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. amna: on the newshour tonight, a bipartisan senate deal to fund israel and ukraine looks like a no go. >> secretary of state antony blinken returned to the middle east the push for a cease-fire and the release of hostages in gaza.

could diplomacy prevail? >> it is possible you may get a break. how long that may be and whether it could be turned into something more permanent is another matter entirely. amna: delays in president trump's insurrection case pushes farther into this year's presidential contest. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma clore vine and junie and peter bloom kohler foundation. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting

institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. 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 most significant immigration reform proposal in a generation is now in the hands of the u.s. senate after negotiators unveiled their compromise deal. the bipartisan deal would tighten asylum rules and allow for partial border shutdowns,

while increasing enforcement and opening some new avenues for legal migration. geoff: the measure would also offer billions of dollars in assistance to ukraine, israel, and taiwan for the defense of their respective borders. congressional correspondent lisa desjardins has been digging into the bill text and the immediate reactions to it. it is good to see you. this is a significant bill, 370 pages, as you know because i know you read the entire thing. what are the highlights? lisa: lots to talk about. there are two pieces with this bill. one, big policy on asylum and big dollars when it comes to security here and abroad. first, the immigration policy. there is an overhaul of the asylum system and it also expands ice detention in general. it would also allow for border closures of some sorts, meeting a stop in processing of asylum claims under certain

circumstances. $60 billion for ukraine, 14 million dollars for israel. it adds up to over $115 billion. that kind of money is what president biden initially requested. the focus is on the immigration policy part. the senators who negotiated this sait was extraordinary they were able to get to this point, but they have critics from both sides and are stressing they see this as a once in a generation bill. sen. sinema: this week, the senate will begin to take action on a large national security package that includes a realistic, pragmatic and the strongest solution to our border crisis in my lifetime. sen. lankford: are we, as republicans, going to have press conferences and complain the border's bad, and then intentionally leave it open, after the worst month in american history in december? lisa: those are two of the senators, along with a third

democrat, chris murphy, from connecticut. those three have been behind closed doors for months to negotiate this, also with the biden team on board. now they have to convince 50 senators and by my count there is just 12. geoff: amna is set to speak with senator murphy momentarily. president biden said he would shut the border down using the authority granted to the president in the bill. how would that work? lisa: this gets complex. think about the problems this bill is aiming to solve, the huge group of people messing up the border. many of them have crossed the border through our asylum policy , which has meant that because of a lack of detention space, they have entered the country almost automatically and waited processing, sometimes for years, in theory. what this bill has done to address that is a few things with this shutting down the

border concept. this is a new authority given to dhs and dhs could immediately deport most of the migrants encountered at the border, as opposed to now when the migrants are generally allowed in the country to await processing. this would go into effect optionally at 4000 migrants a day. when they meet that average level. it would be mandatory at 5000 migrants a day. conservatives have a problem with those numbers but that is much lower than the numbers we saw in the past few weeks. that is a policy closure of the border. of course there is still open land there. this does allow the dhs secretary to continue to build a border wall if they choose. geoff: what's clear is that it dramatically reimagines the asylum system in this country. tell us more. lisa: i was texting with people last night who did not believe me when i said what was in this.

the asylum proposal is in here. there would be a tougher standard for people to enter the country. the screening standard would move to clear and convincing. right now it is a significant possibility to prove you have been persecuted. a fraction of the people would pass that screen, a small fraction. most would be denied and put into removal processing. here is a big change. immigration judges are making most of these decisions. it would take the immigration judge completely out of the asylum process and instead asylum officers would make that decision. it's not even clear there would be a full interview. not sure noise -- not sure lawyers will be present, though those applying could get a lawyer if they wanted. the goal is to do all of this in 180 days. some on the left like that shortened process. some are critical, saying this is so limiting to asylum that it means very few people fleeing

persecution would make it through. this is andrea florez. >> the goal to reduce the amount of time it takes to review a claim. unfortunately this bill goes overboard in making it harder to get an already hard benefit. it is adding a new asylum bar that would impact many of the people who otherwise might be able to qualify for protection. lisa: that's the concern, that this is limiting, and may be a human rights concern from the left. senators who put this together say no. geoff: there is pushback from the left and right. the gop friendly chamber of commerce say they support this legislation. why are republicans on the hill opposed to it? lisa: at least one border patrol organization. they say while they like the increase in detention to 50,000, they say this does not end catch and release.

while many migrants would be given an alternative to detention, they would have ankle bracelets, some say that's not enough and it would leave people in this country able to act will move around, something conservatives don't like but which democrats say there is not proof that has been a problem. i talked to the former secretary of homeland security. >> i don't think it ends catch and release. they talk about catch and release. they talk about single adults being detained. well, they only have 50,000 beds. and i can guarantee you there is a lot more single adults coming across that border that need to be apprehended before they can be removed then 50,000. lisa: conservatives also wanted more limits on humanitarian patrol. it is a win for the biden white house that there are no limits on it right now. fast-track deportations, conservatives wanted more of that and that's also not in this bill. geoff: where is all of this headed? lisa: it's tricky.

we expect a vote in this in the senate on wednesday. the three senators i talked about are moving hard to try to get those votes. it is uphill even in the senate, which is amazing because this is the most conservative immigration legislation we have seen in decades. they are having to roll with republicans, namely mike johnson. here is what he tweeted. he said this bill is even worse than we expected. if this bill reaches the house, it will be dead on arrival. the hope from senators is they can turn it around by getting a big senate vote. right now it looks rough. we know there is political influence from donald trump and others. geoff: thank you so much for that great reporting. stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with

newshour west. here are the latest headlines. a state of emergency covered much of southern california as a giant storm dumped a deluge. the same storm had already swamped northern california and was blamed for three deaths. it's the second so-called "atmospheric river" to churn its way across the state in a matter of days, bringing record rainfall, life-threatening floods, and mudslides. >> i never imagined it would be this bad. stephanie: stan lathan lives in studio city. a mudslide damaged two of his neighbors' homes.

were on full display, whipping up seafoam around the santa cruz wharf. the national weather service issued a rare hurricane force wind warning for the central coast, with gusts topping 80 miles per hour. evacuation orders and warnings were posted for santa barbara, monterey, ventura and los angeles counties. teresa rees was one of those residents ordered to evacuate. >> i'm not sure how i'm going to handle it. i am just in a wait and see kind of situation. i have got my sandbags. stephanie: officials were especially concerned about canyon communities that had burned in recent wildfires, putting them at high risk for flooding and mudslides. more than a million people in

and around los angeles were under a flash flood warning today. as of this morning, about half a million customers across the state were still without power. daniel swain says climate change is playing a role in the severity and frequency of these storms. >> i think we can really expect to see more intense atmospheric rivers in a warming climate and more extreme precipitation events falling from them. stephanie: forecasters expect heavy to moderate rain to continue to fall on southern california until tomorrow. before the back-to-back storms, california had seen below-average precipitation since october, and snowpack was just 30% of its historic average. an official mourning period began today in chile after weekend wildfires killed at least 122 people with hundreds more missing. wind-driven flames tore through the valparaiso region. the city of viña del mar suffered some of the worst damage.

aerial footage there showed entire neighborhoods reduced to ash. officials warned the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers search homes. buckingham palace announced today britain's king charles has been diagnosed with cancer, but gave no details on which type. the king is undergoing treatment as an outpatient and will continue to undertake state business and official paperwork as usual. but he will not make public appearances. the king is 75 years old. he ascended to the throne in september 2022. in el salvador, the incumbent president appeared to be the landslide winner in his bid for re-election. in his first term, bukele launched a sweeping crackdown on gangs, concentrating power in his own hands. supporters poured into a plaza near the presidential palace last night as bukele claimed victory, without waiting for the official results. >> [translated] in all the

history of the world since the existence of democracy, never has a project won with the quantity of votes that we have won. the media says that salvadorans are oppressed, don't want emergency measures, and are afraid of the government. let god show the journalists this night of total freedom and total security. stephanie: el salvador's constitution bars presidents from holding consecutive terms, but a court allied with bukele re-interpreted that ban, allowing him to run again. back in this country, an oversight board called out metta today over manipulated media on facebook and its potential effects on elections. the panel said an altered video of president biden showed the platform's current rules don't work. in a statement, it said meta's policy is -- quote -- "incoherent and confusing to users, and fails to clearly specify the harms it is seeking to prevent." there is yet more trouble for bowing. -- boeing.

the company says a supplier has found improperly drilled holes in some undelivered 737 max jetliners. boeing says the holes do not pose a safety issue, but deliveries of about 50 planes may be delayed. it's the latest red flag after a door plug blew off a "737 max" last month. on wall street, stocks gave ground over fears that the economy is still too strong to allow for lower interest rates. the dow jones industrial average lost 274 points to close at 38,380. the nasdaq fell 31 points. the s&p 500 was down 15. and this year's "grammy" awards winners are in the books -- with women leading the way. taylor swift set a record last night, taking home album of the year for the fourth time. miley cyrus earned her first grammys, including record of the year. and tracy chapman and luke combs performed a duet of "fast car" -- her hit from 1988 that he covered last year. overnight, the original shot to number one on the itunes charts.

still to come on the newshour, tamera keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. a look at the overlap between former president trump's court and election calendars. a poet turned author discusses his new novel about a young iranian-american struggling with survivor's guilt. and much more. >> this is the pbs newshour, from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: secretary of state antony blinken began a four day tour of the middle east today, hoping to make progress on a deal to pause the war and release is really hostages. the biden administration hopes the deal can lead to larger diplomatic initiatives across the region. how realistic is that? nick schifrin takes a closer look.

: in the heart of gaza city, in neighborhoods they thought they had cleared, israeli soldiers fight courtyard to courtyard and floor by floor. they have been assaulting this city for months, but hamas militants still fight back. the fiercest conflict is in the south in khan younis, a city of half a million that is increasingly filled with smoke and destruction. israel's defense forces to say soldiers raided a booby trapped training facility for hamas' october 7 terrorist attacks. israel says it has now destroyed 18 of hamas' 24 battalions, on its way to what prime minister netanyahu called israel's unchangeable military goal. >> [translated] total victory is essential because it ensures the security of israel. total victory is the only way we can ensure additional historic peace agreements, which await. nick: but the first agreement has to be between israel and hamas. israel has agreed to stop the war for six weeks, in exchange

for hamas releasing 30 to 35 older women and children. the other 100 or so hostages would be released over at least two more phases. hamas says it is considering the outline and would respond soon. until the guns stop, back in khan younis, palestinians such as hussam ahmed abu-haitham return home, despite the risk of being shot. he salvages what he can. >> [translated] we came here yesterday and came here today to get what is left over from our homes. of course, it's total destruction, as you can see. nick: local hospitals are mostly destroyed. so palestinian red crescent workers operate out of tents, doing what they can to treat injuries. ibrahim abu-alkas is a paramedic. >> [translated] the free people of the world need to come up with an instant solution to end the struggle of the palestinian population as a collective, and especially the medical teams that are daily subjected to murder or injury. nick: and gazans do not have

enough humanitarian aid. rafah now hosts than a million people, nearly half the gaza strip. at this charity kitchen, the lines are long and supply is limited. >> [translated] we ask the president of the united states to help the people of gaza. instead of helping israel with rockets and bombardments, he should look at how much the people are struggling to get a plate of food or a loaf of bread. nick: increasing aid to gaza is one of secretary of state antony blinken's goals on his fifth trip to the middle east since october. he met for nearly two hours with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman, who still holds out the promise of diplomatic normalization with israel. geoff: but saudi leaders have made clear that normalization isn't possible without "irrevocable" steps toward a palestinian state. u.s. officials hope a pause in the fighting and hostage deal could lead to progress on larger issues -- reconstructing gaza, reforming the palestinian authority, developing gaza governance, and, finally,

normalization and two states. now we get two perspectives. aaron david miller is a senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace and a longtime state department official in both democratic and republican administrations. and khaled elgindy is a senior fellow at the middle east institute, where he directs their program on palestine and israeli-palestinian affairs. he has participated in previous israeli palestinian negotiations. thanks both of you. khaled, let's start with what is on the table, the hamas hostage deal. so far hamas has refused any deal that does not say the words permanent cease-fire. this deal does not have that. is it still possible to get a hamas-israel hostage forepaws deal? khaled: i think it's possible. i think what hamas will look for, short of those words, will be some assurances that a temporary pause would be treated as an effective cease-fire.

if they can get those kinds of assurances from the united states in particular, then i think hamas could be persuaded to go along. nick: this is a longer pause then we have had in the past. could that six week plus pause the effectively a cease-fire? aaron: i think the israelis will be operating in gaza for months to come, even if this hostage deal materializes. whatever the israelis say about a cease-fire, i think all bets are off. they are determined to identify and eliminate key hamas leaders who were responsible for october 7. you get a break. whether the break can be turned into something more permanent is another matter entirely. nick: the pot at the end of this rainbow is saudi-israel

normalization, what the saudi's are calling irrevocable steps toward a two state solution. is that possible with the biden administration as mediator and with this israeli government? >> i think it is certainly possible that the saudi's, the israelis, the americans could strike a formula that works for the three of them. i'm not sure that it will be meaningful in the end, but it might be enough to persuade all sides to attach their names to it. i think the problem isn't with getting people to accept a state. you know, even donald trump had a plan for a palestinian state. as a devoid of meaning and sovereignty as it was. i think what would be far more useful is if the united states in particular were talking about laying out a clear plan for ending israel's occupation, both in gaza but also in the west bank and jerusalem. if the plan were focused on

ending israel's occupation, then it would be much more meaningful. but as it stands, sure, statehood, a palestinian state, two state solution -- these are throwaway lines that have been agreed to and ignored in the past. nick: should the u.s. be more focused on on israeli occupation than talking about two states? aaron: any meaningful commitment to palestinian statehood by the israeli government that was serious about negotiating a deal and a palestinian partner that was serious as well must bring about the end of israel's occupation. i do agree that i think such a deal is possible. i am concerned by it. i think we risk overpaying the saudi's in bilateral coin. a mutual defense treaty, i don't think we have concluded one with any country since the 1960 u.s.-japan treaty was revised read giving the saudis access to american nuclear technology without allowing them to control

the fuel cycle, that's a huge blow to our proliferation policy. and i also worry that in the end, whatever commitments the israeli government makes is not going to lead to irrevocably to a serious negotiation. palestinians have to produce a partner, israelis need to be serious as well. then we can start talking. i don't think israeli-saudi normalization is the key to ending the israeli palestinian conflict. nick: that outside the end -- outside to end strategy has been continued by the biden administration. it was started by the trump administration. let's pick up on that point that aaron david miller made about a palestinian partner. is there a palestinian partner and is there a quote unquote, revitalize, to use blinken's word, revitalize palestinian authority? is that possible? khaled: what's more important than a revitalized palestinian authority is to have a revitalized palestinian leadership. whether it's the palestinian authority is irrelevant. what palestinians need is a national leadership. and that speaks for all

palestinians, both inside and outside the occupied territories. that we don't have. mahmoud abbas is not that leader. he has been parochial, he's been ineffective, he's been weak. i think it is possible to imagine a different palestinian internal political configuration, but it's something that palestinians have to do. they are on their own. but i would add to that leadership equation the united states. the united states has not been an effective broker. it has not managed this crisis well. it has actually taken, i think, very reckless decisions from the get go, giving israel a green light with no red lines of any sort. and we are now four months into this horror in gaza and and they sort of painted themselves into a corner. so we also need a credible american leadership that understands and has empathy for and the ability to connect with people on both sides. right now, the biden administration has only managed to show humanity and empathy for

the israeli side. nick: aaron david miller, is there a version of the biden administration policy that would be less, quote, reckless, that's -- less painted into a corner and more empathetic? aaron: it would be really difficult. the empathy part, i think, is sadly lacking. this president clearly has an emotional attachment to israel. he has a high regard to israel, not so much for the current israeli prime minister. but i think that lack of empathy is important. as to whether the united states could be a credible broker, we are facing probably among the most consequential elections in american history. the real question, i think, for the administration, since governing is about choosing, is whether in this kind of an election year, this administration is prepared to be risk ready when it comes to israeli-palestinian peacemaking, not risk averse. the israeli -saudi peace is the easy part. it's whether or not the united states will be a credible mediator if in fact -- and i don't think we are talking about

this happening anytime soon -- if you ended up with israeli-palestinian negotiations. last time, camp david, i was there, didn't succeed. we were facing gaps that were way too large. but we also didn't take charge of the summit. we need to be credible. we need to apply honey when it counts, assurances to both artie's. but we also need to apply plenty of vinegar, disincentives. nobody is ever going to plant a tree in iran, or if you make peace between israelis and palestinians, it's a tough lift. nick: quickly, though, is there not an advantage to having an administration that is talking to the palestinians, unlike the trump administration, and at least saying to the region, this is where were going? as i put it earlier, the pot at the end of the rainbow? khaled: yeah, at the absolute minimalist terms, sure. that's the bare minimum required is the ability to talk to both sides. but it's more important to go beyond that and actually

understand where the two sides are coming from. the united states has always struggled with trying to connect with, understand, have empathy for palestinians. but this administration, i think, has a much bigger blindspot than any previous administration that i've ever seen. nick: aaron david miller, quickly, would benjamin netanyahu be willing to jettison his right wing coalition if offered a deal that would end with normalization with saudi arabia? aaron: i'm betting he'll he's going to rely on what he knows, a right wing israeli government, -- government. if he goes for the deal, he's going to end up with new partners. and both -- those partners don't have much regard for mr. netanyahu, on trial for bribery fraud, breach of trust in jerusalem district court. i suspect if he goes through this deal, far from this being his legacy, i think it's going to number his days. nick: aaron david miller, khalid elgindy, thank you very much to you both.

>> thank you. amna: we return now to the denigration and national security bill. democrat chris murphy of connecticut is one of the three key centers who negotiated that agreement. he joins me now from capitol hill. my colleague lisa desjardins reported earlier on some of the details in the bill and also reported house speaker johnson says the bill is dead in the water. where is the path forward and what is your understanding of what house republicans would agree to at this point? sen. murphy: last fall democrats tried to pass funding for ukraine, necessary to stop russia from succeeding in their invasion. senate republicans said we are not willing to support funding without border provisions. we engaged in a good faith negotiation on the border, in

part because we know the president needs new authority to control the number of people crossing it, and we achieved that agreement that allows the president to shut down parts of the border when the crossings get high, that dramatically forms the asylum system. it does not take 10 years any longer, it will now take six months, and lets more people into the country legally with the expansion of family and employment visas. republicans seem to be getting cold feet because donald trump and allies in the house have said we don't want to pass any bipartisan border reform. we would rather leave the border open and chaotic because it would help president trump in his upcoming reelection. i still believe there are enough republicans with good faith in the senate that we can get this passed, and if we do i think that show a bipartisan support for the border can maybe unlock a pathway forward. amna: you have faced criticism from your fellow democrats, progressives in particular.

the caucus said democrats are giving into extremist views. president biden and senate democrats have fallen into the same trap again. are you worried the bill could alienate your progressive base? sen. murphy: there has been nothing done on immigration in washington in 40 years, because both parties have refused to come to the middle and try to find common ground. this is an old-fashioned compromise we don't often see in washington, in which there are going to be some democrats to vote no and a lot more republicans to vote no. what we have achieved is important. this country can't handle 10,000 people coming every day to our. southern border. we shouldn't be ok with an asylum claim taking a decade before it is processed. the reforms we are making are going to make more sense of a broken immigration system.

it's not everything the left or right wants, but our job is to find tough compromises. amna: the bill has $20 million for the border about the bulk of the money is for ukraine, $60 billion of what has been called critical funding for the war against russia. if there is no path forward for this bill, how else could you move that aid in some kind of expedited way? sen. murphy: right now republicans have not identified any other path. the reason we are talking about these provisions is because republicans demand it. we can't forget the reason why we are at this moment. i think we need to call speaker johnson's bluff. i think he doesn't want the senate bill to succeed because he knows there would be enormous pressure from elements of his own caucus that support ukraine funding to bring it up for a vote in the house. i think the senate needs to do

the right thing, support this bipartisan compromise that fixes the border and gets funding to ukraine and hopefully that changes some realities in the house. i have not heard a better plan from any of these republicans, who right now seem to be content to sit on the sidelines and call and critique. amna: you think if this is able to pass in the senate, that creates enough pressure to change the dynamics in the house? what leads you to believe that could be true? sen. murphy: i don't know what the alternative plan is. speaker johnson right now is offering amna: i have to ask abot

another provision in the bill that includes the aid for gaza, among other places, but it strips funding for the united nations agency that operates inside gaza. that's because israel accused 12 of their employees of being part of the october 7 attacks. we have heard they are the only group capable of delivering aid on the ground. is there any other group on the ground that could get the aid where it wants to go? sen. murphy: anra has been very effective getting aid to people in need. we have also learned elements are compromised. this was a demand of republicans, the only way they were willing to support humanitarian aid from gaza.

and we also know that groups like the red crescent, groups like the world food program, other smaller not-for-profit actors on the ground can get this key humanitarian aid out. we believe we can find responsible vetted partners. we also believe some of our allies around the region and europe will be able to help anra keep operations running. amna: thank you for your time, good to speak with you. geoff: former president donald trump's legal battles have reached a critical moment as two upcoming court decisions could shape his campaign and his businesses. the former president's federal trial for election interference

has been delayed, while an appeals court rules on donald trump's argument that he's immune from prosecution. and a verdict in the new york civil fraud trial has been pushed back. william brangham has been following the latest developments and he joins us now. so we've been waiting on this appeals court to rule on donald trump's claim of immunity. what's the latest with that? william that's right, as you : just said, jack smith special counsel jack smith is completely frozen waiting for this immunity ruling. and the dc circuit court of appeals initially set this on an expedited path, so everyone thought a ruling would happen quickly, but it hasn't. near radio silence. and it's all the more striking because in the hearing that they held, the three judges on this panel, two appointed by biden, one by bush senior, seemed very skeptical of trump's immunity argument, which if you remember,

the president and his legal team, the former president argued that because these alleged election crimes occurred while he was president, he should be immune from prosecution from them completely. this led one of the judges to stretch this hypothetical to its extreme. she asked trump's lawyers, so if the former president had ordered seal team six to execute a political rival, and congress didn't impeach trump for that, he would be immune from prosecution? trump's lawyers eventually admitted, yes, that is what we mean. so a great deal of skepticism towards this case. geoff: so if donald trump loses this case, the immunity claim, what does that mean for the overall january 6 case? william: trump would then be able to appeal to the appeals court to have it heard. if donald trump -- he most likely would appeal to the appeals court to have the entire court all 11 judges, not the three hear it. you could also appeal to the supreme court

to listen to this case. if either of those courts took that up, that would further delay the january 6 case, to the point where we can be in a position where this case doesn't start till summer or fall. and then you have the former president campaigning for president when he's required to be in court on this major federal case. i mean, it's a very, very complicated situation. a lot of pressure would be brought on judge tanya chutkan, who's overseeing this case, to postpone. she has so far shown no interest in doing that. but the flip side of that is that many people argue that it is simply unacceptable for voters to go into a presidential election not knowing the innocence or the guilt of donald trump as to whether he tried to subvert the previous election. geoff: and then add to all of that the new york civil fraud trial. was the latest there? william: last week we were to have heard from the judge on that case. he then said he needs more time to make the ruling. this case is about what penalty donald trump and his associates should be getting for this decade-long fraud they

committed. that the judges ruled they did commit. this is the penalty phase. the attorney general in new york wants hundreds of millions of dollars from the former president and wants him banned from doing work in new york. that ruling is coming any day and could be a major blow to the former president. geoff: william brangham tracking it all for us. thanks so much. william: my pleasure. amna: how will immigration affect the 2024 presidential election? time for some analysis from our politics monday team. that's amy walter of "the cook political report with amy walter." and tamera keith of npr. good to see you both. you heard the reporting from lisa and the interview with senator murphy. what this bill proposes is incredibly consequential, one of the biggest pieces of legislation for immigration in three decades.

the fact the president was able -- willing to go as far as he was, what does that say? lisa: it says the democrats know how problematic this issue is for their party going into an election year. what i find even more interesting, and an interesting test for the issue of immigration, is next week. there is a special election in a congressional district. the issue of immigration, not surprisingly, is playing a starring role with the democrat there taking a position very much like joe biden, talking about having more border security, supporting this plan that just was released by the senate. the republican candidate and republicans in general attacking the plan and attacking the democrats, including this one, as being part of the open border party. in other words, by the time next tuesday comes around -- by

wednesday we have the results of the election -- we will have our very first test for whether this issue and the way democrats are talking about it, the way republicans are talking about it, which side can claim some sort of political victory. we can't draw too many conclusions, but we will get a sense for whether, if republicans lose, this strategy of blaming everything on biden may not work. amna: republicans have their best shot at immigration reform. they have been clamoring for it for years. if it fails to go through, does that blow back them from their base? >> not from their base. i don't think it would. there is this argument if this is the crisis they say it is, it has to be dealt now -- something you're hearing from people like james lankford -- then why wait until after the election?

why wait until in theory trump is in office, and then you might still have a divided government and might still not get this. best case you are pushing this a year out and worst case, potentially way more gridlock. trump has made it clear he does not want this. he was back out on the air today saying it is terrible, calling it amnesty, all these things it isn't, but it is a compromise. it is not the bill former president trump would want to sign, not the bill the speaker of the house would author. it is something in theory if it could get to a floor vote, which it may not get in the senate and is even less likely to get in the house, it is something that could pass. it would be a coalition of moderates and national security hawks, a random coalition. you would lose the people on the

left and far right, but it could potentially pass. it may not get a chance to have that audition. amna: the biggest piece of this bill is that ukraine funding. republicans largely remain opposed to it. are there enough national security hawks to get this across the finish line? >> no because the debate is really about the border. the national security peace has been separated out. the fact the speaker is saying we are willing to do a standalone bill on israel, not ukraine, tells you where the republicans are. they do not see that holding up funding for ukraine as a political funding for them. amna: with their base. >> more that it is a priority issue. amna: 2024 primary season rolls on. . president biden has his first primary win after south carolina, a decisive win, 96% to

marianne williamson's 2% and dean phillips' just under 2%. we know four years ago it was black voters there that resurrected his campaign. did they show up with the same enthusiasm this time? >> obviously turn up is down considerably because it isn't competitive and it's hard to get people excited to vote in a race that isn't competitive. the biden campaign wants to point to that 96% number and to the turnout in certain areas that have significant african-american population, to tamp down the handwringing among many democrats that the campaign has a base problem, especially with african-american voters. i don't think this is going to make that case, because as i said it's not a real race. it is a race against candidates who didn't campaign. where it did make a case is against the idea that dean

phillips', one of those candidates, has been raising for a while that voters want a younger alternative to joe biden. clearly they do not, or at least they don't want him to be that alternative. amna: there are concerns more broadly about the biden coalition, after there was an opinion headline in the wall street journal that called dearborn, michigan america's jihad capit. biden issued a statement about islamic phobia, saying we have to condemn it in all forms. how critical are the young muslim and arab voters and voters of color, especially a state like michigan? >> every voter matters, especially a state like michigan, georgia, nevada. . , the keesling states in nevada for instance, it was narrowly decided. president biden won by very few boats, same in georgia.

michigan he won by a bit more. he had very narrow victories in several key states, which means every piece of margin matters. young voters are a challenge that the biden campaign is trying to figure out how to address. they face all kinds of challenges. young voters are not watching tv , not watching ads on cable, not consuming news in a way that's easy to find them. there are a lot of barriers they are trying to figure out how to deal with. absolutely they have a problem with young voters, with voters of color. they are trying to work on it. >> when i talked to a democrat in michigan, that was the point he made. one of these groups alone would not be enough to sink biden's fortunes, because he has a big enough cushion. if you combine all three of

those into one, that's where it turns michigan from a state that leads democratic to toss up to may going to trump. amna: on tuesday there is going to be a state run presidential primary. two days later, there is going to be a party run presidential caucus. what's happening there? >> it's a mess and it is confusing to voters. many have already voted in this primary that will not matter for voters in the republican primary. the caucus is where it is at. trump is largely unopposed because nikki haley is not on the primary ballot. it's a big mess. most interesting to me is this is one of those keesling states and neither trump nor haley are spending any time there. trump has not spent a dollar on ads in the state. this is a state that's going to matter later.

right now it is not. amna: nice closing thought. always nice to see you both. a young iranian-american poet considers life, death, the simpsons, and more. it is all part of a young novel by a young iranian poet named ak bar. jeffrey brown has that story for our arts and culture series, canvas. >> good evening aftermath from the iranian airliner shootdown dominates the news of this holiday. jeffrey: in 1988, in the midst of the iran-iraq war, the u.s. military accidentally shot down an iranian commercial passenger jet, killing all 290 people aboard. that real-life tragedy sets in motion the fictional events in the new novel "martyr!", by kaveh akbar. >> i've always been fascinated

by this event, and nobody in america knows about it. and one of the projects of the book is to give texture to, you know, you hear a number like 290 people were killed on board. if that number was 289 or 291, it wouldn't make a difference intellectually, right? for me, 290 is a middle large number. it's more than five, it's less than 10,000, right? but that one life, every character in the book, their life is shaped by this event. jeffrey: the 35-year-old akbar, whom we met at an event at a brooklyn public library, was himself born in iran to an iranian father and american mother and came to this country at age two, his family eventually settling in wisconsin. he teaches creative writing at the university of iowa, and has made a name for himself as a poet and poetry editor, at the nation magazine. but a longer story began to swirl around in his head, and he gave himself a crash course in writing narrative. >> and just through the process of doing this for months and months and then years and years

and constantly feeding it, narrative, you know, i'm consuming narrative voraciously while i'm doing this in the form of two novels a week and a movie a day was the sort of silly diet that i put myself on. jeffrey: what do you mean, to study narrative? >> yes, to study narrative absolutely kleptomaniacally. i would read morrison and nabokov and tolstoy and also agatha christie and also old pulp science fiction. just everything that i could find and get my hands on. i just wanted to understand how author moves the reader through beats of narrative without making it feel super heavy-handed, without making it feel just like a cudgel of exposition. jeffrey: the result is "martyr!" -- and that exclamation point is important. >> i think it would be a pretty dour-sounding title if it had just been martyr without an exclamation i think it would point. have felt kind of joyless, maybe relentlessly sad or relentlessly and that's not the sort of book somber. and that's not the sort of book

-- and that's not the sort of book it is. it is often funny, hopefully. and oftentimes it is quite joyful and it is quite ecstatic even. jeffrey: it's a mash-up romp whose protagonist is an iranian-american midwesterner would-be poet named cyrus whose head bursts with contemporary pop culture and medieval persian classics. is that you too? >> of course. i was born there, raised here. i love ferdowsi, i love "the shahnameh", i love hafez, i love islam. but i also love erykah badu, i love epmd and vogue and sonic youth. and it has shaped the person that i am, the identity that i walk through the world, just as yours has you and everyone's has. jeffrey: another theme in the novel also links to akbar's personal experience. in his 20's he became addicted to alcohol and drugs, a self-destructive period that nearly did destroy him. >> i am in recovery.

i am 10 years and some change sober. jeffrey: so it's personal. >> it's very personal. and all of my work orbits recovery in one way or another, explicitly or implicitly. and every experience of my life, every interaction i have -- my spouse, my dog, my teaching position, the fact that we are set here right now -- is predicated on the fact of my recovery. had i not recovered, i wouldn't have any of this. // jeffrey: but that stays with you. >> of course. i'm no less an addict today than i was 11 years ago. i just have better tools with which to cope with it. you learn techniques, you gain a community upon which you can draw. and so it's not like i'm walking around white-knuckling it today. i have resources, i have community. but i'm no less an addict. if i take the first drink or if i snort the first line or whatever that thing is today, all bets are off. the partition between me and an early preventable death is a little bit thinner for me than

it is for a lot of people. and that is true for cyrus. that is something that the addict thinks about all the time. i've been thinking about dying, cyrus shams said. jeffrey: for his character, a quest for survival and meaning. for the author, years into his own recovery, something similar , but now bringing his first novel into the world. did you have fun writing it? >> it was thrilling. it's among the most fun i've ever had writing. you know, there are extended conversations with lisa simpson and kareem abdul-jabbar and rumi and the dead are talking and deliberating, and it's such a strange thing to be putting into the world, and i hope it coheres, i hope that it makes narrative sense and doesn't seem too wacky. but it was absolutely thrilling to write. jeffrey: the book is "martyr!", with an exclamation point. thank you very much. >> thank you so much, jeff. my luck to be here.

geoff: and join us again here tomorrow night. i will speak with joy-ann reid about her new book on the extraordinary lives and love of civil rights leaders medgar and myrlie evers. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with unard, the world awaits, a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure and british style. all with cunard's white star service. >> the kendeda fund, committed

to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendeda fund.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information accomack found.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west, from weta studios in washington and are bureau of the walter cronkite school of journalism at

arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪