captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: the president heads to walter reed hospital after he and the first lady test positive for covid-19. what it means for him and the country. then, one-on-one with leon panetta. how the former defense secretary, c.i.a. head, and white house chief staff sees this moment. and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks weigh in on this uncertain time, so close to the american election. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

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white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany said he was experiencing "mild symptoms." being airlifted to the military hospital out of an "abundance of caution." and was expected to stay for several days. while there, he will be able to work from the hospital's presidential suite. word of his positive test raised more questions than it answered, and brought much uncertainty to the state of the presidential campaign and beyond. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> alcindor: the global pandemic, hitting home at the white house. president trump now infected with the very virus he's been fighting to contain, while at the same time downplaying. today in a tweet at 12:54 a.m., the president announced that both he and first lady melania trump tested positive for the

coronavirus. he wrote, "we will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately." in the meantime, the white house scrambled to do contact tracing, and officials there expressed optimism. the chief of staff mark meadows. >> the american people can rest assured that we have a president that is not only on the job, he will remn on the job, and i'm optimistic he will have a very quick and speedy recovery. he has mild symptoms. the doctor will continue to provide expertise. >> alcindor: and white house press secretary kaylieig mcenany spoke on fox news this afternoon. >> he's having mild symptoms, but he's feeling good. he's in good spirits. i spoke to him last night, and he absolutely was hard at work. >> alcindor: but that revelation comes hours after news broke that hope hicks-- a close trump advisor who traveled with the president this week-- had the virus.

that sparked immediate concern of exposure amongst the president's inner circle and washington's top officials. this morning, vice president mike pence and his wife karen announced they tested negative. pence's doctor said he does not need to quarantine. the health and human services secretary, alex azar, who testified before congress today on political interference in the u.s.' covid response, also tested negative. but news broke this morning that republican national committee chairwoman ronna mcdaniel tested positive on wednesday. she was last with the president last friday. meanwhile, the democratic presidential nominee, former vice president joe biden, tested negative for the virus. he said in a tweet that he "will continue to pray for the alth and safety of the president." the president's infection upends an already-unprecedented campaign. >> i don't wear a mask like him, every time you see him, he's got a mask. i put a mask on, you know, when i think i need it. >> alcindor: the president has long downplayed the virus, and cast doubt on the necessity of socialistancing and facial coverings.

>> this is like a flu. it's a little like a regular flu that we have flu shots for. and we'll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner. >> alcindor: and back in march, he told journalist bob woodward in a phone interview that he intentionally downplayed the virus' severy. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it do. because i don't want to create a panic. >> alcinr: at the presidential debate this week, he claimed his large campaign rallies aren't risky events. critics quickly pointed out that former g.o.p. pridential candidate herman cain died of coronavirus after attending one of the president's indoor rallies in oklahoma. at a charity dinner before his positive test result last night, the president was optimistic that the pandemic would end soon. >> the end of pandemic is in sight. >> alcindor: meanwhile, hospitalizations have hit their highest levels since may, in at least nine states across the u.s. national cases have surpassed 7.2 million. this morning, house speaker nancy pelosi said she hopes president trump's positive test result is a turning point for his attitude towards the virus.

>> this is tragic. it's very sad. but it also is something that, again, going into crowds unmasked, and all the rest, it's sort of a brazen invitation for this to happen. sad that it did, but i'm nonetheless hopeful that it'll be a transition to a saner approach to what this virus is all about. >> president america, donald trump. >> alcindor: todayglobal markets quickly fumbled as news of his infection broke around the world. president trump is not the first head of state to test positive for the virus. among them, the u.k.'s prime minister, boris johnson, and brazilian president jair bolsonaro. world leaders sent the president their well wishes. russian president vladimir putin wrote in a memo that he is sending "sincere support" to president trump. but, some struck a more critical note. french government spokesman gabriel attal said the president's infection is "a sign that the virus spares no one, including those who are the most

skeptical about its reality and gravity." >> woodruff: and yamiche joins me now from the white house, along with our lisa desjardins, who is reporting on the senate race in maine. hello to both of you. and, yamiche, i'm looking separately at pictures from the white house. it seems that they are, at this point, not allowing the press to see the president as he leaves the white house building and goes to an awaiting helicopter. but what do we know, at this point, about the president's healthnd how it got to this point? >> this is a remarkable moment for this white house where the president of the united states arguably the most protected american in the country could not protect himself or workplace from the coronavirus pandemic. white house officials say that out overan abundance of caution the president is being moved to walter reed hospital. they say he is going to be working there, is in good spirits, is experiencing mild

symptoms. there are reports he had a low-grade fever, some sort of nasal congestion as well as fatigue. the white house doctor says he feels the president is going to be continuing to be looked at and monitored around the clock. in terms of treatment, the president has been given one infusion of an experimental or promising cocktail of antibody medicines that are aiming to help him. the presidt is also, the doctor says, taking vitamin d and zinc and a daily aspirin. to put up the graphic, we look he had four rallies between now and last thursday. last thursday, september 24, he was in a rally in jacksonville, florida, the following days in virginia and pennsylvania. last saturday he was in the rosenwith am amy coney barrett,

then he traveled to cleveland for the presidential debate. on wednesday september 30th, the president along with his familiar will you and hope hicks, who has tested positive now, traveled to minnesota. that night she was diagnosed with coronavirus. the next day after the president knew hope hicks had been diagnosed, he traveled to new jersey overnight for a fundraiser and or night we learned he tested positive for the virus. a number of reporters pressed the white house why did the president travel after he knew hope hicks tested positive? white house operations cleared him to travel, i'm told. how is he going to be able to lead the nation while he has this virus? we're told he is going to work at walter reed and has been working from the white house. this is a president who is 74 years old, overweight and part

of the high risk group we have been talking about for people who could have complications for this coronavirus. >> woodruff: quickly, yamiche, what if we seen with regard to the president's often disregard for guidelines from the c.d.c. that masks be worn, that there be social distancing? >> reporter: this is a white house that has not abided by its own health guidances. the president said he does t want the wear a mask, doesn't feel he needs to wear one. he's beeat rally after rally of people not social distancing, heret at the white house. on all this day this is breaking, three officials were without masks, larry kudlow, an advisor and kayleigh mcenany, white house press secretary. as they were talking to me, they were not masked. this is a white house, even amid this issue, they arstill not wearing masks. i should also remark that i was here last saturday when the

president rolled out amy coney barrett as his nominee. cabinet members were standing shoulder to shoulder in the rose garden not wearing masks. a lot of critics said this was dangerous and the white house would be a scene where people now have the coronavirus. >> woodruff: lisa, you have been covering joe biden. what does this mean for hum? he shared the debate stage with the president just tuesday night. >> judy, a biden campaign official confirms that campaign is taking down their negative ads about theresident at this point and they made the decision before the president was on his way to walter reed just out of respect for the situation he's facing. biden himself was on the campaign trail today. he was in grand rapids, michigan, notably wearing his mask during his entire set of remarks. biden did say he has the trump family in his prayers but he also noted that he thinks this is a time and example to show that we need to fight the virus

more effectively. another capaign official says it's worried about the pence-harris debate set up for next week. they want to have greater distancing between the two candidates from seven feet to 1. they want the commission on presidential debates to enforce mask rules, which the commission did not enforce with last week's presidential debate. one more thing, that official tells me this idea of the presidential debate for october 15, they're not sure how that can happen given the news regarding president trump. >> woodruff: finally, quickly, lisa, theresident has been in touch with others around him, in touch with members of congress. what are you learning this could mean for congress and its work? >> it has been a very dramatic day on capitol hill, judy. one reson, senator mike lee of utah tested positive for the coronavirus this morning. i want to show you a photo of the unveiling of amy coney

barrett as the president's nominee in the rosen. you see senator mike lee with no mask directly behind vice president pence. now just a few days later, mike lee tested positive for the coronavirus. he is home quarantining. i'm told he's fine but is experiencing symptoms, judy. so let's think about this, mike lee also met with coney barrett at the capitol on tuesday. she has now said that she has previously had the coronavirus and recovered. however, lee was also, yesterday, judy, in a committee hearing, the judiciary committee, with fellow members of the senate andeth not clear all of them are getting tested, a very large concern at the capitol, coney barrett's confirmation hearings will go forward as planned in a week even though mike lee one of the committee members tested positive. >> woodruff: we know what a priority that has been for the trump administration. lisa desjardins, yamiche

alcindor, we thank you both. there are many other questions about the president's personal health, the duration of the quarantine, and whom else might have been exposed in recent days. dr. asish jha is the dean of the brown university school of public health. and he joins me now. dr. jha, given what we've seen, the president is about to leave the white house to go to walter reed for several days, they say. you've heard what we have about the president's symptoms. what does this add up to for you? >> judy, thank you for having me on. this is all, of course, very concerning for both the president and for the country. in terms o of the president and his health, we don't have a lot of information. we know he received this experimental therapy, but it seems like it's proving quickly, and he was diagnosed last night and is heading to the hospital tonight. it concerns me. i don't want to overstate it. i don't have a lot of details, obviously none of us do, about his clinical condition. but this is a concerning and i

think worrying development. feels like more than just an abundance of caution, but let's pray and hope that, indeed, he's doing okay and he'll turn around quickly. >> woodruff: worrying because they went ahead and gave him this infusion of what they call polyclonal antibody cocktail, worrying because of his age -- he's 74 -- worryg because, we're told, he's overweight for his height. what makes you worry? >> it's a bit of all of those things. he is clearly high risk because of his age and his weight, and we don't know much about his co-morbid conditions, but also worrying because it feels like his clinical situation has gotten worse since yesterday. a typical course for somebody with this virus may be several days of feeling relatively okay before they start getting worse. this does feel like it's moving a little faster than usual. again, we don't know a lot here so i don't want to really

overstate what we know and what level of worry, but he is the president of the united states, and we just have to have a heightened level of concern. >> woodruff: you have to ask you this, dr. jha. how much confidence do you have in the information we are getting from the white house about this? >> so this has been a challenge out of this white house, and one of the reasons why it's so important for political leaders and for the white house to build credibility with the american people is exactly for moments like this. in a moment of crisis, we need to trust what's coming from there, and we haven't always gotten straight information. so i am worried. my hope is that, in this moment of crisis, the white use does level with the american people, is transparent and shares infoation, but we'll have to see what comes out of the white house in terms of what's going on. >> woodruff: and i will just repeat what i said a moment ago in talking with yamiche and lisa and that is the picture the white house -- normally they

allow the press to take pictures, video of the president leaving the white house and getting on theo the helicopter. so far this evening, they're not allowing that picture. we're continuing to watch to see if that changes. dr. jha, we know the president has been travel ago lot. we heard yamiche report on his schedule the last several weeks, visiting different states, holding rallies, very little mask-wearing, very little social distancing. how much could that have contributed? >> yeah, so there are two sets of issues in my mind. first of all, it's very clear the white house has not been doing an adequate job of protecting the president and the results are now in front of us. the idea that people could go up and be next to him without wearing a mask, that people weren't doing social distancing, all of these really put the president at risk and the fact that was allowed and maybe in some ways encouraged really strikes me as very probable mack. but here we are, and now the big challenge in front of us is to

figure out who has been in contact with the president, with the first lady, with ms. hicks, and try to identify who needs to be quarantined, who needs to be tested, and given his schedule, we're probably talking about dozens but more likely hundreds of people. so there's a very large effort in front of us in terms of tracking everybody down and figuring out what to do with them. >> woodruff: and what would you say, dr. jha, about joe biden at this point? he was in michigan today. he flew there from delaware. he did an event, he was wearing a mask. we've just seen him within the last few hours. is it a good idea for him to be out on the road, even staying socially distanced, wearing a mask? >> yeah, so, you know, another concerning part of this, i think we don't know exactly when the president was infected, but it is reasonable to guess that the president was likely infectious on tuesday night during the night of the debate.

now, mr. biden would not count as an official contact because they didn't get within six feet, but they did share a stage for 90 minutes, so, clearly, the vice president is at some risk. it's been good to hear that he's tested negative. my sense is that's going to continue. he's going to continue getting daily tests. if he continues to be negative into early next week, i will feel better. but i can mr. biden does need to be extra careful at this moment because he has been around somebody who was infected and infectious. >> woodruff: dr. ashish jha, thank you very much. and i want to add that i am told right now that there are video pictures being permitted at the whe house right now for the press to see the president leaving the residence. i'm told he's walking from the residence to the helicopter, and we will attempt to bring those pictures to our audience as soon as we have them. dr. jha, thank you very much. and now for a look at how the

president's diagnosis affects the executive branch, what it means for the country's national security. we're joine by leon panetta, he served as white house chief offtaf to president clinton, director of the c.i.a. -- rather secretary of defense in the obama administration. leon panetta, what does this moment mean for the country? >> well, it's a serious moment that i think raise as lot of nationanational security implics because this involves the president of the united states and whether or not he is able to fulfill the duties of president and in a very dangerous world with a number of crises we're facing heret at home and abroad, there are concerns about whether or not the united states of america can, in, prove provide e

governing necessary for our december mock si to be able to survive in this difficult home. >> woodruff: why do you say that, when the white house says everything is functioning normally, they haven't transferred power to the vice president yet, but they say things are functioning, they're moving forward. what gives you concern? >> i think the concern is that there are some important steps that need to be taken here. first of all, is the president able to fulfill the duties of the president? and if he's now being moved to a hospital, is he able to complete those duties? is the chief of staff and the vice president in a position where they can implement their responsibilities? secondly, are they presenting to the public full information

about the situation with the president? i think this is a particularly serious time when the public needs to know what is the status of the president and w are they dealing with the concerns that we have about his health? thirdly, are they fulfilling the job of doing the business to have the nation -- the issues related to covid, the issues related to stimulus, the issues related to our economy -- are they continuing to deal with those issues? all of that, i think, is in question right now. >> woodruff: well, let me ask you about national security. i mean, what are the exact concerns? is this a moment -- and i don't want to go beyond -- you know, we're all speculating at this point -- to what extent is it a concern that a foreign goff, a bad actor, international actor could take advantage of this

situation? >> well, we always have great concern about whether or not our adversaries are acting to undermine the strength of our knock si. we know what the -- of our democracy. we know what the russians are doing to undermine our election process. we know china is doing the same thing. we know iran and north korea have conducted those kinds of operations as well. so the united states is at a very vulnerable moment. i talked about dealing with the pandemic, talked about dealing with an economic recession, talked about the situation in trying to make sure that we have an election process that is fair and that doesn't involve violence of some sort. all of these issues are at play right now, and adversaries now see a president who is ill from the pandemic. they are going to be temped to take advantage -- tempted to

take advantage of that situation and that's why it's critical that our national security team be on alert because this is a moment where our national security is at risk. >> woodruff: what steps should the white house be taking right now to reassure the american people? >> i think the most important thing, frankly, is that the vice president or the chief of staff have to speak to the american people about the steps that they are taking to assure that this country is being governed and that the duties of the presidency are being fulfilled. a lot of questions right now, obviously, about what's taking place, what kind of health problems does the president face. i think the key to trying to deal with this situation is an honest preseation to the american people about what is

happening. number one, the duties of the presidency are being fulfilled, we are taking every step to make sure that's happening. number two, this is the situation with regards to his health, and be very honest in presenting that situation to the american people that it's under control and that we are dealing with it. and thirdly, we are going to continue to deal with the business of the nation. we are continuing to negotiate on a stimulus bill, we are continuing to try to deal with the covid crisis, we are continuing to deal with economic issues within our country. those are clear signals that have to be se to be sent to then people to be clear that, in this crisis, the united states of america is still being governed. >> woodruff: and hw confident are you, leon panetta, that this white house will be direct and will be transparent on these points that you say are

absolutely sessional? >> well, the record, as we all know, ist not very good, and there's an awful lot of distrust about what comes out of the white house in terms of the news and what they say and whether or not they are being fully honest with the american people about what's happening. there are questions about that. doesn't mean that this can't be a moment where someone in the white house steps forward and very directly and honestly says this is the situation, this is what we're dealing with, and we do have the situation under control, and try to restore some of that trust with the american people. but right now, the trust of the american people, not only in the white house, but in the congress and in the other institutions of our democracy, i think, is at risk, and, for that reason, this is a momenwhen you have to restore that relation with the american people so that our democracy has confidence that

our institutions of government can function. >> woodruff: former defense secretary, former whithouse chief of staff leon panetta, we thank you so much. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: news of president trump's coronavirus test was quickly followed by a jobs report that was weaker than expected-- the last before election day. the u.s. unemployment rate dropped to 7.9% in september, and the economy added 661,000 jobs-- the smallest monthly gain since may-- leading to concerns about a slowing and deeply uneven recovery. so far, the economy has added back about half of the 22 million jobs that were lost after the pandemic first hit. but millions of people are

struggling mightily, and running out of federal assistance in some cases. amna nawaz has more on all of that but let's begin with some voices from around the country. >> my name is ben, i'm from indiana, and i was a senior manufacturing engineer. >> latonya darrisaw, new york, and i was a copywriter at a tech anentertainment company. >> my name is heather williams. i am-- prior to the pandemic, i was an adjunct philosophy instructor and graduate assistant at the university of texas. >> my name is sheila richardson and i was a learning specialist. i lost my job because the company said that they "did away with" the position. it decreased my finances about 30%. so, it's a big gap. a major gap. i was able to have some savings and i am getting unemployment, thank goodness. >> the assumption was that, you know, we all would be brought back, yeah, once we got ahead of covid, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.

my weekly amount that i get from unemployment now pretty much just covers my rent. >> we had a nice savings with a 401-k, i.r.a., savings accounts, whatever. i thought, you know, we were in pretty decent, middle america shape. but now they're all just... and you can just see it, month by month. just bum, bum, bum. just going down. >> i've had to cut back on my prescriptions. i've had to reduce groceries or any sort of pleasures, and groceries like ice cream unless it's on sale. maybe i'll take all of my medicine today and some of my medicine tomorrow. >> do i keep eating ramen even though i'm a heart patient? and i know it's bad for me, but it's all i can afford. do i pay my electric bill or do i pay my rent? those are the decisions th we have had to be making. >> i didn't plan for this. so, like, i don't know what, you know, what the next steps are for me. and then again, just when the bills are piling up and you have rent due at the first of the month, it's... yeah, it's-- it's difficult. >> i had a healthy salary when i was laid off. a lot of people would prefer to

start fresh with, like, a recent college graduate, someone with maybe a year to three years experience. so that's another-- that's a kind of hit against me, i guess. >> i'm a disabled person who has worked two jobs just to be able to make ends meet. and my partner works 60 hours a week. and that is not enough to support us. there has been nothing that-- i applied a month ago for benefits and i've received nothing. >> i graduated into the recession in 2008, so this feels exactly like that. and you know, unfortunately, during that time it took me three years to find a job, and that's with a degree, with experience. i have enough savings to carry me through the end of the year. if i don't see that happening, then i will definitely, obably have to move back home. >> given the volatile current situation, it's hard to even think about the long-term when you're so focused on the right here, right now. we're focused on this week. do we have groceries this week? unemployment benefits for me run out in november. that's literally in a month.

>> it caused me to have depression, to feel very sad, very weighted down. and the outlook is, "where do you go from here?" >> nawaz: for a closer look at the latest numbers, and to get a sense of who has been hit hardest by the recession, i'm joined by heather long of the "washington post." heather, welcome back to the "newshour" and thanks for being with us. we know recessions usually hit the most vulnerable among us the hardest. when you look back over the last seven months, big picture, what does your analysis show about who is being hit hardest right now? >> so we're basically half recovered, and that's good to see some jobs coming back, but what's really different about this crisis is, of course, the coronavirus, and ut has so deeply impacted low-wage workers. we canll see it as we drive around our communities, restaurants still operating at half capacity, a lot of stores still closed, bars still closed, and what we found as rereally dug into the numbers is how

deeply unequal this is. low-wage workers are basically in a depression-like state. they have been hit eight times harder than high-wage workers. basically, the recession is over for people at the top, while the working class is still in a depressi. and if you look at it by race, for instance, black men and women, their jobs have come back about 34% compared to whites who are 60 back or americans with college degrees who are 55% back versus those who don't have college degrees who are more likely to be in those service jobs are only about 40% back. so it's deep disparities right now. >> reporter: heather, your analysis found a massive discrepancy when you look at age groups as well. take a look at this graphic here. this shows all the different employment by age group. the hop lines are americans age 25 and older but that bottom line there is young americans between the ages of 20 and 24. how hard were they hit?

>> extremely hard. you can see it in the graph. those people who are trying to get those jobs often in restaurants and hotels just get their toe hold into the labor market, and those jobs were just completely blown away in the spring and have been slow to come back. the other group that's really been a big discrepancy is moms versus dads with schools and daycares closed and all these virtual classes. the burden is falling on mothers, mothers of school-age children are only about 45% of jobs recovered versus dads of kids in school are 70% recovered. massive difference there. and in setember, we saw a huge dropout, over 800,000 women just quit their jobs entirely and left the labor force, and that's a very alarming sign. >> heather, just a few seconds we have left, we cannot stress enough just how much the disparity of this recession is apparent, when you look across

income levels, especially compared to recessions of past years, when you look at recessions of 1990, 2001 and 2008, this current recession has a massive disparity, the top line you see on the graph there, the highest earning quarter of americans, the bottom line there, the lowest earning americans. what does recovery look like for them? >> i'm extremely worried about it, particularly if congress and the white house do not pass more aid soon. you saw -- you just heard those vignettes, i've heard it, too, peop are eating ramen noodles, they're having to decide between prescription drugs or rent. i think natasha smith from louisiana who lost her jobt at a casino, i said, what are you eating for dinner tonight? she opened her fridge and said i have two things here, one packet of wings and one packet of thighs and we don't have anything else. >> reporter: devastating things across america. heather long of "the washington

post" joining us tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, september's unemployment report, coupled with news that the president has contracted the coronavirus, pushed stocks lower on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average lost 134 to close below 27,683. the nasdaq fell 251 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 32. firefighters in northern california faced dry and windy conditions today as they battled a wildfire burning out of control in wine country. e so-called "glass fire" north of san francisco has scorched nearly 600 buildings. 80,000 people are under evacuation orders, but officials said they expect better weather soon. >> we're looking forward to decreased winds, decreased temperatures, increased humidities, which will give our firefighters and boots on the ground a fighting chance to gain

additional perimeter control, and start to bring some normalcy back to these impacted areas and get people back home where they belong. >> woodruff: wildfires burning in california this year have charred almost four million acres, a new milestone in the state's worst fire season on record. hours of kentucky grand jury recordings in the case over the killing of breonna taylor were made public today. in the tapes, louisville police said that they identified themselves before bursting into taylor's apartment and fatally shooting her while serving a drug warrant. they said they returned re after one officer was shot in the leg. taylor's boyfriend said he used his legal firearm because he did not hear them, and thought an intruder was breaking in. the jury did not charge the officers for causing taylor's death. a federal judge in california has ordered the trump administration to continue collecting census data through the end of the month, as

scheduled. the ruling came last night, and aimed to ensure that the "most vulnerable and underrepresented communities will not be disadvantaged." it reversed monday's announcement from commerce secretary wilbur ross that the nation's head count would end on october 5. the treasury department imposed sanctions on eight belarusian officials today, for their roles in the country's disputed presidenti election, and the violent crackdown on protests that followed. the move came after the european union took similar measures this morning. the u.s. did not sanction the president of belarus, alexander lukashenko, who has denied the election was rigged. guatala's president today warned that his country will detain and return members of a migrant caravan that set out from honduras in the hopes of reaching the u.s. he said the roughly 2,000 migrants were a health risk amid the pandemic. the caravan crossed into the country thursday, and rushed through the border without

registering. one migrant died trying to climb onto a moving flatbed trailer. and, back in this country, newly-released audio recordings from 2018 show first lady melania trump angered by how the news media portrayed her response to the administration's family separation policy. the conversations were secretly taped by stephanie winston wolkoff, a former aide, who wrote a book titled "melania and me." in the audio, released on cnn last night, the first lady also aired frustrations about having to plan the white house christmas decorations. >> they say i'm "complicit." i'm the same, like him. i support him. i don't say enough. i don't do enough where i am. i say that i'm working on christmas and planning for the christmas and they said, "oh, what about the children that they were separated?" give me a ( bleep ) break. i was trying get the kid reunited with the mom. i didn't have a chance. needs to go through the process and through the law.

>> woodruff: the first lady's chief of staff accused wolkoff of secretly recording the first lady to "peddle herself and her salacious book." still to come on the newshour: shields and brooks clarify this moment in american history. and, we remember some of the lives lost in this pandemic. >> woodruff: the president has tested positive for covid. millions of americans are out of work. two weeks ago at this moment, justice ginsburg was still alive. it is a lot to process. thankfully, we have the analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york

times" columnist david brooks. so hello to both of you. a lot has happened just in the last 24, 12 hours even. david, first of all, your reaction to this fast-moving news that the president not only has tested positive but he's now at walter reed hospital? >> yeah, i happened to be awake at 1:00 a.m. when i saw the tweet he was infected. we take careful about the things he says. an nbc host said he was praying for him and people on the right are, obviously. he's man and our president and we need him to be healthy. so you know just a few minutes ago on east coast time as we were talking the white house released an 18-second video of trump talking to the video thanking people for their expressions of support, they saw the video of him walking to the marine one helicopter on the way

to walter reed, and it's comforting, it's comforting to see him in reasonably good shape. and, so, you know, we're humans, and this has been such an emotionally exhausting year, and the accumulation of emotional trauma is just -- we've got one more episode. i was thinking, man, october, it seems like it will never end, and i realize it's october 2. so it's just an emotional gripping year. >> woodruff: it's been a whirlwind of the likes of was i don't think any of us has seen. we have been looking at this video, listening to david but looking at this video of president trump walking from the white house to get on marine one, the helicopter. and, mark, before i turn to you, we do have that 18-second message the president tweeted a moment ago. let's listen to that, watch it. >> i want to thank everybody for the tremendous support. i'm going to walter reed hospital, i think i'm doing very well, but we're going to make sure that things work out.

the first lady is doing very well. so thank you very much. i appreciate it. i'll never forget it. thank you. >> woodruff: so, mark, the president there speaking clearly. he looked like himself, but we are told that he's experienced fatigue, perhaps some temperature, other symptoms. he's received an infusion of a special what they call cocktail of antibodies. but it is a moment -- a sobering moment. >> sobering moment, indeed, judy, and it changes the political landscape of 2020 like no other event, and i think that's the reality. i think joe biden spoke for virtually all americans when he said that both the president and the first lady are in his and joe biden's thougs and

prayers,er and i think that's universal. one can't escape the reality of the politics. the coronavirus is the election issue of 2020, it always has been, and it now returns center stage, and it is exactly the issue the president did not want, did not want the disease, obviously, personally, but he does not want this issue to dominate our politics, and i don't think there's any way from here on in that you escape that. >> woodruff: given what's going on, david, and clearly it's early, we don't know the course of the president's treatment, how he will do, how serious this case will be for him, but what does it look like could be the effect on the campaign? >> yeah, there were some thought that there would be some sympathy, people would rally

around him as boris johnson when he got covid very early in the pandemic, i think that's possible but probably very unlikely. i think it's unlikely because he made such a point of doing behavior that was risky and, at this moment, and in particular it looks cavalier and especially for a president who has a public role to perform, it looks like not the best version of public service. so i think people will say, you know, he just didn't take this seriously, you know, he was out there at that amy coney barrett event and people were hugging each other not wearing masks and we've seen that throughout the year. we know he won't be campaigning for a while, we don't know how long the recovery will last. that means there probably won't be a second debate. it means, as mark said, covid is at the top of everyone's minds. so just in speaking in political terms, it's, i would say, very bad news for the trump campaign. >> woodruff: mark, how to you

see the effect on the election, on the campaign? >> well, i think, judy, let's be very blunt, there is no donald trump campaign. donald trump is the donald trump campaign. it is his tweets, his rallies, his, off the cuff, frequently-given press comments, that is what has driven the narrative, and his narrative has been that i am the president of unmatched peace and prosperity. it was a country under his administration that reached its lowest unemployment rate in 51 years, that he was reaching out to better relations with north korea and, for a while, a rapport with china. all that has changed, and it's a different campaign, and he's tried changing the subject, whether it was the fraudulent

mail voting or whatever subject came to mind, as long as it wasn't coronavirus, and coronavirus now is central, dominant and inescapable. >> woodruff: and, david, this comes just a few days ter the debate, the first debate. we assume, we don't know whether there will be more, but a debate in which donald trump more than dominated. he overwhelmed that tuesday evening. did it have an effect, do you think, on voters who still don't know what they're going to do on november 3rd? >> it certainly did in my circles, even among trump supporters who were friends, they were devastated and shocked. some of them are not on twitter, they don't see a lot of that twitter stuff and suddenly they see this. i think it was one of the most important events of the campaign for this reason -- people like me can sermonize about how when you behave badly, when you

destroy every normal and decency, you corrode the world around you and the standards of behavior. it's a slow corrosion. on debate night the american people got to see with their own eyes how one man destroyed a political institution, the presidential debate. so that's just a clear example of the centrality of character and the central of decency and how what we sw when you have bad character, frankly, and indecency, it has the explosive force of howitzer, it breaks things and mak people suffer, and that process, in my view, has been going on throughout the trump presidency but here happened in front of everybody's eyes. i think it's an extremely significant event in the whole arc of the trump presidency. >> woodruff: mark, how much harm do you think the debate did to the president's political fortunes and the country?

>> i think it was obviously his missed opportunity, judy. his opportunity was to try to make the race into a referendum -- rather, a choice between himself and joe biden. it brought all the attention and focus back to himself, made it a referendum on himself again. he was interrupted joe biden 120 times. he took a remarkable civic institution, criticized by some for not being sparkly enough or whatever else, but had been a remarkable moment where, in every campaign, where 90 minutes both candidates stood there and defended and explained and answered questions and were held accountable, and we found out in what sense they were. it was more than a travesty, it was a moment at which he brought all attention back to himself. he mocked joe biden on the wearing of masks, which seems

sadly ironic and poignant at this point. but i don't think there's any question that the two major eevents, the book-end events of this campaign -- i don't know what's going to happen tomorrow -- but really happened this week, and they were the debate and the disease, and both of them. and in the final analysis, judy, there have been four presidents reelected since ronald reagan, and in each case, every one of them, by measurement of the "wall street journal" nbc poll was personally liked. donald trump is the only american president seeking reelection who is personally unliked by 70% of his fellow americans. there was nothing he did tuesday nighin cleveland that made him more like to those americans whose votes he needs. >> woodruff: david, only about 30, 40 seconds left, but, in that time, how is joe biden doing in this campaign? >> he's done a masterful job of

holding his coalition together. i did not think he did particularly well in the debate. i thought his impromptu remarks were good but his scripted remarks explaining healthcare were chaotic. so i think he's done a very good job not being donald trump but he needs to work a little on his performance, i'd say. >> woodruff: and today his message to the country about the president? okay. i'm told we need to go, and, so, i'm going to thank both of you. david brooks, mark shields, thank you. >> woodruff: as we monitor the president's health and we hope for a full and quick recovery, we also remember the thousands of men and women across this country who have passed away from the virus. here are a few of them.

larry kelly taught american government to high school seniors in miami for 32 years. when they turned 18, he made sure every student registered to vote. a lover of books and learning, larry never wanted to leave the classroom. he taught summer school and led field trips to the courthouse and washington d.c. when he eventually retired, the 78-year-old worked at the local library. quiet, but witty and hilarious to those who knew him best, larry loved cheering on his home teams in new orleans with his daughters and granddaughters. nursing was more than a job to 62-year-old patricia edwards. she wore old-fashioned scrubs to the intensive care unit in greenville, south carolina where she worked. nurse pat was one of the first in line to treat covid patients. she was fearless, even when battling cancer, and made those around her feel safe, her daughter said. thanksgiving was pat'savorite

holiday. she spent the day in the kitchen, blasting old school r&b with her five children and 13 grandchildren. john e. thrower jr had a megawatt smile. a bus driver in richmond, virginia, john was a dedicated worker who loved talking to his passengers, his wife said. always jolly and busy, john also had a passion for cooking; a skill he learned from his mom. he was spiritual, too; a loving father and grandfather who enjoyed traveling with his wife. john was 49 years old. a teacher and school counselor, dr. betty jean mcbride's favorite piece of advice to her students was, "bloom wherever you are planted." heartfelt and giving, she spent her time helping others. she founded a local group called "100 women on the move" to give

back to women in need. she met her husband on the board of the columbus, georgia y.m.c.a., and raised his son as her own. she was 71 years old. growing up in el salvador, jose mardoqueo reyes was fascinated by radio. he went on to become a radio show host in washington, d.c., where he combined his love for broadcast and sports, jose often announced local games for his spanish-speaking listeners. his daughter described jose's personality as infectious, straight-forward and funny. a beloved husband, father to five, and grandfather, jose was 54 years old. >> woodruff: we want to thank the family members who share the wonderful stories with us. our hearts go out to you and all those who've lost loved ones in this pandemic. our wishes are with the

president and first lady for their health as well. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, please stay safe, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided 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. >> johnson & johnson. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway. >> 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.

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