♪ judy: j good evening, i amy woodruff, on the newshour tonight -- no deal. the white house and congressional democrats failed to reach an agreement on the next round of economicids american deaths from covid top 160,000. thenfeeling the pain. the u.s. unemployment rate fell in july, but millions of americans are still out of work and struggling to get by. >> i have been fighting for unemployment for the weeks i did not workhe -- r the months i did not work, and i still have yet to get mon for that. it has taken us down to zero. judy: and it is friday, so mark

shields and dav brooks assess the debate over coronavirus spendingnd the upcoming litical conventions. all of that and more on tonight's pbs "newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the pbs has been provided by -- the women's suffrage centennial commission,oning 100 years of the 19th amendment, line-up and purple and gold. learn more at our website. ♪ >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans to help people dmore of what they like. our customer service team can help the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumer cellular's website.

>> financial services firm raymond james. johnson & johnson. >> the foundion fostering engaged communities. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. dy: negotiations on more covid financial relief have stalled in washington tonight amid signs

that the economic recovery has stalled as the virus surges again. according to the labor dertment, employers added net of 1.8 million jobs in july. that's far fewer than the previous two months. the unemployment rate did fall nearly a full percent to 10.2%, but that's still higher than during the gat recession. against that backdrop, white house negotiators and democratic congressional leaders failed again to agree on a relief package, possibly including federal jobless benefits that a expired a we. senate minority leader chuckme scand house speaker nancy pelosi met with treasury secretary steven mnuch white house chief of staff mark meadows. they spoke afterward at the capil. sen. chuck schumer: we're asking them, again, to be fair, to meet us in the middle, not to have "my way or the highway"h attitude, whey seem to have. rep. nancy pelosi: anyway, but i

have told themcome back when you're ready to give us a higher number. sec. steven mnuchin: we will continue to try to get an agreement that's in the bestf intereste people. and that's why we're here. mark meadows: but, in the o antime, we're going to take executive ordersy to alleviate some of the pain that people are spending -- are experiencing. this is not a perfect answer. we will be the first ones to say that, but it is all that we can do. judy: and here with the latest on these negotiations are our own lisa desjardins and yamiche alcindor. so, hello to both of you. and, lisa, to you first. what is known about what they actually were able to negotiaten or discuss bclosed doors? and what do we know about what the main sticking points are? lisa: 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 area, let's say. t republicans said that, really, what democrats were doing was changing the timeline of spending. some spending that democrats

ed to have for two years they would say limit -- or -- i'm sorry -- they wanted three years, and democrats were moving it to two years. essentially, judy, republicans said they don't think it's real money. they didn't e a real change in sort of the top -- the items that democrats were asking for. nonetheless, democrats said they hey believe is a good-faith offer. they are now waiting for republicans to make the next move. judy: and, yamiche, we heard the white house chieof staff, mark adows, say that the president is prepared to take action unilerally on his own. what is known about how the white house sees the way forward now? yamiche: well, the white house is taking the stance that democrats are not taking these negotiations seriously. that, of course, is something that democrats disagree with. i want to read to u a tweet that the president sent just in the last hour. he wrote, "pelosi and schumer are only interested in bailout money for poorly run dt cities and states, nothing to do with the virus. want $1 trillion, no ierest. are going a different way."

that different way, judy, is the executive action that you just alluded to. i the preside'm told from -- from white house officials, is looking at several different initiative, something to do with student loans, some sort of movement on unemployment benefits, as well as some sort of mement on eviction protections. this was -- today was alf mposed deadline for the white house to move forward on its own, and look only to doing executive actions. i should note that the white house is saying that they feel like they're going to be on firm legal ground when it comes to this executive order but democrats disagree and say a lot of the things that the president wants ca do, he simply ot do only by executive order. judy: so, amidhis impasse over coronavirus relief, there were also some new developments todar on anoajor issue, the security of this november's elections. a top u.s. intelligence official, william evanina, releas a statement that details the intelligence community's current assessment of potential foreign interference. evanina raised concern about the going and potential activity

by china, russia and iran. on chinese influence, he said intelligence agencies "assess that china prefers t president trump, whom beijing sees as unpredictable, does not win reelection," and that "russia is using a rano of measuresimarily denigrate former vice president biden." in a follow-up statement, the two leaders of the senate intelligence committee -- that's republican marco rubio and democrat mark warner -- said that they "encourage political leaders on all sides to refrain from weaponizing intelligence "tters for political gain so, that's a lot to swallow lata thernoon. but, lisa, let me pick up with that. what do we see in the statement from the intelligence community that adds to what we already knew about the possibility of reign interfence in our election?: li talking to hill sources, they point out that evanina is anot seen as political, b someone who is almost an american patriot, a longtime

civil servant. ey also say this, judy. democrats say there's a difference between what china is doing and what russia is doing, that russia is acting on tir capabilities more iaan china, ructing to take down vice president biden. one other note, judy, though, both parties are worriedhat the american public is not ready for what may be ahead. judy: and, yamiche, in terms of, the white hohat are they saying about this? are they saying that they're -- they plan to take any particular steps to address it? yamiche: the white house, today, officials tell me, are really focused making sure that our elections are safe. they say they're not going to tolerate any sort of foreign interference and that they're working with all 50 states, as well as social media companies, to keep the election safe. that said, president trump has been loath to talk about election interference, first in 2016, when the intelligence community said that russia was now in 2020, when they say and

russia is doing the same thing. the president instead has been focused on mail-in voting and saying that there's widespread fraud there, eve nthough there evidence of that. so, democrats and critics of the president say he's not focused o enouthis issue. judy: all right. well, it certainly has ruesed a lot ofions. and i know both of you are going to continue to follow that, asll s the path forward on these negotiations over covid relief. r.thank you, yamiche alcin lisa desjardins, thank you.in lisa: sure ♪ stephanie: we will return to judy woodruff and thefest the program after the latest headlines. an update to our top story -- in at his new jersey country club, president trump said he is preparing to iue an executive orde as the stalemate on covid aid in congress procs. president trump: if democra

continue to hold this critical relief hostage, i will act on my deauthority as pre to get americans the relief they need. stephanie: the presidentrr listd a de of the payroll tax cut and an extension of the enhanced unemploymentenefits until the end of the year. he did not say if those would be the full $600 americans were receiving up until a week ago, and which congressional republicans want to be bstantially reduced. 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 seched the area. with that opern underway, the head of the powerful hezbollah militia insisted that his group is not to blame. sayyed hassan narsallah: i wholeheartedly deny th there is anything that belongs to us in the port. no warehouse for weapons, rockets, no guns, no bom, no bullets, no trate, nothing,

absolutely, not noand not in the past, never. stephanie:ebanese president michel aoun vowed to investigate all possible causes.an late today, president trump spoke with the lebanese president and french president emmanuel macron, who also said -- and also said the u.s. is sending supplies to beirut. an air india express passenger jet crashed and broke in two today, trying to land in heavy rain in southern india. at,east 16 people were kill and more than 120 hurt. doctors and rescuers worked through bad weather to reach survivors. among the 190 passengers on the flight were people who'd beenoa stranded aby the pandemic. britain says that it will crack shwn on a wave of migrants crossing the enghannel from france. authorities yesterday picked up at least 235 people in small boats. that is a one-day record. more migrants were found at a today. british officials say orgazedg

smuggl and favorable summer weather are behind the increas chinhas fired back afteren prestrump banned u.s. companies from doing business with the chinese owners of wechat and tiktok. bnew executive orders cou distribution of the social media apps within the u.s. in 45 days. mr. trump charges that they share data with the chineseve ment, but beijing says that the accusation is baseless. erwang wenbin: uhe 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 acof bullying, and china is firmly opposed to it. stephanie: also today, the u.s. imposed economic sanctions on carrie lam. she's the pro-beijing leader of hong kong. she's accused of helping implement tough new chinese security law in the city. jerry falwell, jr. itaking an indefinite leave of absence as president and chancellor of

liberty university. the evangelical christian school -- libty university, the evangelical christian college in virginia. in recent days, falwellr apologized ootos he posted online. one showed his pantsnzipped and his arm around a young woman. and brent scowoft has died. he was the only person to servee as nationarity adviser in two administrations. his first stint came under president gerald ford in 1975. he served again under president george h.w. bush, 14 years ter. scowcroft helped fashion u.s. policy on the d of the cold war, the first gulf war and other critical events. seand he remained a close er of the world. in 2011, he talked with jim"n lehrer on thshour" about online organizing in the arab spring protests. brent scowcroft: now the world is politicized. for most of r history, the average man didn't know what wa go in anything other than his own village.

and he didn't care much. now everybodis within eyesight of a tv or earshot of a radio. they hear what'going on. jim lehrer: or one of those little -- those little instruments. brent scowcroft: that's right. whatever. and they're moved and they're stephanie: brent scowcroft was 95 years old. still to come on the newshour with judy woodruff, americans struggle financially as unemployment claims top one million for the 20th straight week. ohio's republican governor mike dewine discues the ongoing response to the coronavirus. an unexpectedly contentiousru election in be could mean the end f a leader known as europe's last- and more. >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington, and cronkite school of journalism at airborne -- arizona state university. judy: the economy is getting

back some of the jobs lost during the start of the pandemic, and the shutdowns that followed. but as we reported at the top of the program, that job growth seems to bslowing. millions still don't have work yet and many have lost financial given both of those problems, we wanted to heer from vi about what you are dealing with right now. here is what some of you told us. my name is darren. >> my name is amy. >> my name is antonio. >> the extra $600 in unemployment benefits was extremely helpful. i was able to spend a little extra on some groceries, you know, get a little more food to have. >> the standard unemployment was not going to cover our hoehold bills. when they gave us the extra $600 a week, that did not replace my entire salary but itas really close to what i made after taxes. >>er i own a cg company and

bistro. we spend every moment trying to figure out how to make this dream stay alive and how to come out of it in a way wre we will eventually be able to retire. it has been emotionally exhausting. >> i have been fighting for unemploynt for the weeks i did not work -- rather, the m wths i did nok -- and i still have yet to get money for that. it has taken us down to zero. all of our accounts r0. >> i havd't recei any federal funds of any sort and don't even know wherto start as gig workers on how to get money. the weight linisfront of women o long. ultimately, this is heartbreaking. and my lease agreement is up

august 31. i have had to decide to movemo back in with m which luckily she is totally fine with tthat, it still is stressful because i don't know what is next. >> the extra unemployment has ten awesome. if it goes too far down, we wille back underwater. >> the kind of conversations we've had tongage in since this began, both with customers and with staff and family, i have to come home, take a minute, breathe, steel myself, and then thou that phone. and then hang up and sob. >> if i didn't find something in the next five to six mone s, i'll hthing left. >> i'm down to my change jar and 'm going to have to recycle the

metal sitting in my yard. i am worried i won't have enough money to survive. not even to be able to do anything extra. judy: let's hear about the fallout of this a how it is playing the heartland from the governor of ohio, mike dewine. he tested negative for the coronavirus last night just hours after sting positive. governor, we are glad to know you tested negative. i want to ask you about testing in a moment, but let's start about the economy andmployment because we have no -- new unemplment numbers out today, they slightly improve this past month, but overall, you heard, a lot of americans still tell us what youearing from ohioans about the jobs u picture appointed. gov. dewine: we have some like those you just interviewed who are very worried. w they aried about paying the rent. you kn, when we look at our

state revenues coming in, our economists sayha it is clear this money that congress -- plextra money, extra unment the individuals tot it andle for also frankly very valuable for the economy and other people. it had a ripple effect. pepeople it and it was significant. we hope congress comes up with a etcompromise andsomething done. judy: let's talk about your test. you first tested positive yesterday and the negative and i understand y another test tomorrow. what does this experience tell you about the state of testing gov. dewine: you know, judy, the second test i had, kind of the gold standard, is the test that almost every one of your viewers who are watching this, at least from ohio, have gotten. about 1.3 million ohioans have been testedve and over 90%

been this particular type of test. the first test i took was a quick test. not all quick tests are the same. this is an antigen test and i am not a scientist, but they tel' me you' basically measuring a protein on the coronavirus itself. they are not as reliable. i'm told they areoughly 70% reliable. usually if it is wrong, it is aa false ve. i guess i am one of the strange ones, i got a false positive. but the test we took yesterday at ohio state afterwards, and they ran it a twice, my wife was tested as well, that really is the gold standard. it is the test most people have received. i thinkll of the states are really looking at, you know, hoe do we improve testing but how do we ramp this testing up? this antigen test may play a role and we are looking atet to maybe ow we can use it, but you have to accept the fact that

you get a quick result but the result is not nearly as reliable ostic would be in a dia test.judy: i know you and five j governors hat come together to sign a kind of compact where you will work together, pool your resources to ramp up testing and all five or six of these states. here we are, we areore than six months and to win the first case of covid was discovered in the united states and we stil are behind on testing. should something hav been done sooner at the national level or in some nationally coordinated way to get us to a better place than where we are right now? gov. dewine: we all wish we all had more testing. it is a problem for most states, maybe all states. we have lacked behind in testing, frankly we have never been a state that has been red-hot so theit pri has never been toward ohio. we like it that way in the 'se

that we dot want to be red-hot. but we need more testing inio we have tripled the testing in ohio and we are ravagi -- averagin about 2200 test per day. need to double it again and probably double it again after that. we are moving and trying to expand our labs in ohio, trying to own some of that. we arein also reaout to different companies. the market is starting to move, finally, and or companies are offering different typesref tests thatut there. but the lesson that happened with me is we've got to be careful d make sure we have reliable tests. we got to get our time down. there are two things -- get the tests back quicker and also get more tests, more capacity. that plus social distcing and wearing a mask, those are the three things. theso masksal distancing, and more tests and getting the test back, that is the key to us being able to go out and resume

our lives. i tell people, that is freedom. masks are freedom. social distancing gives us freedom in these tests give us freedom. judy: bhere havn some in-depth reports published in the last few days loing at why the united states with all of our resources and wealthon i of the worst countries on the planet with regard to covid. it points to mistakes made ing the beginnd throughout. what do you look to hear? -- here? i know you set a moment ago you don' l want to spend of time looking back, but could, should washington, the leadership at the national level have been more forceful i taking this seriously and getting people to respond and poor maurice's -- pour more resources into this? gov. dewine: there are couple of big lessons to take away from

this. one lesson is to invest in public health. democrats and republicans alikei have nested in public health like we should. need to do it at the national and state level and be co iitted to thathe long run. the other lesson is we can't rely on other countries to manufacture all of our products we need in regard to medical care. we have got to make more of them right here in e united states. dy: finally, quickly, the presidential election, president trump was in ohio yesterday talking about the cn. among other things, he spokean about joe bide said joe biden is against the bible and against god, that he wants to hurt god. if thiss -- is this the kind of message you thick as the path to victory for the president? gov. dewine: think the path to victory is for the president to focus on basic things. until the coronavirus came along, our economy was doing well.

i am optimistic we get this thing behind us and the enomy will slip back. i think the president needs to talk about that, his visione. th for those of us who are more conservative, we are very happy with his court appointments, not just the supreme court circuit court and district courts. i think those are some of the on.esident will focus judy: we will leave it there. gornor mike dewine of ohio, and again, glad the test came back negate. gov. dewin thanks, judy. ♪ belarus head to the polls in the most contested election there in decades. president alexanr lukashenko has been called europe's last dictator. he hased belarus with an iron fist for 26 years, accused of human rights abuses, stifling dissent, and running sha

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. nick: in belarus, behind everybe good man is er woman -- in this case, three of them. veranika tsapkala, maryya kalesnikava, and sviatlana tsikhanouskaya, three women who just a few months ago were in the background, w saluted as superheroes, taking on europe's longesserving leader. sviatlana tsikhanouskaya: the government got rid of strong candidates. but they di't know, every strong man has a stronupwoman that srts him. nick: 37-year-old tsikhanouskaya was a former english teacher and homemaker who was married to an opposition politicn running for president, when he was arrestedn may in broad daight. now, as a presidential candidate herself, tsikhanouskis

trying to turn her husband's mome into a movement, with the help of kalesnikava, who managed the campaign of anot opposition candidate before he was arrested, and tsapkala, who managed thcampaign of her husband, an opposition candidate forced to flee the country with their children. together, they have helped inspire the largest protests in decades ancalled for a national reckoning. igor: as long as i can remember, i have been living a lie, this endless lie. i want this lie to finally end. sviatlana tsikhanouskaya: i am tired of being patient. i am tired of being silent. am tired of being afraid. and you, are you tired of being patient? matthew rojansky: the three of them together have just mobilized the belarusian people folike we have never seen . nick: matthew rojansky directs the wilson center's kennan institute. he ss the government's targeting the original male opposition candidates helped crystallize lostanding anger. matthew rojansky: theyame political martyrs, being arrested, being pushed out of

the country. that was obviously a slap in the face to belarusian people. time -- when you run this kind of tight-fist authoritarian regime, and yoleave no room for dissent, no room for people to voice their opposition in a alaningful way, almost any pressure release is going to get a lot of pressure coming through it. nick: alexander power in 1994, only three years after the country's independence from the soviet union. he was elected on a platform of anti-corruption. but his critics called him a european dictator, rigging elections, and enabling widespread graft. for months, protesters sick and tired of authoritarian governance and a weak economy wielded slippers to squash a president they called a cockroach. police responded in force. plainclothes officers detained journalists and activists andd made widesprearests. last week, authorities also arrested russian mercenaries, accusing them of terrorist

arattacks to destabilize b. but, days later, lukashenko promised allegiance to moscow. alexander lukashenko: russia has alwa been and will always be our closest ally, no matter who is in power in belarus or russia. nick: covid has further eroded public trust. belarus has one of europe's highest per capita infection lukashenko eventuasted positive, but, at first, he called the virus a psychosis, and said it was treatable with and at a crowded hockey game, he denied its existence. alexander lukashenko: i don't understand. there are no viruses here. did you see any of them flying nick: individual belarusians came to the rescue. anna gorchakova: we try to surviv we are really interesting. we help each other. nick: anna gorchakova is the director of the belarusian children's hospice. she contracted covid and told itme, conditions in the ho were so bad, she had to help other patients. civil society groups like #bycovid19 prepared meals for s

poorplied health care workers and gathered supplies for overwhelmed hospitals. the shortages cemented anger at an ineffective government. na gorchakova: and now is the time to think who i am, what i want. am i ready to change country? i am ready to change health system? nick: early voting is already underway. and despite the opposition's momentum, lukashenko controls the election apparatus, and is winner.d to be declared the the extent of protests will determine what comes next. matthew rojansky: if you have tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets inmi k and in the major cities across belarus, that's when i might expect him to turn out the belaru belarusian riot police en masse. nick: whether or not it's the end of the line for lukashenko, for belarusians, there's hope in the first real alternave in decades. for the "pbs newshour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪

judy: yesterday marked 75 yea since the atomic bombing of hiroshima, japan. the attack shocked the world, but it would be another yearfo americans would get firsthand accounts from peopleh who lived thro, thanks to trailblazing reporting by "new yorker" writer john hersey. author lesley blume has a new book about hersey and how hi reporting exposed the bomb's lasting damage, which the u.s. tgovernment tried initial downplay. and she spoke with jeffrey brown as part of our continuing coverage of this sol anniversary. this is also part of our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey brown:ugust 6, 1945, the future of warfare and humanity itself would change, when the u.s. detonated single atomic bomb over hiroshima, japan.

but while everyone saw the mushroom cloud, it w bld be a yearore the world fully understood what had happened on the ground that day, a story told in the pages of "the new b yorker" magazijournalist john hersey. lesley m.m. blume: we know what the aftermh of nuclear warfare looks like because john hersey showed us. jeffrey:n her new book, "fallout," author sley blume explores how hersey came to write a profoundly influential work. she calls it one of the most important works of journalism ever created that has siaped neratione. lesley m.m. blume: even if people, his eventual readers, could not understand the physi that went into the nuclear bomb, they could certainly relate to the stories of six regular people. jeffrey: the bomb in hiroshima,d follows 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-effects of radiation. lesley m.m. blume: on the one hand, they wand to showcase the might of their weapon, because they now had a weapon that nobody else did but, on the other 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 killing long after detonatn in a really gruesome way. jeffrey: hersey was just 31, but alreada veteran war correspondent. lesley m.m. blume: he had seen the worst of human nature. and he felt that, at the end of whatemains the deadliest conflict in human history, the only way that humacivilization had a chance of surviving is if we began to see the humanity in each other again. jeffrey: he was also a writer. his 1944ovel, "a bell for adano," won the pulitzer prize for fiction. working with legendary "new yorker" editors harold ross and william shawn, hersey proposed a novelistic approach, tell the intersecting stories of six inpaviduals who'd crosses that day.sl m.m. blume: a lot of the

reporting that had been done on the major devastatioed by the bombs, it was rendered in a very eye-of-god kind of way.th is the end of days, and you were just seeing massive, roiling mushroom clouds.ey and so what heecided to do was to dial it back from sort of a point-of-view-of-god narrative regular folks on the ground. jeffrey: the subjects included two doctors, two clergy, a widor cari three children, and a young clerk. the humanizing style is there from the famous first line: "at exactly 15 minutes past 8:00 inh morning on august 6, 1945, mbpanese time, at the moment when the atomic lashed above hiroshima, ms. toshiko sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the east asia tin t works, had just sat downr place in the plant office, ag was turnr head to speak to the girl at the next desk." lesley m.m. blume: and insteadnc of beingerated on the spot, she was almost crushed by falling bookshelves and was

covered in books. and when hersey met her and heard her story, he found himself thinking that it was incredibly ironic that this life was nearly taken by books in the first moments of the atomic age. and even when he was still in hiroshima, he knew that he was going to write about that in his own artie. jeffrey: that article would take up the entire issue "the new yorker" on august 31, 1946, lfd would itseecome a bombshell, capturing headlines around the world. in book form, it has sold more than three million copies to date. there is much more to the tale gume tells, including the surprising role eral leslie groves, one of the leaders of the manhattan project, who tried to inppress rmation about the bomb, but then saw benefits to hersey's reporting. and years later, a bizarre appearance by one of hersey's subjects, reverend kiyhi tanimoto, on an episode of "this is your life."

lesley m.m. blume: they trotted out not only people from hisve life, but theytrotted out one of the bombers from the enola gay, who had bombed hiroshima, and forced a meeting between the two, the t gentlemen. and it's some pretty sk-crawling stuff, for sur jeffrey: john hersey donat rt of the proceeds from his work to the american red cross. he didn't return to japan for 40 years, wrote many more books, and died i1993. it's been argued that that article and then the book afterwards played an important role in the ct that nuclear weapons have not been used since. do you believe that? lesley m.m. blume: well, john hersey definitely believed that. i know a lot of people don't realize how perilous the nuclear landscape is right now. the bulletin of the atomic scientists, whichas its famous doomsday clock, has now set it closer to midnight, e., nuclear apocalypse, than it has ever been since its advent in the late 1940s. one of the things that john hersey was especially worried about by the time the cold war

accelerated again in the 1980s oswas that the memory of hma was fading. and if you didn't have the memory as a deterrent anymore, ntwas it going to be as po deterrent? and i think that remains a really crucial question today. jeffrey: for the "pbs newshour," i'm jeffrey brown. ♪ judy: and now we turn to the weekly pitical analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and new york times comnist david brooks.o he both of you. so, david, let's start by looking at what hasn't happened between the white house and republicans and the democratin the congress on what kind of, if any, relie americans in this pandemic.

i guess the any plainer.n't be more than 30 million americans are out of work, but still no agreement. what do you d:ke of it? da every sort of system in this country failed during the covid, and one thing dn't fail, and that was congress. congress actually got some money out the door. and one part of our system worked, and now it's no working. and it's going to apparently go to the white house with executive orders, which is a disaster on two leve on the first level, it's a breakdown of our democracy. we have a strong congressional system, where the congress is supposed to spend the money. and that isn't working, apparently. second, you just can't do that much with anxecutive order. 've got 10% unemployment. we have gowhole industries shut down. there's just not a lot that donald trump can do without congress. judy: and we're hearing, may , that we just moments away from the president talking in a news conference at 7:00 eastern

about what he proposes to do. we're not sure what that is. but here we are, as david said. and they have been talking for days and days. the house passed legislation back in may, and here we are in august, and there's nothing. why?dy mark: well, obviously, it's not going to be of any political advantage to either party to stalemate in heshington. but i think thatruth has to be addressed. and that is that the democrats did pass a plan. they do have a plan. they do have a united position. and there is no republican plan. i mean, it's a repeat of health care. there is no republican plan. the president, the author of "the art of the deal," has been missing. he hasn't even participated. and mitch mcconnell, in a moment of -- a burst of candor, said that he did not have the votes. he would have to pass anything with democratic votes. and that's the political reality of it. it is -- david is right

e legislative process is infinitely preferable to executive orders. i mean, it just is. and this is no -- this is no answer, but, i mean, that is the political reality of the situation. judy: but, david, you know, we're not in the room. we don't know what exactly isid being but the democrats report the have offered to cut their $3 trillion down to 2. cut it by a trillion and say, is there somp way to find mise? they are saying the republicans said no to that. why can't they get something done, i guess, is my question? david: yeah.we , the republicans have the $1 trillion apparently on the table. and why they just couldn't split the math is a bit of a mystery. but i guess there are two things. a lot of republicans a worried about deficits. a lot of republicans are worried that, if you give people a lot of money, they are not gtong to go bacork, something economic studies have not found so fargu s what's missing is an underlying analysis, an economic

analysis, about how much we need. and i'm not sure we need 3.4. some economists think we oy ed a trillion right now. and so the numbers seem to be untied to the level of need. what's serious, what is clear, though, is that we are in the midst of a- just a tremendous economic crisis. the idea that the crisis is over is not true, and that this is a time to err on the side ofs. largen but why they just can't split the difference is a mystery to me. judy: and, mark, who will pay a political price, or wibody pay a political price for this? mark: well, i think, when people start suffering, and there's graphic evidence thereof ofho people w shelter, children going hungry in this country, then it will come back to the president and his administration, because, in the final alysis, he is the single

national leader. so, in that sense, it will rebound to the detriment or disadvantage ofk -- i th the republicans. but, you know, it's a human tragedy we're talking about, judy. it really is. and it's one that the president is ill-fitted for. donald optimistic projections, opening schools, returning to work, and that isn't his stock and trade. his stock and trade is doom and gloom.fi he's -minutes-to-midnight republican, not a five-minutes-to-sunrise republican, like reagan or jack kemp. and so, unlike bill clinton, who had a great gift for empathy, for actually feeling the pain of citizens with problems, donald --mp has translated into this is a great disadvantage to me, and it's my pain, and i'm feeling it. and i really think he's headed for political disaster, but, more important, a public

tragedy. judy: and, david, as we have been reporting today, ere was some -- yes, the unemployment rate has dropped, but the number of new jobs being added is not as much as it had been. this recovery seems to be slowing. what do we see in terms of leadership, either from thees ent or anyone else, that is going to pull the countryth throug? the pandemic is continui continues to rage around the country. david: it's weirdly a failure of political opportunism. tr's clearly in donalp's interest to get federal money out the door and get the economy going in the fall, so he can claim the economy's coming back. and so he'not doing what'in his clear political interests, probably becse the party has convinced itself right now that deficits are more important than the immediate crisis. that goes to a larger failure of the republicans. for decades, political psychologists have said

republicans are different from democrats because republicansme have a sense oce. they're quicker to perceive threat. that has not happened. in this case of covid, whether it's 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'a severe threat, either economically or physically. and the republican party has followed him. it's a lesson in how powerful partisanship is, that the basic psychology of a movement can suddenly change if one leader says, change. mark: judy, i -- judy: go ahead. mark: i just wanted to pick up on david's point. it's obvious toat the republicans think the democrats are going to win in vember. why do ie ay that? becae only time -- on time that repns talk- the about deficits is when there's a democrat in the white house.

they're just coming off four years of republican control. and what did they do? they ran up e deficit in a time of incredible national prosperity, of low national unemployment.th increased the national deficit, the annual deficit, and the national debt. but now the prospect of joe biden and the democrats takingec over, deficitse a moral issue to the republicans. a little hypocrisy here? judy: so, david, speaking of joe biden, the democratic national convention, such as it is, is going to start about 10 days from now, a week from monday. we have learned that not only that no major speakers, including joe biden himself, are not even going to milwaukee.' 's going be a convention like nothing we have ever seen before. the republican nationa, conventie president has said hmay give his acceptance teech from washington, fr white house. is all of this going to have a bearing on how this election unfolds, or how do you see it? david: yeah, i think so.

first, donald trump should not be allowed to give it from the house. we have a very strict bifurcation between political office and governing bodies. csd you should not do poli from that kind of office. even congressmen have to gohe acrosstreet to raise money, because we have that strict bifurcation. it's an important principle to keep. as for the conventions, people are now asking, do we even need them? and i have to confess, i do mourn the loss. the conventions are part of the education of the electd ate. ey're an important part, even when they don't actually make any decisions. now they may turn into a minor tv show. and that -- i think that the power of them will be diminished. and, with them, thrtpower of the will be diminished, because it's an opportunity for an entire party to express itself, and not ju a leader. and so i stick with -- i want to stick with the conventions, so maybe we can have them normally. i hope we go back to that. judy: i'm actually with you on that. and you and mark are going to be with me and our entire team for the week of the democratic

convention, three hours every night, or as long as it gosa, and th thing for the republican convention.o but, mark, howu see this sort of shrinking convention in person, but more of a ogram online and on television? how do you see that affecting this election? mark: i think, judy, the whole election is affected, beginning with the conventions i agree totally with what david said. politics is a contact sport. it's schmoozing. it's arm around the shoulder. it's getting togeth, whispering in each other's ears. there is none of that. 's getting to meet people from the same party from different parts of the country, from different points of view. it's very, very important in that sense. the other thing that's been overlooked is, conventions are . great showca two american presidents in the past 40 years would not have been elected, in all lr elihood, but e appearance at e convention. ftin 1976, at kansas city, he challenged president ford in a bitter fight all the way to

the d, in a gracious and generous off-the-cuff speech to that conveion, ronald reagan endeared himself and set himse up for 1980's victory. and barack obama -- i remember sitting there with david in boston at the boston garden, when he, as a senate candidate from illinois, brought down the house and electrified the nation him into a major candidate for 2008. we never would have heard of barack obama but for that. so, i meani think that the conventions and the campaigns are changing. the idea of volunteering, for kids to go door to door and canvassing, how are they going to do it? this is going to be a e political election.fi lly, i would just say, rallies are what conventions are. and if there's anybody who needs raies, psychologically and politically, it's donald tru. and the white house is not the bestlace to stage a rally. convention looks like, we're

going to cover it from top to bottom. and those speeches, i guess, will come from livinkirooms and hens. but, just quickly to both ofef you,e we go, now that we know this pandemic isn't going away anytime soon, i just want a bow words from both of you how you're getting through this tme. david, what do yl yourself every morning when you get up and when you go to sleep at night? david: well, weirdly, the rdest thing is not personal. it's a sense that our nation has gone through crises, and has always pulled through them. and, this time, i'm not sure m.' pulling through t and the thing that gives me hope is that, somehow, the african american racial equity smeuation has behe central moral challenge, even in the midst of everything else. and, somehow, healing that divide is the healing of the nation. and it's just a spiritualense i have that, out of this moment, we can come a much betterac at least racially, if not in other ways. judy: mark? nork: well, as a loyal son of the university oe dame, i rely on the words of a protestant theologian, reinhold

niebuhr, who said, god, grant me thserenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage to change the things i n, and the wisdom to know the difference. i st think it's genius that and large samplings of kaeter's ice cream hat me sane. [laughter] judy: words to live by. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. ♪ as another difficult week comes to a clo, we want to take thesh time te the stories of five individuals who lost their ♪ives to the coronavirus. jennifer robin arnold was creative, fun, and a little outrageous.al a friendd her a live wire.

jennifer was born into aamily of dancers in new york city. in her 20s, she toured through europe and south america as a professional dancer. she went on to help make onstumes and work backstag broadway's "phantom of the opera" as a dresser for more than 30 years. a lover of coney island, jennifer was 67 years old. afte registered nurse, joshua obra often retreated to the happiest place on earth, disneyland. his photographs of the park posted on instagram under the account disneylandpanda earned him more than 20,000 followers. as a child in gardena, california, josh begged his parents for a sister. he eventually got his wish in jasmine. t,they were eight years aput inseparable. josh was 29 years old.

eg-year-old abraham martin of texas will be remembered as a peacemaker, his daughter cori said. entered law enforcement and worked his way 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 se sunday church ices or the grocery store. 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' s houses to the doctor'fice. that kindness extended to her felong career at livonia michigan, public schools as a dedicated aide to students with special needs. her family says she was never able to sit still, even after her retirement in 2007. she loved boat rides and

traveling and, with a recent trip to alaska, she accomplished all 50 states.oal of visiting cynthia was 70 years old. robert kirkbride was gruff, buti compate, his daughter martha said. he and his wife of 67 years,pa icia, worked to teach their three children the importance of church and community. robert army, the air force, and as a police officer. he was a member of his local fire deptment for more than six decades, serving as chief for part of that time. honored last year the state ofinermont's longest se member of the knights of columbus, bob was 93 years old. ♪ and than to these families for sharing these wonderful stories with us. and, of course, our hearts go out to all those who have lost loved ones in this pan

on the next episode of beyond the canvas, we hear from some bright stars on how chasing their dream has led to success. gloria and emilio estevan talk about their partner shot -- rtnership. that's this weekend only on pbs. plea check your local listings. first, you can go online, where there is more with gloria ephan, including a look at her pbs.org/newshoue.that is at that is newshour for tonight you'we will be back on monday with what steps the smithsonian institution is taking as it backns to gradually welcom visitors i am judy woodruff. thank you and please stay safe. we will see you soon. >> major funding for theasbs newshour heen provided by -- >> when the world gets

complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, aed dedic advisor can tailor recommendations to your life. tythat is fideealth management. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. women's suffrage centennial commission. th william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years advancing ideas and suorting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurial and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems. ♪ >> and, with the ongoing support of these institions.

d friends of the newshou ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank u. ♪ national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] this is pbs newshour west from weta in washington and the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizone university. ♪

tonight on newsroom it is time to head back to school virtually that is. the pandemic tests students and teachers like never before as they balonce safety with less plans. also the debate about reopening schools amid equity gaps among different stricts. es within school they stress and pressure parents face to makemeet their kids educational and emotional ededs. welcome to newsroom. classes resume this month with distw ce learning as the normal education. everyone agrees it is not an ideal situation but there is le ss concurrence on how to make the best of thisn.bad situat school districts throughout the state have been preparing for a