captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruf on the newshour tonight: mailing it in. the u.s. postmaster general faces coional scrutiny over postal delivery in a critic election and the president's remarks about mail-in voting. then, the convention concludes. joe biden formally acceptscrhe deic nomination for president and makes his pitch to american voters. peblus, hunger inon. a major food shortage grips a country already mired in the dual crises of covid-19 and a tanking economy. >> reporter: the challenges here re beirut are about a lot

than simply feeding people in ths.midst of this latest cri there is a major food security emergency here in lebanon as a rheesult ofconomy collapsing. >> woodruff: and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks assess an unprecedented democratic convention and what to expect from t republicans next week. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the women's suffrage centennial commission. honoring 100 years of the 19th amendment, landmarks will light up in purple and gold on august 26, for the "forward into light" campaign. learn more at womensvote100.org >> fidelity wealth management.

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>> woodruff: the postmaster general of the united states today testified before the senate, facing the first public scrutiny of his recent moves at the post office, which reportedlyave caused widespread delays in mail delivery. democrats have accused louis dejoy of sabotage, saying that he is trying to limit voting by mail, which is expec surge this fall because of the pandemic. william brangham has a report oo y's hearing. >> thank you, chairman johnson, for calling this hearing.: >> branghom the start of today's virtual hearing before the senate homeland security and governmental affrs committee, the newly-apinted postmaster general addressed a central question-- would thexpected surge of mail-in ballots be delivered on time? >> i want to assure this t mmittee d the american public te postal service is fully capable and committed to delivering te nation's election mail securely a on

time. this sacred duty is my number one priority bween now and election day. >> did you discuss those changes or their potentialt on the november election with the president, or anyone at the white house? >> brangham: postmaster dejoy, o was appointed by the postal service's board of governors, was in his prior life a major donor and fundraiser for president trump. and today, he pushed back on the idea that the reforms he's instituting are being done to help the president's re-election. president trump has repeatedly, and incorrectly, said voting by mail is rampant with fraud and demanded it be stopped. senator gary peters, democrat of wisconsin, pressed this line of questioning. >> you will give us your word today, under oath, that you have not taken any action whatsoever in ryour capacity as postmas ggneral for any political reason or at the tion of any, anyst admition officials? >> sir, i will tell you, my first election mail meeting, i

n,instructed the organizathe whole team around us and out in the field, whatever efforts we will have, dou ve them. we ay committed-- the board's committed, the postal workers' committed, the union leadership's committed to having a successful electi, and the insinuation is, quite frankly, outrageous. >> brangham: the changes dejoy said he would susptilch today he after the election-- included reducing overtime hos for mail-delivery people, and decommissioning hundreds of large high-capacity mail-sorting machines. senator maggie hassan,emocrat of new hampshire, described how one sorting machine in the cy of manchester had been sold, and the remaining one broke. >> when we have only one machi that can do a certain kind of sorting in our largest distribution center in the state of new hampshire, and it breaks, and everything has to stop until itno gets fixed again, that' you're really sabotaging the postal service's ability to sort mail efficiently, and you're undermining postal workers' commitment to that everyday

delivery. o will you commit to having your team look into this? with the premise, but i willgr comply with your request. >> brangham: dejoy said that the inmoval of some of these maes was normal post office procedure in response to the decline in envelope-sized mail, and to make space for the increase in package-sized mail. but senators from bo parties, including republican rob portman of ohio, said these mail delays had real-world implications beyond the election. ve a number of veterans who've contacted us and said they weren't able to get their medications.ar one is a 70-ld, served in vietnam, has c.o.p.d., has trouble breathing. e inhaler refill was mailed through the postal service. due to day he ran out of it while waiting for it to arrive. >> brangham: importantly for november, dejoy promised that almost all election mail would be treated like first-class mail, which would insure quicker there had been reports the post office was considering a slower category for ballots. dejoy sought to assure the

public that, despite what they've heard, the postal service had more than enough capacity to handle this volume of balts in the fall. >> we deliver 433 million pieces of mail a day, so 150 or 160 million ballots over a week is a very small amount. >> brangham: despite these assurances, many of dejoy's critics aren't satisfied. six states and the district of columbia, led by pennsylvania, filed suiagainst the postal service and postmaster dejoy, saying these changes have made it harder for states "to conduct free and fair elect, ns." inhe estmaster dejoy defended his reforms as much- needed fiscal discipline for the post office. others have noted that the service lost $9 billion last year. he argued that in the age of fedex and u.p.s., the po office needs to change in order to comte. >> i believe there is an

opportunity for the postal service to betteserve the american public and also to operate in a financially sustainable fashion. mandate in the coming years is at a fundamental rise changes mustde to ensure our sustainability for the years and decades ahead. >> brangham: postmaster dejoy will testify before a hous committee early next week.os and today, theoffice's board of governors announced that they are establishing a bipartisan election mail committee, this would be to help a lot of these states who are going to see a surge in voting by mail, helpthem work out their programs. that same board of governors offered its fullpp suort for post master dejoy. >>uff: you mentioned a lot of criticism of the post master. is it thought he did ough today to alie these critics' concerns? ir:s. >> report's not totally clear, judy. i think that the big concern is that -- and in fact cited by

several of the senators e ring hearing today -- is that the president himself keeps politicizing the posti service with everything that he says, all of hisas acons -- false accusations -- about vote big mail being fraught with fraud. everything dejoy does is seen throug lens. even though dejoy contradicted the president and said voting is safe and reliable, question s de jd he would be votingt that way this election, there' sll so much suspicion because of what the president is saying. >> woodruff: the president ramped up his conspiratorial talk today about the posto ffice. he suggested tod that what democrats might have in mind is creating so much chaos that, after the election, they couldsn k in nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, to be the next president. >> yeah, he keeps saying this,th ane's really no truth to it. i mean, here's the theoryir undeng what the president is saying, that mail-in voting which he alleges is going to

cause all this chaos, so let's delay is election. the president has no authority to delay the election, that's congress' job, a congress, 100% of congressmanon senators have said we're not delaying the election. but the president is sort of alleging that,inccoto the law, which is true, that if on january 20th, when the president and vicenpress term expires and a victor has s t been declared, the number three, thathe house majority leader, would become the president. but, i've said, there no evidence whatsoever this election is going to get moved one iota, and, so, this is a bt of a moot point, but he kes using, because i think, in part, he thinks nancy pelosi is a scare tactic for reporters. >> woodruff: william brangham, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome, judy.

>> woodruff:light versus darkness." that is how joe biden framed the decision that voters will have hito make this fall, durin very first speech as the democratic party's nominee for president. meanwhile, president trump and eie republicans are ready for turn, next week. amna nawaz has our coverage. >> nawaz: for joe biden, these words had been decades in the making. >> it is with great honor and nomination for president of the united states of america. >> nawaz: the 2020 democratic presidential nominee made his appeal to americans in stark terms. >> the current president has cloaked america in darkness for much too long. too much anger. too much division. here and now, i give you my word-- if you entrust me with the presidency, i will draw on est of us, not the worst i will be an ally of the light, lat of the darkness.

>> nawaz: bideasted president trump's pandemic response. >> we lead the world in confirmed cases. our economy is in tatters, and after all this time, the president still es not have a plan. >> nawaz: and he c the enowrds, after the 2017 neo-nazi march in charlottesville, virginia, as the moment he knewe had to run. >> remember the violent clash remember what the president said? he said, there we "very fine people on both sides." at the time, i said we were in a battle for the soul of this nation. and we are. >> nawa that sober warning on the d.n.c.'s final night echoed similar sentiments earlier in the week. former presidential nominee hillary clinton... >> for four years, people have told me, "i didn't realize how dangerous he was!" >> nawaz: ...former first lady michelle obama...

>> donald trump is the wrong president for our country. >> nawaz: ...and former president barack obama, all stressing the hi stakes of this election. >> do not let them take away your power. do not let them take away your democrac nawaz: over the week, history was made. most notably by senator kama inrris, the first woman of color ever ned to a major party ticket... >> let's fight with conviction. let's fht with hope. les fight with confidence in ourselves, andea commitment to other. to the amee ow is possible. >> natwaz: ...and e fi entirely virtual roll call vote, giving viewers a tour an in some cases, a taste, across 57 states and territories. >> mr. joseph r. biden! >> nawaz: a diverse slate of every day americanwere heard from every night, like kristin

urquiza, whose father died of covid-19... >> my father's only pre-existing condition was trusting donald trump. >> z:na..gurnee green, whose small business is struggling mid-pandemic... >> i'm alone. >> nawaz: ...and 13-year-old brayden harrington, who credited biden with hecolping hirol his stutter. >> without joe biden, i wouldn't be talking to you today. >> nawaz: issues like immigration and climate change took center stage, but on gun violence, gabby giffords radiated resilience. >> we can let the shooting continue, or we can act. we can protect our families, our future. we can vote. >> nawaz: among the many making e case for biden over four nights, his primary rivals, banding together in party unity. >> you can think of this like "survivor," when everyone got voted off the island. >> nawaz: republicans, bucking their ownarty to now back biden. >> joe biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute. >> nawaz: and his fami

beginning with his wife, dr. jill biden, on surviving devastating loss... t if we entrust this nati joe, he will do for your family g what he did for ours: br together and make us whole. s nawaz: and ending with own children: daughter ashany, son hunterwords from his late son, beau the d.n.c. ended last night with a fireworks show, but today, a sign of more fireworks ahead. at an event outside washington, d.c., president trump began his rebuttal to biden's argument. >> where joe biden sees american darkness, i see american greatness. >> nawaz: next week's republican national convention will include party business in charlotte, and other events in washington and at fort mchenry in baltimore. confirmed speakers include president trump, first lady melania trump, and vice president pence, as well as senior party figures like former u.n. ambassador nikki haley, senators joni ernst and tim

scott, house minority leader kevin mccarthy, and south dakota govkrernor ti noem. republicans are expected to formally re-nominate presidenton trump ony, and make their pitch to the american people in for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the pandemic's official death toll in the u.s. reached 175,000, as new data underscored erat it may be much higher. the cefor disease control thd prevention said that nationwidee were up to 215,000 more deaths than usual, through july. the associated press repord that half of the victims were people of color. the plague of wildfires across california has now claimed six lives and forced evan orders for more than 100,000

people. three clusters of fires burned again today in northern and central california, threateni thousands of homes. firefighters pleaded with people to get out of harm's way. >> we do have the evacuations in place, and they're in ple for a very good reason-- not only for the public safety and the safety of our first responders, but with that, when people do stay behind and do try to take matters into their own hands with trying to suppress fires, it creates a bigger issue for out responders. >> woodruff: one fire has burned within a mile of t university of california-saa cruz. some 12,000 firefighters are ttling the fires. e u.s. gulf coast could be facing two big storms eek. tropical storm laura formed in thndeastern caribbean today, may reach florida and the gulf as a hurricane next week. another system off honduras is tracking toward texas and louisiana, and may also become a hurricane.

in iraq today, protests boiled over in the south, in the worst violence since october. demonstrators in basra battled lice and burned parliament offices. they demanded the governor resign, after two activists were gunned down in the past week. doctors in russia agreed today to let dissident leaexei navalny be taken to germany for treatment, after he fell into a coma. supporters say that he was poisoned. doctors in the siberian city of omsk sai they refused at first to let him be flown to berlin, but later relented. >> ( translated ): after multiple requests by the relatives to allow the transportation of the patient, we understand that nevertheless there is a certain risk, but the relatives are ready to take those risks. we have taken a decision that we do not oppose transferring the patient to another clinic. >> woodruff: navalny's pporters say the doctors

stalled until the poison could no longer be traced. back in this country, california's golden ste ced today to life ingelo, was prison wthout parole. the former police officer admitt26 murders and rapes in the 1970s and '80s in a thdeal to avoideath penalty. he is now 74, and was in a wheelchair for today's hearing in sacramento. he said he was "truly sorry" for everyone he hurt. de'angelo was finally caught in 2018, with the help of d.n.a. actress lori loughlin was sentenced today to two months in federal prison, in a college admissions bribery scandal. her husband, fashion designer mossimo giannulli, got five months. they pled guilty to paying $500,000 ibribes to get their two daughters into the university of southern california. and, wall street ended the week on a high note. the dow jones industrial average gained 190 points to close at 27,930.

the nasdaq rose 46 points, and the s&p 500 added 11. still to come on the newshour: lenon struggles with a foo shortage, amid covid-19 and a collapsing economy. we answer your questions about voting by mail in the upcoming election. mark shields and david brooks consider an unprecedented democratic convention. plus, much more. >>oodruff: it has been nearly three weeks the devastating explosion at beirut's port to through the city. in a country already suffering cfood scarcity amid econo collapse, the explosion turned a dire situation into a crisis. from beirut, special correspondent jane ferguson

reports. >> reporter: first came the shinitiak of beirut's massive explosion, ripping through the city, destroying homes and taking lives. now comes the next challenge: averting a dangerous food shortage, spite virtually no help from the nation's leaders. >> ( anslated ): as the government, all the state, is not really takg care of its own people, people in lebanon have always to take care of themselves. >> reporter: kamal mouzawack is an expert in feedg people. elr more than 15 years, he's been running souayeb, an organization that sponsors farmers' markets and restaurants, providing much- needed exposure to local, sustainable, growers. his restaurant in beirut is now just one of a number of places feeding the neighborhood. >> if the job needs to be done, we ardog it ourselves, and this is what we e doing in a most extraordinary way. and if wpeople can do such a wonderful job, we the people should govern this country. >> reporter: the challenges here in beirut are about a lot more

thfean simpling people in the midst of this latest crisis. there is a major food security emergency here in lebanon as a result of the economy collapsing. long before the great lebanon's economy was already in tatters, hamstrung by a series of chronically ineffective and corrupt governments, plus a banking system that was revealed last year to be little more than a ponzi scheme. millions lost access to ndeir savings,he cost of food shot up, along with flation, just as the pandemic hit. >> you've got a perfect storm. i mean, just when you it couldn't get any worse, you have this explosion. so you've got economic deterioration, then you have covid on top of that, and covid is playing out as we speak, deteriorating the situation throughout lebanon. >> reporter: david beasley is the head of the u.n.'s world food program. lebanon impos more than three- ovarters of all its food.

in order to e subsidized bread for the people, the government was buying tons of wheat throh the port that now lies in ruins. precious national grain reserves were destroyed in their silos, two weeks' supply and littley cash to buy more.>> 5% of all the grains for the people in lebanon comes through that port. ald so we've got to get that port opera otherwise the costs will be skyrocketing. we've already diverted 17,500 metric tons of flour so that iediately people will have bread on the table for the entire country for 20 additional days. >> reporr: american celebritych ef jose andres and his team ntom his charity, world cel kitchen, swung into action after the blast and fleto beirut. now, they're helping professional kitchens, like kamal's, produce some 10,000 meals a day to feed rescue workers, hospital staff and patients, plus those made

homeless by the explosion. >> shorter walls, longer tables. all of a sudden, yeah, it looks like fantasy, but it is real. you can make it happen. >> reporter: andres's organization has been feeding people in crisis all over the world, from puerto rico to haiti, and across the states as coronavirus hits hard. his prolific dedication to social media draws attention to places that need help. beyond sudden emergencies, what is reallneeded, he says, is a global shift in long-term food security, making sure th people across the world can afford to eat. >> at the end, the solution is not about food. it's about having an economic system that works for the people. it's as simple as that. i'm t an economist. i left school when i was 14. but this i can tell you: "let's buy more food and let's give food for free?" no, that's not a solutio let's make sure that we create systems where people, even in emergencies like these, can, on their own, sustain themselves without going broke in the

simple act of li right now, if we have poor, hungry people, it'because we have people who go broke. because we are not helping them not go oke. if we are able to fix that, hunger and poverty, it's over forever. but we create systems that are the contrary. >> reporter: brandt stewart moved here from las vegas several years ago to open charitable bakery, called mavia, serving up trendy sourdough and bagels, while also helping syrian refugees learn the skills they would need to start their own businesses. located close to the port where the explosion took place, his bakery was damaged in the blast, and, deeply discouraged, he almost closed up forood, until online donations began pouring in and he turned it into a soup kitchen. >> it's like we all have survivor's guilt, you know? like, i'm not as injured as other people, my business isn't as injured as other peoples' bseusiness. i started to realize that we have the space, you know, we

have all this money coming in, people need food, you know, high n,tes of food insecurity in lebao yeah, we just kind of-- it fell into place, you know? >> reporter: the women that work hglere know the strugof buying food all too well. dunia wadha comes from tripoli, lebanon's second-largest city and one of its poorest. >> ( translated ): all the food is tripled in prmeat, chicken, sugar, vegetables. they are all so expensive.te >> repor even the price of flour has increased to beyond the reach of many. >>ust wheat, for instance, that we buy, the local wheat-- rit used to be 1250 lira kilo, it's now 4,000 lira per kilo. ,so prices have skyrocket peoples' salaries have dropped. it's just created a really unbearable situation. >> reporter: fixing the situation will take years of work, eliminating the corruption uined lebanon's economy. in the meantime, the people of this country will continue to try to survive through the warm hospitality and kindness they

are known for. for the pbs newshour, i'm jane ferguson, in beirut, lebanon. oo >>uff: and now we turn to "ask us," where we put questions from viewers like you to experts who can make sense of uoese tumu times. earlier, we reported on the postmaster genel's changes at the post office and doubts the white house has cast on mail in voting. all this has troubled many viewers who are considering voting by mail. amna nawaz is back with more. >> nawaz: president trump's nrepeated attacks on mail voting, along with reports about mailboxes being removed and sortinines taken out of post offices, have all led to anxiety, fear and confusion. the postmaster general now says he's suspending any more changes until after the electio but many of you are worried

about election security, how to vote safely durin pandemic, and how to make sure your vote counts. to answer your questions, i'm joined by david becknd. he's the f and executive director of the center for election innovation and research. david becker, welcome to the newshour. and thanks for being here. let's get right to these questions. the very first one comes from judy shapiro in new york and this is her question. "how can i check what voting options i have other thagoing to the polls?" david, what do you say to judy? >> so, of coursethere are a variety of different rules all around the country. we're actually not holding one election in november-- we're holding about 10,000 little elections all over the cntry. and that can be really challenging. the best place to go is your l county or loection website. find out what your county election w is. that will have almost all the information. ou want one national website that you can start at, you can he to canivote.org, which is run byational association of

secretaries of state, and that'll redirect you to your state election websi >> nawaz: so, all those options are online. people can go check them out use, of course, all the dates are different as well. let's go to our next question as well. this was submitted odeo. let's take a listen now to a question from jeremy lopez. >> hi, my name is jeremy lopez and i am from austin, texas. my question is, how will the physical count of ths mail-in ball handled and checked? >> nawaz: andavid, we are anticipang an influx of those mail-in ballots. so what do you say? what do we know about how those are going to be counted? >> well, perhaps as many as 50% of all ballots will be mail-in ballots this year. the highest we've ever had before was in 2016, where almost 25% of ml ballots came in by-- came in by mail, rather. and how that's handled is, tse get returned to the election office. often, many, if not most of em are returned in person by the voters, often in drop boxes or election offices, or sometimes even in the polling places themselves. n so you dond to rely upon the mail for that.

and once they get there, according to state law, they can begin processing them at various times. some states allow processing those ballots early, before election day. in other states, like michigan and pennsylvania, for instance, rotequire that thate started until election day itself, hection morning. but whpens is election officials, multiple election officials revi those ballots, to make sure they're properly cast. they'll look at the personal information on the envelope to make sure it matches the voter's file, and they'll match the ergnature on file to the v file to see if it matches, make .ure that they're properly cast by the right vot and once they're sure of that, they'll thenemove the ballot om the envelope and place it into a scanner to be counted. depend ballots are in-house, how early a state can start counting them will depend on how soon we know what theesults are from those mail ballots. >> nawaz: david, the next question now comes from carol woosley. e lives in kenosha, wisconsin. and this is her question--u she asks, "if ply for an absentee ballot, but it doesn't arrive before the election, do

you lose your right to vote or can you still go to the polls?" s a lot of confusion ove this, david. so how exactly does it work? >> every single voter has the right go to the polls and vote in person. every single registered voter, even if they've requesmail ballot or if they're in a state where they get automatically sent a mail llot. the's nine states that will be doing that this fall. so if you have asked for a mail ballot or were expecting a mail ballot, or even if you've received it and change your mind, you'd like to vote in person, you can still go vote in person. now, depending upon the rules of cast a provisional ballot.t that's to make sure that someone doesn't return their mail ballot as well. there are checks and balances in place in every single state to reke sure that even if someone ived a mail ballot and then they vote in person, that they only can vote once. but it's really important-- if you've red a mail ballot and it's getting close to election day, perhaps even as mua week before election day, i think that is a good time

to go to plan b and look for other options, particularly earlyn-person voting options at that point, to make sure you can cast your ballot and it'll be counted. >> nawaz: important to know, though-- every single eligible voter can go to the polls finally, here more question from ithaca, new york. this one's from saundra goodman. and she asks, "how can american voters be assured that we can securely handle our ballots?" david, this goes to the heart of the issue for so many americans, s.ust in the election proc what do you say to sandra? >> so, the postal service has been doing this r about 200 years, since before the civiwar, and they've been doing it well and we've trusted it throughout our history. of course, the recent news has shaken that trust. we're wondering why the postal states and telling them thato they might not be able to process the ballots. here's what voters can do. voters, if they want to vote by mail or if they think that's the right way for them to vote, then they should request e ballot as early as possible, so that ballot can be delivered them as soon as possible.

but then, if they're not 100% sure that there's enough time or they have doubts about the mail turning their voted ballot, there are lots of options to return that ballot in person. so, for instan every state, if you've requested a mail ballot, you can return that ballot in advance of ection day to an election office. many states have secure drop boxes located around the counties and states where those ballots can be dropped. and that's a wonderful way to make sure that the ballot gets dceirectly to election of >> nawaz: bottom line-- do your researchhave a plan. such important information. david becker from the center for election innovation and research. thanks so much for being with us. >> thank you. >> nawaz: and thanks to all of you for your questions. you can always send us more any time via newshour's twitter, facebook or instagram accounts, or on our website, that's www.pbs.g/newshour. >> woodruff: the democrats spent this week making their case for

a joe biden presidency. next week, it's the republicans' turn to argufor four more years for president trump. but tonight, it's the analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. you. good to see both of we've seen you -- you've seen us too much for the last four lanights, but we're soto have you back. david, the biden campaign is putting t positive vibes tonight. they're saying we think we did ally well, we raised $70 million over four days, a how dining they did?ching. >> what is that beach boys ng, "good vibrations," they earned them. they had a candidate who delivered an address with a fierce urgencn'that you fake, actually, and they had they had a series of remarkable performances that, i think for the first time in thiscampaign,

not only generated opposition to donald trump but generated some general enthusiasm for joe biden. >> woodruff: mark what's your takeaway? >> i couldn't disagree more. no. (laughter) judy, it was a very, very positive convention, make no mistake about it, barack obama being the big surprise, after four years of democrats iting for him, his beintg circumsp and restrained, he arrived with a full-throwed indictment of donald trump, and dtronalp's failure to lead and donald trump's failure to protect cothe try in its great crisis and basically made the case talhat dtrump did not devote the time, energy, effort and probably didnot have the capacity to be president i. bhink and agree with david about joe biden. it was, in many respects, a great advantage to have the

remote convention because joe's tendency often is to win everybody in the room, which he tries to do and does when he's spking, but her he had 24 minutes. he stayed within himself, he made the case, i thought, compellingly. but more than anything else about the convention to me, as reminded of the words of the poet, maya angelou, who said people will forget what you did people will forget what you said, but people will not forget how you made them feel. and the ve vignets about joe biden, the conductor who suffered a taheart k, joe biden knew his children, grandchildren. joe biden, as vice president, reached out and contacted him in a barbershop in new york city to be sure how he was doing, that joe biden, t way he treated the elevator operator at the" "new york time didn't get the endorsement of the "new york

times," he got her. endorseme she nominated him and said that the'smore than room in his heart for himself, there's room for mend so many others. finally, as you commented, braden harrington, the 13-year-old, brave, courageous young man from new hampshire who revealeenthat joe b told him we're in the same club, we're stutterers, and helped him and gave him the courage. so i think that came thou probablyore strongly tha anything else, and i think to joe b >> woodruff: so, davi david bro, di do what they neded to do and d they miss the mark on anything? of what they needed to do.arters what's impressive about th biden campai they had a theory two years ago and stuck with the theory. the theorys the country is exhausted and wants a uniter. they ignored a lot of twitter and the left-right thing and t rsued that theory. what they did do is go to

the heart of the electorate which is working class voters in the upper midwest. it's sort of mind boggling to me. in 2016, hillary clinton made ao ssal areas by ignoring voartsz in wisconsin, michigan and places and if the democrats lose those states again an indictment and correct indictment will be they made the exact same mistake in 20as in 2016, and i think it's because ey don't have the voculary and cultural knowledge to know how to talk to those voters. i think there are not enough people in the democratic party o emerged from those concerns them and how to talk to them. it could be an inherent anerror shortage in the party. >> woodruff: mk, do yu agree they failed to reach the voters in the heartland, many of them white working class voters? >> well, i think joen has an enormous advantage over hillary clinton in that respect just at his natural rapport and his record in dealing with

working people, working issues. but democrats have to be wary of becoming a party where people shower bere work instead of after work, who don't work by the hour, who don't pack a lunch, and i think that remains a problem, but donald trump's dohig everyt he can, as he did with good year, trying to boycott goodyear tires in akron, ohio a great amrican company, you know, to win back for joe biden and the democrats this group. i thought the biggest mistake of e night, judy, of the entire four weeks, we was your coming to us when john legend and common were singing and asking us. i've heard nothing but unmitigated criticism of what the hell we were saying when people wanted to har them. and what was david brooks' best-selling album, they wanted to know. nd woodruff: we've heard some of that as welle apologize

to anybody who thought we made bad decisions, but we try our best to get it right. but david, okay, so now it's the republicans' turn. it's president trump's turn. what does he need to do next week? >> well, first, scare people, show that this is a country in disorder, crime is rising, violence in portland. talk about china whh is democrats did not do enough, talk about threat and say, ht , i minot be as nice as joe biden, but you need me, and think that's the key thing. the second way trump will say you need me is they didn't talk out their policies at their convention, but what they really stand for is the green w deal and opening the border and all that. i expect the republican convention to be weirdly more policy oriented. the fil thing about the republican convention which is unprecedented in my lifetime and all our lifetimes is that the 2012 nominee would be not welcome there, mitt romney, john

mccain would not be welcome there, george w. bush, the last president, would no be welcome there. t george h.w. bush would be welcome there. this is a party that's ultimately transformeand the previous nominees would not be welcomed at the party as it currently is. >> woodruff: mark as you look ahead to what the republicans need to do next week, what are you thinking? >> i think it's fair to say, judy, not only wo nd theyot be welcome but none of the four would want to be thereta convention which also speaks volumes about the change in the republican party. i think they've got a tough uphill fight. i mean, donald trump has spent 44 years concentrating on his base, and, judy, this is going to be a different lekdz from 2016 -- election from 2016. 46%,egardless of how acutely its distributed electorally, it's not going to be enough to win the white house back, and he's got to expand, and i don't know where he goes to expand.he

al does is drill down on his own side. and i really feel anybody has any extra empathy, they ought ex nd some to the people who are trying to put together this republican convention because ih k his whims are changing from hour to hour, and the direction it's going to take and the messa ge's going to deliver, and, june, i really think it's aupll struggle theme, to develop a theme.ake a what are you going to run on sleepy joe after joe biden just ran -- gave a 24-minute speech that was the anual of y given? fox ne, before the convention asked do you think joe biden has the mental acuity to be president in the poll? and 47% said yes and 39% no. they also maade the mike of asking it about donald trump, think he had the mental acuity. so there are two themes that have gone by the board, sleepy

and mental acuity. >> woodruff: one oings the president has been talking about and we heard about it earlier in the program just now and from viewers is what's going on with the postal service. the post mastel r genent before kong, the senators, and got r illed oveat and assured them everything is going to be fine but a lot of idemocrats is saying th something we need to watch. how serious an issue is this, how much dot you think i going to play a role in this election? >> well, donald trump's comments are a serious issue because they will serve to proactively delegitimize the on if it comes out in a way his followers don't like, and they will say donald trump s right, it's the mail-in ballots that are on it. vthink tly too much is made out of this. the postal service is in trouble, the mail is down

dramatically, so shifting from mail to make room efor pack processing machinery seems to be no evidence that this done with bad motives other than try save the postal service. we get 160 million voters, or so, probably less, the postal service delivers 430- pieces of mail every day. there is some expecn tion they this job and are going to do this job. it's worth watching, but soi fr n't see any evidence that the postal service has become a corrupt anuntrust coatutery inson. >> woodruff: mark shields, only 30 seconds on the postal service.>> i don't think anybods suggest the postal service is. we're talking about the leadership. don't talk toyo the monkey when you can talk to the monkeyrinder. donald ump has made qui clear what his tions are.

he does not want millions of americans voting by mail in the middleof a persian which the united states has paid a greater price in personal suffering than any industrialized and many nonindustrialized nations in the world and this is obviously a priority of his that far exs the pandemic itself. he keeps talking about it and says on the record if people vote by mail, republicans andep everybody, thelicans will never win another election. i think we need all the light, all the, sunshil the antiseptic and dieptic we can keep on this story, and i look forward to the hearings on monday. >> woodruff: we will k covering it, and we thank you both after a really extraordinary week. david brooks, mark shields, thank you. >> woodruff: now, we want to take another moment to honor a

osgroup of individuals who their lives to the coronavirus. here are their stories. robert shackleford dreamed of serving in the army, but colorblindness forced him to find a different way to serve his country. , for nearly 30 years, h taught high school american history in sarasota, florida. robert was also a longtime football coach. a fellow coach described him as a detailed and dedicated leader. despite a busy schedule, the 61- year-old always made time for family. he lov mailing cards to his daughter and grandson, and regularly visited his brother, steven, who has disalities. osanette hernandez was a curious child and passionate about just 22 years old, she had med of becoming a nurse. a shy but gifted performer, she sang in her church choir and played clarinet in the high school marching band in s, an antonxas.

osanette was a devoted daughter, and started a business with her mom selling homemade cak and cookies. she kept baking after her mother passed away last year, to support her father and siblings. 48-year-old john eric swing was passionate about supporting the asian american community. he led efforts in los angeids to help resents and businesses through the pandemic. coworkers said the former marine corps reservpot radiated tive energy. a foodie and an outdoorsman, hii said he was happiest on the beach, and wn spending time th her and their six children. monghao was a hero for the h people. after escaping communist laos, he kept returning to rescue family mbers, and worked with the c.i.a. on covert operations in the country. 1970s, he worked to bring more

refugees to the u.s. eventually, he settled in fresno, california, where he directed documentaries, onanslated popular films into and even hosted a radio show. a father to nine, su was 72 years old. sawarrelita redmond'suburban chicago home was never empty. for the last 15 years, the mother of three ran her ownar da where she cared for kids all hours of the day, sometimes free of char. sawarrelita, or nita, born in mississippi as the 21st child of 22, also took in foster children who were in-between she enjoyed playing cards on the weekends witfriends, and was scribed by her daughter jasmine as uplifting, easy-going and loved. nita was 52.

>> woodruff: and our thanks to the families. the smithsonian national museum ican history has launche an effort to preserve artifacts from the pandemic. jeffrey brown takes the long view of masks, now and in the past, part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "canvas." >> brown: they're a means o protection. a way to express urself, or member others. something to debate and fight over. >> stay in your house! you have a right to stay in our house! >> mbrowks-- small coverings that uncover much about the times, and the people living through them. medical historian alexandra lord. >> the masks give us an insight into what it felt like to wear a mask, to design a mask, to

choose a mask. and so that will give us a real insight into how people felt during the pandemic, at is something, as historians, we always struggle to understand. >> brown: medical mask history goes back to those now well- known "bird masks" of the 1600s. herbs to cleanse what wasith thought to be contaminated air, and help doctors ende smell of decay and death during bubonic plague. hethe use ofedical mask as we know them came much later. >> so, they really come inhe their own inate 19th century when you have that advent and emergence of that idea of germ theory. that takes a long time to catch it's several decades before americans overwhelmingly embraced that idea. >> brown: the first-- and, it turns out, last-- mass wearing of masks by americanil now, was in the so-called spanish flu pandemic of 1918. dr. jeremy brown is the author of "influenza: the 100-year hunt to cure the 1918 spanish flu pandemic." >> they were extraordinarily important. in fact, the doctors at the time

realized that masks were basically all that they had. you ould remember that antibiotics hadn't been discovered, so there was no way to cure the secondary lung infections. and there were no antiviral medicines, so the only thing that you could do was to prevent the spread of the disease. and that involved wearing masks. it was well understood by then that masks were useful, and it was generall accepted across the country. >> brown: even so, the death toll was extraordinary-- some 50 million worldwide; 675,000 the u.s. the pandemic lasted more than two years, rolli out in three waves. sr the most part, histori say, americans accepted masks. >> everybody was using masks. there are many wondetuul historic ps of people wearing masks. of bter, wearing a mask at a baseball game. of people wearing masks in the street. people getting on trams were wearinmasks. police officers were lined up wearing masks. >> one of my favorite images is while he's delivering the mail. and what's interesting about ththat is, you think tha's not someone who is necessarily coming in direct contact with

individuals. he's just puttg mail in a slot. but his desire to protect elhiis still very, very strong, in case he does have an encounter on the streets. so, to me, that's one of the most representative and powerful images of 1918, 1919. >> brown: but masks, then and now, also became a battleground. acts of resistanceests and other >> this is insane. this is insane! >> brown: ...and fights erupting. >> that man harassed me for not wearing a mask. >> brown: back then: "three shot in struggle with mask slacker." access to bus and services denied, arrests made. it came to a head in san francisco, where a mask requirement was rescinded when things improved, then restored by the mayor when flu cases spiked again in a second wave. this time, some residents balked and formed the "anti-mask liague." >> the con of people refusing to wear masks included businessmen who thought that it would put people off coming into their stores, because they had

is reminder of disease o them. it included what we would call todaellibertarians, who that it was an infringement of their human rights, of rights to live their own, make their owchoices. and ere are also a few skeptical physicians among them. >> brown: and how much influence did they end up having? >> well, they ended up having a great influence. in fact, they-- when the health board tried to reestablish its ordinance of wearsg masks, it verturned. there were demonstrators who came out to the me and th ordinance to make masks once again mandatory in san francisco failed. >> brown: a lot of that sounds very familiar toinhat we're setoday. does it strike you that way? >> it does. and, you know, the more i y ok into not ohe 1918 pandemic, but pandemics in general, the more you see all kinds of reverberations that tell us that what is happening inociety today should probably have been a common reaction to pandemics.s >> brown: after 1918, though,co thtry wanted to move on.

the masks themselve lost: but this one, saved in a scrapbook, is one of the few that survive. today, historians want to preserve, and member. the improvised, d.i.y. masks. the messages of our era. all of it, and more-- masks, hazmat suits, and other >> we don't know if, in the future, people will want to move on, or if people put the objects from the pandemic in a box in their attic. we really don't know how people sowould respond. e want to make sure that we're talking to people now, so that they undersannd the impo of saving these objects for the future. >> brown: one day, when this is over, future gener bions may lookack, to understand the meaning of a mask. for the pbsjeewshour, i'm ffery brown. >> woodruff: and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.

have a great weekend. thank u, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pvided by: >> when the world gets complicated, a l goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor dve and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management.>> onsumer cellular. >> johnson & johnson. ja financial services firm raymond s. >> women's suffrage centennial commission. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the wongd's most

presroblems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institution and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporion for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like yo thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, evanyone. d welcome to amitriptyline manpower a company. here's what's coming up. >> i acceptour nomination for vice president of the united >> kamala harris picks up the torch and fights on. the importance of this historic first, the one who led the way. the first blk female senator and one who entered congress at theame time as halle. the first indian america to do so. then -- >> visualizing black voeks t enjoyingir lives is important. >> ground breaking photographer tyler mitchelln his meteoric rise after shooting beyonce for e cover of "vogue" and why he

believes capturing black beauty is anct of justice.