Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20180109

Woodruff all that and more on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. No bnsf, the engine that connects us. Us. Babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. Al babbels 1015 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. More information on babbel. Com. Funding provided in part by 20th century fox. The post, in theaters everywhere january 12. Un heanuary 12. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. Or and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ib woodruff the publisher of a scathing new book about President Trump is rejecting white house criticism. The c. E. O. Of macmillan wrote to his employees today that any attempt to suppress fire and fury would be flagrantly unconstitutional. Well have our interview with the author, Michael Wolff, after the news summary. President trump traveled to atlanta this evening to watch alabama and georgiatr face off in the College Football national championship. Ma earlier, he spoke to the American Farm bureaus annual meeting in nashville. He said the tax overhaul passed last month would put more money republicans came together, and delivered historic relief for our farmers and our middle class. It wasnt easy, and if the democrats ever had the chance, the first thing they would do is get rid of it, raise up your taxes. Ld woodruff the president also signed an executive order and a memoranduma aimed at expanding Broadband Access and infrastructure in rural communities. The northeast finally began to thaw today, but the damage is done. The dayslong arctic blast caused a burst water pipe and flooding at j. F. K. International in new york over the weekend. Flight delays continued today. Meanwhile, jackson, mississippi faced its own water crisis after more than 100 water mains broke. Schools closed due to low water pressure. Australia, on the other hand, id enduring record heat. The summertime temperature in sydney reached 117 degrees on sunday, nearly smashing an 80 year high. Thousands packed local beaches to get some relief. The heat wave continued today, but temperatures eased somewhat, to 104 degrees. D in iran, president Hassan Rouhani called today for taking protesters concerns seriously. Rouhani is a relative moderate. E in remarks aimed at islamist hardliners, he said we cannot pick a lifestyle and tell two generations after us to livetw like that. The unrest appears to be abating after a government crackdown. A federal judge in nevada has dismissed criminal charges against cliven bundy and his sons over an armed standoff witi federal agents. It happened in 2014. Last month, the judge declared n mistrial after prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. P two of apples biggest investors are urging the company to address smartphone addiction among children. The Investment Firm Jana Partners and the california state teachers retirement system have written an open letter to apple. They cite negative effects of excessive phone use. Theyre also calling for Parental Controls to monitor phone usage. And on wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost almost 13 points to close atpo 25,283. The nasdaq rose nearly 21 points, and the s p 500 added four. Still to come on the newshour i sit down with Michael Wolff to talk his explosive new book, fire and fury. The Trump Administration rules that nearly 200,000 salvadorian, living in the u. S. Must leave. As syria looks toward a massive reconstruction project after years of war, neighboring lebanon sees an economic opportunity, and much more. Woodruff the Trump White House has been engaged in an allout battle for the past few days against a new book that paints a devastating portrait of the president. Th author Michael Wolff spent more than a year reporting on theon Trump Campaign and first year in office, and came away with 300 pages, and what he says were more than 200 interviews. The president waved, but said nothing, as he left washington today. En that, after a weekend full of comment. I consider it a work of fiction and i think its a disgrace. Woodruff on saturday, at camp david, mr. Trump denounced the book fire and fury inside the Trump White House, and pointed to supporters doing the same. They know the author and thet know hes a fraud. Woodruff the author is Michael Wolff. He depicts a white house beset by chaos, staffed by people whof question the president s fitness to serve. Economic adviser gary cohn is quoted as saying in an email that the president is an idiot surrounded by clowns who won read anything and gets up halfway through meetings with World Leaders because he is bored. Wolff writes that for National Security adviser h. R. Mcmaster, he was a dope. The book also quotes treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and former chief of staff Reince Priebus calling mr. Trump an idiot. On saturday, mr. Trump hit back on twitter, calling himself ain very stable genius. He followed up at the camp david news conference. I had a situation where i was a very excellent student. Came out and made billions and billions of dollars. Ns became one of the top businesspeople. Went to television and, for ten years, was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won. Ha woodruff on the sunday talk shows, several members of thebe Trump Administration also defended the president. C. I. A. Director mike pompeo rejected wolffs claims that the president gets bored during intelligence briefings. In those statements are just absurd. This president reads material that we provide to him. He listens closely to his daily briefing. H woodruff others, inside and outside the administration, have challenged the validity of some of whats in the book. But wolff says the situation is so alarming that white house aides have even talked about e invoking the 25th amendment to the constitution. In part, it provides for the Vice President to take over if he and most cabinet members deem the president unable to discharge his duties. Ha so the 25th amendment is a concept that is alive and well every day in the white house. Woodruff to bolster his case, the author maintains that he had relatively free access to the white house. I guess sloppy steve brought him into the white house quite a bit, and it was one of those things. Thats why sloppy steve is now looking for a job. Woodruff thats former white house chief strategist steve bannon, who was fired last summer. In the book, bannon says donald trump jr. s participation in a 2016 meeting with a russian lawyer was treasonous and unpatriotic. Late sunday, bannon apologized in a statement, pledging his unwavering support. He insisted he had not been talking about donald trump junior, but about Paul Manafort, the onetime Trump Campaign chairman. Today, wolff disputed bannons recanting and said theres no question he was talking about the president s son. For more on the explosive book and the firestorm it created, i spoke with Michael Wolff a short time ago and i asked him how different he found donald trump from the man he knew for the last 25 years, before he became president. And in some sense, not different at all. I mean, he is the same i think steve bannon calls him a big warm bear, a big warm monkey, actually, is what steve calls him. Hes you know, hes, in many ways, a man full of flattery, superficial in every respect, a salesman, and he is still that, except that hes is president of the united states. Woodruff youve been sayingics youve been writing repeatedly that the people around the president , now, including his children, are worried about him, in some cases alarmed by him. Al what are they worried will happen . I think almost anything that he does worries them because it is always unpredictable. So hes inpredictable, its extreme, its exceptional and it is outside the bounds of what one has traditionally done as the president of the united states. Woodruff well, as you know and we can go through this the president , everyone around him, is saying this is a book full of lies by an author, he says, totally discredited the u. N. Ambassador, nikki hailey over the weekend says she sees the president and his staff every week, she never sees anything like this. An how does that square with what you saw . Its absolutely untrue. I mean, i spent, you know, the better part of seven months in close proximity to everyone in the white house, and, you know, as i have said again and again and again, and i will say once more, i had no agenda. I was perfectly willing to writi a book in which donald trump was the unexpected successful president. I went into this experience jus waiting to hear what people would tell me, and what they told me, the people closest to the president , was that things became more alarming by the day, that all of them, in some way or other, were afraid, afraid for both for their own careers and for the country. They were also they just didnt know what the do, they didnt know what to expect. They woke up in the morning, ann they were, you know, something of a cold sweat. Almost all of them, for almost all of them, it was a countdown until when they could leave. Woodruff well, let me continue with some of the pushback. You quote the former white hous chief of staff katy walsh as saying trying to figure out what the president wanted was like trying to figure out what a child wants. She now says she was misquoted. Do you have her on tape . Can you prove that she said it . You know, im not going to produce tapes. I am very comfortable with how i reported what katy walsh said and, by the way, i dont say katy walsh coming out and, in fact, saying she did not say this. I think she says steve bannon,e she was quoting steve bannon or Something Like that. Li but i will and i uh will go further, there is not one person in lows proximity to the president in the west wing who has not used the term that he is like a child. Sometimes its an 11yearold, sometimes a 6yearold, sometimes a 2yearold. Always, he is viewed as a child because he is someone who needs immediate and absolute gratification when, where and when he wants it, now. Woodruff you mentioned steve bannon, central figure in the book, somebody you talked to a lot here. He did issue a statement overt the weekend, pushback, especially or drew back the comments you said he made about the president s son, don, jr. Why would he do that if hes somebody you well, i mean, first of all, he didnt. He didnt say anything that i quoted as saying was untrue or even misquoted. S what he does try to do in a very try angulated apology in which he doesnt apologize is say it wasnt about don, jr. , it was about Paul Manafort. N now, there was the quote which he doesnt denyi in which i quoe him as saying that don, jr. J would be cracked like an egg on national television. Well, he doesnt dispute that. And, in fact, while he certainly included Paul Manafort among this group of hapless people who were who steve also thought might be committing treason, it was very much focused on don, jr. He explained that what happened, that whole meeting in trump tower came about because don, jr. Was trying to impress his father so his father would give him more authority in the campaign. I absolutely stand my ground. R woodruff given what you saw in the white house and what youve reported on, whats your sense of the Mueller Investigation . Do you believe it will prose proof thatnr thisll y president colluded in some way with the russians . You know, i have no way of knowing that. And i can only report what people in the whouse told me, and what people in the white house told me is that, actually, they tend not to give full credence to the idea of collusion, at least a grand strategy of collusion. There might be, like don, jr. , some hapless collusion, but they all, again, to a man believe that if this investigation goes to the president s financial history, then the president ni is in trouble and his family is in trouble. Woodruff the conventional wisdom, Michael Wolff, is that general kelly has brought a measure of calm and order to the white house since he arrived in august. Could it be well, let me just stop you there and go over the history of the last five days, the common order of the president trying to prior to restrain impose a prior restraint on the t presentation of a book, the president going out and constantly tweeting i mean,n, attacking an author, attacking a his former subordinates, and then coming out and saying that he was, in fact, sane. I mean, this is not a white house and not a president that t has been restrained and had discipline imposed on him. Woodruff and yet you write, you say that the president and general kelly have contempt for ea other . Yeah. And that comes as anr surprise . Yeah, anyway, absolutely. Woodruff move on to the president s daughter ivanka, her husband jared, he plays a major role in this book. Ro do you see them still as influential in this white houseo as they were earlier on . You know, i think that they are spending a considerable amount of time on their own on their own legal issues. I think. General kelly has taken significant steps to contain their influence, but, yes, they are still the most influential people in the Trump White House. Woodruff te the 25t 25th amendment, youve said that this is a subject of conversation in the white housei this has to do with the Vice President , the majority of the cabinet agreeing the Vice President should take over ifniv the president cant dische his job. S do you know that that has been privately discussed by principals in the white house now . Yes, absolutely. Woodruff who are now lets go nr and as ive now as ive outlined as ive described this before, it is in the matter of people, say because, you know, theres this constant kind of commentary on what trump has done, how to explain this. H and, so, i first started to hear this, theyd say, okay, that was weird, maybenr not 25t 25th amendment weird, but weird. And then it would be, okay, were moving closer to 25t 25th amendment kind of stuff. In other words, it becomesc almost a term of art within the white house of how to measure whether trump is at anyco given moment. Woodruff two other quick things, Michael Wolff. Mi if things are as bad, as you say, as you write that they arey in this administration, why havent there been resignations on principle from the top levels of this administration . You know, i mean, i thinki its a good question and, certainly, as an outsider, yout would fairly ask that question of everyone. The truth is that many of the people find themselves in this situation and begin to see themselves as the people who impose some kind of logic and order on this white house, thats they almost stand protecting the president , they stand betweennd the American People and the president. They are there in some and i think that this isni unexpectede for them all because theyre all ambitious people they have suddenly become people with a patriotic duty. Woodruff and finally, have you heard from people in the t white house, in thee Administration Since the bookh came out . What are they saying to you privately . They are saying theh context that i continue to have, and a great many of the people i spoke to inxd this book are no longer with the administration, of course, but what i do here, as the president is bouncing off the walls with this book, he really takes it as a mortal threat. Woodruff Michael Wolff, the book is fire and fury inside the Trump White House. Michael wolff, thank you very much. Thank you. Chff woodruff President Trump has made another consequential decision regarding immigrants in this country. The administration announced it is ending a program that gave temporary status to hundreds of thousands of people from el salvador. As Lisa Desjardins explains, their protected status will end by september 2019. Desjardins the u. S. Gave salvadorans this status to help after devastating earthquakes hit in 2001. Its the latest group to face possible deportation in thep future. The Trump Administration has so far announced it would also end this temporary status for migrants from honduras, nicaragua and haiti. In total, that would affect nearly 400,000 people in the u. S. , the Largest Group is over 250,000 from el salvador. For more, im joined by dara lind, who covers immigration for vox. In thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, lisa Laquan Mcdonald lets start with what the Trump Administration says theyre doing. What are arehe they doing this now . Is. So the administration has taken the attitudeno that as log as theth initial disaster foy which they gave t. P. S. , in this case the earthquake in el salvador in 2001, as long as the country has recovered from that sufficiently, they dont see any reason to grant protections for people to stay and work in the u. S. They have analyzed and decided el salvador has recovered from the 2001 earthquake and not paid attention to the considerations previous administrations had of how long people have been in the u. S. , the fact that at this point theyve put down roots that many of them now have u. S. Citizen children that had previously prevented other president s from stripping legal status from people. Desjardins t. P. S. , temporary protected status. Pr its interesting they removing this status now for el salvadorians. President trump last year warned people not to travel to. N one of the highest homicide rates in the world. He how does the Administration Square telling americans not to go there but this one group of people need to return there . Its interesting they didnty todays press call, stein yore Administration Officials were asked about in particularcu m. S. 13 which has been a mange rhetorical target of this administration and has its home base in el salvador and made it claire they didnt see the danger as being sufficient to prevent people from going back. The irony is theyre bragging about deporting ms13 gang members back to el salvador and today said the sending them back is squaring the circle. Desjardins saying this is a temporary status and the time sup now but you implied how is that different from what other president s have done . Other president s have not sient as temporary even though its called temporary . The reason the temporary protected status has been such a problem for previous administrations is there isnt a way to get ais green card or get permanent residency in the u. S. From having temporary status. So the chouse has been do you strip legal stats from people who have been working in the u. S. For years, or do you continue to punt the ball down the road arguing that recovery is taking a while or other things have changed . A previous administrations havev taken the second option, the Trump Administration is takingat the first option. As you said, taking this very letter of the law approach without making any considerations for, say, the almost 200,000 u. S. Bornmo children forks the kind of communities that have grown up. This is 16 of all el salvadorians in the u. Sia that they are sale the reason for us giving you status is gone and taking that away. Ki desjardins advocates say s many have children andni mortgas here. What are their options at this point . The administration gave 18v months more they can apply for one last work permit to figure out their operations. At that point, if they have spouses that are legal residents or u. S. Citizens or childrenni above age 21, they have people who will be able to petition for them to get green cards. Other than that, its going to t be a question of whether they can find some other way to potentially get status into the u. S. Desjardins thats the minority, probably. Ab right, its very difficult for someone to go from not having an obvious pathway to being able to stay in the u. S. So the choice facing most of them is really who they go into the shadows and become unauthorized mrgts orco go backo el salvador. Its not like they are forced to goni back. The Trump Administration probably is not going to deport all 250,000 people the day after their work permits expire, but the choice of becomen an unauthorized immigrant certainly doesnt come without its risks lng one last question quickly,i how are the countries involved i in this reacting . In is this changing the way they see the u. S. Or no . The relationship between theo Trump Administration and a lotat of latin american countries has been a little bit fraught, not least because to have the way the administration describes the m. S. 13 gang problem and saying the El Salvadoran government hasnt don enough about it, the administration considered the americafirst ideology to be thd center of it an its managed its relationships with otherth countries around that. A desjardins dara lind for vox, thank you for joining us. Sure. Woodruff stay with us, coming up on the newshour the Golden Globes get real a look at a monumental night in hollywood. Our politics monday team get us up to speed on whats happened, and whats next. And how art can address the lasting impacts of violence. But first, syrias grinding civil war has led to destruction on an astonishing scale. Great swaths of syria lie in ruins. But now, plans for rebuilding are beginning to take shape. Ar as special correspondent Jane Ferguson reports from neighboring lebanon, its a task that will be haunted by the divisions that tore syria apart. Reporter the devastation of nearly seven punishing years of war in syria is massive, second only to the terrible human suffering, is the loss of homes, infrastructure. Entire towns and cities. The United Nations predicts it will cost at least 250 billion to rebuild and repair the battered country. But across the border in lebanon, some see opportunity people in the coastal city of tripoli are hoping reconstruction projects pass through here. In a country still trying to recover from its own civil waru which ended in 1990, a generation ago. Investment and jobs are desperately needed here. H on the location of tripoli is very important. From history tripoli is very important city for the commercial and trade of syria and iraq. Reporter dr. Ahmad tamer is the manager of tripolisam commercial port. An expansion project has already begun here, with the ports ability to process four million tons of goods expected to reach six million within the next two years. That, he says, will help it act as an import hub for goods and Construction Materials on their way into syrian cities. Its very close to syria border so we can present all kinds of services for the trader, for everything, for syria. Reporter tripoli is a half hour drive from the syrian border, and has acted as a crucial import hub for syrian cities such as nearby homs for generations. Historically we live from trade and we are very flexible to deal with any situation. Reporter fawaz hamidi runs the special projects department in tripolis chamber of commerce. The citys businesses, he says, are poised to enjoy a boom from syrias reconstruction. We have a long history of trade in tripoli. Po effectively tripolitans are traders and our historical role used to service syria, iraq and even the gulf, through the mediterranean. Rv in the region we are different in the way that we can create a link between east and west. N reporter Small Businesses in tripoli are also hoping to benefit. In the ancient old quarter of the city, Khaled Halepi runs a curtains and fabric store. He is a proud, Third Generation shopowner, and is confident traders like him will be in high demand once reconstructionil starts. Now all the factories in syria are gone. Go so they will take their products from tripoli. We are the gate. Reporter you feel that way even for yourself . Yeah, even for myself. H, curtains, textiles, carpets everything. They have new homes they need everything. Reporter you can see markets opening up for you in homs, aleppo. Homs, especially homs. Ngr op they are the nearest to tripoli, homs needs everything. All the factories are gone. They need everything. Reporter it might not be that simple however. After six years of sectarian war, commerce is now political. Assad and his family are allied with shia forces. The opposition in syria is predominantly sunni, as are the people in tripoli. The Business Community here hasy had strong ties to syria for generations. But many in this largely sunni city backed the opposition when the war broke out in syria. That could mean they are shut out of reconstruction efforts by the surviving syrian governmente reporter old relations between sunni lebanese traders and syrians might well be outri dated now, says economist sami nader. What we have seen in place, its a total transformation of the demography in syria. There is no more sunni in homsun for instance. Usually the economic access or the economic trade route was tripolihoms, being the two big sunni cities. In homs for instance, there is a total transformation of the demographics. The social fabrics have changed. Are the sunnis today of tripoli the ideal partners to deal with a proassad regime businessman . Im not sure of that. Reporter instead, lucrative contracts are likely to go tont those who backed the assad regime. Iran and russia helped save Bashar Al Assads rule, sending their militaries and proxies, like lebanons powerful hezbollah militia, to fight for his government. s as a literal form of payback, business deals are now being signed. Last year 1 billion worth of deals on construction, oil, gas and mining went to russia. Companies linked to the Iranian Revolutionary guards signed deals this year in telecommunications and they are already rebuilding syrias power grid. At the u. S. Has said it wont contribute funds until there is a political process to replace assad. That looks increasingly unlikely. Leaving western countries and others opposed to his rule facing a dilemma how to Fund Reconstruction in syria without helping assad and his loyalists. In the meantime, the system will remain a corrupt one, based on who you know. And businesses from places like tripoli, where they opposed assad, could struggle. If we dont have in syria a h governance system that will ensure a fair trade relationship someone that will abide by thee rule of law not by the rule of some, and by the rule of mafia t i dont see tripoli taking great advantage of this effort of reconstruction. Reporter Business Leaders here say they arent discouraged. Whoever is there and whatever is going to happen, we have no enemies in the region. Not on the east and not in the west and not inland and not inno the arab world. We are friends with everybody and we are open to do business with everybody. Reporter its still not known who will fund the reconstruction effort in syria. Much less oversee such anor enormous task. Separating business from politics after such a bitter war may very well be all but impossible. For the pbs newshour, im Jane Ferguson, in tripoli, lebanon. Woodruff last night hollywood held its biggest awards ceremony since the Harvey Weinstein stories first broken and since the me too hashtag grew into a national and Even International conversation. Theres a new antiharassment effort in the industry known ass times up. As Jeffrey Brown reports, those sentiments were out in full force at the Golden Globes, superceding the awardsn themselves. Good evening ladies andd remaining gentlemen. Brown it was a night of pointed statements. From the allblack wardrobes, to the times up buttons, to the acceptance speeches,nc the 2018 Golden Globes centered on female empowerment. It follows a year in which waves of Sexual Misconduct allegations rippled through hollywood, sparking responses like the me too movement. Some activists from the Campaign Even accompanied severalm actresses last night. Nicole kidman set the shows tone early on, as she took the award for best actress in a limited tv series, for her role on hbos big little lies. I do believe and i hope we can elicit change through the stories we tell and the way we tell them. Lets keep the conversation alive. Lets do it. Brown one by one, actresses and filmmakers took the stage with their own messages of gender equality. I want to thank everyone who broke their silence this yearwh and spoke up about abuse and harassment. You are so brave. Ar time is up. We see you, we hear you, and wee will tell your stories. We no longer live in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. An p we no longer live in the gaps between the stories. We are the story in print, and we were writing the story ourselves. He brown Frances Mcdormand won best actress in a Motion Picture drama, for her performance in three billboards outside ebbino missouri. It was really great to be in this room tonight and to be part of a tectonic shift in our industrys power structure. Brown the awards themselves even drew fire on the issue,re as Actress Natalie portman presented the honor for best director in a Motion Picture. Ss and here are the allmale nominees. Brown but the nights most talkedabout moment surely came from oprah winfrey, who accepted the Golden Globes cecil b. Demille award for career. Achievement. I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed ane bills to pay and dreams to pursue. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up. cheers and applause their time is up. I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon. cheers and applause and when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, manyni of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, m too again. Thank you. Brown reactions online, to oprahs speech and the show as a whole, were largely positive, but some were critical. This morning, nbcs megyn kelly expressed skepticism. Its that industry writ large that has lectured flyover country for a long, long time about values only to, it turnsy out, have a massive value problem itself. So i do wonder about the impact of last night and how great it can possibly be. Ec tavito b brown and as for oprah herself, the remarks fueled speculation, and calls online, for a president ial run in 2020. Her longtime partner told the Los Angeles Times she would absolutely do it. Lu for the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown. Y woodruff and now, to our regular politics monday duo, amy walter of the Cook Political Report and tamarak keith of npr not just to discuss that speculation about oprah and 2020, but also the firestorm over fire and fury,t politics monday. Welcome to both of you. Im going to ask you about the oprah speculation, but, tam, lets first talk about the book that led the program, fire and fury, Michael Wolff getting an enragedoutraged reaction from the whiteen house. What difference is this book making and what are we really learning from it . In part, this book has gained as much traction as it has because the ground was plowedo ahead of it by news reporting,rt by lots of journalists who covev this white house, who have reported various anecdotes, often without, you know, direct quotes, but have reported many of these same ideas leading up to this point. If this book had just come out of nowhere, it may not have hada so much traction. The other reason its getting traction and people are talking about it is because of theit president of the united states, because President Trump is talking aboutof it, because, thanks to this book, you get a fox news segment where theyre talking about the president s fitness for office, and then you get President Trump saying hes a stable genius. Woodruff so, amy, how does it fit into what we know . Its really interesting because this is the sort of thing you would say what are th consequences of this . Ns the one thing you will look for has it it mr. The republicanmr party, has it encouraged any republicans to stand up and say, you know what, now that i hear about this im going to put my hand up and say its time for us to split from the president. Obviously not only has it not happened, but now youre seeing some of the president s critics even coming observe to television and defending him. Republicans like lindsey graham, senator graham from South Carolina on the talk showo this weekend talking about theb work that hes doing with the president. Hes been a big critic. Bob corker, whos been another lorngterm critic on the plane with the president today, another headed to tennessee. So youre not seeing the split within the party, the only split youre seeing is between steve bannon and the president. Woodruff but as we heard and have been reading everywhere, tam, there are some pretty disturbing pieces of commentary in here about the president , and he said i mean, when he talked to me, 200 interviews, he lived in theth white house, practically, for a year. Does it just go away into the ether and have no consequence at all . I think that one of thequ things that the president sni allies have said thats based in a lot of reality is that the president s fitness, President Trumps temperament was litigated significantly s during the campaign. Hillary clinton talked about,l you know, a man you can baiti with a tweet, do you want him to have his finger on the button . This was a matter of much debate in the president ial campaign and enough voters in the right states pulled the lever for this for President Trump, knowing basically not much more not much less than this book tells us. I also think this is sort of a preview of whats to come in a posttrump world and, at some point, donald trump is not inal the white house, and theres going to be debate over what is the Republican Party without thr man known as donald trump, is there still trumpism. Thats where you see bannon and this book sort of taking the baton, right im the person whos going to lead the party to the next place, im the one who is the person with the ideas about populism and nationalism, i captured this and i think youre going to see, then, as we move beyond, you know, thesee next four, eight, whatever many years, what is the Republican Party really a year into this presidency and were already having debates about what trumpism looks like, but that just goes to show the pace with which were in. Shes running. I thought this is a joke i can make open twitter that 5,000 other people are making at the same time, imhe not going to me it. But the fact that people are in some ways a Freshman Center for illinois made it possible for someone who didnt have a traditional resume for someone who have a resume and win. It felt like anybody else. The audience last night heard it. The other thing thats interesting for all of us to talk about is it was a very political speech, donald trump sees name was not mentioned. What she was giving voice to is something which is the growing idea that women are playing in society at large. We started 2017 with the womens march, we moved into talk about women getting more involved in politics and, of course, we hava Harvey Weinstein and all those together in a way that was more aspirational and inspirational than it was it had the contours of a sub speech. It makes us think the Metoo Movement is here to stay. Guess whose name is connected to 2020. Joe biden, and that was part of it. They have to step up. ni there are women who are planning to run for office in 2018 who are off the charts, so notefully belie, most of them are democrats. Yeah. Something that democrats didnt have in 2016. Oprah winfrey in line, the superstar. Democrats didnt have one of those. A joe biden. Someone who could talk to the white working class. So are filling the void in 20161 we dont know whats going to happen in 2020. So its the movement of the message and its also clear if you look at the data and the polling it resonates much more with the democrats base than the republican base, this issue. Is woodruff 2020 is just five minutes away. I know. Woodruff thank you both. T youre welcome. Woodruff next, an artistic response to a divided society. Jeffrey brown takes us to new york for a look at a recent day long project titled, the shape of things. Brown there was music, and movement. A full day and night of art and talk. The public event, titled, the shape of things, featured more than 50 artists and thinkers who engage social issues in their work. Wellestablished figures such as Anna Devere Smith jazz pianist jason moran. Ig i want to ask you where you feel safest on the internet. Brown it was held at the historic park avenue armory in manhattan, built in 1880 to showcase and i honor military might, but now an exhibition space for visual and performing art. Ry how are artists responding, how are artists maintaining a level of dignity, hope and progress and work in the face of this devastating violence. I want to know what that looks like. Brown the evenings host, artist Carrie Mae Weems, called this a convening. This brings together, i think, an Extraordinary Group of people who are thinking deeply about the moment in which we h inwaks e op live and are as concerned as i am about addressing it. T each of us has to figure out how, in our own lives and in our own work. Us brown the 64 yearold weems is best known for her photography and, through it, her exploration of history, race, and power. We first spoke in 2014 when she became the first African American woman given a solo exhibition at the prestigious guggenheim museum. Among the works on display the 1995 series, from here i saw what happened and i cried, where weems altered 19th century photographs of slaves. And the 1990 Kitchen Table series, in which weems herself is a character in a set of carefully constructed scenes from a womans life. In recent years shes taken the aspect of performance further, to a theater piece she created called grace notes, a response to the 2015 murder of nine members of a black church in charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist. For the armory event, weems set a theme for the day, what she called the history of violence. Th i think its important to examine what violence is, how violence disrupts and dislocates, fragments not onlycn the self, the person, but also the society. Brown the participants picked up on that in a variety of ways. E today, 2. 3 Million People are in prison. Brown adam foss, a former prosecutor in boston, spoke on mass incarceration and the need for criminal justice reformus one in three black men born today will spend some time in prison. Bl brown navid and vassiliki khonsari, whove developed leading video games, showed a new Virtual Reality experience to put people in violente settings to see how theyd respond. And poet aja monet read her poem called the first time about an interaction she witnessed between her teenaged brother and a Police Officer. I was a child, not more than 12 and my brother was maybe 15 or so. And this Police Officer stopped us and felt really entitled to question us, interrogate us. And i noticed the demeanor in me and my brother change and i noticed how that made him feel and how it made me feel to watch that in him. Brown the 30yearold monet lives in southern florida and has worked with Carrie Mae Weems before. Eain if carrie asks you, you dont say no, you just say yes. Brown another young artist saying yes was john edmonds, who showed a series of photographsmo of young black men. There is a different way of entering and thinking about politics and you know political art, art thats not blatantlynk about sort of sending a message but more so inviting the viewerd to kind of contemplate on their own sort of mindset. Brown do you think an artist has a responsibility to addressd political issues overtly . Its an artists responsibility to be mindful of the Political Climate there, because photographs and imagesrt they; have a great amount of power. Brown that iclimate for te people here meant a response toe growing divisions within the country. For me donald trump has really brought something forward to bear on us all. Hes brought forward very clear ideas about what america should and shouldnt be, at a moment and for that reason i think that his election has been absolutely remarkable and necessary because it lays bare the clarity of the moment and how splintered the country is and what people are really fighting around. H brown are you worried that this is more like preaching to the choir here . No, no, even the liberal, the progressive side, there is grappling with who they are in relationship to this moment as well. Brown has anything changed in terms of your sense of you as an artist, youranen responsibilities . No, its only deepened. O, i do think that as i mature and i age, i think more of creating these spaces, of widening the path, making sure that im widening the path and being clear about that so that others can do their work more easily in the future. Brown weems says she wants to build on the shape of o things project, in her own work, and through future collaborations with other artists and presenters who took part. And ive loved you from a distance brown for the pbs newshour, im Jeffrey Brown at the park avenue armory in new york. Woodruff and tonight on the newshour online, does Sexual Misconduct training work . As more Companies Double down on Sexual Harassment policies in the wake of the me too movement, we asked training experts about whats effective, whats not,dut and the challenges ahead. Read more at pbs. Org newshour. All that and more is on our web site, pbs. Org newshour. Or and thats the newshour for tonight. On tuesday, a look at the debate over teachers selling theirok lesson plans. Im judy woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening. For all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. U major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by babbel. A language app that teaches reallife conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. Babbels 1015 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. Chs information on babbel. Com. E funding provided in part by 20th century fox. The post, in theaters everywhere january 12. Un and by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. Frv supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Oro d ve and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Coro tyo captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Orgh. Today on americas test kitchen, bridget and julia share the secrets to a simple stovetop macaroni and cheese, dan reveals the Science Behind whisking, adam reveals his top pick for large saucepans, lisa tests lid holders, and becky makes julia foolproof turkey meatloaf. Its all coming up on americas test kitchen. Americas test kitchen is brought to you by the following. Ive always been a big believer