jeff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. >> and i'm amna navars. reached attacks in the red seam. >> we examine the critical white

evangelical vote ahead of the first contest for the g.o.p. race for the white house. >> and an election that could have major implications for the tense relationship with china and the u.s. they're always worried about somehow losing taiwan and the thing that they worry about the most honestly is that the u.s. will encourage taiwan. announcer: major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> qnod is a proud supporter of public television. the world awaits, a world of flavor, diverse destinations and immersive experiences.

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>> this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the news hour outie militants fired a missile at a ship today and promised further retaliation after british and u.s. air strikes againstoutie targets. geoff: it's not intended to wyden the war in gaza. as nick shiffrin reports, the u.s. will strike again if theoutie campaign continues -- houthie campaign continues. >> waving wents demanding death to their enemies, a promise repeated by their leader. >> did you not hear yemeni

people. are they not the same raids we've seen? but we are the ones that will bring something new. >> the u.s. says a first round of strikes targeted 16 locations and then 30 to 60 minutes later, an additional 12 locations with more than 150 munitions. that was on the higher end. the u.s. hit 60 targets in mostly unpopulated areas targets drones and missiles that they've used in recent attacks. and it precipitated the strikes more than 2,000 houthie drones and missiles aimed at u.s. war ships. >> if they behave as they do, we'll respond. 30% of global container traffic and more than a million crude

oil every day sail through the suez canal. they drive up consumer prices and causing supply chain delays. the reaction to the military strike was mixed. russia called in a security meeting and called the strikes irresponsible. oman denied the strikes warning they could escalate conflict in the region. saudi arabia said it was following events with great concern and called for self restraint. for nearly 10 years, houthie rebels have been fighting a saudi-led coalition. houthies is recognized in the government.

houthies and the saudi-backed government now agree to a road to peace. and some u.n. officials worry that military strikes could reverse political progress. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick shiffrin. stephanie: updating our top story. the u.s. military has launched a new strike against a hothi target in yemen this evening. they have described it as a threat but so far there are no further details. israel reject allegation that is it's committing genocide against palestinians in gaza. instead it told the world court that its operation is a legitimate defense after hamas attacked israel in october. the israelis respond today in

one of the biggest cases ever brought before an international court. >> the attempt to weaponize the term genocide against israel in the present context does more than tell the court a grossly distorted story. and it does more than the special meaning. it subverts of the action itself. >> and the israeli bombardment continued. hamas officials said nearly 24,000 people have died with 60,000 more injured since the war began. >> a new winter storm is sweeping across the northern u.s. tonight with heavy snow. high winds and brutal cold. dangerous driving conditions across iowa today prompted warnings to stay home. republicans canceled a number of campaign events. the storm grounded hundreds of

flights in chicago east o'hare and 7500 flights nationwide. arctic air and bitter cold are expected to spread into the deep south this weekend. federal prosecute ors in buffalo will seek the death penalty against gunman who killed 10 black victims in 2022. the attack took place at a supermarket. a white supremacist payton plead guilty and is serving life without parol. today the justice department announced it wants him executed if he's con convict of federal hate crimes. the federal aviation administration announced late today it is keeping boeing 737 max 9 airplanes from flying until extensive inspections and maintenance can be conducted. the agency grounded the plane on saturday after a panel blue out in midair. united airline said it's canceling the max line flights.

a promise of $3.2 until military aid over the next fiscal year. prime minister rishi su nba met with zelensky and signed a deal. zelensky voiced hope about more american aid. [speaking foreign language] >> today is the day the history europe has changed. ukraine and the united kingdom sign and unprecedented security agreement. stephanie: a package is being held in congress. republicans are demanding major changes in the border policy before they'll green light for ukraine china has announced a cease-fire. beijing mediated the agreement between myanmar and guerillas with china.

a previous agreement failed to hold. the bind administration is taking texas to the supreme court in a new standoff over migrants. this week the state fenced off a public park in eagle pass to stop illegal crossings. and the texas national guard barred the federal border pa follow the sight. today the justice department asked the high court to restore federal access to the park. the supreme court agreed today to hear a challenge on whether unhoused people have a constitutional right to camp on public property. it hinges on a casen oregon where a city banned camping in public parks. a coalition seeking a greater control over encampments asked the high court to take the case. arguments are set for april. still to come on the "newshour," a representative from the notion leaf agency details the dire situation in gaza. a new variant of covid-19 poses an increased risk of widespread infection. david brooks and jonathan

capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines and much more. announcer: this is pbs newshour. from weta studios in washington and in the west from the waller cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the u.s. strikes against the houthis mark a significant escalation the middle east. the world is waiting whether the strikes will accomplish their goal to top the houthis from targeting ships in the red sea oratrices risk of an even wider conflict. nadia was born and raised in yemen and is a scholar at the middle east institute in washington, d.c. thank you for being was. and how will the u.s.-led strikes against houti targets in yemen? how will that affect the litant groups moving forward in your view? >> well, the houthis have surviveed intense air strikes

from the saudis and amradis and they survived that and emerged stronger than before. so air strikes might neutral lies the houthi threat shipping but that will be temporarily. >> what impact will these air strikes have? >> they are concerned about these air strikes because they lived the horrors of air strikes for eight years. and these air strikes caused a lot of civilian casualties a lot of destruction but also they made the houthis stronger. so yemenies don't want to go through another episode of air strikes that only benefit the houthies at the expense of the yemenies. houthis are extremely unpopular. but they're using the gaza war and the war with israel and america, that they're at war with israel and america, they're

using that to oppress the population and silence critic. they're using that to send their children to indoctrination camps, to recruit children at a mass scale. and so these air strikes could be very good for the houths. they want war. they juan confrontation with the u.s. and israel because -- and that's why they continued to, you know, to attack the ships in the red sea. that's how they know, you know, they make an excuse to on press the population. so this will be good for the houthis. if it's only air strikes. geoff: in order for the u.s. goal of deterrence to be effective on a more permanent basis, what kind of a goal will be requireed? >> well, the houthis have proven to be a strategic threat to regional security and international shipping. and so on the strategic approach will -- will mitigate the

threat. air strikes by the u.s. and the uk are not going to address that. the u.s. and the international community need to support the yemeny government forces to weaken the houthis militarily. >> the houthi are backed by iran which has supplyied militias in the middle east as a way of stepping up its own influence. how independent are the houthies from iran? are they acting on their own? or are they following iran's instruction right now? >> it's -- it's both. so the houths are not iran's puppet. they don't carry iran's orders. having said that they're very strong allies and they won't be beau have long-term goal in the region which is iran's expansion ist arena, takeing

mecca and liberating jerusalem in their own words and destroy ing israel. more importantly pushing the u.s. and the west out of the region. the houthies are capable of acting on their own. iran has empowered them, strengthed them. and i'm not even sure if iran decided that the houthis need to escalate that the houthis will do that. >> the u.s. said that the strikes are not intended to get a wider war. that the israel-hamas war has already escalated into a regional conflict. the question is whether or not it can be contained. how do you view it? >> things can spiral out of control. the risk is high. having said that, i think it's important for it's and the west to address the houthi problem. and that's not going to happen with air strikes.

and also it's not going to happen with putting boots on the ground. a more sustainable would be to work the government and strengthen yemeni forces so they can strengthen the houthies. the houthis have proven to be the most strategic threat to everyone basically in the region geoff: nanwa is a scholar at the middle east institute. thank you. >> thank you for having me -- me ♪ >> today, marks 9 # days of the war against hamas and gaza and the humanitarian toll on the population has been devastating. a according to the notion, 90% of gazans are displaced. more than 1-4 are starving. there's not a single hospital

that's fully functional. and communications are severely limited. earlier today, ali was able to speak with a representative from the u.n. relief agency through a shaky internet connection for what's happening on the ground. >> scott anderson with the u.n. relief works agency in gaza. thank you so much for joining us. the world food program tweeted that every one in gaza is hungry. can you just give us a sense of just how dire the food scarcity situation is right now? >> i'm joining you from southern gaza where there are approximately 1.47 million displaced peep. the only food that they have is what comes in across the crossing and it's simply not enough to accommodate this many people. i've seen it where they're chasing the convoy because ey're desperate to get any food that they can.

we did manage to get a trucks of flour. you could see how happy they were. the situation is quite desperate. children begging if food because they don't have any. it's just a very difficult situation for them. and i can't imagine how their parents feel not being able to provide for them. so i think overall, we need to do more as a humanitarian community. >> what responsibilities do the various stake hold verse including israel, hamas and other regional players? >> first, we would ask that all parties respect the sankity of the notion and they do everything they to protect the innocent civilian population here in gaza. we've had great difficulty access north of gaza. we think there are 300,000 people. since january 1st, only eight of the 24 missions we have requested have been aproved to go north. they're very hungry. they're very cold. they're very much in need. and we would very much like to

get our convoys to help deliver tied those people. >> notion had called gaza a graveyard for children. can you talk about the children specifically for children right now? >> children bare the brunt of this. they're much younger and they're less resilient. their bodies are smaller. in addition to the lack of food, the trauma that everybody has suffered, you know, one one in every 100 gazan has been killed at this point during the conflict. they need psycho support and normalcy. we're going to lose a generation between covid and the negative impact that had and we're losing a a school year most likely during this conflict. the impact is negative to children in gaza. >> as the military operation continues, what does that mean for your operations as more and more people are crowding into a smaller and smaller area? >> there's not sufficient water for high general and enough for

people to clean themselves or drink. people are living in close proximity so we're worried about water-born disease. women have born the brunt of hygiene here. there's not enough feminine hygiene kits. women don't eat or drink because they don't want to wait in line to go to the bathroom. they don't have any of the hygiene needs. we're working hard to correct that. >> you've lost workers that have been killed since this conflict began. can you describe the toll that this war is having on your colleagues, humantarian workers? >> nowhere is safe in gaza. etch the house that i lived in has received fire from israeli forces. you can't talk to any of their staff or family that is haven't been impacted by the loss of a

loved one or is veer injury of a loved one. despite that they come into work and they're trying to help their fellow gazans. now, we have one staff member that works on our cross border operation. both his brothers lost every one of their families except one son. and despite that horrific event he was trying to make sure that aid was flowing in to try to help take care of people i think the resilience and the bravery they show is incredible. but it also has to be very heavy on their heart that they don't when they leave that their family will be there when they go home. >> israel has been critical of unra. they accuse of having an anti- israel stance. and not being hard enough to hamas. how do you respond? >> i think we do a lot to express neutralty we're here to do a job, which is

one of our core principles. sometimes we say things that people don't like to hear. what we are is pro humanity. and we want to keep as many people as safe as possible and make sure we're meeting their needs every single day. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you, ali. ♪ amna: the candidates are making their final pitches to voters. white evangelicals. lisa desjardins is in new york and sat down with iowa most recognizable evangelical leader. bob vanderplatt is called a king maker. he's directed the conservative christian group the family

leader which add co vow kates family values, anti-abortion. he's supported the conservative leader. he announced his support for ron desantis. i began by asking him why he made that decision and shows most iowa evangelicals support donald trump. >> why desantis? he caught my attention right away when he won re-election in 2022. he took a toss-up state like florida and turned it deep red. won by 20 points. and he did that after leading on things that are very important us to. the sankity of human life. parental lime -- life. and keeping florida open during covid. challenge tall mandates during covid. you mentioned about the evangelical support. my pulse doesn't line up with

the polls. we have a large base here. and that means every other person i talk to would have to tell me i'm voting trump. they're not saying that. they're appreciative of what he did. but they believe we need to turn the final the next generation leader. they believe we need to find somebody who can win and lead. and they think they're skeptical that he's not just the same guy that he was in 2016. >> how well does governor desantis or nikki haley have to do in order to make this a race. have a chance at beating donald trump? >> i think it's an expectations game right now. everyone is dis dismissing governor desantis that he's imploding. i don't think trump will make beneath expectation. i don't think hailey will be come in send second and governor desantis will go beyond that and i'm bullish enough to believe that he will win the caucus on monday night. >> should president trump prevail could you support him? do you think he's a moral man?

>> elections come down to choice. and so the trump administration versus the bind administration, i would be in that camp of the trump add minutes was way better for families and for our issues and god -- god is always used flawed people throughout scripture whether it was david or mow sets or abraham they all had significant flaws and he used them for his purposes. it may be above my pay grade. if this is a trump administration or a bind administration, for me that will be an easy choice. >> you can choose not to vote at all. >> i would choose the trump administration over the biden administration every day that ends in y and twice on sunday. >> you have said that parents, grandparents jebly don't want him to be a role model for their children. >> there's no doubt. >> i know you said that the bible says god uses flawed people. every politician is flawed, you

know? donald trump is you say someone who doesn't want to be a role model. there's a disconnect with the evangelical movement that it's about values. and you said you would support him someone who you don't think should be a role model for your children. >> the disconnect is right. i've said that. that one of the biggest hurdles that donald trump has is that i've not met a parent or grandparent yet who says they want to have their son, daughter, grand grandchild grow up to be like that. that said i haven't heard anybody say that about joe biden and it's more detrimental than trump's record has been for the family. it comes down to a choice. this situation is going to be a flawed choice. 75% of american who are saying they don't want the choice between biden and trump. they want somebody different. even heard somebody say the first party that runs to the next generation leader wins.

and so i just think again again, let iowa do its job, present an alter native to the president. and let america choose. what i can do is maintaining my tom the gospel is by calling balls and strikes. donald trump is not my savior. can god use donald trump to accomplish great things? yes, he's always used flawed people to accomplish good things for him. >> trump tap into something else which is anger. >> sure. >> right? and i want to ask you what you think of evangelicals expressing anger. jesus was angry, sure. but do you think that evangelicals have changed politics, or are you concerned that politics is changing them? >> i think some of the evangelicals resonate to a trump and his disruptive behavior -- >> sometimes hate. >> but they believe they need

somebody to be a disrupt or right now. the reason is they're concerned when a government is telling them that these aren't your children. these are our children. and if you don't believe in gender transitioning or if you don't believe in the lgbtq movement or whatever else we believe in, you may not be able to raise your children. that scares a lot of evangelicals. or it's not about religious liberty. you can live out your faith. you have freedom of worship but keep it inside your four walls. they're see saying religious liberty is living out my faith. and now you a government saying you can't live out your faith. that's why some evangelicals are saying they're weep weapon nicing against trump but also against us. if they're weaponizing against us, i'm going to stand with him, ok? but i'm saying we have a choice right now. >> thank you so much for your time. >> oh, thank you. really appreciate it. >> vander plat and everyone

interested in that campaign is facing a deep freeze from mother nature as temperatures are starting to drop into the single digits and that has meant a freeze with campaigns with ron desantis postponing for events today. and nikki haley and vivek ramaswamy doing one town hall inside of a car as he was trying to get through this weather r. that winter weather we see you standing in the middle of. that's going to make it hard for people to go to. how is all this going to impact or could it impact monday's caucuses? >> we always wonder about the weather. but i will tell you that right now, this is bad news for anyone who is not donald trump. because everyone else needs to make up ground against him. and they're not out there campaigning. they're not able to meet as many voters as they would would would have during these two last critical days. i think today and tomorrow will be harder to get back to a full campaign. it's more difficult because there are persuadable voters out here. there are a few un undecided

voters. we met one last night. someone who was a chris christie support. >> what i like about chris christie is he is a republican that governed a democratic state that he can reach across the isle and get things done. >> we moved from arizona. and the border is an issue. i want somebody that can actually word with the other side to get something done that's reasonable. >> now, he told me he has not decided yet. we're going keep track of where he goes monday night. but meantime, these candidates are looking for every vote they can get. i do think things can change on sunday, monday once this storm system clears. this is plowed. cars are going to start getting back on the roads. the question monday night will be cold weather. and that will be a test for enthusiasm for trump voters. do they think he has too much of a lead? does he stay home? that's the hope of some of he is opponents. >> that's lisa desjardins just

outside of des moines. days ahead of the iowa caucus. lisa, thank you. and be sure to join us for live coverage of the 2024 iowa caucus on monday night starting at 11:00 p.m. eastern right here on pbs. ♪ geoff: the u.s. and other parts of the world are in the midst of another covid-19 wave, infections and hospitalizations are on the rise this winter. and a new variant is responsible for a majority of those cases. john yang has the latest and a look at whether we need to change our approach to the virus. >> geoff, the world health organization said yesterday that in december nearly 10,000 covid deaths were reported in europe and the americas. in the united states hospital admissions are on the rise up 56% last week from the month before. but there's still far lower than

they were in previous years. in europe and the americas i.c.u. admissions are up 62% from the month before. public health officials need to be vigilant >> although covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the virus is circulating, changing and killing. data from various sources indicate increasing transmission during december fueled by gatherings over over the holiday period and by the jn.1 variant which is the most commonly reported variant. >> what do these current trends mean? dr. eric topple is director of the scrips institute dock, to how concerned are you about the current uptick? >> the main thing is that we're

seeing a large number of infection after omicron. hospitalizations are not as bad and you mentioned the death toll, that's reassuring because of some of the immunity we built up. but this virus has evolved and it's marketedly different from previous versions we've seen and that's a challenge for the spread and for the infections and the potential of long covid in many of those people as well. >> talk about the evolution. this new variant jn1, is it more dangerous? is it more infectious? tell us about it. >> right, so in the course of the pandemic now, beginning of the fifth year here, there's only been two times when a haven't -- variant came along with more than 30 new mutations. tially a variant has a couple of few, but this is -- we call it an omicron event because that

was the first time we saw one. and then of course, back in the fall, we started to see the rise of the precursor to jn1 with another 30-plus mutations in the spike protein. and when you have this many new mutations, the virus has found a way to work around bypass our normal immune response. and so it gets to be very infectious. easily getting people who have already been infected no less those who have not had covid before. so it's good that we have four years of built-up exposures and vaccinations and boosters. but it's bad that this vie rows -- virus is relentless to reinvent itself to get into our upper airway and all of the potential things that can happen after that >> you have been vocal about the need to understand long covid

and understand who's at risk of long covid. explain your concerns and whether any infections play any role? >> it introduces a higher risk of long covid. and the problem john with long covid is we don't know who's going to get this. over time since the beginning of the pandemic, it looks like the incidence has dropped some. and that's partly because vaccinations are quite protective. 40% or 50% reduction of long covid as well as with boosters. but the problem is even with vaccinations or without, some people can have this terrible long-term problem of their immune system getting totally out of sorts. and having, you know, self directed anti-bodies and so many markers of inflammation across the body throughout every organ system no less a disabing set of

symptoms. so even if that is a couple of percent of people in this current wave, this big, global surge, that's still a lot of people who have added to the tens of millions of people currently suffering from long covid around the world. waned don't have any treatment for it we know some things that can prevent it. but we have nothing that has been substantiated to treat long covid. >> you wrote an op-ed column in the "los angeles times." you said it's crickets from the white house on covid with no mentioning of getting the updated booster or masking. the biden administration has the done far too little for long covid. what would you like to see the administration do? >> a lot more than its doing. you know, the first year the pandemic we saw that operation warp speed and we took this virus as an economy tential

threat and we pulled out the stops. but we need to stop spread. to be variant-proof whatever this variant mutates to in the times ahead. and we have a small amount of funding towards that end. but not enough. and the messaging has been poor that is, you know, even the people at highsiest risk about 35% of them have had the updated booster that's been available since september that tease highest risk people of advanced age. we had 90, 95% of those same high risk people getting the initial primary series of the vaccine. so we're not doing enough -- you know, we've known this was coming. we've seep countries in europe that had wastewater levels of the virus that were unprecedented even exceeding omicron. and it isn't like they -- like the virus was going to stay there. we knew it was coming since september, october and only in

recent weeks have states come back the mask poll schism we are not doing enough to manage this big surge. >> dr. eric toppel, thank you very much. >> turks john. ♪ amna: in taiwan, voters head to the polls tomorrow for presidential and parliamentary elections the results will be as closely watched in beijing and washington as they will be in taipei. china considers taiwan a break-away republic. and president shin talks about the island. ♪ >> taiwan's election is cacophonous, colorful and a little chaotic.

it's also critical to the region. the william li and, he vows to continue taiwan's current defacto independence and using more moderate language about taiwan's relationship with mainland championship >> the status quo and continue to bring society together. our door will always be open to engagements with beijing. >> but the people's repew lick of china or p.r.c. appears to be keeping the door shut tight. recent military operations have helped the election warning. there will be more tension. more satellite launches. >> it is not the moon. >> more balloons flying over taiwan like the one that flew over the u.s. if you choose william li, --

[speaking foreign language] >> he clings stubbornly to taiwan independence. he's a troublemaker through and true >> sometime people describe him as a pro-independence leader. but that's not really the position he's -- he's taking in this election. >> shelly rig or is the faculty dean of profess or -- profess or. >> his main date if he wins is to maintain -- his mandate is if he wins is that taiwan is a self governing, democratic entity that hasn't fully separateed itself from its history as as a chinese place. >> the main opposition candidate ho yo yi is from the canti party.

less antigenessic than the d.p.p. >> if the d.p.p. the path for preserving the status quo is to remain close to the u.s. where the canti candidates, taiwan needs to engage with beijing more actively in order to preserve its security and autonomy. >> the election also features for the first time a third party candidate former taipei mayor ko we ja popular among younger voters. >> he's not that different. his position on cross state relations is a little bit hard to discern. but i think his appeal is that he's -- he's a new face. the p.r.c. doesn't like any of these candidates but they dislike him the most. >> unprecedented election interference is a concern. including li, deep fakes that's the real li on the left.

manipulated li on the left. and what the u.s. and taiwan have called disinformation about labs with different virus. independent researchers have found fake online accounts. taipei accuseds beijing of co opting local official and increasing economic pressure. >> china has intervened in every major taiwanese election but this time it is the most severe. kit be said that they're leave nothing stone unturned. >> so you're saying that the united states would come to taiwan's defense? >> yes, we have a commitment to do that. >> looming behind taipei beijing relations is washington's relationship with beijing. the u.s. is expanded its military presence in the pacific especially in japan and the philippines to bases closer to taiwan. and the u.s. has worked to improve the military. but it's said its policy has not

changed including that taiwan should not declare independence. >> we maintain an agreement that there's a one china policy. >> the p.r.c. is reallile worried about somehow losing taiwan. and the thing that they worry about the most honestly is that the u.s. will encourage taiwan or somehow give taiwan a blank check to bust a move and do something that will force the p.r. r.c. to respond militarily. >> on new year's day, chinese communist party she shin ping reiterated that one day they will fly the same flag. >> the reunification of china is a historic inevitability. >> all politics are local. they are exhausted of same party rule. >> but beijing is on their mind. and young taiwanese are proud to identify themselves as from

taiwan not china with taiwanese food. >> just to cook it all the way. ♪ >> taiwanese music including by bands band in mainland championship and perhaps most of all, taiwanese democracy. >> they are going to show with their votes their determination to sustain a democratic system and to preserve their freedom. >> democracy here is only 35 years old. but tomorrow the people of taiwan will choose their next leader, something the people of mainland china are not able to do. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick shiffrin. >> with just days to go until yea yeah caucus, presidential politics are taking center stage. let's discuss that with brooks

and capehart. that's david brooks and jonathan capehart associate editor for "the washington post." let's talk a bit about iowa, shall we. the latest poll of iowa voters says that among republicans president donald trump has a dominant lead. that hasn't changed. but nikki haley is opening a real lead over ron desantis. she has 20% to his 13% and her lead is outside of the polls' margin of error. how you do interpret these numbers? >> ron desantis has bet a lot on iowa. he's set to have an amazing ground game. he's invested zillions of dollars in iowa. if he's down to 13%, i don't know how the campaign goes for a. he'll go to south carolina. skip new hampshire. don't see how he recovers showing that bad when he's invested that much time and effort. as for nikki haley, very good number for her. lesser organized on the ground. late in the game. there is a ceiling on her. and that's because if you look at who's voting for her, it's

college educated republicans. and this is a working class party. and they've done very poorly trying to crack into that working class group. she's done very poorly trying to crack into that evangelical group. and so trump has great organization, great presence, people are waiting around -- i've read recently five and six hours as he shows up late, they'll stick around. they want to see donald trump. all indication cases that donald trump is sitting pretty and if those polls are right, ron desantis is in trouble. >> nikki haley is better positioned especially if hutias a strong showing in iowa or that the race is meaning less when the front runner is 30-plus points ahead. how you do see it? >> exactly i keep wondering why are these people in the race? one because the front runner is 34 points ahead in that -- in

that poll. but also he's a head in all of the polls. and they haven't taken -- they have not taken the gloves off against him except for nikki haley took the gloves off this week. and ron desantis in some way took the gloves off. but they should have been doing that from the moment they got into the campaign. and so again, as i've said on friday nights now for that's a month, maybe two, when -- when it comes to the iowa caucuses, i will be curious to see if that 34-point spread shows up in actual votes and if donald trump doesn't wipe the flor with hailey or desantis whoever comes in number two, then we have to start to wonder can he make it through -- can he make it through new hampshire and does that provide an opportunity for nikki haley to maybe win new hampshire to then get obliterate ed in her home state of south carolina? >> how can nikki haley

capitalize on chris christie's exit from the race? the one thing his campaign proved is that there's no nationwide constituency for a republican who is willing to break with donald trump in the way he did. >> let me go to the traditional roll of the irrational optist. there's a scenario for hailey. she does well in iowa or better than expected. maybe comes within 25 points of donald trump. she goes to new hampshire, christie is gone. desantis is sort of out of it. she's in the realm of tying trump. she's sort of in the ballpark. that would be big news. he's basically sitting incumbent president. if and if he loses then that's big news. after that we have michigan which is an open primary. independents can vote in it. that looks better for her. and then after that we have a whole run of states. there's some plausible scenario the way things are breaking it turns out to hailey, trump in short order and then she has

some remote chance. >> jonathan, what do you think? does chris christie's exit change the race in any meaningful way? >> no. no. unfortunately, that's the case. i mean, i don't agree with governor christie on a whole lot of things. but i thought his role as a candidate for the republican nomination was a an important one because he was fear less in taking the argument to the party against donald trump. and the fact that a person who is telling the truth about a four-times indicted former president shouldn't be the standard-bearer of the party, the party rejected him by not supporting him meaning chris christie. and so it's unfortunate that he had to get out of the race but there's no constituency for the truth telling that he has. >> let's talk about the biden campaign because "the washington post" reported this past weekend that foreman president barack obama has raised questions about the structure of president

biden's re-election campaign. has even discussed this with president biden himself. david axelrod has been very public about his own criticisms about the campaign. and to be clear, they're not criticizeing president biden. they're criticizing, the effectiveness and the messaging of the campaign if your view is there reason for worry? >> yeah, first, there's reason for worry because if the election would be held, donald trump would be elected president. that's a reason to worry. and i noticed there are 85 million political consultants. every democrat i know has words on advise on he can do better. happen to agree with the obama people. by the way the biden people hate it when the obama people judge them i think axelrod and obama are correct that he had to do a january 6 speech. going motherer emmanuel church is better. but he has to show a reason he's going to do be better.

a lot of americans think that they were doing better under president trump. biden has to have law and order. donald trump is an agent of kay chaos. for a democrat to be a law law and order candidate at a time of global kay you, that would be a good thing. and think then i think he has to somehow get into the working class. you can want give away that many votes especially among the hispanic working class. he has to champion business, business, small business and show he's for enterprise. i think he really needs do do it to claw back some of that working class. >> i know you're deeply sourced in bind world and obama world wham do you make of this? the sense among some democrat that is the campaign isn't as nimble or effective as it needs be to meet the moment? >> there's -- i mean, i filed this under the -- it's like a

file folder within the democratic bed wetting folder that i keep. but do i -- but -- but that being said, i do think that democrats should be running scared. do i think that it is important that former president obama is talking to the current president and saying that you need take this seriously. but i am also confident that president biden and the bind campaign absolutely are taking the threat of donald trump seriously and taking seriously that their message isn't getting through. i mean, i take david -- you know, everything he just said is right and true. but as he was talking about the things that the president should be doing or the campaigns should be doing, i was thinking back to last fall when the president was doing and the campaign and the administration was doing exactly that. i think that we have to -- we have to not look at this campaign as from the snapshot of -- of one week and oh, my god because they didn't talk about this or they didn't have a

message on that, this particular week, that they're not going to be talking about it or have been talking about it. so i am not worried. but i do think that democrats need to give the administration, give the president, give the campaign the room to let its campaign unfold. and -- and rest assured that they -- they take the threat of donald trump, but also the republican party seriously because think about this. if donald trump through some miracle is not the republican nominee, trumpism is still abroad in the land. maga is still abroad in the land. whether trump is the nominee or not, there will be an alternative for biden to run against. that raises the question in a minute and a half i had. what is the future of the republican party? donald trump will seed the ground at some point as the head of the republican party. what is left?

>> yeah, it's going to be a different party. it's going to be a working class party. we too often look at america only. every country has a right wing populace party. and so it's going to be a party that's going be sus pi shouse of foreign inventers. it's going to be suspicious of international trade. it's going to be a party that represents the hope for the republicans is we're going to be a multi-racial working class party. they're not far away. the hispanic movement to the republicans among the working class voters has been very significant even some of the black working class has moved a little, not that much. multi-racial working class party is what they're hoping for. and it's not impossible. geoff: david brooks and jonathan capehart. great to see you both. have a great weekend. >> thank you. ♪ amna: be sure to tune into

"washington week" tonight on pbs. maryland moderator jeffery goldbergburg and his panel will discuss the escalating conflict with the houthi rebel and donald's trump's week in court. geoff land two new studies find where eating and drinking more microplackses than previously thought. and that is the "newshour" for tonight i'm geoff ben net >> and i'm amna nawaz. thank you for joining us. and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and these institutions, cleaning kathy and paul anderson. and camilla and george smith. the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive

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journal -- cronkite of journalism from the university of arizona.

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. jeffrey: the iowa caucuses are around the corner and the republican runne is setting a pattern for the, moving between the campaign -- for the year, moving between the campaign trail and the courthouse. >> i don't know we will get a fair ruling. jeffrey: the current presi