captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: a grim picture emerges. we are on the ground on the florida panhandle as the scope of hurricane michael's destruction comes into focus. >> brangham: nobody has water, nobody has power, the grocery stores are closed, the gas stations are closed. so, how long residents can keep living here like this is not clear, but they have months before anything gets back to normal here. >> woodruff: then, one on one with al gore. the former vice president discusses dire warnings from the latest international climate report, and how global warming contributes to extreme storms. >> all of us need to connect these dots. the scientists not onlypr

icted these consequences, they're telling us they're going toet a lot worse still unt we stop using the earth's atmosphere as an open >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks consider a busy week in politics, including the president's role in the upcoming midterms. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years.

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>> this program was made possible by the corpation for public broadcasting.by anontributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the death toll from hurricane michael rose to at least 13 people today in the wake of the storm's devastation across five states. five are known dead in virginia, including a firefighter; anoer four in florida, one in georgia, and three who died in northli ca. search and rescue teams combing through the catastron ic destruct mexico beach, florida have found more bodies, but they have yet to be added to the ofcial death toll. r william brangham is in the florida panhandle, and has this report. >> brangha what was a vacation destination now looks more like a war zone. the deruction in the small

town of mexico beach is near total, homes and bui wiped completely off the white sand beach. entire blocks are now just piles of rubble and debris. >> total devastation. every piece of property, if it isn't got something wrong with it, it's leveled. things that we on the beach are now on the other side of the street. >> brangham: some pele here thought they could ride out the storm-- but then came winds at 155 miles per hour, driving an enormous wall of water right into town. >> i noticed that things seemed to be moving outside, and igh ththat trees were going by, and i realized it was our house. it had broken off the foundation and was floating around, as were both of our vehicles. >> brangham: here in panama city, just 20 les from mexico beach, many residents didn't evacuate either.fl

ida's governor ordered mandatory evacuations for this area earlier thiatweek, but at oint, michael was only a category 1 storm. corey clifton trench was in hisl house when micit. his grandmother and ten-year-ola sisterated, but he and his dad stayed. barricaded my closet. i was praying that it would hurry and end, because we didn't have much longer. because my room started to-- the of blew off, part of it. >> brangham: so you were hunkered down in the bathroom the whole time? >> ihought i was going to ge crushed. i thought i was going to die. >> brangham: the back of their house was torn off, as was the roof. they've lost everything. do you guys have any insurance on this? >> no, we couldn't get it because the roof was in such bad shape before. >> brangham: so what are you?

guys going to >> whatever we can, i guess. >> brangham: neighbor terryew t was in his home next door when the storm hit. >> i got scared. i'll never stay again, i'll telh you now. >> brangham: why did you decide to stay? >> if it was category 3 or less, i was staying. l and then, at tt minutes, i'm just like, "well, i'm staying now." >> brangham: still shaken, many here say they were caught off guard. i >> branghathese communities, there's no power or running water, and very limited communications. >> there's no infrastructure there to support you, and quite honestly, a dangerous area to go back into. >> brangham: fema administrator brock long said crews are moving food, water and other supplies into the area, but he had some strong words for those who chose not to evacuate. >> it's frustrating to us because we keep peating the same thing. >> brangham: long said he expects the death toll to climb as crews begin reaching the hardest hit communitie

>> anybody that, you know, doesn't heed a warning to evacuate, particularly the ocoast, we ask them to do because of the ocean rising and it's storm surge pushing buildings down. it's not the wind blowing them apart, it's the oceas crashing wad going in. and very few people live to tell what it's like to experience storm surge. unfortunately in this country, we seem to not learnesson. >> brangham: after hitting the florida panhandle, the remnants of michael caused deadly flash flooding across north carolina and virginia overnight, before heading out into the atlantic ocean today. >> today, our state begins recovery from yet anher storm. >> brangham: north carolina governor roy cooper said rescue crews were working around the clock. this coming just a month afterhu icane florence struck the eastern part of the state. >> during michael, we saw wind gusts of almost mph in the outer banks, rain totaling amost 10 inches in alleghany county, and most things in between. this morning, nearly half a itllion north carolina homes and businesses are wut power. >> brangham: back in panama, ciople are starting to put their lives back together. they're glad to be safe, and everyone tolthus to a person this is the last hurricane

they'll try to ride out. >> woodruff: and william joins william, you are now in panama city, close to where the hurricane came ashore. tell us what you're seeing there. >> judy, the scale ru deion is incredibly vast. out on the coast, about a mile in that d wirectiosaw what the storm surge did to the communities. the wall of water ripped buildings f theiroundations. further inland, which is where we are now, the destruction is much more vast. it's over a muceah bigger arnd it's largely the wind that brought town these trees. everywhere we go, wesee trees ouwn, pulled power lines down, damaged people'sses. the street behind me now is probably the clearest road we've seen all day. yocan hear chainsaws behind me. everyone is working to clean eir house as besthey can, put a tarp on the roof if rains comegain. but nobody has water, nobody has power, the grocery stores and

gas stations are closed. how long residents can k living like this is not clear. they have months and months before anything gets back to normal here. >> woodruff: what about the relief effort? are there enough rescue,co rery people there in the area? >> right now, judy, there are plenty of rescue crews. we've seen ambulances, fire,fe police,a, the volunteer, the cajun navy, those folks are hers ell. one of the biggest issues is just because all the trees are, dohey basically need a million chainsaws to come into the area, clear ther tees out and only then can they start to establish power. the other thing that's difficult is the issue of communication. ohere's almost no cell phone connections andbody has land lines to make phone calls. so people who live outside the area, they have friends, family, loved ones who were here during utthe storm, the minthe power went out and the cell phone towers got knocked out, they lost the communication. so there's a great deal of

confusion. people have en asking us, what can we tell them in the next town over, where can they finds power and people are confused as to whether their loved ones are okay, where to go, what the >> woodruff: we heard from fema administrator brock long today, expressing disappointment more people had not evacuated. are you getting a sense of why people chose to say? >> a lot of reasons why people didn't evacuate. one, the florida panhandle dn't seen a storm like this in a long time to residents don't k have thd of experience with that kind of storm. secondly, tuesday morning, this was a category 1 storm and almost overnight turned into a near category 5 storm. so by the time people figured out they should go,might have been too late for them. that rapid intensification of hurricane has become something we've seen more and more of. we've seen three, four, five storms in the pat, most notably maria that destroyed

puerto rico, and this intensification is caused by a lot of factors, but one of them isgu warme waters. if a storm can get over a warmer body of water, it will rapidly accelerate, and that's what we saw here. and this is what climate change models have always predicted, that as waters warm, these kinds storms will spence fy'. so, obviously, the problem we have here is more people are moving to the coast and now we know we are going to have more of these intsifying storms, there's a conflict there. >> woodruff: william, thank you. william brangham reporting for us from the florida panhandle. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, an american pastor under house arrest in turkey for the past two years has been freed and is en route back to the u.s. a turkish court convicted andrew brunson on terror-related charges today, but it sentenced him to time he had already served, allowing his release. president trump said today that brunson will "most likely" meet

with him in the oval office on saturday. and in a separate development, turkish government officials told the u.s. that they have video and audio proof a missing saudi arabian journalist was killed and dismembered inside e saudi consulate in istanbul. the recordings were first reported by the "washingtoam post," where khashoggi is a contributor. saudi arabia disssed the claim "baseless."lo we'll take ar look at the impact of both cases on u.s.- turkish relations later in the progra pope francis accepted washingtoo d.c. archbishold wuerl's resignation today. it came amid a growing outcry over the cardinal's handling of sex abuse cases inhe catholic church. wuerl will remain in his post temparily until a successor found. he will also continue to serve on the congregation of bishops which helps to select fure bishops. even so, a vatican spokesman said the resignation opens a new chapter. >> this is about moving forward.

that is a phrase that cardal wuerl used last month, and moving forward means it is for the good of thchurch, especially for the unity of the church, which is so important for her toulfil her mission. >> woodruff: we will have more on the pope's decision to permit the cardinal to maintain his influential role in the church-- amid his efforts to crack down abuse-- later in the program. mudslides from torrential downpours in eastern uganda have le at least 34 people dead large boulders and chunks of mud rolled through the mountainousar ea, destroying homes and roads in at least three villages. residents described the devastation. >> ( translated ): the rain was too much, and we sheltered under a veranda. en my friend decided to go and remove his motorcycle from under the rain, and saw a house beinge caaway by the mudslide. that's when he came back and we took off, but whoever remained behind was swept away. school children, those who were drinking, market vendors, they were all swept away by the rain.

>> woodruff: the death toll is expected to rise once rescue ams are able to access the worst-affected areas. facebook now says that hackers accessed names, emails and pho numbers for 29 million users worldwide-- that is fewer than initially estimated. it was all part of a data breach the tech giantnnounced two weeks ago. 14 million of those users also had their hometown, bihday and recent search history compromised. facebook didn't say where the affected users were located, but it acknowledged that the breach was "fairly broad." in economic news, china posted a record $34.1 billion trade surplus with the u.s. in september. chinese exports to the u.s. also increased by 13% over last year. analysts attributed that to a surge in orders before u.s. tariffs on imported goods took

effect.st and on wall reet, stocks clawed their way back intoer positivetory, after suffering steep losses the previous two days. the dow jones industrial average gained 287 points to close at 25,340.th nasdaq rose nearly 168 points, and the s&p 500 add 38.he still, foreek, all three of the major u.s. indexes shed roughly 4%. b it was thegest weekly loss in six months. still to come on the newshour: one-on-one with al gore, to discuss the urgent newte change report. and the coming midterms. turkey releases an american pastor, as questions remain about the disappeance of a saudi dissident. the pope accepts the resignation of the archbishop of washington, d.c. in response to sexual abuse scandal. and, much more.

>> woodruff: now, to exclusive interview with a man who has been at the center of the debate over climate change for decades. former vice president al gore has long warned about the potential dire consequences a warming world. recent extreme storms like hurricane michael have again brought the issue to the surface. i spoke with al gore this afternoon, and began by asking if he sees a connection. >> well, absolutely, and, more importantly, the scientific community has long beenco nvinced and has been warning policyma srs forome time. the earmarks of this latest storm, judy, are worth paying attention to, starting th hurricane harvey, which hit houston, texas, a year ago and dumped five feet of rain, we have been seeing a new pattern,

and hurricane michael intensified it reached the doast, and that's something relatively new, e reason for it is the ocean waters are much warmer than normal, so it's not getting cod waters churned up to weaken the storm, it just keeps on getting stronger. the scientists had not only predicted these consequences,g they're tells they're going to get a lot worse still until we stop using the earth's mosphere as an open sewer for 110 million tons of manmade glob warming pollution every single day. >> woodruff: let's talk about the the science. you mentihed it, there was tis major report from the u.n. scientific panel, the the group that you shared a nobel peace prize with, at, abo ten years ago. they are painting a much more alarming pcture of what we face than we haoud prey known. what is significant to you?s

what is t significant in this report to you? >> the language, the i.p.p.c.u., in presentingit, has to torquedp appropriately, how do they get the attention of policymakers around the world. the manmade global warming pollution accumulates in the atmosphere and stays ere a pretty long time and now trapsc as mextra heat energy every day as would be relbyease 500,000 her roche ma cla css atomass bombs exploding every day. it's a big planet but that's an enormous amount of energy and more than 90% of the extra heat energy is going into the ocans, distorting and disrupting the water cycle by evaporatinmuch more moisture into these storms. even without the hurricanes we get the so-called rain bombs that just devastate to the plac where it falls.

north carolina with hurricane florence is anolether exa and as the scientists have pointeuout, this was not e of hurricane michael this week, but hurricane florence and hurricane harvey just stayed in place for days and days and days. that's something new, too, an it's because we're beginning to see the disruption of wind currents along with ocean currents, and, so, the northern hemisphere jet stream that normuly moves these storms to the east is getting loopier and wavier and sometimes disorganized. so this is really rious stuff. we have a global emergency, an you use a phrase like that, and some people immediately say, okay, calm down, you know, can't be that bad, but it is, and what the scientists have warned us in this recent report is that, if we do not takaction quickly to

switch away from diortyssil fuels and shift to electric vehicles and make agriculture and forestry much more sustainable and deal with the waste loops in manufacturing, all things that we can do w know how to do them, we ought to be doing these things for other reasons, anyway, but if we do not begacin takintion very quickly and creating jobs in the process, by the way, then the scientists warn us that the consequences down the road would be far, far worse than wht we're experiencing now and could actually extend to anio extel threat to -- existential threat to human n this planet as we know it. >> woodruff: a number of conservatives and scientists arh sayinge dire future predictions are just not born out by evidence, but the -- >> hold on, let metop you

there. when you say "other scientists," not really. there are a few outliers, but, you know, 99-plus percent of the scientific community is aligned on these objectis. you stille some people who say the earth is flat and not d round, but y't give them equal time in saying some peopl und, some people say flat. sorry to interrupt. >> woodruff: no, they area minority, but they are cited by political conservate. the question i want to ask is one of the recommendations from this u.n. group is you need to raise tax, ise prices on those oups that emit carbon. is that, though, polalit realistic in the world we live in here in the united states right now? >> it is tough politically, of course. that's what china is beginninga to do, ts what the european union is now doing, and whether it's direct as a carbon fee or

tax ordirect in the form of a trading system, which some people don't like, but actlly it can be made to work. one way or another, we should put a price on the po that is posing such a deadly threat to the future of our civilization, yes. >> woodruff: when it comes to political reaction, t president, president trump, people in his administration don't seem to be taking this new u.n. report verseriously. the president said something like i can give you reports that are fabulous, i can give yo some that aren't so good. he and the people around him are sang, we're mostly focused on the economy, and what we are doing voling back those environmenl regulations that have hurt our economy and slowed down business in this country. >> well, his proposal is literally insane, and his reaction to the scientific

community's warnings is an outlier reaction, it's making the u.s. come off lika rogue nation and being different from any other nation in the entire world and, of course, everybody knows it's be tcaue large carbon polluters are his buddies and he wants to use them as a way of signaling to ultra conservatives that he doesn't care about what the truth of the matter is.>> oodruff: president trump is out right now on the campaign trail almost every day trying to stir up his base voters. he's saying the democrats are a liangry mob, coming off the kavanaugh nomination to the supreme cou he's clearly trying to stir up his base. but my question to you is is that an effective tactic on his part? >> well, we'llind out this november. i don't know, judy. i'm not a greatolitical

analyst, but my personal impression is that there are tens of millions of americans, some of whom wanted to take a chance on trump last time ound, changing things up, trying something new, but i think there are tens of millions who gave him a chance and are now a littrt bit hea sick that he has been acting out every day, telling falsehoods almost as easily as he breathes. i know some peoplwill hear me say at the and think, oh, that's just a democratic reaction. i get that. we have more tribalism, to use the buzz word that's common these days, than is helthy for our nation, but common sense and a respect for reasoned discourse ancingways played a bal role in american politics. i have a feeling that it'going

to play a role in this election. i think if ever there was a tim for the reinstitution of the ecks and balances that our founders put into our constitution, now is thatime, and i think a lot of republicans and independents as well asmo ats are kind of quietly itching for the opportunity topo go to thlls and send a message to president trump to calm down, don't be so crazy, don't be so harmful to our country. >> woodruff: what should the democratic party's message be this year and then going i 2020 with a president who, you know, has made hs own personality such a big issue? >> well, he's a talented entertainer and a reality tv star, bu his term as president is not really going well, in my

opinion. the economic recovery which began under the last administration has continued unabated, even with the stock market rollercoaster this week, i expect and hope it will continue, buh the damags doing to the good name of the united states of ameca is just incalculable, and i think people do not want this kind of angerd peated falsehoods in ourl politiscourse. you ask me what the democrats should do. well, i guess the right strategy would be just to sayk,, loive us a chance to kind of rein him in a little bit and prevent so manyof these excesses so that he doesn't haver fee rein to put the polluters in charge of environmental policy, to take

away protections the american people need in all these other arr s of oulives, and i kind of think the american people are going to want to do that in november. >> woodruff: former vice president al gore joirong usm los angeles, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we reported, there are two major stories coming out of turkey today. nick schiffrin reports on how both reveal tensns between the u.s. and critical allies. >> schifrin: today, 50-year-old pastor andrew brunson was released from turkish custody, and the u.s.-turkey relationship was released from its most serious point of contention. brunson left the courthouse in this convoy after being convicted on terrorism charges, and was set free on time served. he'd spent three years in custody, and recently became a media sensation as he went between court and house arrest.i

the charges t him blocked all other progress on u.s.- turkish relations, a i became a maitant between turkish president raccip tayab erdogan, and the u.s.as >> releaser brunson now-- or be prepared to face the consequences. s ifrin: from july to yesterday, vice president mike pence and the administration maintained pressure on turkey th sanctions and public statements. >> we will continue to stand strong until pastor andrew brunson is free. >> schifrin: today, president ump tweeted in all caps, "pastor brunson just released. will be home soon!" unfreezing the turkey-u.s. relationship, says wasngton institute for near east policy senior fellow soner cagaptay. >> u.s.-turkish relations hian all-time low when president trump slapped sanctions against turkey, because turkey kept detaining u.s. pastor brunson in jail there. and erdogan decided it was time to turn the relationship around, primarily because he needs u.s.

assistance also to push back on another front: saudi arabia. s chifrin: turkey accuses saudi arabia of murdering jamal khasoggi inside its istanbul consulate. turkish officials released cctv images of what they call a saudi hit squad that killed khasoggi, and turkish officials anonymously claimed to have video and audio proving murder. >> turkey had to respond to the alleged murder of khashoggi in istanbul, number one, because sovereignty.turkish turkey is very sensitive overvi what it sees aations of its sovereignty. >> schifrin: but erdogan's criticism has stopped shrgt of murder c. the turkish currency, and economy, are struggling, and he would like assistance fr crown prince mohammad bin salman, who has been personally connected to khasoggi's murderts >> erdogan whe saudi crown prince to take the graceful way out-- let's say, blame it on rogue elements, or on people who are responsible in h administration, throw them under the bus and get out of this. >> schifrin: but if haat doesn't en, erdogan will confront the saudis. and either way, he needs u.s.

help, says cagaptay, the author of an erdogan biography called "the new sultan. >> erdogan knew that if there was a day to reset with trump, it is today. he should make it up with trum today, so he can call him tomorrow and ask for his assistance in what will be a friendly pho conversation in the case of khashoggi, number one, so that maybe till convince the crown prince to take a graceful exit out. and if that doesn't work, then maybbae he has u.sing to push back against the khassoghi incident. >> schifrin: there's no guarantee that will work, and there's no guarantee the u.s.- turkey relationship will smooth over eirely. there are still major disagreements, beginning in syria. the u.s. teams with kurdish fighters to fight isis, but turkey considers them rrorists. turkey plans to buy the u.s.' most advanced jet fighters, but it also wants russian missiles that threaten those fighters. and, the u.s. and turkey disagree over faitullah gulen, who lives in pennsylvania, but turkeyays launched a failed 2016 coup-- as erdogan told newshour's amna nawaz last month.>> translated ): we asked for

him, we asked for extradition, and we signed all the necessary documents and paperwork. they could have deported him with an administrative decision, but unfounately, the u.s. did not extradite him. >> schifrin: despite the tensions, turkey is a nato ally, with vital geography. >> it's the only countryanhat borders iraq, syria, isis- held territory, and russia across the black sea. whatever u.s. policies are regarding those five entities and countries, ty're much easier with rkey on board, and much more cumbersome without turkey. >> schifrin: and any cooperation is much easier, now that brunson's been released. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks break down the week's political news. and, a look at race and policing in the new film "the hate u give." now, we return to the turmoil in the catholic church, and its response to a history of abuse.

john yang explores the latest with pope francis accepting the resignation of cardinal wuerl, archbishop of washington, d.c. >> yang: judy, there had been pressure on wuerl to step down since august, when a pennsylvania grand jury reportat impl him in covering up sexual abuse by priests during his 18-year tenure as head of the diocese of pittsburgh. in a statement today, wuerl said, "once again, for any pastn errors in judg i apologize and ask for pardon." oe pope's action wasn't enough for some survivoclerical sexual abuse. david clohessy, a former ortional director of "surv network for those abused by priests," said, "wuerlilty of serious wrongdoing. the simple facis that he endangered children." for more on all this, we are joined by john carr. he hea the initiative on catholic social thought and public life at georgetown university, and previously worked for the u.s. conference ju catholic bishops on human

rights and sociaice issues. s for joining us. glad to be hee, john. we should say you worked with dardinal wuerl in the past vy closely but you also said he had to go in this episode. >> yeah. why? ell, this was an importanty, necessary day and, for me, a sad day. here you have one of e leading church men in america, my pastor, my archbishop, my friend, and pope francis accepted his resignation because he had become symbol of the church's failures. dardinal wuerl, in many -- cardinal wuerl, in many ways, was a leader of thichurch in so many areas and better than most on sexual abuse but it was not enough, and the church acknowledged he had to step down to provide new leaderip for the local church and healing for victims. >> you s bid he hadecome a symbol but in accepting the

resignation, pope francis said wuerl had "sufficient elements to justify your actions and distinguish what it means to cover up crimes or not deal with problems and to commit some mistakes." how does that characterization stand up agast what the pennsylvania grand jury found? >> you know, fr many years, victims and people concerned about the church's failures have said we neee d not morwords but more actions. today, we got action, and i think actions speak louder than. those wor this is a distinguished leader of the church, he's done a lot of things.e, in this cae had done some things that failed and c endangerldren, and it was time for him, he decided, and i agree, he had to go, and pope francis decided it's one step in a long road. >> critics point out that wuerl will remain the body tht will help choose bishops in the future. cswhat do you say to criho

say this falls short of accountaa lity? >> takok at what just happened. one of the senior chuhmen in america, one of the pope's closest advisors, the archbishop of boston stepped down because of what had happened in pennsylvania and wasthngton. this i roman catholic church. it's my home, my spiritual home, my professional home. it has been broken by this. and the pope, pope francis, by his actions on cardinal wuerl, by the investigation on cardinal mccarrick, by calling all the bishops' conference to rome is understanding action is requiredo he is low to act but he has been listening to victims and survivorand he is acing. today is a crucial step forward. >> mr. carr, you've recently spoken out about your experience as a victim of clealgle abuse.

why did you decide now is the time to talk about this. >> this abuse is professional, and institutional and haunted mh chor 50 years. i found myself talking to people, talking to journalists p and saying a bt of the problem with this evil is secrecy, and then i do acknowledge that i had my own ence,cy, and i broke my sil i talked to my wife, i talked to e, family. for the first tii said what happened to me as a high school student, and my experience working for the church is there are not enough parents, there are not enough surarvivors, thee not enough victims in the room when decisions are made, and my hope is that the church has finally understood this and that the anger and anguish of survivors and their fmilies will be heard and will lead to reform, renewal and ulimately healing, and today is the day that takes the step in that

direction. >> john carr, we appreciate what it takes to speak up as you just have. john carr of georgetown university, thank you very mucho >> thank, john. >> woodruff: we turn now to another busy week of news. with just over three weeks to go until the crucial midterm elections, president trump is headlining rallies almost daily across the country, hammering democrats and trying to energize republicans to get to the polls. a cue for the analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks.ll to both of you. it's friday. so we do have the president, it seems, out on the campaign trail every single day, jetting out to whether it's tennessee or pennsylvania or ofnother par the country, today, mark, he's in ohio trying to energize the

republican vote, the base, trying to get them out. is it working, do you think? >> republicans feel it's working better than it did two or three weeks ago, judy. but i think what is remarkable out it is how constant it is. you said about energizing the base, it's about inflaming people. donald tmp's message is never about coalition, reaching across a divide, trying to enlist a majority. it's always about coming back ts it'sgainst them and we may not be perfect, but, boy, thoses other re really bad, and i think that's the message. it's going to be a referendum as it is every midterm on the president, an his members right now are just about the same point where barack obama's were in 2010 where they suffered enormous defeat, wen bill clinton in '94 the democrats suffered a big defeat and in 2006 george bush's when

republicans lost contr of the congress. >> woodruff: but you have him saying democrats are an angry mob and calling them evidl some of the strongest language he's used, is that likely to get his base more pfired? >> yeah, i think it's working. we're in an age of negative u larization. n't have to like your own party, just have to hate the her one, and that means it's all about contempt. d has the other side made you feel appalled and cntemptuous? the kavanaugh hearings have made both sides feeng appal that fired up both bases. it's always worth remindingou elves we no longer have one election. we have a red state and a blue state election and there increasingly disconnected, so the odds are looking pretty good, the polls have been shifting the republican way on the senate side in all the redxa states, montana and those

places, the senate is looking more secure and the house islo ing more dangerous for republicans as red women move over to the democratic se. so momentums in opposite wdirections. druff: how are democrats encountering the approach by the president? a couple of polls, including the one we did with marist, npr this eeek that said, yes, th enthusiasm gap narrowed, it was eee democrats who were more energized and inrepublicans seemed to be energized. how do democrats come bac fk? st thing they've got to do is stop picketing and stop boycotting and organize. i mean, the mosrat demc group in the entire electorate are ages 18 to 35 and they live everywhere. they aren't concentrated in certain districts like perhapss african-americ latinos are. they are everywhere, and they vote, the democrats will win big. ewill say this, i think t

most encouraging signs of the democrats is the democrats do have a national background message in this campaign. eth about checks and balances. it's not a new message but a message that certainly rsonates with a lot of voters. it's about preserving the strength of healthcare, in particular the pre-existing condition provision, but most of all, i think it's contrasted republicans who don't have a national message, they really don't. they're running micro campaigns, one district says you double parked and you get several parking tickets, you're late open your library boks, you missed your mother's birthday, i mean, they're running very personal campaigns in a very micro sense. i think that's good. i don't think i'd say look at the governor's races. the governor's races across the country, if you want o see which way the country is going, they're going blue, not red. when you have democrats

competitive in place like oklahoma, kansas an south dakota which they are, then, june, there is a possibility the democrats eeping that entire be from the midwest all the way to the eastoast. >> we did hear, david, al gorech talking abouks answer balances, and that's a good motivating thing for democrats. but what abou that? are we seeing democrats unite some way, in a message ths -- >> unityot any party's problem right now. they're all pretty unified. so me, one ofhe -- an interesting debate is n happening -- maybe you ll it the michelle obama-hillary clinton debate where when michelle obama said when they go low, we'll go high, and hillary clinton says ngo, the low, we'll go low, too. and you see that debate, having the moral high ground is a major

advantage and, because of donald trp's behavior, he ha put the republicans at a moral disadvantage, and keeping staying high, staying reasonabli not totally going into the gutter with donald trump htrikes me has the rig democratic strategy and the strategy for any movement because once you go down there you self-corrupt. so one begins to say if they go after us, we kick them. you see people getting angry about kavanaugh and other things, any means necessary. to me, that is a mistake just ty. the soul of your par >> let me say, i agree with david. it's not only the right thing to do, but the wise thing to do and i think it's in the bestte st of the country. i would say at a practical level, you can't competeith donald trump. he's just better at it than anybody else. >> better at -- fig ing, identifye weakness, a shortcoming of his opponent and then extipl it. it is a major talent. he di it to eah of his

republican challengers in 2016, did it to secretary clinton in the election, and that's ally what makes this midterm election -- he is searchingor an opponent that he can do the same thing to. >> yeah, and the politics he specializes in the i don't really like those kind of people. we used to have debates about healthcare, economic policy, foreign policy, now it's just .hose people are really bad those people who say you're bad, actually they're the bad ones. that's the style ofl poitics. somehow we've gotten away from issues. the governor's races are a third electorate because they tend to be more about issues and are swinging democrat. >> woodruff: and oneor gove race i don't know if it's swinging to the democratic but is in georgia where you have stacey abrams, african-american woman, running for governor. she is now working, pointing out str republican opponent who is e attorney general. >> secretary of state. >> woodruff: -- i'm sorry,

secretary of state, pointing out he is by virtue of an action he's taken in the st few weeks suppressing the votes, she says, of 53,000 potential s. i think most of them more than two thirds happen to be african-american she's trying to make an issue of this, saying he should step down as a secretary of state. is that soething that, you know, in a place like georgia is akely to effective? >> certainly, stacrams' campaign is interested in registering and turning out african-american voters, the idea of any minority group, especially a marginalized minority group, electing one of its own to the governorship is g motivaactor to vote. the fact that brian kemp, thet secretary ofe, has not recused himself and that hisms office so overtly engaged in a suppression, 70% of the 53,000 people who now, as

registration has closed, have been told they couldn't vote, it es seem beyond bad play or bad form, it really seems just ba ethics. >> woodruff: as secretary of state, david, he oversees elections, so -- >>ar don't know how clehe suppression is. the republicans is claiming if you come to the polls with i.d. you would be able to vote.bu it's a no brainer that if you're running for a election, you're the hitter and the umpird and thsn't work, and, so, he should have recused himself a long timago. that's a no-brainer that's what you do in any normal circumstance. >> woodruff: few minutes we have left, i want to ask you about the election going on this week with saudi arabia and the u.s., mark. the saudi journalist who has disappeared is belved to be murdered inside the saudi consate in is istanbul, turkey. president trump and people around him sem to be hding back in h criticism of

saudi arabia. the president said it's not good, it doesn't look good, but what should an administration that has tried to get close to saudi arabia be saying right now about what appears to be this unspeakable thing that happened? >>ell, i mean, the american administration would be expected to have a moral bearing, republican or democrat, and a moral foundation. this administration, this president has never made any pretense to it. he lives by the golden rule, and that is he has the gold rules, and he's quite open about it. i mean, he has reduced this. i mean, the carge is so serious that a crew recruited by the soviet, by the saudis themselves, by the powers to be of 15 people went in and took khashoggi and dismembered him with a saw that cut up bones. it is that beyond humncan de

>> woodruff: unimaginable. it's unimaginable. so, to me, that's what's missing here is any sense of morality, st of all. >> woodruff: just 30 seconds, sorry. >> usually, soul for money, you try to hide the fact. but il's official icy if you're rich and buy from us you can do monstrous things. it is a commercial mentality that knots what we would expect in any human being. st. augustine said we hve different loves and our love for basic decency should have higher than the love for money. >> woodruff: david brooks, mark shields, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: finally, i think we'd all agree, it is a turbulent time in amican life, with many of the issues we are grappling with appearing in a place we often go to escape: the movies. tonight, jeffrey brown starts

our occasional series, "fall films," with a film that explores race and policing through a new lens. >> brown: it's a story straight from the headlines. two young black people, in a car atight, pulled over by the police.ut >> of the car! >> brown: the young man, shot and killed. the new drama, "the hate u give," is fiction, but based on now all-too-familiar cases around the country. amandla stenberg plays starr carter, who witnesses the fatal stooting of her childhood friend, khalil. >> i think we hag an understand set that what we were portraying wasn't just contrived, it wasn't just fiction, but that it wl, and reflective of real events and reflective of al pain and real trauma.

>> you gonna see me with my hands like this on the dashboard. >> brown: part of that reality: "the talk" that the father, played by russell hornsby, gives his childrenat to do when confronted by police. >> brown: director george tillman jr., whose pre films include "soul food" and the "barbershop" series, said this one was different. >> you know, as a director, working in los angeles, and working in hollywood, there's entertainment, there's commerce, and there's films where you go, you know, you have the chance to say something. usually those films are smalle f and i l like it was my responsibility as a filmmaker to tell this story. >> brown: the film is based on a y stselling book for young adults, the stor a young

woman living between two worlds: her working class, largely black neighborhood, where she's one starr, and the mostly white, prep school where she dates a white student, where she'she an author angie thomas grew up with that experience of code-switching. >> i wanted to talk aback girlhood-- what it's like to be a young black woman in a society that sometimes says you're notou , or you're too much. how do you navigate those spaces, knowing those things? so, starr is very careful of w she is, where she is. when she's in her neighborhood, she can't act too white. when she'st her school, she can't act too black.fe so, shs as if she has to put herself in a box in both of these worlds, and make herself acceptle to those around her. >> brown: 19-year-old actress amandla stenberg-- previously known from "the hunger gam" and other roles-- says she, too, grew up between worlds. >> i think early on that kind of gave me this sense of, ", it's not okay to show up as my full authentic self in certain spaces, and i need to learn how to adapt to that space."

and i think in some ways it was ertrimental in some way. that's just an it part of being a person of color. but i think it wasn't unl i was older that i was able to kind of marry those identities and understand that they were bo really beautiful parts me, and it's okay to be myself. >> brown: the shooting in the film comes after gunfire at a party, when an officer stops starr and khalil in their caran shoots him, thinking the hairbrush he's reachfor is a gun. tr the aftermath, starr's life spins out of con, as tensions rise at home, at school and in her neighborhood. the title of both book and film came from the words of rapper tupac shakur, who himself died a violent death in 1996. >> it's ug life. the hate you give little infants... >> f's everybody. i know what it stands for.

what do you think it means? >> i think it's us. black people. poor people. everybody at the bottom.: >> broher adults in starr's life include her uncle, a black policeman played by the rapper and actor common. we live in a complicated world. >> it doesn't seem that complicated to me. >> brown: a community organizer is played by issa rae. >> violence, brutality. it's the same story with just a different name. >> brown: director tillman says he studied real-life cases and their aftermaths to present an honest portrait. >> i fel right thing and just honoring them. so all that research and allsp that timking and talking to all these organizions, it was all just about to get it, to make it feel right, you know. so, like, for example, uprising, the protests, i mean, that was six days, six nights that we shot that. lot it took us like months months, you knowoking at

ferguson and looking a is important. >> brown: all involved told us they wand to offer a nuanced view of both black and white communities, and a story not anti-police, but anti-police brutality. for her part, amandla stberg has used her celebrity on social media as a kind of megaphone on issues of concern to her including the "black lives matter" movement. she sees her acting in the same light. >> for me, my artistry is always dren by a desire to create representation and humanize marginalized groups. if that manifests through politics like "the hate u give," it's the hugest blessing, because that's exactly what i want to do. and i think we're able to do that through the film. that's kind of the only way i'm interested in being a part of this industry. i think media completely shapes how we think. it shapes how we think about other groups of pele who we don't have the personal experience with to empathize with. >> brown: stenberg and tillman told us they are eager to reacho

g people with "the hate u give," and worked to secure a pg-13 rating for the film. for the pbs newshour, i'm ffrey brown.f: >> woodrnd that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. w thank you, all see you soon. ng >> major funor the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life wl-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their 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 better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support ew these institutions and friends of theour. >> this program was madey possiblee corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ng sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by g media acceup at wgbh access.wgbh.org

. hello, everyone. and welcome to amanpour and company. here is what's coming up. >> tensions mountetween i lies over the mysterious disappearance of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. as fingers point we ask will present trump turn on this key partner. with me to discuss is a presidential hislrian. and w congress take action, like blocking arms sales to saudi arabia? senator bob menende is teeming up with republican colleagues to demand answers from the saudis and from trump joining me live. plus a young black man's reluctant odyssey