captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday july 16: the trump-pence ticket makes it debut, just two days before the republican convention begins. a failed coup attempt in turkey leaves hundreds killed, thousands arrested, and many questions about the stability of a u.s. ally. and from nice, france: the latest on the investigation into the bastille day truck attack. next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii.

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. here in new york today, presumptive republican presidential nominee donald trump formally introduced his running mate, indiana governor mike pence. trump had confirmed the choice yesterday but delayed their first appearance as running mates due to thursday night's terror attack in nice, france. the two men will be the center of attention when the republican national convention begins on monday in cleveland. the newshour's john yang is there with more. >> i accept your invitation to run and serve as vice president of the united states.

>> reporter: joining the trump campaign, indiana governor mike pence was quick to praise the presumptive republican presidential nominee. >> donald trump understands the frustrations and the hopes of the american people like no leader since ronald reagan. >> reporter: pence described trump as a builder, fighter, patriot, and outsider. >> we're tired of being told that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives better for us than we can plan them for ourselves. donald trump gets it. >> reporter: for his part, trump praised pence's record in public office and called him "a solid person." >> mike pence is a man of honor, character, and honesty. >> reporter: pence is 57 years old, married for 31 years, with three grown children. he's an indiana native who went to college and law school in the hoosier state. he describes himself as "a christian, a conservative, and a republican-- in that order." pence spent a dozen years in the house of representatives, where,

to limit government spending, he opposed president bush's "no child left behind" education reform and expansion of medicare drug benefits. elected governor in 2012, pence cut personal and corporate income taxes, managed a $2 billion budget surplus, and saw the state unemployment rate go down from 8.5% to 5%, though the national average is 4.7%. more notably, pence signed a state law allowing businesses to deny services to gays, which he rolled back after a national outcry. he also signed a law restricting access to abortions on the basis of race, gender, or fetal abnormality. like some republican governors, pence agreed to expand medicaid under president obama's affordable care act. hillary clinton's campaign has already tweeted and posted a web video attacking pence's record on gay rights and abortion rights. but the pence pick is being well received by national republican leaders and delegates here in cleveland.

indiana delegate john hammond has known pence since the 1980s. >> he is very likable. he'll be a great asset politically to the trump organization, and to mr. trump and his campaign efforts with that swath up through the rust belt, beginning with pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin, that sweep, that's so important. i think we're going to see a whole slew of people that have been apprehensive about donald trump and bringing him in and i think they are going see how donald trump is one that will listen and work with people and that was why he was a good pick. >> today, trump said one reason he picked pence was for party unity. that's something that republican party leaders hope will be on display here in cleveland next week. hari. >> sreenivasan: john, we see you're in the convention hall now. we've heard stories all week about what kind of security concerns. how hard was it getting there? has the city changed when it comes to the preparations? >> reporter: this area has

changed. the closest we could come in a vehicle was about four blocks away. this entire arena has been encircled by steel barricades, and a broader part of the downtown cleveland area is a security area. federal officials alone, agents, officers, 30,000 here in cleveland for this convention, and that doesn't count local police who are beefed up by police forces around the midwest. >> sreenivasan: john yang reporting for us from cleveland. thomp. >> thanks, hari. >> sreenivasan: there are 2,472 delegates to the republican convention, and there may be as many opinions of the trump-pence ticket. special correspondent jeff greenfield is in cleveland with a sampling of those views and a preview of the four-day gathering. >> reporter: there's a good reason why the rock 'in roll hal of fame is in cleveland.

it was here, on wjw am radio in the early 1950s, that disc jockey alan freed began playing records that introduced a generation-- white as well as black-- to the music that has evolved and endured. but when rock music first hit mainstream america some six decades ago, in cleveland first, then across the country-- it was an intensely polarizing force. >> rock and roll has got to go! >> reporter: liberating, empowering to some, dangerous, malevolent to others. next week, another polarizing force arrives in cleveland. >> we are in a rigged, rigged system. >> reporter: a candidate whose past-- and path to the nomination-- is unlike any ever chosen by either major party. jo ann davidson is a national committeewoman from ohio, who attended her first convention as a delegate for gerald ford in 1976. >> i've always thought americans wanted kind of the gary cooper type, the john wayne type. don't say much, but you do much.

you don't brag on yourself because that's not what a real leader does. trump's broken all of those rules. >> maybe we're moving into a new situation within politics which the old rules aren't going to apply anymore. and i think that's probably what's on many people's mind here. we had transition convention. we're transitioning to what we've always thought about, your sort of typical conventions, to a whole different setup. we'll see how it goes. >> i feel i simply can't vote for him. >> reporter: for a significant number of republicans, trump's triumph brings to mind john f. kennedy's assertion that "sometimes party loyalty asks too much." 18 republican u.s. senators and more than 50 republican members of the house are not attending the convention. even the host governor, john kasich, is skipping it. many are staying away, because they simply cannot support the nominee. which is why, as republicans prepare for their 41st national convention, trump's supporters

and party foot soldiers have worked so hard to quell intra- party battles. >> i believe that completes our work on rule 12. >> reporter: the so-called "never trumpers" are going out not with a bang... but a whimper. their efforts to free delegates from commitments to support trump's nomination on the first ballot failed. they needed 28 votes on the rules committee this week to force a floor fight on that; they got 12. as for trump's troubles with conservatives, well-- morton blackwell has been at every gop convention since 1964, when he was barry goldwater's youngest delegate. >> well, there's always some people who have hurt feelings, disappointed ambitions, who don't come to a convention. but the tendency has always been, in my lifetime, for the party to unite. >> reporter: he says trump's choice of governor mike pence as his running mate sends the right message. >> movement conservatives are going to be looking for that

sort of thing. mike pence is a conservative movement builder. >> reporter: former michigan republican party chairman saul anuzis, who's here as a delegate, is a conservative who backed senator ted cruz in the primaries. >> i would have preferred to have a more conservative candidate, somebody who's philosophically more consistent. >> reporter: but, like many trump skeptics, anuzis says he can easily live with trump when he considers the alternative. >> i think what donald trump has been doing is slowly building kind of a consensus to make conservatives and republicans feel better about who he is and at least represent our values, a lot closer than someone like hillary clinton ever would. >> reporter: in an election where large numbers of voters still have serious doubts about trump's temperament and stability, the convention is his chance to demonstrate a more reassuring image. ben ginsberg is a top republican election lawyer who advised the bush and romney campaigns. >> the convention can show that donald trump has a number of validators who can speak to the characteristics that he wants to

put forward. if that's done well, then that will enhance the message of unity coming and perhaps calm the dissident voices. >> reporter: the trump campaign has apparently won its battlenfe convention, but the harder battle will take place once it ends. can trump and his allies convince the skeptics within the republican-conservative community to stand with him--or at least, not openly against him? in that effort, their strongest argument will be the identity of his presumptive opponent. >> sreenivasan: the government of turkey says it is in full control of the nation after a faction of the military rose up against president recep erdogan last night. the chaotic, deadly, and failed military coup deployed tanks and helicopters to shell and strafe parliament and other government buildings in ankara and istanbul. but rallied by erdogan, who is unpopular with the military for

his islamist-rooted ideology, loyal troops, the police, and thousands of his civilian supporters took to the streets to confront and block the rebel soldiers. turkey's government said at least 265 people were killed in the fighting that continued until early this morning. that includes more than a hundred rebels and 161 civilians and police officers, while some 1,400 people were wounded. the government says it arrested almost 3,000 of the treasonous soldiers, and erdogan vowed they will "pay a heavy price" for the uprising. today, turkey's prime minister addressed an emergency session of parliament, as the four political parties condemned the coup attempt, and thousands marched in support of erdogan's government. turkey accused a u.s.-based cleric, fethullah gulen, of masterminding the attempted coup, and demanded his extradition. secretary of state kerry said the united states would consider a request for extradition should it be made. today in washington, president obama met with his national security team about turkey.

he lamented the loss of life and expressed his support for the democratically elected government and nato member. turkey is a key ally in the fight against isis in neighboring syria and iraq. for several hours today, the incirlik air base in southern turkey used by american warplanes was closed. u.s. airlines have suspended all flights between the u.s. and ankara and istanbul. to help us understand the events in turkey i am joined now from washington by eric edelman, the former u.s. ambassador to turkey during the bush administration, and here in new york by david phillips, director of the program on peace-building and human rights at columbia university. mr. edelman, i want to start with you. most people watching tv last night said, oh, gosh, there's a cooks but what precipitated this? why now? why did it happen? >> well, hari, turkey is an extremely divided and polarized society, and the former prime minister now president erdogan is an enormously polarizing

figure. he has been driving the country in a direction of greater division because of his desire to establish an executive presidenty. there is a lot of concern about his autocratic rule and those divisions also appear to be mirrored in the military, and some members of the military, obviously, yesterday decided to -- or earlier, but activated yesterday a plan to take him out of office. >> sreenivasan: david phillips, this is a long time coming? >> his autocratic governance has alienated a large sceks of the society. the military issue said they wanted to restore constitutional order. recently turkey's been attacked by i.s.i.s. and suffered significant loss. their policy in syria is failing. so it's the accumulation of several years' worth of mismanaged on erdogan's part. >> sreenivasan: so eric edelman, what does erdogan do now considering he knows there is this dissatisfaction among

the public and especially inside the military? >> well, he was able to yesterday to rally his supporters, about 50% of the public, to come out and stop this coup from succeeding. i think what you can see happening already is he's doubling down on some of the things david was just talking about, the kind of policies he's followed up to this point. he's purging not only the military which he had already been doing for some period of time, but he is now purging the judiciary and i think you're going to see a period of some turmoil internally in turkey while he tries to use this to his advantage to establish what he calls an executive presidency, but which many people fear is really just a more authoritarian personalized regime in turkey. >> sreenivasan: david phillips, does this play right into his interests in a way, saying here are all these bad

guys trying to get me out of office and trying to ruin the democracy and i am going to have to tighten up some things. >> he has been warning a coup for some time. he's not acknowledging the events of yesterday. he's calling it a terrorist action. in his world view he's surrounded by terrorists, he's demonized everybody and is part of the polarization that exists in the country. if he practices a kind of viktor's justice purging the military, judiciary and potential opponents in the polarization, it's going to become more severe and turkey will be more unstable. >> sreenivasan: it's almost impossible to understate the geographic importance of turkey. >> yes, turkey is a pivotal country. it's a n.a.t.o. ally.

it's astride several zones of conflict. it's a black sea literal state so it has concerns about its neighbor to north, russia, what's happened in ukraine, the easier and annexation of crimea, but it, of course, borders iran, iraq and syria. so, you know, it sits astride, you know, an incredibly important zone of conflict and one in which our military forces are currently engaged, and unfortunately i think what's happened in the u.s. turkish relationship is on both sides there has been an assumption turkey is too big, too important to fail and, as a result, there's p been not as much attention in my view as should have been paid to some of these domestic turkish issues david and i have been talking about with you, hari. >> the erdogan sphraition adopted a policy called zero problems with neighbors and in a couple of months found itself in conflict with almost all its neighbors and those conflicts

were largely of erdogan's making. turkey has historically been a valued member of n.a.t.o. but if n.a.t.o. were being established today because erdogan's new turkey is islamist, anti-democratic, it simply wouldn't qualify for membership. there is also a lot of documentation about erdogan's support for jihadi groups, the jihadi highway that ran to raqqa provided weapons, money to wounded warriors coming out of syria. so turkey's hardly been a reliable n.a.t.o. ally member in the fight against violent crimism in the region. >> sreenivasan: so what does warned do in this interim per -- so what does erdogan do in this interim period as he has these forces working against him, as he says. how can he placate the interests of the west and figure out how to keep his neighborhood safe?

>> he had a motto peace at home and abroad. turkey hasn't been able to realize either under president erdogan. right now there is a moment to pivot, to focus on domestic issues instead of cracking down on independent and civil society to reactivate the peace process with turkey's kurds. if they're looking for international mediators, there is a history of international involvement discreetly in this area. so resolving the kurdish issue would put turkey back on the right track, coordinating more closely with the u.s. and the multi-national coalition against i.s.i.s. would also be a wise move. but erdogan has hardly displayed good judgment when it comes to critical decisions and is likely to take this opportunity to consolidate his dictatorship which would make turkey less prone to cooperation with the west and less likely to reconcile with its own citizens.

>> sreenivasan: finally, ambassador edelman, regardless of what erdogan does in reaction to the cooks this is still a country n.a.t.o. and the u.s. will continue to rely on. >> well, in the best of all possible worlds, that's true, hari, but unfortunately i have to agree with what david just said. one would hope that it would be possible to do the things and it would be in turkey's interest for erdogan to do the things that david suggested as an agenda postcoup, but the early return suggests that is not the direction in which he is moving and i think david's correct, i think we're going to see a period of internal focus, retribution and a movement away from the kinds of engagement where not only the kurdish community but the rest of turkish society that might help stabilize the situation so i

think we're in for a period of unstablization in turkey. how far it can go, no one knows. >> sreenivasan: eric edelman, david phillips, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: see images from turkey following last night's attempted coup. visit us online at pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: france began three days of national mourning today for the victims of thursday's terrorist truck attack in the riviera resort city of nice. today, isis claimed responsibility, saying the tunisian man who drove the large truck was one of its soldiers, heeding its call to kill citizens of france and other countries fighting the militant group. but french authorities have not confirmed the link. the death toll stands at 84, after the truck ran over pedestrians for a mile-and-a- half along nice's promenade following bastille day fireworks. of more than 200 other people who were injured, about 50 remain hospitalized in critical condition. special correspondent jane ferguson has more from nice.

>> reporter: signs of the horror are beginning to fade from nice's promenade des anges. parts of this route along the french riviera have re-opened, as tourists and locals cautiously return to a street known for it's glamour, history, and now, tragedy. there are more police around, and many have gathered to mourn the dead. just to give you some perspective-- now that the street has been re-opened, many have come here to lay flowers and candles at the various spots where people were killed. so all down this street you can see small piles of flowers were each life was lost. nice has drawn visitors for centuries. it's old world style and beauty are still unmistakable. that's why philip frayne and his wife came here for a holiday. he works at the u.s. embassy and lives in paris. they were on the promenade just a few minutes before the attacker struck. his wife wanted to stay and dance at the street party, but he wanted to go for dinner.

>> had i taken my wife's wishes and stayed to dance at the time we probably would have been right in the crossfire, but we decided to go get a bite to eat first, come back to dance later. that may have saved us. >> reporter: from a nearby restaurant they heard the attack. >> once gunshots were heard then we all knew we had to get inside and we had to remain low and there were a lot of people amongst us who were crying and who were very upset. >> reporter: other americans caught up in the panic are still missing. 20-year-old berkeley student nicolas of the attack and hasn't been seen since. his family is desperately trying to find him. a california family is turning a facebook page, "sos nice," to help locate writer renee lo iacono. she was in nice thursday night, but her family has not heard from her. the attacker, shot dead by police, 31-year-old tunisian mohamed lahouaiej bouhel, was not on any french terror lists or known to police as a radical. the french interior minister

said today he apparently radicalized very quickly. police have arrested five people including his estranged wife. they're trying to find out if the attacker acted alone or had help from other individuals. hari. >> sreenivasan: how are investigators going to know whether a group planned this attack or trained the attacker? >> they're trying to look into whether this was a coordinated attack from yieth. what's clear is the statement they made today said he followed the call. that is not saying they coordinate the attack and planned it out. for instance, the paris attack in november which was clearly coordinated and very much so

planned inside syria, this attack may have simply been inspired by i.s.i.s. which is different but no less deadly. >> sreenivasan: thanks so much, jane ferguson, from nice, france. >> sreenivasan: jane ferguson reporting from nice. thank you. police in pakistan said today that a controversial model and social media star has been strangled to death in her home, allegedly by her own brother. a police officer said the murder of quandeel baloch was a so- called "honor killing," carried out by a relative to punish family members seen as violating conservative muslim values. police are searching for her brother, who has disappeared. baloch was well-known for posting provocative photos on facebook and other social media, including a recent selfie with a prominent muslim cleric that angered religious leaders. she spoke of trying to change the "typical orthodox mindset" of pakistanis. the human rights commission of pakistan says more than 1,000 women died in honor killings there in 2014. on pbs newshour weekend tomorrow, our preview of the republican national convention continues with a closer look at

the presumptive nominee. >> he's very good at turning around, what the rest of us would see as a defeat into a victory. >> sreenivasan: and the issues facing the republican party. on pbs newshour weekend sunday. finally, services were held today in fort worth, texas for dallas police officer, the last of the five officers gunned down in the july 7th sniper shootings. a navy veteran who spent three tours in iraq was 32 years old. if you missed it, you can watch last night's special program that followed the tragic events in dallas, baton rouge and st. paul. it was called america in black and blue, a pbs "newshour weekend" special report online now at pbs.org/"newshour". that's all for this edition of pbs news weekend, i'm hari sreenivasan. good knight.

bank captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust. supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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