captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> he said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly. >> woodruff: president trump sparks outrage across the globe with reportedly vulgar comments about countries in africa and in this hemisphere that send immigrants to the u.s. then, from paradise, to mexico's deadliest city. we visit the beaches of acapulco in our continuing look at the effect of growing violence on the country's tourism. >> these gangs came from a fragmentation of big gangs. they don't have the ability or the logistics, so they abandon the drug business and instead start attacking civic society to survive. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks talk about the latest controversy involving president

trump and the role of immigration in the united states. 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.

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station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the president of the united states is at the center of a storm tonight, over crude and offensive language. the newshour has opted not to repeat the word in question, but president trump was widely quoted as asking a group of u.s. senators yesterday, "why are we having all these people from ( blank )-hole countries come here?" today waves of indignation washed over the white house. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: even as he honored the words of martin luther king jr.-- >> no matter what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by god. >> desjardins: --president trump ignored questions about his reported words about immigrants from haiti and africa during a

meeting at the white house yesterday. >> did you use the word ( bleep )-hole to refer to african nations? >> mr. president, are you a racist? >> desjardins: earlier on twitter, mr. trump strongly denied making defamatory comments. he wrote, "the language used by me at the daca meeting was tough, but this was not the language used." he later wrote, he "never said anything derogatory about haiti." senator dick durbin, the only democrat in the room, insisted the president did ask why the u.s. would want immigrants from haiti or africa, and did use a derogatory expletive. >> in the course of his comments, said things which were hate-filled, vile and racist. to no surprise, the president started tweeting this morning, denying that he used these words. it is not true. he said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly. >> desjardins: republican senator lindsey graham told one of his colleagues that the reported comments are "basically

accurate." but two other republicans at the meeting said they "do not recall" those remarks. house speaker paul ryan was careful in his response, stressing personal ties from his hometown in wisconsin. >> first thing that came to my mind was, very unfortunate, unhelpful. we've got great friends from africa in janesville who are doctors, just incredible citizens. and i just think it's important that we celebrate that. >> desjardins: other republicans were much more sharp. utah congresswoman mia love, whose parents immigrated from haiti in the 1970s, called the comments "unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation's values." and florida congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, herself an immigrant from cuba, said the president's language "takes your breath away." >> this is a president who's had a sordid, a sordid, terrible history of making racist statements. >> desjardins: but among the

president's conservative base, his self-described "tough" language on immigration was cheered. fox news host tucker carlson: >> i don't understand what the sin is. we're not allowed to point out that other countries aren't as good places to live as america? like, what is the problem? >> desjardins: around the world, leaders from a number of african nations quickly condemned the president's reported words. >> ours is not a ( bleep )-hole country. neither is haiti or any other country in distress. >> what trump said about africa is a lie, and it speaks more of trump than anybody else. that trump is a shameful, disgusting, embarrassment of a president. >> desjardins: all this comes a week before the january 19 deadline to fund the government, and as the white house and congress continue to work out a plan on immigration. >> woodruff: and lisa joins me now. >> woodruff: as you're reminding us, all this happened as there were conversations going on about coming up with a deal on immigration reform.

police departments this leave republicans? how are they ereacting to this? >> there is certainly a higher unusual unreturned call rate from my republican sources today, but those i talked to and those i respect say this was a difficult day for them for two reasons, one, they're worried on how this reflects on their party who needs to expand its base ultimately and, two, for how they look at the president. coming knows republicans in congress still need this president and still have to work with him. they're wondering is stephen miller and the conservative hardliners calling the shots at the white house and how can they criticize this president and still get a deal within days? that's a situation someone like lindsey graham found himself in today who tweeted he didn't deny he heard these statements but neither did he say for sure he did. >> woodruff: if that's where the republicans are, what about democrats? >> democrats think this is a moment us to shift. they think this leads to a larger issue that goes toward

their philosophy, a more open america and an america that's open to the world and we know democrats are preparing in the house to offer a censure resolution. no such effort in the senate. i think what we have to watch is how these folks really use us politically but more than that how they take and deal with the issues in front of them now. >> woodruff: so the immigration deal, negotiations themselves, where does that stand? you have this bipartisan group of senators come out of their meeting, coming to the white house saying we've got a deal but the president rejected it. >> that's right. >> woodruff: where does it go? he's got a vote of one that can make something sing or die. hear's what's happening in the is that, those bipartisan talks among the group of six led by senators durbin and graham is stick i bits plan for now. senator durbin's office tells me they will try to sell the plan to the democrat and republican conferences outside of the

president. so i think the plan here is to try and change the president's mind, essentially, see if they can work with him. one source i talked to said today this is a president who clearly does change his mind within the course of one single meeting, as we saw in the last week. he said messages that means different things to different people. so for now that bipartisan group is going to stick with their plan. however, judy, conservatives, especially on the house side, want something different, and they're pointing to a different group of leaders, the number twos in the senate and the house who are all meeting, the whips, so-called, have had one meeting, staff met today. but to be honest, they're not far along in coming up with a real deal. they don't meet till next week. it's the group the conservatives would like to have a role but not clear whether they will or not. >> woodruff: in the meantime, we're a week away from a potential government showdown. how does this immigration disagreement fit into the

spending. >> democrats have a tough choice. they have said some, they will not vote for another funding bill until they get a daca bill this week. the dablga dead hundred isn't till march where all expires, some point out lose status every day, but democrats are having to decide are they willing to shut down government over daca. the house side sounds like they're willing to force paul ryan to get 218 republicans for a funding bill if there's no daca deal. the senate side, it's the issue for democrats, that's the moderates, i'm not sure if the moderates shut down the government over daca this week. >> woodruff: daca being the young, undocumented immigrants who came to this country as children without documentation and what happens to them. >> that's right. thank you. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins, terrific reporting. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump declined again to withdraw the u.s. from the iran nuclear deal, despite

his fierce criticism of the pact. but, he warned, "this is a last chance," and he did re-impose some targeted sanctions on individuals and businesses in iran. we will have a look at the iran deal controversy, later in the program. the president has canceled a scheduled trip to open the new united states embassy in london. in an overnight tweet, he complained that the u.s. got a bad deal on the finances and location. he did not mention calls for mass protests of any visit, but a british lawmaker who represents the area near the new embassy says that is the real reason for the cancellation. >> i think donald trump has chosen not to come to london and come to battersea to open the embassy because he's scared. he's scared at the hundreds of thousands of people that will be here, peacefully protesting against his visit because of his racist and his misogynistic views. >> woodruff: the president blamed the obama administration for the embassy deal, but

the decision and arrangements were made under president george w. bush. the u.s. ambassador to panama says he is resigning because he can no longer serve under mr. trump. john feeley is a career diplomat. according to reuters, his resignation letter says that he took an oath to serve, even when he disagrees with a president's policies. but, he says, "if i believed i could not do that, i would be honor-bound to resign. that time has come." feeley's decision came before mr. trump's comments yesterday. they are still searching tonight for mudslide victims in southern california, but hope is starting to run out. 17 people have been killed, ages three to 89. today, a river of mud covered the 101 highway, as rescue crews scoured the debris. at least five people are still believed to be missing. in germany, chancellor angela merkel is a big step closer to ending her country's prolonged political deadlock.

merkel's conservative ruling party and a center-left party agreed today on a framework for formal coalition talks. in berlin, the chancellor acknowledged pressure to form a government, because the elections were nearly four months ago. >> ( translated ): in the long time since the federal elections, we have seen that the world is not waiting for us. we are convinced that we need a new awakening for europe and have developed the corresponding ideas for this, between the party chairmen. >> woodruff: the framework deal includes pledges to strengthen the european union and curtail the number of migrants entering germany. there is word the "me too" movement fighting sexual harassment and assault is beginning to make a stir in china. a beijing university announced last night that a prestigious scholar has been ousted. it cited multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by several women. women in saudi arabia were allowed to attend a soccer match

at a sports stadium yesterday, for the first time. but it came with restrictions: they had to sit in designated "family sections." they also used separate entrances. it is one of a series of small steps to give saudi women greater rights. back in this country, president trump underwent his first physical examination today since taking office. he spent much of the afternoon at walter reed national military medical center in bethesda, maryland. then, he departed for a weekend at his florida club mar-a-lago. and, wall street had another healthy day, after retailers reported strong holiday sales. the dow jones industrial average gained 228 points-- almost 1%-- to close at 25,803. the nasdaq rose 49 points, and the s&p 500 added 18. still to come on the newshour: haiti's ambassador on the presidnt's reportedly vulgar remarks. the trump administration's latest moves to destabilize the iran deal.

trouble in paradise-- an unprecedented wave of murder in acapulco. and, much more. >> woodruff: now, for reaction from one of the nations targeted by president trump in yesterday's discussion of immigration with members of congress, i'm joined by the ambassador of haiti to the united states, paul altidor. mr. ambassador, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me, it's a pleasure being here. >> woodruff: your reaction to what you were told and believe the president said yesterday. >> surprise and disappointed that such statements would come out of such a prestigious office like the office of the president of the united states, but, again, those statements were alleged to have been made by the president of the united states rather than us simply come out and condemn them, which we do

condemn them, as a government we did ask the u.s. to come explain and give us clarity as to what was said prior to us jumping to conclusions. two, i have been trying to get clarity as well from the state department here in washington, d.c. as to whether or not the statements were actually made. but, again, like i said, regardless of whether the statements were made, unfortunately, the country of haiti once again finds itself in the middle of yet another feud that has nothing to do with us as a people and we wanted to be certain this issue is clarified. >> woodruff: did the u.s. diplomat in haiti speak to your government and have an explanation? >> well, i know this meeting took place earlier this afternoon. i have yet to speak with my foreign minister to get all the details about this. but she came to the foreign ministry and discussed with our foreign minister. i have yet to have all the details on what was it. >> woodruff: so you haven't gotten a read on what she said.

what about the u.s. state department. you said you reached out to them. >> so far we've not received a formal response from the state department. keep in mind, things have been moving quickly throughout the day since the news broke yesterday. we're hoping between tonight and tomorrow there may be a formal response as from the state department as to what exactly what was said. >> woodruff: you feel you don't have clarity on exactly what the president said or you do? >> we know, unfortunately, something was said about haiti and a group of other countries. again, we condemn the statements and the unfortunate things that were said, especially on this special occasion. here i am sitting here today talking to you about some regrettable statement when haiti the mourning, it's actually commemorating the earthquake that happened back in 2010. >> woodruff: and this is the anniversary of it happening. >> exactly, on the exact date, 300,000 people lost their lives. >> woodruff: 300,000 people. mr. ambassador, several people have reported from that meeting that the president said,

speaking of haiti, why would we want people from haiti here. if you were to have the chance to talk to president trump right now, how would you answer him? >> well, first, we hope if the statements were made by the president of the united states, we would prefer to think he was ill-informed, misinformed about the country of haiti because what we're talking about here is a country, a neighbor of the united states with a very long history with the people here. haitians lost their lives. haitians give their blood. back in 1979 1979 -- back in 17o fight for the independence of this country. so our history with the united states goes back a long, long way. to this day, as i'm talking to you. we have haitians in universities who are professors, driving cabs throughout this country, taking care of the elderly, teaching our students. in other words, we feel there is misinformation as to who we are

as a community. so in light of what's happened, we're not just to condemn the statement, we're also as a government and people to open our arms. so if i'm talking to president trump today, we're asking two things. one, as a candidate, he did go to little haiti in miami to address the community, so we're inviting him back to come and discover the communities where hatians live. come to boston, mr. president. come to miami, mr. president, and discover the resiliency and discover exactly what this community of haitians are doing and the immigrants as well. we hope he will take the time to see the contribution as a community we continue to provide here in this country. >> woodruff: do you believe the president owes your country an apology? >> if something were said, just if i were to come and step on your foot accidentally, it's just good manners. again, we don't want to keep this conversation as to who said what. something was said in the name of haiti that we find regretful

and unfortunate because this fits into greater narrative of a government we're trying to address, too much stigmas and stereotype about the country of haiti. so we hope this is a new beginning of a new conversation about the country of haiti and its people. >> woodruff: we were talking about your own personal experience. you came to the united states as a teenager. >> yes. >> woodruff: you came to boston. >> yes. >> woodruff: talk for a moment about what you found when you came here? >> i came here like most. this is a typical story of other immigrants. i came here in the middle of winter with a t-shirt on my back from haiti to boston in the middle of january. but what happened is just like most other folks who are fortunate to be here, went to school, got my little part-time job, mate it through m.i.t. and became a haitian ambassador. so this is our haitian success story. our two countries have been living side by side jointly for a very long time.

>> woodruff: your father, you were saying, was a taxi driver in boston. >> that's correct. >> woodruff: so he spent a number of years here in boston, in this country, contributing to the economy of this country, working as someone who brought his family here. >> exactly. and not only contributing to the economy of this country but also making a great contribution to the economy of haiti as well. so bottom line, again, we hope they are making public including the president and others get to know us as a community. too much misinformation and misconception about who we are. so we're hoping to use this to engage the american public in a different conversation about who we are as a country, as a people. >> woodruff: you've certainly begun that conversation here and we appreciate it, ambassador paul altidor. thank you. >> thank you very much for having me today.

>> woodruff: the agreement led by president obama that limits iran's nuclear program has been a consistent target of president trump. today, the white house made a major announcement about how the u.s. will proceed with the deal, which also includes european allies, china and russia. john yang reports. >> yang: mr. trump has made no secret of his disdain for the nuclear agreement. here he is, last october: >> the iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the united states has ever entered into. >> yang: today, he had no public comments, while he declined again-- for the third time-- to re-impose broad sanctions that were lifted in 2015 as part of the multi-lateral accord. but the president warned, this is the last time, unless the deal is revised. he wants a supplemental agreement drawn up with 120 days to address what he sees as the

pact's failings. and, in a statement he said, "if at any time i judge that such an agreement is not within reach, i will withdraw from the deal immediately." mr. trump also wants iran's long-range missiles to be addressed under a revised pact. mr. trump also ordered targeted sanctions on 14 businesses and individuals to punish the islamic republic for its behavior. he cited thousands of arrests that followed recent anti- government protests. europe's top diplomats said yesterday their governments are sticking with the existing agreement. british foreign secretary boris johnsn said there's no other viable option to the deal, known formally as the "joint comprehensive plan of action." >> i don't think anybody has come up with a better idea. and i think it's incumbent on those who oppose the j.c.p.o.a. really to come up with that better solution, because we haven't seen it so far. >> yang: iran's foreign minister javad zarif rejected today's u.s. announcements, and said the

deal is not renegotiable. joining me now for more on today's announcement is mark landler of the "new york times." mark, thanks for joining us. so the president says he wants changes or the united states is out. what changes does he want? >> well, what he wants is a series of what the white house is calling triggers. these are things that, if iran doesn't go along with whatever the particular provision is, the sanctions against iran would automatically snap back, and these fall into the category of allowing unfettered inspections of nuclear facilities. they also want to eliminate the sunset provision. in the current nuclear deal, iran is allowed to resume some nuclear deal related activities on a timetable extending over the next 10 to 20 years, such as enriching uranium. the president wants those eliminated so that, in effect, any activity that could allow iran to produce a nuclear weapon would be foreclosed not just for ten years or 20 years but forever, and that's what he's

demanding of both lawmakers and congress and more difficultly allies in europe who are more likely to not agree with that kind of negotiation. >> yang: he's negotiating with allies in europe, not iran. explain that. >> well, i think the idea here and the white house did say today they ruled out the idea of bringing iran to the negotiating table, the idea here, in effect, is if you get the united states, britain, germany and france to line up in favor of these changes that you could in effect present it to iran as a feta com pli. two missing pieces are china and russia, two signatories to the deal, they'd presumably want to have a role in this, and iran itself who said over and over again the deal is done, it's not negotiable. so i think, in a sense, the white house is setting up a scenario that will be very difficult, if not impossible, to

pull off. >> yang: why don't they just pull out of the deal? the president says this is such a bad deal, why doesn't he unilaterally pull out? >> i think there is been an interesting change in conditions on the ground in iran. you've had anti-government protests, which made president trump if anything more intent on walking away from the deal as a way of punishing the regime. but oddly, particularly for the europeans, the unrest in iran is an even stronger reason for sticking with the deal, and the argument the europeans make is you want to keep the spotlight on the iranian administration, on the iranian leadership. ripping up the deal only allows the government to say the villain here is the united states, it's not our own corruption, our own misuse of funds, et cetera. so there's a strong reason logically to stick with the deal a little bit longer. i think that's the case that

president trump's advisor secretary of state tillerson, defense secretary mattis, his national security advisor mcmaster, i think that's the case they made to the president. he clearly didn't want to do it. he didn't want to do it three months ago or last year either, but i think they were able to get him to sort of grudgingly agree, provided as he said today, this is the last time he's willing to do it. >> yang: and what would be the effect if they don't get what the president wants and he says he'll pull out unilaterally? what would be the effect? >> if the united states reimposes sangs on oil exports and iran central bank, it really does collapse the deal because any european company thinking of investing in iran or conducting trade with iran is going to stay away out of fear they will suddenly find themselves at odds with the u.s. treasury department. so it really is a death blow to the deal. i think a lot of people are

wondering whether, if 120 days from now, we see some progress toward getting new legislation on capitol hill and perhaps the europeans saying, look, we're not going to renegotiate the deal right now, but we're standing with you in an effort to perhaps think about doing a follow-on agreement after this deal expires or enhance sanctions against iran on its ballistic missile program that perhaps they could once again sell the president on staying his hand. that's a highly uncertain scenario but i think it's what the deal's defenders are now resting their hopes on. >> yang: 120 days to go, mark landler of the "new york times," thank you so much for helping us understand this. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks tackle a busy week in politics. and, an immigrant's take on

finding the path to belonging and acceptance. this week, the u.s. state department issued its top travel warning, usually reserved for war zones like iraq, or syria-- but the "do not travel" advisory covered places much closer to home. it cautioned americans from against traveling to five states in mexico. one is home to the famed resort city, acapulco. special correspondent danny gold has our second look at violence in mexico from that pacific coast locale, and found a place that frank sinatra once crooned about, heaving under the weight of crime and violence. >> reporter: just over the hill from the strip of hotels that overlook acapulco bay, an all too common sight: heavily armed police and a forensic team. we just got a call that there are a number of bodies that have been found in a house. we're in zapata. it's one of the more notorious neighborhoods in acapulco. this is the grisly work of a violent gang, led by a man known as the virus.

they're pulling this truck up here to take the bodies out. they don't want us to see that. in acapulco, it's not just a war on the violence and the gangs, it's a war of perception, and they don't want people thinking about and seeing the violence that's going on here. after the police put two bodies in this truck, they left the area, and we were able to take a look for ourselves. this right here is part of what the police are trying to keep us from. it's two freshly dug graves. you can see there is still blood right here, and they pulled two bodies out of here just a moment ago. just hours before we met him, this 20-year-old, who requested that we protect his identity, was held hostage just a few feet away from the shallow graves. he's one of few people who have escaped death from a local gang lead by the man known the virus. >> ( translated ): after a day at work, three people came and covered me and took me by force and started firing gunshots everywhere. they hit me and took me to a

house where there were lots of other captured people. they hit me again and again. they said they were going to kill me and they had already buried four people in the backyard. >> reporter: what are you going to do now? do you feel safe to go back to your neighborhood? >> ( translated ): no, i don't. what i want more than anything is to leave acapulco. there is no peace or security here. >> reporter: 2017 just marked the fifth straight year that acapulco has been mexico's most murderous city. but it hasn't always been like this. ♪ come fly with me. >> reporter: the city gained prominence in the '50s and '60s as a tropical paradise for celebrities and millionaires alike. the kennedy's, john wayne, elizabeth taylor, all were regulars. sinatra even mentioned one of his favorite vacation spots in "come fly with me." ♪ you just say the words and we'll beat the birds ♪ down to acapulco bay. >> reporter: but as the violence shot up over the last decade, international tourists have been frightened off. mexicans, like iro and sandy,

now make up the bulk of those vacationing here. have you seen anything that would make you feel concerned here? >> ( translated ): no. everything is very calm, and we have had fun. it is very fun. the last three days we have spent here, nothing has happened. >> reporter: alejandro was >> reporter: protecting tourists is extremely important for the city. on acapulco's main strip, it's common to see federal police, state police, city police, a new tourist police force, even the military has been brought in. however, the citizens of acapulco say there is little being done to stop gangs from preying on them. >> ( translated ): we love acapulco. that is why we stay here and enjoy it. but there is a lot of extortion here. >> reporter: laura caballero is the president of a business owner's association. this empty space on acapulco's main strip used to be her successful restaurant. things changed after gang members demanded high-priced extortion payments from her. >> ( translated ): people came and asked us for money. they asked us to give them money every month in order to stay in business. >> reporter: caballero's restaurant is just one of over

2,000 businesses that have shut their doors in acapulco over the past three years. is there anyone you can go to? police or any politicians who can do anything about this? >> ( translated ): no. definitely not right now. i had friends who denounced the issues, and this cost them their lives. right now there is total impunity and total corruption. >> ( translated ): the fragmentation of gangs in acapulco is so big that we don't know exactly how many there are. >> reporter: javier morlett is an advocate for victims rights, a job that hits close to home. he lost his own 20-year-old daughter in 2011 to violence. he says that gang wars that have taken over acapulco differ from mexico's standard drug wars and offer a frightening new reality. >> ( translated ): these small gangs came from the fragmentation of big gangs. they don't have the ability or the logistics, so they abandon the drug business and instead start attacking civic society to survive. since there are no businesses that could finance politicians in their campaigns, the ones financing political campaigns

are the gangs. when politicians rise to power, they owe favors to these financiers. therefore, when politicians take power, they must establish a coexistence with those who financed them. and they cannot act against them. >> reporter: with a fragile system of law and order, those that can afford it in acapulco turn to private security, one of the few businesses still booming. joaquin badillo, who goes by the nickname jacko, runs a private security firm that employs over 1,000 guards across the city. they protect private businesses like shopping malls and residences. is your business growing as well? >> ( translated ): yes, i have to say that. but this crime of extortion is growing because not all the people have the money to pay the private security. so they prefer to pay the extortion because it's cheaper. >> reporter: acapulco's police chief, max sedano, surprisingly believes there is no criminal

extortion in the city. >> ( translated ): they make accusations that there are businesses closed down due to extortion, but the reality is that the businesses close down due to a lack of tourism, due to a lack of commercial activity. >> reporter: we did talk to some business owners, and they all told us they had to close due to extortion. >> ( translated ): i have not seen a single person who has told me that he had to close their business due to extortion. >> reporter: sedano, a highly decorated police and military veteran, was brought in by the federal government to help clean up both the city and the police force. >> ( translated ): when i joined this administration, the city police was just coming out from a workers strike which lasted many months. one that deteriorated the institution. the morale of the policemen was very low. the police then provided new uniforms, and equipment. i can tell you that the police force is changing and we are going to have a great transformation. >> reporter: we ran into acapulco's mayor, evodio

velazquez, during a public appearance at a busy night market. >> ( translated ): there are a lot of violent acts here, but today we are recovering. we are remodeling public spaces all across the city. acapulco has around one million residents, so we are a huge city. of course, there are areas where violence is prominent and we are working to eliminate it. >> reporter: miles from the scenic beachfront views, in one of the slums controlled by the gangs, we arranged to meet up with this gang member. he painted a much drearier image of the city, and his life in it. can you talk a little bit about why you decided to join? >> ( translated ): because nothing ever happens here. at first i was simply working with drugs, but then i became a person who liked drugs, and now i need them to do everything. >> reporter: how do you feel when you see politicians on tv saying how acapulco is such a great place to come on vacation? how it's like paradise? >> ( translated ): they're lying. they say that everything is okay, but we are not saying the same here. nothing is seen negatively on the tv, so that tourists come here. >> reporter: the gang member

sees the police and politicians not as a solution, but a major part of the problem. >> ( translated ): i have seen people killed. all that the officers do is turn their backs and go. there are many people who have asked the police to help them, but they don't do anything to stop this. the police is bought here. the authority doesn't follow the law. here, who governs is the cartels, the gangs, the hitmen, and the extortionists. there is no future in acapulco. it's not even worth trying here. >> reporter: every day at sunset, acapulco's famous cliff divers take this brazen plunge. but it's the famous city that will remain in free fall until it can finally control it's crime and violence. for pbs newshour, i'm danny gold in acapulco, mexico. >> woodruff: first year of the trump presidency is marked by

controversy and sharp criticism. this week brings the most striking examples yet and again spotlights mr. trump's views on race. that brings us to shields & brooks. welcome, gentlemen. it's a tough subject, mark. we have been talking about it for much to have the program, interviewed the ambassador from haiti earlier. what's your takeaway from what happened in the meeting yesterday with the president and the members of the senate? >> judy, first of all, revealing several levels. i have no doubt the president said it, there were six republicans in the room. lindselindsey graham confirmed o two other republicans. everybody else has gone mute on the subject showing moral cowardice when addressing this,

even mitch mcconnell, the voluable senate majority leader is mute. so it's really sort of tragic. it's one thing, judy, when donald trump uses pocahontas to attack one senator elizabeth warren. this, quite frankly, is beyond that. i mean, this is racial, it's racist, it is -- and for paul ryan to call it unhelpful or unfortunate, this shows the moral cowardice of the republicans in response to it. i mean, this is a man who thrives on being divisive, insists on being divisive. we now have the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years, good economic news as you reported earlier in the show, and, yet, he remains mired in the mid 30s where a great

majority of people do not think he's honest, do not think he's level-headed. it's a tragedy for country, for the relations, most of all a serious indictment of this presidency. >> woodruff: how are you reading it, david? >> i think it's clearly racist. it fits a pattern we've seen through his career and maybe his father's career, frankly. there's been a consistency pattern of harsh judgment against black and brown people and, so, he's at it again. and i guess i'm reminded first just the way it's rotting the republican party. this is the one thing republicans, they can tolerate a lot of things in donald trump, but the white identity politics, the racial politics, that's just a cancer, and that's the one thing they can't tolerate, but they seem to be tolerating. my other thought is we have been with this guy so long we forget what a normal admirable political leader looks like.

an admirable human being is interested in the world, has compassion for people from around the world. it's hard to live in this country and not have compassion for the immigrants who come here from the different countries. like the ambassador we just saw, you meet that story every week. so to not have any of that normal human compassion or curiosity go through the guy's head is part of the deeper character flaw here we've apparently learned to tolerate. >> woodruff: david said it's rotting the republican party, mark. is it doing damage to the country? >> yes, whoever the next president, is i assume that president will be elected in 2020, face as formidable task of repairing relations, of repairing the united states' reputation of just healing wounds both at home and abroad. just to add one point to what david made and i agree with it, before i became a leading pundit

in david's colleague here, i used to do political campaigns and worked for j. william fulbright former chairman of the senate foreign relations committee in his last campaign in 1974 in arkansas, and he's a man who is not falsely modest. he'd been president of the university of arkansas at age 34, road scholar and fulbright schirp was his creation. talking one night about presidents with whom he had served, six, and he said, if john kennedy -- of john ken dierks he said, whenever i went to the white house when john kennedy was president, i was proud as an american he was my president. i cannot believe anybody, irpresidentive of how partisan, how devote they are to the republican side could say they feel proud donald trump is the president or their president or our president. i think it does damage to the country, does damage to the office, and it does damage to

the national spirit. >> for the republicans, a, for all evangelical leaders, the treatment of the refugee, the poor, the outsider, that's not -- the bible is not ambiguous about that and donald trump is certainly against that spirit. for their party, there's a more specific problem, which is they have become a pretty anti-immigrant party, and they're decent, normal human beings and admirable people like senator cotton who want to cut immigration and they think take divide their views on immigration which are purely policy from the white identity, racial undertones donald trump has taken into this party and that is not possible. if you want to restrict immigration, somebody like tom cotton has an extra burden to rise up against what donald trump said, to say restricting immigration is not synonymous with bigotry, and if he does

that his policy views will be tainted by a sense of an aroma of bigotry around it. >> woodruff: as far as we know, he hasn't said anything to confirm or dispute. >> he and david purdue of georgia made a statement today -- >> woodruff: saying they couldn't remember. >> specifically couldn't remember. so i would say these are two people who probably immediate medical attention, they were meeting less than 24 hours ago and lindsey graham and everybody else there seems to remember it, but they don't remember it. >> this comes at a time, we've got these contrasting, some would say contrasting views of the president this week. mark, you had th the mike michal wolff book, portrays the negative descriptions you could imagine, the most charitable being he's bouncing around the white house, doesn't know what he's doing. but then the next day the

president shows up at this meeting with congress on immigration and looks like he's in charge, he's carrying on a conversation. do we just set that aside and -- i mean, how do we interpret this president? >> i really take issue with the question you pose. didn't think he seemed to be conversant. i mean, he was there. he was not unpleasant, and he certainly spoke in terms of love, as far as the immigration law is concerned,, but judy, he did not know what was going on. it was a little bit like the pillow, the last person whose head was on it leaves the impression. he was ready to endorse dianne feinstein in the daca bill. kevin mccarthy said we can't do it, of course he joined that. it wasn't an impressive performance. it was a performance that didn't show a meanness and was

obviously intended to rebut the charges in the wolff book that he was totally out of touch. >> i think it's possible to fervently opposed donald trump and still not believe in fairytales. the fairy tail is it's like the madness of king george, that he's a child, can't remember or do anything, bouncing off the walls and screaming and saying things on twitter. if you look at the twitter impression, you think that, but in meetings, people say he's affable, normal, runs the meeting okay. it's possible to believe that. he's not a total basket case, he is running a white house churning out policies and still believe he is guilty of bigotry and being ignorant. it's possible to believe both things and i think we saw both in donald trump this weekend. he's not a total monster or a blithering child, but neither up to the standards we would expect

as a president. >> he's inflicting great damage upon this country and he will leave in his wake great disenchantment, disillusionment. there's nobody who's encouraged to get involved in government, public service. he calls nobody to a higher commitment, to the public good, and he knows nothing. i mean, that meeting, he's terminally incurious. i mean, this is a man who ran on immigration as his issue, in 2016, ran successfully on it, and totally unconversant with the elements of the issue. >> i don't deny any of that. >> woodruff: one thing the white house is saying this week and the president brings it up every chance he gets is the economy, and you did have companies this week saying well, we're doing more hiring, wal-mart raised their minimum-wage, they've given people bonuses, a number of other companies are doing this.

some are interpreting this as about the tax cut. does the president deserve phi credit when -- i mean, the dow jones industrial average keeps shooting up. where does credit go? >> i rarely link the president to the economy while they're in office. you can have downstreams later but no short one-to-one. if you give companies a big windfall, which is what they got, they will have internal decisions, what do we do to help our company with the money? some say invest it, some raise salaries to increase benefits and wal-mart tenned to do that and there will be positive effects. you give people money, they will spend it in some way. so we could see an increase in r amp d and hopefully in wages. does that mean the tax bill increased growth overall? there is a consensus among

economists it did fairly little. give credit where it's due, not surprising some companies would react in this way but i wouldn't expect to see a total jump in growth overall. >> wal-mart raised its minimum start at $11, which is good, better than it was. i mean, no one's living in clover on $11 an hour, but that's a positive. anytime any company raises benefits and salary, the income and economic disparity we have in this country, it's good. the same day they announced a closing of 63 sam's warehouses, on the very day they announced them. so you take the plus, republicans beginning with speaker ryan say it's the tax bill that's responsible for this. and i think that's a question that goes both ways. i mean, this is good. bonuses are the cheap way out.

bonuses is a way -- >> woodruff: one shot. one shot. it's not an increase. i mean, it's better to get a bonus than not get a bonus, but it's not going to be there six months from now. so i think the jury is not even in let alone out on the tax bill. >> woodruff: well, we have time to watch what happens. >> we do. >> woodruff: mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we end this week with one immigrant's take on belonging. award-winning novelist akhil sharma is a professor of literature at rutgers university and a contributor to the "new yorker" magazine. he offers his "humble opinion" on opening up to understand the experiences of others. >> people ask me all the time if i feel more indian or more american.

when i was younger, if it were an indian asking, i would say american. and if it were an american, i would say indian. i did this because i was wanted to bother whoever was asking the question. i did not feel like i belonged anywhere, and so when the person asked, i thought, "why should you feel at home when i don't?" now, when people ask me the question, i say i am american. so what happened? i grew up feeling i had to make sure to get mine. in my 30s, after decades of being hurt and angry, i started trying to be a different person, i remember one monday morning, i was in the elevator of my apartment building and i was going down, and a woman got in,

and i asked her how she was doing. "not well," she said. mother of god, i thought, i have my own problems. "what's the matter?" i asked. because it was polite. "my son, he's a paranoid schizophrenic. he's 13 and he thinks the i.r.s. is after him. i had to put him in the hospital yesterday." mostly what i felt at that moment was anoyance. i asked her if she wanted me to go with her to the hospital. i asked this because i had decided i would just try to think a little bit less about myself and a little bit more about others. as i made the offer, i thought, "please god, say no." "yes," the woman said. "thank you. that would be great." unexpectedly, i felt enormous relief. as soon as i offered help when i felt i needed it myself, i felt like space had opened up around

me. what does belonging mean? it means feeling safe. it means feeling accepted. the easiest way to feel safe is to offer patience, offer help. when we do this, we remind ourselves that we are probably not in as dire a situation as we imagine. we also remind ourselves that there are lives being lived all around us, that the world is greater than our imagination. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now: in light of the president's incendiary, reported remark about the countries of some immigrants, we've updated our timeline of his history of race-related comments, dating

back to 1973. all that and more is on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. later tonight on "washington week," robert costa will have more on how the president has ignited a highly-charged debate over race, over immigration and the state of the republican party. that's later tonight on "washington week." tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend looks at how the situation in ukraine continues to strain the u.s. relationship with russia. and that is 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: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> funding provided in part by 20th century fox. "the post," in theaters

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're waelyse: pbs. this week on history detectives,

what could this faded scrap of fabric tell us about the first pilot to conquer the continental divide? elyse: i cannot believe i'm doing this. roll it to the left. oh, my god! eduardo: how did these pencil sketches help define the shape of america? that's a pretty good match. tukufu: and in an encore presentation, what do these metal fragments tell us about the genius behind one of the nation's most popular songs? wow, wow! elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ it's just like watchin' the detectives ♪