September 20, 2024 - PBS News Hour full episode

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

Amna Nawaz is away.

On the "News Hour" tonight: Israel says it killed another top Hezbollah leader, the third major strike on the Lebanese militant group in as many days.

In-person early voting begins in this year's hotly contested election.

We look at the potential impact split-ticket voters could have on the race for the White House and control of Congress.

And in a new memoir, renowned TV journalist Connie Chung pulls back the curtain on how she managed to inspire a generation of women, despite rampant sexism.

CONNIE CHUNG, Author, "Connie: A Memoir": I decided that I would be one of them.

I would try to be one of the boys.

I would take pages from their playbook.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "News Hour."

For nearly a year, the U.S. has tried to prevent the war in Gaza from expanding.

But, tonight, there are new concerns of escalation after an Israeli airstrike killed a top Hezbollah commander following earlier unprecedented attacks on the militant group's communications network.

In all, more than 35 in Lebanon have died, thousands have been wounded, and tensions along the shared border are at their highest level in years.

Nick Schifrin reports.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel has promised a new phase of the war and is delivering it in Southern Beirut, where today an airstrike destroyed an entire residential building and Israel said it killed Ibrahim Aqil, commander of Hezbollah's special forces and about 10 of his soldiers.

Earlier this week, Israel's infiltration of Hezbollah's communication network turned Hezbollah walkie-talkies and pagers into bombs.

And Israel launched one of its largest bombing campaigns yet targeting Hezbollah rockets.

Thousands of Hezbollah rank and file are injured.

The group is in disorder and after today's strike without a member of its leadership council.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces: At the time of the strike, Aqil and the commanders of the Radwan forces were gathered underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyeh in Beirut.

Hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields, they were in the middle of planning more terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Aqil was wanted by the U.S. for the 1983 attacks on the Beirut embassy by Hezbollah's predecessor Islamic Jihad organization and the Marine Corps barracks attack that killed nearly 300.

Israel says it's trying to return 60,000 now empty cities in the north and does not want a regional escalation.

But Lebanese state media says today's attack also killed children, as did this week's attacks, adding to pressure on Hezbollah to escalate.

Just today, Hezbollah fired 200 rockets into Israel.

Despite this apparent momentum toward war, President Biden today held out hope for a cease-fire.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: We're going to keep at it until we get it done, but we have got a way to go.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A long way to go, as, tonight, the focus of the war appears to be shifting north.

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

GEOFF BENNETT: The 2024 voting season is officially under way, as early in-person voting has started in Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia.

Meantime, the State Election Board in Georgia passed a new vote counting rule that has sparked heated debate.

Stephanie Sy begins our coverage in that state, where Vice President Kamala Harris spoke earlier this evening.

STEPHANIE SY: Today, the vice president was back in battleground Georgia, where a six-week abortion ban is cleaving voters.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: And her name, and we will speak her name, Amber Nicole Thurman.

STEPHANIE SY: Amber Nicole Thurman is a single mother from Georgia who reportedly suffered an abortion-related death.

According to a ProPublica investigation, Thurman encountered a rare complication from taking an abortion pill.

The report says she died after waiting 20 hours for doctors to perform a surgical procedure that has largely been banned by penalty of prosecution in the state.

Harris tied Thurman's death to former President Trump's Supreme Court appointments.

KAMALA HARRIS: He brags about overturning Roe v. Wade.

In his own words -- quote -- "I did it and I'm proud to have done it," he says.

He is proud.

Proud that women are dying?

Proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care?

STEPHANIE SY: Also in Georgia today, the State Election Board passed a new rule that will require poll workers to count all ballots by hand.

MAN: Motion passes 3-2.

(APPLAUSE) STEPHANIE SY: It's the latest in a series of changes by the pro-Trump majority on the board, and it would require three people to count every ballot in every precinct on election night or the day after.

Votes would still be tallied by machine.

JANELLE KING, Georgia State Election Board: And what we're doing is creating more stability in our election process.

STEPHANIE SY: But several local election officials warned that passing this new rule just weeks before voting will strain workers and resources, potentially delaying results.

BARBARA GOOBY, Election Worker: I believe the proposals being discussed today introduce huge opportunities for chaos, error, voter insecurity.

MILTON KIDD, Elections Director, Douglas County, Georgia: I challenge you to go into any county in the state of Georgia and to do the rules that you're passing on today.

Work as a poll worker all day and then count the ballots.

(APPLAUSE) STEPHANIE SY: Georgia's Republican secretary of state and attorney general both opposed the changes, warning it could set up more legal challenges.

Meanwhile, last night in Washington, former President Trump took the stage with Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, an outspoken supporter of Israel.

Trump condemned antisemitism, but he also criticized Jewish voters for not supporting him in larger numbers.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I wasn't treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish.

I don't know.

Do they know what the hell is happening?

If I don't win this election -- and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because at 40 percent, that means 60 percent of the people voting for the enemy -- Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years.

And I believe I'm 100 percent right.

OPRAH WINFREY, Producer/Philanthropist: Kamala Harris!

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE) STEPHANIE SY: Also last night, Harris participated in a livestreamed rally with the queen of talk in battleground, Michigan.

WOMAN: Everything is so expensive.

STEPHANIE SY: The vice president took questions directly from audience members and viewers.

During a discussion about gun control, Harris told Oprah she's not afraid to use her firearm.

KAMALA HARRIS: I'm a gun owner.

Tim Walz is a gun... OPRAH WINFREY: I did not know that.

(LAUGHTER) (CROSSTALK) KAMALA HARRIS: If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.

(LAUGHTER) KAMALA HARRIS: Sorry.

(LAUGHTER) OPRAH WINFREY: Yes.

Yes.

I hear that.

I hear that.

KAMALA HARRIS: Probably should not have said that.

(LAUGHTER) STEPHANIE SY: Throughout the campaign, Harris has positioned herself as a Second Amendment defender who also supports stricter gun controls and renewing the federal ban on assault weapons.

Tonight, the vice president is on to another closely contested state with a rally in Wisconsin.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

GEOFF BENNETT: The day's other headlines begin with the heightened scrutiny over the work of the U.S. Secret Service.

Today, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would boost protections for presidential candidates.

Senate leaders haven't yet said whether they will consider the bill.

Meantime the Secret Service is acknowledging communication lapses and what it calls complacency in the days leading up to and during Donald Trump's Butler, Pennsylvania, rally back in July.

That's according to a new internal review.

Acting Director Ronald Rowe vowed to hold the agency accountable and he called for major change.

RONALD ROWE, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director: We're at a pivotal moment in the history of the Secret Service and at a pivotal moment in the history of our country.

And I have directed that the Secret Service embark on a significant paradigm shift that will redefine how we conduct protective operations.

GEOFF BENNETT: Rowe defended the Secret Service's actions in the apparent second assassination attempt against Mr. Trump in Florida this past weekend.

But he called for more resources, saying the agency is simply spread too thin.

A severe storm left one person dead in a small city in Northeast Oklahoma.

Winds up to 72 miles an hour and golf-ball-sized hail battered Pawnee about 60 miles West of Tulsa.

The storm flipped multiple camping vehicles and brought down trees and power lines.

City officials said the fatality was due to an overturned camper.

Many roads and schools were closed today to deal with the damage.

There are also torrential rains across Western and Central Africa that have triggered the worst floods the region has seen in decades.

Nearly 1,000 people have died across Chad, Niger, Mali and Nigeria.

Rescue operations are still under way in some areas more than a week after the flooding started.

In Northeastern Nigeria, the downpours caused the collapse of a major dam.

The full scope of the devastation can only be seen from the air.

On the ground, refugee camps grow increasingly crowded as hundreds of thousands have been displayed.

YAKAKA IDRIS, Displaced Nigerian (through translator): With our small children, we don't know where to stay now.

The government should be sympathetic to allow us to stay longer in the camp, because, if we go back to our house now, we will not have a place to sleep with our children.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, the worst flooding to hit Central Europe in at least two decades is now swapping parts of Hungary, outside the capital, Budapest, residents dealing with flooded streets due to the rising levels of the Danube.

The river is expected to peak later today or tomorrow.

And upstream, in parts of Poland, the water has receded to reveal the extent of the devastation there.

At least 24 people have died across the region.

The European Union has pledged billions of dollars in aid.

The Federal Trade Commission is suing the nation's three largest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, for inflating the price of insulin.

The case accuses CVS Health's Caremark, Cigna's Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth's Optum Rx of steering diabetes patients toward higher-cost insulin and reaping millions of dollars in rebates.

Such companies are considered the middlemen of the industry.

The PBMs defended their practices, with CVS Caremark saying they're being blamed for the high prices set by drug companies.

Wall Street ended on a quieter note today after what's been a record-setting week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose by nearly 40 points, inching up to another record.

But the Nasdaq fell, losing more than 60 points on the day.

The S&P also dipped just beneath its all-time high.

And you don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate greatness.

In a record-breaking performance last night, L.A. Dodger star Shohei Ohtani put on a show unlike any of the game has ever seen.

ANNOUNCER: Sends one in the air.

Back it goes.

Gone!

GEOFF BENNETT: It's a game that will go down in history.

ANNOUNCER: Shohei Ohtani starts the 50/50 club.

GEOFF BENNETT: Shohei Ohtani now the first player ever to slug 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season, blowing by both milestones on one unforgettable night.

SHOHEI OHTANI, The Los Angeles Dodgers (through translator): I'm happy, I'm relieved, and very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before who played this sport of baseball.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Japanese superstar, often called a modern-day Babe Ruth, accomplished the feat in typically superlative fashion.

ANNOUNCER: But he got his foot in!

GEOFF BENNETT: Going six for six from the plate with three home runs, 10 RBIs and two steals, a historic feat of its own.

Fans in Japan celebrated, while at home commentators called it one of the greatest single-game performances in sports history.

ANNOUNCER: Shohei Ohtani, the greatest day in baseball history!

GEOFF BENNETT: Last night's win was storybook for another reason.

It secured the Dodgers a spot in the postseason, and with the team now poised for a run at the World Series, fans are hoping for more Shohei magic deep into October.

ANNOUNCER: This is not real life.

GEOFF BENNETT: Still to come on the "News Hour": Poland's foreign minister considers whether Ukraine should use Western weapons to strike further inside Russia; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; and the son of imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai drums up support from U.S. lawmakers.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's drawing up a comprehensive plan for how Kyiv believes the war with Russia should end.

Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia and has taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees.

For some perspective on all of this, we turn now to Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister.

Thank you for coming in.

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, Polish Foreign Minister: My pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, President Zelenskyy will soon make public his plan for ending the war in Ukraine.

What are your expectations for the eventual outcome of this conflict and how is Poland preparing for best-case and worst-case scenarios?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: By the way, it's 1.6 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland and without a single refugee camp because we took them all into our homes.

Poland alone has provided $4 billion worth of military assistance to Ukraine.

And, of course, war is never won by a single factor, some single bullet.

It's a combination of things.

I was in Kyiv just last week.

And what was - - what I learned was that Ukraine has now developed an indigenous arms industry that has some spare capacity.

So, actually, we should help them produce their own weapons.

Ukraine also needs to marshal more recruits for the fight.

But, yes, I visited the Ukrainian city of Lviv, where a townhouse was destroyed by a Kalibr missile, with a man watching his wife and three daughters being carried out dead.

And that Kalibr missile was launched from a Russian bomber.

Tell me why Ukraine should not have the right to take out that bomber before it launches its missiles at civilian targets in Ukraine.

I think the victim of aggression has every right to defend herself.

GEOFF BENNETT: Have you shared that message with the U.S. State Department?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: Yes, I spoke about it publicly when Tony Blinken visited Warsaw last week.

GEOFF BENNETT: And this is the matter that the U.S. has been weighing, whether Ukraine should have authority to use Western weapons to fire and aim artillery deeper into Russia.

The concern has always been the risk of escalation.

How do you see it?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: Well, Ukraine should obey international humanitarian law, obviously.

It should use our weapons to hit military targets.

But when you say escalation, what do you actually mean?

Do you mean nuclear weapons?

I think the U.S. has already read the riot act to Putin, along with China and India, that that is verboten.

Other than that, tell me what Putin is not doing that he could do if he gets really, really angry.

I don't believe such a thing exists.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about Crimea?

Crimea, of course, as you well know, was invaded and seized by Russia a decade ago.

You have suggested that it be put under a U.N. mandate.

Why is that the right approach?

Because Ukrainian leaders say that Russia violated international law and that Russia should be held to account.

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: No, I didn't suggest that.

It was President Zelenskyy who said that perhaps Ukraine will recover Crimea by diplomatic means.

And we had an off-the-record hypothetical discussion about how that could be achieved.

No, we support Ukrainian, not only sovereignty, but inviolability of borders.

Russia should get out of Ukraine, including out of Crimea.

GEOFF BENNETT: Poland has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since this war started.

How do you view Poland's role in helping Ukraine reconstruct after this war?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: I believe Ukraine, if she loses - - wins this war, will be boom time, because it's inherently a rich country, rich soil, cheap energy from nuclear power plants, very good I.T.

sector, and the most experienced army in Europe on the democratic side, very talented people.

But the E.U.

will also help.

We should use the frozen Russian assets.

The aggressors should pay for the destruction they have wrought.

And we will -- we have a program of support in the E.U.

of Ukraine.

We have given them about 120 billion euros so far, more than the U.S., and there will be a program of reconstruction as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: I'm sure you're closely watching the U.S. election.

Vice President Kamala Harris says she supports Ukraine in its fight with Russia.

She says she's committed to NATO.

Donald Trump in that recent debate refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win.

He has in the past said things that many view as undermining NATO.

What is your perception of both Trump and Harris and how would their respective victories, what would that mean for the future of Ukraine and for the future of Poland?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: Well, thank you for this invitation to weigh into your internal politics, which I, of course, won't do.

But I will be going to Michigan next week to thank the Polish Americans in Michigan for their support for the treaty to enlarge NATO.

And I will tell them that the support for NATO in the United States continues to be very important.

GEOFF BENNETT: Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, thanks again for your time.

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Split-ticket voters -- those are people who vote for candidates from different parties -- are increasingly rare in modern American politics.

But, as Lisa Desjardins explains, those that cross the aisle on their ballots this November may decide which party controls the U.S. Senate next year.

COLIN PASCAL, Democrat: We can't work all the time.

We have to do something to take our mind off things.

LISA DESJARDINS: In Annapolis, Maryland Colin Pascal is still learning the ropes of sailing, picking it up after retiring from a 20-year career in the Army.

COLIN PASCAL: Sailing is incredible because it's one of the few times that you can have motion without noise.

LISA DESJARDINS: Motion without noise, it's not a big leap to see that as a political metaphor as well.

COLIN PASCAL: By disposition, I would like all of us to move forward with less yelling.

LISA DESJARDINS: He's charting another new course this November, splitting his ticket between Democrat Kamala Harris for president and, for Senate, the first Republican ever to win his vote.

COLIN PASCAL: I'm a registered Democrat.

I have been a Democrat my entire life, and I'm voting for Larry Hogan, who's the Maryland Republican candidate for Senate.

LISA DESJARDINS: Why?

COLIN PASCAL: I really do think we're at our best when the center-left and the center-right are pulling on each other a little bit and we find a workable solution in the middle.

LISA DESJARDINS: Larry Hogan is a dream recruit for Republicans, a popular moderate and former two-time governor in a blue state, part of a GOP on offense.

Senate Republicans need to pick up two Senate seats to take over the chamber outright and just one to create a 50/50 tie, which would break in favor of the party that wins the White House.

They have a good map.

Of the 34 Senate seats on the ballot, Democrats are defending a whopping 23 of them.

One of those, West Virginia, is expected to flip to Republicans.

And seven other Democratic seats across the country could go either way, meaning Democrats have no room for error, no room to worry about a bright blue state like Maryland.

But Hogan is a recognizable force, stopped constantly while campaigning at the state fair.

FMR.

GOV.

LARRY HOGAN (R-MD), Senatorial Candidate: It's so nice to meet you.

LISA DESJARDINS: He won nearly a third of Democrats in his 2018 election.

Hogan is anti-Trump, key in a state that voted for Biden by 33 points.

He needs voters like Colin.

COLIN PASCAL: I'm trying to get every veteran and every Democrat in the state for you also, because I'm both of those things.

FMR.

GOV.

LARRY HOGAN: Well, we just got to convince some of those Democrats who already liked me and voted for me twice.

It's all about those ticket-splitters.

LISA DESJARDINS: But... PIER BLAKE, Democrat: My first question about Hogan was, well, why would he want to run for Senate?

LISA DESJARDINS: ... Pier Blake will not be ticket splitting this time.

The Maryland resident works as a nonprofit executive.

She voted for Hogan in 2018, appreciated how he handled the pandemic and that he sent the National Guard to D.C. on January 6.

But in the U.S. Senate, she worries Hogan would give Republicans too much power, a decisive vote against her interests.

PIER BLAKE: Gun violence.

There's education, housing, women's rights, health rights, and equality for everyone.

So there's a lot of things of Angela Alsobrooks' policies that I like.

LISA DESJARDINS: If you're unfamiliar with Angela Alsobrooks, you're not alone.

The executive of one of the state's largest counties, she had an impressive primary win, but, even so, one out of three Maryland voters still didn't recognize her name in a poll this month.

Alsobrooks is ahead in polls, but knows it's closer than Democrats like.

She stresses that voters here are attuned to control in Washington.

ANGELA ALSOBROOKS (D), Maryland Senatorial Candidate: It is close because there's a lot at stake here.

But I think Marylanders are very savvy, and they will understand the difference between a governor's race and a Senate race, one where our reproductive freedoms, democracy and so many other issues are on the ballot.

LISA DESJARDINS: As Alsobrooks and Democrats hope to prevent split-ticket voting in Maryland... MAN: Sherrod Brown wrote the All-American Flag Act.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... they need it in other states, like Ohio, where Senator Sherrod Brown is running on bipartisan patriotism and appeals to Republicans.

MAN: I'm a Republican have been my whole life.

I don't agree with Sherrod Brown on everything, but when it comes to fighting fentanyl, no one has done more than Sherrod Brown.

LISA DESJARDINS: Or in Montana, where this is an ad from Senator Jon Tester.

WOMAN: I'm a lifelong Republican.

MAN: I'm a lifelong Republican.

MAN: I'm going to vote for Donald Trump, but I'm voting for Jon Tester.

WOMAN: I'm voting for Jon Tester.

LISA DESJARDINS: In 2020, Trump won their states by eight and 16 points.

A common theme for Tester, Brown and Alsobrooks, running on abortion.

ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: I believe it's a woman's right to make our own health care decision.

LISA DESJARDINS: With Alsobrooks on the attack, Hogan began describing himself as pro-choice this year.

FMR.

GOV.

LARRY HOGAN: I ran for governor promising to protect abortion rights and I kept that promise for 10 years.

And now I have said I'm going to be a sponsor of the bill to codify Roe and I'm going to be a sponsor in IVF.

LISA DESJARDINS: Had you used the phrase pro-choice publicly as a politician before?

FMR.

GOV.

LARRY HOGAN: No, because I said I had my own personal feelings about it, but I was going to always never get between a woman and her doctor to make her own decision.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Maryland Democrats point out he vetoed a bill to expand access.

It would have let nurse practitioners and some others perform abortions.

When the legislature overrode the veto, he held back funding for training.

It's part of current voter thought.

While Colin supports Hogan's approach, it's a deal-breaker for Pier, a split in views in one of the states where voters who split their tickets, or don't, will determine the shape of Washington next year.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Lisa Desjardins in Annapolis, Maryland.

GEOFF BENNETT: And for more on the 2024 race we turn tonight to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.

Hello.

Good to see you.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, Geoff.

DAVID BROOKS: Good to see you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, the 2024 election is officially under way, with early in-person voting starting in three states, and this is as the GOP faces a major scandal in a critical battleground state, North Carolina.

The state's Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, is adamantly denying reports that he had anything to do with racist and sexually explicit online posts.

CNN has published a story, and they attribute Robinson -- they attribute these messages to Robinson, including one where he characterizes himself as a Black Nazi, another where he defends slavery, and it just devolves from there.

David Brooks, what does it say about the modern GOP that a candidate like Mark Robinson, who had a number of known liabilities up until now -- this is not -- in some ways, this is not new.

What does it say that he got this far?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, we should reassure viewers that was the G-rated version of what he had to say.

(CROSSTALK) GEOFF BENNETT: Super-sanitized version of what it was that he said.

DAVID BROOKS: It's nastiness, and mind-boggling nastiness.

Well, what it says is the Republican Party used to be a normal party, which had the normal vetting procedures.

Like, you were a College Republican, and then you got vetted by your local state assembly, and then - - so you had a normal -- like any industry, basically, that there's a whole series of structures that people who are just complete opportunists and degenerates, if I can use that word, don't pass through the system.

But that whole system was wiped away.

And so, ever since the Trump era came in, we have had a whole series of candidates who don't pass basic muster, and who have done -- it's not just skeletons in their closet.

It's, I don't know, morgues in their closet.

And so this guy's one of them.

Will it hurt Donald Trump in North Carolina?

I'm a little skeptical.

People really know Donald Trump.

And so I don't think it'll bring him down, but the guy's losing in the polls big time, Robinson.

GEOFF BENNETT: And didn't Mitch McConnell warn about this two years ago?

He said Republicans have to care about candidate quality.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right, right, and he was roundly ignored.

He was roundly ignored in '22, and he was roundly ignored now.

The ad that the Harris campaign has put out tying Mark Robinson and Donald Trump, I think, has two goals.

The first goal is to reach those Republicans, the squishy Republicans who are like, I don't like Donald Trump and the way he behaves, but I don't know if I can vote for her.

This is a way of showing them that, with Trump, you get this kind of chaos.

On the other side, it's -- because the ad is sort of young and hip in the way they do it, it's showing young Democrats in North Carolina, look, you can either sit on the couch or you can see both of these guys get elected.

And this is a reason -- the things that they show, this is a reason why you should vote for Harris.

GEOFF BENNETT: You have described the ad.

We actually have it, and we can take a look at it right now.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Oh.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: And he's been an unbelievable lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.

LT. GOV.

MARK ROBINSON (R-NC), Gubernatorial Candidate: For me, there is no compromise on abortion.

DONALD TRUMP: I think you're better than Martin Luther King.

LT. GOV.

MARK ROBINSON: We could pass a bill saying, you can't have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.

Abortion in this country, it's about killing a child because you aren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down.

DONALD TRUMP: I have been with him a lot.

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

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

GEOFF BENNETT: And so, David, in talking with Harris campaign staffers, the reason why they think this scandal might put North Carolina in play is because reproductive rights, in their view, is such a resonant issue in this election.

And you can see that in the ad.

They're trying to link Mark Robinson to Donald Trump on this issue of abortion rights.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I guess the counterargument would be, first, if you're for abortion rights, your mind is made up.

Like, you don't need Mark Robinson's case to persuade you.

And, second, if I could -- this is a tangent, but I just think the abortion issue is obviously a great issue for Democrats.

But I think the Harris campaign is spending too much time talking about it.

They should be talking about the economy, the economy, the economy.

And so I think tying everything to abortion rights is probably something they have done enough and should pivot.

GEOFF BENNETT: What do you think about that, Jonathan?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: No.

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: I mean, right now, it is an issue -- while the message is about abortion rights, it's bigger than that.

It ties into the freedom argument.

And for a lot of people, the ability to have control over your bodily autonomy has maybe something to do with reproductive freedom, but it also has a lot to do with your economic freedom.

And in the stories of Amber Thurman and Cindi (sic) Miller, part of the issue here was economics.

Amber Thurman could not get back to North Carolina.

She couldn't afford to because of the six-week abortion ban in Georgia.

And if I could just have just an aside, for Donald Trump to say that Mark Robinson is better than MLK, he even went on to say that he thought he was MLK on steroids, is just -- I mean, it's reprehensible.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, speaking of Donald Trump, he spoke at an event last night that was said to have a focus on antisemitism, and he appeared to blame the Jewish community if he loses this fall.

Here's what he said.

DONALD TRUMP: I wasn't treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish.

I don't know.

Do they know what the hell is happening?

If I don't win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because, at 40 percent, that means 60 percent of the people voting for the enemy.

Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years, and I believe I'm 100 percent right.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you account for this?

I mean, the Trump campaign believes that they see gains with Jewish voters as helping them in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

But is this the way to do it?

DAVID BROOKS: By blaming them in the end?

No, it's not the best sales technique for a guy who used to be a salesman.

Listen, I thought the Trump administration policies on Israel were pretty good.

I think the Abraham Accords were really impressive.

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was good.

I think they weakened Iran during the Trump years.

So all that's true, and I'm sure a lot of Jewish voters are appreciative of that.

But Jewish voters are like any other group, Jewish voters, which is they have a lot of different interests.

And I saw a survey of -- they asked Jewish voters to list the 11 things that they are voting upon, and Israel came in ninth.

So they're like anybody else.

They think of inflation, about health care, whatever.

And so they're traditionally allied with the Democratic Party because Jewish voters tend to be a little more socially progressive than median voters.

They tend to be more urban than the median voters.

And so they're traditionally the Democratic Party.

And, finally, he got the numbers wrong.

Harris has 75 percent of Jewish voters and he has about 25.

So -- and, finally, just to say, accusing is not a sales technique.

And so it's wrong on all sorts of fronts.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jonathan.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: David speaks for me on this.

I agree with you 100 percent.

And just sort of personally, I'm insulted on behalf of Jewish people, my Jewish friends, that a person running for president of the United States is already pre-blaming a group of people: If I lose, it's your fault.

And I also can't help but think of you go to an antisemitism event and dabble in antisemitism, dredging up sort of the dual loyalty thing that really gets under the skin of Jewish American voters, and I think rightly so.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, as we round out our conversation, David, your column this past week caught my eye.

The title is "How a Cultural Shift Favors Harris."

I'm going to do that thing where I read what you wrote and ask you more about it.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: But you wrote: "Right now, I'd say Kamala Harris is benefiting from the beginning of a cultural shift and is beginning to have the cultural winds at her back.

Donald Trump is beginning to be slapped in the face by those winds."

Tell me more.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: That's such a good opening.

You should do that every week.

I have been traveling a lot.

I have been in 13 or 14 states in the last two weeks, some red, like Nebraska and Kansas, some blue, like Colorado and New York and California.

And one thing I have noticed is people talking about negativity.

They're just tired of the negativity of our public life.

And there's this -- periods where you go through periods of indignation, where people are really angry.

But then they -- you can only be angry for so long.

And Donald Trump won because people were really indignant.

But my sense is that they have had enough of it.

In the 1960s, in the early 1970s, there were 4,000 bombings on American college campuses.

It was -- days of rage, it was called.

By 1974, they're into EST and crystal and New Age stuff.

And so people eventually get tired of all the negativity.

And I think that cultural pivot is happening right now, at a time when Kamala Harris -- and she's -- not because she's reading it, it's just who she -- is cheerful and joyful and let's not be negative all the time, and let's have a good time as a country.

And so I think she's benefiting from the cultural pivot.

Is it enough to hand her the White House?

No, but it helps.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jonathan, that word joy, Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, when she sat down with the three reporters from the National Association of Black Journalists today, one of them asked her about how she views a tax on her joyful warrior approach.

And she defended it.

And she said, people will try to sometimes use your best asset against you.

What do you make of that and this notion that she's benefiting from a cultural wave?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I don't think she's benefiting from a cult -- a cultural -- yes, she is, and I read your column, David.

It's not so much that she's riding -- she's -- like see this wave coming and she's riding.

No, she is part of the culture.

And that's why I think when she became the top of the ticket, everyone marveled at how quickly the light switch flipped.

That can -- and it happened so organically in a very dramatic fashion.

That, to me, says you can't manufacture that.

And she was able to do that because she is the culture.

She is part of the culture.

She's part of what's driving this culture that I think you said will slap Donald Trump in the face.

It's slapping him in the face now, which is why I think he's so discombobulated.

He doesn't know how to deal with her.

I think it's why the polls are, the momentum is moving in her direction.

And to your point about happy warrior, and David is right, this is the way the vice president has always been, which sort of reinforces what you're saying.

It's not that she has met up with the culture.

She in her entire career has been the happy warrior about helping people and leaving aside the negativity.

It just happens to hit at the right person at the right time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Is there a cultural or historical precedent for this kind of thing?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, yes, look at Donald Trump.

He emerged in the '80s, which was an era of self and of money and raw capitalism.

The culture was with him, and then he sort of vanished and went down because the culture had shifted.

And so we -- politicians and celebrities rise and fall by how the culture moves.

And culture really does move, and you get these periods of anger and hostility and conflict.

World War I then leads to the Flappers in the 20s.

World War II leads to the domesticity of the 1950s.

So decades shift, and people want something different.

And so I think we're in one of those shifts.

GEOFF BENNETT: Got to say, I enjoyed this conversation.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, thank you both.

Appreciate it.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: This week, a group of U.S. lawmakers came together in a rare show of bipartisan support to call for the immediate release of Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai.

Lai, who owned the once popular newspaper Apple Daily, is one of hundreds of democracy activists, journalists and political leaders imprisoned as part of mainland China's ongoing crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

Nick Schifrin recently spoke to his son and lawyer, who were in Washington, and are fighting to improve his conditions in prison and secure his freedom.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jimmy Lai arrived in Hong Kong at the age of 12 stowed away on a fishing boat.

He worked his way up to become an outspoken pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon.

In the summer of 2020, he became the most prominent person arrested under a national security law that punished people not only for what they did, but also what they said.

Anyone who participated in actions that Beijing-backed courts defined as calling for separation from mainland China, who received support from a foreign country, or who -- quote -- "provoked the hatred of Beijing" could be arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

Recently, Jimmy Lai's lawyers and his son appealed to the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, saying he has been held in solitary confinement for the last 3.5 years, and that poses a grave risk to his life and to his physical and mental health.

And I am now joined by Sebastien Lai and Caoilfhionn Gallagher, head of Jimmy Lai's international legal team.

Thanks very much to both of you.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

SEBASTIEN LAI, Son of Jimmy Lai: Thanks for having us.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sebastien Lai, let me start with you.

What's your goal of coming to Capitol Hill and doing interviews like this?

SEBASTIEN LAI: So my ultimate goal is to see my father free before he dies.

Coming to Capitol Hill, I want to bring attention to what's happening to my father, to the injustice, and to get support to put pressure on the Hong Kong government and Chinese government to see my father free, and to stop this political persecution of my father.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Caoilfhionn Gallagher, as I just said, you appealed to the U.N. special rapporteur.

Why and what do you hope she does?

CAOILFHIONN GALLAGHER, International Human Rights Lawyer, Doughty Street Chambers: So Jimmy Lai already should not be on trial.

He's on trial, essentially, for being a journalist.

It's a conspiracy to commit journalism case.

That's bad enough in itself.

But what we also now know is that, for three years, nine months, he's been held in conditions which amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, in violation of international law, and conditions which we think pose a very, very grave risk to his life and to his welfare.

He's almost 77.

He's diabetic.

He's got various underlying health conditions.

He's also been held in prolonged solitary confinement, no access to natural daylight for 23 hours, 10 minutes per day.

And he's also devout Roman Catholic being denied access to the sacrament of holy communion.

So the U.N. special rapporteur on torture has responsibility for holding China to account when it breaches international law.

And we have asked her to take urgent action before it's too late and we see this brave man die behind bars for being a journalist.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sebastien Lai, as far as you can tell, how's your father doing?

SEBASTIEN LAI: My father is a very strong person.

I think, as a son, I always view him as that.

But his health has deteriorated a lot.

So, even though he's mentally strong and he knows he's doing the right thing, I really worry that he will pass away in prison.

My father has been campaigning for democracy for the last 30 years, and he always had a way out, as in he could always just retire, go to London.

And he decided to make the hard decision to stay in Hong Kong to campaign for what he knows is right.

And when the hammer came down, when the national security law came down, he knew that, if he left, he would open his journalists up to attacks from the government.

And so he decided to stay, to act as a shield.

And, I mean, it's something I respect him immensely for.

And it's something I wish I would have the courage to do as well if I was put in that situation, to stand with your people and to not forsake them, when you know that he could very well spend the rest of his life in prison.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Jimmy Lai is on trial for alleged sedition and alleged conspiracy to collude with foreign agents.

Do you have any doubt that he will be found guilty?

CAOILFHIONN GALLAGHER: In short, I'm afraid to say this is only going one way in the Hong Kong system and he's going to be found guilty.

He's been tried under a law which should not exist in a trial which is profoundly unfair before judges handpicked by Beijing.

He's been prosecuted for being a journalist and for his writing, raising human rights concerns with international human rights organizations and, thirdly, speaking to politicians internationally to raise concern about these issues.

Now, all of those things are values the U.S. holds dear, the international community holds dear.

He should be praised for doing those things, not turned into a criminal.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sebastien Lai, what do you want Washington, where you are, what do you want the world to know about your father?

SEBASTIEN LAI: My father has decided very early on, 30 years ago, that there is something that is much more important than money.

Hong Kong's a financial center, so it's a lot of -- it's a driving force essentially, but he realized very early on that, look, if you didn't have freedoms, then what's the point of all of this?

I mean, look, the last 30 years wasn't smooth sailing either.

Our house was firebombed.

He's had an assassination attempt.

Someone once skinned a dog, then pinned it on our door.

My memory of my father is always of this man smiling, because he knew that, despite all of this, he was doing the right thing.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Sebastien Lai, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, thanks very much to you both.

CAOILFHIONN GALLAGHER: Thank you.

SEBASTIEN LAI: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: Over her decades-long career, Connie Chung covered everything from the Watergate scandal to conflict overseas, landing sought-after exclusive interviews along the way.

Her new memoir, called simply "Connie," paints a fuller picture of what actually unfolded behind the scenes.

Amna recently sat down with the iconic journalist.

AMNA NAWAZ: On the air, millions watched as Connie Chung reported from the front lines of history, covering U.S. presidents and elections, major world events, and landing interview after interview with major newsmakers.

But, off-camera, Chung battled sexism and racism at nearly every turn, working through the ranks to make history as the first Asian American and just second woman ever to anchor a national evening newscast.

For the first time now, she's opening up about what it took professionally and personally to get there.

Connie Chung joins me now.

What an honor.

Thank you for being here.

CONNIE CHUNG, Author, "Connie: A Memoir": I'm honored to be with you.

And I'm so proud of you, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm just curious about what drew you into this field in the first time.

In reading your book, I learned a lot about your family.

I know your parents emigrated from China in the 1940s.

You were born and raised here.

No one in your family was a journalist.

CONNIE CHUNG: No.

AMNA NAWAZ: What was it about this field that said this was something you wanted to do?

CONNIE CHUNG: I was born in Washington, D.C., so I knew Capitol Hill and everything.

But what I really enjoyed was seeing reporters dashing around and asking questions, impertinent questions, of members of Congress.

And I thought, this is what I want to do.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you get your very first job at a local TV station, you're one of the only, if not the only woman oftentimes in the room, certainly the only Asian American in the newsroom.

And you diagnose in your book some of the men that you work with what you call big-shot-itis.

You write this: "It was characterized by a swelling of the head, an inability to stop talking, self-aggrandizing behavior, narcissistic tendencies, unrelenting hubris, delusions of grandeur and fantasies of sexual prowess."

Safe to say you don't hold back in this book, Connie, but how did you cope with all that?

(LAUGHTER) CONNIE CHUNG: I found them insufferable.

And it was a syndrome.

So I did a crazy thing.

I decided that I would be one of them.

I would try to be one of the boys.

I would take pages from their playbook.

I would walk into a room with bravado.

I would command respect because -- I was much taller ten because I would wear four-inch heels.

I wanted to be eye to eye with the men.

And I took on a sassy bawdiness, which I don't recommend.

It's just that... AMNA NAWAZ: Bawdiness, meaning you were the first one to crack an inappropriate joke or curse along with the guys.

CONNIE CHUNG: Exactly.

You got it.

And it was disarming, frankly.

They knew after a while, after I'd been around the newsroom a bit, that I could get to the bad side faster and funnier than they could.

And they were left flummoxed.

It was a different era.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: Not that a lot has changed.

AMNA NAWAZ: You don't think a lot has changed?

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, I think there's a type of acceptance that women have.

But I know women who are still experiencing sexism.

And I know Chinese people or Asians experience racism.

But it's getting better in some ways.

There is a better level of equality, but it hasn't reached parity.

AMNA NAWAZ: You do go on to land what you call your dream job.

CONNIE CHUNG: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you break barriers in the process.

In 1993, you're named co-anchor of "The CBS Evening News" alongside Dan Rather.

In that moment, do you feel like all of the hard work -- because you had a reputation for being the first to show up, working seven different shifts.

Do you feel like it all paid off, it was worth it, all the sacrifice?

CONNIE CHUNG: When I got that job -- I had always wanted to be Walter Cronkite.

He was trusted, he was a fair, and he was not -- he did not suffer from big-shot-itis.

He was really a nice person.

To me, sitting in half of Uncle Walter's chair was the ultimate.

So I thought I had really hit the jackpot.

It was beyond the jackpot.

It was beyond thrilling.

AMNA NAWAZ: It was two years later, though, that that was taken away from you.

CONNIE CHUNG: Yes, it -- well, I was... AMNA NAWAZ: And Dan Rather went back to solo.

CONNIE CHUNG: Solo anchoring, yes.

And I think it was coming.

I could feel it.

I could sense it.

And I feared it greatly.

But then when the axe fell, I thought, oh, my God, it really happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: Why do you think it fell?

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, for one thing, it just wasn't working.

I think it was very hard for Dan to move over and share the seat.

I think it didn't matter if I was a man, a woman, or an animal, or a plant.

He was not going to be happy.

AMNA NAWAZ: You do write about the next chapter of your life that opens up very suddenly after you lose that job.

And that is when you and your husband, the iconic TV host, Maury Povich... CONNIE CHUNG: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... learn you're going to be able to adopt a baby boy after years of trying to start a family.

You use a phrase when you write about it in the book that I think a lot of women grapple with, and that is the idea of having it all.

CONNIE CHUNG: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Say, I'd succeeded in having it all.

What did that mean to you then?

CONNIE CHUNG: Well, I see people like you and other women.

You know what I don't know is, are you married with children?

AMNA NAWAZ: I am married with two young children, yes.

CONNIE CHUNG: Two young children?

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes, two girls, 10 and 8.

CONNIE CHUNG: Oh, my God.

How do you do it?

(LAUGHTER) CONNIE CHUNG: Seriously.

AMNA NAWAZ: I can ask you the same question.

CONNIE CHUNG: No, no.

But, see, I did it backwards.

When I was dumped and feeling I had left my life on that anchor desk, because it had been all-consuming -- you know how the news business is.

It's so consuming.

Two days later, we get the call that Matthew is going to be our son, and he would be born.

I thought to myself, this was meant to be.

So, for me, I had a career for a long time, and then I had time to spend with my son, because I never, never would have quit.

My sister said, one door closes, another one opens, that wonderful cliche, but it was true.

AMNA NAWAZ: Connie, there is an entire generation of women, myself included, who get to have these careers today because of the paths that you blazed and because of the doors that you kicked down.

And there's also an entire generation of women who literally named their daughters after you.

There was this wonderful New York Times feature called "Generation Connie" that profiled all of these women.

You got to meet them.

What was that like?

CONNIE CHUNG: I was -- it was the most glorious day that I can ever imagine.

This young, indefatigable reporter named Connie Wong discovered it, and she was determined to find out how many Connies were out there.

And she found so many.

It became quite a sisterhood of Connies.

So when I walked in to take a photograph with about a dozen Connies -- so when I walked into that room, I was just so taken aback.

And the Connies, certain Connies started crying, and I started crying.

It was a moment that I will never forget.

The Connies really gave me permission, because I'm so Chinese.

I'm so humble.

I couldn't get my arms around the idea that maybe I did leave a legacy.

AMNA NAWAZ: I am among many who are grateful that you did it the way that you did.

CONNIE CHUNG: Oh.

Now, you know, I'm not a crybaby, but you're going to make me cry.

(LAUGHTER) AMNA NAWAZ: The book is "Connie: A Memoir."

The author is the iconic Connie Chung.

Connie, thank you so very much.

CONNIE CHUNG: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there's a lot more online, including our "PBS News Weekly" show, which looks at the escalating violence this week in the Middle East.

You can find that on our YouTube page.

And be sure to tune into "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight.

Moderator Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel look at the state of the race for president and the latest funding fight on Capitol Hill.

And tomorrow, on "PBS News Weekend," how a warming planet is affecting children.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

For all of us here at the "PBS News Hour," thanks for spending part of your evening with us, and have a great weekend.