captioning sponsored by newshour pronsduct, llc >>'mchifrin: good evening, i nick schifrin. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, under attack: violence in a rabbi's home and a texas church, spark fears over the safety of sacred aces. then, targeting iran. after the u.s. strikes an iranian-backed militia in iraq and syria, we examine the frerican rategy in the region. >> schi: 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. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more thanc50 years, adg ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these instiitions: and inviduals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station. from viewers like y thank you. >> schifrin: federal prosecutors in new y fork have ned hate crimes charges, in a saturday night stabbing assault at a rabbi's home. grafton thomas allegedly wounded five ople at a hanukkah celebration in monsey, north of w york city. he alr of attempted murder and burglary. we'll have much more on this, after the news summary. the government of iraq today condemned u.s. military strikes on an iraqi by iran.roup backed the sunday attacks killed 25 figs,htnd wounded dozens. u.s. officials said it was

retaliation for rocket fire that killed an american defense contractor. militia supporters in the city of basra burned american flags tode.ay, and vowed reve >> ( translated ): we would like to tell the american : whatever you bombed, whatever you killewe we will stay. are steadfast defending our terdtories, sacred places an dignity. >> schifrin: we'll take a closer look at all of th, later in t program. in afghanistan, the taliban edaimed an attack that ki4 people. hours earlier, taliban officials had said they agreed to a temporary cease-fire, but gave no start date. the pre-dawn attack came in jawzjan province in northern afghanistan. it targeted a pro-government militia site. north korean leader kim jong un appeared today to escalate thrioeats of renewed confront with the u.s. he called for "positive and offensive measures" to ensure north korea's security. kim s h a year-end deadline for u.s. concessions in nuclear talks.

the white house has confirmed that president trump and russian president vladimir putin spoke by phone on sunday. a statement today said putin thanked mr. trump for information that it said, relped foil a potential holiday terrorist attack sia." the white house gave no additiol details. a ourt in china has sentenced a scientist to three years in priafsor he claimed to create the world's first gene- edited babies. he s jiankui nvicted of practicing medicine without a license. he dwtriggered a woe ethical debate last year, saying he had altered embryos of twin girls to prevent infection by the aids virus. back in this country, georgia congressman and civil rights legend john lewis says he will stay in office, after being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. the veteranemocrat announced the diagnosis on sunday. he said he will begin treatment and thinks he has a fighting ance. lewis is 79 years old. new census data shows this

year's population growth rate in the u.s. was the slowest in a century, at less than lf a percent. the census bureau cites fewer births, increased deaths and a drop in international migration. overall, the country added 1.5 llion people, to reach 328 million. and, on wall street, stocks gave ground as investors took year- end its. the dow jones industrial average lost 183 points to close at 28,462. the nasdaq fell 60 points, and, the8. s&p 500 slipped 1 still to come on the wshour: under attack-- weekend violence in what had en considered sanctuaries. targeting iran-- the impact of yesterday's air strikes on the u.s. strategy confronting iran. and much more. >> communities across the country

expressed shock and sorrow today in the aftermath of two violent attacks on separate conatgrns 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 that was supposed to be a ceebration was instead a tragedy. >> i'm so overwhelmed with emotion that this could happen that i... there are no words. >> schifrin: but for these men, there's only action, arming themselves with military rifles. >> it's time that, you know, we protect ourselves.t we can let what happened last night ever happen again. that's the saying, 'never again', is being taken serious right now. >> schifr: on saturday night, a hanukkah celebration at the home of a new york state rabbi became the latest target of anti-semitic tacks. five people were wounded, one critically, after a man stormed into the home weilding a machete and started slashing people. the suspect, grafton thomas, was later arrested and arraigned. pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count oburglary.

today, authorities charged him with a federal hate crime, after they found anti-semitic writings in his journals. at a news conference yesterday, new yorgovernor andrew cuomo called the attack domestic terror. >> pethese arle who intend to create mass harm, mass violence, generate fear based on race, color, creed. that is the definition of terrorism. it's all across the country. it is an american cancer that is spreading in the body pitic and american cancer tns one cell in the body against the other. >> schifrin: but thomas' family said he had experienced a long history of mental heah issues. >> i spent about 35 minutes speaking with grafton thomas this morning. i canell you that i heard versationn that c

that confirmed in any way, shape or manner that he's a domestic terrorist. this is thection of al individuao, for a long time, hasecpensated, he's been treated in mental health facilities. schifrin: on twitter, president trump condemned the attack, adding that "we must all come together to fight, concafront, and era the evil scourge of anti-semitism." in 2018, a mass shooting in pittsburgh's tree of life synanogue killed , 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 kosr market in jersey city, new jersey. halfway across the country, on sunday morning, there was another attack on a different house of worship. in white settlement, texas, about eight miles west of fort worth. a gunman opened fire during sunday mass and killed two people. volunteer security guards at the west freeway church of christ 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 prevent mental illngss from occurnd we can't prevent every crazy person from pulling a g but we can be prepared like this church w 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, mthorities are still investigating tive. the attacks and incidents are by no means limited to churches and ogues. 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. for t some perspective se

crimes, i'm joined by rabbi jeffrey myers of the tree of life congregation. and the reverend ted elisre who leadswn ministry, in grapevine, texas. reverend elmore is the incident s wponse leadh the southern baptist of texas convention and he counseled cothgregants of the land springs church, after the shooting there in 2017. thank you and welco to both of you to the "newshour". rabbi jeffrey myers, let me start with you. what's the mood in your community today? >> i would saith combined. i don't think there's one adjective. ere are many who are afraid, yet there are many who are equallyt outraged at yet another anti-semitic attack. >> do you feelmi anti-c attacks have gone up and why do you think that is?s, >> hey have, and why is another complex texas that i really don't think there is enough time on thre quetion we having to delve into the deep issues of why there are suchss great expns of evil and

violence in our country. >> reverend elmore, you're a from the community in texas. lkligious, cultural community. you've about how attacks in your community are getting horse. how have they gotten worse? >> well, they have gotten worse and there are more of them. theca first i re in texas was in 1980s, in east texas,n t 1999 at wedgewood baptist2017 at first baptist sutherland springs, and then we've ha school shootings as well as -- in two cities, el paso, and odessa, and now another church shooting. e time between seems to be decreasing, and that the very unfortunate. >> rabbi, is that the perspective you have as well? is that the timbetween some of these incidences is decreasing dramatically? >> yes. certainly, thep non-s news

cycle hopes to share these on a regular basis so frequently that it's a constant part of our dietdiet. >> and you said it's almost like groundhog at a only watch agor r film. given, as you said, the constant part of tt, what is the digestion, if you will, in your community to handling these s incidentsey come more repeatedly? >> well, we're rather firm and strong, from an anti-semitic point of view, thatwe're not going to let anti-semitic behavior stop us from, as i call it, doing jewish. that's not going to change, we'renot going to permithat change because, tweant happens, then all of these lictle who want to inf terror on us, they win, and we will not let that happen. so we will continue to fulfill

our own urstinies in own guyish lives the way that we want to. >> reverend elmore, what's your rsion of that? how do you maintain that resilience. >> well, i thinai we mai the resilience because of our strong faith in god through the lord jesus christ, and wean under that people of faith, for time in memorial, have been persecuted by those with evil intent, and we rtainly would stand with our jewish friends in expressionsof resistance to any form of antisitism becse, ultimately, when evil comes for one, it comes for all, and, so,e we together in this. our people will not be restrainein we will co to worship, we will continue to love the lord and love b ourther as ourself and struggle with our own perfections as we seek to serve god.

>> reverend myers, reverenmd e mentioned standing with people of faith. do you discuss with other leaders of faith these kinds of attacks and how to deal with them? >> yes, we do, regularly. one of the posite outcomes of the attack in myag sue in 2018 were that doors opened that one would have not expectedr anticipated so soon after my arrival, because i had only been in the communi for just a pinch more than a year. those doors opened. i entered through those doors and continued to find ways to dialogue, to get to know faithde lea from other communities, to share in our commonalities because, when we get down toe' basics, all the same. we all want the same thing for each othe and we take these commonalities and we must use

them to better our society colectively. >> reverend, those commonalities were something you were talking ab hut as well, but do yove a sense that these attacks are specific, that they are tapergetinle of faith, they're targeting churches, for example, rather, than for example, these people wanting to kill findingsome opportunity to kill many people? >> you know, nick, how do you get inside the mind of someone who's mentallyisturbed? i think that's one of the issues that we face in our experts in those areas are trying to figure se out, but, ultimately, people tavegets, and it appears targets based on their tred and what they are opposed to. and i don't know how long thes are planned by certain individuals or what is involved in their mind in that maup, but, in order to get to a synagogue or to get to a c they pass a lot of places where there are peoe gathered.

it's more than just wanting to kill people. there is a target based on an emotion, i believe, ndof evil hatred that causes them to enter churches and synagogues and mosques. >> rabbi, that emotion of evil and hatred, as the reverend just said, targeted specifically churches and mosques, how much fer does that create in your community and how do you get over it? >>i've noticed, over the past 48, 72 urs, that there 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 sagogue. 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 do you overcors those f lye rabbi just mentioned?

>> well, we certa take precautions. i believe prayer is the first-line response of all people of faith. e seek consolation, we seek strength from god and through his word and t strip chiewrs, but our eresolve is get the resolve from prayerer and scripture to continues and keep on, and that doesn't mean that we're ionot asking que and we're not taking precautions, but we will not let evile win, will not. >> it's an important meage to end on. reverend ted elmore, rabbi jeffrey myers jeffrey myers of the t tree of lifnk you very much to you both. >> thank you. >> 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 milo itary base, home t 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 amen.ri the u.s. blames the group kataib hezbollah and says it's organized, trained, a equipped byiran, and has attacked the u.s. in iraq 11 timesn two mons.th anan official with an ir-backed iraqi militia called for th u.s. to leave the country. >> ( translated ): this is a tran nsgressione security forces and on the sovereignty of iraq. themu iraqi governmen carry its responsibility and take the crucial procedure to demand the occupier to leave the iraq territories. >> schifrin: in russia for a meeting with his counterpart, iranian foreign minister javad zarif condemned the attack. forra more on targeting i'm

joined first by brian hook, the state department's special representative for iran. brian, welcome backe newshour. why did the u.s. las?ch these stri >> well, i think, over the last couple of months, you've had eleven attacks on iraqi bases thaare hosting coalition forces which include american forces, and president trump has restrainteat deal of over a number of months in the face of various iranian provocations, but, during that time, he's made very clear that we will attack, in self-defense, if we are attacked, anon december 27th, an american was killed and a number of soldiersu were d in one of the bases, andhis was an attack by an iranian prox t and, se president took decisive action and conductedai strikes nst targets in syria and iraq. >> schifrin: iran has vowed to fight the maximum pressure campaign to have the u.s. administration with maxim 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 cont these attacks with impunity, and, so, the iranian regime has been rejecting diplomacy for many, many months. they have beenaking a lot of bad choices, and the maximum pressure campaign will continue. >> brian, you just deterrence, but iran shot down a u.s. drone earlier this year and attacked an oil facility in saudi arabia, and there was nory u.s. miliesponse after those two incidents. have you been worried iran feels it could get away with these attacks? >> whon we saw was an ero of deterrence for the many years preceding the president's election three years ago. what we've done 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 many years. iran today faces its worst financial crisis and s worst political unrest in its 40-year history, but if we're attacked, we're going to respond as the president did yesterday. >> schifrin: but i know y want to talk ability deterrence after the iran nuclear deal a few years ago, but the deterrence over the last few months, i've heard fromilitary officials fearing that deterrence has been lost. do you worry that that deterrence, the fact that iiran feltt could get away with the, se attac you feel that was happening because the u.s. wasn't responding to previousa acks? >> well, i think we did respond. we certainly increased the nuber of sanctions on the regime, we enhanced intelgence, surveillance and reconnaissance aspects, we put more troops in the region, we removed the u.s.s. link upcarrier strike group, so we'vr done a num of things.

but the secretary pomy 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 restraint because the last thing is america is looking for is another conflict in the mee>>lgd. chifrin: iraqi particle men tarns used the strikes to argue eas. needs to iraq. do you believe these strikes will make it harder for the u.s. to stay inside iraq? >> american troopn in i iraq at the invitation of the iraqi ernmen the iraqi government has the responsibility to ensure the security of theromericans. we took the measures necessary for our own safety and we think it's important fohe iraqi government to arrest and bring to resbility the people who a responsible for attack on bases housing american forces. >> schifrin: are you saying the iraqi officials are failing to protect americans? for

>> they could certainly do more. >> schifrin: thank you very much. >> thanks, nick. >> >> schifrin: now for a different perspective, i'm joined by vali nasr, professor at the johns hopkins school of advanced heternational studies and formerly served intate departmentin the obama administration. welcome. you ard brian hook talk about eleven attacks in the last few months, do you think the u.s. should have responded? >> they should have taken it upon themselves to attack iranian-backed clients but these were obviously iraqi a mobilized byecree from ayatollah, the senior cleric in iraq. they fought againsi.i.s., part of the security force. the u.s. took unilateral action in another country, embarrassed the got of iraq and in view of iraqis violated its sovereignty. >> schifrin: irisked,, whether you saw that might men

difficultas a mo challenge moving foard in iraq, staying in iraq, the u.s. needs iraqi help. he said the iraqi government was not doing enough to defend u.s. >> probably wasn't but still embarrassing the iraqi government does not help and making the iraq governmtook impotent does not help. aq is in a very fragile state now, it does haven't a minister, it only has anintern minister. that will waning them at this point in me iraq has been going through violent irani demonstrations fe the last months which the united states celebrated as something positive in iraq. now the united states managed to make itslef the pr in iraqi politics. the focus whether shift fromio iranian beh in iraq to american behavior in iraq and nadzent serve american in trests in region. >> schifrin: let's shift to iran policy or u.ic p in iran in. the last couple of months secrarpompeo and

president trump set the red line if an amerin soldier is killed in an attack in iranian-backed attack in iraq they would attack. th r set theed line. do you think they should keep it? >> yes, they shld keep the word. the bigger problem, where is the policy going? the united states ppressure on iran to change iranian behavior and bring iran to the table. that's not happening. instead of that, we are seeing ri iran that's becoming more adventurous, mor 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 strategy tt go to war iran but it increasingly looks like that' where it's heading. this policy failed. it hasn't achieved what it set out to do and the administration eefuses to acknowledge that mor sanctions, more pressure would only create more conflict and escalate this into something that neither side may want. >> schifrin: you're suggesting

there is no off ramp and is a fear of escalation. i ask about the fe of escalation, and brian hook suggested that, well, actually, it was the iran nuclear deal that diminished the terms, but it was the obama administration's policy that allowed iran to get away with ings and get more money. >> things were much more calm and stable in the region when d e nuclear deal was there, and iran e united states didn't see eye to e, but their situation is right now muchse wo i mean, to claim we are deterring iran at this time is notll rcredible. iran has shot down a u.s. drone, attacked oil facilities, is attacking american troops in iraq. how is this a deterrent? in fact, it looks like iran is putting at the dearns on the united states. >> schifrin: just very quicy, what brian hook an others in the administration i think would say right now is, actually, no, hesbollah has left money to do what's it' doing, iranian proxy has done what they're doing because of the

trump administration policy. >> is iran hesbollah free and have the u.s. become safer andre witrther away from a war with iran than 2015? the answer to all is no. this is a policy that's takgi the and u.s.-iranian relations to a worse level. >> schifrin: thank you very much. >> schifrin: and on instagram, we conclude our series on global unrest in 2019, with a report on demonstratorsfon iraq calling less sectarianism and the end of political corruption. you can find all that and more when you follow us on instagram @nwshour. >> schifrin: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: political stakes: assessing the stapote otics on the last monday of the year. and "circe," the december pick for the now read this, the book club from the pbs newshour and "new york times."

nashville's thistle farms is no ordinary business. it's a nonprofit staffed by men who have survived addiction, sexual abuse, or trafficking. john yang has an encore report on this sisterhood-based community. >>mo yang: it's thing rush at thistle farms in nashville, tennessee. the cafe is open for breakfast, while the adjoining shop sells hand-crafted home and body products made across the street. but first, workers gather in a cle for a moment o reflection. >> good morning, i'jennifer, i'm a 2012 graduate. >> good morning, i'm kristin, 2015 graduate. >> yang: thistle farms is no ordinary business. it's a nonprofit staffed by wom addiction, sexual abuse or trafficking. >> come next month i'll have five yeris clean. (ch >> yang: for these women, thistle farms is more than just a paycheck, it's a lifeline. >> the love, the compassion 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 was going to make a commitmeri and get this ht and really try to rebuild and shape my life in the path that it was on. or i was gonna give up and die in addiction. >> yang: thistle farms' two-year program provides group housing and access to free therapyalnd medare. shamika simpson, who works on the logistics team,as about to grduate. >> i got so used to living life in addiction and like with my eyes wide shut. just living life. you know you're not seeing anything and i lost touch of everything, i lost my kids u 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 recory. >> i don't want you to worryi

on't want you to worry about how you're going to buy groceri yes what i want to worry about is how you're gonna heal yourself becausengll that >> episcopal priest becca stevens started the program 22 years ago, driven, she says, by r own history of being sexuallabused as a child. >> it was scary but also there's some gifts in i can use it for good. i can transform it. i can do all kinddof stuff but on't have to get over it. >> yang: at first, it was just a single home providing shelter and a safe place to recover. five women came in all with criminal histories of trafficking, prostitution and addiction. and everybody stayed. nobody left. >> cyang: the businee later. >> four years into it we're like, we can not talk about that we love women if we're not concerned about their economic well-being. nobody would hire them. theory had noexperience. they knew how to hustle. and that's when we thought we'll just start our own company and

make something beautifubofor people'es. >> yang: thistle farms aims to do well by doing good. in the last fiscal year, product and cafe saleitopped $4 mion. that accounts for about 70% of e total operating budge in th2017tle farms c.e.o. hal cato led a three million dollar expansion. >> erare a lot of businesses that have a mission. we're a mission with a business. we're not here to make candles,u know, that's not what we get up every day. we get up every day to make candles because we know the sale of that candle is going to help the i next woman coand be a part of this community. >> yang: bill and evie harman selucl thistle farms ts at their store in lynden, washington. they came to nashville for a first-hand look. >> we recognize that women in paticular 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 angela camhrarda didn't goough the program, but has her own history of drug addiction and time in federal prison. when she applied for a job at thistle farms, she und a welming nvironment. >> my boss told me whenever she interviewed me that it didn't matter what my past was. that is no that doesn't m ter 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 a feeling o sisterhood. >> 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 far greater. >> some of the women die waiting to get in this program.

on average there's over 100 women on the waiting list. ys that the demand is fa exceeding our resources >> yang: more than 50 affiliated groups across the country, and 30 more partners around the world, fro rwanda to ecuador and cambodia. >> it's never gonna be the woman just comes off the streets by herself because she didn't get out there by herself. it took a whole community of brohekenness to get her out 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 plans to pursue a degree in clinical social work. >> i would like to think that i am some sort of mentor. thae t ings that i experienced in the program and i've been through and was able to push through all of those chad llenges mplete 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 year. >> it taught me how to be a motd her again. l my kids are are back now so doors that i thought were shut forever have opened back up. >> yang: opened with the power of sisterho, and the pport of the community. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in nashville, tennessee. >> schiin: just days before the official start to 2020, the democratic presidential hopuls were out inull force in early states. lisa desjardins reports on how the candidates are making their se. >> desjardins: this weekend, a year-end push, with 2020 democratic candidates podium hop tping and handshakiir way across iowa and new hampshire. >> i ask you get in this fight. commit today to caucus for me.

go to elizabethwarren.com. >> desjardins: in iowa, maschetts senator elizabeth warren is counting on a highly organized tea but south bend diana mayor pete buttigieg feels momentum swinging his way. >> iowa, i think you will make me the nominee, the president and then we'll be able to make history together. so inthank you for part of this. >> all right, thank you everybody! c desjardins: minnesota senator amy klobuchar jupleted an important mark: visiting all 99 of iowa's counties. former vice p made news this weekend, backtracking after initially saying he would not comply if subpoenaed to testify in president trump's impeachment trial. bid sen hd his role and his son's role on an energy board in ukr raine are nevant. but later... gi i would honor whatever the congress in fact mately asked me to do. >> 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 nteew hampshire, a asked how much money the bidens made in ukraine. the former v.p. responded... >> i released 21 years of my tax returns, your guy hasn't released one. whas 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 people than any history of american politics! sjardins: another dynami for bernie sanders nearly three months after a heart attack-- his health. today, the sanders campaign released letters from three doctors recently concluding he has recovered well, hisit 'exercise capis average for a man his age' and he i 'more than fit' enough t campaign and become president. and one more dynamic: the group of candidates outside the top

fivworking overtime as well. new jersey senator cory booker has launched a new, positive ad in iowa >> the call of this election is the call to unite inommon caurpse and common e. >> desjardins: a sentiment echoed in new hampshire, by hawaii congresswoman tulsi gabbard. >> a itself cannot stand and sadly this is exactly where we are as a country, our country is deeply divided. >> desjardins: some 15 candidates remain ithe democratic race for president, with just over a month until the first votes begin. and that brings us to politics monday on this final monday of year with susan page, "usa today's" washington bureau chief. and domenico montano. he's the senior political 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 to take a look at the

eight candidates who did not make the december debate, michael bennett, bloomberg, cory booker, juliaán castro, john deley, gabbard. these candidates are doing therk they are still in the field. susan, let me start with you. could any of them see a surge beforia? >> it's possible. there are some impressive names here, people who have taken seriously as presidenting candidates, but it's hard if u're not on the debate stage because that is one to have the main ways to get attenti to sh the contrast with other candidates. i think the candidate not on stage with the best pathway to becoming a 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 take advantage of it. >> i would say cory booker prbably is one of the candidates who has an opportunity, anakay, to some headway. now, his campaign is seen as sort of a triple bank shot,

where joe biden would have to colonel loy wha badly and booker feels like he could be positioned well in the south and do fairly well. triple bank shot, not really seen as a viable thpath as point, but you never know. we have four candidates who are essentially the top ti in biden, sanders, warren and buttigieg, and there ara lot ofifferent scenarios for which this becomes a short race or goes on for quite some time. >> we could also see them coming back as the running mate. cory booker, kamala harris, juliaán castro, those are all possible candidates who have been embedded, have experience on nheional stage. >> still putting up aight, michael bennett is going in the first town hall of the year 12:01 p.m. so they're still out there. they all face a looming senate

impeachment trial for this president. domenico, what does thn for these candidates, especially the s >> when we talk about the top tier, elizabeth warren is obviously one of the senators, and the last thing e wants to be shackled to a jury seat, essentially, in the senate, when she's really made hand-to-hand campaigning a hallmark of h candz si. she's been able to connect with a lot of democratic voters on e campaign trail, touhe 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 s candida can be. if she's stuck in the senate in january before iowand 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. smithoes to washington speech on the senate floor. you're supposed to sit and listen. it's also not the topic democrats wt to talk about.

democrats do not see presint trump being impched as a big political asset. they'd nufemuch prefer talki about something like healthcare. >> someone else prominent in impeachment, nancy pelosi. susan, you are working on a biography of her because i've seen you doing thwork. i'm curious what your thoughts are as we' seen nancy pelosi going head to head with historic majority leaders mitch mcconnell, two figures that i think will be in the history books. now speaker blowser has not yet transmitted the articles we impeachment. don't know when she will. what do you make of this strategy by speer pelosi, are there political risks here? what's going on? >> i was surprised when e decided not to send the articles of impeachment over to the senate. it's not really a delay till next week when congress comes back. i think she is trying to be helpful to chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate to try to cnge effect i'm to some degree the rules that willd

ruing the impeachment trial there, but it's a weekend in a way because speaker pelosi does not want impeachment to be the topic hanging over the house. she would like this to be f he plate over on the senate side so that her candidates, her emocratic candidates in house can turn to tissues that they know matter more to voters. >> roif she hadn'tht it up, you wouldn't have something like lisa murkowski coming out and saying she finds it disturbing her leader in the senate will be someone in lock step with the white house. that'y'not the role t supposed to take. nancy pelosi may be buying timek for cchumer. >> you see gains here? i think you don't want tovo play your hand and hold it out for too long but she's at least raised thessue. but people in her caucus obviously expect she's going seo it over pretty shortly after the holidays. we should also say by the way that bernie sanders is one of the -- going to be one of the jurors in the senate trial as well, and he is somebody i think

you really need to watch in the campaign because you've seen h poll numbers come up and you've seen his activist base, the volunteer organization he has in iowa is really unparalleled and see him potentially do well in a place like iowa potentially new hampshire, you could have a sanders-biden race for example that reflects and looks a lot like the sanders-clint 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 >> you know, the thing that prizes me is that we had the ele bction ack obama followed middle east by the election of president trump. tw men, both of themna vises in their way, but with suchifferent visions of what the country should be and where the country should go. i think tt's one reason we've stoked a fierce tribalism where

no one se common ground between the two sides because their visions of the future have sobeen ifferent. >> i think it was a decade of polarization and partisanship and it reay took hold in the 2010s. you have president obama signing ble care act affor at the beginning of the 2010s. in mar. of 2010, hedid that, the and that really t off the entire decade for whatto come. as susan notice, you gorom george w. bush, who could be more opposite than barack obama in 2008, to ohen the rise the tea party, which was really a backlash to president obama, and that gave rise to opresident trump, a last backlash in all of that has been the rise of progressivism, which has been really pugilisc and not wanting to compromise seeing how republicans heinea party didn't and we're at this point where you have a lot of clashes to come. >> one thing i've seen in the last decade is it seems a sort

ofdeear of lhip in washington. i think we see more people coached and less willing to take hard stances. what do you think is happening there? >> i think it's a time when our solitics are so frayed it mak people cautious. people who speak in aan spontaneous d reach across paty lines often have gotten punished and i think that may have had an oeffe politicians' desires to keep to the script of their side. >> people get punished for e eaking out and trying to build a brither than blowing it up, as amy klobuinar saihe last debate. until that kind of process cha tnges, unti type of politics we have changes, until the type of people who participate in election change, tilthe voters voten different ways, you're going to see, i think, more acrimony befeeore you anything of going in the way >> trying to build a bridge in our knowledge tonight. we appreciate it.

susan page, domenico montanaro, i wish you a hpy a healthy new year. >> you're welcome. thank you. >> desjardins: and on the newshour online, subscribe to the pbs newshour politics emails to receive weekly analysis and commentary from the election trail, capitol and the white house, as well updates on the peachment investigation. >>n schifrin: jeffrey brw 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 epics, the odyssey, but in a novel publied in 2018, "circe" is at the center ofll storyg 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. >>e so lovely to bre, thank you. >> so i want to go right to the

questions because one of the questions we got allows us to get just at wha were after. it comes from christie woody of petersberg, virginia. she says circe is a minor character in the odyssey. what attracted you to h enough 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 d been likel excited because i knew there was this witch that turned men into pigs and i thought that sounds like a really interesting and meaty and complex character, which a kind of thin on the ground in general, in greek mythi ogy. but whet there, i was really frustrated about how sort of frattenned e portrait was and how it was really still jusy sseus' story, so there was this piece of me from te moment that i read the odysseys a 13-year-old who wanted to explore this character and find out who is she, why is she turning men into pigs, which is the most notable tngs she does in the odd circumstances but whichs never addressed at all

>> a number of readers, and i myself wonderedow youent about constructing her life, how much research, how much leeouy didllow your own imagination to fill in that kind of sry? >> we, i had kind of four basic pillars that i was using from tgyhe mytho, one of which was her appearance in the odyssey, but, otherwise, i was doing a lot of sort of adding and extrapolating. so one of the scenes in the novel which was really quite a lot of fun to write was a scene where circe helps her sister give birth, and it's a little bit of a spoiler, but her sister is givg birth to a very unusual child. now, her sister, in mythology, truly is the parent of the minitar. there is no myth that circe was rtthere at the but i was look for opportunities like that moments where i could sort owe ve circe in, given mythology that was already existing. i did a lot of that.

>> you alluded to this earlier about there not being the stories of women flushed out eary much in the iliad -- i m the odyssey or the iliad, for that matter. you wrote an earlier novel bad othe iliad about akil achilles. the odyssey of course, really focusons a story of a man, his wanderings, his loves, his hates. d how much did tire to tell it from a woman's point of view umotivate in this story. >> is this very much. i really wanted to kind of put it in her voice, in particular.a i knew ed it to be a first-person narrator, and, u know, what we see is that circe, in the odyssey, she'seally just a cameo in odysseus' life. he shas up, he han interaction with hr, he leaves an she disappears from the story. i wanted to flip that and putce her in ther of the story and maaco dissous the cameo. i wanted him to okay pay the

same space ifin her that e does in his, i.e.,otuc, and sort of focus on a woman's life. i see "circe"s a coming of age story, a story of a womanso in iety who is hostile to her power and her wielding power and her finding a waw to power and independence and discovering who she is. >> did you always envision these lives fm the go from first reading mythology yourself, or did the idea from this come later? you were talking earlier about your own reading as a child, but when did you think a well, now i can write it myself? came fairly late. so the whole time i was a child, i was having, you know, these wonderful adds --re advens in my mind for these characters and i edyed up sg it, but it didn't occur to me it could sort write meon version, that i

could then adapt it myself until actually thter, and i directed a production of shakespeare's version of the iliad, and getting twork with that as as director, story teller for the first time, getting to shape how cassandra or helen or achilles or ajax were delivering their lines, how they weinre staon the stage, how they were coming off, suddenly made me realize allhese things i had been wanting to see about these characters, yes, i want ti say then an academic essay, but also i want to say them in l noand i think there are some things that you can say in a novel with an emotional force that you can't necessarily get acrs in academic writing, and the story of achilles and their ve and circeand her life as a woman and as a goddess andhi were examples of that. >> that leads to a question that came from a teacher buat teacher of younger children, iries butler, of a story in

new york, she says, i am currently teaching "circe" in my tenth grade classroom inhe south bronx. my mestudents frequently 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 y hope students whether take from your novel? >> a couple of things. i think these stories can be intimidating. they have a lot of names an they are often long and hard to pronounce. i feel some students feel ali percy jackson has done a good job bringing these classic myths back to everybody but i hope my novels can do that and say you don't have to feel aenated from these stories. i think i would also want them to take in the timelessness of

these stories, that, unfortunately, you knoy of the things that circe endures, being belittled, undermined, kept from the halls of power, sexually assaulted, these are stillhings that we ar dealing with today and i think it's really important to look at sort of the fa 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 there for now and post our entire conversation later online. madeline miller, author of circe, thank you very much. >> thank you so 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 slenderook, wrote a "new york times" viewer, with the power of the sledgehammer. the author will join me here in janua and as ways hope you will join us on our facebook page and read along with "nowth rea," our blubl

partnership with the "new york times." >> schifrin: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, life under the talaniban--ferguson's report from taliban-held afghanistan. i'm nick schifrin. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newd shour has been provi: >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi river, the columbia states.nd across the united american cruofise lines flee small ships explore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour.

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