PBS News Hour - Full Show - July 11, 2025 – PBS News Hour full episode

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

Friday on the News Hour, President Trump tours the flood damage in Texas, we take a look at a home for disabled youth piecing together what's left after a devastating loss. How the toy industry is feeling the effects of Trump's tariffs. Plus, in a step toward peace, a Kurdish insurgent group in Turkey that's spent years fighting for independence begins disarming. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Good evening. I'm Amna Nawaz. Jeff Bennett is away on the news hour tonight. As President Trump tours the flood damage in Texas, we take a look at a home for disabled youth, piecing together what's left after devastating loss. People talk about what we want to give them closure. There is no closure. You lose that loved one. You learn to live with the pain of that loss. how the toy industry is feeling the effects of President Trump's tariffs. And a step toward peace, a Kurdish insurgent group in Turkey that spent years fighting for independence begins to disarm. Welcome to the News Hour.

Central Texas today, surveying the catastrophic damage and offering comfort to families who lost loved ones in last week's flash floods. More than 120 people were killed in the disaster. At least 160 are still missing. The president praised the response of rescue teams and the U.S. Coast Guard and defended the state and federal response. President Trump stepping off of Air Force One in Texas today and onto ground that was submerged in deadly floodwater just.

days ago. Before a pile of debris, the president met with authorities and shook hands with rescue workers. Later, Trump spoke about the floods at a roundtable with officials. The First Lady and I are here in Texas to express the love and support and the anguish of our entire nation in the aftermath of this really horrific and deadly flood. Nobody has any idea how and why a thing like this could happen? First Lady Melania Trump also expressed her condolences after meeting with victims' families. With a sympathy from all of us to the community,

to everybody who lost the loved one, we are grieving with you. Our nation is grieving with you. But when the president was asked about concerns that flood warnings weren't issued in time, he attacked the reporter who asked the question. Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.

The president's visit was preceded by news reports suggesting that he may be moving away from his pledge to abolish the federal emergency management agency or FEMA and hand control to the states. The president didn't weigh in on the agency's future during his visit, but he praised its response this week. FEMA has deployed multiple emergency response. units and FEMA's been really headed by some very good people. We have some good people running FEMA. It's about time, right? The meantime, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem is facing scrutiny amid reports that her new guidelines aimed at cutting costs at FEMA slowed the agency's response to the floods. Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires Noam's personal sign-off before funds can be released. CNN's report cites sources inside the agency

that say Noam didn't authorize FEMA's deployment of urban search and rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began. Noam disputes the report, saying it's, quote, fake news and absolutely trash. Thank you. Before the president departed, he promised to speed aid to the region in the days ahead. As a community mourns those they lost and continues to search for the missing. Thousands of responders from multiple states and from Mexico spent another day scouring riverbanks in search of victims. No new survivors have been found this week.

In the meantime, families and friends are coping with enormous losses. Special correspondent Christopher Booker has a report on the devastation some are dealing with well outside of Kerr County. For Delia Greenslitt, both the reality and the horror of this week is still coming into focus, as she sorts through the recovered belongings of her mother, 64-year-old Sherry Richardson. What could I have done? What more should I have done to tell her I loved her that week, you know, or have spent more time with her? You know, everything that you, everything you can think of is where my mind is gone. On Saturday, a day after the floodwaters ripped through Central Texas, Green Slit began her day as she often did, by calling her mom. I was just going to talk

her about, oh my God, those poor families, oh my God, those four kids, and then I couldn't get a hold of her. But you had no idea that there had been floods there. No. No clue. Green Slet assumed her bomb was safe. She lived with her beloved Yorkie, Omi, about 45 minutes outside of Austin, Texas. No, you can't have this.

And an hour and a half away from the worst flooding in Kirk County. But what she didn't know was that floodwaters had swept away her mom's home early that morning, not long after she frantically called 911. It sounded like he could tell my mom was getting very afraid. He said that she was saying the water was starting to come up the stairs. And then he told us that the house had taken on 30 feet of water. Richardson is one of more than 120 confirmed deaths. A woman that her daughter remembers as a creative force.

So this is a fairy tale blanket. She made blankets for just about everybody that she cared about in her life. She even made my daughter a wedding gift in advance because my daughter's eight and she was 64 and she knew that she may not be there for her when that day comes. It's the first time I'd been back here. It just brings her home in a different way. This is what remains of Sherry Richardson's home. Dave Gould was her boss at Hope House.

a non-profit that provides round-the-clock support for adults and children with profound disabilities. Richardson lived on the property, working as an office manager for more than three years. Gould says she was like a mom to the entire team. When Sherry came on, she needed a place to live, and she was such a fine that we're like, okay, let's get you in here. This is something that we can help with with rent and, you know, make sure that you're close. I had no idea. But at the end of the day, it's my responsibility to make it right.

And I don't know how we're going to do that. Gould also remains worried about the 13 nonverbal kids who live just 50 yards away on the property and were under the care of two overnight staff members who Gould was in touch with that night. And as water started to rise, we kind of moved from one wet room to the driest room to the driest room to the driest room. And our kids don't understand what's happening.

But what they get is that we're scared. And then they're scared. With bridges flooded out, several of the children were evacuated by helicopter. Seeing those guys carrying my kids off of that helicopter. At the same time, just so heart-fulfilling that these heroes are taking care of us and so terrifying that that's what it needed. And they were there. That's dry. Thank God that's our CPR stuff. Gould's wife Tina is the treatment director at Hope House.

She says it's hard to know how the kids are doing today. You don't know the trauma that they went through because they're not going to be able to tell you the trauma that they went through. Some of them got a helicopter ride. There's no telling how they processed that. Some of them probably were processing what the staff were feeling. You know, like, they're scared too. This week, a small army of volunteers has helped clean up Hope House. How difficult do you think it'll be to kind of get back to normalcy?

It'll take some time for us to process everything, like Sherry's death and how scared everybody was. But I think once the kids kept back here, it'll be everything will fall into place. Dave and Tina Gould believe they'll be able to reopen their doors soon, and welcomed children back to their home at Hope House. But 80 miles southwest of here in Kerr County, an area that was hit particularly hard, is a different story entirely. Probably Saturday would be a big day.

These families are living minute by minute, and last night that minute came to one of our families that they had recovered two of their four missing family members. Chaplain Tony Dickie and Amanda Nixon are part of the United Cajun Navy. You'll often find them at mass casualty events around the nation, meeting with grieving families. I think a lot of people don't know how to sit in other people's pain. And if I can sit in somebody else's pain with them, then I can help them begin to navigate it. We're there to hold them.

We're there to cry with them. As a parent, talking to them, letting them know them that you will never ever get over the pain of losing this child. People talk about what we want to give them closure. There is no closure. You lose that loved one, you learn to live with the pain of that loss. And Dickie and Nixon say that the trauma from these events will linger, not only for families but for the first responders. Put yourself in their shoes going down this riverbank in a debris pile. You pull a limb back. There's a child.

that you just discovered and you're going to be recovering that child's remains there and it's a community trauma traumatic event that just rips at everybody's heart knowing that this there's this many fatalities here back at Hope House Dave Gould is only beginning to process all that's been lost was there any way to prepare for something like this I've honestly not had time to contemplate the woodhaves at this point. I've divided things up. We have two projects going. We have get the kids safely back in the house and then everything else. So we're focused on project one right now. But Delia Greenslat says her mom should have been warned,

especially 24 hours after the devastation in Kirk County. I go through a range of emotions on a day-to-day basis. It goes from waking up crying to, you know, because I know my mom's not here, to I have to be strong. It was devastating. It took my mom's life away. And it just could have been prevented.

And there's no way that we didn't know that that much rain was going to come in that area. Delia Greenslitt says she's speaking out because it's become her mission. to make sure other families won't have to go through what she's just gone through. Omna? Christopher, is such a powerful report. I do want to follow up on something you mentioned.

Sherry Richardson, the woman you profiled there, you said she died 24 hours after the flooding in Kerr County. Are we to understand that there were no other warning systems for people in other parts of the state? You know, it's safe to assume that Sherry Richardson had certainly heard about what it had. happened in nearby Kerr County. And when she went to bed, she wasn't worried about the small creek in front of her cabin.

The cabin itself sits about 70 feet above where the creek is, and the creek is not connected to any major body of water. Dave Gould told us that the flooding was the result of just the continuous rain that came after the flooding in Kerr County. Sherry was one of three people who died in her county. And her daughter, while is in the middle of the nuances and the complicated feelings that come with grief. She's angry. She said that if she knew that such flooding was possible, she would have picked up her mom on Friday and brought her to come stay with her in Austin.

Meanwhile, Christopher, you and the team have been on the ground in Texas all week. Just reflect for us, if you will, on what you've seen over that time and the people you've talked to. Yet, this has been a week of extreme contradiction, a week of darkness and light. immeasurable loss alongside scores of volunteers helping strangers try to work through that loss. We've watched as hundreds of people have walked up and down the debris fields, cooked meals, and helped people clean out their homes. This is the light. But the darkness is getting a lot more complicated as the questions continue to grow about just how this happened. Why wasn't there a siren system on the river? Why were cabins built and RVs parked in a floodplain?

You know, this weather didn't come out of nowhere. When hurricanes come, residents are given ample time to get out of the way. And why 24 hours after this historical flooding wasn't Sherry Richardson and the Kids of Hope House told they need to move to higher ground? You know, it's clear that the local residents will continue to be able to help one another. You can see in the memorial behind me

a small sliver of the outpouring of love. But just who in power will have the bravery to try to answer those complicated questions and find solutions is unclear. That is special correspondent, Christopher Booker, reporting once again from Kerrville, Texas for us. Christopher, thank you to you and the team. Thank you. We start the day's other headlines with mass firings at the State Department.

The agency is laying off at least 1,300 employees today. as part of a broader Trump administration effort to scale back the federal workforce. Notices went out to more than 1,100 civil servants and hundreds of foreign service officers based in the U.S. All of you here today pushed out, have advanced American interests around the world under Democratic and Republican presidents alike. You are patriots. In the fact.

Outside the State Department this afternoon, former officials rallied in support of outgoing staff. And the American Foreign Service Association criticized the cuts, writing in a statement, quote, as allies look to the U.S. for reassurance and rivals test for weakness, the administration has chosen to sideline the very professionals best equipped to navigate this moment. An appeals court in Washington, D.C., throughout a plea deal today for the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks. The agreement would have allowed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and serving life in prison instead. Today's decision validates a move by then-defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had blocked

the deal last year, arguing a decision on the death penalty should be up to the Secretary of Defense. It also throws into question the future of the case, which has already been plagued by more than 20 years of legal wrangling. Officials in Baltimore are investigating a suspected mass overdose event that saw more than two dozen people sent to the hospital. The city's fire department first responded to an overdose incident yesterday morning in West Baltimore. Community members then directed emergency crews to more unconscious people in the area. More than a dozen medical units were deployed to take patients to nearby hospitals. Several of them were in critical conditions, though there have been no fatality so far.

The cause of the overdoses has yet to be determined. of Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo pleaded guilty today to drug trafficking charges here in the U.S. Ovidio Guzman Lopez is the first of El Chapo's sons to enter a plea deal. Prosecutors say he and his brother, Joaquin, ran a faction of the infamous Sinaloa cartel. They were known as the Chapitos or Little Chapos. Guzman Lopez admitted to helping oversee the smuggling of large quantities of drugs into the U.S., including cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl. deleted guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering, and firearms charges.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. Turning overseas, thousands of Bosnians marked 30 years since the Srebrenica massacre when more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed during the Bosnian war. Today, crowds gathered at the town's sprawling cemetery to remember the victims. and seven newly identified victims were finally laid to rest. Thirty years later, partial remains are still being found in mass graves around the area. Trebenica has been recognized at Europe's only genocide since the Holocaust. Some of those who suffered through it warned similar atrocities continue today.

I appeal to you. Help us fight against hatred, against injustice, against killings, against rape, against expulsion. No one has the right to kill anyone's child. As I stand here, many mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are going through what we went through in 1995. Today, Bosnia itself remains ethnically split, and Bosnian Serbs, along with neighboring Serbia, refused to call the events of Srebrenica a genocide despite rulings by two UN courts. On Wall Street today, stocks pulled back from their recent record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial average slipped nearly 300 points. The NASDAQ fell 45 points

on the day. The S&P 500 finished the week about 20 points lower. An astronomers released images today of an interstellar visitor that may be the oldest comet ever seen. This time-lapse video shows the object called 3-E

Atlas moving across the sky. Scientists believe it could be around 7 billion years old or more than 3 billion years older than our solar system. The European Southern Observatory's very large telescope spotted the ice-rich object last week. It's only the third known object to enter our solar system from beyond its limits.

NASA says the comet will make its closest approach to Earth in October but poses no threat as it will remain some 150 million miles away. And Justin Bieber is back with his first album since 20, 2021 and his first since becoming a father. The singer's highly anticipated seventh album called Swagg features 21 new songs with titles like daisies, forgiveness, and dad's love. Promotional photos shared by Bieber show his wife, model Haley Bieber, and their 10-month-old son. Still to come. On the news hour, tariffs and the rising cost.

of toys. David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart on the government's response to the Texas floods and mass firings of federal workers. And a look at the life and legacy of David Gergen, a longtime presidential advisor and commentator here on the News Hour. This is the PBS News Hour from the David M. Rubenstein studio at WETA in Washington, and in the west from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona. State University. President Trump is dialing up the pressure on a number of countries in pursuit of better trade deals as his new August 1st deadline closes in. Two countries are facing particularly

serious threats. Brazil would face tariffs as high as 50 percent, and Canada could face 35 percent on many products. Companies are trying to navigate rising prices once again. William Brigham talks to one executive who's trying to figure it out. That's right, Omna. The president also threatened yesterday to raise even the baseline tariffs that most countries pay higher to either 15 or 20%. In a phone interview yesterday, the president also dismissed a warning from Hasbro's CEO that toy prices will rise if the U.S. continues to hike tariffs. We take a look at the impact of all of this with another key toy manufacturer. Jay Foreman is the CEO of Basic Fund, which sells toys like Tonka trucks, carebearers, and light bright. Jay Foreman, thank you so much for being here. Most of your products are manufactured in China. Imports on Chinese products at one point were 145%.

They are now down to, I believe, it's 30%. How has that affected your operations? Well, we've been affected on a number of different levels. Initially, we were affected just from the fact that at 145%, it was a de facto embargo. So we stopped producing and stop shipping. Now that the tariffs have come down to about 30 percent, the flow of goods is happening. And it's just a question of where is the tariff going to be absorbed? It's not just by toy makers. It's by any importers in any industry. So typically what you're seeing and what we're seeing and experiencing is a shared

impact where we are absorbing a bit of it, the retailer's absorbing a bit of it, and some of it is being passed along to the consumer. You're not feeling it, and the consumer's not feeling it today, but most likely in the last four months of the year, September, October, November, for sure there is a price to pay. Now, if it's not in higher prices in categories, it's likely in lower profits or lower sales for corporations. Nothing is free. Paris aren't free. They don't come at zero cost. Somebody pays the cost. We're just going to find out in the fourth quarter who is going to end up paying that costs. I mean, given that volatility and uncertainty, have you moved any of your production elsewhere because of these?

Well, we have been countersourcing our products, not only in China, which is our main source of production, but also in Vietnam and in Indonesia. And what we found, is that the production costs in those countries are actually higher than China. So even if the tariffs a little bit lower or the same, it's not cost effective necessarily to move out of China. And of course, we do produce some of our toys in the U.S. We produce our connects, building sets, and our Lincoln logs in the U.S., but ramping up production in the U.S. for lots of the other types of toys we make.

It's just a little bit challenging based on the availability of labor, but also the time it takes to set up new factories and potentially the additional cost that you'd have to incur to manufacture here as opposed to a foreign country. So far, we've left the majority of our production in China for now. We are looking for alternate sources. Because that what you just mentioned is something that is part of what the president says is his motivation, which is raise tariffs on other countries so that U.S. manufacturing is grown and returns to this country. Could you foresee a future where you do more manufacturing here in the U.S.? Well, the toy industry is looking to find ways to bring production back to the U.S.

But I bet if you asked an AI chatbot, how many workers would it take to replace the amount of workers that are employed in the imports of products that we use here? It's probably like 60 or 70 million people are involved in manufacturing imported goods. We've only got 13 million people today in the manufacturing of goods. So we need another 60 million people producing everything from t-shirts and teddy bears to telephones and telescopes here in the United States. So the fact is that we don't necessarily have the workforce to produce all these goods here. So the question is, should we be producing the right type of goods here, strategic goods, important merchandise that we need to tighten up or control supply chains? I would say yes, t-shirts, teddy bears,

tennis rackets, maybe not. You mentioned that you had not yet raised prices for consumers here in the U.S. because of these tariffs. How much longer do you think you can hold out without raising prices and keep your bottom line intact? Well, there's no way to keep the bottom line intact. So if we're not raising prices, that means we're making less profit. What less profit means for many companies, and there are lots of layoffs happening in the toy industry and other industries, it means potentially layoffs. It might mean lower bonuses or raises, might mean less investment in infrastructure here in the United States. So if we're not raising prices, it usually means we're losing money. At some point, we will have to start to pass some of the cost of these tariffs to the consumers.

I know that's happening with many different companies in the toy industry as well as other industries. And eventually, the price has got to get paid. The Piper has to get paid. And it's either going to be in higher prices for the consumers are lower profits for companies. All right. That is Jay Foreman, the CEO of Basic Fun toy manufacturer. Great to talk to you. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. This PBS NewsHour podcast is supported in part by Dana Farber, If you're a bad protein in a cancer cell, you'd better get your affairs in order because now, thanks to Dana Farber's foundational work, protein degradation can target cancer-causing proteins and destroy them right inside the cell. This Take No Prisoner's approach is making a difference in multiple myeloma and other blood cancers.

And is how Dana Farber is working to treat previously untreatable cancers. Learn more at Danafarber.org slash everywhere. Today, for the first time in four decades, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, is laying down its arms and says it will end its insurgency against Turkey. The separatist group's disbandment comes after its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ochoon announced an end to its 41-year armed struggle and a transition to democratic politics. Today marks the PKK's first concrete steps toward peace. Here's Nick Schifrin with more.

Today they came down from the mountains. So rifles that for four decades have been drenched in blood can now be destroyed by fire. Curtis separatists hope their armed struggle for independence can now become peaceful, said 47-year-old Kurdish separat. separatist leader, Bashi Khosat. To wage our freedom, democracy, and socialist struggle with methods of legal and democratic

politics, we voluntarily destroy our weapons before your presence as a step of goodwill and determination. For years, these fighters often no older than 20, and their weapons, targeted Turkish forces as seen in their propaganda. Some 30 million Kurds live across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. And in Southeast Turkey and across the border in Iraq, the Kurdistan Workers Party has been waging an insurgency, demanding greater rights and an independent state. Their methods have been bloody and include terrorist attacks on civilian targets. Turkey says the 41-year conflict has killed more than 40,000 people.

The Kurds and the Kurdish movement took these steps for a peaceful solution and an honest solution. The Kurds took a risk, but this risk. has been taken for a peaceful democratic solution. Zubayir Aidar heads the Kurdish separatist movement's political wing. Turkey put out a warrant for his arrest in 2009. He lives in exile. We spoke to him from Brussels. A Turkish official today said this was a, quote,

irreversible turning point toward peace. Do you believe this is a pause in fighting, or this is an irreversible step toward peace? We don't want to be cheated or lied to, and we don't want to cheat anyone. We deeply hope that the opposite side, the Turkish side, it's honest as well in the peaceful negotiations. For years, Kurdish protesters have accused the Turkish state of cracking down on Kurdish rights and culture.

And for years, the Turkish military has attacked the Kurdistan Workers' Party and its allies in Turkey and beyond, with airstrikes, the international humanitarian organization, say have violated human rights. Turkey has set up military bases and outposts in northern Syria, where Kurds, backed by the United States, have fought ISIS. Turkey's also created bases in northern Iraq,

where the Kurdistan region is semi-autonomous. But earlier this year, longtime Kurdistan Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ojalan called for peace. And in a rare video this week, he said his group would disarm and expected Turkey to provide greater rights. First of all, the Kurdish community should be constitutionally recognized in Turkey.

The Kurds have been ignored for a very long time. The Kurds need to be able to live with their own identity and their own culture. Political prisoners must be released. And the fighters need to have rights to live and do politics in Turkey. And have you seen today Turkey take any of those steps? Turkey says with words they will take these steps, but these steps haven't been taken. We hope that Turkey will not miss this opportunity. this peace opportunity.

Turkish President Rejit Tayaab Erdogan has long advocated for harsh crackdowns on the Kurds, but this week he predicted peace. The winners of this will be the whole of Turkey, Turks, Kurds, and Arabs. Then it will be our entire region

and all our brethren in the region. And I'm now joined by Jim Jeffrey, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey as well as to Iraq, who was most recently the special representative for Syria, under the first Trump administration. Ambassador Jeffrey, thanks very much.

Welcome back to the news hour. Bottom line, how significant is this event that we saw today? The Kurdistan Workers Party burning their rifles, calling for their arms struggle to be now waged peaceful. This is a huge step forward of a process that began about six months ago. It signifies the end of a 40-year terrorist insurgent

campaign in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, in Syria against the Turkish state and at times against various other elements. It is a dramatic move forward for the whole region and is something that will really stabilize the northern Levant in very many important ways. You heard President Erdogan say in the story that ran just before you and I started speaking say that the winners of this will be the whole of Turkey. Of course, he was not the one who really pushed this. It was actually a member of his coalition.

Nonetheless, why has he come out and supported this? And why now? Well, why now is partially domestic politics in Turkey A. Erdogan wants to move forward with changes in the Constitution. And the PKK, besides a terrorist movement, has also a associated political party that has the third largest number of seats in parliament. So there is somewhat opportunistic political reason for this as well. But nonetheless, Erdogan, back more than a decade ago when I was in Turkey as ambassador,

was working hard to try to get ceasefires and some kind of understanding with the PKK and other Kurdish groups. In the story that we ran right before, you heard Zubayar, the Kurdish separatist, political leader, say a few things. He said, quote, the Kurds took a risk and, quote, we deeply hope that the opposite side, the Turkish side is honest. Do you believe that Turkey will proceed honestly going forward? I believe that the Turkish government, particularly the president, Erdogan, and the leader of the other coalition party, Bacheli, are very serious. Now, what the Kurds are talking about is continued democratic processes that would give Kurds their rights, language rights, other equality within Turkey. and that is still something that we have to see how it develops on the ground. Not only that, Zubayar Ardar listed a few things that he expected Turkey to do.

He said that the Kurdish community should be constitutionally recognized in Turkey. Kurds need to be able to live with their own identity, their own culture, political prisoners need to be released, and fighters need to have rights to live and do politics in Turkey. Can all that really happen? That's a good starting list. I can see the Turks granting some of it because some of it's already been granted, Turkish identity, particularly in areas within the majority. And the Turks is talking about reconciliation, but they're also talking about accountability.

And some of these PKK fighters have verifiable charges of terrorism against them, and that's going to have to be worked out as well. As you know, better than anyone, these divisions here are deep. How can this peace really hold, given those divisions? Well, for two reasons. First of all, the armed struggle hasn't worked. The PKK has been decisively defeated militarily. But secondly, over the past 20-plus years, particularly since President Erdogan came to power, the Turkish state has been somewhat more open to Kurdish identity, Kurdish culture, Kurdish language, and other things. It's not what many Kurds want, but it is a huge step forward from the Turkey that I knew in the 1980s and the 1990s. And finally, Jim, Jeffrey, the U.S. of course, has had a complex relationship with Kurds across the region, but have allied with Kurds, especially in Syria, against the Islamic State. How does a deal like this today affect the U.S. relationship with Kurds in the other countries,

but especially Syria? It's huge. Kurds, including the PKK Kurds and the many Kurds in Iraq and Turkey and elsewhere who are not part of the PKK, know that we were an honest broker. They know that we were pushing for both peace and at the same time helping Ankara fight terrorism. We also had people on the ground, foreign service offices, so important to our diplomacy, working with all sides, often in dangerous conditions, to try to move this forward. Again, the credit goes to the Turkish people, the government, the PKK, and their supporters, but the U.S. played a big role here also. Ambassador James Jeffrey, thank you very much.

Thank you. And we have a passing of note to share. Presidential advisor and former NewsHour contributor David Gergen has died at 83 after being diagnosed with Louis-Body dementia. Throughout his career, Gergen served four presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, and he spent many Friday nights offering his insights and analysis right here on the McNeil Lairn news hour. Jeff Bennett has this remembrance.

I cannot remember a nicer man having a rockier start to his presidency. These guys are running a ship that's sinking physically. Jim, there are ways to speak out and there are ways to speak out, as you well know. And Gergen and Shields. On Friday evenings, David Gergen could be found

respectfully sparring on PBS with his seatmate Mark Shields about the week in politics. We ought to appreciate Jesse Jackson for all that he has done, but we ought to be able to separate out the fact that this remarkable black American has gone so far and done so well, and that's terrific, from what his positions are, and his positions do, in fact, not represent the mainstream for many Americans. Starting in 1984, David was a fixture on the news hour for several years as the inaugural

conservative voice on the program's Friday political analysis segments. It represents radicalism. It was his first foray into television news. I was interestingly in your book. He also offered his perspective on a range of issues from religion to the arts in a segment known as the Gergen dialogue. The beach, is there any other spot on earth that holds as much fascination for man? A Durham, North Carolina native, Gergen attended Yale University, where he was managing editor

of the Yale Daily News. He got a taste for politics after interning in Democratic Governor Terry Sanford's office. After Yale, Gurgan earned a law degree from Harvard and served in the U.S. Navy stationed in Japan. Despite not knowing any Republicans growing up and even voting for Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 election, Gergen got his start in Washington at the Nixon White House, where he worked as an assistant on the speech writing team. In 1975, after President Nixon's resignation, he joined Gerald Ford's administration as the director of communications. Let us restore the golden rule to our political process and let brotherly love purge our hearts of

suspicion and of hate. There, Gergen had his work cut out for him, working to rebuild trust in America's political establishment in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Then in 1981, during Ronald Reagan's first term, Gergen began work as an advisor and eventually became the administration's director of communications at a pivotal moment in American politics, navigating a recession, the ongoing Cold War, and the early years of the AIDS crisis. From there, he transitioned to journalism, eventually serving his chief editor for U.S. News and World Report and offering his sober and measured political commentary on PBS and later a number of other news outlets, most recently as a senior analyst for CNN. He did his homework, he knew the issues. NewsHour special correspondent

Judy Woodruff worked alongside Gergen for many years. David was able to explain the policy and describe it in a way that made it understandable and acceptable that the president was doing something that might otherwise be considered controversial. I also want to salute you, Mr. President. Gergen returned to the White House in 1993 for a fourth and final stint as a senior advisor to Democratic President Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State Warren Christopher. And asking me to serve at your side, sir,

You are indeed honoring your pledge to seek a national, bipartisan government. I can't imagine where David Gergen would fit on the spectrum today. He'd be somewhere in the middle, and that's a disappearing act. It's just a hard thing to imagine in this current environment when we are so polarized, so divided by our politics. His perspective, both working in politics and covering it as a journalist, was the premise for his first book. eyewitness to power. The bestseller documented his 30 years in and out of the White House, but also his greatest lessons learned. There is nothing more important to the success of an actor, it is said, than the performance in his first scene and his last, he wrote. The same applies

in politics and in other fields of leadership. In stepping away from the Daily Beltway grind, Gergen was able to devote time to academia, as both a professor of public service at Harvard University's Kennedy School and founding director of the Center for Public Leadership, a topic he wrote about extensively in his second book, Hearts Touched by Fire, published in 2022. He returned to PBS for a conversation with Judy Woodruff about the new era of politics, making the case for leaders to pass the torch. I think people like Biden and Trump ought to both step back and open the door to younger people from the next generations to serve. as president. We just can't take the risks that are involved, and especially on health.

David Gurgan is survived by his wife of 57 years and their two children and five grandchildren. And we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart. That is New York Times columnist David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, Associate Editor of the Washington Post. It's good to see you both. I am not. I want to ask both of you to reflect on the legacy that David Gergan leaves behind in just a moment. But first, I want to begin, just as he did so many Fridays, with the news of the week. And let's start with those Texas floods, David. The devastating loss so many there have felt. And we saw President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, on the ground in the Texas Hill country.

You've covered a lot of presidents visiting a lot of disasters and tragedy sites. What stood out to you from this visit? Yeah, I mean, Donald Trump doesn't do empathy tremendously well. But I thought he was okay. And he's being blamed. And I think the strongest critique made of the administration is that Doge and some of the Some of the cuts in the National Weather Service in FEMA left them without key personnel. And that may have had an impact.

It's really hard to know. But it's always worth remembering that FEMA sent down roughly a little over 100 people, which is about what they sent to North Carolina under Biden. But the state of Texas had 1,700 people. So it's worth reminding ourselves this is primarily a state job. And the state authorities are well thought of and well regarded. So for the horrible tragedy that happened there and I spent a lot of time in Curville, those canyons are, you know, there's no place to go when the water's there.

And I think it's, people are over-politicizing the reaction. I'm not sure it could have been that much better in the last couple days. Jonathan, what do you take away from the visit? It is always great when the president of the United States goes to an area where people are grieving, where people, excuse me, where people are suffering. And so I give the president credit for going. However, it is a little hard to hear the president say, when asked about a report, you know, FEMA decision making was delayed because of a decision, excuse me, decision made by the secretary, and he says, I don't know anything about that. That's not acceptable. The president of the United States should at a minimum say, we will get to the bottom of that, but right now we are here and we're going to be there for the people of Texas.

when we see natural disasters like this, as much as people criticize FEMA and have maybe legitimate questions about FEMA, it just goes to show the importance and the need for a federal response on top of the state and local response. When you see a natural disaster like that, the state can't do it alone, and it shouldn't. We've seen, of course, a lot of uncertainty. Questions ahead on both of those fronts will continue to follow in Texas. Meanwhile, on the economic front, Still a lot of uncertainty of questions around the president's tariffs policies, especially this week. Just late last night, we saw the president threaten higher tariffs on Canada. That is despite the fact that there were relatively decent talks going on.

My all counts positive atmosphere between Prime Minister Carney and President Trump. We know Carney is often called the Trump whisperer, David. But we now have a new threat against Canada. The letter sent by the president to 22 nations threatening higher tariffs. The deadline to reach a deal pushed to August 1st. Is this just chaos? Is there a strategy here, or is it just figuring it out as we go? There's a strategy every five minutes.

I'm not saying these strategy lasts more than five minutes, and that's been the nature of Trump and the lack of a policy process. The thing I'm thinking about is will this lead to inflation? And as the CEO of the toy company, Basic Fund, which I was not familiar with, it's funk, I know, made clear this can be spread of heart. The retailers on this side, the shippers, manufacturers, there are a lot of people who can eat some of the cost. And so far we've not

seen price rises. But it's early days yet. Our latest public inflation numbers are from May that's not up to current. So it could be catching up. Second, I think a lot of the reason a lot of companies are not passing the costs onto consumers is because they think they're going to come down, that Trump's going to change his mind again. And so why should they burn their relationship with the consumer if Trump's going to pull the tariffs back? If it becomes clear over the next three, four months that he's not going to pull back, then I think consumers are really going to start seeing high prices. And that's going to be on toys, that's going to be on things like car seats.

I've learned a lot about car seats in the last month. They're way more expensive than I thought they were, at least when my kids were little. But so then if you start paying 400, 500 bucks for a car seat, then you notice. And then the effect on our politics will be significant. Jonathan, you see it that way? We've yet to see the real impact. Well, sure, although I'm going to ask you later, why are you looking at car seats? story. Okay, we'll talk. I don't understand what the president's doing here with. He's

taken his 20th century view of tariffs from the 1980s, trying to apply it to a 21st century world. No one knows what any of this means. And, you know, David's talking about inflation, higher prices. We just don't know. Economists say that the American people are going to get hammered, that the president telling everyone that we're getting screwed by these other nations and that they're going to pay the tariffs, that just isn't true. And so the thing I keep coming back to on a whole lot of things that the president does, I'm asking the question, why are we not talking about his mental acuity in the way we would if President Biden had been saying and doing a lot of these erratic things? And we're not. And I think we need to start

having that conversation. Why is he going down this road on tariffs? You might ask me about Brazil. I'm going to just jump in and talk about this. He's do. So what he's doing with Brazil has nothing to do with economic policy and everything to do with retribution against trying to go after the judge in the case involving the former president. That's right. Who is an ally of his, we should point out. Right, who is an ally of his. That should not be the basis of American foreign policy or American economic policy. And yet here we are. Well, David, what about that?

This idea that tariffs are being used as a political cudgel heel, right? Just to catch people up, he's threatening higher tariffs against Brazil. If the case against the former president, Jaird Bolsonaro, is not dropped. Bolsonaro and Trump are very closely aligned in their ideological views and political views. What do you make of that? Yeah, he's about power, power for the sake of power. And tariffs are a form of power. You can squeeze other countries and try to get what you want.

I think it tends to be counterproductive because other countries, as the Brazilians said, we're going to stand up to you. We're not going to cower before you. And you're basically threatening them. And if you don't do what we say, we're going to shoot ourselves in the foot. It's imposing costs on ourselves.

And so I don't think it's particularly effective. I will say for the acuity, when Donald Trump was young and probably sharper than he was now, one thing he actually believed in in the 1980s was tariffs. And so this is a lifelong obsession with this guy. There's consistency, at least.

I do want to ask you both briefly as well about the mass firings at the State Department we reported on earlier. That follows a Supreme Court ruling that basically cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with those reductions in force. What's going to be the impact here, David?

Yeah, I was at lunch having lunch with a buddy of mine in the State Department, and he was a political appointee, and he said, you know, I thought this was about foreign affairs, but this institution is really about foreign relations. And what he meant by that, it's not about policy. It's about building relationships

with people and other governments. And that really is, to get something done, it's not enough, you have to be able to call them on the phone. You have to have a history of trust. And so our diplomats out there have been doing this for decades, and they've built relationships with their counterparts around the world, with other people. And if you take away that relational element, anybody in any business understands this, you've taken away a lot. And so we have not seen a rapid increase in federal employees.

It's been pretty stable for a long time. And so I doubt there's much waste and abuse in the State Department, but we're suffering with those loss of those relationships. It's shameful what happened today at the State Department. In addition to what David is saying, what we have lost today is decades, generations' worth of relationships, expertise, knowledge, just the basis of American foreign policy.

To David's point, a lot of the policies pursued by the United States wasn't just because Congress and the president worked and hammered out a deal or a treaty. or whatever. It's the people on the ground. And we've lost that. We spent generations building it, decades building it, and gone in an afternoon. Before we go, I want to let each of you say whatever you'd like to share. You saw the lovely remembrance about the life and legacy of David Gergen before. What do you take away from his work and the way that he lived? First prudence, it's worth remembering that he was hired by Bill Clinton because the Clinton

administration was wobbling all over the place, and they needed somebody wise. And so they called David in. And then just decency. Somebody once said the primary political virtue is just decency. And he was a wonderfully decent, warm guy with a twinkle in his eye. And especially that twinkle showed up when he was teaching or talking about teaching his kids at the Kennedy School. He loved that job. And anybody who just wants to pass on to the next generation, I've got a lot of time for that. Whenever I saw him in a green room or out, the number one thing that jumped out at me is he was an incredibly elegant man, a decent man, someone who just watching those old tapes of him is literally out of another era, and it makes me long for someone like him, more people

like him, conservatives, folks on the right who could work with people on the other side of the aisle to move things along. We are a long way away from the elegance of David Gurk. When I was watching the obituary, I thought, you know, Yale, Harvard Law to military service, like, I am so underqualified for this job. I took his chair. But it's worth remembering he had, first he started with communication skills. And he was the guy who told Ronald Reagan to ask in one of the debates against Jimmy Carter,

are you better off now than you were four years ago? Which turned out to be one of the key moments of that campaign. But then he was not just a communications guy by the time Bill Clinton came along. He was doing policy, was doing all sorts of advice. And so he was like almost out of another era of Washington. of people who serve both parties who do it for national service. And then he was a centrist, a good PBS conservative like me. And as Judy said, where are those people now?

And so that too, a little out of another time. Jonathan, they've got like 30 seconds left. If there's one lesson you think people can take from his life, what do you think that is? I think they should follow his example, reach across, and look for the thing that, joins us as opposed to looking for something bad or malevolent in the person you're talking to. Of course, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks. Thank you so much. And be sure to tune in to Washington Week with the Atlantic tonight right here.

on PBS. The panel will examine President Trump's role as consular-in-chief after he toured flood-ravaged central Texas. And on PBS News weekend, Argentina's ongoing search for justice nearly 50 years after thousands of people vanished during its so-called dirty war. That's Saturday on PBS News Weekend. And that is the News Hour for tonight. I'm Amna Nawaz. On behalf of the entire News Hour team, thank you for joining us and have a great weekend. Thank you.