>> ourenges are great, but our will is greater. >> narrator: for three decades.... >> defeat sometimes is an important lesson... >> i, george herbert walker bush, do solemnly swear... elections....seven pre >> a generation assumes new responsibilities... >> narrator: fntline has investigated the candidates... >> america's best days are yet to come...>> arrator: who would be president? >> i, william jefferson clinton, do solemnly swear... >> ielieve we have to make t right choices... >> we will meet aggression with resolve and strength. >> do everhing in our power to change the world. >> i, george walker bush, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: the moments that shaped them... >> i won't let you down. i won't... >> let it be said

we refused to let this journey end. >> that future is our destiny... >> narrator: the presidents they would be>>me... , barack hussein obama, do solemnly swear... >> we have to heal the divides in our country. >> i am your voice.>> arrator: and now on frontline... >> that the end of this chapter ofmerican darkness began here. >> narrator: "the choice 2020". ntline is made possible by contributions 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 the frontlines of social change wodwide at fordfoundation.org additional support is provided by t abrams foundation, committed to excellence in journalism. the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of crical issues. and by t frontline journalism fund,

with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. >> overnight, growing natial unrest... >> narrator: with the nation in crisis...mo >> ... sowing chaos in cities across the nati... >> narrator: ...this is the story of two candidates forged in their own crises... >> political pundi said there was no way it could be done! >> if the city would gather around with us... >> narrator: ...personal tragedies... >> an aumobile accident killed the wife and baby daughter of biden... >> narrator: ...public controversie.. >> trump's newspaper ads contribute to the city's racial larization... >> narrato ...challenges that shaped them... >> anita hill comes to washington...g >> the donald is fac incredible cash crisis... >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> narrator: ...and show how they would lead a country now in cris. >> together, we are taking back our country. >> narrator: "the choice 2020." >> ...in a battle for the soul

of america.>> arrator: "trump vs. biden." >> "america wants to know!"co >> w to "america wants to know." i'm ernie anastas, and this is the... in 1992, i hosted a special show in new rk where viewers asked a lot of questions about many, of course, wereies. interested in donald trump, and what he was like as a young boy growing up in queens.ch i managed to cp with donald's parents, mary and fred trump, and asked them, "what was donald's favorite game as a child?" >> he played monopoly. yes, indeed. >> he liked to pla >> he played with his brother. >> uh-huh.ro >> he played witrt, but more than monopoly, he played with building blocks. >> ooh. >> always with building blocks. >> narrator: but donald trump's childhood was much more complicated. early on, a family crisis,

his mother seriously ill. >> when he was two-and-a-half, my grandmother got verill. donald, who was at a very, very critical point in his development as a child, was essentially abandoned by her. he may not entirely trust women. i he finds it difficulnot impossible, to connect with the, on any deep leecause i don't believe he ever was able to with her. >> when you ask him about how she showed her love, hhas nothing to say. the complexity of that relationship, i think, plays out througall of his relationships s with women throughout hilife. with one wife after another. there's a, an inability to reach any recognizable level of intimacyra

>> nr: young donald had his own crisis: finding his place in a family dominated by his father, fred, a stern and demanding real estate developer. >> i strongly suspect that he had a relationip 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 littleot nal intelligence, to use today's terms. >> donald's father's overall h message children was-- and it was a very different message to the boys than to the girls-- to the boys, was, "compete, win, be a killer. do what you have to to win." >> narrator: inside the family, a harsh game of apprentice: who would ke over fred's empire? the fit in line wasn't

donald, it was his oer brother freddy. >> my father was sensitive, he was nd and genous, he liked hanging out with his friends who adored him, and, may worst of all, although it's hard to say, he had terests outside of the family business. my grandfather understood none of that. >> narrator: their father said freddy wasn't "a killer." he wanted to fly airplanesli for ng. donald thought that was crazy. >> he could not understand why fred did not go into the family business and ba builder like their father was. but fred wanted to be a pilot, and donald looked at that and said, "well, that's sort of like being a bus driver. why would you want to be a pilot?" >> narrator: donald watched as freddy w cast out. >> my dad couldn't do anything right, and my grandfather made his life misable. he was frustrated, and he began

to realize that he, it wa't going anywhere. >> narrator: his life ended alth. in alcoholism and poor through e years, donald would take a much different path. >> he wanted to avoid my father's fate of, you know, abuse and humiliation at the hands of his father. he took that lesson to heart. >> narrator: he wadetermined to live up to his father's ideal-- be "a killer." (trumpet fanfare plays) >> ha! >> narrator: but he waalso tempestuous, impulsive. and at 13, his father sent him to military school. (students chanting) >> he must have said, "this kid's going to grow up in a tough world, really tough world. 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 face

when he got out of line. >> narrator: it would be five-year lesson in how to be a bully.p >> donald trlled at his classmates. he pushed them around. he eveused a broomstick as a weapon against classmates who didn't listen him when he told them what to do. >> allf us were part of this culture of, you be on kids when they didn't do the right thing. >> you got hit. you may have gotten slammed against the wall.u re put in, in... you got put artificily into fights. uh... >> he became a leader of the cadets. he became one of the student leaders who had a number of kids under him in the dormitories, and he ruled the dormitory life with an iron fist. >> nrator: inside that bruta world, donald had found his place.

>> his mother told me that he was never homesick. he loved it.f he loved all that stcause 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 graduated. the power of bullying to getd ahead: a method he'd carry into the future. (military students chanting) (beeping on countdn) >> (stammering): hope to p... teach p.e.

...two s... (stuttering on "s") uh, s... sisters. well, my... ...father is 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, brainin ry, and many others. for example, a child may stutter as he comes out of the early stages of retarded speech. >> narrator: joey biden'ser crisis was stug. >> he came of age in a, another time, in which people... (stuttering softly)

...weren't as open aboutie disorders or disabilor setbacks... (stuttering) en the common... ...prescription was... "buck up. deal with it." narrator: dealing with it: a rough-and-tumble childod in delaware, his father a car salesman fallen on hard tis. for little joey, catholic school. nuns. >> he had an assignment he had to memorize.st he had td up and deliver it in the classroom. >> narrator: the words were 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. >>e id "gentle 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 mea to protect you. >> it was so embarrassing and so enraging that biden walked out of the room, he walked out of the school. th he walked alway home. (car motor starts)

>> narrator: joey's mom, jean,ma hed him back to the school to confront his teacher.ts >> the sister stelling her how disrespectful joe is, and my mother, "stop." she sa, "just tell me, did "well, i..." of my son?" "sister, did you make fun of my n?" "well..." and my mother said"well, i'll answer it for you. you sure in hell did. and if you ever, ever, ever do that again, i'm going to come back and i'm going to knock your do we understand each "ead. >> stuttering is a fear problem. the person feels fear, shame, guilt, tension. he's always worried about what might happen. he might get io a situation, not be able to say his name, or the telephone rings and he can't >> i was surprised at how often time with him.ame up during my it helped me understand that so much of who he is comes back to

that.at eople are ready to make fun of him. that people will laugh. >> narrator: bullied, harassed, ridiculed, he was hell-bent on beating the stutr. >> bid would stand in front of his bedro mirror holding a flashlight to his face, and he would recite yeats and emerson. >> narrator: he kept pushing--st against thter, the bullies-- and it paid off. >> people liked to be around him, he really h 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:

politics. >> in high school, he's president of his senior class. ethonestly, that's when hea taste for it. the stutter is still part of him during his senior 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, and say is publicly. and he does it. we want joe!oe! >> narrator: in the crisis of stuttering, a life method: peevere. just push through. >> more medical research toue confer-- to codevastating diseases like cancer, and... not the end inum, um, in themselves... thuaw 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 ening news" with walter cronkite. good evening. for seven months, new york city has teetered on the brink of financial disaster. >> anoer piece of new york

fell by the curbside today for who knows how long.>> arrator: by the 1970s,in new york city was risis. >> ...as part of the struggle to keep the city fm going bankrupt. >> new york city suddenly comes apart. rs the city, for the time, was losing population, as well as jobs.ts and losingconomic base. (siren wailing) >> new york was in tattersen but there were opportunities everywhere you looked. the new york city of the early 1970s was made for someone like donald trump. >> narrator: in that crisis, 25-year-old donald trump saw a chance for personal gain. he was struggling to make a naml for hi break out of his father's shadow. y >> donald, from a veng age, wanted to exceed his father and go into manhattan and be the success that his father hadn't been in terms of notoriety anfame. >> why? what's going on? shot.rrator: trump took hi

it started with a run-down hotel near grand central station. >> the old commodore hotel wasy in such soape 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 gamble, but with the city on the brink... >> a so the city continues to stagger beneath the weight of its multiplying fiscal problems... >> narrator: trumpelieved new york was desperate enough to pay him transform the hotel. >> if the city would gather aroundith us, we can produce, with a lease, guaranteed by the state of new york, a new york city lease... >> narrator: but he was new to manhattan. he needed a guide. he found roy cohn. o >> roy, s a rough-and-tumble fixer-- democrat, power within the democratic power structure in

new york city, close friend of mayor abe beame, close friend of carmine desapio, the boss of the manhattan democratiche party-- i thinas, like, donald's ambassador to the world of manhattan. >> narrator: cohn had been disgraced for leading mccarthy-era witch hunts, but trump saw him as a "killer." >> roy cultivated an image as ao bu nothing, nothing would stop him from tarring opponents or even doing illegal things. his pride and joy was bullying people and bribing people and making deals behind the scenes. he was a fixer. he was a connector. >> royohn 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 n cohn wer apologize, always attack. attack the character oyour opponents, that they're somehow

malicious, that they're somehow 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. >> roy cohn, becausef his unique positioning within new york city at that timewas able to pull certain strings, to get tax breaks. >> narrator: new york taxpayers would be on the hook for more tn $400 million. >> he is able to set up this deal, which the state bills as a special new program, but it is just a giveaway aldam. trump, a tax giveaway. ar >> it's been a long, fight. how do you feel? >> well, i'm very happy, and ik the city of new york is going to be very happy. >> narrator: he transformed the commodore hol. with cohn's help, trump hadve thin crisis, used it to

his advantage. >> the mayor and the governorng of new york were ahose on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony... >> he got it done. he got it done by bulling his way through, by pretending to have more backers than he really had, by pretending that he was actually putting large sums of money into it when he really sn't. uh, and the con worked. he got the money, he got the permits. he got idone. >> you use deception, you us intimidation. you use all of the tactics that you can find. it is a utterly transactional nse of the world. and "what's in it for me?" is c kind of the foundido. >> one of the things that donald learned fr school of dad and school of roy was that almost everybody has their ice. whatever... it might not cessarily be dollars, although it often is. it might be some vulnerability

that won't be revealed. t roy said that almost everyone, there's a pressure point. >> narrator: it would becomepl trump'book: exploit crisis, in business, in life, in politics. ♪ >> ♪ kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, kennedy, knedy, kennedy, kennedy for me ♪ >> narrator: joe biden also had a role model: ish, catholic, joe emulated what he could. kennedy was drawn to politics, biden was drawn to politics.wi jack had a photogeni and children. joe had a photogenic wife andch dren. the kennedys had a family coound at hyannis port. the bidens would have a family compound in wilmington,

delaware. >> joe biden was always mystique.d by the kennedy he really saw himself as a natural heir to that tradition. b >> i'm jen and i'm a candidate for the united states senate. politicis ve done such a job on the people that the people don't believe them anymore, and i'd like a shot at changing that. >> narrator: but wilmington was no hyannis port. >> we, the bens, we had no we had no power or inf. we didn't know anybody who was a big name who could helus. >> hi, how are you? >> hi, how are you? >> joe biden's my name... >> narrator:ike the crisis over his stutter, his political start was a struggle.be nd in the polls, facing a powerful opponent: united states senator cale boggs, an ally of president richard nixon. >> j biden asked me about getting involved in his campaign. i started off by telling him

that "there's no way you can win." cale boggs was the candidate for the senate.te he'd been a tw congressman. two-term governor. two-term senator. he was beloved around the state. so i said that he couldn't win. >> "audacious" is a good term to apply to biden back then. this is a guy who wasn't yet old enough to hold the seat. >> narrator: it was a time of crisis in the country. the vietnam war had divided americans... >> opposition to the war in vietnam has set off demonstrations in several mar cities. >> narrator: ...igniting social unrest. in delaware, racial tensions boiled over. >> the national guard was callec out in severalies to put down rts. one of these cities wasin on, delaware. >> narrator: black residents were angry.bi jon saw an opportunity to draw on his personal experience

with rac- back when he was 19, working at an inner-city pool. >> he was a lifeguard.he as one of the two white guys. he was a tall, slim, uh... young-looking, good-looking, elvis presley-looking kind of guy.kn >> that's how he g some of the guys who were in the gangs. he just seemed to have natural instinct for getting to know people, getting to understand them, but not being afraid to be around them. >> we became friends. 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 and water to take a bath, no hot water. >> narrator: joe and ricky-- heo

likes to be callede"-- forged a lifetime friendship after beatina shared demon: >> understand, back thr black, black folks back those days, when you stuttered, you was retarded or you was, or you're-- somhing was mentally wrong with you. >> i'd start with... >> so he basically tol, go to the mirror, look at yourself, pronounce your words. go and put your voice on tape. well, my words did change. i started readg the papers 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 wi people. i never really heard him say, "i'm going to change the community.

i'm going to deal with employment. i'm going to deal with..." you know, the typical politicias hat you hear. i always tell people, be wary of any politician whoells you he's going to create jobs. he's lying to you. >> some people are in politics policy, but they're noe with necessarily in love with humans. he loves the gamof it. he loves the dance of it. he loves meeting people. he loves hugging stranrs. >> narrator: it became hisgy go-to stra >> 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 bin a winner. >> in delaware... >> narrator: by less than 3,000 votes. >> ...whipped by 29-year-old joseph biden.

>> it was very close. and people were still surised, you know, how this even happened. >> all of you have done something that the political ypundits said there was nin the world it could be done! >> (cheering) >> that night, all the college kids were so excited.nt a lot of us o the hotel du pont ballroom. and it was packed, packed. and there was so muchte exciment 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 up to her, and i shook her hand, and i said, uh, "congratulations on your win." much."e said, "thank you ver and that was our exchange. tr

>> the war of thps has ignited a battle of the tabloids. >> the unfolding saga of trump >> a high-octane mix o stuff that sells newspapers. >> narrator: they called it "the divorce of the century":rump >> it was on page one, page two. i likened it to world war iii. i never saw publicity equal to that. >> reports linking trump to abe 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 the tabloids. his children were sobbing, , ivanka was sobbing, dona., 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 themo century had begu than a decade before... at a trendy new york bar. she was a model out on the town with friends. >> donald came up and introduced himself. on "hi, i'm dd trump, and i see that you're having a problem getting a table." so he went over to the maître d', wellnext thing you know, the girls had a table. >> narrator: an immigrant from inczechoslovakia, she was places. what fred trump would call "a killer >> the interesting thing about every bit as ambitious a to be donald, and every bit as committed to remaking herself or creating herself. >> narrator: ivana zelníkováco had mrs. trump, but that was just the start.he >>aid to me, "oh, you know, i'm going to go work for donald."

i said, "what? you're getting married and you're going to work? i neard of anything like that. don't you get married not to go to work?""n she goes i told him that i wanted a job. give me any job, i don't care what it is.at i can't siome." >> i love to work. i like to see the final product. nd of business it is in, orat what kind of work is. i just adore to work. upcan't sit home and look 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. eadonald and ivana mimicke other. you know, so they were like a ball of fire >> its opening party was one to end them all. guests-- thousands of them-- mingled with le clique's... >> narrator: together, they headlined trump's biggest real estate project: trump tower. and as he expanded 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 very refreshing.om he had this powerful by his side, but it grew tiresome for hi and why did it grow tiresome for him?us bethere are no co-stars in trump's orbit. there's onlyne spotlight, and it's on him. >> when things went we, he became enormously jealous of the attention she 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 over. >> we came in and saw the t finished room, a first thing, he didn't like the

furniture, and he startedg curst ivana. and he pulled the drawer off a piece of furniture, he was so angry. i, i-- i never saw him so angryi in m. he was very scary that day. he was very, very angry. narrator: in public, trump made it clear how he felt. cord-setting fights.rld but we really don't. we get along very well, and there is not a lot ofdi greement, because ultimately, ivana does exactly as i tell her to do. >>laughing, exclaiming) >> see, wait a minute... >> male chauvinist. >> right, right, m? is that right? huh? (applause) (cameras clicking)r: >> narrato in the eye of the tabloid storm, ivana said she was doing everything she could 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 himou when york for him. i have him 24 hours a day." i mean, she really did sorry. everything she possibly could to hese donald, and i think got the short end of the stick. >> a marital split between the billionaire builder... >> he wants out. there's rumor of another woman.un and the d wife... >> narrator: but for trump, the crisis was made-to-order. thhe leaked stories to fee media firestorm. >> one othe things he really learned from roy was the manipulation of the celebrity press, the so-called society press: page si "the daily news"...ke he plays them li a piano. >> new york's tabloids, having a field day, report... >> these tactics and techniques that he arned over time, that he picked up from roy hn and his father, and everything h gleaned from those people could be directed at t closest people in his life, includg his wife.

>> narrator: this personal crisis taught trump another life lesson: never share wer again. >> we've seen it in trump's presency. when aides become too out frontr in their oht, he reacts in ways that sort of shove those figures backown to maintain the role of primacy that he not only seeks, but needs. >> narrator: 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 to do a long, long piece on him.

something like, you know, "younn mr. biden goes to waon." of time with joe.nt a good bit and i had lunch with neilia in the course of doing this story, and i just thought to myself, you know, this couple, younow, really has everything. >> it's a love story. he met her on a beach in spring break in college. they fell, within days, madly in love. >> neilia was the love of his life and it was really a happily-ever-after tale. ti it isn't, abruptly. >> narrator: biden and hisal sisterere in washington setting up the office, hiring a staff, when the crisis hit. >> the phone rings, and val gets it.t and biden is s paying

attentio and then he really starts paying attention when he sees her face. a >> i gall from jimmy biden. and he said, "come home, now. there's been an accident." and neilia was in the car, the station wagon, with the three children, beau, hunt, and naomi. >> neilia was literally bringing homthe christmas tree, with the kids in the car, the three kids in the car. (siren blaring) >> narrator: campaign flyersel from the card identify the bodies. >> she was hit broadside by a tractor traile and she and naomi, who sat i behind hthe car seat, they died instantly. and beau and hunter were seriously injured. >> and h.. he knew, he knew. erhe knew from the look on

face. >> my brother looked at me and said, "she's dead, isn't she?" and i said, "i d't know, joey." i did know. jimmy told me.r: >> narrais sons were in the hospital hours away. >> the pain cut through like ad sh broken glass. i began to understand how despair led people to just ch it in; how suicide wasn't justna an option, but a rat option. >> in six short weeks, he went t from being on top world to being a young widower, a father of two 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, beau was alcut up and hunter's skull was fractured. >> since the accident, biden hospital in wilmingtonin a delaware, taking care of his sons. his swearing-in ceremony... >> joseph biden, democrat of delaware... >> narrator: somehow, biden pulled it together.-i they held a sweariceremony at the hospital. >> it means a lot to me. i appreciate it, and i hope that i can be a good senator i make this one promist if in six months or so, there's ay conflict betweening a good father and being a good senator, which i hope will not occur-- thought would, but i hope it won't-- i promise 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 another father. >> narrator: the road ahead for joe biden would be tou, like the fight against stuttering and the uphill political battle. once again, in crisis, hwould

persevere. >> valerie'soing to help raise the children. he's going to have a job in washington and a home in wilmington, and he's going to he's going to be home nnerorth. every night with his kids andst his . and that's going to be the family unit. h it's not the ochose, but that's going to be the one. >> you don't lose a wife and child at the point in life that he did and not grow from it. you learn from those kinds of experiences. what you do, though, is, like, "i've never been knockn.e time, i was always been getting up." t so joe jver 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 uted states? >> i really don't believe i would, rona. but i would like to see somebody as the president whoould do the job. >> narrator: the question would not go away. >> ...political, presidential talk to me, and know people a have talked to yut 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.ti >> you've been h that you could do it better and you do tend to run for president at some point? >> no, i'm not going to run for president. >> yeah, but if you want something done right... >> do it yourself. (audience laughter) >> not only does his ego get fed, he gets a nice note from richard nixon, who's seen him on television. >> mrs. nixon told me that you were great on the donahue show.ev she predicts that wh you decide to run for office, you >> 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 york and the talk of the town is not peace on earth, but the violence among us. >> ...vigilante who shot and wounded four young men over the weekend... >> thave it happen in new yo >> ...in the new york city rsion of a racial lynching... >> the man is dead, somebody got to go to jail for that. >> no stice! >> no peace! >> narrator: crime and racial tensions were tearing new york city apart. >> and not one killinga hundred killings, are going to stop us from going where we want to go. >> narrator: trump seized on ond heline. >> a jogger is fighting for her life after a brutal attack in central park. >> she is a white wall street investment banker, her black attackers being called animals in the 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 tohe

haveir two months in court.on tron mccray.usef salaam, they are finally through... >> there's a rush to judgeru because there's to solve the crime. >> narrator: yusef salaam's arrest was at the center of e storm. >> we became what was wrong. we bame expendable. >> trump saw this classic he saw his role and his position instinctively. he knein his heart that those guys were bad. >> narrator: as in so many other areas, his attitude towards race was shaped by his father.ed >> he was being ray a father who was discriminating against african americans in the very fst apartments with the trump name. he was raised in a setting where the people of color and the black people that he saw were people who were working forhe him-- it was his fs 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, antiemitism, and misogyny were very common in my' grandparenuse, and... it was just thway it was. >> trump took out full-page ads in four city... >> narrator: trump took the extraordinary step of buying a full-page ad in four new york newspapers. >> trump's newspaper ads contribute to the city's racl polarization... >> we haven't even gonto trial yet. two weeks passes, and we are essentially given a death sentence... with this ad. >> they should be executed for their crimes. i want theto understand 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 of. >> the ads are basically a very strong and vocal... s they aing, "bring back law and order 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 insertms f into the story, to signal where he was on these issues. and began to learn the lesson that if you can capture that fear, and youan become the champion for those afraid people, that there's a lot of political opportunity in that. >> hey! hey! all the racists have t! >> narrator: in the process, trump had touched a nerve and found a sympathetic audience. >> i've never done anything

that's csed a more positive stir-- i've had 15,000, 15,000 letters in the last week and a half.n' i know of more than two or three that were negative out of 15,000. >> he's learning how to dip hisn tond out of these remarkably racially incendiary issues. he's learning how to dog- whistle, he'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 outhey apparently got the wrong guys. >> the central park five were released from prison. >> it turned out another man entirely had done this rape, and these kids were innocent. th'd been not only publicl exonerated, but officially exonerated. >> narrator: but trump would not apologize then, nor over the years when the subject came up. >> we went to prison for a crime that we didn't commit.l st this day, we still have

not been apologized 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 ve on.ision, get what you want, >> you can almost draw a straht line from what he did with the central park five to then onto birtherism. i meanthere is something within donald trump that makes k him drawn to thods 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)ar >> ntor: 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. et>> you know, he said, "l just test the waters." and so i said, "all right." i mean, it sort of just snowballed, and we were in it, really, before we even knew it. t >> narrator:s he campaigned, he headed towards another crisis stemming from a persistent question: what did f he sta? >> 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 say. >> why am i the first kinnock in a thousand

generations to be able tget to university? >> narrator: obsessed with theit tape, biden studie he later wrote, "the ad was t riveting; i couldne my eyes off neil kinnock." was it because they were weak? those people who could workrg eight hours unund 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 sense, he absorbed the kinnock story and making it hiown. >> the campaign begins inir earnest with the votes for the next president in iowa. >> the candidates spent much of yesternned out... >> narrator: in iowa, during the primary, he took kinnock'sis words, made themwn. >> thank you very much. i started thinking as i was coming over here, "why is it that joe biden is the first in

his family ever to go to a unersity?" >> he got up there and he gave his speech, and he got to the ad, the last three minute he gave kinnock, but he did not attribute it to kinnock.au >> is it b they didn't work hard? my ancestors who worked in the coal mines of northeastnn lvania 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 speech about his own life, which in fact had been taken from neil kinnock. >> i hope you'll consider me. thank you very much. >> and tt concludes the economics for america debate. >> democratic presidential candidate joseph biden today faces a controversy. >> biden seems tbe claiming kinnock's vision-- and life-- as his own. page news.r: it became front- >> biden has been caught with a sudden embarrassing comparison of his recent campaign speeches. the first example came from great britain. >> why am i the first kinnock

in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? >> and i started thinking as i was coming over here, "why is it that joe biden is e first in his family ever to go to a university?" it was a mistake, thatdgn said cited kinnock other times. eks... a second time in two >> narrator: but then, the avalanche. >> he looks like a joe biden wind-up doll, with somebody else's words coming out... >> nrator: allegations of failing to cite a source in a law school paper... >> plagiarized a law review.. articl >> narrator: taking lines from his political idols, the kennedys... >> one from john kennedy's kennedy-- their words from the lips of joe biden. >> when he was accused of plagiarism, we felt that, you know, his character was being attacked. and it sort of took us back. >> thank you for coming, i apologize for not being able... >> nartor: in trouble, biden tried to do what he'd always done. >> i did not say, "to paraphrase neil kinnock." i should have.ar >>tor: apologize.

>> i should ve known it was robert kennedy's quote. i did not know that. >> nartor: admit his mistakes. >> i've done some dumb things. and i'll do dumb things again. >> narrator: persevere. >> but i'll tell you one thing. my learning curve is moving on this presidential race. and i wanna tell 'em all: i'm in this race to stay, i'm in this race to win, and here i come! thanks a lot, folks. (applause) >> nartor: he thought he could but then...nd him. >> this does not mark the beginning of a better week for senator joph biden. today he's having to defend what he has said in public about his recordw school and what the record really shows. qu >> one reak question, what law school did you attend and where did you place in that class? >> narrator: insulted, his anger was on full display. p >> i thinkbably have a much higher i.q. than you do, i suspect.o i wentw school on a full academic scholarship... >> joe biden's always been very sensitive to the perception that d when that happens, those

are the moments when he tends to erupt. >> the only 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 won the inrnational moot court competition... >> but syracuse university law school records released by biden just last week show he sought a partial, not full, scholarship, for financial, not academic reasons, that he finished not in the top half, but 76th out of 85 students. >> joe biden comes off as confidence, but obviously,elf- there's an imposter syndrome dynamiat work here. because if you feel like you have to make up stuff about yourself and invent stories that are not your own, and then do it in such a self-destructive wayhi in you can be caught, that speaks to a level of character, and certainly insecurity, that is common among a l of politicians. >> delightful to see you all here.wi you know my fe, jill. >> pulling out of the 1987 presidential race was really devastating to, 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 his hopes of winning the nomination in 1988. i think it was a very painful decision.nk >> t folks, my wife and i thank you very much. >> narrator: biden lost this fight... >> delaware senator joseph biden dropped out of the hunt..e >> joe biden bmostly himself... >> narrator: he returned to the senate, continued his method-- persevered through it all. >> real estate developer donald trump opened his new casino, the taj mahal, in atlantic city today. >> is this the eighth wonder of the world? the taj mahal shines a trump's slickest deal. >> narrator: the biggest crisis of donaltrump's business career began with e giant bet. rt

>> it nly represented something bigger and bolder and probably what was going to be r the greatest statement ede in atlantic city. and so, it was a big deal. it was a big deal to donald. >> narrator: the casino s the size of two football fields. trump said he spent $14 million on chandeliers. his bet-- $1 billion. (people taing in background) >> people were mobbing donald. i was shocked, 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 taj would be a success. >> the tajahal needs to make over $1 million a day to cover expenses.um says his business sense and ego will make it happen. >> ego is an interesting thing. i mean, i've always beenre rred to as somebody with a big ego, but i really believe that i've never met a successful

person without a very large ego. and if you don'tave a big ego, you're not gonna be successful-- it's as sile as that. >> narrar: ego was central to trump's method, but there was something else-- positive thinking. a technique he'd learned with his father at this manhattan church. it was the place to be seen for politicians, and the talites, >> every sunday, he would show up at marb collegiate church to go to norman vincent peale's services. was a wise god!made this world he wants people who live life and like it. love it. >> i think part of it was thisha positive messagepeale had, that you could achieve anything you wanted-- there was nothing that could stop you. >> narrator: peale's book, "the power of positive thinking,"

taught followers "visualization," envisioningth the worl they wanted. >> one reason that the positive sinker gets positive resu is, he is not afraid of a problem. >> it's this toxic positivity that perfectly fit in with what my grandfather already thought. e everything's, you know, and if you think that way, then everything will be gat. 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-- and school of norman vincent peale. >> narrator: it was peale's kind of outlook that carried trump into atlantic city, wi the vision of his name in lights: trump plaza, trump castle, then the billion-dollar trump

taj, paid for with junk bonds. >> i don't think donald trump spent one minuteorrying about debt. if he introduced doubt into his life, thwhole, the whole thing would unravel. >> narrator: trump was warned repeatedly he was headed for disaster. t he dismissed the warnings. e>> he doesn't really lik hearing bad news. an optimist sometimes is so optimistic that they don't want to hear anything, that even if they're heading right off a clif they might not want to hear the news. >> what worries some analysts is the amount of junk bond debt trump has incurred to build the taj mahal. >> narrator: inevitably, reporters began to question whether trump's vision could be profitable. >> trump says he believes they will. >> the taj mahal is going to be a tremendous success. >> narrator: that's when trump turned to a key rocohn lesson: attack the media. >> when cnn tried to psue some of these matters with trump, this is what happened.vi

>> do this int with somebody else. >> we talked about this yesterday on the phone. this is exactly what we talked about... >> do the interview with somebody else, really. you don't need this. do it with somebody else. and have a good time with it,e becaankly, you're a very negative guy and i think it's very unfair reporting. good luck. >> it's just classic denial.if ou're an expert and you agree with donald trump, you're a genius, but if you're an y expert a disagree with him, you're a loser. >> narrator: he ignored the experts, but they had been right. >> trump's casino business will >> narrator: trump's casinosth. declared bankruptcy... >> the word is, "you're bankrupt." b >> narrator: aftkruptcy... >> all three casinos are facing nkruptcy. >> narrator: after bankruptcy. >> ...chapter 11 bankruptcy protection... >> narrator: the collapse of the vestors 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 bankrupt and that's what happened in these atlantic city bankrucies. >> narrator: but trump, as always, refused to admit failure. >> that is sorof norman vincent peale, hold on tenaciously, hold on to is image of yourself as successful. never let go of it. never let the idea of failure enter your mind. >> and i call it a beaiful puzzle. >> narrator: the crisis in atlantic 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... >>he experts are 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. it's one person coming in from china.la >> narrator: d 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 benf med to the u.s. supreme court. >> thomas will try to persuade the senate that he has... e biden, now the powerful chairman of the senate judiciary committee, was facing his biggest crisis yet: allegationsg nst supreme court nominee clarence thomas. this affidavit charged that thomasexually harassed a former employee, anita hill. w >> good evening,begin tonight with the potential for political explosion on capitol ll. >> clarence thomas ran into trouble today... >> questions are growing over charges of sexual harassmentag ainst 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 clarencebl thomas, k man, on about it. um, and the whole subject matter just made him incrediblyta uncomfe.

>> another witness has come forward against thomas... >> news of a second woman who once worked for thomas...>> arrator: biden was at first reluctant to have hill testify, but the story was ploding. >> there were actually three other women, other than myself, who were willing to testify, why had actually said alled senator biden's office and, and offered thr own testimony. >> narrator: angela wright offered her owstark allegations against thomas, >> he asked me, in one situation, what size breasts, w my brease. he told me he wanted to date me. , this is a man who has, w my opinion, has often spoken inappropriately to women. >> but committee chairman biden conceded tonight that newio informabout the allegations has come in... >> narrator: with the pressuti mo, biden agreed to let the women testify. >> the hearing will come to order. >> welcome, professor hill.

professor, do you swear to tell the whole truth, an nothing but the truth, so help you god? >> i do. >> thank you. >> narrator: biden's committeee was all whn. the "men of e senate," as they were called. >> there was not a single woman whmight have understood her story from a woman's pointf view. >> can you tell 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 people or animals. that was the thi that embarrassed me the most and made me feel the st humiliated.

>> he's kind of in the middle of the road. i'm a southern woman, and i've always heard that the only thint middle of the road is roadkill and yellow stripes. and that you have to take a position and you have toecide what you stand for. he didn't know whose side toco down on. >> thank you. my time is up under our agreement. let me now yield to my friendat from pennsylvania, s specter. >> narrator: biden's closepu friend, ican arlen specter, led the charge against hill. >> i find the references to the leged sexual harassment not only unbelievable, but preposterous >> narrator: he cast doubt on her memory. >> how relble 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 sex

with you, but in fact he never did ask you to have sex, correct? >> no, he did not ask me to have >> that was an inference that you drew? >> yes, yes. >> my, my red light is on, thank you, very much, professor hill. thank you, mr. chairman.to >> thank you, se thank you, professor hill. that committee to grillmbers of professor hill in a way that was inappropriate and could have done something to provide her with some support, some comfort. >> narrator: biden gave clarence thomas the last word.y he stronnied 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) >> narrator: with that, biden moved to wrap up the hearings. angela wright anthe other women accusing thomas would not teify.he end up voting against thomas, but his handling of the hearing damaged litically. >> it made him the face of an out-of-touch body. and really wounded his prospects of a future run for president. , he had some work to had some reputational rehab to do. >> narrator: biden turned toodis meor survival in crisis:

repair the damage.oblem and >> joe is always able to say, "yeah, i didn't handle that ite right. let me see what i can do better the next time." >> carol moseley braun h entered political history. she's the first african american woman elected to the u.s.. sena >> big changes here, a kind that have history written all over them. >> narrator: "fixing things" began by recruiting the first black woman elected to the united states senate. >> braun's anger over the clarence thomas hearings turnede into a candidate. >> narrator: biden wanted to make sure moseley braun joined his committee. >> i made a joke, which he didn't think was funny at all. i said, "you just want anita hill on the other side of the table." he did not laugh. he didn't think it was funny. n'and he still probably do (laughs) >> narrator: but he convinced her and dian feinstein to join the committee, beginning, once again, to rebuild.

♪ al >> my name's dontrp, and i'm the largest real estate developer in new york. i own buildings all over the place, model agencies, the miss universe pageant, jetliners, golf courses, casinos... >> narrator: having prevailed in spite of personal and financial crises, donald trump was now making crisis his brd. p for 14 seasons, layed the role of a mogul, as if he were. still one in real li h financial dynasty toppling like a house of cards... >> narrator: in the wreckage of atedntic city, trump had cha course... >> trump's name once meant gold. today, it means trouble... >> narrator: and doubled downid on what had been a >> he's always saw hims a potential tv or entertainment star. h it's another part , his personality, is, he likes to be an entertainer.p. >> donald tr >> narrator: on tv... >> it's the donald, oh, god!

(yelps softly) >> excuse me, whe's the lobby? >> nrato d movies... n the hall and to the left. >> thanks. >> narrator: in the ring... he always played the same character: himself. >> (laughs wildly): ohmy god! the hostile takeover of donald trump... >> what he was selling was aan d. he leaed that he just had to keep being relevant.be he just had to keeg talked about, even if it meant being notorious. >> narrator: they built a false boardroom on the vacant fifth floor of trump tower. >> my first time mting donald trump, we walked into the boardroom, we were seated. and about 20 minutes later, the cameras starting rolling and donald trump walked in. >> the show transformed donald ump into this persona... >> okay, folks, i'm really busy today, so we'rgoing to go quickly. >> who almost completely

redeemed the pre-"apprentice" donald trump... >> as a little treat, you're going to see the nicesten aparin new york city, it's my apartment. >> in ways that arso substantial and so deep-seated that, would "the apprentice" not be in the picture, i couldn't see him running for presiden >> narrator: every episode was a crisis. >> you're fired-- you're fired. you're fired. you're no longer with us-- you're fired i have to say you're fired. >> please, please... >> i have no choice and i have to say that you're fired. >> narrator: the carefullyd choreograpama hooked the audience, keeping them comingor back for >> what's the, the ethos of reality tv? it's that fighting is the best 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 reality tv star, inside millions of homes every

week for years and years. >> after "the apprentice," he was donald tru on steroids, you know? (laughs) it's, like, this guy was bigger than life. he was everywhere. t >> realiv show host-- u.s. president? >> narrator: it was time for trump to take s brand to the next level. >> donald trump's recent white house flirtation has gone above and beyond... >> narrator: he would run for president. >> he recognized thatow entertainment is central part of american politics. donald trump actually decided that you can fuse everything that he had learned about celebrity and entertainment and ratings from having been on "the apprentice" into a presidential campaign. >> narrator: hisnnouncement mirrored "the apprentice." "celebrity apprentice"ng.e a we had staged one of the "celebrity apprentice" things in that same place, the camera angles were the same, the

lighting was the same. >> he understood the drama of coming down the escalato the orchestration of it recognizes his showmanship. he's a showman above all. >> a crowd filled out with, yes, with actual actors who were promised 50 bucks a pop to simulate enthusiasm for him and play a role in a similar way to the way that he was playing 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. >> nrator: the developer who went bust, the reality tv star, was on his way, rnessing the power of crisis and conflict, image over reality.

>> anoth day, another entry in t presidential race. delaware senator joe biden is the ninth democrat to jump...>> arrator: it was 2007. joe biden was running for presidt, again. but that very day... for president days... runninges >> narrator: it all blew up. >> this was not a good day for joe biden, was it? >> no, it really wasn't, katie. ce .just got into the ra today, and no oner than he did, he talks his way into a national controversy. >> ...spent much of the day discussing these comments he made to a newspaper reporter about senator barack obama. >> i mean, you got the first sort of mainstreamfrican american who is articulate a bright and, and clean, and a nice-looking guy, i mean, it's, that's a storybo, man. >> some people listening to those descriptions of obama-- "articulat" "clean"-- heard racial overtones, or, at theco very leastescension. >> i think when people heard the

"clean and articulate" line, there was a wave of eye-rolling, certainly among african americans. it was the kind of well-intentioned but benightedex commentary that yoct from people who inhabit environments where there aren't very many black people, and the united states senathas historically been a prime example of that. >>onight, his campaign is doing damage control. >> narrator: he'd been hereco before-- damagrol: 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 "the daily show with jon stewart." (cheers and applause) >> nice to see you do you want to talk about the comments, specifically,d that have generae

controversy? >> well, yeah, sure, i mean...nt no, i don't o talk about it. (laughter) >> the "philadelphia inquirer," yesterday, you were quoted ashe saying, ne lesson i learned from my previous presidential run is, 'words matter.'">> hat's right. >> "'and you can't take words lightly,'" and then you came out with this one, all righthere you go. listen to this one, this is great.a, "barack ob mean, you got the first mainstream african american who'st articulate and brid clean and a nice-looking guy. i mean, that's a storybook, man.">> exclaiming) >> well, let me tell you something, i try, i spoke to barack today. >> i bet you did. (laughter) >> also spoke to jesse and al sharpton and, and, and... >> and michael jordan, and hands on.ou could get your the jackson five-- who else? >> michael didn't call me. michael didn't calme... >> it was a reminder that this was somebody who was capable of doing those kinds of things, who was, in many way his own worst

enemy, whether it was because he, he didn't know when to sp speaking or because he could say things in the moment that would get him into trouble. >> the latest news is that joe biden is dropping out of the race-- joe biden is dropping out... >> narrator: once again, joe biden's caaign would collapse. but he wast taking himself out of the game. he'd make it personal-- build relationship with obama. >> out of competition came mutual respect, and mutual respect led to a real relationship, a friendship. and joe biden became somebody that president obama looked to for advice and counsel... >> senator (people talking in background) >> you are not going to get anything out of me on the vice presidential thing-- nothing. >> narrator: soon, thatou relationship pay off, as obama sought a running mate. >> i am gonna say that i've, i've made the selection, and that'sll 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 gfound offensive, of show this kind of magnanimity around racial issues and racial rhetor, that i think was key to his winning. >> narrator: obama asked him to be on his ticket as vice president. the biden inner circlegton, gathered. i mean, there's no douwas it. not going to do it. and we had another one of those family meetingand a few key, key people. >> the kids 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-- shsaid, "well, joey, you'r telling me that the first african american president in hiory thinks that you can help him get elected, and u're me, set, match, it was over. (laughs)

>> barack obama 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 thatdersod that barack obama was president, joe was vice president. de and joe tood the job of vice president and, and, uh... and wore it well. >> narrator: in the obama white house, biden brought with him something the presidt didn't have: relationships in congress spanning decades. >> these were his recently former colleagues, and he knew that he could call them and they would take his call, and that he could go and thrash issues out with thewith a degree of comfort that president obama didn't have, because he hadn'tn knem as long as vice president biden. ama's trusted partner.ame

ing did you do, if you're vicet president. the real question is, how much influence did you have? and i think biden understands power and leveraging power. i think he had a genuine they spent a lot of tia, and talking. but i think he was a very influential vice president, inan that wayan extremely loyal vice president. >> narrator: in return, obama bestowed obiden something special-- a kind of political sainthood they called the "obama halo." >> joe biden has the obama halo, everybody knows th. that is the cleansing of joe biden and everytng that may have happened. and there is such a great ony, that someone who was theit art of the '94 crime bill, and a white man of this age, when you think about anita hill, his crutch, his... the

reason for his success is aun black man with a 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, donald c trump's presidentipaign, a made-for-tv spectacle. (cheers and applause) a showcase with all the them.rn them-- go ahean go ahead.k knthe 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"... o y rosie o'donnell. (laughter) >> by the time trump arrives, running for president in 2016... >> how does my hair look? is it ok? (crowd cheering) >> ...he understands conflict, .he understands celebrity he understands the power of television. and he understands how to dominate. >> narrator: and against his opponents-- another strategy he had perfected-- personal attack. >> little marco... >> this little guy has lied so much. >>yin' ted... >> 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 rson he's been, i think, since he was five years old. donald told me that he is essentially the person he was in first grade, and that heasn't really changed.ar >>tor: but a month before the election... >> the trump camp has swiftly

>> narrator: a bomhell.mod >> a big, big development in this campaign... >> that day, we're up in the 25th floor confence 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 ts transcript. and she's, like, about to cry, she goes, "oh, this is terrible." t >> narrator: the trum watched it online. >> whatever you want. >> (laughs) like, whoa! boom, that thing hits. in video, it's pretty powerful.t so everything down.

>> everybody-- and everybody isn't quite everybody, but most people both and outside thewo campaign-- thought id end his candidacy. >> donald trump's campaign-- e its worst crisr. >> the future of a campaign that is in dire straits. >> i think the question now is, how do republicans break away from him?ru >> narrator:'s campaign was in free fall. reince priebus, the chairm of the republican national committee, confronted trump. >> reince priebus basically said, "you need to get out of the race." andonald trump said, "no." he said, "i'm not getting out of the race. not on am i not getting out of the race, i'm going to go and run, i'm going to win." t narrator: he would igno political experts. in that moment, he won the presidency. there was a 90% chance we were going the other way that day, from the night before, from the pressure that was on him and everything like that. and that's what a leader does. >> narrator: in the dst of crisis, he turned to what he had learned: from norman vincent c peale, rn, his dad,y

real. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's, like, incredible. >> narrator: he went on the attack... l >> every womd when they came forward to hurt my campaign. >> narrator: ..changed the s subject,king racial division...ra >> and we will keecal islamic terrorists the hell out... >> narrator: ...economic fears...eg >> we are going to riate our terrible trade deal... >> narrator: ...frustrion with washington... >> it is time to drain the damn swamp. >> narrator: ...and making big promises. >> we will build a great wall!d (cheers plause) and we will make americareat again! (cheers and applse) >> donald trump will be the 45th president of the united states. >> narrator: amidst outrage and anger, he won the ultimate prize and stay true to his

playbook. >> i think what donald trump learned from his entire run for president is that he could really oy count on himself. he needed to rely on his own political instincts to figure out how to move rward. (cheers and applause) ♪ >> narrator: through the obama years: building racial tensi,ol outrage overe violence against african americans. (gunshots, shouting) >> get out of the car, dude!(s ens blaring) >> narrator: then, news of a revenge shooting against thece po >> we begin tonight with breaking news. a deadly police shooting in new. york c >> two new york city police officers are dead following an ambush saturday afternoon. >> they were, quite simply, assassinated. >> amateur video captured the frantic scene, as paramedicsto desperately trieave the

lives of officers wenjian liu and rafael ramos. >> narrator: as the vice president, joe biden often tackled controversies. and in matters of race, him to walk a fine line he could not. bi >> one of jon's chief responsibilities was to be an ambassador to the country, specifically to the white pas of the country, where barackig obama's presence have only further inflamed the situation. >> narrator: now biden was dispatched to new york. >> 25,000 police officers are all there... >> narrator: it was tense. >> a sea of blue filled the city streets... p >> narratoice officers lined the streets as biden arrived. s thousands of nypd offic lining the streets outside of the funeral service. >> when we got out of the cars, you could see that this mass of police had changed him. >> thousands of people lining the streets... >> gathered shouer to shoulder at a queens, new york, church to

say farewell to a fallen... >> while we had understood the gravity and e sensitivity, i don't think it really hit any of us until we saw the tens of thousands of police there. ♪ >> narrator: he used his methods keep it al, talk directly to the family of officer rafael ramos. >> our hearts ache for you.al i know from persxperience say or do at this moment to,can to ease the pain, that sense of loss, that sense of loneliness. >> joe biden has been defined in public life by heartbreak and empathy. that when joe biden steps up at, the funeou know that those tears are real. >> ...that the time will come. the time will come when rafael's ur lips before it brings ato tear to your eyes.

that's when you know it's ing to be okay. know it's hard to believ it'll happen, but i promise you, promise you it will happen >> it's an odd role in public life to be known as a person associated with grie and joe biden never waed to be that person, actually. it was not how he imagined his own political future. ("taps" playing) but because of his life, hed en being this public political symbol of suffering and of resilience. and eventually he embracedt. but he actually didn't want to be that. ("taps" continues) re>> nrator: that day, tas unfinished business. biden wanted to see officer wenjian liu's family. >> we came out of the church. and joe said, "i want to offer my condolences to him, as well, to them, to that family." (siren beeping)

>> he wanted tgo and meet them and talk with them. so the police worked it out so that we could visit.an d 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. and we must have been in there, i don't know, a good hour. >> i started to notice that wenjian liu's father had rarely. left my si occasionally, he would lean into me so that his shoulder toucd my arm. "thank you," he kept saying. "thank you, thank you." >> we went out othe sidewalk. and the father, who didn't even speak english, i mean, just held on to joe. and, i mean, he was so grateful that joe had come to offer >> we stood there for ily.

while, embracing on the little sidewalk in front ofhe 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 soonfter the crisis in new york, a personal crisis-- yetn. ag (pipes and drums playing) biden was burying his own son, beau. (pipes and drums playing) >> he s the apple of biden's eye. so he was not jusone who he thought was brilliant and successful and so oud of him. it went beyond pride, it wasal st like, "he's the perfect version of me."

>> narrator: beau had served in iraq. he was attorney general delaware. they talked about the presidency someday. es >> joe often descrim as joe 2.0. and he looked like his dad, heam had a lot of theskill sets as his father-- he was very charismatic, he was arming, he was funny. >> narrator: but then, brain cancer. death at 46. >> beau biden, former delaware attorney general and eldest son died... president joe biden, >> .vice president biden's office was the first to announce his son's death... >> ...vice president was with aws son beau when he passe tonight... >> very sad news, beau biden lost his battle with brain cancer. >> familand friends gathered at st. anthony's church in wilmington yesterday 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, after several hours, a surprise. >> there was mr. liu and his wife.an they came to, uh... give us comfort. it was just two men, really, who had gone through something horrible, umjust offering comfort to o another. >> narrator: before beau's death, biden had been considerg another run fort. presid now the question was not just "would he," but "could h" >> i was, happened to be in obama's white house, and he walked in. and i honestly. it was almost like i didn't recognize him.rt this was s after beau died. he just looked like he had aged years and years in such a short

amount of time >> narrator: through crisis and tragedy, joe biden had his eyese on thedency, but now, in grief, he would decide to stand down. ♪ ♪ >> i, nald john trump, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: from the very beginning of donald trump' presidency, he ignited crisis. (bursts, sirens blaring) (shouting) >> this american carnage stops right re and stops right now. >> it's a crisis; donald trump's president of the united states. now comes the hour of action. there's been enough talk. >> narrator: week one: a travel ban aimed at muslim counies. >> a scene of outrage at jfk

airport in new york. >> protests, outrage, and.. backlash >> to me, it just felt like continuing chaos. >> north korea wilbe met with fire and fury like the world has never se. >> narrator: ongoing threats to other nations. >> there was no effort to say,ha "ware the priorities here?" and i think he makes decisions quickly and can change them ry quickly, too. and, uh, it sometimes could be 180 degrees 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 exits of people who, you know, really had built significant careers only to be kicked around and thence ejected moniously. 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,t ir interactions with trump. >> ...fbi investigation, wasco there usion... >> narrator: ovehadowing it all, allegations of collusion with russia, obstruction of justice... >> russian collusion, give me a break. >> president trump now facing outrage after firing comey. >> i did you a great favor when i fired this guy, i tell ya. i'm not concerned about anything because it's a hoax.estigation that's enough. put down the mic. >> mr. presidentare you worried about indictments... breaking news, the whitet. house in crisis.ic the juste department appointed a special counsel to.. investigate. >> this is a pure and simple witch hunt. >> at first blush, maybe he really hates it and he's annoyer by the muenvestigation, 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 the presidencyoy cohn had prepared him for. >> he learned from roy cohn-- attack, never apologize, seem to be in charge-- was true then, and is true today. >> wait a minute. i'm not finished, fake news. to be what his father had called a "killer." >> they are very, very dishonest people. fake news. >> narrator: three years of chaos would culmine in impeachment. >> ...to be impeached. >> the absolutely crazedna cs-- the democrats, radical left... >> narrator: 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 matt what the crisis. >>..shadow of impeachment. >> it di't matter when the canos went bust. it didn't matter wn his whole collapse. empire seemed to 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 applse) >> it really wasn't, in myil opinion, uhe u.s. senate voted for acquittal on the two impeachment charges that donald trump finally had a small air oa ability. >> we can take that home, honey, maybe we'll frame it. (laughter)go it the onl headline i've ever had in "the washington post." thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you very much.

>> narrator: he had unified the party behind him, left his imprint on the supreme court, delivered tax cuts, undermined washington's institutions. >> my grandfather remains donald's audience of one. it's to him donald's continually trying to prove himself. ♪ >> white lives matter!ve white s matter! white lis matter! (chanting continues) >> narrator: for the first time in decades, joe biden was a private citizen, watching donald trump's presidency. >> then came charlottesville. that was really the tipping 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 beeen white

supremacists and counter- presters. >> it's hard to lieve, basedis own statements, that joe biden doesn't sesome level ofit personal responsibfor 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 doou something it. at 76 years old, he would orreverse course-- run one time. s he was seen as yesterda news. he was a very rickety ship. he was not as eloquent as he was 30 years ago, like most people e and he also, you know,s saddled with a very, very long record, some of it going back to the '70s. from nbc news. "decision 2020: the democratic >> narrator: in those early days, his long, complicated record was a liability. >> i'm going to now direct this at vice president biden.

you opposed busing. and, you kno there was a little girl in california who was partf the second class to integrate her public schools,to and she was busechool every day. and that little girl was me. >> it wasn't about the specifics it was a signal.bate. it was saying that this is a white guwho is so old that he was taking a position on busg >> but, vice president, do you agree today-- do you agreewr today that you werg to oppose busing in america then? >> precisely because he has such a long track record in american politics, you can point to him being on the wrong side of nsidered to be completely settled. he>> narrator: it would be first of many rough nights on the campaign trail. >> meanwhile, in a stunning reversal, joe biden's campaign presidential candidateal

fundraising. >> ...numbers e down among the drop is primarily amongnts. younger voters. >> narrator: he struggled to excite voters. >> ...vice president joe biden, struggling in the polls here... >> joe biden-- is his mpaign trouble? >> narrator: he was selling what he always had, joe biden, and ir wasn'tng. >> the truth is, he does not have some transformational oror different visionhe country. it's a, it's a tough campaign for him. >> joe ben presently trailing in fourth place... >> ...surprised how bad joe bi..n did-- he fled the stag >> one of his senior advisers had to call him and have what t she described to me conversation you never want to have with a candidate, which is, "we may be approachinghe point of having to shut this thing down." >> joe biden is fighting for his political survival. >> narrator: but he wasn't givingp. >> joe biden desperately needs south carolina if he has any chance... >> narrator: his last hope... >> ...make-or-break time in particular for j biden... >> narrator: ...south carolina. >> it all rests on south carolina. >> joe biden has spent lot oftime in south carolina--n

relate to south carolinians. v south carolina wy, very important to joe biden. e, >> joe, oe! >> narrator: to win, he desperately needed the black vote. (cheers and applause) >> joe biden's been around for a ng time. people are comfortable with him. they get him, they understand him. even if they don't agree with him, they think he's, you know, a od-faith actor. that means a lot. to a community of people who have been betrayed and oppressed and tricked and lied to, someone who you can trust at their word, that goes a very long way. >> oh, my lord! >> narrator: it was what he hadf done in thst senate race: making it personal, connecting. >> nbc news is projectg rmer vice president joe biden is the winner. >> narrator: they gave biden a victory.s >> ...invigorated largely by black voters in this state.

>> joeiden wins big. >> narrator: three days later... >> in a political earthquake, these are the sults nobody saw coming. >> narrator: ...he rode the momentum and dominated super tuesday. >> he pulled off one of theti biggest pol upsets in modern political history. l. narrator: soon, he won it (cheers and applause) >> in its own way, it's the culmination of all of his training and ambition and his mistakes and his regrets and his attempts tbe better. and it, and it came together. at last. >> biden has made his pick. >> narrator: and when the time came... >> and the pick is in... >> narrator: ...e man who had made plenty of mistakes... >> ...historic decision announced via text and twitter. r narrator: ...and asked political forgiveness, turned to the opponent who'd gone after him on the campaign trail... >> ...kama harris as his running mate. >> narrator: ...kamala harris,s and picked her as nning mate. >> ...african american community will help propel himo 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 at was part of the messa that was being sent with kamala harris. ♪ >> the growing worries and response to the deadly coronavirus. >> wuhan, china, that's the epicenter... >> wuhan, china... >> narrator: the pandemic. a nation in crisis. >> ...now under lockdown. >> the philippines confirmed its first death.rm >> france is confiing... >> italy is taking unprecedented... >> this is italy's darkest hour. trump was trying to pln.nald >> ...deadly coronavirus officially hitting the u.s. >> ...worldwide, including at least 12 confirmed... >> a tragic turn in the coronavirus outbreak, the first death from the disease... >> nrator: he used the norma vincent peale approach: visualize what you want to be true no matter the facts.

>> thank you very much. we're ady for it. it is what it is. we're ready for it. you have 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) tr >> as the codeals with this worst pandemic, they're seeing in a man that doesn't see any problems. he always sees a rosy, bright future, and that he n succeed. >> there's no question that in the first several months of 2020, staff on the nsc and the wenters for disease contro raising red flags about what was happening in china-- the 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.e one day-- it's lmiracle-- it will disappear. >> this unwillingness to think abt the implications meant there was no strategic planning going on, because that wouldea have acknowledging we were facing a severe threat.

and he simply did not want to do that. >> empty streets lead to packed emergency rooms across new york city. paralysis in this typically vibrant city in just a matter of weeks. >> narrator: as the death toll rose... >> fema sent 85 refrigerated c trucks to new yoy to hold the people who've perished. >> narrator: ...he doubled down. >> now the democrats are politicizing the coronavir, you know that, right? coronavirus.ey e politicizing it. >> very roy cohn.ad very school of very norman vincent peale. successful. that you're insist that what you're doing is right. >> now, what do you say to amerans who are watching you right now who are scared? >> i say that you're a r terriborter. that's what i say. go ahead. question.t's a very and i think it's a very bad signal that you're putting out to the american people. >> that's part of this playbook-- double down, trle down, say any problems aredy

somelse's fault. (sirs blaring, radio chatter >> narrator: and in the midst of the pandemic, once again, racial strife. (wailing) >> get up and get in the car. >> get off of him now!ng >> what is wro with y'all? >> bro, he's notoving! >> did they (muted) kill him? >> narrator: george floyd, killed by police. (sirens blaring) >> and that opens the floodgates. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! i can't breathe! (chanting continues) >> wt we saw in the days and weeks to follow that was the confluence of these multiple factors. >> the deeply, deeply frustrated black lives matter movent, of a particularly incendiary video...

>>o racist police! noustice, no peace! >> ho ho! these racist cops have got to go! >> that movement was cognizant of the fact th trump had consistently talked to police and urged them to behave more aggressively. >> i can't breathe! i can't breathe! >> narrator: trump's approval ratings were plummeting. protesters were massg outside the white house.re >> youhe threat! you are the threat! you are the threat! >> narrator: in the rose garden that day, he wld go to his playbook-- fan the flames.at >> ourn has been gripped by professional anarchists,bs violent arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa. >> what trump is trying to do is change the subject. a thatifa, 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 dispatching heavily armed soldierslitary personnel,nd law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of propty.r: >> narratos he spoke, a choreographed show of force across the street from the white use. (crowd shouting) >> i'm sitting on the corner of pennsyania and 17th 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's ouds of smoke, and it's officers throwing me sort of chemical gas that is making my

throat and my eyes burn. and i see people running... (explosions, sparks, shouting) ... and this line of police officers coming, and they're clring the streets. and i'm mpletely confused, because i'm wondering, why is the white house doing this? >> narrator: then the president left the rose garden for a amatic tv moment. (distant sirens blaring) i felt badly for some of the people who were in that marc i've been askewhat i would do, and i've said i probably would have gone along; how am i going to say no? badly about it later. 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 present being in charge. and that's his vision of what thpresident is-- the guy i charge. (disnt siren blaring)

he's just in charge. (cameras clicking) ♪ ♪ >> narrator: for joe biden, the nation in crisis gave him an opportunity. >> may history be able to say that the end of this chapter of american darkness gan 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 it personal-- persevering in the face of adversity-- can prevail. >> this is a battle we will win, and we'll do it together. ♪ >> narrator: for donald trump, a litime of conflict had prepared h for yet another fight. >> and this election will decide whether will defend the american way of life or whether we will allow a radical movement

to completely dismantle and destroy it.ha >> narrator: anothere to see if turning crisis to his advantage can carry the day. >> together, we are unstoppablee together, wenbeatable. ♪ >> narrator: now a deeplyl divided nation wcide. >> policy is not the choice that's on the llot this year. it is a choice of character. it is a choice of temperament. anit is a choice of person personality. that's always a factor in our presidenal campaigns. but i don't think it's ever been as big a factor as it will be november. ♪

>> go to pbs.org/frontline for the latest frontliney "transpareoject". explore 60 interviews from the mang of this film.re >> tas no strategic planning going on. >> joe had just never been knocked down. he's always been getting up.to >> and liste conversation with director michael kirk on our podcast "the frontline spatch". >> 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 crackdow. the number of people th can b. >> woman: (speaking foreign language) >> narrator: frontline goes undercover to trace the missing... >> can i trust you? >> narrator: and exposes a next-generation surveillance state. >> man: (speing foreign language) >> the combination of cutting-edge technology and brutal policing methods to control population. >>dearrator: "china over"

>> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting.r mapport is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. the rd foundation: working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide at fordfoundation.org additional support is provided by the abrams foundati, committed to excellence in journalism. the park fouation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. d by the 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 othernt "fne" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

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- first nations people come from an oral storytelling place, and i mean thaht in a good way, r we talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk, and we talk. we look, and we watch, and we watch, and we watch, and we feel, and we fe w, and we feel, alisten. and so that is key. - ♪ step ♪ step ♪ step [bright hip-hop music] ♪ to hell with the 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, bibutt ♪ you should see it in a g string ♪ a lot of people, from university students to high school students olto elementary sctudents have come up to me and said that my music really, uh, impacted their lives. - ♪ i'm riding like there's no time left ♪ ♪ close my eyes, and i hold my breath ♪