♪ amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. the potential impact of president trump's plan to take control of the u.s. postal service. amna: and the major impacts of the president's cuts to government services. >> all these large scale

terminations will have a direct safety impact on national parks around the country. geoff: and a preview of national elections in germany where immigration has been the key issue. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> friends of the "newshour" including jim and nancy bildneer and the robert and virginia cheryl foundation, the judy and peter bloom kovler foundation upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. >> qnod is a proud supporter of public te -- television.

a world of flavor awaits. diverse destinations and immersive experience, a world of leisure. and british style. all with qnod's white star service. >> 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 "newshour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcast and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers

like you. thank you. >> i'm vanessa ruiz in for stephanie sy. here are the latest headlines. president trump levy new shots against zelensky today. he first he told a radio interviewer that he didn't think it was very important that zelensky attend meeting aimed to bringing the two an end. and then president trump stepped up his criticism while speaking to a group of governors at the white house. president trump: i've had good talks with putin. i've ha not good talks with ukraine. we're not going to let this continue. this war is terrible. vanessa: these latest comments follow a week of escalating comments between trump and zelensky which has seen the president refer to zelensky as a dictator and falsely claims that ukraine started the war.

s.q. brown was fired. he was a strong supporter of diversity and equity among the ranks. the president wrote, he is nominating air force lieutenant general john case to replace brown. brown was the second black general to have served as chairman. the department of defense announced today it will cut its civilian workforce by 5% to 8%. roughly 5,400 probationary workers will be released starting next week in an initial round of cuts before a hiring freeze goes into effect. as of 2023, more than 700,000 civilian employees worked in the defense department. a federal judge has temporarily blocked trump's executive order ending federal support of diversity, equity and i collusion programs. the judge said the order likely violates the first amendment. a federal judge in manhattan

adjourned the case against eric adams today, but judge dale ho left the charges against him in place for now. the judge appointed an outside lawyer paul clement to present independent arguments on the d.o.j.'s motion to drop the case. he was solicitor general under president george bush. it led to a wave of resignations by federal prosecutors. this week the new york governor said she will not use her authority to remove him from office now. luigi manage joany accused of killing the c.e.o. brian thompson appeared in court on state murder and terror charges two weeks ago. there were search and seizures procedure. she said a number of factors are complicating his right to a fair

trial. >> he is being publically treated as guilty and as having the presumption of guilt as opposed to the presumption of innocence which is he is entitled to. vanessa: mangione is pleading not guilty and he could face a charge that faces the death penalty. the man who stabbed the author plead guilty. he gave no obvious reaction as he heard the verdict this afternoon. jurors deliberated for two hours. he stabbed him seven times. mantar faces 25 years in prison. sentencing is set for april. the mayor of los angeles karen bass dismissed the city's fire

chief today over her handling of last month's deadly wildfires in a statement bass said she is removing chief kristin crowley effective immediately adding that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were sent home on chief crowley's watch. the palisades fire erupted in early january. it destroyed or damaged 8,000 homes and other structures. at least 12 people were killed. in the middle east, hamas says it released another body to israeli officials today after confusion over yesterday's transfer of hostage remains led to concerns about the fragile cease-fire. forensic evidence found that one of the four bodies transferred yesterday was not that of sheri bibas. her remains are due to be returned along with her two young sons. hamas claims they were killed during an israeli airstrike. the prime minister netanyahu

said hamas are to blame with their deaths. >> who kidnaps a mother and two babys? i vow that i will not rest until the savages who executed our hostages brought to justice. >> meantime, both sides say the release of six living hostages from will proceed as planned. they will be released. three empty bus exploded near to tell vive yesterday in an apparent attempted terrorist attack. no injuries were reported. pope francis is not out of danger but that his medical condition is not life-threatening. that assessment came in their first in-person up date since the 88 pontiff was admitted a

week ago bronchitis. doctors say pope francis remain hospitalized at least through next week. still to come on the "newshour," a fire park ranger weigh in on the president's cuts to government service. david brooks and jonathan capehart discuss the weeks' political headlines. a d.c. exhibit showcases the history, the struggles and triumphs of black travel in the u.s. >> this is the pbs newshour from the david m. rubinstein studio in washington and from the west from the walter cronkite school of journal from arizona state university. geoff: president trump plans to fire the governing board of the u.s. postal service and place the independent agency turned control of the commerce department, a move that could be the first step in privatizing a service established 250 years ago. the white house initially denied that an executive order to make

that change is in the works. but late today, president trump admit had that he's considering it. jacob bogage broke the story for "the washington post." thanks for being was. >> hey, greet hear from you, geoff. thanks for having me. >> what are your sources telling you about what the administration is planning and what it could mean for the u.s. postal service? >> step one is to take it out of independent status and embed it inside the commerce department. commerce secretary harry ludnik was committed today and they spoke about privatizing this agency and so take it out o of that independent status will be step one. and step two, louis joy plans to retire soon. and the board of governors can be fired for cause by the

president. that could be another step. geoff: this will certainly the lead legal challenges. what have experts been telling you about the authority the president will have to dissolve the postal service leadership and then effectively move it to the commerce department? >> so the postal service has to have a board of governors. these are bipartisan individuals appointed by the president, confirmed by the senate. and then they together select or can remove the postmaster general. >> there are power that the postal service has on thin thins like service on things like rates and prices that can only be made by the governor so you have to have a board on place. that's what's complicating this for the white house. how you do take these individuals who can only be removed for cause from an agent

say that by law is independent? you can't legally move it into the commerce department? how do you bring that into control of the white house? that's a legally dubious question. geoff: president trump has long moussed about moving i. the secretary was sworn in today. and here's what the president had to say about the usps. >> well, we want to have a post office that works well and doesn't lose massive amounts of money. we're thinking about doing that. and it will be a form of a merger, but lit remain the postal is and i think it will operate a lot better than it has over the years. it's been just a tremendous loser for this country, tremendous amounts of money have been lost. >> it's undeniable that the postal service has been losing money. it had to do with the way the pensions are organized. lost more than $9 million in the more recent fiscal year. does that strengthen the case for private zation?

>> that's a difficult question because it's an ideological question. let's look at this from the big picture. the united states has had a postal service longer than we've been a country. it was founded in 1775. obviously, the country was founded in 1776. until 1970, the postal service didn't have a profit motive. its motive was to serve people all across the country with equal an reliable service. we changed the in 1970 -- it's a long story that we don't need to get into now. we changed that to be more like a crown corporation or a government-sponsored corporation. so what do we lose without independent postal service? well, this is an agency that belongs to all of us. doesn't belong to the white house. because it's independent, it has an obligation to reach everybody's address with the same service and same pricing. a privatized one or one in which

a mail delivery becomes political will not have the same motivations. geoff: it's the only mail service and amazon rely on the postal service for the last mile deliveries. how could that affect the mail and packages that americans get? >> this is a story that is obviously not going away. and geoff, you and i know that well from having covered it for so long. there's a term that folks should learn right now. and that's co-opetition. amazon, fedex and u.p.s. use the postal service. they have to go to their address six, sometimes seven times a week. they have to go over the hill and down the bend even if it doesn't make money.

fedex, u.p.s. don't have to do. that they're competitors. but they leverage each other for business that's extremely, extremely profitable for the postal service. they can't survive without that co-opetition. louiston joy is stepping down. he's halfway down his term, do you know why he's stepping down now? >> not precisely. we look at the last fiscal quarter into the first time the postal service has been in the black except for some mandatory pension and healthcare cost since the height of the covid crisis. it's a big win for his 10-year plan. a lot of this -- the stuff that he has in the works has been, you know, moving rather succe successfully, a bumpy rollout. but it's been rolling out nonetheless and being implemented. you know, i've spoken to him

numerous times. he's a really successful businessman. he's in his late 60's. he has adult children. he's retired from businesses that he ran or helped lead multiple times and running the postal service believe it or not was a retirement gig for him. you know, he's five years into this job. and that's about the time frame he promised when he took it. so look, is there more to this story about why he's stepping down? i would be trying to bet on. that that's something that i'll keep reporting on. i also know that this is during the time frame that he was looking to leave anyway. geoff: jacob, thanks for being was. >> thanks, geoff. ♪

amna: at the direction of president trump, elon musk and his team are firing workers across the federal government at a breakneck pace. this week thousands of employees are expecting fires at the i.r.s. and across the department of health and human services. 200 have been fired from fema. around 400 from the f.a.a. and more than 1,000 from the department of veteran affairs. our white house correspondent laura barron-lopez spoke to one federal worker who was among those relently let go. >> trump administration has fired more than 20,000 federal works and contractors. the effort to dramatically cut the workforce led by elon musk's team has been chaotic and sweeping. in some instances the administration has reversed the firings. they include 1,000 national parks and employees. employee like lydia jones who

worked at bad lands national park in san diego. she joins me now. thank you so much for talking to us. you were fired on valentine's day. what went through your mind when you got the news? >> i was heart broken when i initially got the news. it was definitely unexpected. it was something that i was potentially making a long life career. so it was quite the surprise. >> you were one of e.m.t.'s at bad lands national park which stretches over 244,000 acres. you welcome more than one million visitor as year. what did your job fly and why did you become an e.m.t.? >> my official main job was as an interpretive park ranger. a lot of my duty was working in the visitor center, providing visitors with directions and doing educational programs, guided hikes. but i was also a part of our search and rescue team and

responded to emergencies throughout the park. and that was something that i choice on my own to pursue because being in such a rural area with a lack of first responders and increasing incidents i thought there was a need for more e.m.t. niece the park. >> do you think your firing could make the park less safe? >> all these large-scale terminations will definitely have a direct safety impact on national parks around the country including badlands national park. we're talk about very rural areas that are typically very far away from major hospitals or trauma centers. and a lot of times the park staff there are going to be the first time be on scene to -- first people to be on scene and provide life-saving care to visitors. this will have an impact, yes. >> you talked about some of the sacrifices that you have to make to become a park-range ranger. tell us more about that. >> you have to work as a

seasonal employee. i worked in badlands national park for six months and then i would apply and go -- i went to two other national parks during the winter seasons some of you're constantly moving around. you're typically away from family, friends, loved ones. it can be quite hard. but a lot of people are willing to make those sacrifices with the hopes of getting a permanent position because we truly care about our jobs and truly believe to provide that service to the american people. >> do you plan on joining in -- any of the lawsuits in the hopes of getting your job back? >> i'm still debating on how to pro -- proceed with all of that. i would go back in a heartbeat. but if not i will pursue other option. i do plan on joining the local volunteer fire department so i can still provide service as an

e.m.t. to the community. even though i may not be in the park service any more for right now, i still believe in service and i still want to make that a part of my life. >> lydia jones, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. geoff: in the german capital of berlin, a man was critically wounded in a knife attack at the city's holocaust memorial. and the suspected attacker was arrested near the scene with blood on his hands. all this two weeks before voters go to the poles. the country is expected to reject the incumbent lef left-leaning chancellor in favor of a center right candidate followed closely been an anti-immigration party that has the back of the trump administration. special corporate malcolm bra

bragban joins us from germany. >> two months have passed since the terror attack by a saudi arabia doctor who drove his car into a packed christmas market kill ago 9 year-old boy, five women and injuring 300. the tributes have d di-mile-an-houred but not the grief. [speak german] >> i am so sad. this should never have happened, absolutely not. never for anyone. >> there have since been two more islamist attack in southern germany that have claimed four lives and driven street food vendor to despair. >> one attack after another happens. how far does it have to go? >> the attacks have galvanized support for the alternative for germany party. now is the time for our security

says their leader. now is the time for a new beginning. while the a.f.d. has doubled its popularity since the last election, it's expected to come second but barred from joining the next governing coalition. >> all the opinion polls suggest that the center rights will twin election and lead germany's next government. they've accused the outgoing lefts-leaning coalition on being soft on immigration. they are promising to restore law and order and make the country safe again. >> unless there's a major upset, germany's next chancellor will be fredrik mayer -- mertz. he said he would tackle im--

>> i will only sign a coalition agreement that includes a turnaround on migration and the economy. >> shultz the outgoing chancellor signaled his willingness to get tough on immigration. >> perpetrators must be severely punished. if they have committed such offenses, then they must certainly expect that we will return them to their country of origin. >> the a.f.d. is regarded as beyond the pale by all the mainstream parties a they've greed a far war to keep the far right out of office. but can he create a stable government without the support of the a.f.d.? >> catherine is a german-american political scientist. >> if that coalition holds, strong enough in terms of its majority, then he can absolutely push out and sideline the a.f.d. now is that majority going to be stable enough for the a.f.d. to not hit the coalition with a lot

of obstructionism and make life very hard? those numbers are very, very tight. >> helped by elon musk who declared his support by the a.f.d. >> only a.f.d. can save germany, end of story. >> yes, because you rightly said there's a difference of making a law and then enforcing it. >> then vice president j.d. vance entered the frey at the munich security conference. what are no demock circumstances american, jeremyupman or european will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations their please for leaf are invalid or unworthy of even being considered. >> vance's intervention played well in vandenburg. >> we want to be heard. but we're not being listened to. the politicians up there do whatever they want.

they lie to us and serve only themselves instead of serving the people. they call themselves democrats but behave far from being democrats especially because they refer to german history. this mar januaryal zation, we've seen it before and it must not happen to anyone not even to the a.f.d. >> but there was outrage elsewhere. >> we respect the presidential elections and the congressional elections in the u.s. and we expect the u.s. to do the same here. >> whether it's the defense minister or the chancellor or the president, but also average people feel highly offend by the fact that somebody would attempt to officially med until the way they perceive the functionally of their democracy. >> but beatrice couldn't be happier. >> how important is the endorsement of the united sta

states's vice president? >> d i don't think it shifts numbers but maybe you should be a bit careful and that we have got strong allies. we have got connections towards the united states and towards russia. >> show me what democracy looks like! >> there have been large protest against germany eastling the right. actor and musician -- germany's lean to the right. >> they do not want to just jeopardize our peaceful co-existence but destroy it. >> growing anti-immigrant sentiment worries syrian refugee ihab who fled damascus to avoid being drafted. >> i have status here in germany. once the war has ended, i might

be sent back to syria any time. >> he was one of a million syrians who followed the migrant trial germany nearly 10 years ago. but the then chancellor threw open the borders. a fluent german speaker, fully integrated, he's currently unemployed and desperately looking for work. >> i'm scared to go back to syria because beer slip definitely my home. i love it here i feel comfortable, accepted and i blend in. >> but german tolerance is no longer guaranteed as this landmark election approaches with the buoyant a.f.d. supported by an unpredictable american administration. >> there's a trust chasm right now between the two sides of the atlantic that is as deep as it ever was in the history of this relationship over 80 years. >> come sunday, victory may be but given the current climate it could be a poisoned chalice.

for the pbs newshour i'm malcolmle brevin in berlin. ♪ >> when sunni rebels top it would regime last december, they vowed to form appear inclusive government by march. as that deadline inches closer there's growing pressure to make good on that promise. sunni's comprise around 75% of syrians with the remaining 25% made up of minorities like christian, shiite muslims and the curds. our correspondent met with some members of the community and has that report from damascus. >> on the outskirts of damascus is this shrine. it's set to be the burial sight of prophet mohammed's

granddaughter. when they toppled the government in december, some of syria's tiny shiite minority fear had that they and their place of worship would come under attack. he was here when the rebels took over. >> there was chaos and some people through their individual behavior threatened some of the sects. so fear followed. >> a video circulated of arm sunni fighters attempting to storm the shrine and prompting some shiite to go to lebanon. >> we don't know what their agenda was, what their direction in thinking might be really, people were afraid. >> syria's new president has since made reassuring statements. >> we are working on protecting sex and minorities from any attacks, syria is a country for all. and we have a close relationship

for all segments of syrian society >> an uneasy calm has settled but visitors remain few and far between. stability appears have returned at least for now. but there is an overall question about the role not like the shiite will play in the future of syria. >> religious leaders hope to an end to sectarian strife. >> god willing, it's in anyone's interest to sabotage this country. syria's ethnoreligious groups should rebuild and live in peace so that this country can return to >> but the way things were before is a controversial topic. during the war, this area saw an influx in shiite inhabitants. the sunni fighters were now in charge think it's only right that these demographic challenges be reversed. >> the original inhabitants of this area were sunni. although there were some people of the shiite sect.

they worked on igniting sectarian flames. they brought shiite who came to our area to kill our people >> abubaker is responsible for the area. he denied that shiite civilians have fled the wake of the arrival. >> some people have fled the area because they are war criminals. whereas the people who did not bear weapons are here and we are living together with them and the situation is excellent. the shrine use today be guarded by hezbollah who which came to syria in 2012 which came to fight along bashar. hezbollah is not the shrine's protector been an invading force. now they are together with syrian and iranian troops stands desertd. and stutes have been torn down. meanwhile local sunni men have filled the security vacuum. >> i join to protect the area

until stability returns, god willing. >> the firefighter these these forces are here to protect all syrians, sunni or shiah. >> there are rumors we are killing shiah. it's all lies. we are not encroaching on them we are one hand. the only thing we did was to finish the criminal regime. >> with assad's overthrow, syria is under sunni control. le they're an off-shoot of shiah and compromise about 10% of the country's population. many alowite said they did so for the sake of survival rather than fierce loyalty. they got little in return in this dilapidated alowite neighborhood, i sat done with a group of young men who were happy to see assad gone. >> many people misunderstood

this matter. that's because we were from the same sect as the former president. this area was better off. we lived in great poverty. >> under assad's rule, they could barely scrape a living, nowhere near enough to buy a car, buy a house or get married. >> we lived from day-to-day, from hour-to-hour that you can get work so you can eat. >> poverty left many with little choice but to join the army. >> the options for the alowites were known. it was the army. they didn't give us opportunities to study or become anything else. the instructions were that this sect should go to the army. >> disproportionate shares have called sparks for revenge. >> who you do want to take revenge on the people who had nothing to do with anything? the revenge shouldn't be against specific sect, the army included sunni, alowite, drews all of them were involved in houring

the syrian people. >> the new government has offer amnesty and promised to protect minorities including alowites. but insuring the protection of minorities isn't quite the same as granting them equal right. in t christian neighborhood, soe worry that christians could be relegated to second class citizens. priman is a member of the syrian orthodox church. >> we aspire to be equal in our rights and our duties. we will not accept for the media or the government to refer us to as minorities. >> in a bid to bridge the divide, shada met with church leaders burr there are skepticism that is these gathers are more show than substance. the traditional government has made unilateral decision on vital issues. the school curriculum has been revised from a largely second

there are a more islamic one raising worries that planned amendments to the constitution will also take on an islamic slant. christians and other segments of syrian society are sounding the alarm over not being included. >> we want to play a greater role in the political process. we want to have a clear and voice in building modern syria. we want to start working on the constitution, which should be done in cooperation of all the sects in syrian set and not limited to just one group. >> on the face of it, syria's new rulers have said the right things. but to earn the trust of syria's people including its many minorities, actions must follow suit. for the pbs newshour, i'm simona f atini in damascus, syria.

geoff: from fresh tensions between the u.s. and ukraine to town hall backlash to major doubts the federal workforce, we turn now to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's david brooks and jonathan capehart associate editor for "the washington post." it's good to have you here aser always. let's start with ukraine. no one expected donald trump to handle his predecessors the way he did and he has false propaganda calling zelensky a dictator, falsely saying that it was ukraine that started the war turning against a democracy that was invaded in favor of the invader. what are the implications? >> it's pretty revolutionary. you can say good-bye to nato the promise that we will defend each other. i don't think donald trump will defend anybody else. but there's a shift in value that western foreign policy has been around human dignity and human right.

and so we band together to promote those. donald trump doesn't see the world that way. he sees the world as a place where ruthless mafiosos get to do what they can. the famous line, that the strong do what they can. and the weak suffer the most in donald trump's world there are three ruthless mafioso countries. russia will have hegemony over their region. and we will are hegemony of our region. anything that gleets the way is being eliminated. some of this is the idea that you shouldn't interfere in other people's elections. and so of it is that you shouldn't be able to invade neighboring countries. they want to turn global affairs to the survival of the fittest. >> there's nothing that david said that i disagree with. the language that we hold from

donald trump in the first term was already alarming in 2017 where he said that vladimir putin -- he told me he didn't do anything to our elections. i don't see any reason, you know, not to believe him. now he's ratchet had that up with calling zelensky a dictator if you are the leader of a baltic nation, if you are the leader of poland, if you're the leader of germany, france, you must be scared out of your mind about what this means, the rhetoric about ukraine means for -- for europe. and if you are in taiwan, you better be prepared for what china could do. >> what about that jurisdiction and i've heard this from trump al thrice it's high time that we have a leader who acted in sup of such a way that forces europe to take their own security. you can go back to eisenhower.

>> that's a valid point. as long as the cold war was going on, they didn't have to pay their deuce. and so now they -- they have to because the cold war is over. and that arrangement was bound to end. but they have up there spending. the amount of spending that donald trump wants'ses europes to spend we don't even do. that it's an act of hypocrisy that they're at the wrong. that's not at the core here. look what donald trump has done. he seconds the secretary and he hands them a piece of paper that says hand us over 50% of your mineral right. that's like an imperial power saying tribute. give us tribute that's what he did to vladimir putin and he said hell no. but now it could be an offer he can't refuse.

because he needs the americans. they're coming close to a deal because we're taking a country that bravely resisted on behalf of the western alliance and we're saying pay up. i don't have a word to describe. >> i want to say something on what david expenditure. he says these countries ripping us off as if they're paying the united states money in a protection racket. and that's not what's happening at all to amplify david's point. it's spend more of your g.d.p. on your own defense. rise up to the level of where the united states is relatively speaking so that it's -- the burden is more fairly shared. the way the president talks about it, it's not the real world. and yet to your point where people say, well, maybe we should start caring about america, those folks i don't think fully understand what a peaceful world with a nato

alliance what american leadership on the global stage has meant for their own peace and prosperity here at home. >> meantime, president trump's poll numbers seem to be falling. new follows cnn say a majority of americans have overstepped his presidential authority and hasn't done inform to address high price. when you look at these numbers more closely what, do you see? >> well, a, people don't like chaos. people don't like chaos. second, people do rely on government like postal service, snap benefit go to the national park service. try to get a passport renewed if there's nobody in the office, you're going to be upset. finally, i think the big thing is the inflation that inflation was -- is gun to tick again if we have tariffs liting more. if we pass a tax cut we will overstimulate the economy and inflation will tick up more. and the very thing that flagged the biden administration will do

the same thing to the trump administration. he swore that inflation will go down immediately >> it seems have come to a head last night. rich mccormick healed up to hall. he faced an angry crowd. his constituents were upset over the steep cuts to the federal workforce that had been instituted by elon musk and his doge aids. take a listen. >> i would like to know rather the people would like to know what you congressman and your fellow congressmen are going to do to rein in the megalomaniac in the white house? [cheers and applause] >> when you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, i remember having the same discussion with republicans when biden was elected.

>> so this is a deep red district. donald trump on this district by more than 20 points. what do you see happening here? >> to me, it's -- you have people in a district who voted as you said deep republican district. but they didn't vote for elon musk. they didn't vote for the -- they didn't vote for the chaos. they don't like the fact that someone who is unelected and unaccountable is wreaking half ok on the federal government but more importantly the congressman is from a co-equal branch of government. the -- the woman who was asking the question, like what are you going to do? you are congress. why aren't you stepping in to -- to push back against the president? and what we saw there is they're not willing. i mean, you can't -- you can't have guard rails if the guardrail doesn't want to guard, if congress doesn't want to step in. >> you wrote about this in a column where you said it's the

working class commune that's the will continue to languish because trump ignores their main challenges and focus on culture war distraction. people who voted for change want to see that change. >> yeah, the people who voted for trump had good reason to. like high school educated people die sooner. high school educated people their kids are four grade levels below college educated people. they're much more likely to say they're lonely and live in devastated communities without social capital. if you have a populace candidate they would have. that the trump administration don't have plans for any of this. when you look at who's in the administration it's obvious why. the president and elon musk are university of pennsylvania graduates or billionaires. pete hegseth went to yale. j.d. vance went toy steven miller went to duke. these are the highly educated winners. i used to be one.

there are people who believe in conservative governance. and the other ones are antileft. they don't have a positive vision for conservative governments. they want to tear down the institutions they believe that the left controls. he goes after the forest service and the department of education. the problem with that is that the -- the pain is born by the woman in who is going to die of aids, the kid in ohio who is going the die of cancer because medical research has been gutted. you know, it's -- as scott fitzgerald put it well, rich people are careless. they break things. i think that's happening here. >> the other thing that is clear, it's one thing to campaign against a faceless brock sit it's different when people's friends and neighbors start to lose their jobs with little to no warnings and veterans too who are losing their jobs.

how do you see it? >> that there's that. and let's not forget the funding freeze that you've got farmers who were depending on funding coming from the federal government. they took out loans to buy equipment. to get their product from the farm some are sitting in sealst rotting that was due to go overseas to feed people as part. this isn't just -- faceless bureaucrats being fired here in -- in washington. and i think that's -- that is the chaos that people are -- people seeing. wait, what? the federal government isn't in washington? it's where my child is getting treatment? i don't think -- we are just one month in to this administration. and we have yet to see just how damaging this one month has be been. there's still more time to go. >> indeed, jonathan capehart and

david brooks. thank you both. >> thank you. ♪ >> a once valuable resource for black travelers is now the subject of an exhibit in washington, d.c. "newshour" correspondent gabe re--gabrielle haste has the sto. >> a guide for african-americans first published in 1936 was a valid resource at a time when travel they would promise of adventure but was also perilous. it is now the subject of an exhibit here at the martin luther king memorial library in washington, d.c. candaisy taylor who wrote about black travel in america helped pull the exhibit together with smithsonian institution and the

d.c. public library system. the exhibit tells the history of the guide named after its creators vick victor hugo green and his wife alma. >> he wanted to show people who were living their best lives in spite of what was happening around them. >> it served as a catalyst for hotels and other business that is would serve black people when racial segregation was legal. it was publicked until 1967. at the exhibit sensoria compass. >> it helps orient you in the place because it wasn't just the south that had racism. jim crow had no borders. communities that exploded nonwhite residents by law, intimidate or violence after dark were especially dangerous. >> for black americans who used it, going to the wrong direction could mean life or death. >> some sun downtowns had a bell that would ring at 6:00 telling

the local laborers that was their cue of being downtown. it was everything from harassment to death to lynching. there were no sun downtown maps. so you wouldn't know where the mine fields were. >> taylor a documentarian and photographer spent years research sights on the guide driving more than 110,000 in 48 states. >> this guide was a license to lead. it was a way for people to find sanctuary and safety on the road. >> some of which she found surprised her including hundreds of women-owned businesses from hair salons to boardinghouses. >> we're talking about periods where women couldn't even have bank accounts on their own. but we're seeing them listed in this book. and that seems pretty powerful. i thought i knew a lot about black history. and i came across all these women-owned businesses

in the green book. and there were things called tourist homes which were kind of like not quite boardinghouse. most of these tourist homes were run by widowed women who had an extra bedroom and who had a catch and when i dug deeper and found the personalities of these women and interviewed some of the relatives of these women, they were fierce. and they were not just independent, i mean, they've had real courage and skills on how to survive. >> through her research, taylor found some family history. remembered by her stepfather ron burford. >> now we're in front of ron's quote and chauffeur's half. everyone had one and you always kept it in the car. >> it was safer to claim working for a white family. they had -- than to be driving your own family anywhere. >> when the sheriff was walking

towards the passenger doors, the father turned around and said, shhh. don't say anything. >> and the sheriff, you know, says, you know, where are you going? whose car is this? and who are these people with you? and his father said, i am -- this is my employer's car. he looked at his wife and pretended he didn't know her. and said this is maid. and that's her son in the back and i'm driving them home. and the police officer said, you know, well, where's your hat? his father said it's hanging in the back, officer. and there was a chauffeur's half. and it had always been there. >> sharing his stories brought them closer. it was almost as though when i did this project, he could trust me with his trauma. and it really gave me a different perspective and a lens to look at not only our history as black people but as his

particular history as a dark-skinned black man growing up in the south. >> even though the days of the green book are long past, taylor says the struggle for justice is far from over. >> the idea that just because time moves on that we get better as a country is not true. when people say, oh, it's 2025. why are we still dealing with this? how could this be happening now? and when you learn about history you'll see that things don't just march forward. >> but she points to what victor green accomplished. >> it doesn't take a lot to make change. he did in the simple thing. he was a postal work. he didn't have up to an eighth grade education. he had no resource, no computers, no internet. and all of this happened with an idea some of you don't need to

be rich. you don't need a business degreeful you don't need all this stuff to make change transform exhibit is on display through march 2nd and also online. for the pbs newshour, i'm gabrielle hayes in washington. ♪ amna: there's always a lot more online including our digital weekly show. this week, we go behind the scenes with some of this year's top oscar contenders. that is on our youtube page. >> be sure to washington "washington week" later this evening here on pbs. moderator jeffery goldberg discussion president trump's pivot towards russia and the world. amna: and we discuss which parts of the projects 2025 the trump administration is implementing and what that could mean for the country. that's the "newshour" for

tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: thanks for spending part of your weekend with us. have a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the "newshour" 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 foundationer for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. >> it really matters when you van opportunity to give back. >> being part of something that's bigger than myself, that's what brings me happiness. >> being able to integrate your professional career with some of these other things, it's credit cool to be happy at the tend to

day. >> we want to -- it's critical to be happy at the end of the day. >> people want to make an impact and audience. -- difference. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "newshour." >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcast and by contribution to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> th

>> this is opinions "newshour" west -- pbs "newshour" west from the waller cronkite school of journalism in arizona state university.

jeff: this week -- america switched sides. ukraine is out, russia is in. president trump has blamed ukraine for starting the war that was started by russia, and america's traditional european allies are in a state of shock. tonight, trump's stunning pivot toward putin and what it means for america's role in the world. next. ♪ >>