captioning sponsored by wshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm juhe woodruff. onewshour tonight: out before he's in. president trump's mu criticized pick to be director of national intelligence thdraws from considerati less than a week after he was named. then, an island in crisis. the embattlegovernor of puerto rico steps down, a new one sworn in, but legal challenges to come. warnings from greenland-- billions of tons of lt into the ocean, sparking fearsxa of how it willrbate the global climate crisis. plus, after presidenp's attacks on members of congress who are raci minorities, how

are his words heard in the rust belt cmunities he needs to win? >> i'm construed as a racist, bigot, homophobe, you na it, but if you knew me that's not who i am at all. >> woodruff: and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to consider a full week of news and the democratic primy field after the second round of debates. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs h newsho been provided by:an >> text nighday. >> catch it on replay. >> burning some fat. in sharing the latest viral cat! >> you can do the you like to do with a wireless plan designed for you. with talk, text and data. co learn more at. consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and re.

test newshour ingest only >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. crking with visionaries on the frontlines of socinge worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: the revolving door keepspinning. republican congressman john ratcliffe of texas is out-- noti longconsideration to be the director of national

intelligence. that, just five days after president trump nominated him ti the po. foponents said ratcliffe had too little experiencthe top u.s. intelligence post and he had been accuse misrepresenting his experience as a federal prosevitor. before l the white house for his new jersey golf club, mr. trump blamed the media for ratcliffe's withdrawing but rtso praised res for their vetting of his nominee. >> i could see that the press was treating him, i thought very unfairly. no you vet for me, i like when you vet. no, no, you vet. i think the white house has a great vetting process. you vet for me. when i give a name i give it out to the press and you vet for me. >> woodruff: we take a deeper look at this latest about-face with gg miller, national security correspondent at the "washington post." hello again, greg. h so what happene? >> what happened here is something actually we've seen happen time and time again with

this white house and even back ine trump campaign. i mean, trump has a long record now of selecting people or putting them rward for jobs that they either aren't qualified for r have blemishes on theibackground that will inevitabley seve or disqualify them for or both and that's what happened here. >> woodruff: the president tweeted earlier about slander and lielhat john ratcliffe was facing. what was that a refence to? >> well, that's a reference to a lieutenant of critical stories that have surfaced over the past several days showing that ratcliffe had embellished or exaggerated key, important par of his resume, including claiming to have prosecuted terrorists as a federal prosecutor in texas, where there had been no prosecutions of anyt

sort aloose lines during his tenure there. rtys re this week, he was also regarded as kind of a light weight on the house intelligence committee, not very active, skipping foreign trips that are important to oversight and not highly regarded. and thth was one ofe most important credentials, one of the few, frankly, credentials he had to become director of national intelligence. so it al just sort of snowballed and they ended his nomination todaynd >> woodruff: saw that a number of republican senators who, of course, would have beeno ng on his confirmation, a few of them said good things about him but there wee number who were withholding judgment. >> right, and that again speaks to a lack of preparation or care taken by this white house, right. i mean, we're accustomed to seeing white houses and presidents of both parties do a series of steps before they put forward somebody for such a consequential job, including

checking to see what kind of support that pson would have in congress for confirmation hearings, and that's another thing that this white house appears not to have done in this case because the support for ratcliffe was lukewarm at best and deteriorating amid all of the reporting on his report. >> woodruff: so the director of national intelligence oversees, what is it, 17 different agencies both military and civilian. who is under consi dration? whwe know about that? the president said three names? what do we know. y h, well those three names are anybody's guess and it's unclear whether he has three mes. he likes to assert things that aren't always true and we don't know at this point what their backup plans areth e are a lot of questions now about trump's comfort level with the person who wou be the acting director untail new person can be named. the job now for the time being held by danoats,

although he's leaving in a couple of weeks.go suon is deputy in line to be in the acting capacity for lime time thereafter, but the white house doesn'e her or trump has indicated through his staff that hwould like to find somebody else even if an acting capacity. it's a huge, impnt job. it's important for the public to understand that oversees theca the nsa, the fbi, the entire intelligence community, and we're a a moment re this white house doesn't have much of a clue about who should lead it. >> woodruff: grig miller with "the washington post." thank you veryuch. >> thanks. >> woodruff: in the day's othere news, the u.s.conomy turned in another solid month of job creation despite rising trade tensions.r the lapartment reported today that employers added a net 164,000 jobs in july. the unemployment rate remained

at 3.7%, unchanged from june and near a 50-year low. and average hourly wages rose 3.2%rom one year earlier. china and the u.s. tded hard- line jabs today over tariffs. beijing warned it will retaliate if president trump imposes 10% levies on all of cna's remaining trade with the u.s.ou that comes to $300 billion worth of goods. but mr. trump said china holds the key to whether the tariffs take effect on september 1, as planned. >> china has to do a lot of things to turn it around but u'll be seeing. they've got to do a lot of things. it goes on september 1 and frankly, if they don't do them i can always increase it very substantially. >> woodruff: white house economic adviser larry kudlow argued today that the new tariffs will have only minimal effects on american consumers. president trump is offering fresh praise of north korean

aader kim jong un, despit string of short-range missile tests. in a series ofweets today, the president said, "chairman kim does not want to disappoint me with a violation of trust." north korea's latest launch came early today. but mr. trump said short-range weapons were notmmart of kim's ment to him, at their singapore summit last year. the united states and russia formally quit a landmark cold- war deal today: the "intermediate range nuclear forces" treaty. it was signed by president reagan and soviet leader mikhail gorbachev in 1987, and it banned mid-range, land-based missiles, both nuclear and conventional. washington blamed moow for violating the agreement, and in brussels today, are nato secrgeneral backed up that claim. >> the new russian missiles are nuclear capable, mobile and hard to detect.

they can reach european cities with only minutes of warning. ti this decision is supported by all nato allies because nore international ent is effective if it's only respected by one side. >> woodruff: russia any violations, and warned the demise of the treaty is dismantling the existing arms control system. in syria, the government agreed to a cease-fire in idlib province, after three months of intensive bombardment. idlib is the last rebel stronghold in syria, and the government offensive there had killed than 400 civilians. one al-qaeda-linked group said the regime called the truce e its military drive had stalled. saudi arabia loosened a range of retrictions on women today. the reforms will allow women to apply to travel freely, without a male guardian's permission. the royal decrees also grant

women the right to register a childbirth, marriage or divorce, among other things. the changes take effect at the end of august. back in this country, a new york city police judge recommended firing the officer accused of fatally choking eric garner in 2014. daniel pantaleo denied using a banned chokehold, but garner'si pleas ofn't breathe" became a rallying cry at protests around ths country. ughter spoke today after hearing the judge's recommendation.nk >> i t'm feeling the same way my entire family is feeling, which is that it's been too long. we've been waiting for five years for someone to say that he did something wrong. and they finally made that decision today. >> woodruff: a state grand jury declined to indict pantaleo in december 2014. and last month, federal prosecutors chose not to bringvi rights charges. police commissioner james o'nel has the final say on

whether he is terminated. r&b singer r. kelly pleaded not guilty today to sexual ase charges in new york. the 52-year-old was denied bai at a federal court hearing. to is accused of luring young women and girls llegal sexual activity. kelly also faces child pornography charges in a separate case in chicago. more than half the democrats in the u.s. house of representatives now favor starting the process of impeaching president trump. the associated pss and others reported today that the count has reached 118 out of 235 democrats overall. house speaker nancy pelosi has said impeachment should wait until various investigations are finished. the only black republican in the house, will hurd of texas, will not seek re-election next year. he is the sixth g.o.p. congressman to call it quits in just over a week, and the 9th

overall. last month, hurd was one of just four republicans who voted to condemn some of president trump's recent remarks as racist. and, on wall street, stocks finished their worst week of the year, amid worries about the trade war with china. the dow jones industrial average lost 98 points to close at 26,485. the nasdaq fell 10points, d, the s&p-500 slipped 21. for the week: the dow lost 2.5%. the s&p-500 dropped 3%. hed, the nasdaq fell nearly 4%. still to come on newshour: puerto rico's deepening political crisis. greenland's melting ice sheet and the deadly risks of sea level rise. plus much more.

after weeks of unrest, the leadership in puerto rico took the first step towara transition this evening.re amna nawazorts on the fallout after the resignation of embattled governor ricardo rough rosselloó. >> on wednesday, he nominated pedro to be secretary of state, putting him in a position to come governor under the u.s. territories constitution. today, the island house of reprentatives voted to advance his no, nomination and just afro io's departure, pedro took office to replace him as governor. law mairksz in the house of representatives chalganged his work for the island's highly unpopular fnancial control board. >> it's not every day the country has before them a lawr who has advised the fiscal board

siing nominated for secretary sf state with the plity of becoming governor. that is why the country is demanding transparenc >> he depended his independence as well as legal work. >> my capacity as member of the legal office and services i extended to the groring years is in a legal capacity. you will not find a public servant who are more committed, judiciary or willing to work san myself and a i have always heard and answered to our people, here i am to hr your worries and answer your questions. >> but some lawmakers argue his hold of the governorship may hinge on approval from thet presidnate where he's opposed. >> i tonight have confidence in him to govern under these circumstances because the lawyer can't be in charge of pre-k. >> he planned to runr governor next year. he pushed a senate confirmation hearing for monday castingo

further doubt ll lead the slarntiond without a confirmation from the senate justice doctor, is juan devasquez could be nexin line to be governor. she is broadly unpopular and initially said she didn't want the job but now says she will acceptt.el rossó announced his resignation after chat messages with top aides, puerto ricans flooded the streets and celebrated his resignation. now the island faces tea ionle crisis over filling the governor's mansion with some ng to takethreate ne matter to court. we explore whatt in puerto rico with jenniffer gonzaález-coloón, puriert's representative in congress and was herself for a while reported to be a potential sucssor to the governor. congresswoman, welcome to the "newshour". >> thank you. so pedro has been sworn in as the new governor. does this end all the political turmoil in >> i don't think so. at least not immediately. i think there's going to be many

challenges about if he was confirmed or not by the senat side. our constitution stablishes tha you ne be confirmed in both sides, the house and the senate. but the most important thingavs we doa governor at this time. that should be put etost and focus on what's next for the asland. in that sense, he just sworn in, in a few minutes ago, before wein here, and we need to work out toth restore credibility not just here in the financial markets. >> but how do you do that. you mention the nomination and confirmation. he was apoved by the house, the senate confirmation wasn't set till next week,here was a potension powell we are vacuum and still potential stabity if he was going to be challenged. where is the stand? >> the constitution established, torney general was the one to assume in case of the vacancy

for the goipvernorf the island. he was sworn in already, so you already have a governor and this process continues to happen. monday the senate will have they are hearing, wednesday thegoy're g to vote on that. let's see what's going to happen. i think the most important thing, today is friy is weekend we'll see what's going ahead and how we can restablish the needs of the island and the credibility as well. >> the next vote will be on wednes is there a possibility the senate doesn't vote to confirmn him, tat? >> i'm not going to speculate. the d.a. was notan involved iy step of this process. i will tell you that i know how important it is to reestablishic the commion and reestablish the credibility of the island. there are a lot of things that are important like the reconstruction of thand, the recovery phones that are in many of the federal agencies.

at the same time we are fighting to get more resrces for healthcare. so we do have a very comple agenda for puerto rico that can wait until next week. >> you certainly do. i want to be clear, there is a very powerful leader in the senate, thomas rivera, h wanted to be a governor and could lead a moement that doesn't confirm pedro and could we be bacrek whe he started? >> i think the last thing i heard is there's going to be a constitutional process. the senate is going to do their hearing. they're going to see if they approve or not th nomination on wednesday. so i think we should wait until that process. we don't know. he could be or may not be confirmed. so i don't want to jump to a conclusion.d nobody expec the last three weeks that something like this could happen in puerto rico. >> the effects have been severe abd they will be long-lasting. i want to ask yout

something that came out of the trump administration today. they are using the political ayrest as a pre-text to del more than $8 billion in funds, that would be used to prepare for the nxt natural disaster. what do you say to that? >> i was the one in aproval of those funds. we approved more than3 llion for puerto rico in different areas, and i'm fighting for the funds to be released. we've got a lot of bureaucracy. many of the federal agencies are working with that. but the cases ofr coruption on the island, many of the areas that actually managed those funds were put on the -- the la so the federal government have a coordinator or monitor for the funds to puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands, so i do believe we ned to have those resources that we needed. i'm working now with the new governor and the administration in terms of how we cant those moneys to be released, to be

outlaid immediately in the next available day. the day it is going to be happening is septemb >> all the things that brought all the people out into the streets, a ak economy, failure to respond adequately to hurricane mariarucorion scandals, none have been made better. they have been on hold the last few weeks of protest. >> it's more than that. the financial cry sis, and then this. so we have been under the eye of the storm for at least two years. how swishing passed tha and recall it from that, i think that's the importance of a new leadership on that. >> do you see the steps that were taken tonight as the first steps toward the stability? will they support this nomination and this new governor? >>lk won't t about the protesters. >> but the protesters are the reason we're having this conversation. >> i don't think so. the first one who asked for th

resignation of the governor, there were many people who were not supportive of the actions of the governor in the last three weeks. so what's going to be the plan or the agenda, whoing to be the priorities for the reconstruction and the recovery over thesland and that means, also, the credibility about who is the person who's gng to be leading the government of puerto rico. when you resolve that, the senate approves him, there's going to be no issues about ho legitimate the governor is, and i think that's important in order to give that stability until the next election. >> we hope better days ahead. pray for that as wel. on the island. congresswoman jenniffer gonzsález-coloón, comner of puerto rico. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> woodr before our eyes.away

ha the scorching heat wave stifled europe last week moves north, william brangham reports on how it is settingds in new and alarming ways. >> brangham: that's right, judy, the same weather pattern that set records in europe is now over greenland, where temperatures are running as muc as 15-togrees fahrenheit above average. greenland is home to one of the biggest ice shcots on earth, only in size to antarctica-- and reseahers say some 60% of it now showing signs of surface melting of at least one millimeter. doesn't sound like a lot, but that means 10 billion tons of ice is being melted in a single day, sending a torrent of melt water into the oceans. to help us understand what's going on here, i'm joined by ted scams. he's the senior research scientist at the cooperative institute for research in environmental sciences at the un.ersity of colorado bould ted scambos, thank youmuch for being here. can you just give is a sense of how significant this melting is

in greenland right now? l>> we haven't seen meltike this in 150 years except pore the year 2012. looks like 2019 is actually going to bak the record in terms to have the amount of pelt melting coming off of greenland. we're seeing a lot of runoff from the sides of the ice sheet and that, of cours adds to this river flow that goes into the ocean eventually. it's really quite dramatic and the biggest in out sev years, but prior to that, it's been over 150 years since the very top of greenland has melted. >> this is really sea level rise happening before our eyes. we know there are two ways the warms up. the warm climate warms ocean water, that expands and rises. but the others what we're seeing in the greenland, right? >> absolutely. and this iergoing to add sev an.lion tons to the oc melt water from greenland is going to contribute probably closely to a millimeter of sea level rise in just this summer

alone. 20 years ago, i woule said it's probably not contributing anything to the ocean, so we've really changed things up there. what happens 20 years from now,o 50 years frnow is a big question mark. >> if someone is out therey hearing you is and they think, well, a millimeter to the ocean, how much that really? like can you help us understand that in the scale of the things that we worry about for sea level rise globally? >> so a millimeter per year just for green greenland, and you mentioned the oceans are warmer so they're expanding. antarctica is contributing another fraction of millimeter. all of these things are faster cw than just a few deades ago and the concern is that the rate atgoing to keep going up an a faster and faster rate that will actually accelerate. a millimeter may not sound li much. small amounts of sea level rise have a big impact on l-leaving

areas. miami, new orleans, house, are ncerned about an inch two of sea level rise and it means storm surges anngd floond changes in groundwater right now. so it is a big deal, and the most important point is that it wasn't theor 30 years ago, and we know that the forecasters are showing we're going to see a lot more of this in theuture. >> andeth just so happens we've built billions and trillions of dollars of infrastructure along the coast. > tremendous amount of infrastructure, anat requires ensuring and investment. all of these things are in a wy at risk, if we continue to allow d e earth to warm up in an unbridled way anchange the coastline, basically. >> all the clis mate modve really predicted what we are seeing now, these increased storms, increased droughts, increased heat waves. we are seeing is over the past year and a half, so many of the different sinals. do you think we're getting to the point where this is building

a geenuine cos that action is required? >> you know, i think there's nothing le ality to convince people. you can talk all you want about models and thture forecastt things are going to happen a long distanc away. having things happen vividly on tv sws, on the news, in the newspapers, all of that hlps bring people to the point that things are really changing and although we thought we were able to wat a while, we're probably on the cusp of seeing realg changes to brese things home to roost, basically, in terms of weaather cnges. as i said, coastline changes, changeoin the amount of drught or heavy rains, all those things have a major andim costlpact. so people, i think, will begin to decide that long-termo commitmentaction is what's needed. >> as i'm sure you have been hearing, the concern over climate change and the urgency

for action is bleeding into the pridential race and there's been talk that we need to act by ten years, twelve years. r people who might not understand what people mean about we have toct in a decade or twelve or 15 years, put that in perspective. what does that mean? >> it means we need to start changes how we produce energy reand trying to get the to carbon new central within the space of a decade probly too much to ask, but the tools and the technology is there in terms of solar panel fand windarms, in terms of conservation, electric cars, wen explore things like biofuels, we neeod explore nuclear in terms of a power source. it's all in the mix. we know how to do it. what's more, people are going to make money bringing us this future of eneatrgy genn. it's actually going to be quite easy as soon as we say as a nation collectively, individually, city by city, e'state by state, that re going to commit to doing these things,

and i'm pleased to see how ma states and cities have set a goal for themselves in the i'm actually really confident that in fact the u.s. is going to lead the way on all of this cause we have such a strong entrepreneurial spirit about solve problems once we're convinced they're a problem and that's what the future holds for us. >> ted scambos, university of colorado boulder, thank yo >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour mark shields and david brooks break down another jam-packed week of political action. for much of the past week, president trump has generatedy controveth his comments directed at maryland congressman elijah cummings and the city he represents-- baltimo. e president continued his attacks on cities represented br

des during a rally last night in ohio. >> for decades, theses communitve been runem exclusively byrat politicians, and it' total one-party control of the inner cities. foa hundred years it's bee one-party control, and look at them. we can name one after another, but i won't do that bei d n't want to be controversial. the democrat rec one of neglect and corruption and decay, total decay. >> woodruff: the president did go on to call out spinific cities dthat rally last night. to find out how the language president trump uses to describl politicians of and diverse urban communities is resonating, white house correspondent yamiche alcindor talked to voters in southwest ohio, ahead of the president's rally there. >> i'm construed as a racist,

bigot, homophobe, you name it. but if you knew me, that's not who i am at all. >> alcindor: jennifer casson supports president trump but is wrestling with his rhetoric. she's 47, catholic and grew up here in thsuburbs of dayton, ohio. in 2016, voters like her helped president trump become the first republican since 1988 to win montgomery county. now, the president's language-- which some see as racist-- is testing their loyalty.o it's atting voters in largely white, conservative suburbs ag in the more diverse city of dayton. ed we have too many problems ourselves that we o fix first before we give the money to someone who isn't froour communit >> alcindor: for years, the city has embraced pro-immigration policies. it provides english classes, legal aid and other resources to immigrts. some like casson resent those efforts. >> well i think illegal takes away some of our resources for the people that really need it

and deserve it. anatwe have a lot of people are still struggling, i mean, i have two jobs myself. let's help our neighbors first, that's been my philosophy. >> alcindor: ahead o, president trump is hoping many voters share that sentiment. >> ohio! oh, i love ohio! i love ohio. >> alcindor: in 2016, longtime repuicans, along with a sur of new g.o.p. voters helped president trump win the state of ohio by a solid 8%. but he narrowly won montgomery county by ju 1%. the dayton area has long been considered a microcosm of america. amid decades of deindustrialization and a growing immigrant population, white residents incrly fled the city. casson lives 15 minutes from downtown dayton in kettering,io hich is 91% white. she says she's aware of racial divisions in the area. but she doesn't believe that the president is stoking them.u what do ink of the president telling four congresswoman, who are all

american citizens to go back to their countries? >> i've said it all along. you don't like it, we're a revolving door-- youon't have to stay. and not just with them, with anyone. do i think it's racist what he says? no. i don't. because he didn't say-- he said you can leave. >> alc isn't about telling people to go back to their country. what do you think racism is then, if it's not that? >> to me, it's how youlereat other pef a different race.f it'su're a bully to them. a i think ito getting in someone's face and denying them service. denying them the right to live wherthey want to live. denying them the right to religious freedom. denying them the right to rent a house because of a certain race. >> alcindor: down the road from cassonn miamisburg, republican state representative niraj antani is pushing legislation to ban so-called sanctuary cities and school districts in the state. antani says many voters in his district share the preside's

attitude toward immigrants. would you be offended if someone told you to go back to your country because they didn't agree with your politics? i wouldi think tha think that they were saying that i should go back to india, whici is where my faly came from. but i'm also proud of my country. right. so if someone is not proud of this c free to leave.uld feel >> alcindor: immigrants in dayton though fear the president's rhetoric puts them in danger. >> i worry about somebody who is not veble taking his comments to heart. >> alcindor: audria ali maki owns a coffee shop in downwn dayton. her husband ebi emigrated from iran when he was 17. together they are raising three young boys who are biracial and muslim. >> as someone who does nua speak the la, the culture was absolutely foreign. it was really, really rd. so you have to find ways to belong again to that group or that place. >> alcindor: businesses like audria and ebi's are continuing

to open across dayton. city officials say immigrants have helped boost the economy and are helping rebuild the city. but, president trump's insistence on putting race at the center of his campaign is complicating progress >> a car goes by and screams at haem, "you need to go home." >> alcindor: nany-- dayton's democratic mayor-- says recently some people used the president's rhetoric to intimidate an immigrant family. >> people feel emboldened to do that now because the president's actions, which is reallyhe tbreaking for me for a community that's working so hard on these issues. >> alcindor: she says peoplen' understand just how much immigrants have helped dayton. >> they are misunderstanding what immigrants and refugees do for our community. this place tt we're sitting in is a great example. the story of immigrants that runs through this place. it was an empty shell before they got her and now it's a beautifce for people to congregate of all folks here in dayton. >> alcindo but in the more ral, republican counties surrounding dayton-- some

resints believe the opposite greene county, just east of dayton, is holding its annual county fai here at the fair, some voters icnd president trump's controversial rhet appealing. and it's crowds like these that t e president hopes will turnout next year to re-elm. >> his style excites people. i believe that the republican party needed a fighter. >> alcindor: this county is 86% white. in 2016, president trump won here by 25%. >> they're always only talking about racist. "this is racist, that is racist." >> alcindor: dan rader grew up here. he says democrats are blowing the president'language way out of proportion. >> he's defending us as americans. he's defending our freedoms, defending our right to free speech, defending our right to, you know, be ae to speak our mind and not get backlash about it. >> alcindor: after supporting president obama in 2008 and 2012, rader voted for president trump in 2016. >> because of obama, that's why we have a trump.

you know, people were really turned off by the whole thing. >> alcindor: the father of four works in i.t. for retail storess and ife has improved since the 2016 election. he credits the president. e got a good paying job. i was laid off for a while. i was laid off for a pretty long time. when i got the job i got a good increase. >> alcindor: president trump says he plans to continue his unfiltered style of politics. and here in ohio he's banking on that strategy carrying him to victory one more time. for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor in greene county, ohio. >> woodruff: that brings us to e analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist marn shield"new york times" columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. so let's pick up on yamiche's reporting, david. all this comes after president trump has beegoing after congressman eligah cummings, going after ltimore, calling it rat infested. ohis just a few days after he

went afterur congresswomen of color, "the squad." some people are saying the president's being racist. he says i'm the least racist person in the world. how do you see it and what are the consequences? >> i thi i diagree with the president on that one. you look at who he's attacking. it's one african-american or one persa color after another. it's not dog whistle anymore,t it's straip human whistle. so it is just pulling at this ra aal thing over and ovnd over again, and i don't know how it -- how much it affects people. i know people don'tike political correctness and when he does that i think people really g t a charge out ofhat. but going to clearly racist tropes goes well beyond it. we're walking into george wallace territory, we're wal into very ugly territory, and if this is what this election is going to become about, theit becomes, i would think, hard for people of conscience, whether they like trump's economic polls

yore not, to wind up with them inowever many moths it is. >> ugly territory. , judy. it reaches the point where it was reported congressman cummings house had been brokenid into, the prt tweeted too bad, eligah cummings, the crime in baltimore. this was too much for nikki haley, theso formeuth carolina governor, the former u.n. ambassador who said she took the esident to task. >> woodruff: republican. republican, as did congressman add. kin sr of illinois. no, the president, you think of the republican party, wor of lincoln, charity for all, let's bind up the nation's wound, the sk we're about. this is just the opposite. this is salting saltingthe wouns is sowing the vision, and all

for very narrow polical rpose. i do think that it reach as point of dinishing retur because at some point you're just not proud to say you're for donald trump. you can say, oh, he's my guy or he fights my fihts, here's on my side. but amerins want their president to be a comforter and consoler in chief as ronald reagan was and the challenger in crisis as barack obama was after the charleston church shooting. a president is to unit, comfort and bring out, he's the only voice that can speak to us and for all of us, ad obviously doesn't want to speak to all of us or for all of us. >> woodruff: david, as you heard in yamiche's reporting ingm ohio, people are say they don't think it's racist, that they like the fact, as you suggested, that he speaks out. >> they at like thact. i was at two conservative conferences over the past mont and they weetty trumpy, i

guess, and they were 95 an 99 and maybe 100% white. so if you're inonservative worlds, you're not around minorities or people of color anymore. then you say, well, shouldn't you get people on color on stage just to hear the viewpoints? they say i don't see color. d when you're living in the country and the history of this country, youoe got to seelor and affirmatively try to get different people in the samet' room andjust become a habit on the right to not care about that,wand this s not always the case, and this is how trump is influencing the party and frankly how the party sin fluencing trump. in the age of the bushes, in the e of jack kemp, there was really aggressive efforts to try to diversify the party with some success, and now that's not even ied and it's not ony trump, it's up and down the whole >> woodruff: and last night, mark, as we have reported, will

hurd, the only black republicane in house of representatives, announced he's not running again, from texas. >> he did, judy. i think it's the seventh this week, sixth this week, ninth overall. i think there are a couple of factor at work. david the republicans have become increasingly a white party andd will hs forr c.i.a. professional, a highly qualified person. but prior to his retirement or tannounced he wasn't goi seek reelection. susan brooks of indiana, who has been tasked ofki see women candidates for the republican party and martha roby of alabama announced their retirement. and, you know, i think what's significt about it is this, ronald reagan's last term, half the members of congress in womer wepublicans, 12 out of 25. now there are 102 women in the

house of representatives, 89 are democrats, 13 are republicans, o of those 13 just announced their retirement. so, yo know, it's a white male party, and that's a finite demographic. >> woodruff: what are th consequences of this? >> of corse -- there's a book called at the merging democratic majority, 20 years ago, that took look at the demographics that were republican and they were all fading, and they were predicting democratic reign by now and that hasn't happened, and that's because a lot of latinos when they simulate become white and they're voting republican.n, it's a bountry is 76% white, but it's a lon catastrophe and that's talking politics. it's a short-terworld catastrophe for the party.

>> but in the short terbm this coul good politics for donald trump. >> it's hard and they're maximizing a a minimum. that's what they're doing. there's not an expanse of ceiling on the trump coalition. it means getting every possible trump voter o. there's no persuasion. it's all an organization efort. they're not reaching across the aisle saying we want to get youo join us, we agree on 80%. i mean, this is just mining down is what it is. >> woodruff: well, there was some diversity amonghe democrats, the democrats are running for president this week, they debated on two nigs. there was diversity but there's also some division, david. we saw, i think, clearly ideological divide between the so-called moderates, the so-cled progressives, liberals in h the party, and in the eyes of some, a more critical, personally critical debate than they would hve liked to have seen. >> you want to get your moment on tv, you've got to attackr

somebody in yoown party pretty roughly, and that's what my main takeaway is the democrats don't understand what the election is about. p talked about donald trd the racism, that's what the election is about. this is about donald trump and what kind going to be, what the values of the country is going to be and what atmosphere we're going to raise our kids. trump will make this ction about him every day with his tweets and whatever and he has values campaign. he says he wants a certain sort of mas,culinity and countand to me, you can't bait a valueslu reon with a policy proposal. so they need to talk about valuo . they needlk about policies ant say i'm for kindness, diversity, honestythe only person who seems to get that ism marianne wiln, because she's not just trying to run a purely economic igm she has wacky doodle ideas on other things, but i think what she says about that and the

debates is exactly right. >> woodruff: mark? marianne williamson. >>uf woo marianne williamson. >> i finally knew david would come totime dk sid de andidn't realize marianne williamson would be the catalyst to bring him. judy, i wod say the debates contributed to the destruction of overconfidence on the part of democrats in 2020. they were sobering, they were unsettling. they tok -- since franklin roosevelt was elected some 76 years ago or more -- >> i didn't cover that one. . ithere's been one democrat who won a popular majority of the vote and two ccessive presidential elections, 50 plus one. his name is barack obma. and, you know, he sees these candidates, especially those on the liberal side, distancingm themselves fama and

highlighting obama's imperfections. obama was not perct, he wasa public, not a perfect servant. he achieved great things for the democrats in terms of democratic objectives and the democraticon vi you know, the idea that, david's right, they're running against donald trump. i think part of the problem that joe biden ha is that joe biden is remembering two debate performances, and rightly so by most democrats. in 2008, he crushed, no surprise rig, governor sarah palin, the vicide prtial nominee chose bin john mccain. in 2012, he took on the cover boy of the "wall street journal" editorial page prine, and vanquished him. unfortunately, for biden, he's been compared in soe democrats' minds to those two sterling performances which are 12 and eight years ago. >> woodruf: he's sphoaksed on sat? >> i think this isnse of is this the same guy who was so

go20 in and 2008 and he was in both of those. >> woodruff: where do you see the race now? >> i think biden is the frontrunner. if you're the frontrunner, people will ta a lot of shots at you. people took a lot of shots at him and this time he was fine. if you're the frontrunner ande survivithout any change in the race, that's good for you. so this was good for biden. there are me people who moved up and down, cory booker probably moved up, kamala harris probably moved down a little, warren probably moved up. so little ups and downs but i wouldn't say the race has been transformed by these debates ana biden ha pretty solid majority even though twitter hates him but 's still in the lead, and it's a fragile lead but it's made stronger by the fact that no alternative moderate has immerged. >> alternative to biden.t none ose have yet taken that role. and so if people want to be not elizabeth warren and bernie sanders, where do you go?

>> wet do these candidates nd to do more? david said they need to talk about values. ey need to talabout what donald trump represents. >> you identify where you want to go by how you want to viewer america is and how we got here, and i think the democrats can claim the american narrative. i me, we are a people whoame from all corners of the earth, and overcame enormous obstacles, and we have foged into one people. lord knows, i mean, it's taen the brood, sweat and tears -- blood, sweat and ters of all generations of people. i guess where i would pehaps -- i do differ from david is i think there is a strongua spir almost religious chord to the democratic story. there is no abolition n.i.s. movement in this country withou religi anti-war movement wet religion and no civil rights

movement, and the democrats can claim in all three of tho -- >> woodruff: you think they're talking about that? >> they're saying thiso we are, what we've done and want to achieve, where we want to go fr here, rather than get into section af your 24 point program which takes all the music and romance and spirit out of politics. >> woodruff: in 30 seconds, they're mainly talking about healthcare. >> the twoidea generators are sanders and warren and they aren't particularly spiritual and some people in the par, course they detest trump, but get the impression their main industry is thobama mainstream and they want to have that fight and the fight as a y to get the nomination and that's why it's g sten so nas quick. e zabeth warren's speech was on matthew 23 and quite spiritual. >> woodruff: last words, mark shields, david brooks, thank

you. >> woodruff: eve child should be made to feel special on his or her birthday. that's the philosophy behind sweet blessings, a lexington, kentucky-based organization that bakes and decorates extraordinary birthday cakes for children who mig need a special treat, made with love, just for them. from kentucky educational television, chelsea gorham has the story. >> it seems so odd to say that we're changing lives with a cake, but it happens! >> reporter: ashley gann founded sweet blessings in 2011 after becoming inspired during a church service focused on inner- city outreacin lexington, kentucky. gann decided to use her bakingsk ls for a more meaningful purpose. >> i was actually working at a professional bakery and god just put it on my heart to spend more g a difference and less time making a living.

>> reporter: the nonprofit's mission is to create unique, elaborate, professional-standard birthday cakes for children living in poverty, with terminal illnesses, or with special needs in central kentucky. >> a lot of these kids, there is nothing perfect in their lives. this needs to be. >> reporter: linda johnson has spent her tuesdays perfecting cakes for three years, like the special cake emily and michael banks received. >> for his birthday cake, he got >> grass, a fence, flowers, and that's it. >> and a horse and the brown on the horse-- where you sit on it >> yeah! sr every tuesday, volunte arrive to bake, ice, assemble, and decorate cakes for children who have been referred to sweet blessings by school counselors or social workers. >> they become like family, they know what's going on in each other's lives. and they're there to support one another, so there's all sorts of layers to what we do.

>> reporter: alex nguyen is an engineering student at the university of kentucky and volunteers through a service fraterty. he's found decorating cakes a welcome respite from his classwork. >> something like this is a way to kind of relax but also be doing something for the community, so i real enjoy that aspect of it. >> we call it "cake therapy"! ( laughter ) >> reporter: the cakes are designed specifically for each child depending on their interests and are delivered by the person who referred them. the operation has expanded from making 163 cakes eight years ago to over 2,600 in 2018. the efforts of these voluntes have brought joy into the lives of kids like cheyanne kiskaden, a student at a local elementary. >> i feel really special and i'm glad that y'all got this for me and i just love it. >> reporter: conene malone has ith sweet blessings serving as a volunteer and on the board since 2011. she discovered sweet blessings shory after retiring and understands the value of giving ial moment.p

>> the stories that we hear wilu just breakheart. kids who were ten or twelve years oland that this was their very first birthday cake. and then very early on, we mee a birthday cr a little girl who was in hospice and it was her last birthday cake. the purpose is to make that kid feel special and know somebo loves them >> reporter: for t newshour, i'm chelsea gorham in lexington, kentucky. >> woodruff: te in later tonight for washington week. robert costa will discuss the escalating trade war with china, and how so moderate democratic presidential candidates are trying to reign-in the party's surge to the left. that's later tonight on "washington week." >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and

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hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour." here's what's coming up. everybody knowwho donald trump is. we have to letim know who we are. >> which democrat is best suite to takon donald trump? smart anysis from strategist mark mckinnon and obama alum william jawando. plus. >> we consider javad zarif the spokesman for iran. >> america sanctions the top diplomat. is the white house slamming the door on negotiations? and telling turkey's truth in an age of authoritarianism. s i'ak to elif shafak.