captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: e.an under press the regime cracks down on protests at home, while deepening military tieoverseas with russia and china. then, law and disorder. the indian government shuts down the internet in response to widespread protests over a controversial citizenship law. plus, "the two popes."lm a new aptures the dynamic drama between popeanbenedict and s. >> the stories i'm drawn to are intimate and epic at tame time. and this is a perft example. these themes of, how do we find common ground between two people who are polar opsites? >> nawaz: and, it's friday. so mk shields and david broo

look back on a tumultuous year in politics, and look ahead totr the impeachmenl and presidential election. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs >> major funding for the pbs nehour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.n >> whe comes to wireless, consumer cellular gives its customers the choice. our no-contract plans giveasou

as much, oittle, talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer seice tem is on hand to help. to learnore, go to consumercellular.tv >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. more at kf.org. >> theord foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change gorldwide. >> and with the g 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.

y nawaz: an american civilian contractor died to a rocket attack on an iraqi military base that houses u.s. forces. u.s. central command alsoir cod multiple u.s. service members and iraqi personnel were injured.ta the iraqi mi said several rockets hit an arms depot at thc led k-1 base, northwest of kirkuk. there was no immediate word on .who carried out the atta in a separate development, iraq's president, baam salih, is facing backlash from iranian-backed parties over his refusal to dignate their nominee as prime minister. salih's rejection was in response to months of iraqi protests demanding morend indet candidates and political reform. the latest happened today in baghdad's tahrir square, as anti-government demonstrators marched and voiced their support for salih's decision. >> ( translated ): as a protester, i see it as a heroic action by the president, bause

he rejected one of the candidates by the political blocs. because he was rejected by the protesters in hrir square. the political elites didn't do anything in the past 16 years, and there won't be anything in the future, if the same names remain. >> nawaz: salih said that because iraq's constitution does not give him the right to reject nominees for prime minister, he was prepared to quit. we'll have more on anti- government unrest in two other countries, iran and india, later in the program. at least 12 people died today after a passenger jet in the central asiacountry of kazakhstan crashed shortly after take-off. air plane departed the almaty airport with 98 people board, before it smashed intol a concrete wd a building. rescue workers at the scene tended to dozepa of injured ssengers, and combed through the wreckage lookingore survivors. officials said the jetliner had struggle >> (etranslatedg): today, we found two consecutive sets ofth skid marks frotail end of

the ple on the runway, meaning the aircraft touched the runway twice while taking o mostly passengers who were in the front part of the aircraft ed. flight recorders have been found and haveeen brought for inspection. >> nawaz: authorities immediately suended all bek air flights, as well as til planes of that same model, pending an investi. in hawaii, rescue teams located the wreckage of a tour helicopter that had gone missing with seven people aboard. it was found in a mountainous area on the island of kauai. the helicopter failed to return from a sightseng tour of the na pali coast yesterday. coast guard crews are still searching for signs of survivors. the death toll from a devastating typhoon that struck the philippines late tuesday has nearly doubled to 28 people. a dozen others are reportedly still missing. the typhoon swept across the country's central islands, tearing through buildings and toppling trees. today, families in hard-hit coastal towns sorted throughun

of debris as they carried er their recovery efforts. israeli prime minienjamin netanayhu is celebrating a sweeping victory in his likud party's primary election. netanyahu defeated his main val within the right-wing party, gideon saar, to win 72% of yesterday's vote. i thin spite of being charged with corruption in three criminal cases. today, the embattledr hailed his win at the parts campaign headquarters near tel aviv. >> ( translated ): this is a huge victory, becausave also overcome the fake polls, and the fake news, who ayi already now to dwarf the victory. this is a huge victory because almost all the mia has raled against me with the left parties also in this candidacy. this is the time to unite, to t ing a sweeping victory to the likud and the ri the knesset elections. >> nawaz: netanyahu now heads toward a national election in march. in will be israel's third national electioess than a year, after failing to form a government in the previous two elections. back in this country, skies

cleared up in southern california today, following a massive winter storm that sparked traffic chaos. heavy snow and icy conditions forced major highways north of los angeles to close, leaving drivers stranded-- including some for hours-- as they headed home after the holiday. torrential rains also prompted more road closures. the storm system, now over arizona, is continuing to move eastward. stocks were mixed on wall street today. the dow jones industrial averagl gained n24 points to finish at a record close of 28,645. the nasdaq fell more than 15s& points, and th500 added a fraction of a point, to record its fifth straight week of gains. still to come on the newshour: iran cras down on protests, as it deepens military ties with china and russia. the indian government shuts down the internetn response to a ntroversial citizenship law. how two life skills programs are helpinkids in the dallas

juvenile justice system. and, much more. >> nawaz: for the first time, iran, russia and china are engaged in joint naval exercises in the indian ocean and the gulf of oman. they are taking place as the united states continues itssu maximum pr campaign against iran. the secretary of the u.s. navy told reuters that he was on alert for what he called "provocative actions." against this backdrop, protestse inran are growing. to discuss how all these events are connected, i'm joined by ariane m. tabatabai.e' a political scientist at the rand corporation, and co-author of "triple axis: iran's relations with russia and china."

ariane, welcome to the newshour. .>> thank you for having >> nawaz: so we should point out ariane has done drills withc russia ana before. this is the first time all three countries are working together. why are we seeing these now? >> well, there are a number of reasons. from iran's perspective, as you mentioned inhe bginning, the united states has been imposing this maximum pressure campaign, a policy that is centered ound sanctions and trying to isolate iran. so whatoran is trying achieve here is a signal to the united states that it can't be isolated. iranian officials have said as much today as the drill has started. they triedo say, listen, we have the backing of russia and china two superpowers, and, so, we can't be isolated. for th russia and china, it's also a way to flex muscle, to show to the u.s. and their national cawnt community tht they're key players in the region. >> nawaz: the secretary of the navy also said as iran creates mischief, sotimes the u.s. has

to react. they've already sent 14,000 additional troops to the egion to deter iran, said they could send another aircraft car overif they needed to. how much of trying to provoke action from e u.s. is iran's reasons. >> the united states withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. for a year, iran just sort of sat and waited and negotiated with the europeans to try to offset the cost of the maximum pressure campaign. now, what it's trying to do and what it's been doing since may t of this year o actually show it, too, can take action to poke the united states e eye and that, whatever action the u.s. takes, it won't go without a response to iran. >>aawaz: the sttements we've seen publicly from iran versus those from russia and china, there's a little daylight there how this is being presented. tell me about that. >> absolutely. it's interesting obs russia and china, trying to downplay what's going on there.

they're obviously trying to, again, project power to show they're a force to be reckoned with in the region. at t same time, they're trying to reassure iranian rivals, saudi arabia, israel, that they're not there to take sides, that they're not there to go against israel or saudi interests. also, they're trying to make sure tn'e united states do see this as an offensive action. an whi, iran is playing it up, saying, look, we have theseo rs that are backing us and we're not isolate as the u.s.ar claims the >> nawaz: from iran's perspective, how much is this about building alliances andow muchbout building leverage against the u.s. h i would be careful with world alliance because they don't see their relationship with russia or china as a alliance, they see it as a partnership and want to keep it that way as do moscow and beijing. whng the iranians are trto do is both build leverage and show the united states its actions won't go without response, while at the same time making sure they have these partnerships with other key

powers. az: so all of this, we should note, is unfolding against the backdrop ofrotests in iran the biggest since the 19is revolutio here a connection between what iran is facinat home and what it's facing overseas. >> at the core is the sanctions hurting irannd the regime as well. part of what the regime is trying to achieve is to build leverain aga the u.s., to raise the cost of the maximumes re campaign and, at home, has to respond to a growing dissenthof populatio are upset the way things are going -- economic mismemana, corruption, all of it exacerbated by the u.s. sanctions. so iran, the regime, is finding itself a little cornered at hom and abroad and responding to both those things. >> nawaz: tell me abo the response because they faced similarly large-kale protests 197.

what's different today to thet way responded back then. >> the protests are nobigger than in 2009. it seems it's more widely dysbutted across the cory now than in 2009, but the response ferent.n drastically dif in 2009, it took several months to get to several hundred casualties, whereis time around, in november, when the protest started, in the course of two hours, iran shut down the internet and seeded to kill several hundred people. estimates are different but, nonetheless, we got to a higher level of casualty fairly quickly. the fact they shut down theel internet complis also new. that's not something iran hadac eved in the past, and now it seems it's going to be part of the way toefend at home. >> nawaz: ten years later, why are they reacting so differently now? >> well, i think part of it isth do see themselves as cornered. they see sanctions as part of,

not just different policy, they see it as warfare. they talk about sanctions as economic terrorism or war by onomic means. so they see themselves cornered, they see themselves isolated and they're really concerned about the prospect of the united states helping bring aboutgi change at home and, so, i hhink that's part of what's going on here is the concerns, the threat perception, has led them to take this graphic action in way that we haven't seen in the past. >> nawaz: fascinating. we'll stay ton top of it. ariane m. tabatabai of the rand corporation. thorchtion so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> nawaz: in india, political unrest continues after a tizenship law passed parliament earlier this month. it expedites a path to citizenship r religious minorities living in india, but cludes muslims.

today, thousandsurned out nationwide to protest the new law. newshour correspondent lisade ardins takes a closer look at the rule opponents say discriminates against muslims. >> desjardin across india p today,hysical and digital clampdown. in new delhi, sces of police beatingsnd pushback as officers tried to contain protests against the nation's new citizenship law. elsewhere, mass demonstrations, like this one inolkata, were largely peaceful. though communications are spotty-- the government again shut down all mobile internet services in several cities. all of this is a clash over the identity, and a citizenship law the government says protects non-muslim immigrants. but to opponents, the law is a thinly-veiled attack on muslims, and a move toward making india a religious, hindu state. >> ( translat ): until they withdraw the citizenship amendment act, the rallies will continue to take place. these protests will continue. this is our right. the constitution of the countryl

is imparthere is tolerance >> desjardins: the new law focuses on iia's muslim neighbors-- afghanistan, bangladesh and pakistan-- and tnon-muslim immigrants frse countries. it protects six religious groups. importantly, this comes as india is undergoing onal registration, asking every person to prove citizenship.ea that non-muslims without paperwork can get citizenship, but muslims without documents may in legal trouble. the resulting protests have left at least 23 people dead, thousands arrested, and now, more charges of police violence. in northern india, the bbc reports that muslim falies in several towns say police attacked their homes, destrong cars, smashing property and beating teenage boys.th security videoat region last week shows indian police smashing cameras during protests. india's popular prime minister

narendra modi, is known as a hindu nationalist, and defendsth law as protecting his country, but opponents say it rips india's multicultural fabric. >> ( translated ): our country has unity in diversity. people of different religions live here together, and it is known for this in the world.>> esjardins: india, home to , 4 billion people, is wrestling with its own powd people. let's take a closer look at the issue now with alyssa ayres. she's a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, and served as deputy assistant secretary of state for south asia during the obama administration. meu know, i want to first start by gauging this in india. as we just had in our story, we are now seeing repts that police themselves may be attacking muslim homes, particularly in the province of utar, many know that as the hom to have the taj mahal.

what do you make of reports of perhaps poli violence? is this a new phase or concern? what does this mean? >> it is concerning. this is india's most populousat size of a country, about 200 million people, and has a larger murms population, about 20% of the state, and the reports coming out over past couple of days wit video suggest police are overstepping the bounds of mere crowd control. we're seeing reports of prort destruction, that police are destroying cameras so they can't seen. again, there may be cases of crowds that get unruly, butul police sbe in the business of crowd control, not trying to damage homes as individuals. sohis is a real eye opener, i think, for a lot of people. >> nawaz: you've recently been in india. what is your sense of the ate of tension there. india is known as multicultural but is alshighly flammable, the fabric. what is your sense of the b

tensiotween hindu and muslims there? >> i think what we've seen happen with the potests that have taken place across the country in many different cities across the country, very peaceful protests, as your package showed. we are really seein indians, in fact, largely young indians, stand up and say here's who we are and who we don't want to be. people are sr anding up constitutional principle of secularism, in some of thepr ests that we've seen in india. people are reading out parts to have the constitution. at's an incredible thing. you see crowds of tens of thousands ofpl peoall together focusing on the constitutional principle of secularism and equaty before the law. so there are tensions in india, there have beeng- lonanding tensions in india between hindus and muslims, but what this particular issue has highlighted is there are a large part of people in india who want to see its cultural secularism

continue >> nawaz: how significant are these protests? it's not the first time we've seen large protests in india over issues, but what's the significance of the scale of these and the olvement of young people? >> i think this is the history of the prent at the moment. maybe we'll know more about the scale once we've passethrough this moment, but it seems these protests are being located in universities, being student-led, student-organized in many cases, and it's quite inspirational to see young indians standing up and saying that they want to see their country evolve in a particular directionuend remain o its constitution. >> and secular. >> nawaz: prime minister modi is at the center all. this he ran and won in part on his economic and jobs agenda but also known as a hindu nationalist, he talks about having sort of hindu pride and nting the identity of india to be hindu.

what do you think these protests do for him or do they cause problems, questions about whatin he's din terms of hisli potical strengths in india? >>sie enjoys ngle party majority in the lower house of indian parliament, so the protests don't affect his single party majority. however, it has now -- we have seen at the te level his party has lost several eleio recently. so they are no longer as dominant, both at the federal government, as well as throughout many states of ippeddia as weel. sore seeing people make different kinds of choices in the parties that they want to lead at the center of the country for their own states and in some cases they are optt ing agaihe b.j.p. at the state level. >> nawaz: whicis modi's party. >> exactly. so the other thing i would note is the first government prime minister modi led, he was0 elected in 14-rbgs his

platform in 2014 was fcused on economic growth, good governance in contrast to a series of corruption scandals taking blais from 2011 forward to the previous government, and his economic plans haven't panned out in terms of india's downturn, they're not seg the growth they've need to employ the youth graphic. india is facing severe issues economically in the financial sector that's trickling throughout the economy. what you've seen is e new modi government is a shift of emphasis toward the culral, the religious nationalist agenda, and i think what these protests show uis that ny young people in india are saying this is too much, this is not who we want to be. >> alyssa ayres of the council of foreign relations, also author, former state department, thank you very much. >> thankou.

>> nawaz: stay with us. coming up on the newour: mark shields and david brooks reflect on a packed year of political news. a new film dramatizes the relationship between the two living popes. and, poet ada limon reminds us of language's capacity for alance, mystery, and rad hope. in dallas, two programs are trying to shift the conversation around juvenile justice. as john yang reported this summer, one brings young people intoe he kitchen. her aims to address trauma through art. here's reprise now of that story, which is part of our occasional series, "chasing the dream," on poverty a opportunity in america. >> yang: it's a friday night in downtown dallas, and cafe momentum is buzzing. in the dining room, waiters thread their way between tables. in the kitchen, workers chn out dishes. watching over it all, executive

chef and founder chad houser. >> say, "you know, we will have a table for you in about 15 minutes." >> yang: but cafe momentum is far from an ordinary restaurant. all the waiters, and a lot of e kitchen staff,ave recently been relsed from juvenile detention in dallas county. they're here on year-long paid internships. >> you guys come in, you guys helping us. we feed you guys, you guys go home happy.8- >> yang: 1year-old de'monica dean, who goes by dee, first got in trouble in 2014 for stealing her sister's car. at cafe mo, she does a bit of everything. >> most people didn't get a second chance. and the fact that i'm able toa get cond chance, i got to do it right. >> the most portant ing that we do in this physical restaurant is prove to our kids and to the community that these young men and young women can and will rise to whatever level of expectation is set for them.: >> ycross town, another program, with a similar mission, but a very different approach.

this is creative solutions, a seven-week summer arts program for dallas juveniles on probation. byron sanders is the president and c.e.o. of big ought, the non-profit that runs creative solutions. >> what's needed is, yes, work force skills, job skills, academics. but you can't do that if you haven't be able to go through and deal with the hurt, deal with theain, deal with the lack of trust, deal with the itings that have been barriers to empathy, dealyour own self-worth. arts allows us to do that. >> yang: in tes, more than 60% of juvenile offenders end up in trouble again within three years of probation or release. for creative solutions, that number is just 13%.fo cafe momentum, 15%. here in dallas and across texas, juvenile justice officials are rethinking the system. since reforms in 2007, the enmber of young offenders sent

to big state-run don centers has plummeted. the focus has shifted to localpr rams closer to home. university of texas at dallasog crimint alex piquero. >> people were really concerned at the beginning of that, because, oh, crime's going to skyrocket. people we know-- all the kids are going to be on the street. you know, you're letting out all these kids who shoulocked up forever. and we didn't see that. in fact, just the opposite. and that i think is what we call the texas miracle. ts yang: darryl beatty dir the dallas county juvenile department. >> we, as a department, your know, we have nds that we can do things with. but it's really the community and community programs that are vital to provide the necessary services that sometimes we as a department can't. >> yang: hours before cafe momentum opens, interns sit down for family dinner, a staple restaurants. here, though, they usually begin with an activity led by a staff member. today, it's a game of telephone to show the importance of communication.

( laughter ) the seeds of cafe momentum were planted more than a decade ago,h whser taught eight kids in the dallas juvenile justice system how to make ice cream. >> that experience was very humbling for me. i learned that the difference between their lives and my life at their age was literally the difference in choices ere made for them and made for me before any of us were ever born. >> yang: he launched a series of pop-up dinners and then, in 2015, opened cafe momentum. the program has worked with more than 750 kids-- each, houser says, with their own unique starting line. >> welcome to cafe momentum. ( laughs ) >> yang: server mar'twan darden, now 20, first got caught shoplifting when he was just 13. the last time heas locked up, he came to a realization. >> i just remember staring at the ceiling, and just thinking, ofke, do you want to live like this for the resour life? and, no.li

i wa, no, man. i have got to get it together. so when i got released, i made promise to myself, like, you know, i'm going to value my freedom. >> yang: creative solutions has worked with some 14,000 dallas youth over almost a quarter- century, and since 2007, southern methodist university has hosted the summer program, where participants choose betweecreating art for an exhibit or performing in front of an audience sasha davis is creative solutions' theater director. >> they will come in. oftentimes, there's a brick wall, not ready to quite say or experience whatever that thing is in their past or whatever led them to this momen and then they will take a poetry class and write it all down, and then something clicks. >> yang: frankie zuniga had been incarcerated for more than a year when he entered creative solutions, very reluctantly. at first, he didn'trust the instructors. >> in my mind, they're like, y "o're just here to get a

paycheck." and,eah, i don't care. but over time, i'm like, dang, like, they do care. i learned to open up, and then they're like, here, just try this, do this dance try-- write this, perform. and, little by little,ike, helped me open up. >> yang: zuniga, who now works at big thought, recently got his associate's degree, and wants th be a nurse or ical therapist. while both big thought's sanders and cafe momentum's houser are focusing on getting juvenile gfenders back on track, they say their ultimal is keeping young people out of trouble in the first place >> i have got to continue to push as hard as i can, to push that conversation further, so that we as a whole country are talking about these injustices that we are forcing on a population of children. i think about that every d. >> we had one of our alumni ask a really strong question, which is actually guiding a lot our work moving forward.

heaid, "why did i have to to jail before i got somethingld that whange my life?" that's the question we should all be asking ourselves. and then we need to act. >> yang: action that may start with a work of art or a good meal. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in dallas. nawaz: from the impeachment trial of president trump, to the race for the democratic presidential nomination, the end of 2019 leaves a lot of unanswered questions heading into the new year. for a little perspective, we've got the analysis of shields and brooks that's syndicated columnist mark shieldsand "new york times" columnist did brooks. good to see you both. .

>> nawaz: the two biggest stories of 2019 will carry over into 2020, the impeachment and the race. we were still talking about impeachment because of comments by seator lisa murkowski who said she was disturbed b mitch mcconnell sayinge was in tal coordination with the white house. does her remarks surprise you? >> no, i agree, but i couldn't tell how disturbed she was. she was in an interview and i didn't know whether it was i have a flee under myk anle or i have to do something about it dii urbed. so whevered the senate, whu had senators bike bird or specter, some of loved the senate more than the party and the institutions and procedures to the them were very valued and they were always quoting the

rules. mitch mcconnell's job is to be an objective arbit and he's saying, forget that, we're siding with the white house. it should be dingsturto a lot of other people. >> naw: "new york times" editorial board published the editorial today and called ate stirring of conscience in the senate. they said lisa murkowski wants the trial to bes les party loyalty and others should follow. do you think they will? >> i think other atempted to follow. lisa murkowski is unique. in the past 65 years exactly one united states senator has won as a write-in candidate. she did that in 2010 after she lost the republican primary to tea party candidate backed by sarah palin and laura laura inm and mike leven and other distinguished americans and came back and won as a write-in. so she ared into a i political grave, already. she's not a bed wetter or a

nerves nellie or whatever you call it when it comes to anxiety, so i think that gives her a certain independence that many of her colleagues and both parties don't have, and i think it's significant. i think david's point about mitch mcconnell is an important one, that mitchr mcconnell is stly an inside player. he can't take it outside. in other words, if there is a debate about outside, lotch mcconnels. he's a very formidable operator inside the senate sort of when nobody's looking, you know, in procedures and this and that. but, i mean, is is a question, are they going to rush to judgment, ignore wnesses and testimony, and live by the lie which the president is telling that is i want these people to testify, i've forbidden them to testify but i want them testify because i want it out in the open. well, yount have it both. >> i think he's helping the democrats. it's personally in the democrats' best interest that r they gd of this and move on to the campaign and in perverse

ways helping them. he could be keeping the democratic candidates in washington in january and february and he seems not to wa to do that. >> nawaz: the senate trials, the riewcialtion senator schumer said they want to call witnesses and have additional testimony. mitch mcconnell is saying absolutely not. nancpelosi has not yet transmitted the articles of impeachment, they cannot begin the work in thesenate tilthat happens. does that benefit the democrats, too? >> no, i think the rules fa the republicans in the circumstance and the majority sort of rules this thing, and they have very little leverage.w discussed last week, it's not leverage to tell somebody who doesn't want to do somethino they can't something, so that's basically that nancy pelosi is doing now. >> nawaz: can you maa prediction for what's going to happen next in 20 in the impeachment trial? >> i thought it was clear he would getmimpeached and acquitted by the senate. nothing's changed. >> i dfer in this sense, i think testimony only hurts, and to the degree tt there is pressure for testimony and thate

le are unwilling -- whether republicans in tough races in 2020 to say they want to rush to judgment without hearing testimony, i think antime it opens up -- if mike pompeo the secretary of state had somethint gosay that common rated ukes cull pated the president in any wy, he would havsaid it. he certainly's cone everything else. he's done it in every other inspect for the president. he would be shoit from the rooftops, but he hasn't said anything. i think it's lies an -- it's lid real. >> nawaz: it's live and real and will dominate the heaesdl in 2020 as well. let's talk about the 2020 race, we have been talking about this since 2016. we're come offering the last debate of the year, weeks away from the first ballots being cast i in the early states. mark, when you look at the the lay of the land in the dodemoatic field now, hoou assess the candidates going into

the new year? >> alphabetically. (laughter) we have to remind ourselves of history's mandate and thais that there are only three tickets out of iowa. we can look at it and say someone says i'm going to run a really strong fifth in iowa by bounce back in florida, no, you're not. if you're not in the three in iowa, history tell us you're if you're not in p two in new hampshire, you're not going to be nominatedy nominees ome from those select groups, so there will be an incredible pairing ia big big hurry. i guess, if you look at it, one of the things that surprised me is bere sanders' staying power. bernie sanders has raised more money in contributions thanu donald , and donald trump's raised a lot of money. so, you know, it shows tha warmth and personality aren't everything. (laughter) , but i mean, a lot of democrats are interested in ideas, ideology, positions, and

bernie's got a lot of all those things. >> nawaz: yeah, david, he nonsistently stayed towards the top of the packall o polls, right, and in lookg at the last debate, it was the smallest debate field in terms of who amade ito the stage, bu very crowded total candidate field. >> he's got 18 to 20% o democrats, an his supporters are more likely to say i'm decided, i'm going with bernie. a lot of them decided fouyears o and have stayed decided, so he's got a very solid base of support, more than any other candidates, at least more solidly loyal. the question is does he have any of the other supports from th other current candidates. are people out there thinking buttigieg or sanders, and e evidence so far is he has fewer of those people. there are a lot of peoplnot thinking about him at all. they have people they may support but bernie t one of them. so he has a solid core and the question is the he get anybody else to joi cn theore and i

think that's why it's unlikely he'll get theat nomn. a ripple of panic has gone through the deabmocratic estsh meant this week and said it might be him and wt are we going to do then? >> nawaz: the minor candidates have been picking up, amy klobuchar, pete buttigieg, what do you think their futures hold? >> buttigieg understands , history. i me's running first in the iowa -- according to the iowa/des moines register poll which is the gold standard of polling over the years, in the last one, and that's why the fire is on him. i think there's a fear amos,ng sandarren, biden, whoever, that if buttigieg becomes the pressure new face anwins iowa and then vaults into new hampshire, it could be tough to catch him. so theye trying to knock him down to size before that. i mean, that was with the last debate in which you played such a prominent role --

>> i have been struck about the animosity toward buttigiegal espe among younger voters. for a certain class of people that went to certain schools, they don't like the kid who got the rhodes scholarship, and he's like that kid. >> bill clinton. yeah, he was more friendly. second, he is, as somewho wrte this and i've forgotten, who he provides illusion f generational change without the substance of generational change. so he is an old person's ida of a young person and doesn't really represent a radical break and third, the is tacked to the senator and is now a moderate and the left is out to get him for that reason. the debate between the moderate wing, what we call moderate, theys e all liberd pretty progressive. the most moderate person in this race is way tthe left of barack obama, but them versus the bernie-warren, that is the crucial debate of next year because the debates on the left are more important than on the

rght now. >> a lot of those major issues, healthcare and the economy, those have been built along th fault lines. has the democtic party found its way forward yet? >> no, it's still wrest ring. we heard tem arguing about straight tuition. i mean, the democratic party, somehow it feeds a dose of practicality. i mean, there are 2 million fewer americans today with healthcare than when donald cump became president bause of donald trump's policies because of the adminisation's policies. specifically, the democts just n a major, the biggest midterm electi victory in their history in 2018. i looked at it about 15 months ago. so what do democrats want the do? you know, give up the advange? my goodness great lakes no, we don't need that. we're going to scrap this. and, to me, it makes no sense

practically when you have th on the defensive, and you're on the right othe issue. so, no, the logic is all to stay where they are. david, i think, puts it well, whether it's moderate or not. i mean, the problem with buttigieg is that he looks too practical to ma people, but there is a generational. i mean, older people like him more than to his contemporariesn which, you -- >> well, you should know, gentlemen, this is the last conversation we get to have with you in the year 2019. so i'm going to ask the dangn,ous questhich is, sometimes, when you look back over the last 12 months, it feel like we fit three years into one. is there anything that stands out to you as a greater consequence, somethiou you never t that you would see that happened this past year? >> my standout is everything ngppened but nothanged. donald trump's numbers are just what they were, the political landscape is basically where it

was, he has not really suffered a loss in his base particularly large, and, so, my view is that events are not really changing politics andartisan affiliation the way they used to, that sociology is driving events, and that you're an urban person you're probably a democrat, if you're a rur person, you're probably a republican. and we vote according to our sociological categories these days and events don't knock us off the categories. >> nawaz: markana minuta half left, what do you think? >> donald trump -- and this is a visual that is probably not terribly appealing -- but when it came to political coattails came out to be wearing a tank top in 2018. he made it about his presidency. states that won by 25 points and 20 points, said his presidency was at stake, he had to winre backinblican candidates, most of whom lost. john bel edwar governor of louisiana, eeked out a victory, but an impressive

victory, nevertheless, after he expanded medicaid coverage, after he increased teachers' salaries and after he the state budget, $2 billion deficiit injertd from jidal, and the best attitude against trump who salvaged him in the campaign. the president of the united states,less his heart, i thought it was a brilliant way of doing it. the biggest promise to me was seeing the president booed at the world series. the only president not throwinge out the ng baseball of the season. and everybody understands why. people who go to the world series, as david can attest, is not the top 1%, it's the top . this is app expensive ticket, an expensive proposition, and the spontaneous lock him up, lock ocm up, was a sto me and i know it was to the president.

>> nawaz: a packed, packed year in 2019. a packed year ahead, too. so gteful to both of you for being here. david brooks, mark shields, thank you. >> thank you. >> nawaz: there had not been a papal resignation since 1415, but pope benedict did just that in 2013. at the tim his successor, pope francis, could not have been more different. now, a new film, "the popes," imagines the relationship between the two men. ffrey brown has a preview, part of our regular arts and culture series, "canvas." >> brown: rome 2013: a new pope is elected. but the previous pope was still alive-- he'd startled the world by resigning. and so, for the first time since 1415, there were two living pos. the film "the two popes" takes those basic facts, and some ofde

the knowils, and imagines the relationship and interaction between the two men: the older german, pope benict, played by anthony hopkins... >> brown: the younger argentinian cardinal bergoglio, who would become pope francis, played by jonathan pryce. >> brown: francis captured the imagination of many around the world, who wondereif this first pope from latin america

might move the church in a new direction.on them, brazilian director fernando meirelles. >> i wanted to know more about him. i think he's one of the most important voices in the world h today, becausees the planet as a whole thing. he sees us as a brotherhood and not as different nationalities. erybody's trying to buil walls. he's trying to build bridges.ha and i loveidea. >> brown: meirelles, who received an oscar nomination for best director of the 2004 film, "city of god," worked from a script by anthony mccarten, who'd conceived the idea for "t two popes," and knew he would have to-- in his words-- "tread carefully." you felt that? >> well, yeah! i was raised catholi fernando, also. we're not-- we wouldn't profes to be tremendous catholics, but it's in the bloodstream. and so i knew of the delicacies of the issues. i grew up with them. >> brown: yotell us at the beginning, "inspired by true events." so what does that mean? how much is fact?sp how much iulation?

>> what this film really is, is that we know the stated positions on both popes on rious issues. my conceit was to then put tt into the form of dialogue or debate, of an intellectual theological confrontation. and that was the sort of eureka twoent: let's bring thes together, because they did come together. >> brown: benedict was the conservative, and one whe papacy became mired in scandals both in and outside the vatican. francis was seen as a reformer, open to change on social issues. >> when i first read the script, for me, pope benedict was the a bad gu pope francis was the good guy, maybe because i like pope francis. but then, working on the process of the film and reading more about benect, i just started seeing gray areas, and itart to understand-- i don't ree hemuch with pope benedict, traditional point of view of the church, but i understand his

point. and so, the film is not black and white. >> on one level, this movie is >> on one level, this movie is about that debate which is larger than the catholic church, which is raging around the globe btween the conservative approach and the progressive one. how i began to see them over time, however, is, i started to see the similarities, the points of commonality between them. they both grew up under dictatorships. they both had to work a path through it. >> brown: and so we see the young bergoglio, played by juan minujin, trying to steer at clean coough argentina's military dictatorship. his failure to protect his priests from torture and prison would haunt him. director meirelles saw the parallels in neighboring brazil. .> this is a very sensitive issue for brazilia all of us have friends that, i mean, lost friends or parents oe relativeuse of the

dictatorship.he so this was anpart of this script that i liked very much, being able to revisispirit in argentina. sa thing was happening in brazil. >> brown: inner struggles and verbal jousting. a gorgeous setting, including a full recreation of the sistine chapel. , and in hopkins and pryceo supremely talented actors offering a lesson inheir craft. so what do you do as a director when you have actors like that? what is the direction? >> try not to bother them and let them do what they knew how do better thane. they're very different in the way they approach the part. tony-- anthony hopkins is very technical. he studies the part and the lines for months before he is on se he's really obsessed with the lines, with each word. he changes the words.

he changes the pause in the line and jonathan is very-- for me, i felt that his preparation is more trying to understand the character, to get the feeling, the smile, the movement.se so is he's incorporating pope francis. >> they're both fantastic. >> brown: i can't remember ahe film i saw so many tight close-ups. is that because you love their faces? >> because they're so good. it's amazing how youead what they're thinking by their eyes, and by their little movements. and so, i love to read faces. i always pay attention to faces and i wanted to read their thoughts. >> brown: in the end, both director and writer of "the two popes" felt ey were dealing with a bigger story

>> the stories i'm drawn to are intimatend epic at the same time. and this is a perfect example. these themes of, how do we find common ground between two pele who are polar opposites? and i think the fate of the world at any given moment relies upon the fact that there must be coon ground found. >> brown: "the two popes" is streaming now on netflix. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown, from the toronto international film festival. >> nawaz: we close on this last friday of the year with reflections frad writer limon on how there may be better ways to communicate beyond texts and emails. tonight, an encore of limon's "humble opinion" about the radical hope she finds in poetry. >> these days, it seems likeal we do is read and write, or should i say, scroll and post.

and while some people have rigorously stuck to the model or g only perfectly-framed photos of peach bellinis or pictures of homemadee, for the most part, it seems that the one thinonsistently share is our outrage. now, i'm not saying rage can't be useful, healthy, ev necessary-- but it is not lost on me that at the same time we're inundated with diatribes and rants on ourewsfeeds, on our televisions, people have been turning, more and more, to poetry. at a time when language is often used only as a blunt tool, poetry reminds us thatage can also be used for nuance, mystery, and even radical hope. poetry is a place where both grief and grace can where rage can be explored and examined, not simply exploited. like the lines from one of terrance hayes's poems called

"american sonnet for my past and future as":sass "something happens everywhere in this country every day. someone is praying. someone is prey." or how josé olivarez explores the danger of his own anger in the lines of his poem, "poem in which i become wolverine:" "i know my rage is poison. i know it kills me first." and still i lovet and feed it." poetry isn't a place of answerio and easy sol. it's a place where we can admit to an unknowing, own our prite despair, and still, sometimes, practice beauty. in my own work, i'm always trying to lean toward the real questions, as in my poem "dead stars:" "look, we are not unspeccular things.

we've come this far, survived this much. what would happen if we decided to survive more?" believe people are reading more poetry because we distrust the diatribe, the easy answer, the argument that holds only one note. poetry makes its music from specificy and empathy. it speaks to the whole complex notion of what it means to be human. and that is exactly what we need more of these days-- a chance to be seen fully in both our rage and our humanity.aw >> n: on the newshour online right now, black holes are some of the most mysterious objects in the universe, but researchers have made huge strides over the past 10 years in understandiem learn why scientists say we've been living in "a golden age of black www.pborg/newshour., ancoming up on "washington week:" as impeachment enters a new phas will any senators

break ranks with their parties? and with 2020 finally upon us, wh issues will sha elections? that's all on the ne "washington week." and that is thnewshour for tonit. i'm amna nawaz.re join us again onday evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, ank you, and see you soon. pr major funding for the pbs newshour has beeided by: >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation.ha for more50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions

and friends of the newshour. >> this program was possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. pd by contributions to yo station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour produions, llc captioned by media access group awgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

[female narrator] funding for "overheard with evan smith" is provided in part by hillco partners, a texas government affairs consultancy, claire and carl stua, and by laura and john beckworth, [evan smith] i'm evan smith. he's a four-time grammy award-winning blues musician whose matest album is "okla he's keb' mo'. (upbeat electronic music) (audience applauds) let's be honest. is this about the ability to learn, or is this about the experience of not having been taught properly? how have you avoided what has befallen other nations in africa? yohicould say that he madown bed, but you caused him to sep in it. you know, you saw a problem and, over time, took it on. iz let's start with the szle before we get to the steak. are you gonna run for president? think i just got an f from you, actually. (audience laughs)is is "ov" (audience applauds)