JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight:
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: America is finally on the move again.
JUDY WOODRUFF: President Biden welcomes today's jobs numbers. We talk with his chief economic
adviser about the challenges ahead as the economy opens up.
Then: a solemn anniversary: The Tiananmen Square massacre casts a long shadow over modern
Chinese politics. We speak with a Communist Party dissident about today's China.
Plus: beyond the border. How U.S. agents increasingly drop migrants off in rural areas without resources
after their journey from dire circumstances.
C, Migrant (through translator): There is a lot of conflict. There is no economy, there
is no work. There is no way to get ahead. Besides, we are afraid of being in a country
where there is great danger for everyone.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And it's Friday. David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart consider negotiations
between President Biden and Senate Republicans and the big jobs the president is giving Vice
President Kamala Harris.
All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: The pace of hiring in the U.S. picked up last month, as many states began
easing coronavirus restrictions. The Labor Department reported that employers added 559,000
jobs in May. That was double the amount in April. And the unemployment rate fell to 5.8
percent.
In Delaware, President Biden hailed the report as proof his economic plans are working.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: No other major economy in the world is growing
as fast as ours. No other major economy is gaining jobs as quickly as ours. And none
of this success is an accident. It isn't luck.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We will take a closer look at the jobs report right after the news summary.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today urged teens to get their COVID-19 vaccinations.
A new CDC study found hospitalizations of young people were up in March and April, and
nearly a third of those patients were admitted to an intensive care unit. Researchers said
it may be due to more dangerous virus variants or to school reopenings.
Former President Trump will remain suspended from Facebook for two years following his
incitement of January's Capitol insurrection. Facebook made the announcement today in response
to recommendations from the social media giant's Oversight Board. Mr. Trump said the suspension
is -- quote -- "an insult" to the millions of Americans who voted for him in 2020.
Former White House counsel Don McGahn testified today before U.S. lawmakers on the Russia
investigation and former President Trump's possible obstruction of justice. It was part
of an agreement reached last month in federal court. McGahn arrived at the Capitol for a
closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee more than two years after Democrats
sought his testimony.
A transcript will be released in the coming days.
Hundreds of people in Hong Kong today defied the police to mark the anniversary of Beijing's
1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Crowds marched and flashed cell phones in Causeway Bay after
police had banned a candlelight vigil at a nearby park.
Authorities arrested several of the event's organizers.
LAW KWOK-HOI, Senior Superintendent, Hong Kong Police: It is emphasized that it is an
offense under the public order ordinance if anyone takes part in or advertises or publicizes
an unauthorized assembly. The maximum penalty is five years imprisonment.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We will get the perspective of a Chinese political dissident later in
the program.
Back in this country, President Biden rejected a revised spending offer from Senate Republicans
amid efforts to reach an infrastructure deal. He spoke with their lead negotiators, Senator
Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who proposed an additional $50 billion. But the
president said that offer still fell short. The two agreed to speak again on Monday.
Fisher-Price is recalling a model of its baby rockers after four infant deaths. The 4-in-1
Rock 'n Glide Soothers were designed to mimic being rocked in someone's arms. The babies
who died were found on their stomachs after being placed on their backs unrestrained.
There's word that a forthcoming U.S. intelligence report on UFOs spotted by military pilots
has found no evidence of a direct link to aliens. But, as The New York Times and others
reported, it does not rule out that possibility either. Investigators also said that some
of the sightings could have been experimental technology used by other countries. The report
is due to go to Congress later this month.
And stocks rallied on Wall Street today, as the May jobs report boosted confidence in
the economy's recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 179 points to close at 34756.
The Nasdaq rose 200 points. And the S&P 500 added 37.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": a Communist Party dissident discusses repression in China
on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; the U.S. Border Patrol increasingly
drops off migrants in rural areas without resources; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart
break down critical infrastructure negotiations; plus much more.
We dig in now to today's U.S. jobs report and broader questions about the economy.
I spoke a short time ago with Brian Deese. He's the Biden administration's director of
the National Economic Council.
Brian Deese, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
Let's talk about that jobs report today, 559,000 jobs created in the month of May. It's twice
what we saw in April, but it was still less than what some, if not many, economists predicted.
Does that temper the celebrating Americans should be doing?
BRIAN DEESE, Director, National Economic Council: I think this job report is really good news
for the economy and good news for the American people.
We have seen now consistent job growth of about 500,000 jobs a month over the last four
months, which is the strongest job growth we have seen in quite a long time. In the
three months prior, we were averaging job growth at about 60,000 a month. So we have
seen a significant pickup.
And we saw -- the good news was that that job growth was broad-based across sectors
and industries. And also, importantly, wages increased. They increased last month. They
increased this month again. That's good news, good news for American workers.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, let me ask you about the economy broadly speaking, because, if
you look at all the indicators, still relatively high unemployment rate, even though we know
companies are clearly saying they can't find enough workers. Some of them are.
You have prices rising for some goods and services, but not for others. You have a supply
chain problem. Do you put that together? And does it give you a clear picture of the strength
of this economy? Or are you as confused as some other people say they are?
BRIAN DEESE: Well, I'd start with some perspective.
This economy is growing at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years. We saw 6.4 percent growth
in the first quarter, and we're seeing projections now for the year of close to 7 percent. We
haven't seen that type of growth in America for nearly 40 years.
You combine that with a solid 500,000 jobs, on average, growth a month, and you see an
economy that's growing strongly, a labor market that's recovering. At the same time, we're
in an unprecedented situation. We're coming out of a historic economic crisis and a pandemic.
And so there's a lot of uncertainty. There's some dislocation. Certainly, we're seeing
demand coming back faster than anticipated in some sectors. And that's creating some
supply chain bottlenecks and discontinuities.
And so this was never going to be a straight line. And we will continue to have to work
through those issues. But the trend line is clear that the economy is improving rapidly.
And we believe that that's in part based on an economic strategy that the Biden administration
is driving and President Biden is driving about how to grow this economy from the bottom
up and the middle out.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, one of the things that's happening as a result of all this is higher
prices.
And speaking of that, it's been reported the president made a call in the last few weeks
or days to the former Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, who has been writing opinion
pieces expressing his disagreement with the size of the president's what he calls very
big plans on jobs, infrastructure, so-called Families Plan.
And, also, Larry -- Larry Summers saying he's worried about high prices staying there. Did
he -- did the president come away from that changing his mind about anything?
BRIAN DEESE: I'm not going to speak to private conversations the president had.
What I can tell you is, where the president is focused and where we are all focused is
on driving an economic strategy that is working right now to drive historically strong economic
growth, historically strong job growth.
We are seeing some temporary dislocations and some temporary price increases. But most
of that is being driven in sectors like airlines and hotels and leisure, where we're seeing
demand come back from very, very low levels during the pandemic. And so the bottom line
here is, we have got an economy that's recovering rapidly.
We're seeing Americans are actually finding jobs. Their wages are increasing. That's a
good thing. That's a good thing for the American worker. And while there are these short-term
mismatches that we think we will be able to work through, overall, the president has a
strategy that is different from his predecessor's, that is actually about driving economic growth
from the bottom up, making sure that an economy is actually delivering good jobs and wage
increases for Americans broadly.
We think that strategy is working. And we think that we can double down on that now
by investing for the long term.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, one of the things that Larry Summers and, frankly, some Republicans
are saying is that, instead of spending new government money on the president's ambitious
plans, you ought to take some of the unspent COVID stimulus money.
Is that something the president's looking at?
BRIAN DEESE: Well, I'm glad you raised that issue, because it goes to the core of, where
is that money that we invested -- that we're investing from the Rescue Plan actually going?
First, they went out and direct checks to American families. A lot of the reason why
there's more demand and more optimism, frankly, among the American people is because 167 million
checks, $1,400 checks, went out to people.
Another place it's going is to schools. One of the things we saw in this month's job report,
100,000 new education jobs at the state and local level, in part because we invested in
schools and getting schools open, teachers getting back on the job. Schools are open.
That gives parents more flexibility.
We're investing in childcare centers, so that we can create more childcare options for parents
as they go back to work. In each of these areas, they're connected to real, tangible
needs that our economy needs. And it's a plan that was designed to keep this support going,
because this wasn't going to be a straight line. And we're going to have some bumps in
the road.
So we're very confident that this -- these are resources that are doing a lot of good
for the economy and will continue to do a lot of good. And, frankly, we have a lot of
fiscal space to invest in longer-term economic objectives in a way that actually we can do
without reducing -- without increasing the deficit.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Last thing to ask you about are the talks the president's been having
with the Republicans' chief negotiator on infrastructure, legislation. She is Senator
Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia.
We know they had a conversation again today. Is progress being made?
BRIAN DEESE: Well, the president and Senator Capito had a conversation this afternoon.
And Senator Capito introduced some new ideas.
But we're not at a place where the proposal that is on the table is something that is
consistent with what the president believes we need to grow the economy, to sustain this
economic growth, create good jobs, fight the climate crisis. So, the president and Senator
Capito agreed they will speak again on Monday.
He's going to keep reaching out and keep engaging. But we're not at a place where the proposal
on the table is something that would work for the president.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah, so not enough yet.
But, finally, it's been reported that the president offered in their earlier meeting
this week, instead of raising the corporate income tax, to establish a corporate -- a
minimum corporate income tax. Is that something they're still talking about? Is the president
looking at other compromises?
BRIAN DEESE: Well, the president's been raising in his conversations with Republicans a whole
range of commonsense ways to pay for these proposals.
He remains committed to reforming the corporate tax code, including raising the corporate
tax rate. But there are other elements of his plan, including the one you mentioned,
to establish a minimum 15 percent rate that all corporations pay to try to address this
issue that, today, there are dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs, profitable companies, that pay zero
in taxes.
The other issue he raised was tax enforcement, not actually raising tax rates on anyone,
but just making sure that high-income people and corporations pay the taxes that they already
owe. These are ideas he thinks makes a lot of sense. He continuing to raise them with
Republicans.
And we're hoping that these are the kind of areas that we could find common ground on.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We're going to leave it there.
Brian Deese, who chairs the president's National Economic Council, thank you.
BRIAN DEESE: Thanks, Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A surge in crossings at the U.S.-Mexican border in recent months has led
U.S. border agents to drop some migrants off at sites in rural American towns to begin
their wait for court hearings.
As special correspondent Dan Lieberman reports, these towns often lack the means to cope with
the influx, even though aid groups have stepped in to help.
DAN LIEBERMAN: It's another hot day on the border for Fernie Quiroz, a volunteer with
the Arizona California Humanitarian Coalition, a group that was created to respond to a growing
trend, border Patrol releasing migrants in small towns that lack the resources to respond.
FERNIE QUIROZ, Arizona California Humanitarian Coalition: They have nowhere to call, where
to go. They don't even know where the bus station is. Where is an airport? Where is
a local hotel?
DAN LIEBERMAN: Instead of releasing the migrants onto the streets, Border Patrol began dropping
them off at the Regional Center for Border Health in Somerton, a rural city near Yuma,
Arizona, where they get COVID-tested and are given food and water before boarding a charter
bus to shelters hours away. From there, they often travel hundreds of miles to stay with
family members or a sponsor.
FERNIE QUIROZ: The 41 individuals that were released to us today, this time tomorrow,
they will be in the arms of their family.
DAN LIEBERMAN: The next day, we met C and her 9-year-old daughter from Nicaragua. For
her own protection, we are using just her first initial. I asked her why she decided
to leave now.
C, Migrant (through translator): There is a lot of conflict. There is no economy, there
is no work. There is no way to get ahead. Besides, we are afraid of being in a country
where there is great danger for everyone.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Once they got to the U.S. border, they crossed between official ports of entry
to get into the U.S.
C (through translator): The area where we crossed, the wall is there, but it's open.
The wall isn't closed. There's an entryway.
DAN LIEBERMAN: We're right up against the border with Mexico, where just a small fence
and canal separate the two countries.
We were told by Customs and Border Protection that a majority of migrants are choosing to
cross at places like this one, instead of ports of entry. Under Title 42, the pandemic
era rule that expels most migrants, many know that, if they cross here or other places like
it and turn themselves into Border Patrol, they can claim asylum.
Customs and Border Protection say they have recently seen the highest number of apprehensions
along the Southwestern border in two decades, with nearly 180,000 in April alone, a 34 percent
increase from the last surge in the spring of 2019.
When you see these rural drop-offs occur, what does that say about the system?
ROBERT BUSHELL, Tucson Sector, U.S. Customs and Border Protection: U.S. Well, it would
say that the system is bogged down.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Robert Bushell is a special operations supervisor with Border Patrol's
Tucson Sector. He points out that, by law, Customs and Border Protection has to release
migrant families within 72 hours of their arrival in the U.S. Unaccompanied children
are transferred to a Health and Human Services shelter, until they can be connected with
vetted family or sponsors.
ROBERT BUSHELL: We don't have facilities that are built to house these populations like
family units. When it's time to transfer custody, let's say to ICE, if ICE is not able to take
those folks into their custody, we really have no choice but to release them with a
notice to appear.
ALEXANDRA MILLER, The Florence Project: Some end up paroled into the community and some
end up in detention.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Alex Miller is an attorney with The Florence Project, a legal services
organization that provides free counsel to migrants.
She says while some, like C, are processed into the U.S., most are still being immediately
expelled back to Mexico under a pandemic era rule called Title 42.
Initially implemented by President Trump, the Biden administration has continued the
policy, which closes the border indefinitely to nonessential travel to stop the spread
of COVID-19.
ALEXANDRA MILLER: We see it applied differently to people from different geographical backgrounds
or demographics.
But, for the most part, individuals and families from Central America tend to be returned to
Mexico. And folks from further afield, from South America end up getting put into normal
immigration proceedings.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Some residents of this Arizona border community have been frustrated by the
releases, seeing it as one more symbol of a broken immigration system.
JOHN BOELTS, Producer Farmer: If people don't see it as a crisis, it's probably because
they haven't seen it.
DAN LIEBERMAN: John Boelts is a fifth-generation produce farmer in Yuma County who's struggled
to maintain a legal and reliable work force.
JOHN BOELTS: Right now, the message is, come cross any which way you can and seek asylum,
and we will put you up in a hotel. That's odd. That's not a great way. And it just -- it
makes Customs and Border Protection's work that much more difficult.
What we would like to see is legal commerce at the border, legal traffic at the border,
not the situation we have today.
DAN LIEBERMAN: He says many of his own workers, some of whom cross the border every day, are
as frustrated as he is.
JOHN BOELTS: To legally immigrate into this country, if you want to work in agriculture,
that takes months, years of applications, tens of thousands of dollars. So, it can be
frustrating to see somebody else getting a much easier path.
DAN LIEBERMAN: For Mario Jauregui, who owns a business in the nearby border city of San
Luis, it's a question of taxpayer dollars.
MARIO JAUREGUI, Business Owner: What's next for those families? Where are they going?
Who's going to be taking care of them? Who's going to be feeding them? Who's going to be
the health care that they need to be receiving? This is going to put a tremendous burden on
- - on the American people.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Border Patrol acknowledges it presents challenges for the agency, too.
ROBERT BUSHELL: As Border Patrol agents, our job is to know who and what is coming across
our borders between the ports of entry. And when we encounter large groups of children
or family units, more of our resources that should be on the border looking for the who
and the what's crossing are now diverted for a certain period of time to deal with those
kids or those families that just entered.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Carlos Bernal, whose family emigrated from Mexico in 1972, believes the
U.S. must welcome them.
CARLOS BERNAL, Emigrated From Mexico (through translator): Why do we have to deny them the
universal right of the American dream? This land isn't owned by any individual person.
It's everyone's land. We are all immigrants.
DOUGLAS NICHOLLS (R), Mayor of Yuma, Arizona: I think we need to really talk about our small
communities along the border.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Doug Nicholls is the mayor of Yuma.
DOUGLAS NICHOLLS: We really need to have a policy in place that protects them and that
takes care of what the issues are on the release to not adversely affect the small communities,
where they need to transport to other communities, when DHS is already present in those other
communities.
At the end of the day, this will just be a cycle that repeats itself if we don't get
to the heart of the issues.
DAN LIEBERMAN: Alex Miller, with The Florence Project, agrees that the system needs to change.
ALEXANDRA MILLER: One way to relieve some of the pressure on Border Patrol in rural
areas is to make sure that migrants who want to seek asylum at ports have that opportunity.
DAN LIEBERMAN: After leaving Somerton, C and her daughter arrived safely at Casa Alitas,
a shelter in Tucson, almost four hours from where we first met them.
They were given a place to sleep, new clothes, and food before heading to the airport to
fly to San Antonio to reunite with her brother, who she hasn't seen in 10 years. I asked her
what her hopes are now.
C (through translator): I have to work so that my daughter can study. I want her to
have a better future. I feel happy to have had the opportunity to come to this country.
DAN LIEBERMAN: If the Biden administration ends Title 42, as they just did with Trump's
remain-in-Mexico policy, aid groups and Border Patrol anticipate there will be a significant
increase in the number of migrants crossing the border again. They're waiting to hear
what comes next.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Dan Lieberman in Arizona.
JUDY WOODRUFF: There were no vigils in Hong Kong, and certainly none in Beijing, to mark
this 32nd anniversary of the massacre in Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese army killed hundreds, perhaps thousands, after weeks of democratic protest.
But many Chinese, through government control of media, and repression, know nothing of
what happened that day.
Nick Schifrin has a rare interview with a Chinese political dissident, who says the
fate of today's China was sealed in the events of 1989.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In downtown Beijing, there is nothing to see, no mentioning of the day
that changed China, no memorial for the dead, only a quiet, secure Tiananmen Square.
Thirty-two years ago, for seven weeks, students filled the square with revolutionary fervor.
They demanded reforms to the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. At first, they repelled an
attempt to clear the square, but the next day, overwhelming military force. One man,
however brave, could not prevent the inevitable.
Soldiers fired at peaceful protesters. At least hundreds were killed.
CAI XIA, Former Professor, Chinese Central Party School (through translator): I could
never imagine that the army would open fire on the students. The shooting exposed what
CCP had been telling us were all lies.
I was really shocked and began my own independent thinking. June 4 sowed a seed of doubt in
my heart.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Cai Xia's heart used to have no doubt. She grew up in a revolutionary,
communist family. That's her on the right. Her father was a veteran army commander, and
she says she was a true believer.
CAI XIA (through translator): I believed the CCP wholeheartedly since I was young. Also,
my parents were very strict about our upbringing, teaching us to have high moral standards,
a pure heart, and not to become privileged kids.
NICK SCHIFRIN: By 1989, she was a rising star in the party. She lectured at a Communist
Party School near Shanghai and witnessed a sanitized version of Tiananmen on Chinese
TV.
CAI XIA (through translator): At that time, the CCP denied that the army opened fire and
that any student or resident was shot and killed. But I learned that not only bullets
were fired at the Tiananmen Square, but also along the road all the way leading to the
square.
NICK SCHIFRIN: When did you learn that? How did you learn the truth?
CAI XIA (through translator): I had stayed in Beijing since 1992. Every year around the
anniversary of June 4, people would talk about it. And I heard the stories bit by bit from
the circle of friends.
NICK SCHIFRIN: By then, Cai Xia had risen to the pinnacle of Communist Party education,
the Central Party School in Beijing. We visited in 2019. Party leaders are educated here.
The party's revered figures are immortalized in larger-than-life statues.
And Xi Jinping was the school's president, before he became party leader, military commander
in chief, and Chinese president in 2012.
How concerned, how fearful, even today are the leaders of the Communist Party if the
population would learn the truth?
CAI XIA (through translator): I think the CCP Is concerned that, if people knew about
the truth of June 4, it would lose the legitimacy of its rule, because the students were demanding
democracy and to crack down on corruption. They were the voice for justice of the Chinese
people.
People were demanding basic human rights. So, the CCP tried everything they could to
cover up the truth.
NICK SCHIFRIN: While at the Party School, Cai Xia says, for the first time, she saw
Chinese propaganda up close. That solidified the doubts she'd already been harboring that
a system she'd once considered sacred was actually a deceptive dictatorship.
CAI XIA (through translator): My change of heart did not happen with one event or one
book. It was a gradual process.
When I was young, I was never told about love or humanitarianism. When I joined the army,
I was assigned to take care of library, where I read many Western classics. I read the book
of the rise and fall of the Third Reich about Hitler. Later, I watched a video depicting
Hitler's rally.
It really shocked me. The scene and sound of the rally was so similar to that of the
Cultural Revolution. I witnessed from the inside how the CCP actually operated and realized
that their high-sounding narratives to the public were all deception.
NICK SCHIFRIN: In 2019, Cai Xia came to the U.S. as a tourist. She got stuck here because
of the pandemic, but she calls herself a dissident. She knows she cannot go home.
In December, 2020, she published an article in "Foreign Affairs" and wrote: "The ideas
the party sanctimoniously promoted were in fact self-serving tools used to deceive the
Chinese people."
The Chinese Communist Party denounces and persecutes critics like Cai Xia. It argues
that, by protecting the party, it's protecting the country. And the party says Chinese people's
freedom comes from a country that's prosperous.
What the party says is that it is guaranteeing people's economic freedom and that any threat
to the party is actually a threat to the Chinese state. Can you respond to that?
CAI XIA (through translator): They only implemented economic freedom in a limited way, to create
more wealth and collect more revenue for the government.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Cai Xia says today's China wasn't inevitable. In the late 1970s and 1980s,
Deng Xiaoping called for reform and political liberalization. Cai Xia says that died in
Tiananmen Square.
CAI XIA (through translator): Opening fire on June 4 turned China back to the totalitarian
state, and China lost the possibility of a peaceful transformation.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And, today, Xi Jinping has centralized power even more.
CAI XIA (through translator): Reports from below are made by guessing what the above
would like to hear, and only reporting the good news.
On the other hand, when a decision is made, everyone will agree and praise it. Therefore,
Xi Jinping increasingly believes he is correct, and is increasingly unable to listen to dissenting
points of view.
The CCP has deceived the American people and government for so many years. If it were not
for the Wuhan virus that has spread throughout the world, people may still not see through
the true nature of the CCP regime.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And that regime has ensured its true nature is invisible in today's Beijing.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. That's New York Times
columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, columnist for The Washington Post.
Hello to both of you on this Friday night.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Judy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It's very good to see you. And there is a lot to talk about.
David, let's start with where we are on these so-called infrastructure negotiations. I'm
not sure that term tells us everything. But, today, we're hearing President Biden focus
on the good news in the jobs report, but also we're learning that the talks with Republicans
on coming up with some sort of infrastructure compromise don't seem to be going anywhere.
If they don't, David, has this all been a waste of time?
DAVID BROOKS: No, I don't think so. I think he's compromised a lot more than I thought
he would. He's come down on the overall size of the package by a trillion. Republicans
have come up by $200 billion. He's compromised on what kind of taxes, a mix of taxes. He
wants to make sure there are some corporate taxes, but is willing to bend on the original
proposal.
And I think he needs to do that. He needs to do that, in part because there are a lot
of moderate Democrats who are nervous by this bill. And even if Republicans and the Democrats
don't eventually come to a deal, it strengthens his hand to go to Joe Manchin and other moderate
Democrats and say: Hey, I really tried.
And if he wants to say, let's do this through reconciliation, a process by which they only
need the Democratic votes, he's made a good-faith effort.
The fact is, he's in a weak position. He's got 50 votes in the Senate and a small minority
- - majority in the House. He's got to do this sort of thing. So I think he's doing it reasonably
well.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Jonathan, is this something the president helps himself by doing, no matter
how it turns out?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Absolutely, because he does need to show, particularly to Senator
Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, that he's making a good-faith effort at the bipartisanship
that those two and particularly Senator Manchin say that they want.
However, this comp -- these talks in these negotiations and the back-and-forth, as you
just -- you reported earlier, Judy, that the president and Senator Shelley Moore Capito
of West Virginia will be talking again on Monday. But as we learned last week, I believe
it was, from Secretary Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation, that -- and I'm looking
down here -- it's fish or -- it's a fish-or-cut-bait moment.
And he was talking about that in terms of the week of June 7, when Congress is back,
and just in saying that we need a clear direction.
And so I think, after the phone call on Monday between the president and Senator Capito,
we might get a clearer view of what that clear direction is and whether the president is
going to fish or cut bait.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And it sounded like, from listening to Brian Deese a little bit earlier tonight,
who directs the president's Council of Economic Advisers, that, right now, the White House
isn't saying what they think amounts to something. But we will watch this space.
Something else I very much want to ask both of you about are the assignments, David, that
the president has given his vice president, Kamala Harris. We don't hear from her very
often. But the president's given her now several big assignments. One of them is dealing with
the Central American countries that are sending so many migrants or trying to send them. They're
coming to the United States, trying to.
Talking to -- trying -- saying to her, we have got to stop this. We have got to at least
cut back on the number who are trying to come to the U.S. And then, separately, the very
important assignment of working with these states where Republican legislatures are trying
to cut back, restrict on voting rights.
Is this something that Vice President Harris, she's got to do well on it? How risky are
these assignments that he's giving her, David?
DAVID BROOKS: Extremely.
She asked him for the democratic -- the voting rights. She asked for that. So -- and I give
her credit for taking on something hard. It's essentially being asked, on Monday, we'd like
you to solve the Middle East peace problem.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: And, on Tuesday, why does evil exist in the world? And, Wednesday, why does
consciousness arise from the brain?
I mean, these are all extremely hard things. And I'm dubious that she can do much. She
doesn't actually have much power over the border, as her aides have made clear. The
odds stacked against some of the voting rights things in the Congress are pretty high. She
doesn't have much control over this, what's going on in the states.
The only thing I can think of for why she's agreed to take these assignments and why the
administration wants her to do it is, they want to turn up the public pressure on all
of them. I don't think she has much control over what happens in state or federal legislatures.
But she can turn on the public pressure and try to change public opinion.
But that, too, is a tall order. So, she is certainly taking lofty challenges.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Jonathan, you have talked to her, you have interviewed her just in the
last few days. How do you see all this? How does she see it?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, actually, I interviewed Vice President Harris a week ago today, and
it was to talk about the one year since the murder of George Floyd and the 100 years since
the Tulsa race massacre.
And at the end of the interview, Judy, I asked her, is there a question that I didn't ask
that you wish I had? And just give me the answer. And she shouted -- before I could
finish, she said voting rights.
And then she went and talked about how our democracy is weaker when people are prevented
from voting, and our democracy is stronger when everyone who can vote is allowed to vote.
And then we find out a few days later the president's assignment.
Look, as David said, this is an assignment that she asked for after meeting with civil
rights leaders at the White House earlier - - this is June -- so early May. And having
interviewed Vice President Harris before when she was a senator and when she was California
attorney general, this is something that she truly cares about.
And so taking this on, in addition to the Northern Triangle, in addition to expanding
broadband access, she is operating in the mode -- the same mode, maybe even an enhanced
mode in the vice president -- of the vice presidency that President Biden did or acted
when he was vice president to President Obama.
The one thing he said to President Obama was, I want to be the last person in the room.
And being eight years in that position, and now being president of the United States having
a governing partner with him, which he has in Vice President Harris, it seems like the
president is unafraid to hand her one difficult task after another.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And it certainly -- we are now focused on the fact that she has these
assignments. So, we will watch and see where it goes.
I do want to turn you both to a couple of Republicans, prominent Republicans, who've
been speaking out in the last few days about former President Trump. Last week, Paul Ryan,
former speaker of the House, made a speech at the Reagan Library, was pretty critical
of President Trump, not by name, but said it's time for the Republican Party to stop
focusing on personalities and focus on principle.
And then you had in the last few days an interview given by President Reagan's -- one of his
chief strategists who is still around, in his 90s, a man named Stu Spencer, David. He
lives in California.
He gave an interview and said to The Los Angeles Times and said -- was very critical of President
Trump, said he's doing bad -- terrible damage to the Republican Party.
But then the man who was President Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, gave a speech
just last night in New Hampshire. And I'm just going to play a little bit of that for
you and our audience.
MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States: You know, President Trump and I have spoken
many times since we left office. And I don't know if we will ever see eye to eye on that
day.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, David, he went on to say: But we are still very proud. I'm still very
proud of everything we accomplished over four years.
Taking these comments together, do we have any clearer picture of what's going on in
the Republican Party?
DAVID BROOKS: Have we ever seen daylight between Pence and Trump before? I'm not sure we have.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: I think this may be like the universe cracking in half.
I do think there's a -- there's a pre-Trump Republican Party who all the gentlemen you
just referenced to are members of. And they want it to be a conservative party. They don't
want it to be a January 6 party. And they don't, frankly, want it to be a Trump party.
And so they're trying to angle the party away from being a January 6 party.
Trump rebutted, and he wants it to be a stolen election party. And what will happen? There
are two sides of this argument. I think the regular Republicans, the establishment Republicans,
are hoping that he sort of fades away. He's off Facebook for another two years. His blog
has been closed for lack of interest. Maybe there's some fading way.
And I think there's -- that's a plausible road map. I wouldn't bet on it. But I suspect
the Republicans will do pretty well in 2022. The out party tends to win these midterm elections.
The Republicans control the maps in state after state. And so, at the end of 2022, we
may have a victory for the Republicans in the House and possibly even the Senate, which
will be a non-Trump victory.
And then the party might look different. I think that's a long shot. But I think Trump
is really still the major force. And January 6 is still the major myth of the Republican
Party. But if you're an establishment Republican, that's what you would be trying to do, in
the hope that you can gradually, gradually sideline this guy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Jonathan, how do you see what's going on in the Republican Party? And
David's right. People are starting to talk about 2022.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, I think it's just - - what's happening in the Republican Party
is sheer insanity, the fact that a January 6 commission couldn't even get approved by
the Senate. But that's a whole other conversation.
My concern about the Republican Party is, you have these lofty speeches from Paul Ryan
and Mike Pence. You have the principled actions of Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and yet the bulk
of the party isn't with them. The bulk of the party is still with Donald Trump. The
Republican Party can't seem to quit Donald Trump.
And I would argue that the 2022 midterm elections, where, again, Democrats are in big trouble,
at least in the House, in terms of maintaining the majority in the House, if the Republicans
do indeed take the majority away from the Democrats in the midterm elections, I think
they're going to learn the wrong lessons, and that Donald Trump, Facebook or no Facebook,
and the people who follow him will take that as, see, our message works, this is what we
need to do to go forward as a party.
And I think that the Republican Party's journey in the wilderness will just be a lot longer,
and it'll be a lot uglier for American politics as a result.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, David, I'm giving you the last word.
DAVID BROOKS: It takes three election losses to really change a party, in my view.
And Democrats keep messing up by allowing the Republicans to win.
(LAUGHTER)
DAVID BROOKS: And so if Democrats would nominate some conservative candidates in places like
Georgia, Florida and Ohio, they'd have a better chance of not relying on Joe Manchin.
And so we will see if they can do that. But if they can't do that, and if they nominate
progressives in non-progressive places, then they get what they get.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Jonathan, we're going to let you -- we're going to let you come
- - have your comeback on that -- on that next Friday.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: All right, next Friday.
(LAUGHTER)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Next Friday. You have got a whole week.
All right, Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, thank you both.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Judy.
DAVID BROOKS: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The coronavirus' toll on our lives and our country has been immense. In
the past day, the number of deaths has passed 600,000.
For the many families who have lost loved ones during this pandemic, the toll is greater
still.
We pause now to remember some of their lives.
Patty Sakal was a lifeline for Hawaii's deaf community after the coronavirus hit. For months,
the 62-year-old served as a sign language interpreter during state and city government
pandemic briefings. Patty dedicated her life to ensuring deaf people were treated equitably
and fully informed, her sister said.
Growing up in Honolulu, Patty and her two siblings would interpret the nightly news
for their parents, both of whom were deaf. Later in life, the mother of three and grandmother
of two helped create a nonprofit that provided resources for Hawaii's deaf community, named
in honor of her mother and father.
Leslie Hagan-Morgan loved his South Los Angeles community and worked to make it a better place.
The 38-year-old husband and father of two ran a charter school, coached basketball and
helped to enroll struggling students in community college.
Leslie was focused on connecting students with their purpose, away from gang violence,
his wife told us. He leaves behind a food program he launched after noticing his students
were struggling because they didn't have enough to eat.
Fifty-two-year-old Daryl Tombs served as a critical care paramedic in New York for the
past three decades. A husband and father of six, Daryl spent his life caring for others,
often in their moment of greatest need.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Daryl and his wife were volunteering with the local
ambulance crew when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Daryl quickly assembled
a team of paramedics and drove into the city to help. His wife said Daryl loved spending
time with his family and seven grandchildren.
Alicia Martinez was a first-generation college student determined to help people. The 21-year-old
was working toward her masters in social work at Baylor University. She was kind, loved
to paint and draw, and had helped start a reading program for young students in her
hometown of Waco, Texas, her father said.
After her passing, Alicia's parents accepted her diploma during Baylor's graduation ceremony
this spring.
Donnell Cobbins Jr., a fourth generation minister, was born and raised in South Memphis. Donnell,
a father of two, served as a pastor at St. Luke Missionary Church in the same neighborhood
where he grew up. People gravitated toward him and he gravitated toward people, Donnell's
younger brother told us.
He was known as a role model, exceptionally bright and always curious. When the pandemic
began, Donnell applied for a grant to keep church services going virtually. Shortly after
his passing, the church received the funding, a gift he leaves behind. Donnell was 49 years
old.
And we are so grateful to family members for sharing these stories. Our hearts go out to
you, as they do to everyone who's lost a loved one in this pandemic.
I am happy to say that this is a good news story.
Do not be fooled by the zombie massacre.
The "NewsHour"'s Mike Melia checks in on the latest work by two budding filmmakers he has
been tracking for years.
It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.
MIKE MELIA: There are moments in life you do not forget. For me, one of them is when
I first met Sam Suchmann and Mattie Zufelt.
I had no idea that October day back in 2014 in Providence, Rhode Island, would be an invitation
to come along on an epic adventure. As we will discover, it appears Sam knew it all
along.
SAM SUCHMANN, Filmmaker: My whole life, I feel like I never fit in anywhere or had a
voice, but someday, that will change. I will be somebody. And that day is today.
MIKE MELIA: The "NewsHour" was profiling Sam and his best friend, Mattie, because they
had an inspiring Kickstarter to fund their dream of creating a zombie movie. And that
is exactly what they did.
They rounded up family, friends and film professionals to pull it off, but they were the driving
creative forces, from writing the script to playing the lead roles.
Jesse Suchmann is Sam's older brother.
JESSE SUCHMANN, Sam's Brother: Our idea was to do their idea. And that infectious energy
is what got us in.
But I think that their confidence gave us the confidence to ask the next layer of people.
And the same Sam and Mattie confidence that gave that next layer of people the confidence
to ask.
If any of us were doing this for ourselves, we probably wouldn't have gone as hard for
it. But I think Sam and Mattie's determination and, like, unwillingness to compromise in
the service of this big party, it gives everybody just an extra jolt of energy to pull off the
impossible. And I think that's -- that was - - all Bobby and I had to do was sort of just
commit.
We're like, yes, we're going to do it. And it's just been this insane, rolling party,
adventure since then.
ROBERT CARNEVALE, Director: Open on the skyline of downtown Providence.
MIKE MELIA: Bobby Carnevale is Jesse's friend, professional filmmaker and director.
ROBERT CARNEVALE: Thinking back on that Kickstarter video, it was like, we didn't really do -- I
mean, there was definitely some zombie movie talk, but it was just like Sam and Mattie
engaging with a camera and us and us driving around.
We just did like a day with them. OK, then, at 3:00 we go and get slushies at Cumberland
Farms. And we're like, all right. And just every step of the way, even on the way to
the Cumberland Farms, was like a whole trip. And I think that was my first insight to just
like, wow, they have so much to say and so much energy.
And the two -- the way that the two of them bounce off each other as these best friends
and they both have their own little quirks and dynamics, and Mattie's outrageous. Sam's
emotional. And it's this little tag team. And we just kind of, like, slipped right in
there.
JUDY WOODRUFF: An ambitious new project.
MIKE MELIA: After our initial profile, the spotlight on Sam and Mattie came fast and
furious.
MAN: Two New England teens are breaking barriers, trying to make it big in Hollywood.
MAN: Aspiring to be the next big filmmakers some Rhode Island.
MIKE MELIA: From local news features to national profiles, including "CBS Sunday Morning."
SAM SUCHMANN: I don't do it for fame. I do it because I love it, because we really...
MATTIE ZUFELT, Filmmaker: I'm doing it for the money.
QUESTION: You're doing it for the money?
MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SAM SUCHMANN: Well, I do it because I love it.
QUESTION: Have you gotten rich on this so far?
MATTIE ZUFELT: Not yet.
MIKE MELIA: They were even guests on "Conan O'Brien."
CONAN O'BRIEN, Host, "Late Night With Conan O'Brien": What I love about what you guys
have done is, you met years ago, you talked about this dream, and you made it happen.
Here we are, all these years later, and you made your zombie movie, and you had a premiere,
a premiere that the press attended. Everyone loves the movie. And then you fly out here
to come on our show. This is pretty spectacular.
MIKE MELIA: But they never let the spotlight blind them to who they were. Sam and Mattie
told Conan they needed a chocolate fountain, and they got it.
In the movie, they wanted a slew of celebrity cameos. They didn't get The Rock, but:
MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes, we have a lot of people.
SAM SUCHMANN: And not Bieber.
MATTIE ZUFELT: No Bieber.
SAM SUCHMANN: He's crazy in the head.
MIKE MELIA: One celebrity on the top of their list, "The Jersey Shore"'s D.J. Pauly D. And
he is in.
Spoiler alert: In the movie's climatic fight scene, D.J. Pauly kills me by throwing a record
in my head.
Now, in a new documentary streaming on Apple+, you can see "Spring Break Zombie Massacre,"
while witnessing the journey behind the camera.
PETER FARRELLY, Oscar-Winning Director: They made a really good movie. I love this movie.
I loved watching it. You watch this movie with a smile on your face the whole time.
And somebody asked me, they said, yes, but do you think they wanted you have a smile
on the face? I said, absolutely. This isn't "The Walking Dead." This is "Zombieland."
They wanted to entertain. And it is totally entertaining.
MIKE MELIA: Peter Farrelly, Academy Award-winning director of "Green Book," also behind comedy
classics like "Dumb and Dumber" and "Something About Mary," was executive producer of "Sam
& Mattie Make a Zombie Movie."
PETER FARRELLY: I promise you, I will know them until the end of my life. And I hope
they make more movies. And I know they will, because they're that -- those kind of guys.
This isn't a one-off for them. They're not just coming in saying, hey, we're going to
make a movie. Now we will move on and build an airplane.
They're going to make movies. They're really good at it.
MIKE MELIA: How do Sam and Mattie see it?
SAM SUCHMANN: Also, doing it with this guy right here.
MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SAM SUCHMANN: ... himself, is also really amazing too, because this guy is the best
guy in the world right here.
MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes.
MIKE MELIA: They knew, if they were going to pull this off, they needed to be in the
driver's seat.
SAM SUCHMANN: I had a vision. And Mattie tagged along with the vision and made it bigger.
It's like a blueprint, right? So, it was like I really put in the work to make the blueprint,
the movie, right, and sat down and did it. Mattie came up with all these crazy ideas
and architecture to it, in a way.
MATTIE ZUFELT: Yes.
SAM SUCHMANN: We're both like the architectures of it. So, it's really cool.
MIKE MELIA: Turns out the true story has nothing to do with jetpacks or fighting zombies. Behind
the gore is a lesson in love.
JESSE SUCHMANN: This whole thing was an excuse to hang out. And it was a reason to hang out.
And it was a way to hang out that broke down so many barriers that he faces every day.
Without this giant zombie movie, what would we have done altogether? How would I have
gotten all my friends from New York here? He knew that it was this vision that was bringing
people. They were coming for the zombie movie, and they were staying because we were all
becoming really close friends. And he built a family through a horrifying, violent, insane
zombie movie.
And he's a genius.
MIKE MELIA: Sam and Mattie are both now 25.
MATTIE ZUFELT: It's not safe here. We're going to get the heck of here.
MIKE MELIA: They are looking for their next gig and hoping a funder for a sequel.
SAM SUCHMANN: We are making a sequel. And, mostly, we will have more Sam and Mattie adventures
on the way, too. You know what I mean?
ACTOR: Sam, Mattie, let's go, bros.
MIKE MELIA: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Mike Melia.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And how is that not a fabulous way to end the week?
Thank you, Mike Melia. It's completely changed my tastes in movies. I now like zombie movies.
"Sam & Mattie Make a Zombie Movie" is streaming now on Apple+.
And on that note, that's the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff.
Have a good weekend. Thank you for watching, and please stay safe.