like you, people like you, and Jasmine Crockett and AOC and Maxwell Frost.
		I'm like, here, guys, you young folks talk.
		It gives me a lot of hope.
		And I think one of the problems is it's not so much about policy, it's about culture.
		This past election, I always did say that Kamala didn't lose.
		Bigotry and misogyny won.
		You know, yes, many groups voted against their best interests, Latinos, Arab Americans, white women.
		I mean, even after Roe v. versus Wade was overturned, they overwhelmingly voted for that individual.
		And union members, what are we going to do to turn that around?
		And also, when Republicans, it really gets me when they call Democrats communists, but oh, did you call them a fascist or a Nazi?
		They grabbed your pearls, you know.
		So a conservative is just another word for cowards.
		Amanda, keep up the good work.
		You're doing great.
		Thank you.
		I appreciate that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I have a comment here on X where someone said some of the most significant barriers for younger candidates is the astronomical cost of running for office.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Would you support publicly funded elections?
unidentified		I think we've got to explore all kinds of levers to make it easier for people to run.
		That includes campaign finance reform, publicly funded elections.
		We also need to raise the pay of our elected officials, especially on the state and local level.
		Most of these offices are barely paid, if at all, but they function like full-time jobs outside of their full-time job.
		So we have to find all kinds of ways to make it easier for normal people to run for these positions.
		Run for something candidates have been at the forefront of making these structural changes when they win, but we need more of it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Chas is in Wisconsin on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Chaz.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Amanda, so you're out of New York City, correct?
		You're a New York City voter?
		I personally am, yes, but the organization works everywhere and we have staff everywhere.
		So are you a strong supporter of Mindani?
		I was proud to put him on my ballot a couple weeks ago.
		What happens?
		Okay, let's say he wins.
		What happens when the rich people in New York City decide that they don't agree with all their taxes getting raised and paying for all these services that you want to implement?
		And they decide, well, we're going to go, we're going to move to Florida, we're going to move to Texas, we're going to move all throughout the country.
		Who pays for that then?
		The middle class?
		Is that how that's going to trickle down now?
		The middle class is taxed through the roof?
		Rich people have always claimed they want to leave New York City every time a new mayor has been elected, and they never do it.
		In fact, polling about folks who have left New York City in the last five or 10 years has been disproportionately people leaving because the city is unaffordable.
		It's been middle-class and working-class New Yorkers who've said, I can no longer afford to buy a home here or to rent here or to put my kids in child care here.
		If we want to make New York City a place where everyone of all income levels can live and stay and thrive, we need to tackle the affordability crisis.
		And I am confident that hopefully Mayor Mamdani is going to orient every part of the city government to tackle that in a meaningful way.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		John is in Westboro, Massachusetts, on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, John.
unidentified		Hey, how are you doing?
		Good.
		Congratulations.
		You've got a good thing going on right now.
		As far as the messaging that you need to get out, it's great because you are very respectful, you talk well, even when somebody is ridiculing you or something like that, you're nice to them and stuff.
		And that's awesome, but at the same time, they're not going to be that way towards you.
		So, in the general election, it's going to be tough.
		You've got to start explaining that they need a backbone and they need to fight.
		And that's basically just all I'm saying, you know.
		I agree with you.
		The Democratic Party needs to be made up of fighters, not folders.
		We need people who are willing to show up and put their bodies on the line, put their reputations on the line, put their careers on the line.
		I think that is something that young people are uniquely well situated to do because we understand that the crisis demands nothing less of us.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Andy says on X, as a Democrat, my only fear is the party makes a hard left while recruiting younger politicians.
		My opinion is get an all-inclusive young and old, just put someone in to win the seat.
		We have to get rid of this MAGA cult brain-dead politics and vote them out.
unidentified		You know, I think we have seen that younger leaders who can really connect to voters on the issues they care about, almost regardless of ideology, but really about focusing on the cost of living, can change the electorate in a way that Democrats can win.
		We see this in the New York Democratic primary.
		We have never seen an electorate as young as what we saw just a couple weeks ago in New York City.
		It is possible to take on tough fights and win with candidates who have a very strong sense of values.
		They don't all need to be all the way to the left in order to have that strong sense of core, but I have found that it is much easier when you do because when you're trying to triangulate between, well, not them and not them, it's really hard to be yourself.
		So, we want candidates who can really show up, connect on the issues, talk about the things that matter to people's lives, and of course, yes, tackle MACO Republicans and beat them out of office because we have seen what the kind of damage they will do when they take power just last week when they pass the bill.
		It is going to harm and kill people.
		We need to stop it.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Rick is in Lakeland, Florida, on our line for Democrats.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Rick.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning, Amanda.
		Good morning.
		Hey, so I heard your last time at C-SPAN.
		It really inspired me to fire up and try to run for something.
		And I was really, really inspired.
		But having said that, I just turned 41.
		So, my question to you is: what do you tell people who might see your message, who might hear your message that are possibly have to run in the next election cycles that maybe over 40 that are interested in running and running for something?
		Is that age limit a hard 40, or is that a soft 40?
		Run for Something's pipeline resources and almost everything we offer candidates is available to folks of all ages.
		So thank you for being interested in running.
		I imagine you signed up at runforwhat.net to look up what office you can run for.
		We have lots and lots of stuff for you and we are launching more next week available for you to access regardless of your age.
		Now our endorsement program is limited to candidates 40 and under.
		We had to set a hard limit.
		Somewhere we really wanted to think practically about the challenges that young leaders face that are a little different than folks a little older or later in their careers.
		But that doesn't mean we don't think you shouldn't run.
		That just means we might not be the right group to endorse you.
		Many of our partners might be.
		So if you're on our email list, you're getting text messages from us, you will get materials about other orgs that might be the right fit for you.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Joe is in Tampa, Florida on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Joe.
unidentified		Good morning.
		Good morning.
		First off, I would like to say I'm actually motivated just listening to this dialogue because following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Act, and the more I watched some of the folks' posture for whose fault it is, it got me thinking it's time for young folks to actually lace up their boots and get running.
		So my question is to what extent is the One Big Beautiful Act going to change or motivate you more to make sure you basically align what you're running against with your messaging?
		Because right now, I think you saw how the minority leader on the Democratic side spent nine hours debating against the bill.
		And ultimately, the Republicans won.
		So how are you going to be able to counteract the fact that, let's face it, the Trump administration right now has both houses and it's increasingly becoming very influential on the Supreme Court.
		So let's face it, the messaging right now is a big problem.
		And when you say progressive, I don't particularly see how that's going to attract the big voting bloc, as in, you know, the black voters.
		There's nothing really right now that I see that's being offered that's going to counteract what the Republican Party or the conservatives, for that matter, don't.
		I'll just listen to your commentary.
		Thank you.
		You know, I think the bill that House Republicans and Senate Republicans passed and that Trump signed into office ultimately killed the American dream.
		It made it so that if you are a young person imagining a future where you could be a lawyer or a doctor or a veterinarian, you can no longer do that because of the caps on federal student loans.
		If you are someone who has come to this country and thought, I'm going to make a better future for my kids or my grandkids, that is no longer feasible.
		The bill that has supercharged funding for ICE and done nothing to tackle the housing crisis or the child care crisis or the mental health crisis in this country, the bill that has done incredible damage and will do incredible damage to health care, to hospitals, to nursing homes.
		You know, if you are watching this and you're thinking, well, you know, maybe I'll get to move back in with my kids or my grandkids because the nursing home near me might close as one in four nursing homes are expected to over the next couple years, or the rural hospital that cares for me might not be able to exist in the next five years because of the cuts to Medicaid in this bill.
		We're not going to be able to afford to live where we want to live near you anyway.
		I think that this bill, unfortunately, tragically, is going to do incredible political harm to the Republican Party.
		It is going to hurt their voters the most.
		Now, that is an opportunity for Democrats to make the case on what we can offer that is better.
		I think we have seen, especially with candidates who can really speak to cost of living issues, who can talk about tackling those crises I named, they can bring out voters who have not previously been seen or had seen themselves as part of the process.
		You know, folks talk about black voters in particular.
		Zoran Ramdani won younger black voters.
		That is a whole new generation of people who did not see themselves as part of the Democratic Party necessarily, who can find themselves in candidates who can speak to the problems they care about.
		This bill is horrifying, is going to do incredible damage, and it's a political opportunity for us.
		And we have to hold on to it with both hands and make it clear who's at fault and what we can do differently.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Bill is in Florida on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Bill.
unidentified		Good morning.
		I'm just calling to make a couple points.
		Mr. Mandani in New York, listening to his comments, wherever economic freedom has been removed, political freedom is removed soon thereafter.
		Anywhere in the world that this has been tried, that's the outcome.
		And my second point is: it's interesting, there's a very liberal group in New York that goes back over 100 years.
		And when the Bolsheviks took power in the Soviet Union in 1918, many, many people from New York actually went to Russia.
		And obviously, I need not tell you how that all has worked out.
		And those are the only points.
		You can't have economic freedom and you can't have political freedom unless you have economic freedom.
		We do not currently have economic freedom in New York City.
		This is a place that is outrageously expensive to live and to care for your kids.
		I have two kids in childcare.
		It is draining my savings to put them in daycare every day.
		It is outrageously expensive.
		Most people who want to live where they want to live and work where they want to work cannot afford to do so in New York City.
		We do not have economic freedom here.
		What I'm excited for is a mayor who's going to be focused on delivering that for us, who's going to be reorienting city government in a way that makes this a place that working New Yorkers of all income levels can stay and thrive instead of what we currently have, which is a mayor bought and paid for by the government of Turkey and currently under Trump's thumb because of his indictments from the Justice Department.
		I will take someone committed to making this place more affordable over Eric Adams any day.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		We have another comment we received via text.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		This one is from Teresa in Little Rock, Arkansas, who says, Do you believe in forgiveness for college debt, paying for college education?
unidentified		I think we have to do all kinds of things to make higher education more affordable.
		We need to expand the number of colleges that exist and that can provide good education.
		We have to make tuition lower.
		You shouldn't have to take out hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in order to be able to afford a degree.
		We also have to expand the kinds of ways in which we see viable paths for work for young people.
		College debt, student loan debt, yes, we should forgive it if that makes sense, but that doesn't solve the structural problem of how people have to take out those loans in the first place.
		So I think we need to get to the root cause of the problem.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Tom is in Newark, Ohio, on our line for Republicans.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tom.
unidentified		Oh, thank you for taking my call.
dr james thorp ▲ ● ▼		You know, you Democrats, you have committed high treason when you flew in hundreds of thousands of illegals directly into liberal states and issued them driver's license, hoping to overwhelm our elections.
unidentified		Both Republicans and independents are aware that you used our taxpayer money to do this.
		You have committed high treason, which carries the death penalty.
		This DOJ and FBI will uphold their sworn oaths.
		Good luck to all of you.
		Pretty sure high treason or any treason is what the January 6th rioters did when they tried to overturn the election in 2021.
		Not whatever conspiracy you just laid out there.
		I will say I think that there is so much to do to tackle our immigration crisis, but not the way that this government is doing it.
		They are disappearing people off the streets.
		They are deporting people to countries they don't live in.
		They are separating families.
		They are refusing to take accountability for it.
		They're doing it with deep cruelty.
		So I hope that you, as a viewer of this, that's not what you support because that would indicate a cruelty in your heart, which I hope you don't hold.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Tim is in Gasville, Arkansas, on our line for independence.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Good morning, Tim.
unidentified		Yeah, good morning.
		Everything you claim you want was made worse when importing 20 million slaves.
		Joe Biden and Kamala Harris brought in all these people illegally.
		Like the other callers said, it was treasonous what they did.
		But if you want these things, for instance, housing, everything in this world is supply and demand.
		When you bring in 20 million more people, they have to live somewhere.
		Of course, the housing went up.
		There's something special about being an American, okay?
		And unfortunately, progressives and Democrats, they don't want America to be special.
		They want America to be the same as every other third world country out there.
		That's exactly what Mongani promises to do.
		He promises to make New York a third world state by making everyone the same, all the same outcomes.
		Gonna have government grocery stores so we can go back to breadlines.
		The problem with progressivism is that it worships change and chaos over smart ideas, prudence, the reasons that conservatives want to conserve.
		They want to conserve the things that are right with this country, not tear it down just for the sake of running for something, or in the case of like Hillary Clinton making your money, or Nancy Pelosi making your money, or Joe Biden.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So Tim, I want to let Amanda respond to some of the points that you've raised.
unidentified		First, I will say I love America.
		That's why I'm doing everything I can and have done my entire life and career to make it a place where I can raise daughters who can have their own bodily autonomy, who can live and thrive and do whatever they want to do with their lives.
		Second, conservatives want to conserve.
		That's why they just cut millions of dollars out of Medicaid.
		They're going to kick 17 million people out of their health care.
		They're going to make it impossible for kids to be able to eat school lunches.
		They're going to kick kids off of snap, off of food snaps.
		They are destroying our higher education system, our health care system, our higher ed institutions.
		They are destroying communities one by one from within and making it impossible for the American dream to exist.
		That's not loving America.
		And to do so for their own profit, sir, Trump's net worth has increased exponentially.
		You can literally buy dinner with the president at this very moment.
		You can give him crypto money.
		You can buy his perfumes, which I'm sure smell like crap.
		What are you talking about, sir?
		I am trying to be polite and respectful, but that is straight lunacy.
		But thank you for watching and thank you for calling in.
		I wish you the best.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		IceFam is in Gastonia, North Carolina on our line for Democrats.
		Good morning, Ice Fam.
		And can you turn down the volume on your TV and then go ahead with your point?
unidentified		Okay, great.
		I'll have nothing on right now.
		Well, my point is just simply that I believe that the reason why you lose a lot of black men for the Democratic Party is because of immigration, not the crazy Republican conspiracy theory.
		But simply because, you know, the whole time we viewed immigration being out of control, but y'all kept saying it wasn't out of control.
		Also, y'all should do a segment on black immigration because not all blacks are immigrants.
		A lot of us, like myself, was descended from slaves.
		So we get offended when you keep saying that all blacks are immigrants.
		That's crazy not to be black with immigrants.
		But I think, and another thing, too, right?
		Y'all lose black men.
		A lot of y'all.
		I say.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		So I spam.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I don't believe that Amanda said that.
unidentified		I ain't trying to hurt no family.
		Excuse me.
		I don't think that Amanda said that about that all black people were immigrants.
		I didn't accuse her of that.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		I didn't know her.
unidentified		The Democratic Party in general.
		I'm not accusing her of anything.
		I don't know her.
		Okay.
		Excuse me.
		No, no, no.
		I'm saying in general, why y'all lose the black people in general is because of those things y'all keep promoting, like women and men and girls and girls and women's sports.
		Black men out on board stuff like that.
		Now, we don't love Donald Trump.
		Don't get me wrong.
		It's just that we won't come out and vote for the Democrats.
		We're going to stay home.
		That's what I'm trying to make.
		Now, we don't love the crazy Republican conspiracies and all that nonsense and white supremacy.
		That's crazy.
		But we also not on board with a lot of y'all stuff also.
		And I want to go ahead and let you go because that's all I'm saying.
		And I said, a lot of stuff is too much.
		You have to slow down a little bit.
		I hear that, and I appreciate your thoughts here, sir.
		I would say I think that one of the best things we can do for black men, black women, for folks of all races and ages is commit to solving the affordability crisis so that you can live near your kids or your grandkids, so that you can work if you want to work, and that you can have the freedom to live outside of work if you don't have to or don't want to.
		That you can care for your family however you'd like.
		And I'm so proud that Run for Something candidates across the country are picking up that mantle and running with it and doing everything they can to make it cheaper and more affordable to live the kind of life you want.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Well, thank you so much to Amanda Littman, who is the co-founder and president of Run for Something and also author of the book, When We're in Charge, The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Thank you so much for joining Washington Journal.
unidentified		Thank you for having me and thanks to all of your callers.
kimberly adams ▲ ● ▼		Yes, thank you to everyone who called in for this edition of Washington Journal.
		We're going to be back tomorrow morning with another show starting at 7 a.m. Eastern.
		We hope you'll join us and have a great day.
unidentified		C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington and across the country.
		Coming up Monday morning, we'll talk with the Pew Research Center's Hannah Harding about a new survey showing the political dynamics that led to President Trump's electoral victory in 2024.
		Then, Brett Samuels, White House reporter for The Hill, brings us the White House news of the day and previews the week ahead.
		And Roger Zachheim, director of the Ronald Reagan Institute, discusses his organization's public opinion poll on foreign policy and national security issues.
		C-SPAN's Washington Journal.
		Join in the conversation live at 7 Eastern Monday morning on C-SPAN.
		C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org.
		Next, First Lady Melania Trump helps lead an arts and crafts session with patients at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
		Then, some debate from House lawmakers before passage of Republican tax and spending cuts legislation, a portion of Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries' record-setting floor speech, as well as Speaker Johnson's remarks before the final vote, and later President Donald Trump speaking to reporters following passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, his domestic tax and spending cuts legislation.
		From the beginning, C-SPAN was there for every word of debate, every vote.
		C-SPAN was there, giving you around-the-clock coverage through all-nighters into the early morning hours with record-breaking back-to-back votes in the Senate.
		We're gonna press on until victory is won.
		I yield back.
		And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries giving the longest House speech ever.
		Only on C-SPAN could you witness the full story unfold, unfiltered in real time.
		The yays are 218, the nays are 214.
		The motion is adopted.
donald j trump ▲ ● ▼		We're sort of celebrating like the biggest bill of its kind ever signed, and it's going to make this country into a rocket ship.

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