captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, outrage: protesters clash with law enforcement and trump supporters as armed right-wing hegroups increasingly make presence known amid the continuing racial reckoning in the u.s. then, election threats: members of congress raise the alarm after the director of national intelligence ccels in-person briefings on voting interference. and healthcare in america. we visit houston to examine the stark and widening disparities atmentess to medical t in the u.s. is the best of americanoth wha healthcare, and really what is the worst. u have parts of harris county, which is where houston is, where

life expectancy is lower than what you see in many third world countries. >> woodruff: all that and morepb on tonight's "newshour >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been prov by: >> when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. with fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. that's fidelity wealth management. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond jame >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years,

advancing ideas and ting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public bro ccasting. and tributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >>eoodruff: a political bat is intensifying tonight over protests against racial injustice and incidents of violence. amna nawaz wl focus in a moment on what's happened with some of the armed civilian groups and the role police. but first, white housees

corrpondent yamiche alcindor reports on how the presidentl candidates addressed it today. >> reporter: amid a weekend of largely peaceful ptests, dueling messages on who bears the blame for outbursts of violence. in pittsbuh today, democratic presidential nominee joe biden pointed at president tmp. >> this president long ago frfeited any moral leadership in this country. he can't stop the violence because for years he has fomented it. >> reporter: after the speech, president trump tweeted, "to me, he's blaming the police far more than he's blaming the rioters." and white house press secretaryi ka mcenany said democrats are at fault. >> when the trump administration arrives in a democrat-run city engulfed in chaos, peace is restored, law and order is held. >> reporter: the vast majority sparked by the kilf georgens floyd in may have not turned violent, but incidents ofti shoos, property damage andha looting ignited debates over how authorities should respond-- and whether

demonstrators on both sides have gone too far. president trump has attacked the efforts of democratic local officials. in scores of twe hs this weekenkeyed in on new clashes in portland, oregon. the city has seen nearly 100 days of prests against police violence. it began saturday, when supporters of thpresident drove through the city in a 600 vehicle caravan rally. th were met by counter protesters along the route, and some of the trump supporters thred paintball guns into e crowds. that led to clashes, which were eventually broken up by the police. after the caravan le, a backer of the right-wing group "patriot prayer" was shot and killed. it's unclear if the rally and the shooting are related. the man has not been intified and the gunman has not yet been pinpointed. sunday night, poce arrested at least 29 people in separate demonstrations. and today, oregon state police returned to portland. sunday, the city's democratic mayor accused president trump of fomenting unrest.

>> mr. president, why this is the first time in decades thatse america ha this level of violence? it's you who have created the hate and the division. >> reporter: president trump defended his supporters on twitter. d, this morning, he agai threatened federal intervention, writing, "if this joke of an' mayor doesclean it up, we noll go in and do it for them." meanwhile, in kea,en wisconsin, tons remained high ahead of a planned presidential visit tomorrow. 00on saturday, roughly 1,0 tople peacefully marched streets to protest the shooting of jacob blake by kenosha police. last sunday, an offir shot blake in the back seven times. his familyays he is now paralyzed. at the march, his father demanded the officers invouned be held acble. >> my nature is to prote my son, to stand up for my son when he cannot stand up. >> reporter: president trump has criticizedhe local response to protests in kenosha, which has also seen some violence.

on tuesday night, kyle rittenhouse-- a 17-year-old-- showed up at the protests with a long gun. he claimed to be protecting business.er he was lat charged with shooting three people, killing two. asenosha copes with the unrest, the city's mayor and wisconsin's governor tony evers, both democrats, urged the president not to come. in a letter to president trump on sunday, evers wrote, "i am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing." today, the mayor of kenosha had >> reporter: today, the will go ahead.ted that his vis for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> nawaz: for a closer lk at the protests, and those armed groups showing up in response, t n now to mary mccord. she's legal director at the institute for constitutional she'also a law professor at georgetown university, and formerly with the depae,ment of justs acting assistant attorney general for national security. >> welcome back to the "news hour," and thanks for being hear. we should mention itekas been 14 now since

george floyd was killed. and was just reported, in the hundreds of protests, they hve been overwhelming peaceful, but as we saw in portland and kenosha. and now some are deadly. do we know why that is? >> well, i think there are a loft of diferent contributing factors, but saw recentl kenoshance we part, attributable the private malitias who took it upon themselves to do what they call prteoing property, but they did so without any authority. they ca heavily armed. they wearen't nswerable to government entities or anyone other than themselves, ted they creaa permissive environment, where others, year-old, the 17- who may or may not be officially part of the malitias that came, but vertheless was a hanger-on, they created this permissive environment that resulted in tragedy.

i think we've seen mores and more acr the country at peaceful protests, at protests against racial injustice, we've seen more and more self-proclaimed and self-assessed malitias showing up, with no authority, heghtening tensions and intimidating people, and sometimes resulting in violence like we saw inn keosha, albuquerque, and portland. >> i want to ask you about the word "malitia," because we use itto armed white men, but rarely tobl armek men or any other group. do you know why that is? >> malitia, the term goes back to the founding of the country, and at tha time referred to all able-bodiewhite men, frankly, between certain ages. it didn't include white in it, but it was who,

predominantly, the land-owning people re, so i think it has historical roots. but private malitias have never been law full. to the extent malsit have ever been lwful, only in service by the state or the federal government. so they can only be called s forth by tate or the federal government. as you indicated, had we talk about people of color havingrmed groups, other terms might be used for those groups, including terms like "gangs." the course of tived over something that breaks down somewhat racially, and i would also addthat th malitia groups, they fancy themselves as paanriots, suggest that what they're doing is actually in furtherance of theen constitution, t really is nothing of the sort. >> so, mary, the groups inl kenosha wgue they're protected under the second amendment, to be there andd armed o protect the community. what do you say to that?

>> the supreme court haste been qulear back in 1886 and as recently at 2008, that the second amendment protects an dividual's right to ber arms, but does not prevent states from prohibiting private paramilitary organizations. and that's what thos groups were, they were private paramilitary organizations. the second amendment doesn't protectheir activity in kenosha or elsewhere. >> so if they're not supposed to be there, who's job is it to enforce they are not there and armed the way that theary >> well, there are certainly state authorities that could enforce that ad state law in wisconsin prohibits -- not only does theate constitution prohibie rolitia that aren't answerable to the governor, but also prohibits falsely assuming the functions of a public official. so en those malitias were aggregating to

themselves, the law enforcement responsibility, the responsibility for protecting property, they were falsely undertaking the functions of l enforcement, which they have no authority to take. they have the right to say gather, and so do the trump supporters. who is to stop it beforeit ets to a violent, maybe deadly clash? >> it require with the help of the state, and maybe the federal government, if necesry, to acually enforce the types of time, place, and manner restrictions that are permissible in order to allow for peaceful protests. that means not alowing malitias, no allowing violence, not allowing firearms, where it is impossible to ban them. so those are theinof things that law enforcement and government officials need to be able to enforce, although it is very difficult given the spontaneity of some of thees prng activity we have seen. keep rising. the tensions

that is marliyn mccullough for the substitute for constitutional advocacy. thank you very much, mary. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news: the trministration's new covid-19 adviser says americans should feel cautiously optimistic. dr. scott atlas says infectionsc and deaths arening in hard-hit states, and there is no need to fear, even as more schools reopen. topped six milon, withwide 183,00deaths. a federal appeals court in washington h refused to end the criminal case against michael flynn. the former nationasecurity advisor pled guilty to lying about contacts with russ before president trump took

office. but the justice department had moved to dismiss the case. the appeals court also tossed a congressional lawsuit to make former white house counsel don mcgahn testify. in lebanon, lawmakdorsedappeal. diplomat mustapha adib as prime minister-designate today. the largest sunni party, the shi-ite "hezbollah" and christian blocs all backed him,i in a rare splay of unity. today, adib visited neighborhoods recovering from a devastating beirut portio expl he promised accountability. >> ( translated words fail to scribe this horrific scene. we will try as soon as the government is formed to speed up e investigations and to have the investigation's result given to the public as soon asib po. >> woodruff: lebanon has also been rocked by protests over f governmelures as the country's economy crumbles.ci the first comm flight from

israel landed in the united arab emriates today, now that they have normalized relations. emirati, israeli and american fls waved after the plane arrived abu dhabi, with officials cluding jared kushner, president trump's son in law and advis. back in this country, thousands of people in louisiana are still waiting for power to rurn after hurricane laura. the extent of the dama crystallized this weekend, as evacuated residents went home. estimates for insured losses are now nearing $9 billion. the storm killed at least 18 people. in economic news, delta, american and united airlines have now all abolished fees for changing domestic avel plans. hoping to get people flying again. and, on wall street thdow jones industrial average lost 223 points to close at 28,430.

e nasdaq rose nearly 80 points, to an all-time high, had its best august since 1986, adding 7%. and, hall of fame basketball coach john thompson has died. he transformed georgetown university into a na champion and was outspoken about race in sports and society. jeffrey brown looks at his life. ( cheers ) >> reporter: john thompsonhar. made hist day in 1984, becoming the first black head coac.to win an n.c.a.a. title thompson was known for transforming georgetown into a powerhouse and molding basketball gres like patrick ewing and allen iverson both on and off the court. >> coach thompson saved my le. no other schools were recruiting me anymore. my mom went to georgetown and begged him to give me a chance

and he did. ( applause ) >> reporter: thompson saw his own role as going beyond basketball. >> i could use it as something to open a doorway for myself or other people. it was an educational instrument for me. orter: thompson made a point of recruiting black athletes to the predominantly white campus, and spoke out about injustices he saw. in 1989, he famously walked off the court before a game to protest an n.c.a.a. scholarship rule he felt would hurt disadvantaged students. >> because of the success we were having as a basketball coach and me being an african- american, i had an obligation th say someing about it. so i did. >> reporter: the n.c.a.a. ultimately modified the rule.so john thompcoached at gorgetown for 27 seasons and won almost 6es. he was 78.

i'm jeffreey brown. >> woodruff: americans will begin casting ballots in this fall's general elections in just a couple of weeks, and election day itself is just a little more than two months away. but now there is word of changes to how top u.s. intelligence officials will brief congress, about other nation's attempts to interfere in the election. for more on that, i'm joined by our own lisa desjardins and nick schifrin. >> woodruff: so hello to loth of you. lisa, first of atell us a little mo about what is happening and why th s matters? eaking to many sources today, both parties are very concerned about threats to election security ts ar com fr foreign adversaries. s have learned tere wa scheduled a briefing for

thhouse intelligence committee in mid-september, but friday, john radcliffe, the director of national, intelligennt a letter to both chambers of congress, saying that l briefings in person would be canceled. this led to a confusing backnd forth for the next 24hours about what exacy he meant, and now sources are telling me the understanding, coming largy from republicans, now republican senators will be briefed but not house deatmo so just to review, here is what we're talking about: as a co-eal branch of government, these are the two committees that usually are fully befed, house intelligence, led by democrat adam schiff, andte sentelligence, led by marco rubio. the change, judy, as we understand it right n, only the senate telligence committee, both parties on that committee, will be briefed fully in person. everyone else will get written statements.

why does thimatter? first of all, briefings provide a great deal more ninformation in person th on paper. separately this shows the mistrust that is growing between lawmakers, who usually put politics aside on this issue, and is coming at an important time, judy. there are real concerns right now about russia, in particular, attempting to manipulate this election. and as one senator, ang king pointed out to me on a phone call, there is a feeling in 2016, theic puas warned too late about what russia was doing, and there is concern that, again, theo public may be aware of what is going on right now. >> woodruff: and, nick, what is the intelligence >>mmunity saying about that. n o.d.n.i. official told me they're committed to met their statutory responsibilities, but they won't confirm what lisa just reported about whether there will be some in-person iefing to either the senate or the house intelligence. the letters that lisa just mentioned were sent to

congressional leadership and committees on friday, and radcliffe wrote th he didn't want information, quote, "misunderstood or politicized." he told fox news that that meant he didn't wat to see information leaked. >> we've had a pandemic offo ation being leaked out of the intelligence community, and i'm goingth to takmeasures to make sure that that stops. >> i asked radcliffe's office about leaking, and all they would say is tha we take unauthorized disclosures of clssified information seriously. >> to add to that, judy, i asked lawmakerso, and senate republicans could not pinpoint a specific example of a leak that came from democrats that they thought wa a problem. instead they said it is a general politicalization of intelligence. democrats pushed back that they think they're being penalized for being too aggressi or more aggressive on this issue. and some democrats do believe, as nick just reported, that this action could be illegal. a

>> woodrufnd nick, you've been talking to former intelligence officials.a what are theying? >> these former officials, republicans, democrats c senireer intelligence officials, they accuse radcliffe of misleading thpublic on the threat to the election. in the fox news interview he insisted that china was the u.s. top threat, and many officials across the government do believe that china is the long-term strategic threat that s.e u. is most concerned about, but the immediate, overthreat to the election, was russia. that was in a recent statement released by the office of the diector of national intelligence. it said pro-kremlin actors were trying to boost president trump'cabdz see. ssurchina's was pre political figures considered anti-china and deflect criticism. that leaves to the f the politicalization of the intelligence community. first ambassador rick bernell, with no

experience, became acting director, and no john radcliffe, elected and withdrawn, and confirmed a few months ago, and now former officials tell me senior career intelligence officials are leaving the intelligent committee for fear it is being politicized. >> woodruff: and all of this happe tng weeks befo election, and people start voting. nick anlisa, thank you both. >> woodruff: thousands of edprotestors in belarus ma president alexander lukashenko's birthday yesterday with a derisive chant of "happy birthday psychopath," after a week in which the security apparatus furthered its crackdown protestors and journalists. in partnership with the pulitzer center, here's special correspondent simon ostrovsky

minsk. >> reporter: the embattled leader's birthday was all jeering, not cheering sunday. even still, demonsators did bring "gifts." a funeral wreath and a coffin. one man marked the day dressed as the angel of death. >> despite intimidation and threats, the belarusian people have continued to protest, and this is exactly what the authorities here don't want you to see, because over the last week they've arrested dozens of journalists. many have had their credentials revoked and many have been sent out of the country altogether.or belarured a sweeping crackdown on the media in theto lead uunday's march. these were the scenes last week when some 50 journalists wereke tainto custody as they covered demonstrations in the capital, minsk.rs 19 reporte were stripped of their government press cards, the foreigners among them expelled, according to the y larus press club. arrests of ordinlly-goers

also continued. a video shared on social media dects the moment a protest attempting to escape police was dragged off a bus. in all, cle to 500 people were detained last weekaccording to belarus' interior ministry. its all part of lukashenko' struggle to hold on to power after he declared himself the winner of an august presidential election, rejected as a fraud by the opposition; the u.s.; and the e.u. one major power has, however, offered lukashenko assistance. >> ( translated ): i asked the russians to give me two, three teams of journalistsrom the most advanced tv. we're not paying for these russians at all. >> ( translated ): according to the closest estimates each new day of illegal protests costs belarusians from $10-20 million. >> reporter: the change in tone on belarusian state television has not gone unnoticed by ordinary viewers.

>> the style of propaganda has changed. before that it was much more primitive, and now it became we don't want some foreignersbr nwash our people. >> reporter: one example of th"" subtle change," the maiasstate brr no longer ignores the verybvious countrywide opposition rallies. instead it presentsth demonstrators as paid foreign agents or "useful idiots" with little understanding of why tme out to protest. alternative rallie took week place, not so well attended during the working week, but theyid happen and to ignore them wouldn't be right. >> reporter: opposition protestors have gone toar extraordlengths to protect the few independent porters that darto coverhe protests. at a women's march on saturday demonstrators prevented security officers in plain clothes from detaining man with a camera who they had tried to pull from the crowd. it was a very different atmosphere at one of the smaller pro-regime rallies the aunorities have hastily thr

together in response to the three week old protest movement. >> ( translated ): the goal of the protests is to come to power and then tear us away from russia.we an't let that happen. >> reporter: riot police were nowhere to be seen andws television crend photographers could operate openly. for the pbs newshour, i'm simon ostrovsky in minsk. pandemic has again driven home the crucial role that our s healthcatem plays in our gialth and well-being. and tonight, we a special series about how we provide healthcare in americpared with how it is done elsewhere in the world. william brangham and producer s son kane filmed this ser broke out, and william joins me

now to explain a bit more about the series. >> woodruff: so hi, william. i knw you two worked very hard on this. tell us a little about what the series covers. >> well, as you said, judy, we started this before the pandemic broke out, and the idea was to look at the state of american health care, how it is today. and, as you know, this isa ountry with remarkable innovation in that field, remarkable en vaccination, with incredibly starknt disparities. there are over 30 million people who have no health care insurance whatsoever. so we thought, can we learn something aboutar- can we lsomething from other nations that do a better job of covering everybody? and there is obviously al politide to this. we saw a big debate going mocratice de primary. we know this will be a big campaign.the pre vice president biden wants to expand the affordable cant act, and presi trumsays he wants to get rid of the a.c. a. and

replace it with something better and to lower costs. we thought since there are so many tions already doing a very good job of this, lets go there and see how they're doing it. >> woodruff: inevitabl it is going to be a part of the campaign. where did yogo to make these comparisons? >> we went to three countries that ovide good, inexpensive universal health care to their people. and there has been this debate happening in this country about is health care actually a right? these are nations that are not having that debate. they are just doing it for their citizens.k thy metrics we looked at here are access, quality, cost, and ho they take care of the disadvantaged in their societies.and the u.s., frankly, doesn't do that well on a lot of those metrics. so we wet to several nations, three in particular, the united kingdom, switzerland, and australia, all of which measure wtter. and wnted to see how did they do it? let's look at the mechanics of how they get

there. >> woodruff: and, as you say, you started filming, and you were filming before the pandemicke out, and of course since then it has become a huge public health concern. how do you look at how these countries arein dewith that? >> initially we're not looking at that. we really wanted to stayon focusehis issue of universal care. way these countriesuse the responded to the coronavirus pandemic is only partly influenced by the structure of their health care system. i should say at the end of this series, we will hav a conversation very specifically about how but we relly wanted tod, stay focused on how is it that these countries are able to cover everyone at seemingly a reasonable learn from thatmight we experience. ind so for that we beg our story here in the u.s. in houston, texas. >> reporter: this is boy saved by american innovation

a bouncing, rocking, joyful testament to the miracles of modern american medicine. his life was transformed here, in what's called the largest medical city in the world: the texas medical center, in houston. here, docts test artificial organs built from scratch. technicians design robots to speed efficiency. surgeons use virtual reality reconstruction to see tumors inside the body before ever making an incision. and, kids like six-year-old cason cox come back from near- death. cason was born with only half his heart functioning normally. the hints of blue in his skin a sign of a little body hungry for most kids with this condition don't live very long. >> i can remember it perfectly. it was pouring rain outside, of course, and i was by myself, anf ony, my doctor told me that she sees that cason's heare is undloped. it was, it was a very few dark

iys for me. >> reporter: but2017, using a new and highly complex surgical technique at the texas medical ceer's children's morial hermann hospital, dr.sa jorgzar changed the course of cason's life. >> cason was going to die. and had we done what we've always done, he would have had a transplant aeady, or, it's a hard thing to say, but he would have passed away already. but now we have a normal child in fro of us. >> doctor salazar came out with the biggest smile on his face, and he said, "i did it, you d it, he did it, and it works." so, i mean, i think we all started crying. >> reporter: cason cox is one story. the texas medical center performs 180,000 surgeries every year.ot it-- likr gold standard medical centers across the u.s.-- draw hundreds ofou nds of patients from around the world. the technologies and innovations created in the u.s. also get

exported globally. but just a few miles away, it'sr a world in north houston, the mostly low-income residents here experience a very different healthcare story. >> i want you to see that within just a few miles, you have thery est,nd the very worst, >> reporter: elenaprarks is the episcopal health fation. they analyzed c.d.c. data that revealed incredibly stark inequalities here.ck the mostly besidents here are disproportionately uninsured, and they often don't get care until it's too late. they die, on average, 20 years earlier than residents in other parts of houston >> you know, the deck's stacked against you. if you could get to the mecal center, that would be great, but you'd probably be really sick, because of the neighborhood you live in,y the time you get there.

>> reporter: the u.s. spends more than $3.5 trillion on hethcare every year. it's nearly a fifth of our economy. as a percentage of g.d.p., that's almost twice what most we spend more than all these nations combined. and yet, amecans still die of preventable and treatable diseases at higher rates than in other high-income counies. ours has been called "the most expensive, least effective" healthcare system in the modern world. lack of health insurance, or the high cost of healthcare, is a huge barrier for millions. in one recent poll, more than one in three people said they skipped medical treatment because of money. that includes people with health insurance. and last year, more than 30n millioericans-- about 9% of the country-- had no health insurance at all since the pandemic, an estimated ranks.million more joined their for many years, houston resident lakeisha parker was amthe she was a certified nursing

assistant. >> i was proud of that work, i enjoyed doing it, because i lohe to be able t people. so, what i would do is go into people's hom, after their surgeries or illnesses, and assist them with gting back to life, daily activities of living, bathing, fixing them a small meal. >> reporr: that's very intimate work. >> it is, very intimate work. >> reporter: but parys the pay wasn't great. she says the most she ever earned was about $13 an hour. and it never came with health insurance she could afford. >> i'm actually working in healthcare, and can't afford to. pay that's not right. >> reporter: texas has the highest uninsured ra in the nation. roughly 18% of texans-- five million people-- don't have insurance. and the state didn't expand medicaid, which would insure more low income texans, under the affordable care ac so, like many, parker went for years without checkups, or seeing a regular doctor. too expensive she said.

but then, she discovered a lump the size of a tangerine in her breast. it was malignant cancer. parker found this houston clinic that would treat her on ag slidale, based on her income. only after the cancer diagnosis did she qualify for a special medicaid program.lo so the tumor-- with 33 lymph nodes-- were removed. while surgery was a success, -- along with the chemotherapy and radiation-- left her unable r use one of ms like before. >> alright, take my hand, >> reporter: do you think if you had had health insurance you would have found this soon? >> if there would have been healthcare for me, at that time, healthcare tt i would have been able to afford, i would have easily accepted it. but, again, it comes the question of having somewhere to live, having something to eat, gas to get back and forth to work. >> reporter: those were the choices you were wrestling with? >> of course. you know, those are everyday

life choices that a lot of people have to make, based o their income. >> reporter: the weakness in her arm cost her her job. with no money, she lost her apartment. >> and you become homeless if you cannot pay rent. >> reporter: parker is now homeless, employed, and-- at the time of our interview-- living in a shelter. >> houston represents, i think, e,th what is the best of american healthcnd really what is the worst of american healthcare. you have parts of harris county, which is where houston is, where life expectancy is lower than what you see in many third world countries. >> repter: dr. ashish jha, who's now the dean of brown health, traveled w for public this series. he says that the seeming choice-- between medical lsnovation and universal coverage-- is a one. >> i reject that dichotomy of, somehow, we have to have 20, 25% ofeople uninsured if we're going to have a really highly innovative healthcare system. there are many reasons to reject that.

so, take a state like massachusetts, where i live. d it's also veamic, incredible new innovations happening. and yet, pretty muchverybody in massachusetts is covered. >> reporter: so, how do we wrestle with this idea, that a we're lace with this incredible level of innovation, and technological advancement, and yet we are seeing these disparities in healthcare. what is causing that, those horrible end of the numbers? >> so, the disparities we see are driven, some by high costs, of course if healthcare spending was cheaper it would allow us to cover more people. but there's also a bunch of we've just decided, as amade. society, not everyone has decided this, but many political leaders have, that it's okay to have people die from totally preventable, totally treatablebe diseasesuse we're not going to cover them. that's a political choice. think that's a terrible political cice. america without bankrupting the country, without creating long wait times. but we have to decide that we're

going to do that. >> reporter: for our next three programs, we travel to the united kingdom, switzerland andl australia k at how they get to universal coverage, and what the u.s. might learn. so that america can both embrace its innovation. >> and it st makes me feel od, just to know that, like, he is getting this life that he deserves. >> reporter: andarddress its diies. >> so it mak me el that we don't matter. >> reporter: so the two worlds don't remain so far apart. for the pbs newsur, i' william brangham in houston, texas. >> woodruff: a quick postscript to william's report: lakeisha parker has a new job at amazon. it has benefits, and she'll soon be moving into her own apartment.

>> woodruff: both president trump and former vice presiden joe bin are hitting the campaign trail in person this week, each delivering remarks on cial tension and violence in a number of american cities. our politics monday team is here to analyze each party's message. that is amy walter of the "cook political report" and host of blic radio's "politics with amy walter."ta anra keith of npr. she also co-hosts the "nprod politicsst." >> woodruff: hello to both of you. good to see you ter two weeks of conventions. i want to start with what joe biden and the president are saying about violence and the source of it, but, tam, i want to start with something the president said justme s ago at a briefing at the white house. he was ask about the teenager, kyle rittenhouse, in kenosha, wisconsin, who just a few days ago shot and killed two black lives matter protestors in the aftermath of the shooting

of jacob blake, and here is what the president said in answer to a question about mr. rittenhouse. >> president trumpndhe fellhey very violently attacked him. it was something we're looking at right now, and it is under investigation. >> woodruff: so, t, in essence, the president defending why kyle rittenhouse has done. he was a 17-year-old carrying a long gun, and the president is saing it was self-defense, in essence. >> that is what the president is saying. you know, president trump has this tendency to, when there are people who support him or are idea logically aligned wiemth he is very quick to defend them, see the best in them, look foerasons they may not be guilty. and we live in a system until proven guilty,t

obviously, and this is an alleged crime at this point, but president trump was muh more quick to blame people on the lef for violence in other cities, including the shooting death of at right-wing aist who was part of a caravan in support of president trump in portland over the weekend.so his is part of a long-standing pattern that president trump has, where he has difficulty finding the right rds, or whatever you want to call it, condemning violence that is idealogically aligned with him. he has a muchmasier tie condemning violence that is not ideallogically aligned withim. >> woodruff: amy, whenre the dent talks about this, that the democrats are going to bring lawlessness and violence to the american streets, what voters is he trying to reach? >> it is interesting that

ithis is where we areght now, judy. it sort of fits, actually, into what joe biden was saying today. he was out in western pennsylvania pushing back on charg that were raised during the convention by the president and by a lot of republicans that were on the conntion stage, that joe biden wou -- bringing joe biden into the white house would unleash this wave o violence in the cities. and biden said, essentially,ait, do you feel safe right now? aalking not just about the violence, but ectly what tam raised here, which is when the president has an opportunity to lower the tonit, he rises it. when he has a chance to calm the waters, he justice roils them. you have been hearing that from voters that now the president is going after, whether we'lire cal them suburban voters or women voter, who have said time antime again, while they may like the message, we

don't want violence, we don't want to see our cities turned into this vigilante justice, at thet same timhey don't see the president as having the temperament to be ableh to deal withis. >> woodruff: and, tam, when you think about how e biden is nw coming back, he is saying that who has created the conditions for this violence. he has created an atmosphere of chaos. does the white house have an answer? does the trump campaign have an answer for that? >> well, presint trump was given an opportunity today, he was asked: do you want armed malitias going into cities or do you want law enforcement to handle this? and he said, well, i want law enfo hement. and th started about going after democrats for the idea of defunding the the campaign response -- they had a call, sort of a rebuttal to the biden

campaign speech. here is a quote from someone who was a surrogate for president trump. will stop." america, this there is a little bit of cognitive dismiss becampe this is tr america. what the president and the campaign and the white house will say is, in places where theyccept the help of the federal government, in places where the national guard goes in or feral law enforcement, then things calm down. and in places where they don't, chaos re it is a difficult argument for an incumbent to make, that things that are happening in this country while he is president are not his responsibility, but, you know, i talked to a long-time trump advisor who says presidentrump sees himself as an outsider, he is going to run as an outsider, and he is the ouider, even though he is president of the united states. >> woodruff: so, amy, pick up on tat.

looking historically, other candidates, back toni richarn in the '60s, and other republicans have tried tous this law and order argument. how successful has it been? and how hard is it for the democrats to push back against it? >> right. and tam is total right, when you're an incumbent and bad things arein happon your watch, it is really hard to turn it on the other person, especially in the case wh that oer person happens to be joe biden, and he said in his speechy today,u know me, do i look like a radical socialist with a soft spotti for ri?" this has been the challenge for republicans from the get-go. in joe aiden they ha very difficult target. he does not sort of fit the stereotype of the kind of candidate they were hoping to run against,d somebody whontifies as a socialist or somebody who would have more the folks that are leading these protests and soe of the riots that are going on there. so that's challenge number

one. and as i said, the other challenge for the president isving believeability on theg issue or been as a broker on this issue that they can trust i would just add -- we are,however, and on president trump's ground right now. is whole conversation is president trump's ground. >> woodruff: it was the pandemic, and now we're talking about the protests. ra keith, amy walter, thank you both. >> you'rwelcome. >> woodruff: stay with us. as we take a look at our august pick for newshour-"new york mes" book club, "now rea this." but first, take a moment to hear

>> woodruff: before we go, the w read this"our " ok club. our august pick was "beijingac pa" a fast-paced thriller

about a young american's discovery of his late father's involvement in a vast chinese crime syndicate. you can find the full conversation betwe jeffrey brown and author diel nieh online. in this brief excerpt ni >> that's the key sort of feeling in the united states as viduals and we have our own desires and we want to do what we want to do. at the same time, we're subject to the gravitaonal pull of history and of our families. and so, everything that we thin el and everything that we enjoy, all the privileges we joy are produced by our parents, for us and our societies, for us. and victor is discovering that, he's discovering that he's linked inextricably to his father's past. and, of course, there's a sense in which this is a metaphor for the relationship between the united states and china. we buy a lot of things from every time we buy cheap things at the store that were

manufactured overseas we'repa icipating in the biggest economic relationship in the world. i it hense consequences for everyone who's involved.da woodruffel nieh on his novel, "beijing payback." and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. .oin us on-line and again here tomorrow evening for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you. please stay safe and we'll see you soon. >> majorunding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular. >> the kendeda fund.an committed to ang restorative justice and meaningful work through investmes in transformative leaders and ideas.

more at kendedafund.org. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program bs made possibe corporation for public broadcastg. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america test kitchen," lan makes bridget the ultimate adam reveals his top pick for boning knives, and keith makes julia a classic peruvian ceviche. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen."