Washington Journal on April 23, 2026, analyzes President Trump's plummeting approval ratings amid soaring gas prices driven by the U.S.-Iran conflict and energy policies. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant predicts price drops post-conflict, while Energy Secretary Chris Wright forecasts $3/gallon rates until 2027. Representative Tom McClintock advocates arming Iranian resistance groups and blames Governor Gavin Newsom for California's fuel costs, whereas Representative Judy Chu condemns the war as illegal. Callers debate tax hikes, ICE mask policies, and RFK Jr.'s controversial remarks, highlighting deep partisan divides over economic leadership and national security strategies. [Automatically generated summary]
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Tariffs And Rising Costs00:14:21
Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, along with your calls and comments live, we'll talk about the latest on the Iran war and other congressional news of the day.
First with California Republican Congressman Tom McClintock, and then with California Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
Join the conversation.
Good morning.
It's Thursday, April 23rd.
A new AP North poll out this week shows a drop in public approval of President Trump's economic leadership.
According to the poll, 30% of U.S. adults approve of the president's handling of the economy, down from 38% last month.
The U.S.-Iran conflict has pushed energy costs sharply higher, with recession fears growing.
Last week, the Labor Department reported wholesale prices rose 4% year over year, the biggest gain in more than three years, with energy prices up more than 8% from February.
Our question for you this morning, how do you rate President Trump's handling of the economy?
And how are you doing financially?
Here's how to share your thoughts.
Republicans call us on 202-748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000, and Independents, 202-748-8002.
You can text us at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name in your city-state.
And we're on social media, facebook.com slash C-SPAN, an ex at C-SPANWJ.
Welcome to today's Washington Journal.
Let's start with that poll from the Associated Press, and here are the numbers.
So headline is, few approve of how Donald Trump is handling the cost of living.
So overall, his approval rating, his job as president, is at 33% approval, 67% disapproval.
Among Republicans, it's 68% are approving and 31%.
Independents are at 23% approval and Democrats at 3%.
So specifically, when we ask about the economy, so the economy is overall at 30%, as I mentioned.
Republicans at 62%, Democrats at 3%.
Now, Independents here are at 19% approval rating and 80% disapproval.
Cost of living are lower numbers.
This is 23% overall.
Approval, 51%.
So just over half of Republicans polled are approving of the president's handling of the cost of living.
Independents are at 12% and Democrats are at 2%.
So we want to know what you think of that.
How would you rate if you were answering that poll question?
How is the president doing on the economy?
How is he doing on the cost of living?
You can give us a call, let us know.
In the meantime, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessant, was on Capitol Hill yesterday, and he was answering a question about gas prices.
The idea that consumer spending is up doesn't recognize, I think, that the top 10% of the richest families account for 50% of consumer spending.
So how does all this help families solve a key price of affordability in the United States today?
Senator, I agree.
After the Biden years and the 21.5% CPI level increase, the Americans were reeling.
I can tell you that it is my belief that when we talk about gasoline, that the crude market is currently in what is known in the energy business as very steep backwardation, which means that the future prices are much lower than we are at present.
I think the conflict will end.
I think gasoline prices will come back to where they were or perhaps lower.
As they did, President Trump has shown that he is good at getting energy prices down and that our energy dominance agenda has lowered prices.
How fast will the prices of gasoline come down?
Again, that is path-dependent on when the war and the conflict end.
Well, from the perspective of the Armed Services Committee, it's not likely end soon.
And that was Treasury Secretary Scott Besson answering questions from Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat of Rhode Island.
And we will go straight to the calls now.
Daly City, California, Democrat Tushar, you're on the air.
Hi, thank you for having me.
I just wanted to comment on President Trump's economic policies.
I think that President Trump needs to raise taxes for the part of America, wealthier share of Americans, so that he can balance the budget, lower the debt, and make it the overall quality of life for more Americans in America to be better.
I think President Trump has done a good job with trying to lower taxes on tips.
I do think he needs to create more taxes for the wealthier part of America.
And how would you define wealthy?
At what point would you want to raise taxes?
The top 1% of America, you know, there's so much economic inequality in America.
And I think that we need to do something to reduce economic inequality.
All right.
And let's hear from Arnold, also a Democrat, New York.
Go ahead, Arnold.
You're on the air.
Yeah, thoughts are in Zork Peters.
Sarah is in Massachusetts, signed for independence.
Good morning, Sarah.
Good morning.
Yes, go ahead, Youron.
What do you think of President Trump's handling of the economy?
Yes.
It's terrible.
I'm on Social Security.
My insurance, both of them went up.
I'm paying over $500 a month.
And I don't have any other income but Social Security.
The food prices are terrible.
Yes.
Was that it, Sarah?
Yep.
Yeah, the food prices are way up.
I'm one person, like I said, I'm only on Social Security, and nothing has been done for our American people as far as I'm concerned.
He's too busy with laws.
And so, Sarah, are you able to make ends meet?
Are you still able to get everything that you need?
No, I have my niece, luckily, that helps me out for food.
It's just impossible right now.
It's just impossible.
And you're on Medicare?
Yes, Medicare, and I have supplement insurance.
My Medicare went up, and my supplement insurance went up.
And it's just not feasible.
All right, let's hear from Joe next in Dayton, Ohio, a Republican.
Hi, Joe.
Good morning.
Good morning from a sunny Dayton, Ohio.
I give Trump and his administration an A triple plus.
My 401k loves Donald Trump.
I made over $120,000 last week in my retirement account.
I'm 65 years old.
And now, I mean, we're doing great.
I mean, I pay $3.58 for a gallon of gasoline, but under the Biden administration, I remember paying $4.80 per gallon of gasoline.
So as soon as this war, whatever you want to call it with Iran, is over, this economy is going to go gangbusters.
So, Joe, what do you tell people that can't afford to put money in the stock market or don't have a 401k?
Well, I mean, they're getting some kind of Social Security or whatever, and I would tell them to live within their means.
I mean, these prices, I mean, I don't know how did they do under an overall inflation at 19.4% under the Biden administration.
How did they do it then?
And they were paying $4.85 per gallon of gasoline.
So how did they manage then?
So what's the difference?
And you said when you're talking about, you know, my question would be: what is the Democrats' policy on changing the economy?
Well, I mean, they haven't said anything other than we hate Donald Trump.
They have no policies.
What are they going to do?
And, Joe, you said when the war is over, the economy is going to go gangbusters.
Absolutely.
Because I learned that.
When do you think it'll be over?
Oh, I have no clue.
I have no idea.
I have zero.
No one does.
I guess it'll get over when Iran starts starving and then their economy collapses.
But I mean, you know, I have no clue.
No one does.
All right, Joe.
And we are taking your calls this morning on your confidence level in the Trump administration's economic policies.
How do you think he is handling the economy?
You can share your thoughts.
The numbers are Republicans 202, 748, 8001, Democrats 202, 748, 8,000, and Independents 202, 748, 8002.
We will hear now from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
He was also before the Senate yesterday speaking to Senator Kristen Gillibrand, Democrat of New York.
I've traveled all across New York.
People are very anxious about the cost of everything.
When you look at small manufacturers, when you look at any small business, these tariffs have been like a ton of bricks on their ability to make money, to stay open, and to continue to provide.
I would like to know what's your plan for getting refunds to our small businesses, refunds to our people, to the American citizens who've had to pay more, because right now, tariffs have driven up costs so significantly that it's put many businesses at risk and in peril the process of refunds is run by Customs and Border Patrol under Homeland,
and it's their process and they have a significant process they're undertaking, but that is not the work of the Department of Commerce.
What is your perspective, however, and what are you advocating for in regards to our small businesses, manufacturers, and people who have paid the price of these tariffs?
If you build in America, you don't have to pay the tariff.
And the benefit of building in America, as you know, in New York, when we were there opening the $100 billion Micron factory in the state of New York, they were driven by the tariff policy of semiconductors.
So building in America is driven by that tariff policy.
And importers, I understand, don't like it.
But those who manufacture in America and hire Americans like it.
And they like it.
No, they don't.
Because the reality of manufacturing in America today is that many of their inputs come from abroad.
And they were talking about tariff refunds.
So take a look at CNBC with this.
It says, Trump says, quote, I'll remember companies that don't seek tariff refunds.
It said that President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he'll remember U.S. companies that do not seek refunds for the tariffs he unilaterally imposed.
Those so-called AIPA tariffs were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.
Trump's comment that companies would be, quote, brilliant for not seeking refunds came a day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a portal for importers to seek more than $160 billion in potential refunds for tariffs.
It says a number of big companies, including Apple and Amazon, have not yet sought refunds for the tariffs.
Stan in Florida, Independent, good morning.
How are you doing?
I think it's doing terrible.
Spirit Airlines now needs to be billed out.
They're going to start raising prices on the jet all the tickets for jets.
First of all, he's got the wrong people in there.
You don't negotiate with Jerry Kushner.
And you've got to get people that know what they're doing.
The war is not over.
They just shot on two boats.
They came out.
They shot up two boats.
The war's not over.
It's not going to get over for a long time because he keeps devoiding it, devoiding it.
They got to stick out the wrong people in there.
You don't put somebody like Jerry Kushner, who's out to make money for himself.
And Donald Trump's wealth has doubled since he's got president.
He's got a $400 million plane from Saudi Arabia.
He's worried more about his ballroom than the price of goods.
$4.35 gases in Florida.
And more for groceries.
Steaks.
You can't buy a steak.
He's got tarps on steaks.
He's got tarfs on coffee.
And not one ally wants to help him because he insulted every one of them.
So we're in a lot of trouble.
So, Stan, a previous caller said, like, how were you doing under the Biden administration when inflation was high and gas was?
I didn't even have no problem with Biden.
In fact, my union was going bankrupt because of the virus, and he billed us out because he didn't do anything.
Economic Struggles Across America00:15:49
He made a lot of jobs, but he was a good union man.
He billed the unions out after COVID.
Don't forget, that was a bad time, COVID.
That's why all that thing happened.
You don't remember the cars lined up at the banks, all the food stations, the freezers, all the freezers.
Donald Trump wanted to put bleach in our body.
All right, Stan.
And Stan did mention that bailout.
So this is on the Wall Street Journal's front page.
U.S. Near's loan to rescue Spirit Airlines from fiscal hole.
It says Trump and his aides look at a potential $500 million lifeline for stake and carrier.
That's at the Wall Street Journal if you'd like to see more about that.
Let's hear from John in District Heights, Maryland.
Democrat.
Hi, John.
Good morning to you.
And I don't understand how the American people can be so short-sighted.
When Donald Trump became president the first time, the first thing he did was deregulate everything.
That's why Joe Biden had such a hard time with the inflation because he deregulated everything.
And every Safety net that Barack Obama put on to protect the American consumer.
First thing he did with that dose, he got rid of all those agencies to protect the American consumer.
Then he once again deregulated everything.
This economy is not going to get any better because the American people are too busy watching football, basketball, hockey, dancing with the stars and not paying attention to what this guy is doing.
Only thing he's doing is making his friends rich.
The billionaires are getting richer.
I was listening to a lady the other day who was working for internal revenue, and she was saying how much money people need to do some research and stop listening to Fox News and do some research on their own.
They will see data made billions.
Now, this man talking about his 401k.
Okay, fine.
He got a 401k, but I tell you what, once that 401k gets so high, then bankers are going to steal that money just like they did before when Barack Obama had $700 billion to pay them bankers off.
This thing is not getting any better because the American people are not paying any attention to what this guy is doing.
He's just robbing everybody.
And I don't know about that.
Let me say this.
When he first got in office, Sean Hannity had a special with him and asked him three times, Are you going to take money from social from Medicaid and Medicare?
He said no.
And he did.
And Sean Hannity has not called him back on that one time.
This thing is not getting any better.
Y'all better start paying attention to what this man is saying.
Not what he's saying, but what he's doing.
He's a good liar, and everybody that worked for him is going to have to lie.
If they don't lie, they're going to get fired.
That Scott got finished talking.
He's a liar, too.
Peps, all of them are just lying for this man.
The man is a constant, it's unbelievable how English American people really are.
Thank you very much, Mary.
All right, John.
And Who Cares sent us a post on X that says, I am doing great.
I have confidence in Donald Trump.
And Elvin said this on X: With higher gas prices, higher inflation, and with a lower cost of living allowance in your Social Security retirement, I don't have any confidence in the Trump administration of handling this economy.
Julie, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, you're on the air.
Hi, this is Julie.
I think Trump's doing the best that he can with what was given to him by the Biden administration.
Although, as far as if it's more affordable for me, I mean, I'm a nurse, so I work two jobs.
My husband works.
Our kids are still in the house because they can't afford to move out on their own.
So I think, you know, the housing, the insurances, I think taxes are ridiculous.
Both of our income, like we've paid over $50,000 in taxes, and we're middle class.
And so, and health care.
So if you throw health care and taxes, I mean, that's about $100,000 of our income going out with co-pays.
That, you know, I can't blame that on Trump.
I got to blame that on both parties, that they need to sit and negotiate and come up with a resolution to this.
So, Julie, regarding taxes, have you seen a difference because of the One Big Beautiful bill?
I have, actually.
We got the most that we ever got back on our returns.
And so, some of that was buying the American car that helped with that and some of the other credits.
But now that I'm worried in Virginia with all of the other taxes that are being proposed by our state, you know, when we're supposed to be focusing on, you know, the reducing taxes.
So, I mean, I just think that we've got to work together on both sides of the party and be able to come to the table for all Americans.
All right.
And here's Ronnie in North Carolina.
Democrat, you're on the air.
Oh, this is Dick, Ranny?
Ranny.
Yep.
Yes.
Oh, good morning, ma'am.
How are you doing?
Good.
Listen, I have three points.
Quick.
I haven't called in for about three months, and I've been hearing these people calling in and complaining like the last lady from Virginia.
And I agree with the two guys from Florida and North Carolina.
They took most of my stunt thunder.
Now, here's the kicker.
Number one, people are complaining about the Iran war.
How do we get there?
I'll tell you how we got there.
Our president got bamboozled by BB, and we got a senator out of South Carolina who was a part of it also.
Now, Randy's focusing on the economy, though.
Okay, the economy is not good.
Everybody knows that.
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, everybody knows the economy is not good.
What's so good about the economy?
But the kick is that we have to stop fighting among each other.
You know, we need Democrats and Republicans to get together and try to work some plans out so we can get back to norm.
But anyway, there's a book by Rick Wilson, and it says it all about our president.
Everything he touches dies.
Rick Wilson, you should have him on, you should have him on C-SPAN.
All right, Randy.
Donna, Baltimore, Maryland, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Hey, Mimi.
This country is in shambles, and I don't know why people aren't walking around like everything is fine.
It's all about the haves and the have-nots.
Gas is high.
I don't care where you live.
I heard earlier the guy from Ohio talking about his 401k and he's doing great.
Your average person does not have a 401k.
Your average person does not participate in the stock market.
So that means nothing to them.
Absolutely nothing to them.
People are struggling to buy groceries.
People are struggling to put gas in their cars.
We're at war for no reason at all.
It's just this whole administration is just upside down.
They're incompetent.
It's just so, Donna, respond to the point, which was in the last administration, people were struggling to buy food.
People were struggling to put gas in their car.
So what's the difference now?
Yeah.
Yeah, let's talk about that.
Why?
Because we were hit with a pandemic, right?
And who was the president when it came?
Donald Trump.
And what did he do?
Ignored it.
Ignored it.
And so things took a while to get back where they were supposed to be.
Things were, you know, things were delayed and people couldn't get things because of COVID.
Because of COVID.
It was under his administration.
Biden inherited that.
People failed to realize that.
That was under Trump.
They like to think, they like to blame COVID on Biden.
No, That was Donald Trump.
And here we are again in a hot mess again because of Trump.
All right.
That's what you said.
All right, Donna.
And this is from Sunday on CNN State of the Union.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright was talking about gas prices.
Here he is.
March 8th, I asked you when gas prices would go under $3 a gallon for regular unleaded.
You said, quote, in the worst case, this is a weeks, this is not a month's thing.
That was six weeks ago, so we're still within the weeks realm, but we're two weeks away from the months thing.
When do you think it's realistic for Americans to expect that gas will go back to under $3 a gallon?
I don't know.
That could happen later this year.
That might not happen until next year.
But prices have likely peaked and they'll start going down.
Certainly, with a resolution of this conflict, you'll see prices go down.
Prices across the board on energy prices will go down.
But it might not be under $3 a gallon until 2027.
Under $3 a gallon is pretty tremendous in an inflation-adjusted terms.
We had that in the Trump administration, but we hadn't seen that in inflation-adjusted terms for quite a long time.
We'll get back there for sure.
That was the energy secretary, and President Trump reacted to that.
Here's the Hill article on it.
It says, Trump says Energy Secretary, quote, totally wrong on gas prices not dropping to $3 until next year.
Michael Smithfield, North Carolina, Republican.
Hey, Michael.
Good morning, Mimi.
Morning.
It's great news here in the Carolinas.
The skies are starting to clear.
It was very gray, you know, at dusk this morning, break of dome.
So things are looking up.
But the bad thing is, I was out and about yesterday after work, and then I went to my second job.
And of course, I watched two gas stations go up from $4.69 to $3.99.
I mean, you know, within, we just now got it down 30 cents.
They went, so it took probably maybe two or three weeks, maybe a month, to get it down to 30 cents.
And now within an instance, you know, it goes up the whole 30 cents.
And that was at two different gas stations, which I assume have two different petroleum suppliers or something like that.
So that has gone down then.
So gas prices are going down in your area?
No, this is what happened.
About three weeks ago or two weeks ago, we began to see a notice.
It went down immediately 10 cents.
This is today's, you know, we're getting into late April, so I say about well after Easter, mind you.
So it goes down 10 cents in one day.
Next day it goes down 10 cents.
It might have been actually just in a weekend's time now that I'm thinking, I mean, you know, life is quick.
I'm thinking that had to be two weeks.
It could have been just in a weekend's time, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
And now it stays at $3.69 for several days, more than it took to get to that level, which is great.
But yesterday in the last night, it went up a whole 30 cents in one day.
Everything we had gained, we lost in one day.
I don't know what happened.
I have no idea.
Maybe you can dig a little further.
So, Michael, how are you doing personally?
You said that you've got two jobs?
Yes, I do.
I mean, these are kind of jobs that, ma'am, I mean, what I'm saying is that I pretty much can go right out and say, look, I'll be honest with you, ma'am, or sir.
And you find people anywhere you can find them.
You go anywhere you can.
You don't harass them.
You don't do anything.
But you just say to them, look, what can I do for you?
Can I pray for you?
Can I do anything for you?
Because I'm out here every day.
I'm on, you know, Social Security.
And so with Social Security, it comes both ways.
You know, it's very limited.
It's only a one-month payment.
And there needs to be changes with that.
If we could somehow extend the payments with Social Security, not give it to us all in one day, it don't make any sense.
Nobody pays you a lot of that anyway, except school teachers.
And school teachers are very educated people anyway.
They can handle it.
Somebody like myself is a struggle.
I really am struggling, Mimi, but it is all in the pursuit of happiness, isn't it?
All right.
This is Allie in Bristow, Virginia, Democrat.
How are you doing, Allie?
I wish I was doing fine, but I'm not going to mention what COVID did for gas prices during the Biden administration.
The only thing I'm going to say is, well, I was a fool believing that Drill, baby, drill is going to bring prices down.
Unfortunately, look at me here, paying like $3.80 for a glass of oil, I mean, price of oil, and I'm not happy about it.
Thank you so much for taking my call.
Joey in Atlanta, Georgia, Republican, you're next.
Yes.
Yes.
I want people to understand.
It's true that there's a lot of people hurting in this country.
And I know that.
I know it's true.
You can go to a Walmart and you can see tons of cars parked out there, people living in their cars.
But this is what I want your listeners to understand.
How much of this pain and suffering that we're hearing from is self-imposed.
How many people continue to live without their means?
They buy things they want.
They should buy what they need.
How many people have these horrible, horrible spending habits that they spend and they just don't know how to control their budget?
Now they blame the president.
They blame the economy.
They blame the war.
They blame all these things.
But all these years, they haven't been saving.
They haven't been doing the things that they should have done.
And now when things are bad, when the country is having some bad times, then they want to blame everybody but themselves.
There's so many people out there hurting right now, but it's not because of President Trump.
It's because of their own doing.
And I want people to understand, you've got to listen to your callers.
If you listen to your callers, you could learn from this.
You don't have to be in poverty.
You could save money.
You don't have to have the latest top-notch cell phone that's going to cost you over $1,000.
You don't have to go in debt and go on vacations because someone lent you some money and now you can go out on vacation.
So it's true.
So, Joey, I take your point that there are people living beyond their means.
But, you know, one of our callers this morning, the elderly woman on Social Security, cannot make ends meet and relies on her niece to help her with food.
And that's definitely a necessity.
And I understand that, but let me tell you something.
I work in the dental industry, so I have a lot of patients that come to me, a lot of elderly people.
And a lot of my patients live on Social Security, but they have a little bit of savings.
They do have a family.
A family is supposed to help each other.
It's not a bad thing to have your niece help you with your groceries.
Since when is that a bad thing?
It doesn't mean you're bad.
It doesn't mean you're poor.
It means you have a family.
That's what the family is supposed to be for.
So it's not bad to call out and call mom and call dad and call grandma and call uncle.
Gas Prices And Layoffs00:15:19
It doesn't matter.
Your family is there to help you.
So it's not supposed to look, it's not supposedly be a bad thing for someone to say, I have to get help from my family.
That's a good thing.
You have a good family.
You should be proud of that.
That's a blessing.
So what I'm trying to say is, I guarantee you, a lot of people who are in the position of that lady that she has, she is struggling and she's not making ends.
This lady wasn't old all her life.
She was a young person.
She had a career probably.
She had a difference.
She had a decision-making opportunity to save a little bit more, not to spend so much, live within her means.
Get rid of those bad habits.
I promise you, if people were to listen to your calls and say, you know what, I'm going to learn from C-SPAN and I'm going to take for some of these people's pain and suffering.
I'm not going to allow it to happen to me.
I'm going to start putting away a little bit of money.
I'm going to start doing things that I shouldn't have been doing for a long time.
And it doesn't matter how old you are.
It doesn't matter where you live.
It doesn't matter where you come from.
If you try to listen to yourself and stop spending money every time you go to a gas station, every time you go to Starbucks, every time you buy things you don't need, this is what's causing the pain and suffering.
It's not the worst.
Joey, we got it.
Let's talk to Anthony in New York.
Democrat, you're on the air.
Yes, I watched the Bissett hearing yesterday.
And in that hearing, it's been brought up that $17 billion so far has been drained away from the American people because of the gas problem, the gas prices.
Also, during that hearing, I learned that the average American family will spend $2,342 more this year to just stay where they were a year ago.
So this is all documented in that hearing.
You can go back and have your editors check it out.
$17 billion so far has been lost by the people who've had to pay the extra cost of gasoline.
This was during the Bissett hearing, which I'm grateful for your station carrying that hearing because I learned an awful lot about the arrogance of Bissett and the Trump administration.
Well, thank you for watching, Anthony.
And that full hearing is on our website, c-span.org.
If you missed it or if you'd like to go back and watch it, we got this from Matthew on Facebook.
The economy is strong.
For the first quarter, 84% of S ⁇ P 500 companies have reported earnings that were better than estimates.
And Ronald says the Trump administration has economic policies.
I can't name any.
If the One Big Beautiful bill is as good as it gets, my confidence in this administration is very, very low.
Petra in Alabama, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you doing?
Good.
I just want to say I am a farmer out of Alabama that I raise chickens, and I have to work a second job because the economy is so bad that I raise chickens and I donate the eggs and the chickens to the local community.
And it really bothers me when people sit there and say, they'll sit there and save.
The people can't afford to save.
In my second job, I have people that are driving 40 miles to work because it's the closest job to their home.
I live literally in right there off the state line of Florida.
And I have people driving from Crestview, Florida, all the way into Alabama for work because there's no work down there.
And I don't think people understand how bad the jobs are.
The company I work for does subcontracting.
And one of our contracts is with a state.
And that state is their unemployment.
And the amount of business we picked up off the unemployment claims is incredible.
The layoffs are happening throughout this nation.
Automation is happening.
AI is coming in.
By 2030, AI and automation is expected to be running fast food restaurants.
And technology is coming.
It's here.
I just don't understand what people don't see about this.
Jobs are being eliminated by technology.
And we need to sit there and start worrying about that.
I mean, and my boss told me the other day, our wages are stagnant.
I'm not going to get a pay raise.
And they already told me.
They're like, look, this is it.
And so as a farmer that's struggling, and I have co-workers I'm listening to sit there and say that, you know, they're not sure how they're going to get the price of gas.
You raise chickens if you were just to do that.
I mean, have you ever been able to pay all your bills just by your farming?
Or have you always had to have another job?
No, I've always had to have another job.
And I'm going to be honest, my farm is owned debt-free.
We own zero.
It's a family farm that we've owned for generations.
And so basically, everything that costs is the cost of raising a chicken.
And I literally donate it all to help the people of the community because a lot of people don't have family.
And it is rough out here.
I'm seeing people living out of sheds.
We have people living in 10 or 10 sheds in Alabama where they're running lines out to the woods.
I mean, for their plumbing.
And they'll sit there and run.
Some people are talking about running generators that are home now because Alabama Power, there's a Facebook group.
Literally, to go on there.
Some people, we pay the highest electricity in the United States.
We're receiving $900 a month electric bills through Alabama Power.
$1,000 is normal.
It is insane what's happening in this country.
All right, Petro.
Eddie in Illinois, line for Democrats.
What's your confidence in the Trump administration's economic policies?
This is Eddie.
How are you doing, Mimi?
I'm doing okay.
Very good.
I have no confidence in the Trump administration.
In fact, I blame the three branches of government for allowing him to do what he's doing.
He's hiring these unqualified people to run our government.
And I believe Trump only purpose is to rob from the poor to give to the rich.
This is my opinion.
Now, he was a businessman and his business has failed.
But what I'm saying is when all this is said and done, whether it's now or whether it's the end of his presidency, the prices that have gone up, they might come down.
But the corporation is getting rich this administration, this government that allowed Trump to do what he's doing.
And the prices might come down a little, but it's not going to come down because that's the American way, capitalism.
Make as much money as you can.
And Mimi, I don't know.
The people, the poor people will stay poor, and the rich people will get richer.
They're getting richer day by day.
Thank you, Mimi.
On the Republican line, Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Roy, good morning.
Hey, Mimi.
I have an extreme amount of confidence in this president.
I mean, everything he does all day long into the night is for America as opposed to a Democrat president.
My God, they hate America or something.
But fuel price.
I can't believe it.
It's like Democrats, when they hear a guy like me, and I'm getting ready to say what I want to say here, when I say something, it's like these little things close over their ear holes and the information bounces off their brain.
Joe Biden ran on destroying the oil and fossil fuel, which is a ridiculous name for fossil fuels.
They're not fossil fuels.
But anyway, he ran on shutting that whole industry down.
And he closed down hundreds, maybe thousands of pipelines and wanted to destroy the coal industry.
He said it out loud, ran on it.
And when he got elected, the gas prices, energy prices shot through the roof.
We are at war with the oil made or whatever you want to call it.
And we're still paying less than what we were in the Joe Biden administration.
Remember the stickers on the gas pumps pointing at it and said, I did that?
It's absolutely ridiculous.
And the only reason, and I'll stop, that we are paying so much for energy is because liberals stopped drilling for oil and they started buying windmills and solar panels from China.
And China's having a hard time right now because of the straighter muse.
Why?
They can build windmills and solar panels, Mimi.
It's because they don't use them because they don't work.
They don't work.
It's the most expensive energy in the freaking world.
All right, Roy.
Okay.
Jimmy, Greensboro, North Carolina, Independent Line.
You're on the air.
Yes, good morning.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
Yes, I have confidence in the Trump administration's economic policies currently at the moment, but that could change tomorrow, just like everything else.
And it is so interesting to hear all the voices across America calling in because they're right about a lot of it.
And at the moment, I'm in good shape.
My parents worked hard, immigrants from Greece, sacrificed, made good choices back in the 70s, bought property, which I manage now.
And I'm one of the lucky ones.
Things are good at the moment.
So, yeah, I've got confidence, as I said, in this moment.
All right, Jimmy.
Here's Kevin, Houston, Texas, Democrat.
Go ahead, Kevin.
Good morning, Mimi.
First of all, I'm a teller, right?
It's good to be alive in America right now, but I'm zero negative of supporting their economic policies.
In fact, that big, ugly bill does nothing but raise inflation, give people hope, then it gets taken away.
Just like with that COVID check everybody got.
Most people had to pay that back in their taxes.
So he was already doing things that he said he was going to do.
People don't listen to this man.
This man tells you everything he's going to do.
When he says he's going to run for another term, he really wants to be a dictator.
And all his policies are not for the common people.
His policies are for the upper 1%, 2% now.
You don't see nobody that works jobs have to take on another job because they can't make ends meet.
All these people talking about 401ks and stock market, and they're doing good because you were given that.
Some of you took that.
And the people that struggle, you don't try to help them, encourage them and uplift them.
One thing this world is doing is always being sanctimonious, doing things for I and not we.
We're supposed to be we the people in America.
We are the divided in America because he's trying to make it go back to the Jim Crow days.
That's all I have to say.
Have a blessing.
Dale, North Carolina, Republican, go ahead.
You're on the air.
Good morning.
Morning.
The caller that called in a while ago, the Republican, he nailed it.
These prices are from the Biden administration.
If he would have not done what he done, gas would be lower than $2 a gallon right now.
But to the people out here that don't like the economy right now, you go vote, Democrat.
You put them in office.
You put them in there during the midterms and see what you get.
You'll have wars going on all over the world.
You'll have transvestites flashing their fake boobs on Easter Sunday.
So, Dale, Dale, you said if he had not done what he did, you're talking about the Iran war.
Are you in favor of the Iran war?
I'm talking about what Biden done to the energy.
He shut it all down.
No, no, no, wait, hold on.
But the gas price was lower before the Iran war.
So it has gone up by about a dollar on average.
Well, I've got no problem with paying more for him taking care of Iran.
It needed done.
It needed done when they killed the 240 submarines back years ago.
People forget that.
In 1983.
Keep in, Trump.
Keep plugging.
All right, Dale.
And speaking of Iran, let's just get an update from Caroline Levitt, White House spokesperson.
She spoke yesterday about the state of Iranian negotiations with Iran, I should say.
Well, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down with those individuals in person.
But obviously, there's a lot of internal fraction and internal division, which again just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury in the first place.
Their regime and many of its leaders for nearly five decades have been wiped off for the face of planet Earth.
So again, the president's offering them a little bit of flexibility because we want to see a unified proposal to the president's very strong proposal.
And he's made his red lines very clear.
Again, the United States maintains control over this situation, leverage over the Iranian regime.
Not only have they been significantly weakened and obliterated militarily, but they are losing economically and financially every single moment that passes with this blockade.
So the president is going to continue to lead the free world, to run the United States of America as we await the Iranian response.
Normalized Greed In Business00:12:53
And we're continuing with your calls for about 15 minutes on this topic of the economy.
Glenn in Detroit, line for Democrats.
How are things going for you, Glenn?
Things are going great now, Mimi.
But when I say great, I mean because I've done what I have to do.
But the previous caller saying you got to save money and you got to always do this.
Don't live above your means.
I've done all that.
And 2008, I don't believe in this administration.
And I don't really believe in any Republican administration because 2008, I had a great paying job.
Had got my home, still had my home.
But, you know, we got hit with that with the Depression recession.
And I lost my job.
Ended up getting divorced.
Well, that didn't have anything to do with it, but ended up getting divorced.
But my youngest daughter graduated from high school, getting ready to go to college.
Now I've got to face that as well.
Plus, I was laid off for two years.
Luckily, I was hands-on and I was able to make things work for me.
But my 401 took a big hit.
And you got people who can, your savings can be wiped out if you got insurance that won't pay for pre-existing conditions before Obama got there.
And your savings can be gone.
And you also have predatory lending that when people try to buy a house, The interest rates goes up so high that they end up losing the home.
But no, I'm doing good.
I've bounced back, but my 401 took a hit, and I did all the things that you're supposed to do.
I saved money.
I didn't live above my means, but things happen.
So the previous caller, hey, good for you, but life happens.
All right.
This is David in New York, Republican.
Good morning.
Morning, ma'am.
Thank you very much for taking my call.
First, I want to say I firmly believe that Donald J. Trump is the greatest thing that happened in America in the last 50 years.
What a lot of your callers don't understand is he's trying to reshore manufacturing jobs to America to create good paying jobs for working class people so we can get jobs, make money, pay taxes, and support a family.
And I fully concur with all of your other callers that talked about saving, investing, and living within your means.
I know tons of people that are making $100,000, $150,000 a year that are broke as hell because you're spending too much money.
So, David, you mentioned reshoring manufacturing.
I'm assuming with his tariff policies.
How do you think?
I fully support the tariffs because what that does is it's making it economically unfeasible for the American corporations to export our good paying jobs.
So keep the jobs here.
So, but how do you think that's been going so far?
Because what we're seeing is that there isn't an increase in manufacturing jobs.
It's actually less now.
Well, we got, well, the factories haven't been built.
It takes six or seven years to build these factories.
We've got $12 trillion of corporations from around the globe promising to build factories in America.
And it's going to take six or seven years to build those.
All right.
And in New Jersey, Independent Line, Nathaniel or Nathan?
Nathaniel.
Yes.
How are you doing?
Good morning.
Honored to be on the call today.
The reason for my call today is I think a lot of our callers, and just a lot of people in America, aren't understanding the real issue.
It's really about the greed.
And now greed has been normalized in America.
You can't save your way.
You can't invest your way from the top 1% being so greedy.
And that's what's really hurting our economy.
Greed has become normalized now.
We see these constant, constant case studies and these different instances of where corporate greed and people are at the 1% are just getting greedier and greedier.
And it's becoming normalized.
And also our politicians are beholden to these big donors and people in the 1%.
You can't save your way.
You can't invest your way.
And people are delusional to keep saying that.
There are people that are saving.
There are people who are investing, but they just can't get ahead because it's so much economic turmoil.
And for all the people that feel like, oh, you know, tariffs are good and all these manufacturing jobs, they're not coming back.
Automation and technology has killed and destroyed these jobs.
They're not coming back needly.
So I just wanted to get some insight for some people.
Until we hold the 1% accountable and we really stop this greed, we're going to continue to be in these economic turmoils that we're in as a country.
Thank you so much.
All right, Nathaniel, Jerry in Maine, line for Democrats.
You're next.
I have listened to your program since last year, January.
On point.
The gentleman from Ohio that said that we people don't really live by their means on the budget.
I've lived on a budget all my life.
I have Social Security and a pension, and I make $16,000, over $16,000 a year on my income.
And I have Maincare.
The nurse that said in the Senate, Congress, they should communicate, work together.
Someone's got a puppet string on each one of their heads.
Now, as far as the gas, President Biden, towards the end, I was paying $329 a gallon.
As of today, $379 a gallon.
And my point is, the gentleman that said about greed, yes, in all caps, pretty sad.
That's how separated we are.
And as far as hating President Trump, no, that's a very powerful word.
What it is, sad.
Thank you.
Have a nice day.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, Republican Vincent.
Hello.
Hello.
I'm having a lack of confidence in myself.
I'm making about $9,000 a year disability check.
And I'm thinking I want the war is okay, but I want to see if he can end it pretty quick.
The war, he had a blockade in there, and now it's going the other way.
If it lasts too long, I think it's going to affect me.
So I'm going to think that, and as far as one caller would say, if this is true, that Trump has made twice as much money in office that he is worth, that's pretty cool, isn't it?
I feel the same way about myself.
Confidence.
All right, Vincent and Rush, East McEastport, Pennsylvania, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Oh, Mimi, I got you again, huh?
Yeah, and I got you again.
Yeah.
Hey, I don't know.
I just hate hearing, well, I don't hate nothing, but hearing the people, it's this guy's fault, that guy's fault, Trump, Biden, you know, Republicans against Democrats.
The older I'm getting, 74, I'm starting to see both of them.
I've been both at one time or another.
Seems like they want, you know, them arguing and fighting against each other and this and that and the other.
As far as the economy, it appears to me that President Trump, he uses a lot of his just what he says either raises or lowers the stock market.
And a lot of people are making a lot of money off that kind of stuff.
Myself not included.
Then he loses me here because the economy, I don't care who says what.
The dollar, when I was a kid, a dollar went a long way.
And it's the same dollar.
I mean, George Washington's on it, and this, that, and the other.
And it don't buy too much now.
So you can call it inflation, whatever.
And Rush, how are you doing personally?
Well, I'm doing great ever since my wife kicked me out 25 years ago, you know, but would have been a millionaire.
I just put her through nursing school.
I'm retired from U.S. Steel, so I had a good job.
But now it's just Social Security.
And given that you were in the steel industry, what are your thoughts on President Trump's tariffs?
Were you in favor of them or opposed?
Well, for a while, but then, yeah, I was in favor of protecting our steel manufacturing, but I hear that that the ballroom that he's putting on, he's using all imported steel in that ballroom.
No, I don't like President Trump, and I voted for him.
He makes a comment every other day or every day.
I think the latest one, he made a comment that he would have ended the Vietnam War in a week or something.
Do you remember hearing that?
You know, I haven't, but I'll look that up.
Let's talk to.
Oh, sorry.
Let's talk to Dennis in Iowa, Line for Democrats.
Last call for this segment.
Yes.
These Republican parties who are saying Trump is so great, he doesn't matter so much.
Dennis, are you still there?
Okay, well, we will end it there.
The House comes in at 9 a.m. today, so we will take you there right at 9 a.m. Eastern.
But before that, two members are going to be joining us.
First up, we've got California Republican Tom McClintock.
He'll take your calls on the budget, Iran, and other news of the day.
Later in the program, we'll talk with California Democrat Judy Chu about those topics as well.
Stay with us.
Divided Media World.
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I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
You bring these divergent viewpoints and you present both sides of an issue and you allow people to make up their own minds.
I absolutely love C-SPAN.
I love to hear both sides.
I've watched C-SPAN every morning and it is unbiased.
And you bring in factual information for the callers to understand where they are in their comments.
It's probably the only place that we can hear honest opinion of Americans across the country.
You guys at C-SPAN are doing such a wonderful job of allowing free exchange of ideas without a lot of interruptions.
Thank you, C-SPAN, for being a light in the dark.
Divided Nation And Compromise00:06:14
Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
Joined now by Representative Tom McClintock.
He is a Republican from California.
He's a member of the Budget Committee and also the Judiciary Subcommittee Chair.
Representative, welcome to the program.
Well, thanks for having me back.
Let's start with Iran.
How do you think that war is going?
Well, I don't understand why the president has paused it.
I'm a little old-fashioned about such things.
When you've got the other guy on the ropes, you keep punching until he quits.
So I'm sure he's got much better information that's available to me, and I'm sure he's acting on that information.
But I don't understand this pause.
And negotiating with a government that in its best days was completely untrustworthy and is now completely fragmented.
So you don't know from one day to the next who's in charge, who's making decisions.
I don't understand this ceasefire.
So you're opposed to any kind of negotiation with them.
I don't see any point to it.
We've decimated their leadership.
We have decimated their military.
Now the final, and this can't end any other way but this regime falling.
I'm convinced of that.
It has been a plague on its people for 47 years.
It's been a plague to the world for the last 47 years.
We need to end this.
And having crippled that government so much, there is an extensive resistance movement throughout Iran.
They have so abused their people and terrorized their people.
I think the obvious step is to arm those groups and let them take back their country.
So I want to ask you about that because you were on the program in the beginning of February and I asked you about this.
You said you said the same thing.
You said this.
The most important thing we can do is arm the Iranian opposition.
You said that they would get a nuclear weapon and use it.
You said the only way to stop that, which is the nuclear weapons, short of a bloody war is an uprising within Iran and the internal collapse of that government.
Well, we are in a war and there has not been an uprising.
Well, I think, well, because they don't have anything to shoot back with.
But MEK alone tells me that they've got 20,000 resistance groups, cells.
MLK?
MEK, Musha'adin-e-Kaq.
It's one of the groups that brought down the Shah, but then has been fighting with the Islamic regime ever since.
They advocate for a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iran.
They claim to have 20,000 cells, small cells, between 5 and 15 people throughout all 31 provinces in Iran.
We need to be sure that they've got the tools they need to finish the job.
Have you shared that with the administration?
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
I've been in contact.
I'm having another discussion with an NSC official today on that very subject.
And what's been the response?
We're looking at it, and I understand.
And again, they will have information that I don't have available to me.
There may be some very good reasons.
Or they may actually be doing it right now, and we just don't know about it.
I don't know.
But I do think that's the only way this is going to end is for the Iranian people to take back their country.
The Senate GOP voted against the War Powers Resolution.
I know that you're in favor of continuing the war.
The question is, do you think Congress should have a say in that?
Well, of course.
And that's the issue that we're fast approaching.
The President's war-making authority is very limited without congressional declaration of war.
And I think the War Powers Act defines those limited powers very clearly.
He can respond to an attack or an imminent attack, which is what he did.
For 60 days.
For 60 days.
And that 60 days tolls on April the 29th.
He's then got about 30 days of fudge room to withdraw unless Congress gives him affirmative authorization, which it has not, and I'm not sure is likely to.
I'm prepared to, but I don't think that the majority of the Congress is.
So he's running against the clock.
So what do you think is going to happen?
Because we're not hearing that the President is going to come to Congress anytime soon.
Yeah, I have no power of prophecy.
Presidents on both sides have questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.
I happen to believe that it is constitutional.
The court has never weighed in on that.
My guess is there'll be a challenge to that law taken to the court at that point if he intends to continue.
But again, we shouldn't be wasting time.
We need to get this over with, and the people to get it over with are the people of Iran.
Congressman Tom McClintock of California is with us.
If you'd like to ask him a question, now's your chance to call in.
Republicans are on 202-748-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
AAAA is saying that the average price of gas in the state of California is $5.80.
What kind of economic impact is this war having on your constituents in California?
Well, California is a special case because Gavin Newsom has been waging war on fossil fuels throughout his administration.
In 1980, we were the second largest petroleum producer in the country.
We had 41 refineries operating throughout California.
We produced all of the gasoline consumed in our state.
But after Gavin Newsom's administration, the policies they put in place last year we were down from 41 refineries in 1980 down to nine last year.
Two more have since closed.
That leaves us with just seven.
We're now importing 60 percent of our petroleum being used in California.
Economists are predicting before the Iran issue arose, they were predicting $6 to $8 gasoline by the summer.
It was $6.19 at Sacramento Airport on Tuesday, in case you're interested.
So California has some very serious problems that have been created by its own policies.
But obviously, the disruption of global supplies with the Strait of Hormuz has forced up prices for everybody.
Global Supply Disruptions00:10:53
And that, I think, is going to be short-lived.
I don't see this continuing much longer.
And at that point, we'll see prices come right back down again.
When there was that announcement by one fragment of the remaining Iranian regime that the Strait of Hormuz was open, oil prices dropped from over $100 to $82 in a single morning.
And I think we'll see that again once this is behind us.
And we need to get it behind us as soon as we can.
And how do you see the war ending?
Because you said that you're not in favor of negotiating with this regime.
Yeah, as I said, I think the only way it ends is with the downfall of this regime.
And the only way it ends up...
It doesn't look like it's going anywhere, Congressman.
Well, time's a great thickener of things, as they say.
I want to ask you about something called the Dignity Act of 2025.
This was sponsored by your Republican colleague, Maria Salazar of Florida.
And we'll put it on the screen some of the things so that people can follow along, but it provides new renewable legal status to a portion of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who meet certain criteria.
They would have to pay $7,000 in fines, pass criminal background checks, and the act would boost funding for border security essentially and use e-Verify.
What are your thoughts on that?
I've got serious problems with it.
First of all, it would allow 10 million illegal immigrants who have, again, broken our laws to enter this country to remain indefinitely.
And then it would give them not only work permits, but they would be exempt from payroll taxes.
Now, it's true they pay 1% more on their income taxes, but that wouldn't begin to compensate for the loss of those payroll taxes.
Now, what does that mean?
It means they have a huge advantage over Americans in competing for entry-level jobs.
And that, to me, is the worst part of it.
In addition, what I find particularly offensive is that those who have already been deported can apply to re-enter the country, and all they have to do is claim they first entered the country when they were under 18 and have two friends vouch for them, which is not exactly what I would consider to be serious betting.
There are a lot of other problems with that bill, but those are the two that just leap off the page at me.
All right, let's talk to you.
Actually, leap off the 261 pages of that bill.
Okay, let's talk to callers.
Sal is in New Jersey line for Republicans.
You're on with the congressman.
Good morning, Representative McClintock.
I would like to ask you, what can Donald Trump do?
I think Donald Trump should tell the American people repeatedly on TV, and the Republicans should tell the Republican people, the Republican Party should tell the American people to be patient because this war is going to last a little while.
And they should encourage the American people to just wait for the war until the war is won.
Because if they don't, the American people are going to get impatient and they're going to turn against Donald Trump gradually, maybe.
Well, I think the American people are already impatient about it.
And whether they turn against Trump at the end is going to depend upon the success of this mission.
So far, it has been a phenomenal military success, but we have to finish the job.
And that's where I get back to the point of we had them on the ropes.
Why let them up?
Again, there are probably reasons that are supported by facts that I don't have available to me, but that's the way I'm seeing it with my limited information on the issue.
John Westchester, Pennsylvania, Independent.
Good morning.
Hey, hello to both of you.
You know, I think Tom McClintock should be the first off the boat when it comes to the ground force invasion of Carg Island.
And don't you realize that your policies of arming a supposed Iranian opposition is ludicrous?
These people aren't organized.
You'll just be throwing away money that's something that will not work.
You're wasting our money.
Tom keeps talking about time, and now this is all going to take time.
It's also going to take blood and treasure.
How long is it to wait for you to get a spine and stand up for the American people against Trump?
Seems like you're just a good old boy.
All right, John, let's get to a response.
He mentions a cordial good morning to you too, sir.
Your supposition that the resistance in Iran is unorganized is just completely wrong.
You have the Kurdish militias in the Kurdish part of the nation.
You have MEK with 20, again, claiming they have 20,000 organized cells.
You have all of the forces arrayed behind the Pahlavi monarchy.
And this is a population that has been tortured and tormented by this regime for 47 years.
No, it is ready to revolt, but it needs our help to do so.
And that would prevent the necessity of American forces having to finish that job.
That would be ground forces, exactly.
Now, what do we do about the nuclear material, the close to 1,000 pounds of nuclear material that's there?
Well, I think the president is absolutely right.
They cannot be allowed to have nuclear material.
They have made it very clear that they intend to acquire nuclear weapons, and once acquired, they will use them.
Would you be in favor of American ground forces, special forces going in to get that?
Possibly.
Again, that depends upon what happens to this regime.
If we can collapse the regime from within, I would believe that the success regime would hand that over without the need for force.
But we'll just have to see.
Sam is in your state of California.
Republican.
Good morning, Sam.
Are you there?
Can you hear me?
Yes, go right ahead.
It's early back there.
This is for Republican Tom McClintock.
Yeah, I was looking at the governor lineup for California that people are running for governor.
God, that's terrible.
Every one of them, I heard them on TV.
I mean, you know, how could they, I mean, they're worse than Gavin Newsom.
I mean, Lucom has stolen more money out of this state.
I mean, California, everything's so expensive here.
And I don't know what's going on here.
But why can't they put a good Republican here to take care of California and get this California right and get the prices down and everything?
It's just, it's terrible here.
And all this redistricting and all this stuff is going on.
I mean, Democrats are controlling this whole state here.
Hispanics are letting.
Look at the governor and look at the mayor of Los Angeles.
She's terrible.
I mean, how can they let some good people in here?
Sam are very much.
Sam, are you in Los Angeles or what part of California?
South Pasadena, California.
All right.
Go ahead.
Well, the good news is there are two Republican candidates in the race, both of them, I think, very well qualified: Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County, and my favorite, Steve Hilton, who I've endorsed on the Republican side.
But you're absolutely right about the horrible policies that have destroyed our state.
And when you talk about affordability, there was a study recently.
The 10 most affordable states in the United States are all Republican strongholds.
And the 10 least affordable states are all Democratic strongholds.
The high taxes, the heavy regulatory environment, the subsidies, the corruption, all of that drives up prices for everybody.
And California is a poster child.
I remember coming to that state as a child more than 50 years ago.
It truly was a golden state.
And low taxes, one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
Jobs were plentiful.
We had the finest freeway system in the world.
We had the finest public university system in the world.
We had the finest public school system in the country.
We were producing electricity and water so cheaply that some communities didn't even bother to meter residential water usage.
And there was a similar discussion over ending electricity meters because electricity was becoming so cheap.
The same state exists, but all of the policies changed.
And now people are dealing with the highest electricity prices, highest gasoline prices, highest housing prices.
You realize there were more building permits granted in Dallas and Houston last year than were granted in all of California.
The median price of a home in Texas is about $350,000.
The median price of a home in California is $900,000.
That's what socialism does to an economy.
That's what it's done to wreck California.
And ultimately, it's up to the good news, these weren't acts of God that destroyed California.
These were all acts of government.
And the people can change that anytime they summon the political will to do so.
And it's high time people in California did because I, as a Californian, am sick and tired of living like that.
Gail in Massachusetts, line for Democrats.
You're on the air.
Yes, thank you very much for taking my call.
I would like to say this: how many people are addressing the fact that wars cause so much pain and environmental damage?
That's what I would like to address.
The pain on the Iranian people you're talking about?
In general.
Yeah, well, no, you're absolutely right.
That's undeniable.
A war is a terrible, hideous thing.
But you have to weigh the cost of the Iran war against the prospect of a genocidal regime acquiring nuclear weapons with which to threaten the world.
And that's what the administration is facing down right now.
Albert in California, Republican.
Good morning, Albert.
Good morning, Mimi.
And I'm a Congressman.
Absolute pleasure.
The last time I called was we had Al Green.
Mimi, I apologize for making a comment about Al Green.
And one of the things I said was: I'm a Republican, my vote doesn't count, but when we have representatives like you, I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Also, LaFonzo, who died, was my rep. I went from the Silicon Valley, and I moved up to Chico.
You know, that's more affordable.
I'm up in Megallia.
But can you make a comment on the governor's race that took place last night?
And also, just a general comment is that the hearings we're having in D.C. right now with the secretaries is so embarrassing to the American people, at least for me.
Political Principles And Children00:14:47
The conduct of our representatives.
And you're the higher echelon of the government.
I mean, you guys make great money and you fly around and you get on your grand horses and you parade the country.
Give me an overview why we're at where we're at.
And I want to say separately.
And Mimi, you are a pleasure to be around.
Well, that's very kind of you.
Congress is simply a reflection of the country.
Why is Congress so bitterly divided?
Because the country right now is so bitterly divided.
You know, why is civility breaking down in the Congress?
It's because it's breaking down across the country.
And I think that Justice Thomas put his finger on it in a very important address he made to the University of Texas last week.
And that is that there are moments in a civilization where there are antithetical principles competing for the future.
That's what Lincoln talked about in his famous House Divided speech.
A House divided against itself cannot stand, and this government cannot endure permanently, half slave and half free.
He went on to say, I don't expect the House to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It must become all one thing or all the other.
He understood that those principles, freedom and slavery, were antithetical.
They were polar opposites, matter and antimatter.
They could not forever exist together.
One had to triumph over the other.
We had to become all one thing or all the other.
And if you recall your history, those were very tempestuous times, very uncivil times.
We actually had a civil war.
I think that wheel's come full circle.
And now we're dealing with two antithetical principles: freedom and socialism, or as Justice Thomas said, freedom and progressivism, which are really progressivism, socialism are pretty much the same thing.
They reject the principles of the American founding.
They are antithetical to the principles of freedom.
I mean, if you look at it, socialism and slavery are two sides of the same coin.
They both spring from the same rotten principle, as Lincoln described it, the same principle that says, you work and toil and make bread, and I will eat it.
Well, you can't compromise those fundamental principles.
Our system's built on compromise.
So we're in a period of very intense debate over two principles that ultimately will decide the future, but only one will prevail.
And Congress was going on.
You know, there was a Gallup poll that was released just yesterday asking for Congress's approval, your approval of Congress.
It's 10% approve of Congress.
Now, there also has been a recent spate of sexual misconduct allegations and retirements, expulsions, et cetera.
Do you think Congress is policing itself adequately?
You wonder what's wrong with that 10%.
10% is not paying attention to me.
But, you know, first of all, Congress is never particularly popular.
Everybody likes their own congressman but doesn't like the rest of them.
And that's always been the case.
I remember what Mark Twain said.
He said, suppose, dear reader, that you were an idiot, and suppose you were a congressman, but I repeat myself.
So it's been going on for a very long time.
But I do agree that the conduct in the Congress has deteriorated dramatically.
And I think people are reacting to that.
As your caller just said, you know, this is not happening in a vacuum.
People are watching this.
And when you have this kind of uncivil behavior, you're going to have a revulsion from those who are watching it.
That is a self-correcting mechanism, however, and I think that we will be correcting that.
Not just uncivil.
We're seeing criminal behavior.
Well, that's true.
Yeah, exactly right.
Here's Tony in Virginia, line for Democrats.
Good morning.
True movement.
Go ahead, Tony.
You're on with Congressman McClintock.
You know, if I was a Republican right now with the things that you see on television and through the news, I would be embarrassed.
I'd be saying to say that I'm a Republican.
For the simple reason is I was watching television yesterday and watching Kennedy testify.
And he was saying that all black children should be taken away and put on a farm and be and otherwise they have another parent.
Wait, all black children should be taken away and put on a farm?
Yes, that's what he said.
Where did you see this?
Secretary of Health and Human Services?
It was on C-SPAN yesterday.
We're going to have to check that, Tony.
It doesn't sound right.
That sounds a little bizarre.
But here's one point, though, where I think you're right, though.
You can't spin the economy.
Everybody knows in their own life exactly how well they're doing.
And right now they're telling us that they're not doing very well.
But I remember the Reagan recovery.
When the Reagan tax cuts finally took effect, the economy expanded dramatically.
You could feel it in the air.
There was a sense of optimism.
People were feeling better about themselves and about their futures.
And the result was one of the biggest Republican landslides in history.
People had been dealing with the Carter economy up until then.
They'd been blaming Reagan for it.
Reagan's popularity was low.
But when those tax cuts finally kicked in, it was mourning in America, as the famous Reagan campaign ad pointed out.
The Trump tax cuts, the big, beautiful bill we passed last year, is Reaganomics on steroids.
And I am very confident that as that works its way through the economy by summer, we're going to be feeling its effects very dramatically.
And it's going to be a very different economic future for the American people, a very optimistic one.
And that's going to translate into politics.
So again, as I said earlier, that old saying, time is a great thickener of things.
I see very good days ahead for America.
All right, and I just want to get back to Tony.
You're still there.
This is The Hill.
We do have this article.
It says, RFK Jr. apologizes for comments about black kids he claims he didn't say.
So here's what it said.
Secretary Kennedy on Wednesday apologized for past comments he made about black children being, quote, reparented while maintaining that he didn't make those comments despite there being a recording of him doing so.
Senator Also Brooks of Maryland asked Kennedy whether he could admit to saying that he had a plan of sending black children to rural rehabilitation centers where they could be reparented.
That is on thehill.com.
Of course, you can also watch everything on c-span.org.
Here's Kimberly in California, Independent.
Go ahead, Kimberly.
Hi, good morning.
I have a few comments to make, but one of them I wanted to say, you just made a comment about Iran being, you know, they would be genocidal.
Let me say something.
America participates in the genocide that is happening in Gaza by giving Israel the money.
Can we?
Yeah.
Sorry, Kimberly, he was having trouble hearing you, but continue.
You were saying about Iran.
I said he made a comment about Iran causing national genocide.
And I'm saying to him that the only people right now doing a genocide is Israel and us Americans by giving them the money to participate in it.
But furthermore, you keep talking about socialism as if it's this evil of two.
We live in California.
We know what the problem is.
It's oligarchy.
It's the rich.
And let me tell you something.
Everybody in America, I believe, is going to see that after how far New York comes into with the new mayor there, they're going to see that the thing that he is talking about is what the working class wants.
You represent more working class here in California than anywhere.
And white supremacy is what is keeping this capitalism alive.
Well, what makes your caller think that somehow socialism is going to work better in California or New York than everywhere else it has ever been tried?
I mean, just look around this country.
Look around the world.
Wherever the left takes control, you see exactly the same pathologies, economic and social.
You see sky-high taxes, rising crime, rampant homelessness.
You see shortages of basic necessities like gasoline, electricity, water, housing, groceries.
You ultimately see failing schools, failing businesses, and then fleeing families.
A million and a half more people have moved out of California than have moved into California during the Gavin Newsom administration.
And a lot of them are moving to places like Nevada and Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Florida.
But I can't imagine an act of God that could do so much damage to California as to make it a less attractive place for people to live than the middle of the Nevada nuclear test range.
But acts of government can do that.
They have done that much damage, and you're seeing it.
But you're not just seeing it in California.
They took our most beautiful cities of the 20th century, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Baltimore, New York City, Washington, D.C., and turned them into socialist hellholes.
Then they took our best states, the most prosperous states, California, Illinois, New York, and they did the same thing.
Why can't people connect the dots between these policies and the effect these policies have on the quality of life of every American?
I don't understand it.
Congressman McClintock, we've got this from Lynn on X.
She says, Trump's bailing out Spirit Airlines.
Is that considered socialism?
And is it true that Trump is going to bail out the UAE?
Also, are you one of the Republicans that want Trump to pardon Ghelene Maxwell?
I know I won't get an answer because C-SPAN doesn't like my truth.
Well, I have to agree with her completely.
The bailout of Spirit Airlines would be a huge mistake.
That is not the role of government.
Spirit Airlines makes its own decisions.
Yes, there are international events that are affecting them, but that's affecting all the airlines.
We can't get into the business of subsidizing every failing corporation.
That has got to stop.
So I'm in complete agreement with her on that.
I think that would be a terrible idea.
You know anything about the UAE getting funding?
I don't, but I think that we have been far too lavish in providing foreign aid to a lot of countries that do not wish us well.
I'm not sure the UAE is now in that category, but I think we need to focus on America's needs at this point.
And would you like to comment on Ghalen Maxwell and if you would be in favor of a pardon for her?
No, I don't think so.
I mean, there'd have to be some reason for it.
I haven't heard a reason.
All right, let's talk to Barry, who is calling us from Connecticut on the line for Republicans.
Oops.
Looks like Barry's gone.
Let's try Vicki in St. Louis, Missouri.
Democrat.
Hi, Vicki.
Hi, how are you doing today?
Good morning.
Good morning.
Hi, Mr. McClintock, if I said your name right.
You are from a very beautiful state.
I visit there a couple of times.
I have family that lives in San Diego, Carsbag.
But my question today, well, I actually have three.
One is, what do you think about the children that were killed in Iraq, that girls' school?
Is that a war crime in Iran?
I don't know if you're going to hear any Republicans say anything in Iran.
Number two, what do you think about the president's family making so much money off of Bitcoin and being connected to the UAE?
Number three, I'm a white woman raising a biracial child in this country, which I'm so totally proud of.
But the racism in this world is crazy.
And that meeting with Senator Kennedy yesterday, hearing him say on that video, audio tape of him reparenting black children in the rural areas of this country just made my skin boil.
I mean, it's just, I don't even know what to think about that.
Well, this is the first I've heard of that, and I'm appalled by it too.
I'd like to see what context it was in, but I can't imagine a context that would make it any more excusable.
So I, you know, again, hearing it for the first time, you'd have the same reaction.
But the other questions were about we'll leave it there, but I do want to get an update on DHS funding.
What's the latest on that?
Well, as you know, the Senate just passed a reconciliation, actually a budget resolution to the House.
I don't like the use of reconciliation for that sort of purpose.
It's going to be essential in this case because the Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless we stop enforcing our immigration laws.
Well, we're not going to stop enforcing our immigration laws.
So that's an impasse.
The reconciliation process can breach that impasse because it bypasses the Senate's 60-vote closure.
However, that's not the purpose of reconciliation.
There is one shot at reconciliation that the Congress has every year that is specifically designed to bring our spending in line with our revenues.
The reconciliation bill is there to control mandatory spending, and it hasn't been used that way as the Budget Act intended in all the time that I've been in Congress.
And we need to start.
Reconciliation And Immigration Laws00:02:24
And sorry, just to go back to Vicki's points, she was asking about Bitcoin and the president and his family making money off of that and also the attack on the Iran school.
Right, yeah, no, the attack on the Iran school was a, you know, it was one of those terrible mistakes of war.
It was not deliberate.
And war is, as Sherman said, war is hell.
It's the last thing you want to do until you've exhausted every other option.
But in this case, we had.
So very regrettable.
But again, compare that to a regime that specifically targets civilians.
That's what Iran has done.
They've killed 30,000 to 40,000 of their own people just in the recent past.
You're comparing apples and oranges there.
You're comparing good with evil.
And I think that's a kind of warped way to look at the world.
And the other issue.
I'm going to be the president.
Yeah, I don't know.
Again, the president has a vast business empire that is run by other people for the most part.
I think it's he's one of the fewer, you know, a few titans of industry who's ever been president of the United States.
So he's going to have business activities while he's the president.
The question is, is there a conflict of interest in anything he's done?
And I haven't seen that.
If somebody can present that to us, well, then it'll be a different discussion.
All right.
Well, that's Representative Tom McClintock, Republican of California.
Thanks so much for joining us.
My pleasure.
Thanks again for having me.
Up next, we'll get California Democrat Judy Chu.
She's also a member of the budget committee and discuss thoughts on spending and also on the conflict in Iran.
We'll also invite you to participate in an open forum.
You can start calling in now.
Republicans are on 202-748-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202-748-8000 and 2.
We'll be right back.
You're watching C-SPAN.
Unfiltered Democracy Live00:03:34
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You look back on what you've achieved in your life.
What makes you the happiest of what you've achieved so far?
This interview is the absolute apex.
Leaders seem to like to wear wigs.
How come he didn't have a wig?
President Trump said, I made a mistake the first time.
I should have given it to you the first time.
That isn't what he said.
Your first book was called A Time to Kill.
How many publishers turned that down?
Well, all of them.
It's very rare to see Donald Trump laugh.
He doesn't like to smile.
He has what they call the stare.
How would the stare?
When you go to the Oscars that everybody say, oh, there's the author.
All the beautiful people go this way.
And then they have another little path in the Oscars where the people like I go.
So you wrote a book about somebody who lived with wolves.
I interviewed a guy who lived with wolves.
Yep.
And is that safe to do that?
Absolutely not.
So I know you were not complaining.
You were opinionated about the situation.
Which is why we love you, David.
Book TV, every Sunday on C-SPAN 2, features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books.
Here's a look at what's coming up this weekend.
At 3 p.m. Eastern, explore the history and impact of black comedy on culture and politics with PBS NewsHour co-anchor Jeff Bennett in Black Out Loud.
And then at 4 p.m. Eastern, Book TV takes you to the annual National Black Writers Conference for discussions on censorship and the environment.
Later at 10 p.m. Eastern in After the Riot, photographer and NBC News reporter Frank Thorpe discusses the aftermath of January 6th, 2021 in photos, portraits, and first-person accounts.
Watch Book TV every Sunday on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule in your program guide or watch online anytime at booktv.org.
Join C-SPAN this Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern for Washington's premier black tie event, the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Watch live coverage from the Washington Hilton featuring red carpet arrivals of top journalists, political leaders, and celebrities.
This year's featured entertainer is renowned mentalist Oz Perlman, and President Donald Trump is expected to make his first appearance as president.
The White House Correspondents Dinner, live this Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-SPAN.org.
Washington Journal continues.
War Funding And Budget Concerns00:04:18
Welcome back.
We are in open forum, so if you'd like to call in, you can start doing so now.
In the meantime, we are going to take, we're going to talk to Representative Judy Chu, a member of the Budget and Ways and Means Committee and a Democrat of California.
Congresswoman, welcome to the program.
Thank you for having me.
So the Senate GOP has voted against the War Powers Resolution.
Those 60 days are coming up on April 29th is the deadline for that.
I know that you're opposed to the war with Iran.
What options do Republicans in the House have at this point?
Well, we will keep on bringing up the War Powers Resolution because one thing we know is that the American people are against this war.
It is an illegal war, and also it is causing harm to our economy.
We are experiencing a great rise in the cost of gas, but it is also causing all kinds of other consequences.
Basically, it's making life unaffordable for Americans, and it is something that we should not have gotten involved with anyway because there was no imminent threat to America, which would normally be the reason for getting involved in a war.
So yes, I am very opposed to this, and we will keep putting on the war powers resolution onto the floor until we get a vote.
And actually, this time we were closer than ever.
There was only a one vote difference to pass that war powers resolution.
Now, you serve on both the budget and the ways and means committees.
Is there something that Democrats can do through the appropriations or the budget process?
Well, there is going to be a proposal from the Trump administration to have supplemental monies for this war.
And I can tell you, Democrats will be totally against this.
We should not give a blank check to this war, which should never have been authorized in the first place.
Already, they have spent $50 billion on this war.
and they're going to ask for $200 billion more, very possibly.
But they can't spend a penny on people's health care.
There are 15 million people that are being thrown off their health care and they will be in desperate straits pretty soon.
There are those who are paying two to three times higher for their Affordable Care Act coverage because the tax subsidies were allowed to expire.
This is a country where we should make sure that at least the most basic needs are met instead of throwing people off onto the streets where they can have a very desperate situation with regard to making sure that they can be healthy in the future.
And Congresswoman, you mentioned gas prices earlier and AAA is saying that in your state of California, the average is $5.80 higher than the rest of the country.
Our previous guest, Representative McClintock, also from your state, a Republican, said that it was due to the socialist policies of the governor of California and moving away from fossil fuels.
What's your response to that?
Well, I would say that gas prices are going up for everybody across the country.
Yes, California gas prices are somewhat higher than the rest of the country because of more monies that goes into the highway trust funds and funds to make sure that we can have clean air.
And so, yes, that is there.
But hey, the burden of gas prices is on every American and it's due to this Iran war where gas is dependent, of course, on oil crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
Ending The Iran Conflict00:02:06
And now President Trump has caused this crisis in the Strait of Hermuz where ships cannot pass and it's causing fuel shortages across the whole world.
And in fact, there are airlines that are saying they're going to run out of fuel in a few weeks.
How could we be in this situation?
It's because of President Trump's entrance into a war that never should have been done in the first place.
And now that we are in the war, what do you think should happen?
I think that we should have a war powers resolution pass that would make for an actual vote of Congress as to whether this war should be enabled in the first place.
And of course, I would vote no.
And Congresswoman, even after that, if there was a no vote, then what happens?
Do you think it should just be a unilateral pullout of Iran?
Do you think there should be some kind of negotiation?
I think that we should end this war.
I think that we should end this war with a negotiation that makes sure that it's responsible.
Nonetheless, the move should be towards ending this war, which Americans do not want.
And finally, I want to ask you about the Pentagon budget that was unveiled earlier this week.
I should say that's $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027.
So raises of 5% to 7% for troops, increase of 44,000 active duty troops, and $750 billion for defense capabilities and weaponry.
Is there a chance that that size of a budget could pass Congress?
The budget for the Department of Defense is already very high and it's bloated.
And in fact, the audits of the Department of Defense are never done.
Defense Spending Accountability00:11:06
They do not ever have any kind of accountability.
Now, one thing's for sure: I support the higher pay for the military.
I support making sure that they are made whole.
But I do not support a blank check to the Department of Defense, and there should be some accountability.
All right, that's Representative Judy Chu, a Democrat of California.
Thanks so much for joining us today.
Thank you.
And we're in open forum.
We'll go straight to your calls until the House comes in in about 17 minutes.
Chris in Massachusetts on the Independent Line, you're on the air.
Hi, thanks for having me.
I appreciate the way Representative Chu, I guess, focuses on what needs to be done.
Because in regards to Mr. McClintock, listening to him speak, it didn't sound the same way.
It sounded like more excuses where I hear there's actually a focus on what we need to have done.
And that's what I appreciate.
On, I guess the Democrats have more of a, for me, a future, a visual future than what the Republicans have offered us.
So that's it.
That's all I wanted to comment on.
Thank you for having me.
All right, Chris.
Let's talk to Thomas next in Alabama.
Democrat, good morning, Thomas.
Yes, I have a couple of statements to make.
Our president said soldiers are losers and suckers.
This same president is trying to screw the public out of $10 billion out.
Now, this is our president.
What kind of president would try to screw the taxpayers out of $10 billion for some frivolous suit that he's got going?
Secondly, this man is the racist of all times.
This man lined up a bunch of caskets that he said white South Africans was killed by black South Africans to take their land, which proved out to be no proof whatsoever, but an excuse for him to allow 60,000 white South Africans in this country without any reasoning or excuses.
That's all I have to say.
Thank you.
Bye.
And Steve in Pittston, Pennsylvania, Republican, you're on Open Forum.
Good morning, Lemi.
How are you?
Good.
I'm calling because I'm getting a little discouraged in listening to C-SPAN at times.
You have the greatest hosts in the world, and you have some of the worst hosts in the world now.
You, John, Pedro, you interact with the callers.
You have a demeanor that puts the callers at ease when you talk with them.
You question the callers.
You've hired some new hosts and hostesses who, over the course of time, haven't been able to connect, I don't think, with the audience.
They look like a deer in headlights.
They have no demeanor.
They are very abrupt.
And I think there should be some more continuity to the way C-SPAN hires their people.
So there's not such a definitive difference from host to host.
And that's my comment for that.
All right.
Thanks for your feedback.
Steve, Shonda in Florida, Democrat, you're on the air.
Morning.
Thank you so much for my call, for taking my call.
This is my question.
As a black American, I have family in the military, a lot of family in the military.
I have a lot of family in law enforcement.
And it concerns me that I look at the Trump administration.
You see no one of color in the Trump administration.
We see them putting detention centers everywhere where they say we don't have money for this.
We don't have money for that.
But they're overpaying millions of dollars for warehouses for detention centers when they say they're doing mass deportations and they're sending people back to their countries.
So who are these detention centers for?
I urge the Democrats to stand their ground because I don't understand why ICE can't take off their mask.
Why not?
We have police officers, state troopers.
So many people, our Capitol police, they don't wear masks.
They have families.
Their families could be at risk.
So what makes ICE enforcement agents so more important?
Their lives are more important than the state trooper that's sitting on the side of the road doing his job with no mask on.
So it bothers me that they're allowed to wear masks.
I want to know why.
Who are these people?
We have a right to know who's kicking down our doors.
We have a right to know who's carrying firearms in our streets.
It's not right that they're allowed to keep a mask on.
I don't have a problem with ICE being here.
I just have a problem with what they look like and what they represent to someone like me, a black American.
All right, Chonda.
In Virginia, Joe is on the independent line.
Hi, Joe.
Hi, good morning.
Thank you for having this show.
I was thinking about a couple things.
First, I'm no political strategist, but I would like to see the Democrats in midterms a more moderate candidates, because if we could get some moderate candidates in there, we could take back control of something.
You know, the Democrats can.
But I'm independent up until 2016.
I was a moderate leaning right.
And we all know what happened in 2016.
And the strategy in 2016 was highlight how bad Trump is.
And it didn't work then.
It didn't work in 2024.
But there were some other things in 2024 that didn't work either.
But I'm hoping to see moderates in these primaries and have more moderate candidates in the general election in the midterms.
Joe, do you live in a district?
Is your representative a Democrat?
Yes.
And are you happy with him or her?
You know, I don't really pay a lot of attention to the particular what he's done.
You know, he's been in there forever.
And but yeah, I'm in a pretty liberal district.
Who is this?
Who's your representative?
I think it's Bobby Scott, maybe.
I don't remember.
I'm in southeastern Virginia.
And all I know is he's been there forever.
And, you know, even in the primaries, you know, I can go there and vote against him, but he's still going to win.
He's pretty liberal.
I know that.
All right, Joe.
And for your schedule later today at 11 Eastern Time, Commerce Secretary Howard Luttnick will testify at a budget hearing about U.S. trade relations tariffs and the economy.
You can watch that.
It's a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.
It'll be live over on C-SPAN 2, 11 a.m. Eastern.
Robert in Ohio, Republican.
Good morning.
Hi.
I used to be a Democrat, and I became a Republican.
Simple fact is I didn't trust Hillary one bit.
What I got to say is about TSA shutdown.
I've already moved a vacation I've been planning for a year back because of this whole mess.
If I had to move it back another time, maybe it's time someone should file a Rico suit against Super and Jeffrey for recearing.
Thank you.
And Paul in Washington, D.C., line for Democrats.
Hi, Paul.
Hi, good morning.
I just wanted to share my unpopular opinion of supporting the war.
It doesn't mean that I am supporting the way it is being waged, which has so many problems with it, our ridiculous comments that our officials make about controlling the skies and they can't do anything about it.
I mean, it's just been proven wrong over and over again.
But the overall goal is really important.
And so I wish Democrats could embrace the goal of Iran and not having a nuclear weapon and then bring forward a more sensible and smart way to actually accomplish that goal and get us out from under the kind of zany back and forth comments that are just come out of the White House and the Defense Department.
Thank you.
All right.
And this is Vanna in Quincy, Massachusetts, Independent Line.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you for CISPAN.
I think CISPAN is great.
Also, I want to ask politicians to create and pass laws that you protect farming animals from the cruelty of meatpacking.
Animals suffer terribly in slaughterhouses all over the country.
It seems like the laws in the U.S. do not do much to protect them, and that's wrong.
Animals do not deserve to suffer.
And thank you for C-SPAN.
Have a good day.
And Donald, North Carolina, Republican line.
Hi, Donald.
Hi, how are you, Mimi?
Good.
Good.
I wanted to come out and defend you against that statement and the rest of the host.
You guys do an excellent job.
Every single one of you.
You're very balanced, and these enraged Republicans that come in shouting every day is ridiculous.
But I just want to tell you that and tell you that you can tell your crew that you got one guy out here supporting you guys no matter what the situation is or the conversation is.
You guys do a balanced job.
Thank you.
Thank you, Donald.
Johnny in Massachusetts, line for Democrats.
Good morning.
Hi, Mimi.
Hi.
I'm enjoying the heck this morning.
I listen all the time, but the first hour between 7 and 8, it was just so down to earth with the people that were calling.
They're just the average Americans, and that's what I am.
And I've been a Democrat.
I was a Democrat my whole life, and then I changed a few years ago to an independent because I wasn't that crazy about what was going on.
Working Poor Family Stories00:03:34
But I wanted to say hello?
Yes, keep going, Johnny.
We are listening.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I thought you had mentioned you asked me a question.
In our country, what I'd like the younger people to know is that everything in moderation, when we discuss, even with my family, when we discuss political situations, I just, and they're all now between 50 and 60.
I'm 81, a young 81, I like to think.
But just don't get personal, debate what we're doing.
And sometimes you can teach me something, sometimes I can teach them.
But what I appreciate you, what I appreciate what you do, is that you question people, which I love, because one time I called you and we were talking about trying to buy a house when we were younger and this and that.
And the last question you asked me was, well, if you were that poor, how did you get some money to buy a house?
And I said, I started to say it and then we were cut off, but I got it from the strong arm guys.
I got a 10% loan for $2,000.
And that's how I started.
But we were a working poor family.
And my dad used to say to us, the only way we're going to get out of this, and he was an Italian immigrant who was in a factory since he was 14 years old, very proud man.
And he would say, it's a four-letter word that we all have to think about, and it's W-O-R-K.
And I'd like to say that to all the young people.
I hope the young people call in too, because they can learn from it.
We would call the ugly Americans, and the way we, why we would call that back then, was we work and work, and we respected our neighbors.
And it was just a great growing up.
And that was the working poor.
Well, just to make a long story short, unless you want to ask me a question, I just wanted to say this.
What's that?
Yep, no, I don't.
Go ahead and finish.
Okay.
Was when I was in high school, and I asked, I was reading books that my dad would bring home from the factory.
And there was one that had military advertising in it.
And I said to my dad, I think it was because of the uniforms or whatever, I said, Dad, I want to go to college.
And it's the very first time in my life that I saw an embarrassed look on my dad's face.
And just that, I said, Dad, he said, we can't afford it, John.
And I don't know if we had the Pell Grants in the 50s.
So you didn't go to college, Johnny?
I didn't go to college then.
And the end of the story was, if you can picture it, I would have went to this military college that was in Camden Academy in Camden, New Jersey.
I would have got there for four years.
If I went, I would have got out.
And if you go through my age period, I would have got out as an officer, and it would have been 1965.
And guess where I would have ended up?
Yep, Vietnam.
I got to move on, Johnny.
Voting Rights And ID Laws00:02:58
Let's talk to Tiny in Texas, Republican.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mimi.
How are you?
Good.
Have a blessed day.
Every Thursday.
I want to speak on the war and the president.
I think they're doing a good job.
And I think I know he did the right thing when they attacked Iran because they do want a nuclear weapon.
And also, I want them, the Republicans, to go in and do the 51 so they can get the voter registration act pass the ID.
You need an ID.
You know, that's a king vote for us to vote.
And we had to not have to have an ID when the black people had to go in and vote.
When they started out, they had to pay and take all types of tests because they didn't feel they was worthy enough to vote because they didn't feel like they was human.
But then you want to tell me that it's okay for a person to go in to vote without any ID, identification.
I don't know what's wrong with the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party, actually, to me, I feel like they want to destroy America.
They do not care about America.
And especially the Negro people.
I'm going to say it like that, because back in the day, that's what the civil rights bill was being voted for.
How old are you, Tiny?
How old are you?
Were you 70?
70?
Yes, yes.
This is Tricia in Florida, Republican.
Hi, Tricia.
Hi, good morning.
Thanks for taking my call.
I actually very much agree with the gentleman that was just on.
It feels like it's scary almost.
The hate for Donald Trump that the Democrats have.
They hate him as a person, but he's trying to fix America.
He's a man and he has guts and he's right.
He's doing the right things.
And it's like they're destroying America.
The Democrats, these leaders should not be, it's like a joke.
Hakeem Jeffries, Tricia?
Okay.
Larry in North Carolina, line for Democrats.
You're on the air.
Yes.
I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this rumor that I've been hearing going around that Donald J. Trump is considering changing his name to Donald Jesus Trump.
Fixing America Through Leadership00:00:34
That way he can keep the J, you know, so he don't want to.
I don't think that's true, Larry.
I don't think that's true.
But you wanted to comment on the picture that he put on True Social and then took down?
Well, every doctor I ever seen pretty much had a stethoscope around his neck and had a big light there on his forehead.