JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: care in the time of COVID.

Despite the ongoing pandemic and the upcoming election, the Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.

Then: a surge in the Sun Belt.

As Texas and Florida again close bars, we are on the ground in Arizona, as it reconsiders reopening amid a dramatic spike in new coronavirus infections.

TONY REYES, Chairman, Yuma County Board of Supervisors: We were coming into a summer, and the weather here is great.

People just went crazy and started to congregate.

And that's driven the numbers higher than we ever expected.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Plus: It's Friday, Mark Shields and David Brooks consider the week in politics and the ongoing federal response to COVID-19.

All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: Two big states, Texas and Florida, are reining in their reopenings, as COVID-19 infections surge back.

Republican governors in both states ordered bars to close today or stop selling alcohol.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis argued that his early push to reopen is not to blame for the turn of events.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS (R-FL): We went to phase one the beginning of May, and we had the best COVID results we have ever had all through May and the beginning of June.

I mean, positivity was low.

The cases were low.

I think what's just happened since, in the last few weeks, is, I think it's more just, you know, people want to be social, they want to interact.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All told, the nation had a record 40,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, and the death toll neared 125,000.

In Washington, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned that young Americans, most of whom may show no symptoms, are driving the new infections.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID Director: You have an individual responsibility to yourself, but you have a societal responsibility, because, if we want to end this outbreak, really end it, and then hopefully when the vaccine comes and puts the nail in the coffin, we have got to realize that we are part of the process.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Dr. Fauci spoke as President Trump's Coronavirus Task Force gave its first briefing in almost two months.

Vice President Pence acknowledged that infections are rising in 16 states, but he said the overall situation is better than two months ago.

He also defended the president's decision to resume political rallies.

On Wall Street, the COVID resurgence and moves by Texas and Florida to reimpose closures sent investors heading for the exits.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 730 points, nearly 3 percent, to close at 25,015.

The Nasdaq fell 259 points, and the S&P 500 gave up 74.

The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously today in favor of dismantling its police department.

That could lead to a November ballot measure on creating a new agency with a public health approach, but also with licensed officers.

The death of George Floyd during a May arrest in Minneapolis galvanized the move.

In Seattle, city crews tried today to clear away protesters' so-called Occupied Zone, but they were blocked.

Demonstrators chanted their resistance and lay down in front of heavy equipment.

Police stood by, but did not intervene.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives celebrated passage of a major police overhaul measure.

It seeks to ban choke holds and to reduce legal immunity for officers.

In the Senate, majority Republicans favor a more limited bill, but Democrats have blocked it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that the next move is up to the GOP.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We always have a responsibility to reach across the aisle, but, instead of a handshake, you get a slap in the face, then you say, you better go back to the drawing board.

And that's what they better do.

And that's up to the Senate, when they come to their conclusion.

They can't pass a bill, and you think we should embrace it?

No.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that the House Democrats' bill cannot pass the Senate.

The House voted today, for the first time ever, to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.

The measure passed 232-180, with all but one Democrat in favor, and all Republicans opposed.

It is given little chance in the Senate.

We will take a closer look at the issue later in the program.

In Mexico City, police were out in force after gunmen tried to assassinate the police chief in a daybreak assault.

It happened in an upscale neighborhood, where attackers blasted the chief's armored vehicle with sniper rifles and grenades.

He was badly wounded, and three people were killed.

Officials blamed a drug cartel, and said that 12 suspects were in custody.

The last of three men convicted in the infamous Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing has died in prison.

Thomas Blanton Jr., a former Ku Klux Klansman, was 81.

Officials said that he passed away today of natural causes.

The 1963 bombing killed four young black girls.

Blanton was finally convicted in 2001.

And corporate giant Unilever will stop advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in order to protest racist and violent content online.

It's the latest company to take that decision, and it says that the ad halt will last through December.

Unilever makes everything from Dove soap to Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act; Arizona reconsiders reopening amid a dramatic spike in new coronavirus infections; and much more.

The fate of the health care law often referred to as Obamacare will be on the line again as the COVID pandemic plays out.

Last night, the Trump administration sought to strike it down, this time by filing a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that it's unconstitutional.

Eighteen states joined in, contending that the law must be overturned because Congress eliminated the individual mandate.

More than 23 million Americans get coverage through the ACA, but, for some, the costs of that coverage are still high.

Andy Slavitt is the former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration.

And he joins me now.

Andy Slavitt, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

As you know, the argument that the Trump administration and these 18 states are making is that, now that there's no longer a tax penalty imposed on people if they don't have insurance, that this law no longer has a constitutional basis, and, therefore, it should be overturned.

Without getting too much into the legal weeds on this, Andy Slavitt, why is that wrong?

ANDY SLAVITT, Bipartisan Policy Center: Well, their suggestion is that, when the Senate passed a tax law in the end of 2017, that it actually intended not to just eliminate the mandate, but intended to eliminate the entire law, in other words, that one was intended to strike down all.

Senator Lamar Alexander made very clear when he said, that was not the intent of anybody voting.

Nobody was voting to repeal the entire law.

So they are -- I think this case is attempting to, and I think in a political fashion, try to reinterpret what congressional intent was, with really profound impact on the American public.

This is such a far-reaching law now.

It's not just the 23 million people who have coverage.

It's the 130 million people who have preexisting protections, more people who will need coverage coming out of COVID-19 and preexisting condition protection.

So it's a sweeping law change to make on that basis.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, they're making the argument that it's not constitutional.

And as you know very well, there's also criticism, as we just said, that, for many Americans, the premiums are still too high.

How do -- what's the answer to that?

ANDY SLAVITT: Well, look, there is plenty to not like about our health care system, and no one law, whether it's the ACA or any other law, is going to fix it all.

What we need to do is keep improving our health care system and make it more affordable for more people.

There is a bill that was just introduced this week that attempts to address that.

I think it's long overdue.

I think, when the Republicans were controlling the Congress, rather than trying to tear it down, they could have put forward these improvement bills.

What we need to do is make sure that everybody gets a proper tax treatment that employers get.

And right now, if you earn up to about $100,000 a year, it's affordable to get health care, because you get the same tax subsidy employer gets.

But if you're over at $100,000 a year, you don't.

That's clearly a gap in the law, because there are plenty of people who make over $100,000 a year to whom health care is just way too expensive.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Andy Slavitt, quickly, back to your first point, what does it mean in human terms if this law is overturned, if the court does find it unconstitutional, especially, as we said, now that we're in the middle of a pandemic?

ANDY SLAVITT: Well, it means a few things.

First of all, directly, 23 million people will no longer be able to take care of their families if someone should get sick from COVID or anything else, preventive care and all the things that come along with it.

Secondly, if you have employer-based coverage, it will now be up to the insurance companies to decide what to cover and what not to cover.

And if you lose employer-based coverage, you won't be able to be guaranteed to get that coverage back, or, if you get it, your preexisting conditions will be excluded.

No matter what is said by the White House rhetorically, that is just the fact.

And what happens to all of that money that is being spent to get people health care?

Well, the top 0.1 percent of earners are going to get a $200,000 tax cut.

And I think what's behind a lot of this is that the people who are pushing to repeal the law would rather you have that money used for a tax benefit for the wealthy than for people individually.

Of course, if you have COVID, and it becomes a preexisting condition, it's not just COVID.

It's all the complications from COVID.

Have a lung problem, have a blood clot, have any kind of immunological problem in the future, an insurance company would be able to decide not to cover it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Your point being the repercussions much greater, of course, while we're in the middle of fighting COVID-19.

Very quickly, Andy Slavitt, the fact that, today, number of COVID cases surging around the country.

You follow this very closely.

The White House is saying this is not due to reopening.

It's what the vice president, Vice President Pence, said today.

How do you read the cause behind this resurgence across the -- much of the country, 16 states?

ANDY SLAVITT: Well, this is what the virus does.

The virus moves from bigger cities to smaller cities.

And so, at some level, we seem to be one of the only nations in the world that doesn't understand that that's going to happen.

And then there's cause and effect and a time lag.

So, we -- I think we have, particularly in Arizona and Texas and Florida, governors that have been repeatedly told through the course of May that this was going to happen.

And they waited not only to see enough cases.

They waited not only to see their positivity rate go up.

They waited until their hospitals started to fill.

At this point, if they acted today with strong action, they wouldn't be able to turn the tide around for another three weeks or so.

So, we're really dealing with the middle of July.

And, of course, things are going to continue to go on and continue to get worse.

So, we have not -- I think we have to get a better feel for what's causing these things.

We have to be more honest.

And the vice president, with all due respect, can't come out and paint a rosy picture.

It's not fair to the public, who needs -- who just wants to know, what do they need to do to be safe?

JUDY WOODRUFF: Certainly bad numbers today in the terms of COVID recurring, resurging across much of the country.

Andy Slavitt, we thank you.

ANDY SLAVITT: Thank you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As we heard, Arizona has become a new epicenter for COVID-19.

In fact, it now has more cases per capita than reported by any European country.

But, as Stephanie Sy reports from Arizona, renewed efforts to flatten the curve are still meeting some resistance.

STEPHANIE SY: At the downtown Phoenix farmers market, Kelvin West did some shopping and picked up extra face masks.

KELVIN WEST, Phoenix Resident: Coronavirus is real.

It's out there.

People are dying from it.

And it doesn't matter if you're feeling anything or not.

STEPHANIE SY: Others weren't as concerned.

MARGI CONNOR, Tempe Resident: I think the coronavirus is a real issue, but I don't feel like the hype behind it is as much as they say it is, in my personal opinion.

And so I don't personally feel threatened.

STEPHANIE SY: The Grand Canyon State, which has experienced several weeks of increasing coronavirus cases, has become a tale of two realities, one where people like Ed Ziegler continue to socially distance.

ED ZIEGLER, Scottsdale Resident: I'm doing exactly what the CDC says, washing my hands religiously, using my mask, trying to stay away from people as much as I can.

STEPHANIE SY: And another where people like Ku Brewer are enjoying weekend brunch as though the pandemic was over.

KU BREWER, Phoenix Resident: I'm actually coming to eat to support local business.

And people are kind of overreacting to how they're handling the situation.

STEPHANIE SY: Under pressure from all sides, the Republican governor, Doug Ducey, began reopening the state's economy in mid-May, one of the first to do so.

Cases quickly spiked.

WILL HUMBLE, Executive Director, Arizona Public Health Association: There's a lot of places that are just winging it and behaving pre-pandemic.

STEPHANIE SY: Will Humble is a former state health director.

He says many new cases in recent days have been among younger state residents.

WILL HUMBLE: The average age of diagnosis for new cases is 39.

And so that number is moving down.

STEPHANIE SY: Humble says the problem is not with the state reopening, but how it reopened, allowing for complacency to set in.

WILL HUMBLE: If we had put some compliance measures in place that were enforceable, we would have been able to preserve the gains or most -- many of the gains that we made during the stay-at-home order.

STEPHANIE SY: Officials are now taking steps to enforce social distancing and mask guidelines in restaurants.

But Governor Ducey is not talking about shutting back down.

He is urging people to stay home.

GOV.

DOUG DUCEY (R-AZ): There's no magical decision or golden government action that will stop this virus.

STEPHANIE SY: As things stand, for a week, the rate of positive tests each day has been above 20 percent, compared to New York state's positive testing rate, which is hovering at around 1 percent.

WILL HUMBLE: Although one of the things that we're hearing more and more in Arizona now is that, while testing capacity has improved markedly, the turnaround time has been bad.

And that's really important, because your contact tracing effectiveness depends on fast turnaround times from the laboratories.

STEPHANIE SY: And in the state's worst-affected areas, testing sites are overwhelmed, lines of people waiting to be swabbed.

Maricopa County, where most Arizonans live, has by far the highest number of cases, deaths and hospitalizations in the state.

But other areas are also seeing surges, including Yuma, which borders hot spots in California and Mexico.

TONY REYES, Chairman, Yuma County Board of Supervisors: We were coming into a summer, and the weather here is great.

People just went crazy and started to congregate.

And that's driven the numbers higher than we ever expected.

STEPHANIE SY: Yuma County Chairman Tony Reyes suggests mind-sets may have something to do with the higher rate of infections he's seeing.

TONY REYES: Well, you have a lot of people who believe that anything you mandate is an infringement of their rights.

We try to emphasize to our friends and our enemies that this is a health crisis.

This is not a political crisis.

This is not a cultural crisis.

STEPHANIE SY: But politics have come into play.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: And we're doing so well after the plague.

It's going away.

STEPHANIE SY: At a rally for President Donald Trump in Phoenix earlier this week, there was no social distancing, and despite the city's ordinance requiring masks in public places, many chose not to wear them.

For those worried about catching the virus, a mass rally with people coming in from all over the state and beyond defies logic.

ALESSONDRA SPRINGMANN, Tucson Resident: I have a preexisting condition.

If I get this virus, chances are I'd have long term or permanent organ damage, or I'd die.

STEPHANIE SY: Heather Frushour knows first hand how serious getting COVID-19 can be.

HEATHER FRUSHOUR, Tucson Resident: I got COVID back in March, and it's a long recovery for some, and it was for me.

So, we are hesitant to go out.

WOMAN: Not a mask in sight.

STEPHANIE SY: But, as others decide to go out, hospitals are closer to reaching capacity.

DR. FRANK LOVECCHIO, Valleywise Health: In a word, terrible.

Another word is overwhelming.

STEPHANIE SY: Emergency department doctor Frank LoVecchio with Valleywise Health is concerned with staffing critical care units.

DR. FRANK LOVECCHIO: I think a lot of the nurses are tired.

A lot of nurses are exhausted.

You know, a lot of doctors are exhausted.

DR. SANDRA TILL, Banner Health: We are kind of on the exponential part of the curve.

STEPHANIE SY: Dr. Sandra Till with Banner Health is seeing intensive care unit beds fill quickly in Arizona's largest hospital system.

DR. SANDRA TILL: Critical care is stretched.

The hospital beds are stretched.

The nurses are stretched.

STEPHANIE SY: And Will Humble, the public health expert who's been carefully monitoring Arizona's spiraling COVID crisis, says some models have predicted that, statewide, hospitals might be full as early as mid-July.

WILL HUMBLE: If Arizonans pick it up, if they use their masks, if businesses start to get serious about implementing CDC's mitigation measures, then maybe those models are going to be wrong.

I hope they are.

STEPHANIE SY: Arizona never flattened the curve before reopening, and now it's scrambling to do so, while trying to stay open.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Phoenix.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We turn now to the Trump administration's posture on protests around racial injustice, on police reform, and on the coronavirus.

Yamiche Alcindor has a conversation recorded earlier this evening.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: We get the White House's view on all this with Ja'Ron Smith.

He is deputy assistant to President Trump and the deputy director of the Office of American Innovation.

He is also one of the senior-most African-American officials in the Trump administration.

Thanks so much for being here, Ja'Ron.

Democrats successfully blocked Senator Tim Scott's policing bill from advancing in the Senate, but they were able to pass the Democratic version of the House bill.

What's the plan now to get policing reform?

And are -- is the White House open to compromise it through the Democratic bill?

JA'RON SMITH, Deputy Director, Office of American Innovation: I think what we all want to do is find common ground.

I hate to use the word compromise, but I think the Senate and the White House have always been willing to work bipartisan.

I think that what we should have done and what the Democrats should have done is work from a bipartisan position from the beginning, because bipartisanship is what's needed to get this done.

And we are certainly willing to do that, but it looks like the Democrats don't, because they'd rather play a little politics with the policy.

And we're really focused on getting outcomes going.

And I don't think the people have time for the politics.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: So, is it fair to say that the White House will at some point be willing to work with the Democratic bill, as that's the one -- since that's the one that went through the House?

JA'RON SMITH: No, I think it's more fair to say that, like, we need to start in a bipartisan manner.

You can't work with a bill that has no bipartisanship with it.

There's a lot of different issues that need to be fleshed out.

And the thing is, there are stakeholders on both sides that want to work through these issues.

We have always had an open process and willing to work with everybody.

And that's what you saw in the executive order, us working with police departments, and also working with the families.

And I think that's how you thread the needle, because there's some commonsense ways that we can go about doing this that actually gets the reform that everyone wants.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Now, despite making up only 13 percent of the population, African-Americans are two-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by the police than white Americans.

Does President Trump believe that there's systemic racism in the United States, including in policing?

JA'RON SMITH: I think that the president believes that our overall system has been broken, and it needs reform.

And that system has created disparities, not only for African-Americans, but many vulnerable populations.

But we especially know that the African-American population has had some historic disparities that need to be fixed.

And so this first step of an E.O.

that we put together helps deal with that, because the real issue goes back to police and community relations.

And the direction that the Democrats took is increasing that relationship in the wrong way.

And I will tell you how, because, if we have less police incentivized to be police, you have less opportunities for the people who represent the community to be a part of the police department.

And that creates some distrust.

We want to do the opposite.

We want to create better police-community relationships, and invest in those police departments, so that they recruit from the neighborhoods and create that relational aspect that can quell some of the distrust.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Why hasn't the administration put out a larger plan to address systemic racism and racial injustice in this country?

JA'RON SMITH: Well, we actually have put out a larger plan.

If people would have covered what the president announced in Dallas, they would have saw that the president put out a plan on access to capital, put out a plan on access to education, put out a plan on access to health care, and, more importantly, put out a plan on police and community relations.

We have always taken a holistic approach.

In fact, before we even had these disasters and issues that shined a spotlight on it, the president hired me to work on revitalization policy.

And we set up the White House Opportunity Revitalization Council.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: We're seeing coronavirus spikes across the country and in states like Texas and Florida.

But still about half of the coronavirus cases in this country don't have racial data attached to it.

Why hasn't the administration done more to get the data on who is being impacted, especially when we know that black and brown communities are being impacted disproportionately by the coronavirus?

JA'RON SMITH: The CDC is actually doing that work.

And just this week, we just invested $40 million into Morehouse Medical School to do more analysis on these disparities.

And so the investment is there.

But, as you can imagine, with this type of research and getting real-time data, that does take some time.

But this administration has a commitment there.

And the vice president made that commitment about two months ago, when we talked to half-a-million African-American stakeholders.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And I want to turn quickly to health care.

The Trump administration filed a brief with the Supreme Court wanting to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

Why is it appropriate and necessary during a pandemic, when people need health insurance, why is the administration pushing to end the Affordable Care Act?

JA'RON SMITH: Well, look, let me tell you about the Affordable Care Act.

My father has had insurance all of his life.

And then, as soon as we had that legislation, he lost the insurance he had.

And then, also, the premiums for the -- for my mother also went up.

So, I think we have always realized there needs to be real fixes to that.

But, more importantly, we're making historic investments into federally qualified health centers and community health centers around the country through the CARES Act.

And so the resources there for telehealth, telemedicine, and also mobile health clinics is there to deal with these disparities.

But we're continuing to do more, because closing that gap for these individual communities is something that's very important to the administration.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, thank you so much, Ja'Ron Smith, deputy assistant to President Trump.

JA'RON SMITH: Thanks so much, Yamiche.

JUDY WOODRUFF: More than four million American citizens living in territories from Puerto Rico to Guam have no voting representation in Congress.

But for the roughly 700,000 residents of Washington, D.C., who also have no vote, the House of Representatives voted today to make a change.

Lisa Desjardins reports.

LISA DESJARDINS: Welcome to a city flourishing, with one of the fastest growing populations in the country, awash in restaurants and arts.

No one contributes to government more.

Washingtonians pay the most taxes per capita in the U.S. , but almost no U.S. citizens have less say in government.

As their license plates decry, residents of Washington, D.C., have no vote in Congress.

DEL.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON (D), Washington, D.C.: We alone deprive the citizens of our capital of the same rights that all others in the country enjoy.

LISA DESJARDINS: Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s delegate to Congress, cannot vote on bills.

But she can author them, and she's proposed a statehood bill every year for nearly 30 years.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): There being 232 votes in the affirmative, 180 votes in the negative.

LISA DESJARDINS: Today, the House passed her Washington, D.C., Admission Act, the first time in history that either chamber has voted to make the city a state.

The bill would name the new state Washington Douglass Commonwealth after former city resident and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Federal buildings, including the White House and Capitol, would remain a separate federal district, still called the District of Columbia.

The city would gain two senators, one voting member of the House and control over its own decisions.

Currently, Congress can overrule local officials.

That's not theoretical.

Earlier this month, District officials had little say as federal Park Police moved in on peaceful protesters, including in some blocks usually overseen by the city.

It also affects pandemic response.

In the CARES Act offering relief, Congress sent D.C. $750 million less than it gave to states.

DEL.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: The CARES Act is a quintessential example of what it means to not have the same rights as others in our own country.

LISA DESJARDINS: Holmes Norton points out, two current states, Vermont and Wyoming, have smaller populations than D.C., and have full representation in Congress.

D.C. residents we spoke with feel the difference.

KIM MCLEOD, Washington, D.C., Resident: At any moment Congress can swoop in and make a decision on what I have decided as a local resident in this city is not important or legitimate, and can change those things.

RYAN CROWLEY, Washington, D.C., Resident: If I want to convey my opinion about legislation to a member of Congress, I can do that, but they can't really do -- they can't take action on it.

They can't vote for or against something.

And it's frustrating.

And it's almost like I feel like I'm just yelling LISA DESJARDINS: But some opponents say, what's fair to D.C. residents isn't the issue.

It's what's in the Constitution.

ROGER PILON, Cato Institute: Well, when the District of Columbia was established 230 years ago by Congress, it was set up to be a unique entity, not to be part of any state.

LISA DESJARDINS: Roger Pilon is a constitutional scholar at the Cato Institute.

Two of his arguments?

First, the Constitution defines the city as a federal district.

Pilon argues that only a constitutional amendment, not Congress, can make it a state.

Then there's the 23rd Amendment, which gives the District electoral votes for president.

But that would conflict with the electoral votes a new state would get separately.

ROGER PILON: In other words, for president, that 23rd Amendment would have to be repealed.

And you can't do that through mere statute.

You have to have a constitutional amendment to repeal a constitutional amendment.

LISA DESJARDINS: Holmes Norton concedes that amendment should be repealed, but says the city can become a state first, and that Congress can do it.

DEL.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: Now, it is true that the framers didn't quite know what to do with this capital city, and so it gave jurisdiction over to Congress.

Well, the Congress is taking action now.

It is taking action to make the District the 51st state.

LISA DESJARDINS: Both acknowledge one towering obstacle to statehood: politics.

DEL.

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: It's always partisan.

And because the district is a largely Democratic city, you can expect Republicans and the president of the United States to be against it.

ROGER PILON: What we're talking about here is two new Democratic senators, and that is not something that the Republicans in the Senate want to see, since the Senate is so closely divided.

LISA DESJARDINS: Which is why there is little hope the Republican-led Senate will pass the statehood bill this year and why the stakes for D.C. are high in November, when control of Congress, the White House, and the long-term chances for D.C. statehood, are on the ballot.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And now we turn to the analysis of Shields and Brooks.

That's syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

So good to see both of you.

Thank you for being here this Friday.

So, let's start with some interesting poll numbers.

They show not only President Trump running somewhere between eight, 12, even 14 points behind Joe Biden, but the president's disapproval ratings are at record highs.

This is from the new Marist poll the "NewsHour" does with NPR and Marist, 58 percent disapproval for President Trump, the highest it has ever been.

And then you see on this second graph his ratings, disapproval ratings higher than President Obama at his -- at this stage of his presidency or President Bush 43 at this point in their first term in office.

David, how significant is this?

DAVID BROOKS: Oh, pretty significant.

The numbers are devastating for the president.

But, you know, big things have happened.

We're looking at possible really serious and long economic recession or depression.

We're losing the battle against COVID.

We're having a racial reckoning.

And a lot of white Americans are learning what daily life is like for African-Americans.

These are just gigantic things that are happening in the country.

And on each one of them, Donald Trump is considered an inadequate leader by a lot of people.

So he's losing college-educated women.

He's losing some high school-educated white men, just across the board.

In our New York Times poll this week, Biden was winning by 14 percentage points.

These are -- there's no way, other than to say that some seismic shift is happening in the electorate right now, and a lot of people want to fire Donald Trump.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, what do you see in these numbers, and how significant do you think they are?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I think they're encouraging for the Democrats.

But, at the same time, Judy, for those who want to put the champagne on ice, I would remind them of the wisdom of Ann Richards, the late governor of Texas, who said, July results do not make a November election.

And, you know, this is not the first time that Democrats have had a large lead in the summer, and not managed to win in November.

But I think for Donald -- I think David's absolutely right about Donald Trump.

He -- right now, this election is a referendum on him.

And he is failing that test on virtually every major ground.

There's only two times it's good to be a United States president, one, when things are going so swimmingly, prosperity, and there's peace in the world, and you get to that -- bask in that warmth of the era of good feeling.

The second time is, strangely enough, when there's a catastrophe not of your making, an earthquake or a pandemic, as we're having now.

And that's when a president can console and lead and comfort a nation and be really a figure who brings everybody together.

Donald Trump has failed that, and failed it miserably, and I don't see a recovery.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, David, the president, though, is having his first rallies.

He was out in Tulsa last weekend.

He was in Arizona a few days ago getting thousands of people to show up, in Tulsa, what is it, 6,000.

He's dismissing, if you will, the COVID virus, though.

I mean, he's saying that, if more testing -- if there were more testing done, there wouldn't be a virus.

He is trying play to his base.

DAVID BROOKS: To some part of his base.

There's some of the base that likes him.

They like the showmanship of the rallies.

They like the jokes.

They like him spending 20 minutes talking about walking down a ramp, which he did in Tulsa.

But there's a part of his base -- and these are people who have supported him in the past - - who hate all that stuff.

They vote for him for judges or for some other issue, or because they think he's decent on the economy.

But now he's not decent on the economy.

And they really don't like the idea of voting for a president who seems racist.

And so they might be with him on other issues, but -- so you're seeing him -- people flake away from him for really serious issues, for really serious reasons, not for some temporary tweet.

And so I agree with Mark.

This is not the time to celebrate.

But we have had such a stable set of polls over the last three years, where Trump has just hung basically solid vis-a-vis other people.

And now things look different.

And they look different because big things are happening.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, I mean, could his arguments about the virus appeal to enough people to somehow persuade them that he's got the right argument going here?

MARK SHIELDS: I doubt it, Judy.

He has not been a national leader on this issue.

I mean, in fact, he's been a sniper on the sidelines too much, criticizing governors in Michigan and Minnesota and Virginia for taking measures to -- in their states to lead to a lockdown, in hopes of curtailing it.

Somehow, there seems to have emerged a choice between public health and a strong economy.

And Donald Trump says, well, I'm for a strong economy.

Open up that economy.

But the reality is, we will not have a strong economy without restored public health.

I mean, that's the route and the road to it.

And I just think that he's going down a dead end.

And it shows terrible indifference to the people who are his most loyal supporters.

Those 3,000 kids in Arizona without masks, without any social distancing, that's a -- that's a terrible prospect of illness forthcoming.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's the image that the administration's projecting, David.

The vice president today defending those rallies, saying there's a First Amendment right to assembly, people have a right to go out and support the candidate of their choice.

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I sort of have some sympathy for that.

If we're going to have the George Floyd protests, which I think we should have had, you can't say to one group of people, you can protest, but, to another, you can't, obviously, once that precedent was set.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Right.

DAVID BROOKS: Though, you know, the more I think about this whole administration, there was a crucial moment, when the president basically chose Jared Kushner over Steve Bannon.

And what's interesting about the Bannon populist wing is, they were very quick on this COVID situation.

They were saying, this is a major crisis way back in February.

They were: Let's take this seriously.

Let's be the side of order.

Let's be the side of the health hawks, if you want to put them that way.

And Trump went the other way early in his administration, away from the populists, and toward more Wall Street people.

And he said: No, it's nothing, because I don't want to hurt the market.

And that shift in the administration, looking back on it, was one of the pivotal shifts in the administration.

And I hate to be a praiser of Steve Bannon, but I think, frankly, the president would be a -- in better shape, both substantively and politically, if he had listened to people on that wing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Interesting.

We have forgotten about that.

And, Mark, on top -- to top it all off, it's what we talked about early in the program, the administration going to the Supreme Court to try to yet again do away with the Affordable Care Act.

Is this something that's likely to win him friends and admirers at this stage of his reelection effort?

MARK SHIELDS: No, Judy.

John Boehner, the former Republican speaker of the House, was very candid on this subject, said, 25 years as a Republican in the House, not once, never once did Republicans ever agree on a health care plan.

And he was absolutely right.

There's never been a Republican health care plan.

They're trying to repeal, replace the - - the Affordable Care Act, but at a time when 20 million people are turning to it, having lost their jobs, and at a time when it is more popular than it ever was when Barack Obama was president, and with every health care group of any significance and hospitals and doctors and -- except the American Nurses Association -- opposing the administration this.

What happens if they win and there is no Affordable Care Act, and there is no preexisting condition coverage?

And I just -- it's an absolute political folly.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to ask you about that, David.

And then -- and then I have got two or three other things I want to ask.

So, go ahead, if you want to comment -- comment for us on the Affordable Care Act and the administration trying to -- yet again to get rid of it.

DAVID BROOKS: Well, just quickly, if you're a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona or Georgia or wherever these close races are, suddenly, you have got to defend the idea of taking away this insurance for preexisting conditions, at a moment when having had COVID-19 could become a preexisting condition.

It's political poison for any Republican Senate candidate in a close race.

JUDY WOODRUFF: David, I'm going to stay with you.

Police reform.

After all these rallies around the country, it's clear there's a lot of sentiment for looking at ways to improve policing in this country, the House and the Senate completely - - Republicans and Democrats completely at odds over this.

What's going on?

DAVID BROOKS: On this one, I blame the Democrats, frankly.

I think Tom (sic) Scott, the Republican from South Carolina, who was the Republican sponsor, put together a good-faith bill.

It had not everything the Democrats wanted, obviously, but it had some stuff.

It had the -- making lynching a federal hate crime.

It had -- against choke holds, more transparency for police misconduct.

And then Scott said, we're going to let you vote on amendments.

And so maybe -- and he said that maybe I'd support some of these amendments.

And so he had a pretty open process.

I'm a big believer, if you can take half a cake, take half a cake.

And then, if Democrats win November, they can get the whole cake.

I think they should have compromised on this and accepted half a cake.

It would have been a step forward to a better police force.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, should the Democrats have tried to sit down with Tim Scott or any of the other Republicans?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I think Tim Scott -- I think Tim Scott, who is an authentic figure on this and absolutely a man of reality, talked about his own personal experience of being stopped seven times by Capitol Hill Police, he, a United States senator, and being asked for identification and papers.

And so he showed a sensitivity to it.

But I think there was a skepticism about how much he could deliver.

But I did honestly think there was a chance.

I thought that -- for legislative compromise on this.

I'm less confident of that today than I was last week.

It's an election year.

The Senate is about to take two weeks off.

The closer we get to election, the less chance there is.

And I'm sad about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And just very quickly to both of you, what year will the District of Columbia become a state?

David?

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: I will live here and die here and never see it.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: So I'm pessimistic about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And Mark?

MARK SHIELDS: I'm more -- I'm more optimistic, Judy.

I mean, District residents pay more in taxes than 22 states, the residents of 22 states combined.

They -- at the same time, they die at a rate higher than Americans in 14 other states in wars.

At some point, they have got to be accorded citizenship.

And I'm hoping that it'll be in the next administration.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Citizenship, yes, but no voting representation.

Mark Shields, David Brooks, we will leave it there.

Thank you both.

As the U.S. approaches another coronavirus milestone, we look back at the lives of a few of the almost 125,000 Americans who have died because of the pandemic.

Ninety-two-year-old Theodore Gaffney was a researcher and documentarian who brought great curiosity to his work.

After serving in the U.S. Army following World War II, Theodore studied photography under the G.I.

Bill.

The Washington, D.C., native was one of the first African-Americans to photograph inside of the White House.

In 1961, he documented the Freedom Riders as they traveled through the South to fight segregation.

Theodore later moved to Brazil to study the African diaspora.

It was there that he met his wife, Maria.

Jess Begay Sr. of the Navajo Nation was a long-haul trucker who transported everything from explosives to milk.

He taught others how to drive commercially, including his own daughter, Leslyn.

She said her dad was humble and always open to learning more.

He still referred to himself as a rookie, even as a 25-year veteran in the trucking industry.

His family described Jess as dedicated, prayerful, and loving.

He was 73 years old.

Mary Wilson had a way with animals.

She was 23 when she started working at the Maryland Zoo, and went on to become the first black woman to be promoted to senior zookeeper.

Mary was a mother figure to many, including an orphan gorilla named Sylvia.

Mary continued to visit Sylvia even after she left the Maryland Zoo.

Sylvia always remembered her.

Mary's dedication to her work inspired her daughter Sharron to become a zookeeper too.

Mary was 83.

Dr. Thomas Nyambane was a lifelong educator and student.

Passionate about learning, Thomas earned advanced degrees in education well into his fifties.

He taught English classes in Kenya, where he was born.

After immigrating to the U.S. in 1985, he taught at a Minnesota technical college.

Thomas was a generous and devoted father and grandfather.

At his church, he was known as a leader within the congregation.

Thomas was 69 years old.

Maurice Dotson's family said he always put others first.

When Maurice was 17, he would often accompany his mom to her job at a nursing home, and it was there that Maurice discovered that he, too, loved helping others.

Maurice went on to work as a nursing assistant for the elderly in Austin, Texas, for 25 years.

His younger sisters said he was a father figure to them; protective and giving.

Maurice was 51.

And, as always, our hearts go out to all those who've lost loved ones in this pandemic.

As the Black Lives Matter movement gains more momentum, there are calls for equity in all sectors of life, including Broadway.

Jeffrey Brown looks at efforts black artists in particular are making, with hopes that, when the curtain rises once again, more diverse faces will appear on and behind the stage.

The story is part of our ongoing coverage of Race Matters and our series on arts and culture, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: It wasn't the renowned Tony Awards, the annual ceremony honoring Broadway's best, but the brand-new Antonyo Awards.

MAN (singing): It's true we have been ordered to stay at home.

JEFFREY BROWN: A play on words, a streamed show with a virtual red carpet, original music numbers, and star presenters.

BEN VEREEN, Actor: Welcome to the Antonyo Awards.

Are you in for a treat.

JEFFREY BROWN: The purpose, to honor Juneteenth, the date that marks the freedom of enslaved black people in America, and to celebrate the achievements of black theater artists on and off stage.

AUDRA MCDONALD, Actress: As we continue to move forward and fight for equality and fight for justice and to fight for our lives, it's important to have self-care and celebrate all that we are fighting for.

JEFFREY BROWN: Renowned theater star Audra McDonald added to her Tony, Grammy, and Emmy awards with an Antonyo for best actor in a play on Broadway for her performance in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune."

NICOLETTE ROBINSON, Actress: The nominees for best actor in a musical Off-Broadway are... JEFFREY BROWN: The award show was conceived amid the pandemic, as Broadway and theaters everywhere were closed, but before the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests of the past few weeks.

Now the push for change was even more urgent.

AUDRA MCDONALD: There's a desire and a want to sort of be together and celebrate in any way that we can.

And because of this horrific time that we're in, where there's so much grief and pain because of what's happening racially in our country, we can do both.

We can celebrate and we can rally to make change.

JEFFREY BROWN: To that end, McDonald and an all-star group of black theater artists, Phylicia Rashad, Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and many others, have also launched a new effort called Black Theater United.

MAN: We need every voice lifted.

WOMAN: And we need every heart... MAN: ... opened, aligned with ours to fight against racist ideologies... MAN: ... that have divided us by devaluing our lives.

JEFFREY BROWN: It's focused on the larger society.

The coalition is partnering with groups like Fair Count and Fair Fight to promote greater voter participation and protect voting rights.

The theater itself is the other focus.

Among other projects, the group wants to create mentorship programs for aspiring young black artists and bring attention to inequities within the theater world.

African-Americans make up just 7.5 percent of membership in Actor's Equity, the labor union for live theatrical performance.

A recent study showed that members of color have fewer work opportunities, just 7.5 percent of principal roles, and earn 10 percent less when they do find work.

And according to TheaterMania, an industry site, in the current season, out of the 37 shows that were on stage before COVID, eight cast no artists of color.

Black Theater United is just one among several new efforts.

Another, called Dear White American Theater, a multiracial group, called on arts institutions to -- quote -- "examine, change and dismantle their harmful and racist practices."

JEFFREY BROWN: Actor Drew Shade founded Broadway Black in 2012 to celebrate black theater achievements.

His group produced the Antonyos.

DREW SHADE, Founder, Broadway Black: We contribute and give of ourselves and of our talents and of our bodies, eight shows a week, just like any other performer, just like any other artist.

And I think that the contributions that we have given haven't been equally recognized or equally held up in the same manner.

JEFFREY BROWN: Is it an institutional bias?

Is it an overt racism?

Is it a just, this is how it's always been done by the people who do control such things?

DREW SHADE: Is always just the way it's been done, when it comes to black bodies and black stories that, if certain people cannot relate, then it doesn't feel as though it's valued, because it's not their experience or something that they know to be true.

So, it's all of those things.

JEFFREY BROWN: Audra McDonald has had one of the most successful and acclaimed careers in theater history, but she too sees the need for profound changes.

AUDRA MCDONALD: There's not a lot of black stage managers.

There's not a lot of black people in the hair union and wardrobe, on the crew, in casting offices.

So, many of us are oftentimes the only one in the room.

JEFFREY BROWN: There's also a desire to address the issue of who goes to the theater, who theater is seen as being for.

DREW SHADE: It's also about, how you create your marketing materials?

Who do you advertise to?

And there has been an implicit bias to make the theater, the American theater, an older white type of craft, or older white type of experience, which is why I have come into the industry to sort of shake that up, to market to black people, to market to people that would not normally think the theater was for them.

That's the whole reason why I'm here.

JEFFREY BROWN: The theater world, says McDonald, reflects the larger society.

AUDRA MCDONALD: The larger house is on fire right now.

We have got to save our lives first.

And we need to engage civically to do everything we can to effect change, to just protect our lives and our communities and give ourselves a greater voice, and then, at the same time, concentrate on what we can do to change the theatrical landscape as well.

JEFFREY BROWN: In the meantime, the actual shows are on hold now at least through Labor Day.

While theater artists wait for the curtain to rise again, the hope and work for change on Broadway and beyond goes on.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Can't wait for Broadway to come back.

And, online, join us tomorrow for a virtual town hall with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Trump campaign surrogate, the former governor of Guam, Eddie Baza Calvo.

Our Amna Nawaz will co-moderate the event, hosted by the Asian American and Pacific Islander vote organization, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

It will be livestreamed, PBS.org/NewsHour.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Thank you.

Please stay safe.

Good night.