JUDY WOODRUFF: On the "NewsHour" tonight: President Trump
closes out the Republican Convention using
the White House as a backdrop in a speech
filled with attacks on Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Then: March on Washington. Thousands gather
on the National Mall to protest police shootings
and demand racial justice in America.
ZORA FLOUNORY, Marcher: There's just so many
people that are ignorant to the problems that
are going on in this country. And I really
-- I need to see that change in my lifetime.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Plus: The recovery is under
way. Communities along the Gulf Coast begin
clearing the debris strewn in the wake of
Hurricane Laura.
And it's Friday. Mark Shields and David Brooks
consider the atypical Republican Convention
and the ever-intensifying race for the White
House.
All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: The fall presidential campaign
is now officially under way. President Trump
traveled to New Hampshire this evening for
a rally. It came just hours after he accepted
the Republican nomination for a second term,
using the White House as a campaign backdrop.
Amna Nawaz begins our coverage.
AMNA NAWAZ: Before a striking White House
scene, President Trump defined November's
election in dark and dire terms.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States:
This election will decide whether we save
the American dream or whether we allow a socialist
agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.
AMNA NAWAZ: He issued dystopian warnings about
Democratic governance.
DONALD TRUMP: No one will be safe in Biden's
America.
AMNA NAWAZ: Arguing his rival, former Vice
President Joe Biden, would dismantle democracy.
DONALD TRUMP: Biden is a Trojan horse for
socialism.
AMNA NAWAZ: Destroy the economy.
DONALD TRUMP: He is the destroyer of America's
jobs.
AMNA NAWAZ: And unleash violence and anarchy
in American communities.
DONALD TRUMP: The most dangerous aspect of
the Biden platform is the attack on public
safety.
AMNA NAWAZ: The coronavirus pandemic, which
has killed more than 180,000 Americans, seemed
to be in the rearview mirror.
DONALD TRUMP: The United States has among
the lowest case fatality rates of any major
country anywhere in the world.
AMNA NAWAZ: President Trump misleadingly touted
new jobs, which make up less than half of
the 22 million jobs lost since March, as evidence
that the economy is on its way to a full recovery.
DONALD TRUMP: Over the past three months,
we have gained over nine million jobs, and
that's a record in the history of our country.
AMNA NAWAZ: He said that science has driven
his pandemic response.
DONALD TRUMP: To save as many lives as possible,
we are focusing on the science, the facts
and the data.
AMNA NAWAZ: But the spectacle flew in the
face of public health guidelines, with the
president delivering the speech before more
than 1,500 spectators, very few masks, very
little social distancing.
DONALD TRUMP: The fact is, I am here. What
is
the name of that building?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
DONALD TRUMP: But I will say it differently.
The fact is, we are here, and they are not.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
AMNA NAWAZ: But just outside the White House
gates, hundreds gathered to protest his divisive
response to the racial justice movement and
the pandemic.
The 70-minute speech was riddled with misinformation
and misleading statements on topics foreign
and domestic, including repeated mischaracterizations
of Biden's positions.
On immigration, he exaggerated progress on
border wall construction.
DONALD TRUMP: We have already built 300 miles
of border wall.
AMNA NAWAZ: Most of that wall replaced or
repaired existing barriers, and none of it
was paid for by Mexico, as Mr. Trump pledged
four years ago.
On energy, President Trump misstated his opponent's
position.
DONALD TRUMP: Biden has promised to abolish
the production of American oil, coal, shale,
and natural gas.
AMNA NAWAZ: Biden has actually called for
a ban on new oil and gas drilling on public
land, as part of an effort to develop clean
energy and fight climate change, but he has
not called for an all-out fracking ban.
On health care, the president repeated this
claim:
DONALD TRUMP: We will always and very strongly
protect patients with preexisting conditions.
AMNA NAWAZ: Even though his administration
is currently in court fighting to dismantle
the Affordable Care Act, and, with it, protections
for patients with preexisting conditions.
And on race and justice, President Trump restated
his false claim that Biden supports defunding
police departments.
DONALD TRUMP: Make no mistake. If you give
power to Joe Biden, the radical left will
defund police departments all across America.
AMNA NAWAZ: But the president's statement
followed a series of supportive testimonials,
like this from Secretary Ben Carson, the lone
Black member of Mr. Trump's Cabinet.
BEN CARSON, U.S. Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development: Many on the other side
love to incite division by claiming that President
Trump is a racist. They could not be more
wrong.
AMNA NAWAZ: The president's daughter and senior
adviser, Ivanka Trump, offered a side of the
president the public rarely sees.
IVANKA TRUMP, Assistant to President Trump:
I have been with my father, and I have seen
the pain in his eyes when he receives updates
on the lives that have been stolen by this
plague.
AMNA NAWAZ: The night ended with President
Trump echoing his familiar refrain, nearly
identical to his closing words at the convention
four years ago.
DONALD TRUMP: And, on November 3, we will
make America safer, we will make America stronger,
we will make America prouder, and we will
make America greater than ever before.
AMNA NAWAZ: Biden pushed back on President
Trump's apocalyptic view of Democrats in power,
writing on Twitter: "Remember, every example
of violence Donald Trump decries has happened
on his watch, under his leadership, during
his presidency."
Both candidates now say they will hit the
campaign trail in person in some way to reach
voters nationwide. For President Trump, that
includes a small rally tonight in New Hampshire,
with just 67 days to go before the election.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Amna Nawaz.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For a deeper look at some of
the president's statements, specifically on
the pandemic, I'm joined by William Brangham.
So, hello, William.
You have been listening closely to what was
said last night, the claims made about progress
on the pandemic and all week. Tell us what
you have heard.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right, Judy.
As Amna was just reporting, the message of
the RNC seemed to be saying, the pandemic
is behind us, it's in the rearview mirror.
But, by almost any measure, it is not in our
rearview mirror, five million cases; 180,000
Americans have already died. I mean, in just
the four days of this convention, we lost
more Americans to COVID-19 than were lost
on 9/11. And that's just four days of this
convention.
So, by -- the president likes to tout the
case fatality rate going down. But most public
health experts think that's a very inaccurate
metric.
I'd like to show you this graphic here that
gives you a better measure of this. We are
still losing more Americans to this virus
than other nations. This is a coronavirus
deaths per million in developed nations. That
red line at the top, that is the U.S.'s rate.
All those other little lines at the bottom
on the right-hand side are other modern nations,
very similar to us, Canada, Australia, the
European Union, South Korea. You can see that
red line is far above them. We are losing
far more Americans than these other nations.
And the fact is, those nations don't have
better doctors. They don't have more effective
medications. They simply mounted a more effective
response.
And on this chart, you can see the results.
More of their citizens are still alive than
ours.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, William, what are some
of the differences in how those nations responded,
compared to how the United States has?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, testing is a big
one. We have talked about this a great deal
of times.
The president touts that we have tested more
people than anywhere in the world. If you
believe the Chinese, they have actually tested
more people, but that's maybe not the best
metric.
We have tested a lot of people, but we know
there are still shortages in many parts of
the country. Many people are waiting days
and days and days to get their test results
back, which virtually makes them useless.
And, so, many people asked why didn't the
president, say, deploy the Defense Production
Act to address those shortages, to make more
chemicals, make more equipment, make more
swabs, those kinds of things that could have
addressed that?
Those other nations also had more uniform
messaging about things like social distancing
and mask wearing and the importance of keeping
your distance. Those things are important,
and we have not seen consistent messaging
from the president here.
So, it's not that those nations all did the
exact same thing, but what they did was, they
took it seriously and they started at the
beginning, and they have kept it up consistently.
And we see the results.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, William, we also heard
the president say, we could have a vaccine
in just a few months.
Is that realistic?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right. He said we
could have one by the end of the year or even
sooner, which would mean within the next couple
of months.
That is a very aggressive timeline. Most of
the predictions have been that that could
happen longer. It's possible. The federal
government, to its credit, has plowed billions
of dollars to help vaccine manufacturers try
to speed up this process.
But we just don't know. There's no immediate
knowledge whether that's going to come immediately
or take into, say, next year.
The caveat I hear a lot is that, given the
president's exaggerations about other coronavirus
treatments, like hydroxychloroquine, which
fizzled out, or, just this week, we saw a
serious misstatement about the effectiveness
of convalescent plasma, those things make
a lot of people think, I'm not necessarily
sure that the president is talking about these
things to help public health, but he's more
interested in boosting his election chances.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Just finally, very quickly,
William, you have a very special project coming
up next week.
Every night on the program, we're going to
feature one of your special reports comparing
health care in the United States with care
in other countries. We're very much looking
forward to that.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: That's right, Judy.
This is trying to look at, how is it that
we have such incredible technology in the
United States, and yet so many millions of
people dying of preventable diseases? We go
to three other nations that cover everybody.
They do it cheaper than we do, and we're trying
to look, what can those nations' experience
teach us about making our system better?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, as we say, we are very
much looking forward.
William Brangham, thank you.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You're welcome, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thousands of people gathered
on the National Mall here in Washington, D.C.,
today to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington,
and to create a new march of their own.
Today's called for an end to killings of Black
Americans at the hands of police.
Yamiche Alcindor reports.
WOMAN: We almost ran here when we saw the
crowd. I'm very inspired.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Angela Flounory's late mother,
Helen, witnessed in person Dr. Martin Luther
King deliver these iconic words at the Lincoln
Memorial.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., Civil Rights Leader:
I have a dream.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: King's speech was the culmination
of the historic March on Washington in 1963.
It brought together more than 250,000 people
to the nation's capital to demand economic
and racial justice; 57 years later, in the
middle of a pandemic, the 53-year-old drove
her daughter Zora and their friend Rebecca
Phoenix more than 500 miles from Detroit to
D.C. She wanted to stand where her own mother
had on that historic day.
ANGELA FLOUNORY, Protester: Those stories
became my stories. And I also want to model
for my daughter that we have to stand up,
that this is a struggle that's going to be
ongoing that you have to participate in.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I spoke to the group as
they toured Washington earlier this week;
15-year-old Zora says she needed to be here.
ZORA FLOUNORY, Protester: There's just so
many people that are ignorant to the problems
that are going on in this country. And I really
-- I need to see that change in my lifetime.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Today, on the National Mall,
the group joined the Get Your Knee Off Our
Necks rally. It was organized by Reverend
Al Sharpton's civil rights group, the National
Action Network.
REV. AL SHARPTON, Civil Rights Activist: Black
lives matter, and we won't stop until it matters
to everybody!
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: The march was planned in
response to the police killings of George
Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans.
The killings fueled protests around the country
throughout the summer.
But, this week, video of a police officer
shooting Jacob Blake seven times in the back
in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparked new outrage.
Blake survived, but his family says he's paralyzed
from the waist down. They said he was handcuffed
to his hospital bed, until earlier today,
when he posted bond.
He faces a number of charges include a third-degree
sexual assault charge from July. His attorney
told "NewsHour" Blake plans to plead not guilty.
Family spoke with the march.
LETETRA WIDMAN, Sister of Jacob Blake: We
will not be your docile slave. We will not
be a footstool to oppression.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Democratic vice presidential
nominee Kamala Harris also made an appearance
in a pre-recorded video.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), Vice Presidential
Candidate: If we work together to challenge
every instinct our nation has to return to
the status quo, and combine the wisdom of
longtime warriors for justice with the creative
energy of the young leaders today, we have
an opportunity to make history right here
and right now.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Organizers required all
attendees to have tickets, wear masks, and
get their temperatures checked.
But despite the potential health risks, thousands
came to stand in solidarity against police
brutality.
C.J. Jessup came from Minneapolis. He says
George Floyd was killed a block from his home.
C.J. JESSUP, Protester: I wanted to come here
because I wanted to be a part of -- I wanted
to be a part of change. I wanted to be a part
of one of the voices.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Linda Roebuck traveled from
New York City.
LINDA ROEBUCK, Protester: I am so tired of
crying in my bedroom watching -- watching
our brothers being killed by police. I'm so
tired of it.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Organizers say they hope
today's march spurs new legislation aimed
at stopping police violence against African
Americans.
They point out that, after the 1963 march,
both the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights
Act were both passed.
DEL. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON (D), Washington,
D.C.: It's impossible to overemphasize the
importance of that moment for everything that's
happened since. This is a march that had to
happen.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Earlier this week, I spoke
with D.C.'s Delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes
Norton.
Back in 1963, as part of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, she helped organize
transportation for the March on Washington.
DEL. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: Just as in '63,
the country says, we're not going to take
that anymore, there must be equal treatment,
I think you're hearing that same refrain when
it comes to police actions that take the lives
of people needlessly.
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): We do not want our
freedom gradually, but we want to be free
now.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: On that August day in 1963,
the youngest speaker was the late Congressman
John Lewis, who died last month.
JON MEACHAM, Presidential Historian: Today,
we think of John Lewis as this iconic, monumental
figure. At the March on Washington, he was
the young radical.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Historian Jon Meacham wrote
a biography of Lewis, published this week.
JON MEACHAM: The world view he brought to
the racial and economic problems of injustice
of his time, I think, is incredibly relevant
to where we are now, not because it means
everybody should wait. Quite the opposite.
It means freedom now.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, 57 years later, that
message is still being echoed by young African
Americans, like Zora. The third generation
in her family to come to Washington and fight
for equality, she was thinking of her grandmother.
ZORA FLOUNORY: It says a lot that I need to
come back here. But, otherwise, I feel really
proud. And I'm proud to be able to take on
her fight, her struggle, and to hopefully
end things in my generation, so we don't have
to do this again.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Just before the family spoke
at the march, I had a chance to sit down with
Jacob's father.
Tell me a little bit about how your son is
doing. I have heard he's paralyzed. He's handcuffed,
possibly.
JACOB BLAKE SR., FATHER OF JACOB BLAKE: He's
paralyzed from the waist down, and he needs
support right now. He's not feeling well.
He's not doing good. You know how your child
tells you, I don't feel good, daddy?
That's what he told me. He said: "Daddy, I
just don't feel good."
I said: "Well, daddy's going to be here."
You know, you -- I don't care how old your
children get. They're still your babies. They
will always be your babies. So, when he squoze
my hand and he started weeping, I weep right
with him, I weep right with him.
But I love my son. He's a human being. He
was shooting my son while he was pulling my
son's shirt to get him closer to him. What
sense does that make?
How do parents -- how do you think a parent
would feel, watching his son basically -- attempted
murder on your son by the people that are
paid to protect and serve?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: What was it like for you
to watch that video, knowing that that was
your child?
JACOB BLAKE SR.: When I first watched it,
I got a little emotional. Then I got mad.
Then I sat down and got determined. And then
I realized I had to do what I had to do.
I will never leave my son's side, because
he said he never wants to go outside again.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: What are your grandsons
saying right now? What...
JACOB BLAKE SR.: The day my son was shot was
my 8-year-old grandson's birthday. So, two
hours before he was shot, he was on the phone
telling his pop-pop -- that's me -- oh, he
had a list of what he wanted. And he was so
excited.
I could hear his little feet. He was telling
me what he was going to get and what he wanted
his daddy to do. And then, two hours later,
this.
Our father was here at the first march in
D.C. He marched from Selma to Montgomery.
He got whooped on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
So, sometimes, you get your whooping directly.
And, sometimes, you get it other ways.
We had all planned to come here, and then
this happened. So, I said, well, I cannot
not be here.
I don't think we have come far at all, OK?
We're -- this is 2020, and we're still fighting
to vote? It's 2020.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: What does it mean?
JACOB BLAKE SR.: It means that chattel slavery
was a powerful thing. It's never gone anywhere.
They have taken the chains off only from around
your ankles. Our brains are chained. Our wallets
are chained. And you can't even touch the
chain.
But that's how diabolical chattel slavery
was to us, as brown and black people.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Did you anticipate that
this might happen to your son? And what did
you tell him?
JACOB BLAKE SR.: Being a black man, we anticipate
that it might happen to us any second of any
day.
When a policeman pools me over, the first
thing I think is, they're getting ready to
shoot me. I'm too damn big. So, I hurry up
and pull my handicap sticker out. Hey, look,
you will have no problems from me.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: What do you make of the
protests, the NBA boycotting? What do you
make of what...
JACOB BLAKE SR.: I was on the phone yesterday
with the entire bubble. That means every team
that was in the bubble.
And they asked me what I wanted them to do.
And I said I couldn't tell them what to do,
but the Milwaukee Bucks showed you the way.
And the Bucks call me every night. And we
were in tears. The whole Bucks team and myself
cried on the phone together.
So, if you don't think it's real, it's real.
And it starts -- the athletes are setting
precedent. So, I'm not going to stop.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, again, Yamiche spoke with
Jacob Blake's father this afternoon just before
his son was released from police custody.
He's no longer handcuffed or restrained, but
he does remain in the hospital.
The remnants of Hurricane Laura made their
way east today. The weather system was downgraded
to a tropical depression, but it still is
dropping heavy rains and spawning tornadoes
across the South. At least 14 people have
been killed.
Residents are starting the business of recovery,
but it's a daunting road ahead. Power could
be out for days or weeks for many.
Our senior producer Adam Raney is on the ground
in Louisiana with this report.
ADAM RANEY: The noisy din of generators and
chain saws filled the air across Southern
Louisiana, where the destruction from Hurricane
Laura was all around.
From the toppled old Southern trees to flattened
homes, residents who didn't evacuate started
the business of cleaning up. Hundreds of thousands
of people who were in the storm's path along
the Gulf Coast are still without power.
And one of the worst hit-places was Lake Charles,
Louisiana, a city of 78,000 just off the Gulf
Coast.
CECIL MORGAN, Louisiana: I have never run
from a hurricane. This is probably the worst
one that I have ever been through.
ADAM RANEY: Eighty-two-year-old Cecil Morgan
has lived here in Lake Charles his entire
life. His house survived. The barn he built
himself did not.
CECIL MORGAN: All I know is, it's going to
be a job cleaning it up. And I have got to
go through it, because there's probably a
lot of stuff in there that I want to save.
ADAM RANEY: Not far away, Michael Dewayne
Eleam was trying to save what he could from
his store, Drips and Kicks. The front and
back of it were blown off by the high winds
of the storm.
MICHAEL DEWAYNE ELEAM, Owner, Drips and Kicks:
Things happen, but we will get it back on
track. We will get it back on track.
TARA BARTIE, Louisiana: We don't even have
a home to go back to.
ADAM RANEY: Tara Bartie showed us photos of
how badly her hometown of Lake Charles was
damaged. She had to evacuate and stay in a
hotel in Lafayette. She's a shift manager
at a Burger King, and was already financially
strapped, but this is wiping her out.
TARA BARTIE: We have got like 12 people in
our party. We don't really have any more cash,
and we can't afford to go try to drive to
Baton Rouge or New Orleans in the middle of
nowhere, and don't know who or what or where.
So, all we're asking is, can someone, Red
Cross, FEMA, somebody, reach out to come and
assist us?
ADAM RANEY: Bartie was also very concerned
about COVID-19. She's already lost three family
members to the virus.
TARA BARTIE: I have a senior citizen mother.
I have a cancer child, sick cancer child,
that is up here. And we is really in a strict,
strict bind right now.
So, anybody -- everybody that's listening,
Red Cross, FEMA, somebody, please come give
us some type of help, some kind of information.
Lead us to where we can go at, because, after
tonight, it will be our last night, and we
will be stuck on the road without any place
to go. And, right now, we can't afford that.
ADAM RANEY: We met 71-year-old Carole Porter
outside her apartment complex. The roof had
blown off and the power was out.
CAROLE PORTER, Louisiana: Thank God we made
it through. He blessed us really well.
ADAM RANEY: She and her neighbors were waiting
to be evacuated. The community is mostly retirees
and people with disabilities.
CAROLE PORTER: Because I don't know where
I'm going to wind up at.
And when you are retired, you have to live
off a pension, and you just can't move anywhere
or any way you want to go. So you just have
to hold in there and just pray to God that
you make it.
ADAM RANEY: Speaking a little while ago with
Carole Porter, she says that she, along with
other residents from her housing complex,
were evacuated to New Orleans last night,
some 200 miles from Lake Charles.
They don't really know when they're going
to be able to go back home. What's being used
much less in the wake of Hurricane Laura are
large shelters, like this one in an arena
in Alexandria, Louisiana. This one's run by
the American Red Cross.
But Louisiana is one of the state's hardest-hit
by COVID-19. And public health officials and
evacuees themselves say the last thing they
want to do is gather with a lot of people
in these congregate shelters.
What that means is that people already stretched
thin have fewer options as to where to look
for shelter.
Reporting for the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Adam
Raney in Louisiana.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you, Adam. So important
to have that reporting from that part of the
country right now.
In the day's other news: Authorities in Kenosha,
Wisconsin, defended their actions during protests
over the shooting of Jacob Blake by police.
On Tuesday night, officers were seen thanking
civilians who carried long guns. One appeared
to be Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager who
said he was protecting businesses and who
allegedly killed two people.
The Kenosha sheriff said today that he did
not want civilians involved.
DAVID BETH, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, Sheriff:
The situation escalated Tuesday night because
a 17-year-old boy carrying what appears to
be an assault rifle who has no idea to handle
a situation like this -- I don't care if he
had the right intentions or not. Two people
are currently dead, and one almost had his
arm blown off.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Protests in Kenosha went off
peacefully overnight. Protests also took place
in Los Angeles and Sacramento, with reports
of scattered vandalism.
The National Basketball Association has announced
an agreement for playoff games to resume tomorrow.
Players had refused to take part in games
this week, after the Jacob Blake killing.
Now the league has agreed to create a social
justice council and to turn its arenas into
polling places for the November election.
On the pandemic, California's Governor Gavin
Newsom unveiled a new framework today for
gradually reopening businesses. Each county
will move through a four-tiered, color-coded
system based on numbers of cases and percentage
of positive tests. Infections had spiked in
July after the state initially eased closings.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We're going to be
more stubborn this time, and have a mandatory
wait time between moves. We didn't do that
last time, and that is a significant distinction
between what we have learned from the past
and what we are now advancing in this more
stringent, but, we believe, more steady approach.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Separately, the Food and Drug
Administration's chief spokeswoman and an
outside consultant have been fired. The New
York Times reports that it happened after
President Trump and FDA Commissioner Stephen
Hahn exaggerated the benefits of treating
COVID-19 with blood plasma. Hahn later apologized.
In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced
today that he is resigning because of a chronic
health problem. He has held the post longer
than anyone, including a grandfather and great
uncle who were also prime ministers.
Our foreign affairs correspondent, Nick Schifrin,
reports.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Shinzo Abe and his family are
political veterans, but one of his lasting
legacies may be an alliance with a political
novice.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States:
I grabbed him and hugged him, because that's
the way we feel.
SHINZO ABE, Japanese Prime Minister (through
translator): Donald, President, you are excellent
businessman. You have fought the uphill struggle
in business, the dynamism of democracy.
MIKE MOCHIZUKI, George Washington University:
He flattered President Trump. And he understood
President Trump's personality.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Mike Mochizuki is the U.S.-Japan
chair at George Washington University. He
says the Abe-Trump bromance, forged over sumo
wrestling, golf selfies, and awkward handshakes,
strengthened the bilateral relationship to
confront China and North Korea and outlast
Trump.
MIKE MOCHIZUKI: Prime Minister Abe understood
the strategic situation. Without a strong
U.S.-Japan relationship, Japan would not then
have the autonomy and freedom to pursue its
own interests in Asia.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Top of the list, a revitalized
military.
Abe's Japan purchased more U.S. weaponry.
He failed to revise the country's pacifist
constitution, but pushed through changes that
allow Japanese forces to fight in a crisis.
MIKE MOCHIZUKI: This opened the way for Japan
to cooperate with other countries, especially
the United States, on a variety of common
defense missions.
SHINZO ABE: Abenomics.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Economically, Abenomics lowered
interest rates, increased spending, and pulled
the economy out of deflation, but it achieved
only modest success. He did manage to end
political instability and a rotating door
of leaders.
MIKE MOCHIZUKI: Just to be able to stay in
office this long, and to stabilize foreign
policy, and chip away at some of the economic
challenges, you know, that, in itself, I think,
is a lasting achievement.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Abe leaves his successor with
major structural economic concerns exacerbated
by COVID.
And, today, in a final press conference, an
emotional Abe said it broke his heart to leave
the job half done.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And a correction.
In our story just moments ago, I referred
to Jacob Blake being killed. That is wrong.
Jacob Blake was shot, and he is recovering
in the hospital.
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs committee will
start contempt proceedings against Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo. Today's announcement
comes after Pompeo defied a subpoena in a
probe of whether he's used the State Department
for partisan ends. The department says the
allegations are baseless.
In economic news, MGM Resorts is laying off
18,000 workers, about a quarter of its U.S.
work force. The company today blamed pandemic
losses.
And, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial
average gained 161 points to close near 28654.
That means it is now back in the black for
the year. The Nasdaq rose 70 points, to a
new record close, and the S&P 500 added 23,
and that makes it also in record territory.
With the Democratic and Republican National
Conventions both behind us, it is the perfect
time for the analysis of Shields and Brooks.
That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields
and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
I haven't seen enough of the two of you this
week. I'm so glad you're back with us on this
Friday night. So much to talk about.
But, Mark, I'm going to start with you.
The Republicans had their chance the last
four nights. How well did they make their
case?
MARK SHIELDS: Well, Judy, we will find out
in the numbers, when they do come out probably
next week.
But I would say, to listen to the Republican
speakers, which I was privileged to do, especially
the nominee, was to conclude that the country
had been brought back from the economic precipice,
from the darkest of times by the unrivaled
leadership of President Trump, and then to
be told, in spite of that, the country is
in chaos, we're surrounded by lawlessness,
and all the rest of it.
And so we -- what we had to do was to change
and elect an outsider, Donald Trump.
So, it was -- I have never anybody run as
both the incumbent and the insurgent at the
same time. But it's obvious that Donald Trump
is a lot more comfortable running as the insurgent
of 2016 than he is the incumbent of 2020.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, how did you size up
how the Republicans did?
DAVID BROOKS: You know, when you start a big
enterprise, you try to have a strategy.
You figure out what year, it is, what the
big issues are and what you're going to do
about it. And you give the Biden team credit,
because they started in 2019 and said, the
number one issue is Donald Trump. The country
is exhausted, wants a uniter. And they stuck
with that strategy through thick and thin.
I really don't know what the Republican strategy
is right now. They have no coherent critique
of Biden. They have no coherent critique of
or sense of what the priority is right now.
And they have no general argument to make.
I think that was revealed in the Trump speech,
that he was just all over the map, because
there's no core idea at the center of the
thing. They may be on the course of gravitating
toward law and order as their central argument.
But I wouldn't say they have got there yet.
They're just kind of scattershot.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Mark, does that -- so
where does that leave this contest right now?
Given what the Republicans said over four
nights, where are we now?
MARK SHIELDS: Judy, we went in with a 10-point
lead for Joe Biden. In all likelihood, that
lead will be narrowed when we come out of
the Republican Convention.
And the -- what we're looking at now is a
long, brutish, really scorched-earth campaign
from the White House. Make no mistake about
it. That's what we're looking forward to.
The debates will be influential, if not determinate,
but we heard Joe Biden accused of being feckless
and unaccomplished in 45 years, and yet the
most terrifying threat to the American republic,
if elected, as a socialist, a closet socialist
despot.
And so that's just a whiff of what we're looking
at, and whether we're looking forward to it
or not is another question.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, the Republicans did
spend a lot of time going after Joe Biden.
Does that help them? I mean, they have clearly
tried to not only draw distinctions. They
have painted him in some pretty dark places.
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I'd say it went both ways
over the last two weeks.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.
DAVID BROOKS: The perversity of this year
is that I would say the Democrats had the
better convention, a more creative convention.
Biden gave a much better speech. Obamas gave
good speeches.
But I would say, if you measure the mood both
in the Democratic and Republican camps, Democrats
are a little more anxious and Republicans
are a little more confident.
And so I think that has something to do with
the conventions. It has something to do with
what's happened outside of the conventions,
Kenosha, and this sense of rising crime and
violence.
And I do think -- the Democrats, I think,
have come to understand, they somehow got
on the wrong side of order. And they got somehow
attached, even though Biden is not actually
attached to it, to the idea of defunding the
police.
And they need to somehow make some gesture
to show they understand the insecurity of
the American people. The country has been
through an anxious time, with the pandemic,
economic turmoil. There's just this great
sense of fear, of fear and a sense of unsafety,
physical unsafety, from the pandemic and everything
else.
And somehow they have to address that. Now,
a lot of law and order talk is code word for
racism. There's no question about that. But
I think a lot of it is not.
And I think Democrats would be making a mistake
if they just said, oh, you're all just a bunch
of cryptoracists. I think people have legitimate
concerns about expressing their opinion safely,
about living safely.
And so I think Biden really would do well
by himself to somehow address this issue and
say, no, we're for policing, we want to reform
policing, but we will keep you safe.
This is just an elemental issue of politics
stretching back 3,000 or 4,000 years.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, have the Democrats have
gotten off on the wrong foot when it comes
to this law and order or order argument, as
David describes it?
MARK SHIELDS: Yes, they have, Judy.
I mean, I think that Portland remains a festering
boil for Democrats, that what went on in Seattle
and has been reported by The Times and other
news organizations is really just unacceptable
in a civilized society, in a law-abiding society.
And Democrats cannot be appear to be indifferent.
It's Donald Trump's opening. I mean, Donald
Trump's going to run on law and order. He
has no doubt -- no question about that.
It was interesting that there was so heavily
populated with African American speakers in
his behalf at the convention, which I think
was, more than anything, a political gesture
and initiative to reach out to suburban, particularly
women voters who have been turned off by the
Republicans.
So, it's -- race is a -- race remains the
constant in American politics. But I think
David makes a good point.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, it's interesting you
say that, because we went into these conventions
thinking the pandemic was the overwhelming
issue, thing out there that these candidates
were going to have to grapple with, that the
president was going to have to answer for.
It sounds like you're saying, in the last
few weeks, that that's been displaced?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I wouldn't say displaced.
I think, out in the real world, the pandemic
is still the number one issue. And if you
ask people, that's number one. I think crime
and rising disorder, I think it's number four
or five on the list, bigger -- higher than
immigration, higher than a lot of things.
So, I still think the pandemic is the issue.
But it'll -- I will be very curious to see.
The Times, my newspaper, had sent out two
reporters to Wisconsin after Kenosha. And
they interviewed a series of people who were
leaning toward Biden, and had second thoughts
because of a sense of rising insecurity.
And whether that's anecdote or data, we will
find out in a few days. So, I still think
it's in the mix.
But political correctness was a big issue
for Republicans and for Trump in 2016. And
the sense that you can't speak freely, the
sense that -- you look at pictures of Rand
Paul, for example, Senator Rand Paul leaving
the White House, and getting brutally verbally
assaulted, these pictures are not good.
Most people are not on Twitter, and they're
not seeing them. But, for those on Twitter,
those who are seeing them, those in the Facebook
conservative sphere, it's become the dominant
story, at least in that world.
JUDY WOODRUFF: At the same time, Mark, you
have this very powerful social movement right
now for racial justice, just today, thousands
of Americans on the National Mall.
I was listening to some of it, parents, siblings
of Blacks, Black Americans who've been killed
by police asking for justice, asking when.
I mean, the plea from Doc Rivers this week,
the coach of the Clippers, saying, I love
my country. Why doesn't my country love me
back?
The Democrats are hearing that. Don't -- I
mean, what's going to happen to that while
all this is going on, the fear factor, if
you will?
MARK SHIELDS: Well, Judy, I mean, the Democrats
have to be able to walk and chew gum at the
same time.
I mean, their record -- and the Democrats
have a proud record, I mean, whether you're
talking about Harry Truman desegregating the
American military, a noble act in the middle
of a presidential campaign, or Lyndon Johnson
passing the landmark Civil Rights Acts of
1964 and 65, the Democrats really have a sterling
record, and defending those laws as well.
And Donald Trump and the Republicans really
can't compete with it. So, those credentials
are established. But they have to also establish
the fact that we are -- we're here to protect
the safety of ordinary citizens from mobs.
I mean, that's what has happened in a number
of places, whether it's destroying small businesses
or putting -- or threatening people at the
same time.
You mention about the coronavirus. I think
it's important to remember this, that while
the Republicans were convening at the White
House, the people's house, as Ronald Reagan
called it -- when somebody said, your White
House, he said, no, no, this is the people's
White House. I'm a temporary occupant
But during the time of that convention, more
Americans died, the coronavirus pandemic,
than died at 9/11 or died at Pearl Harbor.
I mean, that is -- that is central to this
campaign. It will define this campaign.
JUDY WOODRUFF: David, how do you see the Democrats
handling this, what they're hearing from their
constituents, many of them saying, what are
you going to do about racial justice, at the
same time the Republicans are yelling, are
saying to them, hey, we're afraid?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I mean, I am really struck
by the importance of boundary-setting.
I mean, what happened here in D.C., the march
today, was wonderful. What's happened in the
NBA is wonderful. I talked about baseball
last night on the show. Some of this stuff
is wonderful.
I think people are really proud and hopeful
that progress -- amidst all the pain, that
progress is being made, education is being
made, that people are mobilizing.
But you have got to draw a boundary between
that and a lot of the violence. And, frankly,
a lot of the violence I see in Washington,
it's young white people who are doing a lot
of that stuff. And -- but so you draw that
boundary.
And that should be a boundary that Kamala
Harris and Joe Biden can draw. Trump has not
drawn any boundaries. He can't draw a boundary
between the Republican Party and QAnon, which
should be the easiest boundary to draw.
And so your movement doesn't stay healthy
unless you draw a boundary separating what's
good and peaceful and democratic and civil
from what's not, from what's illiberal, violent
and, frankly, self-destructive to your whole
movement.
And so I think that boundary line can be drawn.
It's been drawn by most politicians in most
times. And I think -- I hope, in the days
ahead, the Democrats will draw that line.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We will see. The campaign begins
in earnest right now, after these conventions.
David Brooks, Mark Shields, thank you. And
thank you for being with us for these last
two weeks.
As another difficult week for our country
comes to a close, we want to take the time
to honor just some of the more than 180,000
people here who have lost their lives to the
coronavirus.
Nelson Henry Jr. of Philadelphia fought for
more than 70 years to get his honorable discharge
from the U.S. Army. The World War II veteran
was one of many Black soldiers given a less-than-honorable
and discriminatory blue discharge, which made
it harder to get certain jobs and G.I. benefits.
Nelson's son eventually found lawyers to take
up the case, and, in 2019, just a year before
his death at 96, he was granted an upgrade
by the Army. He called it a miracle.
Education was huge for Lucille Anderson. Born
in Minneapolis, she worked multiple jobs to
ensure her kids had every opportunity. When
her son had doubts about applying to Harvard,
she scolded him: "Andersons never quit. It's
like a race. Even if you fall down, you get
up and finish the race."
Lucille followed her son to the East Coast,
finished her own degree, and became a social
worker and a probation officer. She always
emphasized how important children were to
society, her son said. Lucille Anderson was
94 years old when she died in Minnesota.
In 1984, Carmen Williamson became the first
Black boxing referee and judge at the Olympics.
Carmen, who spent most of his life in Toledo,
Ohio, was a top amateur boxer in the 1940s
and '50s. He would go on to travel the world,
teaching the sport to young people in countries
that white trainers would rarely visit.
Carmen's daughter said the 94-year-old wanted
to grab everything he possibly could, and
never told himself no.
Seventy-two-year-old Liz Mar opened the Hawaiian
restaurant Kona Kitchen in Seattle 18 years
ago with her daughter and son-in-law. She
was a warm face that everyone knew and loved,
her daughter said. She made customers feel
like part of the family. They would call her
auntie or grandma.
Liz came to the U.S. from Fiji as a teenager.
Her daughter described her as selfless and
said she'd do anything for her three children
and seven grandchildren.
Lennie LeBlanc was 45 years old. He was born
in Worcester, Massachusetts, with cerebral
palsy. Lennie could never walk or talk, but
his mom said he was always a happy child.
Lennie would laugh a deep belly laugh, sometimes
for no reason. He lived most of his life in
a nursing home, where his caregivers adored
him. He loved music and often spent time with
his family.
As of tonight, the "NewsHour" has marked 100
Americans whose lives we have lost to the
coronavirus. That's just over the last 20
weeks.
We want to thank their families for the stories
they have shared. Our hearts go out to them
and to all those who've lost loved ones in
this pandemic.
And now, as we close, man's best friend has
somehow become even more indispensable over
the months of the pandemic, and nowhere more
so than Britain. People have gone dog-mad.
But as our own mad dog and Englishman Malcolm
Brabant reports, canine care during COVID
comes with more than a few complexities.
MALCOLM BRABANT: This is Betty, controlling
her human with the assuredness that dogs rule
the world. That's certainly true in Britain
where, during lockdown, puppy prices have
soared.
BEVERLEY CUDDY, Editor, "Dogs Today": I think
there's very few winners in the pandemic,
but the dog has -- we have all remembered
how marvelous dogs are. Dogs became the must-have
thing, after the toilet roll.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Beverley Cuddy is Britain's
preeminent newshound, the canine Cronkite,
who shares some characteristics with Betty.
BEVERLEY CUDDY: Well, she doesn't shut up.
(LAUGHTER)
BEVERLEY CUDDY: So, I think we have got a
lot in common.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Dogs' unconditional love
has spawned profiteering, and worse.
BEVERLEY CUDDY: I have never experienced anything
quite so mad. People were outbidding each
other for that last puppy, and people were
selling dogs that didn't exist.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But there's a flip side,
a major spike in dognapping, 65 percent up
on last year. This is Honey, stolen two months
ago. The poster sends a clear message to the
dognappers: A deal can be done.
Owner Cintia Gardner.
CINTIA GARDNER, Dog Owner: We don't want to
know who you are, or your name, or anything.
Please do the right thing. You can.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Going for a simple walk is
no longer safe. Owners are being monitored
by crooks waiting for a chance to grab Mr.
Four Legs.
WAYNE MAY, Police Coordinator, Doglost: It's
easy money. We believe there's organized crime.
There's a small percentage that is opportunist
crime, but we believe that these are being
stolen to order.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Wayne May is a pet detective
working for a nonprofit called Doglost. He
specializes in reuniting stolen animals with
their owners.
WAYNE MAY: In some cases, we have had to buy
the dogs back. People are paying 5,000 pounds
to get their dogs back.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But if you are paying to
get your dog back, aren't you actually encouraging
the crime, because, as far as the dognappers
are concerned, it proves that crime pays?
WAYNE MAY: Yes, you are. I totally agree.
My own personal view is that you should offer
a finder's fee, rather than a reward. However,
it is down to the individual dog owner how
they wish to proceed.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Celeste, the champion beagle,
was once taken hostage, and was only released
after Sally Kimber paid a substantial ransom.
SALLY KIMBER, Dog Owner: In a way, I don't
agree with it, but when it's your dog and
you want it back, what else can you do?
MALCOLM BRABANT: The dognoscenti believe canine
crime laws are toothless.
Beverley Cuddy wants tougher legislation,
with jail time for dognappers.
BEVERLEY CUDDY: Because the law just -- in
this country sees dogs as just chattel. It
was like having your phone stolen. And nobody
cares if you have had your phone stolen.
But when it's a member of your family -- because
that's how we regard dogs now. They have got
human names. They used to be called Spot and
Fido and maybe they lived in the shed. Now
they're on the sofa. They're on the bed.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Ah, bed time, it's a major
issue for Hallie and her human, Paul Phillips.
For years, Hallie always slept alone downstairs,
while Phillips slept upstairs. But then?
PAUL PHILLIPS, Dog Owner: Since lockdown,
she's had me around 24 hours a day, seven
days a week, and, lately, has developed what
appears to be this fear of being separated.
For a week, she was up all night showing signs
of severe anxiety, panting, scratching the
floor.
MALCOLM BRABANT: The solution? Abject surrender.
PAUL PHILLIPS: In order to get a whole night's
sleep, I have had to give in to her and let
her sleep next to me every single night, which
my partner is not over the moon about.
MALCOLM BRABANT: The condition is known as
separation anxiety, as a result of months
of being isolated with their owners. There's
a pandemic.
SUE KETLAND, Dog Behavior Specialist: We have
a real fear that separation anxiety cases
are going to explode once we start to come
out of lockdown and things go back to normal.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Sue Ketland is a behavior
specialist with Wood Green, a leading animal
nonprofit.
SUE KETLAND: The dog is really panicking when
left home alone. So it is something to be
taken very seriously.
MALCOLM BRABANT: Uh-oh. This is Loki, our
golden retriever, complaining after my wife
and I left the house.
Loki is a typical lockdown puppy. We paid
top dollar seven months ago, and haven't once
left him alone. He had an idyllic lockdown.
But in common with so many new owners, we
have become his prisoners and need to make
some changes.
Just the stick. Just please?
It's late to wean Loki off his dependency,
but the behaviorist thinks it's possible.
Just sit, Loki. Sit.
SUE KETLAND: The sad fact is that, if you
have a dog with an established attachment
disorder, you have to be at home in order
to get through a behavior modification program.
If you only discover it once you're out to
work for eight, nine hours a day, then it
becomes almost impossible to rectify.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But going for a communal
dip seems to help conquer some lockdown nerves.
Jo Allen runs canine dip and dive.
JO ALLEN, Canine Dip and Dive: A lot of puppies
that have been bought in lockdown haven't
been socialized. But now they're beginning
to come here, you can see the difference as
the session goes on.
MALCOLM BRABANT: But dog spas are rare, and
can be pricey.
So, in this turbulent new COVID world of dognappers
and canine anxiety, the best that we new puppy
parents can do is to be super vigilant, but
also to try to reverse some of the psychological
damage that we and lockdown have inadvertently
caused.
For the "PBS NewsHour." I'm Malcolm Brabant
in Brighton.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, you know what they say:
a man's best friend, and a woman's.
Well, Malcolm Brabant, we thank you.
And coming up later tonight, "Washington Week"
will also review the Republican Convention,
with "NewsHour" senior correspondent Amna
Nawaz sitting in as moderator. That's right
here on PBS at 8:00/7:00 Central.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm
Judy Woodruff.
Have a safe weekend. Thank you, and good night.
