JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: On this Memorial Day, as the COVID-19 death toll climbs closer to 100,000, we consider the enormity of loss and the push to return to normal.

Then: a summer like no other.

Relaxing social restrictions spells relief for some and fear for others.

Plus: an outsized impact -- why the Navajo Nation and some other tribes are seeing some of the country's highest rates of COVID-19 infections.

KELLY MANUELITO, Nurse, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services: A lot of native families, there are at least five or six to eight to 10 people living in one household, and it's really disheartening to see that it can spread so easily.

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

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: As our nation honored those who gave their lives in service to the country today, the U.S. death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic topped 98,000.

More areas loosened their coronavirus restrictions over the holiday weekend, and President Trump ramped up his push to reopen the country even more.

Lisa Desjardins has our report.

LISA DESJARDINS: In many ways, it looked like Memorial Days past.

President Trump and Vice President Pence this morning visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

But it was different, no crowd and no speech there.

Similarly, many beaches looked just like the start of summer, but those crowds in a still uncontained national health crisis felt very different.

WOMAN: It's insane.

I don't know how many people are out here today.

I didn't expect this at all.

We came over here, and we were like, 'wow.'

LISA DESJARDINS: All 50 states are reopening in some way, with some, like Georgia, moving more quickly, while others, like Illinois, move more slowly, by region.

The changes are bringing relief and concern both.

Many pointed to this social media video from Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, with scores of people jammed together at a pool party.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo blasted efforts to reopen any place where COVID-19 case numbers are still rising.

GOV.

ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): It's not smart.

It defies history, defies everything we know, defies common sense.

LISA DESJARDINS: With a spectrum of different circumstances across the country, some U.S. health officials are issuing notes of caution.

The commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration tweeted a warning yesterday, writing: "The coronavirus is not yet contained."

For former Vice President Joe Biden, a new careful step.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made his first public appearance outside in months, laying a wreath at a veterans park.

Something new for President Trump, too.

He spoke not at Arlington Cemetery, but at Baltimore's Fort McHenry today.

He praised the military's pandemic response.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: In recent months, our nation and the world have been engaged in a new form of battle against an invisible enemy.

Once more the men and women of the United States military have answered the call to duty and raced into danger.

LISA DESJARDINS: Baltimore's Mayor Jack Young had asked the president not to make the trip because the city is under stay-at-home orders.

Earlier the president wrote on Twitter that all schools should reopen soon.

He also tweeted strong words about North Carolina, saying the state should commit to full capacity for the Republican National Convention planned in Charlotte for August, or, he wrote, the GOP should move it to another state.

His comments came days after North Carolina recorded its largest daily increase in cases yet.

The state's governor said they are working with the GOP and relying on data and science to make decisions.

All this comes amid new travel restrictions to the U.S. Sunday, the Trump administration banned entry to foreigners leaving from Brazil.

That country now has the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world, behind the U.S. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lisa Desjardins.

JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: Top Democrats slammed the Trump administration's national COVID-19 testing strategy, a day after it was sent to Congress.

In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others said the president's strategy is to - - quote -- "deny the truth that there aren't enough tests and supplies, reject responsibility and dump the burden onto the states."

The British prime minister's closest aide defied calls to quit today over accusations that he ignored coronavirus lockdown measures.

Dominic Cummings drove 250 miles from London to Northern England in March with his wife, who was symptomatic, so that his parents could care for his young son.

Cummings said that he was in an exceptional situation and acted reasonably.

DOMINIC CUMMINGS, Chief Adviser to British Prime Minister: I don't regret what I did.

I think that the way that I dealt with it was the least risk to everybody concerned, if my wife and I had both been unable to look after our 4-year-old.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Prime Minister Boris Johnson also defended Cummings' decision, saying that he acted both legally and responsibly.

Back in this country, the Republican National Committee and two other Republican groups filed a lawsuit to block California's move to voting by mail this November.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom issued the order over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

But Republicans argued in Sunday's filing that mail-in ballots would invite fraud.

A federal judge ruled Sunday night that a Florida law requiring felons to pay legal fees before they can vote is unconstitutional.

That clears the way for hundreds of thousands of people to potentially regain the right to vote.

Floridians voted to restore voter rights for felons in 2018.

But Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill limiting it to only those who had paid their court-related debts.

Officials in China today defended proposed national security legislation that would crack down on opposition activity in Hong Kong.

That comes a day after more than 180 pro-democracy activists were arrested in the semiautonomous territory, in the largest protests there since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing's proposed laws would ban the demonstrations and classify them as terrorism.

WANG YI, Chinese Foreign Minister (through translator): The bill is targeted at a small number of behaviors that seriously harm the national security.

It does not affect the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Protests began in Hong Kong last June, after Beijing introduced a now-tabled bill that would have caused the semiautonomous territory to lose its special status.

And former CBS Washington bureau chief William Small has died, after a brief illness not related to the coronavirus.

Under his leadership, "The CBS Evening News" with Walter Cronkite maintained its number one slot for 20 years.

The veteran newsman also helped to mold CBS News coverage during the Vietnam War and Watergate.

William Small was 93 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the unofficial start of summer amid coronavirus -- perspectives on reopening; high political stakes in a pandemic, as party organizers question what the summer's conventions could look like; and much more.

As states continue to move toward reopening, today, the Navajo Nation emerged from a strict weekend lockdown and police-enforced curfew, its seventh so far.

Native Americans have been experiencing disproportionately high rates of infection and death from COVID-19.

In this report, part of our series Race Matters, Stephanie Sy explains that even smaller tribes consider the pandemic an existential threat.

STEPHANIE SY: Ground zero for COVID-19 cases in New Mexico is the town of Gallup on the edge of the Navajo Nation.

KELLY MANUELITO, Nurse, Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services: I'm like, well, we live in Gallup.

It's not going to come here.

STEPHANIE SY: Navajo nurse Kelly Manuelito treated the first COVID-positive patient to arrive at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services.

She works in the intensive care unit.

KELLY MANUELITO: A lot of Native families, there are at least five or six to eight to 10 people living in one household.

And it's really disheartening to see that it can spread so easily.

STEPHANIE SY: The staff of the ICU was overwhelmed when they saw a spike in COVID patients in late April tied to an outbreak among the homeless population.

KELLY MANUELITO: It's definitely scary.

I don't know one single worker who is not scared to come up.

We have been working extra hours, extra days, and it's just been -- it's been really rough.

STEPHANIE SY: She says she's been able to take a break in recent days.

The New Mexico governor lifted a week-long lockdown after fewer cases were recently reported.

But the toll has been devastating on Native peoples in New Mexico.

They account for 50 percent of the state's COVID-19 deaths, even though they make up only 11 percent of the population.

JOURDAN BENNETT-BEGAYE, Indian Country Today: I grew up in the northwestern part of New Mexico.

STEPHANIE SY: Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, a reporter for Indian Country Today, spends hours a day compiling reports of Native American COVID cases and deaths.

It's a stark spreadsheet that tells a sad, still unfolding story.

JOURDAN BENNETT-BEGAYE: There was a point where, one day, I saw -- I counted there are 60 people in the database.

That night, after recording like 10 deaths in one day, I broke down.

I did cry, because then these are, you know, my relatives.

STEPHANIE SY: Relative has an expansive definition in Indian country.

And on April 23, Valentina Blackhorse, a former Miss Western Navajo, was added to that list.

Blackhorse lived in Kayenta, and her boyfriend, a correctional officer, had the virus.

One day after she tested positive, she died at 28 years old.

VANIELLE BLACKHORSE, Sister of Coronavirus Victim: I never thought she would get sick, because she kept telling us, you know, stay home, wash your hands, wear your mask.

STEPHANIE SY: Vanielle Blackhorse spoke to us a week after her big sister was laid to rest.

VANIELLE BLACKHORSE: How a funeral should be, it wasn't like that.

There was no chairs.

There was no -- my mom couldn't get comfort from her family.

We had to stay in the vehicles until, you know, they covered her.

I'm heartbroken.

It seems like a part of me has been ripped away.

STEPHANIE SY: In an effort to save Native American lives, tribal leaders have taken strict measures, including curfews and roadblocks.

And in Washington state, the Lummi Nation has been uniquely proactive in testing its 5,300 members.

WOMAN: That everyone stay in their own homes and avoid interaction with your family members.

STEPHANIE SY: Springing into action after the first case in the U.S. was announced at a locale one hour away from the reservation.

DR. CRISTINA TOLEDO-CORNELL, Public Health Director, Lummi Tribal Health Center: So, then we start putting orders everywhere that we could think of.

STEPHANIE SY: Dr. Cristina Toledo-Cornell is the public health director for the tribe.

Besides ordering testing materials and medical equipment early on, they have been aggressively contact tracing.

DR. CRISTINA TOLEDO-CORNELL: So, to us, it was very important to find every single case, because, if we miss one or two, that could be catastrophic for a lot of people.

And that allowed us to really be aggressive in terms of relaxing the testing criteria, then do as many tests as we could.

STEPHANIE SY: As a result, they have had dozens of confirmed cases, but no deaths.

Back in New Mexico, there are significant clusters of cases in the state's Pueblos.

By one estimate, 11 percent of the Zia Reservation of only 646 members were infected.

At that rate, leaders are concerned about the risk of extinction.

GOV.

JOSEPH TALACHY, Pueblo of Pojoaque: We have been through this before with the Spanish Flu back in the early 1900s.

The Pueblo of Pojoaque was reduced to just a few individuals.

STEPHANIE SY: Joseph Talachy is governor of the Pueblo of Pojoaque.

GOV.

JOSEPH TALACHY: Our history is passed down through our language and through our spoken stories.

And so any loss of our tribal elders would be a loss to our history.

STEPHANIE SY: He shut down the Pueblo early.

GOV.

JOSEPH TALACHY: I knew that there was going to be consequences as well.

You know people were going to be upset.

STEPHANIE SY: The Buffalo Thunder Casino Hotel is closed for business and instead being used to house COVID-19 patients from other area tribes.

Casino closures since the pandemic are expected to directly affect basic services on tribal lands.

GOV.

JOSEPH TALACHY: But it just takes a few mistakes to get this virus to peak back up, especially in Indian country.

BRYAN NEWLAND, Tribal Chairperson, Bay Mills Indian Community: An economy doesn't mean anything if you don't have people.

STEPHANIE SY: In Northern Michigan, Bryan Newland is the tribal chairperson of the Bay Mills Indian Community.

BRYAN NEWLAND: This pandemic's impact on our community has been almost entirely economic at this point.

I would estimate that, right now, we have about two-thirds of our tribal employees out of work.

And then our tribe has a pretty sizable commercial fishing industry that's really been hit hard.

STEPHANIE SY: Back on the Navajo Nation, Karen Schell has felt that economic hit too.

She runs a shop that's been in the family since 1948 and has been closed for months.

KAREN SCHELL, Owner, Chee's Indian Store: I have just hundreds and hundreds of Navajo people that sell to me.

STEPHANIE SY: Lost business for her means lost revenue for her local chapter house.

KAREN SCHELL: Those moneys go to our community here.

I'm not making anything.

They're not getting anything.

STEPHANIE SY: But she says, just down the road from her shop, fellow Navajo have died.

KAREN SCHELL: We know them by name.

And we know people who are sick right now.

So, I think everybody on the reservation knows somebody who is sick.

STEPHANIE SY: Nurse Kelly Manuelito, while taking care of the sick, has been struggling herself.

I understand you're a mother, and have had to distance from your child?

KELLY MANUELITO: I have.

It's been the hardest thing to be away from her.

Her name is Hayden.

She is 5.

For the past five years and nine months of her life, I have told her every day, come hug mommy, come kiss mommy.

My mission as a nurse is, I am here to protect.

And my job as a mother is to keep my daughter safe, to keep her surrounded by family and love.

STEPHANIE SY: Many will say it's that kinship that has helped Native peoples survive, throughout time and against all odds.

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

JUDY WOODRUFF: It's Memorial Day, and, of course, the traditional kickoff to summer, and, usually, a busy vacation season.

As states begin to reopen, John Yang reports on how beach towns and business owners are adjusting in the time of COVID-19.

NICK CAGGIANO, Owner, Nicola Pizza: Here at Rehoboth Beach, it's definitely a different Memorial Day.

JOHN YANG: Nick Caggiano has been selling pizza in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for almost 50 years.

NICK CAGGIANO: Last Memorial Day at this time, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, and we were all like having a bunch of fun because it's our first big weekend.

JOHN YANG: This long holiday weekend, business has been half of what it was last year.

He's been limited to curbside pickup and a smaller staff.

And the coronavirus pandemic has meant fewer people on the beach outside his restaurant.

But, in other places, from Texas to South Carolina, beaches were packed for summer's first weekend.

In Daytona Beach, Florida, large crowds and no social distancing.

MICHAEL CHITWOOD, Volusia County, Florida, Sheriff: Were there massive crowds?

Absolutely.

Did we get invaded?

Absolutely.

JOHN YANG: Overall, travel this weekend and into the summer will likely be down.

Last year, 43 million American traveled over the Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA.

TSA reported a staggering drop in airport screenings on Friday.

Fewer than 350,000 people passed through checkpoints, down more than 87 percent from last year's record high.

That's having a big impact on spending.

The U.S. Travel Association projected that, this Memorial Day weekend, Americans would spend just a third of what they did last year.

Roger Dow is the group's president.

He and other tourism industry leaders joined Vice President Mike Pence last week in Florida.

ROGER DOW, CEO, U.S. Travel Association: When you talk about beach towns, I'm so worried about them, because, if they don't make it during the summer, they don't make it.

And I'm afraid many of them won't survive.

SUSAN KELLEHER, Owner, Seaside Sweets: Our tourist season starts today.

You know, we have 10 weeks to make cash.

JOHN YANG: Susan Kelleher runs a gift store and ice cream shop on Tybee Island in Georgia, one of the first states to reopen.

SUSAN KELLEHER: It's kind of just been a trial and error.

We just do what we feel is OK. We do what we feel is safe and comfortable, because we need to have the tourists back.

JOHN YANG: But she worries that some of those tourists could bring the virus.

So she's limiting capacity at the ice cream shop to just one family at a time and asking everyone to use hand sanitizer.

ANDY MURPHY, Owner, Lost Dog Pub: It's a little bit of panic to believe that people are going to be coming in and bringing the virus with them in droves.

JOHN YANG: On Cape Cod, that's not a worry for Andy Murphy.

At his pub this weekend, bad weather combined with coronavirus and a restaurant that is currently takeout-only made for a less than perfect season-opening weekend.

ANDY MURPHY: It's a risk, but it might not be the doom and gloom that people who have been led to believe leave as they have been homebound.

JOHN YANG: Right now, he's thinking more about the economic future.

ANDY MURPHY: I really have to face the storm and put people back to work.

We have to regrow this economy here.

JOHN YANG: For local officials, reopening is a balancing act.

In Bradley Beach, New Jersey, face masks were encouraged, but not required.

GARY ENGELSTAD, Mayor of Bradley Beach, New Jersey: When I hear a beach is crammed, I'm psyched, I'm happy.

Now, if I hear a beach is crammed, I'm concerned.

JOHN YANG: In the most recent "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll, two-thirds of those questioned said life won't return to normal for at least six months.

That could make for a long, slow summer for businesses in vacation havens all across the country.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now let's take a closer look at how vacation destinations are responding with two mayors.

First, Shirley Sessions is the mayor of Tybee Island, Georgia.

It's a coastal city with a full-time population of just over 3,000 that swells to over 30,000 a day during the summer.

Mayor Sessions, thank you so much for talking with us.

So, tell us, what sort of crowds have you seen over this weekend?

SHIRLEY SESSIONS, Mayor of Tybee Island, Georgia: Thank you for having me.

We have had a large number, obviously, as anticipated, for Memorial Day weekend.

It's always a popular holiday.

But we saw more than we anticipated simply because of the COVID-19, knowing that people would be coming out, but didn't really know that we would have so many.

We had probably an average of about 30,000 Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Today, we have seen smaller crowds.

I think it started off with a very somber -- we had a fly-over.

The Georgia National Guard flew over in honor of those who have died to give us the freedoms that we enjoy.

That kind of set the tone, I think, for the day.

The crowds were smaller, but quieter, although, clearly, probably 20,000, 25,000 still.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That's a lot of people to manage.

Were people -- Mayor Sessions, were they social distancing?

What kinds of things did you see?

Were they wearing masks?

SHIRLEY SESSIONS: You know, not many masks.

Our governor sent the Department of Natural Resources down to help with social distancing, so that was a big plus.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Did you feel that you had the public health safeguards in place that you needed?

I was reading -- or we heard in the report earlier in the program that you had, what, a gift shop owner saying, this is when the businesses in your -- in Tybee Island need to be open.

They need to be open for business.

SHIRLEY SESSIONS: We have many of the restaurants who are open with limited seating.

They are really doing a good job of social distancing.

And when they do visit our restaurants or our shops, we're trying to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and adhere to the guidelines that CDC and the health department have set forth.

Our restaurant and shop owners are doing a really good job of trying to keep their businesses safe.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But we know that, when Governor Kemp opened up the beaches in Georgia in early April, you did openly object to that.

You told him you thought it was unsafe.

Do you think the situation has improved since then?

SHIRLEY SESSIONS: I do -- did not agree with the governor at that time, I think mainly because we local municipalities had been instructed by the president and by the governor to decide what was best for their communities.

And we did that.

So, we were caught off-guard, as were other communities, when that was overturned.

So it was a shock.

We got past it.

And, again, I don't know what the governor, who -- his advisers or what decision he made.

I respect his decision.

Doesn't mean that I agree with all of his decisions, as I'm sure he don't agree with my decisions.

But, Judy, this was never a political situation.

Tybee is -- I'm bipartisan.

It has nothing to do with politics.

It was -- and I have the deepest respect for our governor.

But it was just a matter, at the time, I saw that we were in a good place.

We were really making progress.

And we just had to kind of learn to start over.

But, again, we have moved on.

And I think that his intention was to get the economy going again.

I think that that is happening.

And my goal is to keep our residents, our businesses, and our visitors as safe as possible.

That is still my goal.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Mayor Shirley Sessions, we certainly wish you the best with that.

And thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

SHIRLEY SESSIONS: Thank you, Judy.

And you take care.

Come and see us.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to Missouri and the mayor of a city at the Lake of the Ozarks.

Osage Beach is along the eastern edge of the lake.

It has a year-round population of about 4,000.

But, when summer comes, it multiplies many times over.

And as we saw earlier, there were viral pictures of crowds there this week.

John Olivarri is the mayor, and he joins me now.

Mayor Olivarri, thank you very much for being with us.

So, tell us, what sort of turnout are you seeing?

We did see those pictures of a big crowd at, at least at one pool party over the weekend.

JOHN OLIVARRI, Mayor of Osage Beach, Missouri: Well, Memorial Day weekend is one of the three busiest times of the year for us.

On the holiday weekends, Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July, we see normal crowds of this size.

I wasn't expecting it as much this year.

We didn't have a good forecast for weather.

And, of course, with the pandemic being what it is, I wasn't quite sure, you know, what the crowds were going to be like.

But when the weather cleared up, and I think people were ready to get out, reservations started coming in about five to seven days ago.

And it looked like we were going to have a full house.

And that's exactly what we have.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Did you feel that your community was prepared for what might be crowds this size?

What concerns did you have going in?

JOHN OLIVARRI: Well, we -- you know, we expected again, seeing that the numbers in hotel reservations, lodging reservations were coming in pretty strong, that we would expect a large number of folks.

Now, the issue, of course, is the pandemic and how to deal with it.

We knew that, if we had large crowds it was going to be hard to control the social distancing.

And I think what most folks have seen from some of the social media is, is that some went way overboard.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How did you deal with that?

Once you were aware of that particular event where we saw, what -- it looked like hundreds of people around a pool, what were you able to do about it?

I meaning, what kind of controls can you -- do you have in place?

JOHN OLIVARRI: Well, actually, we have -- we leave it to the responsibility of the business owners to control, you know, their guests.

We don't have any enforcement that's -- that we were directly responsible for.

We have a governor's order in place that puts the responsibility for enforcement on our health department.

We have a county health department.

And while they are, I would say, fairly understaffed to handle not only their day-to-day operations, but certainly to address all the pandemic responsibility that goes along with it, we are here to support them, you know, should we get requests from them to respond.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, when a business -- when you see an event like what we see in these social media pictures, the video, is there anything you can do about it, I mean, to make sure it doesn't happen again, is what I am asking?

JOHN OLIVARRI: Well, from an enforcement standpoint at the time, you know, again, that responsibility is for the health department to notify us and ask for our assistance if they need it.

As far as situations like this happening in the future for other, again, holiday weekends, we're certainly going to take a look at this, meet with the health department, and find out, you know, how we might better be able to control something like this.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mayor, if I could ask, why is it important to your community to be open right now for visitors, for tourists?

JOHN OLIVARRI: Well, quite frankly, I think it's important for our businesses to be open.

If we were to allow our businesses to -- force our businesses to continue to be closed, we would be jeopardizing their ability to open up in the future.

This also gives our work force an opportunity to come back to work and to, you know, earn a living and support their families.

And both of those are very, very important to us.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, Mayor John Olivarri of Osage Beach in Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks, we thank you very much and wish you the very best.

JOHN OLIVARRI: Thank you very much.

And I appreciate you having me today.

JUDY WOODRUFF: With the general election just a little more than five months away, we examine how President Trump and Vice President Biden are faring in some of the key battleground states and more with Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report and host of public radio's "Politics With Amy Walter" and Tamara Keith of NPR.

She co-hosts the "NPR Politics Podcast."

Hello to both of you on this Memorial Day.

And it is just a little more than five months until Election Day, so never too soon to start talking about the general election.

We have been looking at the polls.

We know it's early.

And, Amy, I want to start with you, because in, I guess, a handful of the key battleground states that are going to be really hard fought, we are seeing Joe Biden ahead in all -- in a number of states that Donald Trump ended up winning.

Pennsylvania, Joe Biden is up 7.

Michigan, he's up 6, Arizona up 4, Wisconsin up 3, Florida up 3.

Now, I know several of those are within what we call the margin of error, Amy, but is this a headache for Donald Trump at this point?

And, if so, I mean, how much of a headache?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Well, Judy, from the very beginning of this reelection campaign for the president, we knew that there was going to be -- the major question was, what is President Trump ceiling?

If you look at the polling throughout his presidency, you can see that he has a pretty low ceiling.

He has very rarely gotten above 45 percent job approval rating, which suggests that it's going to be hard for him to get above the level he got in the last election, which was 46 percent was his popular vote total.

The Democrats are hoping that that actually is his ceiling, and that Democrats will win, Joe Biden will win because he is going to win over those candidates (sic) who didn't vote for Donald Trump, but also didn't vote for Hillary Clinton.

You think about a place like Wisconsin.

It was 22,000 votes.

It was a very narrow margin that Donald Trump won that state.

The number of people who voted for Jill Stein in Wisconsin was 30,000.

Another 100,000 voted for Gary Johnson.

So, just getting some of those people back, the theory goes, there goes Wisconsin.

The president's team suggests, though, that his ceiling is not as static as the polls look because they're going to increase the pool of voters.

They're not just going to win back or win over voters from 2016; they're going to get more people to actually vote who didn't show up in 2016.

And in places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan, those kinds of people who don't turn out and vote traditionally, who didn't vote in 2016, look a lot like the president's supporters.

They are overwhelmingly white.

Overwhelmingly, they do not have a college degree.

There are more of those types of voters in a place like Wisconsin than voters of color or white voters with a college degree.

So, Judy, that is really the battle right here, which is, if you look just at who can get to 50 percent, Democrats argue that the president can't hit that number.

But the president's team argues, there are going to be a whole bunch of people who show up on Election Day that you are not counting on.

I still would rather be in Joe Biden's position right now than the president.

He is -- the president is definitely playing defense a lot more than an incumbent president should be.

But that is what we are going to be watching as we go through this campaign.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Tam, is the White House - - is what we see the president saying and doing and what the White House and campaign are doing, does it seem designed to add those voters that Amy is talking about?

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Well, the voters that Amy is talking about are not going and finding women in the suburbs who were maybe turned off by Trump and they're going to vote for him.

What the Trump campaign is looking for are people who are just like the people who voted for him in 2016, but who didn't show up.

And so they are doing things that are designed to reach those people.

They have this new app, where they are trying to get people to share with their friends, and they have gamified it.

And inside of that app, President Trump is sort of a perfect version of himself.

And Joe Biden in that app and in other ways that the campaign communicates is no good, terrible and a puppet of China.

So, in terms of what they're doing to reach people, they're absolutely, as one Democratic consultant put it, trying to keep them outraged, so they stay engaged.

Then, on the other side of the ledger, they are going after Vice President -- former Vice President Biden.

They have been running ads in swing states, going after him on China, as weak on China.

And, also, they have really been outstanding him in social media ads as well, including jumping on his remarks on "The Breakfast Club" that offended some people, many people, jumping on those, and already running Facebook ads promoting it, a T-shirt based on those remarks, and also putting videos out there showing people upset about what Biden said.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Where he appeared to take the black vote for granted, and then later took it back and said he had made a mistake, didn't mean to say that.

But, Amy, the president also is kind of venting over the weekend.

I'm asking about who the voters is he's appealing to, because he's tweeting about Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC television journalist, who -- there's nothing to this.

It's completely uncorroborated.

The president refers to somebody who died on his staff.

The president very critical of Nancy Pelosi, and suggested she has a drinking problem.

Went after Stacey Abrams and her weight, the Georgia governor -- I mean -- I'm sorry -- the Georgia -- former Georgia legislator.

Are these the kinds of things that do keep his base riled up and do bring in those other voters that he needs?

AMY WALTER: You know, there was a slogan on the Trump campaign in 2016, which is still the case today, which is to sort of let Trump be Trump.

He is who he is.

And I think voters have sort of priced that into their opinions of this president.

But what he is doing that is really dangerous is, he is putting out, as you said, these uncorroborated stories and conspiracies, which he has done for his entire career.

But now he is doing it as president of the United States.

And once they get out there, and then they get picked up by traditional media outlets or people who are seen as more credible, it's hard for regular Americans to decide, well, which of these things is true and what's not?

And so the more he stirs the pot, the more he makes it difficult for people to pick out what is truth from fiction, what is a conspiracy vs. something that actually really happened, the easier it is for him to make the case, as Tam pointed out, about how the system is rigged against him or how Joe Biden is really the bad one in this case.

And, again, I think so much of this is trying to take it away from being a referendum on his handling of this pandemic, his handling of the job as president, and to put the onus onto everybody else, and specifically onto Joe Biden, make it a referendum on things that you don't like about Joe Biden, instead of a referendum on the person who is actually sitting in the White House.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Which is the question, Tam.

I mean, this is a year, if ever a president was going to be judged on his leadership in crisis, this has to be it.

And yet this is what the president is making noise about.

TAMARA KEITH: Well, we're coming up on a really grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus.

President Trump doesn't want to talk about that.

He did have flags lowered to half-staff over the weekend to honor those victims and their families.

But he doesn't want to talk about that.

He wants to move on.

He wants to say, all right, this is in the rearview mirror.

Let's talk about America is open for business.

He's talking about the transition to greatness now.

He has moved on.

It's not clear that the rest of the country has moved on, as the death toll continues to rise.

But, certainly, these tweets are -- they don't set records, actually, in terms of the numbers in his -- he was not off the charts in that way over the weekend.

But he's clearly just throwing spaghetti against the wall.

JUDY WOODRUFF: They -- these subjects seem to be things that are far from what's at the center of most voters' mind and attention right now.

On this Memorial Day, we want to thank both of you so much.

Very good, as always, to have you with us.

Amy Walter, Tamara Keith, we thank you.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.

JUDY WOODRUFF: This Memorial Day, we remember veterans who died in combat.

Since the end of World War II nearly 75 years ago, many Western societies have not had to face death at such a large scale.

But COVID-19 has changed all that.

Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant has been asking how the reality of the pandemic might change the way we talk about life and loss.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Insights from three survivors who witnessed slaughter.

Norwegian Bjorn Ihler escaped the massacre of 69 young people by a right-wing gunman on the island of Utoya in 2011.

BJORN IHLER, Massacre Survivor: We are all going to come out of this with our stories of loss.

We are all going to be affected in some way or another.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Syrian dissident Omar Alshogre withstood torture and murder in a notorious death camp of the Assad regime.

OMAR ALSHOGRE, Syrian Dissident: Everybody is going to die.

What you want is, like in prison, prisoners want to die, but they want to die -- they want to sleep and don't wake, you know?

They don't want to feel the pain of dying.

MALCOLM BRABANT: World War II medic Ray Lambert saved scores of lives on Omaha Beach on D-day in 1944.

STAFF SGT.

RAY LAMBERT (RET)., World War II Veteran: The longer that a person has knowing that they're going to die, the more concerned that they are of dying.

Death is an incredibly taboo subject and very difficult for many people.

And that makes us extremely ill-informed.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Rosie Inman-Cook runs a nonprofit that encourages people to discuss end-of-life wishes, so they can better prepare for death.

ROSIE INMAN-COOK, Natural Death Center: This awful pandemic is bring home to people that they are not immortal.

For so long, we have all lived in this glorious golden world in the Western World, haven't we, where a lot of us haven't experienced any deaths of close relatives or friends until we're in middle age?

And this is really bring it home to a lot of people how vulnerable we are as humans.

MALCOLM BRABANT: The ancient Greeks believed the dead had to cross the River Styx to enter the underworld or the afterlife.

The concept of heaven sustained Omar Alshogre, as he languished in Syria's Saydnaya Prison, where more than 13,000 executions have taken place and Alshogre was almost beaten to death.

D-BOOØOMAR ALSHOGRE: Just the belt is like it's a rainy day.

It's with the belts just coming, coming, and people hitting me, and like the metal and the electricity, and, like, without stop.

It's just getting hurt of everything.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Is there some sort of inner strength that you tapped into that perhaps other people have that can save them?

OMAR ALSHOGRE: During my time in prison, we created this survival mechanism in our brain, where you think about everything as the best moment of your life.

So, when they torture me, I count the belts they hit me with, how many belts.

And the time they hit me with a belt, I imagine a tree growing in my garden in the paradise to make that concrete for myself.

MALCOLM BRABANT: For the more secular or humanists, death is the very end.

But according to Rosie Inman-Cook, that doesn't stop people from being irrational or superstitious.

ROSIE INMAN-COOK: For a lot of people, they still can't make a will, because they think they're tempting fate.

They can't talk about their own death because they think they're going to induce it.

There's a lot of fear.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Ray Lambert is currently locked down in North Carolina.

We met in Normandy a year ago by the rock on Omaha Beach where, despite being shot twice and having a broken back, he treated the wounded and won the Medal of Honor.

STAFF SGT.

RAY LAMBERT: When the ramp went down, every man was killed.

Not one man got off that.

And so they all had to be heroes.

MALCOLM BRABANT: What about society as a whole?

How do we have to change our attitudes in order so that we're not overwhelmed with fear of other people dying, of people close to us dying?

STAFF SGT.

RAY LAMBERT: We knew that we had 15 percent of the troops going in that day that would die, but that wasn't on our minds so much.

So, the continuous talk about this, is causing people to be nervous and getting angry about things.

And if we could just stop that, then it would be a lot easier.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Unlike Lambert, Bjorn Ihler had no training to prepare for his brush with death.

Six years ago, we went to the place where Ihler faced the gunman Anders Breivik.

BJORN IHLER: I stood up at one point, and he aimed at me and fired.

And I fell, but I wasn't hit.

He was a terrible shot, luckily.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Despite the growing pandemic death toll, Ihler believes some good can emerge.

BJORN IHLER: It's given people new connections to what they value.

And I think that might also how we deal with things after the lockdown, after we get back to some kind of new normal, where we might hold on to some of those things that we value.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Are you saying that the proximity to death might actually enhance our lives?

BJORN IHLER: Yes, I'm saying both that the proximity to death, the awareness that life is fragile and life is short that we have right now enhances our appreciation of what we have right now.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Having survived Syria, Omar Alshogre follows this mantra: OMAR ALSHOGRE: People had to accept walking on two different lines, the line of living, working on your life like you will never die, and the line where you work on your life like you are dying tomorrow.

MALCOLM BRABANT: With the global death toll nearing 350,000, Rosie Inman-Cook made this appeal: ROSIE INMAN-COOK: This recent pandemic has brought on the need to discuss it with our nearest and dearest.

If we don't talk about it, it makes it more awkward, and more taboo, and more disruptive, more distressing, more catastrophic when it happens.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Our existence now may be less certain than before.

But, for centuries, there has been consistent advice from giants such as Leonardo da Vinci, who said, "A life well used brings a happy death."

So, start living.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Malcolm Brabant.

JUDY WOODRUFF: People across the world have been turning to screening services during the quarantine period in record numbers.

Last month, Netflix says that it doubled its number of new subscribers.

One of the new binge-worthy watches is Netflix is "Never Have I Ever" from actor and producer Mindy Kaling.

Amna Nawaz has this look at a new story being told by new voices, as part of our Race Matters series.

Her report is also part of our ongoing look at arts and culture, Canvas.

AMNA NAWAZ: The coming-of-age series tracks the trials and tribulations of 15-year-old Devi.

MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN, Actress: I'm so sorry.

That was such a weird thing to say.

ACTOR: All right.

You're weird girl.

AMNA NAWAZ: Whose parents emigrated from India to Los Angeles in 2001.

MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN: Do you mind going to the store and buying me a thong?

ACTRESS: What?

AMNA NAWAZ: After a horrible freshman year, Devi, played by MAITREYI Ramakrishnan, wants to change her social status, but her friends, family and feelings don't make it easy for her.

When Devi's father passes away, she also has to deal with grief.

One of the stars of the show, Poorna Jagannathan, known for roles in acclaimed dramas like "The Night Of"... ACTOR: Sorry to disturb.

POORNA JAGANNATHAN, Actress: I want to go back to yesterday.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... and "Big Little Lies" joins this cast as Nalini, Devi's mother.

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: The humor is built on top of an iceberg of grief.

AMNA NAWAZ: Jagannathan said watching the final episode in lockdown, even for her, was an intense experience.

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: I had obviously shot the show.

I have read the script.

I have done everything.

But it was a very emotional experience for me.

And when I was trying to unpack why, I think the series lets you grieve, lets you grieve, of course, for the people you may have lost.

But I think it also is an opportunity to grieve our time, grieve for a way of life, grief for the vast unknown in front of us.

And I think that's why it may have resonated.

AMNA NAWAZ: But there's also humor, which often comes from the unexpected narration of tennis legend John McEnroe.

JOHN MCENROE, Actor: Drunk and rude, Devi was indulging in what I would call self-destructive behavior.

AMNA NAWAZ: Who, according to Devi, held a special place in her late father's heart.

SENDHIL RAMAMURTHY, Actor: He doesn't let anyone push him around.

Look at him giving it back to that umpire.

He's a firecracker.

AMNA NAWAZ: Tell me what drew you to want to be a part of this project in the first place?

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: What drew me to it, of course, initially was being part of the Mindy Kaling brand of comedy.

Mindy Kaling's sense of humor is very aligned with my sense of humor.

ACTOR: Did you get a bone?

MINDY KALING, Actress: This is disgusting.

ACTOR: OK. POORNA JAGANNATHAN: And as I got deeper into the process, just the opportunity to play an immigrant mom.

I'm an immigrant mom.

I'm raising a child, a teenager in Los Angeles.

The parallels were really something I'm drawn to.

AMNA NAWAZ: Your family's originally from India.

Mindy Kaling's family is also originally from India.

How did all of that lived experience inform how these stories were told and which stories were told in each episode?

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: From day one, we entered a set, and there was a sense of belonging that was immediate.

And what that means is, every single aspect is something that you can have input on, which I have never experienced that.

There were a lot of Indian writers on staff and a lot of writers with immigrant parents on staff.

And that really, really showed up in the writing.

And so everything feels very true, feels very lived-in.

There's a TikTok video made, and the mother pulls her in with a T-shirt and the dress.

It's an experience that one of the writers had, and that will find its way in.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's another constant thread throughout all of the narrative, this whole balancing of cultures that we have seen in other shows before, even in other comedies before, right?

ACTRESS: I would shrink my shoulders.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm thinking of Eddie Huang's "Fresh Off the Boat."

ACTOR: The immigrant shrivel.

AMNA NAWAZ: Or Margaret Cho's series "All-American Girl" back in the '90s.

MARGARET CHO, Actress: Our society considers John Tesh a Renaissance man.

AMNA NAWAZ: There are scenes in the episodes, like a Hindu ceremony, where Devi is kind of trying to figure out where she fits in and how to balance those things.

ACTRESS: Pray you get into Princeton.

Don't waste your prayers on stupid things like world peace.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's something that a lot of first-generation and second-generation Americans can relate to.

Is that the intended audience for these kinds of stories?

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: For the South Asian audience, it feels amazing that this show is out there, because they feel seen and they feel like their experiences are reflected.

MAITREYI RAMAKRISHNAN: Is everyone having fun at my slumber party?

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: So, yes, it is amazing to see ourselves represented.

I don't think the show would have done as well as it has if it's only appealing to a South Asian audience, though.

There's something about the show, something about its themes around belonging and not belonging.

This show, I think, has very universal themes around which it's built.

AMNA NAWAZ: Some of those topics are very tough things to talk about.

Immigration is incredibly divisive right now in America.

Grief is something all Americans can relate to.

Are there lessons to be learned from the ways those kinds of difficult things are handled in this series?

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: First-generation kids have the agency to write stories, right?

And a lot of times, they're writing about their own experiences, and their parents are often the foils.

They're often the obstacles to getting what they want.

This project is not yet done?

Have you partnered with stupid people?

And, particularly, I can speak to the character of the South Asian mother.

She's often a caricature, or she's often not given agency at all.

She's often submissive within the larger family dynamics.

An opportunity to give space and give breath, give air and life to an immigrant story is helpful for everyone.

It helps humanize those around you, the grocery workers you see, the front-line health care workers you see, your neighbors, the people in your life.

I just think the show fosters a sense of community, a sense of family, a sense of belonging, a sense of coming together that people are desperately looking for right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: A sense of community, when we can all really use it.

That is Poorna Jagannathan, star of the new Netflix series "Never Have I Ever."

Thanks for being with us.

POORNA JAGANNATHAN: Thank you.

Really appreciate it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We end this Memorial Day with soldiers from the Army's 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, who have kept watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery around the clock for more than 70 years.

Now a look at how that tradition endures even through a pandemic.

This March, Arlington National Cemetery closed to most visitors, as COVID-19 hit the nation's capital.

But at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the cemetery's most iconic memorial, the watch never stopped.

SOLDIER: If it's thunderstorms, if it's raining, if it's a hurricane, if it's the coronavirus, we're always here.

We're always guarding.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Sentinels from the United States Army have guarded this tomb 24 hours a day since 1948.

SOLDIER: It's a very unique time for us to be in Arlington, because there's no one in here.

I think that's honestly when we feel closest to what we do.

When we feel closest to the unknowns is when no one's here.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Tomb guards now wear masks in their quarters as they prepare for their watch.

The changing of the guard ceremony has also been adjusted to allow for more distancing between personnel.

While the pandemic has disrupted traditions for many across the country, the Old Guard see the importance of fulfilling this duty.

SOLDIER: I think it's important for us to show to this country that we haven't forgotten, that we will never forget the sacrifices that these soldiers make.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And it says everything about what we value as Americans.

And that's the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff on this Memorial Day.

For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour, thank you, stay safe, and we'll see you soon.