PBS NewsHour full episode September 22, 2017

JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Forced from their homes, facing floods, Hurricane Maria leaves
Puerto Rico in the dark after the powerful storm devastates the Caribbean.
Then: searching for life in the rubble.
As Mexico's death toll rises, rescuers hope to pull survivors from flattened buildings
four days after the deadly quake.
Plus: checking vital signs.
As Republicans' health care reform push suffers a setback, I sit down with Democratic Senator
Tim Kaine about options for the future of Obamacare.
SEN.
TIM KAINE (D), VIRGINIA: Everyone who has a big, big idea should put it on the table.
Graham-Cassidy is an idea.
Fine.
It's on the table.
Bernie's got one.
It's on the table.
I would like there to be a publicly offered insurance police that any individual could
buy if they chose.
That's on the table.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And it's Friday.
Mark Shields and David Brooks are here to talk about the health care news and President
Trump's war of words with the leader of North Korea.
All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator John McCain today dealt a serious blow to Republicans' latest effort
to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
In a statement, the Arizona Republican rejected a reform proposal by fellow GOP Senators Lindsey
Graham and Bill Cassidy.
The move leaves his party's leaders with diminishing hope of repealing President Obama's signature
health care law.
We get the latest from our Lisa Desjardins.
So, Lisa, what reason did Senator McCain give?
LISA DESJARDINS: Senator McCain said, first, in good conscience, he could not support the
bill because he said it's been rushed through.
And he thinks now is the time and this issue is so large it requires bipartisanship.
Let me read one quote from what he wrote: "The issue is too important and too many things
are at risk for us to leave the American people guessing from one election to the next whether
and how they will acquire health insurance.
A bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach."
What he's saying here is leaving this up to states for another two years is just unacceptable.
And, moreover, what he wants is a full debate through committee.
He wants months and much more thought spent on this issue.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Where does this leave Republican efforts?
They have tried again and again and again to get this done.
LISA DESJARDINS: We have so many metaphors, the zombie bill.
It keeps coming to life.
I think this Republican plan is down on the mat if this was a boxing match, and the referee
is counting, because John McCain was a vote they needed.
They can only lose two Republicans.
He's a hard no.
Rand Paul is a hard no, his office confirmed to me today.
He is still a hard no.
Susan Collins today said she is leaning no.
We're waiting to hear from Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who supported a bill that
did not go as far -- who voted no on a bill that wasn't this broad in scope.
So it's very unlikely that this bill will get the support it needs in the next two days.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So these are the key Republicans.
There have been some bipartisan efforts.
Some other Republicans, Democrats have been getting together to see if they could come
up with something that could work across the aisle.
Where does all that stand?
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
When last we were talking about this on the program, we had heard from Senator Alexander,
who was leading that effort, that that was frozen, the bipartisan effort was frozen.
Well, now that might be changing.
We heard from Senator -- Iowa Senator Joni Ernst today, unexpected voice in this, Republican.
She told her constituents at a town hall that she wants that bipartisan talk between Murray
and Alexander to restart next week.
And she said -- get this, Judy -- today that she doesn't think Graham-Cassidy will come
up for a vote and she doesn't think the votes are there.
And so there is now a renewed attention perhaps to the bipartisan effort.
Democrats told me that they actually did -- were ready to make some compromises in that effort.
They may have to actually show those cards now if we get to that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And so it's Senator Patty Murray who has been leading the charge on that, Democrat
of Washington, with Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Lisa Desjardins watching it all, thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: Sure.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And in the day's other news: Rescuers in and around Mexico City combed
through mountains of debris, desperately searching for signs of life.
The death toll from the 7.1-magnitude quake has now climbed to at least 293.
More than half of those have been in the capital.
We will take a closer look at the scope of the destruction later in the program.
North Korea's leader ratcheted up his war of words with President Trump today, warning
that he would face consequences "beyond his expectations."
Kim Jong-un's statement came days after President Trump threatened to "totally destroy North
Korea" in his United Nations address.
A newswoman read Kim's response aloud on North Korean state TV.
WOMAN (through translator): "Now that Trump has denied the existence of and insulted me
and my country in front of the eyes of the world and made the most ferocious declaration
of a war in history that he would destroy North Korea, we will consider with seriousness
exercising of the corresponding highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.
I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged U.S. dotard with fire."
JUDY WOODRUFF: Later, North Korea's foreign minister suggested that they would next test
a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific ocean.
President Trump reacted on Twitter, saying -- quote -- "Kim Jong-un, obviously a madman,
will be tested like never before."
Iran's president also had a defiant message for the West today, vowing to continue building
up his country's arsenal of weapons.
At a military parade in Tehran, a new ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel was unveiled.
President Hassan Rouhani spoke to the crowd, pushing back against President Trump, who
had singled out Iran in his address at the U.N. Monday.
HASSAN ROUHANI, Iranian President (through translator): Whether you want it or not, we
will increase our defensive and military capabilities as a deterrent, as much as we deem appropriate.
We will not just strengthen our missile capabilities, but also our ground forces, air forces and
naval forces.
For the defense of our country and our land, we will not seek permission from anyone.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Today marked the first time Iran had showcased the medium-range ballistic
missile in public.
But its military test-fired the same type of weapon back in February.
There was word today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified 21 states that
Russia potentially targeted their election systems in the run-up to the 2016 election.
But most were not successfully breached.
Meanwhile, President Trump and the Kremlin are both dismissing reports that Russia planted
thousands of paid advertisements on Facebook in a bid to help candidate Trump with the
election.
Facebook said yesterday it's turning over copies of the ads to ®MDNM¯Congress' Russia
investigation.
This morning, the president tweeted -- quote -- "The Russia hoax continues.
Now it's ads on Facebook."
The Trump administration is revoking Obama era guidelines on investigating sexual assaults
on college campuses.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had said that the previous policy was unfair to accused
students.
Now interim rules will permit universities themselves to choose how to handle assault
complaints, until the Education Department drafts permanent rules.
Critics fear that victims will lose protections or feel pressured to stay silent.
Former FBI Director James Comey was heckled today while delivering a convocation address
at Howard University in Washington.
Protesters sang civil rights songs as he took the stage, delaying his speech.
Calls of "No justice, no peace" continued as Comey began his remarks at the historically
black university.
JAMES COMEY, Former FBI Director: It's hard sometimes to find people who will listen with
an attitude that they might actually be convinced of something.
Instead, what happens in most of the real world and about four rows of this auditorium
is that people don't listen at all.
They just try to figure out what rebuttal they're going to offer when you're done speaking.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It was Comey's first public appearance since testifying before Congress
about his dismissal by President Trump.
Federal officials are investigating reports that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom
Price used costly chartered jets for official business.
The agency's Office of the Inspector General said today that it's looking into whether
the flights complied with federal travel regulations that generally require officials to minimize
travel expenses.
Price's office said that he sometimes uses chartered planes when commercial flights aren't
feasible.
British Prime Minister Theresa May tried to revive stalled Brexit negotiations with the
European Union today.
She proposed a two-year transition period after Britain leaves the E.U. in March of
2019, to give both sides time to adjust to the changeover.
She also indicated a willingness for Britain to pay a financial settlement, but she stopped
short of specifying an amount.
May spoke today in Florence, Italy.
THERESA MAY, British Prime Minister: Let us not seek merely to adopt a model already enjoyed
by other countries.
Instead, let us be creative, as well as practical, in designing an ambitious economic partnership
which respects the freedoms and principles of the E.U. and the wishes of the British
people.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Brexit talks are set to resume next week in Brussels.
But several key sticking points remain, including how much the U.K. should pay to leave the
bloc, and how to protect the rights of E.U. nationals who are living in Britain.
London's transportation agency is stripping Uber of its license to operate in the city,
over public safety and security concerns.
The ride-sharing service's license will expire at the end of the month.
The regulator specifically took issue with Uber's approach to reporting criminal offenses,
and the way in which it conducts background checks for its drivers.
Uber said it plans to appeal the decision.
On Wall Street today, stocks were searching for direction.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost nine points to close at 22349.
The Nasdaq rose four, and the S&P 500 added more than a point.
For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 added a fraction of a percent.
The Nasdaq fell a fraction.
And NASA has bestowed a new honor upon Katherine Johnson, the African-American mathematician
whose life inspired the hit feature film "Hidden Figures."
A ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opened a new research facility bearing her name at
NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
The 99-year-old who calculated the trajectories for America's first spaceflights in the 1960s
was on hand for the festivities.
What an inspiration.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": Hurricane Maria's wrath moves on after ravaging Puerto
Rico; the search for survivors stretch into the fourth day after Mexico's deadly quake;
Senator Tim Kaine on the future of health care reform; and much more.
Hurricane Maria continued her march across the Caribbean, still as a powerful Category
3 storm.
Puerto Rico is dealing with a dam failure in the western part of the island; 70,000
people are in the process of being evacuated.
Damage estimates have already reached $45 billion for the Caribbean islands in the storm's
path.
And all told, at least 27 have been blamed on Maria.
John Yang has more.
JOHN YANG: Across waterlogged Puerto Rico, many of the 3.4 million residents have been
forced from their homes.
Two days after Maria made landfall, knocking out power and communications, the personal
stories of facing the storm's wrath are just emerging.
These women live in Salinas, along the southeast coast.
WOMAN (through translator): A lot of trees and many, many houses destroyed and boats
on the ground.
The power and the water are out, everything, everything.
We don't have anything.
We have got nothing and we don't know for how long we will go without.
WOMAN (through translator): It came when my son said that we have lost everything.
It took our house.
It's tough, but we're going to start over.
QUESTION: What are you going to do now?
WOMAN (through translator): We're going to the shelter.
JOHN YANG: Governor Ricardo Rossello reports complete devastation.
Damage estimates reached $30 billion on Puerto Rico alone.
With areas submerged beneath floodwaters, the U.S. military and Federal Emergency Management
Agency began airlifting aid, water, food, generators and temporary shelters.
MAN: We're able to fly on our mobility aircraft, firefighters, search-and-rescue and other
civil support as well.
Until probably today, there was no real understanding at all of the level, the gravity of the situation.
JOHN YANG: Today, Maria kept churning north, lashing the Turks and Caicos.
The Eastern Bahamas are next, and then is forecast to make a slight turn east into the
open Atlantic.
Damage to Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the tiny island of Dominica was also extensive.
Both islands have no power and curfews are in place to prevent looting.
It could take years for some of the Caribbean islands to fully recover from Hurricanes Maria
and Irma.
That includes nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
Sir Rodney Williams is the governor general.
A family physician, he is currently on a medical mission in the United States.
He joins us from Annapolis, Maryland.
Your Excellency, let me -- can I start by asking you what conditions are like on Antigua
and Barbuda?
GOV.
GEN.
RODNEY WILLIAMS, Antigua and Barbuda: Well, in the phase now where we're trying to rebuild.
And the whole question is, how do we deal with the people from Barbuda in particular,
because we are concerned about their well-being, their protection and their social needs.
And the persons from -- all the people from Barbuda are now in Antigua, and some living
with family, some living with friends, and some living in shelters.
I must say that the government and the various agencies did a very good job in educating
the population prior to and during the hurricane.
And now it's time to rebuild.
We have actually accommodated 500 schoolchildren in schools in Antigua.
And we have also put their teachers to those schools so that they can be feeling comfortable.
Presently, the government is working on some accommodation to make them more private and
more comfortable by restructuring a hotel.
There's an old nurses' hostel that is being renovated as well.
And there's an old Pan Am base on the island that they're putting things in order so that
the Barbuda on Antigua and Barbuda can have their own private accommodation.
And things are moving along rather smoothly.
JOHN YANG: And, as you say, all the people from Barbuda have been moved to Antigua.
How long do you think they are going to have to stay there?
GOV.
GEN.
RODNEY WILLIAMS: Well, that is a very difficult question for me to answer.
A lot will depend on what they find on the ground.
Right now, they're cleaning up Barbuda.
They have been able to bury the dead animals and they're cleaning up the debris on the
island.
And persons from Barbuda have been allowed to go back on a daily basis to protect their
assets and then they return at night to Antigua.
There are teams on the ground looking at Barbuda and looking at what is needed.
From my understanding, they are trying to ensure that the rebuilding of Barbuda takes
into account the type of island that we want to bring back.
We have got to develop innovative ways and ensure that we have some of the best engineers
and technicians who will advise as to how we will build the country, the island, because
we're going to have to make sure that the buildings that we put up are durable and that
it is sustainable in the long run.
JOHN YANG: Sir Rodney Williams, governor general of Antigua and Barbuda, thanks so much for
joining us.
GOV.
GEN.
RODNEY WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me on, sir.
JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, the death toll in Tuesday's earthquake in Mexico
neared 300 today, as rain hampered rescue efforts in the capital, Mexico City.
In a moment, William Brangham will have a look at how the city has sought to harden
itself since the last big quake in 1985.
But, first, William joins me again tonight from Mexico City.
So, William, what can you tell me about the rescue efforts of people who reportedly are
supposed to be trapped in that office building behind where you are?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Yes, Judy, it is a really extraordinary story that has given people
here a lot of hope.
Using a whole series of very high-tech technology, thermal camera,s motion detectors, apparently,
even an Israeli piece of equipment and an Israeli team that was able to zero in on cell
phones, they believe that they have found six, at least six people in that office building
behind me that are trapped there.
And they are all believed to still be alive.
The family members of the missing are camped out just a few yards away from over this way.
They have been told, and they are telling the press that food and water has been able
to be sent to the people that are trapped there.
But efforts are under way right now to try to get them out.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I know that finding out they're there is one thing, but getting them
out in time is something else altogether.
What are you hearing about the prospects?
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Well, that's absolutely right.
It's obviously a race against time.
Rescuers have said that they think that they have got nine different access points that
they can use to access where they are.
And so they are slowly working their way into it.
The tricky part is, is that's a very fragile building behind me.
And, as you can see, unlike a lot of the other sites that we visited here, it's not swarming
with people.
It's just a few people up there, because they're worried about collapsing the structure.
But the idea is, if they can get through one of these access points, they might be able
to reach those people inside.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, William, this is still an active rescue site, but I understand, at
a number of other sites, they have stopped the searching.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Yes, that's right.
The Mexican president today said that of the 38 sites that use to be rescue operations,
only 10 of them remain active rescue operations.
And there is one other larger concern that's been going on here, which is not just for
the buildings that have been collapsed, but what to do with the thousands of other buildings
across Mexico City that are damaged.
While most of the attention remains on search-and-rescue across the city, there are an untold number
of victims like Silvia Barroso.
SILVIA BARROSO, Earthquake Victim (through translator): I was in the house doing chores
when it started shaking.
It was really, really strong.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Her apartment wasn't destroyed by Tuesday's quake, but she's been told it's
too dangerous to go back and could crumble at any minute.
So, she now lives here with what soaking belongings she could grab in this leaky shelter inside
this vast makeshift community response center.
SILVIA BARROSO (through translator): We're feeling desperate.
We really can't go anywhere.
We don't have money to rent a new place.
Everything has gotten wet from the rain here.
There are tons of people coming and going.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There are likely thousands and thousands of people like Barroso.
The government estimates that at least 2,500 buildings were damaged on Tuesday, and they
have received reports of 4,000 others.
These are buildings that weren't flattened, but will likely remain uninhabitable for the
foreseeable future.
Mexico City, of course, is no stranger to big earthquakes.
The worst quake was in 1985, 32 years ago to the day of Tuesday's quake.
Mexico City was terribly damaged.
Thousands of buildings, including many newer ones, collapsed fully.
The official 5,000-person death toll is considered a gross underestimate.
After the '85 quake, government officials said reforms would come: better rescue and
response, better public education, and stronger, enforceable building requirements.
Daniel Rodriguez Velazquez has consulted the Mexican government's disaster prevention board.
He's an expert in urban planning, and he says many of those reforms did in fact come.
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ VELAZQUEZ, Urban Planning Expert (through translator): Before 1985,
building standards didn't consider such large earthquakes.
That's been an important change, the stronger building standards for the city.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Many point to the fact that Mexico City largely survived intact from Tuesday's
quake.
Yes, 45 buildings collapsed entirely, but the vast majority of this sprawling city of
over 20 million remains untouched.
In fact, on most blocks, it's hard to even tell there was an earthquake at all.
Daniel Rodriguez agrees those post-1985 reforms did save lives and saved structures.
But he worries that, in the rush to cleanup, the lessons of why some buildings failed will
be lost.
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ VELAZQUEZ (through translator): We need to see if the buildings that fell
met construction standards.
There's suspicion that many buildings were built through corruption to bring investment
and generate the image of a modern city.
We need to have the scientific and technical information to be able to determine the causes
of collapses, and, when applicable, criminal responsibility.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In fact, just a few blocks away, Rodriguez showed us what he's concerned
about.
Four families lived in what was a five-story apartment building here.
It looked like this on Tuesday, and now it's being completely demolished.
People here said no investigation had been done.
Javier Morales Acosta lived here with his wife, daughter, and grandson.
He was at work when the quake struck.
JAVIER MORALES ACOSTA, Earthquake Victim (through translator): My first thought was of my wife
and family.
My wife was at home.
I tried to call, but she didn't answer, so I knew something had happened.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: His wife was injured, but got out alive.
She's at the hospital now.
He says they have lost absolutely everything.
JAVIER MORALES ACOSTA (through translator): We haven't been able to recover anything.
When something like this happens, the first thing people ask you for is I.D., but everything
we had is buried.
DANIEL RODRIGUEZ VELAZQUEZ (through translator): There is a rush to bring in heavy machinery
and clean up the rubble, to demolish buildings.
Just like in 1985, it's a political move.
The government is in rush because a presidential election cycle is just starting.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Morales' house and all his family's belongings are being carted away
in an afternoon, as officials here face the competing demands of trying to learn from
this disaster vs. cleaning up and getting back to normal.
In Mexico City, I'm William Brangham for the "PBS NewsHour."
JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, Senator John McCain's announcement that he will not
vote for the Graham-Cassidy Republican health care bill tosses the fate of current Obamacare
repeal efforts into serious doubt.
We look at what all this could mean, and at a couple other issues, with Senator Tim Kaine,
Democrat from Virginia, who was his party's vice presidential nominee last year.
Senator Tim Kaine, thank you for talking with us.
Let's talk health care first.
Senator John McCain's announcement today that he will not vote for the latest Republican
effort to overhaul Obamacare, the Graham-Cassidy bill, is this the death knell for that proposal?
SEN.
TIM KAINE (D), Virginia: Judy, I wouldn't call it that.
Until we get to the end of next week, we have to be very diligent and defeat efforts to
repeal the Affordable Care Act and, instead, force it back in to the bipartisan discussion
that my committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, under the leadership
of Senators Alexander and Senators Murray, were having.
We owe it to the American public to improve health insurance and health care, but we have
got to do it, I think, in a bipartisan way.
We were doing it.
We were very, very close to a bipartisan deal to stabilize the individual insurance market
going forward.
But the president and the speaker and Leader McConnell kind of blew that effort up, at
least temporarily, this week.
So we have to defeat Graham-Cassidy, and my hope is, as Senator McCain indicated today,
then we will get back to doing it the way we should, which is, in an albeit Republican
Senate, but have full discussions in committee with amendments and full debate on the floor.
We shouldn't jam something through on health care at the 11th hour that affects the most
important expenditure of anybody's life and one-sixth of the American economy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, two other questions on that, because one of the arguments Republicans
were making to advocate for this proposal was that states need more flexibility in how
they spend their health care dollars.
And, in fact, there's a Kaiser Foundation study out saying Virginia, your state, would
have received something like $4 billion more under this proposal.
Isn't that -- you're a former governor.
Why doesn't that make sense?
SEN.
TIM KAINE: Well, because it's -- the reasoning is true.
States need more flexibility.
But the Graham-Cassidy bill is being sold as states need more flexibility, but, Judy,
every one of the 50 state Medicaid directors said this would be a horrible idea.
They said you can't do something like this with no CBO score and people not knowing the
consequences, and you shouldn't be cutting this much out of Medicaid.
And then, second, as for, did Virginia benefit, we didn't benefit, if you look at the entire
141 pages of Graham-Cassidy.
There is, in the early years, a slight uptick.
If you block grant the Affordable Care Act money to Virginia, there is a slight uptick
in that.
But then the moneys go away completely.
So we get a little bit of an uptick in the short-term.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.
SEN.
TIM KAINE: Then all the money goes away.
But the real sucker punch for Virginia is this.
Separately from repealing the Affordable Care Act, Graham-Cassidy act goes into the base
Medicaid program, didn't have anything to do with Obamacare, was there before Obamacare,
and they cap it and they take $120 billion out of it over the next 10 years.
In Virginia Medicaid recipients, nearly 60 percent of them are children.
And they would have been badly hurt by this piece of Medicaid.
So, if you look at the whole bill, Virginia gets hurt.
And that's why our governor and our Medicaid director are against it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, several other things I want to ask you about.
So, I'm going to move through this quickly, but still on health care.
You say what's needed is a bipartisan approach.
But Senator Bernie Sanders, a number of your Democratic colleagues this past week, came
out in favor of a Medicaid -- Medicare expansion bill that really didn't have the earmarks
of bipartisanship.
Isn't the Sanders proposal that many of your Democratic colleagues signed on to -- that
is not a bipartisan approach.
So how does that move you in the direction of something that's going to win approval?
SEN.
TIM KAINE: Well, let me tell you, Judy, about Bernie Sanders' proposal.
He put an idea out on the table, yes, with Democratic co-sponsors.
He didn't say vote on it immediately.
He didn't say, I want a vote before the CBO scores it.
Bernie's a member of the Health Committee with me.
He's putting an idea on the table.
Graham-Cassidy's an idea.
Fine.
It's on the table.
Bernie's got one.
It's on the table.
I would like there to be a publicly offered insurance policy that any individual could
buy, if they chose, more choices, rather than less.
That's on the table.
But the way to legislate is to first stabilize the market.
And we can do that in a bipartisan way.
And then, once we have stabilized it, we can, with care and deliberation that is warranted,
given the seriousness of health and health care to regular people, we can consider the
ideas and possibly find concepts from a number of proposal that we can put together to help
Americans.
So, putting ideas on the table is fine, but don't try to jam them through and hurt people
with no score, no debate, no amendment, no meaningful opportunity for the public to participate.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, just quickly now, wearing your hat as a member of both the Foreign
Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committees in the Senate, what is your assessment of
the heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea this week, with President
Trump calling Kim Jong-un, leader of North Korea, a madman, President Kim, the leader,
Kim, in turn calling President Trump deranged?
What is the state of these relations?
How worried should Americans be?
SEN.
TIM KAINE: Well, it's very troubling.
I will say, I am a fairly frequent critic of President Trump, but I do think the national
security team that he has, after a lot of bad people were chased out, is actually now
a very solid team.
There's no good military option here, but we have got a good military team that is looking
at what we need to do to keep the country safe.
However, even the secretary of defense, Secretary Mattis, says over and over again that, we're
diplomacy first, we're never out of diplomatic options.
And what the president shouldn't do is poison the diplomatic well.
Big rhetoric, calling names, that starts to poison the well.
And the president is even contemplating backing the United States out of a nuclear deal with
Iran.
If he does that, when the IAEA and other nations say that Iran is complying with the deal,
there is no chance North Korea would do a diplomatic deal with the United States if
they felt certain that the U.S. would back out of the deal and not follow it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Tim Kaine, we thank you very much.
SEN.
TIM KAINE: Absolutely.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay with us.
Coming up on the "NewsHour": Mark Shields and David Brooks take on the week's news;
and from the "NewsHour" Bookshelf, new reads to look out for this fall.
But let's go right now to Shields and Brooks.
That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields, as you just saw, and New York Times columnist
David Brooks.
The only thing better than seeing you guys once is seeing you guys twice, three times.
MARK SHIELDS: Just a great...
(LAUGHTER)
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, the health care story.
David, the Senate Republicans have been trying to so hard to once again resurrect an effort
to repeal Obamacare.
They thought they were getting -- or at least they sounded like they were getting somewhere.
But, today, John McCain throws down the red flag, says he's not voting for it.
Where does this leave all this?
DAVID BROOKS: It's pretty grim.
Francisco Franco is still dead, to quote that old "Saturday Night Live" joke.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: It's -- I should say, first of all, there is nothing intrinsically wrong
with having state flexibility and sending the health care thing back to the states.
We're a diverse country.
We might profit from different systems.
And there is nothing wrong with reducing the rate of increase in the cost, the amount we
spend on health care.
We would spend a lot more than other countries.
Personally, I would be happy if we spend a little less on health care and a little more
on education.
But the way the Republicans have done this yet again is without a deliberate process
in a way that seems to have magically offended every single person outside the U.S. Capitol
Building, no matter what party, and in a way that raises anxiety on every single level.
And so, it's very easy for John McCain to say, you haven't followed regular order, you
haven't worked with Democrats, you haven't held hearings, and so I'm going to be against
this thing.
And that's him being very consistent with the way he's been over the past several months.
And one would have to suspect that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will follow suit.
And, therefore, it's down the tubes.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What does it look like to you?
MARK SHIELDS: I hate to say that I agree with David, but I agree with David.
And I would just add this.
It's no accident, Judy, that the Republicans find themselves in this position.
It's really since the retirement of John Chafee of Rhode Island in 1999 or David Durenberger
from Minnesota in 1995 that there's been any Republican senator who has any earned credentials
or any deserved reputation for working on health care.
They have just been an against party.
That's all.
So, who's the sponsor of this?
Lindsey Graham.
I happen to like Lindsey Graham.
Lindsey Graham's credentials, military, national defense.
He's worked bipartisan on global warming, campaign finance.
Is there a -- Lindsey Graham on health care?
And Bill Cassidy, who got to the Senate a year ago, not exactly a long-toothed, long-term
legislator.
I mean, all they have succeeded in doing this year is taking the Affordable, which had always
been controversial and never had majority support, and now has majority support in the
country.
And they have convinced voters that Democrats care much more about health care than they
do.
And Democrats had an advantage.
They believe in Medicare and Medicaid.
They believe in federal action.
There is no coherent Republican organizing principle or philosophy about health care.
Everybody should have it, and it should be private.
It's an abstraction.
It doesn't work in the real world.
And voters have concluded it doesn't.
And Pat Roberts, to his credit, the senior senator from Kansas, said, this is not the
best bill possible.
It's the best possible bill.
And this is the last stage out of Dodge.
Because of the quirky rules of the Senate, they need 50 votes until the 30th of September,
when the fiscal year ends.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.
MARK SHIELDS: After that, it's 60.
So, they're trying to pass something.
And they won't.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It's a tough moment for Republicans.
DAVID BROOKS: They're caught with a divide.
I do think there is a defensible case that an intelligent market-based system could reduce
-- cause efficiencies.
There's models around the world that Republicans and conservative policy wonks can get to,
to point to that.
But if you are going to get people to entertain the idea of some sort of reform, you have
to give them universal coverage.
We're at the point where even a lot of conservative health care economists think, if we give them
universal coverage, if your get your preexisting, you're going to have coverage, then we can
work on the reforms.
But the Republican Party and the Republican Congress -- congressional party is basically
out of touch with their voters.
Their voters are not libertarians.
Their voters are insecure economically and want some security.
And Medicaid and Medicare and even now Obamacare offers some of them security.
And they will not support their own Republican Party when it takes that away.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, while we're talking about Senate Republicans, President Trump, Mark,
is headed to Alabama tonight to campaign for the man he endorsed in that runoff Senate
election down there, Luther Strange.
He's the appointed senator.
What's made this race so interesting is, the man he's running against is Roy Moore, the
state chief justice, who made a name for himself by trying to get the Ten Commandments publicly
displayed in the state capitol building.
This is a race that probably otherwise wouldn't be getting a lot of attention, but Roy Moore
is now ahead in the polls.
And, last night, I want to show everybody just a clip from the debate that Moore and
Strange had last night, because Trump's name was front and center.
Let's listen.
SEN.
LUTHER STRANGE (R), Alabama: I know you may get tired of hearing this, and you may resent
that the president is my friend and is supporting me in this race.
But I think it's a good thing that the president of the United States has a personal relationship
with the junior senator from Alabama.
ROY MOORE (D), Alabama Senatorial Candidate: The problem is, President Trump's being cut
off in his office.
He's being redirected by people like McConnell, who do not support his agenda, who will not
support his agenda in the future.
SEN.
LUTHER STRANGE: And to suggest that the president of the United States, the head of the free
world, a man who is changing the world, is being manipulated by Mitch McConnell is insulting
to the president.
That's why he's chosen me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, what does this tell us about the Republican -- the state of play
among Republicans in the Senate right now?
MARK SHIELDS: Well, first of all, Judy, we must understand this.
Alabama, Donald Trump's sixth best state in public polling.
He's the most popular there.
A leading Republican campaign manager who's deeply involved in this race on behalf of
Strange, or at least on the side supporting Luther Strange, told me they will spend, they
being Mitch McConnell's Senate leadership fund, political action committee, the Chamber
of Commerce of the United States and the National Rifle Association, over $12 million on behalf
of Strange against Roy Moore.
What it tells me is, Luther Strange is presenting himself as Donald Trump's new best friend,
and that Roy Moore is running as: I am the real Trump candidate.
I'm going to go to Washington and let Donald Trump be Donald Trump.
He's trying to make it a referendum on Mitch McConnell, who this week in The Wall Street
Journal/NBC poll was at his all-time low, 11 percent favorable.
And so I think what Strange's side is counting on is Donald Trump, the president, going there
to Alabama and convincing Trump voters, who are more comfortable with Roy Moore, to vote
for Luther Strange.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, the president's poll numbers, David, have ticked up a few
points in the last week or two.
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, because he's done something with the Democrats, and bipartisanship is
popular.
So, he gets ticked up on there.
But, in Alabama, the revolution devours its own.
He ran as the anti-Washington candidate, Trump, Donald Trump did, got to Washington, and has
to play a little by some Washington rules, which is supporting guys in the Senate who
are supporting you.
So, he's supporting Strange.
Roy Moore is a Trumpian before -- of the letter, as they say, before Trump, and a guy who made
his name on the Ten Commandments, on some gay marriage issues.
It's Alabama.
And so he's saying: I'm actually the Trumpian.
And so what -- I think what we see for the Republican Party is that this populist tide
is not ebbing.
If Moore wins, then there are some signs -- Alabama is unique, Moore is unique -- but there are
some signs the party is still getting more populist.
And that's caused by two things.
First, as Mark said, McConnell is still the enemy for a lot of Republicans.
The Washington Republican establishment is still more than ever.
And the things that fueled the populist rise, rise of the opioid crisis, the decimation
of the economy, the white identity issues, all those things are still rising, not ebbing.
And so the populism that Trump tapped into might be getting more extreme.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, turning quickly from populism to foreign policy, Mark, the president made
his debut, first big speech before the United Nations General Assembly this week, and notable
because he came out and said, basically, we will destroy North Korea if they make a wrong
move.
Does he come away looking more like a statesman?
He's followed that with days of squabbling, in effect, with Kim Jong-un, the leader of
North Korea.
How do we -- how do we now look upon President Trump as somebody who's leading foreign policy?
MARK SHIELDS: An embarrassment.
I mean, you compare the words of presidents in the past, measured, you know, John Kennedy
in Berlin, wherever free men live, to come to Berlin, they are citizens of Berlin, ich
bin ein Berliner.
Or Donald -- Ronald Reagan, Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate, tear down this wall.
They were expressing principle.
They were expressing coherently and lucidly and compellingly.
And there was a sense of pride in the national direction.
That was totally missing.
I gave him a B for bombast and bullying and belligerence.
You know, it was a -- it wasn't a speech in which Americans could take pride or direction
or comfort.
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I don't mind a little tough talk.
When Reagan called the Soviet Union the evil empire, he was telling the truth, and that's
fine.
The problem with Donald Trump's -- with the rhetoric there is that it's self-destructive.
First of all, it may put the North Koreans in a corner, where they can't back down because
of their own psychic needs.
And it creates a context in which North Korea can test whatever they want to do apparently
in the atmosphere, where -- and then, weirdly, against North Korea, somehow, suddenly, we
look like the bad guys.
And that's the interesting thing about the speech, was so nationalistic.
MARK SHIELDS: Yes.
DAVID BROOKS: If you're the country who is the top dog in the world, which we are, you
need international organizations and alliances as a way to extend your power.
And if you take that away, you are diminishing your own self.
And so his nationalistic pose makes sense if you're Vladimir Putin, if you're a second-rate
power.
But if you're a top-rate power, it's a self-destructive thing.
And we see it here, where we actually end up having less leverage, rather than more.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Mark, what do we look for in the weeks to come, because, right now,
it's just a war -- it is literally a war of words.
MARK SHIELDS: Yes.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A lot of people are out there listening to this, thinking, are we going
to go to war?
MARK SHIELDS: I certainly pray not.
I hope not.
I take some comfort, quite frankly, as a citizen, in your interview with Tim Kaine, the senator
from Virginia, who said that he, who had been -- not hesitated to criticize President Trump's
policies, had great confidence in the defense team of chief of staff...
JUDY WOODRUFF: Defense secretary.
MARK SHIELDS: General -- chief -- I'm sorry -- of Secretary Mattis, General Mattis, and
General McMaster and General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
I mean, they are -- they provide him direct -- confidence and direction and maturity.
And that's our best hope.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, he's surrounded by people who are getting some high marks, some of them,
David.
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, he's got very good people.
But I have been watching the Vietnam series on PBS.
And countries can do really stupid things.
And the veneer of civilization sometimes gets slender.
World War I, there were a lot of very talented diplomats and world leaders at that time,
but events just spun out of control.
So I don't think we're going to go to war.
I still think there's some reason on both sides.
But you look at the realm of history and you have a little cause for concern.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes, and watching the Vietnam series, which is a superb series -- for any
of us who haven't started watching, you can do that.
All right, David Brooks, Mark Shields, thank you both.
MARK SHIELDS: Thank you, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now a look at some must-reads for this fall.
Jeffrey Brown has this special edition of the "NewsHour" Bookshelf.
JEFFREY BROWN: And this time, we're turning for recommendations to two authors with new
or recent books.
Louise Penny is the author of the popular murder mystery series featuring the Quebec
chief inspector of police, Armand Gamache.
The latest installment, "Glass Houses" was published earlier this month.
And Pamela Paul oversees book coverage at The New York Times and is editor of its Book
Review.
Her latest work is "My Life With Bob," a book about the many books in her life.
And thank you both for joining us.
And, actually, I want to start with a quick question about the books in your life.
Louise, what kind of reader are you, and how do you pick what you're going to read next?
LOUISE PENNY, Author, "Glass Houses": I read everything.
But, you know, the only sadness in my life now is that I can't read crime novels anymore,
even though I love them.
JEFFREY BROWN: Why?
LOUISE PENNY: Because, if I read a great crime novel, that's the only book I want to write
now, is the book I have just read.
If I read a really bad one, I'm just all upset.
And part of my brain is always turned on, of course, trying to figure out how it worked.
JEFFREY BROWN: Pamela, I know you get millions of books being sent to you every day, so how
do you pick what you're going to read?
PAMELA PAUL, Author, "My Life With Bob": Well, there's work reading and there's fun reading.
And I'm going to focus on the fun reading.
I always admire the single-minded dedication of like the hard-core detective novel reader
who will just read every single novel in a series or by an author.
But I'm like Louise.
I'm really omnivorous.
And, for me, deciding what book to read next is really a question of mood.
It's almost like, on a gut level, I need to read something, and I have to figure out what
that book is.
And if I try to read something that's not, that doesn't sort of match that mood, it doesn't
work, it doesn't take, and I end up putting it down.
JEFFREY BROWN: OK.
Our category is new or soon-to-come books, fall books.
Louise, you start.
Let's take a couple of nonfiction books.
LOUISE PENNY: All right, my first choice is Toni Morrison, because I would read anything
by Toni Morrison, of course.
If she wrote cereal boxes, I would collect them.
"The Origin of Others," which is a collection of essays, and the theme is race.
It's about belonging, our yearning to belong, about community, about why race matters even,
and how we came up with the concept of other, us and them, and why is it that, once we had
come up with that concept are we predisposed to look at the other with suspicion.
So, that's my first pick.
The second one is Daniel Mendelsohn.
And his book is called "An Odyssey."
He is a critic, a reviewer, but he also teaches an undergrad course in Homer's The Odyssey.
JEFFREY BROWN: Right.
LOUISE PENNY: And his father, 81-year-old mathematician, joined one of his courses.
And so it's really an odyssey into literature, but also into their relationship.
So I'm dying to read that one as well.
JEFFREY BROWN: Pamela Paul, what are you -- start with nonfiction for you too.
PAMELA PAUL: Sure.
Well, I have spent the entire summer, really actually the entire year, doing escape reading.
And I think fall is a great time to reengage.
And, luckily, there are a lot of books, a number of books that really try to take on
serious topics that have been in the news, the cultural news, political news, social
headlines, and to delve a lot deeper than the Twitter feeds and headlines have been
able to do.
So, a couple that I'm really interested in are Franklin Foer's new book, which is called
"World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech."
Frank Foer was the editor of The New Republic until shortly after it was purchased by Chris
Hughes, formerly of Facebook.
There was a sort of major falling out between them.
But what he does in this book is not just write a memoir about that experience, but
really takes on the issue of how technology has sort of infiltrated journalism, the media
and really our daily lives, and what some of the negative impacts of that, those changes
are.
So I think that's one.
Another book I'm recommending is Mark Lilla's "The Once and Future Liberal," which is a
controversial book.
Again, you might not agree with all of it, but it's about identity politics.
And it's interesting to read that along, I think, together with Ta-Nehisi's forthcoming
book, which is called "We Were Eight Years in Power," which is a lot of the work that
he's done in "The Atlantic," but it's his first big book since "Between the World and
Me."
And I think, together, these books take on the issues of identity, race, class, and also
electoral politics.
JEFFREY BROWN: OK.
There's four coming books in nonfiction.
Now, Louise, a novel.
LOUISE PENNY: All right.
"Happiness."
This is a Canadian one.
It is by Will Ferguson.
JEFFREY BROWN: Which you couldn't resist?
LOUISE PENNY: I couldn't resist.
I know.
And you didn't necessarily ask.
And it's an older one, too.
I have to admit that.
JEFFREY BROWN: All right, we're breaking the rules.
LOUISE PENNY: We are.
I'm going rogue here.
JEFFREY BROWN: OK.
LOUISE PENNY: I read a lot.
I know how cruel the world is.
And I read a lot to just -- to feel good about it, as Auden said, that goodness exists.
So, "Happiness" is a hilarious book about a self-help book that actually works.
JEFFREY BROWN: We should say the author.
LOUISE PENNY: Oh, I'm sorry, Will Ferguson, of course, Will Ferguson.
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
LOUISE PENNY: This book is put out there.
And it works.
But everybody's emotional ills are actually healed and everyone becomes happy, except
for the publisher, who's thrilled how many books are being sold, but he's a cynic.
And he's trying to figure out who wrote the book and why it works.
It is -- I highly recommend it.
JEFFREY BROWN: One other quick new novel?
LOUISE PENNY: All right.
This is by Ayobami Adebayo.
And it's called "Stay With Me."
She's 29 years old.
It's a debut.
She's a Nigerian.
And it is big-hearted.
It's lush.
It's an exploration of a marriage that starts out loving, begins to have a problem when
she can't get pregnant.
A second wife is brought in.
She gets pregnant, and then all sorts of family secrets are brought out.
But I love the fact that it is so big-hearted.
So, again, it goes in with the happiness thing.
JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Pamela Paul, for fiction, you're going happy or tragic on us?
PAMELA PAUL: No.
It is another book that I think really grapples with contemporary issues.
And that's Jesmyn Ward's "Sing, Unburied, Sing."
And Jesmyn, I don't know, I feel like she can do anything.
Her first novel was "Salvage the Bones."
And this is her latest novel.
They all take place in a fictional town called Bois Sauvage in Mississippi, where Jesmyn
Ward lives and where her family is from.
It's a bit timely and sort of post-Katrina novels.
This is about sort of the people who are left behind and the people who stay behind and
why and what their lives are like.
And it's about race.
It's about class.
She has been compared to William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and Herman Melville in the reviews
of this latest book.
And while I think she is her own voice, those aren't terrible people to be compared with.
JEFFREY BROWN: No, they certainly are not.
Pamela, let me give you one more, any category you want.
PAMELA PAUL: All right.
Well, this is -- this is about fiction, but its nonfiction.
And that is Bruce Handy's book "Wild Things," which is about the joys of reading children's
books as an adult.
JEFFREY BROWN: Oh, yes.
PAMELA PAUL: And I am a huge fan of children's books.
And I do think that you read them in a different way as a child, and then you read them in
a different way with your children.
And then, if you read them on your own, you also see in them different things.
And I think one of the things that he makes clear in his book is that the children's -- children's
literature is really -- that's when we become readers.
And those stories really stay with us.
And the themes that they raise, whether it's Maurice Sendak's books, or "The Chronicles
of Narnia," or "Little House on the Prairie," those are stories that really stay with us
for life.
And he explores why that is and really just the joy of reading them again.
JEFFREY BROWN: OK, eight books to get our readers started.
And we're going to have more online.
For now, Pamela Paul, Louise Penny, thank you both very much.
LOUISE PENNY: Thank you.
PAMELA PAUL: Thanks so much.
JUDY WOODRUFF: On the "NewsHour" online right now: Recognition has not always come easy
for Yoko Ono, a conceptual artist and wife of the late musician John Lennon.
But, this summer, the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum celebrated Ono with a whole season
of appreciation.
We look at her career and how she's been honored now on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
And Robert Costa is preparing for "Washington Week," which airs later tonight on PBS.
Robert, what do you have?
ROBERT COSTA: Judy, Arizona Senator John McCain gave a big thumbs down to the Graham-Cassidy
health care bill today.
One of the main reasons, he wants to work with Democrats on a plan to overhaul health
care.
Could that happen after seven years of partisan bickering?
Plus, rising tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, as President Trump and Kim Jong-un
exchange insults.
We cover it all tonight on "Washington Week" -- Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And we will be watching.
And on tomorrow's edition of "PBS NewsHour Weekend": the latest updates from Mexico and
Puerto Rico.
Plus: Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks a forth term in Sunday's national elections.
NARRATOR: Andreas Rinke says Merkel's case for a fourth term rests on her leadership
of the European Union, at a time when the U.K. is withdrawing from the E.U., and American
leadership of the West is in doubt on issues ranging from battling climate change to standing
up to Russia.
ANDREAS RINKE, Reuters Germany: I notice, since I accompany her on her foreign trips,
that, in China, in the U.S., in the Gulf states, they all said, you are the one responsible
for the euro.
You are responsible for fixing Europe.
JUDY WOODRUFF: That's tomorrow night on "PBS NewsHour Weekend."
And we will be back right here on Monday with a look at the political stakes for health
care reform.
That's the "NewsHour" for tonight.
I'm Judy Woodruff.
Have a great weekend.
Thank you, and good night.
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