tv PBS News Hour PBS November 11, 2016 3:00pm-4:00pm PST
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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the nation reacts to a new president-elect; we hear from voices across generations and zip codes on the future of the free world. and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks give their take on a momentous week, the start of a new chapter in american political life. plus, paris one year later. as the bataclan club reopens for the first time since the terrorism attacks, a look at how the city is coping. >> i think that the most beautiful response we can give the terrorists is love, joy, happiness, culture, music. so, we need to keep this going, as loud as possible. >> woodruff: all that and more
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>> 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.
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>> woodruff: president-elect donald trump announced a shakeup today at the top of his incoming transition team. vice president-elect mike pence will take over as chair, replacing new jersey governor chris christie, who becomes a vice-chair. former house speaker newt gingrich and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani will be among the other vice chairs on the executive committee. members of the committee also include mr. trump's three older children-- donald, jr.; eric and ivanka-- as well as ivanka's husband, son-in-law jared kushner. in a statement, the president- elect said: and in his first news interview since the election, mr. trump told the "wall street journal" he is open to keeping some parts of the affordable care act. we'll have more on mr. trump's post-election moves later in the
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program. protesters nationwide spent another night rallying against the president-elect. demonstrations came to a head in portland, oregon, where thousands squared off with police, throwing bottles and rocks. officers responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. they made 26 arrests. for his part, mr. trump tweeted that the protesters were "very unfair" but later said he "loved" their "passion for our great country." the united nations says the islamic state has carried out a new wave of public killings and atrocities in the iraqi city of mosul. it reports that, in the last week, militants executed at least 70 civilians. some were hung from telephone poles. meanwhile, in geneva, a spokeswoman for the u.n. said the group could be gearing up to use chemical weapons. >> we don't know when and for what purposes they are stockpiling these, but, given what they have done in the past,
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we are worried about the reasons for their stockpiling of these chemicals in mosul right now. we can only speculate how they... they intend to use this. >> woodruff: the announcement comes as iraqi security forces inched their way into mosul. they have been slowed by heavy resistance and isis fighters using human shields. back in this country, president obama used veterans day to call for unity in the wake of a bitter election. mr. obama laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown at arlington national cemetery. he said americans should learn from the military in finding ways to come together. >> the american instinct has never been to find isolation in opposite corners; it is to find strength in our common creed to forge unity from our great diversity, to sustain that strength and unity even when it is hard. >> woodruff: meanwhile, britain and france commemorated armistice day, marking the end
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of world war i. prince harry led a service at the armed forces memorial in england while french president francois hollande laid a wreath at his country's tomb of the unknown. stocks were mixed on wall street today, but the dow jones industrial average closed at a record high, extending its post- election rally for another day. the dow gained more than 39 points to close at 18,847. the nasdaq rose 28 while the s&p 500 slipped three. for the week, the dow gained more than 5%, its best week since december 2011. both the nasdaq and the s&p 500 rose nearly 4%. and secretary of state john kerry has become the highest ranking u.s. official to visit antarctica. he's spending two days there, meeting with scientists and getting a firsthand look at the impact climate change has had on the southernmost continent. kerry is gathering information
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before he attends a global climate change summit in morocco on tuesday. still to come on the newshour: the fallout from a sharply divided election plays out in schools across the nation; mark shields and david brooks on what voters were saying and what lies ahead; healing in paris one year after deadly terror attacks darkened the city of light; and much more. >> woodruff: now, more on the aftermath of tuesday's election. we take two looks at the ways that the rhetoric and emotion of the highly charged presidential campaign continue to reverberate. first, we go to manassas, virginia, about 30 miles west of washington, d.c, near the site of the first major battle of the civil war. after decades of supporting republicans, virginia voted democratic on tuesday for the third consecutive presidential
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election. the state's demographics are shifting rapidly, but, like much of america, the division between red and blue is stark. we spoke with people from across of the political spectrum caught up in the wake of one of the biggest political upsets in our nation's history. here are some of their voices. >> a lot of division has occurred in this great country over the last decade, and a lot of them is almost reflective to the time period of when the guns placed on this battlefield and men fought for what they believed in, and i think america is kind of in the same scenario where we're divided on our beliefs in politics. to me, as i travel the country, i just feel the sense of urgency to repair it. brett tucker, 46 from washington state and i voted for mr. trump. >> my name is don clements, i am 80 years old. i live at st. joseph's,
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illinois, and i voted for donald trump for president. i've seen john kennedy, and i did not vote for him. i wished i would have. i've seen ronald reagan, dwight eisenhower, you know, during my lifetime. see, i voted in every presidential election since 1958 -- i think that's about right -- and these are the two weakest candidates that i've ever seen that i had to vote for. >> i'm susan from virginia, i'm 67 years old, and i voted for donald trump for president of the united states of america. i think people in this country should do more than its share. i traveled around the world by the time i was 21 and i uh looked at all they have with our infrastructure, with the railroads and all, and they have so much better than we do. >> i'm vanessa allen.
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i'm retired, and life is not easy, and i am a democrat. i think we've got a lot of dummies. i really do. i mean, if you truly listen to what he says, i don't even see how you can push that button on that computer voting for him. it's crazy. i worked all my life, never took, never got, unless i made it, and now what? you know? so i don't think he'll do anything great, i really don't. >> i'm 23 years old and i voted bernie sanders as a write-in. i was born in germany and my parents are from afghanistan. i'm not primarily concerned about the president himself. i'm more concerned about the people he's riled up, the people that are feeling like they -- fueled the fire to be able to do
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whatever they want to do. we can't succumb to what they want, and we need to be much stronger than we ever were before. >> i'm nathan lowery, a five-year army combat veteranch. and this is my wife. >> i'm a nursing student. we just got married in october. we are here in our house in virginia. >> already after we found out that president-elect trump won, people have gotten bolder. there have been cases where women are pumping gas and they have been yelled at to take off their scarf or walking in a grocery store and telling them that this is going to be the end of you and it's time for you to leave, and it's only the beginning, and i'm sure that everyone is going to see a rise in it. >> whemr. trump says make america great again, he means
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let's bring it back to where it was and move it forward and make it even greater and i am absolutely convinced he will do that. my name is alice butler short, founder and director for women for trump. immigrants will always be welcome in this country, but the right immigrants. we've got to keep this country safe, and we have had experiences of terrorism and terrorist attacks and we know it's not going to end. so we have to take precaution. >> my name is thomas vladimir mendoza, and i am a u.s. citizen. i live in the united states, so i'm american, but i was born in el salvador. my fear is that i won't have a job, that i won't be able to feed my child. don't fear a loud mouth. you know what i mean? that's what this person is. i have a lot of friends that are loud mouths, and you dismiss it because they're friends. but because this guy is going to be the president, it's really hard to dismiss it. yoyou cannot just say, ehe's jut
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talking, man, it's just locker room talk, no, it's true, he has that in him, but, you know, the people are not going to let him do that. i hope. i have faith. that's what everybody wakes up and should have, faith that things will be better. >> woodruff: some powerful voices. next, school children, and how the combative political season has effected them. and to hari sreenivasan in new york. >> sreenivasan: teachers and parents across the country report heightened anxiety and disappointment among some students, even a number of school walkouts in recent days. in other cases, incidents of intimidation and bullying have been reported, including graffiti with swastikas, calls for "white power" in a pennsylvania high school, and michigan middle school students chanting "build that wall" during lunch period. the newshour's "student reporting labs" gathered these reactions from across the country. >> when i found out that donald trump won the election, i was scared.
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i was just staring at my phone-in shock and i had no idea what was going to happen next. >> i'm not devastated that trump is president. i think it sends a pretty strong message to the american people that something needs to change. a vote for trump does not mean you are a bigot, racist or anti-woman. maybe the country needs to be run as a business so we can get things done. >> i don't understand how such a hateful man can rise to power so quickly. i have been really angry, now i'm just tired. i'm tired that he is now state' sponsored. >> i feel like a lot of the students, people in general, educated themselves through social media and what was on television rather than informing themselves. >> i feel like as minorities and people of color, at lgbt community and muslims and anybody win who's expressed inequality, we all need to make
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sure we stay in school, handle our business and are good at what we do so in the next election we can make sure we make our voices heard. we are the ones represented in the communities. >> my kerns are donald is going to lose his temp a little bit sometimes and say not so smart things and get some people angry, but i don't think he's going to make too many bad decisions. i think he knows where he's going and what he's doing. >> the fact someone like trump is able to to be elected, the things he says for women and people of different races, the fact it's okay for him to say those things seems like it makes it okay for other people's to. >> my biggest concern is war. with trump, it's going to be a civil war and the question is who will win either of those. >> seeing that my generation doesn't want to take action -- or take responsibility for their future and my future, our
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future, i just don't want to stay in a country like this if that's what it's going to be like. >> there is no doubt that the president-elect came as a huge shock to me, but i call our citizens to have respect and faith in our country. we've made it through a civil war two, world wars, the great depression, but this is no fight. we elected someone new as president that should not be tearing us apart, it should be bringing us together. >> sreenivasan: for a closer look at these about them, we turn to kavitha cardoza of education week, who has been talking to teachers across the country; and mariama richards, a counselor and administrator at friends central school outside philadelphia. kavitha cardoza, we'll start with you. what have you found in your reporting in the past couple of days? >> this is something teachers are used to. they have been dealing with these emotions through the campaign season. the election results just made it more concrete. children in schools are just a mike kosum of society and, so, they're not surprised at all that some of these emotions are spilling into the classroom.
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>> sreenivasan: so are these the students' own opinions or are they parroting what their parents say at home? >> i think a bit of both. with the teenager we just saw, some of it is their own because they are reading and watching the television themselves, but i spoke to a teacher in california, and she teaches pre-k, and she says children just absorb the stress of their parents, and, so, she teaches in a very diverse community, a lot of muslims, a loft immigrants, and she says she has noticed that the children are more aggressive, they're more prone to crying, getting emotional, so she and other teachers have actually putting the academic goals on hold with these children and have said, you know what? let's create our own curriculum, how to be a good friend, how to listen, how to be calm when you feel upset. she said a lot of the parents are stressed about maybe their families being split up, maybe losing healthcare if obamacare goes away.
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>> sreenivasan: mariama richards, what kind of things are you grappling with at your school or the teachers have been coming to you with? >> one of the biggest issues in front of us right now is a community that wants to see change happen, that felt really connected to the election season, regardless of which side that particular student or family was on, and now they're grappling with kind of how do they push through some of the values that they really do love and appreciate about the community that they're building and finding that there's a split in perspective on how to move forward. for example, there are students who feel so angry and upset now that it's hard for them to think of engaging those who may have voted for our current president-elect because they see that engagement as people who think less of them, who don't think they're full human beings, while there are other students who may not necessarily be on the side of the president-elect as well, but they're in a
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position where they feel like this is an opportunity for us to learn what the other side of the world is thinking. so even in places where you have commonalities in terms of goals, we're still seeing students really struggle with kind of what's our best case moving forward. with the little ones, they are struggling with very similar things that we just heard -- fear, they are hearing lots of information and not understanding the context for it, and we see it play out definitely in the classroom setting and how they're connecting with others, whether or not they feel reserved, whether or not they feel fear, and we are, as teachers, trying to support them in the process of getting through that. >> sreenivasan: kavitha cardoza, are the teachers saying, in essence, what children are feeling? i mean, is there a collective sense of anxiety or tension regardless of which side of the election they came down on? >> i think the teachers are really, really making a concerted effort to, no matter
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what their personal believes, to be the oasis of calm for the children and to kind of bring everyone together. there are a lot of students who, for example, supported climate change and they are devastated, we've heard reports. there are students, i spoke to a teacher in ohio, and she said her students came with trump t-shirts and the make america great again caps and they were thrilled. so within these schools, all the children teach how do you make it safe and calm andertful. >> sreenivasan: mariama richards, you took steps to prepare the children and the parents. what do you hear now? >> we have been in constant communication which is key to the partnership with families and the letters we've sent home included additional links for support and in some cases we have parents who want us to move away and say, okay, it's over, let's now move on with the practice of going to school and
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doing the work and other families are so ultimately grateful that we're taking the time to be able to help their children through this process, and i think what we've learned as a quaker school that's embedded in the value-centered curriculum is we know students -- if students do not feel affirmed, they won't learn. we won't be able to teach math if they feel scared or at risk, so we have to be able to find a wonderful balance of incorporating both of those in the classroom setting. >> sreenivasan: kavitha cardoza, we have been seeing an increase on every educational level from middle schools to high schools to colleges of acts of intimidations, bullying, swastikas spray painted here and there. what are you seeing in your reporting? >> a lot more, hari. one, these kids tape and share everything on social media so it's much more accessible. today on my twitter feed, i saw
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someone say my daughter came home from school and said she no longer has to be politically correct, she heard. so you're see ago lot of things that kids, some don't know what the implications are and what it means, but because it's being shared so widely, kids, you know, just copy sometimes. >> sreenivasan: kavitha cardoza, mariama richards, thank you both. >> thank you, hari. . >> woodruff: on veterans day, we turn to what a trump administration might mean for those who have served our country. on election day, 61% of veterans voted for mr. trump, 34% voted for secretary clinton. 45% of non-veterans voted for trump while half voted for clinton.
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so, what do vets expect a president trump to do? william brangham has more. >> brangham: candidate trump repeatedly expressed his support for those who've served in the u.s. armed forces, and that showed on election day. but he also angered many with his denigration of senator john mccain and of the khan family, who's son died fighting in iraq. for more on the expectations veterans have for a trump administration, i'm joined by paul rieckhoff, executive director of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. paul rieckhoff, as you saw, trump was chosen by veterans 2-1 over clinton. why do you think that is? >> well, i think we've got to start by being careful about overgeneralizing veterans. there are 22 million in america and represent a very large group, but they're really not a block. if you look at the older veterans, about 18 million or so that haven't cerved since 9/11, they tend to be mostly male, tend to be more white than the
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general population. so what some of that is just a reflection of the demographics that supported trump versus clinton. in the younger generation, 20% female, more ethnically diverse so we see more political diversity there, but i think you see a frustration with the status quo, with the bureaucracy in washington, you see a certain group of folks who just don't like hillary clinton, i think that's a very real problem just not in the veterans community but more broadly, and you see folks that respond to rhetoric. donald trump talked a big game on veterans. he said it over and over again, i'm going to take care of the vets, i'm going to take care of the vets. their policies at times were not that different but his rhetoric was much more aggressive. it's a populist issue, people respond to that and many believe that's what he's going to do. it's been a campaign platform that he's really focused on, now we're going to try to hold him accountable as he becomes president. if it's going to be a cap stone of his presidency, it will be
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hard to accomplish. most presidents say they will fix v.a. and most leave without it getting done. >> brangham: what's priority one for you with regard to veterans. >> i think priority one is to establish a strong leadership group within washington that makes veterans at the hub and not just the v.a. at the hub. our conversation especially after the v.a. scandal has been only framed around the v.a. i think there is an epic opportunity to open the conversation to involve philanthropy, private sector, medical community, jforts. government can't be the only solution. we see it in some of the members who come to us in the most urgent need, 70% are not enrolled in the v.a. we do need to improve the v.a. but we have to have a true veteran strategy that expands beyond government. president obama never laid that out. we attacked the v.a. problem after the scandal and heard talk from congress but there was
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never comprehensive strategy after engaging in multiple wars to care for people coming home so we have to have goals, strategy and a team in place. this is an opportunity to bring together a bipartisan coalition. it may be the only political issue we can get republicans and democrats behind together and i think for any president it would be a smart issue to come out in the first year in such a difficult vicive time. >> brangham: another issue that's troubling is the rate of suicide among veterans, something like 20 a day, i believe. what can a presidential administration do to address that horrendous issue? >> well, i think we've seen president obama make tremendous progress on this in simply talking about it. veterans advocacy groups have been really screaming for years for help to try to explain that we're losing our brothers and sisters to our left and right, tragically, to suicide on a daily basis. we had a day last year we had seven suicide calls to i.v.a. in one day alone. so i starts with prioritizing
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it and starts with not just a veterans or government issue, it's a national health priority and we have to rally resources around that. but when veterans come forward, overcome the stigma and respond to threat rick, the he's got to be there. we've seen wait times, bureaucracy, and the veterans crisis line which has been great struggles at times to keep up with the demand. so if the veterans are brave and encouraged to come forward, the resources have got to be there and we have a critical shortage of quality mental health workers, one thing vat called on president obama to do and will call on president trump to do is issue a national call for qualified mental health servers. we need an army of mental healthcare workers to serve the need coming for the decades of veterans who have served. many are vietnam veterans never properly cared for.
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>> brangham: paul rieckhoff, thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> woodruff: and we come back to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. let me just kick this off by saying there's nobody i would rather spend more than nine hours with on election night than the two of you. >> thank you so much, judy. >> woodruff: so having said that, political earthquake, the earth moved under our feet, david. how big an earthquake wasn't it. >> well, certainly the political shock of our lives, at least my lifetime. feels like almost the '60s, political revolution, cultural revolution, aesthetic revolution, things now you can say and get elected president. so all those things. i'm sort of finding myself in a strange emotion territory, if i could lie on the couch here. on the one hand, trump appalls
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me. i won't be shy about that. but having the democratic process having taken its turn, i sort of feel we have to owe some respect to the process and owe some respect to the electorate and the people who voted him on the assumption that they have something to teach us. so all those people are marching on the street, there is all the hostility, i find myself -- and i think it was the president and hillary clinton's attitude -- of respectful pause. may i'll be as upset at trump as i was in another week, but what are they trying to teach us. >> woodruff: respectful pause, mark? >> yeah, i, judy, believe devoutly that the national election is the closest thing we have to the civic sacrament of democracy and i really do think that heed must be paid, and when people make a decision, shows who are on the other side, including me, accept it.
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i think probably the best analysis of the millions of words that were written -- other than david's, david's are perceptive and wise -- but a woman named salina zido at "the atlantic," and she says, to understand this election, critics of donald trump take him literally but not seriously. his supporters take him seriously but not literally. in other words, so while his critics were very upset with what he said, his supporters really with the mood and positions he took rather than precise phrases or words. i say that because now as of tuesday, everyone has to take him seriously, and i think that's what we're seeing. i think the anxiety in schools
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that we hear, in minority communities, those of the archbishop of los angeles at the saints cathedral yesterday, a lady with an interfaith service with jewish and muslim and was very open and said our children are fearful that their parents, the government is going to come and take their parents away, and i think that's a consequence of the election. i mean, in addition, the fact that he won, but his positions appear to prevail and i think there was fear in a lot of places. >> woodruff: and, david, i was going to ask the two of you what you think with reflection the voters were saying, but i was struck by what we heard a few minutes ago by voters in manassas, virginia. one young woman said i gets hate is now state-sponsored, and we heard a man say -- another woman say i'm for immigrants, just the right immigrants. what were voters saying, do you think? >> well, they want change, we know that. they're fed up with a lot of
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talk and no change. on the issues, they preferred her. she got better marks on the economy and foreign policy, but they just didn't get the sense she was a reformer. so they want some unnamed change. i think they also wanted some sense of dignity, some sense of being heard, i mean, in some sense there is something noble in that people who felt marginalized, working class voters taking over their party from the corporate party and asserting their will on the country against groups of people more privileged than they are both on the left and right. so there is something nice about that. i think trump is the wrong vehicle for that, but, you know, you're living in a town, no jobs in the town, you know your friends are dying of o.d.-ing on opiates, you're having trouble paying your bills and other people benefit from not playing by the rules, maybe you're willing to tolerate bigotry from donald trump to just change
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things. so i think the voters who voted for him are willing to tolerate ugliness, but if you're in desperate circumstance or you think the country is in deep trouble maybe you're willing to tolerate it without necessarily liking it. >> woodruff: what do you think the voters were saying? >> what i think bothers me, my liberal friends who immediately run to the race card, the fact is it's most dangerous place to be on the political scale is to brand those on the other side as racist. that's the atomic bomb, that's the nuclear weapon of an american. once i accuse you of being racist, i demonize you and means any future collaboration or cooperation between us is a sign of my moral deficiency, if i would deal with something like that. it's a terrible thing to do. i say that for factual reason. barack obama an carried iowa, michigan and wisconsin twice, and he carried the majority of
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the white vote in those states. so hillary clinton lost them, donald trump won them, and it's a little, i think, transparent, false to say that people are racist. these are the same voters who would vote for an african-american man and did not vote for the white woman democrat. so i think that's dangerous. i think, judy, it was a revolt of working class americans. i think it was a revolt against us in the press. i think it was a revolt against the ruling class who were indifferent to their plight, to the fact that, for a generation, their standard of living has declined, that their children's futures are blighted. i thought peter hart and dan mcgin, when they wrote the people who led the revolution are foreign to washington and new york, they don't go to starbucks and take their children on tours.
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they care about college sports more than pro sports, they go to wal-mart and have declining incomes and they think their parents built this country and scream they want the country back. i think they saw indifference from the ruling elites both public and particularly private. >> woodruff: you said it wasn't race and yet, david, many people of color are saying they feel the message is directed at them. >> right. so there is a racial element here, there is clearly a racial element. so i think -- i don't have a machine to peer into the souls of the voters, so i don't know how much to have the racial el meant was dominant, how much was there, tolerated, endorsed. clearly, for some people it was a large element. i do not believe having spent these last months interviewing trump voters that it's a dominant element in a lot of the people i spoke to. they had good reason for why they were upset for the course of the country. their culture, life economically, socially program
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lis breaking apart, drug use, it's going downhill, and i think the two things, one, we don't want to turn this into a children of light, children of darkness, where us educated and enlightened people are looking down on others. that condescension fueled that in the first place so we don't want that. through history. we have had populist movements that often have the ugly racial element but are warning of signs of a deeper socioeconomic problem and we have rapidly increasing technology making life good for people using words and not so good for people not good at using words. so the ugliness can be super ugly but also a warning sign of something down below. >> i agree with what david said. the problem is what donald trump said if you take it literally is cause for anxiety and
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nervousness. >> woodruff: you mean during the campaign. >> yeah, during the campaign. i mean, it's legitimate, the anxiety and nervousness that you feel and the children feel right now, because you do take him literally. he has to do something to reassure and beyond tweeting that he likes or doesn't like protests. the protests, the breaking of windows at this point, i just want anyone in a protest to have an "i voted" sticker on their jacket lapel before they get out there. and i understand the concern, but please accept this -- and he is the president, or going to be the president in 75 days, or whatever, and, you know, he now has a responsibility, i think, to calm those waters and to reassure people that there aren't going to be storm troopers down to take their grandparents in a patrol wagon. >> woodruff: quickly in the
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past couple of minutes, david, we are seeing some signals from donald trump with the people he put on his transition committee, putting in the vice president elect instead of chris christie, he's putting his children, his son-in-law on that committee. he said today in an interview with the "wall street journal" that he's thinking about keeping part of the healthcare reform law after talking to president obama about it. so what are we to think? maybe this is not going to be all the big moves that were lindt at during the campaign? >> obviously, tiffany did not get a job. maybe she'll get fed chairman or something. i think the nomination of mike pence is more of a sign he's going with conventional republicans. until the summer pence was very conventional, in the house, well connected with conventional movement of republicans and he may be more conventional. i think donald trump is going to find it very hard to do the massive change he wants. obamacare is woven into the fabric of hng.
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it's hard to rip it out as he said in the "wall street journal." the iran deal, the partners won't withdraw from the deal. when you get down to each of the things, deporting people, the barriers to change are massive and the simple promises he makes don't apply to reality so he's got to do big changes because that's who voted for him bu butt would take massive expertise. >> woodruff: mark. voting to repeal obamacare is a grandstand act. doing it and taking 20 million people and taking them off insurance, those with preexisting conditions, those who don't have any other coverage, you know, that's a reality, and it is going to be difficult, make no mistake about it. and this is where you confront reality from the rhetoric of the campaign. >> woodruff: the transition begins. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both.
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>> woodruff: paris will mark a grim anniversary sunday, one year after a series of coordinated attacks across the city on friday the 13th, 2015. the bataclan music club, where 89 people were murdered during a concert, is due to reopen tomorrow with a concert by sting. gunmen and suicide bombers allied to isis murdered 130 people in total, wounding nearly 400. special correspondent malcolm brabant has been back to paris to see how the french capital is coping one year on. >> reporter: paris has returned to a version of normality, but, for those caught up in the worst attack on the french capital since the second world war, nothing will ever be the same again. in a discreet corner of this
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cafe is caroline langlade, a survivor of the bataclan. along with several others, she hid in a tiny room for over three hours. they barricaded the door with a sofa and mini fridge. the terrorists tried to get in, failed and resumed the massacre they began while the band was on stage. ( eagles of death metal playing ) ( gunfire ) >> ( translated ): i have a really hard time going to closed-up places or dark places, rooms-- movies, concerts, but also restaurants where there's too many people at night. it makes me quite jumpy. i tentd to panic. ( sirens ) >> reporter: during the interview, sirens wailed nearby, and caroline became uncomfortable. the film director has found it difficult to concentrate on work and instead devotes her energies running life for paris, an organization for survivors and families of those murdered on friday the 13th. >> ( translated ): i'm no longer afraid of death.
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i've seen it up close, and i almost died several times that night. i'm no longer afraid of death, but my fear changed. and today, what frightens me the most is suffering, physical suffering, human suffering. i had to face a gigantic amount of it that evening, and i think that i've lived through all the suffering i could have had for a lifetime. >> reporter: this video captured the panic and bravery of survivors as they fled the bataclan and tried to drag the wounded and dying to safety. parents watching the atrocities unfold on television desperately hoped their children had made it through the emergency exits. for george salines, the anniversary rekindles the agony of discovering that his music- loving daughter lola was one of the 89 murder victims. >> what i miss the most is simply talking to her and listening to her about her new discoveries, because she was always full of projects.
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for me, the most important thing was writing. i wrote a book. and after publishing my book, i kept on writing. and writing has been very helpful because it helps me to put some distance between my pain and me. >> reporter: after a year of silence, the bataclan is about to be revived as a concert hall for the living, no longer just a shrine to contemplate the unspeakable. one year after friday the 13th attacks, france remains under a state of emergency. the powers were expanded and extended after the horrific attack in nice when a terrorist took a truck and mowed down people, killing and wounding nearly 500. france's interior minister says the country can't remain in an indefinite state of emergency, but groups like human rights watch have warned that the continued use of the powers erodes the rule of law and undermines the rights of citizens. the eiffel tower and other
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landmarks may radiate an abiding allure, but terrorism has cast a permanent shadow on the city of light. it's no longer possible to take a leisurely stroll beneath the steel latticework without first undergoing security screening. the impression that this is a country on a war footing with an invisible enemy is reinforced by military patrols. colombe brossel, the deputy mayor with responsibility for security issues, says the authorities are trying to strike a balance. >> ( translated ): our wish, our directive line, is to say, "we have to give our best, our maximum when it comes to security questions." but we also have to make sure so, of course, the way we organize the events is different compared to 18 months ago, two or five years ago. but we remain vigilant, adamant on the fact that paris needs to remain a city where anyone can go out, where we can have events in the public space, where we can share moments of pleasure and happiness. >> the islamic state is losing ground.
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it's losing also prestige and glory. >> reporter: historian francois gere, president of the french strategic analysis institute, believes that france will almost certainly be hit again by islamic state, although he's convinced the organization's potency is diminishing. >> it's obvious that the islamic state will try to send additional people in order to perpetrate attacks and terrorist aggressions in europe. there is still a period of high danger during the coming six months. after that, it will decrease. >> reporter: the marais is one district that's especially vigilent, not least because of the high concentration of jewish businesses and institutions. >> ( translated ): we're scared, but we have to keep living normally. >> ( translated ): at every synagogue and school, you have dozens of soldiers. i'm relaxed about it because it's easier for us jews to wear the kippa. >> during this whole year, i think the thing was to say to yourself keep on living.
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you cannot live in fear, and you just need to carry on your daily life as normal. otherwise, yeah, where do we go? >> reporter: stephane balensi is considering selling his clothes shop. sales have plunged by 40% over the past year. although he's reassured by military patrols, he believes they frighten tourists away. >> ( translated ): it started with the 13th of november. quite clearly, ever since the bataclan and then during the normally busy summer season, we had the nice attacks. it's the same. far less tourism. >> reporter: béligh nabli is a political scientist and analyst of the islamic world. he says intolerance towards muslims has become more overt since the attacks. >> ( translated ): a lot of people kept their islamophobia hidden before, but now they feel it's okay to express their aversion and criticism of islam in general and towards muslims in particular. it's created a new social tension which has given more justification to the jihadis in
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their strategy of dividing french society in order to lure back the muslim community to their cause. >> reporter: france is gearing up for a presidential election in six months' time. the latest opinion polls suggest almost a third of the electorate believe the hard-line stance of marine le pen, leader of the right wing national front, would make the country a safer place. but the divisions in society exposed by last year's attacks worry those most affected. >> candidates are playing this card, and it's a very dangerous path because the most important thing is to be precise in targeting the terrorism, the extremism, daesh, and not doing anything which could help them to recruit. >> ( translated ): i think that the most beautiful response we can give the terrorists is love,
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joy, happiness, culture, music. so, we need to keep this going as loud as possible. so, yes, i hope we'll continue even stronger, that people will realize that life isn't about the money, life doesn't revolve around the little problems we might have, life is love. >> reporter: but while paris puts on a brave face, a new survey shows that terrorism remains the biggest concern of almost half the french population. they fear that islamic state will follow through on a threat made earlier this year to intensify attacks on france in revenge for its military role against the caliphate, a world away from notre dame. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in paris.
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>> woodruff: finally tonight, we remember leonard cohen, poet and novelist, a musical cult figure who became a hugely influential songwriting star. jeffrey brown has our look at the man and his work. ♪ ♪ suzanne takes you down to her place near the river ♪ >> brown: leonard cohen was an unlikely musical icon-- not a great singer, a reluctant performer, the opposite of a glitzy pop star. ♪ ♪ it's 4:00 in the morning, the end of december ♪ ♪ i'm waiting >> reporter: what he could do was write and deliver songs of simple chords and hauntingly beautiful lyrics that touched generations of fans. in 2006, cohen told me how he drew on his own life, and more. >> you know, autobiographical takes in a lot. you know, it also includes the
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imagination. you know, your imagination also has a history. it also, you know, is born, grows old, suffers decay and old age, and dies. you know, so, the imagination is part of the whole autobiography. ♪ >> brown: other singer- songwriters were his first champions. one was judy collins, who earlier this year told me of her first meeting with cohen in 1966. >> so, i opened the door, and he came in. he said, "i can't sing, i can't play the piano or play the guitar, and i don't know if this is a song." and then he sang me three songs. he sang me "suzanne," he sang me "dress rehearsal rag," and he sang me a song called "the stranger song." and i recorded two of them. but i fell in love with them immediately.
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♪ everybody knows... >> brown: that love from his peers was on display at cohen's 2006 induction to the canadian songwriters hall of fame. ♪ and if i had ever been untrue ♪ ♪ i hope that it was never to you ♪ >> if i knew where the good songs came from, i'd go there more often. ( laughter ) >> brown: leonard cohen was born in 1934 in montreal to a well- to-do jewish family that ran a clothing store. he didn't record his first album until he was 33, and his touring and recording was sporadic-- 14 albums over five decades. the most recent, "you want it darker," released just in october. the ballad "hallelujah," recorded in 1994 by jeff buckley and then by scores of other singers, helped gain cohen a
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larger audience in later life. ♪ the baffled king composing hallelujah ♪ >> brown: cohen's faith was important to him, and often a theme in his music. but he also practiced zen buddhism, and, in 1994, withdrew into a monastery near los angeles where he spent five years. he later discovered that much of his money had been stolen by his management and in his 70s was forced back on tour. but he seemed to relish the newfound appreciation. for all the fame of his music, though, cohen was perhaps first and foremost a writer and poet. when he and i spoke ten years ago, he had just released a poetry collection called "book of longing." >> you know, you scribble away for one reason or another. you're touched by something that you read. you want to number yourself among these illustrious spirits for one advantage or another--
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some social, some spiritual. it's just ambition that tricks you into the enterprise, and then you discover whether you have any actual aptitude for it or not. i always thought of myself as a competent, minor poet. i know who i'm up against. >> brown: you know who you're up against? >> yeah, you're up against dante, and shakespeare, isaiah, king david, homer, you know. so, i've always thought that i, you know, do my job okay. >> brown: one of the things i've always noted in your work is the mix of the sensuous and the spiritual-- i guess, the body and the soul. >> we do have these feelings that, you know, run from coarse to elevated and refined. everybody's got them, you know? and then we're stuck with this
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body, you know, that... i mean, we're all dying of this incurable disease called age. >> brown: one poem, summing it up, is called "mission." >> "i've worked at my work, i've slept at my sleep, i've died at my death, and now i can leave. leave what is needed, and leave what is full. need in the spirit and need in the whole. beloved, i'm yours as i have always been from marrow to pore from longing to skin. now that my mission has come to its end i pray i'm forgiven the life that i've led. the body i chased, it chased me as well. my longing's a place, my dying's a sail." ♪ hallelujah ♪ hallelujah ♪ hallelujah ♪ hallelujah >> brown: leonard cohen died at his home in los angeles. he was 82 years old. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown.
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>> woodruff: and what a gift he was. later tonight on washington week, questions remain about why voters in the country's heartland felt they were not being heard. is there a washington bubble? "washington week"'s reporters have answers on your pbs station. to mourn pbs "newshour pbs "new" a closer look at president trump's ideas to sprout investments in infrastructure. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:
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>> 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
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news,s is "bbc world 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,
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