September 23, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Israel and Hezbollah move closer to an all-out war after Israeli airstrikes kill hundreds in Lebanon.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump ramp up efforts to win over voters in critical swing states as the election draws closer.

AMNA NAWAZ: And late show host Stephen Colbert and his wife, Evie, on their new cookbook, the family stories behind the food and how to laugh in tough political times.

STEPHEN COLBERT, Host, "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert": Toxicity itself is worth making fun of.

Like, that's just -- the fact of how bad things are is something you have to make fun of.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

It is the deadliest day in the Middle East since the October 7 terror attacks.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli airstrikes killed nearly 500 people and wounded more than 1,600.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel said it struck 1,100 targets where Iran-backed Hezbollah hid weapons in Lebanon, including thousands of rockets and missiles in a stash often fired at Israel.

The tensions have led the U.S. Defense Department to send additional troops to the region.

Nick Schifrin starts our coverage.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In towns across southern and Eastern Lebanon today, at more than 1,000 sites, an avalanche of airstrikes.

Lebanese across the region said today felt like the beginning of war.

Thousands of families fled, cramming everyone they could fit into every vehicle they could find, even those shattered by shrapnel.

AHMED, Southern Lebanon Resident (through translator): Strikes, warplanes, destruction.

No one is left there.

Everyone has fled.

We took our belongings and left.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Since October the 8th, Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into Israel, including yesterday outside Israel's third largest city.

And Israel says its goal is to return some 60,000 residents to now empty Northern Israeli towns.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): I promised that we would change the security balance, the balance of power in the north.

That is exactly what we are doing.

We're destroying thousands of missiles and rockets directed at Israeli cities and Israeli citizens.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And Israel expanded its targets today, warning residents to leave any homes with weapons in the Beqaa Valley, where Hezbollah was founded decades ago near the border with Syria.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces: We advise civilians from Lebanese villages located in and next to buildings and areas used by Hezbollah for military purpose, such as those used to store weapons, to immediately move out of harm's way for their own safety.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel said the targets were Hezbollah, but Lebanese officials say Israel also struck hospitals, medical centers and other civilian infrastructure.

It is a dangerous, violent escalation one day after Hezbollah leaders promised their own escalation.

NAIM QASSEM, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General (through translator): We don't need to make threats, and we won't specify how we will respond to aggression.

We have entered a new phase titled open-ended battle of reckoning.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But over the last week, it's been Hezbollah that's faced unprecedented attacks, their walkie-talkies and pagers turned into bombs, injuring thousands and killing nearly 40.

And on Friday, an Israeli airstrike in Southern Beirut killed the founder of Hezbollah's special forces unit, but also dozens of civilians, who have faced the brunt of the violence, the U.N. said today.

IMRAN RIZA, U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator For Lebanon: What we have seen over the last week has been dramatic, has been dramatic.

The consequences on civilians has been huge.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Today in Washington, for at least the fifth time in the last week, President Biden urged restraint.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: My team is in constant contact with their counterparts, and we're working to de-escalate in a way that allows people to return to their homes safely.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But if Israel's hope is that Hezbollah chooses diplomacy, analysts say this week's attacks will produce the opposite effect, and is already leading to the very escalation from both sides the U.S. has been trying to prevent.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

GEOFF BENNETT: For perspective on the spiraling violence between Israel and Lebanon, we get two views.

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a longtime State Department official in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

And Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

Thank you both for being here.

Hussein, I will start with you.

Lebanon's Health Ministry says the strikes have killed 492 people, including 35 children and 58 women.

What's your assessment of how Israel is conducting this military operation?

HUSSEIN IBISH, Senior Resident Scholar, Arab Gulf States Institute: Well, it's obviously aimed at not just Hezbollah and its weapons depots, but anything that Israel thinks might be of use to Hezbollah.

It's very similar to the doctrine applied in Gaza, where dual-use, triple-use facilities are all targeted, and so are anything that could kind of maybe be on that list.

There is a real deference towards authorization rather than non-authorization of strikes and a willingness to do tremendous harm.

Part of it is psychological warfare.

Part of it is generalized vengeance.

Israel's approach to these things is wars between societies, and they want to make sure everybody gets the point and everybody suffers.

GEOFF BENNETT: Aaron David Miller, how does this move Israel closer to its goal of facilitating the return of some 60,000 people, civilians to their homes in the north?

AARON DAVID MILLER, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: You know, it's great to be with you.

And it's always great to be with Hussein.

I'm not sure about the war against societies.

So I think the Israelis are faced with a legitimate problem, and that is, October 8, Hezbollah decided, for their own reasons, perhaps encouraged by Iran, to become part of the Axis of Resistance.

And in doing so, they struck Israel.

We have been living on borrowed time ever since.

And Hezbollah understands that it's -- like Hamas, it's placed the entire population of Lebanon in the dock for its actions.

As far as Israel's strategy, I mean, I do raise a concern.

I'm not sure the Israelis believe for a minute, frankly, that all this military pressure is going to get to somehow roll over, let alone create a pathway that the Biden administration would very eagerly take advantage of to de-escalate under the able and very talented management of Amos Hochstein, who negotiated a maritime border with -- two years ago, with -- under -- with Hamas' and presumably with Iran's acquiescence.

I think the Israelis, frankly -- I don't think they want a major escalation, which is going to expose their population centers and infrastructure to an enormous amount of destruction.

But they are taking a major whack at Hezbollah.

I think they're prepared to continue that, perhaps even without a sustainable objective.

GEOFF BENNETT: Do you expect Israel to launch a ground operation in Southern Lebanon?

HUSSEIN IBISH: Not yet.

I mean, I do think that, yes, Hezbollah is responsible, for sure, for dragging yet again Lebanon and its people into a conflict which is not connected to Lebanese interests.

But that's changed now with the pager explosion, et cetera.

I think there were all over 4,000 bombs randomly put all over Lebanon, killed a lot of people, including children.

I think the perspective of a lot of Lebanese has shifted to be more synthetic to Hezbollah.

I think that a land invasion is not yet likely.

But Israel may come to find that it cannot create the illusion of security, because that's what they're chasing.

And none of this, not the bombing, not some kind of a security barrier they might try to create by seizing and creating a new occupation in a swathe of Southern Lebanon, none of it would provide security for Northern Israel.

In fact, it would mire Israel in yet another open-ended occupation and conflict counterinsurgency in the north, as well as in the south.

But I do think that it could create, for a short period of time, the illusion of security.

And I think it's possible that the Israelis may turn to that, if they cannot get the illusion of security through this bombing, which is undoubtedly a form of coercive diplomacy.

Clearly, they're trying to force Hezbollah into some kind of formal back-down, while degrading their rockets and rocket launchers.

But none of that translates into greater security for Northern Israel.

At most, it buys you time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Aaron David Miller, what about Iran?

You say neither Israel nor Iran wants a full-blown direct conflict.

But how might this escalation by Israel into Lebanon, how might this prompt Iran to be more provocative in response?

AARON DAVID MILLER: Well, if in fact you actually got a major escalation, Hezbollah has not yet crossed the key red line, which is the use of their precision-guided missiles again, which they have hundreds, not thousands, but, nonetheless, they have sufficient quantity in order to do tremendous damage to Israeli population centers, infrastructure, the electricity grid.

I mean, Israel gets a lot of its water from desal plants.

Those would go out.

This could become a major nightmare.

And, remember, Hezbollah has the capacity now to launch 3,000 missiles a day.

In summer of 2006, in the 34-day war, they launched 3,000 during the entire campaign.

Look, the Iranians, I think, want to cause the Israelis as much difficulty as they can.

They'd love to see an Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon.

They'd love to see the Israelis in the West Bank and in Gaza in perpetuity.

But what they don't want to see is an Israeli and/or American strike against Iran proper.

And you could end up in - - with that eventuality if, in fact, you have got a major Israeli-Hezbollah escalation, and Iran felt the need to come to Hezbollah's defense.

Israelis and perhaps even the Americans could get involved.

And you could see something the Middle East has never experienced before, which is a multifront war, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Iran.

The Houthis (AUDIO GAP) got really bad and Iranians striking oil targets in the Gulf, which, as we know, they have done in 2019.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

What does de-escalation look like at this point, and what more can the U.S. do, if anything?

HUSSEIN IBISH: I think the U.S. could do a lot to restrain Israel, because Israel has achieved early on in this conflict that began right after October 7 escalation dominance.

They made it clear very early on, and especially during this year, that they don't mind a broader war that Aaron has described, that of all the parties involved, other than Hamas, which has no ability to influence things really, that Israel is the one that is most interested in a potential war, that they wouldn't mind getting the United States to actually bomb Iranian nuclear facilities through the process Aaron just described.

There are a lot of people in Israel who are enthusiastic about that, and a bigger number in the Israeli government who are ambivalent about it.

They're concerned about it, but, at the same time, they can see upsides, which is why they have been so reckless and so escalatory in recent months.

De-escalation looks like Hezbollah backing off with rocket attacks and making maybe some conciliatory noises about decoupling their conflict with Israel from the war in Gaza, which is the one thing they have been harping on, is that they won't change any of their behavior until there's a cease-fire in Gaza.

That doesn't actually make any sense from their point of view, except sort of in a very vague, ideological way.

And it also certainly means the United States restraining Israel.

I think both Tehran and Washington, who would say, and I think with good reason, they don't want a broader war, have a big responsibility to restrain their allies.

And, in particular, I think Washington really does need to say to the Israelis in a more open way, if you force a war here, because you are the party driving it this time -- it wasn't true in 2006, but now it is -- we -- you're going to be on your own.

We -- don't rely on us at the U.N. for more munitions or anything.

Our policy has been that the war should not spread.

And if it spreads because you insist it must spread for whatever reason, then we're not responsible.

GEOFF BENNETT: Aaron, in the 30 seconds we have left, is there anything that President Biden could say to Bibi Netanyahu at the U.N. General Assembly this week that might make a difference?

AARON DAVID MILLER: Yes, I will make this brief.

In 11 months, the administration, for any number of reasons, some legitimate, some perhaps not, has been reluctant and/or refused to impose a single cost or consequence that normal humans, like the three of us, would regard as sustained and serious pressure.

Fifty -- are we 50 days out from November 5?

There is absolutely no way, in my judgment, given the consequential nature of this election, that this administration, with Iran perceived to be pulling the strings, even though it may want de-escalation - - Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy -- is going to pressure the Israelis in the 50-plus days that remain before this very consequential election.

HUSSEIN IBISH: And the Israelis know this and are cynically using that situation, rather, to give themselves a freer hand.

GEOFF BENNETT: Hussein Ibish and Aaron David Miller, we thank you both for your insights and for your time this evening.

HUSSEIN IBISH: Thank you.

AARON DAVID MILLER: Thanks for having us.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines with the latest on the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at his golf course earlier this month.

Prosecutors said today that the suspect, Ryan Routh, had engaged in a premeditated plot to kill the former president.

They say the 58-year-old left behind a prewritten note that he addressed to the world, appearing to say he may not succeed in killing Trump and offering a reward to anyone willing to -- quote -- "complete the job."

Routh appeared at a West Palm Beach courthouse today.

He will remain in jail awaiting trial on two gun-related charges.

Prosecutors will seek a more serious charge of attempted assassination of a major political candidate.

The Biden administration is proposing a ban on Chinese software and hardware in autonomous vehicles operating on U.S. roads.

The Commerce Department cites national security concerns for the move and says Russian technology would also be prohibited.

Under the proposal, the software would be banned from vehicles starting with model year 2027 and hardware in 2030.

The move comes after a similar ban on communications equipment from Huawei in 2022 and amid a push by U.S. lawmakers to ban TikTok if its Chinese owners don't sell their state.

Officials in Alabama are urging members of the public to come forward with any information related to a weekend mass shooting in Birmingham.

The search is still on for the gunmen who opened fire outside a nightclub on Saturday night, killing four people and injuring 17 others.

Police have described it as a targeted hit, but say that innocent bystanders were among those shot.

Today, authorities said they're offering rewards totaling $100,000 for credible information that helps lead to an arrest or conviction.

RANDALL WOODFIN (D), Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama: We cannot give safe harbor or shelter to people who want to just simply kill people.

We can't give them cover.

They should not feel safe in our community.

They should not feel safe anywhere.

AMNA NAWAZ: Saturday's shooting was the city's third quadruple homicide of the year.

In fact, according to an Associated Press database that tracks shootings, three of the nation's 31 mass killings this year have taken place in Birmingham.

Murder and other violent crime dropped across the nation last year.

That's according to an annual report from the FBI.

Overall, violent crime fell by an estimated 3 percent compared to 2022.

Murders and manslaughter dropped nearly 12 percent, and reports of rape fell more than 9 percent.

However, reports of hate crimes rose last year by 2 percent.

Public safety has been a central issue in this year's presidential race, with the Republican ticket claiming, despite evidence to the contrary, that crime is out of control under the Biden administration.

Two Russians and one American returned from the International Space Station today, ending a record-breaking stay for the Russians.

MAN: Touchdown.

AMNA NAWAZ: Their capsule landed in a cloud of dust in Kazakstan about 3.5 hours after it undocked from the station.

Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were aboard the ISS for 374 days, a new record for the longest continuous stay.

American astronaut Tracy Dyson was there for six months.

Eight astronauts are still on board, including Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Those Americans won't return until next year following tech problems with Boeing Starliner.

Two new reports on the state of book banning in America paint a mixed picture of the practice as the annual Banned Books Week begins nationwide.

The American Library Association reported 414 complaints in the first eight months of 2024.

That's compared to 695 challenges over the same period last year.

The meantime, data from PEN America shows the number of books actually being pulled from shelves tripled over the previous year to more than 10,000.

Experts say the two surveys don't necessarily contradict each other, and taken together they point to an ongoing surge in book bans in recent years.

And on Wall Street, small gains across the board helped build on recent record highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average added around 60 points, well above that 42000-point level.

The Nasdaq added about 25 points on the day, and the S&P 500 tacked on 16 points to close at a new record.

Still to come on the "News Hour": our Politics Monday team breaks down the latest from the campaign trail; California sues ExxonMobil over allegedly deceiving the public about recycling plastics; and Judy Woodruff discusses the election with voters from across the political spectrum in Wisconsin.

Congress is returning to town with the election hovering, and funding for most of the government is set to run out a week from today.

GEOFF BENNETT: Congressional leaders announced another short-term proposal to punt more partisan fights over spending until after the election.

Lisa Desjardins is tracking the movements on Capitol Hill and joins us now.

Lisa, so here we go again.

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: What's in this deal exactly?

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, let's talk about this.

This came together over the weekend from the Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress.

First thing people should know, this would extend government funding to a new date, December 20.

Of course, that is after the election, but before a new president would be sworn in.

This includes $231 million for Secret Service, and it explicitly says that can be spent now on the current campaign season, obviously, concern from both parties, protection, including former President Trump.

What is not in here, there will not be any increased funding for Veterans Affairs.

That is something that Democrats say they particularly tried to get in this bill.

The VA is constrained, constrained right now for resources, but Republicans, they say, would not agree to it.

As you said, this is standard procedure, but coming now in such a tense election year, both parties' leadership realized they need to get this through.

Republican leaders don't want to shut down and Democrats want to focus on the election.

GEOFF BENNETT: So what happens now?

What are you watching for next?

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, so the first thing is, we're waiting to see how this happens.

We do expect this to pass both chambers.

It's a question of, how dramatic is it?

The House is likely to move on this tomorrow or Wednesday.

Now, we are watching in the Senate some senators, conservatives like Mike Lee of Utah, who often brings up his objections to spending and other things because he knows he can try and run out the Senate clock, get some attention for it.

This would -- could come close to the wire to next Monday's deadline, but all expect in the end it will likely pass.

The other person to watch very closely is former President Donald Trump.

He said he would oppose.

He told Speaker Johnson to oppose a deal like this without attached legislation he wanted.

Is he going to fight again against this deal?

Is he going to push for a shutdown?

And, more importantly, is he going to raise problems for Speaker Johnson?

We know recent Republican speakers of the House do not have an easy job, and their job security also is not the greatest.

GEOFF BENNETT: That is indeed true.

Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.

AMNA NAWAZ: And turning now to the presidential race, with just over 40 days until Election Day, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are ramping up their campaigning in swing states during the final stretch of the race.

A week after a second attempt on his life, former President Donald Trump spent the afternoon in Western Pennsylvania.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Nobody's done for farmers what I have done.

AMNA NAWAZ: Speaking to voters about the potential threat from China to U.S. agriculture.

DONALD TRUMP: I'm going to call up President Xi.

I'm going to say, you have to honor the deal you made.

We made a deal you would buy $50 billion worth of American farm product, and I guarantee you he will buy it, 100 percent.

He will buy it.

AMNA NAWAZ: As Trump and Vice President Harris barnstorm battlegrounds just six weeks before Election Day, new polling from The New York Times and Siena College shows the former president taking the lead in three of those crucial states, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, with Trump's five-point lead in Arizona outside the margin of error.

While the polls may show a Trump advantage in the Sun Belt, Harris is outpacing her Republican rival when it comes to money in the bank.

The vice president received a $27 million cash injection from a Wall Street fund-raising event on Sunday, adding to the $361 million the campaign raised last month.

That same day, she also racked up 700 endorsements in a signed letter from both Republican and Democratic national security leaders, who called the choice between Harris and Trump a choice between -- quote -- "democracy and authoritarianism."

On official vice presidential business today, Harris will pick up campaigning in key swing states throughout the week with a focus on the economy.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: I have named it an opportunity economy, which really, in short form, it's about what we can do more to invest in the aspirations, the ambitions and the dreams of the American people, while addressing the challenges that they face.

AMNA NAWAZ: The vice president also accepted an invitation from CNN for a second debate with Donald Trump, who swiftly declined the invitation at a weekend rally.

DONALD TRUMP: It's just too late.

Voting has already started.

AMNA NAWAZ: And in an interview on a conservative Sunday show, Trump was candid about his plans not to run again in 2028.

QUESTION: If you're not successful this time, do you see yourself running again in four years?

DONALD TRUMP: No, I don't.

No, I don't.

I think that will be -- that will be it.

I don't see that at all.

AMNA NAWAZ: His running mate, Senator J.D.

Vance, meanwhile, campaigned in North Carolina today.

SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: Thanks to Kamala Harris' policies, you have got a lot of American families and a lot of American cities that can't afford to provide basic necessities to their citizens.

AMNA NAWAZ: But all eyes are on a different Republican candidate in the Tar Heel State, gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson.

On Sunday, several of Robinson's top campaign staffers quit after a CNN report uncovered numerous inflammatory and derogatory comments that the lieutenant governor allegedly made on a porn Web site.

The Harris campaign quickly turned out campaign ads tying Robinson directly to Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP: I have gotten to know him and he's outstanding.

NARRATOR: Donald Trump and Mark Robinson, they're both wrong for North Carolina.

AMNA NAWAZ: With early voting already under way in some states, the race remains a tight one, leaving a grueling sprint ahead for the candidates in the weeks until November.

GEOFF BENNETT: And new developments in two key states could affect the presidential candidates' potential paths to victory, as each tries to clinch the electoral votes needed to win.

To dive into it all on this Politics Monday, we have Tamara Keith of NPR and Jasmine Wright of NOTUS.

That's a new publication from the nonprofit nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute.

Amy Walter is away.

It's great to have you both here.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Good to be here.

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS: Thank you so much.

GEOFF BENNETT: So we are heading into the final six-week sprint to Election Day.

Tam, you have been keeping tabs on Donald Trump's travel schedule.

What does that tell you about the campaign strategy six weeks out?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, what I can tell you is that he is in Pennsylvania.

He was just in North Carolina.

He's going back to North Carolina again, and he's also going to Georgia.

So his strategy is this East Coast strategy.

If he can win in Pennsylvania and Georgia and North Carolina, but especially if he can win in Pennsylvania, then Harris has a very difficult path to the 270 electoral votes she needs.

And so Trump is focusing on these states.

The fact that he is spending a lot of time in North Carolina says that he's worried about it, because, if he wasn't worried about it, he wouldn't be spending time there.

But he is.

In fact, I think he's spending more time there than Harris has spent since she became the nominee.

GEOFF BENNETT: I want to talk a bit more about North Carolina in a second.

But, Jasmine, over the weekend, Vice President Harris said she accepted a debate proposal from CNN for a debate late in October.

Donald Trump has ruled it out.

He can always change his mind.

We know that.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Right.

GEOFF BENNETT: But what's the strategy?

Why does the vice president feel like she needs another debate?

JASMINE WRIGHT: Look, well, I think that the vice president had a massively successful debate earlier this month.

We saw her not just only quell the competency questions that she was absolutely getting from both parties or whether or not she was actually ready to be president, but also they made a lot of money in that 24 hours after the debate, $47 million.

So they want to recreate those moments.

And, of course, it's a little bit of goading Trump, something that they have seen just in the debate and since the debate that has been successful, trying to poke him, really kind of playing this game of, are you or are you not a chicken?

And so I think we're going to continue to see her up until really it's basically too late and those dates expire, trying to get Trump again on that debate space, because there is no -- or at least they believe that there is no downside into them doing this.

TAMARA KEITH: Well, and one thing I will note is that the vice presidential debate is scheduled for October 1.

In the last president -- the first presidential debate between Biden -- or between Trump and Harris, Trump was like, J.D.

Vance, he doesn't speak for me.

Well, so is he going to let J.D.

Vance and Tim Walz have the last word?

I guess we will find out.

But part of what the Harris campaign is betting is that, this -- Trump may say it's a closed question.

(CROSSTALK) JASMINE WRIGHT: And I think every time that J.D.

Vance has gotten the last word, the former president wasn't happy about it.

TAMARA KEITH: Right.

JASMINE WRIGHT: So I think that we will see you after October 1.

GEOFF BENNETT: We shall see.

Meantime, Donald Trump, it appears, is trying to shift and soften his approach toward women.

Speaking in North Carolina over the weekend, he said: "I will protect women at a level never seen before.

They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe, and secure."

And this comes as NBC has a new pull out that shows Harris leading Trump by 58 percent to 37 percent among women.

That is quite a gap.

TAMARA KEITH: This is a historically large gender gap.

And Trump is doing better with men than Harris is doing with men.

That was what makes the gap so gaping.

Trump, in those remarks, also said, and I just want to read this: "Women will no longer be thinking about abortion because it is now where it has always had to be, with the states."

So he is essentially saying that you're not going to have to worry about abortion.

Your life is going to be great if I am elected president again.

And what he's saying is that it's with the states, there's going to be these ballot measures, it'll be figured out.

I have to say, though, women are not going to stop thinking about it.

In fact, ever since Roe was overturned with Supreme Court justices that Trump proudly appointed, ever since Roe was overturned, abortion has become a campaign issue like it wasn't before.

Before, it was a motivator for Christian conservatives, but it was not a broad-based issue that Americans thought was front of mind in the last couple of decades.

Now it is a front-of-mind campaign issue.

There are going to be these ballot measures.

And I was traveling with Vice President Harris on Friday, when she went to Georgia with an -- a late added rally in the Atlanta area.

Specifically, the entire speech was about reproductive health care and what she calls Trump abortion bans in nearly two dozen states.

He was responding to that.

That -- it was a cause and effect.

She did that speech and then he put out this post on social media and then literally read it at his rally.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Because he knows he's vulnerable on the issue of abortion ever since Roe v. Wade was struck down.

This is something that he has actually been probably the most aggressive in his party in trying to figure out how to position himself on abortion.

And we have seen that he just can't figure out where he wants to be.

And so I think you're going to continue to hear these kind of slightly unserious proclamations that women will never have to worry about abortion again if he's president because he's trying to figure out the right language in real time to tell women that he can be trusted on this issue, which is absolutely opposite of the message that the vice president is offering.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, we got some news today out of Nebraska.

And this relates to the Republican effort to change how Nebraska awards its Electoral College votes.

This was an effort by Republicans to boost former President Trump.

And it hit a roadblock in the form of a state legislator named Mike McDonnell.

He put out a statement, part of which I will read.

He says: "In recent weeks, a conversation around whether to change how we allocate our Electoral College votes has returned to the forefront."

He also says: "After deep consideration, it is clear to me that, right now, 43 days from Election Day, is not the moment to make this change."

Tam, how big a deal is this for both campaigns?

TAMARA KEITH: This is -- I mean, in some ways, this returns it to where it was, which is that this was kind of going nowhere.

They have been trying to do this.

The Republican legislature has tried a few times to make this happen.

What is interesting is that, in the past week, former President Trump, his close ally Lindsey Graham have been talking to these legislators, trying to put pressure on them, trying to make it happen one more time.

This is because Trump allies readily admit that he is not winning in this one congressional district.

In fact, Harris and her campaign have spent a lot of time and money and sent -- Doug Emhoff is like the second mayor of Omaha.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Living there.

He's got an apartment.

(LAUGHTER) TAMARA KEITH: Yes, he's got an apartment.

Yes.

They have spent a lot of time and effort on this one Electoral College vote, because if it comes down to just the blue wall states, then she would also need this blue dot, the Second Congressional District in Nebraska, in order to get to 270.

And, obviously, Trump and his allies do not want that to happen.

JASMINE WRIGHT: I mean, there's no doubt this is a major win for the Harris campaign.

Of course, this guy can change his mind, that we may go through two more rotations of this before we get to November.

But, certainly, I have been talking to Harris aides.

I was with them in North Carolina two weeks ago, where I asked an aide, really, what's their path?

And they say that they are most comfortable, they feel most bullish about the blue wall path plus Omaha.

And that is where that congressional district is.

And so they want to maintain that.

And so him basically ruling out switching it, saying that we're too close to November to do this, this is a win for them, even though it still maintains what is the status quo.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jasmine Wright of NOTUS, we should say, a former "News Hour" producer.

JASMINE WRIGHT: Yes.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Great to have you back.

And, Tamara Keith, of course, of NPR.

Thanks so much.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: A new lawsuit filed today accuses ExxonMobil of contributing to the world's plastic pollution.

The oil and gas company is one of the largest producers of the material used to make single-use plastics.

California's Attorney General Rob Bonta filed that lawsuit after a two-year investigation, and I spoke with him moments ago.

Attorney General Bonta, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being with us.

ROB BONTA (D), California Attorney General: Thanks for having me, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, in this lawsuit, you're accusing ExxonMobil of what you call decades-long deception, and essentially lying to the public about the recyclability of plastics.

What specifically have they been saying over the last 50 years that you're alleging just isn't true?

ROB BONTA: Well, since the 70s, for decades, they have been telling the world, Americans, Californians, that plastics are recyclable and are being recycled, and that consumers can participate in a single-use throwaway culture, and it's OK because all those plastics that you throw away will be reclaimed, recycled, will show up in someone else's household as a useful plastic product, utensil or a container or something else.

And that is absolutely false.

And in many occasions, most occasions, the item is completely not recyclable and never going to be recycled.

AMNA NAWAZ: An ExxonMobil spokesperson did push back on parts of your lawsuit, saying in a statement to Reuters in part that - - quote -- "Suing people makes headlines, but it doesn't solve the plastic waste problem.

Advanced recycling is a real solution."

They're referencing their program that they actually had to convert plastic waste into petrochemical feedstock.

What's your reaction to that?

ROB BONTA: First, litigation can certainly solve problems.

It can stop ExxonMobil from lying.

They have been lying for decades.

They're still lying today.

Advanced recycling is part of that lying.

Here's why; 92 percent of what is produced by advanced recycling is not any other plastic product.

It is mostly transportation fuel and other items.

So they promise this circular recycling experience for their plastics through advanced recycling.

They can take any plastic, they say, and it'll come back into your household as a useful plastic product.

A water bottle will come back as another water bottle or maybe a container or utensil, something else useful.

And it's just not true, and they know it.

Only 8 percent of the plastics that they recycle through advanced -- so-called advanced recycling are actually turned into recyclable material.

Advanced recycling is not a solution.

It is another lie that they are telling.

It is completely predictable that they're telling it, because that's what they have done for decades.

But it's a lie.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's worth pointing out ExxonMobil does not actually produce or manufacture a lot of the single-use plastics that you're talking about here.

They are the largest producer of the plastic polymers that are used to then produce those single-use plastic products, right, the building blocks of the plastics.

ROB BONTA: Exactly.

AMNA NAWAZ: So why not go after the companies that actually make the single-use plastics that we agree are the core of this problem?

ROB BONTA: We're going to the source.

ExxonMobil is the biggest producer, as you mentioned, of the building blocks, the raw materials, the plastic pellets that they sell to their corporate clients, who then through melting and molding, through adding of chemicals, turn them into the products that we see.

But they're the biggest producers of the building blocks of the polymers, as you mentioned.

And so -- and they're one of the biggest liars, one of the biggest deceivers that have been engaged on their own and through their trade industry front groups perpetuating this myth of recycling.

So they must be held responsible.

And, in this case, it's unique.

It's pioneering.

It's trailblazing.

It's groundbreaking in the sense that it's the first time a public entity like the state of California has sued a petrochemical company like ExxonMobil that produces the plastic pellets, the polymers.

AMNA NAWAZ: There have also been campaigns over the years for consumers to reduce their plastic consumption, not just reuse and recycle, as you point out, which has abysmally low rates across the country.

But our usage as consumers has actually gone way up over the years.

So doesn't that play a role in creating more demand that manufacturers will say, we're just trying to meet?

ROB BONTA: When it comes to usage, no surprise that it's gone up.

That's exactly what ExxonMobil wants.

That's exactly what the myth of recycling is designed to manifest.

When people have comfort that they can use freely plastic products as much as they want and put them in the blue bin because it'll come back as a recycled product and not harm the environment -- in fact, they think they're being good stewards of the environment -- that increases use.

That's by design.

That's what ExxonMobil wanted.

And given that only 5 percent of the plastic waste in the United States of America is actually recycled, less use of plastic products might be something that a fully informed public might want to engage in and reuse of either plastic products or non-plastic products like cloth or fabric bags when you go shopping might be something people want to adopt as well.

But the myth of recycling was designed to drive purchasing -- purchases of and use of plastics up, up, up and also drive profits of ExxonMobil up, up, up.

And it's worked.

Last year, ExxonMobil made $36 billion in profit.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is California's Attorney General Rob Bonta joining us tonight.

Mr. Attorney General, thank you.

Good to see you.

ROB BONTA: Thanks for having me, Amna.

Good to see you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Stephen Colbert has been making America laugh for decades and, since 2015, on CBS' "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."

Over the years, his wife, Evie McGee Colbert, has often gotten a mention and makes regular cameos on the show.

And now the couple is sharing the ingredients that make their partnership work, especially in the kitchen.

Their new cookbook "Does This Taste Funny?"

is out now.

And we met up recently to talk food, family and politics for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

At New York City's Porchlight bar, STEPHEN COLBERT, Co-Author, "Does This Taste Funny?

: Recipes Our Family Loves": I have never been interviewed in a bar before.

This is nice.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT, Co-Author, "Does This Taste Funny?

: Recipes Our Family Loves": What have we got here?

AMNA NAWAZ: That's a great question.

What is this dessert?

Over a spread of Southern specialties EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Oh, nice.

STEPHEN COLBERT: And then biscuits and honey.

AMNA NAWAZ: Stephen and Evie McGee Colbert open up about their shared love of their shared hometown, Charleston, South Carolina, when they first met in their 20s and that inspired this cookbook together.

You say in the book that you guys live in the kitchen.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Sure.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm curious how that works.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Well... AMNA NAWAZ: Does someone take the lead?

Is there like a chef/sous-chef situation?

STEPHEN COLBERT: Every family in some ways -- like, the whole thing about, like, we're talking about kitchen table issues and sitting around the kitchen table.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Right.

STEPHEN COLBERT: We're always hanging out in there, like everybody does.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Right.

Right.

One of us is a little bossy.

STEPHEN COLBERT: One of us.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: We're not going to say who.

No names.

STEPHEN COLBERT: One of us enjoys cooking more than the other one does.

That's all.

I don't think I'm bossy.

I think I'm just... EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: It's true.

You do.

You do enjoy it.

STEPHEN COLBERT: I'm more enthusiastic about it.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Yes.

We say in the cookbook... (CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: So there's a chef/sous-chef vibe, or no?

STEPHEN COLBERT: No.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: No, we're not good together.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: How dare I?

I apologize.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: You know what?

The cookbook changed that.

Before that, we didn't cook together.

But then, of course, we had to write a cookbook together.

And it turns out we do it pretty well, I think.

AMNA NAWAZ: The book, a compendium of everything from seafood specials and party food to desserts and drinks, started coming together during COVID.

The Colberts, along with their three mostly grown children, were locked down together in their Charleston home.

The family turned their focus to a joint project, compiling recipes of the food they loved and the stories behind it.

It feels like it's as much about your family history in this book as it is about the food.

Is that fair?

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Absolutely.

Very fair.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes, it's about our -- yes, it's about the lives we lived growing up there, not just the food.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Well, and when we started, we gathered up recipes that we have fed our kids for years, but we also reached out to family members.

And one of the things that was fun for me is, I worked on it with my mother, so we would go hunting.

She couldn't remember.

Like, for example, her pickled shrimp recipe is in the cookbook.

I think we made it for her four times and she kept saying, that's not quite right.

STEPHEN COLBERT: That's not right.

(LAUGHTER) STEPHEN COLBERT: The book is dedicated to Evie's mom, not just because she was a great hostess and a cook of her own, but because we were writing this book near the end of your mother's life.

(CROSSTALK) EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Right.

She wasn't well, so I would be with her, a medical appointment or at the hospital or something.

And it was something else to talk about, which was really nice for her and nice for me.

And I think neither one of us sort of knew where we were headed in the future, but it gave us a present moment to be together.

AMNA NAWAZ: Food is at the heart of major moments for the couple, including the moment they first met.

You have told about the moment you saw Evie, you knew, you knew she was the one that you were going to marry.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Did you cook for her?

Is that how you help to woo her, or no?

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Oh, no, you didn't.

STEPHEN COLBERT: No.

Actually, I don't think I was very good.

Like, I -- there's a recipe in Charleston, it's a shrimp dip, or -- but we call it shrimp paste, because everything in Charleston has to have an old name.

And so my family made shrimp paste, and our recipe was terrible.

And the first thing I ever made for Evie was shrimp paste, which is not the most attractive-sounding dish.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Well, you use canned shrimp, because that's all we could afford.

(LAUGHTER) STEPHEN COLBERT: I used canned shrimp.

And it was terrible.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: There were budget constraints.

AMNA NAWAZ: There were budget constraints.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Exactly.

AMNA NAWAZ: The first dish Evie cooked for Stephen?

Her family's famous cheese biscuits.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Her family would make thousands and thousands of cheese biscuits and distribute them around.

AMNA NAWAZ: That it's a family recipe.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Yes, it's a family recipe.

My mother did it every Christmas all year long.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: They were in the house.

It was her go-to.

Someone's coming over.

You put a plate of those out, just like our first date.

I wasn't ready.

STEPHEN COLBERT: She was late.

So, I went into the bar with her dad.

(CROSSTALK) EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: On purpose.

You got to make them wait a little.

STEPHEN COLBERT: You, Miss.

You, Miss, right there.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Hi.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Hello.

Hi.

Lovely to meet you.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Lovely to meet you.

STEPHEN COLBERT: What is your name?

AMNA NAWAZ: The book isn't their first collaboration.

That came during pandemic lockdowns when Evie jumped in to help Stephen host "The Late Show" from their South Carolina home on Sullivan's Island.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Thank you.

We called it the Ed Sullivan's Island Theater.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: Was that was your first professional time working together?

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: It was.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes.

And we were terrified.

I was terrified.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: Her eyes went wide when she said, yes, it was.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: It was.

It really was.

And there were very funny moments that now are funny at the time were slightly stressful, where he would turn to me and say something like, "I can't hear Tom Hanks."

And I would say, "I don't know what to do."

(LAUGHTER) STEPHEN COLBERT: She was my crew on the couch with a headset and all these wires around her.

She's like, I don't know what button to push.

The polls are showing we won by numbers you have never even heard of.

We got smeventeen percent, 100 didgeridoo.

AMNA NAWAZ: Back in his studio, Stephen Colbert is back to doing what he does best, bringing levity to a heavy time and sometimes heavy topics.

Is there such toxicity around the discourse sometimes?

STEPHEN COLBERT: Sure.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you find it's harder today to be funny about what's going on in the world?

STEPHEN COLBERT: It's a gift to us that we get to go out there and do the jokes for the audience, and we get to realize that we're not crazy, and that these things that are driving us crazy or making us anxious are also resonating with the audience.

But toxicity itself is worth making fun of.

Like, that's just -- the fact of how bad things are is something you have to make fun of.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

Is it the kind of thing where, Evie, he leaves it all at work?

Or do you talk about these things at home?

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Oh, we talk... STEPHEN COLBERT: We talk about it.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Unfortunately, we talk about it a lot.

STEPHEN COLBERT: All the time, yes.

We've always been news junkies.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Always been news junkies.

But yes, we do talk about it.

STEPHEN COLBERT: "PBS News Hour," number one.

AMNA NAWAZ: He's long blended current events and comedy, but this year, with this particular election cycle, Colbert says there's just a lot more to talk about.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Right now, what's interesting is, no matter what happens with the election, it's something new.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Yes.

STEPHEN COLBERT: You know, the excitement of as much -- as I admire Mr. Biden, is that the excitement that, well, there is a change.

And this change is as good as a holiday sometimes.

And there's something new to talk about.

(CROSSTALK) STEPHEN COLBERT: One of the jokes that I did after the switch-off between Biden and Vice President Harris was that, in the monologue, I just found myself dancing around.

I was just kind of excited, and I just turned to the camera and said -- it was first thing in my mind.

I said, this is the dance of a guy who gets to talk about something new for the first time in five years.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: His own politics lean left.

He refused to even say former President Trump's name for a couple of years.

Do you have red lines, like people you won't talk to.

Like, would you have former President Trump on the show?

STEPHEN COLBERT: I have had him before, and he was kind of boring.

So, no.

AMNA NAWAZ: No.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes.

No.

No.

I don't like to have people on the show who I don't think are going to be honest agents of their own ideas.

Politicians always represent an idea.

So if I think a politician is disingenuous, not to point out Mr. Trump specifically, because there are many politicians I wouldn't want to talk to that I think do not honestly represent what they actually believe, but are rather just playing to a crowd.

So, that's just no fun.

AMNA NAWAZ: "The Late Show" on CBS is number one among all late-night shows, some of which are struggling with a changing landscape.

Audiences may come to Colbert for the laughs, but seem to be staying for more.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We have to learn more about trust and peace and learning about each other, rather than... AMNA NAWAZ: Rare moments of engaged conversation, like this from his recent interview with Nancy Pelosi.

STEPHEN COLBERT: As you can see with the protest out here, that answer is unsatisfying to some people.

AMNA NAWAZ: There were these pro-Palestinian protesters and she said, I can't hear what they are saying.

And you took a moment to make sure she heard the questions that they were asking.

Why?

STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, I want to be respectful to my guests, but I promised the people who had protested during the first act of the interview with Nancy Pelosi that I would ask the question if they would sit and listen to what she had to say.

And, also, there's no way to move on from a subject unless you address the subject.

AMNA NAWAZ: That feels like something you may have learned in 30-plus years of marriage together, no?

(LAUGHTER) STEPHEN COLBERT: Yes.

It is good to address the subject.

(CROSSTALK) EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Well, and listening.

And I think what you did so well at that moment, that's what conversation is about, that we have to listen to the issue that is bothering someone, so you can respond to it.

I think that's also in our marriage.

You have to listen and then be able to respond.

And I think we do.

We've managed to figure out how to do that.

STEPHEN COLBERT: I'm sorry.

I missed some of that.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: There are more collaborations and laughs to come as the two run a production company together.

Stephen and Evie Colbert, thank you so very much.

Such a pleasure.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: Thank you so much.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Oh, thank you.

EVIE MCGEE COLBERT: It's been lovely.

Appreciate it.

STEPHEN COLBERT: Cheers.

AMNA NAWAZ: Cheers.

And we have more from Stephen and Evie Colbert online.

Taking some lessons learned while cooking together, they discuss the art of an apology and how people who disagree can find a way to get along.

That's on our YouTube page.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, eight in 10 Americans say the country's political divisions pose a serious threat to the future of our democracy.

That is according to the most recent PBS News/Marist poll.

Judy Woodruff has been exploring many of these divisions for her series America at a Crossroads.

And she recently hosted a town hall in the swing state of Wisconsin to find out how people are feeling at this moment.

Here's a preview of her special airing later tonight on PBS stations.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On a warm September night at the historic Pabst brewery in downtown Milwaukee, 50 Wisconsinites with different political views gathered to discuss their differences and whether common ground is possible.

RYN BOTSFORD, Harris Supporter: I am a gay person.

I have a son.

I have a wife.

And I cannot compromise with somebody who says that my child would be better not with my wife and I, but in a foster system or with a mom and a dad.

JIM BLUEMEL, Trump Supporter: Ninety-nine percent of the people are happy that you have a child and you're raising a child in a good environment and giving that child a good education.

What I disagree with is that I don't want to have a drag show at my kids' grade school.

I don't want to have a drag school -- show at the library.

And I don't want my children, my girls competing against someone that is changed over from a male to a female.

I have a major problem with that.

That's where I am not willing to compromise.

But as all the rest of the stuff, you go on and live your life.

You be you, I will be me.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I moderated a sometimes tense, sometimes surprising conversation about the most difficult topics our society faces today.

AMY TUETENBERG, Trump Supporter: I believe that those who believe in open borders are using our neighbors from the southern border to bring them here in a situation where they will not be given any rights or visas.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Antonio, you are an immigrant yourself.

You came as a child of parents who arrived here without documentation.

Do you think the system did you wrong?

ANTONIO ALCAZAR, DACA Recipient: No.

Yes, I think she's 100 percent right.

Like, we're on opposite ends of the political divide, but she's right.

Immigrants are used largely as a slave labor force.

There's an enormous amount of people that work with no rights, no ability to say anything, because, if they say something, they could get in trouble.

And so they just have to take what they're given.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Some shared painful personal stories.

EMILY SCHULTZ, Harris Supporter: I had to walk around for two weeks knowing I had a baby that I could feel kicking inside me who would never survive birth, who would never get to come home with me.

And I couldn't be induced into labor because it would be considered termination.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And others responded thoughtfully to those they disagreed with.

MARK HOLLAND, Trump Supporter: I think that Republicans and Democrats are actually closer than we think about this issue.

As far as abortion, I do believe that some people use it as a -- like an oops kind of thing.

Oh, you know, we got pregnant.

Oops, let's get an abortion.

That's the issue I have with it, as opposed to the areas where, if a woman is raped or if there is a danger of the mother or if there is something like -- then I would say, yes, it would be OK. JUDY WOODRUFF: With the help of a panel, we tried to make sense of the difference between what we see in Washington and the conversations taking place in the room.

KATHERINE CRAMER, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Our political divisions are mapping on to so many other divisions in our lives, whether were talking about race or sometimes gender.

CMDR.

THEODORE JOHNSON (RET), New America: We have a politics that will find a way to weaponize anything that's different among us and then turn us against one another in hopes of out of expedience or in hopes of winning elections.

CHARLIE SYKES, Editor at Large, The Bulwark: They want us to be at each others throat.

They want an issue.

They want us to fear and dislike one another.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Please join me tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/8:00 Central for "Crossroads: A Conversation With America."

GEOFF BENNETT: And you can get a look behind the scenes of how we produced that town hall.

See that at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.