AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett. On the “NewsHour” tonight: Russia's VladimirPutin extends his presidency after securing a preordained fifth term. AMNA NAWAZ: A look at former President DonaldTrump's violent language on the campaign trail. GEOFF BENNETT: And why federal housing assistanceis shrinking at the same time rental prices and homelessness are at historic highs. KEVIN CORINTH, American Enterprise Institute:It's essentially a lottery.
Those who are very lucky will get assistance. Everyone else gets nothing. (BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the “NewsHour.” We begin tonight with two major stories, onerelated to the 2024 presidential election, the other focused on an election held justthis past weekend in Russia. AMNA NAWAZ: Today, in Moscow, President VladimirPutin declared his intention to advance deeper into Ukraine and issued new threats againstthe West, one day after he secured his fifth term in office.
It was an election with no suspense, the outcomeof which was preordained. Here now is Nick Schifrin. NICK SCHIFRIN: In Moscow tonight, a celebrationand coronation. Tens of thousands in Red Square mark the 10thanniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the man who many call the czar. Last night, Vladimir Putin declared victorywith supporters, some who weren't alive when he was appointed president in 1999. He will soon surpass Joseph Stalin to becomethe longest running Russian leader since Catherine the Great.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (throughtranslator): People came to create the conditions for internal political consolidation to moveforward for development and the strengthening of their fatherland, Russia. NICK SCHIFRIN: Putin's nearly 88 percent ofthe vote and record 77 percent turnout made this a Potemkin plebiscite, especially sinceat least one city offered voters a chance to win expensive Western electronics and anotheroffered motorcycles and even apartments. And Putin has launched the harshest crackdownon dissent since the Soviet Union. Putin critics say the country has moved fromauthoritarian to a dictatorship. But some Russian voters, especially thoseold enough to remember the chaos of the 1990s,.
Say Putin symbolizes a successful effort tomake Russia great again. IRINA IVSHINA, Resident of Vladivostok, Russia(through translator): I am interested in what is being done now. And I would like it to be continued and evenimproved, because the younger generation must live in peace and harmony. NICK SCHIFRIN: Putin's critics call that propagandaand voted with gasoline and a match, including one woman who lit her own ballot after writing:”Bring my husband back.” Those who believe the ballot was already spoiledan entire box. And others wrote in one name, Navalny.
Alexei Navalny, the country's leading oppositionfigure before he died in mysterious circumstances in prison, had called for Russians to protestby all voting at the same time. And they showed up for Noon Against Putin,as seen on this video posted by Navalny's team, strength through numbers. That included expats in Berlin, where Navalny'swidow, Yulia, who'd echoed her husband's protest call, waited for six hours to vote. For Putin, Navalny had been he who must notbe named until today, when he said he was willing to include Navalny in a prisoner swap. VLADIMIR PUTIN (through translator): On onecondition only, I said, so he doesn't come.
Back. But things happen. There's nothing you can do about it. ALEXANDRA PROKOPENKO, Carnegie Russia EurasiaCenter: Even before the elections, we knew that the numbers, that there should be morethan 80 percent people who vote for him. NICK SCHIFRIN: Alexandra Prokopenko is withthe Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and was the adviser to the Central Bank's deputy governorbefore leaving to protest the Ukraine war. She says Russia's economy is unhealthy, buthas avoided failure despite Western sanctions, thanks to Chinese and Indian willingness tobuy Russian oil and massive military spending.
ALEXANDRA PROKOPENKO: Next 12, 18 months aredecisive for Ukraine from the pure military standpoint. In terms of this time frame, Putin has enoughmoney to finance the war, to continue and maintain lavish payments on population on– during this timeline, and probably to keep inflation moderate. NICK SCHIFRIN: But there is nothing moderateabout Putin, who gets another turn to continue the policies that define his Russia, a nationat war with freedom and its citizens. For the “PBS NewsHour,” I'm Nick Schifrin. GEOFF BENNETT: Former President Donald Trumpis under fire again for comments made during.
A controversial speech at a campaign eventfor a Republican Ohio Senate candidate. Extremism experts say it's the latest exampleof Donald Trump using violent rhetoric to appeal to his supporters. At a campaign rally in Ohio Saturday, a tributeto those charged and convicted of crimes connected to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. MAN: Please rise for the horribly and unfairlytreated January 6 hostages. GEOFF BENNETT: And a vow from the former presidentto release them. DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the UnitedStates (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: We're going to work with the people to treatthose unbelievable patriots…
GEOFF BENNETT: As his use of the word bloodbathduring an extended riff on the auto industry in Chinese automakers sparked fresh controversyand criticism. DONALD TRUMP: No, we're going to put a 100percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) DONALD TRUMP: And you're not going to be ableto sell those cars, if I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going tobe a bloodbath for the whole — that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country.
That will be the least of it. GEOFF BENNETT: In a social media post today,Mr. Trump said his threat had been taken out of context and turned the defense of his commentsinto a fund-raising appeal. Former President Trump also facing criticismfor his dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric at that same rally. DONALD TRUMP: If I had prisons that were teemingwith MS-13 and all sorts of people that they have got to take care of for the next 50 years,right, young people, they're in jail for years and — if you call them people. I don't know if you call them people.
In some cases, they're not people, in my opinion. GEOFF BENNETT: And in a FOX News interviewSunday, he doubled down on past comments about migrants that echo dictators. HOWARD KURTZ, FOX News Anchor: Why do youwords like vermin and poisoning of the blood? The press, as you know, immediately reactsto that by saying, well, that's the kind of language that Hitler and Mussolini used. DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's what they say. I didn't know that, but that's what they say. Because our country is being poisoned.
GEOFF BENNETT: Experts who study extremismsay the former president's bloodbath remark is part of an escalating campaign of violentrhetoric. BRENDAN NYHAN, Dartmouth College: In thiscase, it may have been a metaphor. It's hard to tell with him. He was using that language in the contextof a discussion of the auto industry, but his meaning was ambiguous. Given the way he so frequently calls for orendorses violence, I think it's appropriate to be concerned when he invokes it even ina seemingly metaphorical way. GEOFF BENNETT: Dartmouth College politicalscience professor Brendan Nyhan has closely.
Followed Mr. Trump's commentary about immigrantsover the last decade. He says Donald Trump's rhetoric should beviewed through an historical lens. BRENDAN NYHAN: Donald Trump's descriptionsof people from other countries and other racial and ethnic groups as subhuman animals is thekind of language we see in countries before they have ethnic violence or even genocide. It's the kind of language we see when authoritarianmovements rise to power. He's appealing to the worst aspects of humanity. It's straight out of the textbooks, and weshould be very worried with how mundane it now seems.
GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden's campaignin a statement responding to Donald Trump's rally remarks said — quote — “He wants anotherJanuary 6, but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat thisNovember, because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence,and his thirst for revenge.” In the day's other headlines: Former PresidentTrump's lawyers say he cannot post the bond to cover a civil fraud judgment of $454 millionin New York. The penalty is for inflating his wealth inhis business dealings. Today, his lawyers told an appeal court that– quote — “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount is not possible under the circumstances.”.
Mr. Trump has until March 25 to pay the fulljudgment or win a delay. Otherwise, the state could start seizing hisassets. A Texas law that gives police broad powersto arrest undocumented migrants is going to stay on hold for now. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito extendeda temporary pause indefinitely today. That gives more time to resolve the law'sfinal fate. The Biden administration says it usurps federalauthority. Texas officials say the border crisis affectsTexans more than anyone else. President Biden and Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone today amid.
A growing rift over Israel's handling of thewar in Gaza. White House officials say the prime ministeragreed to send a delegation to Washington to discuss a planned assault on Rafah in SouthernGaza, something the president opposes. JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. National Security Adviser:This is not a question of defeating Hamas. And any time I hear an argument that says,if you don't smash into Rafah, you can't defeat Hamas, I say that is a straw man. Our view is that there are ways for Israelto prevail in this conflict, to secure its long-term future, to end the terror threatfrom Gaza, and not smash into Rafah. GEOFF BENNETT: More than one-and-a-half-millionPalestinians are sheltering in Rafah.
So far, though, Netanyahu has insisted theattack must go forward. Inside Gaza, Israeli forces raided the ShifaHospital complex in Gaza City, where some 30,000 Palestinians are sheltering. The Israelis said senior Hamas leaders hadregrouped there. They said they killed 20 gunmen, includinga Hamas commander. The military released video of the fightingand said troops were instructed on avoiding harm to civilians. But the Gaza Health Ministry reported therewere deaths and injuries. A coalition of a dozen governments and U.N.agencies is warning, famine in Northern Gaza.
Is imminent. Their report today estimated up to 300,000people could face starvation by May. But, in New York, U.N. Secretary-General AntonioGuterres said the worst is still preventable. ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General:This is an entirely manmade disaster, and the report makes clear that it can be halted. I call on the Israeli authorities to ensurecomplete and unfettered access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza and for the internationalcommunity to fully support our humanitarian efforts. GEOFF BENNETT: In response, Israel's foreignminister accused Hamas of violently interfering.
With attempts to send aid into Gaza. North Korea fired several short-range ballisticmissiles into the sea today as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in South Korea. Blinken met with his counterpart in Seouland joined South Korea's president for a democracy summit. It came days after the south wrapped jointmilitary drills with the U.S. Here at home, the EPA has announced a banon the last type of asbestos being used in the U.S. It's still employed in making chlorinebleach, car brakes and some construction materials. Asbestos is known to cause a number of cancersand is linked to more than 40,000 American.
Deaths each year. The National Institutes of Health reportsadvanced new studies have found no evidence of brain injuries from so-called Havana Syndrome. It also offers no explanation for the headaches,balance and sleeping problems first reported by U.S. Embassy staffers in Cuba back in 2016. A lead researcher says what is clear is that:”These individuals have real symptoms that can be quite profound, disabling and difficultto treat.” And on Wall Street, tech stocks led the broadermarket higher to start the week. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 75points to close at 38790.
The Nasdaq rose 130 points. The S&P 500 added 32. Still to come on the “NewsHour”: the SupremeCourt hears two cases with major implications for free speech; Tamara Keith and Amy Walterbreak down the latest political headlines; and a teacher's Brief But Spectacular takeon harnessing artificial intelligence in schools. AMNA NAWAZ: We return now to the Russian electionsand what Vladimir Putin's continued rule means for Russia, Ukraine, the United States, andthe world. Nick Schifrin has more.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Amna, thank you. Joining me now is Fiona Hill. She was the senior director for European andRussian affairs on the National Security Council staff during the Trump administration. She's now a senior fellow at the BrookingsInstitution and the author of “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin.” And Evgenia Kara-Murza is advocacy directorat the Free Russia Foundation, which seeks to promote a free, democratic and peacefulRussia. Her husband, Russian opposition politicianVladimir Kara-Murza, is a political prisoner.
In Russia. Thanks very much to both of you. Welcome back to the “NewsHour.” Evgenia Kara-Murza, let me start with you. What's your assessment of how the electionwent, as well as the calls for protest, the Noon Against Putin that we saw people in someparts of Russia, but also across the world? EVGENIA KARA-MURZA, Advocacy Director, FreeRussia Foundation: Well, first of all, thank you for the invitation. And as to the election, so-called election,I don't think that this process that took.
Part in Russia over three days can be calledan election, because it has nothing to do with a democratic protest that is called electionin any normal democratic country. This was Vladimir Putin reappointing himselfyet again for the fifth time, as the president of the Russian Federation, in violation ofmany international laws, and having completely destroyed the Russian Constitution throughthe so-called referendum in 2020, which basically made him into its czar forever. So, this process, I don't believe that itcan be considered and accepted as a legitimate process by the international community. And I definitely call on the internationalcommunity to call Vladimir Putin for who he.
Is. He is a dictator and a usurper, and a criminal,actually, wanted by the ICC, definitely not a legitimate leader of the Russian Federation. NICK SCHIFRIN: Fiona Hill, was this a reappointment? And is Putin a dictator? FIONA HILL, Former National Security CouncilOfficial: Well, it's definitely a re-anointment, because it's not just being a dictator, but,as Evgenia has said, he's almost a self-styled czar at this point. And, in fact, these are the people that heassociates himself with in Russian history.
In terms of his legacy now, we're all talkingabout how he will be — been in office longer than Catherine the Great, certainly any ofthe other previous czars. And if he, in fact, extends his term againbeyond this current six-year, after 2030, after 2036, he will have been in power longerthan Stalin. So I think that those legacies, even thoseterms, tell you enough. NICK SCHIFRIN: Evgenia Kara-Murza, what'sthe point then? Why go through this stage-managed process? What is the Kremlin benefit? EVGENIA KARA-MURZA: Well, to create this imageof universal support of the Russian population.
Of Vladimir Putin and his policies, both domesticpolicies and the aggression against Ukraine, because a lot — this regime depends a loton this image, on this very warped image of reality. And this is why the call for the Noon AgainstPutin, because this was the only way the Russian population was able to show how many Russianswere actually opposing these policies, because there are no free and fair elections. We understand that, whatever we put on thoseballots will be counted differently. And, of course, there was no surprise in VladimirPutin's winning, maybe in a little bit in the fact that he gave himself over 87 percentof the vote, which is — I mean, he could.
Be slightly more modest. But, no, he had to go that high. And these results were called unprecedentedand record by the Russian authorities. So the only way for Russians to actually showwhat they think of it was to come at the same time, at noon, to polling stations and seehow many of us there are actually in reality. NICK SCHIFRIN: Fiona Hill, was Noon AgainstPutin successful? FIONA HILL: Look, I think it was symbolicallyvery important. We will have to see how we judge success overtime. But the very fact that there was signalingthat people were dissatisfied, in the only.
Way that they could, given the repressiveconstraints on them, is very important, because there were certainly hundreds of thousandsof people. We saw hundreds of thousands of people turningout for Alexei Navalny's funeral, and not just on the day of the funeral, but on thedays afterwards. NICK SCHIFRIN: And doing so despite knowingfull well they could be arrested. FIONA HILL: Exactly right, knowing they couldbe arrested. And, also, people that turned out, in fact,to sign the forms for the possibility of an alternative candidate, Boris Nadezhdin, toalso run against Putin, who, ultimately, of course, was disqualified.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Was not allowed, right. FIONA HILL: But all of this is very important,because the people who have the courage to do these small acts of defiance are also standingin for, let's just say, all of the other people behind them who just don't have either thewherewithal or are too frightened in fact to show their dissatisfaction. So I think we can say from this that it isn'ta monolith that Putin is presiding over. And it's 87 percent of what? NICK SCHIFRIN: Hmm. Let's turn to the future.
Does Putin use 87 percent, does Putin useanother election to rule differently, either domestically or internationally? Fiona, I want to start with you. FIONA HILL: Well, it's certainly going togive him confidence. And I think we're going to see him use thatexternally as well. It's the second-year anniversary, or justthere afterwards, of the full-on invasion of Ukraine. And Ukraine itself was also supposed to havean election coming up. So I would just predict right now that Putinwill use the very fact that he's been re-anointed.
As the czar from here to eternity, at leasthis eternity perhaps, to make the case that other elections are not being done in thesame way, that there's a lack of legitimacy in Ukraine. NICK SCHIFRIN: But he's long since questionedother elections. He's long since questioned whether there canbe any democratic process anywhere. Does he use this election differently specifically,perhaps in Ukraine, or with Joe Biden as president or with the U.S. elections? FIONA HILL: Yes, specifically to make thepoint that we all have to deal with him, and that we should be considering him and hisposition and the importance of Russia as an.
Actor when we think about our own policies. So he's definitely going to use this for allhe can. NICK SCHIFRIN: Evgenia Kara-Murza, what doyou think is the state of Russia's opposition today and how Putin will or will not treatit differently moving forward? EVGENIA KARA-MURZA: Well, the reason thereis so — such harsh repression in the country, the reason there are these mass arrests, detentions,and et cetera, the reason we have hundreds and hundreds of political prisoners and hundredsof thousands of Russians and — being forced out of the country is because this is thealternative. FIONA HILL: Right.
EVGENIA KARA-MURZA: This is the alternative,and Vladimir Putin is doing everything to completely annihilate this alternative, sothat the world is left to deal with him alone. And this is why I believe it would be so importantright now for the international community to do everything to show support and solidaritywith those Russians who represent a vision for a different Russia, for Russia, democraticRussia, a normal country, a European country that understands and respects the freedomsand rights of its own citizens and lives in peace with its neighbors. I just understand that, for as long as VladimirPutin remains in the Kremlin, there will be warmongering and there will be repression.
And those two things in Russia have alwaysbeen interconnected. Internal repression always leads to externalaggression. And this will go on and on for as long asthis regime is allowed to survive. NICK SCHIFRIN: But, Fiona Hill, is Putin isolatedinternationally? It seems like he has tactical help, certainlyon the battlefield from places like North Korea and Iran. He's getting oil purchases from Iran. And there is a strategic top cover, if youwill, from Beijing. How isolated is he or not, and where doeshe go from here?.
FIONA HILL: Well, that is an issue for usto contend with. And I think it's actually a difficult one. We have to be honest about it. And it's something that we have to keep workingon as well. And I think part of the problem that we alwaysface, again, is questions about our own electoral system, which we're right in the middle ofright now, also showing insufficient, I would say, dedication and resilience when it comesto dealing with foreign policy. And the key for thinking about the answerto this question is how we basically conduct ourselves at this particular point.
Now, by we, I mean the United States. NICK SCHIFRIN: So, you think the best thingthat the U.S. could do is actually strengthen itself? You think that's… (CROSSTALK) FIONA HILL: That's right, and also strengthenits relationship with its allies and partners. And that's not just with European countries. It's also with countries like Japan, SouthKorea, Australia, New Zealand. There are a whole host of countries, includingcountries like India, that have somewhat ambiguous.
Relationships with Russia, that we need tokeep reaching out to and trying to kind of push back against the threat that VladimirPutin poses, not just to — domestically in Russia or to Ukraine, but to the larger worldsystem that many other countries have benefited from. So that's the challenge for us. And Putin's thrown that challenge down. I don't think we should give up hope, becauseI do think that that signaling from inside of Russia that Evgenia has talked about showsthat it isn't a monolith inside of Russia and there are vulnerabilities.
And, actually, he is quite isolated domestically,right? I don't think he even knows himself quitehow much support he has. But people around him will know how many ballotsthey stuffed. They will know how many people they bussedout or forced to vote. And, eventually, if he shows any kind of weaknessinternally, there might be another reaction. We have already seen that with Prigozhin andthat episode several months ago. And we have seen it with the outpouring ofemotion and support for Alexei Navalny. NICK SCHIFRIN: And, Evgenia Kara-Murza, yourhusband, of course, has long been fighting for some of the changes that Fiona is talkingabout.
He's in prison. How's he doing? EVGENIA KARA-MURZA: He's doing as well ashe can. He's — he still sounds — well, sounds. I haven't talked to him since last summer. But, in his letters, he is optimistic, andhe sends us words of support. But that's what Russian political prisonersdo, amazingly. They are the ones mistreated. They are the ones denied medical care.
They are the ones in solitary confinement. And they say about Russia — about the hopefor a different Russia, and about that hope living on even after the murder of AlexeiNavalny. They say that Vladimir was able to addressus during a recent court hearing. And it happened right after Alexei's murder. And he said that, of course, he was absolutelydevastated by what had happened, and this was not the first political assassinationin Russia's history. But he also said that we cannot give in todespair, because this is exactly what they want us to do.
And we need to fight even more. And this is what we owe to our fallen comrades,to continue the fight to make sure that Russia does become what they fought for and diedfor, a normal, European, free, democratic country. So, Vladimir sitting in this solitary punishmentcell in Western Siberia sends us words of support and encouragement. NICK SCHIFRIN: Evgenia Kara-Murza, Fiona Hill,thank you very much to you both. FIONA HILL: Thank you. EVGENIA KARA-MURZA: Thank you.
GEOFF BENNETT: The First Amendment was atthe center of two key Supreme Court arguments today. One focused on social media companies' handlingof misinformation, while the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, wasat the center of another. Our Supreme Court analyst, Marcia Coyle, joinsus now. It's always great to see you. MARCIA COYLE: Good to see you. GEOFF BENNETT: So, as we said, two big arguments. The first one was about social media companiesand whether the Biden administration violated.
The First Amendment when they flagged COVIDmisinformation to tech giants like Facebook and X, formerly Twitter. Where were the justices on this case in particular? MARCIA COYLE: Well, the crux of the case andthe second case as well is really, how do you tell when the government has crossed theline between what's permissible persuasion and unconstitutional coercion? In fact, justice — the chief justice framedthat as the question. How do we measure this? Is significant persuasion enough?.
What else — in fact, the lawyers for thestates that brought this lawsuit said, you don't even need coercion. You just need inducement and encouragement,which Justice Kagan said was, wow, that's so broad, that's so expansive. So they're really trying to find out, whereis the line here and did the Biden administration cross it? And the justices didn't seem entirely sympatheticto the challengers here, the states of Missouri, Louisiana, and five individuals who broughtthe lawsuit, because they saw a couple problems with the case.
First, did these individuals in the stateseven have the right, the legal right to sue here? They couldn't — the justices couldn't seea clear line between the claims that the individual said their posts had been taken down becauseof government action. In fact, Justice Kagan said at one point therewas such a time gap between the communication by the government and what happened to theirposts on Facebook. Was it government action or was it the platform'sown action? So, I — my sense of the argument afterwardswas that they're leaning towards — a majority is definitely leaning in favor of the Bidenadministration here.
There was a lot of talk to Geoff about howthe government does communicate, how almost every single day you will see a presidentusing the bully pulpit or you will see federal officials communicating one thing or another. There's just a lot of back-and-forth. And Facebook and social media platforms havetheir own power. They can say no, and they do often, to thegovernment, and also they can turn to officials when they have complaints. So these were all issues that the justicesbrought up, which lead me to believe that they're leaning towards the Biden administration.
GEOFF BENNETT: Interesting. We have seen this court take up a number ofsocial media-related cases this term. MARCIA COYLE: Yes. GEOFF BENNETT: What does that suggest? MARCIA COYLE: I think it's just the expansionof social media, the amount of information that is going out on these platforms. And it's almost like passage of a big newlaw. It takes a certain amount of time for issuesto percolate from the lower courts up to the Supreme Court.
And they're percolating very quickly rightnow when it comes to social media. GEOFF BENNETT: Another First Amendment casethat was heard today involved the NRA. And they were actually defended by the ACLUtoday in a case where the NRA is saying they're being punished for their gun advocacy? Tell us about that. MARCIA COYLE: Right. Their lawsuit was against a New York stateregulator of insurance companies and other financial institutions. And they claim that this state regulator hadused coercion and threats in order to get.
Certain insurance companies to drop theircoverage or their relationship with the NRA. And the NRA has lost a lot of those insurers. And so the court today also was looking atthis. Coercion or persuasion? But this is an odd case. It's not social media. A lot is going to turn on the communicationsthat the state regulator had with the insurance companies. She claims that she was not coercing them,that, one, she was being persuasive and reminding.
Them of the reputational risk they faced ofcontinuing their relationship with the NRA and also that she was primarily engaged ina law enforcement activity, because the NRA was using, issuing insurance products thatwere, one, illegal, and the NRA did not have a license. And so she felt that that protected her fromany claim of liability. There, too, I think, with the court, it'sreally hard to tell on this one. And I think it's going to come down to howthey actually look at, examine closely the sort of guidance letters that the state regulatorput out to these financial institutions in order to decide whether it crossed over toimpermissible coercion.
GEOFF BENNETT: Marcia Coyle, our eyes andears at the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks, as always. MARCIA COYLE: My pleasure, Geoff. AMNA NAWAZ: For more on Donald Trump's escalatingviolent rhetoric, how lawmakers are responding, and the political headlines driving the week,we turn now to our Politics Monday team. That is Amy Walter of The Cook Political ReportWith Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR. Great to see you both, as always. AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Goodto see you. TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes.
AMNA NAWAZ: So, you saw Geoff's report earlieron that very violent rhetoric we're hearing from former President Trump. Even after Mr. Trump is confronted about thefact that some of his language echoes, the language of Hitler in an interview, he doublesdown. This weekend, he said there would be a bloodbathif he didn't win. Amy, I don't want to ask you about what hesaid, though. I want to ask you about what Republicans havesaid since then. AMY WALTER: Yes. AMNA NAWAZ: Senator Bill Cassidy, who hasnot yet endorsed him, said his comments were.
On the edge. Speaker Mike Johnson said that Mr. Trump wasjust referring to the auto industry, and that he's 100 percent correct and Americans agreewith him. The decision by fellow Republicans to notunequivocally call out violent rhetoric, what does that say to you? AMY WALTER: Though I will point out the oneperson who did say something, which was Mike Pence, his former vice president, who hasannounced that he's not endorsing him. Now, when pushed, he's not saying whetherhe would vote for him or not. But he says he will not endorse him.
And he came right out, and he said, look,I think the fact that, first of all, you have the president claiming that the January 6defendants are hostages, at a time when we have actual hostages, American hostages inGaza, is really beyond the pale. And he said — I think the word he used about– he said, I will never diminish it, the — January 6, he's saying, that the peoplemoving through the system, they are not hostages; they are defendants. And he said his remarks were unacceptable. Now, that is one… AMNA NAWAZ: That is what Mike Pence said.
AMY WALTER: That's what Mike Pence said. If you are on the ballot this year, that isnot likely something that you're going to say. Bill Cassidy is not as well, but he also hasnot endorsed him yet. I think this is the gamble that Trump hasbeen making really since he came down the escalator in 2016, that, fundamentally, hehas a base of voters that are going to stick with him, no matter what, there is a biggercoalition of them than anybody appreciates or understands, and that he does not haveto worry about alienating everybody else, including people who are in the middle, becausehis coalition can overtake them.
And that is what he's — and he's lookingat the polls right now, and so are other Republicans, that see that the president — the formerpresident's leading the current president right now in polling, and thinking, well,maybe this time there will be enough of those voters, and so we don't want to put our ownpolitical opportunities at risk and our own campaigns. AMNA NAWAZ: Well, what about those peoplein the middle? Because the Biden campaign came out very quicklywith an edited video featuring those comments, past comments he's made, refusing to defendwhite supremacists. Are they trying to reach those voters in themiddle, those — are there persuadables who.
Look at this and say, maybe I won't vote forhim now? TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: The Bidencampaign absolutely believes that there are persuadable voters. They look at the voters who voted for NikkiHaley in the Republican primaries, and they say at least some share of those voters couldbe persuasion targets. There are — I was talking with people whowere out knocking on doors and campaigning in Waukesha, Wisconsin, this weekend. This is a red county, but that has gottenmore purple, and they believe that those voters, some of those voters, obviously, not all ofthem, but some of them could be reachable.
And it's not just the Trump violent rhetoricthat the Biden campaign intends to use. Certainly, they are highlighting it and doingeverything they can to highlight it, but they really believe that messaging around abortionand reproductive freedom and reproductive rights, that that is where some of those samevoters would be persuadable. The same people that are turned off by theviolent rhetoric or the tiptoe — the footsie with violent rhetoric are also concerned aboutabortion rights. AMNA NAWAZ: I do want to ask you, Amy, becauseMr. Trump was in Ohio at a campaign event for businessman Bernie Moreno, who is oneof three Republicans vying for the Senate nomination.
This is a state Mr. Trump won by eight pointsin 2020. AMY WALTER: Yes. AMNA NAWAZ: It is winnable by Republicans,but the Democrat incumbent, Senator Sherrod Brown, remains very popular. How should we look at this and what can welearn from this about November? AMY WALTER: Well, this is one of the handfulof states where there actually is a competitive Republican primary. Republicans actually took something from the'22 election to heart, which was they stayed out of these primaries, and the candidatesthat endorsed — Trump endorsed ended up winning.
In almost all of those primaries. Those candidates ended up failing in November. And so the approach this year was by the RepublicanSenate Committee, which is the campaign arm, was to go in and try to clean out these primariesand make an alliance with Donald Trump, instead of trying to fight him or let him do whateverit is that he was going to do, to try to maybe bring him into the tent, say, these are thecandidates we think are the strongest. These are the candidates we think you shouldendorse. Ohio is one of the places where that reallydidn't work out. And we have another battle between the sortof old pre-Trump party, which is this candidate.
That is the closest to the candidate that– Trump, in terms of the polling, so that wing of the party endorsed by the former SenatorRob Portman. And then you have the candidate that Trumphas endorsed, who's also campaigning with people like Kari Lake and J.D. Vance, who's the new senator there. So — and the campaign on this side, the Trump-endorsedcandidate, is campaigning explicitly on, I am the answer as the anti-establishment. AMNA NAWAZ: Right. AMY WALTER: I will defeat the establishment.
So I think that is really much more of thestory about whether you're going to see the side that is the more traditional win or themore Trumpified candidate win, which has really been the story, right, for the last five orsix years in Congress. AMNA NAWAZ: Tam, how do you look at this? TAMARA KEITH: In much the same way. AMNA NAWAZ: Yes. (LAUGHTER) TAMARA KEITH: I think we will definitely bewatching to see whether the Trump endorsed candidate in the Senate race ends up beingthe one who emerges.
But, in Arizona, for instance, you have KariLake has basically cleared the field. She's someone who failed in her last race,who many establishment Republicans thought was a disaster. She has been a leading election denier andhas been out campaigning with Trump. And, ultimately, the establishment kind offolded and said, OK, it's Kari Lake in Arizona. I think Democrats are generally pleased tohave that. And I think, in Ohio, Democrats want Morenoto be the candidate who the Republicans elevate. AMNA NAWAZ: Before I let you go, I need toask you about other news today, which is a call between President Biden and Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu, their first call.
In a month, the first call since MajorityLeader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor and basically called for regime change inIsrael. This has been a private rift that's now outin the open. What does this mean for the White House relationshipwith Israel right now? TAMARA KEITH: Israel is now going to senda delegation to the U.S. to have high-level meetings about its plan for Rafah. The issue that the White House has is, thepresident has drawn something of a red line, but it's not a really hard-and-fast one, whichmaybe means it isn't a red line, about a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah, saying not thatIsrael can't do it, but that Israel shouldn't.
Do it unless there is a credible plan forgetting civilians out of harm's way. And so this meeting is ostensibly about figuringout whether there is a credible plan in having that discussion. But President Biden continues to be in a bindbetween his progressive left and other voters who do support him who are more pro-Israel. And the Biden administration is trying tomake this distinction that Benjamin Netanyahu is not Israel, Netanyahu, who is much moreclosely allied with Republicans. But the politics here are just incrediblychallenging for Biden. AMNA NAWAZ: Already a busy week.
Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, always good to seeyou both. Thank you so much. AMY WALTER: You're welcome. TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome. GEOFF BENNETT: Unlike other social safetynet programs that continue to expand, federal housing assistance has shrunk to its lowestlevel in nearly 25 years, even as homelessness and rental prices have hit historic highs. Today, only one in four households eligibleto receive federal housing assistance actually does.
Stephanie Sy and producer Mike Fritz takea look at why as part of our ongoing series America's Safety Net. WOMAN: The rent they are asking, $1,825 amonth. KASSYLI WILLIAMS, Texas Renter: Eight-twentyfive? Oh, that's real good. LATONYA DONALDSON, Real Estate Agent: Yes. STEPHANIE SY: In Mesquite, Texas, a suburbof Dallas, 36-year-old Kassyli Williams and her two children need to find a new placeto live by the end of the month. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: I like the outside.
LATONYA DONALDSON: You like the outside? STEPHANIE SY: But, first, she and real estateagent LaTonya Donaldson have to find a landlord willing to accept the family's housing choicevoucher, also known as Section 8. Housing choice vouchers are the federal government'slargest form of rental assistance; 2.3 million American households rely on the $30 billionprogram. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: The hardest process is literallythe finding process, because you're going through so many different landlords. So I'm up all night long, all night long tryingto find somewhere to stay. STEPHANIE SY: Williams got on the programin 2010, two years after being hit by a pickup.
Truck on the side of a Dallas highway. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: I broke the first vertebraein my neck. I broke my right shoulder. My hips were completely crushed, like, literallyin pieces. My pelvis was broken in three places. STEPHANIE SY: So that led to disability. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: Disability. STEPHANIE SY: Lifelong? KASSYLI WILLIAMS: Lifelong.
There's a lot of cracks and stuff in the ceiling. STEPHANIE SY: Williams considered herselflucky when she first found this house in Mesquite with her voucher. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: I have been here seven years,love my landlord, love my house. But what has happened? My house has started to fall apart piece bypiece. Literally, every time it rains, the wholething. STEPHANIE SY: And does it flood your kitchen? KASSYLI WILLIAMS: Yes, every single time.
STEPHANIE SY: Now she's back to square one,competing against other renters for a limited supply of houses in Dallas' more desirablesuburban neighborhoods. Along the way, she says she's faced bias fromlandlords. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: They automatically assumethat you're going to — because you're on Section 8, that you're dirty or that you'realmost not worthy of having a nice house because you need the help. ANN LOTT, Inclusive Communities Project: Movingis stressful for all of us. Moving with a Section 8 voucher is overwhelming. Hello.
This is Ann Lott. STEPHANIE SY: Ann Lott runs the InclusiveCommunities Project, a Texas nonprofit that helps people on housing choice vouchers. She hears stories like Kassyli Williams' often. ANN LOTT: As a matter of fact, in the Dallas-FortWorth Metroplex, 93 percent of the landlords will not take a housing choice voucher. STEPHANIE SY: A big reason for that, Lott,says is that, in Texas, landlords can legally discriminate against prospective tenants whouse voucher income for a portion of their rent.
From what I understand, Black families aredisproportionately affected. ANN LOTT: Approximately 85 percent of thefamilies that we serve that have — on the voucher program are African American. But, unfortunately, what we found is that,even with the voucher, the only areas that would accept Section 8 would be those high-minority,high-poverty areas. STEPHANIE SY: You're speaking in past tense. Isn't that the case now? ANN LOTT: That is still the case. RICHARD NIXON, Former President of the UnitedStates: Thank you very much.
STEPHANIE SY: When President Nixon createdthe Section 8 program as an alternative to government-funded public housing developments,it allowed low-income Americans to take their rental assistance with them, giving them theopportunity to live outside of segregated neighborhoods. STEFANIE DELUCA, Poverty and Inequality ResearchLab Director, Johns Hopkins University: So the idea that families wouldn't be tied tothese units and could go purchase housing elsewhere, I think, was an exciting prospect. STEPHANIE SY: But, 50 years later, the programhasn't lived up to its full promise, says Stefanie DeLuca, director of the Poverty andInequality Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University.
STEFANIE DELUCA: Most voucher holders in theU.S. live in moderate- to high-poverty neighborhoods. And, frankly, we have privatized public housingin the U.S. And that means that landlords are our housingproviders. And the program rests on our ability to notonly get their participation, but meet their needs as well. STEPHANIE SY: Across the country, the numberof vouchers is determined by annual funding from Congress. But studies have found that funding hasn'tkept up with rental prices. Another problem is housing supply, says KevinCorinth with the conservative American Enterprise.
Institute. KEVIN CORINTH, American Enterprise Institute:If we can only build, build, build and build some more, that's the only way we have a potentialchance of getting families access to these high-opportunity areas that have been demonstratedto have major successful outcomes for themselves and for their kids. STEPHANIE SY: A lack of affordable housinghas led to a surge in homelessness in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. But here in Seattle, one of the nation's leastaffordable cities, there's a renewed focus on housing vouchers and how to make the systemwork better for applicants and landlords.
BEN MARITZ, Seattle Landlord: This is oneof our studio apartments. It's about 250 square feet. STEPHANIE SY: Ben Maritz is a landlord whoowns about 900 affordable apartment units in the city. BEN MARITZ: We have built a lot of housing,especially the kind of kind of — kind of basic low-frills housing, like what you'reseeing here, that is a very good fit for the voucher program. STEPHANIE SY: Unlike in Dallas, landlordshere cannot deny applicants on the basis of their income source.
And Maritz says the Seattle Housing Authoritymakes it easy to rent to tenants with vouchers. BEN MARITZ: The downside and the risks aren'tthat much. And, frankly, our business does better whenwe have those kinds of stable rent payments that come from a voucher resident. They're very easy to work with. They pay on time. They pay electronically. And they have a pretty good case managementdispute resolution system. TySonia McClain with the Seattle Housing Authoritysays the city tries to address landlords'.
Concerns. TYSONIA MCCLAIN, Seattle Housing Authority:If a tenant falls behind our rent, they can submit a referral and get assistance withthat rent amount. If the tenant decides to move out and leavesa high utility bill, they can get assistance with that. If something were to happen and the unit wasleft damaged, they can receive funds up to $5,000 to repair those damages. WOMAN: There's total three people in the household,correct? WOMAN: Yes.
STEPHANIE SY: They also lend a hand to prospectivetenants. McClain leads a team of housing counselorswho help connect individuals with potential resources, like help with paying for movingcosts, security deposits and application fees. MAN: Of course, the main way you can alwaysapply is through our online applications process. STEPHANIE SY: Since January, the Housing Authorityhas been holding public information sessions for people hoping to get on the waiting listfor a housing choice voucher. It's been seven years since Seattle openedthat list to applicants. TYSONIA MCCLAIN: We get calls every day throughour referral line about housing: I'm sleeping in my car.
I'm sleeping in tent city. I'm sleeping on someone's couch. STEPHANIE SY: Seattle is hoping to distribute800 housing choice vouchers by the end of the year, but already 14,000 people have applied. Whether an individual or family gets one isbased largely on luck, says Kevin Corinth, who believes the program should be redesigned. KEVIN CORINTH: It's essentially a lottery. Those who are very lucky will get assistance. Everyone else gets nothing.
Another problem is that it discourages familiesfrom earning more. Basically, your rent effectively goes up ifyou earn more money, which can discourage upward mobility. SARAH RICHARDSON, Seattle Renter: So whatare you going to get? GIRL: A maple bar. STEPHANIE SY: But for those who receive one,like 42-year-old Sarah Richardson, a housing choice voucher can be life-changing. SARAH RICHARDSON: I don't know where we wouldbe today without the voucher. STEPHANIE SY: She got one from the SeattleHousing Authority in 2017.
Growing up, Richardson says she battled homelessnessand later drug addiction and incarceration. Having a permanent home helped her turn herlife around. SARAH RICHARDSON: So when I got the news thatmy number came up on the wait-list, I cried, I screamed. I was so excited, because I knew that, finally,I was going to feel stable. STEPHANIE SY: Stability and also opportunitiesfor her 11-year-old daughter, Jabria (ph), that she didn't have. Their voucher afforded them a house in oneof Seattle's better neighborhoods. Her 21-year-old goddaughter, Aliyah (ph),also lives in the home.
Seattle's commitment to making the processeasier was crucial. What's next? What are your greatest hopes for the future? SARAH RICHARDSON: Getting my daughter throughmiddle school and high school. And that's, like, what my goal is, is to pushand help and be the best mom that I can be. KASSYLI WILLIAMS: Hey, you. STEPHANIE SY: Back in Texas, Kassyli Williamshas the same simple dream. But when we left them, they were still sendingout applications to landlords. How optimistic are you feeling about this?.
KASSYLI WILLIAMS: Honestly, I'm trying tobe as positive as I possibly can, even though it's terrifying. And it's terrifying because you just don'tknow. STEPHANIE SY: Last week, after two-and-a-halfmonths of searching, the Williams family finally found a rental and a landlord who will accepttheir voucher. For the “PBS NewsHour,” I'm Stephanie Sy. AMNA NAWAZ: As a New York City high schoolEnglish teacher, Adrian Antao has embraced technology to help his students. While some express concern about the influenceof A.I.
On education, Antao has worked with educators,coders, and designers to develop an A.I. tool that helps students with their writingrevisions. He shares his Brief But Spectacular take onharnessing A.I. in schools. ADRIAN ANTAO, High School English Teacher:Here it is, the argument essay. It's a yes/no question that needs an answerin the intro. Because I have taught for close to 20 years,I have taught almost every English class this school has offered. Why did the author want to write these fourparagraphs? I have wanted to be a teacher since I was10 years old.
Initially, I thought it was a job that wouldgarner you respect as an adult. As I got older, I fell in love with literatureand have lucked into a dream job. OpenAI dropped ChatGPT on all of us last November. My initial reaction was terror. The summer began with me sitting in on conversationsabout how to adapt A.I. for the classroom, and, by July, we begana partnership with a company called Playlab that provided an open platform for teachersto create their own A.I. bot. I'm going on to Project Toni.
It's an A.I. chat bot that can be a teaching assistantfor teachers and a writing tutor for students. So I'm going to put in the assignment. It is designed to read articles that studentsare also reading, so they can engage in the conversation to begin the revision process. Toni will provide strengths and areas forimprovement for each paragraph. The problem that I had in mind was largelythe jealousy I felt toward math teachers and science teachers, who can give instant feedbackto students during tutoring. If I assign a five-page essay, that's a 500-pagenovel that I would have to get through.
Before Toni existed, the feedback cycle largelymimicked the letter writing that you would see in Jane Austen movies, roughly two tothree weeks, and this shrinks that feedback cycle to 24 to 72 hours. Remember what I told you on Tuesday. Introducing Project Toni into the classroomhas been fascinating. What I'm discovering is that I'm needing toteach them how to use it well. Just press one and Toni will give paragraph-by-paragraphsuggestions. It's not Alexa or Google. You don't just give it simple commands.
You have to engage with it. Specifically, could you elaborate on why thiswas a poor example? And it will give you two to three sentencesof explanation. And you can convince Toni that it was incorrect. But what that takes is for you to make a standfor your own writing, which is such a huge move in a writer's psychology to have theconfidence in your own sentences, where, often, students are coming from a space of doubtand fear. You're entering in a partnership the way aprofessional writer and a professional editor enters into a conversation, and they're bothengaged in trying to make the writing better.
The P is the purpose. One of the goals of being a good teacher isto give them academic attention and show them how intelligent they are. What I enjoy most about teaching writing isseeing growth in one of my students. It fills me up the way a great sentence ina novel fills me up. It's a really fulfilling experience. My name is Adrian Antao, and this is my BriefBut Spectacular take on harnessing A.I. in schools. AMNA NAWAZ: Tonight's Brief But Spectacularis part of a six-part collection on the future.
Of education. GEOFF BENNETT: And you can watch the entireseries on our Web site. That's PBS.org/NewsHour. AMNA NAWAZ: And join us again here tomorrownight, when we report on the warnings of imminent famine in Gaza and Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu's fight to keep his grip on power. And that's the “NewsHour” for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett. Thanks for joining us, and have a good evening.
