captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> schifrin: good evening, i'm nick schifrin. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, under attack: violenrace in i's home and a texas church, spark fears over the safety of sacred spaces. then, targeting iran. after the u.s. strikes anck iranian-d militia in iraq and syria, we examine the aonrican strategy in the rei >> schfrin: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

moving our economy for 160 years. sf, the engine that connects us. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better wottd. at www.hewlerg. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> this program was made fossible by the corporatio public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> schifrin: federal prosecutors in new york have now filed hate crimes charges, in a saturday night stabbing assault at a rabbi's home. grafton tholegedly wounded five people at a hanukkah celebration in monsey, north of new york city. he already faces state charges of attempted murder and burglary. we'll have much more on this, after the news summart the governm iraq today condemned u.s. military strikes on an iraqi militia group backed by iran. the sunday tacks killed 25 fighters, and wounded dozens.

u.s. offials said it was retaliation for rocket fire that killed an american defense conr.tracto militia supporters in the city ofbasra burned american flags today, and vowed revenge. >> ( translated ): we would like to tell the american troops: whatever you bombed, whatever killed, we will sta we are steadfast defending our territories, sacred places and digty. >> schifrin: we'll take a closer look at the program.later in t afghanistan, the taliban claimed an attat killed 14 people. hours earlier, taliban officials had said they agreed a temporary cease-fire, but gave no start date. the pre-dawn attack came jawzjan province in northern afghanistan. it targeted a pro-government militia site. north korean leader kim jong un appeared today to escalate threats of renewed confrontation with the u.s. he called for "positive and offensive measures" to ensure north korea'security. kim has set a year-end

deadline for u.s. concessions in nuckslear t the white house has confirmed that president trump and russian predesint vladimir putin spoke s phone on sunday. a statement todd putin thnked mr. trump for information that it said, "hlped foil a potential holiday terrorist attack in russia." the nwhite house ga additional details. a court in china has sentenced a scientisto three years in prison after he claimed to create the wored's first gene- ted babies. he jiankui was convicted of prainctmedicine without a license. he triggered a worldwide ethical debate last year, saying he had alt gered embryos of twls to prevent infection by the aids virus. bactrk in this co georgia congressman and civil rights legheend john lewis sayill stay in office, after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. the veteran democrat announced the diagnosis on sunday. he saide will begin treatment and thinks he has a fighting chance. lewis is 79 yrs old.

new census data shows this yer'population growth rate in the u.s. was the slowest in a century, at less than half a percent. the census bureau cites fewer births, increased deaths and a drop in international migration. overall, the country added 1.5 million people, to reach 328 million. and, on wall street, stocks gave ground as investors took year- end profits. the dow jones industrial average lost 183 points to close at 28,462. the nasdaq fell 60 points, and, the s&p 500 slipped 18. still to me on the newshour: under attack-- weekend violence in what had dbeen considere sanctuaries. targeting iran-- the impact of yeserday's air strikes on th u.s. strategy confronting iran. and much re.

>> gischifrin: res communities across the country expressed shock and sorrow today in the aftermath of two violent attacks on separate ngregations over the weekend-- one jewish, in new york, and the other christian, in texas. they are the latest in what some fear is a rise in violence targeting religious groups in recent months. in monsey, new york, a holiday nsat was supposed to be a celebration wasad a tragedy. >> i'm so overwhelmed with emotion that this could happen at i... there are nwords. >> schifrin: but for these men, there's only action, arming themselves with military rifles. >> it's time that, you know, we protect ourselves. can't let what happened last night ever happen again. that's the saying, 'never again',s being taken serious right now. >> schifrin: on saturday h ght, a hanuklebration at the home of a new york state rabbi became the latest target of anti-semitic attacks. five people were wounded, one criy,ticafter a man stormed into the home weilding a machete and started slashing people. e suspect, grafton thomas, was latd er arrested raigned. he pleaded not guilty to five

counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. today, authorities charged him with a federal hate crime, after they found anti-semitic writings in his journals. at a news conference yesterday, new york governor andrew cuomo called the attack domestic terror. >> these are people who intend to create mass harm, ma violence, generate fear based on race, color, creed. thaiot is the definof terrorism.it s all across the country. it is an american cancer that is spreading in e body politic and americacancer turns one cell in the body against the other. >> sifrin: but thomas' family said he had experienced a long history of mental health issues. >> i spent about 35 minutes

speaking with grafton thomas this morning. i can tell you that i heard nothing in that conversation shapeonfirmed in any way, or manner that he's a domestic terrorist. this is the action of a individual who, for a long time, has decompensated, he's been treated in meal health facilities. >> schifrin: on twitter, president trump condemned the attweack, adding thatust all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-semitism." in 2018, a mass shooting in pittsburgh's tree of life synanogue killed 11, the deadliest anti-semitic attack in u.s. history. this year, there were fatal shootings at a synagogue in poway, california, and multiple attacks in the new york area in the past month, including a kosher market in jersey city, newse j halfway across the country, on sunday morning, there was anorether attack on a dif house of worship. in white settlement, texas, about eight miles west of for worth. a gunman opened fire during sunday masspend killed two le. volunteer security guards athe wesrit freeway church of

shot him dead within seconds. today, texas attorney general ken paxton praised the new texas law that allows parishoners to carry guns inside churches. >>we can't prevent every incident. we can't prevenfrmental illness occurring and we can't prevent every crazy person from lling a gun but we can be prepared like this church was and, in that way, prevent the loss of life that occurred here in 1999 and also that occurred in sutherland springs a few years ago. >> schifrin: in 1999, a gunman killed seven people at a baptist church in fort worth. and in 2017, another mass shooting in sutherland springs, texas left 26 people dead. as for sunday's shooting, authorities are stillti invting the motive. the attacks and incidents are by no means limited to churches and synagogues. for example, there have been more than 200 incidents at mosques in the past decade tied to anti-muslim sentiment, according to the american civil liberties union.

forrs some ctive on these crimes, i'm joined by rabbi jeffrey myers of the tree of lifnge gation and the reverend ted elmore who leads his own ministry, in grapevine, texas. reverend elmore is the incident response leader with the southern baptist of texas tsnvention and he counseled congregf the sutherland springs church, after the 2shooting there 7. thank y and welcome to both of you to the "newshour". rabbi jeffrey myers, let me start with you. what's the mood in your community today? combined. sait i don't think there's one adjective. nyere are many who are afraid, yet there are ho are equallyt outraged at yet another anti-semitic attac >> do you feel anti-semitic atcks have gone up and whyo u think that is? >> yes, they have, and why iso er complex texas that i really don't think there is enough time on the quetion we're having to delve into theeep issues of why there are such

great expressions of evil and violencin our country. >> reverend elmore, you'a from the community in texas. religious, cultural community. you've talked about how attacks in your community are getting horse. how have they gotten worse? ey have gotten worse and there are more of them. the first i recall in texas was in 1980s, in east texas, then 1999 at wedgewood baptist, 2017 at first baptist sutherland springs, and thene've had school shootings as well as -- in two cities, el paso, and odessa, and now another church shooting. the time between seems to be deeasing, and that the very unfortunate. >> rabbi, is that th perspective you have as well? is that the time between some of these incidences is decreasin dramatically?

>> yes. certainly, the non-stop news cycle hopes to share these on a gular basis so frequently that it's a constant part of our etdiet. >> a you said it's almost like groundhog at a only watch ago horror film given, as you said, the constant part of the diet, what is the nigestion, if you will, in your com to handling these incidents as they come more repeatedly? >> well, we're rather firm and rong, from an anti-semitic point of view, that we're not going to let anti-semitic behavior stop us from, as i call it,i doing jsh. that's not going to change, we're not going to permit that change because, twheant happens, then all of tse people who want to inflict terror on us, they win, and wel

not let that happen. so we will continue t fulfill our own destinies in our own guyish lives the way that we want to. >> reverend elmore, what's your version of that? how do you maintain that resilience. >> well, i think we maintain the reusilience beof our strong faith in god through the lord jesus christ, and wenderstand that people of faith, for time in memorial, have been peecuted by those with evil intent, and we certainly would stand with our jewish friends in expressions of resistance to any form of antisemitism because, ultimately, when evil comes for one, it comes for all, and, so, we are together in this. our people will nt be restrained. we will continue to worship, we will continue to love the lord and lo our brother as ourself and struge with our own imperfections as we seek to

serve god. d> reverend myers, reveren elmore mentioned standing with people of faith. do you discuss with other leaders of faith these kin of attacks and how to deal with them? >> yes, we do, regularly. one of the positive outcomes of the attack in my synagogue in 2018 were that doors oped that one would have not expected or anticipated so soon after my arrival, because i had only been in je community fort a pinch more than a year. those doors opened. i entered rough those doors and continued to find ways to dialogue, tget to know faith leaders from other communities, to share in our commonalities because, when we get down toba ics, we're all the same. we all want the same thing for each other, ande take these commonalities and we must use

theto better our society collectively. >> reverend, those commonalities bre something you were talking about as well, do you have a sense that these attacks are specific, that they are targeting people of faith, they're targeting churches, for exmple, rather, than for example, these people wanting t kinding some opportunity to kill many people? >> you know, nick, how do you get inside the mind of someone who's mentally disturbed? o i think that of the issues that we face in our experts in those areas are trying to fig those out, but, ultimately, peoe have targets, and it appears targets based on their hatred and what they are opposed to. and i don't know how long these are planned by certain individuals or what is involved their mind in that makeup, but, in order to get to a synagogue or to get to a church, they pass a lot of places where

there are people gathered. so it's more than just wanting to kill people. ere is a target based on an emotion, i believe,of evil and hatred that causes them to enter urches and synagogues and mosques. >> rabbi, that emotion of evil and hatred, as the reverend just said, targeted specifically chuhes and m mosques, hh fear does that create in your community and how do you get over i >> i've noticed, over the past at48, 72 hours, here are many jews who are now afraid to practice their faith publicly and have entered underground, so to speak, afraid to put a menorah in a window, afraid to go to synagogue. when we do that, we let the terrorists win. >>reverend, to you, quickly, in the time we have left, what is overcoming fear for you? how dyou overcome those fears

the rabbi just mentioned, >> we certainly take precautions. i believe prayer is thers line response of all people of faith. we seek consolation, we seek strength from god and through his word and the strip chiewrs, butlv our ereis we get the resolve from prayerer and scripture to continues and keep on, and that doesn't mean that we're not asking questions and we're not taking precautions, but we will not let, evil w we will not. >> it's an impornt message to end on. reverend ted elmore, rabbi jeffrey myers jeffrey myers of the tree of life, thank you very much to you bot >> thank yo >> schifrin: as we reported earlier, the united states and iran are escalating both their actions and words.

here's a review of what's happening on the ground. today in basra, angry iraqis condemned the united states for attacking a foreign adversary on iraqi soil. on sunday, the u.s. bombed this milbaitary , home to an iran- backed shiite militia. it was one of five u.s. targets in iraq and syria. the u.s. says the strikes were in response to a friday attack on an iraqi base that killed one american. theat u.s. blames the group kb hezbollah and says it's organized by iran, and has attacked the u.s. in ira11 times in two months. ania officl with an iran-backed iraqi militia called for the u.s. to leave the country. >> ( translated ): this is a transgression on the security forces and on the sovereignty of iraq. the iraqi government must carry onsibility and take the crucial procedure to demand the occupier to leave the iraqi tertories. >> schifrin: in russia for a meeting with his counterpart, aanian foreign minister javad

zarif condemned tack. for more on targeting iran, i'm joined first by brian hk, the stateepartment's special representative for iran. brian, welcome back to the newshour. why did the u.s. launch the strikes? >> well, i think, over the last couple of months, you'veksad eleven atton iraqi bases that are hosting coalition forces which include american forcesprandident trump has shown a great deal of restraint over a number of months in the face of various iranian cations, but, during tha time, he's made very clear that we will attack, in self-defense, if we are attacked, and on december 27th, an american was killed and a number of soldiers were injured in one of the bases, and this was an attack by an iranian proxy, and, so, the presidentacook decisivon and conducted strikes against targets in syria and iraq. >> schifrin: iran has vowed to fight theeaximum press campaign to have the u.s. administration with maximum

resistance. are you worried these could start an escalation, a cycle of escalation if iran responds with its own attack? >>well, iran has been escalating for some time, and i think what we're trying to do is send a message of deterrence to the iranian regime that they're not going to be able to conduct these attacks with impunit and, so, the iranian regime has been rejectingiplomacy for many, many months. they have been making a lot of bad choices, and the maximum pressure campaign will conte. >> brian, you just mentioned deterrence, but iran shot down u.s. drrlier this year and attacked an oil facility in saudi arabia, and there was no. umilitary response after those two incidents. have you been worried iran feels it could get away with these attacks? >> what we saw was a erosion of deterrence for the many years preceding the president's election three years ago. what we've done is we've now sanctioned over 1,000 individuals and entities as part

of the iranian regime. we're trying to destore deterrence, we're trying to reverse the gains made by the iranian regime over the last manyears. iran today faces its worst financial crisis an wd itsst political unrest in its 40-year history, but if we're attacked, we're going to respo as the president did yesterday. >> schifrin: but i know you want to talk ability deterrence after the d iran nucleal a few years ago, but the deterrence over the last few months, i've heard from military officials fearing that deterrence has been lost. do you worry that that deerrence, the fact that iran felt it could get away with thesettacks, do you feel tt was happening because the u.s. wasn't responding to previous attacks? >> well, i think we did respond. we certainly increased the number of sanctions on the regime, w enhanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aspects, we put more troops in the region, we removed the u.s.s. link upcarrier strike group, so we'ne

number of things. but the secretary pompey to made clear we will use military force if we are attacked and that happened a few days ago. the president showed a great deal of restrai because the last thing is america is for is another conflict in the lgd. >> schifrin: iraqi particle me tarns used the strikes to argue u.s. needs to leave iraq. do you believe these strikes will make it harder for the u.s. to stay inside iraq? >> ameran troops in in iraq at the invitation of the iraqi government. the iraqi government has the responsibility o ensure the security of the american troops. we took the measures necessary for our own safety and we think it's imrtant for the iraqi government to arrest and bri to responsibility the people who a responsible for attack on bases housing american forces. >> schifrin: are you saying the iraqi officials are failing

to protect american forces? >> they could certainly do more. >> schifrin: thank you very much. >> thanks, nick. >> >> schifrin: now for a different perspective, i'm join p by vali nasfessor at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies and formerly served in the state departmentin the obama administration. welcome. you heard brian hook talk about eleven attacks in the last few months, do you think the u.s. should have responded? >>they should have taken i upon themselves to attack irathnian-backed clients bue were obviously iraqi and mobilized by decree from ayatollah, the senior cleric in iraq. they fought against i.s.i.s., part of the security force. the u.s. took unilateral action in another mbcountry,rass the got of iraq and in view of iraqis violated its sovereignty. >> schifrin: i asked, brian,

whether you saw m thht men the u.s. has a more difficult challenge moving forward in aq, staying in iraq, t. needs iraqi help. en said the iraqi government was not doing gh to defend u.s. troops. >> probably wasn't but still embarrassing the iraqi government does not help and making the iraq government look impotent does not help. iraq is in aery fragile state now, it does haven't a prime minister, it only has an prime minister. that will waning them at this point in time ira bhasn going through violent irani demstrations in the last few months which the united states celebrated as something positive in iraq. sw the united sta managed to make itself the problem in iraq. polit the focus whether shift from iranian behavior in iraq to american behavior in iraq and nadzent servemerican interests in the region. >> schifrin: let's shi to iran policy r u.s. policy in iran in. the last couple of months

cretary pompeo and president trump set the l rede if an american soldier is killed in an attack in iranian-backed attack in iraq they would attack. they set the red line. do you think they should keep it? >> they should keep the word. the bigger problem, where is the policy going?d the uniates put pressure on iran to change iranian behavior and bring iran to the table. that's not happening. instead of that, we are seeing an iran that's becoming more adventurous, more risk taking and dangerous and the region around iran and the united states is collapsing into instability. the united states did not start the maximum pressure strgoategyo o war with iran but it increasingly looks le that's where it's heading. this policy failed. it hasn't achieved what it setdo out t and the administration refuses to acknowledge that more sanctions, more pressure would only create more conflict and escalate is into something that neither side may want.

>> schifrin: you're suggesting there is no off ramp and there is a fear of escalation. i asked about the fear of escalation, and brian hook suggest that, well, actually, it wasthe iran nuclear deal that diminished the terms, but it was the obama administration's policy rathat allowedto get away with things and get more money. >> things were much more calm and stable the region when the nuclear deal was there, and iran and the united states didn't see eye to eye, but their situation is right now much worse. i mean, to claim we are deterring iran at this time is not really credible. iran has shot down a u.s. drone, attacked oil facilities, is attacking american troops in ira. how is thi deterrent? in fact, it looks like iran is putting at the dearns on theat united . >> schifrin: just very quickly, what brian hook and others in the administration i think would say right now is, aually, no, hesbollah has left money to dos wha it's doing, iranian proxyas done what

they're doing because of the trump adminisation policy. >> is iran hesbollah free and have the u.s. become safer and with refarther away from a war with iran than 2015? the answer to all is no. this is a policy the region andan u.s.-irianre ations to a worse level. >> schifrin: thveank yo much. >> schifrin: and on instagram, we gconclude our series bal unrest in 2019, with a report on demonstrators in iraq calling for less sectarianism and the end of political corruption. you can find all that and more when you follow us on instagram @newshour. >> hiscin: stay with us, coming up on the newshol: itical stakes: assessing the state of politics on the last monday of the year. and "circe," the december pick for the now read this, the book club fr "new york times." and

nashville's thistle farms is no ordinary business. it's a nonprofit staffed by women who have survived addic trafficking.buse, or john yang has an encore report on thisisterhood-based community. >> yang: it's the morning rush at thistle farms in nashville, tennessee. the cafe is on for breakfast, ile the adjoining shop sells hand-crafted home and body pro.cts made across the stre but first, workers ther in a circle for a moment of reflection. >> go morning, i'm jennifer, i'm a 2012 graduate. >> good morning, i'm kristin, 2015 graduate. yang: thistle farms is no ordinbuarness. its a nonprofit staffed by womtten who have d addiction, sexual abuser trafficking. >> come next month i'll have five years clean. (cheering) >> yang: for these women, thistle farms is more than just a paycheck, it's a lifeline.

>> the love, the comn that i was shown. >> yang: kimberly simkins works on the production line. two years ago, she was in the throes of addiction. >> it was either i s going to mae a commitment and get this right and really try to rebuild and shape my life in the path that it was on. or ei was gonna give up and in addiction. up yang: thistle farms' two-year program provides gousing and access to free therapy and medical care. shamika simpson, who works on the logistics team, is about to graduate. >> i got so used to living life in addiction and likeith my eyes wide shut. just living life.yo know you're not seeing anything and i lost touch of eve krything, i lost s you know, they were taken by the state and then dysfunctionality just became a way of life. >> yang: she says not having financial worries allowed her to focus on her revery.

worryon't want you i don't want you to worry about ho you're going to buy groceri west i want you to worry about is how you're gonna heal your >> yang: episcopal priest becca stevens started the program 22 years ago, driven, she sa, by her own history of being sexilually abused as a >> it was scary but also there's some gifts in it. i can use it for good. i can transform it. i can do all kinds of stuff but i don't have toet over it. yang: at first, it was just a single home providing shelter and a safe place to recover. >> cfive wome in all with criminal histories of trtifficking, prtion and addiction. and eve stayed. nobody left. >> yang: the business came later. >> ifour yeao it we're like, we can not talk about that we love women if we're not concerned about their economic wel nobody would hire them. they had no work experience. they knew how to hustle.

and that's when we thought we'll just start our own company and make something beautiful for people's bodies. >> yang: thistle farms aims to do well by doing good. inal the last fiear, product and cafe sales topped $4 million. that accounts for about 70% of the total operating budget. in 2017, thistle farms c.e.o. hal cato led a three million dollar pansion. >> there are a lot of businesses that have a mission. we're aissionith a business. 're not here to make cales, you know, that's not what we get up eve day. we get up every day to make candles because we know the sale anof thate is going to help the next woman come in and be a part of this community. e>> yang: bill ae harman sell thistle farms productst their store in lynden, washington. they came to nashville for a first-hand look. >> we recognize that women particular have a hard time finding a place where they can thrive. we have so much to learn about how can we make this world work

for these women, and becca has figured out how to do it. >> yang: cafe manager anga camarda didn't go through the program, but has her own history of drug addiction and time in federal prison. when she applied for a job at thistle fms, she found a lcoming nvironment. >> my boss told me whenever she interviewed me that it didn't matter what my past was. that is no that doesn't matter here. that has nothing to do with this job. tell me what you're doing now. tell me what you do for your recovery now and how you take care of yourself. >> yang: women in the program say the most powerful thing it provides is ateeeling of siood. >> my sister from chicago came to my graduation in may. she looks at me in tears running down her face and i said what's she's like you've finally found your people. yeah yeah yeah. >> yang: from a single residence, thistle farms has grown to five homes in nashville. but the demand is still f greater. >> some of the women die waiting

to get in this program. on average there's over 100 women on the waiting list. it says that the demand is far exceeding our resources >> yang: thistle farms now has mor0 e thanfiliated groups across the country, and 30 more partners around the world, from rwanda to ecuador and camboera. it's nonna be the woman just comes off the streets by herself because sheidn't get out there by rself. it took a whole community of brokenness to get her out there so why can't there be this whole beautiful community welcoming her home. >> yang: women about to graduate from thistle farms are looking toward the fture. kimberly simkins planto pursue a degree in clinical social work. >> i would like to think that i am some sort of mentor. that the things that i experienced in the program and i've been through and was able to push through all of those chages and complete the program that it's gonna give motivation to somebody else like hey she did it. maybe i can do it. >>yang: shamika simpson's

future includes her children, who were returned to her last yer. >> it taught me how to be a mother again. ghd all my kids are are back now so doors that i thwere shut forever have opened back up >> yang: opened with the power of tsisterhood, and the supp of the community. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in nashville, tennessee. >> schifrin: just days before theto official star020, the democratic presidential hopefuls were out in full force in early states. lisa desjardins reports on how the candidates are making their case. >> desjardins: this weekend, a year-end push, with 2020 democratic candides podium hopping and handshaking their way across iowa and new hamhire. >> i ask you get in this fight.

commit today to caucus for me. go to elizabethwarren.com. >> desjardins: in iowa, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren is counting on a highly ed team, but south bend indiana mayor pete buttigieg feeisls momentum swingingay. >> iowa, i think you will make me the nominee, theresident and then we'll be able to make history together. so thank you for being part of this. >> all right, thank you everybody! >> desjardins: minnesota senatob amy har just completed an important mark: visiting all 99 of iowa's counties. forlsmer vice president biden made news this weekend, backtracking after initially saying he would not comply if subpoenaed to testify in pre'ssident trumpeachment trial. biden had said his role and his son's role on an engy board in ukraine are not relevant. but later... >> i would honor whatevers he congr fact legitimately asked me to d >> desjardins: the candidate changed his stance, telling reporters that he would comply

with a subpoena, but believes there is no basis for one. the issue has come up on the trail. in npsew hre, a voter asked how much money the bidens made in ukraine. the former v.p. responded... >> i released 21 years of my tax retur , your guy hasn't released one. what's he hiding? (cheers) >> desjardins: there are other dynamics in the campaign-- one being a fundraising deadline for all candidates tomorrow. >> we have received more individual donations from more peoplehan any candidate in the history of american politics! >> desjardins: another dynamic for bernie sanders nearly three months after a heart attack-- hisealth. today, the sanders campaign released letters from three doctors recently concluding he has recovered cill, his 'ex capacity is average for a man his age' and he is 'more than fit' enough to campaign and become president. and one more dynamic: the group

of candidates outside the top five working overtime as well. new jersey senator cory booker has launched a new, positivad in iowa. >> the call of this election is the callo unite in common caundseommon purpose. >> desjardins: a sentiment echoed in new hampshire, by waii congrebwoman tulsi rd. >> a house divided against itself cannot stand and sadly this is exactly where we are as a country, our country is deeply divided. >> desjardins: some 15 candidates remain in th democratic race for prestdent, with ver a month until the first votes begin. and that brings us to politics monday on this final monday of yeawith susan page, "usa today's" washington bureau chief. ord domenicmontanaro. he's the seolitical editor at npr. let's start with something unusual, shall we? let's talk about the candidates who are not in the top tier.

i want take a look at the eight candidates who did not make the decembermiebate, hael bennett, bloomberg, cory booker, juliaán castro, joh delaney, gabbard. these candidates are doing the work, they are still in the field. rtsan, let me sith you. could any of them see a surge before iowa? >> it's possible. there are sne impressivames here, people who have taken seriously as presenting candidates, but it's hard if you're not on the debate stage becausehat is one to have the main ways to get attention to show the contrast with other candidatesan i think thedate no on stage with e best pathway to becoming major candidate is bloomberg, just because he has all that money, and if there's a stumble by joe biden, he would have the resources to take advantage of it. >> i would say cory booker probably is one of the candidates who hasan opportunity, anyway, to make some adway. now, his campaign is seen as

sort of a triple bat,nk s where joe biden would have to do colonel loy wha badly and booker feels like ld be positioned well in the south and do fairly well. b tripk shot, not really seen as a viable path at this point, but you never know. we have four candidates ho are essentially the top tier in biden, sanrs, warren and buttigieg, and there are a lot of different scenarios for which thibecomes a short race or goes on for quite some time. >> we could also see them coming back as the runningte cory booker, kamala harris, juliaán castro, those are all possible candidatwh have been embedded, have experience on the national stage. >> still putting up a fight, michael bennett is goingn the first town hall of the year

12:01 p.m. so they're still out the e. they all f looming senate impeachment trial for this president. domenico, what does that mean for these candidates, especially the senators? >> when we talk about the top tier, elizabeth warren is obviously one of the senators, and the last thing she wants to do is be shackled to a jury seat, essentially, in the senate, when she's really made hand-to-hand campaigning aar halof her candz si. ote's been able to connect with a lf democratic voters on the campaign trail, touts the numbers of selfies she's taken, tens of thousands at this point, and that's helped to sort of help her image in what kind of ndidate she can be. if she's stuck in the senate in january fore iowa and new hampshire, that's not good for her. >> the problem these senate have is senate impeachment trials are not a chains chance to make a big mr. smith goes to washington speech on the senate floor. you're supposed to sit and listen. it's also not the top

democrats want to talk about. democrats do not see president trump being impeached as a bipolitical asset. they'd nufer much prefer talking about something like hlthcare. >> someone else prominent in siimpeachment, nancy pe susan, you are working on a biography of her because i've seen you doing the work. i'm curious what your thoughts are as we've seen nancy pelosi going head to head with historic majority leaders mitch mcconnell, twtfigures that i nk will be in the history books. right now speaker blowser thas et transmitted the articles of impeachment. we don't know when she will. whado you make of this strategy by speaker pelosi, are there political risks here? what's going on? >> i was surprised when she decided not to send the articles o thepeachment over senat it's not really a delay till i xt week when congress comes back. ink she is trying to be helpful to chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate to try to change effect i'm to

som re degree tes that will rule during the impeachment trial there, but it's a weekend in a way because speaker pelosi does not want impeachment to be the tophic hanging overe house. she would like this to be off her plate over on the senate side so that her candidates, her democratic candidates in the house can turn to tissues thate know matter more to voters. >> if she hadn't brought it up, you wouldn't haveet sng like lisoa murkowski ming out and saying she finds it disturbing her leader in the senate will be someone in lock step with the white house. that's not the role they're supposed to te. y pelosi may be buying time for chuck schumer. >> you e gains here? i think you don't want to overplay your hand and hold it out for too lon b she's at least raised the issue. but people in her caucus obviously expect she's going to send it over pretty shortly afterolidays. we should also say by the way that bernie sanders is one of the -- going to be one of the jurors inhe senate trial as

well, and he is somebody i think you really need to watch in the campaign because you've seen his poll numbers come up and you've seen his activist base, the volunteer organization he has in iowa is really unparalleled and to see him potentially do well in a place like iowa, potentially new hampshire, you could havida sandersn race for example that reflects and looks a lot like the sanders-cnt race in 2016. this is ending and also wit a decade in politics. i would ask both you have, going back to the past decade in u.s. politics, what students to you about where we are and where we have been? >> you know, the thing that prizes me is that we had the election of barack obama followed middle east by the election of president trump. two men, both of them visionaries in their way, but with such different visions of what the country should be and where the country should go. nei think that's reason we've

stoked a fierce tribalism where no one sees common ground between the two sides because their visions of the future have been so different. >> i think it was a decade of polarization and partisanship and itoo reall hold in the 2010s you have president obama signing into law the affordable care act at the beginning ofhe 2010s. in mar. of 2010, he did that, the and that really set off the ene re decr what was to come. as susan notice, you go from george w. bush, who could be more opposite than barack obama 2008, to then the ri of the tea party, which was really a backlash to president obama, and that gave rise to president trump, and one last backlash in all o that has been the rise of progressivism, which haseen really pilistic and not wanting to compromise seeing how republicans in the tea party didn't and we're at this point where you he a lot of clashes to come. >> one thing i've seen in the

last decade is it seems a sort of fr of leadership in washington. i think we see more people coached andwi lesing to take hard stances.t wha you think is happening there? >> i think it's a time when our politics are so frayed it makes people cautious. people who speak in aan spous way and reach across party lines often have gotten punished t d i think ty have had an effect on politicians' desires to keep to the script of theirid >> people get punished for speaking out and trying to build a bridge rather than blowing it up, amy klobuchar said in the last debate. until that kind of process chang, until the type of politics we have changes, until the type of people who participate in election change, till the voters vote in different ways, you're going i o sehink, more acrimony before you see anything of going in the way back. >> trying to build a bridge in

our knowledge tonight. we appreciate it. susan page, domenico montanaro, i wish you a happy and healthy new year. >> you're welcome. thank you. desjardi: and on the newshour online, subscribe to the pbs newshour politics emails to receive weekly analysis and comommentary he election trail, capitol and the white house, as well as updates on the impeachment investigation. je >> schifrinrey brown now has the december selection for the now read this book club. >>she was a relatively minor character in one of world literature's earliest and greatest epidy, theey, but in a novel published in 2018, "circe" is at the center of storytelling her own tale of sorcery and life among the gods and men. author madeline miller joins me from philadelphia to answer questions from the readers. nice to see you and talk to you. >> so lovely toe here, thank

you. >> so i want to go right to the questions because one of theio que we got allows us to get just at what you were after. it comes om christie woody of petersberg, virginia. she says circe is a minor character in the odyssey. what attracted younoo herh to make you want to write her story? >> well, it actually goes back to when i was a child. the first time i read the odyssey, i had been likely excited because i knew there was this witch that turneden into pigs and i thought that sounds like a really interesting atand and complex character, which are kind of thin the ground in general, in greek mythology. but when i got there, i was really frustrated about how sort of frattend the portrait was and how it was really still just odysseus' story, so there was this piece of me from the moment that i read the odyssey as a 13year-old who wanted to explore this character and find out who is she, why is sh me turni into pigs, which is the most notable things she does

in the odd circumstances but which is neveder addret all. >> a number of readers, and i myself woered how y went about constructing her life, how much research, how much did you allow your own imagination to fill in that kind of story? >> well, i had kind of four basic pillars thai was usi from the mythology, one of whic waher appearance in the odyssey, but, otherwise, i was doing a lot of sort of adding ad extrapting. so one of the scenes in the novel which was really quite a lot of fun write was a scene where circe helps her sister give birth, and it's a little biof a spoiler, but her sister is giving birtho a very unusual child. now, her sister, inlo myt, truly is the parent of the minitar there is no myth that circe was there at the birth, but i was look for opportunities like that rt ofts where i could weave circe in, given mythology that was already existing.

did a lot of that. >> you alluded to this ieea about there not being the stories of women flushed out very much ithe iliad -- i mean the odyssey or the iliad, for at matter. you wrote an earlier novel based on the iliad about akil achille. the odyssey, of course, really focusons a story ofis man, wanderings, his loves, his hates. how did the desire to tell it from a woman's point of view motivate you in this story. >>is this very much. i really wanted to kind of put it in her voice, in particular. i knew i wanted it to be a rst-person narrator, and, you know, what we see is thatir, in the odyssey, she's really just a cameo in odysseus' life. he shows up, he has an interaction with her, he leaves and she disappears from the story. i wanted to flip that and put her in the center of the story and maaco dissous the cameo.

i wanted hito okay pay the same space in her life that she does his, i.e., not much, an'ssort of focus on a w life. i see "circe" as a coming of age story, a story of a woman in society who is hostile to her power and her wielding power an nding a waw to power and independence and discovering who she is. >> did you always envision these lives from the gods from first ading mythology yourself, or did the idea from this come ter? you were talking earlier ayout own reading as a child, but when did you think about, well, now i can write it myself? >> it came fairly late so the whole time i was a child, i was having, you kno, these wonderful adds -- adventures in mymind for these characters and i ended up studying it, but it didt occur to me it could sort

of write me on version, that i uld then adapt it myself until actually theater, and i directed a production of shakespeare's version of the iliad, and getting to work with that as a director, as a story teller for the first time, getting to shape how cassana or helen or achilleor ajax wereelivering their lines, how they were standing on the stage, how they were coming f, suddenly made me realize all these things i d been wanting to see about these characters, yes, i want to say them in an academic essay,o but ai want to say them in a novel, and i think there are soaye things that you can in a novel with an emotional force that you can't necessarily get across in academic wting, and the story of achilles and their love and circe and her life as a woman and as a goddess and witch were examples of that. >> that leadsa question that came from a teacher but a teacher of youngerhildren,

iries butler, of a story in new york, she says, i am currently teaching "circe" in my tenth grade classroom in the south bronx. my students frequently ask me why are we reading this because they always push back on the books we read, not your book in particular, but all the books, i think. but the teacher, iries but her are, asks what do you hope students whether take from your novel? >> a couple of things. i think these stories can be intimidating. they have a lot of names and they are often long and hard to pronounce. i feel some students feel aliat. percy jackson has done a good job bringing these classic myths back to everybody but i hope my novels can do that say you don't have to feel alienated from these stories. i think i would also want them toe take in t timelessness of

these stories, that,y, unfortunatou know, many of the things that circe eures, being belittled, undermined, kept from the halls of power, seally assaulted, these are all things that we are still dealing with today and i think it's really important to look at sort of the fact that there is an historical tree line here and maybe some things we can learn as well. >> all right. we're going to leave it therend for now post our entire conversation later online. madeline miller, author of circe, thank you very much. >> u thank much. and now our selection for the new year, heartburys is a best selling memoir of a young woman growing up on an indian reservation in british qulummia. tender, raw, a slender book, wrote a "new york times" viewer, with the power of the sledgehammer. the author will join me here in january and as always hope you will join us on our facebook

page and read along with "now read this," our blubl par ytnership with the "nk times." >> schifrin: andhohat's the ne for tonight. on tuesday, life under the taliban-- jane ferguson's report from taliban-held afghanistan. i'm nick schifrin. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience thstoric destinations along the mississippi rivercolumbia river and across the united states. american cruise lines fleet of small ships explo american landmarks, local wltures and caerways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour.

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♪ >> hello, everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & co." this holiday season, we're dipping back into e archives and looking at some of our favorite interviews from the year. so, he's what's coming up. >> that's why people elect leaders, and that is to not maintain the statusuo, but to change it. >> a you african-american leader brings change to the cradle of the confederacy and the civil rights movement. i speak with montgomery, alabama's first black mayor, steven reed.an d "citizen k," a new documentary, tracks mikhl khodorkovsky's journey from russia's richest man to put's greatest nemesis. i speak to him and to the oscar-winning director alex gibney. then... >> we absolutely were out there to bring terror to people. aw>> a true believer break from her hate-spewing church and family. michel martin speaks with author