SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including polling on President Trump’s job performance, the federal response to a surging coronavirus pandemic, the administration’s effort to strike down the Affordable Care Act, congressional divergence on police reform and whether Washington, D.C., will become a state.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): And now we turn to the analysis of Shields and Brooks. That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
So good to see both of you. Thank you for being here this Friday.
So, let's start with some interesting poll numbers. They show not only President Trump running somewhere between eight, 12, even 14 points behind Joe Biden, but the President's disapproval ratings are at record highs.
This is from the new Marist poll the "NewsHour" does with NPR and Marist, 58 percent disapproval for President Trump, the highest it has ever been. And then you see on this second graph his ratings, disapproval ratings higher than President Obama at his — at this stage of his presidency or President Bush 43 at this point in their first term in office.
David, how significant is this?
David Brooks, New York Times: Oh, pretty significant.
The numbers are devastating for the President. But, you know, big things have happened. We're looking at possible really serious and long economic recession or depression. We're losing the battle against COVID. We're having a racial reckoning.
And a lot of white Americans are learning what daily life is like for African Americans. These are just gigantic things that are happening in the country. And on each one of them, Donald Trump is considered an inadequate leader by a lot of people. So he's losing college-educated women. He's losing some high school-educated white men, just across the board.
In our New York Times poll this week, Biden was winning by 14 percentage points. These are — there's no way, other than to say that some seismic shift is happening in the electorate right now, and a lot of people want to fire Donald Trump.
Judy Woodruff: Mark, what do you see in these numbers, and how significant do you think they are?
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: Well, I think they're encouraging for the Democrats.
But, at the same time, Judy, for those who want to put the champagne on ice, I would remind them of the wisdom of Ann Richards, the late governor of Texas, who said, July results do not make a November election.
And, you know, this is not the first time that Democrats have had a large lead in the summer, and not managed to win in November.
But I think for Donald — I think David's absolutely right about Donald Trump. He — right now, this election is a referendum on him. And he is failing that test on virtually every major ground.
There's only two times it's good to be a United States President, one, when things are going so swimmingly, prosperity, and there's peace in the world, and you get to that — bask in that warmth of the era of good feeling.
The second time is, strangely enough, when there's a catastrophe not of your making, an earthquake or a pandemic, as we're having now. And that's when a President can console and lead and comfort a nation and be really a figure who brings everybody together. Donald Trump has failed that, and failed it miserably, and I don't see a recovery.
Judy Woodruff: And, David, the President, though, is having his first rallies. He was out in Tulsa last weekend. He was in Arizona a few days ago getting thousands of people to show up, in Tulsa, what is it, 6,000.
He's dismissing, if you will, the COVID virus, though. I mean, he's saying that, if more testing — if there were more testing done, there wouldn't be a virus. He is trying play to his base.
David Brooks: To some part of his base.
There's some of the base that likes him. They like the showmanship of the rallies. They like the jokes. They like him spending 20 minutes talking about walking down a ramp, which he did in Tulsa.
But there's a part of his base — and these are people who have supported him in the past — who hate all that stuff. They vote for him for judges or for some other issue, or because they think he's decent on the economy. But now he's not decent on the economy.
And they really don't like the idea of voting for a President who seems racist. And so they might be with him on other issues, but — so you're seeing him — people flake away from him for really serious issues, for really serious reasons, not for some temporary tweet.
And so I agree with Mark. This is not the time to celebrate. But we have had such a stable set of polls over the last three years, where Trump has just hung basically solid vis-a-vis other people. And now things look different. And they look different because big things are happening.
Judy Woodruff: Mark, I mean, could his arguments about the virus appeal to enough people to somehow persuade them that he's got the right argument going here?
Mark Shields: I doubt it, Judy.
He [Trump] has not been a national leader on this issue. I mean, in fact, he's been a sniper on the sidelines too much, criticizing governors in Michigan and Minnesota and Virginia for taking measures to — in their states to lead to a lockdown, in hopes of curtailing it.
Somehow, there seems to have emerged a choice between public health and a strong economy. And Donald Trump says, well, I'm for a strong economy. Open up that economy.
But the reality is, we will not have a strong economy without restored public health. I mean, that's the route and the road to it. And I just think that he's going down a dead end. And it shows terrible indifference to the people who are his most loyal supporters.
Those 3,000 kids in Arizona without masks, without any social distancing, that's a — that's a terrible prospect of illness forthcoming.
Judy Woodruff: And that's the image that the administration's projecting, David.
The vice President today defending those rallies, saying there's a First Amendment right to assembly, people have a right to go out and support the candidate of their choice.
David Brooks: Well, I sort of have some sympathy for that.
If we're going to have the George Floyd protests, which I think we should have had, you can't say to one group of people, you can protest, but, to another, you can't, obviously, once that precedent was set.
Judy Woodruff: Right.
David Brooks: Though, you know, the more I think about this whole administration, there was a crucial moment, when the President basically chose Jared Kushner over Steve Bannon.
And what's interesting about the Bannon populist wing is, they were very quick on this COVID situation. They were saying, this is a major crisis way back in February. They were: Let's take this seriously. Let's be the side of order. Let's be the side of the health hawks, if you want to put them that way.
And Trump went the other way early in his administration, away from the populists, and toward more Wall Street people. And he said: No, it's nothing, because I don't want to hurt the market.
And that shift in the administration, looking back on it, was one of the pivotal shifts in the administration. And I hate to be a praiser of Steve Bannon, but I think, frankly, the President would be a — in better shape, both substantively and politically, if he had listened to people on that wing.
Judy Woodruff: Interesting. We have forgotten about that.
And, Mark, on top — to top it all off, it's what we talked about early in the program, the administration going to the Supreme Court to try to yet again do away with the Affordable Care Act.
Is this something that's likely to win him friends and admirers at this stage of his reelection effort?
Mark Shields: No, Judy.
John Boehner, the former Republican Speaker of the House, was very candid on this subject, said, 25 years as a Republican in the House, not once, never once did Republicans ever agree on a health care plan. And he was absolutely right.
There's never been a Republican health care plan. They're trying to repeal, replace the — the Affordable Care Act, but at a time when 20 million people are turning to it, having lost their jobs, and at a time when it is more popular than it ever was when Barack Obama was President, and with every health care group of any significance and hospitals and doctors and — except the American Nurses Association — opposing the administration this.
What happens if they win and there is no Affordable Care Act, and there is no preexisting condition coverage? And I just — it's an absolute political folly.
Judy Woodruff: I want to ask you about that, David. And then — and then I have got two or three other things I want to ask.
So, go ahead, if you want to comment — comment for us on the Affordable Care Act and the administration trying to — yet again to get rid of it.
David Brooks:Well, just quickly, if you're a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona or Georgia or wherever these close races are, suddenly, you have got to defend the idea of taking away this insurance for preexisting conditions, at a moment when having had COVID-19 could become a preexisting condition.
It's political poison for any Republican Senate candidate in a close race.
Judy Woodruff: David, I'm going to stay with you.
Police reform. After all these rallies around the country, it's clear there's a lot of sentiment for looking at ways to improve policing in this country, the House and the Senate completely — Republicans and Democrats completely at odds over this. What's going on?
David Brooks: On this one, I blame the Democrats, frankly.
I think Tom (sic) Scott, the Republican from South Carolina, who was the Republican sponsor, put together a good-faith bill. It had not everything the Democrats wanted, obviously, but it had some stuff. It had the — making lynching a federal hate crime. It had — against choke holds, more transparency for police misconduct.
And then Scott said, we're going to let you vote on amendments. And so maybe — and he said that maybe I'd support some of these amendments.
And so he had a pretty open process. I'm a big believer, if you can take half a cake, take half a cake. And then, if Democrats win November, they can get the whole cake. I think they should have compromised on this and accepted half a cake. It would have been a step forward to a better police force.
Judy Woodruff: Mark, should the Democrats have tried to sit down with Tim Scott or any of the other Republicans?
Mark Shields: Well, I think Tim Scott (R-S.C.)— I think Tim Scott, who is an authentic figure on this and absolutely a man of reality, talked about his own personal experience of being stopped seven times by Capitol Hill Police, he, a United States senator, and being asked for identification and papers.
And so he showed a sensitivity to it. But I think there was a skepticism about how much he could deliver.
But I did honestly think there was a chance. I thought that — for legislative compromise on this. I'm less confident of that today than I was last week. It's an election year. The Senate is about to take two weeks off. The closer we get to election, the less chance there is.
SUMMARY:Fears of the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp shifts by companies to allow employees to work from home could devastate the nation’s office skyscrapers, some economists say. But real estate moguls say the office as we know it isn't dead yet. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores how uncertainty is affecting the market.
SUMMARY: Long lines to enter stores. Anxiety about finding food on the shelves. Boarded up businesses and barren streets. Journalist and author Dawn Turner says this pandemic has afforded everyone the chance to understand what people who live in poor communities faced long before COVID-19. Turner offers her humble opinion on why we all need to make a connection between the pandemic and the protests.
SUMMARY: Even as unrest and mass protests dominate national headlines, the novel coronavirus continues to take more lives. We share stories of five victims, including a baker who endured internment during World War II, a veteran of the Fire Department of New York who responded on 9/11 and a retired elementary school teacher.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s political news, including the unique magnitude of the novel coronavirus pandemic, how President Trump is handling the crisis, what the government should do to reassure fearful Americans, and how the outbreak might affect the 2020 Democratic Presidential primary race.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): And now, with their own take on the pandemic that has seemingly taken over our lives, it's time for the analysis of Shields and Brooks.
That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
Hello to both of you.
It's been a week like no other that I can remember.
Mark, where are we? What — how do you make sense of what's going on right now?
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: Well, the only way I could make sense of it is by what we have been through before.
I mean, I would compare it, Judy, to the time after World War II began or the polio epidemic in the '50s. And there was — it was a time of collective national sacrifice. Everybody was in it together. We were all at risk.
And it was — and especially after the beginning to have the war, it was a time of collective sacrifice, where there were shortages of alcohol, tobacco, meat, butter, you name it. But Americans, through 20 million victory gardens, raised a third of the country's vegetables. They saved tin. They sacrificed collectively.
The president of the New York Stock Exchange went in the Army for $21 a month as a private, William McChesney Martin, later chairman of the Federal Reserve.
And at the time of polio, there was terror in the country. We closed bowling alleys, and swimming pools, and beaches in the summer; 497,000 Americans were paralyzed, and then that magical moment in 1955 when there was a cure.
Judy Woodruff: Right.
Mark Shields: But that's all I can — that's where we are.
That's where — it's the unknown.
(CROSSTALK)
Judy Woodruff: … terror.
Mark Shields:It's the unknown, and there's a sense of terror.
Judy Woodruff: Can we make sense of it, David? How do we get our arms around it?
David Brooks, New York Times: Well, there are two issues. Maybe I should deal with them separately.
One is the political leadership issue, and one is the moral and social issue.
And just on political, I found it an enraging week. We sat here many years ago, when we saw images of Katrina and bodies floating in New Orleans. And I think both Mark and I felt a deep sense of anger.
And I feel a deep sense of anger that our government has responded so badly.
And, frankly, it's — this is what happens when you elect a sociopath as President, who doesn't care, who has treated this whole thing for the past month as if it's about him, how do people like me, minimizing the risks, does the stock market reflect well on me, and he hasn't done the things a normal human being would do, which was to, let's take precautions.
Let's do the backup things we need to do. Any President would sit down with his team and say, people will suffer here. Let's get ready.
And he's [Trump] incapable of that. And he's even created an information distortion field around him. Even today, the press conference today was all his propaganda. It wasn't honest with people.
And then with Yamiche's perfectly good question about an agency, maybe he didn't know when that part of the National Security Council was shut down, but he should know about it by now.
And so the fact that he wasn't even aware of this is a sign that nobody is willing to tell him bad news. And we have got a dysfunctional process at the heart of the administration at a time of great national crisis.
Judy Woodruff: With all that going on, Mark, how does that affect Americans' ability to get through this?
Mark Shields: Well, it affects it in many respects. And I don't disagree with what David said.
It's global, Judy. And 'America first fails'. If there's ever a time for international cooperation, collegiality at a personal and national level, professional level, this is it.
I mean, I think if Americans were informed and put to the test, whom do you want — who do you want in charge of this, this epidemic, Dr. Tony Fauci or Donald Trump, they would — anybody who have watched would say Dr. Tony Fauci.
I mean, he's knowledgeable, he's straight, he's direct, he's candid, he's thoughtful. He's everything that we want.
The President is impulsive and uninformed. He has misled the people that it was contained. Any President of the United States saying he's going to leave Americans on a boat docked off of California, rather than bring them ashore for treatment because they might — because it would increase the number of people, would hurt his numbers, would hurt my numbers, that's somebody not lacking in empathy.
That's somebody with an empathy void. And it just — to me, it's — I think it's a seminal moment in the Trump presidency, when we realize, in spite of my 401(k) having been terrific, now all of a sudden it's at jeopardy, and he [Trump] really puts the nation at jeopardy and the health of my family and my friends at jeopardy.
Judy Woodruff: Is there someone Americans can look to for guidance, for an example and for leadership at a time like this?
David Brooks: Yes, well, Tony Fauci, Francis Collins the head of NIH.
A lot of the state and local — the governors have been pretty fantastic.
Mark Shields: Yes.
Tony — Andrew Cuomo.
David Brooks: Yes, Andrew Cuomo.
And so I do think there are some leaders out there. And look to each other. I mean, as everyone has said, it's quite remarkable how the country has responded, responded with all the social distancing and all the very drastic measures that have been taken.
Judy Woodruff: Right.
David Brooks: It should be said, we shouldn't expect that wonderfulness to continue.
I have spent the last week reading about pandemics in the past. And they're not good for social trust. People go into them thinking, I'm going to be a good soldier and citizen for people around me.
But when the fear gets going, they stop seeing each other. They stop caring about each other. They stop volunteering.
I have always wondered why the 1918 Spanish Flu that happened here killed 675,000 Americans.
Judy Woodruff: Hard to imagine. Impossible to imagine.
David Brooks: And it left no trace on the national culture. And I have always wondered, why was that?
And reading about what it was like, people were ashamed of how they behaved, because they looked after themselves. And that's understandable. Fear is just this terrible thing. And we haven't really been hit by the raw, gut-wrenching fear of seeing hospitals overwhelmed and stuff like — but we will.
And we sort of need to take moral steps and social steps, as well as we take health steps, to sort of mitigate that.
Judy Woodruff: And we know, Mark, it is going to get worse.
I mean, we see Tony Fauci talking about it's either going to go up like this and — before it comes down, or we can mitigate it somehow, by the social distancing, and the rest of it.
But we are in a moment when we are looking for guidance, and we're also in the middle of a Presidential campaign. We have got Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders still campaigning, although it's been moved — shoved to the sidelines this week.
Mark Shields: Right.
Judy Woodruff: The two of them the last few days have made statements. They have talked about what needs to be done.
Do we see something going on there that gives the American people hope?
Mark Shields: Well, I hope so.
I mean, I thought both statements yesterday, I thought particularly Biden's, were quite thoughtful, to use an adjective not loosely, presidential, they were reflective, and given it a serious and — there is — as Vice President Biden said, there's no zip code on this. This isn't a foreign threat. I mean, this isn't something organized by the Chinese communist politburo.
I mean, this is no respecter of state of status or station or anything of the sort. And I thought that — I thought that came through.
As far as the election, I feel bad for Senator Sanders, because you're behind. And how do you catch up? You catch up by showing enthusiasm, by showing and drawing crowds, by showing energy.
All right, all of a sudden, you can't do that anymore. I mean, you're not going to have crowds. You're not going to be out there.
Judy Woodruff: Not going to have rallies.
Mark Shields: You're not going to have rallies.
So it's almost frozen in time. I think the debate Sunday night takes on greater importance. And I would commend it, because there is no audience. And I would hope that would be the pattern for future debates.
Judy Woodruff: No live audience.
(CROSSTALK)
Mark Shields:No live audience, because live audience brings out the worst in candidates. They pander. They look for applause lines. They taunt.
And I just think — I think this will be a serious debate between two people.
But Joe Biden carried every county in Michigan. I mean, that was just sobering. I mean, the turnout was up 31 percent. And it almost all went to Biden. I mean, Bernie Sanders was stuck where he was in 2016.
So I don't know where the hope is for him. Biden is now heading to state of Washington as of 4:00 this afternoon.
David Brooks: And Florida's coming. Yes, I don't see much hope for Bernie Sanders.
I would also say the dynamic changes, because you — Sanders is running on a revolution. Trump ran on a revolution. Oh, we should get rid of the establishment and drain the swamp, as the Republicans say.
Well, in a time of pandemic, you really need the establishment. The establishment is pretty good. You don't want to burn the system at a moment when people are dying and when diseases are spreading.
And so the idea that the swamp is something you need is something that's hit everybody suddenly very hard. And all the Trumpians saying, where are the tests, where the tests, why doesn't the government do this for me, well, if ever there had been a reminder of why we need the institutions of our government, that's what we're in the middle of.
Judy Woodruff:And Sanders is saying that if there ever was a reminder that all Americans have a right to health care, this is it.
SUMMARY:Mozambique’s official death toll from a deadly cyclone in March has topped 1,000. In the storm’s aftermath, survivors face lack of power, food and supplies, plus deadly outbreaks of diseases like cholera and malaria. Amna Nawaz talks to David Beasley executive director of the World Food Program about his organization's response to that catastrophe, as well as those in Yemen and Venezuela.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
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