Donna Phillips of the Center for Civic Education details her 39-year-old "We the People" program, noting how recent scoring glitches in Oregon finals inspired renewed focus on civics amid AI challenges. The broadcast shifts to President Trump's return from Arizona and his impending executive order on psychedelic PTSD research, while he threatens resumed bombing of Iran unless a nuclear deal forms by Wednesday. Callers debate Gaza coverage, religious interpretations of current events, and Democratic nomination processes, ultimately framing the day's discourse around urgent national security threats and evolving democratic education. [Automatically generated summary]
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Students Win National Constitution Competition00:08:00
Sure.
The Center is a 61-year-old national nonpartisan nonprofit.
And in 1987, at the bicentennial of the Constitution, our flagship program, We the People, was started.
So that is in its 39th year.
And this program is a full-scale curricular program on the Constitution and its history, the Bill of Rights.
And that gets integrated into social studies, history, and civics courses all over the country.
And students from all over the country participate in this program from elementary to high school.
And this weekend we have the students who compete in a simulated congressional hearing.
The top team from every state comes to DC this weekend.
They're here right now to compete in our national finals.
Talk a bit more about what these students are engaging in because a simulated congressional hearing sounds a little intimidating or intense.
Yeah, so I mean core to the center's mission is that civic education is focused on the principles and the practice of democracy.
So it is important that students learn our, you know, our foundational history.
And, you know, this is the 250th anniversary of our declaration, so what better time to think about those foundational values of equality and consent of the governed and freedom.
And so when students learn those, then they can learn how to practice those.
What does it mean to practice it?
You know, democracy isn't handed down through the gene pool, as Sandra Day O'Connor liked to say, but it has to be re-fortified with each generation.
And so what the students do in this simulated congressional hearing is they simulate what C-SPAN likes to make public as part of its mission.
They come in as experts on different topics related to our Constitution and everything that relates to our history as well.
And then they get questioned by a simulated panel, folks simulating Congress.
So those are history and law professors, elected officials, legal scholars, educators.
And through that questioning, it really plumbs the depth of what the students know and learn, have learned about what it means to be a citizen in a democracy.
One of our callers earlier this morning specifically brought up, you know, I'm paraphrasing what they said, but they said people need to go back to civics class in school and kind of re-familiarize themselves with everything that was taught then.
Talk more broadly about in this moment.
There are so many headlines swirling around every day, so much happening globally.
With smartphones, we're all confronted with more information than ever.
But there's also things like AI that are changing how students approach the classroom and what they might be learning about in their government.
So talk about your organization's broader approach in that realm.
And are you finding it harder now because of all those factors?
Or is it easier because students have so much more exposure to stuff?
It's kind of both things.
There's more of an urgency now.
In this moment in particular, there's an urgency and a renewed interest.
I think because of our semi-quincentennial, but also because of the, you know, the headlines and the rapidly changing landscape due to technology and AI.
So it's almost like a doubly renewed call for civic education.
And in fact, yesterday during one of the simulated hearings that I got to sit in on, students and their judges were talking about just that, that civic education itself has to evolve rapidly and meet those moments and account for that.
So that is part of the landscape, you know, and when you're looking at, for example, how amendments and cases were interpreted even just 10 years ago, but certainly at our founding, are we taking an originalist standpoint on how to interpret our rights?
Or is the landscape so different for this particular right that we have to evolve even quicker in our constitutional understanding of it?
And then what does that mean for that headline you just saw about a Supreme Court decision?
So it's taking in that totality and it's just never, it's never ending.
It's always ongoing.
Yeah, yeah, seriously.
There's a great piece in the New York Times I wanted to flag for people who may not have seen it.
The headline is, Two student teams stuns the competition at U.S. Constitution Contest.
Matthew Myers and Colin Williams of Oregon won first place at the national U.S. Constitution team competition.
Then came the recount that threatened to unravel their achievement.
And the story is a good piece about it.
But I think what's interesting, because I was also reading how the center holds a national invitational competition for middle school students, and that's happening next month.
I want you to talk about that.
And more broadly speaking, if folks see that article where these are like two Wiz kids, what's the goal especially to get younger folks interested in this stuff in the age of TikTok where they could just be scrolling away on an iPad or a phone kind of mindlessly?
Yeah, so that was quite a year last year.
And that team of two, which is not typical, you know, we have full classes of students, but that particular team of two, they were Wiz kids.
Their program had been canceled at their school due to funding for teachers, you know, civics teachers.
And these two students were still so motivated because they had been looking forward to it and knew about the program that their teacher agreed to coach them and work with them and compete.
And they won their state competition.
They earned their spot to come to national finals.
They did not expect to win the whole thing.
And you mentioned with the group the Times piece said it would be like a baseball team winning a game with just four players to put that into perspective for people.
Yeah, I mean, you know, and so it's so that's not typical.
We want classes of 36.
We want as many kids as possible to engage in this.
But those students, you know, again, the judges look for the depth of their knowledge and the way the students are able to connect the past with the present and future.
And those students won the day.
Now, it was a very tight competition.
There was a recount on the scoring that had just some computer, I'll blame AI, you know, some computer glitch that prompted that story.
But what it did is it inspired that school to rethink its priorities.
And so this year that teacher has a full class and a full class within the school day.
So that was a great outcome of that.
And this competition is for our high school students, but our middle school competition, our invitational, also brings students from all over the country.
That's a hybrid competition.
Prior to the pandemic, it was in person.
When we went virtual for several years with both of our competitions, we saw that we had more classes able to participate virtually at the middle school level.
So we kept it virtual hybrid.
And students who do the We the People program in their school can all can participate in the invitational.
And so we have the same judges from all over the country.
They commit to full days of sitting on Zoom with students.
And then in between that, students can tour the Capitol and do sightseeing and then prepare for their next rounds.
That sounds so interesting.
At a time when so many people, when I've been traveling for work, tell me they're disengaged with politics and the civics process.
This is really encouraging.
Donna, we really appreciate you coming in.
We hope the rest of the competition this weekend goes well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll be announcing the winner on Sunday night at 7:30.
Strait of Hormuz Blockade Tensions Rise00:03:52
So, we hope everyone tunes in then.
I'll be watching very, very closely.
That's Donna Phillips with the Center for Civic Education.
Big weekend for their We the People competition.
Coming up, the White House has said that at 9 o'clock Eastern Time, President Trump is going to be signing an executive order in the Oval Office, a fairly unusual event for a Saturday.
We're going to carry that live when it begins.
Of course, the war in Iran continues to be a major headline that the president is talking about.
Here's what the president said on Air Force One last night when he was coming back here to D.C.: We're negotiating over the weekend.
And as you know, we have the blockade.
The blockade's been very successful.
And of equal success, it's been the five weeks before the blockade.
The combination was pretty lethal, I would say.
So, we're going to be knowing very shortly.
But we're talking over.
I expect things to go well.
Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.
Sir, what was the good news that you had 20 minutes ago?
Having to do with Iran.
Can you tell us anything about it?
But I just think it's something that should happen.
It's something that only makes sense to happen.
And I think it will.
We'll see what happens.
But I think it will.
Have you agreed to sanctions really earlier that everything is managed?
No, we have not.
No, none.
You told me earlier that everything has been agreed to.
Iran was saying something different.
So what has been worked out?
Well, he's got to say something different because, you know, they have people that they have to cater to, also.
I really don't.
I'm just doing the thing that's right.
I'm just saying it like it is.
We have a situation, I think, that is going to be very beneficial.
And the main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
And that supersedes everything else.
If you don't have a deal by Wednesday when the ceasefire ends, will you extend the ceasefire or win?
I don't know.
Maybe not.
Maybe I won't extend it.
But the blockade is going to remain.
But maybe I won't extend it.
So you'll have a blockade.
And unfortunately, we'll have to start dropping bombs again.
Thank you very much, everybody.
That was President Trump aboard Air Force One last night flying back from Arizona.
He spent about 24 hours out west for some economic and political events.
Would love to continue to hear from you.
There are the phone lines up on screen if you want to call in Republican, Democrat, Independent Line as we wait to hear from the president live again for an executive order signing that's set to take place in the Oval Office.
Just to kind of recap a bit on this topic of the Strait of Hormuz in Iran, I want to tick through some headlines from the Associated Press that has a live tracker going.
Their headline right now is Iranian gunboats fire on oil tanker and Strait of Hormuz as Tehran re-imposes restrictions.
And if folks are just waking up and catching up on where things are, the AP breaks down.
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that it would continue to block transit as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels.
But President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports will remain in full force until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
The AP goes on to say, Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S.
The Strait will not remain open if the blockade continues.
Iran's parliamentary speaker posted on X early Saturday.
Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire.
Trump later suggested the AP writes a second round of direct U.S.-Iran talks could happen this weekend.
I'll also point out that yesterday in a flurry of Truth Social Post, President Trump at one point claimed that Iran would never again close the Strait of Hormuz and that that country would stop leveraging the strait as some type of economic weapon.
Trump's Jesus AI Image Controversy00:07:18
But now that is not the case.
So while we're waiting for the president, let's hear back from some callers.
We have Bill calling in from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Bill.
You're on.
What's your top story of the week?
Well, actually, I had been waiting the whole time that Amy Goodman was on, and I wanted to comment about Amy.
Go for it.
Thanks for your patience.
It's okay.
Real quick, who I am, 75 years old.
I got a degree in journalism in 1973.
And Amy Goodman is incredible as a journalist.
And I mentioned 1973.
That was a time when Woodward and Bernstein, the reporters, were instrumental in bringing down the Nixon administration.
And Amy covers what truly mainstream media today does not.
And I mentioned the Washington Post.
The Washington Post is nothing compared to what it was under Jeff Bezos today, oligarch Jeff Bezos, I might add.
But the only thing I wanted, other thing I wanted to say is Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, I watch Democracy Now and listen to C-SPIN every day.
Nearly every day, Democracy Now covered the genocide in Gaza when it was getting very little fair coverage from other media.
And Amy and Democracy Now saw what was going on.
It was a genocide, one of the biggest stories ever.
I mean, a genocide.
It's a very loaded word.
And on Democracy Now, you never heard anything that was anti-Semitic.
It's not anti-Semitic to be sympathetic to the Palestinians who have lost 75,000 people, men, women, and children, from bombing by Israel.
And just to put a fine point on it, I have nothing against Israel.
I'm a Christian.
I believe Israel is a very important country.
It is the government of Bibi Netanyahu that is corrupt, that is evil, that is like Trump, Netanyahu, trying to stay out of jail.
And so he keeps the war going and going and going.
But anyway, Amy Goodman is a treasure as a journalist.
Thanks so much, Bill.
Appreciate you weighing in.
I just wanted to point it to a pool report we just got from the White House press pool.
They've been called to gather for President Trump's executive order signing in the Oval Office.
And according to the pool, the White House says this will be an executive order signing on medical research with some special guests.
So we're waiting to see what that will be about.
But no doubt, the president will continue to face questions about the war in Iran, about the Strait of Hormuz.
So we'll be carrying that executive order signing once it starts.
But Bill, thanks for weighing in.
One of the topics we didn't get to with Amy Goodman was Democracy's Now, now's additional coverage on foreign policy matters, specifically the four-year civil war in Sudan.
That's been playing out.
It stuck out to me toward the end of our conversation how Amy talked about the mission of going where there is silence.
So thank you for weighing in on that.
While we're waiting for the president, let's hear from another caller, Shirley, calling in from Pennsylvania too, on the Republican line.
Shirley, good morning.
If I have to cut you off, if the president starts, apologies in advance.
But what do you want to say?
Okay, I just want to tell you who the enemy is.
We all know that God made the earth.
He made all the people.
He loved them all dearly, and he wanted everyone to love each other.
But God said he would take care of people.
But God has an enemy.
It is Satan.
He's a devil whose idea is to hurt God taking his people away from him.
He is going to be taking people to Israel.
And he wants to take Israel down because that is where he's going to be thrown into hell.
And he'll take all his people with him, people who decide.
So whose side are you going to be on?
Are you going to be on Satan's side or are you going to be on God's side?
Let us be on Satan.
Let us be on God's side.
We do not all want to go to hell with Satan.
Please be on God's side.
Read the Bible.
Study.
It matters.
It's the whole thing.
Charlie, could I ask you what you make of earlier this week when President Trump shared that AI image depicting many saw it as him depicting himself as Jesus?
What did you think about that?
I just don't know what's behind it.
I don't know what Satan does with AI.
He is so smart.
He is so against God.
So he is trying to take us all to hell with him.
Do not pay attention to that.
Read the Bible and be on God's side.
Do what God says to do.
Love one another and love God.
We are on his side.
All right, Charlie.
Thank you for weighing in.
Let's hear from Candace calling in from Auburn, Mayne, I believe, on the independent line.
Candace, good morning.
Carol, you're doing a wonderful job.
Really enjoying this morning.
And I know you might have to go, so I'm fine with that.
Love that you talked about civic education.
I'm a big advocate of that.
And my daughter is currently taking Model UN at our high school here.
And so she loves it.
So I think we need more of that.
I was actually wanting to chime in about Amy Goodman.
And I was hoping somebody would ask her, because one thing I'm always fascinated with is how language permeates culture.
And what I've noticed in the past, I don't know, decade, I guess since 2016 when Trump came on the scene, is the Democrats became democracy, democracy, democracy.
It's all you hear.
I don't remember that back in the Clinton days or, you know, when I was growing up.
So this is something that has kind of become a call.
And I was hoping someone would ask Amy, what are they writing about how the Democrats' internal nomination process has eroded?
And, you know, it used to be you would let the ambitious candidates get in and the cream would rise to the top.
Think of, you know, Bill Clinton is what comes to mind when I think of that.
Someone that you never thought, a little governor from a small southern state, becomes president.
And I just, I want us to really call for that more.
Democrats' Internal Nomination Process Erodes00:04:48
We all deserve to have our vote actually count and mean something.
If this is democracy, democracy, well, let's actually walk the walk.
And Candace, I believe, actually, Candace, thanks for wrapping up.
I think we're going to go now to the Oval Office where President Trump is doing a Saturday morning executive order signing.
The White House says it's about medical research and it says he's joined by some special guests.
So let's listen in.
It has been a whirlwind 24 hours on the foreign policy front after President Trump and Iranian officials initially announced on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz, which normally sees 20% of the world's global oil supply shipping through it, would reopen after seven weeks of being largely shut down.
But now, just in the last few hours, I want to put up this headline from the Associated Press.
It says, Iran's military command says it has closed Hormuz again over U.S. blockade.
A few points here from the AP.
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that it would continue to block transit as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports will remain in full force until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
And Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S.
The Strait will not remain open if the blockade continues.
Iran's parliamentary speaker posted on X early Saturday.
Now, President Trump spent the last two days out west visiting Nevada and Arizona for economic and political events.
But as he flew back here to Washington Friday night, he answered questions from the traveling press pool and talked about the war against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and whether or not the ceasefire that is set to expire early next week will have to be extended.
Here's what the president said.
We're negotiating over the weekend.
And as you know, we have the blockade.
The blockade's been very successful.
And of equal success has been the five weeks before the blockade.
The combination is pretty lethal, I would say.
So we're going to be knowing very shortly.
But we're talking over.
I expect things to go well.
Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.
Sir, what was the good news that you had 20 minutes ago?
Having to do with Iran.
Can you tell us anything about it?
But I just think it's something that should happen.
It's something that only makes sense to happen.
And I think it will.
We'll see what happens, but I think it will.
Have you agreed to sanctions really earlier that everything has been agreed to?
No, we have not.
No, none.
You told me earlier that everything has been agreed to.
Iran was saying something different.
So what has been worked out here?
Well, he's got to say something different because, you know, they have people that they have to cater to also.
I really don't.
I'm just doing the thing that's right.
I'm just saying it like it is.
We have a situation I think that is going to be very beneficial.
And the main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
And that supersedes everything else.
I don't know.
Maybe not.
Maybe I won't extend it.
But the blockade is going to remain.
But maybe I won't extend it.
So you have a blockade.
And unfortunately, we'll have to start dropping bombs again.
Thank you very much, everybody.
That was President Trump late last night aboard Air Force One on his way back from Arizona.
Interestingly enough, a bit unusual according to the White House public schedule.
We're going to hear from the president later this morning at 9 o'clock Eastern Time when he is going to sign an executive order in the Oval Office.
CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs is reporting that the executive order will be about psychedelics, and she said that it will have to do with a psychedelic drug used abroad to treat PTSD.
We'll be, of course, taking that executive order signing live at 9 o'clock Eastern Time.
President Trump back at the White House after two days out west, and he is definitely going to be facing some questions about the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz, given these developments over the last couple of hours.
Let's hear from some of you calling in about your top story of the week, whether it's Iran or something else.
I want to go to Andrew calling in from Sterling, Virginia on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Andrew.
Good morning, C-SPAN.
This past week should have revealed to every Christian, evangelical Christian, every American, what an evil satanic person our current President is, Donald Trump.
He attacked the Pope relentlessly, time and time again.