♪ judy: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on "the newshour" tonight, half a million. the u.s. death toll from covid-19 reaches 500,000 as experts warn safety measus may remain for longer than anticipated. then, crisis in texas. major questions about energy infrastructure and emergency response remain following a devastating winter storm. and, one-on-one. we discuss the ongoing pandemic response and the dire consequences of inaction in the global fight against climate change with bill gates. >> for the world, it'll create

literally tens of millions of climate refugees. it makes the pandemic look small. the death rate by the endf the century would be or five times what we've had in this pandemic. judy: that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" is provided by -- >> before we talk about your investments, what's new? >> audrey is expecng. >> twins. >> grandparents. >> we want to put money aside for them so change in plans. >> let's see what we can adjust. >> closer to the twins. >> change in plans. in ok. >> mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. >> let me guess, change in plans? >> at fidelity, your change in plans is always part of the plan. >> consumer cellular.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. judy: the nation tonight has marked a new watershed moment in the covid-19 pandemic. 500,000 con filmed deaths. it comes even as daily increases in infections and deaths have slowed sharply in recent weeks. william brangham reports. william: half a million people gone. it's been almost a year since the first known death from covid 19 was recorded and the country is reckoning with yet another horrifying milestone. >> i think when history writes this, we'll realize that the mortality related to this pandemic is far greater than

counted. william: it's a staggering toll that a year ago seemed unthinkable even to the leading experts. numbers from dr. deborah birx, then the coordinator of the task force, barely touched this reality. >> 200,000 to 250,000 is we think the range. we hope to do better than that. william: dr. anthony fauci said, it didn't have to be this bad. >> we've dope worse than almost any other country and we're a highly developed, rich country. it's hard to go back and do a metaphorical autopsy on how things went. it was bad and is bad now. william: it took only three months for the u.s. to reach 300,000 deaths. september and december marced

the next benchmarks. and then another 100,000 byian 19. a month later and today's total is roughly the population of -- population of kansas city, missouri. or atlanta, georgia. all gone. "the washington post" calculated if all those people boarded a caravan of buses lined up they'd stretch almost 95 miles long. that's a line of buses, bumper to bumper, between philadelphia and new york city. or san jose to santa rosa in california. as the pandemic has progressed, people have strug told visualize the catastrophic losses from the virus. in memorials, from murals and hard -- in hard-hit latino communities to a candlelighting ceremony at the national mall marked moments of mourning across the nation. another ceremony and moment of simes commemorated the tragedy at the white house tonight. flags on federal propey will fly at half-staff for the next phi days.

for the "pbs newshour" i'm william brangham. judy: as we mark another tragic milestone, vaccinations are increasing, leading many to believe we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but questions remain about how long it will take before life returns to a safer, routine normal and if new variants could throw off timelines even more. we explore these questions with angela rasmussen, a vilingse at the georgetown center for global -- a sy rolings at the gorge stoun center for global pandemic. this is a sobering moment but as we say, vaccinations are increasing. you've written recently that you may think of this as climbing out of a deep well. does that still apply? an yes la: i think it does. if you look around if you're in the process of climbing out of this well and look around right

now, it seems very grim. you'll see only darkness. if you look up, you will see a circumstancele of light as you get closer and closer to the top. as wow climb, that circle will get bigger and big . that's the circle we ar climbing toward through vaccination an through the exposure risk reduction methods we all should be continuing to apply. the more of those that we can apply, the more people we can get vaccinated this quicker we are going to be able to step out of that well and into the light. judy: can we say the worst is behind us in terms of hospitalizations and deaths? angela: i really hope so, judy. i have been reflecting on this grim milestone that we have just passed and what's the most heart breaking to me is that the majority of these deaths were preventable. now that we have really, really effective vaccines that have exceeded our expectations, we also have the ability to

continue to take these precautionary measures to further reduce transmission. i like to think that we will be able to prevent more needless deaths from this terrible virus. judy: and how worried should people be about the new variants, especially the ones that we hear the vaccine mace not be as effective against? angela: people should be concerned about the varians but it's person to tell people not to panic about the variants. wile they may be more transmissable, may be less protected, the vaccines may be less protective against them, we know that they are transmitted the exact same way as every other variant that's been circulating since the beginning of the pandemic. because they're not incredibly prevalent in the u.s. yet, we have the ability to double down on precautionary measures. so masking, physical distancing, avoiding gatherings outside your

household, washing your hands, increasing ventilation if you can. by taking all of these measures as often as we can, as frequently as we can, in as many situations as we can, we can reduce transmission of those variants as well as the variants that are already circulating in our communities. overall that means we're going to be able to vaccinate more people and stop the spread of those variants in their tracks. it's really important that we all double down and remain extra vigilant until we can get vaccines distributed to more people. judy: you're touching on exactly what i wanted to ask you. many people who haven't had the vaccine worry, concerned about getting the vaccine, but then once the people have the vaccinations, then the question is how much longer, how long do i have to keep taking these same precautions we've been taking? angela: that's everybody's question and that's my question as well. because nobody, i can assure

you, is more tired of this pandemic than virologists, epidemiologists and other medical personnel. the sooner you get vaccinated, the sooner your loved ones get vaccinated, the sooner you can apply transmission reduction measures in your community, the faster we can relax. if we all get vaccines when they're made available to us, we should be able to actually potentially have a great, relaxed summer. that's my hope. judy: what exactly does that mean? angela: we might be able to resume indoor dining, might be able to getting to with fends outside of our households, we might be able to have people over for the fourth of yull. we will be able to get back to some of the quote-unquote normal activities many of us took for granted before the pandemic

started. judy: dr. angela rasmussen we all certainlier if vantlen -- fervently hope that's right especially on this day when we reflect on the many, many lives we have lost. thank you so much for talking with us. angela: thank you, judy. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with "newshour west," we'll return to the show after these headlines. the head of the world health organization appealed to wealthy countries not to buy up all covid vaccines before poor nations get any. he said funds are available to help needy countries purchase vaccine bus that's not enough. >> even if you have the money, if you cannot use the money to buy vaccines, the money -- having the money doe't mean anything.

stephanie: prime minister boris johnson announced britain will begin lifting one of europe's strictest lockdowns. the pandemic claimed more than 120,000 lives in britain, more than any other european country. president biden announced plans to funnel more federal pandemic aid to businesses owned by women and fores. on wednesday, a twoeek win deopens for companies with fewer than 20 employees to apply for lens around the paycheck protection program. they make up a majority of small businesses in the u.s. lawmakers in virginia voted today to end capital punishment. it marks a historic shift for the commonwealth that has executed nearly 1,400 people since colonial days, more than any other state. governor ralph northam is expected to sign the repea making it the 34th state to

abolish the death penalty. merrick garland said his first priority if he's conrmed will be to probe into the january 6 capitol insurrection. earlier today heowed to reject political interference an he grew emotional when senator cory booker asked about confronting hate and racism. garland's own grandparents fled anti-semitism in europe. >> count took us in. protected us. and i feel an obligation to the country to pay back, since the highest, best use of my own set of skills to pay back so i want very much to be the kind of attorney general that you're saying i could become. stephanie: zpwarled a federal appeals judge, president obama thom nated him for the u.s.

supreme court but senate republicans refused to consider the nomination. neera tanden's nomination to lead the office of management and budget has run into more trouble. two moderate republican senators, mitt romney and susan collins, announced today they're opposed. they cited tanden's scathing criticism of republicans in the past. the white house insisted the president still supports her. >> the president would not have nominated her if he did not think she would be an excellent o.m.b. director. he nominated her because she's qualified. so we simply disagree with whether she's the right person for the job with these senators. stephanie: democrat joe manchin also opposes tanden. that means -- means she needs at least one republican vote in the evenly divided senate. vice president harryries could then cast the tiebreaking vote for confirmation. former president trump lost a long-running fight to keep his

tax records away from a new york state prosecutor. the u.s. supreme court declined to halt the handover of the records for a criminal investigation. mr. trump charged the ruling keeps alive a fishing expedition. separately this supreme court refused to revive a defamation lawsuit by adult entertainment actress stormy daniels against the former president. she claimed he paid her to keep quiet about an affair and she sued mr. trump for dismissing her allegations as, quote, a total con job. a preliminary assessment by the national transportation safety board found an engine that failed in boeing 777 over the weekend showed metal fatigue. on saturday, the engine on a united airlines flight blew apart over colorado. debris crashed into a denver neighborhood and the plane made an emergency landing. boeing grounded 69 of the planes with the same type of engine. still to come on "the newshour," major questions remain in texas

following a devastating winter storm. we discuss the pandemic response and the fight against climate change with bill gates. a new book takes a look inside a syrian kurdish women's militia. and much more. ♪ >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and from the west from the walter cronkite school of journalist at arizona state university. judy: and now we turn to the impact in texas of last week's storms, power outages and water shortages. temperatures have warmed up considerably. experts are still trying to determine just how many deaths in the state were tied to the storm and what came afterward. as the lone star state continues to recover, the fallout of the winter storm is far from over. stephanie sy has our report.

stephanie: in texas, timely, a little relief from the frigid lls that resulted in a statewide electrical grid failure. temperatures today in major cities like austin, houston, dallas, and san antonio hit above 65 degrees. but across the state, texans continue to struggle with the lingering impacts of the winter storm that at its peak left 4.5 million customers without power. el lives in a mobile home with her two daughters. 4-year-old bilaine and 14-year-old ndy who helped interpret for mom. >> we took her to the car to keep her warm with the car heater. >> [speaking spanish] >> she's like, my 4-year-old daughter started to cry inside the karsaying, mom, please, i don't want to go inside the house, it's too cold. stephanie: the inside of their mobile home was colder than

outside. they still lack hot water. >> we prayed to god, every night we said, god, thank you for keeping us alive. and the power came back and the water and we were grateful to god because of that. stephanie: residents have reported astronomical spikes in electric bill, some skyrocketing thousands of dollar, a result in large part due to the state's unregulated energy market. texas lieutenant's govern yordan patrick spoke to reporters today. >> we're going to find a slaugs to that problem. i don't know what that solution is today. i don't want panic out there. stephanie: over the weekend, residents able to make it to grocery store rrs met with empty shelves. the severe weather disrupted this state's food supply leaving many families hungry. texans are still lining up for bottled water. as of this morning, 8.8 million residents remained under water boil advisories and roughly 120,000 had no running watter at

all. for a deeper look at the cascade of issues facing texans and the resulting political falut i'm joined by alanna rocha who joins me from austin. thank you for joining us. i know you have been talking to a lot of texas residents, some of whom still can't get basic essentials, get food from the grocery store, hot water. tell me what everybody is still going through there in texas and what they're feeling. alaina: just before i spoke to you -- alana: just before i spoke to you i got a message that said i think the boil water order was lifted but a slot of -- a lot of people aren't sure if they're under a boil water notice. my husband is searching for milk

for our 18-month-old. this months on end after the pandemic where we're almost at the start of the pandemic as of last year where people again are not able to find basic essentials and they're waiting for safe water. most homes are now restored as far as power goes but of course the next thing people are nervous about is what kind of bills will they get for that energy they've been burning? stephanie: are people culling for political account snblet what has the political fallout been? alana: you saw the governor call for resignations at the company thatting mores the power grid as well as investigations into this all, you've seen the attorney general issue statements along those lines that they were looking into investigating exactly what happened, why the grid went down, the rolling blackouts turned into days long black crowds for many people here in texas. so you're calling for resignations, you're also calling for a lot of lawmakers,

you saw u.s. senator ted cruz travel to cancun and get a lot of backlash for leaving a cold house in houston to take his daughters across the border. attorney general paxton and his wife, state senator angela paxton were in utah last week. a lot of black eyes on the state leadership and looking to point the finger elsewhere and figure out what happened and what they can do to rectify it fast. stephanie: texas, one of the sources of pride for texans is the fossil fuel energy and the sense of energy independence. do you think that's going to change that conversation in light of the last week? alana: it's unclear. i think the deregulation will change as far as going the other direction but as far as going under, you know, going under federal oversight or things like that, you've seen former longtime governor rick perry, former energy secretary, say texans can weather a few days in the dark.

it was more dire for a lot of texans than just sitting in the dark. but rather than going under federal oversight. but you have every agency here that even touches fossil fuel, the energ industry, looking into this. seeing what they can do. maybe even outside of lawmakers, within their own authorities, to enact changes fast. stephanie: it was much more than texans being in the dark. i speck to people worried their children would freeze in their mobile homes. there were delicense vaccinations. we're in the midst of the pandemic still. can you talk about how the winter storm affected the vaccination campaign there and how the state plans to catch up? alana: our health reporter, one of them, was all over that last week. because trucks kohn get, in shipments couldn't be delivered, we were set to get 600,000 first doses and 300,000 second doses that didn't come in last week. we were supposed to inoculate another million people or at least give that many shots.

that all didn't happen. you see them making up, people were even getting their second doses yesterday over the weekend to try and make up for that. stephanie: alana roe shah with "the texas tribune," you've been doing some stellar reporting there. thank you so much for coming on "the newshour." alana: thanks for having me. ♪ judy: all of us face the risk that extremeeather events like the one last week in texas will become more common and more destructive occurrences because of climate change. former microsoft co-founder bill gates has studied climate change for years. he has prescrippings in his latest book, "how to avoid a climate disaster," bill gates, thank you very much for joining us. i do want to start with texas. still reeling from what happened

last week. do you think that this is something that could have been avoided? bill: absolutely. the reason that the -- that they have shutdowns on all their power sources was a lack of weatherization. they didn't expect to have these cold temperatures. all those types of yen rators work in states like north dakota or alaska that are far colder, but extra money was put into weatherization. but the two things it does show us is that we're going to have extreme events like this because of climate change and the second is that whatever our plan is for electricity generation, we will have to keep it reliable. the toughest times are when it's super cold an when it's super hot and creating the right market structure so that we retain reliability is going to be an issue.

judy: for those still questioning the connection between freezing temperatures in texas and global warming, what's the explanation? bill: the world has had these wind patterns that keep cold fronts up in canada from coming down into the midwest. and as those wind patterns break down, just makes events like last week substantially more common. so weirdly, climate change evolves more floods an more droughts. a a lot of it is the extra heat. you won't be able to work outdoors at some point. but it also allows this type of cold event. judy: let's talk about the book, it is as we said on climate change. i think, bill gates, many people know you and your wife melinda gates have been focused for years on global poverty and health challenges. what many may not know is that

you have also been very focused on climate. and the disaster that you say may be looming if we don't make big changes. you don't tackle the small problems, do you. bill: no, it's the work -- it's the work of the foundation where i was out in africa seeing the farmers were having their crops fail more often and seeing that they needed electricity that got me into about -- that got me in about 2005 to invest in learning, how hard would it be to solve what was necessary? it started with that african lens even though it's a problem for the entire world. judy: and you don't -- you don't sugar coat the problem either. you are saying that if by the year 2050, we don't take out 51 billion tons a year of carbon emissions, we are facing a disaster. what do you mean by that?

bill: i mean that the natural ecosystems die off. the things like the coral reefs. beaches disappear. you have, you kno trees dying off. and lots of wildfires. you have the ability to grow food in the southern part of the u.s. is dramatically reduced. for the world it will create tens of millions of climate refugees because the closer you are to the equator, the more unlivable it gets. it makes the pandemic look small. the death rate by the end of the century would be over five times the worst of the -- what we've had in this pandemic. yoip when you say climate refugees, you mean literally people having to pick up an leave where they live. bill: exactly. the poorest in the world live near the equator. they're subsistence farmers. and when they don't see that theye able to feed their

family, that creates incredible instability and incredible migration. so this will be the world's biggest migration ever as those areas become unlivable where they have crop failures and they aren't able to work outdoors. judy: what is so fascinating aamong other things about the book, it's not the usual prescriptions. use solar panels. recycle. you know, think about electric vehicles. you're talking about a massive change in virtually the way we do everything. we way we make things, as you put it. the way we make electricity. how we make cement, steel. these are huge challenges that you're asking essentially the wealthiest countries in the world to take on. bill: the power of innovation is very strong in the united states. the universities, the national

lab, ewillingness to take risks. so our responsibility is not just to get rid of our emissions, but also to reduce the cost of beingreen. to reduce the extra amount, what i callhe green premium you pay when you want to make something like steel or cement in a green fashion. those premiums are very, very high. and unless we get them down, the middle income countries like india will continue to have emissions, you know, which means that as long as you have emigs sadly because co-2 stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years, the temperature keeps going on up. that's why zero is what we need and that's why an awareness of all sources of emissions that add up to that 51 billion, the book is trying to make sure it's not just the two that people understand the most, electricity

and transportation, but also buildings, agriculture and then manufacturing which is actually the biggest of all, including large amounts just from steel and cement alone. judy: big changes in a sense in the way we live and what we -- what we're surrounded by every day. bill: hopefully if the green premium for cement comes down we won't have to change how we use it. likewise for driving, as electric cars are, the cost is coming down, the range is gng up, the charge points are going up, that's why in 10 or 15 years even without subsidies, the green premium will be zero. that is the electric car will be every bit as attractive and low cost as the gasoline car. which is why a private company like g.m., you know, when they announce they'll stop making gasoline cars in 2035 it's a

rational thing. it's not a government requirement. it's the market. because we have through tax credits and other policies driven up the volume and then that, as you scale up, the competition and innovation has improved the electric car. so we have one category that we've got a clear path to get rid of those emissions. now we need to create that same innovation, scale up, competition in all the other sources of emissions. judy: i also want to ask you about the terrie milestone we paed today as a country in the pandemic. 500,000 americans have now died as a result of covid-19. is that something that you thought in the beginning might happen? you study viruses, you yao studied the science of what's taken place. did you expect this to happen?

bill: i gave a talk in 2015 and wrote a lot of articles titled "we're not ready for theext pandemic" and the model i showed had globally 30 milon deaths from a flu. this could have been worse. that is, the virus could have been more fatal. even so, 500,000 just for our country, which is the highest in the world, is so unbelievably tragic. large numbers like that almost, you know, feel like a statistic. but if you know people, you know, then it really brings home that these are people's grandparents. this is -- even the deaths alone don't capture the full negative effects of this pandemic. judy: you do say in the books that -- in the book that we will get covid-19 under control in

2021. what does under control mean? what does it mean that we'll be heading back to something approaching normal again? bill: the virus is somewhat seasonal. that is in the colder months, for a variety of reasons, it spreads a lot. our goal has to be, as we get into summer, get the numbers way down. and then not experience another wave in the fall. and of course, veterans administration nation by the fall should be bearing the brunt of that. we'll still have some restrictions on public gatherings because as long as the disease is out there in other countries, you could still get big chains of infection here. but you know, if we get the vaccination levels up enough this fall, you know, basically all the schools will be open. under some protocol,

entertainment and travel will be open. and so the econo will be on the mend in a big way. we'll still have some limits but you know, then when we get the entire world vaccinated, we really can start, you know, to build back in a huge way, including things like the educational deficits that lots of students have. the private sector with some help from the government has stepped up. i wish in climate there was one thing like a vaccine you could invent and the problem would go away. unfortunately, the scale, the number of things is much harder there. but the pandemic, as bad as it's been, you know, the end is in sight. judy: you do say in the book that climate change, much bigger challenge even than this pandemic. boip far bigger --

bill: far bigger. some countries began diagnosing people early and kept the spread down. australia hasn't had anything in terms of deaths or lac of schooling or restrictions that we've had. and we'll be doing postmortems. i know that this one, and -- the foundation will be involved in making sure that the right investments are made this time so we're ready for the next pandemic. that's a lot easier than solving climate change. judy: bill gates. the new book is titled "how to avoid a climate disaster. the solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need." thank you very much. we appreciate it. bill: great to talk to you. ♪ judy: syria is entering its 10th year as a multifront balefield.

civilians seek refuge from the brutal regime of bazaar al assad. a residual u.s. force remains in the northeast guarding against the return of isis. for years, the u.s.'s closest partner in that effort was a group of sir cran kurds, an ethnic minority who also fought assad. amna nawaz talks to an author whose new book highlights part of that flight. amna: a small but powerful band of fighters led the way against isis. the women of the y.p.j., a syrian kurdish force. they fought alongside mal counterparts and face-to-face against isis. author and journalist gayle zha milwaukee lemmon spent years studying it and her new book details. congratulations on the book and tell us about the duferse

kobani. how did you hear about them and what made you want to tell their stories? gayle: one of the u.s. special operions soldiers called me from syria in the sum over 2016 and said gayle, you have to come. i'm working in syria with this partner force where women are leading in battle. and they're not just leading men. but they also have the full respect of the men they fight with and the u.s. special operation soldiers have enormous respect. she said, not only that, it's not just that they're fighting against isis. they're fighting for women's equality. amna: one of those women is named clara. here's part of one of your reports for "the newshour" in 2017. gayle: she's part of the kurds own all-women fighting force, known heas y.p.j. they have fought and died alongside their brothers in arms. and some of the most vellbrated

fighters, including snipers, come come from their ranks. she took us to the front line to the site of a still-smoking isis car bomb attack. >> they know they are surrounded and can't survive. gayle: her forces draw streent from the unique and turbulent history of the kurdish people. >> it is revenge for the atrocities an injustices the kurds have suffered in the past. >> what is it that made women like clara want to take up arms and organize and fight against isis in the first place? >> these were women who originally took up arms to protect their neighborhoods in the chaos of the syrian civil war. they were trying to protect their towns and neighborhoods and homes from outsiders. to protect this self-governance experiment they had built that had women's equality right at the center of what they were building. then comes isis and this showdown that you could not invent if you tried between the

men who bght and sold women as central to their ideology, the men of the islamic state, who come to the down of kobani and face off against this little force at a time when isis had never lost that kept standing up to it. and this force had women's emancipation and women's equality at the heart of who they were. the americans come in and catapult this force onto the global stage. and they together hand isis its first loss. amna: the y.p.j. is fighting terrorists in the force form of isis but they're affiliated with another group, the p.k.k., that the u.s. and turkey and others consider to be terrorists. what was that relationship like with the u.s. forces? gayle: the rationship is one of deep trust and respect. the u.s. has and the story has to go into this and does go into it for readers this policy tight rope the americans have walked which said the syrian kurds are

different than the p.k.k. from which they are an offshoot. they have said, we chose ts syrian partner because they are the best hope we have. in fighting and holding terrain from the islamic state. amna: these women, their goals were brought into alignment but a lot of syrian kurdish forces were left to their own, having defeated isis they had to face a turkish invasion without u.s. support. where what does that mean for these women? gayle: i joke that i have more hope in syria than in washington. i was in northeastern syria maybe about six weeks after the turkish backed incursion and what stunned me actually was how much of what they had built, this experiment in women's equality that still stands. in all the towns they took for isis except for two that are now occupied by turkish-backed forces they have women

co-heading every council. they have women's councils in every town. they continue to have women right at the center of their experiment in grass roots participatory democracy aimed at self-rule. amna: fascinating story, being developed into a mini series, coming to a broader audience. the book is "daughters of kobani" and the author is gayle zha milwaukee lemmon. good to see you -- gayle tzamach lemmon. good to see you. judy: it is a time of political peril for the seven republican senators who voted to quick the no, ma'am nant figure of their party. state and local republican parties havesen sured or are thinking aboutsen suring several of those and donald trump himself is set to re-emerge for his first public appearance as

former president this coming weekend. reporter: for weeks, the g.o.p. identity crisis has been in free fall. differences deepened soon after this moment. >> respondent donald john trump guilty or not guilty? reporter: the miami when the senate acquitted former presidentrump along party lines. this votes of seven republicans in favor of convicting him set off a firestorm among local g.o.p. officials. the first senator targeted by his home state was louisiana's bill cassidy. the state republican partysen sured him that very same day. just two days later, north carolina's richard burr was alsosen sured by his state g.o.p. republicans are consideringsen suring at least three other. maine's susan collins, nebraska's ben sasse and pennsylvania's pat too many mi. cassidy spoke to abc news and

stood by his vote. >> i am looking to hold president trump accountable. i'm confident as time passes people will move to that position. reporter: in a statement, burr also defended himself. he said, quote, my party's leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the republican party. despite voting to acquit e pormer president, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell joined in, blasting president trump in a speech saying he was practically and morally responsible for inciting the siege at the capitol. at the heart of the bat sls a fight to define what being a republican really means says perry bacon jr. of the new site 538. >> i think the mitch mcconnell view of republicanism is focused on lower taxes, smaller goffs and that fiscal conservatism. the view of more republicans at the state level, alined with trump, is we're talking about the anti-multiculturalism, identity politic os they have right.

reporter: bacon said the backlash against those republicans criticizing president trump is a reflection of how state parties in america. >> the state party is someone who has been picked the last two or three years and is very, very pro tump and being republican and being pro-trump is the same thing. reporter: the wyoming g.o.p.sen sured number three house republican lynn chaney. support has been building tosen sure ben sasse who had been criticizing president trump's bavor. he taped this, confronting local politicians. >> politics isn't about the weird worship of one dude. reporter: one county chair in nebraska said the trump agenda remains the party's north star.

coleen brady wants sasse punished. >> nebraska voted overwhelmingly for president trump, meaning we wanted senator sasse to replect those values in d.c. reporter: senator pat too many mi facessen sure but one local party leader said it's a waste of time to go after him. sam demarco chaired the g.o.p. committee in allegheny county. >> in order to be a big tent party you have to be open to many. i want moderates to recognize they have a home here in the republican party and that they're welcome as well. reporter: bacon thinks in some places he has already won the battle for the party's future. >> at the local level the battle is over. in washington, mcconnell is the

leader of the republicans in the t and is is on the other side. reporter: this weekend, president trump plans to speak at a con sebtive republican conference, that could ratchet up even more pressure on those who defy him. here now to reflect on this is amy walter and tamara keith. amy, the g.o.p. war continues to deepen. this weekend former president trump is going to be delivering his first speech since leading the white house. what do you think the decision -- how do you think the decisions he makes going forward in his speech are going to impact the g.o.p. on a national and local level? >> that's a really good question and i think none of us really know the impact that donald trump is going to continue to have. it's only been a month that joe biden has been president. and obviously so much of the focus of the first month of the biden administration was on something that was very personal

which of course was impeachnt. very personal to donald trump and very personal to those who support him. what does he do in the weeks and months leading up to the mid-term elections? he's got a lot of money in the bank. but as a candidate, he didn't tend to spend much of that money on anybody other than his own candidacy. he's not particularly interested in building the party. he's much more interested when it's his name on top of the ballot. we also really don't know what happens when donald trump's name isn't on the ballot. we've seen -- we saw in 2018 when he wasn't, republicans really struggled. they obviously lost control of the house that year. wh he was on the ballot they did a whole lot better. the other thing iust want to note, i don't know that the party itself is divided. i think it's pretty clear that donald trump controls the party. and i think that the -- it's really a fiss your as perry pointed out within washington.

it's not a divide among voters, at least republican voters right now. >> amay, you were saying that president trump really remains in control. tam, i want to come to you. what do we expect to hear from the president this weekend, especially as we think of the fact that the president has hinted that he wants to continue to remain in control an sources close to the president have told me he wents to be a key player in this g.o.p. what do we think he'll say and what does that mean for the future of the country? >> cpac is the conference for the republican diehards and has become a very frumpy place. a very trumpy vehicle ever since he gave a speech there as he was running for president. so in a way he's returning back to his home turf. he's returning back. his message, i fully expect, to be, don't count me out. you know, he had been really silent all through impeachment and all past impeachment until

rush limbaugh passed away and then he did some interviews. it didn't generate a lot of heat or noise. and the reality is he is accustomed to being the loudest one in the room. he's accustomed to dominating all attention. and he's not the president anymore. people don't automatically have to put him on tv. and so he's getting his grounding, and certainly cpac is a chance for him to say i'm here, i'm not going away. and anyone who voted against me or spoke out against me is not a real republican. >> amy, meanwhile, in the house, lawmakers are preparing to vote on president biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief plan but there's no senser indication that the republicans on the hill will vote for it, even one republican. but the bill does sound to be --

seem to be popular among americans. i want to read "the new york times" survey mo -- "new york times"/survey monkey poll show 72% of americans approve of the plan. what pressure does that put on republicans in d.c.? >> the interesting thing about the poll right now and we know about polls in general is that things are really popular until they're not. and what's -- what we've seen at least in the most recent history of when one party pushed a piece of legislation with party line votes only, so in the donald trump era, it was tax cuts. those were never popular. i think it maybe not something like 30% approval. mostly republicans who liked it. everybody else felt lukewarm or negative about it. it never got any more popular even after it passed. then there was health care in the obama era which obama came in with a really deep well of good will on the issue. but by the time we got to the end of the summer of 2009,

remember, that was the summer of the tea party protests and death panels and those really contentious town hall meetings, the president -- president obama's approval rating on health care dropped 30 points. suddenly the issue of health care reform was no longer as popular as it was in the beginning. so to me, if i'm democrats right now, you can count on at least for now, this is really popular. but it means you need to deliver on the things they say this bill is going to be able to do. are you going to get vaccines out in time? are we going to see better production and distribution? ar schools going to be open with all the money now going into those institutions? what about state and local ability to get these tests out to people who need them? and there's also the question too of what happened if there is some mismanagement of money by some of the folks who end up getting it? that could make what is right now very popular not quite as

popular in the coming months. >> tam, some of the things amy laid out, to get them down, president biden is saying he needs a cabinet. we're seeing some nominees get hearings but the biden administration is coming -- is running into problems, especially with their pick of neera tanden to run the office of management and budget. tell me about the political implications here for president biden and his nominees especially when you look at neera tanden. >> with tanden, they knew she was a controversial figure. they knew she had a trove of mean tweets directed at everyone from bernie sanders to republicans in the senate who would be voting on her nomination. but they made the calculation that they thought she'd be a good director of the office and management and budget and they only needed 51 votes or 50-plus, essentially thalled could do it

with democrats alen. they've lost joe manchin and they are losing an increasing number of moderate republicans who are just not willing to do it. the white house is standing by her. they all along said she wasn't a sack official lamb. but here's the thing with nominations and confirmations. they are, you know, the white house is always standing behind you until they're not. and we don't know where this is going and how much political goodwill they want to expend on this one nomination en they have a lot more they need to get through. >> amy, i want to come to you. president biden just marked 500,000 americans dead from covid-19. what do you make of his style and approach given his predecessor? >> i think this, given where we've come in this year, that the stradge diis unspeakable. i do think that what americans are seeing right now, well, we may be divided on so many

things, this is one area in which i think people can finally unite around this and that is uniting in support, uniting in comfort, and uniting in grief. >> 10 seconds, tam, but i want to also let you get in here on this covid pandemic and the 500,000 americans dead. >> president biden said on the eve of his inauguration an repeated it today, to heal you need to remember. that is a very different approach than his red predecessor took to all these lives lost but it's also an indication that president biden know he is own this is and he wants to own this and wants to share that mourning with america. >> thank you so much ladies. amy walter and tamara keith. >> you're welcome. judy: thank you all three. those pictures from the white house, remembering 500,000 we have lost just moments ago. and that is "the newshour" for tonight.

i'm judy road rough. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the "pbs newshour" please stay safe. we'll see you soon. >> major funding for "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the kendeda fund. committed to advancing restorive justice and meaningful worg work throughnvestments in transformative leaders and ideas. more at kendedafund.org. ♪ >> the alfred p. sloan foundation, driven by the promise of great ideas. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -welcome to "america's test kitchen" at home. today, we're making crepes two ways. i'm starting out with galette complète, jack's diving into the world of alternative flours,