geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the "news hour" tonight, israel says it killed another top hezbollah leader -- the third major strike on the lebanese militant group in as many days. in-person early voting begins in this year's hotly-contested election. we look at the potential impact split-ticket voters could have on the race for the white house

and control of congress. and, in a new memoir, renowned tv journalist connie chung pulls back the curtain on how she managed to inspire a generation of women despite rampant sexism. >> i decided that i would be one of them, i would try to be one of the boys. i would take pages from their playbook. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "news hour" including jim and nancy bildner and the robert and virginia shiller foundation. the judy and peter blum kovler

foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> it really matters when you have an opportunity to give back. >> being part of something bigger than myself, that is what brings me happiness. >> being able to integrate your career with some of these other things that are important to you. it's critical to be happy at the end of the day. >> this is our community, too. >> they want these opportunities to make an impact and a difference. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour."

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and contributions to your pbs nation from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour. for nearly a year, the u.s. has tried to prevent the war in gaza from expanding. but tonight there are new concerns of escalation after an israeli airstrike killed a top hezbollah commander following earlier unprecedented attacks on the militant group's communication center. thousands have been wounded and tensions along the shared border are at their highest level in years. nick schifrin reports. nick: israel has promised a new phase in the war and its delivery in beirut where in airstrike destroyed a building and killed the commander of hezbollah's special forces.

earlier this week israel's infiltration of hezbollah's communication network turned walkie-talkies and pagers turned into bombs. israel launched one of its largest bombing campaign yet, with dozens of hezbollah file and rank injured. the group is an disorder and after today, without a member of its leadership council. >> at the time of the strike, the commanders of the forces are gathered underground, under a residential building in beirut. hiding among lebanese civilians, using them as human shields, they were in the middle of planning more terror attacks against israeli civilians.

reporter: he was wanted by the u.s. for the 1993 attacks on the beirut embassy by islamic jihad organization and the marine corps barracks attack that killed nearly 300. israel says it is trying to return 60,000 displaced from now empty cities in the north and do not want a regional escalation. the lebanese state media says today's attack also killed children, as did this week's attacks, adding pressure to hezbollah to escalate. today, hezbollah fired 200 rockets into israel. despite this apparent momentum toward war, president biden today held out hope for a cease-fire. pres. biden: we will keep at it until we get it done, but we have a long way to go. nick: a long way to go as the focus of the war seems to be shifting north. for the pbs "news hour," i'm nick schifrin. ♪ geoff: the 2024 voting season is officially underway as early in-person voting has started in minnesota, south dakota and

virginia. meantime, the state election board in georgia passed a new vote-counting rule that has sparked heated debate. stephanie sy begins our coverage in that state, where vice president kamala harris spoke earlier this evening. stephanie: the vice president back in battleground georgia where a six week abortion ban is cleaving voters. vp harris: and her name, and we will speak her name, amber nicole thurman. stephanie: a single mother from georgia who reportedly suffered an abortion-related death. according to a propublica investigation, she suffered a rare complication from an abortion pill and died after

waiting 20 hours for doctors to perform a surgical procedure that has been banned by penalty of prosecution in the state. harris tied her death to trump's supreme court appointments. vp harris: he brags about overturning roe v. wade. in his words, i am proud to have done it. he is proud. proud. that women are dying? proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care? stephanie: also in georgia today, the state election board passed a new rule to require poll workers to count all ballots by hand. >> the motion passes 3-2. stephanie: the latest in a series of changes by the pro-trump majority on the board and would require three people to count every ballot in every precinct on election night or the day after. votes would still be tallied by machine. >> we are creating more stability in our election process. stephanie: but several local election officials warned passing this new rule just weeks before voting will strain

workers and resources, potentially delaying results. >> i believe the proposals discussed today introduced huge opportunities for chaos, error, voter insecurity. >> i challenge you to go into any county in the state of georgia and do the rules you are passing today. work as a poll worker all day and then count the ballots. stephanie: georgia's republican secretary of state and attorney both oppose the changes, warning it could set up more legal challenges. last night in washington former president trump took the stage with a republican mega donor miriam adelson, an outspoken supporter of israel. trump condemned antisemitism, but also criticized jewish voters for not supporting him in larger numbers. mr. trump: i was not treated properly by the voters who happen to be jewish.

i don't know, do they know what the hell is happening? if i don't win this election and the jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens. 60% of the people are voting for the enemy. israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years, ephanie: also last night,ight. rris participated in a live-streamed rally with the queen of talk in battleground michigan. >> everything is so expensive. stephanie: the vice president took questions directly from audience members and viewers. during a discussion of gun control, harris told oprah she is not afraid to use her firearm. vp harris: i am a gun owner, too. >> i did not know that. >> if someone breaks into my house, they are getting shot. >> i hear that. vp harris: probably should not have said that. stephanie: harris has positioned herself as a second amendment defender who also supports stricter gun controls and renewing the federal ban on

assault weapons. tonight the vice president is on to another closely contested state with a rally in wisconsin. for the pbs "news hour," i'm stephanie sy. ♪ >> i'm stephanie sy with newshour west. today the house of representatives unanimously passed a bill that would boost protections for presidential candidates amid heightened scrutiny of the secret service. senate leaders haven't yet said whether they'd consider the bill. meantime, the secret service is acknowledging communication lapses and what it calls "complacency" in the days leading up to the assassination attempt on donald trump in butler, pennsylvania in july. that's according to a new internal review. acting director ronald rowe vowed to hold the agency

accountable, and called for major change. >> we are at a pivotal moment in the history of the secret service and in the history of our country. i have directed that the secret service embark on a significant paradigm shift that will redefine how we conduct protective operations. stephanie: rowe defended the secret service's actions in the attempted second assassination attempt against trump in florida this weekend, but he called for additional resources. torrential rains across western and central africa that have triggered the worst floods the region has seen in decades. nearly 1000 people have died across chad, niger, mali and nigeria. rescue operations are still underway in some areas, more than a week after the flooding began. in northeastern nigeria, the downpours caused the collapse of a major dam - the full scope of the devastation can only be seen from the air. on the ground, refugee camps grow increasingly crowded, as hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

>> with our small children, we don't know where to stay now. the government should be sympathetic to allow us to stay longer in the camp, because if we go back to our house now, we will not have a place to sleep with our children. stephanie: meantime, the worst flooding to hit central europe in at least two decades is now swamping parts of hungary. outside the capital, budapest, residents dealing with flooded streets, due to the rising levels of the danube. the river is expected to peak later today, or tomorrow. in parts of poland, the floodwaters are receding to reveal the extent of the devastation there. at least 24 people have died across the region. the european union has pledged billions of dollars in aid. i destructive storm left one person dead in northeast oklahoma. winds up to 72 miles an hour and golf ball sized hail battered pawnee -- about 60 miles west of tulsa. the storm flipped multiple camping vehicles and brought down trees and power lines.

city officials said the fatality was due to an overturned camper. many roads and schools were closed today to deal with the damage. the federal trade commission is suing the nation's three largest phamacy benefit managers -- or pbm's -- for inflating the price of insulin. the case accuses cvs health's caremark, cigna's express scripts and unitedhealth's optum rx of steering diabetes patients toward higher-cost insulin, and reaping millions of dollars in rebates. such companies are considered the middlemen of the industry. the pbm's defended their practices, with cvs caremark saying they are being blamed for the high prices set by drug companies. two russians set a record today for the longest continuous stay on the international space station. they broke the old record of 370 days, 21 hours, and 22 minutes set last year. they are scheduled to return to earth on monday.

and in a record-breaking performance last night, los angeles dodgers star shohei ohtani put on a show unlike any the game has ever seen. geoff bennett reports. >> ohtani sends one in the air, the other way. back it goes, gone! >> a game that will go down in history. >> shohei ohtani starts the 50/50 club! >> shohei ohtani now the first player ever to slug 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season. blowing by both milestones on one unforgettable night. >> i'm happy, i'm relieved, and very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before who played this sport of baseball. >> the japanese superstar, often called a modern-day babe ruth, accomplished the feat in typically superlative fashion. >> he got his foot in! >> going 6 for 6 from the plate, with 3 home runs, 10 rbis, and 2 steals, an historic feat of its own. fans in japan celebrated while

at home, commentators called it one of the greatest single-game performances in sports history. >> shohei ohtani! the greatest day in baseball history! >> last night's win was storybook for another reason, it secured the dodgers a spot in the postseason. and with the team now poised for a run at the world series, fans are hoping for more shohei magic deep into october. >> this is not real life! stephanie: still to come on the "news hour," poland's foreign minister considers whether ukraine should use western weapons to strike further inside russia. david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh-in on the week's political headlines and, the son of imprisoned hong kong publisher jimmy lai drums up support from u.s. lawmakers. >> this is the pbs newshour from

the david m. rubenstein studio at weta studio in washington and in the west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: ukraine's president zelensky is drawing up a plan for how kyiv believes the war with russia should end. poland has been a staunch supporter and has taken in hundreds of thousands of ukrainian refugees. for some perspective on all of this we turn to radoslaw sikorski, poland's foreign minister. thank you for coming in. president zelenskyy will soon make public his plan for ending the war in ukraine. what are your expectations for the eventual outcome of this conflict and how is poland preparing for best case and worst-case scenarios? p.m. sikorski: by the way, it is 1.6 million ukrainian refugees in poland, and without a single refugee camp because we took them all into our homes. poland has offered $4 billion of

military assistance to ukraine. war is never won by a single factor, it is a combination of things. i was in kyiv last week, and what i learned was, ukraine has an indigenous arms industry that has spare capacity. so we should help them produce their own weapons. ukraine also needs to marshall more recruits for the fights. but yes, i visited the ukrainian city of lviv, where a town house was destroyed by a missile with a man watching his wife and three daughters being carried out dead. that missile was launched from a russian bomber. tell me why ukraine should not have the right to take out that bomber before it launches its missiles at civilian targets in

ukraine? i think the victim of aggression has every right to defend herself. geoff: have you shared that message with the u.s. state department? p.m. sikorski: yes, i spoke about it publicly when tony blinken visited warsaw. geoff: this is the matter the u.s. has been weighing, whether ukraine should have authority to use western weapons to fire and aim artillery deeper into russia. the concern has been the risk of escalation. how do you see it? p.m. sikorski: ukraine should obey international humanitarian law, obviously. it should use our weapons to hit military targets.

but when you say escalation, what do you actually mean, nuclear weapons? i think the u.s. has already read the riot act to putin along with china and india, that is verboten. other than that, tell me what putin is not doing that he could do if he gets really really angry? i do not believe such a thing exists. geoff: what about crimea? as you well know, it was seized by russia decade ago. you suggested it be put under a u.n. mandate. why is that the right approach? ukrainian leaders say russia violated international law and should be held to account. p.m. sikorski: no, it was president zelenskyy who said perhaps ukraine will recover crimea through diplomatic means. we have an off the record hypothetical discussion of how that could be achieved. we support ukrainian sovereignty, the inviolability of borders. russia should get out of ukraine, including crimea. geoff: poland has been one of ukraine's staunchest supporters. how do you view poland's role in helping ukraine reconstruct after the war? p.m. sikorski: i believe ukraine, if she wins, will be a

boom town because she is inherently a rich country, rich soil, power plants, good i.t. sector and the most experienced army on the democratic side. very talented people. but the e.u. will also help. we should use the frozen russian assets. the aggressor should pay for the destruction they have wrought. we have a program of supports. we have given them about 120 billion euros so far, more than the u.s. there will be a program of reconstruction as well. geoff: i am sure you are closely watching the u.s. election. kamala harris says she supports ukraine and is committed to nato. donald trump recently refused to say whether he wanted ukraine to win. he has in the past said things many view as undermining nato.

what is your perception of both trump and harris, and how would their respective victories, what would that mean for the future of ukraine and poland? p.m. sikorski: thank you for this invitation to weigh in to your internal politics, which i of course will not do. but i will be going to michigan next week to thank the polish americans in michigan for their support for the treaty to enlarge nato. and i will tell them thought -- tell them that support for nato in the u.s. continues to be important. geoff: thank you for your time. ♪ geoff: split ticket voters, those who vote for candidates from different parties, are increasingly rare in modern american politics, but as lisa desjardins explains, those who cross the aisle on their ballots

this november may decide which party controls the u.s. senate next year. >> we can't work all the time. we have to do something to take our mind off of things. lisa: in annapolis, maryland, colin is still learning the ropes of sailing. picking it up after retiring from a 20 year career in the army. >> sailing is incredible because it is one of the few times you can have motion without noise. >> not a big leap to see that as a political metaphor as well. >> by disposition, i would like all of us to move forward with less yelling. lisa: he is charting another new course this november, splitting his ticket between democrat kamala harris for president and for senate, the first republican ever to win his vote. >> i am a registered democrat, have been my entire life, as i'm

-- and i'm voting for larry hogan, the maryland republican candidate for senate. i think we are best when the center-left and center-right are pulling on each other a bit and we find a workable solution in the middle. lisa: larry hogan is a dream recruit for republicans. a popular moderate and former two-time governor and a blue state, part of a gop on offense. senate republicans need to pick up two senate seats to pick up the chamber outright and just one to create a 50-50 tie, which would break in favor of the party that wins the white house. they have a good map of the 34 senate seats on the ballot, democrats are defending a whopping 23 of them. one of them, west virginia, is expected to flip to republicans. and seven other democratic seats across the country could go either way, meaning democrats have no room for error, no room

to worry about a bright blue state like maryland. but hogan is a recognizable force, stopped constantly while campaigning at the state fair. he won nearly one third of democrats in his 2018 election. hogan is anti-trump, key in a state that voted for biden by 33 points. he needs voters like colin. >> i am trying to get every republican and democrat in the state because i am both of those things. >> it is all about the ticket splitters. >> my first question about hogan is why does he want to vote for senate? lisa: she will not be ticket splitting. the maryland voter works as a nonprofit executive. she voted for hogan in 2018, appreciated how he handled the pandemic and that he sent the national guard to washington, d.c. on january 6. but in the senate, worries hogan would give republicans too much power, a decisive vote against her interest. >> gun violence, education, housing, women's rights, health

rights, and equality for everyone. there are a lot of things from angelo alsobrooks's policies i like. lisa: the executive of one of the state's largest counties, she had an impressive primary win, but even so, one out of three maryland voters did not recognize her name in a poll this month. alsobrooks is ahead in polls, but knows it is closer than democrats like. she says voters here are attuned to control in washington. >> it is close because there is a lot at stake, but i think marylanders are very savvy and will understand the difference between a governors race and the senate race, one where our reproductive freedoms and democracy are on the ballot.

lisa: as alsobrooks and democrats hope to prevent split ticket voting in maryland -- >> the proud american flag act. lisa: they needed in states like ohio where sherrod brown is running on bipartisan patriotism and appeals to republicans. >> i am a republican. i don't agree with sherrod brown on everything, but when it comes to fighting fentanyl, no one has done more than sherrod brown. >> or in montana. >> i am a lifelong republican. >> i will vote for trump, but i am voting for jon tester. lisa: in 2020, trump won their states by eight and 16 points. a common theme for tester and brooks, running on abortion. >> it is a woman's right to make our own health decisions. lisa: hogan described himself as pro-choice this year. >> i ran for governor promising to protect abortion rights and cap that promise for 10 years. now i will be a sponsor to codify roe and ivf. lisa: have you used the phrase pro-choice publicly? >> no, because i have my own

personal feelings about it, but i would never get between a woman and a doctor to make her own decisions. lisa: maryland democrats point out he vetoed a bill to expand access that would have allowed nurse practitioners and others to perform abortions. when they overrode the veto he held back funding for training. while colin supports hogan's approach, split tickets will determine the shape of washington next year. i'm lisa desjardins in annapolis, maryland. geoff: and for more on the 2024 race we turn tonight to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's new york times columnist david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. hello. good to see you. jonathan: hey, geoff. david: good to see you. geoff: so, the 2024 election is officially under way, with early in-person voting starting in three states, and this is as the gop faces a major scandal in a critical battleground state, north carolina.

the state's trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, mark robinson, is adamantly denying reports that he had anything to do with racist and sexually explicit online posts. cnn has published a story, and they attribute robinson -- they attribute these messages to robinson, including one where he characterizes himself as a black nazi, another where he defends slavery, and it just devolves from there. david brooks, what does it say about the modern gop that a candidate like mark robinson, who had a number of known liabilities up until now -- this is not -- in some ways, this is not new. what does it say that he got this far? david: well, we should reassure viewers that was the g-rated version of what he had to say. [crosstalk] geoff: super-sanitized version of what it was that he said. david: it's nastiness, and mind-boggling nastiness. well, what it says is the republican party used to be a normal party, which had the normal vetting procedures. like, you were a college republican, and then you got vetted by your local state

assembly, and then -- so you had a normal -- like any industry, basically, that there's a whole series of structures that people who are just complete opportunists and degenerates, if i can use that word, don't pass through the system. but that whole system was wiped away. and so, ever since the trump era came in, we have had a whole series of candidates who don't pass basic muster, and who have done -- it's not just skeletons in their closet. it's, i don't know, morgues in their closet. and so this guy's one of them. will it hurt donald trump in north carolina? i'm a little skeptical. people really know donald trump. and so i don't think it'll bring him down, but the guy's losing in the polls big time, robinson. geoff: and didn't mitch mcconnell warn about this two years ago? he said republicans have to care about candidate quality. jonathan: right, right, and he was roundly ignored. he was roundly ignored in '22, and he was roundly ignored now. the ad that the harris campaign has put out tying mark robinson and donald trump, i think, has two goals.

the first goal is to reach those republicans, the squishy republicans who are like, i don't like donald trump and the way he behaves, but i don't know if i can vote for her. this is a way of showing them that, with trump, you get this kind of chaos. on the other side, it's -- because the ad is sort of young and hip in the way they do it, it's showing young democrats in north carolina, look, you can either sit on the couch or you can see both of these guys get elected. and this is a reason -- the things that they show, this is a reason why you should vote for harris. geoff: you have described the ad. we actually have it, and we can take a look at it right now. jonathan: oh. donald trump: and he's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, mark robinson.

lt. gov. robinson: for me, there is no compromise on abortion. donald trump: i think you're better than martin luther king. lt. gov. robinson: we could pass a bill saying, you can't have an abortion in north carolina for any reason. abortion in this country, it's about killing a child because you aren't responsible enough to rrator: donald trump and mark robinson, they're both wrong for north carolina. geoff: and so, david, in talking with harris campaign staffers, the reason why they think this scandal might put north carolina in play is because reproductive rights, in their view, is such a resonant issue in this election. and you can see that in the ad. they're trying to link mark robinson to donald trump on this issue of abortion rights. david: yes, i guess the counterargument would be, first, if you're for abortion rights, your mind is made up. like, you don't need mark robinson's case to persuade you. and, second, if i could -- this is a tangent, but i just think the abortion issue is obviously a great issue for democrats. but i think the harris campaign is spending too much time talking about it. they should be talking about the economy, the economy, the economy. and so i think tying everything to abortion rights is probably

something they have done enough and should pivot. geoff: what do you think about that, jonathan? jonathan: um, no. [laughter] jonathan: i mean, right now, it is an issue -- while the message is about abortion rights, it's bigger than that. it ties into the freedom argument. and for a lot of people, the ability to have control over your bodily autonomy has maybe something to do with reproductive freedom, but it also has a lot to do with your economic freedom. and in the stories of amber thurman and cindi miller, part of the issue here was economics. amber thurman could not get back to north carolina. she couldn't afford to because of the six-week abortion ban in georgia. and if i could just have just an aside, for donald trump to say that mark robinson is better than mlk, he even went on to say that he thought he was mlk on steroids, is just -- i mean, it's reprehensible. geoff: well, speaking of donald trump, he spoke at an event last night that was said to have a focus on antisemitism, and he appeared to blame the jewish community if he loses this fall.

here's what he said. donald trump: i wasn't treated properly by the voters who happen to be jewish. i don't know. do they know what the hell is happening? if i don't win this election, and the jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because, at 40%, that means 60% of the people voting for the enemy. israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years, and i believe i'm 100% right. geoff: how do you account for this? i mean, the trump campaign believes that they see gains with jewish voters as helping them in states like michigan and pennsylvania. but is this the way to do it? david: by blaming them in the end? no, it's not the best sales technique for a guy who used to be a salesman. listen, i thought the trump administration policies on israel were pretty good. i think the abraham accords were ving the embassy to jerusalem was good. i think they weakened iran during the trump years. so all that's true, and i'm sure a lot of jewish voters are appreciative of that.

but jewish voters are like any other group, jewish voters, which is they have a lot of different interests. and i saw a survey of -- they asked jewish voters to list the 11 things that they are voting upon, and israel came in ninth. so they're like anybody else. they think of inflation, about health care, whatever. and so they're traditionally allied with the democratic party because jewish voters tend to be a little more socially progressive than median voters. they tend to be more urban than the median voters. and so they're traditionally the democratic party. and, finally, he got the numbers wrong. harris has 75% of jewish voters and he has about 25%. so -- and, finally, just to say, accusing is not a sales technique. and so it's wrong on all sorts of fronts. geoff: jonathan. jonathan: david speaks for me on this. i agree with you 100%. and just sort of personally, i'm insulted on behalf of jewish people, my jewish friends, that a person running for president of the united states is already pre-blaming a group of people: if i lose, it's your fault.

and i also can't help but think of you go to an antisemitism event and dabble in antisemitism, dredging up sort of the dual loyalty thing that really gets under the skin of jewish american voters, and i think rightly so. geoff: well, as we round out our conversation, david, your column this past week caught my eye. the title is "how a cultural shift favors harris." i'm going to do that thing where i read what you wrote and ask you more about it. [laughter] geoff: but you wrote: "right now, i'd say kamala harris is benefiting from the beginning of a cultural shift and is beginning to have the cultural winds at her back. donald trump is beginning to be slapped in the face by those winds." tell me more. [laughter] david: that's such a good opening. you should do that every week. i have been traveling a lot. i have been in 13 or 14 states in the last two weeks, some red, like nebraska and kansas, some blue, like colorado and new york and california. and one thing i have noticed is people talking about negativity. they're just tired of the

negativity of our public life. and there's this -- periods where you go through periods of indignation, where people are really angry. but then they -- you can only be angry for so long. and donald trump won because people were really indignant. but my sense is that they have had enough of it. in the 1960s, in the early 1970s, there were 4,000 bombings on american college campuses. it was -- days of rage, it was called. by 1974, they're into est and crystal and new age stuff. and so people eventually get tired of all the negativity. and i think that cultural pivot is happening right now, at a time when kamala harris -- and she's -- not because she's reading it, it's just who she -- is cheerful and joyful and let's not be negative all the time, and let's have a good time as a country. and so i think she's benefiting from the cultural pivot. is it enough to hand her the white house? no, but it helps. geoff: jonathan, that word joy, kamala harris, vice president harris, when she sat down with the three reporters from the national association of black journalists today, one of them asked her about how she views a

ttacks on her joyful warrior approach. and she defended it. and she said, people will try to sometimes use your best asset against you. what do you make of that and this notion that she's benefiting from a cultural wave? jonathan: i don't think she's benefiting from a cult -- a cultural -- yes, she is, and i read your column, david. it's not so much that she's riding -- she's -- like see this wave coming and she's riding. came the top of the ticket,ure. everyone marveled at how quickly the light switch flipped. that can -- and it happened so organically in a very dramatic fashion. that, to me, says you can't manufacture that. and she was able to do that because she is the culture. she is part of the culture. she's part of what's driving this culture that i think you said will slap donald trump in the face. it's slapping him in the face now, which is why i think he's so discombobulated. he doesn't know how to deal with

her. i think it's why the polls are, the momentum is moving in her direction. and to your point about happy warrior, and david is right, this is the way the vice president has always been, which sort of reinforces what you're saying. it's not that she has met up with the culture. she in her entire career has been the happy warrior about helping people and leaving aside the negativity. it just happens to hit at the right person at the right time. geoff: is there a cultural or historical precedent for this kind of thing? david: well, yes, look at donald trump. he emerged in the '80s, which was an era of self and of money and raw capitalism. the culture was with him, and then he sort of vanished and went down because the culture had shifted. and so we -- politicians and celebrities rise and fall by how the culture moves. and culture really does move, and you get these periods of anger and hostility and conflict. world war i then leads to the flappers in the 20s.

world war ii leads to the domesticity of the 1950s. so decades shift, and people want something different. and so i think we're in one of those shifts. geoff: got to say, i enjoyed this conversation. [laughter] geoff: david brooks and jonathan capehart, thank you both. appreciate it. jonathan: thanks, geoff. geoff: this week, a group of u.s. lawmakers came together in a rare show of bipartisan support to call for the immediate relase of hong kong businessman jimmy lai. lai -- who owned the once popular newspaper apple daily -- is one of hundreds of democracy activists, journalists and political leaders imprisoned as part of mainland china's ongoing crackdown on dissent in hong kong. nick schifrin recently spoke to his son and lawyer, who were in washington and are fighting both to improve his conditions in prison and secure his freedom.

nick: jimmy lai arrived in hong kong at the age of 12, stowed away on a fishing boat. he worked his way up to become an outspoken pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon. in the summer of 2020, he became the most prominent person arrested under a national security law that punished people not only for what they did, but also what they said. anyone who participated in actions that beijing backed courts defined as calling for separation from mainland china, who received support from a foreign country or who, quote, provoked the hatred of beijing, could be arrested and sentenced to life in prison. recently, jimmy lai's lawyers and his son appealed to the u.n. special rapporteur on torture, saying he has been held in solitary confinement for the last 3.5 years and that poses a grave risk to his life and to his physical and mental health. and i am now joined by sebastian lai and kilian gallagher, head of jimmy lai's international legal team. angst to both of you. welcome to the "news hour." sebastian, what is your goal of coming to capitol hill to do

interviews like this? sebastian: to see my father free before he dies. coming to capitol hill, i want to bring attention to what's happening to my father, to the injustice and to get support, to put pressure on the hong kong government and chinese government to see my father free and to stop this this political persecution of my father. nick: you appealed to the u.n. special rapporteur. why, and what do you hope she does? kilian: jimmy lai should not be on trial, he is essentially on trial for being a journalist. it's a conspiracy to commit journalism case. that's about enough on its own, but what we also now know, for

three years and nine months he is held in conditions which amount to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of international law and conditions which we think pose a very, very grave risk to his life and to his welfare. he is almost 77, he is diabetic, has various underlying health conditions and has been held in prolonged solitary confinement with no access to natural daylight for 23 hours, ten minutes a day. he is also a devout roman catholic being denied access to the sacrament of holy communion. so the u.n. special rapporteur on torture has responsibility for holding china to account when it breach international law and we've asked her to take urgent action before it's too late and we see this brave man die behind bars for being a journalist. nick: as far as you can tell, how is your father doing? sebastian: my father is a very strong person. as his son i always view him as that, but his health has deteriorated a lot. so even though he's mentally strong and he knows he's doing the right thing, i worry he will pass away in prison.

my father has been campaigning for democracy for the last 30 years, and he always had a way out. you know, as in he could always just retire, go to london. he decided to make the hard decision to stay in hong kong, to campaign for what he knows is right and when the hammer came down, when the national security law came down, he knew that if he left, he would open his journalists up to attacks from the government. so he decided to stay to act as a shield. it's something i respect him immensely for and something i wish i had the courage to do as well if i was put in that situation, to stand with your people and not forsake them when you know that he could very well spend the rest of his life in prison. nick: jimmy lai is on trial for alleged sedition and alleged conspiracy to collude with foreign agents. do you have any doubt that he will be found guilty?

kilian: in short, i'm afraid to say this is only going one way in the hong kong system and he's going to be found guilty. he's being tried under a law which should not exist in a trial which is profoundly unfair before judges handpicked by beijing. he's being prosecuted for being a journalist and for his writing raising human rights concerns with international human rights organizations. and thirdly, speaking to politicians internationally to raise concern about these issues. all of those things are values the u.s. holds dear, the international community holds dear. he should be praised for doing those things, not turned into a criminal. nick: what do you want the world to know about your father? sebastian: my father decided very early on, 30 years ago, that there is something that is much more important than money. hong kong is a financial center,

so it is a driving force. he realized early on, if you don't have freedoms, what is the point of all this? if the last 30 years was not smooth sailing either. our house was firebombed. he's had an assassination attempt. someone once skinned a dog and pinned it on our door. my memory of my father is always of this man smiling because he knew that despite all this, he was doing the right thing. nick: thanks very much to you both. ♪ geoff: over her decades-long career, connie chung covered everything from the watergate scandal to conflict overseas, landing sought-after exclusive interviews along the way. her new memoir, called simply, "connie," paints a fuller

picture of what actually unfolded behind the scenes. amna recently sat down with the iconic journalist. amna: on the air millions watched as connie chung reported from the main lines of history, covering u.s. presidents and elections, major world events and landing interview after interview with major newsmakers, but off-camera she battled sexism and racism at nearly every turn, working through the ranks to make history as the first asian-american and just second woman ever to anchor a national evening newscast. she is opening up about what it took professionally and personally to get there. connie chung joins me now. what an honor. thank you for being here. connie: i am honored to be here and proud of you. amna: what drew you to this field? i learned a lot about your family. your parents emigrated from china in the 1940's. you were born and raised here. no one in your family was a journalist. what about this field was something you wanted to do?

connie: i was born in washington, d.c. i knew capitol hill, but what i really enjoyed is seeing reporters dashing around and asking questions, impertinent questions, of members of congress. i thought, this is what i want to do. amna: when you get your first job at a local tv station you are one of the only if not only women often times in the room, certainly the only asian-american in the newsroom. you diagnose in your book some of the men with what you called big shot-itis. you write this, "it was characterized by a swelling of the head, inability to stop talking, self-aggrandizing behavior, narcissistic tendencies, unrelenting hubris, delusions of grandeur and fantasies of sexual prowess." safe to say you do not hold back

in this book. how did you cope with all that? connie: i found them insufferable and it was -- i did a crazy thing. i decided i would be one of them, i would try to be one of the boys. i would take pages from their playbook. i would walk into a room with bravado. i would command respect because i was much taller because i would wear four inch heels. i wanted to be eye to eye with the men. i took on a sassy bawdiness. amna: meaning you were the first one to crack an inappropriate joke or curse along with the guys? connie: it was disarming. they knew after a bit i could

get to the bad side faster and funnier than they could. they were left flummoxed. it was a different era. not that a lot has changed. amna: you don't think a lot has changed? connie: well, i think there is a type of acceptance that women have, but i know women who are still experiencing sexism. and i know chinese people or asians experience racism. but it is getting better. in some ways. there is a better level of equality, but it has not reached parity. amna: you landed your dream job. in 1993, coanchor of the cbs evening news alongside dan rather. in that moment do feel all of the hard work -- you had the reputation of showing up early, working all the shifts -- was it worth it, all the sacrifices?

connie: when i got that job, i had always wanted to be walter cronkite. he was trusted, he was fair, and he did not suffer from bigshot-itis. lter'chair was the ultimateuncle i thought i had really hit e jackpot. it was beyond thrilling. amna: it was two years later that was taken away from you and dan rather went back to solo anchoring. connie: i think it was coming. i could feel it, i could sense it. i feared it greatly, but then

when the axe fell, i thought, oh my god, it really happened. amna: why do you think it fell? connie: for one thing, it just was not working. i think it was very hard for dan to move over and share the seat. i think it did not matter if i was a man, a woman, or an animal or a plant. he was not going to be happy. amna: you write about the next chapter of your life, it opens up suddenly after you lose that job and you and your husband, iconic tv host maury povich, learned you will adopt a baby boy after years of trying to start a family. you use a phrase when you write about it in the book i think a lot of women grapple with, the idea of having it all. you said you succeeded in having it all. what did that mean to you? connie: i see people like you and other women. what i don't know is, are you married with children?

amna: yes, with two young girls, 10 and 8. connie: oh my god. how do you do it? seriously? amna: i could ask you the same question. connie: no no, but see, i did it backwards. when i was dumped and feeling i had left my life on that anchor desk, because it had been all-consuming, you know how the news business is. it is so consuming. two days later, we got the call that matthew will be our son, and he would be born. i thought to myself, this was meant to be. so for me, i had a career for a long time, then i had time to spend with my son, because i never would have quit. my sister said, one door closes, another one opens. that wonderful cliche, but it

was true. amna: connie, there is an entire generation of women, myself included, wh get to have these careers today because of the paths you blazed and doors you kicked down. there is also an entire generation of women who terally named their daughters after you. there was a wonderful new york times feature called generation connie that profiled all these women. you got to meet them. what was that like? connie: it was the most glorious day i can ever imagine. this young indefatigable reporter named connie wong discovered it. she was determined to find out how many connies were out there. she found so many, it became quite a sisterhood.

when i walked in to take a photograph with about a dozen connies, when i walked into that room, i was just so taken aback. certain connies started crying and i started crying. it was a moment i will never forget. the connies really gave me permission. because i am so chinese, so humble, i could not get my arms around the idea that maybe i did leave a legacy. amna: i am among many who are grateful that you did it the way you did. the book is "connie: the memoir." the author is the iconic connie chung, thank you so very much. ♪

geoff: there is a lot more online, including our pbs news weekly show, which looks at the escalating violence in the middle east. you can find that on our youtube page. be sure to tune in to washington week with the atlantic tonight. moderator jeffrey goldberg and his panel look at the state of the race for president and the latest funding fight on capitol hill. and tomorrow on pbs news weekend, how a warming planet is affecting children. and that's the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thanks for spending part of your evening with us and have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "news hour" including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith.

the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the "news hour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and the contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

>> this is pbs news hour west from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. ♪

jeffrey: on sunday, president trump faced another assassination attempt. on monday, he was blaming democrats hoping to energize his supporters. also this week, vice president harris still neck and neck with trump in the most crucial swing states continued to pursue unconvinced black and latino voters. and back here in washington, republican leaders scrambled to avoid yet another government shutdown after the house failed to pass a funding