"New book explores how the American South has ‘done the dirty work of the nation" PBS NewsHour 2/2/2022
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SUMMARY: In her new book "South to America," author Imani Perry seeks to change how people view the American South and, thus, the country’s history as a whole. Jeffrey Brown spoke with Perry, who traveled through the southern regions of the U.S. and explored the complexities and misperceptions she found along the way.
"Maryland is the first state to formally reckon with its history of lynching and racial violence" PBS NewsHour 12/4/2021
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SUMMARY: Healing wounds over and violence from years past can be an extremely difficult endeavor. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the most famous attempt of its kind—but now, Maryland is the first U.S. state using the resolution model to reckon with its history of racial violence. Charles Chavis, assistant professor at George Mason University and the vice-chair of Maryland's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, joins.
"Here’s what happened during closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial" PBS NewsHour 4/19/2021
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SUMMARY: Monday saw the closing arguments in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. The verdict to come is being closely watched in Minnesota and other cities around the country — many of them braced for protests, marches and potential unrest. Special correspondent Fred De Sam Lazaro reports on the final case made Monday by prosecutors and Chauvin's defense.
"Jubilant crowds take to the streets to celebrate guilty verdict in Chauvin trial" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2021
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SUMMARY: Former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murder and manslaughter. A panel of six white and six Black or multi-racial jurors convicted him on all three charges Tuesday afternoon. Floyd's death last May ignited a wave of public protests that rocked the nation -- and Tuesday's verdict set off celebrations outside the courthouse in Minneapolis.
"‘Sigh of relief:’ Saint Paul Mayor says Chauvin verdict a welcome sign of accountability" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2021
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SUMMARY: Amna Nawaz takes a closer look now, at how the nation, and, in particular, how African American communities across the country, are dealing with the jury's decision. Melvin Carter is the Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, which, along with its neighbor, Minneapolis, form the state's "Twin Cities." He is the first African American to hold that office, and joins us to discuss the verdict.
"How the Chauvin verdict could become a ‘defining moment’ for future policing" PBS NewsHour 4/19/2021
What this SHOULD mean is an end to automatic immunity for law enforcement. If they break the law they should be held accountable.
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SUMMARY: To discuss the trial and verdict of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, Judy Woodruff is joined by Chuck Wexler the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, and Janai Nelson the Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"Floyd’s supporters hope to see systemic change emerge from guilty verdict in Chauvin trial" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2021
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SUMMARY: White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor has been following Derek Chauvin's trial in the murder of George Floyd and brings us the reaction on Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.
"George Floyd’s family vows to ‘keep fighting’ for just policing after Chauvin verdict" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2021
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SUMMARY: After a Minneapolis jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the murder of George Floyd, President Joe Biden spoke with the Floyd family over the phone. While happy with the verdict, the family vowed to continue efforts towards bringing systemic change in policing.
"Philonise Floyd calls for racial solidarity, end to qualified immunity for police" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2021
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SUMMARY: George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd, as well as the Floyd family attorney, Benjamin Crump, join Yamiche Alcindor to discuss the much-awaited verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, what it means to the family, and what changes they want to see in policing going forward.
"Reimagining public safety: What police reform could look like after Chauvin trial" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2021
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SUMMARY: To discuss what the process of bringing reform to policing could look like, Judy Woodruff is joined by Alexis Karteron, an associate professor of law and Director of the Constitutional Rights Clinic at Rutgers University, and Tracie Keesee a 25-year Denver Police veteran and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity.
"What is the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act? Breaking down the bill and opposition" PBS NewsHour 4/21/2021
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SUMMARY: The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives in February, but has yet to receive a vote in the evenly-split Senate. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff with an update on where things stand.
"Examining the police shootings of Black Americans and how leadership plays a role" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2021
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SUMMARY: While the guilty verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin brought celebration to the streets of Minneapolis, people also came together today to mourn Daunte Wright, and demand justice for other recent police shootings involving Black Americans. John Yang speaks to local reporters about the country's reaction to this moment of accountability in a long history of unanswered calls for justice.
"Brooks and Capehart on COVID vaccine hesitancy and the Georgia attacks" PBS NewsHour 3/19/2021
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SUMMARY: New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including Republican reluctance to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the response to violence against Asian Americans and the Atlanta attacks, and the Biden administration's immigration policy.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): And to maybe help us further understand the vaccine hesitancy among some Republicans, and much more, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.
That is New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, columnist for The Washington Post.
So good to see both of you, smiling faces, on this Friday night.
(LAUGHTER)
Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post: Good to see you, Judy.
Judy Woodruff: But serious stuff to talk about.
Thank you for being here.
Jonathan, I'm going to start with you.
Why do you think so many Republicans, 40, 50 percent, are saying they don't want the vaccine? And what do you think the prospects are for changing their mind?
Jonathan Capehart: Well, Judy, I think part of the problem is the previous President spent the entirety of the pandemic — so, a year ago, we were hearing the President of the United States casting doubt, one, on whether the virus would come to the United States, and then, two, once it did get to the United States, calling the whole thing a hoax every day.
And so, if you were a die-hard follower of the President, and you're listening to him telling you all sorts of falsehoods, lies, misinformation about a pandemic that you also say is a hoax, then it doesn't surprise me — it is shocking just as an American and someone who believes in science — that so many, such a high percentage of Republicans, and particularly Republicans who supported Donald Trump, being very hesitant about taking the vaccine.
I hope that the gentleman in Yamiche's package will do what he says he's going to do, educate himself, and then decide to take the vaccine. That is all Dr. Fauci has been trying to do, folks at the CDC, the NIH, trying to educate the American people and tell them, this is how we protect ourselves against this virus and this pandemic, and these are the things we must do if we want to get to the other side and start to live what we used to call normal lives again.
Judy Woodruff: David, how do you explain the thinking on the part of so many Republicans?
David Brooks, New York Times: Well, for generations, if you asked Americans, do you trust the institutions of our society, you would get 70 or 80 percent trusting institutions.
Then, starting around the time of Vietnam and Watergate, that began to decline. And now it is about 19 percent. And so people have built up over decades of what they perceive as failure and betrayal a sense of distrust, not only in government, in Congress, but in science and in institutions.
And it is especially true on the Republican side, where the "don't tread on me" ethos has been strongest.
I am hopeful that, once you detach this from politics and make it a local issue, where it is you and your doctor, or you and your neighbor, or you and your pastor, that minds can change. People really do think on two different levels.
They think — if you ask them a political question in a poll, they will give you a political answer. But if it is the doctor saying, you know, everybody around here is taking this test — or this vaccine, it looks pretty good, it is keeping us safe, I think then, once it becomes a local issue, and not a political issue, I think minds can change pretty fast.
And we still have that in the Frank Luntz focus group, that he said elsewhere that he really couldn't persuade people. And the Biden administration is working hard to do that, really reaching out to Republicans. Francis Collins, who is head of to NIH and an evangelical Christian, is talking to Christian groups.
And so they are broadening the messengers.
Judy Woodruff: And, Jonathan, they are trying to change minds in that regard.
The President also out this week, in fact, today, marking the fact that 100 million Americans have had at least one vaccination now. And it is, what, just two months into his administration. He also is out around the country talking up the benefits of this COVID economic relief plan.
And he was going to be in Atlanta to talk about that, but, today, the triples became an opportunity to speak to the Asian American community there, just a few days after these terrible shootings at three spas in the Atlanta area.
Jonathan, what is the right message right now for the President at a time like this?
Jonathan Capehart: Well, I think, in the remarks that the President gave just before we came on air, just as you were coming on air, are similar to the messages he has been giving when it comes to talking about the loss Americans have felt as a result of the pandemic.
In his remarks in Atlanta, he targeted them to the Asian American, Pacific Islander community that feels and has felt under siege, under threat for more than a year because of the rhetoric that was coming out of the White House.
And so by an accident of timing and coincidence, the President and vice President were already going to be in Georgia, in Atlanta to tout the American Rescue Plan. But the fact that these — that the shootings happened, the murders happened, that their trip took a more mournful purpose.
But there is one other thing to keep in mind here, Judy. Georgia flipped from red to blue. And Senators Warnock and Ossoff are in the Senate because people came out and voted for them. And we know that, because of a big turn without from Asian Americans in Georgia, that helped put Joe Biden over the top in Georgia and Warnock and Ossoff over the top in, I believe, both of their races, the general election race and the run-off races.
And so this trip that President Biden and Vice President Harris took today and is still ongoing has taken on so many layers of meaning that we can't even get into right now.
Judy Woodruff: And pick up on that, David.
I mean, at a moment like this, how much difference can it make what a President says, especially on this — as Jonathan said, this is a subject that has political — certainly, political ramifications.
David Brooks: Well, one of the things we certainly learned in recent history is that the presidency is the cultural determiner of the country, and that the ethos of the country reflects the presidency for good or ill, whether it feels like you are walking into a hailstorm or you have got sunshine shining upon you.
And Biden ran on the soul of America. I thought that was just a very important part of his campaign. I wasn't clear how he was going to translate that into the presidency. How do you actually use the power of the office to change the soul of America? I actually thought he should have a little agency within the White House, thinking about the culture, thinking about what is the American soul, how do we tell our story, how do question keep ourselves together?
But events have certainly given him occasions to put that issue front and center, and mostly hate crimes and killings, unfortunately. And so what this episode shows is, in the soul of America, there has been a rising tide of bigotry of all kinds, of racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Asian violence, rising tide of all kinds, partly because of Donald Trump, partly because of COVID, partly because there are, frankly, a lot of lonely young men who have been sort of cut loose from society and who are struggling.
And they are not enmeshed in thick communities. And they do terrible things on occasion.
And so the soul of America is about our moral fiber, and not practicing bigotry. It is about our social connection enmeshing people. And then it is about expressing the values that we share, which I think President did today.
Judy Woodruff: And this is not, Jonathan, of course, the only tough question facing the President right now. There are more and more immigrants attempting to come into the United States across the Southern border.
Children and families with young children, the administration is letting them come in. They are turning back single adults. But it is adding up to a real challenge. The Republicans are saying, this is Joe Biden's border crisis.
What do you make of his handling of this and also of the two immigration bills that passed the House this week?
Jonathan Capehart: So, when it comes to Republican criticism of the Biden administration, I mean, that is par for the course. That is to be expected, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy calling it Biden's border crisis.
But the waves of migrants coming to the border didn't start the moment Joe Biden became President. They have been coming. I think that President Biden talking about having a more humane immigration policy probably sent a message to folks who are trying get here through the Southern border that the draconian measures and sort of inhumane measures taken by Donald Trump were no longer going to be in force and that maybe it's time to go, also keeping in mind that it's not just — President Biden isn't the only reason why folks are trying to get across the Southern border.
People are fleeing. They're fleeing terror and gangs and crime and lack of economic opportunities in their own countries. And they're moving north, seeking opportunities.
Now, what we have seen, Judy, is that the administration has gone from the President saying we want a more humane policy to the President going on television earlier this week and saying, don't come. You have got the secretary of homeland security saying, don't come now. You have got the new ambassador for the border, Roberta Jacobson, saying, don't come, and don't come this way. Come through legal means.
So, I think, if anything, the Biden administration has to has to land on a consistent message. And then it's got to figure out a way to work with Congress to really get a handle on what to do about immigration.
The two bills that you mentioned, Judy, one dealing with the Dreamers and another one dealing with migrant farmworkers, it's not comprehensive immigration reform policy. But these are two big pieces of the immigration puzzle that are working their way through Congress. They made it their way through the House.
But the tough part, as we will be discussing forever, it seems, the tough part is going to be in the Senate. And will the Senate, will Congress actually work to pass something that will actually alleviate a lot of the immigration problems in the country?
Judy Woodruff: What about that, David, and sizing up how President Biden's handling all this?
David Brooks: Well, the short-term problem for the Biden administration is, they did have a very unclear message in the beginning and that says, don't come — you can come, but not yet, which is not a clear message, especially since it gets filtered through these smugglers, who smuggle people across the border for like 8,000 bucks.
Their incentive is to tell people, time to go, because they make money everybody they carry. And so you get lots of misinformation spread across the border. And a lot of people are coming. We're at a 14-year high.
The larger problem is that we have just never had a well-funded asylum system. We don't have the facilities, as it was painfully clear during the Trump years. We don't have the judges. And so people come, they get their hearing, but sometimes it takes over a year to get the hearing.
Meanwhile, they're in the country. And if they think they're going to lose the hearing, which two-thirds do, then they don't show up. And so it's just a dysfunctional system.
I think the Biden administration is trying to ramp up and fix it. But who's to say they won't just continue to fall behind? And the pain of that is, (A) we have some chaos on the border, but, (B) you get an awful political atmosphere for trying to pass immigration reform.
And asylum and immigration are different, which is worth remembering. And so we have given up, I think wisely, on the idea of comprehensive reform. Too big a lift. But it's getting tougher to pass even these minor bills on things people sort of agree about, like the dreamers.
And the border counties in Texas shifted sharply to the Republicans. Mark Kelly, the senator from Arizona, has got to run again in 2022. If there's a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment, it becomes hard for him.
And so the — in a weird way, this border crisis is making the immigration bills a lot harder to pass.
Judy Woodruff: Well, whether they wanted to deal with this right now or not, they are having to deal with it. And we will continue to watch it.
Thank you both, David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart.
Jonathan Capehart: Thanks, Judy.
David Brooks: Thanks.
"Congress holds first hearing on Asian American violence in decades amid ‘crisis point’" PBS NewsHour 3/18/2021
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SUMMARY: Fear and fallout from this week's deadly shootings in Atlanta have echoed across the country. While investigators have not confirmed a motive in the attack that killed eight, including six Asian women, many across the country have deemed it a hate crime. Lawmakers held a hearing on the issue of hate crimes against Asians in Washington today. Lisa Desjardins has the story.
"‘This day was coming:’ Lawmaker says year of anti-Asian rhetoric led to Georgia shootings" PBS NewsHour 3/18/2021
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SUMMARY: After this week's shootings in Atlanta, we explore the congressional response to rising violence against Asian Americans with Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of California. Chu is the chair of the congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and testified on the “crisis point that cannot be ignored” at a Capitol Hill hearing Thursday.
"In ‘Grief and Grievance,’ Black artists explore aspects of loss in contemporary life" PBS NewsHour 3/17/2021
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SUMMARY: Even amid the pandemic, some art exhibitions are opening to the public. "Grief and Grievance" at New York's "New Museum," a timely examination of race and racism, is one of them. Black artists explore the aspects of loss in the contemporary Black experience and their own roles in telling that story. Jeffrey Brown reports for Race Matters, and CANVAS, our ongoing arts and culture coverage.
"Asian American community battles surge in hate crimes stirred from COVID-19" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2021
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SUMMARY: As the U.S. continues its battle against COVID-19, it is also battling a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans. A recent report found that hate crimes against Asian Americans in major U.S. cities surged by nearly 150 percent in 2020 —even as the number of overall hate crimes fell. Stephanie Sy looks at how the violence has marred one community, and how they are coming together in its wake.
"Actress Margaret Cho on why racism is a ‘deep well of shame’ for some Asian Americans" PBS NewsHour 3/20/2021
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SUMMARY: For more on the history of and recent rise in anti-Asian American racism and hate crimes, Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy & Grammy-nominated comedian and actress Margaret Cho joins Hari Sreenivasan. She speaks about her own family’s experience with racism in America, the model minority myth, and the way Asians are perceived in America.
"Boston restores monument to Black Civil War troops" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2021
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SUMMARY: In a time when statues and monuments around the country are being removed for what they represent, the Shaw Memorial in Boston is receiving attention of a different sort. It is being fully restored, with pride that the monument depicting Black soldiers marching off to battle in the civil war, stands the test of time. Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston reports.
"During Black History Month, students reflect on their modern-day heroes" PBS NewsHour 2/24/2021
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SUMMARY: Black History Month expands students’ understanding of the Black experience in American history. But one teacher in Akron, Ohio wanted her students to see that Black history isn’t something that happened in the past, it happens every single day through each of them. She worked with our Student Reporting Labs program to record these reflections from students.
"Looking back in history to help inform and improve future race relations" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2021
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SUMMARY: Daily reports of disturbing racial incidents and what appear to be deepening racial divisions within the country leave many looking for answers. Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault recently spoke with Dr. Ronald Crutcher, a classical musician and president of the University of Richmond, about confronting the complexities of racism.
"Rare Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. signatures found in Alabama jail logbook" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2021
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SUMMARY: Rare documents with 12 signatures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sold on Wednesday for more than $130,000. They were penned in an Alabama jail logbook after King was arrested in April 1963 for leading a march against racial segregation. Rikki Klaus reports on the unprecedented item. It's part of our arts and culture series, "CANVAS."
"Before George Floyd, Officer Derek Chauvin had a history of using excessive force" PBS NewsHour 2/6/2021
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SUMMARY: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is awaiting trial for the murder of George Floyd. But even before the killing that sparked nationwide protests last summer, Chauvin had a history of using excessive force. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Jamiles Lartey and Abbie VanSickle of The Marshall Project about their report on civilians who experienced Derek Chauvin up close.
"Two students’ Brief But Spectacular takes on race and being underestimated" PBS NewsHour 1/28/2021
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SUMMARY: Shortly before the pandemic, NewsHour traveled to Georgia and spoke with two high school seniors, Audrey McNeal and Shaylon Walker. Now in their first year of college, here's their Brief But Spectacular takes on race and being underestimated.
"Fatal shooting by Minneapolis police prompts protests and questions about transparency" PBS NewsHour 12/31/2020
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SUMMARY: Minneapolis police fatally shot a man during a traffic stop Wednesday night, the first killing by a member of the department since George Floyd's death in May, which spurred nationwide protests. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the suspect had fired on officers first. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.
SUMMARY: Memorial services spread over six days starting Saturday will honor and celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis who died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The stops, across five cities, include Troy, Alabama where he was born, and Selma where Lewis helped lead the voting rights march on “Bloody Sunday.” Alabama Public Radio news director Pat Duggins joins to discuss.
SUMMARY: The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor have sparked a renewed dialogue on racism in America. Reform advocates want policy and institutional changes, but individuals are also asking how they can address their own inherent racism. Amna Nawaz talks to Ibram X. Kendi, author of "How to Be An Antiracist;" and Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility.”
SUMMARY: According to the FBI, hate crimes are on the rise in the U.S. Studies also suggest white nationalist and white supremacist ideologies are spreading. Derek Black was raised in a household that espoused such beliefs, but during college, his views gradually evolved. Special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault talks with Black about his journey and the best way to help others find a similar path.
SUMMARY: Atatianna Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew when police arrived to check on a door left ajar. According to her nephew, Jefferson heard noises outside and pointed her gun at the window. Officer Aaron Dean shouted and immediately fired, killing Jefferson. Amna Nawaz discusses police training, race and the use of force with Seth Stoughton of the University of South Carolina.
SUMMARY: African Americans have lost millions of acres of farmland across the South during the last century, in a trend propelled by economic forces, racism and white economic and political power. Most of the losses occurred since the 1950s. John Yang talks to Vann Newkirk of The Atlantic, which highlights the story in its September issue, about the origins of what Newkirk calls “the great land robbery.”
SUMMARY: President Trump is verbally assaulting the city of Baltimore. On Monday, civil rights activist Al Sharpton and Maryland Republicans Gov. Larry Hogan and former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele all slammed Trump’s attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) and Baltimore, which he [Trump] called a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” Lisa Desjardins reports on how Trump’s words are again stoking racial tensions.
SUMMARY: President Trump’s recent verbal attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) were sparked by the congressman’s criticism of migrant facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border. The White House disputed Cummings’ characterizations. So what do we actually know about what’s going on in these detention centers? Judy Woodruff talks to the National Immigration Forum’s Ali Noorani about a “lack of transparency.”
SUMMARY: President Trump prompted more controversy this week by insulting a lawmaker of color, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and his Maryland district. Trump called Baltimore “filthy” and “infested,” terms he has used before to refer to urban areas with majority black populations. Ahead of Trump's rally in southwestern Ohio, Yamiche Alcindor asked voters there what they think of the President’s rhetoric on race.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s political news, including President Trump’s attack on four congresswomen of color, the Republican response to Trump’s controversial rhetoric, whether race politics is smart election strategy and the battle over health care policy among 2020 Democrats.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): And that brings us to the analysis of Shields and Brooks. That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Hello to both of you.
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: Thank you, Judy.
Judy Woodruff: So let's go back to these attacks by the President. They have now lasted a full week on these Democratic congresswomen, all of them, congresswomen, all members — all women of color.
He has called them a variety of names and he's told them, David, to go back to their countries, their home countries. Of course, they're all U.S. citizens. Three of them were born in the United States.
What does all this tell us about President Trump, about these women member of Congress, about our country? And what does it say about racism?
David Brooks, New York Times: Well, it's racist. Let's get that off the top. It's a pretty clear example of it.
To me, it shows that what Trump wants to do is make this election about what America is. And he has a certain vision of what America is.
And his vision, America is xenophobic. The good people of the heartland are being threatened by outsiders and by Muslims and by people who don't look like them. It's a vision that is nostalgic, looking backward to the past. And it's a vision of a white America, that white Protestants created this country, and the rest of us are here by their sufferance.
And this is the national story he wants to tell. And I think it's up to the rest of us to tell a better story about America, that we're a universalistic country, we're a country defined by our future, what we're building, and not by our past, and that we're a country that's traditionally had a mission to cross frontiers.
And one of the missions we have right now is to create a mass multicultural democracy, where people of all races can be united in one democratic process. And that is a hard thing to do.
But Donald Trump is pointing us in the exact opposite direction.
Judy Woodruff: How do you see all this?
Mark Shields: I see it probably less cosmically than David…… although I agree totally with his historical and philosophical perspective. I don't think Donald Trump has a vision.
I think he has a vision of the campaign. What Donald Trump wants to do — Richard Nixon, who, along with Franklin Roosevelt, only two Americans ever to run five times for national office, and win four times, said of vice Presidents, when you pick a vice Presidential running mate, it never helps you, it always hurt you, because you're either explaining or defending or apologizing for what that vice Presidential nominee said that morning in Portland or Peoria.
Case for the prosecution, Sarah Palin and John McCain. And what Donald Trump is trying to do, in a very cynical and callous fashion — and David's absolutely right about the racist implications of it — is to marry these four freshman members, to make them the running mate, whoever the Democratic nominee is.
And the Democratic nominee then would have to — these — the four of them — let's be very blunt about it — like Donald Trump, are heliotropic plants. Heliotropic plants, sunflowers, seek the sun. They turn to get the sun's rays.
These four women have shown a remarkable facility and gift for seeking cameras and seeking microphones, and winning that attention, just as Donald Trump did.
And so that's what he wants to do. They have said — got there by saying terribly controversial things, by criticizing their own party leadership. And that's what Donald Trump wants to do to whoever the Democratic nominee is.
He knows, if the election of 2020 is a referendum on who he is and his failings, Americans do not like him. They do not trust them. They do not respect him. They do not think that he is an object of inspiration in any way to them or their children. Then he loses. But he has to make it about something other than himself.
Judy Woodruff: But — so, David, does this help the President? I'm asking in part because we watched the cross-section of Republican reaction. Some Republicans were critical.
A few, a number of them embraced him, but a lot of them were quiet.
David Brooks: Yes, there are two theories of how Trump could win this election.
One is — and they're both based on, I, Donald Trump, have to win over people who don't like me, because the majority doesn't like Donald Trump.
[1] The one theory is, he drives the Democratic Party so far left that people think they have no choice but to vote for Donald Trump.
Mark Shields: The '72.
David Brooks: Right.
And by embracing the Squad — and by attacking the Squad, he forces the entire Democratic Party to embrace the Squad, and the Squad becomes the voice of the Democratic Party, at least for a week.
And that's one theory.
[2] The second theory is, I don't like Donald Trump, but I like this economy. And that theory is, you lay low and just let the economy do your speaking for you.
Laying low is not really Donald Trump's style. So he's going with this.
Do I think it will end up working? No, because, fundamentally, the vast majority of America like living in a diverse country. The vast majority of America abhor racism. And so it may work with a small base, but I think, on balance, the evidence is very clear the vast majority of the country finds it repellent.
Judy Woodruff: Well, we had a crowd behind him this week in North Carolina, Mark.
Mark Shields: He did. They were — he was with the crowd, and then he was against the crowd. Now he's back with the crowd, we have learned most recently.
Judy, the vote for President is the most personal vote that any of us Americans cast. We're far more apt to cast a vote based on issues, whether it's the economy, or immigration, or the environment, for the United States senator for Congress.
But in a Presidential race, we have an information overload. We have a feel for who these people are as individuals and whether we would like them, whether we trust them.
Donald Trump is presiding over the greatest economy, in employment terms, in the history of any American under the age of 68. You could say, 50 years ago, it was, you know, almost as good. We were at war then. This is a peacetime economy. It's a remarkable thing.
And yet, Judy, we sit here tonight, and 13 percent of Americans say they're often inspired by what he says. And half of Americans say they're never inspired. Americans do not trust him. I mean, one-third think he's honest and trustworthy.
So, Donald Trump has to make this election not about him. If it's about him, if it's a referendum on him and his qualities, because Americans have already decided. They don't. He's never been a single day of his presidency had a majority of Americans say they approve of him, with this greatest economy ever.
So, I mean, he wants to make it — he doesn't want to make it about him. He was smart, he would just withdraw and go to ground zero and say, look at the economy. I have done it. I'm working on it. That's all I'm doing, and keep — he can't. He cannot.
David Brooks: Yes.
It's worth pointing out that my newspaper had an analysis today by heliotropic on how the Electoral College could differ from the actual popular vote. And the analysis was, Trump could lose the popular vote by 5 percentage points, which is way more than I think the 2.8 he lost last time…
Mark Shields: Ya. Ya.
Judy Woodruff: Ya.
David Brooks: … and still carry the Electoral College.
So this really is about Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
SUMMARY: Curtis Flowers has been tried six times for the murder of four people killed in a Mississippi furniture store in 1996. The case is the subject of the second season American Public Media’s “In the Dark” podcast. Now the Supreme Court is considering whether the district attorney prosecuting Flowers illegally made juror selections based on race. William Brangham talks to APM’s Madeleine Baran.
