amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight. the spread continues -- omicron appears in more states even as health officials battle a surge of delta covid cases. then. rising tensions -- the united states declares a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming winter olympics in china, inflaming a fraught relationship. and. veterans affairs secretary denis mcdonough on meeting the needs of former servicemembers, including those with toxic exposure and post-traumatic stress. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs

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the united states will conduct a diplomatic boycott of the winter olympic games in beijing. the white house announced today that american officials will not attend the games in february to protest human rights abuses in china. but american athletes are still free to compete. >> i don't think that we felt it was the right step to penalize athletes who have been training, preparing for this moment and we felt that we could send a clear message by not sending an official u.s. delegation. stephanie: earlier, china warned that a boycott would trigger what it called firm countermeasures. u.s.-russian tensions over ukraine are still running high ahead of tomorrow's video call between president biden and russian president vladimir putin. russian troops have massed along the ukrainian border. today, the state department warned of severe economic consequences if the russians invade. in moscow, a kremlin spokesman said that, as things stand, bilateral relations with the

u.s. are in -- quote -- quite a lamentable state. three more members of a u.s. missionary group have been freed in haiti, after being held hostage since october. the group -- based in ohio -- says the 3 were released on sunday. a violent gang had abducted 17 people in all. twelve remain captives. the kidnappers have demanded $1 million ransom apiece, but it is unclear if anything has been paid. in myanmar, a court today convicted aung san suu kyi of incitement and violating covid restrictions. she was given 2 years in prison. suu kyi had been the country's civilian leader before being ousted by the military in february. today's ruling sparked new protests and a chorus of international criticism -- including from the united nations. >> the military is attempting to use any means, including the judiciary, including the courts , to remove all political opposition. however, it's quite impressive

that tonight, in myanmar, you are still seeing the banging of pots and pans by people in the country, in opposition to the military. stepha suu kyi is 76. she faces a number of other criminal charges with penalties totaling more than 100 years in prison. the u.s. navy has announced it temporarily suspending use of world war ii era fuel tanks at its base in hawaii after contaminated water affected hundreds of military households. the navy secretary made the announcement during a visit to the base at pearl harbor where he also apologized. families had been complaining about health issues and smelling fuel and tapwater for weeks, but the navy only confirmed late last week that one of its water samples had petroleum in it. the u.s. justice department sued texas today over its new congressional district maps. the suit says most of the state's population growth in the last decade came among minorities. but it says republican state lawmakers designed the district

for two new seats in a way that ensures white voting majorities. republican devin nunes of california will quit congress within weeks to run former president trump's new social media company. he informed his constituents today. nunes was first elected in 2002. he chaired the house intelligence committee, and -- at one point -- accused the fbi of conspiring against mr. trump in the russia investigation. former senate majority leader and republican presidential candidate bob dole will lie in state at the u.s. capitol on thursday. he died on sunday at 98. and, on the senate floor, leaders from both parties paid tribute to dole. >> after his election to the senate, senator dole quickly won the admiration of his colleagues with his candor, his sharp wit, his penchant for good-natured ribbing. but beneath all that was an unquenchable desire to get things done in this chamber. >> with bob dole, what you saw was what you got.

and from his comrades in the 10th mountain division, to his constituents in kansas, to the whole senate, and the entire country, what we got was extraordinary. stephanie: we'll look back on bob dole's life and legacy later in the program. in chicago today actor jussie , smollett testified in his own defense, denying that he staged a hate crime on himself. he said, "there was no hoax." two black men have testified that smollett paid them to take part, but he said the money was for nutrition and training advice. smollett says 2 white men beat him in january 2019, shouting racist, anti-gay slurs, and pro-trump slogans. a second federal investigation of lynching of emmett till has ended with no charges filed in the six-decade old case. till was lynched in mississippi when he was 14 -- after a white woman claimed he whistled at her. no one was ever convicted, but the case was reopened a few years ago after the woman was quoted in a book saying she had lied.

emmett till's relatives said in a news conference today they were disappointed, but not surprised. >> even though we don't feel that we got justice, we still must move forward so that these particular hate crimes will not continue to be done and no justice is found. stephanie: still to come on the newshour, we examine the life and legacy of longtime u.s. senator bob dole. tamera keith and amy walter breakdown the latest political news. the pope condemns the treatment of migrants in europe. plus much more. >> this is "pbs newshour west" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: for the first time in nearly two months, the united states is averaging more than

100,000 new coronavirus cases a day every it this comes is roughly one third of states have detected the new variant, omicron. john yang has our report. >> delta continues to be the most dominant covid variant in the united states and around the world, but was overall cases on the rise, questions abound about the omicron variant. an epidemiologist at the university of texas health science center's school of public health and she writes, thank you for joining us. given what we know about omicron and what we don't know, how concerned should people be about it in america? >> what we do know is concerning. but we also don't know a lot. i think there is a lot of hope that we don't want to lose at the same time, so there is this balance between let's wait to

see what the science is going to say and continue to be vigilant. our house is already on fire with delta and we really need to address that threat right now. >> today, mayor bill de blasio announced a vaccine mandate for private employers. what do you think of that step? >> i think it is the right step. vaccines do a lot. they reduce transmission. we have a lot of reason to believe that boosters will play a significant role against omicron, but vaccines are not going to do it all. it is not going to be the magic ticket. it is going to be a combination of public health mitigation measures, which includes rapid testing, ventilating spaces, and wearing good masks indoors. john: we had this concern when the delta variant emerged and not the omicron variant is emerging, are we going to

continue to see this virus transmuted itself, create different variants, and how should we be thinking about this? how should we be worrying about them as they arise? >> you are right, this is going to continue to mutate. viruses mutate. we expect this, especially with high transmission rates. more opportunity we give this virus to jump from person-to-person, the more it is going to mutate and change. i think what we need to understand is the direction that it is changing, as well as the severity and how well our vaccines continue to hold up against these changes. at the same time, having solutions in case they don't. for example, the vaccine manufacturers are creating and omicron's specific vaccine in the off chance that we do need it. really being a proactive gang

rather than reactive and staying educated on how this is changing and why. john: on your blog, you take a lot of questions from your readers. we asked our viewers to submit some questions. dan from sarasota -- i'm fully vaccinated, am i more, less, or the same at risk from getting covid from the omicron variant? if i do contracted, mi more, less, or the same risk at spreading the virus? >> he's not going to like my answer because we don't know yet. if he is not boosted, he certainly should get a booster. we have reason to believe that a booster will broaden the protection not just against delta, but also other variants of concern, like omicron. our hypothesis is that we are going to have a lot more

breakthrough cases, but we are optimistic that those boosted will have less likelihood of a severe disease and death. we should be expecting data in the next week or so. john: then we have from kathy webb in ames, iowa, she simply asks, is it safe to travel? >> you know, if you are fully vaccinated, if you are boosted, if you wear a really good masks, i'm talking n95's, you should be confident in that protection bubble. thankfully, airlines are still requiring masks. they are enforcing masks, as well. i'm not concerned about the airplane specifically. i would be more worried about exposure getting to and from the airplane.

this is really where you need to distance yourself, continue to wear a mask, and remain vigilant. once you land wherever you are going before your christmas break, do rapid antigen tests, use that as a day pass to make sure that everyone that is at that holiday family gathering is as safe as possible. john: dr. fauci said them a lift to south africa travel ban on visitors coming into the united states and the cdc stepped up its advisory against travel to more places like france and portugal. overall, what do think of these travel advisories and bands coming and going? >> you know, travel bans to a few select countries is not a public health, evidence-based policy. it just does not work really well. it would work great if we shut down all borders, but we did not do that.

omicron is in 49 different countries. yes, we may slow down spread may be from south africa, but that does not mean it is not coming from other places. what that means to me is that our response on the ground in the united states needs to be proactive with testing and vaccines. john: michelle says i'm a parent and i'm very concerned to hear that there has been an increase in south africa for children under five -- is this variant more dangerous forids? >> i'm a parent of two under two as well, so i've been playing -- paying close attention. that is true. it looks like kids with omicron are going to the hospital at higher rates than with delta, but it is important to realize that we don't know why yet. i think it is important to keep in mind that what happens in one country doesn't necessarily

happen in others. the landscapes are very different. vaccination rates, behaviors, environments, genetics. we need to track the epidemiological data on the ground in the united states to ensure that this is a generalizable signal. john: from caitlin in los angeles -- how likely is it for someone with natural antibodies, post-covid infection to be reinfected with omicron? >> this is actually the one piece of solid scientific data we've gotten so far with omicron. it came out about two or three days ago and it was not very great. it showed that a reinfection right with omicron is about three times higher than with delta. other words, infection-induced immunity is not doing a great job at stopping omicron. this is why every epidemiologist

i know is recommending vaccinations right now, especially boosters. john: thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. amna: as we reported earlier, the biden administration will not send an official delegation to the 2022 beijing winter olympics. administration officials say it's a move to protest china's human rights abuses. to break down what this means for u.s.-china relations, i'm joined by victor cha. he was the director of asian affairs on the national security council staff during the george w. bush administration. he's now at the center for strategic and international studies and is a professor at georgetown university. welcome back to the newshour. thanks for making the time. at this point in already tense relations, what do you think a

boycott like this, what do you think it is likely to accomplish? victor: i think the accomplishment is to send a message to china as they have already done that the united states is not going to allow china to go unaccountable for the human rights abuses in hong kong or elsewhere for what they're doing to individual athletes. i don't think it is going to change chinese policy. i don't think it is intended to change it. it is a political boycott. it is not going to affect the athletes. that is important. i think the athletes should be allowed to compete, unlike the boycott in 1980. the united states is going to do something about china running rampant with human rights abuses

in its own territory and other parts of the country. amna: could they have sent a stronger message? sent a stronger boycott or coordinated with allies in advance so everyone could announce at the same time? is this the strongest message they could send? victor: there could have been a stronger message, but i think it is just about right. to coordinate a broader response would have taken a lot of time. two, it gives other countries and other leaders the opportunity to make their own choices rather than being cornered by the united states into making choices. it is going to be difficult choices. with regard to the athletes, i don't think that should affect the athletes. i think they should go and compete and try to win. the biggest tragedy of the 1980 boycott is that it accomplish

nothing in terms of changing soviet behavior and ruined the lifelong ambitions of many athletes. i don't think we want to repeat that. it is sending the right message and gives other countries the opportunity to join or opt out. amna: china did warn of firm countermeasures. what form would they take? >> it is hard to say. they could respond in a tit-for-tat fashion with some political boycott of something involving the united states or something the united states hosts. they could really -- respond with trade actions, which would escalate the situation. china was going to be unhappy with this and accuse the united states of mixing support with politics, but in the end, they will grit their teeth. they know there will be a lot of criticism. once the games begin, everybody

focuses on the perfoances of the athletes. that is what happened in beijing in 2008 and i think that is what they expect to happen this winter. amna: there was a high-profile case many of us have been following of the chinese tennis star who accused a former party official of sexual assault and disappeared for weeks.the women's tennis association suspended all tournament play in china in response to that. do you think the u.s. government would have taken the action it did today without the wta taking that step first? victor: i think they took that step in support of the wta. this is a big decision by the wta. it will cost them a lot of money, but it shows china cannot simply use their economic potential or market as a way to run roughshod over human rights. the wta showed they are not going to be in bed with the chinese like the ioc have done, unfortunately.

in that sense, i think it is a sign of support for the wta's actions. amna: that is victor cha joining us tonight. thank you for your time. victor: thank you. amna: president biden has vowed to improve veterans' access to health care, prevent veterans' suicide, and specifically provide benefits to those exposed to toxicir while serving in the military. nick schifrin talks to the veterans affairs secretary about those goals and how former servicemembers have responded to the administration's efforts. nick: last month the white house announced a new model designed to provide benefits to more veterans who were exposed to toxic air. many of ese veterans lived and served next to so-called burn pits -- where service members incincerated everything from tires to batteries. veterans groups argue the pits

created toxic smoke that afflicted service members with higher-than-average rates of asthma, bronchitis, even cancer. but many veterans' claims that their illnesses were caused by their service have been denied. the man tasked with changing that is denis mcdonough, secretary of the va. welcome to the newshour. sec. mcdonough: thank you for having me. nick: i want to begin with some statistics that show the scope of the problem. since the gulf war through this year, of 1.3 one million veterans who filed a claim for a respiratory illness caused by their service, more than 40% of claims were denied, according to internal v.a. data. from the gulf war through this year of more than 111,000 veterans of filed a claim for cancer caused by their service, more than 64% were denied. according to v.a. testimony last year, v.a. has denied 78% of disability claims of toxic exposure from burn pits. why so many?

sec. mcdonough: i look at the 30 years a little different. this president is the first president in those 30 years to presumptively link certain conditions and begin paying benefits and providing care based on those -- that presumptive link for veterans. now, when you think about the number, the president announced in may that we have covered three presumptions, conditions, asthma, sinusitis, and rhinitis. we anticipate 300,000 veterans will apply for those conditions. already, more than 7000 have applied and somewhere around 70% of those applications have been approved. i don't know if at the end of the day we will let be at full

70%, but the point is that it is long overdue that this gets done. this is the first president in 30 years to do it and we will stay on top of it until this is fixed. nick: why do you think this has been such a problem for so long? sec. mcdonough: i think people have been trying to establish a scientific connection. the level at which you establish that connection is really important. but weave made a determination based on the president's guidance that as with everything else we do at v.a., we should establish a threshold at which your condition should be considered caused by your service, provided that it is as likely to have been caused by your service as by anything else. nick: you will consider a model for other illnesses.

how many veterans suffer from constrictive bronchiolitis and how will they prove it, given that it can often only be diagnosed with a lung biopsy? sec. mcdonough: the lung biopsy is dangerous to the health of the veteran. we are coming up with new ways to do that. i don't know that they will be ready then, but we want to establish the presumption if we can, and we will ideally be able to do that without putting the veteran further at risk. nick: veterans groups say there is a perception born from the data that we looked at before that veterans assume their claim will be denied. how do you defeat that assumption? sec. mcdonough: it breaks my heart. part of the reason i wanted to come talk to you as i know that a lot of our veterans watch this program, especially your reporting on this. what i would ask our veterans is this, please come to us, file your claim, the act of filing your claim is important for your

claim, but it is also important for your battle buddies, because we can use data analytics and data science to establish these connections in the hopes that we can continue to grant at the rate of 70%, which is what the experience since these three presumptive's for the first time in 30 years have been proceeded. nick: let's move to veteran suicide rates. 65,000 veterans since 2010 have died by suicide, that is eight times the number of u.s. service members killed in iraq, afghanistan, and the war on terror. one of the focus of groups working on this is crating physical distance between a veteran and a firearm. how do you do that? sec. mcdonough: we are working through two very aggressive public campaigns. one that says, don't wait, reach out, come to us and we will come

up with the plan, even if you are not in a moment of crisis. the second one has to do expressly with firearm safety. would we have said through concerted public advertising campaigns on television, through social media, and then through earned media like this is we have said that moment of suicidal ideation can be fleeting, as difficult as it is, it can be passed. we want at that moment for there to be some distance between the veteran and a firearm, so we have all sorts of established processes, including gun locks, that we have provided now almost 10,000 of two veterans, veterans' families, so they can safely store their weapons. this is a very simple step that we think that we can take. nick: let's talk about your motto. to care for him who have shall

borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. to care for him. there is a movement to convince you to change that. will you? sec. mcdonough: it is not my motto, it goes back to the second inaugural dress for president lincoln. we will change the motto. how we do it and when we do it will be important, most particularly the how. we are talking to veterans now about what their expectations are. i'm not a veteran myself. i'm also not among the fastest growing cohort of veterans, women veterans. so, we are talking to veterans about their expectations when that process is done. nick: you are determined to change it. sec. mcdonough: i will change it. nick: i want to show you a photo to end in. major ian fishback, retired

veteran of iraq and afghanistan, blew the whistle on detainee abuse in iraq, a court ordered him pushed on medication, placed in an adult foster care, and that is where he died in mid-november at the age of 42. his family was trying to get him help, including from the v.a. what do you think his story says about how this country treats its veterans? sec. mcdonough: my heart breaks for him and his family. we became aware of the circumstance that major fishback was in. he was not what we call an enrolled veteran, but a lot of that stuff doesn't really matter at the end of the day. what i want is for all of our veterans and the veteran's family members to know that we are here for them, so, please, let us know when you are in a time of crisis. nick: do you think he fell through the cracks and do you fear others are falling through?

sec. mcdonough: we are working to get to the bottom of precisely what happened in the case of major fishback. as i've said, my heart breaks for him. i think the family is aware of how strongly we feel about this, how strongly i feel about this. do i think other veterans have fallen through the cracks? until we are at zero veteran suicides, i will think that veterans are falling through the cracks. we owe them much better than that and that is what we are going to do. nick: thank you very much. sec. mcdonough: thanks. amna: as part of a multi-day trip to the eastern mediterranean, pope francis returned to the greek island of less both, a major hub for

migrants. the pope sought to highlight the plight of asylum-seekers and castigated europe over its treatment of refugees. >> pope francis returned at a time when europe is doing its utmost to keep asylum-seekers out. six years into the refugee crisis, european politicians' attitudes toward migrants range from indifference to outright hostility. the pope offers a rare, compassionate voice. >> in here to see your faces and look into your eyes, eyes full of fear and expectancy, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes streaked by too many tears. >> this footage is part of a growing body of evidence supporting accusations that for more than a year the center-right government has been breaching international law at sea. the turks allege that greece is

routinely pushing back migrants into turkish territorial waters and putting them at risk. pope francis did not directly address the issue of pushback's, but his message was unmistakable. >> it is easy to stir up public opinion by instilling fear of others. let us not hastily turn away from shocking pictures of their tiny bodies lying lifeless on beaches. >> a veterans -- a human rights activist is suing the greek government over pushback's. >> the pope's speech was extremely strong, and the implicit criticism of the greek government and the european governments in general. >> some pro-refugee nonprofits were disappointed that in his meeting with the greek prime minister, the pope did not directly condemn the practice of pushback's. last month that a joint press conference with the dutch

premier, the greek prime minister faced his most vehement criticism to date. >> when at last will you stop lying about pushback's? lying about what is happening with the refugees and grace? don't insult mine or neither of the intelligence of the journalists in the world. there has been overwhelming evidence and you keep denying and lying. >> what i will not accept is that this office will insult me or the greek people with accusations and expressions that are not supported by material facts when this country has been dealing with the migration crisis of unprecedented intensity, has been saving hundreds, if not thousands of people at sea. >> were you disappointed the pope did not mention pushback's or wasn't it his place to do that? >> he had to be diplomatic to be

able to focus and have people focus on other things he said as opposed to creating a backlash, how dare he mentioned something the greek government outrightly rejects. >> do you think the greek government is going to take any notice of what he had to say or will it just continue with its policy? >> [indiscernible] >> it is doubtful the pope persuaded the greek prime minister to soften his stance. >> we are rescuing people every single day. at the same time, we are intercepting boats that come from turkey, as we have the right to do in accordance with european regulation and waiting for the turkish coast guard to pick them up to return them to turkey. rather than putting the blame on greece, you should put the blame on those who have been instrumentalized in migration symptomatic -- systematically.

>> analysts assure that images like these helped to shape the pope's speech. >> the mediterranean, which for millennia has brought different peoples and distant lands together, is becoming a grim cemetery without tombstones. this great basin of water, the cradle of so many civilizations now looks like a mirror of deat >> the pope's words may not move europe's politicians, but they stirred the democratic republic of congo. >> i would like to thank you for the solidarity and humanity you showed to us, your children, migrants, refugees in greece and elsewhere in the whole world. may god acknowledge your actions. >> no sooner had the pope left than the regional governor said he hoped the papal visit would not lead to a new influx of migrants. the reality here is that there is no political appetite for

making life any easier for asylum-seekers for fear of encouraging more. for the pbs newshour. ♪ amna: now, we take a look back at the decades long career of bob dole, who helped shape the republican party as a senator from kansas, majority leader, and presidential nominee. judy has this report and in his lifetime in politics. >> bob dole's storied political career spanned five decades. he mused on it all in a newshour interview in october 2014. >> i don't know what my legacy will be. that i live to be 200 or at least 100 and that i never

forgot where i was from. >> he was born in the small town of russell, kansas, in 1923 and grew up with a brother and two sisters and the hard times of the great depression. his father ran an egg and cream stand and his mother's old singer sewing machines to help make ends meet. he went off to college, but world war ii intervened. he enlisted in 1942nd was sent to italy in 1944. in april 1940 five, weeks before the war ended, he was trying to rescue a radioman when he was hit by enemy fire. it shattered his right shoulder, fractured vertebrae, and for a time paralyzed him from the neck down. he spent 39 months recovering, mostly in military hospitals, where he listened to frank sinatra's you'll never walk

alone every day for inspiration. ♪ his brother interviewed years later reflected on just how bad the injuries were. >> never was so shocked in my life to see him as he lay there in bed. it is a whole new ballgame. at that time, the doctors said he could not live another 48 hours. >> eventually, he returned home to russell to read -- continue recovering with the support of family. when he was fully recuperated, he finished college and law school and went on to serve a county attorney and in the kansas state legislature. in 1960, he ran for the u.s. house, pulling out all the stops to boost his name recognition. there was a singing group called dolls for dole.

dole pineapple juice was a staple at campaign stops in his seven-year-old daughter wore a skirt that said, i'm for daddy, are you? it all worked and he won. eight years later in 1968, he won a seat in the united states senate and became known for a moderate to conservative voting record and an ability to bridge policy divides. >> when we ran into problems of one senator against another or one group against another on some issue, bob would figure out a way to untangle it. >> former democratic senate majority leader george mitchell worked closely with dole after the kansas republican begin minority leader. >> we had a lot of trust with each other. i never once doubted his word, he never doubted mine, and we became close friends, even as we competed vigorously. it doesn't have to be personal. you can compete on the issues,

sometimes he prevailed, sometimes i prevailed, that is democracy. and he was a great practitioner of democracy. >> but dole was also a partisan warrior, serving as republican national chairman starting in 1972 and defended president nixon during much of the watergate period. he impressed nixon's successor, president gerald ford, who asked him to be his running mate in 1976. the announcement came in his hometown. >> it shows that you can come from a small town in america, that you don't need the wealth and all the material things in this world to succeed. if i succeeded and some might or all with that. >> but he also earned a reputation for a sharp tongue and during a vice presidential debate with walter mondale, it came back to haunt him. >> i figured out the other day

that if we added up the killed and wounded in democrat wars in this century it would be about 1.6 million americans. >> i think senator dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight by implying and stating that world war ii and the korean war were democratic wars. >> the ford-dole ticket lost, but in 1980, he ran for the republican presidential nomination, again returning to russell for the campaign's launch. >> whenever i set out on a new path, i come back here to begin. no failure has ever been so hurtful that this place cannot ease the pain. >> still, he struggled to gain traction and dropped out after report showing in the new hampshire primary. eight years later after president reagan's two terms, he

tried again for the white house, discussing the decision. >> don't you have to wanted very badly to go through what you and the others go through to be a candidate? >> i think you have to have the drive, but you shouldn't be so a set with becoming president or anything else, whatever you may do, that you sort of lose your perspective. a lot of people would maybe be consumed by ambition and just have to have it. the next step, power. that would be for all the wrong reasons. >> he lost the 1988 nomination to vice president george bush, but he had one more presidential race in him, in 1996. he resigned from the senate, where he had become majority leader. >> i agree with carl sandberg who told us, yesterday is a wind gone down,a sun dropped in the west, i tell you that there is nothing in the world, only an ocean of tomorrows, the sky of

tomorrow. and like everybody here, i'm an optimist, i believe our best tomorrow so yet to be lived. >> this time, he became the oldest first-time presidential nominee at the age of 73, only to be overwhelmed by president clinton's reelection landslide. even so, his work was far from over. he championed construction of the world war ii memorial on the national mall and routinely met with veterans in washington. along the way, he helped his second wife elizabeth in her own senate career and threw it all, he said there was always time for going back to kansas. >> i've had a great experience because the people of kansas in both parties have supported me, so i don't think my legacy -- i think my legacy will be the people of kansas. ♪

amna: as the country looks back on the legacy of bob dole, many politicians are also looking ahead to next year's elections, including an especially contentious race in georgia already heating up. our politics monday team is here to analyze that all, amy walter and tamera keith. welcome to you both. always good to see you. i want to talk a little bit more about bob dole. decades of public service. a lifetime of service. the party changed a lot over his lifetime. we found a clip from 2016 when he was the only former republican presidential nominee to endorse them candidate donald trump. lisa spoke to him on the convention floor. >> i like donald trump because

he is a strong leader and he is someone who can work with congress. if you can't work with congress, u can't get anything done. >> dole stood apart and making that statement. what doing know about why? >> he was a partisan political figure. as senate majority leader and minority leader, he was very much a republican fighter, but at the same time he also had significant bipartisan accomplishments, including getting the americans through, and he had friendships with none other than people like joe biden , who visited him at home after he got his lung cancer diagnosis this year, which points to a different era of politics, when people could both do battle and be friends and when doing things on a bipartisan basis was not necessarily seen as a betrayal

of the party. >> also important to note that he most recently had said, i also supported donald trump in 2020, but he lost, it's over, there was no voter fraud, so making the claim that, look, this idea that donald trump lost the election because it was stolen, not true. >> it was a different republican party. you look at that party today, we often report on stories, this is a party where members of congress have openly used bigotry against other members of congress. is all of this also kind of part of the political legacy hero bob dole? >> what was interesting about the era bob dole was in congress, most members who had served in the military, 75% of

the members of congress in the early 1970's had some level of military service. i think there was something really important about that era because they could fight on the floor, fight over issues, even get into pretty acerbic back-and-forth with one another, but they fundamentally understood they were on the same team. probably one of the most powerful moments i remember a bob dole's life, was when dan in a way, senator from hawaii, very liberal democrat from hawaii, also served in world war ii, also was grievously injure, they shared a really special bond and bob dole was in his wheelchair, it was hard for him to get to the service in the rotunda where he was lying in repose, and he did everything he could do stand up and salute

him. that could change if we get back to this idea that we are all serving together as americans. one interesting to statistic, even though the number of veterans in congress has dropped a lot, it is now only 17%, but the people under 45 who have served in the military is about a third. if we can get those younger folks who have served in the military to get into leadership positions, that may be one way to break some of the dysfunction in congress. >> let's look not that far ahead, to the 2022 elections. all eyes were already on the georgia governors race. stacey abrams announced she will run again. the race became more interesting because former republican senator david perdue announced he is jumping in. i want to play a quick clip from their announcements. >> opportunity and success in georgia shouldn't determined by your zip code, background, or

access to power. if georgia is going to move to its next and greatest chapter, we are going to need leadership. >> i'm running for governor to make sure stacey abrams is never governor of georgia. abrams will smile, lie, and she to transform georgia in who her radical vision that would look more like california or new york. >> those battle lines are very clearly drawn. [laughter] >> there is going to be a primary and that primary is going to be messy. i don't see a way that this republican primary doesn't get very ugly very fast. current governor brian kemp is persona non grata to former president donald trump because he refused to do a donald trump wanted him to do to overturn the results of the election. because he would not get involved or call a special session of the legislature, donald trump has been actively bashing him and raising concerns

like stacey abrams could win. now, there is a trump ally, who is part of his video, he said a lot of things that were not necessarily true, blaming camp for his loss in that senate race. a lot of republicans in georgia think the former president and his unwillingss to accept the election results made to people not really that excited about voting again in january in that special election. >> stacey abrams only lost by 50,000 votes in 2018. does she have a better chance now? >> she has a political environment that is much tougher. the headwinds are much stronger. the thing helping her is a big fight on the republican side. they will spend a lot of money. it could be very bruising. that is very helpful to her. and let's remember, this is not

the first race where donald trump has weighed in against the sitting, incumbent governor, which you usually don't see former sitting presidents do, in massachusetts, his decision to endorse a challenger to a very popular republican governor charlie baker in massachusetts is essentially what got him out of running for rlection. that is an opportunity, a missed opportunity for republicans because democrats now are favored to win the governorship. >> i have to ask you about a new analysis from your colleagues at npr that looks at covid deaths and takes a deep dive into county deaths. pro-trump counties, nearly three times as likely to die from covid, we kind of had a sense of this, but these numbers are alarming. >> there is a very strong correlation. it also correlates to the share of people who believe this

information about the covid vaccines. it alsoorrelates to less fear about covid. you combine less fear with leaving wild, untrue things, fewer people getting vaccinated, lower vaccination rates, lower vaccination is directly connected to more people dying because the vaccines save lives. they prevent disease from being as severe and prevent people from hospitalization and death. they protect people and republicans in these pro-trump counties are less likely to be vaccinated. it is stunning and depressing. i asked the white house about it today and what they said is they have tried a lot of things, they have tried a lot of persuasion, but one of the things they have pushed forward with these controversial vaccine mandates is because the only way to get some people to get vaccinated would be to require an, as unpopular as it is with the same population. >> we see the biden white house

still working to try to get the unvaccinated people there shots. tamra keith, amy walter, that is politics monday. thank you. ♪ >> and online right now, part of a panel discussion led by our own nicole alice on the barriers people face after prison. when advocate shares how his decades-old criminal record still bars him from parts of life many people take for granted, like coaching his son's baseball team. you can watch on pbs.org/newshour. that is the newshour for tonight. please join us online or again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs, thank you for joining us. please stay safe. we will see you soon. >> major funding has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -today on "cook's untry," i'm making easy steak frites, toni explores how french fries became an american staple, adam reviews braisers, and brian's making french onion soup. that's all right here on "cook's country." ♪♪