Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Negotiations continue. Congress struggles to find common ground on
a new coronavirus relief package after emergency measures have expired.
Then: COVID and the vote. Despite the pandemic, the Trump administration intensifies efforts
to undermine mail-in voting and the Postal Service ahead of November's election.
And camp in the time of coronavirus. Parents nationwide struggle to fill in the gaps left
by the closure of summer camps.
We are working in the middle of a pandemic and in some case MERCEDES CARNETHON, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine: We are working in the middle of a pandemic. And in some cases where summer camps are held in areas where caseloads are going up, we are certainly going to see that mirrored in the population of
children who attend camps.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: The COVID-19 death toll across the United States has pushed past 155,000
tonight. That comes as health experts say the resurgence is improving in parts of the
Sunbelt, but still spreading elsewhere.
And children in parts of Georgia and several other Southern states began returning to school
today, leaving many nervous parents behind.
RACHEL ADAMUS, Parent: We only go to parks if no one else is there. We don't take them to the grocery store. And now they're going to be in the classroom with however many kids for an entire day, with a teacher, and masks are allowed, but they're not mandatory. So,
we really have to rely on other people.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, negotiations continued between the White House and Congress over
a new economic relief bill. Both sides reported progress. But President Trump warned that
he might try to act on his own to restore federal jobless benefits and protections against
evictions.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: A lot of people are going to be evicted. But I'm going to stop it, because I will do it myself if I have to. I have a lot of powers
with respect to executive orders. And we're looking at that very seriously right now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For the latest on negotiations around the next coronavirus relief bill, I'm
joined now by our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins.
So, hello, Lisa.
I know things started to pick up over the weekend. What are you learning today about what is happening?
LISA DESJARDINS: As you said, Judy, the word was progress.
Negotiators from Democratic leaders and White House negotiators met for two hours today at the Capitol, walked out saying they thought they had made progress.
What they did today, Judy, amazingly, for the first time, is, they put their numbers on paper, looked at the different proposals and what they would mean. Now, there isn't a deal yet, but Treasury Secretary Mnuchin told reporters that he thinks the White House is now open to a larger deal.
And, as for the president do an action his own, Judy, I can report neither Republicans nor Democrats in Congress are taking that seriously at this point.
So, could there be a deal this week? There could be, but we have to watch.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Interesting.
So, remind us, what are the main points still of differences between the Republicans and
the Democrats?
LISA DESJARDINS: OK, buckle up. I'm smiling, because we're going to get into a lot of facts and numbers right now.
Here we go. Let's start with some of these bigger divides. Unemployment, that $600 added
benefit, Democrats would like to keep that through December. Republicans, for now, are offering just a short-term extension.
But, Judy, they're indicating today that maybe they will move a little bit. Direct payments,
the two sides actually agree on sending out more $1,200 checks.
School. Democrats in their HEROES Act in May offered $90 billion is what they wanted to
fund for schools, Republicans $105 billion. Republicans want more funding for schools.
More. Let's get into more data on this. Also, there's the -- if you look at state and local
funding, this is a major difference, Democrats nearly $1 trillion for state and local, Republicans,
nothing. They would give state more flexibility for the money that they have already got.
Testing and tracing, Democrats, again, with more money than Republicans. When you look at food aid and those SNAP, the food stamps, again, Democrats would fund a lot more, Republicans,
none.
And election help, Judy, Democrats want $3.6 billion. Judy, that's mostly to help with
stamps and ballots for mail-in voting, Republicans right now, no money for that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And just finally, quickly, Lisa, go back to what you were saying about the big gap on aid for state and local governments. What's behind that?
LISA DESJARDINS: Right.
This is a philosophical difference, as much as anything, that Republicans really believe that the federal government shouldn't be propping up states. However, Democrats argue that many states have to balance their budgets. They're seeing revenue increases that are un -- revenue decreases, of course, that are unprecedented.
The difference, of course, is in the amount of money. Republicans say, we will fund schools, we will help local governments that way. Democrats say, much more needs to be done.
Judy, these are just the biggest issues. I want to look really quickly at this list of everything else that needs to be negotiated as well. Look at this, child care, the Postal Service, evictions, census, small businesses, underserved communities. This isn't even a complete list.
So, this should give everyone an idea of the challenge ahead for lawmakers, who really have only begun negotiating in earnest in the last 24 hours. But they are hoping to
reach a deal this week.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And interesting. It's all coming to a head now, after these unemployment benefits,
additional unemployment benefits, expired.
Lisa Desjardins, I know you will keep an eye on it. Thank you.
LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: The Atlantic Coast along the Carolinas braced
for the storm named Isaias to strike inland this evening as a minimal hurricane.
Beachgoers made a last visit to the surf, as skies grew cloudy and the sea choppy.
North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper said, it is yet another challenge for his state.
GOV. ROY COOPER (D-NC): Now, I know that North Carolinians have had to dig deep in recent months to tap into our strength and resilience during pandemic. And that hasn't been easy.
But with this storm on the way, we have to dig a little deeper. Lets keep each other
safe from the wind and water, as well as from the virus.
JUDY WOODRUFF: States all the way north to Maine are also under storm warnings and watches.
In Southern California, thousands of people spent another day under evacuation orders,
as a wildfire burned in mountains east of Los Angeles. It began Friday and exploded
in size over the weekend to more than 41 square miles. Crews have been battling in triple-digit
heat to contain a small part of the fire.
In Eastern Afghanistan, government forces have retaken a prison after a day-long fight
with Islamic State group attackers. At least 39 people were killed. Fighters stormed the
prison in Jalalabad, trying to free hundreds of ISIS prisoners. Witnesses described the
chaos.
KHAN GUL, Witness (through translator): I saw the attackers who walked out of the Corolla cars, and shot the guards of the prison. Then the windows of the nearby buildings exploded over us. I started running away from the area, and then gunfire began.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A provincial official said later that nearly 400 ISIS prisoners were
freed in the attack.
Meanwhile, the Taliban said that its chief negotiator and U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo
held a video call tonight. He gave no details.
Back in this country, a prosecutor in New York now says that President Trump's tax returns
may hold evidence of illegal activity by the Trump Organization. In a court filing, Manhattan
district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. cites public records of -- or, rather, public reports of
- - quote -- "extensive and protracted criminal conduct." Vance also says that the investigation
goes beyond hush money payments to women.
A federal judge spoke out today for the first time since a gunman killed her son and wounded
her husband at her New Jersey home last month. In a video statement, Judge Esther Salas called
for protecting the privacy of those on the bench, since their rulings inevitably anger some people.
JUDGE ESTHER SALAS, U.S. District Court of New Jersey: That comes with the territory, and we accept that. But what we cannot accept is when we are forced to live in fear for
our lives because personal information, like our homes addressed, can easily be obtained
by anyone seeking to do us or our families harm.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The attacker, who later killed himself, was a lawyer and a self-described
anti-feminist. Authorities say he had information on about a dozen other female judges as well.
In economic news, the nation's oldest retailer, Lord & Taylor, is the latest big department
store to file for federal bankruptcy protection in the face of pandemic losses. Other new
casualties include the company that owns JoS. A. Bank and Men's Wearhouse. In all, dozens
of retailers have filed for Chapter 11 protection this year, more than all of last year.
Despite this, on Wall Street, upbeat reports on manufacturing in the U.S. and Europe pushed
stocks higher. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 236 points to close at 26664. The Nasdaq
rose 157 points, and the S&P 500 was up 23.
A second Major League Baseball team has canceled games due to COVID-19. The Saint Louis Cardinals'
four-game series with the Detroit Tigers was put off today. Seven Cardinals players and
six staff members have tested positive for the virus. The Miami Marlins also had an outbreak,
but are due to resume play tomorrow.
And workers in Paris have begun the four-year job of restoring the huge pipe organ in fire-damaged
Notre Dame Cathedral. The process involves dismantling, cleaning and reassembling the
instrument and its 8,000 pipes. The 18th century organ survived last year's devastating fire,
but is now coated in toxic lead dust.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the Trump administration intensifies efforts to undermine
the Postal Service ahead of the election; the White House and Microsoft work to avoid
a ban of the popular TikTok app in the U.S.; parents nationwide struggle to fill in the
gaps left by the closure of summer camps; and much more.
With just about three months to go before the election and many parts of the country still locked in the grip of the coronavirus outbreak, the call for more Americans to vote by mail has been growing.
But, as William Brangham reports, the prospect has raised some concerns, since the Postal
Service itself is caught in the crossfire - - crosshairs of political battles and deeper
funding problems.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There are new reports suggesting the U.S. Postal Service is experiencing significant
delays and warning signs that could impact November's election.
Last month, the new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who was a major donor to President
Trump and appointed in May, issued new guidance that effectively slowed down the Postal Service.
Postal workers are now instructed to leave mail behind if delivery would force them to work overtime. That's a reversal of longtime policy. Those parcels would be delivered the
following day.
DeJoy says these are cost-cutting measures to help the agency's perpetual budget shortfall.
USPS lost $3.9 billion in 2018. But critics say this is a deliberate attempt to hurt the
Postal Service ahead of an election where, because of the pandemic, more voters are expected
to cast their ballots by mail, rather that voting in- person.
Former President Obama, during his eulogy for Congressman John Lewis last week, said President Trump was attacking voting rights in America:
BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: But, even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darndest to discourage people from voting, even undermining
the Postal Service in the run-up to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots,
so people don't get sick.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: It comes as President Trump has ramped up his attacks on the Postal Service, which he has called a joke, and more specifically on mail-in ballots, falsely claiming that
they are different than absentee ballots and that they're rife with fraud.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We all agree that absentee voting is good.
Mail-in ballots will lead to the greatest fraud.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Meanwhile, there is already some evidence that the president's rhetoric is influencing who is asking for those mail-in ballots.
According to the Florida Division of Elections, more than 1.3 million Democrats in the state have requested mail-in ballots for this month's primary. That's compared to 924,000 Republicans
requesting the same.
And elections officials have already received more than 513,000 completed ballots from Democrats
vs. nearly 399,000 from Republicans.
With three months to go until Election Day, Democrats are pushing for more money for mail-in ballots in the negotiations over the next coronavirus relief bill. They say that money
could provide relief for the Postal Service.
We should also say that a handful of states, including some battleground states, will begin sending out mail-in ballots to voters later this month.
So, we wanted to talk to some of the people who will be delivering those ballots to voters.
Joining me now is Mark Dimondstein. He's the president of the American Postal Workers Union.
Mark Dimondstein, thanks very much for being here on the "NewsHour."
Before we get to the election, could we talk a little bit about these delays? We have seen these reports about mail service having delays and packages and envelopes backing up.
Are your workers seeing that? Are those delays real? And what is causing them?
MARK DIMONDSTEIN, President, American Postal Workers Union: Well, first, thanks for having me on.
The -- all the reports we're getting from the people we represent, who are working the mail, sorting the mail, working in retail units, hoping to get letter carriers out in
the street, is, these delays are real. It runs counter to everything that dedicated
postal workers stand for.
We treat the mail as if it's our own. We believe in our motto and the law, prompt, reliable
and efficient services. And prompt means speedy.
So, postal workers are not happy about it. The union vehemently opposes anything that delays the mail.
Now, what's causing it is the new -- the new postmaster general, who came in about six
weeks ago, from the outside, from the business side, and not very much knowledge about the
inner workings of this service. And I'd like to emphasize, it's not the United States postal business. It's the United States Postal Service. And that's there for a reason.
But he's instituted some policies in a very arbitrary way, in our view, that's cutting
the hours of the workers, which means, if the same worker is there, and you cut hours, then the work can't get done, changing transportation of mail, and changing some of the directives
in whether people can wait to go out on a delivery site, to get to your home and your
business, to get all the mail into the system.
He says, no, you have to get out there. If you got to get out there at 8:30, you got to be out there at 8:30, not 8:40.
So all the reports we're getting from both the postal workers and from customers is that,
in the last few weeks, mail service has been - - has been degraded. And that's wrong for
the Postal Service. It's going to drive revenue and business away. And it's really wrong for the people of this country.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Now, this new postmaster general that you mentioned, he argues that this is necessary cost-cutting, these measures he's put in place, that this is a pandemic,
there's a slowdown, everything will get there eventually on time, but that this is just what happens when -- that there has to be some belt-tightening.
MARK DIMONDSTEIN: Well, again, this is a service, not a business.
There's no question that the economic impact of the pandemic is real on the Postal Service.
That's why Congress needs to act. They had a chance in March, with the CARES stimulus
package. They took care of the private side and private corporations, to the tune of $500
billion, but refused to take care of the public sector and the public Postal Service.
They now have another opportunity to do this. The House of Representatives has passed $25
billion of COVID-related relief. This is an emergency.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you also know, we have been reporting that there's this concern about the election, that, with the pandemic, that there's going to be a tidal wave of people mailing in ballots, both receiving ballots and then sending those ballots back in.
Do you worry that these slowdowns could be legitimately affect the ability of the Postal Service to deliver those ballots in time?
MARK DIMONDSTEIN: Sure, it could have an impact.
So, the states, who run the elections -- the Postal Service doesn't -- might have to adapt and get ballots out a few days sooner. People may have to be more cognizant of making sure to get their votes in. If it's a postmark - - and every state is different -- if it's a postmark, then, as long as it's postmarked, then it should be counted.
But we want the post office to correct the problem long before we get to the election.
Mail should not be delayed. Mail should not be slowed down. Congress should act.
And it's ironic, and, in a way, shameful and sad, that as postal workers are on the front lines in this pandemic, binding the country together -- that's our mission -- connecting
people in these challenging times, that, somehow, this wonderful institution that belongs to
all of us is not going to have the support from Congress and this administration that
it should.
Contrary to what the president of the United States says, the Postal Service is not a joke.
That's an insult to every hardworking postal worker. It's an insult to every customer in this country.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, thank you very much for your time.
MARK DIMONDSTEIN: Thanks so much for having me.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: We turn now to a person who is in charge of running an election.
Utah has had a long experience with mail-in voting and officials there say that it has helped drive voter turnout.
Spencer Cox is Utah's lieutenant governor. And he's in charge of overseeing elections in the state. He's a Republican who is also running for governor this fall.
Lieutenant Governor, thank you very much for being here.
You, as I mentioned, have had a good deal of experience with mail-in voting. Make the
case. Why does it work? Why do you like it?
LT. GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): Well, we have had tremendous success here in the state of Utah.
And the reason we like it, I think, are some of the reasons that you just mentioned. First and foremost, it has really increased turnout here in our state.
Give you just a quick example, if you compare the 2016 election, which was -- many counties
were by mail then -- we did a slow rollout, but not every county adopted it right away - - vs. the primary election that we just went through, we actually doubled voter turnout
in that primary election vs. 2016.
The people of the state of Utah really like it, when we talk to them, because it leads to a more informed voter. So often, we hear stories of people that, they get in the ballot booth, and they went there to vote for maybe the governor, and there are all these down-ballot races, or there may be an initiative on the ballot, and they knew nothing about that.
In this case, they get their ballot two to three weeks before the election. They have an opportunity to actually do some research, to get informed, contact the candidates, visit their Web site, make that decision, and then mail it back.
It's been a very popular thing here in the state of Utah.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You are one of five states, I believe it is, that does universal mail-in voting.
As you well know, President Trump has repeatedly cast out about the process. He says that it's rampant with fraud. He's threatened to sue some states to block them doing what you do in Utah. Are the president's allegations true? Is there widespread fraud? Is there widespread
fraud in your system in Utah?
LT. GOV. SPENCER COX: Well, I can't speak for other states, but I certainly can speak authoritatively here in the state of Utah.
We have worked very hard to put in place on checks and different organizational structures
to make sure that there isn't fraud. We're very careful about that.
We actually review every signature, that we have people that that's all they do is review
signatures, compare signatures to the signatures that we have on file.
We routinely audit those processes to make sure that there is no voter fraud. We are constantly updating our voter list, removing people who have -- who have passed away, changing
addresses for people that have moved. We work very closely with the postal system, with
the United States Postal Service, to make sure that we're in contact. And they let us
know when there's a change of address for people.
So, we have done a tremendous job of putting in place those checks to make sure that there
isn't rampant fraud. What we do find is that there's very little fraud, and it's almost always unintentional, parents whose children have gone away to college, they will call them and say, hey, I will fill out your ballot for you, or a spouse who fills out the ballot for their husband or wife.
And we can tell when the signatures don't match, and we call them, and let them know
that is a felony, and that that vote does not count, and they will have to resubmit that ballot.
So, we take painstaking procedures and efforts to make sure that there is no fraud. And we
have not seen rampant voter fraud.
I will say -- and this is important -- that every type of election, it doesn't matter, any way you do it, there is the opportunity for fraud there. We have had fraud in our country since we were first a country.
So -- but vote by mail is the opportunities are different, but we don't see them as any greater.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, given that record of success that you're describing, do you worry that the president's rhetoric is going to put a stain on this election, that it will
encourage people not to vote, that some people might go and risk contacting the virus by going to vote in person, or that they might not trust the results?
Do you worry about him poisoning the atmosphere around this election?
LT. GOV. SPENCER COX: Well, one of the things that is unique about our form of government here is that elections really are done at the state level, and really at the local level, at the county level.
So, even in a presidential election, we're having thousands of county elections that are run by county clerks. And my hope is that people have a trust in their local governments
to run these elections correctly. They have been doing it for years. We take great pride, as election officials, in making it do -- making sure we do it the right way.
I certainly have a concern with the last piece of that. And that is anything that would call into doubt, after an election happens, the validity of that election. This is the foundation
of our nation, of our constitutional republic, this democratic republic that has for -- for
240 years, we have been doing this.
And so I do worry. And I think it is incumbent on all of us that run elections to make sure
that we're transparent in the way that we do things, so that people have full trust in the election and in the results of that election.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, thank you very much for your time.
LT. GOV. SPENCER COX: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now a look at how the popular video streaming app TikTok became the subject
of intense political scrutiny and why Microsoft hopes to land the U.S. part of the business
as its own.
Nick Schifrin has the story.
NICK SCHIFRIN: A coconut crusher, a donut dancer, a teenage lip synch diva.
TEENAGER (singing): When they say I'm not hot, all these lies need to stop NICK SCHIFRIN: TikTok's viral sensations have combined access to music... MAN: Some see this glass as half full.
NICK SCHIFRIN: ... and editing tricks made easy... MAN: But I see it as a piece of cake.
NICK SCHIFRIN: ... to create a social media monster.
TikTok has nearly a billion users, and videos of viral sensations and their Mini-Me's are
watched hundreds of millions of times.
DANIEL IVES, Wedbush Securities: TikTok's really become a phenomenon. It's the users,
the graphics. It's the interface. And they basically have a magic formula that's really had a magnetic attraction.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Daniel Ives is the managing director of the venture capital firm Wedbush Securities. He says one of the youngest tech companies is the perfect target for one of the oldest, Microsoft.
DANIEL IVES: They're the ones that -- $136 billion in cash. They're untethered from a
regulatory perspective, because they, of course, have no social media platform. And they have had a consumer strategy that's been really on a treadmill for the last 10 years. It's
really your grandpa's Microsoft.
NICK SCHIFRIN: This weekend, Microsoft released a statement confirming it would pursue discussions with TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, over the next few weeks, and vowed TikTok's
American users' data would be transferred to and remain in the U.S.
The Trump administration says TikTok's sleight of hand isn't this American magician.
MAN: Like my costume?
MAN: Yes. That's so cool. How are you doing that?
NICK SCHIFRIN: But the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and what the Trump administration calls a national security threat to users' data, as Deputy Attorney General John Demers
told me on Friday.
JOHN DEMERS, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security: We have seen the Chinese acquire, either through theft or through attempted acquisitions, large quantities of sensitive
personal data.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you have any evidence that TikTok has passed information of American or other users to the Chinese government or the Chinese intelligence apparatus?
JOHN DEMERS: We know that any Chinese company is subject to its national security laws,
which requires that they share data with the Chinese government.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Senior administration officials tell "PBS NewsHour" that, by Friday, they were prepared to ban TikTok from the U.S.
President Trump made that threat public on Friday night. It's not clear whether the threat was empty, but it worked. Over the weekend, ByteDance reportedly sweetened its offer.
CEO Zhang Yiming promised to sell his stake and divest ByteDance from the U.S. TikTok
completely. And, over the weekend, President Trump gave his blessing in a phone conversation with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I don't mind if, whether it's Microsoft or somebody else, a big company, a secure company, a very American company, buy it.
NICK SCHIFRIN: For more on TikTok and the security concerns surrounding it, we turn to Samm Sacks. She is a cybersecurity policy and China digital economy fellow at New America,
a Washington-based think tank.
Samm Sacks, welcome to the "NewsHour."
You just heard John Demers talk about how data in a Chinese company can end up with
the Chinese government. We also watched how most of these videos on TikTok are pretty silly.
So, how valid is the administration's security concerns?
SAMM SACKS, New America: Let's look at the concerns one by one.
The first one is that data collected on the platform could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, most likely through the parent company, ByteDance, since, according
to TikTok's transparency report, it has never responded to a lawful data request.
We -- so, that's risk number one. The second question is around censorship. Could the Chinese
government essentially assert an extraterritorial version of its great firewall and influence
the kind of content that was being -- that was being seen by users outside of China?
The third threat, I think, actually is probably the most likely. And maybe it has less to do with these specific issues and is more the idea that the Trump administration views
the government of Xi Jinping as an existential threat from a national security standpoint,
and TikTok is a very large, very high-profile company that has managed to make it outside
of China.
So, those are really the three risks we're talking about here.
NICK SCHIFRIN: On that first point, what John Demers and others will point out is that, in 2017, China passed a national security law that forces its companies, whether it wants to or not, to share with the government, if the government or the intelligence agency asks for it.
SAMM SACKS: The national intelligence law is very vague.
It essentially says that Chinese organizations have to comply with national security investigations.
What does that mean in practice? Could it mean that the Ministry of State Security or the Public Security Bureau could compel a company to turn over data? In theory, yes.
Does that -- is that necessarily how it works in practice? Not necessarily. And I would
argue that, particularly when it comes to companies that are operating outside of China, like TikTok, the Chinese government may not have incentive to force that data to be turned
over.
This raises the question, what is the strategic intelligence value of data on lip-synching
and dancing? And, here, I think it's important to look at the kind of data we're talking
about, location data, preferences. Is the Chinese government collecting a dossier on
American citizens that could be used in a nefarious way?
To date, there is no specific intelligence, other than citing this very vague law, which
could be read either way. And, in practice, oftentimes, turning data over to the Chinese
government is much more of a negotiation. And I'd say that the percentage of the time
in which the government is focused on high-value, high-impact national security targets is probably
quite small.
In those cases, companies probably cannot push back. But the vast majority of those
data access requests do not meet that high threshold, and it's much more of a negotiation
in practice.
NICK SCHIFRIN: We have only got about 30 seconds left, Samm Sacks.
But is the solution to these concerns that you and the government are raising, to a certain
extent, to have TikTok owned by an American company or even to ban TikTok?
SAMM SACKS: So, I think that there are ways to get at the security issue, without banning the company, without essentially forcing the divestiture.
Put in place robust rules for how much data companies, regardless of national origin,
can collect. If it's sensitive data that they have, put in place strong restrictions on
their ability to retain that data, backed up by strong audits.
And, this way, you can avoid a blanket ban or a sale -- a sell-off.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Samm Sacks of New America, thank you very much.
SAMM SACKS: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: For millions of American children, summer usually means swimming, learning crafts,
and playing at summer camp.
But with so many camps close by the pandemic, John Yang looks at what it means for children
and their parents.
JOHN YANG: For the past two years, Essence Tunley has sent her 10-year-old daughter,
Elle, to Wildwood Outdoor Education Center outside Kansas city for a week-long sleepaway
camp. It's a highlight of summer for Elle.
GIRL: I get to meet new people, I get to -- I got to go swimming in the lake. And I had
- - and the food was great.
JOHN YANG: It's a family tradition. Essence Tunley attended Wildwood when she was a young
girl.
ESSENCE TUNLEY, Mother: Social interaction, the diversity, it highlighted that for me.
And that's why -- that's something that's very important, that, before I send her into
the world, that she's had experiences with a lot of different people JOHN YANG: So, news that Wildwood, like many camps across the country, would be closed
this year was a blow.
GIRL: I felt upset, because I really wanted to make new friends. And I wanted to -- I
wanted to try new things there. I normally struggle not being noticed. And at camp, I
don't feel like that. I have lots of friends who care about me.
JOHN YANG: For many, camp is staple of summer. According to the American Camp Association,
more than 26 million kids attend camp every year. But, this year, the group estimates
that about 40 percent of day camps aren't offering regular services, and 82 percent
of overnight camps are closed.
Camps provide more than just fun. Many serve low-income families, a group hurt especially
hard during the pandemic, and children with special needs.
For families already dealing with school closures and social distancing, it's another unexpected
change.
EVA JOSEPH, Mother: My son hasn't seen another child since March.
JOHN YANG: Eva Joseph's 12-year-old son, Stephen, has cerebral palsy and vision impairment.
He relies on day camps for key developmental skills.
EVA JOSEPH: When you have a child with a disability like Stephen's, especially motor disability,
you know, they're constantly growing, as much as you want them to stop, and they're getting bigger and heavier, and their bodies need to catch up.
And so the summer camps could afford four to eight weeks sometimes of just working on
his body, working on those physical skills, so that we basically keep him at a baseline,
so that he wouldn't lose his mobility throughout the year.
JOHN YANG: Camp also allows him to grow socially and emotionally.
EVA JOSEPH: He gets stronger. He gets more confident. He -- I mean, he's a little boy.
Little boys want to go. They want to -- they want to move. They want to explore their environment.
And so, once he starts gaining that strength and that confidence in these camps that are
so amazing -- they have always been amazing - - it's just -- he comes alive.
EMMA NOCKELS, Camp Employee: I mean, even as a kid, but, even as an adult, I still have a countdown for camp. I still have an app on my phone that tells me, I'm like, OK, 36 days until camp starts.
JOHN YANG: Emma Nockels attended the YMCA's Camp Duncan outside Chicago for four years
as a camper and has worked there for the last eight.
EMMA NOCKELS: It was heartbreaking.
You know, you wait the whole year to be at one place, and you wait the whole year to
just have these experiences with these kids, like, you know, just campfires, fishing, kayaking,
whatever it is. You wait literally your entire year for it. And then just to have the news that it wasn't going to be this year, it's just -- I can't even -- I can't -- I cried
on the phone to my boss. I was so upset about it.
JOHN YANG: For her, there's an added financial burden.
EMMA NOCKELS: That's how I pay for school, and that's how I get by, really.
So, you know, thinking financially, it's been really kind of devastating. But just thinking
about more camp and not having to see these kids is even more devastating.
JOHN YANG: The American Camp Association estimates, more than 900,000 jobs and $16 billion in
revenue have been lost.
Camps have opened, some with serious consequences. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
investigation of a June outbreak at a YMCA overnight camp in Georgia, which did not require
masks for campers, found that at least 44 percent of the 597 campers and staff tested
positive for COVID-19.
MERCEDES CARNETHON, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine: What we have seen with these outbreaks was not unexpected.
JOHN YANG: Mercedes Carnethon is vice chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's
Feinberg School of Medicine.
MERCEDES CARNETHON: We have to acknowledge That We are working in the middle of a pandemic.
And in some cases where summer camps are held in areas where caseloads are going up, we
are certainly going to see that mirrored in the population of children who attend camps.
JOHN YANG: At the same time, Carnethon says there are lessons public health officials and parents can learn from these cases, especially about whether to reopen schools.
MERCEDES CARNETHON: I don't see this as markedly changing our decisions about whether to go
back to school, which should be largely driven by the background rates of disease in a given
community.
It emphasizes the flexibility that we're going to need to have with plans. I see this as
more information to refine the process in order to hopefully make it safe as possible,
again, emphasizing that there is no no-risk situation.
JOHN YANG: Parents are finding hopeful signs in this frustrating summer, like the way young
Stephen Coleman has handled the constant uncertainty.
His mother, Eva Joseph:
EVA JOSEPH: Like all other kids, they learn to adapt, and then they learn to find their
own center as they try to absorb their parents' angst and changes in routine and being cut
off from his friends and his teachers.
And I feel as though he's done that in a way that I'm just really proud of him for.
JOHN YANG: And in Kansas City, Elle Tunley says she's looking forward to when the coronavirus
isn't a problem.
GIRL: I would like to go really, really, really bad, because I want to meet new friends, I
want to learn how to make new friendship bracelets, and I want to be able to go into the deep
end again.
ESSENCE TUNLEY: Yes, that's the highlight, is getting to the deep end of that pool.
(LAUGHTER)
ESSENCE TUNLEY: She taught herself how to tread water, so she's ready.
JOHN YANG: Ready, she hopes, for next summer.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A few key states will be holding primary elections this week, while the search
for Joe Biden's running mate picks up steam.
To look into this and more, I'm joined by our Politics Monday team, Amy Walter, the national editor of The Cook Political Report and the host of the podcast "Politics With
Amy Walter," and Tamara Keith of NPR. She also co-hosts the "NPR Politics Podcast."
Hello to both of you.
So, we heard William Brangham a few minutes ago speak about the requests that are going
out for absentee ballots in a number of states for these August primaries.
Amy, tomorrow primaries in Arizona, Michigan, Washington state, Missouri, Kansas, and then
Thursday in Tennessee.
You have been focused particularly on the Kansas Senate Republican primary. Tell us
what you're looking at.
AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Right.
Well, Judy, Kansas isn't normally considered a battleground state, either at the presidential or the Senate level. A Democrat hasn't won a Senate race in Kansas since the 1930s.
But a lot of Republicans are worried that that streak might just end and Democrats could
find themselves on top because of what they see as a very contentious primary, with one candidate in particular that many Republicans are worried about. And that is the former secretary of state, Kris Kobach.
Now, Kobach was the gubernatorial nominee for Republicans in 2018. He was endorsed by
Donald Trump. He's also an immigration hard-liner, like Donald Trump. And the fact that he lost
to a Democrat in Kansas spooked a lot of Republicans, who say, we can't take that kind of risk now.
I still think Kansas is a tough place for Democrats to win, even in what is shaping up to be a better year for Democrats across the country. But I think what the concern that Republicans have about Kansas really speaks to is the reality of the Senate playing
field getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and not in a good way for Republicans, in a better way for Democrats.
Republicans are completely on defense in places that they didn't think they were going to have to be on defense, not just Kansas, but states like Iowa and Georgia. And so to have
to go in, theoretically spend money and effort, to win in a state that should be, in normal
times, a slam dunk, that has to be frustrating for them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Has to be frustrating.
And, Tam, widen the aperture for us from the Senate to the presidential race. Speaking
about being on the defensive, the Trump campaign last week took down its ads, said they were going dark and they were going to retool.
They're out with a somewhat new message. What are they saying? What was this change all about?
TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes, so their new message is not that different from their old message, though the ads have a slightly different look.
What they're alleging is that Joe Biden is an empty vessel, or a Trojan horse, or any
number of other things for radical leftist Democrats and people who -- at the president's
rally in Tulsa, he talked about Joe Biden. He delivered some attack lines on Joe Biden.
And they didn't really get the crowd that excited.
And then the president talked about the Squad or Nancy Pelosi, and the crowd was much more
animated.
So, in some ways, the Trump's campaign strategy is the same strategy it was months ago, which is to try to tie Joe Biden, who has been known as a moderate, to more liberal progressive
sides of the Democratic Party.
Now, they had pulled out all their ads, as you say. Now they're back up. And this speaks
to the map that Amy was talking about. They are back up running ads in Arizona, Florida,
North Carolina, and Georgia. They have bought about $6 million in ads for this week.
Those are states that President Trump won last time, and like relatively easily.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And I want to talk some more about this, but I got to ask you both about
what's going on in the Biden campaign.
Amy, a lot of focus right now on the vice presidential pick. At one point, they had
said we're going to hear this week. Now they're saying it's going to be next week. What are you hearing? What do you make of the fact that there are still a number of women -- he said it's going to be a woman -- out there?
AMY WALTER: Right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A lot of speculation about which one.
AMY WALTER: You know, Judy, in sort of the last, I don't know, 10 or 20 years, it's been
pretty common for the challenger candidates or for candidates who aren't the incumbents
to announce their vice presidential pick basically the weekend before the convention.
So that wouldn't be really out of step for Joe Biden to do the same thing. We have got
about two weeks before the Democrats' convention.
But Joe Biden did say a number of times that he thought he would have his decision by this
moment in time. I don't know that it does him much good to roll this out right now,
as opposed to waiting a little while longer.
I know there's some concerns among Democrats that there's a lot of elbowing going on between
the camps of some of the women who are named as -- who have been named as potential vice
presidential candidates, but I don't really think that breaks through to most voters.
I do think what is important for Joe Biden, he says, people around him say, is somebody
he has chemistry with, somebody that he can really meld with, in the way, he says, he
was able to join with President Obama. And that was very important to him and it was very important to his relationship with the president.
At the same time, I think, for voters, what they are probably most concerned about is
whether the person that Joe Biden picks is qualified to step in if Joe Biden is not able
to complete his term. This is the oldest person we would elect president of the United States.
Having somebody in the number two slot who voters can look at and say, you know what, I can see that person slip -- taking that president's job, if need be, is going to be
the more important thing when we're thinking about it politically.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Tam, there's always a lot of focus on this, a lot of guessing, of course,
going on.
How much is really riding, though, on who he chooses?
TAMARA KEITH: Yes, Judy, this is the season of speculation. It is the season of speculation that comes around every four years, staking out driveways and backyards.
And then, in the end, you find out who the vice presidential pick is, and not much changes,
because, while a vice presidential pick can sometimes do harm, it rarely does all that
much good. The vice president is the vice president.
Now, as Amy says, there is a significance in this case, or in many other cases. You
might think of John McCain, for instance, was an older candidate as well, where the vice presidential pick was important. Being seen as qualified was important. And that
became a factor in that race.
And so there are potential negatives, but the positives aren't that positive.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Wow. Well, we will -- that will not stop us from doing a whole lot of
guessing and talking about this between now and when we know the name.
(LAUGHTER)
JUDY WOODRUFF: Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, thank you both.
TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.
AMY WALTER: You're welcome.
JUDY WOODRUFF: August 2 would have been literary icon James Baldwin's 96th birthday.
The resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests across the world has created renewed interest
in his work.
A new book, "Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,"
explores Baldwin's ideas for these times.
Amna Nawaz recently spoke to author and Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude Jr.
This is part of our ongoing arts and culture series, "Canvas."
EDDIE GLAUDE, Professor of Religion and African-American Studies, Princeton University: My own despair, my own rage, grappling with the fact that the country seemingly was doubling down on
its darkness, on its ugly commitments, and trying to figure out, how could I muster the
energy to push the rock back up the hill, and watching it take root in my own son.
And it seemed to me that I needed to find a way to get it on the page.
But I have been reading Jimmy Baldwin for - - I call him Jimmy because he's like a personal friend after all of these years. I have been reading him for about 30 years, grappling with his ideas.
And then, finally, I turned to him to help me think about this current moment. So, this
is a book written with him about -- about the darkness of our times, yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: We should point out this wasn't an academic exercise. It was a physical one.
You made a pilgrimage of sorts to different sites that were important through Baldwin's life.
Where did you go, and why?
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: I took a quick flight to Nice in order to go visit Baldwin's home in Saint-Paul de Vence.
And it's being turned into -- it's being destroyed and turned into expensive condos. Even Baldwin's
place of respite couldn't survive capitalism. And so I make a pilgrimage to his home. And
it looked like an archaeological site.
It was beautiful at once and tragic in another sense. And it kind of gave me a sense of the
frame of how to talk about Baldwin now, in a moment where even his place of quiet has
now been turned into a place of greed and opulence, as it were.
AMNA NAWAZ: Well, there's been an undeniable surge in interest in popular culture across the board in his work.
You think back a few years, there was the 2016 documentary by Raoul Peck. There was his epic debate on race against William Buckley that, even 55 years later, sees resonance
online. There's still millions of views.
JAMES BALDWIN, Novelist: The country, which is your birthplace, has not, in its whole
system a reality, evolved any place for you.
AMNA NAWAZ: Why do you think that is? Why do you think so many people, especially in recent years, are turning to James Baldwin?
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: Well, I think he's the premier, probably the best interpreter of American
democracy and race we have ever produced.
He seems to me -- I think he's the inheritor of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He takes Emerson across
the tracks and introduces him to the blues, as it were.
But I also think Baldwin queers American politics. He queers black politics. Here you have this
fragile queer black man who spoke boldly and truthfully to the times, to the circumstances
of black folk, and circumstances of all Americans, actually.
And you have a group of people. Black Lives Matter, its model of leadership was very different.
It was queer. It resisted the kind of pulpit focus. And so you saw all over in 2014 and,
even up to today, you saw quotes of Jimmy - - from Jimmy Baldwin everywhere.
"Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy of justice." "Innocence is the crime."
All of this is all over the place.
And I think it has something to do with Baldwin's prescience and the fact that he models a different
way of doing this work, it seems to me.
AMNA NAWAZ: You write about how Baldwin struggled with his own grief, his own trauma, his own,
as you say, profound disillusionment with the moral state of our country.
We are talking here as thousands of people are marching for black lives across the country, as we, as a country, are reckoning with our own history and who deserves to stand in monument
in our city squares.
What do you think those urgent lessons, as you put it, what do you think those urgent lessons are from Baldwin that we can apply to today and right now?
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: We have to tell the truth of what we have done, and of what -- and how what we have done has made us monstrous, because we have denied it, right?
We have to really understand what this idea that some people, because of the color of
their skin, that white people ought to be valued more than others, how that has destroyed and disfigured and distorted our character, right, and how it has, in some ways, shall
we say, undermined democracy in all of its form.
And so, by telling the truth, confronting it honestly, it opens us up to being different,
to being otherwise.
And so Baldwin wants us to confront the scaffolding of lies and illusions that provide us comfort
and safety.
AMNA NAWAZ: The book, again, is "Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons
for Our Own."
The author is Eddie Glaude Jr.
Eddie, thanks so much for being with us. Always good to talk to you.
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: Always good to talk to you. Take care, and thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff.
Please stay safe, thank you, and we'll see you soon.