amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the newshour tonight, recession fears and trade wars continue to rattle the markets. we speak with ontario's premier who's hitting back with his own tariffs on electricity to america. the united states government

faces a deadline to pay billions of dollars in outstanding bills for foreign aid work, as it slashes 80% of usaid programs. >> the disorderly manner in which this has happened, i think has been wasteful, cruel, particularly to vulnerable children, but also really chaotic. amna: and republican leadership tries to rally the votes for a bill that would avoid a government shutdown. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> on an american cruise line's journey along the legendary mississippi river, travelers explore civil war battlefields and historic riverside towns. aboard our fleet of american riverboats, you can experience local culture and cuisine and

discover the music and history of the mighty mississippi. american cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs news hour. >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma klorfine and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. >> 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. ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the news hour. the u.s. markets plunged again today as investors worried about the economy and whether a recession could be on the horizon. the dow jones industrial average dropped nearly 900 points, or more than 2%. the nasdaq had its worst session since 2022. it was also the worst session of the year so far for the s&p 500. the trade war that president trump initiated last week with the country's top trading partners -- canada, mexico and china -- is a factor in the market's overall volatility. some 1.5 million americans will soon see their electric bills

rise by approximately $70 a month as a result of trade war. ontario's premier doug ford announced earlier today he's slapping a 25% surcharge on the electricity his province exports to new york, michigan, and minnesota. here now to explain why he's taking this step is premier doug ford. welcome to the news hour. thanks for joining us. >> well, thank you so much for having me on. and i just -- i always start off with every interview, i love americans. i spent 20 years of my life there. and i know canadians love americans, and i know americans love canadians. this is so unnecessary. what president trump is doing , not just to canada, but his own country. amna: premier, if i may, why take this step now than? what's the response you are hoping to get from the trump administration? >> president trump has said many times he's going to put a tariff on, and he pulls it off and he puts it back on.

once i touch a stove once and get burned, i'm not going to get burned again. and i apologize to the american people. i've talked to three governors. they understand the situation we are in. we have to negotiate through strength, not weakness. and i'd prefer to create an amcan fortress, american canadian fortress, and be the strongest, most resilient, and richest, safest two countries in the world. he should be keeping an eye on china. he shouldn't be worried about canada. amna: you've said, too, that if the u.s. escalates, you won't, quote, hesitate to shut the electricity off completely. what do you view as escalation? >> well, that's the last thing i want to do. you know, i love our american neighbors. i want to send them more electricity. i want to send them more critical minerals. we want to send them more energy in total. that's the last thing. but when president trump is attacking our families, our businesses, taking food off people's tables, putting an unemployment line --

as long as you can imagine. but this is happening on both sides of the border. it's not just going to happen on one side of the border. i do not understand his rationale. and we just want to sit down and have a fair usmca deal that he created. and he said it was the greatest deal ever. so i don't know why it's not the greatest deal ever now. but we want to sit down and negotiate with him. amna: he did end up pausing many of the tariffs he wanted to impose on canada. if he moves forward with those, would you view that as escalation? would you then shut off electricity exports completely? >> well, i would add another 25% on the tariff charge right now. so it would be a total of 50%. but that's the last thing that i want to do. if we take the 4.3 million barrels of crude oil we ship down daily, that helps your economy move forward, if you put that to the side, the u.s. has a $56 billion surplus on canada,

and i'm fine with that. that's not a problem. but let's sit down and negotiate like two business-minded people. amna: you mentioned that surplus. i mean, it's fair to say that canada is more dependent on u.s. exports than america is on canadian goods. is it also fair to say that canadians are suffering as a result of these tariffs? are they with you on escalating the terms here? >> absolutely. i've never seen patriotism run so wild across our country ever. it's united canada. president trump has underestimated the resilience and the strength of the canadian population. and we're your number one customer right across the board on everything. and why do you want to hurt your number one customer? we buy more goods, more autos, more agriculture, more everything, off the united states than anyone. amna: president trump has said, i'm sure as you've heard, that this is about reducing the amount of fentanyl that's crossing the northern border.

his white house economic adviser, kevin hassett, yesterday just alleged the canadian authorities aren't going after some secret fentanyl labs in canada. he said canada's got a big drug problem. what's your response to that? >> well, i called the pot calling the kettle black on that one, but i agree. do we tighten up the borders on both sides? absolutely. and we listen to president trump. i was a big advocate about tightening up our borders on both sides. we put over 10,000 personnel along our borders. we have, you know, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, drones, boots on the ground, boats in the water. you name it, we have it. we've seen a drastic decrease. i'll speak for ontario alone. but i got a report the other day from our provincial police, which is equal to your state police, that they busted hundreds of kilos of cocaine, opioids, fentanyl, and illegals,

endless illegal guns, just over the last couple of weeks. so it's a shared border. i've had the dea come up to meet with me. we have sat down with u.s. border patrol, canadian border patrol, federal police, state police, provincial police. we need to work together and stop the flow of drugs. amna: you've talked about how much you love america, the time you've spent here. you're also now sitting in front of a very clear sign behind you saying canada is not for sale, in response, of course, to president trump's threats to annex canada and make it the 51st state. the fact that relations between the two countries are where they are right now, what does that say to you? [16:18:37][18.0] >> that it is such a sad situation. we have probably a million americans living in canada, a million canadians living in the u.s. americans are marrying canadians. canadians are marrying americans who are part of the family for over 200 years. i'll tell you, he really let down a lot of canadians, president trump. disappointment is an understatement.

we thought we're going to have a great trading relationship, as we have for decades and decades. and, you know, we just stand shoulder to shoulder when there's a crisis, no matter what crisis it is, we're there for our american family members. amna: that is ontario's premier doug ford joining us tonight. premier ford, thank you so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. i greatly appreciate it. god bless america and god bless canada. thank you. ♪ amna: today secretary of state marco rubio said the administration's review of foreign assistance has officially concluded and that the administration would cut 83% of usaid's programs and fold the rest into the state department. this comes as the administration appears to be ignoring a court deadline requiring it to pay $2

billion in debts to aid groups for work already done. nick schifrin has been following this and joins us now. nick, tell us more about what secretary rubio announced today, and what's the status of that court deadline? nick: secretary rubio announced the cuts on x, saying the 5200 contracts that are now canceled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve and in some cases harmed the core interests of the united states. the state department did not respond to messages requesting a list of the thousands of programs it did save or anything else i sent them today. as for the deadline, the court ordered the administration to pay $2 billion in debts to aid groups for work that has already been done by 6:00 p.m. eastern tonight. two attorneys familiar with the legislation say there has been a trickle of payments no where near an acceptable amount. one of those attorneys goes on

to argue the government is intentionally dragging its feet. the whole process is overtaken by political actors using these invoices for work already done as a cudgel to destroy the eight injury -- industry. they also say the administration is ignoring court orders from a month ago not to issue new orders based on president trump's initial inauguration night executive order, or secretary rubio's subsequent memo. the government instead argued that on february 26, the new terminations are not based on that executive order or sec. rubio's memo but based on individual review i secretary rubio of all 13,000 contracts that state and usaid have. the government says rubio personally reviewed 13,000 contracts, assuming that's from inauguration night to february 26, 38 days, which means rubio reviewed 342 contracts a day. a lawyer familiar with the

litigation told us that is totally impossible and insulting. amna: 83 percent of usaid programs being cut, what's the impact of those kinds of cuts? nick: let's split the impact between security and strategic impact and humanitarian impact. for the security and strategic, i spoke to the president of the free and open indo pacific forum and who, as usaid's former proceed -- strategic advisor on strategic engagement, helped ordinate u.s. policy toward china or in the previous trump at administration. >> there is enough fat in federal government that needs to be trimmed, and i applaud president trump's efforts of trimming the fat. at the same time, you have very important services that our agencies provide overseas, in particular in competition with china. nick: he argues in southeast

asia, usaid helped countries reform their economies to be more conducive to american investment rather than chinese investment. in the pacific islands, usaid consisted with element, education, and social programs in exchange for being the first partner on security. >> providing those basic services for those states in which china is coming in saying they will provide those services or provide policing services, really the delivery on that is a id. and because usaid had goodwill based on its humanitarian assistance program, whether it was with health, education, or security, it had a leg up on china to be the person as the one they turned to in reforming their economic programs so they are more conducive to america. nick: he argues that usaid

helped the u.s. win the cold war and whatever is next will have to be there for the u.s. to win what comes next with china. amna: you mentioned the humanitarian impact. what are people telling you about that? nick: devastating. to understand just how devastating, we spoke to janti soeripto, president and ceo of save the children us. and i started by asking her, what has been the impact on children around the world? >> the impact has been devastating on millions of children around the world. we are talking about impact today, not some theoretical tomorrow. we are talking about literacy programs, education programs for young children being shuttered. i was in the drc last year. i saw this imaging program funded by usaid that helped children who could not identify a single letter, and within eight weeks they were able to read a story, explain the story. these are eight to 10-year-olds. the program is terminated. more than 20,000 kids do not have access to that level of

education anymore. that is just a small example of more than 100 programs that have been terminated for save the children alone. nick: for those in the united states government today who argue that it just shouldn't be in the u.s. interest to go into the drc or any random country and educate children, what would be your response? >> it is a phenomenal return on investment. less than 1% of the federal budget. we firmly believe that humanitarian assistance across the world ultimately helps countries be safer and more stable and more prosperous, and that in turn is better for the united states and for all other countries. nick: what has been the impact of how the united states government has gone about these changes? >> we have been expecting, and we were up for, a proper strategic review of how aid gets distributed. it happens not just in the

united states, it happens with other countries. that is perfectly fine. the disorderly manner in which this has happened i think has been wasteful, cruel, particularly to vulnerable children, but also really chaotic. we have food lying in warehouses , food and medicine in warehouses, already at the location, but we are not able to distribute it. perishable goods. we have to explain to communities that we are withdrawing potentially from stabilization centers where we treat severely malnourished children, children who will die if we withhold treatment for a couple of days. how do you explain to a mom that her child, which is clinging to life, just for this very cheap, efficient, effective treatment, that we are going to just rip it out without any form of transition or handover? nick: publicly, secretary of

state rubio and his staff said there were waivers in place for lifesaving food and aid. they have also identified publicly quite a few programs that they said they had saved. what was your ability to apply for those waivers? what was the communication back from the united states government? and how has that impacted the story? >> this has been a man-made crisis. we received orders to stop everything. then we did receive exemptions for lifesaving activities. it's been left to organizations themselves to interpret what exactly lifesaving meant. in most cases, save the children has been able to continue lifesaving work, even though we have not been paid for any of the work in december or january or the work we are continuing. it's very hard to find people to give you an answer. some of those people are also telling us they don't know what

kind of answers to give. we have received exemptions, then terminations for those exemptions, then we asked, what does that mean? then we received rescissions of those terminations. in the end, the lifesaving activities for which we sold exemptions, we ultimately have received those exemptions for, but we have not been paid to do them, so we are pre-financing the u.s. government. nick: a lot of your colleagues in similar locations or positions have not been willing to give us interviews. why are you willing to talk? >> save the children has been a phenomenal, incredibly grateful for the support it has received from the american public since 1932 and from the united states government, and we hope that will come back in some form. at the same time, we have found there seems to be a lot of

unawareness from people based in d.c. of what the real-life implications are of these choices. and i can't believe that it is intentional that children would die because we did such a disorderly withdrawal. we wanted to make sure those real consequences are made very clear, and save the children is also there to give a voice to those communities. nick: and that was president and ceo of save the children u.s., janti soeripto. ♪ amna: we start the day's other headlines at the supreme court, which is taking up a challenge to colorado's ban on conversion therapies for lgbtq+ children. at issue is whether the colorado law violates the free speech protections of counselors engaged in the controversial practice. the justices have already heard arguments in a tennessee case that examines the legality of

state bans on treating transgender minors. also today, the court turned down a republican attempt to block five democratic-led states from suing oil companies for allegedly hiding the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. in the north sea, a cargo ship collided with an oil tanker carrying jet fuel for the u.s. military. the tanker was anchored off the northeastern coast of england, near the port of grimsby, when it was struck this morning. the collision triggered multiple explosions, with fuel pouring into the north sea. a major rescue operation ensued. the container ship's owner says one crew member is still missing. according to local officials, all 36 others across both vessels are safe and accounted for, with one hospitalized. an investigation into what caused the crash is underway. ukrainian officials tell the associated press that a delegation will propose a limited ceasefire with russia in

talks with top u.s. diplomats tomorrow. that would cover the black sea and long-range missile strikes, plus the release of prisoners. they also say that ukraine's delegation is ready to sign a deal that would allow the u.s. access to ukraine's rare-earth minerals. secretary of state marco rubio arrived in saudi arabia this evening where the negotiations will take place. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is also there. he met with saudi arabia's crown prince this evening, but is not expected to join personally in tomorrow's talks with the u.s. in syria, the interim government has reached a breakthrough deal with the kurdish led syrian democratic forces, war sdf. the group is backed by the u.s. and controls the country's northeast. today's agreement brings most of syria under the government's control. it also includes a cease-fire and the integration of the sdf into the syrian army. also today, the government announced that a military operation against loyalists of

ousted leader bashar al assad has ended. last week, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, which led to some of syria's worst fighting since the end of the civil war. incoming canadian prime minister mark carney is promising a quick transition, as he's set to succeed justin trudeau in the coming days. he's then expected to trigger an election in the days or weeks ahead. carney won his party's leadership vote in a landslide this weekend. the former goldman sachs executive and central bank governor has already taken a tough line against president donald trump's tariff plans. carney said he will keep canada's retaliatory tariffs in place until, quote, "americans show us respect." >> we didn't ask for this fight. we didn't ask for this fight. but canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. so the americans, they should make no mistake -- in trade, as in hockey, canada will win.

amna: carney went on to call these dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. trump has postponed his planned 25% tariffs on many goods from both canada and mexico until next month. in rome, doctors say pope francis is no longer in imminent danger. but they aim to keep the 88-year old pontiff in the hospital for several more days due to, they say, the complexity of the clinical picture and the important infectious picture presented on admission. pope francis entered gemelli hospital more than three weeks ago, where he's been treated for double-pneumonia. doctors say pope francis has been receiving supplemental oxygen, but has been able to follow a week-long spiritual retreat at the vatican via videoconference. in washington, d.c., workers began removing black lives matter plaza today the giant yellow letters were installed in june of 2020, after days of protests there over police brutality in the wake of george floyd's murder.

d.c. mayor muriel bowser, a democrat, ordered the renaming of the intersection as an act of defiance during president trump's first term. last week she announced the removal of the plaza, amid pressure from republicans in congress. the work is expected to take about six weeks. the yellow letters will be replaced by an unspecified set of city-sponsored murals. elon musk is blaming a massive cyberattack for a series of outages that affected his social media platform x today. according to tracking website downdetector.com, tens of thousands of users reported outages at multiple times during the day, starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. writing on social media, musk said "we get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved." experts say it's not possible to verify musk's claims of cyber attack without seeing technical data from the company. still to come on the news hour,

the state department cracks down on foreign students who've protested the war in gaza. and tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. >> this is the pbs news hour, from the david and rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: the republican stopgap spending proposal that would avert a government shutdown in the coming days is up against a key hurdle this evening, following this all is our own congressional correspondent, lisa desjardins, who joins me now. good to see you. here we go again. four days now until another potential government shutdown. what are house republicans proposing and do they have the votes? lisa: republicans do control all three branches. i don't have 60 votes in the senate yet, but republicans over

the weekend did propose an extension of government funding for six months. it is not a clean bill. it is a bill that has some interesting specifics. number one, at the top this would cut $13 billion in nondefense. relative to all government spending, not a lot, but it's a statement from republicans that's what they want to cut. it would increase $6 billion for defense spending, also increased $500 million for the women, infants, and children program that helps mothers especially with babies. in this bill, there is no fix for medicare doctor rate cut. we have. not talked about this a lot. this was expected to be solved in this bill, but on january 1 medicare doctors saw their reimbursement rate cut by almost 3%. this was supposed to be taken care of before now, supposed to be in this bill, and it is not. this is a real problem for those doctors. one more item that is divisive, this would increase spending that ice can use for

deportation, detentions. that is something republicans like and democrats do not. amna: what are the hurdles for republicans? how are democrats looking at this? would either cause a shutdown? lisa: there is so much heavy and important policy, so many lives affected, but it comes down to vote counts. house republicans can only lose one republican vote and get this bill through with just republican support. let's look at some boats we are watching. these two members of the house republican conference, thomas massie and tony gonzales, have said they will never vote for this kind of continuing resolution. that's two votes. there is another person we don't talk about a lot, greg murphy of north carolina, the only practicing surgeon in the house. he has a real problem with a lack of a fixed for those medicare doctors. that's three potential votes out. some moderate democrats could switch. jared golden of maine, maria

perez of washington state. this bottom line is yet again we are days away from a shutdown and it is not clear if this train is going to break in time. probably but not certain. amna: what happens next? lisa: in the next day this process is going to move fast and it's going to be important. what's going to happen to avoid a shutdown? first step is the house rules committee meeting right now will have to push -- you can maybe show a picture of the house rules committee. they are meeting tonight to get this momentum going, get this on the floor tomorrow for a vote. let's go through the process after this. tomorrow if the houseboats on that rule, that's the procedural thing that opens the door. democrats will not help republicans. this may be the biggest issue. republicans need to vote almost unanimously to get that rule vote. then the full house will vote. they may need help from democrats, that's the second hurdle. the third hurdle, the full senate will have to vote and

they will need democratic help there. three important votes coming up. i still think this could do it, but we are going to season interesting politics and members voting against their party on each one. we have to watch closely. amna: you are going to be doing exactly that. thank you so much. ♪ this weekend, a former student at columbia university in new york was arrested by immigration authorities, despite having a green card. mahmoud khalil, who helped organize on-campus protests against israel's attacks on gaza as part of its war with hamas, was seized, according to president trump, for allegedly espousing pro-hamas views. william brangham has our report. william: amna, this arrest is part of the trump administration's crack down on anti-semitism, particularly on college campuses, which were

convulsed by protests last year during the height of the hamas-israel war. but officials have offered no evidence that mr. khalil broke any laws while at columbia. and today, crowds gathered in new york city to protest his arrest. for more on this, we're joined again by abed ayoub. he's the national director for the american arab anti-discrimination committee . so good to have you back on the program. we should say that a judge has ordered that mr. khalil cannot be deported until further court proceedings play out, and a hearing about his arrest is scheduled for later this week. when you first heard about this seizure by immigration officials, what was your reaction? >> thank you for having me on. the initial reaction was one of deep concern and disappointment. concern not just for mahmoud, but concern for this country,

that we are going down a path where speech and expression is being criminalized. this should be alarming for all americans, not only those standing up for palestinian rights. this is an alarming happening right now in this country. william: the president today on truth social wrote that ice apprehended mr. khalil because he is, quote, a radical foreign pro-hamas student and is just one of many at columbia and other colleges, the president alleged, who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-semitic, anti-american activity. the administration has not provided any details alleging he has said or done any of those things. we simply do not know. but we do know he organized protests. he negotiated with columbia university officials about those protests. some of those protests were quite intense. that said, does any of the actions alleged here give the

government the authority to deport someone and change their immigration status? >> absolutely not. these statements coming from the government are very heavy on accusations but light on evidence. nothing has been shown or proven so far, and nothing will be shown or proven. the only thing mr. mahmoud has done that they don't like is the fact that he was part of these protests, organizing these protests and rallies against israel and its actions. that seems to be a taboo topic you can't talk about, and if you do, this is the situation you end up in. all he did was exercise his first amendment right to freedom of speech, and that was enough to trigger what we are seeing now. this should be concerning to all americans, that in this country i have the right to protest my own president, my own government, but i don't have the right to protest a foreign government or foreign leadership?

that should raise many red flags for all americans. william: the aclu, among many other groups, have echoed this criticism you are making. the aclu wrote today, the first amendment protects everyone in the u.s. the government actions are intended to intimidate and kill speech on one side of a public debate. i am curious what you imagine will be the downstream consequences. the president said today on truth social that this was just the first of many arrests. what do you foresee happening? william: support -- >> support for mahmoud is coming not just from the aclu, but across political ideologies, from ann coulter to the aclu and others in between. this is going to infringe and chill freedom of speech on campus. you are going to have students who don't want to partake in activities or may be sitting out the next protest, and it will have that chilling effect.

four mahmoud directly, he is going to have to fight this in front of a judge, and the right decision was made today by the judge, but he has a long battle ahead of them. right now we have to focus on this policy and the administration needs to understand this is an issue that the president space cares about. if they keep pushing this way, they are going to overplay their hand and upset many in their base as well. this is not going to play out politically the way the president and the administration thanks. a lot of people are on the side of first amendment rights in this country. william: lastly, what would you want colleges and universities to do and response? the trump administration is part of this same crackdown on anti-semitism recently revoked $400 million in grants to columbia university and warned other schools they could suffer a similar fate. the department of education warned 60 colleges and

universities today that if they don't crackdown on anti-semitism , that they could face repercussions. that is a norm is a norma's pressure on these institutions. what do you want them to do in this moment? >> the institutions need to do everything they can to protect their students, but at the same time foster an environment when you can change, debate ideas and have conversations. if there is a group of students that may not agree with another group, that does not mean you bring an ice and the federal government to get involved. the funds and finances should not be a determining factor in ensuring each student has the right for freedom of speech on their college campus. william: thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, i appreciate it. ♪ amna: returning now to the

government funding deadline and the potential political fallout, i'm joined by amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter, and tamara keith of npr. great to see you both. let's start on capitol hill. tam, lawmakers are up against a deadline to fund the government by the end of this week. house republicans have rolled out their plan. president trump has back that, calling for republicans to show unity. republicans can only lose one vote, if all democrats vote against it. do you see this happening? tamara: president trump is asking for, saying please even, asking that there be no dissent. i think there could be a wee bit of dissent, but president trump is in a pretty strong position with members of his own party, especially in the house. they are making a case to house members that this is their best chance to get all the other things they want, and also that

the trump white house would be able to use this legislation to make cuts to the government, move money around, do the doge plan. that's incidentally the argument that democrats have against it. amna: which brings me to you, amy. we have heard house democratic leader hakeem jeffries urge members to vote against it. there are 13 house democrats in trump districts. how are they looking at this and how would americans view a possible shutdown? amy: going back to tam's point, what democrats have put forward as their reticence for voting for this is elon musk, the doge cuts, the rollbacks for these programs, and firing officials. if they don't vote for this bill , however, the government shuts down, which would mean federal workers would be furloughed, which would mean programs they are trying to save would be put on hold.

it would have a very problematic, let's say, impact on the very people and programs that they are arguing they are trying to protect. i think for most americans, they look at this, they hear procedure, they see finger-pointing and blaming, it doesn't make a lot of sense to them. i think for the big picture here, we are in act one of a very long play. beyond the government spending, we also have to get into the next piece, which this is a set up for, which is republicans tax and immigration. amna: in many ways, this is the first test for president trump, other than getting his nominees across the finish line, which tenant republicans mostly fell in line with, and it looks like he will do the same tonight for his vote for labor secretary going on now. but this is the first time he needs lawmakers to get through his agenda.

everything else has been through executive action, executive authority? how do you look at that? tamara: there was another bill of house needed to pass to take a first step on the reconciliation -- we are getting into the weeds, but there was a bail and there was question if republicans would support it, and they fell in line. we are seeing again and again that republicans are falling in line with president trump. betting against that is not the best bet. amna: there is only a one seat margin, but there is also the opportunity for deals to be cut in the next bill that republicans need to pass, which is this reconciliation, this tax and immigration bill, in which you can see whether it's the president or leaders on the republican side going to recalcitrant members saying, i know you are worried about the spending. we want more cuts in spending. we will get that in this other bill. i know you are worried we are

cutting this thing. don't worry, we will get it in the other bill. that starts dad up. this is a big test not just for trump but for the speaker. this would be pretty impressive to be able to get a one-vote house to put this through. amna: meanwhile, it was a bad day for the markets, something president trump and the administration track closely. we are hearing concerns of a recession, tariff talk, inflation taking up. there was an interview in which president trump was asked if he was expecting a recession this year. here is what he had to say. pres. trump: i hate to predict things like that. there is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. we're bringing wealth back to america. that's a big thing. and there are always periods of -- it takes a little time. it takes a little time. amna: he didn't exactly say no. he said there would be a period

of transition, there could be some pain. what's the message from the white house on this? tamara: last night on air force one, i was part of the pool and got the chance to ask the president about that. i said, in that interview with maria, you hesitated about the economy. do you expect a recession? and he said, quote, of course i hesitated. who knows? then we saw today the markets were not thrilled with his economic analysis. the argument that the white house and the president's supporters are making, and supporters in congress and others, is that yeah, this tariff agenda may shake the markets a bit, but that restructuring the u.s. economy to put more manufacturing back in the u.s. is not something that would be easy. i don't know if the president is going to continue to have an appetite for this kind of pain. one other thing i will note as he had several things on his

schedule today that were closed to press, but typically in this administration they have opened it up. they did not open it today. they put out a statement saying essentially the economy is going to be ok. but i'm pretty sure he didn't want to answer questions about the stock market tanking. amna: in that uncertainty, amy, will his supporters, who largely voted for him because of the economy, are they going to stick with him? amy: that's the real question. right now the markets are shaky and as we have talked about before, we have seen some indications from consumers that they are also a little anxious about what's to come. those things are already starting to pick up. in terms of support from his base, there is a core of trump supporters who will give him that space and time. but i remember, not so long ago, this other president who said something about inflation being transitory but it was going to

be ok and to give a little time because it's going to work out in the end. voters didn't give him all that much -- amna: you are representing -- referencing president biden. amy: president biden learned, and democrats learned, the hard way that voters don't give you that much time. they may give a little bit, but when it starts to impact their own lives, and in this case you are right, the market is not as a sara lee real life, it's not main but there are a lot of people seeing their own investment to lose some ground, as well as the fact that prices for things could go up and they are not going back down. amna: we will be tracking those closely. amy walter, tamara keith, great to see you. ♪

and we will be back shortly. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like this one on the air. ♪ for those of you staying with us, an encore from an artist capturing parts of his own history, and ours. senior arts correspondent jeffrey brown spoke earlier this year with vincent valdes, who currently vincent valdez who currently has his first national touring exhibition. the story is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: the paintings are often large in scale, almost cinematic. the imagery confrontational, packing a punch. 120 works now at the contemporary arts museum in houston by artist vincent valdez. this is art as provocation?

>> it's art as truth, truth the way i see it, truth based off my recollection and observations, my heart examinations about life in the world beyond these doors. jeffrey: the exhibition, titled just a dream, presents 25 years of work. series of paintings are what valdez sees as chapters that look at personal and collective histories. it's his first major survey, a chance for the 48-year-old artist to take stock. >> i was able to get a glimpse of the story i am telling. my subject has been life in contemporary america, both its tragedy and triumph. jeffrey: you can see that in all the works over the decades. >> absolutely. not only my personal reflection on contemporary society, but my active participation in contemporary america. jeffrey: these days valadez splits his time between houston and los angeles, where he has a

studio filled with large-scale paintings in progress. on this day he was working on something smaller, a portrait of one series of grandparents and on a series of drawings based on kurt vonnegut's novel slaughterhouse five. the murals, you get the enormous scale, the kind of storytelling. merely that impacted you. >> tremendously. it struck me like a thunderbolt. it has to tell a story, it has to utilize storytelling as a way of communicating to the world around you, with the world, and to go one step further, it has to be an opportunity for other human beings to see themselves reflected in these images. jeffrey: so in this exhibition, a series titled the new americans, large portraits of community workers and others making a difference.

another called since 1977, with just the tops of the heads of u.s. presidents since the time of his birth. and a painted 1953 ice cream truck, a project about as did with a musician to honor the largely mexican american neighborhood torn down to make room for the building of las dodger stadium. there are darker stories, the so-called zoot suit riots of 1943, targeting mexican americans. and a group of paintings titled the strangest fruit, portraying young men including friends of veld as, dangling in the air. his intent, he says, to restore a history little-known of the lynchings of mexicans and mexican americans. but these men bear markers such as clothing of contemporary life. >> the message that a series like this communicates to the viewer, engages the viewer in

becoming more curious about what the past has to do with the present. it's exactly this, the past is still very present in 21st-century america. jeffrey: perhaps the most provocative work is 38 feet long, a gathering of klansmen. again we see signs that the time is now, and again valdez has grounded the image in his own experience. >> i was confronted by the ku klux klan when i was 16 years old in front of the alamo in downtown san antonio. one of them leaning over to me while carrying an american flag, peering at me through the hood and saying, you don't belong here. >> you were forced to walk around, front to back, to see a single image -- jeffrey: about as wants us to feel the painting's size and presence. he took us to see two works at the museum of contemporary art in los angeles, part of an

exhibition containing artists titled ordinary people, photorealism since 1968. his contribution a diptych, michael jordan in-flight on one side, on the other former national security official oliver north testifying about his role in the iran-contra scandal involving secret weapons transactions. two strangely parallel images from the same time that present both larger american history and valdez's own. >> seeing these moments unfolding on my mom's television screen as a child, i remember trying to consider what it meant to be not only an american but as a young mexican american on the south side of san antonio. my role, where i fit in in the context of american history, how does a scene like this that unfolds here affect me in my daily life in my community?

it was a very dizzying effect for me. jeffrey: which you are re-creating for us. also deeply personal, he says, a desire to share with others the act of making art and the commitment it requires. >> in some ways i have created this life force inside the studio that entirely commands and dictates my life. way, i try to share this absolute love and devotion i have for painting and drawing in an age where there are short attention spans or maybe it becomes a rarer occurrence to understand what patients and discipline really is. jeffrey: the exhibition just a dream by vincent valdez is at the contemporary art museum of houston until december 23, when it travels to mass moca in

massachusetts. for the pbs news hour, i am jeffrey brown. ♪ amna: robert trujillo grew up in santa monica, california, where his passion for music set the stage for an extraordinary career. today, he's known as the bassist for metallica, one of the biggest names in rock. -- rock and roll. tonight he shares his brief but spectacular take on manifesting a dream. >> all of us young magicians -- musicians in junior high and high school aspired to be rich and famous. we looked up to our superheroes, ozzy osbourne, i remember rush was a huge influence of mine, van halen. everybody wanted to be led zeppelin. i wrote it in my yearbook. it was kind of a joke, but here i am. i'm not rich, i don't know how famous i am, but i'm having a

good time. i think that's what's important. when i grew up, i had a lot of friends that were hockey players. believe it or not, they were not just skaters and surfers. growing up in southern california, you think that's what it's all about. i used to go ice skating at the rank, and that's where i discovered music. you are skating and you are trying to find a date. you are in junior high. i am hearing eruption for the first time, that guitar solo, eddie van halen. i was like, what is this? i pretty much knew i wanted to play music the moment i heard it. i played in backyard parties and we played covers. black sabbath and ozzy osbourne were the main ingredient to what we did and what we covered. i ended up being in ozzy's band, and that happened because he sang on a song for a band i was

in called the infectious groups. i was able to work with all my heroes, cantrell, ozzy osbourne, then of course metallica. >> ♪ >> the work ethic in metallica is something that really did impress me from day one. these guys are getting together in the morning around 11:00, which for most rock musicians is way too early, and not leaving the studio until 11:00 at night. songs are cultivated. the base has its place. the rhythm section is important. it's one of the things i love about metallica, the groove, the pulse seems to be a vital ingredient in this recipe. one of the things i feel blessed with is having a family that is really creative, passionate about music. maybe it drives the neighbors a little nuts because there is

music coming out of every window. my son is a composer. he is playing in suicidal tendencies right now. i had the great fortune of getting on stage with him recently. that, as a dad, is pretty special. it's very rewarding. my name is robert trujillo and this is my brief but spectacular take on playing. amna: and that is the news for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> friends of the news hour including robert kaplan and kathy and paul anderson. >> a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions,

and the way you bring people together. life well planned. >> at bdo, i feel like a true individual. people value me for me. they care about what i want, my needs, my career path. i matter here. >> in 1995, 2 friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all, with no long-term coverage, nationwide coverage, and 100% u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular, freedom calls. >> the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these 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. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

♪ hello, everyone. and welcome to amanpour & co. here's what's coming up. >> i always quote victor orbach because he's a very respected tough guy. >> who's inspiring trump? warning signs with a former u.s. ambassador to hungary.