Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240703

We are in a very consequential moment in american history. The more voices we can have in this sphere, the more beneficial it will be in the long run. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. These are people who are trying to change the world. Startups have this energy that energizes me. I am thriving by helping others every day. People who know know bdo. The Walton Family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during Climate Change so people and nature can thrive together. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Geoff welcome to the newshour. The federal government is edging closer this evening to a saturday night shutdown with still no sign of a way out. Amna House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy called today for trying again on a stopgap azure with spending cuts and tougher border security. The house is working on passing 73 of all the appropriation bills for the job we are supposed to be by thursday. We are bringing up on friday ability to fund the government but at the same time secure our borders so yes, we are doing our job. Amna hard right republicans already refused a shortterm measure and it is unclear if they will back mccarthys play. Geoff Chuck Schumer pushed a bipartisan continuing resolution today to Fund Operations into november. We cannot have members trying lastminute delay tactics. In respect shutdown. The and risk a shutdown. It is a sensible and bipartisan bill. Amna Mitch Mcconnell also supported the resolution. He said closing the government will achieve nothing. Geoff seven candidates hold their second debate tonight. They will meet at the reagan president ial library in simi valley, california. Former President Trump will not be there. Instead, he will be speaking to striking auto workers and others just outside detroit at a nonunion auto supplier. A federal judge in washington today rejected former President Trumps request that she recuse herself from his election subversion case. Mr. Trump had accused judge Tanya Chutkan of making biased statements against him. He is accused of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 president ial election results. Senator bob menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty today to federal corruption charges. The new jersey democrat said nothing as he left a courthouse in new york after the arraignment. Hes accused of taking bribes of cash and gold to aid egyptian interests and local businessmen. More than half of all Senate Democrats are now calling for menendez to step down. An american soldier who fled to north korea in july is now back in u. S. Custody. Army private travis king was taken to china today and transferred to american officials. In washington, a state Department Spokesman said sweden helped arrange kings release, but he played down any talk of a thaw in relations with north korea. I would not see this as a sign of some breakthrough. I think it is a oneoff. We did not give them anything, we made no concessions as part of securing his return. Geoff king was flown to a u. S. Military base in south korea and was headed back to the u. S. Mainland. He had been convicted of assault before bolting across the border between the koreas. Now, he faces military punishment for going awol. The mass exodus of Ethnic Armenians out of nagornokarabakh is still accelerating tonight, after azerbaijan recaptured the region. Armenian officials estimate more than 50,000 people have fled into armenia since the weekend. Many endured hourslong traffic jams on the road out. In northern iraq, authorities are investigating whether indoor fireworks caused an inferno that killed some 100 people at a wedding hall last night. Mourners gathered today at funerals for several of the victims. The search for bodies continued with a number of people still missing. My brother and my wife are dead, but two of my daughters are missing. We searched all of mosul, but nothing. We were all sitting here, and my wife went to the bathroom. She and my brother werent burned at all, they suffocated. Just suffocated in the bathroom. Geoff state media reported an arrest warrant has been issued for the owners. The socalled superbugs kill more than one Million People worldwide each year. The new Initiative Came as the president met with science and Technology Advisors in san francisco. Data suggests the problem of drugresistant bacteria worsened during the pandemic. Automakers hyundai and kia are recalling more than 3 million vehicles in the u. S. They say a brake fluid leak could touch off fires in the engine compartments. The affected models are cars and ners are advised to park19. Outdoors until repairs are complete. And on wall street, stocks struggled to find direction as investors worried about Rising Oil Prices and interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 68 points to close at 33,550. The nasdaq rose 29 points. The s p 500 was virtually unchanged. Still to come on the newshour, former white house aide Cassidy Hutchinson speaks out about her time in the Trump Administration Judy Woodruff talks with a political theorist calling for Sweeping Changes to how the government operates and the war in ukraine reshapes russian influence in slovakia ahead of its elections. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna as the nation moves closer to a Government Shutdown there , is still no clear path for funding the government either ahead of or following the deadline this weekend. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins has more. Lisa whenever a deal is ultimately struck to avoid a shutdown or reopen the government, its highly likely that moderate republicans will feature prominently. New york congressman mike lawler is one of them. He represents parts of the hudson valley, where he grew up and where he worked in government and politics for years before flipping a seat for republicans and entering congress this year. Thank you for joining us. This is a baffling situation for many americans. I wonder, how do you think House Republicans i know you can be blunt about this look to americans right now . Rep. Lawler some of my colleagues have created a situation that has undermined our ability to govern. And people are frustrated including many of my colleagues and myself. But we are working through it. As responsible people do. And try to get us to a place where we can pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and open while we negotiate through the appropriations process. Mike rawlings and i have not disagreed about the need to cut spending. This administration increased spending by 5 trillion in two years in spending, totally unsustainable. We have to raining spending. We all agree on rein in spending. We all agree on that. We have to do single subject Appropriations Bills and get back to the regular practice of budgeting which hasnt been done in nearly 30 years. There is not disagreement there. The challenge is when you are trying to make these changes in the process, when you are trying to get people to recognize the need to go line by line, agency by agency, department by department, it takes time. Its not realistic to think that we are going to pass all 12 Appropriations Bills by september 30, both the house and senate go to conference, come to an agreement, repast them, and have it repass them and have it go. Keep the government funded while we work through that process. Lisa there are a dozen House Republicans. I spoke to some this morning who said they would not support a cr. The votes are not there for that kind of solution. You and four moderates could force through that kind of a bill joining the democrats if you want to. This morning, pete aguilar said you all are just letting this continue. It is incredibly frustrating that socalled moderates time and time again have an inability to stand up to their leadership. We lack the will of socalled moderates. I know you heard this from all sides. At what point do you seriously consider having to get on board any sort of vehicle to end a possible shutdown . Its fresh coming from anybody in the democratic leadership who allowed nancy pelosi to rule with an iron fist and never stood up to either leadership or the left wing of their party. I will continue to speak out both within the conference and publicly about the need to come to an agreement on a continuing resolution and as i have said repeatedly, if my colleagues within the republican majority are unwilling or refuse to compromise within the conference , then they will leave folks like me with no choice but to advance forward a bipartisan cr through the house. Any final cr obviously is going to be bipartisan given the fact that the democrats control the senate and the white house is controlled by President Biden. A refusal on the part of House Republicans to pass acr at least as an initial offering weakens our hand and the hand of the speaker when it comes to negotiation. The reality is if a shutdown occurs, President Biden will make it as painful as possible to exert as much political pressure on House Republicans. To me, this is not the way to negotiate. Its not the way to rein in spending. It is not the way to deal with the crisis at the border and we need to be able to pass things through the house and so i have said repeatedly that i will do everything i can to avoid a shutdown and minimize any potential damage to my constituents. And i have no problem crossing the aisle to do that. As the democrats sit here and say these moderates are not doing anything, you know, they are actively campaigning in my district, spending millions of dollars attacking me and others about the shutdown before it even begins. That speaks volumes to where their head is at. They frankly would like nothing more than to have a shutdown. Lisa the Congressional Research Service Estimates there are 6000 federal employees in your district. I know that you will probably hear from them. How frustrating is this for you at this point . Rep. Lawler at the end of the day, you have to be smart strategically when you are dealing with negotiations. We are a divided government. There is a difference of opinion between House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the white house when it comes to spending. When it comes to border security. And the American People elected us to serve as a check and balance, but if you cannot pass things through the house, it makes is very difficult to negotiate. So the frustration lies with the fact that a handful of my colleagues would rather grind the place to a halt then govern than govern and that advance our priorities. But when you have some folks like matt gaetz who refuse to work as a team, it certainly makes it very difficult. Lisa we will stay in close touch in the coming days. Thank you. Rep. Lawler thank you. Geoff the federal trade commision and 17 states have brought a sweeping lawsuit against amazon, accusing it of violating antitrust laws. Its the federal governments latest suit aimed at curbing the power of big tech the ftc and the states allege amazon has illegally built and maintained a monopoly that harms its customers and competitors. Amazon does this in part, the ftc says, by essentially punishing and strongarming thirdparty sellers if they offer lower prices elsewhere or dont use amazons addon services. More than 160 million americans have a prime membership, and the companys net revenue last year was half a trillion dollars. To explain more about the case, were joined by john newman, Deputy Director of the ftcs bureau of competition. Who is leading this case. Welcome to the newshour john thank you so much, geoff. Its great to be here. Geoff so, as we said the ftc alleges that amazon illegally wields monopoly power by maintaining higher prices, harming customers weakening competition. How exactly does it do that in your view . John well, in the view of the commission and not just the commission. But 17 state attorneys general joined with us in this case, amazon is engaged in a set of tactics. Its not just one thing, and its not just two things. Its really a set of tactics, and they all work together. Now they have different facets. They have slightly different aspects. They have somewhat different effects on different people. But the upshot is all the same all to prevent any rivals from threatening amazons power by competing on the merits by offering lower prices by Offering Better Service all the things that we Want Companies to do and a Free Enterprise system. Amazon has taken great pains and engaged in an interconnected set of tactics to stamp out and what that does is keep amazon really, really big and powerful and prevent anyone else from gaining the scale that would be needed to actually meaningfully compete against amazon. Geoff amazon calls this lawsuit, quote, wrong on the facts and the law in a amazon calls this lawsuit, quote, wrong on the facts and the law. In a statement, it further says if the ftc gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from higher prices. Slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for Small Business is the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do. How does the ftc characterized amazon as a monopoly when, according to government data, the Company Accounts for less than a third of total ecommerce sales in the u. S. Over the last four quarters and has the thinnest operating margins of its big tech peers . John well, what you have to do to really understand the way the amazon competes and the way that hymns on stamps out competition. Look at who amazon competes closest against. So in some vague sense, it may be true that everybody competes with everybody. But thats really not what you want to understand. If you wanted to understand how these markets work, and how these markets work is the amazon competes closest against other online superstars. Big online superstores offer a variety of products, not just one thing, not just a few things, but a variety of products that consumers want. And in that market, amazon is a big dominant monopoly. They have, our complaint alleges, as high as 82 of that market, and that makes amazon extremely important, crucial , critical for sellers because so many people are shopping on amazons online superstore. Sellers need to reach those people, and they end up needing to use amazons marketplace. And so we also alleged the amazon is a monopolist over sellers in a different market called the online Marketplace Services market. So in our view, its wrong on the facts and the law to set amazon up as competing against literally everybody else in the world. Thats just not how the law works. Its not how the economics work either. Geoff so what is the proper remedy then . Does the ftc want to see amazon broken up into Smaller Companies . John so geoff, this complaint, which the Commission Voted out unanimously and is joined by 17 states, is really about describing the facts that could give a court reason to find liability. This complaint takes great pains. It does so in great detail. It describes amazons conduct and thats really the purpose of a complaint is to really set forth facts that can give rise to liability, and so the court could find that the law is violated. And the complaint doesnt ask for relief, and its in keeping with the great traditions of antitrust law that relief for a violation does include stopping the illegal conduct. It also includes restoring the lost competition and we look out and we see and a lot of sellers see, and a lot of americans see a Competitive Landscape that has been really badly distorted. In favor of one dominant player. So if weve done our job at the end of all this, and this will be a lengthy proceeding. There will be a trial at the end of it. But at the end of all of this, a judge should if weve done our job correctly order relief that will restore the lost competition. Geoff the ftc has lost several high profile battles against big businesses, including microsofts purchase of division, and met of act ivision and metas takeover of a vr startup. What are the stakes as you see them not just for the marketplace, but also for the ftc . John you know, i think the stakes are very high. But its not so much because of the ftcs win loss record, although all stuck our rap record up against any past administrations, the stakes are high here because this case affects so many people. You know, im just im a student advantage trust history, as are most of us here at the federal trade commission, and i can say that the very, very seldom in the history of the u. S. Antitrust laws, which goes back over 100 years, has there been one case that could do so much good for so many people. Thats why the stakes are high here. Geoff we should say weve also invited amazon to sit down with us as well. John newman is Deputy Director of the ftcs bureau of competition. Thanks so much for your time and for your insights this evening. Hn thank you, geoff. Amna Cassidy Hutchinson made history last summer delivering explosive testimony before the january 6 committee. As a top aide to President Trumps chief of staff, mark meadows, hutchinson had a front row seat to the final months of the trump white house. She details what it was like to break with trumpworld in her new book, enough. I sat down with her earlier today. Thank you for joining us. Your life changed dramatically over a year ago and it has been over a year, but just big picture, how are you doing today . Cassidy im doing pretty well today. I spent the last year, 15 monthsish pretty much very private so i sort of went kind of overnight from living privately with my dog, george, to being on national television, which was a little bit of an abrupt adjustment. But i feel good about it and i feel good about what we are doing and the larger conversation at hand here. Amna life in the white house was a world away from where you grew up. A kid from new jersey. For 20 something to suddenly be in the halls of power with the most powerful people. You enjoined mark meadows t fortin team when he became chief of staff. It is fair to say you are in the inner circle and i wonder how that kind of she routed to your sense of this idea of loyalty we hear again and again. Cassidy i took a job in legislative affairs knowing that i wanted to pursue a career in Public Service and that my loyalty was to my country. When i took the job with mark meadows, i still have that mindset, that conversation with him that my loyalty and my duty and obligations were to the office of the chief of staff, not mark meadows as an individual, and i still felt that loyalty but i also felt it towards the principles that i served. And that is a notion that is expected in trump world and when you full to from that, you were seen as somebody that you have a target on your back. You become subjected to either donald trump attacking you or you get exiled from that world. Amna it sounds like a really oppressive environment. Is that the right word . Cassidy in hindsight, looking back now with the perspective that i have, i would say suffocating in a way because again, i found myself in a position where i was in staunch disagreement with what happened on january 6 and i was fairly vocal about that. I was actually very vocal about that after january 6. I also still felt that lingering sense of loyalty to donald trump, to the administration. But i spent a year and a half overcoming that and that is how i ultimately that is really why i decided to write the book is because i wanted people to understand that i didnt just magically appear in that chair on june 28 and it was not its not im not saying this to be patting myself on the back. A lot of this is not flattering for me. There are a lot of things looking back now that i have this perspective that i wish i had at the time but im happy with where i am at now. Amna hindsight is 2020 but you do touch on a number of times when you are in the white house and you see things that give you pause and you think, what is going on here . The one that stuck out to me was mark meadows repeatedly burning documents in his office. He would walk in and always had a fire going and you did not know what he was burning. Did you ever think, i should tell someone about this . Cassidy in the moment, no. Amna why not . Cassidy on one hand, yes, it was abnormal. Yes, i was aware that that was not what he should be doing, but what i think is difficult for people to understand, and rightfully so, almost every moment of every day was sort of a hair on fire moment. I was going in there, sometimes delivering lunch, but i also had a list of things to talk about. I knew there were things that were wrong. It gave me an unsettling feeling and caused me pause. The person that i would have talked to about that naturally would have been mark meadows but you know, at that time, it wasnt something that i was going to raise because i also did not feel that i would either get an honest answer or something that would be a productive conversation. Amna you did not feel it would go anywhere. Cassidy mark meadows was a grown man and i had a job and my job had a purpose but the purpose of my job was not to police and control every single one of his actions. Looking back now, should i have said something . Possibly. Would that have changed anything . I dont know. But what i do know is that i can forward truthfully and honestly, and i have been candid and honest. I dont know what those documents were. But Bigger Picture here, these are the same people that are avoiding subpoenas or avoiding testifying. They are also the same people that have all this information. I can forward with what i know hopefully to give other people the opportunity to come forward with their stories and what they know. Amna you have just gotten a subpoena to testify before the Committee Investigating january 6 and you cannot find or afford a lawyer at that point so you end up relying on trump world to pay for one and until you free yourself from that lawyer, you are basically told, the less you know, the better, but then you change your testimony when you get a new lawyer, right . Tell me about that, why . Cassidy i have spoken with hundreds of attorneys. I could not find someone that was willing to work pro bono or work out a reasonable cost structure because i was not working at the time. I was relying off of my savings account. I was very candid with trump world about my situation and i was desperate. I was given counsel that i followed in the first interviews with the committee, but i also knew, because i was on the inside, that there is a sense an expectation of when you take something from donald trump, in this case, specifically, legal counsel, there is in a quotation that you are also protecting somebody else and that somebody else is donald trump. Amna you did vote for him before. If he is the nominee again, would you vote for him . Cassidy i would not vote for him in 2024. I dont want to catastrophize a scenario where he is actually the republican nominee. I think it is the responsibility of all americans right now to have a National Conversation and provoke Difficult Conversations about the dangers of donald trump as an individual. What i would fear most about a second trump term is we saw how it ended. We saw that the people who were surrounding him were not only offering bad advice but were offering dangerous advice. He was and continues to be surrounded by people who believe and proliferate poisonous conspiracy theories that is becoming the bedrock of the Republican Party and i think that in this next year, we need to do everything we can to make sure that the man who is now facing four criminal indictments is not the republican nominee on that ticket. That we can help restore normalcy and decency and ethics to our politics. Amna one of the most explosive moments from your testimony was when you shared the story about on january 6, mr. Trump insisting he wanted to go to the capitol, trying to grab the Steering Wheel to get secret service to take him there. What do you think you wanted to do there . What do you think he would have done if you made it to the capitol . Cassidy i could speculate. I dont think it is the most responsible thing for me to do, speculate, but donald trump knows the effect his words have on people. He knows that his words have power to rile people up, that his words have power to stoke violence. He knows that his words have power to turn a massive portion of the population against a single individual. It is not lost on me that there is a reason that donald trump wanted to go to the capitol. He summoned those people to washington, d. C. On january 6 for a reason. He knew what was happening. The certification of the election come of the Electoral College votes. I believe that donald trump wanted to go to the capitol not just to make another speech. He knows the impact that hol impact that his speech would have at the capitol that day. Amna do you want to stay in politics . Cassidy in the immediate, no. What i mean by that is that i dont see myself right now wanting to go work on capitol hill. I think that the most effective use of my time right now is contributing to a National Conversation about the state of our democracy, which is our democracy democracy is fragile. I dont want to say i would never return to politics because i do still feel that passion, that dedication that politics bettering our nation and institutions. Amna even after what you lived through . Cassidy even after what i lived through. Amna Cassidy Hutchinson, thank you so much for your time. Cassidy thank you for having me. Geoff a new Pew Research Study has confirmed what you might already suspect, americans feel intense dissatisfaction with the way our government currently works and a growing distaste for both Political Parties. One of the main voices calling for Sweeping Change is danielle allen, a political theorist at harvard. Judy woodruff followed her to tennessee to explore some of her ideas, for of our ongoing series, america at a crossroads. Danielle we dont really seem like we can actually address real problems we have in our society so theres a real basis for peoples frustration. With where our democracy is. Judy these days, danielle is on a mission, crisscrossing the country to talk about how our country is not doing what it was designed to do and needs radical change. Danielle we have to redesign our institutions so they are responsive and accountable. At the same time, we are we connecting people to their own civic experience, power, and responsibility. Judy a political theorist at harvard, she was pushed into action by what she calls regular , single Approval Ratings for congress, record distrust of the federal government, declining voter participation, falling support for democracy among younger generations, and a very personal sense of frustration with government in action. I lost my youngest cousin, michael, shot and killed, and his life journey was a difficult one and it is a hard story. He spent about 12 years in prison and then was shot and killed by somebody he met while he was in prison and losing michael was a real sort of wakeup call moment for me so my first effort was to dig into specific policy domains. For example, criminal justice reform, but i soon realized that even where we had bipartisan solutions, you could not get them through, especially at the federal level because of governance dysfunction. Amna from 2018 to 2020, she cochaired a Bipartisan Commission for the American Academy of arts and sciences that produced our common purpose, a report detailing 31 recommendations on how to reinvent american democracy in the 21st century. They included an 18 year term limit for Supreme Court justices , a constitutional amendment on Campaign Finance laws, holding federal elections on veterans day, holiday, and dramatically expanding the house of representatives. To do that, she adds she would end partisan primaries. And a personal note, i served on that commission, but did not adcate for any policy changes. Judy our constitutional democracy danielle our constitutional democracy is a house our forefathers and foremothers have built and we have inherited and live in. It does not exactly fit all of our needs in the 21st century. Judy she highlighted some of these ideas during lectures at the institute of american civics at the university of tennessee in knoxville. Danielle we are a lot bigger people, more complex. The house was not really built for everybody in the first place so there is a need to renovate to address all of those features of our current situation. Judy following her class, we sat down to talk through some of those recommendations in the office of former tennessee senator howard baker. One of the recommendations that you have talked about a lot is increasing the size of the house of representatives. Why . When the constitution was ratified, the expectation was that the house of representatives would grow continuously, decades a decade, with each census. That is what happened up until 1929. In 1929, there were tough politics about how to do reapportionment and they just gave up and decided to cap the size of the house as it was at 435 so at that point, we stopped growing. Originally, the hope was for a ratio of 30,000 constituents to every representative. We are up to 750,000 so that sort of tight bond that connects a representative to the practical realities of the district is just not where it was and not what we need. Theres also issues of money in politics. The bigger the district, the more expensive it is to run for office and the more influence money has on the behavior of our elected representatives. Judy judy judy series on concert judy for the washington post, she worked with Michael Murphy to see if it was possible to expand a House Chamber to accommodate more members. They found they could merely quadruple the number of representatives without having to construct a new building. How do you get members of congress to vote to dilute their own power . Essentially, that is what they would be doing. Danielle i dont think the path to this change goes through congress as we know it now. That is the trick. How do you deliver a congress that might potentially make decisions of this kind . I think that actually requires work at the state level and in particular, i think we really need to shift away from our reliance on party primaries. Judy she suggests all, or preliminaries which would be open to candidates from any party or no party with a top finalist advancing to the general election regardless of party affiliation. These types of races already exist in some form in five states. Louisiana, california, washington, alaska, and nebraska. Judy you would first, in order to think about enlarging the size of the house, you would change the primary. Is there an appetite, do you think, in american politics to do that . You are asking our Political Parties to give up some of the cloud, a lot of the clout that they have right now. Danielle im asking the American People to claim their power. That is where we get into the real conundrum of our current circumstances. If you look at our current political situation, i think it is fair to say that a super majority of americans share the view that they do not actually like the upcoming choices for our election that the two parties are delivering so we have a super majority of americans that doesnt want what look like our likely choices. That super majority is trapped by the party system. Judy and that points to a critical part of her push to update our structure of government, getting more americans cynically educated and engaged, work we witnessed firsthand in knoxville. The people in congress currently, that does not represent what i am looking for in my life. Danielle the average age of senators has climbed precipitously in the 21st century and our president ial candidates so there is a sense of disconnection across generations as well. Judy changing the partisan primary appealed to students who blamed partisanship for the level of apathy among their peers. It is a big problem for our generation because we have only really known the more partisan politics with less cooperation. Many people my age have really they are beginning to lose hope in our democracy. Our vote does not count. Supreme Court Justices are not even elected. We have career politicians. Judy her main recommendation for the Supreme Court is to do away with life terms. Danielle it has become clear that the Supreme Court has become more politicized. What do we do about that . I am a supporter of term limits on a schedule of everybody serving for 18 years so that every president ial term would bring two appointments to the judiciary. Judy to practitioners of politics two practitioners of politics who refused to back President Trump serve with her on the board here at the institute of american civics where they also cohost a podcast that encourages bipartisan civic dialogue. I think any institution like democracy means kind of a constant renewal and renovation. It does not do this in its own way. One of the things i am increasingly concerned about is how many normal people have said i have had enough. Our democracy will not work if people just check out. Amna they question whether judy they question whether some of her solutions are the right ones but believe our system is not working as is. Im not so certain about expanding the size of congress but it is worth a debate. If nothing else for us to recognize the path we are on right now has not been fruitful in terms of producing actual results lately. We got there not through some big action but all sorts of Little Things that have happened. I think the solutions will be similarly diffuse and what it will take is a lot of good people who are willing to step forward and say i will solve this problem. Judy she acknowledges all this work is difficult and will take time but she finds hope in her own familys story and in this countrys history. I think of my great grandparents who i am sure were told women having the right to vote is just not realistic. We have the right to vote. I think of my grandfather who i am sure, i know was told social equality for africanamericans in the south is not going to happen. We dont have a Perfect World but we have made a heck of a lot of progress on that dimension for sure. So that is how i see this, too. When people tell me it is not realistic, i think, you will see. Because it is necessary, because too many of us feel trapped so i know the appetite for Something Different is out there so the only question is going to be how we get there. Amna so it is not judy so it is not don quixote. Danielle it is not. Judy for questions and Big Solutions for someone fighting for change one mind at a time. For the pbs newshour, i am Judy Woodruff in knoxville, tennessee. Amna when the war in ukraine first began, its western neighbor, slovakia, was one of the first to provide military aid. That support could soon be coming to an end. The small nation is slated for snap elections on saturday and the party predicted to win is advocating for a more prorussian stance. Pressure correspondent simona full Team Special Correspondent simona reports from slovakia. Simona the election is in full swing. We are at a rally, a conservative right wing party that is leading the polls. Many supporters are disillusioned with slovakias progressive western leading governments. It is understandable that there was a pandemic and the war in ukraine, fine, but the current and previous governments were both dysfunctional, and they shouldnt have sent so much support to ukraine. For three years, this government has been destroying the people. They have nothing to eat. The pensions are too small. Simona many here are retired and struggle to get by on a few hundred euros per month amid Rising Energy and food prices. Some tell us the main reason theyve come is to enjoy a warm meal. Economic hardship has offered Fertile Ground for the populist policies of smers leader. The word smer means direction, and the direction its leader, robert fico, wants to take slovakia has the European Union worried. He is against migration. We reject any obligatory migration quotas. Simona and against liberalism. We reject the introduction of gender ideologies into our schools. Marriage is a unique union between a man and a woman, period, goodbye. Simona and perhaps most significantly, he wants to reshape slovakias geopolitical alignment. These will be politicians who dont have a problem to tell brussels no, who wont have a problem to tell ukraine that no, we wont give you weapons, you will only get humanitarian aid. Simona long forgotten seems 2018, when the twotime former Prime Minister resigned following the murder of a slovak journalist who was investigating his governments links to organized crime. Robert fico has managed to stage quite a political comeback by capitalizing on internal divisions within slovakia that have grown since russias invasion of ukraine. One of his Main Campaign promises has been to halt slovakias military aid to ukraine. Slovakia was one of the first countries to send weapons to ukraine, including fighter jets. It even gave away its air defense system. In the capital bratislava, we met acting defense minister martin sklenar. We are really doing our utmost to support them. We are a neighboring country. Whatever happens in ukraine right now has direct influence. For us, for our security and defense, it is important that ukraine prevails. Simona slovakia has been a member of nato since 2004, but the partnership deepened after russia invaded ukraine. We have four countries who are actually flying over slovakia if necessary and protecting our air space. Really another level of , engagement which we havent seen since our infamous history in 1968. Simona 1968 is when soviet troops invaded what was then czechoslovakia to crush the prague spring. Vladimir holchik and marian trnik, two retired water engineers, were in their twenties back then. They marched in, imagine that there were tanks right here, armored vehicles, everything destroyed, looted they came up with some pretext that there were counterrevolutionaries here, just like they came up with a pretext that there were fascists in ukraine. Simona for them, the parallels between the two invasions are plain to see. Its exactly the same thing. Russia is an aggressive state, an evil empire that wants to expand. Simona i ask them if the slovak government should keep supplying military aid to ukraine. Of course, we should all of europe should help however they can, so that with planes, tanks, whatever we can provide, so that ukraines democracy is preserved, even if they have oligarchs, bribery, and corruption, but in the end the ukrainian state is a democratic one. Simona but fewer and fewer slovaks share that attitude, says Dominika Hajdu at globesec, a bratislavabased think tank. For example, support for nato has declined also when it comes to the narrative about the war in ukraine, the support for the narratives in line with the kremlins propaganda have increased. Simona hajdu says slovakias susceptibility to disinformation is rooted in both poor education and media literacy, but also the countrys history. There is this narrative that slovakia has always been under oppression, by the austrohungarian empire, by the germans, the czechs, you name it. Simona and of course this is something thats very easy for populists to tap into. This kind of sentiment. Dominika absolutely, and this notion that you cant influence anything because theres always this other force behind everything influencing your daily life really leads to this conspiratorial thinking. Simona disinformation has become enough of a problem that a special unit has been set up in the ministry of interior to counter it. David puchovsk and his small team monitor social media and debunk hoaxes. Theres a big base of people who believe disinformation, its between 40 and 50 . Simona and the disinformants seem to have taken a cue from donald trump, after the 2020 us u. S. Election. With regard to elections, we warned this spring that a narrative emerged about forged elections. Simona the aim of such narratives, puchovsk warns, is to subvert the state. This election isnt just a fight over votes and political agendas, it has turned into a battleground in a deepening information war that is challenging mainstream narratives not just about current events, but also about slovakias history, and specifically, the role russia has played here in the past. Simona slovakia is peppered with memorials like this one that commemorate the soviet union and russian soldiers who died fighting nazi germany on slovak soil. But the liberators turned into occupiers and slovakia remained under the yoke of the soviet union for almost half a century. Now, some are trying to overhaul russias legacy. This group is called brat za brata, which roughly translates into brothers for one another. They honor soviet era memorials and veterans as part of what they call a fight for the truth. The leader, matu alexa, tells me the group has 70,000 registered supporters in slovakia. The objective of these activities is to not forget about the atrocities committed during world war ii and to honor the heroes of the war. Simona their affinity for russia is plain to see and hear, but alexa says their activities are purely cultural and unfairly politicized. We always try to stay away from politics. No political subject can dictate whether i should bow down when i want to honor my forefathers. Simona but the group has long been on the radar of the ministry of interior. Puchovsky says that they act in concert with russian authorities. They put it in the context of the present, that just like those who fell here for the sake of slovakia were heroes, the presentday russian army is also heroic, so we have to be proud and have good relations with russia. Simona its an attempt to harness panslavic sentiments in a divided nation that could soon turn into a problem child for the European Union. For the pbs newshour, im Simona Foltyn in slovakia. Geoff a Student Research project in boston is drawing attention to price disparities between Grocery Stores in high and lowincome neighborhoods. A student journalist reports in this story produced during newshours student reporting labs summer academy, where teens from around the country come together to hone their journalism, film, and storytelling skills. Its kind of like something that you put off to the side and you just kind of underestimate yourself and your gut feelings. But then when you really do the research and you find all the facts, its an injustice. Meet eunice and dereck, two 15yearold members of the Hyde Square Task force, a boston based nonprofit working to amplify the voices of youth. So ken tangviks our teacher. He has been involved with us since the start of this project. So i definitely tried to go in and see what their interests are. And so we had a brainstorming session in january of 2023. They wanted to find out more about the effects of inflation on their community, and they came across an article that stated that low income communities pay more for groceries in higher income communities. They wanted to put that to the test, so they went to our local stop shop. Later, another group of youths went down to the stop shop in a more affluent neighborhood and we bought the exact same products down to the same brand. And we found that the total amount that we spent at the stop and shop in Jamaica Plain was significantly higher than the stop and shop in dedham. We all thought it was interesting and could be valuable to stop and shop. And so i thought for sure theyd say, wow, a group of students, this will be good public relations. We can talk to them about it, we can learn together. Then they answered back to us. They basically said, good luck with your project. We got a consensus within our organization that, yes, we should go to the media. Stop and shop was being followed by reporters from all over the city and reporters saying, are you going to meet with the youth . And they kept saying, we cant comment on that. We cant comment on that. Then the attorney general called us and said, we want to meet with you. When asked for comment, stop shop cited many factors that contribute to different prices, such as rent, labor costs, store size, and selection. They then referenced their history of Opening Community initiatives throughout the boston area, including 20 School Based Food pantries. Interestingly enough, the day after the boston globe story came out and it was a big front page headline, they opened up a food pantry and tried to call in the citywide media to cover them. That just happened to be in our neighborhood, just happened to be a couple of days after the globe story came out. Stop and shop says the food pantry was planned long before the student report. They also highlighted the small tract of land surrounding the Jamaica Plain store that utilized to determine Median Income as being misleading. After the Media Coverage stop and shop agreed to meet with the task force. We dont want to assume anything because we dont want to like throw any like accusations around or make any uneducated assumptions about stop and shop, which is why were going to that meeting to hear them out. In a statement after the meeting, stop and shop says they toured the newly opened food pantry and shared their concerns with the task force report. They say the 20 products student purchased represent 1 of the 10,000 Items Available in the two stores. And the overall difference in price between the stores is much lower than reported. The height square task force students are reviewing this information to respond. This issue can affect not just boston or these two small communities can affect everywhere because food equity is an issue that is on us. An all around world thing. Being part of the Hyde Square Task force has helped me see Community Issues in a way that i havent seen before and helped me believe that i myself can help make those changes that i want to see in the community. And for the pbs newshour, student reporting labs, im Sriya Tallapragada in boston, massachusetts. Geoff student journalists making a difference. Amna good for them. Geoff and there is a lot more online including a story about , the reopening of a famous deli in new orleans that serves a worldrenowned muffaletta sandwich, and how the restaurants difficult journey exemplifies the struggle to rebuild after hurricanes. Thats at pbs. Org newshour. Amna and thats the newshour for tonight. Im amna nawaz. Geoff and im geoff bennett, thanks for spending part of your evening with us. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour including jim and nancy buildner, and kathy and paul anderson. Consumer cellular. This is a pocket dial. With consumer cellular, you get nationwide coverage with no contract. That is kind of our thing. Have a nice day. The ford foundation, working with missionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. Funding for america at a crossroads was provided by and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] hello, everyone, and welcome to amanpour co. Heres whats coming up. Were defending our people. We want our people to be free. My exclusive interview with ukraines brand new defense minister. He tells me how the war and country are entering a new phase. Then this will be a republican shutdown. The blame game heats up in washington as hard line republicans push government into a shutdown. The latest with democratic congressman pat