be cleared of all charges. cleared to go full throttle into his reelection campaign. i'm brent goff in berlin. this is "the day." ♪ >> we had a bumpy start to the democratic process yesterday in iowa. >> 24 hours later they are still trying to figure out what the heck happened in iowa. >> for some reason in iowa, they are havingng a little bit of trtrouble cocounting votes. >> a litittle later r than we anticipated, but better late than never. >> at this rate, new hampshire might get the first vote after all. >> but i am confident that here in new hampshire, i know they will be able to count your votes on election night. >> they show our campaign in first place. >> i'm feeling good. brent: also coming up tonight, donald trump's state of the union address and the front row seat to the politics of mutual disrespect. >> there are those who want to take away your health care, take away your doctor, and abolish private insurance entirely. brent: to our viewers on pbs in the united states and all around the world, welcome. we begin "the day" coming out of the caucus cloud over iowa. this is what we know so far. monday's caucus vote in iowa, the first in the process of determining which democrat will challenge president trump in november, delivered a disaster followed by a shock. problems with a smartphone app stalled the reporting of results, and we only have just over 70% of the results at the moment. but what the numbers tell is a story no one would have predicted just a few months ago. the former mayor of south bend, indiana, a newcomer to national politics, pete buttigieg, is leading the pack of 11 candidates. former vice president joe biden, long considered the front runner, suffering a setback, now in fourth place behind mayor pete, bernie sanders, and elizabeth warren. >> a campaign that started a year ago with four staff members, no name recognition, no money, just a big idea. has taken its place at the front of this race to replace the current president with a better vision of your future. >> i am proud to tell you that last night in iowa, we received more votes on the first and second round than any other candidate. >> so, we are back from iowa. wow. but here's what we know. it's a tight three-way race at the top. we know that the three of us will be dividing up most of the delegates comiming out of iowa. i'm feeling good. >> i would like you to rocket me out of here to make sure this thing works, ok? because if i come out of here well, you guys are going to set the tone for the whole, whole rest of the race. brent: and our coverage continues on america's politics and indignation from the verdict on impeachment, to the vote upset in iowa. joining me here at the big table is rachel rizzo, a fellow here in berlin and a u.s. politics analyst. it is good to have you back here at the big table. and in washington, our very own correspondent pablo foley elias. to both of you, welcome. rachel, let me start with you. we have had so much happening this week and tonight. is the iowa causus disaster, is it about them being forgotten to make way for the new hampshire primary? can it be forgotten? rachel: the answer to both of your questions is no. this will haunt the democrats, not just in new hampshire but in the months coming forward. i think it is really up to the democratic party in new hampshire to make sure that these primaries go off without a hitch. and then after that with the nevada caucuses, we saw that the democratic party of nevada has abandoned the app that was used in iowa just recently. so i think this was a horrific night for the democrats and they are trying to right the course while they still can. brent: pablo, we are hearing more and more criticism about the app was at the core of the caucus disaster in iowa. some are saying we have too much tech in u.s. elections. what have you been hearing? pablo: there has been plenty of astonishment and anger here in the united states. rachel just said it, the new app being used in iowa was not properly tested. nevada is now saying they have a caucus like iowa, they are not going to use this app. the use of technology is not something new in the united states. it does not have a particularly high regard among many voters in the u.s. for example, dating back to 2002 in florida there was a debacle there over how that is studded for the state -- how they decided the state's governor. we can also look at problems in california, georgia. the problem with this is it affects american's confidence and trust in the whole voting system. it can lead to fears that technology can be hacked or that errors can occur. so what i have deciphered is perhaps the best way is to go back to paper ballots. brent: paper never let us down. although i do remember hanging chads from 2000. when we hear this criticism of too much tech in u.s. elections, how does that resound here in europe with u.s. allies? rachel: i think whenever you put the words technology and elections together, you think of russia and you think of the 2016 elections. and so i think everyone is really concerned. they were really concerned, especially in iowa. you saw the app-maker came out and said this was not a hack, this was human error. the first thing they had to say right when it became clear things were not going as planned was to try to reassure everyone that the russians had not hacked the election. so i think that if the democratic party, if the republican party, if anyone really is going to use this kind of technology in this upcoming election, they have to make sure it works, they have to make sure everything goes smoothly. brent: yeah, you would have thought that in iowa, they used in 2016, you thought they would have used it 100 times extra for 2020.. unfortunately it did not turn out that way. rachel: it seemed like this was a last-minute app. some of the pin numbers people were using, they had to override some of the security in their phone to even get into the app. so it was not tested, it was not marketed the right way. i think this was a really good lesson, hopefully, for the democrats going forward. but who knows. we will see what happens. brent: what is your take in the upset in the results so far, biden and buttigieg? rachel: so, this was a surprise for everyone. if you had said a month ago, six months ago, that pete buttigieg would have won iowa, i think everyone would have been really shocked. further, if you would have said that biden would come in fourth, that would be even more surprising. biden was a clear front runner. and to many people he still is, but it goes to show that the iowa demographic is maybe not representative of the broader demographic of the united states, and he is going to need a big win in nevada and hopefully new hampshire and south carolina. brent: a firewall that he is going to need. that is true. pablo, we have to remind ourselves too that iowa is just the beginning. as rachel said, it is a small part of that beginning for the race for the white house, isn't it? pablo: you are absolutely right. i mean, this is a very long primary season. and we really are at the very beginning here u until we find t who actually becomes the candidate in this year's presidential election. the democratic candidates have already moved on from iowa. their focus now is new hampshire, while this debacle over the app continues. the hope normally with iowa and new hampshire is if the candidate performs pretty well there, it can kickstart their campaign. but of course that is sort of delayed now with what happened in iowa to a certain degree, although it is looking like a good result for buttigieg. but you know, there are some changes as well in this 2020 campaign. we are going to see big states like california and texas, they are going to be holding their primaries in march. the whole process will be going on for several months all the way up to the us's national convention in milwaukee, the democratic national convention in milwaukee in july. so we have got plenty of months ahead, plenty of states that need to look and see what candidate they want to put their bets on. and of course, president trump has already started his reelection campaign with the state of the union address on tuesday. brent: and pablo, we know that mayor pete is not known for being a candidate who emotes a lot. but yesterday he did get emotional. he was talking about the results coming from iowa, and he talked about, this was a sign for people across the country, young people who maybe don't feel like they belong, and he was referring obviously to him being the first openly gay candidate to run for president to make it this far. i mean, it is history in the making, isn't it? pablo: you are absolutely right. i mean, if you had said this perhaps even 10 years ago that you would have an openly gay candidate running for potentially the presidency, a lot of people would have said that is crazy. it will be interesting to see whether that actually becomes even a central issue if he does end up becoming a candidate in this election. but you know, it does show that there is a change in how people perceive these elements. and it is obviously something that there has been focused put on other elements of his campaign, and in many respects, forgetting about his own personal life, which many people say, or i could even say, that is something people should forget about and focus really on the politics and what exactly the candidate is promising to the people. brent: all right. pablo and rachel, standby. we will be back with you in just a moment. between the iowa caucus and his own impeachment trial verdict, u.s. president donald trump paid a visit to capitol hill last night. he delivered his annual state of the union address before both houses of congress, but it was most definitely a reelection rally speech aimed at his supporters, not at the entire nation. trump held what he called the great american comeback, as he celebrated the country's booming economy, along with those new trade deals. reporter: as donald trump made his way to the podium, it was clear he had the support of his republican party. but as they chanted "four more years," there was no escaping the fact that this house is democratic-controlled. impeachment was not mentioned, but president trump appeared to snub house speaker nancy pelosi, the most powerful elected democrat, by refusing to shake her hand. this was to be his show. >> three years ago we launched the great american comeback. tonight, i stand before you to share the incredible results. jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging, and our country is thriving and highly respected again. reporter: from the economy to trade, foreign policy to defense, donald trump ensured he was center stage. >> america's enemies are on the run. america's fortunes are on the rise. and america's future is blazing bright. the years of economic decay are over. reporter: donald trump also had a few surprises up his sleeve. >> please take this message back . reporter: he called venezuela's opposition leader juan guaido, who was watching from the gallery, the legitimate president from venezuela. >> the best is yet to come. reporter: but as trump drew to a close, it was what going on behind him that stole the show. nancy pelosi ripping up his speech. the bitter feud between the two boiling over once again. brent: o oh yeah. and you could not miss that ripping. i tell you that. pablo, would you agree that last night's speech was about a president in total reelection mode? pablo: absolutely. no mention of impeachment, i will start with that. as expected in many respects, he focucused on the e economy and w well it is p performing. so it looks in many respects that how is how he will base e s reelection, on the economy. he spoke about tax cuts, trade agreements, deregulation. and that he wants thehe united states to essentially be the world's most prosperous and inclusive society. the word inclusive is really important here, because president trump is not particularly popular among many of the minorities here in the united states. but he spoke about low levels of unemployment among african-americans, among hispanic americans, among asian americans. he also spoke about democrat's plans toto abolish private healh insurance, saying he did not want socialism to destroy u.s. health care. he also touched on other issues which i am sure we are going to be dealing with in the coming months, which are gun rights, the immigration policy. to sum up, it was a very divisive state of the union and it was clear president trump was laying out where he will focus his campaign. brent: rachel, he did not mention his own impeachment. he did not mention the iowa caucus crisis. some expected he would try to rub salt into the wound there. he did not mention that. how did you read the omissions? rachel: i mean, he didn't mention iowa, but he did rail against the democrats. as pablo mentioned before, he talked about a potential socialist takeover of the united states. so while he may be did not mention it by name, rallying against the democrats was a key part of this very divisive state of the union speech. and you know, for your other question, his approval rating right now, him not mentioning his own impeachment, his approval rating is about 49%. that is the highest it has been. and for a president that has literally been impeached, it is pretty shocking. and so i do not think he wanted to detract from that. i don't think he wanted to bring attention to it. he wanted to focus on the economy and the good, as he said, that he has done for the united states, the great american comeback, and not focus on the issues that have plagued his presidency. brent: let me ask both of you, we have about a minute or so left. rachel, with this impeachment trial finally behind him, would you say that donald trump is now a stronger, more competitive incumbent candidate as we approach november? rachel: i mean, you cannot deny that the economy is doing really well, and this is something that he is going to run on. but yes, i mean, i think that depending on what happens later today, if an acquittal happens, he is going to feel vindicated and he is going to feel more powerful and he will use this to rally his base. brent: pablo, what about you? i mean, he has got this long process, the impeachment behind him. he has been boosted by what we saw monday in iowa. is he stronger? pablo: well, he is certainly feeling stronger. i mean the approval ratings, rachel said it, they are almost 50%, the highest since he took office in 2017. it also shows one thing we need to focus on. that 50% of the population disapprove of him. we also need to note that whwh trump wantnts to senend out is basically forget aboutut the impeachment, focus on the positive things as he sees them, such as the economy doing well. and there is a very high level of confidence in the united states, in fact, the highest there has been in the past two decades with regards to the economy. so he wants to focus on that. and also another thing to note is that in u.s. history with regards to elections, obama, clinton, ronald reagan, they all were reelected based on the fact that the economy was doing very well. so once again, what we also cannot forget is who exactly the democratic candidate is going to be later this year. brent: let me just ask you, he is going into this reelection campaign saying, look, i was put through the impeachment process, i was cleared, the acquittal is behind us. are his chances of reelection, in your opinion, are they higher now because of the fact that he is an impeached president? pablo: well, it is interesting to see that if you look at those, you break down the figures with regards to his approval rating, and the vast majority of republicans actually approve of. and what is interesting is that in several polls, the number of people whoho have not yet decidd who they would vote for stands at around 20%. so, it depends exactly how the economy keeps doing. if it keeps doing well, i think that there is a chance that he could end up being reelected. but of course, it does very much come down to who exactly the candidate that the democrats choose, and whether that candidate is capable of sort of bringing all the democrats together, and also snatching votes from swing voters. brent: all right. rachel rizzo here with me at the big table, and pablo foley elias in washington. to both of you, excellent analysis. thank you. it has been a busy three days so far in u.s. politics. thank you. u.s. president trump's speech last night was written for the ears and minds of his base, and it was about more than just the economy, stupid. trump devoted part of his address to his foreign policy, especially his push at nato for allies to increase their defense spending. >> we are also getting our allies, finally, to help pay their fair share. i have raised contributions from other nato members by more than $400 billion, and the number of allies meeting their minimum obligations has more than doubled. brent: all right. let's pull in our very own teri schultz joining us from brussels. good evening to you, teri. you have covered nato for many years. you have heard trump's demands many times on nato members. to spend more. was he able in his speech last night to say truthfully what he has always wanted to say, that all nato members are paying their fair share for defense for a change? teri: not exactly, brent. but what a change this is, where i am going to have to tell you that the picture on nato spending and trump's depiction of it is actually less positive than he said. i don't think that has ever happened before on our many discussions on this topic. and the fact is that nato allies are spending more, and t the trh is that part of that is due to u.s. pressure. president trump has been insistent and absolutely acerbic in his criticism of low european defense spending. but it is a long way from all allies paying their fair share, which is 2% of gdp. in fact, while trump says accurately that the number of allies doing so has more than doubled, we are not talking about 29 allies or 28, absent the u.s. we are talking about nine allies paying 2% of their gdp for their own military expenditures. so yes, the picture is better and the picture has been getting better since 2014, not 2016 when trump was elected. but the trend line is moving up consistently. so he should declare this a win. nato has been hoping this for years now that he would accept that they are spending more and say yes, i can take credit for it, and basically back off of it. last night it seemed like that may be happening. brent: it is a big change. even when trump was a presidential candidate he criticized nato and the alliance. you and i i talked about this before, it has become a political punching bag of sorts for him. do they feel those blows at nato headquarters, or is this more rhetoric than real policy? teri: well, there is both. and a lot of times it is difficult to see the difference. i will give you an example. a couple of weeks ago when president trump stood in his office and said i am going to get nato to do more on the middle east. i was watching live at the time and some of my twitter friends and i were sort of gossiping, what could that be. and sort of like, sure, that is going to happen. minutes later, president trump walked out of that press conference, called secretary-general stoltenberg, and said, i want nato to do more in the middle east. and stoltenberg said, ok, we will try to do more in the middle east. so, it is hard to tell the difference when things are happening so quickly as to what will actually be implemented. the next day a nato delegation went to washington dc and started exploring how nato could do more in the middle east. so, president trump again gets his way sometimes when he makes these statements that may seem outrageous or unlikely, and that -- then in fact, you know, by bits and bobs, it has been. it remains to be seen exactly on this case what data will be -- what nato will been doing to take over some u.s. responsibilities in the middle east, but there will be some changes and we will be hearing more about those i believe next week with the defense ministers meeting. brent: and we know you will be covering those for us as you always do. teri schultz in brussels tonight. teri, as always, thank you. on both sides of the atlantic, political taboos are being broken. we saw it today here in germany when chancellor angela merkel's conservative gdp party teamed up with the far-right afd party to elect a regional leader. before today, that kind of deal was unthinkable. in the united states, the unthinkables are multiplying. the iowa caucus debacle is an example, or consider last night's state of the union address. throughout u.s. history, presidents have used the speech to execute their role as uniter in chief, consoler in chief, president of all united states. president trump, the great disruptor, has broken that tradition. last night trump said nothing about gun violence at schools in the u.s. he did mention the rights of gun owners. and this is what happened then. take a l look. >> so long as i am president, i will always protect your second amendment right to keep and bear arms. in reaffirming our heritage as a free nation, we must remember that america has always been a frontier nation. now we must embrace -- brent: the man who is being asked to leave, escorted to leave, his name is fred guttenberg. and he is the father of the student who was shot and killed at a school in parkland, florida two years ago. now -- his daughter, her name was jamie -- today he apologized for his outburst, but he tweeted he is simply tired of the lies about getting tough on gun control. this sad, desperate father remains tonight in search of america's consoler in chief. "the day" is almost done. the conversation continues online. you will find us on twitter on either dw news, you can follow me at brentgoff tv. don't forget to use the hashtag #the day. remember, whatever happens between now and then, tomorrow is another day. we will see you then, everybody. ♪ be able to swap to live in paris world news and analysis from from twenenty. go in the living world news clients. without suspense trump anticipating acquittals in the us senate as the impeachment trial reaches its final stage but the democrats are already warning what the- this. is the main store. welcome to the program the beach a trial of us president donald trump is about to reach s