PBS NewsHour full episode Aug. 16, 2017

HARI SREENIVASAN: Good evening.
I'm Hari Sreenivasan.
Judy Woodruff is away.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: President Trump disbands two business councils after a slew
of executives resign, following Charlottesville backlash.
And while more political leaders raise their voices, we get a reality check on what happened
on the ground in Charlottesville.
And how do Americans feel about President Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville?
The results from our latest "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll.
Also ahead: As the city of Raqqa becomes ground zero in the battle against ISIS, we go to
the front lines, where Syrians fight for their lives and their homes.
DOZDAR EFREEM, Soldier (through translator): These people are our families.
Every soldier we lose to free the people is worth it to us.
We are ready to be killed for the freedom of the people.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Plus: A rare coast-to-coast total solar eclipse is on the horizon.
We preview what to expect and how to prepare for the much anticipated celestial event.
All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
HARI SREENIVASAN: The fallout from the weekend's clash in Charlottesville has dominated the
day's news again.
It came in new criticism of President Trump, and in words of praise for the woman who was
run down by a car.
John Yang begins our coverage.
JOHN YANG: In Charlottesville today, hundreds of people gathered to remember Heather Heyer
at a downtown theater, just blocks from where the 32-year-old was killed as she protested
Saturday's white nationalist rally.
DIANA RATCLIFF, Cousin of Heather Heyer: Did I ever tell you how much I loved you?
Heather, when my children ask me who I admire most, I will them you.
JOHN YANG: President Trump called her a truly special young woman.
The firestorm over Mr. Trump's ricocheting response to the violent confrontation spread.
More CEOs quit Trump administration advisory councils.
With even additional resignations likely, Mr. Trump moved preemptively.
"Rather than putting pressure on the business people of the Manufacturing Council and Strategy
and Policy Forum, I am ending both."
In Chile, Vice President Mike Pence stood by his embattled boss.
MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States: The strength of the United States of America
is always strongest, as the president has said so eloquently, when we are united around
our shared values.
And so it will always be.
JOHN YANG: But lawmakers from both parties condemned equating the white nationalists
who organized Saturday's rally, and counterprotesters many Republicans never mentioning the president's
name.
Former Presidents George Bush, father and son, issued a joint statement: "America must
always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms."
The backlash also extended abroad.
THERESA MAY, British Prime Minister: I see no equivalence between those who propound
fascist views and those who oppose them.
And I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn
far-right views, wherever we hear them.
JOHN YANG: Mindful of Saturday's confrontation, Baltimore officials ordered the overnight
removal of statues of Confederate leaders in the interests of public safety.
In Charlottesville, all this was on the minds of those who spoke of Heather Heyer.
FEDA KHATEEB-WILSON, Co-Worker of Heather Heyer: I want to thank you, Heather, for all
your passion, for all of your talks, for all of your smiles, for believing that this world
can change, and trying to make that happen.
JOHN YANG: A grieving mother sought meaning in her daughter's death:
SUSAN BRO, Mother of Heather Heyer: They tried to kill my child to shut her up well, guess
what?
You just magnified her.
(CROSSTALK)
SUSAN BRO: So, remember, in your heart, if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
And I want you to pay attention.
And that's how you're going to make my child's death worthwhile.
I would rather have my child, but, by golly, if I have to give her up, we're going to make
it count.
(APPLAUSE)
JOHN YANG: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Later, two members of the Trump Cabinet, Attorney General Jeff Sessions
and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, condemned racism and violence.
We will have much more later in the program.
In the day's other news: President Trump welcomed a gesture by North Korea to ease tensions.
He tweeted that Kim Jong-un's decision not to fire missiles toward Guam was -- quote
-- "very wise and well-reasoned."
Separately, the U.S. territory's homeland security adviser joined appeals for calm.
GEORGE CHARFAUROS, Guam Homeland Security Adviser: We are hopeful that diplomacy will
win the day.
I am hearing that Secretary Tillerson, Rex Tillerson, is opening up dialogue with North
Korea.
We are hopeful that that goes through.
And we are also moving about with the business of government, praying that things go well.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Also today, China urged both sides to -- quote -- "hit the brakes"
on verbal threats.
There's word an American soldier has died fighting Islamic State forces in Eastern Afghanistan.
The U.S. military says several other soldiers were wounded.
It's unclear exactly where or when the fight occurred.
The people of Sierra Leone kept digging today, desperately hoping to find survivors from
Monday's deadly mudslide.
More than 300 are confirmed dead in the capital, Freetown, with 600 still missing.
John Ray, of Independent Television News is there.
JOHN RAY: A lament for the dead.
By the time all the bodies are counted, it will swell to a great chorus of grief.
This woman cries for the sister she's lost.
A few feet away, a husband mourns a young wife and their twin children, born a few days
ago, their young lives snuffed out.
They were summoned in the hundreds to the city's morgue to try to identify the dead.
Ismail tells me he's looking for his sister and her family.
MAN: Everybody died, including her husband.
We lost everybody.
JOHN RAY: For two miles, there is nothing but destruction.
The falling mountain tossed huge boulders down onto what were once busy streets.
Silence now, except for the diggers and the regular call for another body bag to be brought
to the scene.
Hard to imagine any survivors in the suffocating mud.
MAN: Ten to 12 now.
JOHN RAY: Ten to 12 bodies this morning?
MAN: Correct, sir.
JOHN RAY: Have you found anybody who is still alive?
MAN: Not yet, sir.
Everybody's dead.
JOHN RAY: This nation has only just recovered from Ebola.
Yet again, they are bringing out the bodies, each corpse accompanied by tears.
The government has declared this week a week of national mourning.
But here, the sense of grief is tangible.
This is a disaster that has stunned even people who have grown used to tragedy and hardship.
By the time they opened the more mortuary gates to relatives, the queue stretched round
the block.
The rain is falling again.
It does nothing to wash away the smell of decay, nor the sorrow of a nation.
HARI SREENIVASAN: That report from John Ray of Independent Television News.
In the Philippines, police have killed 32 people in the deadliest single day of President
Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.
Authorities say the victims died in shoot-outs during raids in a northern province from Monday
night into Tuesday.
Officers also arrested 109 people.
In a speech today, Duterte hailed the results and said -- quote -- "Let's kill another 32
every day."
Back in this country, the Republican primary race for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama will
head to a runoff in September.
Interim Senator Luther Strange finished second on Tuesday to former state Chief Justice Roy
Moore, who's heavily backed by evangelical voters.
After the results were tallied last night, both men positioned themselves as change candidates.
ROY MOORE (D), Alabama Senatorial Candidate: The voters of Alabama have just sent a powerful
message to Washington, D.C., a resounding message that can't be denied.
They want them to stop playing games with the people of Alabama and with the people
of America.
SEN.
LUTHER STRANGE (R), Alabama: President Trump, as you all know, called me a week ago tonight
and, said, "Luther, I want you to be elected to the Senate, because you understand what
I'm trying to do to make America great again.
You know the problems that need to be addressed on the ground in Alabama."
HARI SREENIVASAN: The president tweeted that his endorsement of Strange helped close the
gap with Moore.
The runoff winner will face Democrat Doug Jones in December for the seat that Jeff Sessions
gave up to be U.S. attorney general.
The Trump administration will make cost-sharing payments to health insurance firms under Obamacare
for the month of August.
The White House announced the decision today, but gave no indication about future months.
The payments subsidize co-payments and deductibles.
President Trump took fresh aim at Amazon again today.
He tweeted that the e-commerce giant is doing great damage to retailers and costing jobs.
Many traditional retailers have blamed Amazon for driving them out of business.
The company has also hired thousands of warehouse workers nationwide.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post, which has published many
stories critical of the president.
And on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average gained about 26 points to close near
22025.
The Nasdaq rose 12 points, and the S&P 500 added three.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": continuing coverage of Charlottesville -- we offer a
reality check on the president's comments; two activists with very different points of
view band together to combat violence; our new poll shows how the American public is
reacting to the week's events; and much more.
At President Trump's press conference yesterday in New York, he made a series of statements
about the participants in the deadly weekend protests in Charlottesville.
"NewsHour"'s P.J. Tobia was at the protests.
He compares what he saw on the ground to the president's comments.
P.J. TOBIA: The Unite the Right rally was formally supposed to begin on Saturday, but
neo-Nazis and white nationalists held a surprise torchlight march on Friday night.
They filed through the University of Virginia's main campus, chanting, in a display reminiscent
of 1930s Germany.
PROTESTERS: Jews will not replace us!
Jews will not replace us!
Blood and soil!
Blood and soil!
P.J. TOBIA: But at his Trump Tower news conference yesterday, President Trump defended the marchers.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I looked the night before.
If you look, there were people protesting, very quietly, the taking down of the statue
of Robert E. Lee.
I'm sure, in that group, there were some bad ones.
P.J. TOBIA: "NewsHour" producer Mark Scialla and I arrived in Charlottesville the next
morning.
By that time, police were pushing white nationalists and neo-Nazis from the grounds where they
had originally been permitted to demonstrate.
The city called for a state of emergency and canceled the permit.
On their way out of the park, they clashed with counterdemonstrators.
The white nationalists were far outnumbered, but most looked ready for a fight, wearing
helmets and carrying sticks and shields.
From what we observed, the white nationalists were far more aggressive than the counterprotesters.
Yesterday, though, the president suggested, again, both sides were equally violent.
DONALD TRUMP: It looked like they had some rough, bad people, neo-Nazis, white nationalists,
whatever you want to call them.
But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and
very legally protest, because, you know, I don't know if you know, they had a permit.
P.J. TOBIA: A few of those protesting the Nazis and white nationalists were armed with
sticks and helmets too.
The president accused them of also using violent tactics, as he defended the so-called alt-right,
a loose affiliation of white nationalist supremacist groups.
DONALD TRUMP: Excuse me.
What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right?
Do they have any semblance of guilt?
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP: Let me ask you this.
What about the fact that they came charging -- that they came charging with clubs in their
hands, swinging clubs?
Do they have any problem?
I think they do.
P.J. TOBIA: The vast majority of counterprotesters we saw were unarmed, like this group of local
clergy.
WOMAN: Fear and hate have been given license in our country.
Violence -- racialized violence has been given permission in this country, and we are here
to stand for love.
COUNTERPROTESTERS: Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!
P.J. TOBIA: There were also many local people who came to defend what they see as Charlottesville's
values.
WOMAN: It's not what we love, and it feel, you know, like abuse.
It feels like our wonderful city is being abused.
P.J. TOBIA: By midday, the white nationalists were routed from the park, and regrouped at
a separate location.
It appeared the counterprotesters had won the day, as I explained on Saturday's "NewsHour."
The protest had turned kind of festive.
There were people with funny signs.
There was laughing and sing and chanting.
But, moments later, a car driven by 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. plowed into the group
of anti-white nationalist Nazi protesters, killing one and sending 19 more to the hospital.
Those who know the driver, Fields, say he had long idolized Adolf Hitler, and believed
in white supremacy.
DONALD TRUMP: I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this
country, and that is -- you can call it terrorism.
You can call it murder.
You can call it whatever you want.
P.J. TOBIA: Even those who were physically unscathed were shaken and terrified.
After the attack, protesters and counterprotesters dispersed.
We followed a Pennsylvania militia carrying long guns and Confederate Battle Flags.
They wandered into a largely African-American neighborhood.
They were soon met by angry locals, who pelted them with rocks.
Soon after, they packed up their guns and left the area.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm P.J. Tobia in Washington.
HARI SREENIVASAN: In response to the recent events in Charlottesville, something interesting
happened in Charleston, South Carolina, yesterday that could be a road map forward.
A secessionist and a black nationalist came together to make sure the racial tensions
in their town do not lead to what happened in Charlottesville.
They agreed to what they're calling the Charleston Accord, which says though they may continue
to be on opposite sides of an issue, they would have an open dialogue, promote legal
avenues for change, work to prevent violence, and collaborate for the public good when they
could.
As part of our Race Matters Solutions, tonight, we have with us ®MD-BO¯James Bessenger of
the South Carolina Secessionist Party, and Johnathan Thrower, who goes by Shakem, a self-described
black nationalist.
Gentlemen, welcome.
Johnathan, I want to start with you.
I will call you Shakem from now on.
JOHNATHAN THROWER, Black Nationalist: Yes, sir.
HARI SREENIVASAN: To say that the two of you have different world views is an understatement.
As of a few nights ago, you and James were exchanging critiques on Facebook.
So, give me an idea.
How tense are race relations in Charleston, and what changed after Charlottesville?
JOHNATHAN THROWER: Yes.
Well, race relations have lakes been on a sharp decline ever since the Walter Scott
and Dylann Roof incident.
We know that the Confederate Flag over the South Carolina Statehouse has actually been
a boiling point in the media and also in the minds of the people here.
Race relations have basically gone down.
So, essentially, what we are looking at now is a situation where you have two ideologies
basically amongst white people and black people.
And there are people who don't actually see it as a race issue.
It's also looked as a class issue, because classism is an issue also more so as race.
Right now, it's almost like a boiling point, and there has been a lot of words exchanged
lately.
Tensions are very high.
Now, with the -- a lot of leaders, black and white, calling for the John C. Calhoun statue
and a lot of the Confederate monuments to come down in the city, that has sparked the
ire and the attention again and put the focus back on race relations in the city.
And they were already high to begin with, I mean, very tense to begin with.
HARI SREENIVASAN: James Bessenger, I want to ask you.
For your group, the Confederate monuments and the statues are a source of pride.
For members of Shakem's group, they're a source of pain.
So, how do you have a conversation about something like this, which is deeply personal for people,
without it coming to blows?
JAMES BESSENGER, South Carolina Secessionist Party: I think we have to do that by exactly
what we have started here in Charleston.
We don't see a lot of dialogue between -- hardly dialogue any at all between organizations
like ours and organizations like his that represent two very polar -- polar opposite
groups in this debate.
It's been difficult to try to find someone, at least on our side, that we can talk to
like that.
But I think sitting down and having a first-time dialogue is a good way to start that process.
HARI SREENIVASAN: James, when you first heard that Shakem -- when he reached out to you,
tell me a little bit about that.
JAMES BESSENGER: Well, I heard from him the first time.
We got to know who each other was a little bit, and it was the first time I had heard
from someone on that side of the debate who didn't describe me as a racist, or a fascist
or a neo-Nazi.
So it was kind of refreshing to see that there were people on the other side of this debate
that were paying close enough attention to at least see where we were really coming from
without jumping to assumptions.
HARI SREENIVASAN: And, Shakem, When you first met him, what was going through your mind?
JOHNATHAN THROWER: Well, it's really kind of hard to -- when I look at a white person
with a Confederate Flag, it also -- it brings up a lot of emotion, right, because, normally,
that's my -- that brings images of an enemy.
And, you know, in spite of the fact that all of them aren't Klansmen, which we know, or
all of them aren't KKK members, it's still something that you have to really get over
psychologically in your head, especially as being a black person.
So, that was something that really kind of, you know, took me a moment to get over with
-- get over.
And, also, we have a lot of issues with the Klan here in South Carolina.
So, it was just something that really took something in me to sit down and say, OK, let's
see how this issue of race can actually be resolved without coming to blows.
And let me just add something really quick.
You asked him a question about, how do we look at this issue?
How do we kind of resolve this issue without coming to blows?
HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.
JOHNATHAN THROWER: One of the things I had to do on my end, as far as talking to black
people as a whole and being a leader in this community, I had to really show them that
taking down a statue doesn't end systematic oppression, whether it's classism or racism.
So, we really -- I really wanted them to get a big-picture understanding of what's being
done here.
And if we begin to invest all of our energy -- and I'm not saying don't take the statues
down, because, if they come down, I'm happy.
But what I had to do before I could even have a conversation about the relevancy of our
conversation, I had to let them know that fighting to take a monument down is not necessarily
a substantive victory.
So, that's kind of like what I had to overcome before I can let them know, OK, this is what
we're going to do to stop -- to try to prevent some of the violence.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, James, how do you work with organizations and how do you try and
stop the violent pulling down of statues that might already be planned or might happen in
the future?
How do the two of you work together to make sure that at least people know that an organization
or a pact or an accord like yours exists and that this would be a violation of that?
JAMES BESSENGER: Well, we both have gone to our communities and let them know what we
have agreed on.
Charleston has a wonderful reputation in not responding in that type of way to crises.
I guess we saw that with Walter Scott.
We saw that with Dylann Roof.
Charleston has a different response.
And like Governor McMaster said the other day, Charleston does things differently.
South Carolina does things differently.
So, I think that what we have started is, it's gotten a lot of positive feedback already
and it's just giving people a little bit of hope, considering what we have seen so far.
I have a strong inkling that if we were to see things like what we saw in Durham, North
Carolina, the other day, that those types of people would come out of state.
I don't think we would see South Carolinians acting that way.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Finally, I want to ask both of you, and kind of brief responses, if you
can, Shakem, I want to start with you.
What about the people that are kind of further on the fringe from your position who are going
to look at you and say, you know what, you have sold out; just by shaking this man's
hand, you have missed the point; you're not one of us anymore?
And, eventually, James, I want you to answer the same question.
JOHNATHAN THROWER: OK, this is what I say.
In 2015, when the Confederate Flag came down after we fought so hard to get that to down,
we see the murder rate is still increasing.
We see that education has still continued to remain at the bottom.
South Carolina is last in education.
When you begin to look at the economic conditions that are prevalent in this city, you see that
our cities, our urban communities are being starved of resources.
So, if what you're telling me is that I'm selling out because I'm telling you don't
go to jail for pulling down a statue, then I think the problem is with you.
And we need to actually refocus our energy and our intelligence on getting solutions
that are going to raise the economic level of black people here in this city.
So, that's what I would say to them.
HARI SREENIVASAN: James Bessenger, what about the neo-Nazis or the Klan or other people
who might just say, you know what, you're a traitor; I can't believe you're sitting
shoulder to shoulder with this guy right now?
JAMES BESSENGER: I mean, that's their opinion.
They're entitled to that.
I would tell them that those organizations that have tried to involve themselves in defense
of Southern heritage and monuments, they have only made matters worse.
When organizations like that presents themselves at these events, like what we saw in Charlottesville,
it only exacerbates the problem.
And they have made absolutely zero progress in alleviating the tension that we feel.
As far as calling me a race traitor, or what have you, South Carolinians have been family,
in lieu of slavery, black and white, for 300-some-odd years.
So, I could care less if someone sees me as a race traitor.
Me and this man have more in common with each other than I do with some of those people.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, James Bessenger of the South Carolina Secessionist Party and
Johnathan Thrower, Shakem, thank you both for joining us tonight.
JOHNATHAN THROWER: Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it.
JAMES BESSENGER: Yes, sir.
Thank you.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": families trying to rebuild their lives in the rubble of their
hometown, ground zero in the fight for an ISIS stronghold in Syria; and preparing for
the solar eclipse that's expected to be out of this world.
But, first, back to the fallout from the president's comments on Charlottesville.
Political correspondent Lisa Desjardins joins me now to discuss how Republican lawmakers
have reacted, and the new numbers from our latest "NewsHour" poll, done in collaboration
with NPR and Marist College.
Now, these were done after the statement on Saturday.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
This was a poll done Monday and Tuesday.
And so some of this might include the president's latest reaction.
Most of it is including his reactions from Saturday.
And here's what we found.
We asked people what they thought about the president's response; 27 percent felt it was
strong enough.
But, Hari, a majority of Americans felt, 52 percent, not strong enough.
Now, that did break down across party lines.
Republicans felt better about the president's response than did Democrats and independents,
but on another question, there was universal agreement.
The question was, should the fatal crash in Charlottesville be investigated as an act
of domestic terrorism?
Sixty-seven percent of those polled answered yes.
And that was the same across all parties.
We saw that resonate.
And what's interesting there, Hari, of course, is that the president has yet to say this
should be investigated as domestic terrorism.
He talks about Islamic terrorism, but here Americans seem to be raising a phrase that
the president is not.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, so the president may not be in line with the views in that
question, but how are other Republican leaders handling this now?
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
He's not the only major Republican leader.
We have seen, I think, one common response, and that is the one we have seen from House
Speaker Paul Ryan and also Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.
Let's look at what Mitch McConnell said in his response.
He said: "There are no good neo-Nazis."
He went on to say: "We all have a responsibility to stand against hate and violence whenever
it raises its evil head."
In other words, Hari, most Republicans are saying, we are against racism, we're against
neo-Nazis.
But they're not taking on the president by name.
There are a few who have, however.
Let's look at a tweet from Senator Marco Rubio.
He tweeted: "Mr. President, you can't allow white supremacists to share only part of the
blame," of course, going after the president's idea that there is blame on all sides.
And then we have seen, even more, even fewer Republicans have said this on camera, because,
of course, it's recess right now.
But one is an interesting congressman, Will Hurd of Texas.
He's in a swing district.
Let's listen to what he said on CNN.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: What would you say to the president, Congressman, right now?
REP.
WILL HURD (R), Texas: Apologize, and that racism, bigotry, anti-Semitism of any form
is unacceptable, and the leader of the free world should be unambiguous about that.
LISA DESJARDINS: So he said it should be unambiguous and that the president should apologize.
It's a range for Republicans, but, mostly, Hari, the truth is most of them are not addressing
the president directly.
HARI SREENIVASAN: As you said, they're in recess right now.
When they get back to business, what does this mean for them?
LISA DESJARDINS: I spent a lot of time making a lot of phone calls today.
And the truth is, a lot of them don't know.
They're not sure.
This September, Hari, is going to be one of the most difficult climbs for Republicans
and mainly for any Congress.
They have to pass a budget.
They have to have a spending bill, keep government operating, and pass a debt ceiling increase.
It's a lot for any Congress.
And, meanwhile, they also want to try and tackle tax reform.
So what I hear from Republicans is that they're trying to focus ahead, and in coded words
they say we are focusing on what we can do here in Congress.
That means they're not expecting, they're not sure they can get help from this president
at this point.
One person said the president has to be part of this process, we know that.
But also multiple people said we would like less drama from the White House.
It's as if they're driving into a storm right now with the president.
HARI SREENIVASAN: And when those members of Congress come back to the Capitol, the issues
of monuments and statues doesn't go away.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
They will hear it from their local constituents, but also it's in their daily lives, Hari.
There are 10 statues in the U.S. Capitol of men who served in the Confederacy.
Those are chosen by states.
That's not something Congress controls alone, but it's something that members of Congress
do see every day.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.
And now we continue our conversation on the national reaction to the violence in Charlottesville
and the president's multiple responses to the events there.
John Yang is back with that.
JOHN YANG: Thanks, Hari.
To get two different perspectives on all of this, we're joined by Karine Jean-Pierre,
a senior adviser to MoveOn.org and a veteran of the Obama administration, and from Phoenix,
Chris Buskirk, editor of the conservative blog AmericanGreatness.org, and a radio talk
host out in Phoenix.
Thank you both for joining us.
Karine, let me start with you.
Since Saturday, there has been a lot going on and it seems like a big moment.
What does this tell us about who we are as Americans in 2017 and where we are as a nation?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Democratic Strategist: Right, there's clearly no secret that this
country has struggled with racism for many, many decades, right?
It is a dark, troubling history of ours.
And so the difference is that most presidents have been, on both sides of the aisle, when
it comes to a scenario like this, they would have tried really hard to bring the country
together.
Now, I have not agreed with both sides of the aisle, either Democratic or Republican
presidents, on how they have dealt with race, but they come from a place, usually, where
they feel like the country needs to come together, we have to do all that we can.
What we have seen in the last four days is the complete opposite of that.
We have seen a president who has been on the side of Nazis, white supremacists, white nationalists,
and not on the side of everybody else, essentially, who have been fighting and standing up against
that.
JOHN YANG: Chris, she says -- Karine says that the president is not bringing us together.
What do you say?
CHRIS BUSKIRK, AmericanGreatness.org: Yes.
No, I don't think that's right.
I think the president has done what he thinks he could in order to speak clearly to the
American people.
In the speech, he said very clearly racism is evil.
He talked about the neo-Nazis, white supremacists as being evil and thugs.
He was very clear about that.
I'm not sure everybody wants to hear that.
The problem that I think that we have come to, going back to your earlier question, where
are we as people, is that we have become altogether too comfortable with a level of political
violence that's just intolerable.
We have seen this -- we saw this in Charlottesville, and it was tragic.
It was terrible.
We have what are basically racial provocateurs, these neo-Nazis who go out trying to stir
up trouble.
And there are people who are willing to engage them.
And I think that that is troubling, because the rhetoric has heated up to such a point
that people think that not only do they have a right to go out and commit violence in the
name of violence, but they have some type of an imperative to do it.
And that's something that we need to address as a people, as a culture.
And the president certainly can take a lead on that.
JOHN YANG: Karine, the president was heavily criticized for his first response.
And the people in the White House that I talk to say he saw this as a law and order issue,
not as an ideological issue.
What would you say about that?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I would say this.
When it comes to Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists, there are no two sides.
There are no many sides.
It's just -- I can't believe what he's saying.
He continues to divide this country.
He heard people, he watched people say Jews will not replace us, blood and soil, white
lives matter, and he says, those are good, fine people?
How is that?
He went out of his way to criticize people who were standing up to them.
That is incredibly troubling.
And not only that, we saw one Donald Trump Monday, which was like a teleprompter Donald
Trump.
His staff wrote a script and he stuck to the script.
That's right, he did condemn the violence.
But off-script, he was a completely different person.
We saw exactly who he was.
And it was this Donald Trump that incites violence, that agrees with violence.
And he did that for two years during the campaign.
JOHN YANG: Chris, what's your take on the difference between the president's statement
on Monday and than what he said yesterday in the press conference?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Well, I'll tell you, I think Karine makes one point that I wholeheartedly
agree with, which is that, of course, there's not two sides when it comes to Nazis or neo-Nazis
or any of this.
There's one side on that, at least in this country.
And we can be thankful, we can be very thankful for that.
But I think that's it's not an issue, at least from the president's perspective, from a lot
of people's perspective, it's not just a race issue or law and order issue.
It can be both.
And people are trying to divide what -- the president's statements and parse them as though
it's an either/or choice.
It's both.
He came down clearly and said there is a racial issue here in terms of the neo-Nazis, the
white supremacists, and that's unacceptable, it's wrong, and it's something that can't
be tolerated.
On the other hand, he said that political violence -- this is what he was talking about
yesterday -- we cannot have different -- we cannot have mobs of people from different
political parties or viewpoints battling it out in the streets.
And this is where I think that the police in Charlottesville made an issue where there
didn't have to be one.
They were not present.
And they needed to keep these two parties or these two groups of people apart.
We wouldn't be talking about this today if they had been in there and not let this situation
spiral out of control.
JOHN YANG: I think the police role is a big issue.
Chris, let me stay with you for a second.
These advisory councils and sort of the fallout from all this, you had CEOs trying to distance
themselves, trying to leave those advisory councils.
This is a president who ran on being business friendly, who has touted his closeness to
CEOs.
Is this a sign of political trouble for the president?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Yes, it's hard to tell on the political front.
I think it is a sign, though, that people like to talk about courage and about coming
together a lot more than they like to do it, because it would take some courage for these
CEOs to actually lead by example and come together and work on the things they were
brought together for, which are the kitchen table issues that matter to mainstream America.
They need to be working on the things that they were there for.
How do we increase the number of jobs in this country, the number of good-paying jobs, increase
wages?
That's why they were there.
And yet at the first moment they could make a political statement, they chose to cut and
run.
I think they should have led by an example and stuck together to their knitting and work
together to work on those projects.
JOHN YANG: Karine.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I think the first few CEOs that did leave very clearly on did
show a profile in courage.
The last ones, it was the public pressure that they received.
And rightly so, they dropped out.
But I think the lesson here to learn is that when you work for Donald Trump, you are either
going to be humiliated or burned.
And this really also applies to Republicans who are on the Senate, Republican governors,
White House staff who work with him.
If you work for this president, and he's done it over and over again, he will drag you in
the mud and make you look bad.
JOHN YANG: Chris, we have also heard a lot of critics talk about whether or not the president's
lost sort of the moral authority by equating the two sides in this.
How do you respond to that?
And what's your take on that?
CHRIS BUSKIRK: I think that that remains to be seen.
And, of course, the answer is going to -- the answer you get is going to depend on who you
ask, of course, but the president needs to show leadership on this front.
I think that's absolutely right.
And we're going to see what happens over the days and weeks to come.
I will tell you, I'm more optimistic than I think -- than Karine is, because I think
that the president understands this as an issue that is important for the country and
is important in racial terms, but it's also important in law and order terms.
We need to get to a place where we can have political differences with each other that
don't break out in violence on the streets.
JOHN YANG: Karine, we have less than 30 seconds left.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I don't think the president has shown any type of moral standing or leadership
on this.
And we are at an inflection point in our country.
On one side, we're closer to war with North Korea than we have ever been in decades, and
on the other side we have -- we have, you know, Nazis and white supremacists and white
nationalists who feel emboldened and are in the streets without hoods.
JOHN YANG: Well, we're going to have to leave it there.
Karine Jean-Pierre, Chris Buskirk, thanks so much for joining us.
CHRIS BUSKIRK: Thank you.
.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Tonight, our first in a series from Syria.
While a six-year civil war drags on, the fight against ISIS is heating up.
The heart of the battle today?
The northern city of Raqqa, where a U.S.-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters are
working to wrest the group from its de facto capital.
The fight has been brutal, claiming thousands of civilian lives, and forcing tens of thousands
of families from their homes.
From Raqqa, in Northern Syria, and with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting,
special correspondent Gayle Tzemach Lemmon and producer Jon Gerberg report.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: In Northern Syria, the fight against ISIS has left a long, bloody
trail.
Towns once ISIS strongholds now lie in ruin.
ISIS office buildings, the hub of its bureaucracy, now ghostly sites of death and destruction.
But here amid the rubble, just outside of Raqqa, signs of life.
SAMIA SHEIKH KHALIL, Syria (through translator): We are staying in this home, but the landlords
will come eventually.
Where should we go?
I wish I could go home to my family, my neighbors and relatives.
We were living in peace.
But there is no peace now, not even in our homes.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: In the shadow of Syria's civil war now live tens of thousands of families
like this, civilians forced to flee.
The center of the battle today, Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State and
the grueling campaign to drive them out.
An increasingly cornered ISIS now uses car bombs and suicide attacks to slow oncoming
forces.
Supported by U.S. airpower, weaponry and military expertise, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a
group of Kurdish and Arab fighters, is pushing deep into the city, wresting ISIS from its
four-year stronghold.
In East Raqqa City, half-a-mile from the front line, an ISIS car bomb still smoldering from
this attack the day before.
Coalition mortars sailing overhead.
Temperatures topped 115 degrees, but soldiers' spirits were high.
MAN (through translator): There are daily battles.
We can be at one building, and they will be in the next.
But we have made good progress from street to street.
And we are the winning so far.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: They told us they were killing ISIS fighters every day.
And the risk to their own lives is worth it.
DOZDAR EFREEM, Soldier (through translator): These people are our families.
Every soldier we lose to free the people is worth it to us.
We are ready to be killed for the freedom of the people.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Preparing these soldiers is the work of Commander Ahmad Khalil.
For 17 days, soldiers from across Syria undergo basic training, after that, the front line.
Advisers from U.S. special operations forces have helped establish these training centers,
and now Syrian leaders are taking charge.
One major source of concern?
Ethnic division.
Foreign advisers have stressed the need for a force that reflects the Syrian population,
both Kurd and Arab working together side by side.
As U.S. advisers looked on, Commander Khalil underlined this priority.
AHMAD KHALIL, Commander (through translator): We want this example to be replicated throughout
Syria.
All of the people of Syria, if we are not united in fighting ISIS, we will not win.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Forces must be ready, not just to fight ISIS, but to secure the
streets afterward.
About 30 miles north of Raqqa, security forces for the city are training and deploying.
WISSAM, Trainer (through translator): We know the mission is very difficult.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Wissam, a former university student, now teaches new recruits, preparing
them to secure and stabilize their own communities after ISIS.
WISSAM (through translator): This war was forced on us, and we will defend ourselves.
The new generation has paid the price for this war.
Students, workers, they have all paid the price with their future.
They dreamed of becoming doctors, teachers and engineers.
And now we are just starting to rebuild our country, our institutions, as well as our
lives.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: The long-term stability of a city like Raqqa will depend on services
and governance.
It's a slow, complicated effort.
But this is the work that keeps wars ended.
IBRAHIM AL-HASSAN, Raqqa Civil Council (through translator): Rebuilding is a very difficult
process, and it's very expensive.
And the war is also very expensive.
But we have the will to rebuild our country.
And we will continue.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Ibrahim Al-Hassan is vice chair of the newly formed Raqqa Civil
Council.
He says rebuilding Raqqa is in the world's interest.
IBRAHIM AL-HASSAN (through translator): It doesn't make sense that our people are paying
the price alone.
If we can eliminate terrorism here in Syria, it will not spread to France, England or New
York.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: For the U.S.-led coalition, eliminating ISIS militarily has been a fraught
operation.
ISIS has tightened its stranglehold on Raqqa's civilians.
And the U.S. has supported the local forces with front-line advice and air support.
American military leaders tout the precision of U.S. technology and weaponry.
But precision only goes so far against an enemy that hides behind civilians to protect
its fighters.
Sites like this school outside of Raqqa are proof.
In March, a coalition airstrike leveled this three-story building, an impromptu shelter
for the war's displaced.
Scores were killed, mostly civilians, according to rights groups and local residents we met.
But those witnesses and U.S. officials say ISIS fighters also were present and killed
in the attack.
American-led airstrikes have killed at least 3,000 civilians since 2014 in the fight against
ISIS, according to the monitoring group Airwars.
In the next town over, Ali Abdullah Mabrook showed me the one thing he had left of his
three daughters, a single digital photograph of his youngest, Alaa.
Mabrook told us his three daughters were killed when a coalition airstrike leveled his family's
home.
ALI ABDULLAH MABROOK, Syria (through translator): I have been working for 45 years to build
this house.
How can I do it again now?
Where should I go?
Does Trump think that all of us are businessmen with billions of dollars?
We are people without enough food for the day.
Will he give me money now to build my house?
Now I sleep in the streets now.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: But his wife pointed fingers much closer to home.
She said ISIS fighters, living on her street, had been using her house as a base.
It was revenge against her son, who was battling the Islamic State with the Syrian Democratic
Forces.
By fighting from her roof, she says, ISIS made her house a target.
WOMAN (through translator): They knew they would be targeted, but the Islamic State wanted
this.
They came so my home would be targeted.
What else should I say?
May God take our revenge.
Three girls, they were well-educated.
They had their university certificates and all.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Abdulsalam Hamsourk recently learned his Raqqa home was destroyed
in an airstrike.
But he told us he was happy.
The strike killed several ISIS fighters.
Today, he works north of Raqqa, helping families caught in this brutal war.
Tens of thousands have arrived at this camp run by Raqqa Civil Council.
ABDULSALAM HAMSOURK, Syria (through translator): We will fulfill our responsibility to our
people.
We will not say no to anyone.
As a council and as residents ourselves, we will help our people.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: In the camp, we met Batoul.
She was eight months pregnant when she led her toddler and sick husband out of Raqqa
City.
She gave birth to her two-week-old daughter here at the camp.
BATOUL, Syria (through translator): There was a lot of violence.
You could see it all.
One time, I went to the doctor with my daughter when she was sick and we saw a beheading.
We tried to run away from that area.
They didn't allow anyone to escape.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Eventually, she says airstrikes and fear for her family compelled
her to risk is reprisal and flee.
Will you tell your daughter about all of this one day?
BATOUL (through translator): I will.
I will tell her you were not born in your home.
You were born here in the camp.
The most important thing is for all of us to return and live together and for our kids
to have a nice life, because this war is not their fault.
And we hope for a better future for them, better than we had.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: It's her story now, all of this.
BATOUL (through translator): We suffered a lot under ISIS.
And we hope to go back.
If it is the Syrian Democratic Forces or anyone, if they will bring security, we just want
to go home.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: But for now, this is what home looks like for so many Raqqa families.
Inside this bombed-out building, the Khalil family struggles to forge ahead.
The women clean and wash the dishes.
The men salvage scrap metal from the wreckage they're living in.
Outside, the stench of corpses rotting reeked in the rubble underfoot, but inside we found
a home, made bright with the sounds and colors of their 20-person family.
They welcomed us in and they told a story of the hell of living under ISIS and of despair
at their family's displacement.
SAMIA SHEIKH KHALIL (through translator): We left everything behind.
We had been saving for 35 years.
And we were safe there.
Then we left everything in one helpless moment.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: What of the toll this has taken on your family?
SAMIA SHEIKH KHALIL (through translator): Whatever I say, it won't describe the suffering
we have seen.
I am devastated deep inside.
I feel the pain of all Raqqa's people as the pain of my own family.
I can feel the injustice, how people lose their children.
Even those who survived have nothing.
GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON: Nothing except the hope that the fight will someday end, and that
her family can return to Raqqa and build their home once more.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I am Gayle Tzemach Lemmon in Raqqa, Syria.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Online, read more from Gayle Tzemach Lemmon about why she says she can't
stop thinking about the children she met while reporting in Syria.
That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.
HARI SREENIVASAN: In our Leading Edge segment tonight: the eclipse.
Monday, the United States will experience the first coast-to-coast solar eclipse in
nearly a century.
This dazzling spectacle happens when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, blocking
out the sun and plunging the Earth into momentary darkness.
For more about what to expect and how to view this rare event, I'm joined by science correspondent
Miles O'Brien.
Miles, I tried to do it justice.
Explain what is happening.
MILES O'BRIEN: Well, Hari, the place to be is a swathe from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston,
South Carolina.
That is a big, long path across the United States where you will see a total eclipse.
The moon will pass in front of the sun.
And here's one of the great coincidences of nature.
The moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, but the sun is 400 times farther away.
And so, the optical illusion is that they are the same size, the moon passes in front,
it completely covers the sun's disk, allowing people to experience an amazing, beautiful
thing.
And it does give scientists an opportunity to study the sun's corona.
HARI SREENIVASAN: This happens.
It just doesn't happen this often over the United States.
MILES O'BRIEN: It happens about every 18 months.
But, remember, the planet is about 70 percent water.
And then there's a couple of other factors that are involved here.
The moon's orbit is tilted about five degrees, and so to have it line up just perfectly doesn't
happen every time.
In addition to that, the moon's orbit is elliptical, so sometimes it's a little bit farther away,
and you get what's called an annular eclipse, meaning you still see a ring of fire around
the sun.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, you're going to be where?
And I'm imagining all the places along this line are preparing for people like you who
are going there.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
Eclipse excitement is running high all across the nation.
There are people that are -- well, put it this way.
Airbnb owners are doing very well right now.
I'm going to be in Irwin, Idaho, which is right underneath the path of totality.
It's likely to be a nice, clear day this time of year.
That's another factor.
It's at a nice high altitude, which helps.
And I'm going to be doing a Facebook livestream for "NOVA" and the "NewsHour."
We will hope you will join us during that.
And we're going to be watching with great care, which is an important point, of course.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes, let's -- OK.
So, you have your place picked out.
How do you see this safely?
MILES O'BRIEN: OK.
So, let's just say this as many times as you can.
Kids, do not look at the sun directly.
Except for that two minutes or so when it's in totality, as they call it, it is very dangerous.
What happens is, when we look up at the sun right now on a normal day, it's our reaction
to turn away.
It's too bright.
The sun is still very bright even when it's covered in great portion by the moon.
And so that natural reaction goes away, and so you can hurt yourself.
So, here's what you need to do.
Get some of these glasses, which are kind of Mylar, very dark.
Make sure they have an ISO certification on them indicating they are the right darkness.
There are some counterfeit glasses out there.
Amazon sold some of them.
They're taking -- they are going to give you your money back, but please, please, please
make sure you didn't get a counterfeit pair of glasses that was a particularly malicious
thing for somebody to have done.
The backup plan, if you can't get the glasses -- and you go to libraries -- planetariums
might have the glasses, viewing parties.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Yes.
MILES O'BRIEN: Number 14 welder's glass is a good thing.
Or you can make a pinhole camera, as I did back in the '70s.
(LAUGHTER)
HARI SREENIVASAN: OK.
You mentioned that scientists are going to be studying this.
What do they need to figure out?
MILES O'BRIEN: Well, the corona of the sun is of great scientists interest to anybody.
For some reason, the corona is actually hot than the center of the sun itself.
And no one really knows why that is the case.
Above and beyond the scientific pursuit on that front, coronal mass ejections, the corona
itself, can be very dangerous to our planet and have in the past caused problems for a
communication satellite and the power grid.
So, the more we understand how it operates, the more we can predict these kinds of things
and shield the sensitive aspects of our society that might be affected by it.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, are scientists going to be studying this from the ground?
Are they going to fly along with it?
MILES O'BRIEN: They actually -- NASA is going to loft two former Cold War bombers that are
rigged up as observatories.
They will fly along the path of the eclipse.
They're going to be going about 700 miles an hour.
The eclipse moves at about 1,500 miles an hour.
So they can't keep up, but with two of them operating in tandem, NASA figures they will
get about seven minutes of totality, which, for us in Idaho, we're only getting about
2.5 minutes.
So, in theory, they are going to get a lot more data.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Even if we're not in path, in this perfect path, what are we likely to
see?
MILES O'BRIEN: Well, a good chunk of the U.S., most of the U.S. -- you will be in New York
City, for example.
You are going to get 70-plus percent coverage of the sun.
That in and of itself, is a very striking thing and worth taking a look at it.
If the weather supports it, by all means, with the safety measures taken, go out and
take a look.
So, if you don't want to spend the money on the $2,000-per-night Airbnb, if you can't
just get to the path of totality, which goes from Oregon to South Carolina, by all means,
take time, middle of the day Monday, to take a look.
Make sure you do it safely.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Or, if you're not in any of those places, you can certainly follow
along live on Facebook on the "NewsHour" page, on the "NOVA," page.
And you're going to be doing a special about this as well?
MILES O'BRIEN: Well, yes.
And, as a matter of fact, we will be doing the streaming during the day, and then "NOVA,"
on the night of, that evening, will have a show that will air, "Eclipse Over America."
And so we invite all our PBS viewers to watch that as well.
HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Miles O'Brien, thanks so much.
MILES O'BRIEN: You're welcome.
HARI SREENIVASAN: And a news update before we go.
In Venezuela, at least 36 people are dead after security forces raided a prison in the
country's south.
Officials say it came after fighting erupted between inmates and prison staff.
It's still unclear if the bloodshed is tied to months of political unrest in the country.
On the "NewsHour" online: Join us tomorrow on the 2017 Hutchins Forum on Race and Racism
in the Age of President Trump, hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and moderated by "NewsHour"
special correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
Watch it live tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
And earlier in the day, join our Twitter chat, when panelists will tackle why hate is on
the rise.
Learn more on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour, where you can also find our newest "NewsHour"/NPR/Marist
poll about President Donald Trump's response to violence in Charlottesville.
And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.
On Thursday, Paul Solman and the Making Sense team look at whether the shift of jobs from
retail to e-tail is a boom or bust for those looking for work.
I'm Hari Sreenivasan.
Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.
For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, and see you soon.

PBS NewsHour full episode Aug. 16, 2017

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