This is the Washington Journal for November the 4th, shortly before the start of this program this morning.
An announcement that former Vice President Dick Cheney passing away due to cardiac and pneumonia issues, a longtime civil servant, a well-known voice and image that you saw during the Gulf War and after 9-11, passing away.
And you can give comment on the influence and impact of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Here's how you can do that this morning.
202-748-8000 for Democrats.
202-748-8001 for Republicans.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
If you want to give us a text on your thoughts on the passing of the former Vice President, you can do that at 202-748-8003.
You can also post on our various social media sites.
That's facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X at C-SPANWJ.
This is the Associated Press story that was posted at 6.42 this morning of this announcement of the passing of the former vice president.
It says, Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at 84.
Cheney died Monday night due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from the family spokesman Jeremy Adler.
The quietly forceful Cheney served father and son president, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush, before returning to public life as vice president under Bush's son, George W. Bush.
Cheney was, in effect, the chief operating officer of the younger Bush's presidency.
He had a hand often a commanding one in implementing decisions most important to the president and some of surpassing interest to himself.
All while living with decades of heart disease and post-administration of heart transplant, he consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention, and acquisition employed in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Again, that is the write-up from the Associated Press this morning concerning Dick Cheney.
Go over to the CNN website, some highlights of his political career to share with you, including starting in March 1989.
President George H.W. Bush nominates Cheney for Secretary of Defense after John Tower's nomination for the position fails to win Senate confirmation.
From 1989 to 93, he serves as Secretary of Defense.
He directs two military campaigns during this time: Operation Just Cause in Panama and Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East.
It was in July of 1991.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush for his leadership during the Gulf War.
And in March of 92, well, going up to March of 2000, he was asked by George W. Bush to be his running mate.
He declines, instead, accepting a position vetting potential vice president candidates.
He accepts in July when Bush accepts and asks again from 2001 to 2009, serving as vice president.
We'll show you more there about the highlights of the former vice president's career, particularly when it comes to the Gulf War and post-9-11.
Again, you can make your calls and comments on the passing of Dick Cheney.
202748-8000 for Democrats.
202748-8001 for Republicans.
Independence.
202748-8002.
Let's start with Vincent.
He's in Connecticut on our line for independence on the passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
And how does that relate to the former vice president then?
unidentified
I will say this.
He spanned many types of Republican strengths.
But in his last days, with his daughter being such a great American and heroic to lead that hearing in the House about Donald Trump, he not only warned us of Donald Trump, he said that he would vote for Kamala Harris, and he did stand with her on the floor of the House of Representatives to honor those who were killed and wounded on January 6th, one year prior.
What do you have to say about the passing of the former vice president, please?
unidentified
Oh, yeah, we constantly memorialize him as a controversial figure, but you know, the events of 2011, 9-11, which is generally polarizing circumstances.
But he was just, you know, such a servant unto the Bush dynasty of both administrations.
And Howard Burton has done wonderful work in infrastructure in foreign borders as well as domestically.
And, you know, he did get the work done after the terror attack.
I don't think he's the most polarizing figure, but I'm just generally concerned about some of our current social and pathological conditions against him for him and his against us and forests.
Obviously, I'm a representative of the millennial generation, the ad hoc, you know, general representation of social media and streaming internet from 2005 to 2008, which is a general contra to the representations and castigation of the campaigns of the former Bush administration.
But I thought Cheney handled the situation quite well in especially Iraq with the Saudi government under Saudi contracts.
And we evaluated Afghanistan correctly at peak oil and standard oil and market means for labor fluctuations as well as general sustainable population infrastructure.
Richard there in Kentucky, Politico, in a follow-up story just posted, taking a look at the career of the former vice president, saying it was after the 9-11 terrorist attacks that the former vice president formulated the quote 1% doctrine, also known as the Cheney Doctrine, which stated that the United States needed to attack anyone who could conceivably pose a threat to it preemptively.
That doctrine played a huge role in the Bush administration's foreign policy, particularly the invasion of Iraq, and helped place the nation on war footing indefinitely.
Quote, we realize that wars are never won on the defensive, close quote.
He said in August of 2002, going on to say, we must take the battle to the enemy.
A lightning rod for those on the left, the assertive Cheney would sometimes be likened to Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
Years later, former President George H.W. Bush would call him old iron ass and say Cheney amassed too much power during his son's presidency.
I guess it was announced early this morning about the passing of the former vice president on Monday.
Douglas, there, we're going to try to get your signal all situated so that you can come in clearly.
Tell us about your thoughts.
So, Douglas, why you try to do that?
And again, a reminder, when you call in, if you can prepare yourselves as far as turning down your television, being close to the handset and things along that nature, that will give us the ability to make sure that we can have a good discourse with you, especially on this day, on this announcement on the former vice president.
The write-up from the Associated Press along the lines of what occurred in Iraq when it comes to the former first president, saying that the hardliner on Iraq, who was increasingly isolated as other hawks left government, the former vice president was proved wrong on point after point in the Iraq war without ever losing the conviction that he was essentially right.
He alleged links between the 2001 attacks against the United States and pre-war Iraq that didn't exist.
He said U.S. troops would be welcomed as liberators.
They weren't.
He declared the Iraqi insurgency in its last throws in May of 2005, back when 1,661 U.S. service members had been killed, not even half of the toll by war's end.
For admirers, he kept the faith in a shaky time, resolute even as the nation turned against the war and the leaders waging it.
Let's try Ron.
Ron in Upper Marlborough, Maryland, Democrats line.
You're next.
Good morning.
unidentified
In my opinion, Dick Cheney was a thoroughly evil person whose legacy should be one of persuading and a nephe George Bush to start a wholly fabricated, unnecessary war with Iraq that resulted in hundreds of thousands of mostly civilian Iraqi casualties and over 4,500 U.S. military deaths and another 32,000 wounded.
Had he not received an undeserved heart transplant, he probably would have met his makers years ago.
Now, I won't celebrate his demise, but I sure won't mourn his passing either.
The political story adding, going back into the former vice president's political career, that it was the vice president who also sought to restore the prestige of the executive branch after President Nixon's departure, urging President Ford, for example, to defiantly push back against Congress during the Senate investigation into the CIA and the nation's intelligence apparatus that was led by Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Ohio.
The morning after President Ford defeat in the 76 election, it was Cheney who read the president's concession to president-elect Jimmy Carter over the phone since Ford had lost his voice campaigning.
Cheney subsequently returned to Wyoming, sought his state's long House seat, winning with 58.6% of the vote in November of 1978, despite suffering a heart attack in June.
The candidate jokingly organized a Cardiacs for Cheney group to keep his campaign going.
According to the Washington Post, he said no candidate, quote, ever tried the heart attack gimmick before, close quote.
Cheney won re-election five times and rose to the position of House Minority Whip.
Within a relatively short period of time, people began to gather in my office.
Secretary Rice, then the National Security Advisor, was there, Scooter Libby, my chief of staff.
We probably had seven or eight people in the room.
And then all of a sudden, the door burst open, and my lead Secret Service agent came in and came over to the desk where I was sitting.
And he said, sir, we have to leave immediately.
Say, you know, I'd like to take you out, or please come with me.
He said, We have to leave immediately.
Put one hand on the back of my belt and one hand on my shoulder.
Literally propelled me out of my office.
I didn't have the option of not going where I wanted me to go.
And the cause for that, the reason he'd done that, is he explained to me as he was taking me down to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center under the White House was that he'd received a report over the Secret Service Radio Net that there was a hijacked aircraft out at Dulles headed towards Crown at 500 miles an hour,
Crown being the code word for the White House.
And that turned out to be American 77, which of course came in and made a circle and then went into the Pentagon.
At that point, I was down in part way to the Piak.
I hadn't gotten to the Piak yet, partway to the Piak, and I immediately used a telephone that was there to place another call to the president.
And that was our second or third call that morning to let him know that Washington was under attack as well as New York.
And the Secret Service had strongly recommended that he not come back.
I also recommended that he not come back, believing that it was very important for us to stay apart so that we didn't become a riper target.
That was an event that took place in September, September 11th of 2011.
Our C-SPAN cameras, they are capturing the former Vice President's thoughts on 9-11 and days afterward.
Again, if you want to see that full presentation, go to our website at c-span.org for the full breadth of Mr. Cheney's comments.
The former vice president passing away announced early this morning.
We're taking your calls on it.
And Angela is in Florida.
Angela in Florida, line for Democrats.
Go ahead.
unidentified
Thank you.
I'm a Democrat life and am retired and 76 years old.
Both of my parents were in World War II.
In fact, my mother was one of six American flight nurses under Chennault in China during World War II.
And one thing that she taught me was that trust and verify.
It doesn't matter who it is, which side it is, whatever I decided I wanted to be when I grew up, whether it be Democrat or Republican, to always trust and verify and then do the right thing.
And my mother did that.
She was a Sanchez Democrat and would go see Sam Gibbons, her representative, which was such a good man.
Every month when he came to Tampa, she would go there and give him a little report card or give him her ideas.
That's Angela there in Florida, Ocala, Florida, giving us her thoughts on the passing of the former vice president.
Here's the New York Times take on Mr. Cheney's career, at least portions of it, saying, as Mr. Bush's most trusted and valued counselor, Mr. Cheney foraged at will over fields of international and domestic policy like a supercabinet official with an unlimited portfolio.
He used his authority to make the case for war, propose or kill legislation, recommend Supreme Court candidates tip the balance for a tax cut, promote the interests of allies and parry opponents.
But it was the national security arena where he had the most profound impact.
As Defense Secretary, he helped engineer the Gulf War that successfully evicted Iraqi invaders from Kuwait in 1991 and took a leading role a decade later in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
To prevent future attacks, he advocated aggressive policies, including warrantless surveillance, indefinite detention, brutal interrogation tactics, and he pushed for the invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, completing the unfinished job as his previous stint in power, but leading to years of bloody warfare.
Again, several stories out this morning.
The announcement of the vice president's passing made just before the start of this program, shortly before that.
You can comment for the next few minutes on it.
This is from a viewer in Arkansas who texts us this morning saying, Dick Cheney, a true American hero and patriot who, after 9-11, stood up and said, I will serve my country once again.
An amazing man who deserves our condolences and our prayers rest in peace, Mr. Cheney.
Quote, thank you for your service, this viewer adds.
Ceasefire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins.
Politico Playbook chief correspondent and White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns is host of Ceasefire, bringing two leaders from opposite sides of the aisle into a dialogue.
Ceasefire on the network that doesn't take sides.
Fridays at 7 and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold new original series, This Sunday with our guest, The Chronicler of Adventures, award-winning best-selling author David Graham, whose books include The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Wager.
He joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubenstein.
And I started to realize that this odd little old manuscript contained, you know, the seeds of one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and mayhem I had ever come across.
unidentified
Watch America's Book Club with David Graham this Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
On this election day, you have the chance to talk about your thoughts on some of these key races, what the results will mean, particularly in the short term or maybe even next year into the midterm elections.
And also on this 35th day of the government shutdown, tied for the longest one in the previous Trump administration, that record will be broken later on tonight, unless some type of resolve is found today.
You can comment on those on the lines.
202748-8000 for Democrats.
202748-8000-1 for Republicans.
Independents 202748-8000.
To looking at some of those key races, the website, RealClearPolitics, provides an average of recent polling to give you a sense of where those races stand.
This is the one in Virginia between former Congressperson Abigail Spanberger, the current lieutenant governor, Winsom Earl Sears.
If you take that combination of polls that were done from mid-October to early this month, it's Abigail Spanberger with, at least with the combination of polls, the average of a 10-point lead going into that race.
That will be determined today.
Go to New Jersey between Mikey Sherrill and Jack Chitterelli, the Republican, Mike Sherrill, the Democrat.
That average, again, a very narrow margin in that case, 3.3% advantage for candidate Cheryl going into today.
And then a race that New York City residents will watch closely.
A lot of us will watch from afar that race with Mondani, Zohat Ron Mandani, a 14% lead when you take that average of polls going into today.
So you can make those comments on the individual races.
There's also that Proposition 50 in California, which deals with redistricting.
You can comment on that too.
You can also comment on the government shutdown.
Speaking of Zoran Mandami making comments yesterday in this closing argument, here's his comments from yesterday.
Let them feel the light of City Hall when the clock strikes midnight to mark the first day of a new month and the rent payment that looms doesn't make them feel a pit in their stomach.
unidentified
Let them feel the light of a city hall when a baby's cries wake them in the middle of the night and they know that they have high quality child care waiting for them in the morning.
And in a moment of grave political darkness, as Trump goes after his political foes, including Attorney General James, as his masked ICE agents abduct our immigrant neighbors at 26 Federal Plaza, just a few blocks from here.
And as New Yorkers in every borough contend with an affordability crisis that he promised to fix but has only exacerbated, let City Hall, with our compassion, our conviction, and our clarity, be the light that our city and our nation so desperately need.
That's Bianca head south to the garden state of New Jersey.
That other election that a lot of people are watching when it comes to the governor.
This is Mary Lou in Maple Shade, Independent Line.
unidentified
Good morning, Pedro, and thank you for C-SPAN.
I want to encourage all my fellow New Jerseyans who have not yet voted to get out today and vote for Jack Chitterelli.
Now, the reason I'm voting for him is, number one, he said on day one, he will see to it that New Jersey is no longer a sanctuary state for illegal aliens.
He's also going to try to get us out of this mess that Phil Murphy, a Democrat, got us in regarding the cost of energy in our state.
Another thing is Mikey Sherrill has come out and endorsed Mamdani in New York, who is a professed socialist Marxist.
And what does that say about her?
People may not remember this, Pedro, but when Phil Murphy was handling the so-called COVID crisis, we had more deaths in nursing homes than any state in the country.
It's time people woke up and realized that we are now in a battle for the soul of our nation.
And if we don't get out and stop this wave that's emerging regarding socialism and communism, we are going to lose our Democratic Republic.
Jack Chitterelli in Raritan, New Jersey, giving his final argument going into Election Day, what he's expecting and his plans for leading up to the voting that will take place today.
I'm going to continue to get up and down this state over the next 24 hours, just as I had every day since I declared back in 2024.
North, Central, South, and Jersey Shore.
And those of us from Raritan know that there is a central Jersey.
I don't want to hear shit about it from anybody.
There is a central Jersey here.
564 towns, 21 counties, and all 600 diners.
I hit time to eat for the 16th time today.
Every time my poster says, Jack, we got to go do another poll.
Yeah, you go do your poll.
I'm going to do a diner.
So this was the most part earlier this week.
Nutley, Essex County, overwhelmingly Democratic town.
I went into the local diner.
I got a standing ovation.
People want change.
We need change.
It is time.
I want to get back to that day.
I grew up in a home about 200 yards from here.
I want to get back to that day.
My parents never had to worry about me walking to the bus stop.
My parents never had to worry about what I was learning in school that day.
That was a time and era when if my parents got a phone call from any of the nuns at St. Anne's, my teacher, local cops, I was in serious shit when I got home.
Okay?
I'm just thankful there was not a Costco back then.
Have you seen the size of these wooden spoons today?
My mother would have put me in the ER at one of those.
We had the more traditional type, okay?
But you know what it is I'm talking about.
My parents both worked two jobs.
They owned Espos back in the 60s and 70s.
It was known as Anthony's back then.
They never worried about keeping the roof over the head for their middle-class family.
And they were confident their four kids would do better than they did.
We got to get back to that day, and that's what this race is all about.
A lot of the candidates speak, many, several candidates speaking yesterday, making that final closing argument.
You can go to our website at cspan.org, our app at cspan now, to see what they offered potential voters in the lead up to today on this election day.
Rob in Minnesota, Republican line.
Hello, you're next up.
unidentified
Hi, Pedro.
Yeah, I have a prediction to make.
The shutdown will set a new record.
Who's Responsible For The Shutdown?00:15:50
unidentified
This will go beyond the 35-day record back in 2018, 2019, for sure, because they're going to wait until after the election before the Democrats say yes to opening up the government.
So the government will be shut down today as well, and probably through tomorrow, but maybe the next day, maybe we'll open the government, maybe.
But nothing will happen today for sure until after the election.
Because the Democrats own this, and they don't want to open the government because they're afraid of the far left, and their party is falling apart right now, and they're going to do all they can to make sure that Trump and the Republicans look bad.
On this government shutdown, day 35, the Hill reporting that it was the Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying yesterday that he is, quote, optimistic lawmakers can strike a deal to reopen the government by the end of the week.
And he is considering a stopgap spending bill into January or later as the proposed late November date in the House passed the bill is no longer feasible.
The GOP leader telling reporters that while he isn't, quote, confident about the shutdown ending, he was more upbeat as talks continue among a bipartisan group of Rankinfile lawmakers through the weekend toward a potential resolution.
Quote, based on my gut and how these things operate, I think we're getting close to an off-ramp, he said at the Capitol.
The objective here is to try and get something that we could send back to the House that would open up the government.
So look for that to play out on this 35th day of the shutdown.
Let's go to Justin.
Justin in North Carolina, Democrats line hi.
unidentified
Hey, Pedro, good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
I just wanted to call in and address this government shutdown, right?
So I'm a government employee who hasn't been paid in over a month.
And my family, like many of the others that are out there, we're starting to feel the strain of a political stalemate that should never have reached this point, right?
What we need, we need both sides.
We need them to stop using working Americans such as myself as leverage.
You know, you got the left whose claims to be fighting for affordable health care.
And then at the exact same time, you got the right who's avoiding addressing rising costs and expiring subsidies of health care, basic human rights.
Meanwhile, families like mine were caught in the middle.
And, you know, I think it's unfair.
What we need, we need our president, our elected leaders.
We need them to step up, address the nation, bring both sides to the table, and let's find real bipartisan solution.
We can protect access to health care, reduce costs, and still live within a reasonable budget.
Did you get a sense from those, your superiors, or in preparation for it?
And if so, how did you prepare yourself?
unidentified
So it was, you know, leading into the shutdown.
I mean, we knew that we'd be still required to come to work and to perform the duties that we had to.
It would just be Sans a paycheck.
As far as preparation for it, I mean, that's not, you know, you try to be a responsible person and have your little flush fund that prepares for these things, but no real preparation in this.
I think if it was up to Trump and his mindless drone, Mike Johnson, the shutdown would last into the new year.
That's exactly what they want.
He cares nothing about the American people.
Also, talking about the continuing resolution, why are we going to pass that with all of the money appropriated to all these services that Trump has already refended?
Why will we send a clean R, clean CR over when Trump's not even going to use that money?
Also, to the Republican people out there, remember this: the Republicans fight for Trump.
The Democrats fight for the American people, and Trump fights for Trump.
Trump is a cruel, self-serving man, and all you people that still support Trump are nothing but a bunch of mindless runners.
Again, one of those closely watched races: Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, that redistricting proposition in California.
We'll tell you more about those in the next hours.
But for now, you can comment on the race in Virginia or California or New York or that even proposition, if you wish, on the phone lines: 202, 748, 8,000 for Democrats, 202, 748, 8,000 for Republicans, and Independents, 202, 748, 80002.
California is next, where Proposition 50 will be front and center for today.
Democrats line, this is Wally.
Hello.
unidentified
Hello, and thanks, Pedro, so much for C-SPAN.
Love it.
I'm actually calling about who's responsible for the shutdown.
I believe the audience should all look at the reason we're actually even discussing a CR.
And what's even more sad is that the vast majority of individuals, Republicans or representatives, and senators vote how the party launches or leaders tell them that they must vote.
unidentified
All but a few congresspeople are voting with the party rather than actually representing their constituents.
Okay, Wally there in California giving his thoughts on Proposition 50.
Again, that's one of those measures that when you look at results, not only the results of the political races, but the results of that proposition as well.
Tune to our program starting at 6 o'clock tonight.
Full coverage of election results, including your chance to comment on the results as they come through the night.
Our website is where you can keep a close eye on it, too.
That's at c-span.org.
Our live coverage, 6 o'clock on this network, C-SPAN now available to you as well.
Also get a chance to talk about it on tomorrow's Washington Journal program.
From North Carolina, Lonnie joins us line for independence on either this election day or either the 35th day of the government shutdown.
Okay, Lonnie there in North Carolina giving us his thoughts.
When it comes to the shutdown, again, you can do the same.
202-748-8,000 for Democrats, 202-748-8001 for Republicans.
Independents.
202748-8002.
We'll show you the front page of the Washington Times this morning.
They have a picture as their lead picture, Andrew Cuomo, of the independent running in the race in New York City.
You heard from Zoran Mandami earlier.
Andrew Cuomo running as the Independent, Curtis Sleewa running as the Republican.
The story below by Seth McLaughlin, voters in three states, big apple tests, Trump's grip, and the Democrats' nerve.
They saying if New York voters are weighing whether state assemblymen Zoran Mandami's socialist vision fits with the needs of the country's most populous and priciest city or whether they would rather turn back the clock with former Governor Andrew Cuomo who is attempting a political comeback after resigning in 2021 because of sexual harassment allegations he denies.
Out West, California's governors Gavin Newsom could get a boost in his march towards a likely bid for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
If voters approve a new congressional map, he is championing.
They will hand a victory to Mr. Newsom and other Democrats in their fight against redistricting Republican-led states.
The story adding from the Washington Times, Mr. Trump's influence looms over it all.
Although contests are unfolding on mostly Democratic-friendly turf, the results could serve as warning signs for both parties as they head into the 2026 midterm campaign season.
That's the Washington Times take on what's going on.
Again, you can give your thoughts our phone lines.
You can text us if you wish if you want to give your thoughts there too.
That text, by the way, 202748-8003.
And you can use that same number if you're a federal employee.
We heard from one.
And if you want to give your thoughts over the last 35 days, you can use that number too, 202748-8003.
Where the shutdown goes from today, you get a sense from the House Speaker Mike Johnson, who made comments about the status of the shutdown yesterday.
So I talked to the president multiple times over the weekend, I mentioned, and of course the filibuster came up.
This is a Senate matter.
It has nothing to do with the House.
Everybody wants to know what my opinion is.
I mean, my opinion is irrelevant.
I understand desperate times call for desperate measures.
I also understand that traditionally we've seen that as an important safeguard.
I mean, I obviously shared my thoughts with the president on that.
As much as I have wanted to blow up the filibuster sometime as a House member when we were not getting what we wanted done in our agenda, I hear my Senate Republican colleagues, some of the most conservative people in Congress, who say it's an important safeguard.
It prevents us.
It holds us back from the Democrats' worst impulses.
What would the Democrats do if they had no filibuster impediment, no speed bump at all?
They've already told us.
They would pack the Supreme Court.
You'd go from 9 to 13 or 15 or 17 or however many liberals they can pack on the court.
You would have D.C. and Puerto Rico be made into states, which would give four additional Democrat senators there in the count and make us a permanent minority.
I guess that would be their calculation.
You'd see massive restriction of the Second Amendment, Second Amendment rights.
You'd see them federalize elections so they could take over and manipulate things in the red states.
I mean, there's a lot of abuses that could come.
And so that's the caveat.
That's what they're working through.
And I speak frankly and honestly with the president, and he's very passionate about this.
We're all very passionate.
I think what you see in this debate we're having on our own side is a reflection of the anger that we feel, the real desperation that we feel, because we want the government to be reopened.
We want to serve the American people as best we can.
And any hindrance to that is something that everybody's looking at very carefully.
Again, not a House issue.
It's a Senate issue, and we'll see how that's resolved.
Let's hear from Robert in Alabama, Republican line.
Good morning.
unidentified
Good morning.
I love C-Pam.
And by the way, the reason I'm calling is I see team Jeffreys every day out there blaming President Trump on the shutdown.
Only Congress can appropriate funds.
I don't understand why They're saying that the president is causing a shutdown when all they got to do is sign the clean CR and then go to Congress and renegotiate what the spending level should be.
They control the power of the person, not the president.
And I'm tired of hearing every day Keith Jeffrey say president is causing a shutdown.
This is Paul at Massachusetts texting us this morning saying, where's all the money from the Doge cuts, furloughed workers, cut programs like foreign aid?
All those savings that they said were made.
Surely that money could be used for other things like food stamps and other matters.
Jeff in Dearborn, Michigan saying, let's not forget that the gerrymandering that began in Texas at the president's behest, as Republican policies aren't selling themselves, and they are fearful of those upcoming midterms of next year.
We'll see where the race is today, what they say about the midterms next year.
You can give your thoughts there too.
James in New York, Republican line.
unidentified
Hi.
Hey, I'm glad we're shut down because America has been in an economic warfare that most useful idiots are too stupid to understand.
America, you attack it, and that was a John Wayne movie with Guns Ablazing.
You attack it economically.
We are in a long time foreign invasion of troops who are draining us economically.
We need to get control of our money because these no-kings idiots have no understanding of saving their own family.
They root for the person who's going to destroy them.
Okay?
We need to shut down.
And you know what?
If you are on government assistance, if you're feeding from your daddy, daddy's going to shut you off.
You can't complain if daddy shuts you off when he's been feeding you.
That's James there in New York giving his thoughts on the New York City mayorial race there.
The Washington Post taking a look at the larger issue of off-year elections.
This is the headline shaping up as a referendum on the current president Donald Trump.
This is what they say, saying a large portion of pro-Democratic ads in the 2025 general election in New Jersey and Virginia mentioned the president.
According to data from ad impact, Democrats spent nearly $18 million on general election ads there, mentioning Trump investing $34.4 million on ads that did not.
By comparison, Republicans spent $1.3 million on ads in those states, and then not states mentioning Trump, and $37.7 million on ads that did not.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, has argued that the cost of living for voters in her home state is too high, pointing in part to the president's trade agenda, U.S. Doge service cuts, and the ongoing government shutdown.
And New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mike Sherrill rarely misses an opportunity to tie her opponent to the president.
In California, Democrats have focused heavily on the president, hoping to capitalize on a blue state anger with the president to pass a new congressional map.
Mac is next.
Mac in Maryland, Democrats line.
Hello.
unidentified
Yes, thank you for taking C-SPAN.
Thank you for taking my call, C-SPAN.
First thing I want to ask is you'd hear the one New Jersey guy that's running in New Jersey.
And during his speech, he used nothing, a whole lot of profanity coming.
This is politics.
This is somebody who's running for a public office.
And nothing came, I mean, a whole lot of profanity came out of his speech.
So, and you air him.
So I'm wondering this morning, if I start using profanity right now, in this call that I did, will you cut me off?