TRUMP'S WALL - Robbing Our Military

"Behind Trump’s ‘unprecedented’ reallocation of DOD money for border security" PBS NewsHour 9/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump is diverting some money for Defense Department infrastructure to instead construct or repair additional barrier sections on the U.S.-Mexico border.  The 127 projects losing funding include Hurricane Maria recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and education and health services at military bases at home and overseas.  Lisa Desjardins talks to Judy Woodruff about the details and the reaction.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 4/5/2019

"Shields and Brooks on Trump’s border threats, Barr’s handling of Mueller report" PBS NewsHour 4/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including President Trump’s reversal on closing the U.S.-Mexico border, Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, and controversy over former Vice President Joe Biden’s interactions with women.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

So, let's talk about the border, Mark.

The President this week has been at one point saying he's going to close it.  He's angry at Mexico, and has been angry at the Central American countries.  Now — then he changed and said, well, you know, maybe we won't do that, but we might do it later.

What do you make of his overall approach to what's going on at this crisis at the border?

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Well, the fact that the piece demonstrates so well is the total interdependence at, for example, the border in Mexico and Southern California.

That is the pattern throughout.  We're talking about the United States' third largest trading partner, Mexico, $1.5 billion a day in goods and services being traded back and forth from each country.

And what the President showed more than anything else was a problem that's nagged his entire administration.  He just wasn't informed on this, and his threats were not only unnerving, but they really did the almost impossible, stirred Republicans on the Hill, beginning with Majority Leader McConnell, to say it would be catastrophic to cut off trade.

And following on the heels, Judy, of the President's making the Republicans the health care party, after an election where they suffered their biggest defeat in 100 years, midterm elections, on the health care issue.  By a 3-1 margin, Americans thought Democrats were better on health care than Republicans.

And his attacks on John McCain, it really was unsettling in any confidence in the President, particularly within his own party.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you size up how he's handled this?

David Brooks, New York Times:  Well, I give him a little credit.

He has been saying there's a crisis on the border for the past six months and eight months.  And he's right.  And I think some of us have downplayed that.  But it's clear Jeh Johnson, who was in the Obama administration, is saying there's a crisis.  There's 4,000 people getting detained every day.  There's a backlog of a million cases.

All of our facilities are completely overrun.  And so there is clearly a crisis at the border.  The problem with Donald Trump (A) there is no policy process.  When he announces a policy, there's nothing behind it.  It's just words coming out of his mouth.

But (B) the idea the wall is the appropriate answer to what is happening on the border is completely ridiculous.  These are asylum seekers.  A wall does nothing.  It's completely irrelevant to the situation.

And I go back to what the gentleman in the piece said.  The problem is in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and those countries that have become lawless.   And El Salvador's the most dangerous, peaceful — peacetime nation in the world right now; 95 percent of the crimes are not being solved, not being prosecuted, hundreds of millions of dollars in extortion.

You have got families living in the middle of all these killings.  What are they expected to do?  And so as long as you have got that situation, we're going to have this crisis at the border, because we're all one continent or one people — maybe two continents — but we're all one people.

And so the idea is that you have got to fix it at the root.  And there's no easy way to do that.  But there's no other answer.

Judy Woodruff:  No easy way to do that, Mark.

Are you all — are we all now acknowledging that the answers don't come easy, but what do we do?  What's to be done?

Mark Shields:  No, nobody's ever pretended.

There have been serious efforts.  And public officials in both parties deserve credit for making an effort to come up with an immigration policy in this country.  There's been no leadership in this administration at all.  Democrats have a responsibility as well.

Migration throughout history has been driven by two factors, one, fear, anger, isolation in the place where you are; and a hope, the place you're going, which the United States has more often than not represented the latter.

And David is right.  But the answer to Honduras and Guatemala is not to cut off aid, as the President.  It's to make an effort, to be creative in trying to bring some sense of justice, order, economic stability to those countries, and political safety.  That is — that, to me, is the first step.

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  But…

Mark Shields:  Go ahead.

Judy Woodruff:  I was just going to say, but the President argues that hasn't worked.

He says, we have given them — we have been giving these countries help, and it hasn't worked.

David Brooks:  Well, that's not true.

In the first place, it's important to distinguish between two kinds of people who are coming here.  One are economically motivated.  They want to get jobs here.  And, frankly, American efforts across several administrations have done a very excellent job of reducing the number of people who economically come here.  We need a certain number.

But the flow of, say, Mexican workers who come to this country was sharply down.  So, we were in a situation a few years ago where there were more Latinos leaving than coming.  And that's because we helped make the — and not us alone, but we did some role in helping the Mexican economy become a healthy economy.

Mark Shields:  That's right.

David Brooks:  What we're seeing now is not that.

It's fear-driven.  Think of it like people leaving Syria for Lebanon.  It's a little more like that than like the economic immobility.  These people are leaving in completely disparate straits because they have no other choice.  And they're asylum seekers.

And so these are two different things.  And the idea that our aid has not done much for that, I would say we haven't even tried.

Mark Shields:  Yes.

And the backlog that David speaks of is, in fact, the people seeking asylum.  I mean, they are — it's uprooting your entire family.  This is not the traditional male leaving to make money to send it home, to return home with that money.

Judy Woodruff:  Change of subject, the Mueller report.

David, we — I don't know if you heard, but Congressman Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was on the program a few minutes ago.  He said outright he expects the Attorney General should give the Congress the full Mueller report, all almost 400 pages of it.

But he went on to say he doesn't think the Attorney General has been a fair broker in all this, for a number of reasons.  He expects to get less than that, so we're going to see subpoenas.

Where do you see this process going?

David Brooks:  Yes, I think that's an error.  I think that's a mistake.

I think one of the things that's been reasonably well-established, with a few bad exceptions, is that when you release a report like this, you don't release the grand jury, some of that information, and you don't release sources and methods.

And Barr has told us he's just cleaning that stuff out and then he will release the rest.

Judy Woodruff:  But Nadler says it's just going to the committee.  It won't be released to the public.

David Brooks:  Right.  Well, good luck with that.  If it goes to the committee, it will go to the public.

And so, in my view, that's a much more dangerous option.  So, to me, maybe he's right about Barr.  Maybe Barr is not an honest broker here.  We don't know.  I think he's handled it reasonably well.  But at least let Barr issue what — the next piece of the report that he's going to issue.  Let's take a look at it and see what we think then.

But the idea of just basically leaking out the whole report, which I think would be inevitable, seems to me a miscarriage of justice.

Judy Woodruff:  What do you think of the Nadler approach, the Democrats' approach?

Mark Shields:  Well, I think that — I think two factors.

First of all, I think that Attorney General Barr gave the President a green light claim exoneration.  And I think that has obviously set off a sense of frustration and anger on the part of people who worked on the Mueller group, as well as Democrats in particular.  I think the President may have gone too far with it.

What I worry about with Chairman Nadler is, for anybody with a sense of history in this town, in 1998, one of the reasons that the effort against Bill Clinton failed was because of the excessive partisanship of Newt Gingrich and people like that in the Republican leadership.

And it became seen as a partisan drive against him.  Contrast that, if you would, Judy, with Howard Baker, Sam Ervin, and Peter Rodino, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during the time of Watergate, when they all rose above any petty partisanship.

And I just — I don't think it ought to be seen as a Democratic hunt on Republicans.  I do think it's coming, and I think that…

Judy Woodruff:  The full report?

Mark Shields:  I think the full report will eventually get out.

But I think Bob Mueller will testify.  And I think that the Attorney General has said he's going to testify as well.  I would like to see it play out, rather — before we go to DEFCON 1.

Judy Woodruff:  But you're saying it's going to take several steps?

Mark Shields:  I think it will.  I think it will.

But I think there's a lot — the pressure is building on Attorney General Barr, because he knows his précis or summary of the Mueller report doesn't meet with the satisfaction or professional passing on the part of the people who worked on the Mueller — I really think that's a problem.

David Brooks:  Yes.

It's possible to believe two things at once, that this investigation conducted by honest brokers found no evidence of collusion and not sufficient evidence of obstruction, but still there's a lot more in the report that will make the Trump administration look really bad.

Mark Shields:  That's right.

David Brooks:  Both those things are true.  And I think, in the fullness of time, we will find both those things to be true.

ON THE BORDER - Opinion From El Paso

"How residents from El Paso feel about border barriers" PBS NewsHour 3/20/2019

Question, the Border Patrol demonstration in this video shows agents shouting in English to discourage boarder crossings by people from our South.  In English?!  Really?  They should be using recorded announcements in the languages of the people attempting to cross so they can be understood.

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SUMMARY:  Amid the roiling national debate about immigration and a border wall, construction crews in El Paso, Texas, are busy replacing 20 miles of wire mesh fencing with a bollard-style structure.  Border Patrol says this kind of barrier is crucial for preventing people from crossing the border illegally.  Special correspondent Angela Kocherga talks to El Paso residents about how it affects their community.

TRUMP'S WALL - The Push-Back

"With blocked emergency declaration, Senate delivers Trump a ‘stunning rebuke’" PBS NewsHour 3/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  The Senate defied President Trump on Thursday, with 12 Republicans helping form a decisive majority to block his declaration of a national emergency over immigration.  But the 59-41 vote wasn't a large enough majority to overturn a veto, and Trump vowed immediately to use one--the first of his Presidency.  Judy Woodruff talks to Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor about the "stunning rebuke."

AMERICAN POLITICS - Democrats and Republicans

"What 2020 Democratic candidates are prioritizing on the campaign trail" PBS NewsHour 3/4/2019

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SUMMARY:  Yet another Democrat has entered the 2020 race for President: John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado.  The current field of candidates spreads across much of the political spectrum, representing a broad range of policies on taxes, health care, climate change and more.  Based on his CPAC remarks, President Trump appears eager to take on any of the potential rivals.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski on disagreeing with the President" PBS NewsHour 3/6/2019

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SUMMARY:  Few Republicans disagree publicly with President Trump more than Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski.  She has diverged from the White House stance on health care, the environment and the Supreme Court, among other issues.  Now Murkowski is bucking her party by refusing to support Trump’s national emergency declaration over funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.  She talks to Judy Woodruff about why.

AMERICAN POLITICS - Cohen & Trump's Border Wall

"Trump faces challenges on 2 sides, as House pushes resolution and Cohen testifies" PBS NewsHour 2/26/2019

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SUMMARY:  The House is pushing a resolution to invalidate President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over illegal immigration.  Meanwhile, Trump faced a challenge from the other side of Capitol Hill as his former attorney Michael Cohen testified in a closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee.  Lisa Desjardins updates Judy Woodruff on a busy day on Capitol Hill.

"What new information came out of Cohen hearing?" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2019

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SUMMARY:  The testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in front of the House Oversight Committee produced plenty of material.  Lisa Desjardins, who attended the hearing, and Yamiche Alcindor join Judy Woodruff to discuss the day’s key takeaways, including House Republican and White House attacks on Cohen as not trustworthy and Cohen's argument that Trump ran for President solely to enrich himself.

"Cohen calls Trump ‘a conman’ and ‘a cheat’" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2019

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SUMMARY:  In public testimony before the House Oversight Committee, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said some of his past offenses were “for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with” President Trump.  He also called his former boss a conman, racist, and cheat but said he had no "direct evidence" of Trump's campaign colluding with Russia.

"Cohen accuses Trump of inaccurately reporting finances to IRS, banks" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2019

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SUMMARY:  In his congressional testimony on Wednesday, Michael Cohen produced evidence of hush money paid to porn actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to keep her from revealing an affair with President Trump.  Cohen also accused the President of inflating his financial assets during dealings with banks but under-reporting them to the IRS.  Judy Woodruff talks to Lisa Desjardins for more.

"Why Cohen’s answers on Russia could pose potential legal problems for Trump" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2019

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SUMMARY:  During his appearance before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen was questioned about possible ties between the President and Russia, as well as Trump’s relationship with Roger Stone.  Yamiche Alcindor talks to Judy Woodruff about the significance of the information Cohen relayed and whether any of it could pose a potential legal problem for the President.

"How a former independent counsel analyzes the legal implications of Cohen’s testimony" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2019

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SUMMARY:  Michael Cohen’s testimony raises many questions about President Trump’s personal, political and financial dealings.  For analysis of its potential legal implications, Judy Woodruff turns to Solomon Wisenberg, who was Deputy Independent Counsel during the Whitewater investigation of the early 1990s.

"The ‘stunning’ details Cohen offered about Trump’s business" PBS NewsHour 2/28/2019

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SUMMARY:  During a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen discussed the president’s personal, political and financial affairs.  William Brangham talks to The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, and Andrea Bernstein co-host of the podcast "Trump, Inc.," about "startling" details of Trump's business and why Congress might want to talk to Allen Weisselberg.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 2/22/2019

"Shields and Brooks on Trump declaration, Bernie Sanders’ 2020 bid" PBS NewsHour 2/22/2019

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks analyze the week in politics, including how Congress is reacting to President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over immigration, the 2020 candidacy of Bernie Sanders and whether democratic socialism is becoming mainstream.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  From that to what we reported earlier in the show, House Democrats gearing up to fight President Trump on his emergency declaration.

It's time now for analysis on this and more from Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Judy.

Judy Woodruff:  So, let's talk about — Mark, what the Democrats announced today.

They said that they were going to do this, but they officially put word out today that they are going to vote on Tuesday basically to just negate, cancel what the President is trying to do, declare a national emergency to find money to pay for a wall on the southern border.

Is this a smart move?

Mark Shields:  Is it the smart move?  Well, it will pass the House.  There are 226 co-sponsors right now.

And if Nancy Pelosi does something well — she does lot of things well, but she knows how to count.  And the question is how many Republicans.  There's one at this point, Justin Amash of Michigan, but others who will come over.

Judy Woodruff:  Only one at this point?

Mark Shields:  At this point, that's right.

So, then it moves to the Senate.  I mean, it's a — I think it's a moment of some truth, reality for Republicans.  I think Susan Collins of Maine has already indicated her own opposition to the President's position.  I think Cory Gardner of Colorado, who is up in a tough race next year, may be another.  There may be others as well.

So, I think our system works best when there's a vitality and an energy in all branches.  And I don't think there is any question that this is protecting the institution.  I mean, when the President goes ahead and appropriates money that was denied by both the Democrats and the Republicans in the conference most recently, you know, I think it's a question of prerogative and responsibility and authority.

Judy Woodruff:  So, David, do the Democrats have a real shot at blocking what the President wants to do?

David Brooks, New York Times:  No, no, because they would have to get a veto-proof majority.  Even if they get it out of the Congress, Donald Trump will veto it.

I think it may also pass the Senate.  I forget.  There were six or seven who — at least when he declared the emergency, six or seven Republicans said, I don't really think it's a good idea.  And I think they may wind up voting against it.

If you're going to vote against Donald Trump about anything, this is the easiest, because you can say, well, it's not really about ideology.  It's not about the wall.  It's just about Congress.  And it's about the way we — it's about the Constitution.

They all took an oath to swear allegiance to the Constitution.  And the Constitution says that Congress originates, has the power of the purse.  And if the President can just spend money on what he wants, that's really not our constitutional system.

Why don't more do it?  If it was an anonymous vote, it would get 90 votes.  They all think that.  But there's a weird — you know, you bug them about this, there's a level of supine passivity, like a learned helplessness, where they don't even — it doesn't even cross the mental barrier that, well, maybe I should buck the President on this one.

I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  You're talking about the Republicans.

David Brooks:  Yes.  You would have to do studies on maltreated pets or something, like, why don't they get up and do something?

But it's not even in their brain register.  It's just, I'm used to — I go along right now.  I just go along.  And it's not even a conscious choice anymore.

Judy Woodruff:  Doesn't have anything to do with reelection or anything like that?

David Brooks:  Well, of course it does.  But that's the animal instinct at play.

But I think the voters of Ohio or wherever else would understand an occasional vote against the President.  It doesn't doom your career.  There is not, frankly, an issue on which a lot of people are going to be voting on.  It's a procedural issue.  But it's a defense of the Constitution.

Judy Woodruff:  But, Mark, no chance if the President were — he says he's going to veto.  No chance that they could override the veto?

Mark Shields:  No, it would be the first veto of the President's administration.

But I don't see the two-thirds being there.  There may be a reach in the — possibility in the House, if enough Republicans do screw up the courage to do so.

But I just think the Mark Sanford experience, Judy, just haunts Republicans, it terrifies them.  They look over their shoulder, they see shadows on the wall in the sunshine.  Mark Sanford, the former Republican governor and congressman from South Carolina, whom the President just absolutely kind of trashed and endorsed his then — up to then previously unknown opponent in the Republican primary, and Mark Sanford went down to defeat.

David Brooks:  I there's one other little element, the reason they don't leap, is that they have no power now.

Mark Shields:  OK.

David Brooks:  They have already given away their power.  They gave away their power to their leadership, to Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.

And so that they gave that away long ago, so the idea they could seize power is a big mental leap for them.  And so they're doubly bound into this learned helplessness.

POLL - Do You Approve of Trump's National Emergency

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 2/15/2019

"Shields and Brooks on Trump’s national emergency, Democratic platform shift" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2019

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to analyze the week in politics, including the President’s national emergency declaration, how congressional Republicans are reacting to it, the 2020 Presidential field and whether Democrats are pushing their platform too far to the left.

Judy Woodruff:  From that growing 2020 Presidential field, to the fight over President Trump's national emergency declaration, it's time for Shields and Brooks.

That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

We are going to talk about the mayor in just a moment, but I do want to start, David, with the President's announcement today that he didn't get enough money to beef up the border as he wanted, and, therefore, he's declaring a national emergency, so that he can spend up to $8 billion on it.

David Brooks, New York Times:  Yes, well, this is awful.

You know, I don't think it has anything to do with any invasion, as he claimed.  I think he lost the government shutdown, so he's giving himself a performance trophy, so he can say, I'm a winner.

I think this is more about his psyche than anything actually in the country.  And it is a complete violation of any constitutional position that any liberal or any conservative should believe in.

The Constitution clearly states that allocations and appropriations are the job of Congress.  And Congress has been ceding power time and time again.  Presidents have been grabbing it.  And this is by far the most egregious grab.

And once you walk down this line, then the constitutional order begins to fray.  And we have seen the fraying of social norms.  Now we're seeing the fraying of constitutional norms.

Judy Woodruff:  And, Mark, the President says it's entirely within his right to do this.  And he points out other Presidents have done similar things.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Not really similar things, in a sense after they have been rejected by the legislative process, immediately upon following that rejection.

I think, Judy, that you have to say a national emergency is the Great Depression, the polio epidemic, the firing on Fort Sumter, you know, or something that we can agree is an emergency.

This is a political emergency.  It's a political emergency, just as David described, not simply the stinging rebuke of Congress, but, by actual count, 200 times Donald Trump, candidate and then President, has promised that this wall, this tall, unscalable wall, will be built and paid for completely by the Mexican government.

And he obviously has not delivered on that.  I would just point out that, in 2000, Bill Clinton's last year in the White House, there were 1.6 million illegal entries stopped by the authorities at the border.  In 2017, Donald Trump's first year, there were fewer than 400,000.

I mean, this is not — it's not an invasion, as David said.  I mean, it's not an emergency, other than a political emergency.

Judy Woodruff:  And it's going to be challenged in the courts.  We were hearing some of that earlier in the program.

David, what about the fact that Republicans in Congress didn't go along, there weren't enough of them to go along with what the President wanted in terms of money, and now some of them are saying what you two are saying, that they don't like the fact that he's declaring an emergency?

David Brooks:  Yes, this was an interesting thing that, within the negotiations over the last week, the Republicans, and specifically Mitch McConnell, decided basically they were writing the White House out of the negotiations, and they sidelined them.

And so they basically — the deal McConnell said was, we're going to cut them out of the negotiations, we will give them nothing, but we give them this, that I will support this chance to have an emergency.

And that is a bad deal.  Mitch McConnell made a bad deal for the American people.  This — violating the Constitution is worse.  And so I think they should have a vote .  The Congress should assert itself, for once in a lifetime, for the sake of our country.

A few Republicans have come out and criticized the President, Ben Sasse and Marco Rubio.  But a lot have not.  Some who warned him not to do that are suddenly on board.

And so you're seeing rank open opportunism.  It was not long ago, a few years ago, we were sitting at this table, and Barack Obama did something — I thought something egregious.  And every Republican, including me, was — had their hair on fire.

And now suddenly they're fine with an even more egregious grab of White House power.

Judy Woodruff:  How do you see this political — or is it a significant division in the Republican Party?

Mark Shields:  No, it isn't, Judy.

I mean, the Republican Party needs a vertebrae transplant.  It is essentially a political invertebrate.  It has no backbone.

Mitch McConnell is terrified of a primary challenge in 2020.  And that's the power that Donald Trump wields.  Donald Trump has always, in his arsenal, the Mark Sanford experience, the former governor and congressman in South Carolina.

Donald Trump said good words about his opponent and bad words about Mark Sanford, and Mark Sanford's career came to a crashing end in the Republican primary.

And every — virtually every Republican who's up in 2020 is afraid that Donald Trump — to get on the wrong side of Donald Trump.  I don't think there's any question about it.

I think Susan Collins has said some questionable things about questioning the President.  So has Mike Lee from Utah.  It's a small group.  Lamar Alexander has.  He's retiring in 2020.  So, I don't expect any great resistance on the GOP side.

TRUMP AGENDA - 'I Demand My Wall'

"How both sides compromised to reach a tentative border security agreement" PBS NewsHour 2/12/2019

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SUMMARY:  Lawmakers working to develop an agreement on border funding by February 15 say they have reached a bipartisan deal.  President Trump said he wasn't "happy" with the proposed bill, as it would provide only a fraction of the funding he had originally demanded, but didn't say whether or not he would sign it.  Yamiche Alcindor explains what concessions each side made to arrive at a compromise.

"Why both parties are claiming victory on funding for border security" PBS NewsHour 2/12/2019

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SUMMARY:  As members of Congress finally arrive at an agreement over how to fund border security and avoid another government shutdown, both Democrats and Republicans are claiming victory -- and fielding criticism that they caved.  But with only three days before the deadline, it will be a scramble to pass the proposed legislation.  Judy Woodruff gets the latest from Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor.

"Trump and Congress gear up for a fight over national emergency plan" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  Congress is preparing to send a government funding package that contains a compromise on allocations for border security to President Trump, who has announced his intention to sign the bill.  However, Trump also plans to declare a national emergency in order to access additional money for a border wall.  Judy Woodruff talks to Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor about what comes next.

"Why Trump’s national emergency plan could present a ‘major Constitutional test’" PBS NewsHour 2/14/2019

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SUMMARY:  After signing a congressional funding bill, President Trump plans to declare a national emergency to obtain additional money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  But would such an executive action be lawful?  Judy Woodruff speaks with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about who decides what constitutes a national emergency and whether the President is attempting to circumvent Congress.

"Which funding sources does Trump plan to use for wall money?" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2019

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SUMMARY:  President Trump declared a national emergency Friday over immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, so he can redirect billions of dollars to build additional sections of wall there.  Trump plans to take roughly $6 billion from the Defense Department and millions from other sources.  Judy Woodruff talks to Yamiche Alcindor about expected legal challenges and why the President's data is problematic.

DIVIDED AMERICA - Congress

"Perdue: Split Congress has ‘historic opportunity’ to make big deals" PBS NewsHour 2/5/2019

Opinion from the delusional ally.  And Trump only protects and inflates his ego.  This is all about Trump, not America.

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SUMMARY:  Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga) says President Trump is “a dealmaker first and last,” and that Americans can expect to hear a more conciliatory tone at the State of the Union on Tuesday despite the impasse over a southern border wall.  Perdue joins Judy Woodruff to discuss whether the President will declare a national emergency, and why he thinks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should work with Trump.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 2/1/2019

"Shields and Brooks on Northam photo scandal, abortion and border standoffs" PBS NewsHour 2/1/2019

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SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks analyze the week in politics, including the uproar over a racist photo on the medical school yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va) the furor erupting over state legislation related to third-trimester abortions, hope for resolving the border wall standoff and the widening 2020 field of Presidential candidates.

Judy Woodruff:  (NewsHour):  An update now to a story we reported earlier.

This evening, Virginia's Governor Northam acknowledged that he was in a photograph depicting blackface and a Ku Klux Klan outfit.  The photo was made public today, and comes from his 1984 medical school yearbook.

Northam's statement this evening said, in part: "I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused, then and now."

And that brings us to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Judy.

Judy Woodruff:  So, I want to begin, David, with this news that we reported earlier in the program, that the pictures of Governor Northam had surfaced.  He was elected just a year ago, is seen as a progressive Democrat in the South, in Virginia.

But now there's this.  Can he survive this?

David Brooks, New York Times:  Well, first, it just shocks you with how appalling it is.

1984, it was not like 1850.  And it's his med school.  It's not high school.  It's not college.  This is a full-grown adult.  And so it's just shocking and appalling that this was the norm, that it was OK to do this.

I don't know if it survives — he doesn't — Virginia is a one-term state, so he never has to run again.  But I really don't know.  I — frankly, I was a little more appalled by his comments earlier in the week about letting babies die on tables when they're born in late-term abortions.

And that was sort of what got this ball rolling.  And so I would say, these are two events that I find morally incomprehensible.

Judy Woodruff:  Mark, what about this?  And I do want to ask you about the abortion debate that David's referring to.

Mark Shields:  Yes.

Judy, I think that Ralph Northam won a campaign last year in which race was the issue, and he was the pro-civil rights candidate, and was castigated by Republicans for sponsoring, supporting the removal of Confederate statues from public places to museums.

And that has been his public record.  This is very much at odds with that.  And I agree with David.  It's offensive and it's indefensible, and the fact that he was a grown man.

I do not think it leads to resignation.  It is a one-term state.  But, I mean, it certainly, I think, inhibits his effectiveness as governor, and certainly from the moral level of a governor calling, summoning a people to sacrifice, a collective sacrifice.

Judy Woodruff:  Well, we will certainly see.  This is all literally breaking just as we're sitting here tonight together on the program.

But, David, just quickly, you referred to the dispute, the, frankly, outrage that poured out earlier this week.  Virginia, there was just — in brief, a state legislator in Virginia was talking about expanding abortion rights into the third trimester, a lot outcry about that.

The governor was attempting to talk about it, as someone who was an OB/GYN, a doctor, a physician.  But it made an even bigger story.

David Brooks:  Yes, well it started with Andrew Cuomo in New York, where they passed a bill with full-length abortion.

And I — you can have pro-choice, pro-life — I thought Andrew Cuomo made a mistake in lighting up the tower on the World Trade Center.  Abortion is a tough issue.  You don't celebrate it, a full-term abortion, with lighting up a tower in celebration of your law.

Then the — there was a bill proposed in the Virginia legislature to do this, and the legislator was asked, would she — could you abort a baby just before it was in the birth canal?  And she said yes.

And he was trying to explain it, the governor was, with — very medically, that the — if a child comes out with some problems, then the physician and the parents would decide whether or not to resuscitate.

And, to me, that's not my understanding of the Hippocratic oath.  If a baby is on a table, it's not even abortion anymore.  It's a baby breathing on a table.  And that's a human being, whatever you think of the pro-life issue.

And so we're pushing new territory, I would say, in this debate, territory that almost no other country in the world endorses.

Judy Woodruff:  Where do you see this?

Mark Shields:  I think David makes excellent points.

I would add to this, Judy.  Abortion is — Americans are collectively pro-choice and anti-abortion.  You ask Americans, how do you feel about abortion, they don't like it.

But a woman forced to make a decision under difficult circumstances, in consultation with her confessor, her conscience and her physician, they're not going to — they're not going to criminalize it.

But, as long as the question is, what is being decided, as rather who is deciding, and when you're talking about what is being decided, what David has described, I think, frankly, it's now indefensible.

Abortion is a — is an issue that Americans, quite bluntly, have never resolved.  I mean, it remains in every Gallup poll every year the plurality Americans think abortion is immoral.  They — at the same time, they do not want to criminalize it.

But I do think that, when you get into the — as we talked about in Virginia, it's infanticide, when you say, make a child — have the child born, comforted, consoled, and then decide whether in fact — is it 24 hours, 12 hours, a week?

I think — I just think the Democrats have gone from being the pro-choice party in both those instances to being the no-choice party.

Judy Woodruff:  Well, we should — we should point out that what the Democrats are trying to do in a number of states is talk about the health of the mother, the life of the mother, the health of the baby.  And those issues are part of this as well.

But you're right.  We're not going to resolve this, this evening.  But it's an important thing to bring up.

Let's talk quickly about the border wall dispute, David.  Here we are, a week later.  The committee is meeting at the Capitol.  The President is saying, it doesn't matter.

Does either — Republicans or Democrats on either side have more leverage?  Where are we headed?

David Brooks:  Yes, I assume we're not going to have a shutdown again on February 15, just because the Republicans, it would just be suicidal.

And the Senate Republicans are a little more active this time.  But I don't quite see how it gets resolved.  Trump has said, the negotiations don't matter, I want my wall.  Nancy Pelosi is still at the position a wall is immoral.

And it's — the obvious exit route is, they find some money for border security, and Donald Trump gets to call it a wall, whether it's a wall or not.

But it — the other — but they don't seem to have a route to get there.  And they seem — both have decided, I can't let the other side seem to have won.

And so, even symbolically, they can't share a victory here.  And so I don't see a way out.  It's certainly not evident right now.

Judy Woodruff:  The — Senator Shelley Moore Capito was on the program this week, Mark, and she said they're talking about, among things, fences, maybe levees, as one definition of a barrier.

Mark Shields:  Yes.  That's right.

Judy Woodruff:  So, it could very well come down to some construction or definition.

Mark Shields:  Yes.  I agree.  I agree with David's — David's point.

Judy, I think that, whether it's border security or whatever, the President is not being helpful.  I mean, there seems to be, on the part of Republicans, Senator Capito, but Senator Cornyn, Senator Thune, an understanding that a — they got hurt, and they have got to resolve this, and they want to get it resolved.

And, at the same time, they're being increasingly frank about the President's unhelpfulness in it.  I mean, John Cornyn said, we're trying to figure out where he stands.  And John Thune, the senator from South Dakota, said, we cannot say that these meetings are fruitless.  We're trying to get something.

It's almost — what President Trump is doing is making the congressional branch of our system more positive, I mean, that we're turning to them in hopes.  We always thought the executive was very efficient.

But, I mean, now the hope for resolving this really, frankly, is with the conference of senators and House members.

Judy Woodruff:  Even as the President pronounces it a waste of time.

Mark Shields:  Yes.

TRUMP'S WALL - Post Trump Shutdown

"After shutdown, what’s next for border security negotiations" PBS NewsHour 1/28/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Thousands of federal employees went to work Monday for the first time since before Christmas.  The 35-day partial government shutdown ended Friday after President Trump signed an agreement to fund closed government agencies for three weeks, while Congress continues to negotiate over border security.  But will that be enough?  Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor join Amna Nawaz with the latest.

"Rep says ‘it’s possible’ Democrats would support more than $5.7 billion on border security" PBS NewsHour 1/28/2019

Fat chance, as long as Trump insists on a wall.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Lawmakers have three weeks to devise a border security plan that will satisfy President Trump, who threatens to declare a national emergency or shut down the government again if they fail.  A bipartisan group of 17 legislators will work to draft legislation.  One of them, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif) joins Amna Nawaz to discuss evidence-based solutions, the asylum process and humanitarian aid.

From the delusional....

"Why Sen. Collins is ‘very optimistic’ about a deal to fund border security" PBS NewsHour 1/29/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Lawmakers have three weeks to come up with a long-term deal on border security, or potentially be faced with a second government shutdown or the president's declaring a national emergency.  Judy Woodruff talks to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) about why she’s “very optimistic” that Congress can come up with a plan the President will sign and mechanisms for preventing future government shutdowns.

"Sen. Capito on the ‘sweet spot’ for border security negotiations" PBS NewsHour 1/30/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  A bipartisan congressional committee tasked with drafting a border security bill for President Trump to sign by February 15 met for the first time Wednesday.  Among its members is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va) who joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the committee’s “great desire to reach a conclusion,” components of effective border security and why she's optimistic about bipartisan compromise.

TRUMP SHUTDOWN - America Hostage Crisis

"As shutdown drags on, Trump tries to reassure farmers feeling burned" PBS NewsHour 1/14/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  On Monday [Day 24], President Trump said he is hesitant to declare a national emergency to fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and that Congress should resolve the "simple" disagreement that's keeping the government partly closed.  He also said he had rejected a proposal by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to reopen the government temporarily.  Yamiche Alcindor reports on the shutdown's latest impacts.

"Shutdown comes at a ‘tough time’ to be an American farmer" PBS NewsHour 1/14/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump promoted his trade policies Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation.  But the government shutdown has hurt farmers seeking loans needed for upcoming crop seasons, and certain provisions in the newly signed Farm Bill cannot be administered until USDA offices reopen.  Farm Aid’s Joe Schroeder joins John Yang to discuss how the shutdown has come at a "tough time to be a farmer."

"Native American tribes are ‘starting to feel the impact’ of shutdown funding delay" PBS NewsHour 1/14/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The government shutdown has affected Native American tribes who rely on federal funds allocated by treaty rights.  For the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin, funding goes towards services like public safety and elder healthcare.  Now the tribe is awaiting more than a million dollars owed by government.  Marisa Wojcik of Wisconsin Public Television reports.

"Shutdown takes a bite out of business in South Florida" PBS NewsHour 1/15/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  [Day 25] The gates are open at the Everglades National Park, but with no one to collect entry fees, business is drying up.  The partial government shutdown couldn't come at a worse time for the region, which depends on tourists and is suffering its second bad season in a row.  From TSA officers to hurricane scientists, John Yang reports on how residents are hurting.

"How the State of the Union became ‘leverage’ in shutdown debate" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2019

IMHO: Trump childish behavior.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  [Day 26] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested President Trump’s State of the Union be postponed for safety reasons related to the shutdown, although the Department of Homeland Security countered it is able to handle the event.  Meanwhile, President Trump met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to negotiate, as another payroll deadline approaches.  Judy Woodruff talks to Yamiche Alcindor and Lisa Desjardins.

"These 2 cities illustrate the shutdown’s profound national impact" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  While lawmakers in Washington, D.C., battle over whether to reopen the government, the ripple effects of the shutdown are extending far beyond the Beltway.  Two mayors, Republican David Holt from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Democrat Michael Passero of New London, Connecticut, tell Judy Woodruff how the stalemate is affecting their cities' federal workers and even their populations as a whole.

"New to Capitol Hill, Reps. Riggleman and Spanberger face shutdown’s added pressure" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Two new House members, Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va), and Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va) belong to the largest congressional freshman class in decades.  Even before their offices were fully set up, these Capitol Hill newcomers had to cast votes on how to handle a government shutdown that's stretched on for weeks.  Lisa Desjardins accompanies Riggleman and Spanberger on their first days in Congress.

"With much of the EPA closed, industrial safety and pollution inspections come to a halt" PBS NewsHour 1/16/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Andrew Wheeler, the EPA's acting head, appeared before a Senate committee for confirmation hearings in his bid to keep the position on a permanent basis.  But the government shutdown has brought many of the EPA's daily operations to a halt, so most safety and pollution inspections are skipped.  Judy Woodruff looks at reporting by Coral Davenport of The New York Times and the AP's Ellen Knickmeyer.

"Trump’s move to cancel congressional trip during shutdown raises debate" PBS NewsHour 1/17/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  On day 27 of the partial government shutdown, President Trump rescinded approval for a military plane, effectively canceling a trip to Afghanistan planned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation.  The move comes after Pelosi asked to postpone the President’s State of the Union Address over safety concerns.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff for an update on the shutdown.

"Why many stores can’t accept food stamps during the shutdown" PBS NewsHour 1/17/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  While so far there have been no major lapses in benefits for the nearly 39 million people who depend on food stamps amid the partial government shutdown, 2,500 retailers around the country are unable to take any form of SNAP EBT payments.

"Shutdown’s lost pay, dwindling business send more people to D.C. food banks" PBS NewsHour 1/18/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  [Day 28] The government shutdown has stifled business in the nation's capital.  Many contractors are barely getting by without their paychecks, and unlike permanent federal workers, they will never recover the income they lose.  Food banks are experiencing spiking demand, even though some visitors feel guilty about asking for help.  And local shops and cafés sit empty.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"Trump’s proposal to end shutdown still includes $5.7 billion wall" PBS NewsHour 1/19/2019

"Temporary" protections for a "permanent" expensive wall (or whatever you want to call it)?
NO DEAL!

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump offered on day 29 of a partial government shutdown what he described as a proposal to end the impasse, but it was one that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had already rejected before his announcement.  NewsHour White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor talks to Hari Sreenivasan about the latest.

OPINION - Shields and Brooks 1/11/2019

"Shields and Brooks on border wall negotiations, Mueller updates" PBS NewsHour 1/11/2019

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks analyze the week in politics, including whether Republicans are on the defensive, normal negotiations vs “towers of ego,” Michael Cohen’s upcoming congressional testimony and the news that Paul Manafort may have shared polling data with a Russian associate.

Judy Woodruff (NewsHour):  And to the analysis now of Shields and Brooks.  That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

Twenty-first day, Mark, of the shutdown, it is.  You could say we're right where we were a week or two ago, but the difference is that the President went to the border, the President had an Oval Office address, where he made his case.  He was — the Democrats responded to him.

Are we hearing arguments from either side that would give them the upper hand, or are we just stuck in this stalemate forever?

Mark Shields, syndicated columnist:  Well, I hope we're not stuck here forever, Judy.

But I would say that there's not an upper hand, but the lower hand is held by the President, I mean, not that the Democrats are celebrating or spiking the ball in the end zone, or they have any reason to, but the President — you mentioned the speech he gave, in which he acknowledged to press people on a background check basis before the speech that he was doing it reluctantly, under duress from his communications director and Kellyanne Conway, going to the border reluctantly.

And the speech came across as somebody who was just going through the motions.  It was done with no conviction, no passion, no intensity, and I think very little persuasiveness to it.

The difference in the relationship right now is that Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is no longer speaker.  Nancy Pelosi of California is.  And the difference, I think, is that he's being called out on facts, which didn't happen in the first two years of his presidency.

When he says there's a flood of people coming across, it's the lowest it's been in 46 years.  She calls him out on that.  And I think that's a changed relationship.

But I don't think this is the greatest tiff for the Democrats, and especially the rebuttal of Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.  I mean, it was staged by somebody from runaway road edition of the American Gothic.  And they looked uncomfortably close together.  And I didn't think it particularly worked.

But I would say that the Republicans and Donald Trump are very much on the defensive and remaining there.

Judy Woodruff:  David, do you see either side making a better argument?

David Brooks, New York Times:  Yes, I hear like the strange two-track phenomenon that's going on.

Apparently, at the under level, they're actually having normal negotiations.  The Republicans are asking for $5.7 billion for the wall.  They know they're not going to get that.  They're like thinking maybe, we can get three.  The Democrats are thinking 1.3, and may wish go up to two — the Republicans are hoping they get up to two.

And so it's a normal negotiation, like you're buying a house.  And that sounds like a normal negotiation.  And if it was that, they could get two, and Trump could walk away with money for the wall, it wouldn't be that much, and that would — we would just be done with this.

And it's crazy that they're arguing — that they're shutting the government over several hundred million dollars.

At the ego level, which is the Pelosi-Trump level, you have an entirely different set of situations, where it's not a normal negotiation over money.  It's an absolutist ego position, my way or zero.

And one sees the under-level negotiations happening, but then constantly being crushed by the ego level.  So, for example, this week, a bunch of Republican senators, with Lindsey Graham's involvement, tried to propose another solution that Trump could accept, that we talked about last week, which would be DACA, a path to citizenship for some money for the wall.

Judy Woodruff:  Children of…

David Brooks:  And White House apparently signaled to them, no, we're not going for that deal.

So the Republicans didn't want to get in front of their own White House, so they never proposed the deal.  Similarly, a lot of moderate Democrats would love a deal, but they don't want to get out in front of Nancy Pelosi.

So we have right now got two towers of ego who can't give, and a lot of other people trying to do something in the middle, with not much effect.

Mark Shields:  I take exception to the two towers of ego.

I mean, let's get very blunt.  I mean, if the Republicans cared about the wall, they had total control of the federal government for two years.  And what did they do in those two years?  They repealed, but didn't replace preexisting condition for health care.  They repealed the Affordable Care Act, tried mightily to do so.  They passed a tax cut, which will — that has actually reduced federal revenues, we just learned this week, in spite of the fact that the economy has grown by 3 percent.

The last time the economy grew by almost 3 percent, tax revenues were up 7 percent.  But because of the structuring of it by this administration and what it cares about — and for some reason Donald Trump and his advisers thought, well, it'll be easier to deal with Nancy Pelosi than it would — the Democratic majority in the Congress than it was with Paul Ryan.

Now, where did this come from?  Where did they ever get that idea?  So I — mean, to me, the fault is on the Republican side.  What they cared about was the tax cut.  What they cared about was repealing the Affordable Care Act.

I mean, that was — those were their priorities.

Judy Woodruff:  What about…

David Brooks:  Well, don't ask me to give a linear description of Donald Trump's brain, what it's thinking at any moment.

But he should have fought this fight, obviously, when the Republicans were there.  If he really cared about the wall, he should have cared about the wall.  I think he was prompted by what he sees as a crisis on the border by all the families, which we saw earlier in the show, coming across the border.  And so suddenly he got hyped up about all this.

But, given where we are, you know, he won an election running on the wall.  And Nancy Pelosi won an election running on DACA.  So this, to me, is not that complicated.  You come — both those sides come together and offer that proposal.  And Nancy Pelosi doesn't give him $5 billion on the wall, but she gives him $2 billion.  And we can have an actual government.

And, to me, that's a deal that just seems so obvious.  But Trump is not going there.  And whatever one thinks of the merits of Pelosi's position — and I'm not a fan of the wall — but let's get this done with, and you have got two parties.  Come to an agreement.

Judy Woodruff:  And you have got 800,000 federal employees who are not getting paid and an increasing ripple effect on the American people.

Mark Shields:  No, you do.

And let's be very blunt.  The late Bob Teeter, who was a Republican pollster and a strategist and a very admirable human being, once said, the American people are philosophically conservative, but they're operationally liberal.

And by that, he simply meant, you ask people how they feel about the federal government, it's a pain in the neck, too much red tape, get them off my back, out of my life.

However, when told a single can of tuna fish has been discovered in Pocatello, Idaho, with a trace of botulism in it, there's a universal American reaction, is, where the hell was the federal government?  And I want to know.  I want a report in my office in 24 hours.

We want this energetic, small, efficient federal government working on our side 24 hours a day, cheap.  And the fact is that, right now, I mean, we're looking at 40 million Americans who depend on food stamps to put food on the table for their family.

We're talking about children who go to school who need the expanded health care and school lunch program.  And we're talking about women's and infant care.  I mean, we're heading toward, and, quite conceivably — the Food and Drug administration being undefended — we could have some sort of a breakout of disease or infection.

I mean, so…

Judy Woodruff:  And airline safety, which we were talking about tonight.

Mark Shields:  And airline safety as well.

So, I mean, I just — I really think that this is pretty serious stuff, and which I don't think has been accepted and acknowledged by the President.

Judy Woodruff:  But, if that's the case, David, why — where are rational minds in all this?  I mean, it's just — it's a spectacle.

David Brooks:  Well, I think the leaders are both seeing all the people who are upset by this, and they know they're paying a price, but they're more afraid of…

(CROSSTALK)

Judy Woodruff:  On both sides?

David Brooks:  I think on both sides.  Donald Trump probably has more conviction, but…

Mark Shields:  More conviction than…

David Brooks:  Well he, has more — he believes in his own propaganda, probably, a little more than Nancy…

Mark Shields:  Do you really…

David Brooks:  Yes.

Mark Shields:  Wow.  OK.  All right.

(CROSSTALK)

Mark Shields:  No, I accept your sincerity on it.  I just — it's your perception.

(CROSSTALK)

David Brooks:  I think he fervently thinks he's serving — he thinks there is some threat and he believes in the position.

But I think they're also afraid — they have walked themselves up to a spot where it's hard for them to actually make a deal, because they have both been so absolutist.  Nancy Pelosi said the wall was immoral.  Trump says we're under threat from the whole world coming to get us.

And so they have built these barriers of absolutism around their position.  I look at this whole thing, and I think we're the country that defeated fascism.  Like, we fought in World War II.  That was sort of a complicated thing we had to pull off.

You go back to the '60s, all the Great Society legislation.  I was even looking.  In the '70s today, Ted Kennedy and the Republicans got together to deregulate airlines.

Judy Woodruff:  That's right.

David Brooks:  We just have a history of taking for granted a level of professional craftsmanship in our legislators.  And we don't have anything like that now.

And that's been a long process over many decades that just the level of skill of crafting legislation has been in slow, gradual decline.  And now we're at a nadir.

Mark Shields:  Well, Donald Trump may believe it, but he's wrong.

And I just — I don't fault the Democrats for correcting him.  When he says that there's — drugs are flooding across the southern border, 90 percent of illegal drugs that come into this country come in through legal…

Judy Woodruff:  Legal.

Mark Shields:  … legal ports, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States.

Judy Woodruff:  But that hasn't stopped the administration from making that argument.

Mark Shields:  That's what I mean.

So, sincerity is one thing.  Stupidity is another, or woeful ignorance.

David Brooks:  Let me just say, like, I agree with you.  But this is not a debating society.  This is politics.  In politics, they win an election on a position, you got to have — and they have some power.  You have some power.  You reach agreement.

You can't just say, you're wrong.  That's not a real good negotiation strategy.

Mark Shields:  No.

I mean, he just lost an election, 40 House seats, on the caravan, all right?  The caravan turned out to be not the great threat, not the marauding invasion there was.  There is no caravan now, and he's still trying to sell the same bill of goods.

At some point, you got to say, hey, pal, maybe we could work it out.

They did have a compromise, David, as you know, before Christmas, until Ann and Rush intervened and said, Donny, you're not being tough enough.

Judy Woodruff:  The conservative talk show — talk show hosts.

Mark Shields:  Yes.