captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, a pantentious question-- the justice dement is still looking for a legal rationale to ask about citizenship on the census.id then, after prt trump's july 4th speech draws criticism for politicircng the armed , we examine his history of making political stinements ilitary settings. plus aroup of diabetic women leads a caravan to canada to purchase insulin and make ou statement abt drug prices in the u.s. >> i didn't get the choice to get diabetes, but i certainly had the choice of hoi was going to react to getting t'abetes. >> woodruff: andfriday-- david brooks and karen tumultyk brwn the president's july fourth speech, the contentious census citizenship question and

more. all that andore on tonight's "pbs newshour." >> major fundiws for the pbs ur has been provided by: >> text night and day. >> catch it on replay. >> burning some fat. >> sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can do the things you like to do with a wireless plan ou.igned for with talk, text and data. consumer cellular. learn more at consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life convertions in a new nguage, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social changewo dwide. w

>> ah the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corpn for public broadcasting. and by conibutions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thk you. >> woodruff: president trump said he is considering issuing an executive order to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census. this, after the supreme court ruled last week to block the government from adding that question. mr. trumtep spoke to rep this morning before leaving for a weekend at his new jersey golf club. >> i just spoke to the attorney general. we have a number of different avenues, we can use all of them

or one. we're doing very well on that issue.we e spending $15-20 billion on a nsus. we're doing everything. we're finding out everything about everybody. think of it. $15-20 billion and you're not d to ask them if they're citizen. >> woodruff: in the meantime,ic the judepartment said today it will continue to look for legal grounds to include the citizenship question. we'll take a look at where things stand with the census after the news summary. a powerful 5.4 mnitude aftershock rocked southern california before dawn today. there have been some 80 smaller aftershocks since the quake struck yesterday near ridgecrest, northeast of los angeles. the quake left enormous fissures in the earth, near its epicenter in the mojave desert. emergency officials are remaining on high alert. >> we're trying to make sure

we're ahead of the curve if we do get an aftershock. obviously, we just had an aftershock. we want to make sure to get enough resources as we can possibly here to make sure that we take care of the communities that are gonna be affected. th woodruff: more than 20 million people felsday's temblor, from los angeles to las vegas.er but only s minor injuries were reported. authorities in the bahamas are investigating what caused a helicopter crash that killedve sen americans late thursday. the chopper was found in the water off grand cay island. it was bound for fort lauderdale, florida.s officiid there were no survivors. billionaire coal magnate and republican donor chris cline was among the dead. there was celebration in the streets of sudan today the ruling military council reached agreement with the country's pro-democracy movement. it settled a power dispute by creating a joint council to rule the country for e next three years.

scores of opposition protesters have been killed in a violent crackdown since president omar l.-bashir was ousted in ap yousra elbagir of independent televion news has our report. >> reporter: the sounds of ululation, usually heard at ddings... celebrating an unlikely union "a fresh start for sudan," this man says, folling the long- awaited agreement between the military junta and the opposition. in the late hours of last night, they announced the formation of a civilian government headed by a prime minister. and a sovereign council with 5/11 members confirmed to be civilian. >> ( translated ): thisem agt opens the way to transitional bodies that will bring reform, in all aspects.th first of which is the issue of peace and the independent transparent investigation and punishment of the killers of the martyrs. >> reporter: and these are the

dlrtyrs he's referring to: the victims of the dy dispersal of sudan's mass pro-democracy sit-in by the troops of this dman, militia leader mohaha mdan dagalo, known as hemedti, notorious for war-crimes in ur and now the face of t military council. se would like to say thi agreement will be comprehensive, bot exclude anyone and reach out to the amitions of the sudanese people an it's revolution. >> reporter: in an act that cany e described as political theatre, 235 prisoners of a darfuri rebel group were , rdoned. and this morninge streets of the capital celebrated-- but underneath the euphoria is an undercrent of mistrust. >> ( translated ): the official opposition is the leadership... but the real leadership is thest et.

today they formed a council. if we like it, then fine, but we don't like it then... our tools of protest are still in place.re weeady to activate, escalate and start over. at the end of the day, our government will be a civilian one, no matter what.ye >> reporter: ewill now be on the military to fulfil their end of the bargain, and to the dethroned islamists that have been sidelined in this process, the agreement has yet to be signed and the future of sudan is far from sealed. >> woodruff: that was yousra rtbagir of independent television news reg. back in this country: the u.s. job market shattered expectations in june. the labor department reported tthe u-s economy added a 224,000 jobs last month. meanwhile, the unempt rate rose slightly to 3.7%. that's up from 3.6% e previous two months. asand wages rose 3.1% over

year. stocks fell on wall streetto y, over fears that the better-than-expected jobs report eservemake the federal less likely to lower interest rates. the dow jones industrial average lost 44 points to close at 26,922. the nasdaq fell eight points, and the s&p 500 slipped five. and iconic "mad magazine" will leave newsstands this fall, ending its 67-year-long run. the satirical magazine-- with its gap-toothed mascot alfd e. neuman-- influenced generations of readers with its subversive humor. at its peak in the early 1970s, it att million subscribers. but its circulation declined in recent years.il stto come on the "newshour,"ad the trump nistration struggles for a legal reason to include a citizenship qu. tion in the unsus; we examine president trump's history of political statements in military settings; a group of diabetic

women travel from the u.s. to canada to purchase more affordable insulin; and much more. >> woodrf: as we reported earlier, the trump administration is still exploring how to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. i yamiche alcindhere to explain the options being considered by the white house and justice department. hello, yamiche. so what more have you learnre in yourrting about what the administration is doing, why it's doing this and, frankly, how they see the justification for it? >> the president's strategy when it comes to the citizenship question on the census is to a push forwad try to find some way to get it on the census. i want to play for you what his

justification is from earlier today outside the white house. >> you need it for many sons. you need it for congress for districting. you need it for appropriations, where are the funds going? how many people are there? are they citizens, are they not citizens? you need it for many reasons. >he> evenresident is saying there are many, many reasons why you need the question on the census, th week simply said that the government had a contrivedre on for having the citizenship question on the census, so there has not been a real reason to pass the courts. so the president though he's spelling this out is still scrambling for a reason. >> woodruff: has clearly pitted strong political opponents against one another. what are the politics of this? >> well, the question about te citizenship, whether or not it gets on the census, is really a litical battle. it's over the electoral college. the census is used to determi congressional delegations, and that also, of course, reflects on the electoral college and, of

course, how welect the president of the united states. so the president is essentially saying we need to know all the people that are in thted states, we need to know if they're citizens or not.nt opposay this is about forcing undercounting people across the cotry. they worry that immigrants who are not citizens will be scared anwon't fill outhe census and as a result will have congressional delegatiole that are smthan the actual populations. it really is going to be a political fight because democrats feel strongly thnos shouldt be on the census while republicans seem to be backing the president in this fight. >> woodruff: so, yamiche, we know today is a day a federal judge in maryland, they said 2:00 today the administration has to enter a written agreement that confirms it's no longerpu uing the citizenship question on the census. what's the status of this legal case? >> the status of the legal caser is that laware still scrambling for a way to give the president what he wants which is a reason to put the citizenship question on the census.

they told judges the situation is fluid because they're tk ing to l all options on the table to figure out a way to give the president what he wants, but essentially they have not come up with a path forward. so what we're seeing isth government saying, look, we want to come up with a reason, we're not sure yet what that's going to be. the government also said that they're going to go straight to the supreme court. essentially this is going to play out in d he courts he president said he might take executive action and t might end up in the court. >> woodruff: as you have been reporting, the president seems committed to this. so what ppens next? >> what happens next and now is the nsus is being printed as we speak without the citizenship question.li there's a de of roughly reports from the "new york times" and npr saying oct1ober is a drop dead deadline. people are suing the government saying they don't want the question on the census. they asked for a drop dead deadline and one wasn't provided. so there is a ticking time toto trget this done. the president said this might be

some sort of attend dumb there might be an extra sheet of paper people get with their censuses, but right now it's going forward without it. >> woodruff: they're printing it without this question. >> yes. >> woodruff: we will see. yamiche alcindor, thank you. >> thanks.>> oodruff: the troops are back in barracks, the military jets have landed, and the fireworksha smokcleared after president trump's "salute t ngerica" lght. but as william bm tells us, questions remain about mr. trump's relations with the military, and the roleics play. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it was billed as the show of a lifetime by the president, who cast himself as its star. flanked by military hardware memorial andlincol with jets overhead, president trump's "salute to america" heaped praise on the u.s. armed forces.

>> through centuries our soldiers have always pointed toward home proclaiming this we'll defend.at they are the gt soldiers on earth. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: but somcritics just across the mall said the event was a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars, d another move by the president to co-opt the military and to make patriotism political. >> i don't tnk the fourth of july should be politicized like it has been this year because it's a nationaholiday, and >> reporter: after president trump attended france's grand is twole day parade in p summers ago, he said he wanted to do the same back home. >> because of what i've witnessed, we might do somethi like that july 4th in washington down pennsylvania. >> reporter: the president's supporters point out this isn't the first time military armaments have rolled through the streets of washington. president roosevelt's 1941 inauguration had tanks on thema . in 1957 president eisenhower

celebrated his second presidency .th missiles and war plan ♪ ♪ and president kennedy' inaugural parade brought troops down pennsylvania avenue. spectators wched on as rockets rolled by. the last time americans saw a parade like this was 28 yearso, t the end of the 1991 gulf war. in t largest military parade since world war ii, president george h.w. bush, with throngs in the streets, welcomed homed the armed forces.s but some analygue this is different, saying trump has politicized the military to a dangerous level. last may during a visit to japan, some in the white house reportedly told the u.s. navy to move the "uss john mccain," named for the late senator and his father and grandfather, out of sight for fear of angering mr. trump; he denied any knowledge of the effort. >> to me, john main, i wasn't

a fan, but i would never do a thing like that.>> eporter: then acting defense secretary patrick shanahan later sent a department-wide memo reiterating pentagon standards on political activity." i call on leaders at all levels in the department to reinforce the apolitical nature of military and civilian service and professionalism." in january 2017 president trumpl - standing in the pentagon's hall of heroes-- a space dedicated to the those decorated with the medal of honor-- announced his costroversial travel ban aga seven mostly-muslim nations. and as preside, he upended the appointingeral james mattis to the job. his first national securit adviser was retired lieutenant general michael flynn; and hisnd segeneral h.r. mcmaster remained on active duty while in that role.

his second chief of staff john kelly was a retired four-star marine general. the president has also has a habit of using the possessive when describing the u.s. military. >> i see my generals, those generals are going to keep us so safe. and what i do is i authorize my military. my generals, and my military, they have decision making ability. >> reporter: to scuss the relationship among presidents, ary, wes and the mil are joined by peter feaver. iv's a professor of political science at duke sity. he served on the national epcurity council staff under democratic andlican presidents. and, mike lyons is a non- erresident fellow at the m war institute at west point. he served in the gulf war as an army officer. gentlemen welcome to you both. thanks for being here on the "newshour". peter feaver, to youfi rst, do you think president trump is stepping over the line?

>> no. i think i know what he was trying fo. he perhaps didn't hit the mark that he was aiming for, but what he walooking foas a celebration of america, a celebration of things that bring us together, probably something like the movie, if you've been to the world war ii muse narrated by tom hanks which really describes america in heroic terms and you leave the moviprfeeling veroud to be an american, i think that's what he was aiming for, butecause of the baggage he brings to the table and it's not his strong suit giving these speeches, it probably didn't hit the mark, and proy banadvertently politicized something that would have been better off lt untouched. >> reporter: mike lyons, you heard ae criticism tht the president is politicizing the military in some way, no just yesterday but in prior events. my sense is you think that's lot of temp estin a teapot, is that right?

>> yeah, it is. the hysteria built up even weeks or months before, i would go so far to sa the pentagon almost undermined themselves. they didn't o do. this the mission came out very early on as to what the expectations was going to be and i think they used the media unfortunately to get a lot of disinformation out with regard to how the thing was going to go, the gefneral icers weren't happy about it. their mission was to execute on what the president's vision was. as it turns out, they sawthe benefit of it, because the president became the cruiter in chief perhaps inspiring and influencing someone to join o great military, which would be worth every penny spent on the event for that one thing to happen. >> reporter: seaking of the issue of what you would have referred to the pentagon to do with regards to last night. you said they let oua false narrative. what would you have ratherred they would have done? >> well, i think this whole thing how the vehicles were going to get to the national

mall, they cothd have putt expectation out earlier on. you had famous people and analysts talking about they were going to be marching do pennsylvania avenue, tiananmen square and all, the pentagon said if it was only going to be a display of some tanks and brad lis, it would have quelled the his teario beforand and made this more palpable from the beginnin >> reporter: peter feaver, what's your sense of the down side? let's say i appreciate what you said about the president's actions yesterday, but the politicization of the military, what is the down side of that, clmbolism aside? >> let's bear, in the president had announced what actually happened was what would have happened from the w

beginning, theldn't have been much a fuss, but it wouldn'tent have been that exciting either. it was overhyped by the white house and foot dragging from thn pentagon, i blame on both sides. but the third party is tolame is parties and critics of the president who seized this opportunity, relhieasing t- off the u.s.s. mccain trolling the president because of his ormy relationship with the former senator mccain. this is fighting over the carcass of the u.s. militar which is supposed to be independent, nonpolitical servatt of the entire and not just of the political party. when you bring i it politicizat and you're raising counts about the reliability that the military will obey lawful orders when givennen, that they wi not inject their own partisan

preferences into their job, we g pend on that. but when you brem into parts upfood fights as in the last several weeks, you're chipping away at the nonpartisan status and that's not good for anyone. knighter the republican orde crat wins if the military takes on a party caste. >> reporter: mike, do you see that as danger? do you see this administration or prior administration do that chipping away? >> no, ihink it is danger and, clearly, other administrations have done it, evit one-offuations. but i think the danger is retired neral officers, retired military analysts come in, pick a side, make it feel like they think this is the worst thing for democracy, they ing this incredible source and make a problem a lot worse than it actually is. the ct that you had people complaining about troops working on the weeke, working on holiday away from families,

where was that same pushback from general officertrabout keepinoops deployed overseas and going on seven, eight, nine deployments? every one of the soldiers there were likely volunteers. theyoved to talk about th equipment, want to use it as a recruiting tool, want to sp e those to serve as well. 'tis partisan critics in this case are on full overdrive, heated white hot and it tarnished the event basn a lot of things that theysaid. >> reporter: peter feaver, in terms of scale, isn't sending med forces overseas for wars that seem to have no end, repeated deployment, isn't tha a much greater tax on the military than a parade, a little bit of political posturing. posturing? >> no question that's a greater burksd but that's the whole reason we have a milit to defend our national interests if it's challenged at ho or abroad, so that's mission one. and the kind ofivic photo op

being the garden gnome on stage next to a polic rally, that's not mission one of the military. i expect there are folks who would have said i would have ratherred spent the day withfa ly and friends at a barbecue. but let's be clear that the military did the riging about executing the lawful order the president gave. the president orered something like this. the president that is right to do that and the military was right to implement the order. i put the more burden on this white house to be re sensitive to the politicization chargea there'mber of steps that the president has taken over the last several years and, yes, previous administrations have crossed the line as well, but this adminisation needs to be more attentive to self-correcting when they cross the line d not putting the military, law enforcement, intelligence community, all our arnational security appus, not

putting them in that awkward position of appearing to be politicized. >> mike lyons, do you thinko there is a god way, an eas w for the military to wall itself off? because on some level, you can't change how a political actor operates. itis there a way for the my to protect itself from these concerns? >> it's difficult and challenging. we have been blessed with good nilitary leaders that know where that boundary is i think what would put that boundary out there if an administration continues to cross over it, one to have the lessons i learned in the military was donse't con moral courage with loyalty, and i think the military will always come back to the president saying, look, we shouldn't do something like this but the military is a reflection of society. the army and navy iparticular turn over individuals all the time of its own people, it's also a subculture of itself.ry the milipicks and chooses sometimes when it comes in and out of these kin. of situatio but i think it's all about leadership and making sure that

the right message is sent.th i thought tha chairman of the joint chiefs and others there on stage last nht set the right tone, had good poker faces on, weren't ying to politicize it and the president didn't bring up a lot of things people were concerned about. >> reporter: mike lyons, peter feaver, thank you both very much for being here. >> woodruff: stawith us. coming up on the "newshour" david brooks andeaaren tumulty down the president's july fourth speech and the week's political news. pls, a new documentary deta the life and legacy of nobe- prnning author toni morrison. but first, let's turn to the anger over the skyrocketing cost of insulin-- a life-saving drug for some 7.5-million americans with diabetes. the trump administration has vowed to rein in drug prices, but when it comes to insulin, the cost remains an enormous burden for some patients.

special correspondent sarah varney joined a group of diabetics and parents who crossed the midwest to buy insulin in london, ontario-- the birthplace of the drug. our story was produced in collaboration with kaiser health news. >> reporter: it's early morning in downtown minneapolis andn quinnystrom is scrambling to arrange last minute logistics for the trip to canada. >> i got a little nervous there! >> you and me both! >> reporter: the caravan has drawn the media's eye to abl vexing p that threatens her life and other type 1 diabetics in the u.s.-- the exorbitant cost of ins they'll cross five states, picking up passengers along the way, all to buy insulin in lcanada, where it costs 9s. >> does everyone have their passports? >> reporr: for nystrom, this quest began years ago, when she was growing up in rural baxter, minnesota. she was diagnosed with type 1 at 13 a hated being different from other girls at school.

but when her parents sent her to a camp for kidwith diabetes, she learned she wasn't alone. >> i didn't get the choice to get diabetes, but i certainly had the choice of how i was going to react to getting diabetes. r orter: she had dreams of finding a cure for diabetes. but about fi years ago, as she was starting her career in public relations, she realized the real crisis: the price of insulin. >> it started costing me $200 out of pocket. then $300 out of pocket. so i just started posting that on my social media and started to get a lot of responses. >> reporter: so nystrom, once her senior class president and self-described rule-follower, took a different path. she now expedites transfers of black market insulin. >> thank you so much. this is perfect. >> reporter: in her refrigerator is a drawer of insulin donated by good samaritans. even with insurance, nystromel herspays up to $600 a month for 2-3 vials of novolog. >> i don't care if somebody

steals my tv, but if they steal my insulin i'm in big trouble. >> reporter: between 2012 and 2016, the cost of insulin nearly doubled. nystrom meets people online who can't afford insulin, like igail hansmeyer, who turned to this "black market" a decade ago. and with a special needs dauger and a tight budget, a trip to canada isn't an option. >> there's costs foras, food. you know, if you're needing to stay overnight a nthe hotel. it a solution for everyone. people that work full time, have children. it's not a feasiblthing. and this is certainly a band-aid on the problem. and it's not even a band-aid for everyone. >> reporter: in washington this year, lawmakers have grilled executives from the three main producers, eli lilly, novo nordisk and sanofi, and investigated price fixing. but, so far, no bills have passed. in may, colorado became the first state to cap monthly

insulin co-payments at $100. and in minnesota, people like nicole smith-holt have pushed for legislation to provide free or low-cost emergency insulin. her son, alec, a type 1 diabetic, died because he couldn't afford the drug. we met smith-holt on the secondi anrsary of alec's death. her family's made a memorial in their backyard. when alec turned 26, he was no longer allowed on hier's insurance plan, and the restaurant he worked at didn't hafer any. >> the lowest planwe found was $450 a month with a $7,600 deductible. so it's really not affordable. >> reporter: instead, he decided to pay for his insulr the counter at list price. but the pharmacist told him aou month's supply be $1,300. with only $1,000 ihis bank account, he left empty handed. when did you first get word that ysomething had gone terri wrong? >> i received a phone ca m from, actualmother, who received

a phone call from his girlfriend. he wasn't answering his door and he wasn't answering his phone. she could hear the phone ringing in the apartment. and she just happened, you know, checked one of his windows that happened to be unlocked and she was able to cl through his bedroom window and she found him on his floor, cold and unresponsive >> reporter: alec's official cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis, or d.k.a., when, without insulin, acid dangerously builds up in the bloodstream. d.k.a. can occur when diabetics ration their insulin. a study found one in four do so because of cost. >> i went through a stage where i felt extremely guilty, like i could've prevented it somehow, or i should have seen something, or i should've known sng. it wasn't long before, you know, my sadness turned into anger. >> reporter: in the wake of alec's death, smith-holt began

sharing her story. did you think at that point that alec's story had jtht been unique this just happened to you? >> yeah, i thought we were, like, the on ones. and i was reluctant to share the story at first because i was like, "why wouldeople want to hear, you know, our sad story about alec psing away?" and now i know why. every single type 1 diabetic in the world can picture themselves in alec's situation. >> reporter: untilrices come down in the u.s., people with ivtype 1 diabetes, and actts like smith-holt, are making these trips to canada to stock n and call attention to the dramatic price difference. unlike in the u.s., thcanadian government, and many other countries, negotiate insulin prices with manufacturers. so they traved through wisconsin... illinois... indiana and michigan, adding riders and cars to the caravan. their reasons for joining were all personal. >> when i was ten-years-old i remember going to the pharmacy bought a vial of insuli

for $3. now i'm paying $380. i'm going for my son, he's 11, had type 1 diabetes for three years.te >> rep the trip is bothti prl and symbolic. >> i don't think anybody on this bus would have chosen to go on an 817-mile ride today, but we're being forced to do this because we're in a crisiin america. >> reporter: in statements to the newshour and in public testimony, eli lilly, novo nordisk and sanofi blame high- deductle insurance plans and payments to pharmacy middlemen for the out-of-pocket costs borne by patients. "r example, sanofi said, we believe lowering list prices alone will not necessarily result in lower out-ofocket costs for most patients at the pharmacy. this is why we have not dropped the list price of our insulins"" the companies all say they offer coupons and discountto help defray the price of insulin. the patients we talked to said it was dficult to qualify for

these assistance programs. some 16 hours later, the bus crosses the border to canada, arriving well after midnight in london, ontario. >> we made it! >> reporter: the next morning, the logistical problems continue for nystrom. multiple pharmacies have turned the group away, not wanting the media attention. >> the insulin's here, let's go and get it! >> reporter: the group finally loads onto the bus and heads off to a local walmart. at a pharmacy inside, one by one, they fill their prescriptions, some filming once thei phones. >> buy nine vials of this for less than one vial. >> the group spent about >> reporter: the g$2up spent abou00 for insulin. the same haul would cost almost $24,000 ar the u.s. tothe end of the trip, they head to a spot revered by

diabetes actists. it was here in london, ontario, at this house, that frederick banting rst had the idea that led to the discovery of insulin. that was almost 100 years ago. he sold the patent for just $1 to the university of toronto. pharmaceutical companies began manufacturing the drug and the price remained low until well into the 20th century. and in canada, insulin has stayed inexpensive. nicole smith-holt says if she only knew she could have come here for alec, she would have walked, crawled, done anythinghe to savson. and in a quiet, painful moment at the banting house, she left some of alec's ashes. for the pbs newshour and kaiser health news, i'm sarah varney in london, ontario.

>> woodruff: president trump may have kept his july 4 speech last night focused largely on the u.s. military but doeansn't t was free of political fallout. one story in a busy holiday week to discuss with brooks and tumulty, that's "new york times" columnist david brooks and woes "washington post" columni karen tumulty. mark shields is away. he was focusing last niht most mostly on military and wove it into his story of america. how does his story of america comport with the real story of america? i as up on the mall early in the afternoon and there was a rally of gold star moms and wives, people who had lost a son or a husband in iraq, and there was a great military feel to vice, and they took the ser in which they were so proud of and what they've suffered and tied it to the fight onso alism and struck me that really is the trump story, he goes to the military as a source of american values and then contrasts that to the hostile

world ouide, and that's one story of america. i don't think it's the real story. i think it's the story of rome, frankly. we have milary power, that's really not what the american story is about. most americans who are in an immigrant country who provide socialability an reliberation for people who come fromnd oppressed can't be the trump story because he doesn't believe in that story.sa i'we're a story that believes in democracy which isof the belief the universal dignity of all people. we have a strong military realize the promise of democracy and dignity. trump gives us a basic pagan, roman sto. >> woodruff: karen, how close do you think he is to the true sty of this country? >> well, nobody would mistake this speech for winston churchill, but he did weave in a lot of threads of e american story. he talked about the student who

sat in at lunch counters duri the civil rights movement, he mentioned harriet tubman, frederick douglas, talked about the wrht brothers and ingenuity. all thehreads with you in the speech. t ere it was in congruent was with the rof his presidency. it's graded on a curve that we are surprised to see him stand in front of a big crowd and not start into chants olock her up and not start railing about, you know, witch hunts. was sort of a one off. i think the speech itself did what it should have done. i love the flyovers, i love the blue angels and we see them in a lot of other contexts, they fly over the super bowl, so that rt really didn't bother me. again, it was just very jarring to see that against the context of the rest of donald trump's

presidencyow >> woodruff: david, do you think this affects him politicall you were saying it helps him with his base, the people who already like him. does it add? do people look at this and say, mmm, i want tol feebetter about my country? >> yeah, well, his political strategy, i remember back, likes 15 ygo, there are a lot ofbo conservativeks coming out and the blisher said our j is to arrange liberal reviewers, not pleaseaders, and once we anger the other side the people will rally twhus. i think back, that's probably donald trump's political strategy, how can i anger liberals, if i can get them attacking, my people will be for me. a lot of the stuff with the , i thoughtexamp there was a lot of over the top, frankly, trump phobia, kind of fascism in the streets.re but a lot ofdents had tanks and rallies. people like to see tanks. i like seeing tanks. so what he attempts to do is

poke something and then genera a response and then his people rally to his side. i think that is the trump genius, the marketing genius that he knows how to pick fights that will cause the other side to be offended and his people to be loyal. >> i will be interested to see what he does next year because xt july we will be in the middle of a presidential season. we will know who t democratic nominee is at that point. it will be very intewhresting to seher he tries to do this again next year and if he takes a different kind of tone when he is in the middle of a campaign season. >> you know, one of the things we're struggling with as aun y is what's our national narrative. we had a narrative that left a lot of voices out. maybe we have no narrative, 're just a universal country with a lot of different narratives. but i at leastike they trump started the conversation, not meaning to, better than jus we watch fireworks and go home. it was a more substveantive

than all past years except when the beach boys played. (laughter) >> woodruff: karen, do i hear you saying it's not clear whether it's a political plus for him orth? whether he has to try to again? >> we are living in trump warp spthd. i think by time next week, this will feel like it happened five years ago, and there will have been ten other controversies. >> woodruff:robably true, or 25. immigration. we had morimages, troubling images this week from the border, pictures of crowded holding cells for people who have come across. you had a democratic congressional delegation go down there and say that this is inhumane. many of the -- you know, much to have the same criticism thate weard before, you had the president coming back, karen, isd saying, well, what we've got to do tighten up our asylum laws because that's the only way we're going to get this under control. is there a way through on this immigration?

or do we just have this, you know, weekly combat, political combat over it from now on? >> well, you also ve the president today saying that these centers are beautifully run and clean and really that, you know, thministration is doing a terrific job. a federal judge h given them until july 12 to come up with some kind of plan for fixing the problems down there. it's going to require a lot of resources. not oy in improving the conditions in the centers, but also in hiring hundreds and hundreds more immigration judges to deal with a backlog of over 800,000 immigration cases. so there's not a real short-ter solutiut until the administration is willing to recognize that the is an mead

problem, that there is a crisis do there, its really hard to imagine that they are going to move to solve it other than to just blame this on the democrat >> woodruff: david, react to that. i just keep coming back to the republicans keep sayinneed to tighten up the asylum law.e so what's nswer to that? is there a legislative redy somehow to this? >> well, maybe. a couple of things, one, you know, 've hadese great jobs numbers, we could be feeling good about ourselves, but a lot us look at these centers and think i'm ashamed of my country, and it's such a drag on our national moralthat our government is sponsoring something that makes us feel embarrassed and ashamed. that's the first thing. the second thing is terrence esn't work. the idea of the trump administration that we could be so cruel and make it so hard to get here and cause people so much pain that they will stop coming, well, they're still coming. the third thing is presidents used to appoint czars.

you get a problem, pick somebody super confident and administering prrams and say gure out what to do, you know, build more centers, get more dges, do all the things one needs to do to just manage the problem. but we take mix these issues as cultural abstract es and not as concrete things that we could actually address. so it becomes a philosophical piece of the culture war rather than let's build more centers and re more ges. >> woodruff: both sides end up making the same arguments over and over agin. i do want to come back to the p democratsidential candidates. we mentioned immigration, clearly that's an issue, but we're now a week, karen, past joe biden faltering in the frst democratic debate in that encounter with kamala harris. ai tried to sort of exthis week what he meant when he answered her challenge on busingi how is he d? is he still on his back foot? what do we see?l, >> wf you look at the polls that came out this week,

this is sudrdenly a very, vey fluid race for the nomn.inat both joe biden and bernie sanders have fallen significantly in the polls. joe biden is still ahead but much morroe nary, and the two women who i think were the standouts of the two nights of the debates lastza week, eth warren and kamala harris, have really seen a surge in their numbers. i don't think that you can overstate theun amoof pressure that is going to be on joe biden at the next roundf debates at the end of this month. he's really got to come back show that he got the message in these first debates and ehat h is, in fact, who the democrats want to have on the stage a y from now against donald trump. >> woodruff: pressure on joe bide >> for sure and he's still on his back feet. he can't really hit back, eyet h can't pivot either. that's what mistfies me.lk

we're g about busing, something that happens in the mi'70s, and we're talking about tell me prance next? why can't he just say i had a very dominant majority position back then that said we have to integrate and bus. let's talk about now. s he cou here's my plan for that and reacting with a much more aggressive poste and saying this is my plan now, what do you think of this, kamala, that to me is thright thing to do, because he tried to rise above the fray, and he thought he could coast as th transcendental candidate. he has to come bacwith aan. i think that's the way to hold rie motored part of the party together which is ght now his only strategy. >> woodruff: it's almost as if what they do and senay betnow and the next debate doesn't

matter because when he's on the stage it's going to be a biggerc national audhanging on everybody's every word. >> yes, and he made the argument in an interview with cnn today that, you know, i'm the kind of guy who would jusugo puncht a bully like donald trump, but then, at the same time, he sayst but i disee those questions coming from kamala harris. it was -- >> woodruff: because ss a friend of our family. >> but it was like how could they not have anticipated? i mean, these were questions that came direcy out of the news the week before the debate, and, so, i think you're ght. he's going to have to realize and show that he's realized that he's not just sitting there waiting for the nomination to come to him. >> and that itself was an obsolete answer. i mean, we're not in the relative politeness of 1992 anymore. it's 2019 and people play byde much hrules. when kamala harris said to him i don't think you're a racist, th's really going somewhere, so he has to be ready for that

and understand the way po are right now. >> talking about punching people out. david brooks, karen tuulty, ank you both. >> woodruff: finally, she is a master of the written word. john yang talks to the director of a new documentary about taking the power of a nobel laureate from the page to the big screen. it is part of our "canvas" series on art and culture. >> reporter: toni morrison's readers know the power of the written wor now a new documentary gives film audiences to hear the power of her spoken words. in "toni morrison: the pieces i am," she walks about being a working single mother, the disdainful attitude of critics toward her early works and joe of winning the nobel prize for literature. timothy greeneld-sanders is the director of the film which

is playing nationwide. thks for joining us. there's so much of the delight of this film is just toni morrison speaking directly to the viewers. you've worked with her, you've known her, was there a moment where you've thought this is what i want to do and how i want to do it? >> yea i've known toni for 38 years and i think the tonit tha comes through in this film is the one i know very well in a way that there's toni morrison and chloe wallford, her real name, and this is a bit ochloe here, a really intimate look and a feel from r. >> reporter: she talks in the film about the reaction to her second model, sula.ul she's azer prize winner, a nobel prize winner, b, at the time, the "new york times" was a liile condescending, they she was too good a writer to restrict herself to the provincial world oflack characters. how did she talk about that?

>> she was appalled, of corse. today we read that and it's so shocking, but in thnse days, the "new york times," it kind of was a perfectly normal thing to say by a reviewer. lltoni's whole mission, re has been to kind of eliminate the white ga, and talks about the little white man signature on your shoulder. >> i didn't want to speak for black people, i wanted to speak to and t be among. it's us. so the first thing i had to do was to eliminate the white gays, used to talk about the lie ttle whn that sits on your shoulder a checks out everything you do and say, so knock him off. you know, and you're free. now i own the wor. mean, i can write about anything,to anyone, for anyone. >> reporter: she also talkedk about bliters, ralph

ellison, frederic douglas who wre assuming their audiences, their readers were white. >> right. >> reporter: she menoned james baldwin there. were there other writers who she felt did what she was doing got that white gaze off her shoulder? >> i think there weren't really. and when toni started to write in the late '60d her book was published in the '70s, there was notiwri like that. kse broke the canon, in a sense. >> reporter: she tbout she didn't want the white gaze eooking at what she was doing but chose to have her story told by a white man. >> you know, we have a long friendsho, and i'm honred, of course, that she chose me to do it and allowed me to do i. toni was really a very private person and when i first askef her ew years ago if she would let me do a documentary about her, she didn say no, and i took that as a yes >> reporter: how did the relationship started? >> she came into my studio in

1981 smoking a pipe for a portrait for the soho news. i was a very young photographer. i had read "the bluest eye," and de kind of had a friendship starting there, ver the years i bam her go-to i photographer. d a lot of her book covers and press and she was the inspiration for us, a whole series i dion identity called the black list. >> reporter: when she won the nobel prze, you quoted a critic who you didn't identify in the film but i went back and find out it was stanley crouch saying, i hope this prize inspires her to write better books. >> it's appalling. it's appalling. i didn't put his name in or kind of identify him becausi didn't want to give him any more agency than he has. itout toni and what i was trying to show there was hus ding some of the remarks were about this black woman who had just won the nobel prize n literature, and here are the

kind of remarks about it, and in "the washington pot." >> reporter: there are also some things i didn't know that someeople may notnow, for instance, her career as an editor at random house and the way she helped other black writers find their voices. >> muhammad ali published his great book, toni, angela davis so many people that were kind of marginalized and toni said, no, no, no, this is going to be opened up here, we're going to bring in other voices, nd sh really was kind of the scholarship that we read today in schools, really the scholarship we real in schools today camout of a lot ofho randomse publications. >> reporter: she talked about ththe world of publishing, largely whitmales, as a black woman raising two children on

erown. >> she said they weren't interesting, i was more interesting than they were. >> reporter: and not afraid to show it. e ctly. that confidence is what i remember from her when i first met hert , thaere is a kind of amazing person who always felt secure in who she i>>s. eporter: so the people who've read toni morrison's words caorn hear tonison's words. the film isoni morrison: the pieces i am," timothy greenfield-sanders the director, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and tonhtn the "pbs newshour" online, it's summer and the sun is out. how do you know what to look for in sunscreen and why exactly should you wear it. we dive into the science behind which ingredients are safe and which aren't, atur pbs.org/news and that's theewshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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♪ -next, a "kqed newsroom" special on the arts. -♪ his love -sometimes it takes more than a 90-minute, intermissionless play to kick somebody out of their 40-hour workweek. -an entertainer's take on american history and a world-renowned artist tapping the global refugee crisis. -you know, they all have families, have children,we anannot pretend we are naive on those issues. -p ts the joy served up coolest museum in town focused on something sweet. -when you see the power of human connection in such a simplified form, i think it can be a great example rwof how we should move foard as a country. -hello. i'm thuy vu. welcome to a special edition of "kqed newsroom"ul about arts andre. on this program, we're revisiting stories o fr archives with innovative and influential figures in film, the perfortung arts, and visual c. we begin with the role of comedy in today's political climate.