Organization coordinating Organization Efforts after the wildfires and director of the federal Emergency Management agency or fema under president bill clinton. Via skype now from little rock, arkansas. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for having us. What is the most urgent need right now in the fire ravaged parts of sonoma and napa counties . The most important thing now is for the material out of the way where the contractors come in and get the debris out of the way but also, start planning for what your neighborhoods will look like and meeting with developers and how you want to rebuild. And i would stress that as you are thinking about rebuilding, think about how youll go back safer with more resiliency and i think that will be really important. That rebuilding process is challenging, you take stock of the citys housing stock, for example, in santa rosa. 5 of the citys housing stock, roughly 3,000 homes destroyed by the fires. What can be done to address that problem, the housing shortage problem during the rebuilding process . We did have a discussion with that and temporary housing for individuals in hotels and motels but that can only last so long. And we talked about what kind of temporary housing could be in place whether its housing in areas that could be set up and then also discussed about the longterm recovery efforts. So it is really, really important to be able to put a temporary Housing Program in place so you keep people there and keep the workers there and Start Building back the revenue within those. What kinds of disaster aid can fire victims get from fema . They have several in the programs. Femas an individual assisted program as well as the Family Program as well as the hud Housing Program as well as sba and can do the Small Business loans. And sba can particularly, the Small Business, it has a loan on that Small Business. Sba can come in and rework that loan and then loan them money to build their business back with low interest. One of the things theyve been asking to do is work with fema and to make sure that we maximize all the different federal state funding streams and then identify the void thats going to be there and there will be voids. And the nonprofit help fill the voids to help people get back on their feet. Since you work with fema, mr. Witt, there have been reports that some undocumented immigrants are afraid to speak of federal aid out of fear of immigration authorities. On thursday, five california congressmen wrote a letter requesting confirmation that fema will not disclose the immigration status of fire victims. What is femas process for how immigration status information is handled . You know, im not sure what the policy is today. I know at one time in california when we had a big tree that froze and crops, we housed immigrant workers at that time and we do not have any problems then. Did not have any. Will you be taking up this issue with them when you work with fema . Absolutely. Why did you decide to step in and take charge of rebuild north bay . You know, director fema under president clinton for eight years, we had 850 president ial disasters. Family or a thousand families lose everything they worked for. And old years as a director of fema, and the private sector, when we responded solely to the disasters, i just want to make a difference. I want to make a difference to help them to help themselves and get their life back together and as soon as possible. Thats why i still do this. James lee witt, the interim director of rebuild north bay. Thank you so much for joining us from little rock, arkansas. Thank you. Have a great weekend. You too. And now to broaden the discussion, joined by editorial director paul via skype from santa rosa and here in the newsroom, jon romero. We just heard James Lee Witt the new head of rebuild north bay talk about the issue of whether fema will ask undocumented immigrants about the immigration status. What are you hearing in the community about the fears among undocumented immigrants on this . I mean, thats definitely a concern. Not only among undocumented residents who lost homes or jobs, but among their relatives who are u. S. Citizens and who can apply for that aid. Paul, you wrote a very impassioned touching oped asking fire victims to please stay. Dont leave the region. Was there a key moment or interaction that led you to write that oped . It was the result of a number of conversations ive had with many friends who are victims of this fire. This obviously is a very personal event for the staff here at the press democrat. We know dozens, if not hundreds of friends, family members who have lost homes and many of them are having challenges, a great deal of difficulty trying to find a new place to live. Many of them are looked at ending up in places as far away as nevada with windsor, quite a drive and we also are aware after a catastrophe of this type, areas tend to lose population. New orleans lost some 20 of its population after Hurricane Katrina and weve already had a significant housing crisis in our area and now this is only going to compound that. So there is concern were going to lose our doctors, teachers, police officers, even firefighters lost homes and its going to be very difficult for them in finding a new place to live. We have over 200 doctors in the areas that have lost homes and we have a doctor shortage and some of these physicians are not going to have difficulty offered positions in other areas. That may be more easier to housing and thats going to be, there is real concern there that eventually after this wears off, it may seek other opportunities. And i want to bring you in because i know youve been to the fire ravaged region in the areas and what are some of the biggest everyday challenges that firefighters are facing . They still have jobs and children have to go to school. Like paul mentioned, housing is a number one issue right now in a lot of peoples minds who lost their homes. Like he was saying, there was already a really tight, you know, rental market in the santa rosa area so people are trying to figure out where theyre going to live in the longterm while they rebuild homes or where theyre able to rent and i was able to speak with students at Santa Rosa Junior College who lost homes and for them, its not only that, you know, impact of the fires but also, now that theyre back at school and with classes, they dont have textbooks or have computers. They dont have laptops. How many students lost their homes at that college . Well, the college is reporting that at least 600 students lost homes as well as dozens of faculty and students. So a lot of people in this situation. Paul, can you put this into the broader bay area context for us . Santa rosa one of the most affordable places in the bay area that people could live and commute to jobs and other cities throughout the region. Whats the impact on the bay area as a whole . There arent too many places anymore, sadly, where you can get a home for the median price of 500,000. I think that thats a big question. My wife and i from the south bay from palo alto and los altos. We came here 20 years ago, it was a more affordable opportunity for us to live here and the question will be, where can people go . Now, some people up in Fountain Grove or doctors, theyll have the resources to relocate to other places in the bay area. I obviously dont want them to do that but may seek those opportunities. Others may end up moving to lake county of all places which also had a significant fire in the valley two years ago. Were already seeing more workers come from that area and this fire just hit a Broad Spectrum of our population from the very wealthiest to some of the very poorest and coffee park, for example, blue collar area. If those, many of those people are lifelong residents of santa rosa, its going to be tough. A broad Economic Impact. We have a minute or so. What is the longterm Economic Impact . Many businesses and wineries not damaged but a dramatic drop in visitors. Ive had friends email me saying that the tasting room, several of them have to close. Well, i mean, local authorities are expecting an economic downturn because of the fires and you have to remember that cinema county was having an economy that was booming before the fire, so they had record, you know, Hotel Occupancy rates and a lot of records in terms of economic growth. And so this is definitely going to be for them, but the county also says that as soon as the fires are completely over, they were already planning to start a big campaign to try to attract visitors again to wineries. Because the Wine Industry and agriculture as well as tourism and retail are about a third of the economy in the county. A big part of it. Paul, whats your biggest concern now as the rebuilding phase begins . Well, i think we were already having a shortage of doctors and nurses and teachers. I think the other shortage we have is construction workers. I think the concern is where are these people going to come from . Whos going to help us rebuild . Theres 6800 homes weve lost. Almost twice as many in the Oakland Hills fire. A huge amount of work and this concern is where are the people going to come from who can help us pound the nails and get this done quickly . Our thoughts certainly with all of you foeblks out there. Faeda with kqed. Thank you. To politics now, Donald Trumps presidency has led to National Soul searching even as the base continues to support him. This week, republican senator jeff blake of arizona announced he would not seek reelection. He cannot be complicit in the reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior of trump. Bob corker criticized the president and announced he wont seek reelection. How trump came to power and the gops role in the rise focus of a new book. One nation after trump, a guy for the perplexed, disillusioned and not yet deported. Thomas mann, one of the coauthors and a resident scholar at uc berkeley governmental studies. Nice to have you here. Trump is less of an outlier than he may seem. What we mean is hes less of an outlier to the Republican Party. He managed to seemingly come out of nowhere and win the nomination from all of the regular republicans. He did that because there was a market for his kind of populism, nationalism, nativism that had been for years if not decades in the Republican Party. You compare it to sort of a jurassic part. The Republican Party created the conditions for someone like donald trump and then lost control of their creation. So when did the radicalization of the Republican Party begin . It probably goes all the way back to the 60s with the civil rights movement, the countercultural politics of the Democratic Party. But by the time Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the coalition was clear. The conservatives, evangelicals. It was the Business Community and it was White Working Class americans who were really distraught by the kind of changes that were occurring in the economy and frankly, by developments of the diversification of the population. And you wrote that you felt one key turning point was Newt Gingrich and his rise to power. Newt was incredible. He came in as a new member of congress and 1979 with a well developed plan to so criticize and delegitimize the congress as an institution that the republicans would throw out the longterm democratic majority and usher the republicans into power. He had a special vocabulary that he taught. New republican candidates that he recruited for office. He said, your job is not to explain the policy choices to americans and help deliberate. Your job is to attack. Its to demonize your opponents. So fast forward now to 2017. We have a situation in the past two weeks where at least four notable republicans have been sounding the alarm against President Trump. Former president george w. Bush, senators john mccain and all delivered really harsh critiques of the president , the Republican Party, the direction of the country. What effect do you think this will have . Trump has become a real threat. He has authoritarian instincts. Hes an ethno nationalist and broken every norm in American Government and yet, the republicans made a bargain with trump. Well put up with your peculiar and even antidemocratic behavior if you sign our legislation. With a unified republican government, we get our tax bill, we can repeal and replace obamacare and we can bring all of this regulation of business. That was the deal but its not been going so well. You and the books two coauthors, i know that you consider yourself nonpartisan but widely considered to be to the left of center. So does the Democratic Party here bear some of the blame for the rise of donald trump . Especially among White Working Class who felt abandoned by the Democratic Party who once championed them . Sure. Democrats are not angels. Were not here to make the case for the Democratic Party more broadly. This is the development in our politics that happened gradually over time as peoples identities became more important than their thoughts about Public Policy issues and the two coalitions departed, democrats believing in government were prepared to bargain, negotiate. They played hardball. But republicans wanting limited government and lowered taxes were more inclined to try to seed the public with complete distrust of government. So the reality is both parties were implicated but the Republican Party was the only place where a person like donald trump could actually garner a major Party Nomination for the presidency. And on a broader platform, you claim in the book our entire democracy is in crisis the way our political system is set up. Can you detail that . Well, we have now such polarized, tribalized Political Parties that the main incentive the public has is voting against the other side and therefore, its very difficult for a member of one party to do business with a member of the other party in congress or with the president. So whats the antidote for all the challenges you pointed out . If trump is a product of our democracy, weaknesses, and a threat to it further, the antidote is citizen activism. Its you and me and millions of others that take seriously the threats to our democracy and get active. That doesnt mean 135 Million People are going to make politics their major activity but millions more americans have joined up locally, in states and around the country. All kinds of people trying sort of very hard to reestablish the norms of american democracy and not let us drift into the autocracy we see happening all across the world. So your bookends on that optimistic note. Dr. Thomas mann, thank you better figure here. Kate was shot and killed in pier 14 in San Francisco. Opening arguments began in the trial of alleged killer, jose garcia, undocumented mexican immigrant who had been deported multiple times. The case cited by immigration hard liners including President Trump to boost support for a border wall and punish socalled sanctuary cities. The attorney claims the client had accidentally fired the gun that killed steinle after finding the weapon on the ground. A closer look at the case, kqed reporte reporters alex and maria. Alex, this was week one of the trial. Youve been in the courtroom. What were some of the key moments . Take us through that. I think probably the most emotional testimony so far came from Katherine Steinles father, james steinle, which in relatively brief testimony, he was not cross examined but took myself and the gallery and the jury through the walk he was taking on pier 14 with his daughter when she suddenly fell and reached out for him asking for his help. Those were the last words because she died later that day at the hospital. What is the prosecutors main argument and what is the Defense Attorneys main argument . I think this is a bit of a unique and interesting murder trial. Its not on intent. Its dispute that she was on that pier and the shot originated from his hands. The prosecution is saying that he intended to shoot someone, potentially Katherine Steinle and that justifies a murder conviction. The defense is saying he picked up an object that was wrapped in cloth. He didnt know what it was and went off. It was an accidental shooting. Maria, this became a signature issue for donald trump as campaigning for president. How has it affected the National Debate over sanctuary cities and immigration . This case is seized on by donald trump and others on the right particularly who, you know, already kind of had it out for policies like San Franciscos in which they bar local Law Enforcement for, in most cases, cooperating with immigration and customs. So, you know, donald trump talks about it repeatedly on the campaign trail and invokes katherines name at the Convention Last summer in his main immigration speech he made shortly before the electi