wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. the xfinity 10g network. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. i'm amna nawaz. >> and i'm geoff bennett. airstrikes continue across gaza as thousands of civilians crowd into ever shrinking ship -- safe

zones in the far south. amna: we talk about the war and diplomatic challenges in the middle east. geoff: who gets treatment for drug addiction highlights the racial inequities of the opioid epidemic. >> there is still he thought that black people who use opiates have to be controlled in a way that white people don't. black people are not as trustworthy with their medications. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson. >> it was like an aha moment. this is what i love doing.

early stage companies have this energy that energizes me. these are people trying to change the world. when i volunteer with women entrepreneurs it's the same thing, i am helping women reach their dream. people who know know bdo. >> the john s and james l knight foundation. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible

by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the newshour. the top united nations humanitarian official says the delivery of food, water and other aid to gaza is not nearly enough and not arriving quickly enough for the almost 2 million people in need. geoff: arab and muslim nations are calling for a un security council vote demanding a cease-fire. israel pressed its offensive in southern gaza as the war marked two months today since the terror attacks of october 7. one of the last places left and gaza were civilians were told they would be safe last night went up in flames. israel bombarded rafa after claiming militants launched rockets from the so-called safe zone.

families, children seeking refuge in apartment buildings caught in the crossfire. by daybreak, those who survived were still clearing through the rubble. >> it was a direct hit. people were walking on the street. there was no warning. we didn't see anything except that strike on our homes. >> after waves of displacement, these gazans are crammed into a tiny sliver of land along the egyptian border. the population in rafa has jumped to 470,000 with more expected to come. u.n. secretary general antonio guterres urged the security council to demand a cease-fire on the grounds of international peace and security. the u.s. would likely block any such move. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken urged israeli officials to minimize civilian casualties in gaza. >> we continue to recognize the extraordinary difficulty of this

task as israel is dealing with a terrorist adversary that intentionally embeds itself with civilians. >> israel's military released a new video claiming to show another weapons depot hidden in civilian areas. this idea for the shows dozens of men stripped and detained by israeli troops in northern gaza. it's unclear whether any of them are affiliated with hamas. speaking with soldier today, benjamin netanyahu issued a threat to militant groups in lebanon. >> if hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war, it will single-handedly turn beirut and south lebanon not far from here into gaza. >> as israel's campaign against hamas marches forward, conditions are getting more direct in every pocket of the gaza strip.

the north, panic as the sound of shelling reverberates in the streets. in central gaza, young men dig through the wreckage of an airstrike, concrete mixed with human remains. >> they bombed the area without warning. the smell was absolutely horrible. looking at the dead people was a very hard scene. this is a crime. >> hospitals understaffed and overwhelmed are flooded with the most vulnerable. today who officials said the health infrastructure in gaza is on its knees. back in rafa, trucks carrying humanitarian aid rolled through the border crossing each day, but the flow is not nearly enough. negotiations to open the second access point are showing signs of promise, which would be a

massive logistical boost. >> if we get that, it would have been the first miracle we have seen for some weeks. it doesn't mean it would solve the security problems. but it would change the nature of humanitarian access. >> in tel aviv, israel is gathered for a solemn first night of hanukkah. the menorah behind a row of candles, one for each hostage. ♪ amna: the latest jobs report shows the u.s. economy is still holding its own without sliding into recession. the labor department reported employers added a net 190,000 jobs in november helped by the end of the auto workers and actor strikes.

the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7%, down from 3.9% in october. unemployment has been under 4% from nearly two years, the longest stretch since the late 1960's. a federal appeals court largely upheld a gag order on former president trump today in his 2020 election interference case. the ruling back to a ban on attacking court staff and potential witnesses. it said incendiary comments pose a significant and imminent threat to the criminal trial process in this case. the court did allow criticism of jack smith, the special counsel who brought the case. mr. trump could still appeal to the supreme court. a pregnant woman in kentucky is challenging the state's near total ban on abortions. the woman filed suit today arguing the ban violates the state constitution. the state supreme court had already barred doctors from

suing on behalf of patients. >> jane doe has courageously stepped forward as a directly impacted pregnant kentuckian to challenge these abortion bands and try to restore a darshan access -- abortion access in the commonwealth. amna: the long-running court case over separating migrant families at the border to deter immigration is finally ending. a federal judge formally banned the prior test today for eight years. some 5000 children were separated under president trump. he has not ruled out reinstating the policy if he is elected again. a teenager was sentenced to life without parole for killing four students in a school shooting.

he was 15 when he carried out the attack. today's sentencing followed hours of statements by families of the victims. >> we want to spend the rest of your life routing in your cell. what you stole from us is not replaceable. we won't let you steal a life of normalcy and we will find a way to get there through forgiveness. amna: the gunman's parents face trial for involuntary manslaughter for allegedly neglecting his mental health and making a gun accessible. an american jailed in russia, paul whelan, made an anguished appeal for u.s. officials to win his release. the former marine has been held for five years of a 16 year sentence for espionage. he denied spying and said, my parents are quite elderly and i have given up hope of seeing them again. the russians have ruined my life.

moscow rejected a proposed deal that would free him and american journalist evan gershkovich. vladimir putin confirmed he will run for another term. he has already been in power for nearly 25 years. today's announcement came at a moscow ceremony where ukraine war veterans praised him and urged him to run again. >> i will not hide the fact that at different times i had different thoughts. i will run for the president of the russian federation. amna: he is now 71. he has supported amendments to the russian constitution that could let him stay in power into his mid 80's. people suffering from sickle cell disease may have new hope. the fda approved two gene therapies for the painful inherited blood disorder.

most sickle-cell victims are black. the gene therapies are designed for those 12 and or were -- over. the countdown to reopening notre dame cathedral has begun. the roof was badly damaged and the spire collapsed during a fire in 2019. president emmanuel macron climbed scaffolding to check out the progress today. he called it a wonderful image of hope for a lot of friends. actor ryan o'neal has died. his career took off with a tv serial in the 1960's. he went on to gain major stardom in the 1970 film love story and played opposite his daughter in paper moon. he died at 82. still to come on the newshour, the checkered safety record of the osprey aircraft fleet that

has been grounded. what we know about the latest charges against hunter biden. and brooks and capehart way in on the latest political headlines. >> this is the pbs newshour. amna: foreign ministers from several arab allies of the united states are in washington this week for meetings with the biden administration the israel hamas war. nick schifrin sat down with saudi arabia's foreign minister to discuss that war in the kingdom's role in the region. >> mr. foreign minister, welcome to the newshour. you are calling for a cease-fire. the u.s. is not. what is your message today? >> our message is that too many civilians have already died on

october 7 and since. we have now seen a level of carnage that is unprecedented and unjustifiable under any pretext of self-defense. we need to find a path out of this conflict and therefore we think there should be a cease-fire that can allow us to address the dire humanitarian situation. we are not just seeing people dying from israeli bombs but of diseases such as cholera because of the broken down sanitary system. we need to focus on protecting the lives of the civilians of gaza. >> the u.s. is vetoing the security council resolution. >> unfortunately we are seeing a position that cease-fire is a dirty word. usually what we see when there is a conflict in the international scene, we all always looking for a way to end the fighting. we are very disappointed the

security council hasn't taken a firm position on that and we certainly disagree with the u.s. that this resolution doesn't deserve to go through. >> how will you respond to that? what will you do concretely in response to the u.s. not listening? >> we are going to continue to push this very important message that too many civilians have already died, there is no reason for more civilians to die and this continuing military operation and level of civilian casualties does not serve anybody's interest. >> some officials tell me that your public calls do not match your private calls to destroy hamas. why the dual message? >> there is no dual message. >> i'm stephanie sy with newshour west.

the latest jobs report shows the u.s. economy is still holding -- -- it's not the united states or any other country. some of our western interlocutors are saying things in public that they are not saying in private. >> the secretary-general of the u.n. said there is a high risk of total collapse of the humanitarian support system in gaza. 90% of those remaining have spent at least one full day and night without food. 22 of 36 of gaza's hospitals are not working. is there will among arab nations to step in with a humanitarian plan to help gaza? >> the situation is extremely dire. we have already stepped up. we have provided significant quantities of aid which is being restricted from going into gaza.

i was struck a week or so ago, the israeli representative said humanitarian aid is important, but more food, water and medicine will not bring us a solution. what is a solution? >> gazans tell us they feel abandoned by the arab world. do you think you have let them down? >> i think they are justifiably angry that they are suffering while the international community as a whole has let them down. the established mechanisms for international security and peace have not acted. this is a failing of the entire international community. we all bear that burden. >> are you worried the israeli forces are launching their campaign in a way that would engulf the region in a kind of extremism that would prevent your vision of the future from being achieved? >> this is a critical concern

that we have. these images have been shocking and infuriating not just to arabs and people and are part of the world but all over the world. it means people are losing their trust in the two state solution, they are losing their trust in the argument for peace in our region. they are also losing their trust in the international systems of security and legitimacy and that is a danger to us all. of course there is the risk of extremism whether it is lone wolves or others being driven to violence by these images and scenes of civilian suffering. >> is there a risk that as the world continues to see scenes of suffering, israel could refuse to normalize relations with

israel? >> we are convinced that the only solution is peace and this is the strategic choice we have made in saudi arabia. from 1992 to 2002 and beyond, we are committed to making peace including supporting peace with israel and we will engage and we are ready to engage with a two state solution. >> this is normalizing relations with israel, getting a security guarantee from the united states, getting civilian enrichment nuclear program from the united states, giving the palestinians not sure exactly what. are you willing to restart those negotiations at some point or do they become impossible given the nature of the war? >> we are focused on ending the war now but we are also very interested in moving the cause of peace forward.

both in my engagements with the administration and congress, i hear the clear message that peace is the answer and that will need a palestinian element. that will need us to move irrevocably to a palestinian state. >> does the crown prince consider the possibility there could be a sub. moment -- sadat moment? >> the priority now is let's stop the killing. peace means dignity and prosperity for the palestinians and a state in which they can have those and that will allow them to live in the region along with israel in peace and dignity. >> are any arab governments willing to come into gaza as the u.s. is requesting as some kind of peacekeeping arrangement after the war?

>> we cannot talk about the day after gaza without talking about palestine as a whole. that is the unified position of the arab world. we cannot talk about the day after without an end to the fighting because we do not know what that looks like. >> yemen has launched cruise missiles and hijacked a commercial vessel in the red sea and sent drones to u.s. ships. how concerned are you by these attacks and what messages are you delivering? >> we are clear that escalation is in nobody's interest and that's the message we are sending very clearly. we hope we can focus on ending the situation in gaza. the risks of this conflict continuing and escalating our significant. we are committed to ending the war in yemen and a permanent cease-fire that opens the door

for a political process and we will continue to work towards that end. i don't think we are going to see a significant risk to that right now. >> thank you very much. ♪ geoff: the u.s. military announced earlier this week that it would ground its entire fleet of osprey aircraft while they investigate the cause of last week's crash off the coast of japan that killed all eight service members on board. the military took the extraordinary step of grounding the fleet after an initial investigation found something wrong with the aircraft itself that led to the crash and not errors by the crew. the crash last week was just the latest for the osprey with a near quarter-century long checkered and deadly record. >> this action is being taken

out of an abundance of caution. each service will reevaluate the respective grounding bulletins and then determine timelines for resuming flight operations. >> no other american military aircraft does what the v 22 osprey can. when it's rotors are tilted forward, it can fly fast and far like an airplane. almost all of the military services rely on ospreys. the navy flies people and supplies to aircraft carriers and air force special operations uses it to rescue crews shot down over enemy lines. there were about 400 ospreys in the u.s. military and there have been 10 fatal crashes killing 57 people over the past 23 years. an investigation of two crashes in the year 2000 found the marines had cut corners during

the trials. this week's grounding is not the first. ospreys were grounded in february. the air force grounded its fleet for the same reason. >> it is so challenging and complicated from a mechanical standpoint to create this platform. you are going to have issues time to time. >> a former helicopter pilot is now a lawyer who represents families with loved ones killed in osprey accidents. it is harder to land safely when there is a major failure and it can't auto rotate like normal helicopters when the pilot uses the lift from the spinning propeller the land. >> it is unlike an airplane with the ability to get to a safe altitude or even a helicopter with autorotation capabilities.

>> the utility this aircraft brings to the military is enormous. it gives a complete new operating world. but we are paying the price for it. >> is a fighter bomber aircraft pilot during the vietnam war who flew helicopters after evaluated the osprey as it was being developed. he says the most recent crash was likely due to problems with the clutch. >> given the eyewitness attacks of seeing the aircraft tumbling and spending, the only way you can explain that is if an engine was lost and the interconnecting driveshafts were severed. >> he wrote a memo called lingering safety concerns of the view 22 and noted the side-by-side -- caused it to

roll sometimes. the high downwash from the rotors would kick up dirt, making it hard to see. >> that was 2003. here we are in 2023 and we basically have seen a spate of accidents all linked to these five or six items that i outlined in that memorandum. >> we asked the marines to respond. they said the osprey has a 10 year average mishap rate of 3.28 per 100,000 flight hours and that the 10 year total marine corps average mishap rate is 3.36 per 100,000 flight hours. they said there is no evidence last week's crash was caused by a clutch problem. they theorized that clutches that have been installed for a lengthy time need to be

replaced. the ospreys will remain grounded. amna: the cdc says synthetic opioids like fentanyl contributed to 75,000 overdose deaths in the united states last year. there are large racial disparities between who is offered the most effective treatment and who isn't. william brangham reports for our ongoing series. >> i would travel from washington, d.c. as far as to california to participate in martial arts tournaments. >> kevin hargrove spent much of his life teaching and competing in martial arts. this 66-year-old says his main fight now is with pain. >> i have broken just about

every bone in my body except my spine, my skull, my pelvis. that's when i was originally introduced to tylenol three and four, percocets. the doctors were prescribing for me. >> he started on prescription pain medication as a teenager. those pills later became a habit he could not quit. by his 40's, his life was spiraling down. >> when you're going through coding withdrawal, it's the same exact thing is going through withdrawal from the drug like heroin. they are opiates. >> hargrove has no permanent home, still struggles with opioid addiction and often has to sleep under a bridge in washington, d.c. once a month, he makes a long commute to try to help the men w's trying to help him get a handle on that addiction.

dr. edwin chapman. he is an addiction specialist who has been treating mostly african-american patients with opioid use disorders for more than two decades. >> we have lost some that we just couldn't stabilize. >> he prescribes all of his patients a drug called suboxone that helps people withdraw from opioids and reduces their cravings. it's one of three federally approved medications to treat opioid use disorder. hargrove has been a patient of chapman since 2017 and now takes suboxone on his own for times a day. >> what role does it playing in his life? >> it's a lifesaver. i would dare to speculate knowing what has already happened, i don't think kevin would be here. >> without it.

earlier this year, hargrove had to switch his medicaid funded insurance to an that no longer covered the doses of suboxone. when he was only taking three, his cravings went up and he relapsed. buying on the street what he thought was codeine but were counterfeit pills latest -- laced with fentanyl. he overdosed. his sister found him. >> my eyes went up into my head, i started slurring my words and i was on the floor not breathing with no pulse. >> hargrove was saved by paramedics who used the overdose reversal drug narcan. you have this drug really helping your patients and they struggle with access. >> it's every day. we see about 20 patients a day. there is no standard of care and that's what we are concerned about. the fact that everybody should

have the same rules and we should be able to dose everybody up to the maximum dose we think they need because it saves lives. >> hargrove's story is unfortunately familiar for black americans. across the u.s., overdose deaths among black people are rising faster than any other ethnic group that they are far less likely to be prescribed to these medications that are proven to treat opioid addiction. white patients according to a recent study received the medications 80% more frequently than black patients. >> there remains considerable barriers for black people compared to white people in accessing medication for addiction treatment for opiate use disorder. >> dr. jordan is an addiction psychiatrist. she says black patients are often treated differently by

addiction providers. >> there is still this thought that black people who have opiate use disorder have to be controlled in a way that white people don't. that black people are not as trustworthy with their medications, that they won't be able to handle it, that they will sell it. that's not the case at all. >> the bias stems from several factors. only 5% of all u.s. physicians are african-american and black patients are less likely to have access to doctors authorized to prescribe suboxone. pharmacies in black neighborhoods often don't carry addiction medications. >> if you are a black person with a substance use disorder who needs medication, you are not going to feel empowered to ask for help because you already know people are going to treat you differently and stigmatize you. >> studies found that white

people are 35 times more likely to receive suboxone than black people. the roots of the disparity date back several decades says helena, the author of a book on how racial capitalism changed the color of opioid deaths in america. >> the medication itself was introduced and legalized as a doctor's office based treatment for opioid use disorder as a response to a quote on quote suburban perceived as white opioid crisis in the late 1990's to early 2000's. this was rolled out as a treatment for a very specific clientele. >> this results in black and brown patients only being left with one medication treatment option. methadone. a medication that works, but

comes with many more strictures. >> if you are on methadone treatment in this country, you are restricted to a very small handful of clinics that are directly licensed and regulated by the dea that require you to come in every day to be watched taking your medication to ensure that you are not diverting the medication, not swallowing it and perhaps trying to say it on the street. you will be subject to regular urine testing. it's a much different feeling from being in a private office with a personal doctor. >> at dr. chapman's office in northeast washington, his mostly older patients have lived difficult lives. many have been homeless or spent time in prison. here they not only receive suboxone but also have regular physicals and can get mental health care as well. >> i want to see just once in my life how to live.

>> dr. chapman says this is all particularly important in washington, d.c., where black people account for more than 80% of all opioid overdose deaths since 2017. >> generally only one out of 10 has actually been on medication assisted treatment. there is an obvious gap there. >> kevin hargrove is now back on his regular four dose regimen of suboxone and working every day to maintain his sobriety. >> if it was not for dr. chapman and suboxone, i would have been dead a long time ago. ♪

geoff: hunter biden has been indicted on nine tax related charges including three felony counts according to documents filed yesterday in a federal court in los angeles. the president's 53-year-old son in cadence -- engaged in a scheme to not pay taxes from 2016 to 2019. prosecutors allege he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on drugs, escorts and exotic cars. ryan lucas is with us now. the charges are spelled out in a 56 page court document. it's a speaking indictment and that it is extraordinarily detailed. what is the special counsel in this case alleging? >> he is alleging that this was a four-year scheme that hunter biden followed in order to not pay $1.4 million in taxes.

he says hunter biden in essence cheated his own payroll company in order to not pay taxes. it says instead he was using this money to pay for various women, escorts and girlfriends, luxury cars. there is one instance documented in the indictment in which he spent $1500 on an exotic strip club. he paid 11,000 $500 on an escort for two nights. the document provides a lot of sordid and salacious detail into what hunter biden was spending his money on instead of his taxes. geoff: this case was on the verge of being resolved in july when the plea deal fell apart. what would have been two misdemeanors are now six misdemeanors and three felony counts.

it raises the question of why the doj would have been willing to offer a plea deal in the first place. >> special counsel david weiss was willing to resolve it three months ago in delaware. it would have involved misdemeanor charges as well as a gun count. now we have three gun charges in delaware. hunter biden has plead not guilty to those. abby lowell said las night, this is all material of the special counsel has had for five years. there is no new evidence and yet now we have nine new tax charges. geoff: the indictment does not allege any connection to or involvement by president joe biden. hunter biden's attorney said in a statement, if his last name

were different, the charges would not have been brought. is he right? what an average citizen face charges like this especially after hunter biden paid back the taxes? >> there are certainly other avenues for resolving cases like this. many cases are resolved in such a manner. this is up to the justice department and what prosecutors can point to is the fact that there were four years in which hunter biden was supposed to file taxes in which he had money in order to pay this tax and instead of doing so was spending them on personal items that should have been going to the u.s. government. geoff: what consequences does hunter biden face and when with the case start? >> he faces up to 17 years imprisoned if convicted on all

counts. there's no indication when all of this will get underway. his gun case for delaware is set for this month. they are fighting that case and every indication at this point is hunter biden intends to fight the tax charges as well. geoff: thank you for joining us. for more on the political implications of the new charges and other major news, we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart. david brooks and jonathan capehart, good to see you both. let's start with the latest legal trouble facing hunter biden with the important context that he is a private citizen who

is not seeking nor has he ever held public office. he does not work for his father in the way that jared kushner and ivanka trump did. the indictment does not in any way implicate joe biden and yet this will add to political problems facing this white house as house republicans zero in on hunter biden's business dealings. >> as part of their own investigations that have been going on for years now and they have been using the president's troubled son to try to sully the president and so far they have come up with nothing even though next week apparently they are going to be voting to authorize an impeachment inquiry trying to make connections that aren't there. when you read the indictment, it's bad. it's not good at all. but we are talking about someone, i'm glad you put the proper context. he is an adult. he has not held office, he has

not worked for his father. the only thing is his father is president. he's being held accountable. i agree that if his net -- if his last name warrant biden, he probably wouldn't even have these charges but he's facing the consequences going through the legal avenues afforded to him. for republicans to try to make a connection between hunter biden and try to say if you are going to go after trump, why shouldn't we go after biden, these are completely different cases. >> the flipside of abby lowell's statement is that if his last name wasn't biden, he would not have made $11 million in five years with these overseas board appointments. >> i was just about to say that. i agree.

the republicans got two of their narratives totally supported this week. the first is that progressive elites have gone a little bonkers and the testimony of those university presidents underlined that story. there is nothing so far connecting him to biden. but washington is filled with people selling influence making zillions of dollars who are corrupt and walking around like many jeffrey epstein's. hunter biden made money because his name is biden and then he lived a lifestyle that is offensive, let's put it that way. somehow he withdrew $1.6 million from atm's according to the indictment. how did he do that? basically it underlines the story that washington is fundamentally corrupt which is a story that republicans like to

tell. >> the push to pass tens of millions of dollars in aid for ukraine stalled this week largely because republicans want tougher immigration restrictions. biden decided to link money for israel with money for ukraine and all of that with money for the southern border. in large part to address the crisis but also to entice republicans to support it. was that a mistake? is he now boxed in? >> was it a mistake to go before the american people and say to the republicans, let's make a deal? i'm willing to talk. let's come up with something to address the border and get vitally needed funding to ukraine and israel and taiwan, two that are in active wars and one that could be. it was the right thing for the president to do.

i don't understand why republicans won't take yes for an answer, especially when they are trying to jam through policy change and a policy change the democratic administrators and republican administrations have talked about and fought over for at least two decades and gotten nowhere. if they are not going to take the president up on his offer to negotiate, whose fault is that? is it the president for making a deal for the republicans for saying, we would like to play me democracy is on the brink in ukraine. geoff: the white house makes the point that it was the right thing to link all those issues because they'll all constitute emergencies. >> i thought it was the right thing at the time. you put it all in one package and everybody gets a piece. the downside is if it doesn't go

through, everybody loses. now we are facing the real possibility of that. if we don't support ukraine, it's a disaster for american reputation and america's budget because if vladimir putin takes ukraine. you think defense spending is high now? it's a disaster for our allies that we can't be trusted. it's a disaster for xi jinping that says the u.s. can't defend its allies. i do think the republicans have thrown a bunch of different ideas on the table for what they want on the southern border. i think the democrats should hop on as much as they possibly can because the border is a genuine national crisis. it's also the democrats biggest political liability and so if there's any possibility for a deal, the democrats would be very smart to say we and the republicans take ownership of

the border right now. otherwise it's very perilous for biden's reelection chances. geoff: let's talk about 2024. the knives were out for nikki haley. it's a clear sign of her rise in the race. how do you think she fared? >> i think she fared fine. when you are the focus of everyone's attention on a debate stage, that means you are the top of the pack. they are all fighting over second place. last week or the week before you were talking about nikki haley's slow and steady rise through this race. nice for governor kristi noem to defend her honor after being ripped to pieces by vivek ramaswamy. as we have seen through all the debates up until this week, she is more than capable of standing up for herself.

geoff: donald trump appeared the night before in a televised town hall with sean hannity and hannity gave him the chance to reassure the american people that if reelected, he would not abuse power or focus his time in office on retribution and here is how he answered that question. >> he says, you are not going to be a dictator, are you? no, other than day one. we are closing the border and we are drilling. geoff: your response? >> i take him literally but not seriously. i think it was a joke. he was just playing to the crowd. on the other hand, it is still likely that he's going to be a dictator. there are policies he and his people have been embracing which are clearly authoritarian and he's likely to be more and more authoritarian now than he was even in 2016.

>> as you gave that answer, jonathan's mouth was agape. >> he's not joking. and if he is joking, the jokes not funny. we have seen over the past few weeks story after story about things donald trump has said or things that are happening behind the scenes about what he wants to do if he gets a second term that should make every american's blood run cold. the front page of the new york times two or three weeks ago just detailing the immigration policy they want to institute on day one, project 2020 five which basically wants to set up a turnkey operation for any conservative president to come along and do all sorts of things to remake not just american government but american democracy. donald trump has been telling us exactly what he will do if he

gets another opportunity to be president pretty much every day for the last two or three months in detail and anyone who does not take him seriously is not taking the danger that this country faces seriously enough because he can joke all he wants. it's not for one day. he told us he's going to be a dictator and it's not just one day, it will be his presidency if we can call it that. geoff: is it too late to stop donald trump? for those republicans who detest and disdain him. for the republicans concerned about his impulses toward authoritarianism and the republicans afraid he's going to lose the election for the party. is it too late to stop him? >> i give nikki haley a 10% chance. chris christie and ron desantis could get out of the race.

you could get the whole party supporting her. i think it's probably too late. geoff: thanks as always. ♪ amna: each year we asked the defense visual information distribution service at the pentagon to produce holiday songs with service members singing. on the second night of hanukkah, we present a song originally written in judeo spanish. the musicians sing about how they will eat cakes with almonds and honey in celebration. ♪

♪

amna: what passion. thank you to our service members. i'm stephanie sy. have a great weekend. ♪

>> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation. working for solutions to protect water and climate change so people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora and.

supporting institutions to promote a better world. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west from w eta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

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jeffrey: ukraine is battling it out against russia and israel is hunting hamas in gaza. all of this leaves president biden very busy. but many in congress have other priorities. pres. biden: extreme republicans e playing chicken with our national security, holding ukraine's funding hostage. >>