captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: president trump comes face to face with the leaders of g7 nations amid escalating trade tensions, and his suggestion that russia be allowed back into the group. elthen, the deaths of travost anthony bourdain and designer kate spade raise again the qution of how to prevent suicide. plus, pa two of our conversation with former present bill clinton and author james patterson about their new cyber-security novel. >> we were trying to doin somethat we don't normally do. can you write a legitimate thriller that's really fun to read, and faithful to the way it ituld unfold? >> woodruff: and friday. ahead of next week's historic summit between president trump

and north korea's leader kimk jong-un, mields and ramesh ponnuru analyze a packed week of news. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >>onsumer cellular believe that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- wcontraeless plans for people who use their phones a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> financial services firm raymond james. >> leidos. >> 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 stion from viewers like yo thank you. >> woodruff: there's a chill in the air tonight at the group of seven summit in qbubec, canada-- it's not from the weather. the industrial demracies have convened in an atmosphere of argument over president trump's ade demands. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage.or >> repr: the president showed no sign of backing off

his tough talk on trade-- even before leaving for the g7.e >>e not going to live with the deals the way they are. european unfairly.ts us very canada, very unfairly., >> reporter: aid strained relations with allies, he argued that russia should return to the g7. moscow was evicted from tee meeting afit annexed crimea in 2014. >> why are we having a meetinoug wirussia in the meeting? they should let russia come back in, because we should have russia at the negotiating table. t >> reporter: from there,s on to quebec, and a sudden schedule change that reflected the tensions: a planned morning meeting with french president emanuel macr was canceled. they met briefly on the sidelines, after trading barbs t in the run-up summit. yesterday, macron tweeted, "the american president may not mindn isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six-country reement if need be." mr. trump answered with a claim that: "the e.u. trade splus

with the u.s. is $151 billion." in fact, the e.u.'s trade surplus is $101 billion, whentr e in services is included. today, he fired off a new attacr onean union members and canada, vowing to end what he calls "unfair trade practiced against the u.s." the president has repeatedly threatened to terminate "nafta," the "north american free trade agreement," unless it's revised. stcanadian prime minister trudeau insists the trump hard line will only hurt the u.s. even so, ty appeared cordial at their first encounter today. and, they met again late this afternoon. >> obviously trade has been a topic of discussion, and will continue to be. >> justin has agreed to cut all tariffs and all trade barriers between canada and the u.s. ( laughs ) so i'm very happy about that. no, but we are working on it. it could be that nafta will be a

different form, itould be with canada, with mexico, one on one, much simpler agreement, much easier to do. >> reporter: the president plans to leave the summit tomorrow, before it officially ends, to head to singapore and his meeting with nor korean leader kim jong-un. judy. >> woodruff: we heard president trump, yamiche, say earlier today that he would like to see russia come back intohe g7. what do the other leaders there say about that? >> well derricks spite russiant trump wanti back at the negotiating table, most of the members of the g7y toatly rejected that idea. they say they do not want to see ssia come back here. canada released a statement through a spokesperson sayinc that ntry's position has not changed. noveral european union members also say they dwant to see russia back here. ulist prime new pop minister says he agrees with trump and says russia should be back for everyone's interest. russia state media's spokesperson says russia is not

coming back to the a ande focused on other forums. >> woodruff: president trump is arriving late, leaving early on top of tense relations. how is that playing out at the summit and do you expect a joint communique?ru >> president is definitely keeping this meeting short. he's leaving saturday morning before a meeting on change. he -- climate change. he's sending an age. reuters is reporting a joint communique will be released by all seven memrs, the united states will be included in that, to be focused o election meddling. all seven members say they will share information about social media and the iternet to prevent foreign leaders from meddling into elections like russia has been accused of. >> woodruff: yamiche alcindor. thank you.

>> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, russia's president vladimir putin and china's leader xi jinping held their own summit, in the face of strained relations with the west. they met in beijing, ahead of a regional summit of asian nations. putin said cooperation with china has reached an "unprecedented level." >> ( translated ): our country sincerely values the good- neighborliness and friendshipth hina. we are proud of the overall achievements in politics, the economy, sence and culture. i look forward to further deepening russia-china strategic cooperation for the sake of countries' prosperity and well- being. >> woodruff: the two leaders also criticized presiden trump's deciion to pull out of the iran nuclear deal, and they pledged to keep that agreement alive. it has been another deadly day of protests along gaza's border with israel. gazan medics say that israeli troops shot and kied at least four people, with hundreds more wounded. at least 120 protesterhave been killed since march. tsrael says that hamas militants are using the prots a

cover for attacks. in somalia, a u.s. specialer operations solas killed today, and four others were wounded. the u.s. military says they got into a firefight with al-shabaab extremists, linked to al-qaeda. the group has claimed a seriesav of attacks, g 150 people dead in the last two months. in austria, the conservative government launched a new crackdown against what they view as radical islam. officials announced that they will close seven mosques and expel dozens of imams. they are acting under a 2015 law that bans foreign funding of religious groups. back in this coury, president trump said today that he wassl sericonsidering pardoning the late muhammad ali. but a short time later, the boxing great's lawyer nnid that it'sessary because the u.s. supreme court unanimouslys vacated alnviction for draft evasion in 11.

mr. trump also said that athletes who protest racial injustice during the national anem should instead offer names for pardons. >> and i'm going to ask them to recommend to me people who were unfairly treated, friends of theirs, or people that they know about. and i'm going to take a look at those applications, and if i find, and my committee, that they're unfairly treated, then we will pardon them, or at least let them out. >> woodruff: the president said his team is looking at "thousands of names" for possible pardons. the special counsel in the russia investigation added more charges today against paul manafort, the former trump campaign manager. he was already accused of money-laundering and illegally lobbying for ukrainian interests. now, manafort and a russian- ukrainian associate face charges involving alleged witnessta ering. separately, the former security director for the u.s. senate intelligence committee is caught

rr in a leak investigation. james wolfe wasted and charged thursday to lying to the i. about his contacts wi reporters. it allegedly happened as the committeprobed the trump mpaign's relations with russia. new details tonight on first lady melania trump, who has been dney procedure a month ago.a her office has given out little informatio but the president says, in fact, it was a "big operation" that lasted nearly four hours. herays doctors do not want flying yet, so she is not attending the g7 meetings. on wall street, stoc ended the week with modest gains. the dow jones industrial average was up 75 points to close at 25,316. the nasdaq rose ten, and the s&p 500 added eight. and, sad news today from charles krauthammer, the syndicated columnist and

fox news contributor. he has been off the air for nearly a yea and in a public tter today, he announced that he has terminal cancer, with only a few wkrks to live. thammer is 68. is life with no regrets." leave we're sorry to hear that. still to come on the newshour:bo anthondain's death raises awareness of suicide and how to prevent it. linton and james patters discuss the thriller they wrote together. mark shields and ramesh ponnuru take on the week's news. and, much more. >> oodruff: and now, some disturbing findings about suicides in this country, hd how the ra continued to climb for more than 15 years. a new report highlights some of the reasonbehind these patterns, and as amna nawaz reports, it's issued at a moment when two notable deaths have drawn more attention to the problem.

>> reporter: the deaths of chef and tv host anthony bourdain and fashion designer kate spade this week underscored some grim numbers. suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the united states. in 2016 alone, nearly 45,000 americans died by suicide. cnn announced today thatur dain, who took viewers to e cations around the world on his show, died at e of 61. spade, whose handbags and accessories made her a business mogul and fashion icon, died tuesday at the age of 55 the centers for disease control and prevention's latest report found suicide rates increased in nearly every state in america since 2000. in half of all states, the rate rose more than 25%, and some of the largest increases were in mountain states and the midwest. that includes rural areas where incomes can be stagnant, povertd can be high,here financial iress can add to pressures in middle and lome american families. experts in the field say there are almost always multiple

causes of suicide. and fact, the c.d.c. report this week that 54% of people who died by suicide over the last two decadedid not have a known bontal health condition. some insight now risks, treatment and the scope of the problem. dr. liza gold has spen career on trying to prevent suicide with proper treatment and interventions. she is a clinical professor of psychiatry at orgetown university school of medicine. dr. gold, welcome to the "newshour". >> thank you for having. me let me ask you, the numbers are striking, 45,000 suicides last year alone. just from a public health perspective, what do we know about why this is happening?on >> well, i think we really have a very good handle on why the numbers are going up, but it's clear that they are going up and, out of the top ten causes o udeath in theted states, leading cause of suicids umber ten, one of the three in the top ten that's actually going up instead ofn. dow >> the one in three, as you mention, that continue to rise. fr's worth pointing out a couple

of things we knom the multi-year study, the age groupi the highest vulnerability when it comes to suicide, amicans 45 to 64 years old. also the gender gap, tat men were more likely to take their lives than women, that see to be shrinking, too. what do we know about that? >> women have always made more attempts than men at suicide. the ratio has been about 3.-something to one, in terms of attempts, but men have always been more likely to complete a suice than women have been. i think the key factor in that shift has been increasing access to firearms, which is a highly lethal method of suicide. about 50% of all suicides are firearms and women becoming more comfortable over the past years as acceshbility and oer programs have made women more likely to also buy firearms.

it used to be only men likely -- not onlr butimarily men had firearms. >> one of the other things we've learned now is every time there ebrityigh profile or cel suicide, the conversation shifts to mental health very, very quickly, and we know now from this multi-year study that% 54, more than half to have the people who died by suicide in that study did not have a mental health diagnosis at the time of their death. so what are we to understand about that number, about that 54%? >> well, i think that probably many of them probably did but had not sought assessment or treatment. so i think that number is very low. t another way of thinking about it is that suicide is a behavior, not diagnosis, and it can be associated with life crises as well as with mental health problems. so when we think about preventing suicide, we have to heink about preventing a behavior, whit's been associated with mental illness or not, with or without mental

illness, we have to intervene. it's not jutthe mental illness that creates th crisis. >> and some of those studies st there are a number of contributing factors. it's not just about mental health. there are relationship problems, substance abuse, physical health, financial problems. you mentioned treatment what does that entail? i >> weldepends on what the problem is but the most common diagnoses astociated h suicide are substance abuse problems and mood disorderrers. r have treatment both those problems, particularly for mood disorders. we do a pretty gob these days between cognitive behavioral therapy and medication in terms of helping people with mood disorders so that one of the two evidence-based interventionsth will reduce rates of suicide -- incidents of suicide are mental health treatmentics and people whourvive the other one is lethal means restriction

taking away the things they ue to kill themselves. putting nets on bridges so they can't jump, removing firearms from someone in crisis, someone who has a stash of pills, holding on to those. so what we know about mental health treatment is that it doeo , that it does decrease rates of suicide, and that w peop have made a suicide attempt and who have survived it and who get into treatment are actually not likely to die by suicide. so they getr. bet and it's unfortunate that there's so much sigma attached both to mental health diagnoses and treatment and to suicide, still coidered a very shameful thing in many places, many people don't want to talk abodot itt want to acknowledge a family member who's committed suicide, ecetera. so in order to get to treatment, you have to, a, increase the mental health resources upstream as far as possible and, b, you have to destigmatize seeking eatment and receiving

treatment. >> for people who are worried about a loved one or someone that they may know, what are they looki for? >> looking for changes in behavior, really signs that sis.one might be in cri so unusual behaviors, isolating themselves, becoming uncommunicative, not going in to work, withdrawing from relationships, those are sort of warning sig potentially of depression or substance abuse, someone thinking about killing thn selves. >> wu see or hear those things, what do you do and what do you not do or say? >> reach out. that's the most important thing. and if you're really cocerned, be persistent, and use the word u"suicide" if yo're really that concerned because that gives people permission to talk about something they might be embarrassed or ashamed to bring emthemselves. >> dr. liza gold, thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. for anyone out there who

needs help or who knows someonee whs help, available 24 for free, call the national suicide prevention hot line or text 741741 or visit suicide prevention lifeline.org. >> woodruff: and now, more of my interview with former president bill clinton and writer james patterson about their political thriller, "the president is emssing." i sat down with esterday. president bill clinton, james patterson. >> guilty as charged. (laughter) >> woodruff: the book is th president is missing. a former president of the united states, a fabulously successful writer, who calls the shots whe you're working together on a book? >> well, i think we know who's better at this. one of the world's great

storytellers. but we both wanted to do it, and our lawyer/agent/friend bob barnett said yes we should do it. he said i have been trying to get you to write a triller for years and you will never do it, he said why don't you do on with james patterson? i said, he'd never do that, never. so bob talked to him and we just started. i told him he was going to have to do a litle hand hoding in the beginning because i have read thousands of thrillers, i guess by now, but i didn't know how to do it. but wetarted with an outline, and he said, okay, here's 20 questions you've got to answer of how to make this authentic. >> i didn't tell him it would be another 20 after that. >> and, so, we started working. then every draft we traded bak and forth, sometimes several times. ,>> when bob came to we both grew up in small towns, but myt

smalwn nobody ever came. but when i was eight or nine years old, prsident eisenhower came to town, and i never forgot that. i also tried to never forget where i came from. i never get a big head because of whatever. i don't think anybody should get big heads about anything, but i really tried not to do that. so when got theportunity to write a book with president clinton i jumped at it and to spend a year with him which is fabulous. >> woodruff: this is a book about a president facingpe le. hearing, something you know about president clinton. he's also confronting an international terrorist threat that implausibly he decides to deal with himselfa he -- >> not implausible in terms of the bookn , though,rms of the story, in terms of why he decides to do that, but, yes implausible in terms of, like -- i mean, even when we talked about it, the preside said, this would be irresponsi e, except undthis kind of

circumstance. >> woodruff: well, that's what i want to ask you about, because he has to ditch the secret service, president clinton, in order to go and do this thing on s own. that would never happen, would it? >> well, it never has happened. in the book, we explained what the law appears to be, which is that anybody except the president who is covered by th secret service, including members of the president's family, can sign off the coverage and assume theisk, normally, for a very specific purpose and limited time. if you read this book, you will see ther very specific reason he thinks he has to doan ithe acknowledges that it won't be very long, but that this is a cybersecurity novel, so that thiangs happent, clock is ticking. ne has to make a decision, and he thinks he's dothe right thing. but, in general, you wouldn't

it. and yousee why shouldn't do it with the consequences that flow. >> there is an incredibly devastating attack launched toward the united states. if something like that happened, this is how it would happen. there's an attack on a apesidential motorcade, if it happened, it wouldn like this, the president goes missing. as inconceivable as that might normally b if it happened, this is how it could happen. >> woodruff: the theme is around a cyer threat. is it fair to say, president clinton, that you think that is now the most serious potential threat this country faces? >> of cose, a nuclear, chemical or biological attack could kill more people more quickly, but i think i more likely that a serious cyberattk could do a masive amount of damage and be successful >> currently, you know, we have a very large defense budget, which is getting larger, but only a very sma part of it is designated towards cyber

thfense, and i think we bo think that we need to reexamine that in terms of how big that piece should be. >> woodruff: and this is one way of educating the public. >> we're trying to do something you don't normally do, to write a legitimate thriller that's really fun to read aaithful to the way it would unfold and also mae the point that makes people more interested in the t cybersecuriting because anything electronic can be hacked, and that's the pont we're trying to make here. >> it's not just that it goes off temporarily, it can be erased, or your bank records, wall street, all of it, it could be erased. t scary.hat makes i we try to create a president to remind people how stressful this job is so when people go out to vote, they would really think about this allot, even in med rm elections, when they go out, they elect people to

congress, governorsps, this is likely important stuff. these people are not silly, they're not villains, they wantp to do an rtant job and let's be real careful about who we elect. >> woodruff: one of the other points, i guess you could sayme s of education comes through in the dysfunction of washington, one of t things surrounding this fictional president duncan. at the end of the book, he'm laments,uoting, the downward drift into tribalism, extremism and seething resentment, us versus them, a blood sport,he well of trust runs completely dry. guess my qstion to you, though, with president trump's success, isn't that here to ay for th foreseeable future? >> well, for a while it is, but i think -- you know, i think, in the campaign, for example, i lieve that i attacked him less personally than anybody else.d i always salook, this election is about you, here's why you should be for hillary, one, two, three.

i think eveerybody should trying to recapture that. for example, i think we should be roing for him to succeed with the korean negotiations. i don't lrke having toag on the dictatorial proclivities ofh north korean leader, but i think the south korean president he'seen a genius the way kind of gotten them together, and i think anything we can douc to rethat threat is a positive thing. >> woodruff: we're watching this sumt that looks like 's going to take place between president trump and the north korean leader.ve do you belhe north koreans, you've dealt with them, are prepared to completely dismantle theeair nuclearns program? >> maybe, maybe not. but even if they're not, if they are prepared to have an inspection regime which would give usreater confidence that the nuclear material, the fissile material and any

technology would be identified, monitored and couldn't be given or sold o anyone else, that would be worth doing. >> woodruff: you have said -- you've continued to say you believe nafta washe right thing to do, that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. however, your party just has stdily moved in the direction of protectionism. so my question is that's the political reality, isn't it, on trade? >> yeah. teople will tend to resent any force that is no helping them. so who cares if trade is helpine dy else? who cares if technology is helpg somebody else, i get that. do i think nafta needs to be upgraded. there is 25 years, all the other technological and other changes, there is plenty of room for both sides to say they've gotten something do, we need to redo this. we know who will be helped and hurd in the tradagreement. should get our money on the

front end from now on.he ise, i still believe in trade. >> woodruff: you're going to do another collaboration after this one? you're going to write a second book? >> we've had a lot of fun doing it. it's been a tremendous experience for both of us. it's been fun doing intrviews and big crowds and very positive crowds. >> i was thrilled, at my age, to start something new. >> he's probably got a detectivs seriarted, already. >> spending all these yearsin rethrillers, it's good to get to write one. >> woodruff: the book, "the missing president," thank you very much for talking james patterson and presient clon. >> thank you. >> woodruff: thank you both. >> woodruff: and you can watch the first part of my interview, including president clinton's comments about monica lewinsky, on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. now, from the words of a formern pres to the news of the current president abroad. we get the analysis of shields and nnuru. that's syndicated columnist

mark shields, and ramesh ponnuru of the "national review." david brks is away. it's great to see both of you. thank you for being here. i want to ask you about something we just heard from james patterson, thwriter, and that is, mark, he was talking about we need to take the peopl we elect fice seriously. there is so much criticism of them, they have been run down by all of the flood of criticism that they t. he said, when you go to the polls to vote, remember they're not silly, they're not villains. what do you make of that? >> well, they have been run down in large part by people who have replaced them. that's been a recurring theme. particularly, among conservative insurgents but notx eclusively, running against washington, running against politicians. i think mr. patterson's exposure to president clint is probably, in part -- i mean, bill clinton, let it be noted, came to office at thtime of the steepest budget deficits in the history nt the cou and

courageously raised taxes on the richest 1.4% of americans and produced an economy that produced 22 million new jobs after we had the lowest economic growth in 50 years when he came hen he left at 65% approval, and today he's way below that. so there's a certain lack of appreciation, you should say. >> woodruff: for bill clinton. for bill clinton, and i feel that may be reflected in mr. patterson's expo him and certainly expressed in the president's own behavior and speeches. >> woodruff: is it possible to get people to tink differently about politicians, ramesh? >> i think it will be tricky. i think james patterson was getting at the institution of the job or the institution of the presidency and our fixation on the personality and pageantry of the presidency. the presidency has gotreten and more powerful in american government and we depend much more than we used to on the professionalism and competence of the president fulfilling the

job, but, at the same timthe cultural footprint's gotten eiggish, too, and made us mor interested in all to have the drama of presidency. that's widt prests are rewarded these days for playing to. >> woodruff: speaking of presidents and draa and ramesh's point, president trump has kicked up a lot of dust going into this summit talking about trade as he was leaving the white house this moing, he said the u.s. is essentially being taken to the cleaners by it's allies, by other members of the g7, and cited character and verse on how these other countries are imposing tariffs on the u.s. nfair.re does he have a point? >> i think h he has a point, judy. men, there's no question that both -- all countries in trade seeketompive advantage. the united states is not lily pure on this at all, the sugar act, to beginwith for example.

but i think the president, quite frankly, what amazed metoday was the announcement he wanted to invite russia back in to the g7, make g8, that russia has been evicted overwhelmingly by the group for its invasion of ukraine and its annexation of crimea, neither of tch it's apologized for or changed in the least, and, you know, the afening silence by republicans with the conspicuous exception of john mccain, rob portman, senator from ohio, and ben sasse from nebraska, i can't imagine if democratic president suggested rewarding putin and dismembering or disabling natec o's unity by san act would be unthinkable. >> woodruff: ramesh, how serious do you think tis may be a rift over trade and russia is? r i think we have a num fronts we've opened up which are tending to isolate the united

states around the world. trade is a big part of that, and sometimes it works even odds with our own trade strategies. so, for example, we might have been more successful in getting other countries to work with us on the problems created by chinese mercantilism if we weren't simultaneoly starting a trade war with allies sharing our interests vis-a-vs china. i think that's something a lot of countries are looking at. it's nho just the stility or the unilateralism from the united states, but the unpredictability unpredictability can be advantage but also make people think you're not reliable. >> woodruff: and the president, mark, he's leaving this summit early, we understand, to get to singapore to get ready for the summit with north korea. >>dyhe books, >> woodruff: we're switching quickly from one part of the rld to another. knere's a lot riding on that meeting, we don' what's going to come out of it. we understand there's dissension

de the administration, inside the white house over what ought to come out of it. are there expectations at this point? s >> ire -- there are expectations, judy. i'm not sure exactly what they are. i mean, i thinking in, you can say that kim jong un already has a couple of feathers in his own cap, he's got the summit. we've cut back on our military exercises jointly with south korea, he's recognized as a major national and international global figure, they've talked about invitations to mar-a-lago for him. s i don't know -- he's keeping apons and, after theex iraniample -- >> woodruff: keeping his weapons? >> his nuclear weapons. i don't see anybody who thnks he's going to surrender them. if that's a breakthrough, then that would be an accomplishment of great zigd would accrue not on to the world's benefit

but donald trump's political benefit. >> i don't think anyone would cegrudge him that under those circumst but the realistic view of this i think is the pessimistic one. we want north korea to give up a nuclear program that's its lifeblood. its identity is tied up in this nuclear program. when you add to theth fact is administration doesn't seem to have negotiated internally what his position is on all of these issues, it makes it harder for you to get to a positive outcome in these talks. >> woodruff: what do we wch for, mark? clearly, to see if they reach any kind of agreement and keep talking, but what are we looki for? >> i don't know anybody who's expecting a major agreement or breakthrough. probably another meeting. you know, 've seen, already, this week, judy, with the chinese on the zte.

there was a story, the chinese, the identification badges they wear there and room keys they're giving. there arer micophones which enable them to listen in to establish whereio are y so i don't know what we're going to achieve with the north koreans. a90% of north korean is with the chinese. so if anybody thinks we're dealing withn independent actor, i think we're delusional. >> that's right, these are intertwined issues, but all of the struggles we've had with north korea and with china, we still don't have ified positions in this administration. we're constantly reading about sparring between different members of this onministra it all seems to be an ad hoc process. >> wocdruff: national sity john bolton is said to be completely against these talks in the first place.br all right,inging it back home, a number of primaries this week, mark, in half a dozen or

so states. did each party do what it edne to do? and what are are these results in california, iowa, new jersey, other places, tell us, ifab anythingt the fall, the midterms? >> well, the republicans had a major achievement. they will have a reblican candidate for governor of california on the ballot in vember. that was in doubt until tuesday night, whether it would be two democrats. so they're hoping that will serve as aet-out-the-vote effort and energize further the republicans. this election is turning out to be just like this administration itself, this presidency, l it's out donald trump, and while voters give him credit for theec improvinnomy and recognize that, the reality is drives -- he's driving turnout and he drives turnout on both sides, but sadly for the republicans, he's energized more democrats than he has

republicans heding into the fall of 2018. i would say republicans inrs new are so far on the defensive, having voted for that tax bill, the president's, which increases local and state taxes for every person of any middle or upper income, same thing in california. so republicans are very much on the -- i think, on the advantage with the intensity and enthusiasm being on the mocratic side. >> woodruff: how do you see it? >> for a few months, now, the polling has en improving pore the republicans. president trump's approval rating has been going up. the poll question about whether people prefer a democratic or republican congress has been tightening. there's still a democratic advante on average in those things. i think the results we saw ines primaries su the polling is picking up something real, that this has become aght race. in a lot of the california districts, republicans who had reasonably good vote totals. of course, they're republican

district but there was thought there would be a democratic wave to sweep away the incumbents. the republican-held seats now looks like the republicans are holding their own. plenty of time r that to change. >> i couldn't disagree more. a great measurement that "wall street journal" nbc poll used i 20d every midterm and that is are you following the ensityon with great int and great interest, and with people who do so, ni or ten on the scale, 63% of republicans in 20 s 47% of democrats, and republicans pick up 63 house seats. right now, it's 63% of democrats brging passion and intensity and 47% of republicans, a total reversal. that, quite frankly, there are more people who want to vote for identody to check pres trump than to support president trump, and it's a refereum on him. ght now, it's going to be bad for the republicans.

>> woodruff: quickly, do you agree this is going to end up being about donald trump in november? >> i think thatas trump h managed to make himself the center of every conversation in america, practically speaking, so probably the election will be a referon him. midterms usually go badly for the party in thswhite houe. the question is will they go badly enough to lose the house and right now i think that is very much in question. >> we have a little bet. >> woodruff: what did you say? e have a wager. >> woodruff: we'll remember that. n>> it's not legal inw jersey, that's right. (laughter) >> woodruff: mark shields, ramesh ponnuru, thank you both. and we will be back shortly. but rrst, take a moment to h from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those station

staying with us, the tony awards are this sunday, and a small m tusical is hopibring home some big wins.t" "the band's vis nominated for 11 tony awards, including best musical. and, as jeffy brown discovered during his visit to broadway last year, it is based on some unusual sourceetaterial. ♪e tell you about bet hatikva ♪ ♪ybuch a city evy loves it ♪ >> brown: when the members of the alexandria, egypt ceremonial band arrive in israel for a performanc it's immediately clear something is wrong. they were expected in the city petah tikva, with a "p. ♪ this is bet hatikva with a "b" ♪ >> brown: but through a miranslation, have come to the sleepy desert town of bet hikva, with a "b," where dina, owner of the one tiny cafe, lets them know there's not a lot going on. ♪ welcome to nowhere >> brown: the new musical "the s

band's visit in 1996, is about missed opportunities, crossed signals, little and big things, like love, that do and, more often, dot happen. and it's connecting with audiences and critics alike. the "new york times" called it a "musical forrownups." ♪ what is he thinking? what does he wish for? ♪ >> brown: at sardi's restaurant in times square, we talked wit t members of production team, including actress katrina lenk, whs as dina. >> i think it's about loneliness, and our choice to remain lonely, or to not be lonely when an opportunity comes around. it's about taking little risks d it's also about how musican art are bigger connectors th >> brown: the story unfolds in one night, as the hapless band-n

looking, acharacter says, like sergeant pepper's lonely heart's cluband-- gets stuck in town, and the equly hapless locals take them into their homes and lives. >> my wife has birthday toy! >> brown: without a shared language, communication is in broken english... >> many happy years. >> thank you. >> brown: and beautiful music. ♪ ♪ it's based on a 2007 film, without music, of the same name, that writer itamar moses adapted to the stage.ol >> aely everything that happens is just a very, very gentle, natural outcropping of that very basic situation. and yet, by the end of the movie you feel like something really important, and sort of life- changing has happened for these people. so i thought that was really sort of profound and interesting, and i thought it would be cool to try to see if preserve that in different form. ♪ i don't know with the girls i dot know... ♪ >> brown: turning the story into

a musical-- and deciding when a song is best for capturing a moment-- fell to composer david yazbek.w, >> you k song in a musical can serve a lot of different purposes, and if you're adapting from a movie, sometimes the son is likose-up in a movie. you might close up on someone's fa and the picture speaks thousand words.he music doesame thing. ♪ friday evening omar sharif ♪ >> a song can also just be a way of going much deeper into a o charactea relationship, you know, and that's the other thing that we were exploring in this. >> brown: the relationship that "could happen" is between dina d tewfik, the straight-laced but deeply humane leader of the egyptian band, played by tony shalhoub. ♪ sunday morning umm kulthum ♪ ♪ her voice would fill our living room ♪

>> brown: in the show's signate ballad, titled "omar sharif," katrina lenk as dina sings of how much she loved egyptian movies and music as a young israeli girl. >> i'm just overjoyed that i get to sing such a beautiful song and that people do seem to beon respng to it in a way that they love it, maybe, as much as i do.nd ♪he living room becomes a garden ♪ ♪ and the tv set becomes a fountain ♪ ♪ and the music flows in the garden ♪ ♪ and everything grows >> that's a really exciting, special experience to have. >> brown: several cast members and writers visited israel before the production, to see the real town on which the story is basta. they knew of israelis and egyptians comes with plenty of historal and political freight, and decided, as in the

film, to focus on the smaller, human scale within the larger drama. >> i wouldn't say that it's accurate to say that the show is not political. i think 's enormously political. but the argument it's making is about the so of man-made arbitrariness of politics. and that, in the absence of those iminary structures, people connect over all kinds of things. >> brown: one of the charms of the production, directed by david cromer, several members of the alexandria ceronial band are actually in the theatrical band-- they're musicians as well as actors. ♪ ♪ including violinist george abud, who brings something else to the performance. as an arab american from detroit, he pes the music, the play and his presence in it makes a larger statement. >> growing up, you don't have much to go with as a youngid arabicand much to go with in seeing yourself represented in the performing arts.

thadst's why a lot of arabic don't become actors, because they don't think it's something for them, and also their families don't think of it as something for them. so i think if there wee stories being told, and they were being welcomed more into the thter by their stories being regularized, or their actors getting to be part ofow these that the kids would be like, "oh, that's another option for me." it's just a wato open up the world a little bit. ♪ spelling out the rhythm of love ♪ ay brown: and just another that makes "the band's visit" an .nusual and welcome addition to broadway this seas for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in new york. ♪ ♪ >> woodruff: the washington capitals finally won hockey's stanley cup. and as newshour senior foreign affairs producer-- and hockey fanatic-- morgan till reports,

it was a long time coming. >> reporter: more than 40 years of hockey futility evaporated in the nevada desert last night. >> and the capitals have won it! the capital of the nation is the capital of the hockey world!>> reporter: at the final horn, the washington capitals grabbedi thfirst stanley cup title sinc playing, in 1974.an they beat the las vegas golden knights four games to one in the best-o that expansion team's surprising inaugural seasls. for capita' captain alex ovechkin, hoisting the storied cup puts the capstone on a dazzling career. he was nearly overcome with emotion: >> this is right now going home to our families, our fans and you know it's just something special. ay reporter: post-game, what happened in vegas ed all over social media, as ovechkin and team marched into a sin city

club early this morning, the well-traveled cup held high. back in waington, fans packed the home arena. ( cheers and applause ) outside, pandemonium. >> we waited so long! so many seasons. >> reporter: thousands flooded downtown streets... >> c-a-p-s, caps, caps, caps! >> reporter: spirits were high. >> wooooo! >> reporter: the team's radio announcer, john walton, spoke for a club and a fan-base that's endured decades of playoff heartbreak. >> it's not a dream! it's not a desert mirage! it's lord stanley, and he is coming to washington!ep >>ter: next up: a victory parade, for a city that had not won a major pro sports championship since 1992. that drought, now, is over. for the pbs newshour, i'm morgan till. w

druff: this year's class of 2018 got its fair share ofro advicepoliticians, actors and industry leaders. they offer wisdom, and some humor, to college graduates around the country >> congratulations to the class of 2018. i am thrilled for all of you, even the three of yowho live in michigan and didn't request your absentee ballots in time. >> i hold you in the light, and i wish you curiosity and confidence. and i wish you ethics and enlightenment. i wish you guts. every great decision i've ever made, i trusted my gut. and goodness. i wish you purpose and the passion that goes along with that purpose. >> be kind. be generous. be inclusive. and, use your voices. as virgil said about 2,000 years ago, "let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less

tedious." >> the highest form of respect that we can pay to the people whe o came before us, ople who sacrificed for us and gave us everything, is to be better than them. living up to your heroes is amazing, but it's not good enough. the difference between goodness and greatness is going beyond. you have to push forward and surpass their greatness in order tlepay homage to their stru >> always think of the other guy, as my mom used be say. houghtful. honor decency.as and febe a gentleman. be generous. be fair. be courageous. be yoursel >> failure is not something to be ashamed of, it's ing to be powered by. failure is the highe octane fuel your life can run on. you got to learn to make failure your fuel. >> there is a price to pay for

standing up. but when you do stand up, you go down in the memory, in the minds of people around you as a hero, an inspiration. >> if you step up without fear of failure, if you talk and listen to each other without fear of rejection, if you act with decency and kindness, even when no one is looking, even if it seems small or inconsequential, trust me, the rest will fall into place. >> we decide whether we tell thb truth efit from telling lies. we're the ones to decide: do i te or am i filled with love? we're the ones to decide: do i think only about myself or do i care f others?of

>> to the clas018, i do say strive for excellence, live err adventure, think big, dream bigger, push fursail faster, fly higher and never, ever stop reaching for greatness, never stop reaching for the stars. >> i don't know what your future is, but if you are willing to take the harder way, the more complicated one, the one with more successes, the one that's ultimately proven to have more meaning, more victory, more glory, then you will nt regret it. >> and if i leave you with anything, i'm going to leave you with these two words. and those two words are: i'm batman.

>> woodruff: lots of good advice. >> the move follows allegations that surface last year that john lassiter engaged in inappropriate work behavior with female employees next week on the "newshour", we're launching our sec series from william brangham examining the global fight to end aid. >> the "newshour" travels toti russia, a na with a surging h.i.v. problem, driven by drug addiction and a chaotic response. >> i would say, in short, they did it all wrong.n >> thewe traveled to nigeria where children with stills getting the viom their mothers and dying of aids at an alarming rate. >> i was crying. two weeks i did cry. >> and we traveled florida where the tourist meek cay of miami is a hot bed of h.i.v. infection. >> miami is the epicenter of the

epicenter of h.i.v. in the united states. >> in the rural south, stigma, prejudice and poverty drive h.i.v. rates higher than in parts of sub-saharan africa. >> there are kids putting themselves in danger, pung themselves at risk. >> woodruff: that is next week on the "newshour and that's the newshour for tonight.dr i'm judy wf. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has beeprovided by: >> kevin. kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> consumer cellular. >> leidos. >> supporting socid entrepreneureir solutions to the world's most pressing problems--

skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a bett world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible bthe corporation for public broadcasting. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media acss group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're waelyse: pbs. this week on of ory detectives,tionhi

is this a missing murder weapon from the st. valentine's day massacre? is this a missing murder weapon would you like to shoot it? wes: how did this recently discovered portrait of our first president aid an abolitionist's cause? "anxious to promote the happiness of the poor africans." eduardo: and what story does this drawing tell of life in a german p.o.w. camp? this is a treasure, a rare one. 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 likewatchin' the de♪