he was the right kind of crazy. .. >>

>> there had been of leading liberal book review that was the sunday "new york times" book review and the new republic which was there a prominent than a dividend plays to review one another's books but noplace for conservatives have long for book reviews or essays about book ideas and also we felt there was conservatives were in need of that they needed in intellectual playing field where there is the debate what conservatism is our chevy to be thought out at a high level. >> is it like the new york review of books that there

are essays better not necessarily book related. >> yes. it can be they are more comprehensive book review because they come out 20 times per year with a lot of power and money behind them and we do not but they set out really to review all kinds of books for all kinds of academic readers so they have a much more academic reading class to feed than we do. we are more concentrated of history and politics and philosophy religion war classic literature less current literature and much less of arts and decorations

would and furniture which they can concentrate on. >> order to books that were recently reviewed? >> we recently reviewed charles murray book coming apart which is one of the most important books on the american social class and society at large we review all kinds of books not just those by conservatives but also the counterpart to his book our kids of a political scientist at harvard in both

i thought reseed wonk interesting reviews that says a lot about the peculiar state of american politics and society these days. we have not yet had the big piece on donald trump my riding that now. [laughter] >> when will it be published ? >> in the spring issue coming out in may. >> host: what is the peculiar situation of american bin politics of society today you are reviewing with putnam books? >> something strange has happened in american politics and for one thing the trump example shows evidence, lot working-class people are becoming less democratic than and more

republican. upper middle and upper class are voting reliably democratic and liberal and the there party's social composition has really adjusted to that fact so both parties are out of phase with their own social basis than the there is quite ready to embrace those new voters who want to embrace some of the candidates but it could produce like bernie sanders on one hand we are even ted cruz on the other but the cold war ended 25 years ago a lot of the mists are working themselves up to politics it will be

different after this race the democratic party a little bit but less so i am not sure where the republicans will end up in 2017. >> host: are you a fan of donald trump? >> i don't admire him he is interesting that the key is hard not to watch there is something about him that is attractive and fascinating in the way it makes use slightly ashamed of yourself to be so fascinated but some of my friends are very upset by him and think he spells the do republican government in america. i don't think so at anything

he is more interested in caesars palace but i do think if he were to be elected he would be something closer to schwarzenegger van burlesconi i know the key is as serious a politician as burlesconi but if we do have president trump we will see a lot of drift and uncertainty it is administration just as we did here with schwarzenegger he he needed a script he was very good at performing but didn't know what he was supposed to say or act as a politician once he was in the office and vice deal the same is true with trump he is fascinating in the pursuit but once he has it i wonder if he will be bored

or fail the test of seriousness that any president has to pass. >> host: booktv is your at the of claremont college what is the set up it is different colleges but interrelated? >> articles of confederation there are five independent undergraduate schools into graduate schools there are seven campuses and they are linked together as a permanent legal of french ships and each has its own faculty, administration, pre sident and fund-raising responsibilities to share in common in library about the size of dartmouth and we

share some property otherwise each of his own each campus focuses on something slightly different academic so teeeighteen has of a bass the disproportionate number of major is an economics and political science but if you want to study classics or latin or greek you have to go to pomona to take those courses but they can come here to study political science if they wish to so you have of balance of trade and a typical student spends maybe one-fourth of his courses off-campus or abroad

as we say here. >> is this a conservative college? >> claremont mckenna is more conservative than any of the other of the high-quality top-10 liberal arts college in the country but that means we have 15 professors who made the republicans add of 130? however if you go next door to pomona you will find far fewer than 15 if any at all. every now and then the students come outside the campus to track down that they get his luggage you can find out.

>> also was a professor of government in the book of maya and the change in the of claremont review of books you cannot teach an american college these days and though wondering if or when something will happen a student or fellow faculty member or administrator will charge you. >> them afraid that is true it still hasn't happened to be ready of my friends at claremont mckenna you can see the national trend is bad and they're all moving in that direction. it is a terrible thing because it invites the self-censorship and they do

here by colleagues occasionally say i will not teach that again because it is just too risky in the current environment whether income inequality or black lives matter or whatever is the trendy political movement of the day and that there is we are aware of that so we had some disturbances on the skip this last november i wrote a piece about it one week later in the loss street journal and within 48 hours and was over the administration had conceded to almost every demand of the protesters 30 at 40 at

most have passed out of 1300 undergraduates to put it in perspective the leaving aside my political disagreements the most worrisome was it was difficult to get them to talk about what happened the very next week i tried to have a discussion to read classroom and one student gave a speech in favor of the demonstrators but nobody would second him nor would anybody object literally i couldn't get them to say anything so i talked to them during office hours and ask why are they now willing to speak? because they said they are afraid? what of the administrators

are a the faculty will your fellow students? without exception each said my fellow students. i haven't heard this before but not just the fellow students but fellow students on social media to be denounced on facebook or one of the other sites and i never heard students say this before but it was interesting is a generational change for the first time students have grown up with social media they have spent their whole lives basically at this point they don't know time before social media but there's something in a liberal about social media

that their comments revealed e-mail and other technology are a continuation of a conversation our letter by other means but there is something more like the mob mentality from facebook he and twitter they and a letter for a thoughtful conversation and that seemed to me with their getting a 80 people could denounce you in seconds and so they leave town deeply disturbing. >> host: you write today's campus isn't steeped in the lincoln and douglas debate. >> one of the things that we

have come to realize is when the core courses still existed or survey courses a lot of kids read the classics of free speech jefferson in the tokyo but fewer students do that now all of they are pretty sound on the question but one of the unanticipated consequences is that the free speech classics are not as lot no longer is known in four years i must to read

john stuart mill's for a five times for different class is it kept coming up but now you can go through most schools without ever reading of liberty even once. you could assign -- assume of liberty and free speech to fall back on and that is less true now but it has inspired me of liberty that i wouldn't have a signed it before just to get it didn't at an early stage. >> host: what is another book you assign the? >> the lincoln/douglass debates a retired teacher freshman american government you teach that you don't

need to you to easily teach it without it is a lot more interesting if you do. it is tough and controversial the n word is used multiple times including the girl. that is offensive these days as well. but lincoln and douglas what a drama seven debates three hours each no microphones no reporters except the ones taking notes fell one talking for an hour one talking for an hour-and-a-half and the first gets a response of 30 minutes. and students love that i think it is the highlight of

the year because they were not running for president but they're running for illinois senate bill would be opposing each other two years later for president this is the dry run the race is the same type of questions how a politician speaks to voters in a democracy especially death you cannot be completely candid with them. and that lincoln doesn't want to talk about but it is a very serious debate. >> host: have you received backlash for that? >> guest: that is what i

regard as an eventuality. it has not happened yet. i was using trigger warnings before they were cool because it's best to tell people that you will see the edward -- the edward and what it should mean to politics but i think the debates are so powerful and determined they have never failed to work the magic so far. >> host: was a short take what is going on with harvard and princeton about leaving the buildings and the schools because of the controversy?

>> and cecil rhodes is under fire in england as well. if there was any cause that might have tempted me it would be repealing the woodrow wilson center. [laughter] as one of the founders but of course, it leads to madness you have nothing better regime of continual censorship who you allow into your mind and consciousness but there are serious issues to think about. but what his politics were like the political

principles and values are legitimate questions. hardly looked at very seriously for a long time. >> host: barack obama in the future of liberalism is your most recent book. >> is an attempt to give a serious account of the conservative of a liberal president political thought. i wrote it in 2012 and then a paperback edition after the reelection. it isn't just about obama but also the tradition this of liberal leadership fdr

and lbj are the other major characters in the book is a comparison of those presidential statement and whether or not if obama gets placed on though liberal amount rushmore after his second term and i say so -- probably so. he has turned a political situation that isn't that a favorable into a pretty successful liberal presidency. his reelection wasn't huge it was meager.

he lost people from the first time in which is unusual but it was in people's consciousness not just at the national level but at the state house the democratic party is at the lowest point since the 1920's. this was the good to terms for obama and that is one of the story's going into the presidential cycle that is under reported.

he has played that very well. >> among other things editor of the claremont review of books, 89. >> thanks >> for s.w.a.t. officers arriving on the scene. >> our just walking off the floor of the house of representatives oddly even if we adjust taken evoked that the majority had blocked of conveyancing the

idea on the watch list not be allowed to carry or purchase firearms it was a procedural vote and walked off the floor and my phone started ringing from colleagues and these people back home. hi keith back to the office to turn on the tv in the regional center is less than a mile away i reached out to local leaders including the police chief confirmed that i took the first flight back and was able to join the press conference that evening to receive updates of law enforcement officials the aftermath is a resilient community who was pushed

down in the past and that is what we saw in the wake of the tragedy of people coming together to be divided as a community. and across the region. and with that healing process. and davis more aware of our surroundings. with the fight against terror.

because this is the big city so this is what i heard from my colleagues in congress. that it can happen anywhere in to offer support and prayers to our community. sova i am power that was devoted to assist federal agencies i hope 100 percent of their cost in the aftermath is picked by the federal government may be in the four or $10 million range with the shift that was picked up over time fit to transport by helicopter

and ambulance that is what has the president doing and hope that they do that fair share as well. >> it with the role that gun violence plays in the community but it was personal as a probation officer and station a couple miles free where we are in transported to safety but also in the context of what we are fighting for and also making sure illegal guns have no place that protect our communities with universal background checks or the weapons in our

communities. if it is incumbent upon us to provide increased safety of our community one that we could have authored but it is important for all of us to make sure our communities are safe water quality seems to be a big topic here in the country. we're waiting.