captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz judy woodruff is away. on the "newshour" tonight, president trump praises a new de deal with mexico and canada. we dig in to what it means for the american economy. then, after backlash from democrats, the white house authorizes the f.b.i. to expand itstigation into claims of sexual assault by brett kavanaugh. plus now read this-- the author of this month's newshour/"new york times" book club pick answers your questions on how geography shapes the u.s.' role in the. all that and more on tonight's "pbs newour." >> major pbfunding for th newshour has been provided by:

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. po this program was made ible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: it's a deal. the united states and canada agreed to terms last night on a new free-trade agreement that also includes new mexico. this morning, the deal got a white house welcome. >> reporter: president trump celebrated in the whit rose garden-- announcing a deal more than a year in e e making.

>>ve negotiated this new agreement based on the principle of fairness and ocity. >> reporte "north american free trade agreement"-- or nafta-- has been a priority for the president. e declared victory after getting agreement from canada, the u.s.'s second largest trading rtner. >> these measures will support many hundreds of thousands of american jobs. this is also a historic win for erican manufacturers and american auto workers who have been treated so badly. we've lost so many jobs over the years under nafta. orter: the new deal is dubbed the "united states- mexico-canada-agreement" - or u.s.m.c.a. it largely keeps nafta's listructure covering $1.2 on dollars in goods flowing among the three nations. but the agreement gives u.s. dairy farmers greater access to the tightly-restricted canadian market it requires at least 75% of a icr to be made in north am to qualify as tariff-free. and, at least 30% of the wo done on every car must be by

workers earning $16 dollars an hour. in addition, it increases labor rights, environmental and intellectual property protections. >> by the way, without tariffs we wouldn't be talking about a deal. >> rep mr. trump pointed to his willingness to play hard ball as a key factor. he had previously threatened tariffs on autos and auto parts from canada. in august, he announced a bi- lateral deal with mexico, cthreatening to leave outada entirely. then, just before a midnight deadline on sunday, the administration announced canada would be part of a new iailateral deal. in ottawa, canadn prime ernister justin trudeau praised the agreement asnizing naft he acknowledged the talks were tough. renegotiating nafta has been a challenge in conversations with the president and with the administration over the past 13 months, but there is also no question that now we have mod forward on a u.s.m.c.a. that is good news for all three of our countries.

>> reporter: previously, mr. trump aimed sharply worded barbs at trudeau. today, he called the prime minister "a good person who is doing a good job." he also complimented outgoin mexican president enrique pena nieto and president-elect andres manuel lopez obrador. lopez obrador said he will honor the agreement when he takes office in december. leaders fromll three countries have to sign the agreement, and each nation's legislature wod have to approve it. privately, administration officials say they are confident congress will ratify the deal. but publicly, president trump expressed some doubt-- especially if democrats take back one or both chambers in the midterm elections. >> they might be willing to throwde one of the greas for people and the workers. caey may be doing that for polipurposes , reporter: if the deal does win approvny of the provisions would not take effect until 2020. >> nawaz: we'll take a closer look at what the deal does and does not do, right afmar the

news s. in the day's other news: president trump said the f.b.i. should be comprehensive, but quick as it looks into sexual allegations against supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. he said that includes interviewing anyone-- within e reason. smocrats have claimed the white house is limiting the scope of the probe. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor will have a full report, later in the program. amid the battle over kavanaugh's confirmation, the supreme court began a new term, with one seat vacant. the eight sittg justices heard cases involving the endangered species act and age discrimination. they have the option of holding the case-- and having it re- argued-- once a ninth justice is seated. indonesia the death toll from friday's earthquake and tsunami has reached 844, and officials fear it could run into the thousands. the powerful quake drove waves up to 20 feet tall io the northern city of palu. john irvine of independent television news, is there. >> reporter: the lorry h reached the end of the road.

but then so has the road. this collapse has become a sobering seafront spectacle for rethdents of palu. today they turned out in force for left of their coast road to bear witness to the and to the destruction wrought from those two punches from ld and sea. bursthis also kept them outd and away from homes either destroyed or not trusted any more. rossalyn and i are walking on what remains of her six-foot high garden wall. it was swept away by the tsunami d the house behind it obliterated. "i am heartbroken and have no tears left to cry," she told me. adding she was grateful her tither and son, the only two at home at th, are still alive-- albeit in hospital. d. was here that most of the fatalities occur people who just fled shaking

buildings were stumbling about outside ving thanks they'd survived the quake, when suddenly they were pummeled by the three waves that rolled in. but inland there were many lethal threats as well. this is the pitubo neighborhood, and it was consumed by a patty field that the earthquake lifted and moved more than a kilometer. they've laid a path of makeshift duck-boards here, t you have to walk carefully because underneath them the earth is molten. the people here didn't face a tsunami of seawater. they faced a tsumani of mud. and as you can probably make out, that mud consumes the first floor in both these houses. escue teams don't expect to find many survivors here. neither did they expect to recover many of the bodies buri here. this woman came to see what's left of her house.

she wasn't home when disaster struck, but she says her son was. he's still missing. pa one of palu's main hospitals 20ents are spending bother night outdoors. the hospitlding is unsafe and they don't want to be inside anyway. they're frightened and many spent the day waiting patiently for a flight out ohere >> nawaz: that report from john irvine of independentelevision news. evan's paramilitary utionary guard" fired six ballistic missiles into syria today. it was retaliation for las month's attack on an iranian military parade-- claimed by the "islamic state" group. the missiles fired from western iran true of iraq and struck in southeastern syria where hi.s.i.s. forces stille a presence. state media showed the muscles being launched. it said the strike killed and

wounded some of the militants but gave no other details. back in this country, somber y ibutes in las vegas marked the first anniversar a mass shooting that claimed 57 lives-- the deadliest in u.s. history. this morning, several hundred people gathered for a memorial at an outdoor amphitheater. e gunman had fired down on concert goers there, from a nearby hotel. meanwhile, president trump said his administration is close to p nalizing a ban on so-called "bocks." the las vegas shooter used one. it allows a semi-automatic weapon to fire like a machine gun. rnia now has the nation' toughest law on net neutrality. governor jerry brown signed it on sunday. tasupporters argue the newte protects against internet companies giving greater speed or access to those who pay more. the u.s. justice department swiftly filed sublock the law, saying it goes against federal policy to deregulate the internet. california is also now the first state to mandate that publicly traded companies add women to their boardrooms. governor brown approved that measure on sunday, as well. it says companies based in the

state must have at least one female director by the end of next year. and, on wall street today, stocks shot up on news of the free trade deal but rising oil prices dercut the rally. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 193 points to close at 26,651. the nasdaq fell nine points. and the s&p 500 added 10. still to come on the "newshour," how today's trade deal differs from nafta; the expanding brvestigation into supreme court nominet kavanaugh; we sit down with the latest winner of the nobel prize in medicine; and much more. >> nawaz: and now back to our lead story, the new trade pact between the u.s., canada and mexico. to help us better understand what's in the deal and its potential effects to the u.s. economy, we're joined bydward

alden, senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, where he specialize in u.s. economic competitiveness and trade. he's also the author of "failure to adjust: how americans got left behind in the global economy." welcome to the "newshour". >> great to be with you,a a. >> nawaz: obviously, the president has a priority of rewriting big trade deals. he came in with that mission. big picture, how is this new deal different om the old one? >> well, it's probably not oldically different from the one. the best news the it's still in place. we still have te north american supply chain from u.s. and canada still tact. there are signican changes, like how cars are made, selling milk in canada, the deal is a little better. there are provisions to keep countries from devaluing their currentsy to take advantage. there are important tweaks and i

think thpresident has some right to trump at what he's done but they're really modest changes. >> nawaz: the prident tweeted, it's a great deal for all three countries and solves in many of the deficiencies of nafta and reduces trade barriers and will bring our three great nation together. on the fixing part, what do you think the deal fixed that needed fixing? you know whatever trump came up with is it's the greatest the biggest thing that feed oexing is the stubbornly low wages in necks r co-. when nafta was negotiated, i have to this is going to raise mexican living standards, wages will go up and they'll bay mores american gby and large that did not app.g wages -- livages in mexico are lower than two decades ago.

they tried to force wages up by this deal, saying the cars have to be made by high-wage workers, mevecan labor standards to be tougher to let unions organize, some efforts to go after a problem that interestingly, democrats in the labor left have been complaininr about years. orey have been trump's audience trying to brinanized labor on board, ironic for a republican president. >> nawaz: e auto industry, does that mean higher wages mooned jobs? >> he's promising that. we'll have to see. it could play out in different ways. co it does lees up to higher wages, id knock up car price as bit but it will be small. we don't know if this will bring jobs ac and lift beiges forto a workers. >> dairy farmers, the movement of milk incanada, that will

open up the market. what kind of impact is that going to have here? >> it will help h in places like wisconsin and vermont where they complained they can't sell their milk products into canada. it's pretty small. canada has a protseected dairy or, the industry is powerful. quebec isaving an election this year, but it's a bigger ening than the canadians ever made before and the president promised to do something and we. ha >> the president is hailing big wins. what do you think ge u.s. has e up to negotiate some of the wins? >> one of the interesting things is it didn't ha to give up a lot. it made a bunch of concessions from the president's opening positions. he called for a much more radical rewriting of the auto he wanted a sunset clause that would have to be negotiated every five years. there were a bunch of things the administration backed away from.

but canada and mexitco didn't a lot they wanted, they got the agreement survives and their access to the huge american market remains i tact. >> nawaz: this was a long negotiation, got tough in terms etimes.public talks so what does that say about the precedent for future deals in other countries? >> trade negotiatns have for decades been conducted in a fairly collegiate way, and countries tried to create a win-win. the president wanted to create a win-lose, it would be wetter foa the uniteds and worse for canada and mexico. that cannot be go long term for our relations and sends a tough message to the rest of the world, particularly na, where the united states faces big trade problems and negotiations haven't started in earnest yet. >> less than 30 second now. is there a way to say the u.s. enteter off with this new deal than the old one?

>> i don't think we'll know for some years. i think there is some poobility of rebuilding some support across party lines, democrats d republicans have been so divided on this, there are things here the democrats will like, but we're at the very early stages of what i think will be a long process of shifting u.s. trade relations with the world. >> nawaz: edward alden, thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> nawaz: president trump directedhe f.b.i. to expand its investigation into sexual misconduct charges against judge kavanaugh. yamiche cindor was at the white house today for that announcement. >> let the senatdecide. whatever they want to do is okay with me. and also the f.b.i. i think the f.b.i. should do what they have to do to get to the answer. >> reporter: a fenstrated prestrump this morning talking about the scope of a re- opened f.b.i. background check into brett kavanaugh. mr. trump deferred to congress, but said he wanted speed.

>> i want them to do a very comprehensive investigation. now, with that being said, i'd like it to go quickly. and the reason i'd like it tgo quickly is very simple. it's so simple because it's unfair to him at this point. >> reporter: democrats had accused the white house of limiting the investigation of sebyal assault and misconduc kavanaugh in high school and tllege. >> we certainly wa f.b.i. to do a real investigation and we are working to make sure that that happens. >> reporter: and the republican who pressured the esident into approving the probe-- senator edff flake of arizona-- also raoncerns today about its thoroughness. flake spoke in boston, wherers proteseckled him and demanded he oppose kavanaugh's nomination. >> it does no good to have an investigation that just gives us re cover, for example. we actually need to find out what we can find out. t me witnesses and potential witnesses may nt to cooperate, but for those that

can, and those who we can compel to cooperate, we've got to do a fullsome investigation. >> reporter: soon after, "the new york times" reported the president has now directed the b.i. to interview anyone it y ems necessary-- so long as the review is finishediday. agents are now expected to question christine blasey ford, who testified thursday before the senate judiciary committee.e she saidthey were teenagers, kavanaugh assaulted her. yesterday, f.b.i. agents spoke with another accuser, debbie ramirez, according to reports. she alleges, at a party when they were students at yale kavanaugh exposed himself. it's still unclear whether a third woman will be questioned h julie swetni accused kavanaugh of drugging girls so they could be gang-raped in high school. the f.b.i. also plans to question kavanaugh's high school friend mark judge. christine blasey ford says he was in the room when she was attacked. meanwhile, new questions have emerged overhether kavanaugh lied during his senate testimony

out his drinking. on sunday, chad ludington became the second of kavanaugh's yalesm cles to say he was "a heavy drinker" in coidege. he also avanaught at times became belligerent anddr aggressive whek. president trump was questioned today about what would happen if inatstigators find evidence kavanaugh lied under oath. certainly, if they find something, i'm going to take that into consideration. absolutely i have a very open mind. >> reporter: in the meantime, debate on kavanah's nomination resumed this afternoon on the senate floor. s we aething about judge kavanaugh's temperament and character that day that should disqualify him from serving on the supreme court of the united states. he was angy, he was belligerent, he was parsan, he went on the attack against senators questioninm. these are not qualities we look ourt justicereme or a judge, for that matter.

>> in my judgment, the pattern of behavior we've se confirms what democrats' own public statements have told us. they are committed to delaying, obstructing and resisting this nomination with everything they've got. they just want to delay this matter past the elections. te>> rep the senate is expected to vote on kavanaugh's psmination shortly after the f.b.i. wp its investigation. >> nawaz: and yamiche is here with me now. >> i>> nawaz: you heard the president support judge kavanaugh but said he had abopen mind. >> the white house is standing firm with brett kavanaugh. the president gave a vigorous defense of him.it the house was send owl statements from brett .avanaugh's friends and former classmates at ya they all say brett kavanaugh did not black out drunk when they knewim, they also said he treated women very respectfully, but that, of course, is in

direct contrast with other yale classmates of brett kavanaugh that said he did get very drunk and was ry aggressive. all of that is happening when the president is sayi he doesn't want to look aany replacements, but we all know ere is a long list th president put out of maybe ten names of people who coud possibly be other names he would nominate. out there, the preident has that. the other thing that's yornt is the president said he's surprised at how voablg brett kavanaugh was about his drinking and the president said he ismself never even drank a beer. brett kavanaugvery different than donald trump whose older brother freddie died in his 40s from alcoholism, so there's -- so that could open the door. >> the white house indicated tve igation should be limited. now seems to be broadennenning the scope. how volved is the white house setting parameters for what the f.b.i. is looking into?

it's clear the white house wants it to be small and quick. all that said, president trump really has the how we are the do whatever he wants to doteis of the f.b.i.. . have been talking to sources who say the f.bs in the executive branch and theth was within hthority who say you need to talk to these two women and that's it. today he was clear saying deborah ramirez and dr. ford is the two the f.b.i. should fobe sed open. outen that that, saying the f.b.i. needs to do its work.no this afte the f.b.i. was given the authority by the white house to atalk toone it deems necessary, and that means they could lttok at bravanaugh and not just sexual misconduct and other allegations but talking about little lies. some point out brett kavaugh said he had no connections with yale, where in fact his wasndfather went to yale and a legacy student. >> this nomination was full speed ahead not too long ago an

now mired at the very least in uncertaint maybe road blocks in the week ahead. what do we know about how the president is watching all this unfold? >> the president is fuming and calling senators every ay basically saying we control the senate, the republicans control the senat why in ifthe world can't we just push this through? and essentially the president wants to look at the republicans and say why can't you dohat? as a result, he's really doing what he's doing, watching tv, really angry about the fact this hasn't gone through. but at the end of the day, the president has only certain thin he can do. hehe can nominate n somebody but oas to wait on the senate to d something. while the white house is saying they're standing with brett kavanaugh, there is the list of other people, and esident said i'm going to look at what the f.b.i. is doing and will figure out what happens next. >> yamiche alcindor, good to talk to you. >> thank you. >> nawaz: now a step back from the politics of this particular f.b.i. background investigation

and a oser look what might be happening with the investigation itself, outside of the public eye. frank montoya worked in various roles during his 25 years at the bureau, including stints leading the f.b.i.'s seattle and honolulu divisions. he joins me today from salt lake city. mr. montoya, thank you for being with us. i pnt to to you about the s of what the f.b.i. could be looking into right now. talk to me a little bit out what f.b.i. investigators would be doing in an investigation like this right now. >> well, first and foremost, they will be talking to as many people as they can. i think it was important that the doors opreed earlier this afternoon in terms of what and who they can pursue and in their pursuit of information and, keep in mind, this is a background investigation, not so much a criminal investigation, so it's not about proving who did what, it's more about finding or disproving or not finding derogatory information. so they will be talking to, rdong others, deborah ramirez, dr. mark judge, some of these others that have been

identified publicly as individuals who may ve information. it could also extend to visit who are former classmates at yale who can talk about more than just potential sexual assaults but, you know, his drinking habits, his other kinds of behaviors, perhaps when he t d drank too much. so there are a people that they can talk to, and those people c tell them about others that they can then follow up with. >> you mentioned the word derogatory, explain the significance of that in terms of what kind of questions the f.b.i. investigators are asking when th talk to these people. >> yeah, another great question, because, again, this is a determining if this individual is suitable for the job for which he has been nominated. so they're going to look at character, they're going to look at associations, they're going to look at his reputation, loyalty to the united states, not an individual, biases ores potential biability to do the job, and then, of course,

financial abilities, alcohol -- potential cohol and drug abuse. you know, when i was a brand-new agent, gosh, in juary of 1991, we learned how to do these things, and they tauht us the acronym to help remember the kinds of things we were supposed to talk abou is karla b fad and that was 20 or 30 years ago and i still rember it. >> we heard the president ask about whetheor not he thought juke should be interviewed. does the f.b. need to talk to judge kavanaugh in order to complete this investigation? >> another great question, whether judge kavanaugh or dr. ford, there are all kinds of publicly available testimony that can be sed for potential etformation, but this is about determining about r or not there is more derogatory information out there. talking to him about that is not going tohem there, talking

to folks like dr. ford or debra debra -- deborah ramirez or julie swetnick, that's where the rubber meets the road in this investigation now. the otr thing i would add, if hamebody has information and 't been spoken to, yet, they are by all means free to call the f.b.i. or go to the local field office and provide thatn. informat anything and everything about this matter will be considered and repoed. >> you can imagine there must be people who knew him in some capacity or another from school, his profession life, that may be doing exactly what you suggested, reaching out to their local f.b.i. ofice. does the f.b.i. have an obligation to try to speak to every one of these people to try to see this through? >> this is a big challenge in this particular investigation because they are on a time crunch. they have seven days, so they are limited in terms of what do. c they have the resources to do it, but there's been a lot of

talk about this is the seventh background investigation kavanaugh's faced. the fact of the matter is, most of these investigations, when they are conducted, they're based on information that the capt. for the job -- the candidatfor the job provides to the information. when we learn about derogatoryfo ation, it's usually from a records check or somebody who heard we were talking to somebody at andi dual, and then they come forward and provide that information because, typically, when an individual fills out their s.f.86, they're not going to list references who will talkdl about them. >> you mentioned previous investigation, and this comes up again and again, begs the question of how did none of this information come up in any of those prevrobes? >> as i mentioned, when folks fill out their s.f.86, they are listing who ey want us to talk to. when something like this comes nnerit usually is in the in which these allegations didis

it's typically not after so much time has transpired. but owould also poiut that, in the vast majority of our investigationswhether they are -- our background investigations, whether they are for, you know, an agent -- a prospective agent who wants to join the organization or a federal judge, that they don't usually have this kind of profile, at a aren'tas broang to the entire nation, the whole world for that matter. so in this respect, i me, we're talking about a seat on the supreme court of the united it's not surprising something like this would come out, even it did. after i think it's actually good that it did come out because if we're going to put this individual on the supreme court, we need to know that they have the kind of character, the kind of baground that supports that position. amu know, there's also the question of tempt in terms of how they reacted to the kinds of haiticisms that we seen. you know, we expect our judges to be objective, to be able to be abovehe fray, so to speak.

thisthis, in te, as difficult as it has been, it's also healthyfo our system. >> nawaz: frank montoya, if you for your time. >> thank you. >> nawaz: it is nobed prize week, day the nobel committee announced its 2018 award in medicine. a jim allisoamerican research scientist, and tasuku honjo, who's japanese, helped create a revolutionacer treatment that continues to save lives. rynick schifrin has that s >> reporter: for years, cancer treatmt was dominated by four techniques: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone treatments. the is now a fifth categor because researchers overcame a fundamental challenge. c in the past thldn't recruit the body's own immune system to fight cancer, but today they can.

and that is thanks to the research of jiallison, today's nobel prize winner, and chairman ex immunology at the university of m.d. anderson cancer center, who joins me now from new york. thank you so much. he award.ations on how do you feel and how did you find out? >> i feel stunned, actually.th this is sog i suppose every scientist must dream of and, you know, it's happened, i'm still absorng it. the way i found out about it is actually this morning, my son called me, he was watching television.w somee committee didn't have my cell number and didn't know how to contact me, a,nd so, you know, i got the message from son, who was watching and called and said, hey, dad you won the nobel prize. what a great way to get the message, anyway. >> you effectively learned how to manilate the immue system

to go after cancer cells in the only by turning on the gas, so to speak, of the immune sirnlings but turning off the immune system's brakes. how does that wo? >> well, i have been studying t cells for 30 years nosw, t trying to learn -- >> basically the immune system's soldiers, so to speak? >> yeah, the soldiers. you start with a few, have to build an army, then they go out and take care of what problem it is, virus, infection or, in this case, cancer it's a very tightly-controlled process. you know,we learned that the antigen receptor, kind of like the switch in the car hthat as to be flipped, but that's not enough. 0sher molecule, cd28, we found in the '

a third molecule servees as brakes because once you start the process, you have to stop it to keep the immune system from hurting normal cells. we have the idea if we disable the brapokes temrily, we could let the t cells go unl they had time to eliminate the entire eumor. >> and that refnce, elimination, because you're using the immune system, this is not only abut suppressing cancer, you're actually curing these patients, right? >> yes. well, i use that cautiously. in the case of melanoma, aboutof 22people, in a study of thousands of patients, for whom there's ten years follow-up, about 22% of patients with late' stage melanoma for which the prognosis -- the survival was about eleven months after diagnosis when we started this work, about 22% again, after a single dose, areiv ten years

later. >> jim allison, i want to talk about one of thospatients. take me back to 2006. you get a call from a colleague about one with of his patients who had advancd melanoma and was being treated with drugs based on your rearch. tell me about sharon felton. >> yes, sharon, i found out subsequently, she was 22, just finished school, engaged to be married, you know, when she wask tired and, yow, had some exhaustion. she went to see a doctor, and she d metastatic mel 31 tombers in her lungs and a small brain metaasis and some on her skin and, youow kn, she had failed everything. and she was in really bad shape. so a clinical colleague put her on this trial, and her tumors completely went away. and when she came in and was told she was tumor free,

. wolchok said the guy who invented this was here, do you want to meet him? so she did. judd called me and said, come, dowant you meet somebody. anyway, i went down to outpatient care and walked in the room and, you know, we started hugging and crying. before then, it had always been numbers to me. she was the first patient that i met, and we became, you know, friends and,ou know, several years later she sent me a photo of her first baby, and a fewth years after at her second baby. and she's now about 14 years our the treatment and has a lovely family. we still stay in touch. y.e actually came to my 70th 70th birthday pa >> tell us about your mother, how you first got into this. >> my mother passed away when i was about ten of lymphoma and was treated with radiation, and i was with her when she passed

away, and she had two brothers, my uncles, two of them died whey i was oung, one of melanoma, the other of lung wantser, and -- cancer, and the one with lung cancer was treated with chemotherapy and i got to see the ravaging effects of chemotherapy up close. i had in the back of my head the immune system had the possibility of selectively killing tumor cells with the hope of not causing any adverse events. >> there are serious sideto effecthis, there have been, it's very expensive. are you going ueto contork on this therapy and research? >> absolutely, there are serious side effects in se patient not in all but some, but they're typically manageable. the ago rough -- the algorithm has been developed where physicians vex persons and can

be minimized in the majority of patients. we now know this drug works against many types of cancer and p.d.1 works against many typesof gecer not just melanoma but long lancer, hodgkin's, kidney, bladder, neck, the list goes on and on. we're trying to understand why it works sometimes and doesn't, in order to detign combis of drugs both immunotherapy drugs and more coventional ones which can be put together in a way that makes sense to maximize, you know, the umerapeutic effect and try to increase ther of patients that benefit from this new type of therapy. >> jim allison, nobel prize winner, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: we turn now to the politics of the midterm elections.

brett kavanaugh's confirmation raises questions on how this affects voters. lisa desjardins has more. >> desjardins: democratic enthusiasm has been a theme this election season and we're seeing that take hold in fundraising numbers and campaign ads. but is a supreme court seat a call to action for republicans? for anysis we're joined by our politics monday duo, tamara keith of npr and amy walter of "the cook political report." we get mixed up. can st take a collective deep breath on behalf of my person blood pressure and perhaps the nation's psyche before we start talking aut judge kavanaugh and can we start on this topic by lookingt the quinnipiac poll. there are interesting par --xe parafor americans. many americans believe christine

blasey ford and hers beieve judge kavanaugh. america is conflicted here. what does polling like that do when we're about to go an election, what does it tell us about voters? fromthink what we learned this hearing is americans are as polarized on this issue as they are about pretty much any other issue put in front of them. whether you're a democrat or republican, your decision on how you feel about this is driven as much by yourhipartisaas anything else. a poll i saw over the weekend by the folks at huffington post-and ugov found menwho supported donald trump overwhelmingly said they could identify with whatbr t kavanaugh was going through. women who voted for hillary clinton overwheingly saidthey identified with christine blasey ford. but i think fundamentally this question about who is it going to help or hurt in the the midterm elections, democrats, republicans, is this about the

enthusiasm advantage? we have to remember a couple of things. first, in016, we kthat the supreme court was a big issue for republican votnders,he thinking among a lot of republicans was this is how donald trump won. ers heldl republican v their nose, they didn't riley like trump but wanted the supreme court. this year, all the polling i've seen thusfar since the hearings took place at this moment, we're seeing increased democratic enthusiasm, higher thanhe republicans onssue of the supreme court, how important the issue is for their vote. finally, when all is said and done, the issue that drives this electi is still going to be donald trump how you feel about donald trump is going to be mucr more int in determining your vote than how you feel about this hearing. >> tam, you heard democrats are raising more and more que stions about did brett kavanaugh lie last week and they're raising questions about his drinking pants. we're seeing witnesses who

support what he says, witnesses who are saying he was this kind of drinker or not. is this a change in decratic strategy both on this confirmation and pol?itical >> there has been a shift in what people are focusing on. eth not clear whether this is a strategic shift north, but certainly -- shift or not, butis thermore focus about whether he is truthful in his testimony and the area where there is question is when it comes to his drinking. brett kavanaerh, on a nuof occasions was suppressed onl drinking in ge and either evasive if is answers -- in his answers, sort of downplayed it at timesba or pushedk on a couple of senators at timesm asking tw much they drank. so president trump was asked about that today in the white house press briefing, and president trump sort of incorrectly said, well, brett kavanaugin his testimony said he had a drinking problem when he wasoounger, which ist what kavanaugh had said, but --

>> reflecting the amount of time that came up. >> yes, because came up frequently. the white house realizes this isen anssue. they are pushing back. they are insisting kavanaugh basically mitted to everything except blacking out, and they're also now pushingout statements from witnesses from college who say, no, no, no, i was his roommate and that or eroommate who said something else is wrong. >> amy, who does it help in the midterms, if brett kavanaugh gets on the supreme court, mitch mcconnell said what's going to happen this week, di that he reblicans in the midterms?? >> again, it's conventional wisdom they are so fir, up about thot simply because of the importance they put on the supreme court, but thaws they had to unify toether to fight off what hay see as a smear campaign by democrats. but then we hear from democrats and some republicans who say, while it may help republicans in red states especially in senate

seats, iois really to hurt republican candidates in these swing suburban areas where women are already breaing decidedly against republicans, against the president, including independent women. those are really the key voters here that strategists are looking to at this point to termine where the houes, and i don't think they're going to turn to the side of republicans on this issue. >> another factor maybe in where the house goes is the money, ane saw political report today, they did an analysis and said the democrats have raised something like $35 million in august alone for the democratic candidates. does that mean more votes for democrats? does this ean they're putting more money? what does it mean? >> it means there are loft democrats with check books who are interested in a lot of races all over the country. there are also democratic tandidates had these incredibly viral ads they've out that have gone viral on social mediae genesupport. i mean, you hear people --

because i cover politics, people ask, what do you thi of this race in kentucky? i'm, like, wait, what's going on here? (laughter) there is a huge amount of interest and there is a huge amount of enthusiasm. you see that in the money, you see that in the number of peoe who showed up for a bet'r ourke rally in texas. you see repubcans also have a lot of energy and they do justh not as much asdemocrats at this time. on i'm talking to csultants on both sides,many of who have been doing this a long time, and they've never seen this amount of money, more important they've never seen aincumbent or incumbent party get outspent the eay democrats are outspending republicans in tse congressional races. it's a mind boggling number. and this is why, when we talk about why is the huse in play, the house is in play because the amount of enthusiasm that democrats have is translating in

all these different ways. it turned into, one, enthusiasm for democratic voters, candidates who saidi'm going to run for office, including a bunch who had never run for office before, and the money, what it's done is taking a laying field that was really narrd structurally challenging for democrats because there were only 25, 30 ses in play and expanded that universe to, now, we have a universe right now of about 60 republican seats that arin danger. >> an amazing number! that's real enthusiasm. can't handle any more races, okay? just want to let you know. i want to ask what i think would be a fun question, i ink the universe has been dominated by a handful of stories. what politicories are we not talking about that we should be, tam?o >> one, a terary budget pass, spending measure, and there wasn't a massive fight, just the

president signed it, no drama, which is wild. also, this is a small thing, but in the month of sep was only one tell televised white house press briefing. daily press briefing haened only one day in september. >> amy. i do think this money is absolutely doing going to be thy of the 2018 campaign.n the questr democrats is can they replicate this when it's no longer just simply about ousting donald trump or his party in the midterm election. >> and they may have one candidate for 2020. >> that's right. nk you very much, amy walter of "cook political report," tamera keith, thank you both. >> nawaz: finally tonight,re jey brown has the latest installment in our now read this book group.

>> brown: it's the road trip into the past about settling a continent and creating ona nati and to the future of america's role in the wrld. "earning the rockies" has been our september book, and it's stirred quite a bit of discussion and debate among readers. author robert kaplan is here to answer some of the questions you sent in. welcome and thanks for participating. fo it's a great pleasurme to be here, jeff. >> brown: good. i want to go right to the first question bec sse it helpset up what you are after. >> okay. why did you chooseto frame your argument in terms of the form of memoir of a road trip? >> memoir, policy --on i've nevera book like this. the first part is a memoir about my father who inspired me to travelthbecause he spente '30s traveling in 43 of the the second chapter is about a great forgotten american writer rnard devoto who traveled all

over the country, wrote all about the settling of the west, but though he was a continentalist, he believed in america's international destiny world war ii, and putting deo to together with my father made me want to take my own road trip. >> brown: so you did d so and the next two chapters were about traveling literally from new england to san diego, and what i do there is reflect on everything i've a seng the way and try to understand what it means for america's rolerl in the d. >> brown: through geography.hy through geogr in other words, it's a geographical landscape meditation flowed by geopolitical analysis, which you never see anywhere else, because it's, like, two separate subcultures, two separate audiences. so i think it was jarring to ople, but it was the only way d cotigdon ull iicy emanates fra country's dmemmic condition. >> and thees country'stiny.

right, and that could only be shown through a road trip which emphasizes geography. >> so i said it stirred up a los of disn and debate. i want to go to the next question. >> i strtgled with your suppo of the principle of manifest destiny. my question is aren't there other waysto achieve greatness, or is greatness really the goal we should be trying to achieve? >> there were a number of questions along those lines. ate otfrom garhey.e would the u.s. havee a much better impact on the world if it had not decimated north americans -- native americans and their culture. there's a constant tension you refer to >> right, because as i say at the beginning of the book, american history is morally unresolvable and it's unresolvable becausee conquest of the westenned the decimation of thnative

americans let to a middle clain masociety across the wholezo temperat of north america with all of its resources more navigatable inland waterways than the rest of the world combined, masses of petroleum, other things, and, with that capacity, america was able save the world in two world wars and the cold war that folonlowe. dithing make the other -- justify the other thing? it. that's wh's morally unresolvable. >> brown: that's what a lot of people struggle. >> with i struggle wit myself. >> brown: and i see readersit struggleit. >> yes. >> brown: i want to go to the next question representing another strain to have the discussion here. let's take a look. >> you write about going aboutes city, stnd rural areas and cities that have not adjusted to the global economy. do you have any thoughts about how to bridge this growing divide? >> it was stuing what saw. outside of the two coasts, outside of the unirsity towns

and college towns, and outside of the few, a smattering of state capitals, whice doing ofry well, much of america are towns 20,000, 30,000 people with shelled-out sto fronts, nobody on the main street, people having lost all hope. the this book was written and researched before last election, before the campaign even began for the last election, and i saw a heartlan whicsoh ciwaally devastated. >> and how does that play into what follows? a >> a i could think about is how to bridge the divide as we can't gokward,can on grwa, ausethe bca only future is global. oyou know, you have get more of these places hooked into t global economy. like i'm traveling along the ohio river, and i see one devastated town aft another. but then i get to mar yeta --

marietta, ohio, which is all e town, highly rated and part of the global world. i'm there suddenly, then i leave it again. >> brown: okayone more question. >> mr. kaplan, you say in the book, americans, i moin and more each day, as i travel, do not want to know thedetails about foreign policy. is this disconnect with foreign policy replicated around the world? >> brown: we should say you travel all over, written about many other parts of the world -- >> yeah, i've reported from 100 ountries. you only see replicated in large massive countries, continental size like the united states, where there is so much going on internally that the outside world seems almost to disappear, in a way. but in many -- you know, europe is mainly small countries, and even the biggest countries are small by our standards, but in europeafrica, and th middle east, people are much more

connected to world events, i find, than in the united states. it's almost as if you know intellectually that every place in the-- u.sthe oklahoma panhandle has agriculture ties with cities in china, everywhere -- you know all this intellectually, but when you actually see it anive across it, the continent is so big and riegated that the rest of the world seems abstract, almost. >> brown: all righ we'll leave it there. i want to thank everyone who wrote in questions. we'll continue with more of those questions online, which you can find on our facebook page and "newshour" web site. r now, robert kaplan, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> brown: and our bok club pick for october, a very different look at amenri lands, especially in the west. "american wolf" by nate blakeslee tells the of what came to be known as the most famous wolf in theld worn yellow yellowstone national park

and e people and politics around it. we hope you will read it. i'm anma nawaz. join us on-line and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> financial services firm raymond mes. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation.ng supporcience, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

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