>> our challenges are great, but our will is greater. >> narrator: f three decades... >> defeat sometimes is an important lesson... >> i, george herbert walker bush, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: seven presidential elections.... >> a generation assume new responsibilities... >> narrator: frontline has investigated the candidates... >> america's best days are yet to come... >> narrator: who would be president? >> i, william jefferson clinton, do solemnly swear...e >> i believeve to make the right choices... >> we will meet aggression with resolve and strength.ou >> do everything ipower to change the world. >> i, george walker bush, do solemnly swear...ra >> nr: the moments that shaped them... i won't... let you down. >> let it be said

we refused to let this journey end. >> that future is our destiny... >> narrator: the presidents they would become... >> i, barack hussein obama, do solemnly swear... >> we have to heal the divides in our country. >> i am your voice. >> narrator: and now on frontline... >> that the end of this chapter ofmerican darkness beg here. >> narrator: "the choice 2020". >> frontline is made possible b contributions to ys station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcastin major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur fodation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.or more ition at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaes on the frontlines of social change worldwide at fordfoundation.org additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, coitted to excellence in journali. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of crical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund,

with major support from jon and jo a hagler. >> overnight, growing national >> narrator: with the nation in crisis... >> ...mobs sowing chaos in citi across the nation... >> narrator: ...this is the story of two candidates forged in their own crises... >> political pundits said there was no way it uld be done! >> if the city would gather around with us...rs >> narrator: ...al tragedies... >> an automobile accident killed of biden...d baby daughter >> narrator: ...public controversies... >> trump's newspaper ads accontribute to the city'sl larization... >> narrator: ...challenges that shaped them... >> anita hill comes to washington...he >>onald is facing an incredible cash crisis... >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! . >> narratoand show how they would lead a country now in crisis. >> together, we are taking back our country. >> narrator: "the choice 2020." >> ...in a battle r the soul

of america. >> narrator: "trump vs. biden." >> "america wants to know!" >> welcome to "america wants to know." i'm ernie anastas, and this is the... in 1992, i hosted a special show in new york where viewers asked a lot of questions about their favorite celebrities. many, of course, were interested in donald trump, and wh he was like as a young boy managed to catch up with donald's parents, mary and fredt trump, and askm, "what was donald's favorite game as a child?" >> he played monopoly. yes, indeed. >> he liked to play. >> he played with hisr. brot >> uh-huh. >> he played with robert, but more than monopoly, he played with building blocks. >> ooh. >> always with building blocks. >> narrator: but donald trump's childhood was much more complicated. rly on, a family crisis,

his mother seriously ill. >> when he was two-and-a-half, my gndmother got very ill. donald, who was at a very, very critical point in his essentially abandoned . was he may not eirely trust women. he finds it difficult, if not impossible, toonnect with them on any deep level, because i don't believe he ever was able to with her. >> when you ask him about how she owed her love, he has nothing to say. the complexity of that relationship, i think, plays out through all of his relationshipn with wom throughout his life. with one wife after another. there's a, an inability to reach any recognizable level of intimacy.

>> narrator: young donald had his own crisis: finding his place in a family dominated by his father, fred, a stern and demanding real estate develope >> i strongly suspect th he had a relationship with his father that accounts for a lot of what he became. and his father was a very brutal guy. he was a tough, hard-driving guy who had very, very little emotional intelligence, to use today's terms. >> donald's father's overall message to his children was-- and it was a very different message the boys than to the girls-- to the boys, was, "competewin, be a killer. do what you have to to win." >> narrator: inside the family, a harsh game of apprence: who would take over fred's empire?

the first in line wasn't donald, it was his older brother freddy. >> my father was sensitive, he was kind and generous, he liked hanging out with his friends ed who adim, and, maybe worst of all, alough it's ha to say, he had interest outside of the family business. my grandfather understood none of that. >> narrator: their father said freddy wasn't "a killer." he wanted to fly airplanes for a living. donald thought that was crazy. >> he could not understand why business and be a builke family their father was. but fred wanted to be a pilot, and donald looked at that and said, "well, that's sort of like being aus driver. why would you want to be a pilot?" r: >> narraonald watched as freddy was cast out. >> my dad couldn't do anything right, and my grandfather made his life miserable. he was frustrated, and he began

to realize that he, it a wasn't goiwhere. >> narrator: his life ended early in alcoholism and poor health. d through the yearald would take a much dierent path. >> he wanted to avoid my father's fate of, you know, heabuse and humiliation at hands of his father. he took that lesn to heart. >> narrator: he was determined to live up to his father's ideal-- be "a killer." (trumpet fanfare plays) >> ha! >> nrator: but he was also tempestuous, impulsive. and at 13, his father se him to military school. (students chanting) >> he must have said, "thisin kid's gog to grow up in a tough world, really tough wod. if i want him to succeed, he's going to have to be tough." this rite of passage.as almost he said to me that when he arrived at the military academy, for the first time in his life, someone slapped hiin the faceen

e got out of line. >> narrator: it would be a five-year lesson in how to be a bully. >> donald trump yelled at his classmates. he pushed them around.ro he even used astick as a weapon against classmates who didn't listen toim when he told them what to do. pa >> allf us wer of this culture of, you beat on kids when they didn't do the right thing. >> you got hit. you may have gotten slammed against the wall. you were put in, in... yogot put artificially int fights. uh... >> he became a leader ofhe cadets. he became one of the student leaders o had a number of kids under him in the dormitories, a he ruled the dormitory life with an iron fist. >> narrator: inside that brutal world, donald had found his place.

>> his mother told me that he was never mesick. he loved it.ov he all that stuff because it was also really competitive. other kids didn't really like him all that much. he wasn't that popular because he was so competitive. he was always looking for the edge. but it was, it was an environment that he thrived in. >> narrator: with his father and mother by his side, donald gruated. he'd become a killer, learned the power of bullying to get ahead: a method he'd carry into the future.ud (military ts chanting) (beeping on countdown) >> (stammering): hope to p... teach p.e.

...two s... (stuttering on "s") uh, s... sisters. wellmy... ...fatheis very strict. >> among the many causes of retarded speech are low intelligence, hearing loss, emotional conflicts, poor methods of the teaching of talking by the parents, brain injury, and many others. for example, a child may stutter as he comes out of the early stages of retarded speech. isis was stuttering.den's >> he came of age in a, another time, in which people... (stuttering softly)en

...weren't as bout disorders or disabilities orac se... (stuttering) when the common... ...prescription was... "buck up. deal with it." >> narrator: dealing with it:ug a and-tumble childod in delaware, his father a car salesman fallen on hard times. for little joey, catholic school. nuns. >> he had an assignment he had to memorize. he had to stand up and deliver it in the classroom. w >> narrator: the wore in front of him: "sir walter raleigh was a gentleman." >> when joe read it, it went... (claps out rhythm): "sir walter

raleigh was a gentle man." "say that again?" mmm... "sir walter raleigh was a gentle man." and this went on three times.ge >> he idle man" instead of "gentleman." and... the nun said... (imitating nun): "mr. b-b-b-b-biden, what's that word?" and this is a person in a... position of authority, this is a person who's meant to protect you. >> it was so embarrassing and so enraging that biden walked out of the room,e walked out of the school. he walked all the way home. (car motor starts)

>> narrator: joey's mom, jean, marched him back to the schoolr. to confront his teac >> the sister starts telling her how disrespectl joe is, and my mother, "stop." she said, "just tell me, did you make fun of my son?" "well, i..." "sister, did you make fun of my son?" "well..." 'ld my mother said, "well, answer it for you. you sure in hell did. and if yver, ever, ever do that again, i'm going to come bonnet right off your head. your do we understand each other?" >> stutterinis a fear problem. the person feels fear, shame, guilt, tension. he's always worried about what he might get into a sin, not be able to say his name, or the telephone rings and he can't answer it. >> i was surprised at how often this subject came up during my time with him. it helped me understand that so

much of who he is comes back to that. that people are ready to make. fun of h that people will laugh. >> narrator: bullied, harassed, ridiculed, he s hell-bent on beating the stutter.ta >> biden would in front of his bedroom mirror holding a flashlight to his face, and he would recite yeats and emerson. against the stutter, thehing-- bullies-- and it paid off. >> people liked to be around him, he really had a presence. you knew him when he walked in. he was a little taller than most, and in very good shape. he was a star football player on their team. >> narrator: joey biden found another way to fight back:

polics. >> in high school, he's president of his senior class. honestly, that's when he gets a taste for it. the stutter is still part of hin during hisr year in high school, where he has to introduce his family at the, at graduation, and he has to stand up there and not stutter,l and say this pub and he does it. >> we want joe! we want joe! >> narrator: in the crisis of stuttering, a life method: persevere. just push through. >> more medical research to confer-- to conquer devastating diseases like cancer, and... not the end in, um, um themselves... the uaw took ex-- credible cuts in their future... >> many people would say biden's stutter is among

his most visible weaknesses, if not number one. but it's also a source of his strength. it's also... the main source of his grit and his... determination to just be there, competing. >> this is the "cbs evening news" with walter cronkite.en >> good g. for seven months, new york city has teetered on the brinkis of financialter. >> another piece of new york

fell by the curbside today for who knows how long. >> narrator: by the 1970s, new york city was in crisis. >> ...as part of the struggle to keep the city from going bankrupt. >>sew york city suddenly co apart. the city, for the first time, was losing population, as well and losing its economic base. (siren wailing) >> new york was in tatte then, but there were opportities everywhere you looked. the new york city of the early 1970s was made for someone le donald trump. >> narrator: in th crisis, 25-year-old donald trump saw a chance for personal gain. he was struggling to make a name for himself, break out of his father's shadow. on >>d, from a very young age, wanted to exceed his father and ginto manhattan and be the success that his father hadn't been in terms of notoriety and fame.>> hy? what's going on? >> narrator: trump took his shot.

it staed with a run-down hotel near grand central station. in such sorry shape that it had boarded-up windows, it had rodents all over the place. it was one of the markers of new york's sorry decline. and trump saw this as a grand opportunity.>> in new york city, the rate of unemployment is much higher than it is... >> narrator: it was an enormous gamb, but with the city on t brink... >> and so the city continues to stagger beneath the weight of its multiplying fiscal problems... >> nrator: trump believed ne york was desperate enough to pay him to transform the hotel. >> if the city would gather around with us, we can produce, wie a lease, guaranteed by state of new york, a new york city lease... >> narrator: but he was new to manhattan.ee hed a guide. he found roy cohn. >> roy, who was a rough-and-tumble fixer-- democrat, power within the democratic power structure in

ofw york city, close frien mayor abe beame, close friend of carmine desapio, the boss rty-- i think he was, like, donald's ambassador to thean world of manha >> narrator: cohn had beence disgfor leading mccarthy-era witch hunts, but trump saw him as a "killer." >> roy cultivated an image as a bulldog. nothing, nothing would stop him from tarring oonents or even doing illegathings. his pride and joy was bullying people and bribing people and making deals behind the scenes. he was a fixer.he as a connector. >> roy cohn was the kind of master of the dark arts. he was the person who helped shape trump's approach to life. >> what he learned from roy cohn was never apologize, always attack. atta the character of your opponents, that they're somehowr

malicious, that thsomehow doing the devil's deed here. and, and let the public know that. that was roy cohn. >> narrator: cohn knew just how to get the tax breaks trump needed to build his hotel. >>oy cohn, because of his unique positioning within new yorkity at that time, was able to pull certain strings, te tax breaks. >> narrator: new york taxpayers would be on the hook foril more than $400 mon. >> he is able to set up this deal, which the state bills as a special new program, but isn't a special new program. it is just a giveaway to donalda trump, a tax gy. >> it's been a long, hard fight. how do you feel? >> well, i'm very happy, a i think the city of new york is going to be very happy. >> narrator: he transformed the commodore hotel. with cohn's help, trump had thrived in crisis, used it to

his advantage. >> the mayor and the governor of new york were among those on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony... >> he got it done. he got it done by buing his way through, by pretending to have more backers than he rely had, by pretending that was actually putting large sums of money into it when he really wasn't. uh, and the con worked. he got the money, got the permits. he got it done. >> you use deception, you use intidation. you use all of the tactics that you can find. it is a utterly transactionalhe sense oforld. and "what's in it for me?" isnd f the founding credo. >> one of the things that donalf learned from schooad and school of roy was that almost everybody has their price. whatever... it might not necessarily be dollars,of although in is.

it might be some vulnerability that won't be revealed. id but roy hat almost everyone, there's a pressure point. >> narrator: it would beco trump's playbook: exploit crisis, in business, in life, in politics. ♪ >> ♪ kennedy, kennedy, kennedy,n kennedy, kennedy, y, kenny for me ♪ >> narrator: joe biden also had a c,le model: irish, catholi good-looking. joe emulated what he could. kennedy was drawn to politics, biden was drawn to politics. h ja a photogenic wife and children. joe had a photogenic wife and children. the kennedys had a familyhy compound anis port. the bidens would have a familymp

nd in wilmington, delaware. >> joe biden was always fascinated by the kennedy mystique. he really saw himself as a natural heir to that tradition. >> i'm joe biden and i'm a candidate for the united states senate.on politicians vesuch a job on the people that the people don't believe them anymore, and i'd like a shot at changing that. >> nartor: but wilmington was no hyannis port. >> we, the bidens, we had no money. we had no power or influence. we didn't know anybody who was a big me who could help us. >> hi, how are you? >> hi, how are you? >> narrator: like the is. over his stutter, his political start was a struggle. behind in the polls, facing a werful opponent: united states senator cale boggs, an ally of president richard nixonk >> joe biden me about getting involved in his campaign. i stard off by telling him

that "there's no way you can win." t cale boggs w candidate for the senate. he'd been a two-term congressman. two-term governor. two-term senator. he was beloved arod the state. so i said that he couldn't win. >> "audacious" is a good term to applto biden back then. this is a guy who wasn't yet old enough to hold the seat. >> narrar: it was a time of crisis in the country. the vietnam war had divided americans... >> opposition to the war in vietnam has set off monstrations in several major cities. n rator: ...igniting social unrest. in delaware, racial tensions boiled over. >> the national guard was called t in several cities to put down riots. one of these cities was wilmington, delaware. >> narrator: black residents were angry. joe biden saw an opportunity to draw on his personal experience

with race-- back when he was 19, working at an inner-city pool. >> he was a lifeguard. he was one of the two white guys. he was a tall, slim, uh... young-looking, good-looking, elvis presley-looking kind of guy. >> that's how he got to know some of the guys who were in the gangs. he jt seemed to have a natur instinct for getting to know people, getting to understand them, but not being afraid to bd arhem. me >> we beriends. we became friends. i was a very troubled child. okay? leader of a gang, no food at home, electric cut off, no soap-- sometime no soap andak water toa bath, no hot water. >> narrator: joe and ricky-- he

likes to be called "mouse"-- forged lifetime friendship after beating a shared demon: they both stuttered.er >> uand, back there for black, black folks back those days, when you stuttered, you was retarded or you was, or m you're-- something wtally wrong with you. >> i'd start with. >> so he basically told me, gooo to the mirror,at yourself, pronounce your words. go and put your voice on tape. i started reading the nge. from the back-- from the back to the forth, back and forth. >> narrator: mouse introduced joe all around the neighborhood. over the years, biden kept in touch, building relationships in the black community that would pay off. >> he would go through this personalizing with people.ly i never reeard him say, "i'm going to change the

community. i'm going to deal wi employment. i'm going to deal with..." you know, the typical politician mess that you hear. i always tell people, be wary of y politician who tells y he's going to create jobs. he's lying tyou. >> some people are in politics because they're in love with policy, but they're not nessarily in love with humans. he les the gamof it. he loves the dance of it. he loves meeting people. he les hugging strangers. go-to strategy. became his >> president nixon's landslide didn't help the republicans... >> narrator: and in 1972, that method worked. >> some of those who did lose had been considered the most certain to win. >> narrator: the black community helped make joe biden a winner. >> in delaware... >> narrator:y less than 3,000 votes. >> ...whipped by 29-year-old joseph biden.

>> it was very close. and pele were still surprised, you know, how this even happened. >> all of yohave done something that the political t pundits saidre was no way in the world it could be done!>> cheering) >> that night, all the college kids were so excited. a lot of uwent to the hotel du pont ballroom. and it w packed, packed. and there was so much excitement in the air. i saw this woman coming through the crowd, and i realized that it was neilia, joe's wife. and so i walked upo her, and i shook her hand, and i said, uh, "congratulations on your win." and she said, "thank you very much." and that was our exchange. >>

he war of the trumps has ignited a battle of the tabloids. mp the unfolding saga of t versus trump... >> a high-octane mix of the stuff that sls newspapers. >> narrator: they called it "the divorce of the century": trump versus trump. >> it was on page one, page two. i likened it to world war iii. i never saw publicity equal to at. >> reports linking trump to a bevy of beauties... >> narrator: this time it was a crisis donald created himself. >> ...passed as the other woman... >> narrator: he'd been cheating on his wife, ivana. >> he was in a real crisis, and there had been scandal after scandal in t tabloids. his children were sobbing,as ivankaobbing, donald, jr., was apparently not speaking to his father. and donald's mother said to someone who was very close to her, "i don't know who my son is

anymore." >> narrator: the marriage that produced the divorce of thece ury had begun more than a decade before... at a trendy new york bar. she was a model out the town with friends. >> donald came up and intruced himself. "hi, i'm donald trump, and i see that you're having a problem getting a table." so he went over to the maître d', well, next thing you know, the girls had a table. >> narrator: an immigrant fromov czechoia, she was going places. what fred trump would call "a killer." >> the interesting thing about ivana is, i nsider her to be every bit as ambitious as donald, and every bit committed to remaking herself or creating herself. >> narrator: ivana zelníková had become mrs. trump, but that was just the start. >> she said to me, "oh, you know, i'm going to go work for donald."

i said, "what? you'rgetting married and you're going to work? i neveheard of anything like that. don't you get married not to go to work?" she goes, "no, i told him that i wanted a job. give me any job, i don't care i can't sit at home." >> i love to work. i like to see the final product. i just, uh, i don't carehat kind of business it is in, or what kind of work is. i just adore to work.si i can't home and look up at a ceiling, it's just not enough. for me >> she was driven, too. driven, driven, driven. ivana trump was donald's... like they were born from the same sperm.nd donaldvana mimicked each other. you know, so they were like a ball of fire. >>pening party was one to end them all. guests-- thousands of them-- mingled with le clique's...ar >>rator: together, they headlined trump's biggest real estate project: trump tower. and as he expaed into atlantic city, she became c.e.o. of one

of the casinos. in manhattan, she took charge of the iconic plaza hotel. but it would not last. >> ivana, in the beginning, that was great, it was ve refreshing. s side, but it grew tiresomey for him. and why did it grow tiresome for him? because there are no co-stars in trump's orbit.ig there's only one spo, and it's on him. >> wn things went well, he became enormously jealous of the attention e got. and when things went poorly, he bece extremely angry and insulting and vindictive toward her. >> narrator: during ivana's renovation of the plaza, trump's resentment boiled ov. >> we came in and saw thefi shed room, and the first thing, he didn't like the

furniture, and he started cursing out ivana. and he pulled the drawer off a piece of furniture, he was so angry. i, i-- i never saw him so angry in my life. .he was very scary that d he was very, very angry. >> do you all argue? >> narrator: in public, trump made it clear how he felt. >> we should have worl record-setting fights. but we really don't. we get along very well, and there is not aot of disagreement, because ultimately, ivana does exactly as i tell her to do., >> (laughiclaiming) >> see, wait a minute... >> male chauvinist. >> right, right, men? is that right? huh? (applause) (cameras clicking) >> narrator: in the eye of the tabloid storm, ivana saishe was doing everything she cou to hold onto her life and her power. >> she starts weeping. and i said, "ivana, what is it?" and she says, "you, you don't know what it's like.

you just have to deal with him when you work for him.i ve him 24 hours a day." and i felt so terribly sorry. i mean, she really did everything she possibly could to plse donald, and i think she got the short end of the stick. >> a marital split between the billionaire builder... >> he wants out. there's rumor of another woman. and the wounded wife... >> narrator: but for trump, the crisis was made-to-order.or he leaked sties to feed the media firestorm. in >> one of the th he really learned from roy was the manipulation of the celebrity press, the so-called society press: page six, "the daily news"... he plays them like a piano.ds >> new york's tabl, having a field day, report... >> these tactics and techniquesr that he learned ime, that he picked up from roy hn and his father, and everything h gleaned from those people could be directed at the closest people in his life,fe includg his

>> narrator: this personal crisis taught trump another life leon: never share power again. >> we've seen it in trump's presidency. when aides become too out front in their own right, he reacts in ways that st of shove those figures back down to maintain the role of primacy that he not only seeks, but needs. ra >> nr: he's 30. joe biden had it all. three children, wife neilia at his side, about to take a seat in the senate. >> i was assigned do a long, long piece on him.

something like, you know, "youni mrn goes to washington." that's when i spent a good bit of time with joe. and i had lunch with neilia in the course of doing this story, and i just thought to myself, you knowthis couple, you know, really has everything. >> it's a love story. he met her on a beach in spring break in college. dlthey fell, within days, in love. >> neilia was the love of his life and it was really a happily-ever-after tale. until it isn't, abruptly. >> narrator: biden andis sister val were in washington setting up the offe, hiring a aff, when the crisis hit >> the phone rings, and val gets it. and biden is sort of paying

attention, and then he really starts paying attention when he sees her face. >> i got a call from jimmy biden. and he said, "come home, now. there's been an accident." and neilia was in the car, the station wa with the three children, beau, hunt, and naomin lia was literally bringing home the christmas tree, with the kids in the car the three kids in the car. (siren blaring) >> narrator: campaign flyers from the car helped identify the bodies. tractor trailer.roadside by a and she and naomi, who sat behind her in the car seat, they died instantly. and beau and hunter were seriously injure >> and he... he knew, he knew. he knew from the look on her

face. >> my brother looked at me and said, "she's dead, isn't she?" and i said, "i d't know, jo." i did know. jimmy told me. >> narrator: his sons were in the hospital hours away. >> the pain cut through like a shard of broken glass.i gan to understand how despair led people to just cash it in; how suicide wasn't justpt ann, but a rational option. >> in six short weeks, he wentom eing on top of the worldto eing a young widower, a o fathtwo children, and-- a single dad-- and a man with, you know, a broken heart. >> narrator: he got to the boys; they were all that was

left. broken hips, legs, arms, beaund was all cut upunter's skull was fractured. en>> since the accident, b himself's been living in a hospital in wilmington, delaware, taking care of his sons. >> today, e senator took his swearing-in ceremony... >> joseph biden, democrat of delaware... >> nrator: somehow, biden pulled it together. they held a swearing-in ceremony at the hospital. >> it means a lot to me. i appreciate it, and i hope that i can be a good senator for y'all. t i mas one promise, that if in six months or so, there's aco lict between my being a good father and being a good senator, which i hope will nott occur-- i thoughuld, but i hope it won't-- i omise you that i will, will contact governor-elect tribbitt, as i had earlier, and tell him that we can always get another senator, but they can't get anher father. >> narrator: the road ahead for joe den would be tough, like the fight against stuttering and the uphill politicabattle. once again, in crisis, he would

persevere. >> valerie's going to help raise the children. t he's goihave a job in washington and a home in wilmington, and he's going to ride that train back and forth.i he's to be home for dinner every night with his kids and his sister. and that's going to be the 's not the one he chose, but that's going to be the one. >> you don't lose a wife and child at the point in life that you learn from those kinds of experiences. what you do, though, is, like, uh, muhammad ali said one time,e "i'vr been knocked down. i was always been getting up." so joe just never been knocked down, he's always been getting up.

>> for some people, the ultimate goal... >> narrator: the question was first asked on tv when he was 34 years old. >> would you like to be the president of the united states? >> i really don't believe i would, rona. but i would like to sesomebody as the president who could do the job. wo>> narrator: the questiod not go away. >> ...political, presidential talk to me, and know people ha talked to you about whether or not you want to run. would you, would you ever? >> probably not, but i, i do get tired of seeing the country ripped off. >> you've been hinting that you could do it better and you dond ino run for president at some point? >> no, i'm not going to run for president. >> yeah, but if you want mething done right... >> do it yourself. (audience laughter) >> not only does h ego get fed, he gets a nice note from richard nixon, who's seen him on television. >> mrs. nixon told me that youhu were great on the do show. she predicts that whenever you decide to run for office, you will be a winner! >> donald proudly framed this letter and showed it to me at the time we were working together on interviews. >> narrator: he'd made his mark

in manhattan exploiting an economic crisis. now he'd take on another crisis and raise his profile yet again. >> it is christmas eve in new not peace on earth, but thewn is violence among us. >> ...vigilante who shot andde wofour young men over the weekend... >> to have it happen in new york >> ...in the new york city version of a racial lynching... >> the man is dead, mebody got to go to jail for that. >> no justice! >> no peace! >> narrator: crime and racial tensions were tearing new yo city apart. >> and n one killing, a hundred killings, are going to stop us from going where we want to go. >> narrator: trump seized onne headline. >> a jogger is fighting for her life after a brutal attack inra cepark. >> she is a white wall street investment banker, her blackg attackers beinlled animals inhe media. >> the savage beating and gang rape has provoked outrage in a city filled... >> it is the ages of the accused, 14 to 17 years old, and the horror of their alleged crimes that has caused a furor. >> the defendants are about to

have their two months in court. raymond santana, yusef salaam, antron mccray. they are finally through... >> there's a rush to judgebe use there's a rush to solve >> narrator: yusef salaam's arrest was at the center of the storm. >> we became what was wrong. we became expendable. >> trump saw this clsic tabloid story. he saw his role and his position instinctively. he knew in his heart that those guys were bad. >> narrator: as in so many other areas, his aitude towards race was shaped by his father. h was being raised by a father who was discriminating against african americans in the very first apartments with the trump name. he was raised in a setting where the people of color and the eack people that he saw w people who were working for him-- it was his father's driver. >> they were just a very racist

family, you know. people of color, you know, african americans in particular, jewish people, women were all considered fair game. and, you know, racism, anti-semitism, and misogyny were very coon in my grandparents' house, and... it was just the way it was. >> trump took out full-page ads in four ty... >> narrator: trump took the exaordinary step of buying full-page ad in four new york newspapers. >> trump's newspaper ads contribute tthe city's racial polarization... >> we haven't even gone to trial yet. two weeks passes, and we are essentially given a death sentence... with this ad. >> they should be executed for their crimes. st i want them to underd our anger. i want them to be afraid. >> and then he signs his name at the very bottom.

people don't sign their name to things that they're not proud . >> the ads are basically a very strong and vocal... they are saying, "bring back law anorder to our cities." >> this ad was a whisper into the darkest, most sinister parts of society. >> you better believe that i hate the people that took this girl and raped her brutally. you better believe it. and it's more than anger, it's hatred. and i want society to hate them. >> trump found a way to insert himself into the story, to signal where he was on these issues. and began to learn the lesson that if you can capture eat fear, and you can bec the champi for those afraid people, that there's a lot of political opportunity in that. >> hey! hey! ho! ho! all the racists have to go! >> narrator: ithe process, trump had touched a nerve and found a sympathetic audience. >> i've never done anything

that's caused a more positive stir-- i've d 15,000, 15,000 letters in the last week and a half. i don't know of more than two or three that were negative out he's learning how to dip his toe in and out of these rymarkably racially incend issues. he's learning how to dog- whistle,e's learning how to signal, um, and also learning how to do that while keeping a little bit of distance. >> more than a decade later, new information has blown the case... >> there were cheers in a new york city courtroom today... >> turns out they apparently got the wrong guys.fi >> the central par were released from prison. >> it turned out another man entirely had done this rape, and these kids were innocent. no they'd beeonly publicly exonerated, but officially exonerated. >> narrator: but trump would not apologize then, nor over thewh year the subject came up. >> we went to prison for a crime that we didn't commit.

still to this day, we still havi not been apod to from the people who harmed us in that way, that political way, right? >> narrator: it was part of the roy cohn playbook that trump continued to use: fan the fires nt division, get what you move on. >> you can almost draw a straight line from what he did with the central park five to then onto birtherism. s i mean, there ething within donald trump that makeshi drawn to those kinds of issues-- very, very divisive issues that are aimed at a particular part of the electorate or the population, that, in one way or another, stir things up. >> thank you very much. (cheers and applause) >> narrator: after 14 years in the senate, joe biden was going

for the big one: running for president. it was a family affair. the boys were older now. he had remarried, had a new daughter. >> you know, he said, "let's just test the waters." and so i said, "all right." i mean, it sort of just snowballed, and we were into it, really, beforee even knew it. >> narrator: but as he campaigned, headed towards another crisis stemming from a persistent question: what did he stand for? >> i think that's always been one of his challges. as he tries to go for president, he casts about for what he wants to say. he casts about for the issues he wants to put forward, and what he wants to say he believes in. and it, and it feels cast about. >> narrator: then, one day, a video. a story that would give him something to say. >> why am i the first

kinnock in a thousand generaons to be able to get to university? >> narrator: obsessed wipe the biden studied it. he later wrote, "the ad wasve ng; i couldn't take my eyes off neil kinnock." >> was it because they were weak? those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football? weak? >> biden could put himself into the neil kinnock story, family in scranton, pennsylvania, family in the mines. and so, in a sen, he absorbed the kinnock story and making it his own. >> the campaign begins in earnest with the first votes for the next president in iowa. >> the candidates spent much of yesterday fanned out... >> narrator: in iowa, during the primary, he took kinnock'swo s, made them his own. >> and now mr. biden. >> thank you very much. i started thinking as i was coming or here, "why is it that joe biden is the first in

his family ever to go to university?" >> he got up tre and he gave his speech, and he got to the end, the last three minutes, and he gave kinnock, but he did not >> is it because they didn't work hard? my ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeas pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours? >> joe biden borrowed it and applied it to his own life, and made a moving sort of aria, a moving sort of part of a sech about hiown life, which in fact had been takefrom neil kinnock. >> i hope you'll consider me. thank you very much. >> and that concludes the economics for america debate >> democratic presidential candidate joseph biden today faces a controversy. in>> biden seems to be cla kinnock's vision-- and life-- as his own. >> narrator:t became front- page news. >> bidenas been caught with a sudden embarrassing comparison of his recent campaign speeches. the first example came from great britai >> why am i the first kinnock

in a thousand generationto be able to get to university? >> and i started thinking as i was coming over here, "why is it inat joe biden is the firs his family ever to go to aty univer >> narrator: his campaign said it was a mistake, that he had cited nnock other times. >> for a second time in two weeks... >> narrator: but then, the avalanche. >> he looks like a joe biden, wind-up doth somebody else's words coming out... >> narrator: allegations of failing to cite a source in a p law schoer... >> plagiarized a law review article... >> narrator: taking lines from his political idols, the kennedys... >> one from john kennedy's inaugural, others from robert kennedy-- their words from the lips of joe biden. >> when he was accused of plagiarism, we felt that, you know, his character wabeing attacked. and it sort of took us back. >> thank you for coming, i apologize for not being able...r >> narrator: ible, biden tried to do what he'd alys done. >> i did not say, "to para raseneil kinnock." i should have. >> narrator: apologize.

>> i shoulhave known it was robert kennedy's quote. i did not know that. mistakes.or: admit his >> i've done some dumb things. and i'll do dumbhings again. >> narrator: psevere. >> but i'll tell you one thing. my learning curve is moving on this presintial race. and i wanna tell 'em all: i'm in this race to stay,hi i'm inrace to win, and here i come! thanks a lot, folk (applause) >> narrator: he thought he could put it behind him.t buen... >> this does not mark the beginning of a better week for. senator joseph bid today he's having to defend what he has said in public about his record at law school and what the record really shows. >> one real quick question, what law school did you attend and where did you place in that class? >> narrator: insulted, his >> i think i probably have a much higher i.q. than you do, i suspect. i went to law school on a full academic scholarship... >> joe biden's always beit very see to the perception that he's being disrespected. and when that happens, those

are the moments when he tends to erupt. >> thenly one in my, in my class to have a full academic scholarship. and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class, i wonl the internatioot court competition... >> but syracuse university law school records relsed by biden just last week show he sought a partial, not full, scharship, for financial, not academic reasons, that he finished not in the top half, but 76th out of 85 students. j biden comes off as someone who has a lot of self- confidence, but obviously, there's an imposter syndromehe dynamic at wor. because if you feel like you have to make up stuff about yourself and ient stories that are not your own, and then do it in such a self-destructive way in which you can be caught, that and certainly insecuri,aracter, that is commonmong a lot of politicians. >> delightful to see you all you know my wife, jill. >> pulling o of the 1987 presidential race was really devastating to, joe and to me

and to our family. >> the exaggerated shadow of those mistakes has begun to obscure the essence of my candidacy and the essence of joe biden. >> he recognized that this was a fatal blow to hihopes of winning the nomination in 1988. i think was a very painful decision. >> thanks, folks, my wife and i thank you very much. >> narrator: biden lost this fight... >> delaware senatojoseph biden dropped out the hunt... himself...en blames mostly >> narrator: he returned to the senate, continued his method-- persered through it all. >> real estate develop donald trump opened his new casino, the taj mahal, in atlantic city today. >> is this the eighth woer of the world? the taj mahal shines as trump's slickest deal. >> narrator: the biggest crisisu of donald trump'ness

career began with one giant bet. >> it certainly represented something bigger and bolder and probably what was going to bete the gr statement ever made in atlantic city. and so, it was a big deal. it was a big deal to donal >> narrator: the casino was the size of two football fields. trump said he spent $14 million on chandeliers. his bet-- $1 billion.ac (people talking inround) >> people were mobbing donald. i was shocd, i couldn't believe that, you know, asking him for his autograph and everything. i mean, he had just catapulted into this rock star. >> narrator: in tv reports, trump bragged that he was the reason the t would be a success. >> the taj mahal needs to make over $1 million a day to cover expenses. trump says his business sense and ego will make it happen. >> ego is an interestinghing i mean, i've always been referred to as somebody with a big ego, but i really belie that i've never met a successful

person without a very large ego. g and if you don't have a o, you're not gonna be successful-- it's as simple as that.as >> narrator: egoentral to trump's method, but there was something else-- positive thinking. a technique he'd learned with his father athis manhattan church. it was the place to be seen for business leaders, cialites, politicians, and the trumps. >> every sunday, hwould show up at marb collegiate church to go to norman vincent peale'ss serv >> the god who made this world was a wise god! he wants people who live life and like it. love it. >> i think part of it was thispo tive message that peale had, that you could achieve anything- you wanthere was nothing that could stop you.oo >> narrator: peale's "the power of positive thinking,"

taught followers "visualization," envisioning the world that they wanted. >> one reason that the positives thinker ositive results is, he is not afraid of a problem. >> it's this toxic positivity that perfectly fit in with whata my grandfather a thought. everything's great, you know, and if you tnk that way, then everything will be great. the problem is, everything is not always great. >> how, then, can you face the future with confidence? >> the three influences on donald trump, as i sometimes describe them, are school of dad-- school of fred trump-- school of roy-- roy cohn-- andol scf norman vincent peale. >> narrator: it was peale's kind ofutlook that carried trum into atlantic city, wi the vision of his name in lights: trump plaza, trump castle, then the billion-dollatrump

taj, paid for with junk bonds. >> i don't think donald trump spent one minute worrying about debt. if he introduced doubt into his life, the whole, the whole thing would unravel. >>arrator: trump was warned repeatedly he waheaded for disaster. but he dismissed the warnings.es >> he don't really like hearing bad ws. an optimist sometimes is so optimistic that they don't want to hear anything, that even if athey're heading right of cliff, they might not want to hear the news. >> what worries some analystis the amount of junk bond debt trump has incurred to build the taj mahal. >> narrator: inevitably, ue reporters began toion whether trump's vision could be profitable. ey trump says he believes will. >> the taj mahal is going to be a trendous success. >> narrator: that's when trump turned to a key roy cohn lesson: attack the media. >> wn cnn tried to pursue so of these matters with trump, do this interview with

somebody else. >> we talked about this yesterday on the phone. out...s exactlat we talked >> do the interview with somebody else, really. you don't need this.om do it withody else. and have a good time with it, because frankly, you're a very negave guy and i think it's very unfair reporting. good luck. >> it's just classic denial. if you're an expert and you agree with donald trump, you're a genius, but if you'ran expert and you disagree with him, you're a loser. >> narrator: he ignod the experts, but they had been right. file for bankruptcy next month. >> narrator: trump's casinos declared bankruptcy... >> the word is, "you're bankrupt." >> narrator: after bankruptcy... >> all three casinos are facing bankruptcy. >> narrator: after bankruptcy.>> ...chapter 11 bankruptcy protection... >> narrator: the collapse of the casinos devastated trump's investors and atlantic city. >> bankruptcy is a situation where people are losing, they're getting pennies on the dollar. the banks clearly lost out. so did the people of atlantic city, who lost jobs, who lost

their tax base. that's what happens in a bankruptcy and that's what bankruptcies.hese atlantic city >> narrator: but trump, as always, refused to admit >> that is sort of nor vincent peale, hold on tenacisly, hold on to this image of yourself as successful. never let go of it. never let the idea of failure enter your mind. ul>> and i call it a bea puzzle. >> narrator: the crisis in atlant city also solidified another method trump would come to rely on... >> i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. >> narrator: believe in yourself over experts...ts >> the expre terrible. look at the mess we're in with all these experts that we have. >> narrator: reject the naysayers... >> we have it totally under control.'s ne person coming in from china. >> narrator: declare victory no matter what. >> and we have it under control. it's going to be just fine.

>> president bush said he has no doubt clarence thomas will be confirmed to the u.s. supreme court. >> thomas will try to persuade the senate that he has... >> narrator: 1991. joe biden, now the powerful chairman of the senate judiciary committee, was facing his biggest crisis yet: allegations against supreme court nominee clarence thomas. this affidavit charged thatha thomas sexuallssed a former employee, anita hill. >> good evening, we begin tonight with the potential for political explosion on capitol hill. >> clarence thomas ran into trouble today... >> questions are growing over charges of sexual harassment against thomas... >> it seems to have been a nightmare for joe biden. as a man, he felt uncomfortable about it. as a white man, he felt uncomfortable taking clarence thomas, a black man, on about it. um, and the whole subject matter just made him incredibly uncomfortable.

>> another witness has come forward against thomas... >> news of a second woman who once worked for thomas... >> narrator: biden was at first reluctant have hill testify, but the story was exploding. er >> thereactually three other women, other than myself, who were willing to testify, wh tually said they called senator biden's office and, andt offered their own ony. >> narrator: angela wright offered her own stark allegations against thomas, which thomas denied. >> he asked me, in one situation, what size breasts, my breasts were. he told me he wanted to date mea this iwho has, who, in my opinion, has often spoken inappropriately to women.ma >> but committee chabiden conceded tonight that new information about the allegations has come in. >> narrator: with the pressure mounting, biden agreed to letme the testify. >> the hearing will come to order.

>> welcome, professor hill. professor, do you swear to w tell tle truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. thank you. was all white men.'s committee the "men of the senate," ase they wlled. >> there was not a single woman whmight have understood her story from a woman's point of view.ou >> canell the committee what was the most embarrassing of all the incidences that you have alleged? >> i think the one that was the most embarrassing was his discussion of, of pornography involving these women with large breasts and, and engaged in a variety of sex with different ople or animals. that was the thing that embarrassed me the most and mada me feel the most humd.

>> he's kind of in the middle of the road. i'm a southern woman, and i've always heard thathe only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill and yellow stripes. and that you havto take a position and you have to decide what you stand for. he didn't know whose side to come down on. >> thank you. my time is up under our agreement. let me now yield to my friend p frnsylvania, senator specter. >> narrator: biden's close friend, republican arlen specter, led the charge against hill. >> i find the references to the alleged sexual harassment not only unbelievable, but preposterous. >> narrar: he cast doubt on her memory. >> how reliable is your testimony in october of 1991 on events that occurred eight, ten years ago? >> narrator: he suggested she was exaggerating. >> you took it to mean that judge thomas wanted to have sexu

with youin fact he never did ask you to have sex, correct? >> no, he did not ask me to have sex. >> that was an inference tha you drew? >> yes, yes. >> my, my red light is on, thank you, very much, professor hill. thank you, mr. chairman.>> hank you, senator, thank you, professor hill. joe biden allowed members of that committee to grill professor hill in a way that was inappropriate and humiliating. he could have done something to provide r with some support, some comfort. but that didn't happen. >> narrator: biden gave clarence thomas the last word. he strongly denied the allegations. >> this is a circus. it's a national disgrace. and from my standpoint as a black american, as far as i'm concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks by a

committee of the u.s., u.s. senate, rather than hung from a tree. >> very powerful. i mean, what it did was, it shamed these white senators. and it certainly seemed to shame the democrats, who had just been accused of lynching a black man. (gavel bangs moved to wrap up the hs.biden angela wright and the other women accusing thomas would not teify. he'd end up voting against thomas, but his handling of thee ing damaged him politically. >> it made him the face of an out-of-touch body. and really woundedis prospects of a future run for president. he had se work to do, he had some reputational rehab do. >> narrato biden turned to his method for survival in crisis:

acknowledge the problem and repair the damage. >> joe is always able to say, "yeah, i didn't handle that quite right. let me see what i can do better xt time." >> carol moseley braun has entered political history. she's the first african american woman elected to the u.s. senate. >> big changes here, a kind that have history written all over them. >> narrator: "fixing things" began by recruiting the first black won elected to the united states senate. >> braun's anger over the clarence thomas hearings turned her into a candidate. >> narrator: biden wanted to make sure moseley braun joinede. his commit >> i made a joke, which he didn't think was funny at all. j i said, "yt want anita hill on the other side of the table." he did not laugh.in he didn't it was funny. and he still probably doesn't. (laughs) >> narrator: but he convincedin her and dianne feinso join the committee, beginning, once again,o rebuild.

♪ >> my name's donald trump, and i'm the largest real estate developer new york. i own buildings all over the place, model agencies, the miss universe pageant, jetliners, golf courses, canos... >> narrato having prevailed in spite of personal and financial crises, nald trump was now maki crisis his brand.r 14 seasons, he played the role of a mogul, as if he wereon stile in real life. >> his financial dynasty toppling like a house of cards... >> narrator: in the wreckage of, atlantic crump had changed course... >> trump's name once meant gold today, it meouble... >> narrator: and doubled down on what had been a side business: celebrit >> he's always saw himself as a potential tv or entertainment star.'s nother part of his, his personality, is, he likes to be an entertainer. donald trump. >> narrator: on tv...

>> it's the donald, oh, god!tl (yelps s >> euse me, where's the lobby? >> nrator: movies... >> down the hall and to the left. >> thanks. >> the donald is here... >> narrator: in the ring... he always played the same character: himlf. >> (laughs wildly): oh, my god! the hostile takeover of donald trump... >> what he was selling was a brand.he he learned that ust had to keep being relevant. he just had to keep being talked about, even if it meant being notorious. ♪ >> narrator: they built a false boardroom onhe vacant fifth floor of trump tower. al my first time meeting d trump, we walked into the boardroom, we were seated. and about 20 minutes later, the cameras starting rolling anddo ld trump walked in. w >> the sansformed donald trump into this persona...y, >> oolks, i'm really busy today, so we're going to go quickly.

>> who almost completely redeemed the pre-"apprentice" donald trump... >> as a little treat, you're going to see the nicest apartment in new york city, it's my apartment. in ways that are so substantial and so deep-seated that, would "the apprentice" not be in the picture, i couldn't see him running for president. >> narrator: every episode was a crisis. >> you're fired-- you're fired.d you're f you're no longer with us-- you're fired. i have to say you'reired. >> please, please... >> i have no choice and i have to say that you're fired. choreographed drama hooked the audience, keeping them coming back for more. >>hat's the, the ethos of reality tv? it's that fighting is the be state of human life. it's that life is a competition. it's zero-sum. for you to win, somebody else has got to lose. >> donald trump... >> narrator: donald trump had become a reaty tv star, inside millions of homes every

week for years and years. >> after "the apprentice," he was donald trump on steroids, you know? (laughs) it's, like, this guy was bigger than life. he was everywhere. >> reality tv show host-- u.s. president? >> narrator: it was time for xt level.take his brand to the >> donald trump's recent white house flirtation has gone aboven beyond... >> narrator: he would run for president. >> he recognized thaten rtainment is now a central part of american politics. donald trump actually decided that you can fuse everytng that he had learned about celebrity and tertainment and ratings from having been on "the apprentice" into a presidential campaign. en narrator: his announcem mirrored "the apprentice." >> it was staged just like ari "celeb appreice" thing. we had staged one of the "celebrity apprentice" things in that same place, the camera angles were the same, the

lighting washe same. >> he understood the drama of coming down the escalator. the orchestration of it recognizes his showmanship. he's a showman above all. >> a crowd filled out with, yes, with actual actors who we promised 50 bucks a pop to simulate enthuasm for him and play a role in a similar way to the way that he was playg a role. >> ladies and gentlemen... i am officially running... >> (cheering) >> for president of the united states... and we are going to make our country great again. >> narrator: the developer who went bust, the reality tv star, ngwas on his way, harnessi the power of crisis and conflict, image over reality.

>> another day, another entry in t presidential race. idelaware senator joe bid the ninth democrat to jump... >> narrator: it was 2007. joe biden was running for president, again. buthat very day... >> it sure isn't easy running for president these days... >> narrator: it all blew up. >> this was not a good day for joe biden, was i >> no, it really wasn't, katie. >> .just got into the race today, and no oner than he did, he talks his way into a national controversy. >> ...spent much of the day discussing these comments he about senator barack oporter >> i mean, you got the first sort of mainstream african american who is articulate and bright and, and clean, and a nice-looking guy, i mean, it's, that's a storybook, man. >> some people listening to those descriptions of obama-- "articulate," "clean"-- heard racial overtones, or, at the very least, condescension.

ea>> i think when people hrd the "clean and articulate" line, there was wave of eye-rolling, certainly among african americans. it was the kind of well-intentioned but benightedmm tary that you expect from people who inhabit environments where there aren't very many black peop, and the united states senate has historically been a prime example of that >> tonight, his campaign is. doing damage contr >> narrator: he'd been here before-- damage control: kinnock, anita hill... >> joe biden's apologizing for a remark he made about senator barack obama, saying, "i deeply regret any offense..." >> narrator: he followed the playbook: apologize, persevere >> ...this is "t daily show with jon stewart." (cheers and applause) nice to see you. do you want to talk about the comments, specifically,th have generated the

controversy? >> well, yeah, sure, i mean... no, i don't want to talk about it. (laughter) >> the "philadelphia inqrer," yesterday, you were quoted as saying, "the one lesson i learned from my previous presidential run is, 'words matter.'" >> that's right. >> "'and you can't take words lightly,'" and then you came out with this one, all right, here you go. listen to this one, this is "barack obama, i mean, you got the first mainstream african american who'sti late and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. i mean, that's a storybook, man. >> (exclaiming) something, i try, i spou to barack today. >> i bet you did. (laughter) >> i also spoke to jesse and al sharpton ad, and... >> and michael jordan, and anybody you could get youron hand the jackson five-- who else? >> michael didn't call me. chael didn't call me... >> it was a reminder that this was somebody who was capable of doing those kinds of things, who wwas, in many ways, his ost

enemy, whether it was because he, he didt know when to stop speaking or because he could say things in the moment that would get him into trouble. >> the latt news is that joe biden is dropping out of the race-- joe biden is dropng out... >> narrator: once again, joe biden's campaign would collapse. but he wast taking himself out of the game. he'd make it personal-- buildsh a relati with obama. >> out of competition came mutual respect, and mutual respect led to a real relationship, a frieship. and joe bidebecame somebody that president obama looked to foadvice and counsel. >> senator... (people talking in background) >> you are not goi to get anything out of me on the vice presidential thing-- nothing. >> narrator: soon, that relationship would pay off, as obama sought a running mate. >> i am goa say that i've, i've made the selection, and that's all you're going to get. >> i think obama really liked

the idea of choosing the guy who had said these things about him, that so many other people found offensive, of showing this kind of magnanimity around racial issues and racial t rhetoric, thatnk was key to his winning. >> narrator: obama asked him to be on his ticket as vice presidt. at the house in wilmington, the biden inner circle gathered. >> he was not going to, o it. i meere's no doubt he was not going to do it. family meetings and a y,f those key people. k >> ts said to me, "mom, you have to talk dad into running." and i said, "joe, this is such a great moment in history. >> his ma said, "well, well, joey"-- she called him joey--el she said, joey, you're telling me that the first african american president inks history thhat you can help him get elected, and u're saying no? game, set, match, it was over. aughs)

>> barack obama is projected to be the next president. >> senator barack obama of illinois... >> narrator: he'd turned a political crisis into a relationship, and became vice president. >> he had already squared away in his mind that he understood that barack obama was president, joe was vice president. and joe understood the job ofce resident and, and, uh... and wore it well. >> narrator: in the obama white house, biden brought with him sothing the president didn have: relationships in congress spning decades. >> these were his recently former colleagues,nd he knew that he could call them and they would take his call, and that hs could go and tissues out with them with a degree ofnt comfort that presibama didn't have, because he hadn't known them as long as vice esident bin. >> narrator: biden became obama's trusted partner.

>> the real question isn't what thing did you do, if you're vice president. the real question is, how ch influence did you have? and i think biden understands power and leveraging power. i think had a genuine relationship with obama, and they spent a lot of time talking.as but i think he very influential vice president, in that way, and an extremely loyal vice president. >> narrator: in return, obamame bestowed on biden ing special-- a kind of political sainthood theyalled the "obama halo." >>o,oe biden has the obama h everybody knows that. that is the cleansing of joe biden and everything that may have happened. and there is such a great irony, that someone who was the architect of the '94 crime bill, and a white man of this age, when you think about anita hillhis crutchhis... the

reason for his success is a black man with a funny name who's kind of skinny from hawaii by way of kansas. ♪ >> ♪ cowardice >> ♪ are you serious? >> ♪ apologies for freedom >> ♪ i can't handle this >> narrator: 2015, donaldum s presidential campaign, a made-for-tv spectacle.(c ers and applause) a showcase with all the conflict and crisis.ur >> tthem-- go ahead, turn them.he go. knock the crap out of them, would you? seriously. just knock the hell... i promise you i will pay for the legal fees, i promise. (cheers and applause) >> you've called women you don't

like "fat pigs"... >> only rosie o'donnell. >> by the time trump arrives, running for president in 2016... >> how does my hair look? is it okay? (crowd cheering) fl>> ...he understands cont, he understands celebrity. he uerstands the power of television. and he understands how to dominate. >> narrator: and against his opponents-- another sttegy he had perfected-- personal attack. t >>e marco... >> this little guy has lied so much... >> lyin' t >> you are the single biggest liar, you probably are worse than jeb bush, you are the single biggest liar... >> all of this is classic trump. this is the person he's been, i old.k, since he was five years donald told me that he is essentially the person he was in first grade, and that he hasn't really changed. >> narrator: but a month before the election... >> the trump camp has swiftly

>> narrator: a bombshell.. >> a big, big development in this campaign... >> that day, we're up in the 25th floor conference room, and it's friday afternoon, about 2:00. >> and hope hicks was notified by the media that they had donald trump having a conversation with billy bush that said a number of incendiary things, and they were going to publish the transcrt. >> she got this tranript. and she's, like, aut to cry, she goes, "oh, this is terrible." >> narrator: the trump team watched it online. >> whatever you want. >> (laughs) like, whoa!at boom, hing hits. everything shuts down.owerful.

>> everybody-- and everybody istt quite everybody, but m people both in and outside the campaign-- thought it would end his candidacy. >> donald trump's campaign-- its worst crisis ever. >> the future of a campaign that iin dire straits... >> i think the question now is, how do republicans break away from him? >> narrator: trump's campaign was in free fall. reince pebus, the chairman of the republican national committee, confronted trump. >> reince priebus basically said, "you need to get out of the race." and donald trump said, "no." he said, "i'm not getting out of the race.t not only am i tting out of the race, i'm going to go and run, i'm going to win."r: >> narrae would ignore the political experts. in that moment, he won the presidency.s there 90% chance we were going the other way that day,ef from the nighte, from the pressure that was on him and everything like that. and that's what a leader does. >>arrator: in the midst of crisis, he turned to what he had learned: from norman vincent

peale, roy cohn, his dad, reality tv. >> i could stand in the middle of fifthvenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's, like, incredible. >> narrator: he went on the attack... >> every women lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. >> narrator: ..changed t subject, stoking racial >> and we will keep radical islamic terrorists the hell >> narrator: ...economic fears... >> we are going to renegotiate our terrible tradeeal... >> narrator: ...frustration with washington... >> it is time to drain the damn swamp. >> narrator: ...and making big promises. >> we will build a great wall! (cheers and applause) and weill make america great again! (cheers and applause) >> donald trump will be the 45th president of the united states. >> narrator: amidst outrage and prize and stayed true mate

playbook. t >> i think what donamp learned from his entire run forn presis that he could really only count on himself. he needed to rely on his own political instincts to figure out how to move forward. (cheers and applause) ♪ >> narrator: through the obama years: buiing racial tension, outrage over police violence agnst african americans. (gunshots, shouting) >> get out of the car, dude! (sirens blaring) >> narrator: then, news of a revenge shooting against the police. >> we begin tonight with breaking news. a deadly police shooting in new york city. >> two new york city police officers are dead following an ambush saturday afternoon.>> hey were, quite simply, assassinated. >> amateur video captured the frantic scene, as paramedicsde erately tried to save the

lives of officers wenjian liu and rafael ramos. >> narrato as the vice president, joe biden often tackled controversies. and in matters of race, particularly, obama relied on him to walk a fine line he could not. >> one of joe biden's chief responsibilities was to be an ambassador to the country, specifically to the white rts of the country, where barack obama's presence might have only further inflamed the situation.w >> narrator: now bid dispatched to new york. >> 25,000 police officers are all there... >> narrator: it was tense. >> a sea of blue filled the city streets... >> narrator: police officers lined the streets as biden arrived.ds >> thousf nypd officers lining the streets outside of the funeral service. >> whewe got out of the cars, you could see that this mass of police had changed him. >> thousands of people lining the streets... ou gathered shoulder to sher at a queens, new york, church to

say farewell to a fallen... >> while we had understood theiv gravity and the sensy, i don't think it really hit any of us until we saw the tens of thousands of police there. ♪ >> narrator: he used his method: keep it personal, talk directly to the fam officer rafael ramos. >> our hearts ache for you. i know from personal experience that there is little anyone can say or do at this moment to, to ease the pain, that sense of loss, that sense of loneliness. >> joe biden has been defined in public le by heartbreak and empathy. that when joe biden steps up at the funeral, you know that those tears are real. >> ...that the time will come. the me will come when rafael memory will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a

tear to your eyes. to be okay. you know it's going i know it's hard to believe it'll happen, but i promise you, i promise u it will happen. >> it's an odd rolin public life to be known as a pers associated with grief. and e biden never wanted to that person, actually. it was not how he imagined hisl own polititure. ("taps" playing) but because of his life, he ended up being this public political symbol of suffering and of resilience. and evenally he embraced it. but he actually didn't want to be that.ta " continues)to >> n that day, there was unfinished business. rbiden wanted to see offi wenjian liu's family. >> wcame out of the church. and joe said, "i want to offer my condolences to him, as well, to them, to that family."

>> he wanted to go andthem and talk with them. so the police worked it out so that we could visit. and they had a translator there. >> i can remember walking up the stairs with the, with an interpreter. and the family was all crammed into this tiny kitchen. and we sat and we talked to them.us and wehave been in there, i don't know, a good hour. >> i started to notice that wenjian liu's father had rarely left my side. w occasionally, ld lean into me so that his shoulder touched my arm. "thank you," he kept saying. "thank you, thank you." wa>> we went out on the si. and the father, who didn't even speak english, i mean, just held on to joe. at joe had come to offerrateful condolences to the family.

>> we stood there for a longth while, embracing olittle sidewalk in front of the house where he had lived with his only son, just two fathers. i understood all that he wanted me to know. >> narrator: after decades in politics, biden seemed to have finally found his place. ♪ but soon after the crisis in new york, a personal crisis-- yet again. (pipes and drums playing) biden was burying his own son, beau. (pipes and drums playing >> he was the apple of biden's eye. he was not just someone who he thought was brilliant and successful and so proud of him. it went beyond pride, it was almost like, "he's the perfect version of me."

>> narrator: beau had served in iraq.tt he wasney general of delaware. they talked about the presidency someday. j often describes him as joe 2.0.ke and he looked is dad, he had a lot of the same skill set as his fathe was very charismatic, he was charming, he was funny. >> narrator: but then, bra cancer. death at 46. >> beau biden, former delaware attorney general and eldest son of vice president joe biden,. diedsi >> ...vice pnt biden's office was the first to announce his son's death... >> ...vice president was withau his son hen he passed away tonight... >> very sad news, beau biden lost his battle with brain cancer. >> family and friends gathered at st. anthony's church ines wilmingtonrday to pay their respects-- some waited in

line for up to six hours. >> lines, lines five blocks long outside the church. >> narrator: at one point, aer veral hours, a surprise. >> there was mr. liu and his wife. and they came to, uh... give us comfort. it was just two men, really, who had gone through somethinger horrible, um, just og. comfort to one anoth >> narrator: before beau'see death, biden had considerg another run for president. now thquestion was not just "would he," but "could he?" >> i was, happened to be in obama's white house, and he and i honestly... it was almost like i didn't this was shortly after beau died. he just looked like he had aged yets and years in such a sh

amount of time >> narrator: through crisis ande tragedy,iden had his eyes on the presidency, but now, in grief, he would decide to and down. ♪ ♪ >> i, donald john trump, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: from the very beginning donald trump's presidency, he ignited crisis. (bursts, sirens blarg) (shouting) >> this american carnage stopsto right here and sps right now. >> it's a crisis; dold trump's president of the united stat now comes the hour oaction. there's been enough talk. >> narrator: week one: a travel ban aimed at muslim countries.ou >> a scene oage at jfk

airport in new york. >> protests, outrage, and backlash... >> to me, it just feltti like cing chaos. >> north korea will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> narrator: ongoing threats to other nations. >> there was no effort to say, "what are the priorities here?" and i think he makes decisions quickly ancan change them very quickly, too. and, uh, it sometimes could be 180 degrees of what he had decided just a few hours before. >> narrator: and just like "the apprentice": firings, turmoil, confrontation. >> we've had reality tv framing for the presidency. if you see the serial its of people who, you know, ally had built significant careers only to be kicked around and then ejected unceremoniously. reince priebus, sean spicer, anthony scaramucci, john kelly,

general mattis. people who were just kinda chewed up and spat out. humiliated in the course of it, in their interactions with trp. >> ...fbi investigation, was there collusion... i narrator: overshadowing all, allegations of collusion with russia, obstruction of justice... >> rsian collusion, give me a break. >> president tru now facing outrage after firing comey. >> i did you a great favor whene i fired this guy, i ya. i'm not concerned about anything with the russian investigation because it's a hoax. that's enough. put down the mic. >> mr. president, are yo worried about indictments... >> narrator: hlashed out. >> breaking news, the white house in crisis. the justice department appointed a special counsel to investigate... >> this is a pure and simplent witch hu. >> at first blush, maybe h really hates it and he's annoyed by the mueller investigation, or the media attacks, or this or that. but when you look at it further, he sort of enjoys the jousting,

he enjoys the fighting. narrator: it was theha presidency roy cohprepared him for. >> he learned from roy cohn-- attack, never apologize, seem to be in charge-- was true then, and is true today. >> wait a minu. i'm not finished, fake news. >> narrator: he was determined to be what his father had called a "killer." >> they are very, very dishonest people. fake news. >> narrator: three years of aos would culminate in impeachment. >> ...to be impeached. >> the absolutely craz lunatics-- the democrats, radical left... >> narrar: he did what he always did. >> ...are pushing the deranged impeachment witch hunt for doing nothing wrong. >> he only has the one playbook. he uses it no matter what the crisis. >> ...shadow of impeachment... >> it di't matter when the canos went bust. it didn't tter when his whole financial empire seemed to collapse. he was able to maintain the brand.

and so he ratchets up the anger. he ratchets up the insults. (cheers and applause) >> narrator: and in those first years, it seemed to work. >> this is what the end result is. (cheers and applause) opinion, until the u.s. senate voted for acquittal on the twoen impeaccharges that donald trump finally had small air of breathability. (cheers and applause >> we can take that home, honey, maybe we'll frame it. (laughter) it's the only good headline i've ever had in "the washington post." thank you very much, everybo. thank you. thank you very much.

>> narrator: he had unified the party behind himleft his imprint on the supreme court, delivered tax cuts, undermined washington's institions. >> my grandfather remains donald's audience of one. it's to him donald's continually trying to prove himself. ♪ >> white lives matter! white lives matter! white lives matter (chanting continues) >> narrator: for the first te in decades, joe biden was a private citizen, watching donald trump's presidency. >> then came charlottesville. that was really the tipping point. when he heard president trump say, "there are very fine, some very fine people on both sides," that was it. that was the tipping point. >> narrator: in the streets, violent clashes between white

supremacists and counter- protesters. >>t's hard to believe, bed on his own statements, that joe bi on doesn't sesome level personal responsibility for the rise of donald trump. joe biden was the vice president and he chose not to run for president. you have to imagine that's weighed pretty heavily on joe biden. >> narrator: he decided to do something about it.ol at 76 year he would reverse course-- run one more time.se >> he wa as yesterday's news. he was a very rickety ship. he was not as eloquent ahe was 30 years ago, like most people wouldn't be. a and o, you know, he was record, some of it goik tolong the '70s. >> from nbc news. "decision 2020: the democraticnd >> narrator: in those early days, his longcomplicated record was a liability. >> i'm going to now direct this at vice president biden.u

posed busing. and, you know, there was a little girl in california who was part of the second class toc integrate her puchools, and she was bused to school every day. and that little girl was me. >> it wasn't about the specifics of the busing debate. a it wignal. it was saying that this is ao white guy who isd that he was taking a position on busing in the first place. >> but, vice president biden, do you agree today-- do you agr today that you were wrong to oppose busing in america then? >> precisely because he has such calong track record in ame politics, you can point to him being on the wrong side of questions that are now considered to be completely settled.to >> nar it would be the first of many rough nights on the campaign trail. >> meanwhile, in a stunning reversal, joe biden's campaign

struggles to match rival presidential candidates in fundraising. >> ...numbers e down among women, down among independents. the drop is primarily among younger voters. >> narrator: he struggled to excite voters. >> ...vice president joe biden, struggling in the polls here... >> joe biden-- is his campaign? in troub >> narrator: he was selling what he always had, joe biden, and it wasn't working. >> the truth is, he does not have some transformational ordi erent vision for the country. it's a, it's a tough campaign for him. >> joe biden presently trailing in fourth place... >> ...surprised how bad joe biden did-- he fled the stage... >> one of his senior as had to call him and have what she described to me as the conversation you never want to have with a candidate, which is, "we y be approaching the poi of having to shut this thing down." >> joe biden is fighting for his political survival. >> narrator: but he wasn't giving up. >> joe biden desperately needs south carolina if he has any chance... >> nrator: his last hope... >> ...make-or-break time in particular for joe biden... >> narrator: ...south carolina.u >> it all rests on carolina. >> joe biden has spent a lot of time in south carolina-- he can

relate to south carolinians. so h carolina was very, very important to joe biden. >> joe, joe, joe! >> narrator: to win, he desperately need the black vote. (cheers and applause) >> joe biden's been around for a long time. people are comfortable with hi they get him, they understand him. even if they don't agreeith him, they think he's, you know,a a good-faior. that means lot. to a community of people who have been betrayed and oppress and tricked and lied to, someone who you can trust at their word, that goes a very long way. >> oh, my lord! done in that first senate race: making it personal, connecting. >> nbc ns is projecting former vice president joe biden is the winner >> narrator: they gave biden a victory. >> ...was reinvigorated largely by black voters in this state.s

>> joe biden wg. >> narrator: three days later... these are the results sawke, coming. >> narrator: ...he rode the momentum and dominated supertu day. >> he pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in modern political history. >> narrator: soon, he won it all. (cheers and applause) >> in its owway, it's the culmination of all of his training and ambition and his mistakes and his regrets and his attempts to be better. and it, and it came together. at lt. >> biden has made his pick. >> narrator: and when the time came... >> and the pick is in... >> narrator: ...the man who had made plenty of mistakes...st >> ...ic decision announced via text and twitter. >> narrator: ...and asked for political forgiveness, turned to the opponent who'd gone after him on the camign trail... >> ...kama harris as his running mate. >> narrator: ...kamala harris,d cked her as his running mate. >> ...african american community wi help propel him to the white house. >> it was an opportunity for him to distinguish himself from donald trump. "that i actually want to bring

the person who's criticized me most harshly into the fold because i value dissenting opinions." and that was part of the message that was being sent with kamala harris. ♪ >> the growing wores and response to the deadly coronavirus. >> wuhan, china, that's theen epr... >> wuhan, china...r: >> narrato the pandemic. a nation in crisis. >> the philippines confirmed its first death.ra >>nce is confirming... >> italy is taking unprecedented... >> this is italy's darst hour. >> narrator: a threat donald trump was trying to play down. >> ...deadlyoronavirus officially hitting the u.s. >> ...worldwide, including at least 12 confirmed... >> a tragic turn in the coronavirus outbreak, the first death from the disease... e >> narrator:ed the norman vincent peale approach: visualize what you wt to be true no matter the facts.

we're ady for it. much. it is what it is. you ha 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, uh, that's a pretty good job we've done. (overlapping chatter) >> as the country deals with this worst pandemic, they're seeing in a man that doesn't see any problems. a ays sees a rosy, bright future, and that he can succeed. >> there's no question that in the first several months of 2020, staff on the nsc and ther centers sease control were happening in china-- tt what was president was determined not to hear any bad news. >> we have done an incredible job. we're going to continue. it's going to disappear. one day-- it's like a miracle-- it will disappear. >> this unwillingness to thinkpl about the ations meant there was no strategic planning going on, because that would have meant acknowledging we

were facing a severe threat. and he simply did not want to do that. >> empty streets lead to packedm emergency across new york city. paralysis in this typicallyt vibrty in just a matter of weeks. >> narrator: as the death toll rose... >> fema sent 85 refrigeratedtr ks to new york city to hold the people who've perished. >> narrator: ...he doubled down. >> now the democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, right? coronavirus. they're politicizing it. >> very roy cohn. very school of dad. very norman vincent peale. just insist that you're successful. insist that what you're doing is right. >> now, what do you say toar americans whwatching you right now who are scared? >> i say that you're a terrible reporter. that's what i say. go ahead. i ink it's a very nasty question. and i think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out >> that's part of this. playbook-- double down, triple

wn, say any problems are somebody else's fault. (sirens blaring, radio chatter) >> narrator: and in the midst of the pandemic, once aga, racial strife. (wailing) >> get up and t in the car. >> get off of him now! >> what is wrong with y'all? >> bro, he's not moving! >> did they (muted) kill him? >> narrator: george floyd, killed by police. (sirens blaring) >> and that opens the fldgates. >> can't breathe! i can't breathe! i can't breathe! (chanting continues) i >> what we sthe days and weeks to follow that was the confluence of these multiples. factor >> the deeply, deeply frustrated blaclives matter movement, o a particularly incendiary video...

>>o racist police! no justice, no peace! >> ho ho! these racist cops have got to go! >> that moment was cognizant of the fact that trump had consistently talked to police and urged them to behave more aggressively. >> i can't breathe!i n't breathe! >> narrator: trump's approval ratings were plummeting. preesters were massing outs the white house. >> you are the threat! you are the threat! you are the threat! >> narrator: in the rose garden that day, he would go to his playbook-- fan the flame >> our nation has been gripped by professnal anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa. >> what trump is trying to do is change the subject. that antifa, um, is, is the new enemy. donald trump likes to find enemies, and to hold those up as, that he is the protector

against those. >> as we speak, i am dispatchin thousandand thousands ofy heavilmed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaul, and the wanton destruction of >> narrator: as he spoke, a choreographed show of force across the street from the white house. (crowd shouting) >> i'm sitting on the corner oft pennsylvania and 1h street. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> and i start coughing, and choking, and i start wondering what's going on. (crowd shouting) and i look up and it's, it'sok clouds of e, and it's orofficers throwing some sof chemical gas that is makinmy

throat and my eyes burn. and i see people running... (explosions, sparks, shouting)e ... and thisof police officers coming, and they'retr clearing theeets.on and i'm completelyfused, because i'm wondering, why is the white house doing this? >> narrator: then the esident left the rose garden for a dramatic tv moment. (distant sirens blaring) >> i felt badly for some of the people whoere in that march. i've been asked what i would do, and i've said probably would have gone along; how am i going? to say n and then i would have felt very but that's an effect trump has on people. (cameras clicking) >> really, it's just a picture. it's just an image of a president being in charge. 's and this vision of what the president is-- the guy inge ch (distant siren blaring)

he's just in charge. (cameras clicking) ♪ ♪ >> narrator: for joe biden, the annation in crisis gave hi opportunity. o >> may history be able ty that the end of this chapter of american darkness began here, tonight. as love and hope and light join in the battle for the soul of the nation. >> narrator: one last chance to see if making itersonal-- persevering in the face of adversity-- can prevail. >> this is a battle we will winh and we'll do it to. ♪ >> narrator: for donald trump, o prepared him for yet ather fight. >> and this election will decide whether we will the american way of life or whether we will low a radical movement

stroy it.tely dismantle and >> narrator: another chance to advantage can carry the day. >> together, we are unstoppable. together, we are unbeatable. ♪ >> narrator: now a deeplydi ded nation will decide. >> policy is not the choice that's on the ballot this year. it is a choice of character. it is a choice of temperament.ch it is ce of persona and personality. that's always a factor in ourig presidential cam. but i don't think it's ever been as big a factor as it will be in november. ♪

>> go to pbs.org/frontline "transparency project".e explore 60 interviews from the making of this film. >> there was no strategic planning going on. >> joe had just never been knocked down he's always been getting up. >> and lten to a conversation with director michl kirk on our podcast "the frontline dispatch". >> so we looked long and hard at all of the things that have happened in their lives... >> connect with frontline on facebook and twitter, and watch anytime on the s app or pbs.org/frontline. >> narrator: the crackdown on chinese muslims. r >> the numbeof people that can be held is unprecedented. >> woman: (saking foreign language) >> narrator: frontline goes undercover to trace the missing... >> can i trust you? >> narrator: and exposes a next-generation surveillance state. >> man: (speaking foreign language) >> the comednation of cutting-ge technology and brutal policing methods to control population. >> narrator"china undercover".

>> frontline is made possible by contributis to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major support is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committe to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. the ford foundation: working with visionaries on ther tlines of social change worldwide at fordfoundation.org additional support is provided by the abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by t frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> for more on this and other "frontline" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

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- first nations people come a fromoral storytelling place, and i mean that in a good way, right? we talk, a we talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk. we look, and we watch, and we watch, and we watch, and feel, and we feel, d we feel, and we listen. listen, and so that is key. - ♪ step ♪ step ♪ step [bright hip-hop music] ♪ to hell witthe man ♪ i'ma always be a homeboy ♪ lightning and thunder strike every time i go for it ♪ ♪ i'm so fly, must be a dna thing ♪ her booty, big butt ♪ you should see it in a g string ♪ a lot of people, from university students to high school students tolementary school students have come up to me and said that my music really, uh, impacted theirives. - ♪ i'm riding like there's no time left ♪ ♪ close my eyes, and i hold my breath ♪