captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> barack obama was born in the united states-- period. >> woodruff: reversing his long- standing claim, donald trump acknowledges president obama is a native-born citizen, as hillary clinton argues history can't be erased. >> he has lead the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. >> woodruff: then, in syria, a shaky cease-fire is tested as the u.n. attempts to deliver aid to those stuck in the war torn city of aleppo. plus, protests from more than a hundred native american tribes

slow the construction of an oil pipeline near a reservation, but the fight is far from over. >> when that oil spills, who's going to come save us? we're indian people. we're expendable. who is going to come? who is going to come and give us water? >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks analyze a full week of news. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪

moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the presidential campaign took a sudden detour today: back to president obama's origins. for the first time, donald trump said publicly the president is indeed, american by birth. but, in the process, he stirred up a new storm of criticism. >> reporter: for the presidential opponents-- both holding events within blocks of the white house-- the day was a battle over truths. his aides had said recently, but for the first time, donald trump himself acknowledged president obama is a natural-born american citizen.

>> president barack obama was born in the united states. period. now we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. >> reporter: it was a complete reversal for the man who spent years stoking the so-called "birther" controversy. this is on the "today show" in 2011. >> you are not allowed to be president if you are not born in this country. he may not have been born in this country... >> reporter: when the white house made the president's birth certificate public two weeks later, trump questioned if the document was real. and even as a presidential candidate, in january of this year, trump refused to acknowledge the president was-- indeed-- born in hawaii. >> was he a natural-born citizen? >> who knows, who knows, who cares right now? >> reporter: today, clearly hillary clinton cared, even before trump spoke. >> for five years he has lead the birther movement to

delegitimize our first black president. his campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. there is no erasing it in history. >> reporter: there was more outrage from members of the congressional black caucus who said trump is unrepentant and an opportunist. >> by any definition, donald trump is a disgusting fraud. >> reporter: at the white house today, president obama declined to respond to trump's public change on the issue. >> i was pretty confident about where i was born; i think most people were as well. and my hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that. >> reporter: but trump today raised another birther controversy-- he alleged clinton is to blame. >> hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it.

>> reporter: there is no evidence of that. fact-checks proving it to be false abound. clinton's 2008 campaign did fight tooth and nail with president obama, but she never questioned his birth place. there was one more geographic story today-- where trump chose to hold his event: his new d.c. hotel. when trump took cameras on a hotel tour-- but did not allow producers who would ask questions-- all of the major networks refused to use the footage, seeing it as a publicity stunt. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardin. >> woodruff: and, donald trump and hillary clinton will be the only candidates at the first presidential debate-- in ten days. the commission on presidential debates said today that libertarian candidate gary johnson and green party nominee jill stein don't have high enough standings in public opinion polls, to qualify. in the day's other news: a suicide bomber killed at least

24 worshippers-- and injured dozens more-- at a sunni mosque in northwest pakistan. the attacker struck at the village of ambar, in a tribal region near the afghan border. despite this, security in pakistan has actually improved since 2013, with attacks dropping by nearly half. president obama made a new push today for the trans-pacific trade deal. it's been roundly denounced by both democrats and republicans during this campaign season. the president blamed that on "misinformation". >> if you're frustrated about rules of trade that disadvantage america, if you're frustrated about jobs being shipped overseas, then you want to get this thing passed, you want to get this thing done. >> woodruff: republican governor john kasich of ohio was among political and business leaders meeting with the president, and urging congress to approve the deal. but, senate republican leader

mitch mcconnell says there won't be a vote before mr. obama leaves office. on wall street today, dropping oil prices were a factor as the dow jones industrial average lost 88 points to close at 18,123. the nasdaq fell five and the s&p 500 dropped eight. for the week, the nasdaq rose 2%. the dow and the s&p gained a fraction. and, as of today, beer began flowing beneath the streets of a medieval belgian city. after five months of construction, a brewery in bruges opened a two-mile-long underground pipeline to pump beer to a suburban bottling plant. it replaces heavy trucks rolling down narrow, cobblestoned streets. >> we have up to four to five of these tanker trucks a day sometimes, and that's really becoming difficult for environmental reasons. but also, just in general, the livability of the inner center of bruges is sometimes threatened by that. >> woodruff: the pipeline was

partially financed through a crowdfunding appeal. top contributors receive a bottle of beer-- every day-- for the rest of their lives. still to come on the newshour: a desperate need for aid in syria despite the mostly holding cease-fire, donald trump's appeal in one of ohio's democratic strongholds, the ongoing battle over the dakota oil pipeline, and much more. >> woodruff: last friday, the u.s. and russia announced a deal to resume a tenuous cease-fire in syria, in order to get much needed humanitarian aid to badly-deprived civilians throughout the country. it went into effect monday evening, and thus far, the results are mixed. chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner begins our coverage. >> reporter: the day began with claims of progress in the four-

day old cease-fire. syrian state television showed bulldozers apparently clearing the castello road into war- ravaged aleppo. that's the crucial link for humanitarian aid convoys to enter aleppo from turkey. the russians also announced that syrian army units had pulled out of the area. but within hours, all that changed. >> ( translated ): opposition groups have not started pulling armor and weapons from castello road. as a result, syrian military vehicles and government troops were returned to the positions they occupied earlier. >> reporter: rebel fighters denied that, and said government forces never left in the first place. >> ( translated ): we are currently around a mile away from castello road.

cars are travelling through normally, nothing has changed for them, it's only us who have been forced to retreat. >> reporter: the fingerpointing left u.n. convoys stuck at the turkish border for another day without syrian government permission to enter. >> we are as ready to go as we can possibly be. the modalities for ensuring safe passage have not yet been cleared, and given to us so that we can move. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister sergey lavrov had negotiated the cease-fire in geneva last weekend. they spoke by phone today, and according to the state department, kerry said the delays on opening access for humanitarian aid were "unacceptable." the white house went further blaming the russians. >> they are the ones that have made a commitment to use their influence with the assad regime, to reduce the violence, and allow humanitarian access. and either the russians are unable to live up to the agreement-- maybe they don't have the juice and influence they claim to have, and we all

thought they had-- or maybe they're just unwilling. >> reporter: meanwhile, there are other signs the cease-fire is fraying: heavy fighting was reported today around the capital damascus. and, tensions have cropped up within the u.s.-backed coalition battling the islamic state in syria. this amateur video today was said to show americans-- possibly special forces-- leaving a syrian border town after rebels protested their presence. >> woodruff: and margaret joins me now. >> woodruff: and margaret joins me now. looks like the deal is not holding up well. is anything going right? >> one thing that's going right is you don't have heavy bombing of civilians. you can't lose sight of that. people are allowed to shop in aleppo if there's anything to buy. but what's not shown is humanitarian aid is not getting through. it's the russian's job to make

sure president assad would let the cop voice in and they're not getting in. if both were satisfied they would set up the joint operation center where the u.s. and russians would work together to target the islamic state and the al quaida link which is to be called the nusra front but the white house made clear today unless the other two checks are satisfied they're not going to get to the joint integration center or operational center. >> woodruff: now, the russians are saying though, that the united states bears some of the responsibility. >> well, you know, they have a point. the u.s.'s responsibility was to lean on its clients, which are the u.s.-vetted or c.i.a.-vetted rebels, the so-called moderate opposition, and they have been in many areas, really entangled with this al quaida-linked group, not ideologically, but simply because they fight more effectively together. i have been told by people who have spoke on the military commanders of these groups that many are very suspicious. they say, well, if we have to

disentangledle from the nusra fighters, the most effective ones, that means we have to fall back and i.s.i.s. will come take the territory. >> woodruff: explain the apparent division between the state department and the pentagon over working with the russians. >> it's interesting, judy because not that you don't always have this kind of friction or often but to have it burst into the open like this. the other day, i was at a conference in which the new head of centcom was speaking and he said, look, there's a trust deficit with the russians, we don't kn what their objectives are, they will say one thing, don't follow up, and that's particularly true in the ukraine over the years the ukraine conflict where the russians would promise to do one thing and they would do something else. there are also specific risks. they won't operate together. they're supposed to share intelligence. here are the nusra fighters and the i.s.i.s. fighters. what the americans are afraid of

is the russians will take the information that intelligence has, either use the information to bomb the u.s.-backed rebels or pass the info on to the assad forces, one colonel suggested that to me and then also it's hard to tell the russians what we know about indicating how we know it. so the secretary of defense ash carter spoke out, and the other interesting i heard is this debate is being used bioponents of this deal in moscow to say, well, if the american military isn't even going to obey the order, why should we do anything? >> woodruff: is this the last gasp of information on syria and if that's the case, what happens after that? >> i'm afraid. so secretary kerry keeps saying we want to get to this political transition, these talks where there will be a discussion of a process and president assad will slowly fade away.

but i went to the very first talks back in, you know switzerland almost three years ago. i don't think it's moved at all. and at this point, that is a distant dream. if they could only get at least an end to a lot of the carnage on the ground, in other words they car -- kerry and lavrov are now negotiating over a fifth of a loaf, and that now even appears in doubt. >> woodruff: tough, tough story to follow. very. >> yeah. >> woodruff: margaret warner we thank you. >> woodruff: now, part two of our on-the-ground report from ohio, one of the crucial swing states in this presidential election. tonight, john yang reports from a county in northeastern ohio that's a democratic stronghold but where because of the sluggish economy, republicans

are hoping to make inroads. this story is also part of our ongoing reporting initiative "chasing the dream; poverty and opportunity in america." >> reporter: in the moore household in newton falls, ohio donald trump's approval rating is just about 100%. three generations of voters-- including a longtime democrat who's never voted republican-- enthusiastically backing the new york millionaire. you might call 21-year-old danny moore a "trump scholar." he wrote a college paper about his nomination. >> "it is about the desire to be part of the movement to return america to its greatness and dominance in the world. the dominance of donald trump leads his supporters to believe he can and will do this for america." >> reporter: he got an "a." danny gave trump's book, "the art of the deal," to his father, dan. a self-described swing voter

who says he was on the obama bandwagon in 2008 and 2012. and now? who are you voting for this fall? >> absolutely donald trump. with him being a real estate developer and being involved in the construction industry, he had to be a good problem-solver. >> he's going to build the wall and they're going to pay for it. >> reporter: dan's 75-year-old mother-in-law, frances kimpton was a lifelong democrat who switched parties to vote for trump in the ohio primary. >> i would go in and i'd vote straight down the ticket: everything democrat. but now i'm gonna do everything republican. and i can't wait to do it. >> reporter: trumbull county is one of ohio's most reliably democratic counties, delivering majorities around 60% to the party's nominees since 1996. but trump is trying to narrow that gap here and across northeastern ohio. he's visited the region five times since august with a message about the economy.

>> we're going to bring jobs back to ohio! >> reporter: it's an appeal tailor-made for trumbull county: one out of every four jobs that was here 15 years ago is gone-- 26,000 in all, including more than 1,000 that disappeared when this steel mill closed in 2012. dan moore, a member of the united steel workers' union, has watched the industry's slow painful decline. >> working class families were being hurt. they're losing their homes they're losing their cars. one day you're middle class or upper middle class, and the next day you're poverty class. >> reporter: he blames trade deals like nafta, championed by president bill clinton. >> i believe that donald trump can do something to help, you know, make it a fairer playing board. he's been very clear about his position on nafta.

i believe that a trump presidency will take a close look at nafta and that they language of that agreement, if it can't be reformed, he's on record saying we'll walk away from it. >> reporter: like her son-in- law, frances kimpton doesn't think president obama has done enough. >> when obama was running, i voted for him. and then i found out he didn't live up to what he said he was gonna do. i voted for him twice, and i couldn't believe how the situation is now. >> reporter: trade has been an issue in trumbull county since native son william mckinley was president. it was at his memorial in niles that we spoke with kyle kondik of the university of virginia center for politics. he wrote a book about ohio's significance in presidential elections: "the bellwether." >> these are areas where anti- free trade populism has been popular for a very long time. this is generally a region that feels like maybe it has not

benefited from trade agreements such as nafta. trumbull county was actually trump's second best county in the whole state in terms of the primary and there's some thought that that will translate to the general election as well. >> reporter: but trump's message doesn't resonate with other democrats here even though they see the same economic conditions. at hillary clinton's local field office, marie yancey, is a retired auto worker, was making phone calls. >> with obama saving our jobs-- she's going to continue on. if they had let the auto industry fail, how many jobs around here would we not have? so that's why she has my vote. >> reporter: what does she think of the idea that trump would revitalize the county? >> i don't understand where their thinking comes from. i just don't trust trump. i think trump thinks this presidency is like running "the

apprentice." you can't just say, "you're hired." >> reporter: jim roan is a retired banker. >> i don't really see anything concrete about what he's talking about. it's fine to say, "this has got to change, and i'm going to change it," but unless he's superman-- which i don't think he is-- it just isn't going to change that easily. there's some very deep-seated problems here, and they're not going to go away instantly. >> reporter: in this topsy-turvy election year, the traditional voting patterns in this crucial battleground state are in doubt. analyst kyle kondik. >> the key question for ohio is how much can clinton gain among traditional republicans in the affluent suburbs versus how much can trump gain with traditional democrats in the maybe not-so- affluent blue-collar regions of the state? >> reporter: like this county, where declining economic fortunes are leading voters like the moores to rethink their political allegiances. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in trumbull county, ohio.

>> woodruff: and we'll bring you additional "chasing the dream" ground reports in the coming weeks. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's political news, students who choose computer coding over a college degree and a police officer's take on building public trust. but first, as we reported last week, a protest in north dakota continues to grow against a major oil pipeline continues to grow. over 100 native american tribes have joined the fight against the project, saying it threatens one tribe's water supply and its sacred lands. while the u.s. justice department has put a temporary halt to part of the project, as the newshour's william brangham reports, the fight is far from over.

>> reporter: after months of protest, it was a moment to celebrate. last friday, the department of justice blocked construction on part of the $4 billion dakota access pipeline-- the very pipeline that brought these thousands of protesters here to rural north dakota. but celebration soon turned to suspicion. that's because work on the pipeline hasn't fully stopped. in areas outside federal jurisdiction, construction continues-- as do efforts to block it. at least 22 people were arrested this week. >> it is most definitely not a victory. >> reporter: liz mckenzie drove 1,000 miles from albuquerque to protest with her fellow native americans. >> people are finally noticing us, not as beings of the past, not as costumes you buy in a halloween store. we are here, we are still fighting, and that does mean a

lot. >> reporter: the dakota access pipeline begins in north dakota's bakken oil fields, and would carry crude oil almost 1,200 miles through south dakota and iowa, down to illinois. the pipeline's original path crossed the missouri river just north of bismarck, a city that's 90% white. but when concerns were raised about a potential oil spill there, the pipeline was rerouted south to go under the river right next to the standing rock reservation. the missouri river is the reservation's primary source of drinking water. the tribe says a spill there could be catastrophic for them. so when construction started, a plea for help went out. >> i am asking anybody who's willing water is life to come stand with us. >> reporter: ladonna brave bull allard is a member of standing rock, and her land looks over

the ridge where the pipeline would be built. >> when i put the call out i really thought, maybe 40 people would come. it's overwhelming. in my own vision, i didn't expect this. >> reporter: now, over a hundred native american tribes from across north america have joined standing rock's movement. and in this sprawling camp, a community has formed. this kitchen serves donated food to all, kids can take classes at a makeshift school, cords of donated firewood are split and stacked, free for the taking. >> why do you think that this has taken off and spoken to so many people from so many parts of the country? >> the water. we know how precious that water is. we know that we must stand for the water. "mni wiconi" we say, "water of life." every time we drink water, we remind ourself how important the water is. don't you do that? you will, now. >> reporter: protecting the water spurred brenda guachena to drive 30 hours from southern california to be here. she's from the rincon band of luiseno indians. she came with dozens of people--

including her grandkids-- and brought trucks full of donated supplies. >> walking in, it was so humbling to see all of these flags. all of the people, the native people in all the reservations that showed up here to show standing rock: we're here to support you, and we're not going to let people do this to us anymore. >> reporter: guy jones was born in standing rock. he says the tribes are tired of being ignored. >> they didn't want it in bismarck, but it was, "it's okay if the indians-- you can go down and run it through the reservation where all those indians live, who cares about the indians?" that's one of the things that incensed people. >> reporter: the company that's building the pipeline-- energy transfer partners-- says it's followed all the rules, and points out the pipeline isn't even on reservation land. plus, it argues that moving oil via modern pipelines is a far safer way than putting it on trucks or trains, which statistics show are far more likely to crash and spill. it also says the pipeline will generate revenue and jobs for north dakota.

we asked the company several times to talk with us on camera. they didn't make anyone available. we did speak with ron ness president of the north dakota petroleum council-- the trade association that includes energy transfer partners. >> pipelines are the most efficient, safest, and cost effective way to move oil to market. the products get there virtually 100% of the time without issue. >> reporter: that said, the 2.5 million miles of oil and gas pipelines across the u.s. do sometimes leak and rupture, and when they do, they often spill far more oil than a single train car carries. since 1995, there's been more than 2,000 significant accidents on oil and gas pipelines, causing about $3 billion in property damage. for example: in july 2010, at least 800,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the kalamazoo river near marshall, michigan. it was one of the largest inland oil spills in u.s. history, and

the costliest. almost 5,000 acres of wetland habitat was inundated with oil. hundreds of animals were killed, thousands more were recovered cleaned and released. full recovery could take decades. and just this summer, a pipeline in canada spilled about 65,000 gallons of oil and other toxins into the north saskatchewan river, polluting the drinking water used by the james smith cree nation. the petroleum council says those kinds of spills near the standing rock reservation are very unlikely to occur. >> this pipe is 90 feet below the river bed. it's not going to leak right into the river. it's got the detection equipment and the shutoff valves on each side of this pipeline. >> reporter: but ladonna allard doesn't believe the industry's assurances. she says half a million gallons of oil coursing every day under their drinking water is not safe. >> when that oil spills, who's going to come save us? we're indian people. we're expendable. who is going to come? who is going to come and give us

water? >> reporter: the tribe's other concern is that, even though the pipeline' is just off their reservation, it still runs right through areas they say are sacred, ancestral grounds. ten days ago, the tribe submitted evidence of newly discovered artifacts and burial sites, asking a state court for an emergency injunction but before the court could make a decision, bulldozers started digging in that area. protesters broke through a fence to try and stop them. they were met with pepper spray and guard dogs. last month, the tribe sued the u.s. army corps of engineers arguing that in its meetings with the tribe, the corps ignored their concerns. david archambault ii is chairman of the standing rock sioux tribe. >> they never heard us. it was just a process that keeps moving forward because of the interest of economic development, the interest of money, the interest of greed. >> reporter: but last friday, a federal court in washington rejected the tribe's suit, allowing the pipeline to proceed. it was at that point that the

justice department halted the project, directing the corps and other agencies to take a second look at the tribe's concerns. >> now the department of justice stepped in and said they're going to halt this construction temporarily at least. is this over for you? >> it's far from over, and we knew this going in. regardless of the outcome from the court's decision, this was the beginning. it's the start. we finally are getting people to hear. >> reporter: for now, on lands near the reservation construction equipment sits idle while the federal reviews are underway. despite this delay, work on the pipeline continues elsewhere in north dakota. back at the camp, people have begun building shelters so their vigil can carry on through the coming winter. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham near the standing rock reservation in north dakota. >> woodruff: on a related note: a large gasoline pipeline that supplies the eastern united

states was shut down this week after a quarter million gallons of gasoline leaked near birmingham, alabama. and online, you can hear more native american voices from the front lines of the standing rock protest, in a audio slideshow on our facebook page: facebook.com/newshour. >> woodruff: next: to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome back, gentlemen. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: we're together in person. it's good the see you. mark, let's start with the birther lie. it's the only way to describe it. donald trump talked about this for years. today, he did finally say that he believes the president president obama was born in the united states but then he turned around and said hillary clinton started all this. where does this leave this

story, about the birther controversy? >> i'm not absolutely sure. i think it's important to establish right at the outseat that he was not only loudest and the highest profile and the most persistent and the most well-publicized birther -- he donald trump. he lied. he lied consistently and persistently and today, without explanation or excuse he just changed his position and tried to absolutely falsely shift the blame on to hillary clinton. and this was an appeal to -- he debased democracy, he debased the national debate, he appealed to that which is least noble in all of us and i think i would like to put to rest right now one of the great theories of the bill clinton years. bill clinton was accused of being a skirt chaser, a draft dodger, trimming the truthers and we were told by all sorts of

conservative -- politically conservative religious leaders that character -- character was the dominant issue, that's why you had to opposed bill clinton and support his impeachment. we have a man running for president right now who's without character. he's awol. he and character are mutually exclusive and the silence was rare and -- with rare and conspicuous exceptions mr. moore, southern baptist, is deafening. we found out character is not an issue, the supreme court turns out to be the defining issue. >> woodruff: david. i agree. what struck me was especially reading the comment, the statement from the trump campaign which we heard summarize bid trump himself in the broadcast, you know, we're always used to spin. usually there's some tangential relationship to the truth but a corroding relationship to the truth as politics as gone on over the years and now we're in

a reverse of the truth with this and we have a team of staffers and the candidate himself who have taken the normal spin and smashed all the rules. so we are in 1984 and it's interesting that an authoritarian personality type comes in at the same time with complete disrespect for even tangential relationship to the truth. so i think this statement shocked me with the purification with a lot of terrible trends that have been happening. what's white is black, black is white, what's up is down and down is up. there is no penalty for it, apparently. he's doing fantastic in the polls. it's somewhere we've gotten. >> woodruff: it comes as the polls are tightening and to the benefit of donald trump. hillary clinton has slipped. donald trump is up. he's ahead in some of the battleground states. i asked you last week what you think is going on. is there any explanation for

what's happening? >> i mean, i don't know if this is a precise explanation, joorksd but certainly i think it's a valid possibility that as he has become -- he doesn't punch out the cleaning lady he doesn't abuse parking lot attendants on camera, therefore he's now presidential. the fact he hasn't tweeted, with a couple of exceptions -- a teleprompter he at one point wanted t outlaw and prohibit is somehow talking about policies, not talking policy, is talking about the possibility of policy. you know, then he becomes somehow more acceptable to people. and i think particularly to republicans. he was getting a high 70% of republicans. now several recent polls show him getting in the high 80% of republicans. i think that accounts for his

surge or lift. >> he's running against a candidate who doesn't know why she wants to be president, at least that she can express to anybody else. what change shirkt offering? if you want change, you only have one option. as he becomes only moderately terrible, he becomes acceptable and i think grudgingly acceptable to most, not enthusiastically acceptable. we're at a point where he's doing well in ohio, around the country, almost tied nationally. we're at one adequate debate performance by him and he becomes a slight front runner. last year 62% of americans said he's not qualified to be president, so both these things are happening at the same time. >> woodruff: do you know which raises some question -- but this has happened. it's clear it's going to be just donald trump and hillary

clinton. these other candidates gary gibbon -- garyjohnson and jill stein will not be involved. hillary clinton's had problems. the basket of deporables a week ago, some say it's something the trump people will hang around her neck for the rest of the campaign. will that keep on being damaging? >> yes. i can recall in 2008 when at a fundraiser when the front runner said people in small pennsylvania towns had lost hope and lost jobs clinging to their guns and religion, and his opponent said americans deserve a leader who will stand up for them not a leader who looks down on them. that was barack obama who said that. hillary clinton took advantage of it, won the pennsylvania primary. these things happen at fundraisers, judy. mitt romney, palm beach, stand up says 47% of americans i

can't tell take responsibility for their own lives they expect a job, a paycheck, healthcare, food, telling people what they want to hear. that's what hillary clinton was doing last friday night, telling a new york crowd that, you know people on the other side were xenophobic, racist, they were homophobic, islamophobeic, you name it. i tell you what bothered me the most and donald trump took advantage of it and understandably she had done the same thing in 2008, took advantage of it, it was irredeemable. america is built on redemption. people came here because things weren't working out. my generation the old generation, 13% of us were in favor of same-sex marriage 15 years ago. now 41%. on civil rights, america changed

dramatically. we believe in redemption. not just because you're a liberal, you're an american. when you write off people and blame the customer, that is really bad. >> woodruff: but david barack obama stayed in a race overcame that, was elected president. is this more damaging for hillary clinton? clearly that was damaging, too. >> right, that was damaging, too. two elements here, one is snobbery. as mark says it's just us rich people talking about the poor people and that never works. then the sociology. that's bad, they should leave the sociology to us amateurs. (laughter) and the a.m.e. church in charleston, they believe the guy who shot and killed their close friends are redeemable, but she thinks americans who are armed

aren't. there is brittleness there. i think she's probably a very good person within but there is been a brittleness to her public persona that has been ungenerous and ungracious and people don't want to latch on. >> woodruff: david your comment about hillary clinton and both of you have been saying this in one way or another for a number of months hasn't given a rationale, a reason to vote for her for president. mark, do you still feel you're not hearing that from hillary clinton? >> judy, i mean by a 10-to-1 margin in swing battleground states have outspent donald trump on television. they ran up all the negatives they can on donald trump. they've told people this is a man who's a bully mean-spirited, narrow-minded not to be trusted, not to be believed, and here's the evidence of it and yet among 18 to 34-year-olds, a key element

in brack barack obama's coalition she's at 27% favorable, 46% favorable. it isn't a matter of policy, she adopted bernie sanders' positions on student loans and so forth. there's got to be a connection as to what she wants to do, how it's going to be a better america and why it makes a difference. >> she can say here's my change. four things, here's my change and i'm going to burn down the house on this, but somehow that clarity of message has not been there. >> woodruff: and there were economic numbers, census report david, that came out this week that said the poverty rate improved in this country, people who are earning middle incomes their salaries have gone up, and yet, you know, you still see, as we saw in john yang's report from ohio, many americans aren't

feeling that. >> the numbers were fantastic. the poorer you are, the bert your increase basically, and the decline in the poverty rate, the decline in inequality, the numbers are just fantastic. i think two things are going on. one, it's not touching everywhere. if you're in a coal or industrial area, you're still not feeling it. second, the incomes are still on average lower than they were in 1999 in real terms. but third, we are overreporting the negativism in this country that if it's not bad, we don't talk about it. >> woodruff: it's nor newsworthy. >> and the negativity is exaggerated compared to what you see in the diversity of the country. >> that's a good point. judy, john yang and that wonderful piece in ohio where 15 years ago one out of four jobs have been lost in the past 15 years, and he explained exactly what has gone to the rust belt

of america. but let's just say good news. this is good news. when the rising tide lifts all odds, row boats, dinghies, poverty is down income up highest in four years, maybe the president deserves a little credit and policies are working and in america it isn't midnight, it could be dawn, mr. trump, cheer up. eventually the news will get worse. >> woodruff: mea culpa, news focuses on the negative, makes better stories. thank you mark shields, david brooks, see you next week. >> woodruff: tonight we wrap up our week-long series, rethinking college, with a look at students who are choosing cheaper and shorter computer coding

training, as an alternative to a college degree. hari sreenivasan has our report. >> we're going to just take notes now. >> reporter: it's called a high tech boot camp. six months of intense work that turns a beginner computer coder into a software engineer. >> here's a tool you can use but if it stresses you out too much, don't use it. >> reporter: the academics are difficult, but the camps all but promise jobs that pay more than double the median income in america. >> it's an immersive program it's incredibly tough. >> reporter: so tough, only 20% of those who apply get accepted. instructor wes reid. >> the things that we're really focused on is how do we get people as career-ready as fast as possible. >> reporter: students are flooding in. from 2014 to 2015, the number of graduates from coding boot camps jumped by 138%. >> there isn't any general education classes that you have to take, or stuff that's not necessary used for your end goal. >> reporter: it's a learning model that is not only experiencing explosive growth, but also attracting tens of

millions of dollars of private investment. >> the world is evolving so quickly that in these times we've got to constantly be reskilling, upskilling and moving. >> reporter: denver based galvanize-- one of the new breed of high tech schools-- just received a $45 million investment. >> we've grown to 1,700 students we'll teach this year. >> reporter: jim deters is the c.e.o. and founder of galvanize. >> we have moved to a skills based economy, and we want to create alternative pathways for anyone with aptitude, drive, and determination to have an opportunity. and get more affordable access to skills. >> reporter: as the price of a traditional college education soars, what's emerging are cheaper alternatives like software boot camps-- places that teach very specific skills for jobs that pay well. so far, federal education officials like what they see. last month, the department of education opened up $17 million for students to pay for boot camps-- like new york's

flatiron school. secretary of education, john king. >> we're trying to identify pathways that will help people get access to good jobs in high demand fields. >> reporter: eight coding schools that partner with accredited colleges will now be able to offer federal loans and grants under a new pilot project called equip. >> we know that we need to ensure we have the workforce ready to compete in the 21st century, and we need new pathways and new innovation to ensure that we have the workforce we need. coding is a good example; huge demand for folks with coding skills, but we're not producing enough. >> reporter: some boot camps aren't waiting for government funds to help their students pay the $10,000 to $20,000 tuition costs. galvanize has partnered with the private lender skills fund. skills fund allows students to pay interest-only loans until they graduate. >> regardless whether they have a b.a., or dropped out of community college, or they came straight out of high school, we want to create that pathway.

>> reporter: 22-year-old isaac collier held multiple jobs after high school, but never made more than $20,000. >> i was an audio visual technician, and i was also instructing martial arts, and instructing teaching of guitar. the pay was never enough, it just got tiring, it was paycheck to paycheck. >> reporter: at first glance galvanize seemed too expensive for collier. the boot camp's web development class cost $21,000. >> i was like really, really nervous. it was too expensive. >> reporter: but once accepted collier found that getting a private loan was easy. that's because skills fund partners only with coding boot camps that have high graduation and job placement rates. >> our placement rates are around 90-plus%. >> it's position would be like position absolute. >> reporter: after boot camp collier expects to land an $80,000 salary as a software developer. >> it's something that's very challenging, it's very hard, but i feel like the reward is well worth it. >> the determining factor isn't if you had higher education,

it's how much you're willing to work during that class, and really put in the effort. >> reporter: alexander holt is a policy analyst with new america. holt likes the skills-fund model because, unlike traditional student loans, the money is tied to actual job placement. >> effectively, what skills fund is trying to do is be a private market accreditor, so they're trying to mimic what the federal government does, except all the incentives are in the right place, in the private market. >> we don't get paid if they don't get paid. so we're really aligning our interests with both the student and the lender in a way, honestly, that it should be. >> it makes more sense to have the risk on private lenders, and private companies cover this with galvanize students as opposed to the taxpayer. >> reporter: critics of the department of education's new equip program say using government funds to pay for boot camps could encourage the kind of abuses that became notorious with for-profit colleges. >> you open up all these federal dollars, and you don't have great accountability, and bad actors flood in.

these schools end up just enrolling a lot of low income students, and we have terrible outcomes with students who are left with debt. >> reporter: given that for profit colleges have a mixed track record at best of succeeding in putting people back in the work force, why, why take this route? >> this is a very targeted initiative focused on workforce development. we will rigorously evaluate it to make sure that it's working if programs aren't working we'll stop them. >> reporter: so far, boot camps have won high job placement rates by enrolling students who already have college degrees. but new students-- with less traditional educations-- pose new challenges. >> one thing that's unclear is are employers hiring these people because they also have a bachelor's degree. or will they just hire them if they only have the certificate from the boot camps. >> reporter: as his first exposure to post-secondary education, isaac collier says coding is a good fit. >> it's a good challenge, it's always overcoming obstacles, and i feel smarter after it, honestly, i do

>> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm hari sreenivasan. >> woodruff: finally, to another in our brief but spectacular series. tonight, oakland police officer damon gilbert offers his candid thoughts on what it means to be a cop in 2016. >> anytime you put on a bulletproof vest to start your day off to work, you have to know that you may or may not come back home to your child, to your wife, to your grandmother to your auntie-- and that in itself is scary, that in itself is scary. anybody that tells you that they haven't been scared, i'm under the full impression that they're a total liar. it's there, and you're human. you're not a robot, and you

actually have emotions. we train you and put you in realistic predicaments. how do i make sure that my finger is not on the trigger but my finger is indexed? how do i function while talking to the radio while keeping an eye on unknown threats? many times i've given a command or a direct order, or a lawful order and it's been met with "eff you," or it's been met with "c'mon, lets fight." for me i've never been in that situation where i've had to actually pull the trigger. every time you see something on tv, it's a clip of an officer with a gun. and what tends to happen is the community thinks that every call an officer goes to, they're using their gun. that's not the case. and in oakland, we work in one of the most violent cities in north america. when we see videos that are definitely disturbing, it hits home. when you see it as a citizen and it shocks your conscience, a lot of times when i see the same footage, or we see the same footage, it shocks our conscience as well. and we want answers. my heart sank when i've seen everything that i've seen over the past couple months-- couple years. seeing the response to different riots, and different violent

protests, and protests that go wrong, it's heartbreaking because i see both sides. i see the officers out there who are probably on a 24-hour day, and people don't know that. i understand the other end people are frustrated, they've seen different things that definitely leave some questions that need to be answered and they're angry. sometimes you have to give the people a voice, and that maybe their anger isn't necessarily towards you. it may be toward another contact that they had with another police officer ten years ago. it's tough for the african american community when dealing with the police. i personally have been pulled over multiple times as a police officer. i actually was arrested in high school for doing something i didn't do. why would i want to impose that feeling on you because i was mad, i was angry, i was disappointed, i wanted revenge when all these things happened to me.

there's a difference between getting in the police force for the right reasons and for the wrong reasons. the wrong reasons would be i don't like people, i don't like talking with people. the wrong reasons would be, well i want to feel-- well, it makes me feel bigger, and badder, and tougher. you get into this business to help the community to serve the community to be a servant. i know my circle of influence is very small, but it starts with me. so when i go out there, i have to make sure that i'm doing the right thing. and i think that will help start the process of doing things correctly, and building back the public trust. >> woodruff: you can watch additional brief but spectacular episodes on our website: pbs.org/newshour/brief. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. gwen? >> ifill: hey, judy. so you boil it all down, and the question this week comes down to who do you believe? is donald trump done questioning the president's citizenship?

is hillary clinton healthy? can you cut taxes and still, say, repair the nation's bridges? as the polls tighten, we examine what's at stake, tonight on "washington week." >> woodruff: and we'll be watching. and we'll be back, right here, on monday with my interview with "the atlantic's" jonathan rauch to discuss his theory that american politics has gone off the rails because of too much reform. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org.

>> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these 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. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days cooling trade