wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. jeff is on assignment. on "the newshour" tonight, ray already ukraine uses u.s.-made long-range missiles inside russia for the first time while president biden meets with world leaders at the g20 summit for the last time and tries to cement his legacy before leaving office. donald trump auditing donald trump nominates dr. mehmet oz, a celebrity physician who has been accused of promoting pseudoscience, to head

the centers for medicare and medicare medicaid medicaid services. that'll work federal workers brace themselves for president elect trump's plans to overhaul the civil service potentially firing a host of government workers and replacing them with loyalists. >> the police are fearful, scared for jobs for their families. and many of them are already considering leaving. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- 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 charles f kettering foundation, working to advance

inclusive democracies. learn more at kettering.org. >> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged committees. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. welcome amna: welcome to "the newshour."

1000 days ago, russia launched its full-scale invasion of ukraine and today, ukraine march that grim milestone with a first, using a long-range american missile system to hit a target inside russia. also today, russia released its updated nuclear doctrine that says it could use nuclear weapons if attacked by a conventionally armed country supported by a nuclear power. all this as leaders of the g20 nations concluded a summit in rio de janeiro. that is where nick schifrin is covering president biden's final gathering and ukraine's strike. nick: ukraine fired the long-range missiles known as the army tactical missile system into the russia region right next to the kursk region which ukrainian soldiers seized this summer. north korean troops have recently joined russian troops, and massing to try to recapture kursk from ukraine. the target of today's strike is reportedly am ammunitions depot. in the coming days, expect

strikes on similar targets including logistics hubs and command and control sites to protect those ukrainian troops in kursk and also make russia pay a price for deploying north korean troops. ukraine is a topic at the g20 in rio many of the leaders are looking beyond president biden. some to china. all to his successor. in front of rio's sugarloaf mountain, the world's most powerful leaders prepared for their family photo. chinese president xi jinping was there. the collective staff was there. as is the global south's three core leaders, next to the man who calls themselves their partner. that is with the leaders began to notice someone was missing. the will to ask the white house pool camera hunts for the missing president. the canadian and italian prep -- prime ministers are left to look on as brazil's president decides not to wait. if a picture is worth a thousand

words, it seems like the global south does not need the u.s. to fill the family. for years latin america has increasingly dealt with china, the largest trading partner outside the region and often the builder of much-needed infrastructure like the pacific ocean second largest port inaugurated in peru last week. this week's g20 reunion was shadowed by a once and future relative. donald trump was like the harry potter character voldemort, he who must not be named. >> as we look to deepen our relationship, we will talk about the new american president and the work we are going to do together around that. nick: there is a lot of work to be done together from poverty to hunger to climate change with the next trump administration priorities don't necessarily align with this group including trump's vow to impose global tariffs as alluded to by french president emmanuel macron. >> fragmentation and fracture of the international order by tariff policies that are controlled by the strongest

simply leads all others to not respect it. nick: but others showed trump more regard. last thursday the argentinian president visited mar-a-lago and the g20 days later, he reversed argentina's previous position and blocked brazil's attempt to tax the super rich. he has been unabashed trump supporter. >> the global elite cries over the defeat of communist kamala harris. yes, the communist kamala harris. meanwhile freedom advances and expects with hope just like other decent people a second presidency of donald trump. >> in its final months, the biden administration is doing what it can to enact enduring policy change. this weekend, president biden toward the amazon, the first sitting president to do so. he created an international conservation day and pledged new financial help for the amazon. his administration hopes investments in clean energy infrastructure are irreversible.

pres. biden: it is true some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that is underway in america. but nobody, nobody can reverse it. not when so many people regardless of party or politics are enjoying its benefits. >> it is important that he went there to see with his own eyes, but he is leaving. the administration should i don't know what we can expect in concrete measures. nick: she is with greenpeace, brazil. >> the policies are reversible but the big problem is there are consequences more difficult to reverse than the policies itself. nick: as the g20 concluded, they retried the family photo and made sure biden was in the middle before he says goodbye. for the pbs news hour, i'm nick schifrin in rio de janeiro,

brazil. ♪ amna: president-elect donald trump has named two more people to his administration. investment banker howard lutnick as commerce secretary and dr. mehmet oz, the noted tv personality and heart surgeon to head the centers for medicare and medicaid services. dr. oz will oversee programs that provide health care coverage to about half of all americans. his talkshow which ran for nearly 15 years was one of the most popular during the daytime but he has pushed questionable medical treatment not backed by experts and has sometimes promoted misinformation. in making the announcement, mr. trump said dr. oz fit right in with the make america healthy campaign.

lev with stat news has been following his career. you profile dr. oz during his senate run in 20 in pennsylvania. he pointed out while he is a medical doctor and a noted heart surgeon, he spent much of his career embracing untruths as you put it. what did you mean by that and what kind of reaction are you hearing to him being named to lead cms? >> this is someone who in the course of his famous tv show, his career as a celebrity doctor essentially was known for promoting weight loss supplements that did not have any evidence to support their use. he at what point tweeted about astrology being a valuable tool to learn health information. so he has a lengthy track record of that kind of dubious statement to put it mildly. he once even got in trouble with the food and drug administration for suggesting common brands of apple juice have unsafe levels of arsenic. as you can imagine, there is a lot of concern being expressed in the public health community upon the announcement of this

nomination because he is going to be running this sprawling massive federal agency that is responsible for the leads of -- millions of americans health care. amna: that sprawling agency means he is in charge of medicare, medicaid, the children's health program, overseeing the health care exchanges. what kind of influence could he have on policy? >> it is a fascinating pick because it is as you say, it is a regulatory agency and insurance provider. he is going to have immense influence over many of the levers of government it comes to providing health care he , is going to be reporting if both are confirmed to robert f. kennedy, jr. who would be serving as health secretary. it is going to be interesting to see how they work together. in some senses they are aligned. in others they have not your

dog's has been supportive of vaccines against covid, measles, mumps, rubella so whether there are certain issues it turns out he is at odds with the republican mainstream and the trump administration as well as with rfk, that is unknown still. amna: this is an agency that covers more than 150 million americans. in his nomination, president-elect trump said oz would cut waste and fraud in our country's most expensive government agency. some would say it is a single -- a signal there would be cuts coming to entitlement spending. tell us more what that would look like and who that would impact. >> trump has talked about wanting rfk and oz to go after what he is calling the illness industrial complex. it is interesting in the context of oz who has in the past been a supporter of daycare -- medicare advantage. medicare plans that are run by private companies. he has supported a near universalization of coverage for medicare advantage which amounts in one sense to a huge expansion

of health coverage for americans and in another sense the privatization of one of the biggest safety net programs we have. it remains to be seen what he will do in this agency which has immense influence over how much doctors are getting paid, what procedures and drugs are covered. they have played a huge role in determining coverage levels for weight loss drugs. he has a lot of power here. the way the trump administration asks him to wield it is going to be fascinating to watch. amna: you mentioned the nomination of robert f. kennedy, jr. to lead health and human services. he would be dr. oz's boss if all -- if oz is confirmed to this position. step back and says what this says to you in terms of these been doing named -- these men being named these positions about this approach to the role these agencies should play. >> to put it very mildly, these

are not people who have the approval of the medical and scientific establishment. people who have been working in public health for decades. people in academia who research health and medicine. they are not fans generally speaking of rfk and dr. oz because they have a long track record of putting forth misinformation about vaccines in particular, sowing doubt, about basic public health measures that have not historically been contentious. clearly president-elect trump is signaling that even more so in his next administration he wants to shake up the establishment. he wants to upend the status quo when it comes to public health. the more basic ways americans are provided with health care, access medicine and medical care and these two are about as outside the mainstream as you could conceive of for picks to run the health department and centers for medicare and

medicaid services. amna: thank you so much. >> thanks. ♪ vanessa: here are the latest headlines. president biden has approved delivery of anti-personal -- to ukraine. the decision reverses the president's own policy. some human rights groups are criticizing it. more than 160 countries have signed a treaty banning the use of landmines, but the u.s. and russia are not signatories. on capitol hill today fema's , administrator said she is pushing for an investigation into political bias in her agency's relief efforts. >> seems to me it is part of a

mindset in government. vanessa: in two separate hearings, house members grilled deanne criswell about a fema employee who was fired earlier this month. a text message shows the person directed workers to avoid homes advertising trump while providing hurricane relief in florida. the employee has said she was following fema security guidelines after workers reported hostility from certain residents. republican lawmakers expressed concern the employee's actions indicate widespread bias within the agency. >> she had been given a wall -- multiple interferes where she claimed avoiding clinical hostile homes is commonplace throughout fema. is this a practice at fema? >> congressman, there is nothing in any of our policies, our training, or information sent out to our field workers to avoid any home for whatever reason especially not because of a political affiliation. the actions of this one individual are not representative of the work we do

at fema. vanessa: she has also said she order the inspector general to do a full review of the incident in question. the hearings come a day after president biden requested $40 billion in additional funding from congress for fema was ongoing -- for fema's ongoing -- main disaster relief fund. the transgender bathroom debate has reached the u.s. capitol building as a public and effort unfolds that would then democrat sarah mcbride from using women's restrooms. two weeks ago she became the first trans-lawmaker elected to congress. gop represent of nancy mace wrote the resolution. today she told reporters the bill is specifically aimed at mcbride. >> i have ptsd from the abuse i have suffered at the hands of a man. i know how vulnerable women and girls are in private spaces. so i am absolutely 100% going to stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women's restroom, our locker rooms and changing rooms. i will be there fighting every step of the way.

vanessa: house speaker mike johnson signaled support for the bill. democrats including mcbride herself denounced it as bullying and as a distraction from other issues. a top u.s. diplomat says a truce between israel and hezbollah is quote within our grasp. special envoy hochstein met with lebanese officials in the capital city of beirut to discuss the latest cease fire plan. just a day earlier, both hezbollah and the lebanese government signaled an openness to that proposal, hochstein urged all parties including israel to act swiftly. including israel. >> we have a real opportunity to bring this conflict to an end. this is a moment of decision making. i'm here in beirut to facilitate that decision but it is ultimately the decision of the parties. to reach a conclusion to this conflict. it is now within our grasp. vanessa: just hours before

today's talks, an israeli airstrike killed five people in central beirut. it was the third strike on the heart of lebanon's capital in the last two days. separately iran has reportedly increased its weapons grade uranium stockpile despite international demands to scale back its nuclear that is according to a confidential report from the u.n. nuclear watchdog which was seen by the associated press. the state department would not deny that report. the candidate won the most votes in the election but the council declared president nicolas maduro the winter instead. secretary of state and 10 lincoln announced the u.s. position today. foreign governments and human rights groups have denounced the sentencing of 45 pro-democracy activists in hong kong. former lawmakers and protesters received prison terms ranging from four to 10 years for their

roles in an unofficial primary vote in 2020. they were accused of trying to paralyze hong kong's government under a beijing imposed national security law. the u.s. consulate in hong kong condemned the sentences calling -- while china's foreign ministry defended the outcome. back in this country, prosecutors are urging the judge in donald trump's hush money case to postpone his -- they're open to delaying his sentencing until after trump leaves office. trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. before we go tonight, we marked the end of an error in the world of tennis. rafael nadal's historic career has come to a close. the 38-year-old spaniard lost today after saying last month this would be his final event, even before the match he teared up during the playing of spain's national anthem. nadal racked up 22 grand slam

titles of the course of his career, sealing his place among the very best the sport has seen. coming up, we travel to a texas border county that voted for a republican president for the first time in over 120 years. a small caribbean island devastated by recent hurricane six global support to withstand climate change. and columnist peggy noonan's new book about what the united states is and what it could be. >> this is the "pbs news hour" from the david m rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: president -- amna: president donald trump has vowed to make widescale changes to the federal workforce. and relocating government offices. lar baran la paz has more just a

moment but first let's hear from federal government employees across the u.s.. >> my name is colin kramer. i am a chemist with the epa. i am involved with afg, will 704 as a union member. >> i am a scientist. i am the current director at the national science foundation. i am also president of afg. >> my name is michael knowles. i am an asylum officer with u.s. citizenship and immigration services. i am the executive vice president of the amge national citizenship and immigration services council 119. >> i am sharia smith, a dallas-based civil rights attorney at the u.s. department of education where i also serve as the union president for my almost 3000 colleagues in this agency nationwide. i did read after his election, statements about eliminating the

agency. and i think it is shortsighted. certainly for -- perhaps he has not had to interact with our agency because his own children, he has been able to afford to educate them privately. but that is not the situation for most americans. >> when our future boss, the president, is passing the message that we do not belong here, many of us lose our jobs. that our families will suffer. we may be forced to relocate to other areas. we care. we suffer. employees are fearful, scared for the jobs, for their families. many of them are already considering leaving. >> that would hold people more accountable to carry out the

policies of a new administration whether or not those policies were lawful. that is really more of what we would say would be more of a loyalty indicator rather than an efficiency indicator. >> i worry about taking project data and conclusions made in good faith, made through the scientific process, grossly checked, peer-reviewed and gone i -- rigorously checked, peer-reviewed and gone through these different avenues. i worry about those taken and being used for legitimate purposes. illegitimate decisions in which they frankly have no business being used justify. >> it is not government. it is going to lose hundreds of years of expertise. that is actually a national situation. we are not a national security agency. we are talking about there is no science.

there is no progress. if there is no progress, we won't be able to stand up. >> they will be evaluating our work not based on how well we regulate servicers or how well we protect american citizens from predatory schools or how well we enforce laws that protect our nation's children but how observant we are to whatever political whims might be at play in the white house. >> we are very concerned about attitudes by various politicians that somehow civil servants are an obstacle or a deep state of resistors or woke employees or we have even seen language, far left open border advocates. i would say there is nothing

farther from the truth. amna: our white house correspondent lopez -- laura baran lopez joins me now. we heard some fear, some confusion in the voices of those federal employees about the extent of president-elect trump plans to overhaul government agencies. what do we know about what he is planning to do? >> president-elect trump made clear and his campaign but also he has made clear in his cabinet picks he wants loyalty across the board with little to no resistance. that is his topical. to achieve that, sources close to the transition say he is expected to issue an executive order on as schedule f as soon he's -- as he takes office. this is an executive order he issued during his first term. it did not take effect. what is schedule f. it would allow the president to change the globe -- the job classification of nonpartisan career federal workers to a political appointees.

in essence, it makes it much easier for donald trump to fire anyone he deems disloyal and to replace them with loyalists. initially those who wrote schedule and believed it could affect some 50,000 federal workers across agencies but that number is likely a minimum. experts we spoke to say it could affect any more people. amna: what else do we know about how far-reaching this could be and are there any guardrails in place to protect against that? >> president biden attended to put in guardrails. he tried to protect federal workers with a regulation but donald trump once he becomes president could very well reverse that regulation. experts we spoke to said he could implement schedule f, this executive order within four to six months of taking office. i spoke to a public policy professor at the university of michigan. he said donald trump and his allies are already specifically

identifying certain targets. >> they are engaging in a strategy of naming and shaming federal employees, intimidation, career civil servants who are not really in the public eye. for some of them they are creating websites funded by the heritage foundation that list these individuals, puts them online and telling the trump administration these are people you should fire. it is a fairly disturbing pattern which i think will only make it harder to recruit and retain talented people who want to work for the federal government. laura: my producer and i spoke to the head of what is called the oversight project at the heritage foundation. mike howell said they have filed some 65,000 freedom of infoation request across government agencies to obtain emails between federal workers and documents about federal workers. mike howell with heritage said they are not working directly with donald trump's team but

their goal is to help identify bureaucrats they deem partisan. their top priority is to target people across homeland security and justice departments as well as the fbi who they think are sympathetic to things like black lives matter protesters, who have worked on diversity or inclusion projects or who worked on cases against the january 6 rioters. they are also focused on civil servants were carrying out president biden's policy priorities. they are hoping to flag for the incoming trump administration anyone they call untrustworthy despite this being the nature of civil servants jobs which is to carry out any president's agenda regardless of their political affiliation. amna: some of the voices, we heard some fear about wholesale gutting of federal agencies and departments. mr. trump himself had said he would like to abolish that education department. how feasible is any of that? >> let's lay out the numbers. currently there are more than 2 million civil servants, not

political appointees. that number has been consistent throughout the 1960's. despite that, vivek ramaswamy who is going to code lead this efficiency agency says they want to delete outright some government agencies. the experts we talked to said that is not feasible. that would be a lot harder and historically agencies are created, reorganized, and eliminated by congress. donald trump and his staff may very well run into headwinds from congress. amna: what is the large impact all of this could have and are there any historic parallels? laura: don moynahan of the university of michigan compared this to the 1950's mccarthy area where civil servants had to be thafor loyalty under this guise of rooting out communists and moynahan said sometimes that meant they would target who they deemed as deviants like lgbtq people. don't want added that filling

the civil service with cronies as well as loyalists, with friends defeats the very purpose the civil service was founded on. >> if you look at the history of america, the introduction of the civil service system was a response to the corruption that took place with the spoils system that preceded it. it was called the spoils system because once a president or a governor or a mayor took over the government, they used public resources not always in the public good but to reward their supporters. >> this could potentially lead to more corruption across the federal government. amna: thank you. ♪ amna: two weeks ago, many parts

of the country saw dramatic shifts to the right. given places that were once considered democratic strongholds flipped red. special correspondent christopher booker traveled to one such area new the southern border of texas and has this report. >> good neighbors, people tend to look out for each other. >> 56-year-old jorge has lived in the rio grande valley and its from the southern border his entire life. for as long as he can remember, he and his family voted for democrats. >> they used to tell us the democratic party would help out the poor. i remember obama. i voted for him twice. >> it is like everybody was satisfied. >> he says democrats have abandoned the working-class. >> they say they have not but i think they have. >> in 2016 he voted for donald trump. he went for him again in 2020 and this year. >> this time it was easier than the prior elections. people in this area are hurting due to the economy.

we used to buy two or three for $20. now i pay $24 for 2. >> his shift is part of a much longer trend coming into focus. look at this map from 1996 when president bill clinton won all but two counties along the texas border. fast forward to this year, the map has nearly flipped. perhaps no county has gotten more attention than star. in 2016 they voted almost 80% for hillary clinton. in 2020, president biden still won but only by five points. this year, president trump won starr county y 16 point turning it ready for the first time in over 120 years. the putting on a u.s., the flip was eithr stunning or predicable. starr county is 97% hispanic. the highest in the country. it is also largely catholic and among the poorest counties in the u.s. with a household median income of just under $36,000.

at the texas cafe, a stark county staple for almost a century, diners don't shy away from politics. there are pictures of john f. kennedy on the wall. but these days there is a different tone. >> i was a democrat all my life but when things started getting like the economy, i said i am voting republican. see if we can see a change in our system. >> i like trump because when he was president the first time, everything was a lot more economic. the gas, the food, everything. >> many support trims promises on immigration including mass deportations. others now wonder about the consequences. >> even though we voted for him, how far is he going to go? i will fight for you if your roots are here. if you have your family. >> how do i join? >> ross perera is the former head of the stark county gop.

he too has concerns about how the deportation process might unfold. he says we have the low. there are a lot of people wondering how does a latino population vote for someone who is advocating for mass deportation like this? >> we don't see ourselves as latinos. we see ourselves as americans. as long as the national media or anybody keep saying you are mexican-american. no, i am an american of exit can -- mexican descent. >> he is a retired army colonel born and raised here. his parents supported ronald reagan in the 1980's so he did too. in stark county, they were outliers. >> i think the democratic party at one time was the party of the working-class. they focused on that. they focused on the family. we want you to have some type of assistance to go to college or we are going to help you getting your first house.

we call those blue dog democrats. they don't exist anymore. the message the democrats had were social issues. i got that. but that is not what is hurting people here. >> despite many down ballot wins, democrats here are trying to figure out what went wrong in the presidential race. >> no one really has come from the democratic party to visit. they just felt that this area was blue maybe. and it was turnkey but it did not. >> jessica leads the democratic party of stark county. she says one thing seems obvious. >> trump did excellent job of running a campaign. of selling a propaganda. >> is the democratic party losing the information battle? >> yes. i do believe that. >> there was a republican commercial coming on talking about transgender issues, sexuality. they were selling it. that is when i thought we may have problems.

>> even though vice president harris did not explicitly campaign on transgender rights, people we spoke with felt those republican attacks resonated. >> the democratic party was on the defense. >> cecilia hernandez's family owns a garbage collection company. they are democrats and put her -- harris signs outside their business. as the election neared, the signs were vandalized. and it left on their door said this is a republican state. go back to mexico. >> i think they wanted to intimidate us and they wanted to scare us. >> hernandez was surprised stark county flipped as dramatically as it did. she thinks democratic economic policies are more helpful to residents. but she says -- >> we don't do any effective job of communicating that. i think the fear mongering on the other side come all the misinformation did not help us at all. half the things people were saying i was like i'm not on the same plane as these people. >> despite the loss, hernandez thinks legitimate civil

competition between two political parties is ultimately better for this area. >> south texas and the rio grande valley is moving in the purple direction. >> he is a political scientist at the university of texas rio grande valley. he says this year's results should be a warning sign for democrats. >> the growing racial and ethnic diversification of america led by a latino hispanic voters in the electorate was thought to be a boon for democrats moving forward and a way for them to lock their hold in national politics but as we have seen with the rio grande valley and its shifts, potentially that story is too simplistic and demographics are not necessarily destiny. it turns out you need to ask for people's votes. you need to deliver policy. you need to deliver policy in big ways that resonate with people's pocketbooks. if you don't do that, you may be surprised by what you get. >> in stark county, trumps when has raised more questions than answers.

will his tariff and tax proposals actually improve the economy? how will an immigration crackdown impact the community? and even longer term, has this once deep blue area finally turned red? for the pbs news hour, i'm christopher booker in south texas. ♪ amna: delegates at the united nations climate summits are frantically trying to strike a deal that would provide as much as $1 trillion per year for developing countries to help them withstand the impact of climate change. no country is watching the talks more closely than an eta in the -- then grenada in the eastern caribbean. in july, hurricane beryl energized by warmer waters caused catastrophic damage.

special correspondent or a trevelyan reports from the island on the recovery efforts. >> this is the trail of destruction hurricane beryl left across carico. the category four storm made landfall on july 1 with winds of more than 150 miles per hour damaging 98% of the islands homes. the storm caught many unaware as it strengthened so rapidly. this is what is left of the historic roman catholic church. the parish priest's father andrew barnard. > it is heartbreaking to see the destruction, total destruction. >> father andrew took refuge in the sacristy of the church as the storm raged. >> after the storm calmed down, i came out and went into the community to encourage persons who were on the streets devastated, shocked, be welded. >> it is interesting to see that

christ and mary and joseph survived the storm. >> yes. all of these had remained in tact and i immediately signed myself. >> do you think it is a symbol? i'm so sorry, father. is it symbolic? >> it is very symbolic. it is symbolic because it tells us that he is watching over us. >> the hurricane killed three people on the day it struck. the death toll rose in the storm's aftermath. the minister told me why. >> roads were blocked because of the telephone poles in the road and trees and debris and all the things. they could not get to the hospital. i lost close friends.

i lost close friends as a result of this. >> people on this close-knit island with a population of less than 10,000 are mourning those they lost while trying to recover. it is the rainy season making life arduous for patricia mcneil who lives upstairs and owns a pharmacy on the ground floor. >> whenever the rain falls, this area where we are standing is the watcher is like this high. textile water is like this -- the watcher is like this high. the shelves around so that the boots don't get wet. it has been like that ever since. i have had to -- sweep, mop, putdown buckets. as long as the rain comes. >> would you consider leaving? >> no. to go where? back to my -- that is my home.

i don't have anywhere to go. >> samantha feels just the same way. even though this mother of eight now struggles to find diapers and wipes for her baby. this is home. what happened to your house? >> everything gone. >> everything. >> the roof>>. >> what is life like now? water in short supply for samantha and some of the others. people used to catch rainwater on their roofs and store it. you can't do that if your roof was blown off. for the fishermen who make their living from the water, the hurricane was catastrophic. fishing is not just part of the historic tradition. fishermen are a key part of this community so when hurricane be ryl destroyed the fishermen's boats, it struck at the heart of this island. in the village of wynnewood, i meet a fisherman who has been

fishing these waters for more than 50 years. can yojust tell me about the damage hurricane beryl did to the fisherman's boats? >> like what kind of thing? boats smashed up? >> boats smashed up. lost everything. >> that has got to be so hard. >> real hard. >> hurricane beryl destroyed industries old and new. look at the solar panels which were a source of great pride for grenada's government. we saw your solar panels here. we sell that they have been destroyed -- we saw that they have been destroyed. >> yes. millions of dollars were spent in getting this solar panel going because we wanted to be

the first island, small island in the caribbean to be 100% reliant on renewable energy. that was our aim, our goal and still is our aim, our goal and our mission. we are playing our part. we are doing what we are supposed to do. we want the bigger countries to also play their part and do what they are supposed to do. >> a sentiment echoed by students at the newly reopened hillsboro secondary school. these high schoolers want the industrialized countries to reduce their polluting emissions. >> it is not fair that they are doing the polluting and we are facing the consequences. they need to be -- they need to stop this immediately. >> we are suffering. we are not equipped with the resources to combat these forces of pollution. >> i would say i myself am still suffering from trauma because every time the rain falls it is like bullets on your house. i always have to wonder, is this beryl coming back again.

you live with some sense of trauma i would say. >> so much needs to be repaired. grenada's government had hurricane insurance. that is paying for some of the massive rebuilding effort. the country debt repayments are on hold thanks to a special hurricane clause. this tiny economy cannot withstand many more storms. >> this little piece of heaven. this united community, spirit people, our existence is threatened because of the actions and inactions of our world leaders. >> what is the single most important thing that would help you, the developed world to do? >> which of their money where their mouth is. let's talk. more action. stop talking. more action.

put the money where it is supposed to go. keep to your commitments. stick to your commitments. >> they are not counting on outside help. the islanders are trying to build back better so future generations can survive whatever lives ahead -- whatever lies ahead. for the pbs news hour, i'm laura trevelyan. ♪ amna: in her new collection of columns from the wall street journal, pulitzer prize winner peggy noonan takes readers on a journey through the essence of our nation's character. with her trademark land of storytelling, historical insight and journalistic rigor, she explores what unites us as a people even in divisive times. she sat down with geoff bennett yesterday to discuss a certain idea of america. geoff: peggy noonan. welcome to the news hour. >> thank you. geoff: you say this book is

about loving america and enjoying thinking aloud about it. tell me more about the intention behind the book. >> gosh, an editor and i went through the past few years of columns that i have written for the wall street journal and what we found was that we liked the most, enjoyed the most, had the most fun with and also felt a feeling of satisfaction about those columns that deal with history, mostly american history and mostly with america and its essence and what it is now and what we are trying to make it. to me, america has been simply a great subject of my life. maybe it has been the great subject of everybody's life, but i was conscious in going through my stuff that it is about america. >> reading these columns, it made me wonder, how do you view your role and your responsibility as a public thinker, a public writer and

columnist? >> that is a great question. i think maybe both david brooks and i think in -- and many columnists simply think try to be honest about the world that you think you are seeing around you. try to say it clearly. maybe honesty and clarity to gather well equal some kind of small helpfulness. geoff: there is a chapter that stood out to me because it has two columns in it. you know where i am going with this. the title is, it appears you did not take my advice. one column is about donald trump. the other column is about joe biden. it strikes me presidents are in many ways, their avatars for our collective ambitions, our hopes, our dreams, our grievances. when you think about joe biden and donald trump who are very different, what do they reveal about us as a nation? >> that is an important

question. with joe biden, i am not sure. it seems to me he had a historical purpose and that was end one time and he hoped begin another. instead he sort of ended and the thing he ended came back. donald trump came out of an american governmental reality that was not working anymore. people were looking at washington as that thing that gave us two long unwon wars. the thing that did not notice the 2008 economic crisis was coming. the thing that can'y handle a pandemic. i think he came out of great frustration. i think he was a dramatic character who people picked dramatically. they had a consciousness. with throwing the long ball when they picked him.

>> as a former speechwriter for president reagan and a special assistant to him, you had a front row seat to the significant foundational moment in american conservatism. do you see any through lines between that moment and the moment in which we are living or are they completely disconnected? the reagan era and the trump version. >> they not completely disconnected. i will tell you one thing i think is a through-line. during the reagan era, 1980, 88, i think the media understood the republican party to be the party of the rich and of let's get dressed up, go to the limo, go to the fundraiser. that was kind of the portrait. i was there. i could feel the populist impulses beginning to gather. i was there when working-class folks started to feel more comfortable with the republicans for the first time in a few generations.

>> reagan democrats are now great grandpa but there 30-year-old great-grandson's of a populist nationalist. but i do see a through-line of one to the other. i was there for a party beginning to change. this is the change. >> given the challenges facing both parties right now, what do you think are the key qualities that will define political leadership in the decade to come? >> gosh, i think donald trump sort of scent a template for probably going back to the old-fashioned person in the suit and the tie and speaking, the things we used two really like like you are very collected. you speak in rounded sentences and paragraphs and you are well modulated and earnest and not

dramatic and emotional. those things just don't have as much value for the future. for the democrats or the republicans. i think it will be more emotional and act out kind of time. >> what do we lose when we lose that standard of decorum and decency? setting aside the politics. >> i understand. we lose modeling for the young. it is the job of adults in part to show the kids how it is done. how you act. what dignity looks like. what being a real grown-up looks like. when we play those things down and think we don't need them anymore, you don't make much of an impression that way, you are telling the kids who have nobody to model yourself on. you are not giving them any

social cues or emotional cues and that means they are deprived of a certain seriousness which they could observe and later incorporate into their own presentation. that is a loss. geoff: i will tell you, i have read your writing for years paired i have gone back and read your speeches. the speeches you have written for president reagan. what pieces of writing are you most proud of? >> gosh. when i was just starting out the wall street journal as a weekly columnist, 9/11 happened. i did for the next year 50 columns on 9/11. in those columns, i was working out everything. every intellectual obsession and every emotion. every fear. and it was the early days of me working online. a community sprung up around my columns where people who were going through

exactly what i was were writing in after they read my column and sharing their experiences. and it was something i had never seen before before -- because the internet was new and what i was doing was new. it was wonderful. it was a community. we all say these phony words about healing and stuff like that but it really was a community that sprang up and was healing together. in a way i will never get over that of being part of that. it was beautiful. >> the book is a certain idea of america by peggy noonan. a real honor to speak with you. thank you for coming. >> are so kind to do this. i really appreciate it. ♪ amna: and that is the news hour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs

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