captioning sponsored by nehour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff.ou on the newtonight: 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 and months before anything gets back to normal here. >> woodruff: then, one on one with al gore. the former vice president discusses dire warnings from tha st international climate report, and how global warmingri contbutes to extreme storms. >> all of us need to connect these dots. the scientists not only predicted these consequences, sey're telling us they're going

to get a lot worll until we stop using the earth'ss atmosphere open sewer. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks consider a busy week in politics, inuding 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 provid by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects

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public broadcasting. and by contributions 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 acrossive states. five are known dead in virginia, including a firefighter; another four in florida, one in georgia, and three who died in north carolina. search and rescue teams combing througthe catastrophic destruction in mexico beach, florida have found more bodies, olt they have yet to be added to the official death our william brangham is in the florida panhandle, and has this report. >> brangham: what was a vacation destination now looks moreike war zone. the destruction in the small town of mexico beach is nearom total, and buildings wiped

completely off the white sand beach. entire blocks are now just piles of rubble and debris. >> total devtation. every piece of property, if it isn't got something wrong with it, it's leveled. things that were on the beach are now on the other side of t street. >> brangham: some people here thought they could ride out the storm-- but then came winds at 155 miles per hour, driving an enormous wall of water right to town. >> i noticed that things seemed to be moving outside, and i thought that 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 icty, just 20 miles from m beach, many residents didn't evacuate either. florida's governor ordered mandatory evacuations for this

earlier this week, but .hat point, michael was only a category 1 storm corey clifton trench was in his house when michael hit. his grandmother and ten-year-old sister evacuated, but he and his dad stayed. >> barricaded my closet. cawas praying that it would hurry up and end, e we didn't have much longer. because my room started to-- thp roof blew oft of it. >> brangham: so you were hunkered down in the bathroom the whole time? >> i thought i was going to get 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 insance on this? >> no, we couldn't get it because the roof was in ch bad shape before. >> brangham: so what are you g gung to do? >> whatever we can, i guess. >> brangham: neighbor terry

stewart was in his home next door when the storm hit. >> i got scared. i'll never stay again, i'll tell you right now. >> brangham: why did you decide to stay? if it was category 3 or less, i was staying. and then, at the last minutes, i'm just like, "well, i'm staying now." >> brangham: still shaken, many here say they were caught off guard. >> brangham: in these communities, there'so power or nning water, and very limited communications. >> there's no infrastructure there to supportou, and quite honestly, it's 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 repeating the same thing. brangham: long said he expects the death toll to egimb as crews reaching the hardest hit communities. >> anybody that, you know,ar doesn't heed ang to evacuate, particularly the coast, we ask them to do so

because of the oce's rising and torm surge pushing buildings down. it's not the wind blowing them apart, it's the ocean, crashing waves and going in. and very few people live to ll what it's like to experience storm surge. unfortunately in this country,to we seem not learn the lesson. he brangham: after hitting the florida panhandle,emnants of michael caused deadly flash flooding across north carolina and virginia overnht, before heading out into the atlantic ocean today. >> today, our state begins recoveryrom yet another storm. >> brangham: north carolina governor roy cooper said rescue crews were working around the clock. this coming just a month after hurricane florence struck the eastern part of the state. >> during michael, we saw wind gustof almost 70 mph in the outer banks, rain totaling amost 10 inches in alleghany county, and most things in between. this morning, nearly half a million north carolina homes ane busies are without power. >> brangham: back in panama city, people are starting to put their lives back together. they're glad to be safe, and everyone told us to a person that this is the last hurricane they'll try to ride out.uf

>> woo and william joinsme ow. william, you are now in panama city, close to where the hurricane came ashore. tell us wat you're seeing there. >> jud destruction is incredibly vast. out on the coast, about a mile in that direction, we saw what the storm surge did to the communities. the wall of water ripped buildings off their foundations. further inland, whh is where we are now, the destruction is much more vast. it's over a much biger area and it's largely the wind that brought town these trees. everywhere we go, w see tres down, pulled power lines down, damaged people's houses. the street behind me now is probably the clearest road we've seen all day. you can hear chainsaws behind me. everyone is working to clean their house as best they can, put a tarp on the roof if rains come again. but nobody has water, nobody has power, the grocery sres and gas stations are closed. how long residents can keep

living like this is not clear.av theymonths and months before anything gets back to normal here. >> woodruff: what about the relief effort? cue,there enough res recovery people there in the area? >> right now, judy, there are plenty of rescue crews. we've seen ambulances, fire, lice, fema, the volunteer, the eajun navy, those folks are her as well. one of the biggest issues is just because all the trees are oown, they basically need a million chainsaws come into the area, clear the trees out and only then can they start to establish power. the other thing that's difficult is the issue of communication. there's almost no cell phoneti conns and nobody has land lines to make phone calls. so people who lie outside the area, they have friends, family, loved ones who were here duringm the storm, tnute the 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 been asking us, what can we tel them in the next

town over, where can they findpo r and gas? people are confused as to whether their loved ones are okay, where to go, what the do. >> woodruff: we heard from fema administrator brock long today, expressing disappointment more people had not evacuated. are you gting a sense of why people chose to stay? >> a lot of reasons why pple didn't evacuate. one, the florida panhand hadn't seen a storm like this in a long time to residents donha't that kind 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, it might have been too late for them. that rapid intensification of a hurricane has become something we've seen more and more of. we've seen three, four, five stor in the past, most notably maria that destroyed puertoico, and this intensification is caused by a lot of factors, but one of them

is warmer gulf waters. if a storm can get over a warmer body of water, willpidly accelerate, and that's what we saw here. and this is what climate change models have always predicted, that as waters warm, these kinds of storms will spence fy'., viously, the problem we have here is more people are moving to the coast and now we know we areng to have more of these intensifying 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 und 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 tt 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 deo and audio proof a missing saudi arabian journalist was killed and dismembered inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. the recordings were first reported by thst"washington where jamal khashoggi is a contributor. saudarabia dismissed the cla as "baseless."'l take a closer look at the impact of both cases on u.s.- turkish relations later in the program. pope francis accepted washington d.c. archbishop donald wuerl's signation today. it came amid a growing outcry over the cardinal's handling of sex abe cases in the catholic church. suerl will remain in his post temporarily until essor is found. he will also continue to serve on the congregatioof bishops, which helps to select future bishops. even so, a vatican spokean said the resignation opens a new chapter. >> this about moving forward. that is a phra that cardinal

wuerl used last month, and moving forward means it is for thgood of the church, especially for the unity of the church, which is so important iofor her to fulfil her mi >> woodruff: we will have more on the pope's decision to permit the cardinal to maintain his influential le in the church-- amid his efforts to crack down on abuse-- later in the program. mudslides from torrential eownpours in eastern uganda have left at least 34e dead. large boulders and chunks of mud rolled through the mountainous area, destroying homes and roads in at least three villages. residents described theva ation. >> ( translated ): the rain was too much, and we sheltered under a veranda. then my friend decided to go anm remove horcycle from under the rain, and saw a house being carried away by the mudslide.he that'she 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 teams are able to access the

worst-affected areas. facebook now says that hackers accessed names, emails and phone numbers for 29 millirs worldwide-- that is fewethan initially estimated. it was all part of a data breach thtech giant announced two weeks ago. 14 million of those users also had their metown, birthday 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. inr. septem chinese exports to the u.s. also increased by 13% over last year. analysts attributed thato a surge in orders before u.s. tariffs on imported goods took effect. and on wall street, stocks

clawed their way back into positive territory, after suffering steep losses the previous two days. the dow jones industrial average gained 287 points to close at 25,340. the nasdaq rose nearly 168 points, and the s&p 500 added 38. still, for the week, all three of the major u.s. indexes shed roughly 4%. was their biggest weekly loss in six months. still to come on the newshour: one-on-one with al gore,uro discuss thnt new climate change report. and the coming midterm turkey releases an american pastor, as questions remain about e disappearance of a saudi dissident. the pope accepts the resignation of the archbishop of washington, d.c. in sponse to a sexual abuse scandal. and, much more.

>> woodruff: now, to an 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 csequences of 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 beganking if he sees a connection. >> well, absolutely, and, more importantly, the scientific community has long been convinced and has been warning policymakers for some time. the earmarks of this latest storm, judy, are worth paying attention to, starting with hurricane harvey, whi houston, texas, a year ago and dumped five feet of rain, we have been seeing a new pattern, and hurricane michael tensified as it reached the

coast, and that's somethive rela new, and the reason for it is the ocean waters are much warmer than normal, so it's not getting cold waters churned up to weaken the sto jrm, ust keeps on getting stronger. the scientists had not only predicted these consequeyces, e telling us they're going to get a lot worse still until we stop using the eath atmosphere as an open sewer for ng0 million tons of manmade global warollution every single day. >> woodruff: let's talk about the the science. you mentioned it, there was this major report from thu.n. scientific panel, the the group that you shared a nobel peace prize wi ath, whaout ten years ago. they are painting a much more alarming pictur of what we face than we p hadreviously known. what is significant to you?wh is most significant in this report to you?

>> the language, the i.p.p.c.u., in presenting it, has t torquedp appropriately, how do they get the attention of policymakers around the world. the manmade global warming pollution accumulates in the atmospherend stays there a pretty long time and now traps as much extra heat energy every day as would be released by 500,00her roche ma class atomic class bombsng explo every day. it's a big planet but that's an enormous amount ofrg eneand more than 90% of the extra heat energy is going io theceans, distorting and disrupting the water cycle by evaporating much more moisture into these storms. even without the hurricanes we get the so-called rain bombs that just devastate to the places where it falls. north carolina with hurricane florence is another example.

and as the scientists have pointed out, this wt true of hurricane michael this week, but hurricane florence and hurricane harvey just stayed in place for days and days and days. thin's somenew, too, an it's because we're beginning to see the disruption of wind currentslong with ocean currents, and, so, the northernj hemisphe stream that normally moves these storms out to the east is getting loopier and wavier and sometimes disorganized. so this is rally serious stuff. we have a global emergency, a you use a phrase like that, and some people immediately say, okay, calm down, you know, can't be that bad, but it is, andat the scientists have warned us this recent report is that, if we do not take action quickly to switch away from dirty fossil fuels and shift to electric a

vehicl make agriculture and forestry much me sustainable and deal with the waste loops in manufacturing, all things that we cn do, we know how to do them, we ought to be doing these things for other reasons, anyway, but if we do not begin taking action very quickly and creating jobs in the process, by the way, thethe scientists warn us that the consequences down the road would be far, far worse than what we're experiencing now and could actually extend to an extensional threat to -- existential threat to human civilization on this planet as we know it. >> woodruff: a number conservatives and scientists are saying these dire future predictions are just not born out by evidence, but the -- >> holp on, let me stou there. when you say "other scientists,e nolly.

there are a few outliers, but, you know, 99-plus percent of thm scientificnity is aligned on these objectives. you still have some people who say the earth is flat and not round, but you don't give them oplel time in saying some p say round, some people say flat. sorry to interrupt. >> woodruff: n, they are a minority, but they are cited by political nservative. the question i want to ask is ye of the recommendations from this u.n. group u need to raise taxes, raise prices on those groups that emit carbon. is tht, though, politically realistic in the world we live in here in the united states righsnow? >> it ough politically, of course. that's what china is beginning to do, that's what the european union is now doing, and whether it's direct as a carbon fee or tax or indirect in the form of a

trading system, which some people don't like, but actually it can be made to work. one way or another, we should put a price on thelu polon that is posing such a deadly threat to the future of or civilization, yes. >> woodruff: when it comes to political rction, the president, president trump, people in his administration don't seem to be taking this new u.n. report very seriously. the president said something s ke i can give you repoat are fabulous, i can give you some that aren't so good. he and the people around him art saying, we're focused on the economy, and what we are doing voling back those environmental regulations that have hurt our economy and slowed down business in this country. >> well, his proposal isin literallane, and his reaction to thecientific community's warnings is an

outlier reaction, it's making the u.s. come off like a rogue nation and being different from any other nation in the entire world and, of course,rybody knows it's because the large carbon polluters are his buddies and he wants to ue them as way of signaling to ultra conservatives that he doesn't care about what the truth of the matter is >> woodruff: president trump is out right now on the campaign trail almost every day trying to stir up his base vot he's saying the democrats are like an angry mob, coming off the kavanaugh nomination to the supreme court. he's clearly trying to stir up his base. but my question to you is a th effective tactic on his part? >>hell, we'll find out tis november. i don't know, judy. i'm not a great political analyst, but my pernal

impression is that there are tens of millions aricans, some of whom wanted to take a chancen trump last me around, changing things up, trying something new, but i think there are tens ofsilli who gave him a chance and are now alittle bit hart sick that he has been acting out every day, telling falsehoods almost as easily as breathes. i know some people will hear me say athe 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 islt hea for our nation, but common sense and a respect for reasoned discourse has always played a lanci role in american politics. i have a feeling that it's going to play a role in this ection. i think if ever there was a time

for the reinstitution of the checks and balances that our founders put into our constituti, now is that tim and i think a lot of republicans and independents as well as democrats are kind of quietly itching for the opportunity to the polls and send a messagntto presirump to calm down, don't be so crazy, don't be so harmful to our country. >> woodruff: what should the democratic party's ssage be this year and then going into 2020 with a president who, you know, has made his own personality such aig issue? >> well, he's a talented entertainer and a reality tv star, but 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 theck s market rollercoaster this week, expect and hope it will continue, but the damage he's doing to the gooname of the united states of america is just incalculable, and i think people do not want this kind of anger and repeated falsehoods inour political discourse. ocratsk me what the dem should do. well, i gue sss the righttrategy would be just to say, look, give us a chancto kind of rein him in a little bit and prevent so many of these excesses so tht he doesn't have free rein to puh polluters in charge of environmental policy, to take away protections the people need in all these other

areas of our lives, and i kindhe of thinkmerican people are going to want to do that in november. >> woodruff: former vice president us from los angeles, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: as we reported, there are two major st coming out of turkey today. nick schiffrin reports on how botheveal tensions between t 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 yearsn custody, and recently became a media sensation as he went between court and house arrest. arges against him blocked all other progress on u.s.-

turkish relations, and became a main irritant between turkishr ident raccip tayab erdogan, and the u.s. >> release pastor brunson now-- or be prepared to face the consequences. es schifrin: from july to yesterday, vice ent mike pence and the administration maintained pressure on turkeynd with sanctionsublic statements. >> we will continue to stand strong until pastor andrew brunson is free. >> schifrin: today, ent trump tweeted in all caps, "pastor brunson just released. will be home soon!" unfreezing the turkey-u.s. relationship, says washington institute for near east policy senior fellow soner cagaptay. >> u.s.-turkish relations hit an all-time low when presidenttr p slapped sanctions against turkey, because turkey kept detaining u.s. pasr 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.

>> schifrin: 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 have anonymously claimed to he video and audio proving murder. >> turkey had to respond to the alleged murder of khashoggi in istanbul, number one, becauserk this violated h sovereignty. turkey is very sensitive over i whsees as violations of its sovereignty. >> schifrin: but erdogan's criticism hastopped short of rder charges. the turkish currency, and economy, are struggling, and he would like assistance from crown prince mohammad bin salman, who has been personally connected to khasoggi's murder. >> erdogan wants the saudi crown prince ttake the graceful way out-- let's say, blame it on rogue elements, or on people whi are respe in his administration, throw em under the bus and get out of this. >> schifrin: but if that doesn't happen, erdogan will confront the saudis, and either w needs u.s. help, says cagaptay, the author of an erdogan biography called "theew sultan."

>> erdogan knew that if there was a day to reset with trump, it is today. he should make it with trump today, so he can call him tomorrow and ask for his assistance in what will be a iniendly phone conversatio the case of khashoggi, number one, so that maybe trump will convince the crown prince to take a graceful exit out. and if that doesn't work, then maybe he has u.s. backing 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 entirely. there are still major disagreements, beginning in syria. the u.s. teams with kurdish fighters to fight isis, but turkey considers them terrorists. turkey plans to buy the u.s.' most advanced jet fighters, but it also wants russian missiles that threaten those fighters.. and, the u.sd turkey disagree over faitullah gulen, who lives in pennsylvania, but turkey says launchedled 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 himn withministrative decision, but unfortunately, the u.s. did not extradite him. d >> schifripite the tensions, turkey is a nato ally, with vital geography. >> it's the ly country that rders iran, iraq, syria, isis- held territory, and russia across the black sea. whatever u.s. pocies are regarding those five entities and countries, they're much easier with turkey on board, and much more cumbersome without turkey. >> schifrin: and any cooperaon 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, andts 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 report implicated 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 pasts ern judgement, i apologize and ask for pardon." the pope's action wasnme enough for urvivors of clerical sexual abuse. david clohessy, a formerr national direc "survivors network for those abused by priests," said, "wuerl is guilty of serious wrongdoing. the simple fact is that he endangerr children." re on all this, we are joined by john carr. he heads the initiat catholic social thought and public life at georgetown university, and previously worked for the u.s. conference of catholic bishop aon human righ social justice

issues. s for joining us. glad to be here, john. we should say you worked with dardinal wuerl in the past very closely but you also said he had go in this episode. >> yeah. why? mportants was an day, a necessary day and, for me, a sad day. here you have one of the leading church men in america, my pastor, my archbishop, my friend, and pope francis accepted his resignation beadcae hebecome a symbol of the church's failures. dardinal wuerl, in many --ue cardinal, in many ways, was a leader of this church in so many areas and better than most sexual abuse but it was not enough, and the church acknowledged he had to step down to provide new leadership for the local church and healing for victims. >> you said he had become 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 stan up ainst what the pennsylvania grand jury found? >> you know, for many years,pe victims anople concerned about the church's failures have sa m we need notore words but more actions. today, we got ation, and i think actions speak louder thanh e words. this is a distinguished leader of the church, he's done a lot of thingin his case, he had done some things that failed and endangered children, and it wase or him, he decided, and i agree, he had to go, and pope francis decided it's one step in a long ad. >> critics point out that wuerl will remain on the body that will help choose bishops in the future.y what do you critics who say this falls short of accountability? >> take a look at what just

happened. one of the senior churchmen in america, one of thee' pops closest advisors, the arc of boston stepped down because of what had happened in pennsylvia and washington. this is the roman catholic church. it's my home, my spiritual home, my professional home. it has been broken by this.o and the ppe, 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 required. too slow to act but he has been listening to victims and survivors and he iacting. today is a crucial step forward. >> mr. carr, you've recently spoken out aeout youerience as a victim of clecialgle abuse. why did you decide now is the time to talk about this.

>> this abuse is professional, and institutional and haunted my church for 50 years. i found myself talking to people, talking to journalsats anng a big part of the problem with this evil is secrecy, and ten i had to acknowledge that i had my own secrecy, and i broke my silence, i talked to my wife, i talked my family. for the first time, i said what happened to me as a high school student, and my experience working for the chrch is ere are not enough parents, there rvivors, therh are not enough victims in the room when decisions ar made, and my hope is that the church has finally understood this ane that tnger and anguish of survivors and their families will bed heard an will lead to reform, renewal and ultimately healing, and today is the day that takes the step in that direction. >> john carr, we appreciate whap it takes to seak up as you just

have. john carr of georgetown university, thank you ve much. thank you, john. >> woodruff: we turn now to another busy week of news. with just over three weeks to go until the crucl midterm elections, president trump is headling 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. hello 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 pennlvania or anoer part of the country, today, mark, he's in ohio trying to energize the republican vote, the base, trying to get the.m out

is it working, do you think? >> republicans feel it's working better than it did two or three weeks ago, judy.in but i what is remarkable about it is how constant it is.t you said anergizing the base, it's about inflaming people. donald trump's mesage is never about coalition, reaching across a divide, trying to list a majority. it's always about coming back to it's us against them and we may not be perfect, but, boy, those other guys are 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 wee in 2010 where they suffered enormous defn eat, whell clinton in '94 the democrats suffered a big defeat and in 2006 george bush's when republicanlost control of the

congress. >> woodruff: but you have him saying democrats are an angry mob and calling them evil and nguagef the strongest la he's used, is that likely to get his base more fired up? >> yeah, i think it's working. we're in an age of negative polarization. you don't have to like your own party, just have to hate the other one, anhat means it's all about contempt.h and has te other side made you feel appalled and contemptuous? the kavanaugh hearings have made both sides feel appalling. that fired up botsh baes. it's always worth reminding ourselves we no loger have one election. we have a red state and a blue state election and they're increasingly disconnected, so the odds are looking pretty good, the pols have been shifting the republican way on the senate side in all the red ates, texas, montana and those places, the senate is looking more secure and the house is

looking more dangerous for republicans as red women move over to the democtic side. so momentums in opposite directions. p> woodruff: how are democrats encountering theoach by the president? a couple of polls, including the one we did with marist, npr this week that said, yes, the enthusiasm gap narrowed, it was the democrats who were mored energid indeed republicans seemed to be energized. k?w do democrats come bac >> first thing they've got to do is stop picketing and stop boycotting and organize. i mean, the most democratic group in the entire electorate are ages 18 to 35 and they live everywhere. they aren't concentrated in certain districts like percaps afamericans or latinos are. they are everywhere, and they vote, the democrats will win big. i will say this, i think the most encouraging signs o the democrats is the democrats do

have a nationa background message in this campaign. eth about checks andbalances. it's not a new message but a message that certainly resonates with a lot of voters. it's about preserving the strength o healthcare, in particular the pre-existing condition provision, but most of all, i think it's contrasted republicans who do't have a national message, they really don't. they're running micro campaigns, one dirict says you double parked and you get several parkinge tickets, youte open your library books, you missed your moer'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, iyou want to see which way the country is going, they're going blue, not red. when you have democrats impetitive in placeke oklahoma, kansas and

south data which they are, then, june, there is a possibility the democratsen sweeping thatire belt from ste midwest all the way to the east coa >> we did hear, david, al gorlke g about checks answer balances, and that's a good motivating thing for demwhocrat. bu about that? are we seeing democrats united in some way, in a message that -- >> unity is not any party problem right now. they're all pretty unified. so me,ne of the -- an interesting debate isay happening -- you can call it the michelle obama-hillary clinton debwhatere when michelle obama said when they go low, we'll go high, and hillary clinton says no, they go low, we'll go low, to. and you see that debate, havthig moral high ground is a major advantage and, because of donald trump's behavio has put the republicans at a moral

disadvantage, and keeping staying high, staying reasonably civil, not totally going into the gutter with donald trump strikes me has the right democratic strategy and the strategy for ay moement because once you go down there you self-corrupt. so one begins to say if they go after us, we kck thm. you see people getting angry about kavanaugh and othera things, any ns necessary. to me, that is a mistake just for the soul of your party. >> 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 best interest of the country. pi would say at aractical level, you can't compete with donald trump. he's just better atat thn anybody else. >> better at -- finding, entifying the weakness, a shortcoming of his opponent and then exploiting it. it is a major talent. he did it toach of his republican challengers i2016,

he did it to secretary clinton in the election, and that's really what makes this mdterm election -- he is searching for an opponent that he can do the me thg to. >> yeah, and the politics he specializes in the i don't tally likeose kind of people. we used to have debates abo healthcare, economic policy, foreign policy, now it's just those people are real bad those people who say you're bad, actually they're the bad ones. that's the style of politics. somehow we've gottenway from issues. the governor's races are a third electorate becausey tend to be more about issues and are swinging democrat. >> woodruff: and one governor's race i don't know if ocraticinging to the dem but is in georgia where you have stacey abrafams,rican-american woman, running for governor. she is now worng, pointing out her republican opponent who is state attorney general. >> secretary of state. >>oodruff: -- i'm sorry, secretary of state, pointing out he is by virtue a anction

he's taken in the last few weeks suppressing the votes, she says, of 53,000 potential voters. n think most of them more tha two thirds happen to be african-american. she's trying to make an issue os this, saying ould step down as a secretary of staiste. hat something that, you know, in a place like georgia is likely to be effective? >> certainly, stacey abrams' campaign is intereed in registering and turning out african-american voters, the ea of any minority group, especially ad marginali minority group, electing one of its own to the governorship is a motivating factor to vote. the fact that brian kemp, the secretary of state, has not recudhimself and that his office seems so overtly in a suppression, 70% of the 53,000 people who now, as registration has closed, have been told they couldn't vote, it

does seem beyond bad play or bad form, it really seems jut bad ethics. >> woodruff: as secretary of state, david, he oversees elections, so -- >> i don't know how clear the suppression is the republicans is claiming if you come to the polls with i.d. e.u would be able to vot but it's a no brainer that if you're running for an election, you're the hitter and the umpir and that doesn't work, and, so, he should have recused himself a long time ago. that's a no-brainer that's what you do in any normal circumstance. >> woodruff: few minutes we have lft, i want to ask yo about the election going on this week with saudi arabia and the u.s., rk. the saudi journalist who has disappred is believed to be murdered inside the saudi consulate in is istanbul, turke. president trump and people arnd him seem to be holding 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? >> well, 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 then golle, and that is he has the gold rules, and he's quite open about it. i mean, he has reduced this. i men, the charge is so serious that a crew recruited by the soviet, by the saudis themselves, by the powers to b of 15 people went in and too khashoggi and dismembered him with a saw that cut up bones it is that beyond human decency. >> woobldruff: unimagi it's unimaginable.

so, to me, that's what's missing here is any sense of morality, most of all. >> woodruff: just 30 seconds, sorry. >> usually, when you sell your soul for money, you try toide the fact. but it's official policy if you're rich and buym us you can do monstrous things. it is a commercial mentality that knots what we would expect in any human being. st. augustinsaid we have different loves and our love for basic decency should have higher than the loveor money. >> woodruff: david brooks, mark shields, thank you. >> thank you. uf >> woo finally, i think we'd all agree, it is a turbulent time in american 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 d policing through a new lens. >> brown: it's a story straight from the headlines. oo young black people, in a car at night, pulledr by the police. >> out of the car! >> brown: the young man,anhot killed. e 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 fatalh shooting of hedhood best friend, khalil. >> iunhink we had an rstanding on set that what we were portraying wasn't just contrived, it wasn't j tt fiction, bt it was real, and reflective of real events and reflective of real pain and real trauma.

>> you gonna see me withy hands like this on the dashboard. >> brown: part of that reality: "the talk" that the father, played by russell hornsby, gives ildren on what to do when confronted by police. >> brown: director george tillman jrse previous 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 film are smaller, and i just feel like it was my kesponsibility as a filmmato tell this story. >> brown: the film is based on a bestselling book for youngts adulthe story of a young woman living between two worldsn her workg class, largely black neighborhood, where she's one

starr, and the mostly white, aep school where she date white student, where she's another. author angie thomas grew up with that experience ofwi codehing.d >> i wan talk about black girlhood-- what it's like to be a young black woman in a society u're notetimes says enough, or you're too much. how do you navigate those spaces, knowing those things? so, starr is very careful of who she is, where she is. when she's in her neighborhood, she can't act too white. , when she's at her schoole can't act too black. so, she feels as if she has to put herself in a box in th of these worlds, and make herself acceptable to those around her. >> brown: 19-year-old acess amandla stenberg-- previously known from "the hunger games" and other roles-- says she, too, grew up between worlds. >> i think early on that kind gave me thisense of, "oh, it's not okay to show up as my full authentic self in rtain spaces, and i need to learn how to adapt to that space." and i think in some ways it was detrimental in some way. j

thatt an inherent part of being a person of color. but i think it wasn't until i was older that i was able to kind of marry those identities fud understand that they were both really beauparts of me, and it's okay toe myself. >> brown: the shooting in the film comes after gunfire at a w party,hen an officer stops starr and khalil in their car and shoots him, thinking the hairbrush he's reaching for is a gun. in the aftermath, inarr's life sps out of control, as tensions rise at home, at school and in her neighborhood. the title of both book and film came from thwords of rapper tupac shakur, who himself died a violent death in 1996. >> it's thug 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. >> brown: other adults in stars life include her uncle a black policeman played by the rapper and actor common. >> we live in a complicated rld. >> 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 felt like we were the right thing and just honoring them. so all that research and all at time speaking and talkingll to ahese organizations, it was all just about to get it, to make it feel right, you know so, like, ample, the uprising, the protests, i mean,w thatas six days, six nights that we shot that.ik but it took usmonths andhs montyou know, looking at ferguson and looking at what is

important. us brown: all involved tol they wanted to offer a nuanced view of both black and white communities, and a story not anti-police, but anti-police brutality. for her pa, amandla stenberg has used her celebrity on social media as a kind of megaphone on issues of concern to her, including th"black lives matter" movement. she sees her acting in the same light. t for me, my artistry is always driven by a desicreate 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 y i'm interested in being a part of this industry. i think media completely shapes how we thi. it shapes how we think about other oups of people who we don't have the personal experience with to empathize with.>> brown: stenberg and tillman told us they are eager to reach young people with "the hate u

give," and worked to secure a pg-13 rating for the film. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend.an you, and we'll see you soon. m or funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin >> kevin! >> kevin? >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> bnsf railwa >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's mos 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 of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.d contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you.yo thank ecaptioning sponsy newshour productions, llc captioned by dia access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're

tonight on kqed newsrm, the new republican battle cry. and a new u.n. report warns of the devastating effects of climate change can be felt in two decades. and san franciscels hss epidemic. a local c supports a measure aimed at reducing homelessness. we begin with an emboldened gop and a surge in women candidates. at agathering in iowa this week president trump made it clear he will use the recent supreme court confirmation fight as a