tamara keith and amy walter on what our latest poll says about race in america. plus, much more. >> nawaz: there has been continuous carnage in afghanistan, even just last week, when more than 200 people were killed, many at a girls school in kabul. that violence comes as the u.s. and nato are withdrawing troops, scheduled to be gone completely by early september. in a moment, my interview with afghan president ashraf ghani. but first, some background. in kul friday, worshippers mourned the remnants of a mosque in ruins, and a community destroyed by another attack. frustrated afghans blamed the government. >> ( translated ): the whole these government officials are traitors that do not pursue these incidents at all. how long should the situation be like this? if they cannot govern, then they must step down. >> nawaz: the taliban condned the attack, which took place during a three-day cease fire with the afghan government, during the eid holiday at the end of ramadan. no group has claimed responsibility. >> i have concluded it is time to end america's longest war,

and tamara keith of npr. amy and tam, welcome back. always good to start off the week with you both. let's jump into some of these numbers because it is fascinating stuff. one of the questions we asked folk especially because may 25th will mark one year since the murder of george floyd in minneapolis, around racism and policing was how much things have changed when it comes to race relations in america over the last year. there's a big divide here. look at some of these numbers. only 17 percent of those who responded think race relations have improved over the last year. 39% think they stayed the same. 42% think they have gotten worse. amy when you look at those numbers what strikes you, what stands out to you. >> well, that same poll went all the way back to 2015, where they have asked that question. and whatou notice is it hasn't really changed that much over the course of the last six years. most americans, about 75% are still pretty poism when it come-- pes miss sticks about race relations only 25% feel more optimistic. but what is

for more, i'm joined by amy walter of the cook political report and tamara keith of npr.l be another great politics monday, ladies and let's start with you. president biden is pitching these large concepts like reworking child care in america by raising taxes on the wealthy. what are the political risk and rewards here for him and for democrats. >> he is pitching not just government but a big idea, the whyed that government can work for people, that in a democracy, that government should function and should work for the people and he is putting out what are generally in isolation quite popular ideas. and the risk is though that there are disagreements about how big it should be, how it should be paid for, whether it should be paid for at all. and the issue is that they probably, you know, it is is talked about bipartisanship but they will probably get to a point where at least part of this is going to have to be democrats going it alone and he's going to need to keep democrats together. and the way to do that is, is challenging. but he needs them, particularly because the

and tamara keith of npr. hello to both of you on this monday. there is a lot to talk about. amy, let's start with what looks like is going to happen on wednesday in the house republican conference. the minority leader, kevin mccarthy, sent a letter today to conference members, telling them for sure the vote on the conference chair is going to happen to oust liz cheney. and among other things, he said and i'm quoting: "each day spent relitigating the past is one day less we have to seize the future." and, of course, he is referring to the perception that liz cheney is relitigating the past with her references to president trump and what happened on january the 6th, saying that it is not the case, that president trump won the election. quickly, amy, is there a risk for republicans in doing this? we know most americans don't think president trump won the election. >> amy: there is some irony in there, judy, to say. the best way to not relitigate the past is just to all agree when someone disagrees, you stick with trump. so we can agree that there is no disagreement, and have co

and tamara keith of npr. it is so good to sigh both of you-- see both of you this monday., i want to start with you on maybe not so glamorous but very important subject of infrastructure. the president, the administration has been talking about it for weeks. the president signaled in the last few days that he is pleeped to accept a smaller amount of money from congress. where does it stand right now? >> well, and what was fascinating about the quownt counteroffer sent out late last week by the white house to senate represent-- republicans who they are negotiating with, is they said we will come down $500 billion on our proposal. so from two and a quarter trillion to 1.7 trillion. but all of the items that they were willing to come down on were things where there actually is fairly broad bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done. so they took the areas of agreement and offered to come down on that, in a way almost seeming like the point was just to highlight the vast disagreements where congressional republicans. in the end they still don't agree on the definitio

tamara keith, amy walter, thank you both for getting us started.'s a rising voice in late night comedy, ziwe fumudoh, who goes simply by ziwe, debuted her no holds barred take on race and social issues in america to television on sunday in a new self-titled sketch show. amna nawaz caught up with ziwe for our ongoing arts and culture series, canvas. >> what bothers you more, slow walkers or racism? >> that's a real question? amna: interviews you can't look away from. >> amazing, love it. can we perhaps make it blacker? amna: skits with an unflinching eye. and songs you won't soon forget. >> ♪ let the wealth trickle down, let the money hit the floor. ♪ ♪ amna: all brought to you by. >> hi, i'm ziwe. amna: in her new self-titled come program on showtime. >> i've been doing this art for six or seven years. and to -- and no one cared. no one watched these videos. no one shared my clips. it's honestly surreal to see these dreams sort of realized. amna: 29-ar-old comedian ziwe made a name for herself with a provocative interview style. >> under what circu

tamara keith, npr. >> thank you for taking my question.i am wondering what this means about social distancing, what this means about your guidelines for schools and workplaces, and also what you think this mask change might mean for incentives, whether it will incentivize people to get vaccinated or for people who have been resistant, now they have no reason to get vaccinated. >> dr. walensky? >> thank you, tamara, for that question. i want to be clear that we follow the science here, while this may serve as incentive for some people to get vaccinated, that is not the purpose. our purpose here is as a public health agency to follow the science and to follow where we are with regard to the science and what is safe for individuals to do. of course, this guidance is really just for individuals who are vaccinated and what they can do, safely do, and we have, you know, work ahead of us in terms of updating our guidance with regard to all our settings, as you know, schools and camps. and that will be the work that we have ahead of us. >> next qu

tamara keith, npr. >> thank you for taking my question. i am wondering what this means about social distancing, what this means about your guidelines for schools and workplaces and also what you think this mask change might mean for incentives, whether it will incentivize people to get vaccinated or for people who have been resistant, now they have no reason to get vaccinated in >> dr. walensky? >> thank you, tamara, for that question. i want to be clear that we followed the science here. while this may serve as incentive for some people to get vaccinated, that is not the purpose. our purpose here is, as a public health agency, to follow the science and to follow where we are with regard to the science and what is safe for individuals to do. of course, this guidance is really just for individuals who are vaccinated and what they can do, safely do, and we have work ahead of us in terms of updating our guidance with regard to all our settings, as you note, schools and camps and that will be the work that we have ahead of us. >> next question