amna: good evening. on the newshour tonight, covid infections continue to hit new highs in the u.s. while deaths also spike. judy woodruff speaks the -- wit dr. anthonfauci. then policing protesttss. federal ag in unmarked cars detained demonstrators as part of therump administration response to protests in portland, oregon. where the spi infrom arizona hospitalizations threatens to overwhelm the state health care system. >> it is really hard to watch people be out and a and exhibiting dangerous behaviors htowing that there was a good chance that i me seeing them in my emergency department.

frankly in a week or two, i might not have room for them in my hospital. amna: it is friday. breaking down the politics around the pandemic and the race all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs vinewshour" has been pd by -- ♪ >> for 25 years, consumer cellular p hasrovided wireless service to help people connect. we offer a variety of no contact plans a our customer service team can find one that fits you. ♪ >> johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. ♪ >> the john s and jane l knight

fostering engaged communities. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. ♪ is program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you amna: a record-setting week in the covid-19 pandemic is coming to a close. with the world approaching 14 million cases and 600,000 dehs. nearly 140,000 of those deaths have occurred here in the united states and the virus continues to spread every day.

in response, the city of miami imposed strict enforcement to where face masks as cases surged. military medics deployed to help ovwhelm hospitals. governors in texas and california setules allowing schools to stay completely online this fall. w udy woodruff. judy: next week willnt mark six since the first confirmed case was reported in this as we just heard, much of the nation is struggling with the consequences of outbreaks and debating how to best respond. dr. anthony fauci is the head of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases at the nih. is a member of the president's task force for dealing with covid-19. we welcome you back to the newshour. as we know, this pandemic is getting worse, more cases, a surge even in the number of deaths t and number of states. you have said that things could tt worse, but you don't there will need to be another

national shutdown. what short of that do you think needs to be done? dr. fauci: thank you judy for that question. it is important lawould think that where we are right now, partiy in the southern states which are considerable part thator a 60,000, 70,000 new cases we are seeing every day is that we need to maybe reboot. take a look at what we are doing there. several of the states, some have may be gone a little bit too quickly from one phase to another. other situations, when the leadership of the states in the cities actually directed their citizens to do itorctly, there was not very responsive. we have seen that when you see people congregating in bars, not wearing masks in crowds. we have to say, this is not working. we've got to reset. you may need to pull back a bit on a phase.

you don't necessarily need to lock down. butou've got to do three or four or five things that are critical because know they work. that is universal wearing of mas. stay away from crowds. close the bars. you appeal to the people in the local areas. close thos bars. they are seriously one of the major reasons why we are seeing it. i think if we do that for a couple oweeks in a row, i think we are going to see a turnaround. because we know that that works. judy: but witall due respect, the american people have been hearing that mesge and in some places it is not working. so are you saying we just keep on with what we have been doingi for somethinerent needs to happen? dr. fauci: i understandhat you are saying and you make a good point. but it h it hasn't been uniform, where evybody in the region says, wait a minute, we are having a serious' problem,'ve got to

reboot this. it isn't like some people say we've got to do it across the d bo those areas. this is serioususiness and we can turn it around. if i didn't think we could do it , i wouldn't be so emphatic about emphasizing why we've got to do this. judy: oknow you don't like talk about politics, but in the state of georgia for example where you have sever mors who have said, i want everybody the governor is saying mors can't do that. how do you have a consistent statewide message when you have this kind of difference? dr. fauci: you are right, i w don't to get involved in politics, but all i can do is plead with the people out there to be consistent and listen to health officials, like myself if i may, what they are saying. put everything else aside and uniformly do the right thing. judy: even if the governor of a

state like the governor of thingia is saying so else?dr. fauci: well, i would al to them to just not do that. you are right. if i get iolved in politics, what happens is it diverts the message. my message is if you are doing it this way and it is not workin please reconsider to be judy: let me ask you aboutge. testing. it is now clear that there aren't enough tests. they have been ramped up across the country. there are many more than they were being done months ago. but with ts surge, there aren't enough. what has to happen in order for there to be enough tests in enough places for the country to get its arm around this virus? . fauci: we've got to get the tests in the right lace at the right te. as you know, we've been told by the people responsible for the tests that there are a lot of tests out therend as we get into the next weeks to months there co tests.illions of more we've got to use them in the we've got to get them to the

right people who can do the prop identification, isolation, and contact tracing, and even go beyond that to be able to test more widely ilaa more survee way, so you can get a feel for the extent of the penetrance of this community read. judy: but there is going to need to be as i understand it there needs to be support, there needs these labs to open up.m that has not happened yet. do you know of a solution to get this ramped up immediately? dr. fauci: we' got to make sure the dots are connect it. -- connected. gen the congress with a great deal of generosie billions of dollars to try to solve this problem, they give something like $10 billion to the give to the stateto do these kinds of implementing. we' got to make sure that it gets well ent and that it gets done in the ght way.

we have a problem, but we've got to do the things that are very this around.o turn remembering we can do it. we know that when you do it erpr, you bring downhose cases. we've done it. we've done in new york new york got hit worse than anyplace in the world and they did it correctly by doing the things that you are talking about. judy: vaccine. you have been saying we he seen promising developments in the last few days and weeks. you have been saying maybe later is year into 2021. and yet there was a cautionary rd fromhe head of a major pharmaceutical company this week. the ceo said, he said, anybody who says -- he saydoofficials arg a grave disservice by telling the american people there could be a vaccine by the end of this year, because there are a whole lot of hurdles that

yet have to be dealt with before there will be a vaccine. how do you answer that? dr. fauci: first of all, i know ken, he is a good friend and a good person. vei o respectfully disagree with him. i don't think it is outlandish at all. because what we have been doing is that we have been putting certain things in line with each other in aay that is unprecedte if you look at the history and i don't want to spend a lot of time going in on it, we have t gone fro sequence of the virus to a vaccine development program in days. we went from that 62 days later to get a phase one trial going. what you juston men was published two days ago and show very robust antibody, neutralizing antibody responses that were comparable to what you see when seone recovers from infection. generally and ken is right, generally that would take a couple of years to get to that point. we are aeady there.

we are going into a phase three trial at the end of the month. and there are a number look -- of other candidates that will be following sequeially. when you are dealing with vaccines, you can'int guarane . but you can say based on the science andhe way things are going that i'm cautiously optimihaic that we can meet projection that we made to, that i made months ago and that is and i ll repeat it that by the end of this calendar year and e beginning of 2021, i feel optimistic -- nobody guarantees -- but i feel optimistic that we will have a vaccine, e or more, that we can start distributing to people. because if youook at the infections that are going on right now and palse three t that are now starting at the end of the month, we could get a signal of safety and efficacy as we get into the late fall and the early winter. and if we do, then by the

beginning of 2021, we could have a vaine. judy: availableo hundreds of llions of americans? dr. fauci: on day one, it is noa going to bilable to hundreds of millions, but what we are hearing from the companies whoen have given a lot of money by the federal government to do this is to start making dosefe you know that the trial works. which means that i you save months. if it doesn't, you've lost a lot we think we can start getting doses in the beginning of 2021 and the companies have said hundreds of millions es within that year. so it is not going to be from day one, but it will be quick. judy: do yoave a worry that the anti-vaccine movement could interfer dr. fauci: yes, i do. because we have to admit and realize that there is an anti-movement -- anti-vaxx

movement that we have had to struggle within this country. and i believe theolution to that will be included -- b community engagement and community outreac to get people trusted by the community to go out and explain to them the rtimce of not only getting engaged in the vaccine trial, but the importance of when the vaccine is shown to be safe and keeffective to actually he vaccine. because it could bees lifing and it certainly would be the solution to this terrible pandemic. judy: so much to ask you, dr. uci. one of the most important things in people's mis is going back to school d i do want to ask you about k-12. secretary of education this week said all children should be back in school this fall. there is even a potential risk of losing federal funds. just this afternoon, the said mo of california california schools are not going to be back in person. what are individuals, whatmaur parents t of this?

dr. fauci: obviously, trts is a discong problem becau we care so much about our and their education. the way i look at it, judy, looking at 40,000 feet, the fault position is that y should try tohe best of your ability with l considerations to the safety and welfare of the children and the teachers, we shld try to get the children back to school as best as we ssibly can. with that as the framework, o look throughout the country that the level of infection is differeo from region region, state to state, county to county. there will be some counties weather is no problem. take the kids back to school, they are not in danger. in those areas where it is iffy, where you see there is a degree of infection, then what some schools will do short of just shutting down and some s may decide to d

something with a little bit of creativity. may be alternating classes. spacing of t desks. for children who can do it, wearing masks. protecting the vulnerable. so you could go ftom one extreme he other. you've got to say, i'm going to ttryopen the schools to the best of my ability, and if there are issues with activity of virus, try to mitigate it by creative capabilities. i think that is what you are seng is different states respond to the mandate to open schools. thjudy winter, as you probably have heard the city of philadelphia, the mayor has said there will not be larg gatherings through february with concern about the colder weather, what t is ghappen with the coronavirus coupled with people having to deal with the flu. w much worry do u have that this pandemic is going to be harder to control once we get into the winter?

i know there is the vaccine question out there. but seing vaccine aside, what about this pandemic? dr. fauci: first of all, the ing i hope we do successfully and it would really impact greatly on the answer to your question is that i would like to see us get back down to baseline as we enter the late fall and early winter.he if you look at curve, for many of the european countries, it goes way up and then it comes down. they may have d thousands of cases, but there baseline is measured in tens and may be hundreds of cases. our baselinesthn the tens of ousands. so we went up and then came down to 20,000. and then 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000. my main concern right now as i want to get at curve down to a ally low level. if we go into the late fall and erwit that baseline level,

as cases erge, it will be infinitely easier to contain em then trying to chase them in aitigation way. having said that, what does concern me is that the overlap of the influenza season with another respiratory virus. whereou've got determine the difference of those two. that is reson why i think what we should bdoing is making sure that as we get into the fall, we get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can against influenza to try to the extent possible get that off the table. judy: the white house. you had your firs with president trump we were told this week in perhaps a month or longer. you had a meeting with the white house chief of staff mark meads. just yesterday, he called you irresponsible for a statement you made comparing, saying tt

this pandemic could be worse than the 1918andemic. you have also been attacked, as you know, by the white hous advisor peter navarro. are you convinced that the white house is not tryidiscredit you? . fauci: you know, i think you have got to be careful when you sathe white house. e white house in general is not trying -- certainly, the president does not -- i certainly believe that ma. meadows is n what happened with per navarro inevhe editorial ian' comment on that. that is just beyond my comprehension why he did tha but i do not believe that the white house is trying to discredit me, idy don't. do you think there are ouseviduals in the white who are?dr. fauci: well i alreay mentioned one. judy: s and mark meadowsing you are irresponsible for that comment? dr. fauci: what happened was that was something that was said in another interview where there could have been a so one of the things we wanted

to do was correct that, which i did in an inrview i had just yesterday i believe. i don't think he was calling me irresponsible as a person. i think he was referring to his was going there be some misunderstanding. i don't ve a problem with that. mark and i aren very good terms. judy:e letk it this way. do you think you have the full backing and support ofhe white house from the president on down? dr. fauci: ii do. . i believe i do. i spoke to the president about that. i believe io. judy and why do you think they've been trying to limit your public appearances? dr. fauci: i think it is a question of different messages getting out. the real emphasis right now is onof morrying to get the country opened again and economic messages. i n't thi there is going to be -- yes, it varies. there ar wsome timesn i am

on a lot and sometimes when i'm not. here i am with you. i always like to be in with you. i'm glad they said yes to that. judy:ap and weciate it. we appreciate it. finally and quickly, as you project ahead in the next few months, you are optimistic,ou are realistld, how w you describe your frame of mind? really worried abos.icans are dr. fauci: well, judy, i'm looked upon as a very realistic person. some may even sa pessimistic. but i thinkt is more realistic than it is pessimistic. i'm fundamentally, i have a real bent of optimism in me, butng we are deaith a serious problem that i believe we can handle. so what i don't nt to see is that you say it is a serious problem, you throw up your hands and say, god, we don't have any way of handling it. believe that if we hold together as a country and we do

the thing that i've been talking about in this interview get oou, that we can arms around this and we can turn it around. i'm convinced of that. judy:, dr. anthony fauank you very much for joining us. dr. fauci: as always, judy, it is great to be with you. ♪ stephanie: we will return to the rest of the program after the latest headlines. u.s. supreme court justice announced she has a rurrence of cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. in a statement, she saidha the treatmenalready reduced lesions on her liver. shean also said she has no to retire. ginsberg is 87. washbriefly hospitalized this week. today, the american civil liberties union filed suit against federal agencies that have deployed officers to protests in portland, oregon.

the lawsuit seeks to block federal law enforcement from intervening in the demonstrations that were sparked by the police killing of george floyd. we will have more about why their tactics are controversial in georgia, three white men unarmed black man, ahmaud arbery, ple not guilty today. police say ahmaud arbery was shot and killed after the men spotted him jogging, thought he was a burglar, and chased him down. the pentagon issue a new policy today that effectively bans the confederate flag from military installaons. the pentagon policy never direct mentions the flag or uses the word band. president trump has defended tho righisplay the confederate flag. the federal government has carried oucuits third eon this week. an iowa drug kingpin died by lethal injection this afternoon at a federal prison in indiana. he had been convicted of killing five people in 1993.

federal executions resumed this week after 17 years. a federal judge ruled today that a california programca to cap on emissions is constitutional. the program allows companies in the state to trade emissions credits withompanies in québec, cada. de trump administration s california over the initiative, arguing the state was exceeding auitority by conducting foreign policy. atthe democraticnal committee is telling members of congress not to attend the party's national convention in milwaukee next month because of covid-19. vethe cion will be mostly virtual with delegates voting virtually. republicans have downsized tove their cion in jacksonville, florida, but are still plning for delegates to attend in pern. the democratic chair of the house foreign affairs committee lost his primary to a progressive challenger today. the associated press declared jama bowman the winner.

he campaigned for racial justice and argued engel had lost touch with voters after 16 terms. the primaryasune 24 and it took this long to determine the winner from absentee ballots. nations across south asia are reporting moren tha 220 dead in monsoon flooding. neroly 4 million people bangladesh, bhutan, india, myanmar, and nepal have been cut ofor forced to flee in recent weeks. the dedastation has subme homes and roadways across the these in bangladesh increasingly desperate. >> taken shelter beside a road. our children are with us. we can't get a square meal.' we 't have anything good to eat. you can't imagine how we are getting through this. >> forecasters in bangladesh say the flooding could get worse xt week as two majoedvers overfl knighted today for raising more

than $40illion in pandemic relief. sought donations usin his walker to lap his garden 100 yetimes, one for eac of his life. yes, he is 100. it became a sensation and the ney poured in. today come outside windsor castle, he leaned against his walker as een elizabeth honored him. and with that traditional sword tap, he formally became sir tom. today in atlanta.s leader died he was a close ally of dr. martin luther kingr. and organized freedom rides across the south. he also led efforts to register black voters in selma, alabama, where a white sheriff famously him, galvanizing th movement. president obama rr ognized him s decades of leadership and awarded him the presidentia medal of freed. he was 95 years old. still to come, federal agents

detain d the president's plan to stop protests. the spike insporonavirus hoalizations threatens to system.lm ariza's health care mark shields and david brooks break down the week's political news, plus much more. ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and the wt at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: state and local leaders in portland, oregon, are calling for federal agents to leave the city. those protests were first sparked by the police killing of george floyd. eisince arrival, the federal agents wearing military style gear and sometimes driving s markedhave unleashed tegas, rounded up and detained otprters, and even shop one man -- shop one man in the head

with a nonlethal round causing serious injury. their presence and tactics have raised questions about federal authorities in local cities even when authorities don't want them there. omweto the newshour. we should point out that the protests have been largely peaceful. there has been some vandali and property damage, but you have been following this. when did you first note there were federal agents and not local police and who do wenow that they are? >> so, there are always federal agents at the federa courthouse, but there was an increased psence and they played a much larger role starting around july 4 that is when federal reinforcements came. the u.s. marshall special operations group and customs and border protection, essentially their swat team. that night, july 4, and since t theny have been playing a much more active role clearing

protesters off the streets and some nights right alongside portla police and really venturing away from federal properties onto the city streets in order to effect arrests at times even. amna: there have been a lot of questions around who tho men are in camoufle. do we now know what agency they are from? >> yes, just recently about an hour ago, acting deputy secretary for homeland security ken cuccinelli acknowledged that it was homeland security officers doing itas andally said that this is a tactic they use. the u.s. attorney in orego billy williams announced an investigation, or he requested that the homeland securitra inspector gelaunch an investigation into possible arrests withoutrobable cause. amna: there are questions about their tactics. onyou reported o protester who says he was peacefully protesng on the evening of july 15, taken into custody in an unmarked car by armed men in camouflage.

eom what you h been able to report, what exactly happened? >> so, he has been protesting a couple nights a week this started. that was wednesday night, he was protesting. it is a festive atmosphere som this is one night but there was dancinand music. around 2:30 in the morning, he and a friend walked back to their r. ifou blocks away from the federal courthouse, a mini pulls up, for five guys with rifles jump out. he said his beanie was pulled over his head, blinding him. one officer held his arms above his head while they drove around a little bit and h essential was unloaded inside a building, which only after he was released edd he learn was theal courthouse. while he was in there, they searched histh stuff photographed him, they read him his rights. he was umper thession he was being arrested. he asked for a lawyer.

veryoon after he was released, they didn't gi him any paperwork. theygi didn' him any indication he had been charged with anything. he still isn't sure he's been charged with anything. amna: we should remind people as you mentioned earlier that city and state officn'ls say they 't want federal agents there. what are the agencies tell you about their presence? >> the federaly agencies hat they are here to quell that called it b violence. difficult the protesters criminal. the governor has said that their presence is unwanted. the mayor has said that they should sta inside their ildings and not come out. if they can't do that, they should leave. amna: that is oregon public broadcasting'sonathan levinson joining us with the latest on rothe psts in portland. >> thank you. ♪

amna: as hospitalizations and elated to covid continu to rise nationwide, arizona's downward spirastands out. here is stephanie sy with a closer look at how in action could soon lead to things spinning out of control. stephanie: early hopes that th extreme heat would keep the valley of the son say from covid-19 are gone. for weeks now, the greater phoenix area has rehirded among thest rate of covid positive tests of any place on the planet. at fire station 25 in phoenix i which sitsn the city zip code with the most cases, about half the calls it fields these days are from suspected covid patients in the department itself has had dozens of firefighters fall ill. >> rht now, i really believe we are in the middle of it or it is going to keep rising. we have built out everything to a doomsday scenario of staffing.

it is all hands on deck. >>t's gotten to a point where we have truly had saturation. emergency physici quin snyder works inmesa, >> it is really hard to watch people be out and about and exhibiting dangerousehaviors, t owing that there was a good chance that i mi seeing them in my emergency department. and frankly in a week o two, i might not have room for them. >> i had never seen him this ill before. stephanie: among theore than 2500 arizona ands who have now died of covid-19 is marc anthony -- her beloved father, she now lives in san francisco. >> at firs he responded really well to the treatments. he had a positive spirit. he said, i'm going to be home nexteek. shortly thereafter, he stopped talking toe, us. i was lomething is wrong. it took several hours to get ae doctor on one, who shared with us that your dad's

condition is detiorating and we need to put him on a ventilator. when heard the word ventilator leave the doctor's mouth, i collapsed and just said, no, no, no. ephanie: kristin's dad died june 30. since then, she has been critical of arizona governor handling of the ndemic. >> my dad was a supporter of the governor and the president and was following their advice. so whenever i would call him and y, dad, this is still a crisis, it is not safe to bout there, his response was why would the governor say it was safe if it wasn't safe? stephanie: how do you think we got to this poinin arizona? >> i tnk mistakes were made at many point in the pandemic. the governondhe director of ac dhs decided to lift the strictions in mid-may.

i felt like it was a bad idea. stephanie: governor ducey liftea the sthome order in early may. the governor announced an accelerated pl to reopen business including restaurant dining rooms. e tive wearing masks was becoming highly politicized at the same time. a rally of ai-mask wearers to place on july 4 in phoenix. last month, scottsdale city councilman athis moment. >> i can't breathe! stephani the councilman then dramatically takes his mask off and indignation. >> insanity. >> everyea arizonanour mask. stephanie: even though thern gove has not lamented a mask mandate, he pointed out that communities now have local mask ordinances. >>stherength in numbers here and the more numbers that

are making the better decisions, the better off we will all be. stephanie: cy woods is the new mayor of tempe, recently recovered from a mild case of covid. he wants to strengthen local enforcement in his first days in office. >>hen it comes to masks an social distancing, we are not trying to harass and frustrate residents who want to spend money in our lal ecomy. what we are trying to do is really stop the spread of covid-19 and prevent a second shut down. stephanie: as cases began to surge last month the governor reclose bars, nightclubs, and gyms, but restaurants were allowed to stay open operating at half capacity. >> there have been folks like myself that have begun to press the governor and say, we have to talk about maybe going to outside dining only. the reality is d just weo know more now than we did two or three months ago. stephanie: but dozens of businesses, including this chain

of gs, are defying state orders and suing to stay open. >> we are not the cause of the coronavirus spike. period. stephanie: dr. quin snyder cautions that if pre-pandemic life is allowed to continue, the >> there is this continuing fallacy i find among the leadership in any states across and that people think that you can somehow bless this virus. this virus does not care about your feelings. this virus does not care about your business. we are going to lose if we continue to try to fix the economic cris without first fixing the public health crisis. stephanie: meahile, as arizona s to get a handle on the situation, demand for testing has skyrocketed, with people waiting in line for hours in triple digit heat. >> it has been like six hours now? sthanie:he besidesong lines now for drive-thru tests,

some clinics require referrals and people without symptoms are having a hard time getting appointments. without enough testing and results, it is impossible to figure out who has been infected and should be quarantined, especially becauseany covid infected people may not show symptoms, but may be contagious. the former arizona state health director -- >> if the laboratory test comes later, which h been the recent trend, then your contact tracers are finding the ase after they have already begun to recov expose people in the work like send in their personal lives. stephanie:ed theal government stepped in this week to add testing capacity. hundreds o nurses from out of state have been contracted to staff packed hospitals. but for many, it is too late. 42ear-old ricardo, his wife, and two young children caught the virus, and his parents are still sick. >> where did we get it? i have no idea. labut i do the government for the new cases that are

happening because arizona is tht number oneot right now. our governor is not doing his part, from my point of vw. stephanie: kristin agrees. >> for speaking outas been oxygen to my purpose to continue to fight fory dad. these decisions have real-life impacts. my dad's life mattered and this i believe could have been prevented. ephanie: marc anthony lived in marydale, a predominantly minority area in phoenix that has borne a disproportionate cost in lives and velihoods in the pandemic. he was laid rest on july 8. for the pbs newshour, i'm stephanie sy in phoenix. ♪ amna: we now turn to the political analysis of shields and brooks. syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times columnist david brooks.we

ome back to you both. a very special back, mark.ee we are glad toou again. we heard dr. anthony fauci tell judy a little while ago he believes he has the full backing of the whitese h from the president on down. when you look back at the weekend the criticisms from white house officlsobbing at dr. fauci, what were you thinking? >> i was thinking he is a public treasure. somebody who is so large that he doesn't personalize the criticism, the sniping from the white use that obvusly is both jealous and uet with his candid assessment. has an exceptional ability t explain the mysteries of disease and medicine to americans, including this one. and do so in an unvarnished and

brave way. amna: david, i've got to ask you. the president's criticism another white housels offic of dr. fauci, the lack of response to the pandemic, that has led to some criticism of president trump from within his own party. we have now heard an outright defense of ouchi and criticism of -- fuaci -- fauci and criticism of the president from senior republican officials, what does that say to you now? >> there are a couple of gigantic curves that explain at is going on. one is the curve of the daily infections. that is upes to 77,000 new c day now. the other curve is trump approval and that is zooming down. the third curve is republic party id. if you lk at the numbers, 49%

republican and 47% democrat in jaary. now, it is 50% democrat, 39% republicans, the democrats have an 11 point party id lead. that doesn't happen very oft and republicans are seeing that heandarrightly panicking. they are rationally panicking, which is what they shld be doing every therefore the criticism. amna: speaking of shifts over time, i want to point to pull numbs showing that regardless, presiden trump is losig support am core parts of his coalition from back in 2016 among whit evangicals, support has dropped 16 points. among white men without college degrees he has dropped 15 points. ong rural residents he is down 48%, and 11 point drop. do youook at those numbers and see sns of trouble for the president? sur they are signs of trouble.

make no mistake about it. the reality is this. donald trump has had a very loyal, very consistent cad of support. rather remarkable. one of the most promine and respected republicans in the country said to me today, voters are jt -- and a trump supporter -- he said voters are just tired, they arested. they are tired of the chaos. othey are tirthe melodrama. they are looking for calm. theyre looking for emoonal maturity. as of today, joe biden is the one of the two who holds that bill. amna: david, what do you make of that? speaking of biden, whas all this mean for him? it seems the campaign is very much steady as she goes even as we have seen chaos in the trp campaign, including a campaign shakeup at the very top. the ousting of the campaign manager for theletion of

another's now running the campaign. what does this mean for biden? >> biden is running an underappreciated campaign, i n.ink of every good campa they are keeping him somewhat under wraps, but he is making enough statemes to be in. the ws he has focused his campaign, a part of it, on the white working class. rgthis is a classy e from. it is 44% of the electorate. it is whites withoua college degree. this is a very important part of the republican base.this is the. trump beaclinton in this group at 28%. biden is able to speak to this group. he doesn't offend this group i being a coastal elitist. in the two financial packages he announced this week, money directly at the white working class. i had a chance to interview him this week and he talked abt manufacturing over and over again. getting our industrial ecomy going again. th people who would be hired

would be african-americans and members of this group. so he is directly talking stight at them. if he can take the white working class away from the republicans, then he has re-created the new deal coalition and realigned our politics. mark, what do you make of the way that biden has been messaging and laying out these new policy proposals? wenow that there persists that enthusiasm gap when you look at the numbers. re people are saying they are enthusiastic about supporting mr. trump then say they arebo enthusiastic supporting biden. is whate is doing enough and sustainable through november? >> first of all, i stand he finished a weak fifth in hampshire.th new he was given up for dead by many of us. he went on to win in south carolina and sweep to the nomination without ever compromising and capitulating on

the shiny objects of medicareve for all or wha else he had against that.to standing i think as we look at it right now, donald trump, voters havmi made up thei about him. the five national polls this month, donald trump is at 37%, 39 percent, 41%, and 40%. they have made up their mind they don't want donald trump for another term. i think joe biden is very much in the position ronald reagan was in 1980. voters had decided it was a close race between jimmy cartga and ronald r voters have really decided they didn't want carterack for a second term, but they had doubts or reservations. that one debate ronald reagan put those doub to rest by showing that he was ,nonthreateni didn't want to start world war iii, and was a reasonable person. quite bluntly, that is what joe biden has to do.

hein can win by not donald trump. he can win a realg ictory by becisive and effective in a debate. those debates are going to the only time that there is going to be really a major event involving the two candidates all year. we are not going to have the rallies and the bandwagons and the baoons. this is going to be at. joe biden ought to spend three hours every day just preparing an re-preparing and comparing and getting his story down. because that will be the test. amna: david, do you agree with that? the next few months and not going to look like any other last few mons leading up to a general election. do you think those numbers for president trump will hold given that we have no idea what will happen with the pandemic next? >> i don't see how they turn around. there must be a wayhey may i don't know the future. i just don't see an occasion -- i agree that the american public

has made up their mind. s?but who kn you would not want to bet much money on the trump nelection righ. as for biden, i've interviewed him many times over st 20 years, and the biden i heard this whek wasame guy that i've been interviewing this whole time. the idea that he has lost a step, if s it s not evident in our conversation. i'm admiring the way he's running the campaign. i think the economic populist message, the left-wingsi v, is the right way to go. he has not done the things that would offend the middlhe electorate. given this week, he said i'm not for defunding the police. that is by far a majority position in this country. it is by far a majority position in the democratic party. so, they areamunning aign. i would prepare for the debates, as mark says. i hadn't thought about it until this moment that that is really the only possibleurng point we are probably going to see. amna: so before happens in november, i have to

ask you about some eleco on results weready have and can talk about. we saw jeff sessions lose in alabama. in maine, sarah gideon is going to be the candidate rning against susan collins. that is a race that you have been following. what do you and what do you think that means? >>s susan collinst to be writn off. she is 24 years in the senate. she has survived wins and all sorts of problems in tha state, but i thinkhis year she is in trouble. she is tied to donald trump. even though she has established an independent record over the year she is very much tied in voter'' mind. she will run better than donald trump in maine. i think if domald trump loses e decisively, susan collins is in troubl isas far as jeff session concerned, he was donald trump without the meanness before trump on immigration and trade, and because he took that one

stand of recusingca himself, he donaldrump's lifelong enemy even though he was the e first senator orse him. and trump eggs asked it -- exacted his pound of flesh by ending his career in alabama and it shows trump's power in alabama with republican voters. amna: david, what about you? when you look at the results this week, what messages do they or what we could see dow the line? >> the sessions race provesre wy blicans are walking to their doom and not defending trump. if thedefect from trump, they lose their people. ifon the't, they lose the rest of the country. susan collins, sheon with 69% of the vote six years ago. s timehave changed in her approvals are way down. in the upper 30's in o poll i saw. people want change. s that in the engele. r people are disgusted with the way the country is being run right now. if you are a me

republican, like moderate decrat, it is not a great place to be right now. and i say that with some evident sadness. amna: before we go, i have to ask you about another story. absentee ballots we have seen them play a much bigger role in the primary election this year androbly continue to be through the general election. reports about tenof of thousands bsentee ballots or mail ballots being rejected so far. how big an issue do you think this is going to be and what kind of an impact do you think it couldave moving forward? >> it is a major issue.. think about new emrk thre state. they voted june 23. we got the results today. you are right, people are unfamiliar with voting by mail. we have a national pandemic. we have an obligation as a nation to make it possible and easy for people to ve. that their vote is counted.

i think every officeholder has that responsibility. certainly every governor. s it is obviat the trump campaign is not interested in a huge turnout, but i really don't think they will be able to stop at this year. the enthusiasm is higher right now than it has been in october of past presential years and the interest. i think we will have an enormous turnout. a lot we do not yet know and a lot of questions, especially amid this pandemic. david brooks and mark shields, always good to talk to you, especially at the end of thisk. particular wee thank you so much and please stay safe. >> thanks. ♪ amna: as we discussed tonight, the coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate communities and has taken a toll on countless families.

enow, take a moment to remember some of the lives lost. ♪ >> lloyd cornelius porter was gregarious, entertaining, and loving. hisrother said he carried in the spir of their mother, a minister,ti by people in his brooklyn neighborhood cafés. heelcomed the customers and his wife cooked. also a professional family said his sparkle and wit came through in his 11-year-old daughter. he was 49 years old. she worked in public service spanning five decades in several countries. she was an advocate for those with disabilities in liberia and help established the first women's resource center in grenada. e moved the u.s. and settled in new york. after she was diagnosed with parkinson's in 2014, she bece a self advocate, probably participating in the annual unity walks.

a dedicated mother and grandmother, her family said she was ambitious and resilient, ways holding her head high in the face of adversy. she was 73. 62-year-old patricia wilke was devoted to her career asar pharmacist iona. she met her husband, pharmacy technician in the air force. understanding mother to theirand five children, including three sons w followed in their footsteps and found work in the pharmaceutical injury -- industry. ted called patty his best friend. thoughtful, cheerful, and loved by everyone,he ty would have celebrated 40 years of marriage this year. lebrian m was blind for most of his life, but he refused to through his work at the department of education and various advocacy groups in the waington, d.c., area, he helped institute policies to aid the blind. omhis said he had great energy

and a love for history, music, and travel. that included his plan to visit 100 different countrmes in his life he made it to 65. he was 52 years old. 28-year-old jamesas simpson enough natural at connecting with others. his family called him a gentle giant with a smile and energy that could light up her room. growing up in foster carin sacramento, he developed a passion for helping young people. he served as a camp counselor and mentored other foster teens. after moving to washington in 2015, he began counseling youth at a mental health facility. those who knew him said despite s fe's challenges, he was selfless and alwsitive. ♪ amna: all examples of lives well lived. i think y to all their friends and family for sharing their stories with us. that is theniewshour for t. have a great weekend. thank you. please stay safe, and good

nigh [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, caption content and accuracy.] >> major funding has been provided by -- >> when the world gets complicated a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, advice and recommendations to your life. that is fidelity wealth management. ♪ >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. >the william and flora cuyler foundation. for moren t years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to support a better wod. ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. skoll foundation. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these instituons. ♪

and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for publi broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers lane you. you. ♪ ♪ >> this is pbs newshour west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state iversity. ♪ ♪ >>

tonight schools announce plans to reopen with most going digital. our congresswoman joins us on what schools need to make wo education for all students this fall. plus baarea foodie superstar alice waters joins us to discuss racial injustice in the business industry and how g the coronavirus is shap her business and gardens. could the coronavirus be better? rience the experts from the podcast datable tell us about dating in the bay area during the pandemic . welcome to kqed newsroom. it is hard to be eve but are just a few weeks away from schools reopening for the fall semester. today gov. gavin news