captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening.ju i' woodruff. on the newshour tonight: no deal. the white house and congressional democrats so far fail to reach an agreement on the next covid relief bill, as american deaths from the virus top 160,000. then, feeling the pain. although the unemployment rate fell in july, millions of americans are out of work and struggling to get by. >> i have been fighting for unemployment for the weeks that i did not work. rather, the months that i did not work. d i have still yet to ge money for that. it has taken us down to zero. >> woodruff: and it's friday. s

maelds and david brooks breadown the congressional debatever coronavirus spendingco and the ng party conventions. all that and more onht's pbs newshour. >> majorunding for the pbs newshour haseen provided by: >> when it comes to wireless, consumer cellular gis its

customous the choice. no-contract plans give you as much-- or as little-- talk, text and data as you want, and our u.s.-based customer service team is on hand to help. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the john s. and james l. knight fouation. fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing supports of thesetutions: and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporatron for publiccasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: negiations on more covid economic relief have

stalled in washington tonightt amid signs tthe recovery has stalled as the virus surges again. according to the labor department, employers added a net of 1.8 million jobs in july, far fewer than the previous two months. the unemployment rate fell nearly a full point-- to 10.2%-- but that's still higher than during the great recession. against that backdrop, white house negotiators and democrati leadiled again to agree on a relief package, possibly including federal jobless benefits that expired ago. senate minority leader chuck schumer and house speaker nancy pelosi met with treasury secretary steven mnuchin and meadows.use chief of staff mark they spoke afterward, at the capitol.>> e're asking them again to beto faireet us in the middle, highway attitude,' theyr the ldem to have.

>> anyway, i've hem. come back when you're ready to give us a higher numbe >> we will continue to try to get an agreement that's in the best interest of the people and that's why we're here. >> but in the meantime we're going to take executive order to try to alleviate some of the pain people are experiencing. this is not a perfect answ'l, be the first ones to say that but it is all that we can do .nd >> woodruff:ere with the latest on these negotiations are our own lisa desjardins d yamiche alcindor. , so hello to both of you, and, lisa, to you first, what is known about what they actually were able to negotiate or discuss behind closed doors, and what do we know about what thema sticking points are? >> right. a little bit more on what you just reported, judy. democrats offered to take down their offer about $1 trillion to the 2 trillion-dollar area, let's say. but reblicans said that really what democrats were doing was changing the timeline of

spending, some spending they waed to v perhaps, two years -- i'm sorry, ey wante three years and democrats were moving it to two years. essentially republicid they don't think it's real money, they didn't see a ral change in the items democrats were asking for.ne eless, democrats say they've made a good faith offer and are waiting for republicans to make the next move. >> woodruff: we hea wte house chief of staff mark prepared to take actionident is unilaterally ohis own. what is known about how the white house sees the wy forward now? >> well, the whi house is taking the stance demoats are not taking these negotiations seriously. that is mething that democrats disagree with. i want to read to you a tweet the president sent in the last hour. he wrote, pelosi and schumer are only interested in bailout money for poor democrat cities and states, nothing to do with the virus. we're going a defense way.

that different way is the exn utive actu just alluded to. the president, i'm told frome whuse officials, is looking at several different options incroluding a pa tax initiative, something to do with student loans, soe sort of movementn unemployment benefits. this was a selimposed for the white house wa move for on its own and looking only to doing executshe actions. ld note that the white house is saying they feel they will be on firm legal groundes when it coo executive order, but democrats disagree and says a lot of the this the president wants to do he simply cann do only which executive order. >> woodruff: so amid this impasse over croches relief, there were also new developments today on another major issue, the security of this nov elections. a top u.s. intelligee official william evanina released a statement that details theen intell community's current assessment of potential foreign

inteerence. william evanina raised concernch abouna, russia and iran. on chinese influence he says intelligence agencies assess that china prefers president trump as bei sjis as unpredictable does not win reelection, and that russia is usg a range of measures t primarily denigrate formersi vice pnt biden. in a follow-up statement, the two leaders of the senate intelligence committee, republican marco rubio an democrat mark warner, say the encourage political leaders on all sides to refrain from weaponizing plilt political matters for gain. a lot to swaatllow. o we see in the statement from intelligence community that already adds to what we knew about possibility of foreign intersneerns.

>> evanina is seen as almost an american patriot, a long-ti civil ser van. they also say democrats say there's a difference between what china and russia is going, that russia is acting on thepair lities more than china, russia acting to take down vice president biden both parties are worried the american public is not rdy for what may be ahead. >> woodruff: and, yamiche, in terms of the white house, wha are they saying about this? are they saying that they plana toe any particular steps to address it? >> the white house todays officill me are really focused on making sure theirel tions are say. they say they won't tolerate foreign interference and are workinges with 50 sts well as social media companies to keep the elections safe. president trump is loathe to talk about interference, first in 2016 when it was said russia

was interfering on his behalf and now the same thing. the president is focus opened mail-in voting, saying there's wiempedz fraud. democrats say the president is not focused enough on this issue. >> woodruff: all right, weller itinly has raised a lot of questions and i know both of you will continue to follow thsat as well the path forward over the negotiations over coid relief. yamiche alcindor, lisa desjardins, ank you. >> sure thing. >> woodruff: in thday's other news: the death toll from the massive beirut port explosion reached 154 with more than 5,000 hurt. more bodies were found today as french rescue teams and others searched the area. with that operation underway, thhead of the powerful zbollah militia insisted his iranian-backed group is not to

blame. >> (anslated ): i wholeheartedly deny that there is anything that belongs to us in the port. no warehouse for weapons, rockets, no guns, no bombs, no ngbullets, no nitrate, not absolutely, not now, and not in the past, never. >> woodruff: lebanese president michael aoun vowed to investigate all possible causes. >> an air india express flight crashed and broke in two, trying to land today in heavy rain in southern india. at least 16 people were killed, and more than 120 hurt. doctors and rescuers worked through bad weather to reach survivors. the 190-passenger flight carried pele who'deen stranded abroad by the pandemic. britain says it will crack down on a wave of migrants crossing the english channel from franceh ities yesterday picked up

at least 235 people ll boats, a one-day record. more migrants were found asea today. smuggling and goodray organized reweather are behind the ie. china has fired back after president trump banned u.s. smpanies from doing busin with the chinese owners of we-chat and tik-tok.iv new execorders could bar distribution of the social media apps within the u.s. in 45 days. mr. trump says they share datase with the chiovernment. but beijing says the accusation is baseless. >> ( translated ): under the pretext of national security, the u.s. frequently abuses its state power and unjustifiably cracks down on non-u.s. companies. this is a blatant act of bullying and china is firmly opposed to it. >> woodruff: also today, the u.s. imposed economic sanctions

on carrie lam, the pro-beijing leader of hong kong. she's accused of helping implement a tough new chinese security law in the city. a federal appeals court in washington says house democrats may pursue a fight to subpoena former white house counsel don mcgahn. they want to know whether president trump tried to obstruct the russia probe.th white house argues mcgahn has legal immus ty. todaling revives the democrats' lawsuit, but there'sr little time olve the issue before the current congress ends in january. jerry falwell, jr. is taking a enleave of absence as pres and chancellor of liberty university. the evangelical christian school statement this afternoon. the recent days falwell apologized over photos he posted online, one showed his pants unzipped, and his arm ound a young woman.

>> wall street struggd wall street struggled to make headway today, as investors poreover the july jobs repor the dow jones industrial average gained 46 points to close at the nasdaq fell 97 points, and the s&p-500 added 2. and brent scowcroft has died. ty was the only person to serve as national secudviser in his first stint caer president gerald ford in 1975. he served again under president george h.w. bush, 14 years later. scowcroft helped fashion u.s.th policy oend of the cold war, the first gulf war and and he remained a close observer of the world. in 2011, he talked withji lehrer on the newshour about online organizing in the arab p spritests. >> now the world is politicized. for most of our history, the

average man didn't know what was going on in anything other than his own village. and he didn't care much. w now everybody hin eyesight they hear what's going on.dio. >> or one of those little those little instruments. >> that's right, whatever. activated by it.they're >> woodruff: brent scowcroft was 95 years old. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour: americans struggle financially ms top oneyment cl million for the 20th straight week. mohio's republican governe dewine discusses the ongoing response to the coronavirus. an unexpectedly contentious election in belarus could mean the end for a president known as "europe's last dictator." and much more.

>> woodruff: the economy is getting back some of the jobs lost during the start of the pandemic and the shutdow that followed. but, as we reported at the top of the program, that job growth seems to be slowing. millions still don't have work yet and many have lost some fincial aid and benefits. given both of those problems, we wanted to hear from some of our viewers out what they're dealing with right now. hes.'s some of what you told >> my name is d'aaron hart. >> my name is amy scheide. >> my name is jason williams. >> my name is antonio cr martinez. >> my name is deanna korrell hall. >> the extra $600 in unemployment benefits was extremely helpful. you know, i could spend a little extra on some groceries, you know, get a little bitfood to have >> the standard unemployment, it wasn't going to cover our gusehold bills.

but then when the us the extra $600 a week, that didn't replace my entire salary. but it was rea really close to what i made after taxes which >> i own a catering company and bistro. we spend every moment either trying to figure out how to make this dream stay alive and how to come out of it in a way where we will eventually be able to retire, it's emotionally exhausting. >> i have been fighting for unemployment for the weeks that rather, the months that i did not work. and i have still yet to get money for that. it has taken us down to zero. all of our accounts are zero now. >> i've been a d.j. for the last ten years. i haven't received any federalds covid relief fr any funds of any sort. i don't gig worker, like on how to get moy, the wait line for the

unemploynt is just so long and having to sell things is one of the things that i've unfortunately had to resort to that, which isltimately very heartbreaking. >> so the extra $600 ended july 31st and my lease agement is up august 31st. i've had to decide to move back in with my mom, which luckily she, you know, is totally fine with that. but it still is stressful because i don't know, you know, what's next. >> the extra unemployment has been, it's been awesome. but if it gowe too far down, l definitely be back underwater. >> the kinds of nversations that we've had to engage in since this began, both with customers and with staff, i have to come home, take a minute, breathe, steel myself, and then dial that phone and hang up and sob, quite frankly. >> if i don't start making a pretty good amount of money in

five, six months, then i will have nothing left >> it's like, okay, i'm down to my change ja now and i'm going to have to cash my change jars in, i'm going to have to recycle the metal that's sitting in my yard.or i'm justed that i'm not going to have enough money to survive, it's not even to bein able to do anyextra. the fallout of allis andabout how it's playing out in the heartland from ohio's governor ke dewine. he tested negative for the coronavirus last night - jusst hours after g positive. governorwe're glad to know that you did test negative. i want to ask you about testing in just a moment, but let's start with theno eco and employment, because we do have new unemployment numbers out today. they did slightly improve this past month, but overall, as you just heard, a lot of americans still feeling very stressed. tell us what you're hearing from ohioans about the jobs picture and unemployment. >> well, we have some people like those that you just interviewed who, you know, are

very worried, they're worriedg about paye rent. you know, when we look at our astate revenues the coming in, one of the things that our economists say is that it's clear that this money that congress -- extra unemployment money, you know, was very valuable for the individuals who got it and was also, frankly, very valuable for the economy and other peop, so it had a real ripple effect. people spent it and it really was very, very significant. so we hope congress comes up a wiompromise here and gets something done. >> woodruff: governor, let's etalk about your tst. as you said, you first tested positive yesterda then negative, and i understand you're going to have another test tomorrow. what ds this experience, though, tell you about the stati of tes right now in this country? >> well, you know, judy, the second test i had, which is kind of the golstandard, is the test that almosevery one of your viewers who are watching this, at least those from ohio,

ohve gotten. about 1.3 milliooans have been tested, over # 0% have bee this particular -- 90% has been this particular type of test. the first test wa quick test, an antigen test. i'm not a scitist, but they tell me they're measuring the protein which is on the coronavirus itself, and they're not as reliable. i'm told they'reroughly 70% reliable. usually, if it's wrong, its a false negative. i guess i'm one of the strange ones, fget alse positive. but the test that we took yesterday at ohio stateds afterwand then they ran it twice, and my wife was tested as well, thlly is the gold standard and it's what mostte people -- th most people have received. i think all the states are really looking, t, you knw do we improve the testing but how do we ramp this testing up.

and this antigen test may play le. we're looking a it to see how we may use it, but you have to accept the fact that youet a quick result, but the result is not nearly as reliable as, you know, as it would be i in a diagnostic test. >> woodruff: you and five governors have signed a compacto tok together to pool resources to ramp up testing in all five or six of these states, but here we are, governor, more than six months into when the first case of covid was discered in thunited states, and we still are behind on testing. should something have been done sooner at the national level or in some nationally coordinated way to get us to a better place than we are right now? >> well, judy, we all wish we had more testing. it's been a problem for most states, maybe all states. we've lagged behind in testing, frankl we've never been a state that was red hot. you know, so, the priorities

have nver been towards ohio, and like it that wa in the sense we don't want to be red hot, but, you know, were need mo testing in ohio. we've tripled the testing in ohio. we're averaging 22,000, 23,000 tests a day. frankly we need to double it agaiand then need todouble it after that. so we're moving, we're trying to sense of expanding our labs in ohio. i try to own some of that. we're also reaching out to a lot of different companies. s the marketing arting to move, finally. more companies are offering different types of tests that ape out there, but the lesson, i think, from whatned with me is we've got to be careful, we've got to make sure we get reliable tests, and we've got to try to get our time down -- two things, get our tests back quicker and, al, get more tests and more capacity. that, plus theia sdistancing and wearing the masks, those are the three thiangs, the msks, the social distancing and the

quicker tests and get those atsts back, th the key to us being able to go out and, u know, resume our lives. you know, i tell people that's kseedom. the mare freedom. social distancing gives us freedom and these tests give us freedom. >> woodruff: and, governor, there have been a couple of in-depth reports that have been accomplished in the last few days looking at why the unitedn statesl of our resources and welted is one of the worst countries on the planet with regard to covid and it points to mistakes made in the beginning and throughout. what do you look to here? i know you said a moment ago you dont to spaned lot of time looking back, but could-should washington, should the leadership at the national level have been more forceful in taking this seriouslynd getting people to respond and pouring more resources into it?

>> judy, i think there are a couple of big ons we need to take away from this. one lesson is we have to invest in public health. democrats and republicans alike health the way we should.c we've got to do it at the national level, we'vgot to do it at the state level, and we've got to be committed to that for the long run. the long-term lesson is we can't rely on other countries to particular the products we need in regards to medical care, we've got make more ofem right here in the united states. >> woodruff: finally, governor, quickly, presidential election, president trump was in ohio yesterday talking about the campaign. among other things, he spoke about joe biden, said that joe biden is against e bible, against god, that he wants to hurt god.is his the kind of message that you think is the path to victory for the president? >> i think the path to victory is for the president to -- you know, to focus on the basic

thine . you know, esident, until this coronavirus came along, our economy was doing well. i'm optimistic, if we t gets ching thing behind us, we'll see our economy flip bak . i the president needs to talk about that, his vision there. you knoo for those of us wh are more conservative, we're very ppy with his court appointments to not just the supreme court but to the crcuit court and the district court i think those are some of the things the president will focus on. >> woodruff: we're going to leave there. governor mike dewine of ohio. glad that test came back negative. thank you. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: on sunday, voters in barus head to the polls i the most contested election in decades. president alexander lukashenko has been called europe's last dictator.

he has led belarus with an iron fist for 26 years, accused of human rights abuses, stifling dissent, and running sham elections. but he now faces an unprecedented challenge. and as nick schifrin reports, the opposition is led by women, who have taken up the mantle of resistance. >> schifrin: in belarus, behind every good man is a better woman in this case, three of them. kalesnikava, and svyatlana tsikhanouskaya. three women who just a fewmo hs ago were in the background, now saluted aser superhs, taking on europe's longest serving leader. >> ( translated ): the government got rid of strong candidates. but they didn't know: every strong man has a strong woman that supports him. >> schifrin: 37-year-old tsikhanouskaya was a former english teacher and homemaker

who was married to an opposition politician running for president when he was arrested in may in broad daylight. now, as a presidential candidate herself,sikhanouskaya is trying to turn her husband'so moment intmovement with the the campaign of anothero managed opposition candidate viktar babaryka before he wested, and tsapkala, who managed the campaign of her husband, an opposition candidate forced to flee the country with their children. ( chanting ) together, they've helped inspire the largest protests in decades ancalled for a national reckoning. >> ( translated ): as long as i can remember, i have been living a lie. this endless lie. i want this lie to finally end. >> ( translated ): i am tired of being patient. i am tired of being silent. i am tired of being afraid. and you - are you tired of being patient? >> the three of them together have just mobilized the belarusian people like we've never seen bef >> schifrin: matthew rojansky directs the wilson center's kennan institute. he says the government's

targeting the orpoinal male option candidates, helped crystallize long-standing anger. >> they became politicalei martyrs: arrested, being pushed out of the country.ly that was obvio slap in the face to the voters and people. when you run this kind of, you know, tight fist authoritarian regime and you leave no room for dissent, no room for people to voice their opposition in a meaningful way, you know, almost any pressure release valve is going to get a lot of pressure coming through it. >> schifrin: aleksander lukashenko took power ee 1994, only tears after the country's independence from the soviet union. he was elected on a platform of anti-corruption.s but his critlled him a european dictator, rigging elections, and enabling widespread graft and corruption. for months protesters sick and tired of authoritarian governance and a weak economy, wielded sliprs to "squash" president they called a cockroach. police responded in force - plainclothes officers detained journalists and activists

and made widespread arrests. last week authoritiealso arrested russian mercenaries, accusing them of terrorist attacks to destabilize belarus. but days later, lukashenko pledged allegiance to moscow. >> ( translated ): russia has always been and will always be our closest ally, no matter who is in power in belarus or russia. >> schifrin: covid further eroded public trust. belarus has one of europe's highest per capita infection rates. lukashenko eventually tested positive, but at first, he t call virus a psychosis, and said it was treatable with vodka and saunas. and at a crowded hockey game, he denied its existence. understand.ated ): i don't there are no viruses here. did you see any of them flying around? >> schifrin: individual belarusians came to the rescue. >> we try to survive. we like, we are really interestin we help each other. >> schifrin: anna gorchakova is the director of the belarusiandr ch's hospice. she contracted covid and told me

ernditions in the hospital so bad, she had to help other patients.et civil sogroups like #bycovid19 prepared meals for poorly supplied s althcare workd gathered supplies for overwhelmed hospitals. the shortages cemented anger at an ineffective governmen >> and now is the time to think who i am, what i want? i am ready to change country. i am ready to change health system. >> schifrin: early voting is already underway. and despite the opposition's momentum, lukasheka controls the election apppeatus, and is ed to beeclared the winner. the extent of protests, will c determine whes next. >> if you have tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets in minsk and in the major cities across belarus, that's when i might expect him to turn out the belarusian paratroops and the belarusian riot police en masse.ot whether ort's the end of the line for lukashenko, for belarusians, there's hope in the first real alternative in decades.

>> schifn: for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: yesterday marked 75 years since tg atomic bomb hiroshima,ia pan. the attack shocked the world but it would be another yer before americans would get firsthand accounts fropeople who lived through it. thanks to new yorker writer joh heresy. author lesley blume has a new book about hersey and how hispo reporting d the bomb's lasting damage, which the u.s. government tried to downplay. and she spoke with jeffrey brown as part of our continuing coverage of this solemn anniversary. this is also parof "canvas" >> brown: august 6, 1945: the

future of warfare and humanity itself would change-- when the u.s. detonated a single atomic bomb over hiroshima, japan. but while everyone saw the mushroom cloud, it would be a year before e world fully understood what had happened on the ground that day, a story told in the pages of "the new yorker" magazine by journalist john hersey. >> we know what the aftermath of nuclear warfare looks like because john hersey showed us. >> brown: in her new book," fallout", author leslie blume explores how hersey came to e a profoundly influenti work-- she calls it "one of the most important works of journalism ever created"-- that >> even if people,ventualnce. readers, could not understand the physics that went into the nuclear bomb or they couldn't they could certainly relate to the stories of six regular people >> brown: the bomb in hiroshima, followed days later by one destroying nagasaki, led to japan's surrender and ecstatic celebrations of a hard-earned american victory the u.s. government justified use of these experimental

weapons as necessary to end the war but, blume writes, covered up the bombs' horrifying impact on humans, including the after- efcts of radiation. >> on the one hand, they wanted to showcase the might of their weapon because they now had a weapon that nobody else did. o but on ter hand, they didn't want to reveal the true devastation of the bomb, and also reveal the fact that it was a weapon that went on killingng fter detonation in a really gruesome way. was just 31 but already a veteran war correspondent. >> he had seen the worst of human nature. and he felt that at the end of what remains the deadliest conflict in human history, the only way that human civilization had a chance of surviving is if niwe began to see the huma in each other again. >> brown: he was also a writer: his 1944 novel, "a bell for adano" won the pulitzer prize for fiction. working with legendary newdi yorkerrs harold ross and william shawn, hersey proposed a novelistic approach: tell the

tersecting stories of si individuals who'd crossed paths >> a lot of the reg that had been done on the major devastation used by the bombs. it was rendered in a very you know, eye-of-god ks d of way, "t the end of days," and you were just seeing massive roiling mushroom clouds. and so what hersey decided to do was to dial it back from sort of a point of view of god narrative to the point of view of six regular folks on the ground. >> brown: the subjects included two doors, two clergy, a widow caring for three children, and a young clerk. the humanizing style is there from the famous first li: "at exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, on august 6, 1945, japanese timeat the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above hiroshima, miss toshiko sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the east asia tin works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next

desk." >> and instead of being incinerated on the spot, she was most crushed by falling bookshelves and was covered in books.wh an hersey met her andor heard her he foundng himselthint was incredibly ironic that this life was nearly taken by books in the first moments the atomic age. and even when he was still in hishima, he knew that he was going to write about that in his own article. >> brown: that article would take up the entire issue of the new yorker on august 31, 1946 rid would itse become a bombshell, captung headlines around the world. in book form, it has sold more than 3 million copies. there is much more to the tale blume tells, incling the surprising role of general lesley groves, one of the leaders of the manhattan project, who tried to suppress information about the bomb, but then s benefits to hersey's reportin and years later, a bizarre appearance by one of hersey's

subjects, reverend kiyoshi tanimoto, on an isode of "this your life". >> they trotted out not only people from his life but they even trotted out one of the bombers from the enola gay who had bombed hiroshima and forced a meeting beeen the two, the two gentlemen. and it's some pret skin- crawling stuff for sure. >> brown: john hersey donated work to the american red cross. he didn't return to japan for 40 ars, wrote many more books, and died in 1993. it's been argued that that article and then the book afterwards played an important role in the fact that nuclear weapons have not been used since. b do yieve that? >> well, john hersey definitely believed that. a lot of people don't realizehe how perilousuclear landscape is right now. the lletin of the atomic scientists, which has its famous doomsday clock, has now set it closer to dnight, i.e., a nuclear apocalypse than it has

ever been since its advent in the late 1940s one of the things that john hersey was especially rried about by the time the cold war accelerated again in the 1980s was that the memory of hiroshima was fading. and if you didn't have the memory as a deterrent anymore,t it wasing to be as potent a deterrent. and i thinrethat remns a ly crucial question today. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: now we turn to the weekly political analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times columnist david brooks. hello to both of you. so, david, let's start by looking at what hasn't happened between the white house and repumicans and the deocrats in

the congress on what kind of, if any, reliefto continue to offer americans in this pandemic. i guess the evidence couldn't be any pliner, more than 30 million americans are out of work but still no ageement. what do you make of it? >> you be, every sort of system inhis country failed during the covid, and one thing didn't fail and that was congress. congress actually got some money out the door and, for one, part of our system worked, and now it's not working andeth going to apparently go to the white house with executive orders, which is a disaster on two levels. on the first level, it's a breakdown of our democracy. we have ar stong congressional system where the congress is supposed to spend the money, and that isn't working, appartly. second, you just can't do tht much with an executive order. we've dot 10% unemployment, we'vgot whole industries shut down. there's just not a lot donald trump can do without congress. >> woodruff: and we'r hearing, mark, that we may be

just moments away from the president talking in a news conference at 7:0eastern about what he proposes to do. we're not sure ,at that is but here we are, as david said -- and they have beenoralking days and days, the house passed a legislation back in may, and here we are i agust, and there's nothing. wh >> well, judy, obviously, it's not going to be of any poltoical advantag either party tos stalemate in whington, but i think that the truth has to be addressed and that ishat the democrats did pass a plan, they do have a plan, they do ve a united position, and there is no republican plan. it's a repeat of healthcare, there iso republican pla the president, the autr of "the art of the deal" has been missing, he hasn't even participated, and mitch mcconnell, in a moment -- a burst of candor, said he did not have the votes

he would have to pass anything with democratic votes, and that's the plitical reality o it. it is -- david's right, theo legislative ss is infinitely preferable to executive orders. i mean, just is. this is no this is no answer, but that is the political reality of the situation. >> woodruff: but, david, you know, we're not in the room, we don't s ow what exactlying said, but the democrats report they've offered to cuth teir 3 trillion down to 2- there, cut it by a trillion and say is there some way to fid compromise. they are saying the republicans said no to that. why -- why can't they getth sog done, i guess is my question? >> yeah, well, theupare have the 1 trillion on the table and why they couldn'split the math is a bit of a mystery. i guess two things, a lot of bpublicans are worriedut deficits, a lot of rublicans are worried if you give people a

lot of money, they will not go back to work, something economic studies have not found so far. isi guess what's missing n underlying economic analysis about how much we need, and i'm not sue, we need 3.4. some economists think we only need arillion right now and, so, the numbers seem to be untied to the level of need. what's clear, though, is that we are in the midst of just a tremendous economic crisis. the idea that the crisis is over is not true and that this is a time to err on e side of largeness. but why they just can't split the difference is aystery to me. >> woodruff: and, mark, who will pay a political price, or will anybody pay a political >> well, i think, when people start suffering, and there's faphic evidence there people without shelter, children going ngry in this country, then it will come back to the president

and his administration because, in the final ana ilysis, hes the single natnal leader. so, in that sense, it will redown to te determined, the disadvantage, i think of the republicans. but, you know, it's human tragedy we're talking about, judy, it really is, and's one that the president is ill fid for. donald trump is talking about optimistic projections, openg schools, returning to work, and that isn't his stck and trade. his stock and trade is doom and gloom. he's a five minutes to midnight republicannot a five minutes to sunrise republican like reagan or jack kemp. so, unlike bill clinton, who had a great gift for empathy, for actually feeling the pain of citizens with problems, donald trump has translated into a "this is a great disadvantage to

me and it's my pain anmd i' feeling it," and i really think he's headed fo political disaster but, more importantly, a public tragedy. >> woodruff: and, david, as were have beeorting today, there was some -- yes, the unemployment rate has dropped which the number of new jbs being added is not as much as it had been, this recovery see to be slowing. what do we see in terms of leadership either from the president or anyone else that is going to pull th country through this? e pandemic continues to rage around the country. >> it'seirdly a failure of political opportunism it's clearly to donald trump's advaage to get te economy coming back in the fall. so he's not doing what's in his clear political interest because the party has convinced itself

e importantts are mor than the immediate crisis. that goes to a larger failure of the republicans. for decades, political psychologists said republicansr are differentm democrats because republicans have a sense of menace, they're quicker to perceive threat. that has not happened. in this case of cov, economic or health-wise, the decades of political psychology have totally been turned on their head, and they have been turned on their head for one reason, donald trump, he's the one who decided it wasn't a severe threat eitherno ecocally or physically, and the republican party followed him. it's a lesson in powerful partisanship, that the basic psychology oa movement cn change if one leader says change. >> woodruff: mark, go ahead. i just wanted to pick up on david's point. it's obvious to me that the republicans think the democrats are going to win in november. why do i say that? because the only time history -- check it out -- the only time

republans talk about deficits when there's a democrat in the white house. they're just coming off four yars of republican codtrol a what did they do? they ran up the deficit in af timencredible national prosperity, of low national unemployment. they increased the national deficit, the annual deficit, an the national debt. but now the prospect of joe biden and the deocrats taking over, deficits become a moral issue to thlie repns. a little hypocrisy here? maybe. >> woodruff: so, david, speaking of joe biden, the democratic national convention, such as it is, is going to start aout ten days from now week from monday. we've learned that not only there are no major speakers, including joe biden himself, are not even going to milwaukee, 's going be a convention like nothing we've seen before. the republican national convention, the president has id, he may give his acceptance speech from washington, from tht

house. is all of this going to have a bearing on how this election unfolds, or how do you see it? >> yeah, i think so.um first, donald should not be allowed to give from the white house. wetave arict bifurcation between political office and govern yg bodies and should not do politics from that kind of office. even congressmen have to go across the strieet to rse money because we have a strict bifurcation andeth an important principle to keep. as for conventions, people are askingf we need them. i have to confess,. mourn the lo the conventions are a part of the education of the electorate and they're an important part of making decisions. tw they may turn into a minor tv show, andink the power of them will be diminished and, with them, the power of the rty will be diminished because it's an opportunity for the entire party to express itselfa and not juseader. so i stick with the -- i want to stick with the convention so maybe we can have them normally.

i hope we go back to tht. >> woodruff: i'm actually with you on that. you and mark will be with me and our entire team for the week of the democratic convention, three hours evght or as long as it goes and the same thing for vention.blican con mark, how do you see this sort of shrinking convention in person but more of a program online and onev telion, how do you see that affecting this election? >> i think, judy,he whole election is affected, beginning with the conventions. totally what david said, politics is a contact sport. it's schmoozing, it's arm aroldd the sh, it's getting together, whispering in each others' ears. there is none of that. it's getting to meet people from parts to have the untry fromt different points of view. it is very, very important in thhe sense. the thing that's been overlooked is conventions are a great shwcase. two american presidents in the past 48 years would not have been elected in all likelihood

but for the convention. in 1976 in kansas city after challenge, president ford in a bitter fight all the way to the end, in a gracious and generous off-the-cuff speech to that convention, ronald reedagan endeimself and set himself up forh te 1980s victory. barack obama, i'm sitting there with david in boston in the boston garden when he as a senate candidaterom illinois brought down the house and electrified the nation with a speech which projected him into a major candidate for 2008. we nevouer have heard of back obama but for that. so, i mean, i thithnk tha conventions and the campaigns are changing, the idea of volunteering for kids to go door to door and canvassing, ho are they going to dot? this is going to be a by czar political election.ll s, if anybody needs

rallies psychologically andt politically, is donald trump, and the white house is not the best place to stage a raldr. >> wf: whatever the convention looks like, we're going to cover it from top to ttom and those speeches i guess will come from living oms and kitchens. quickly to both of you before we go, now that we know this pandemic isn't going awayyt e soon, i want a few words from both of you about howtt you're gg through this time. david, what do you tell yourselg every morhen you get up and go to sleep at night? >> it's not personal. it's the sense at a our nation has gone through crises and we've always pulled through and this time i'm not sure we're pulling through them. what ges me hope is the african-american racial sensitivitis the big challen and somehow healing that divide is the healing of the nation, and it's just a spiritual sense i have that, out of this moment, we can come to a mucth beter place, at least racially, if not in other ways.

>> woodruff: mark. ell, as a loyal son of th university of notre dame, i rely theologian who said god, grant me the serenity to accept the things i ce,nnot chahe courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference. i just think it's genius, that and large samplings of grders' ice cream have kept me sane. >> woodruff: wds to live by. heeldz heeldz, david brooks -- mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: as another difficult week comes to a close, we want to take the time to share the stors of five individuals who lost their lives to the coronavirus.

jennifer robin arnold was creative, fun, and a little outrageous. a friend called her a "live wire." jennifer was born into a family of dancers in new york in her twenties, she toured through euro and south america as a professional dancer. shwent on to hp make costumes and work backstage on broadway's "phantom of the opera" as a dresser for more than 30 years. a lover of coney island, jennifer was 67 years old. after long days working as a registered nurse, joshua obra place on earth:" disneyland.iest his photographs of the park, posted on instagram der the count "disneyland panda," earned him more than 20,000 followers.hi as a in gardena, california, josh begged his parents for a sister. he eventually got his wish, in jasmine.

they were eight years apart, but inseparable. josh was 29 years old. 48-year-old abraham exrtin vega of will be remembered as a peacemaker, his daughter cori said. at the age o19, abraham entered law enforcement and w worked h up to being elected lynn county sheriff in 2016. cori said that anyone who came in contact with her father instantly felt his affection, whether at sunday church services, or the grocery store. a husband, father and grandfather, abraham's family was his pride and joy. cynthia gutowski was known for gifting homemade treats all around town, from friends' houses to the doctor's office. that kindness extended to her lifelong career at livonia, michigan public schools as ao dedicated aideudents with special needs.

her family says she was never able to sit still, even after her retirement in 2007. she loveboat rides and traveling-- and with a recent trip to alaska, she accomplished her lifetime goal of visiting50 altates. cynthia was 70 years old. robert kirkbride was gruff, but compassionate, his daughter martha said. he and his wife of 67 years, three children the importance of chch and community. robert-- or bob-- served in the police officer.ce, and as a he was a member of his localtm fire dept for more than six decades, serving as chief for part of that tim honored last year as the state of vermont's longest serving member of the knights columbus, bob was 93 years old.

>> woodruff: thanks to these families for sharing these wonderful stories to us. of course, our hea out to all those who lost loved ones in this pandemic. on the next episode of "beyond the canvass," we hear on the next episode of "beyond the canvas," we hear from some brightest stars and how chasin their dreams has led to success. gloria andmilio estefan talk about their partnership as musicians and as parents raising their family. that's this weekend only on pbs, please check your local listings. but first, you can go online where there's more with glorialu estefan, incding a look at her new album paying homage to brazilian music. that's on our web site, www.pbs.org/newshour. ghat's the newshour for to we'll be back on monday with a look at what steps the begins to graduallome backt visitors. i'm judy woodruff. thdk you, please stay safe have a great weekend.

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to "amanpour & co.e, and welcome here is what's coming up. >> i have the image of massive death. just staying with me.>> 75 years since the united states dropped an atomic bomb on hiroshima. we speak to one who has dedicated her life to nuclear disarmament. anger in lebanon andhe official corruption that led to its own devastating blast. stert stevens, it's in his new book. there's a spectrum of voter oppression th oppression that shares 1,000 votes here, 1,000 there. >> the struggle for a free and fair election.