amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the “newshour” tonight, president biden prepares to speak to congress, and the american people, in his annual state of the union address. amna: a cyberattack on the nation's biggest medical payment processing company cripples much of the united states health care system. geoff: and the u.k. government proposes new legislation to punish those responsible for the rising tensions triggered by the war in gaza. >> i haven't seen such open hostility towards categories of

individuals as i have since 7th of october, that willingness almost of brazenness to go out on the streets. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. >> actually, you don't need vision to do most things in life. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> a raymondjames financial advisor gets to know you, your passions, and the way you enrich your community. life well planned.

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amna: welcome to the "newshour." tonight, president biden will address congress and millions of americans in his third state of the union, and the last of his current term. geoff: it's a high stakes moment for the president as he continues his 2024 re-election campaign. the speech will give him the chance to reach voters and convince them to give him a second term in the white house. joining us to explain what we can expect are the newshour's lisa desjardins and laura barron-lopez. what new proposals and announcements can be expected from the president tonight? laura: president biden is expected to announce the u.s. military is going to establish an emergency port on the coast of gaza and we do not know exactly the location of where the port will be but we know the port will enable the delivery of truckloads via ship of crucial aid including food, water, medicine, temporary shelters. this announcement comes after the third airdrop in recent days

of aid and it means also know u.s. military will be required to deploy to gaza. in addition to that there are a number of key domestic proposals the president will be announcing including raising the corporate tax rate 28% per offering first-time homebuyers are $5,000 tax predicate capping out-of-pocket cost for prescription drugs for all americans, not just those on medicare. and urging congress to pass a bipartisan border deal. geoff: how are people in the white house and the biden campaign viewing this speech as a chance for the president to reconnect with the key parts of his coalition, the winning coalition that delivered him the white house in 2020? laura: people inside the white house tell me they view this speech is what they call the starting gun of 2024. it's a chance for the president to lay out his vision to the biggest audience he is likely to have this entire year. this is the type of audience he will not typically get if he is just getting a campaign speech.

a source close to the president told me when the president prepares for speeches like this he spends a lot of time by himself trying to think about what he wants to say. he takes input but he is also -- he tends to shut everything out. and we saw him really take a lot of time this weekend at camp david in preparation for this speech and we have an excerpt of what he is preparing to say that the white house provided to us based on his prepared remarks. he is expected to say my lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy paid now some other people my agency and american story of resentment, revenge and retribution. that's not me. that defense of democracy at home and abroad is going to be one of the three main themes of the president's speech. he is going to remind people about january 6, about the covid pandemic he inherited. and the other two pillars are defense of individual freedoms like abortion, ivf access, and

finally building upon his economic vision. geoff: lisa, if this speech is the starting gun of 2024, to use that phrase, how are republicans planning to respond? lisa: that is something we have rare bipartisan agreement on, that this is essentially the opening of the 2024 presidential season. the response will come from one of their most junior members, 42-year-old katie britt of alabama. speaking to her office, they believe one thing that she brings to the table is the fact that she is a working mom. they told me that her theme will be the idea that the republican party is the party of families and children. they will push that forward. another thing katie britt plans to do, she says she sees her speech as a closing prosecution of the case that joe biden failed as president. it seems to me she is not going to talk so much about donald trump but instead her job will be to take on joe biden's policies per specifically

kitchen table issues they want to talk about, inflation, prices. what immigration will certainly come up as well. this will be a big test for her but her office says she is a meticulous proper and they are not fazed even though they know it is an awkward format. one other thing we are watching for is if they will be outbursts in the chamber. mike johnson asked republicans not to have outbursts. but as we all know, he does not govern their individual decisions. geoff: we should also say that members of congress each get one ticket to get to a guest who can join inside the chamber. i know you have reached out to almost every house office. what did the guests tell us about the members of congress and there are priorities? lisa: in this time of national politics that seems so stratified we have seen local politics matter more than ever. these members have a lot at stake tonight and the messages they convey to their constituents. a lot of guests having to do

with health care. some having to do with crime we found three guests we thought were interesting that we wanted to highlight their stories were here tonight one is an ivf dr. come another, someone who received rare disease treatment. as you listen to these members here tonight from all over the u.s. i want to bring the voice of a woman who was at the selma march, bloody sunday, she was nine years old. that anniversary is tonight. and she came here to talk about voting rights. >> it was when i was nine years old that i participated as the youngest little girl on that bloody sunday and barch, the most romantic experience of my life. one of the things that is very critical as we embark upon a new election is that we continue to really push and fight, not only to vote but to get others engaged to become stirred voters per -- voters. >> earlier this week i was

performing ivf. i was retreating -- retrieving eggs from women for different reasons. i am here tonight to be able to advocate for them. >> i am visiting here today because i was fortunate to be a recipient of gene therapy for sickle-cell anemia. and it has been close to six years since my transplant and i have not experienced any pain or any crises related to it. i really just want to bring attention to the topic. lisa: another point of attention tonight, democratic women have decided to wear white. they say that his representation of women's rights, especially reproductive rights. of course that was the color of the suffragettes as well. i want to relay, tiktok has barraged these members today. many of them shut down their phones after this appeared on the tictac app -- tiktok app,

saying anyone who wanted to -- there was a backlash from congress. they passed a bill that would effectively ban tiktok. as much as president biden has so many bulls, many members are thinking about something else that might not come up. geoff: we have a report on that later in the broadcast. our thanks to you both and we will see you later this evening. amna: as lisa and laura reported, the stakes are high -- not just for president biden, but for republicans too -- in this pivotal election year. when john thune of south dakota first won his senate seat 20 years ago, he made history by defeating a party's senate leader for the first time in over 50 years. today, he's a candidate to replace mitch mcconnell as the senate's top republican. i spoke with senator thune moments ago. senator thune, welcome back to the "newshour." how are you? sen. thune: thanks, amna. good.

nice to be with you. amna: thank you so much for joining us. it's fair to say now, your party essentially has a presumptive nominee in former president trump after super tuesday. you have endorsed him, as have many others in leadership. i should point out, you were among those criticizing him after his second impeachment, when you said what he did, quote, to undermine faith in our election system and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power is inexcusable. so why support him today if what he did then was inexcusable? sen. thune: well, look, i said what i said then and i'm not going to relitigate it, but i think what we have in front of us now is a very clear choice. and the voters, republican voters around the country have made clear that they want president, former president trump to be the republican nominee. and i've said i would support the republican nominee. and i think now we have a clear choice. it's either going to be trump or biden. and my view is we need to put an end to the biden/schumer agenda, which consists of higher prices, broken borders, less energy independence, and a weakened america on the global stage.

those are things that a lot of us believe that we can change. if we can unite behind our nominee and we get a majority in the united states senate. and those are the types of things we're going to be working on, because we think the stakes are really high for the american people. amna: it seems there are a number of voters who still have questions, though. the primaries revealed specifically among republican primary voters in iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina, anywhere between 61% and 76% of nikki haley supporters said that they'd be so dissatisfied with mr. trump that they would not vote for him in november. so how does he win them over? sen. thune: i think it's really important for the former president now that a lot of those primaries are out of the way, there are still some coming, but he clearly is winning very decisively. he's got to reach out and build a coalition of support that is broad enough, wide enough, strong enough, and deep enough to win a national election. he's got tremendous support, as you know, loyalty among base voters.

but general elections are decided in the middle of the electorate. and so i think it's really important that he reach out to nikki haley supporters, to, you know, suburban voters, independent voters, people who a lot of times are, you know, can swing back and forth in elections. he's going to have to have them in order to win the election in november. and a lot of us believe that he's got he's got to perform that way at the top of the ballot. and it'll help our down ballot races in the senate and the house. and we're trying to get a majority of the united states senate. amna: i want to ask you about the race to replace senator mitch mcconnell as leader when he steps down later this year. you have thrown your hat in the ring. on the issue of ukraine aid specifically, do you think as leader, you would be able to convince house republicans to back aid to ukraine in a way that mitch mcconnell has not yet so far, especially if mr. trump continues to oppose it? sen. thune: i think that the challenge, of course, right now, with the situation deteriorating there, is to try and feel a sense of urgency about this.

i'm hoping the house can execute on getting something passed, ideally the senate bill, but if not something that they could send to the senate that we could then act on. i'm hoping that there is enough of a consensus. and, a majority of republicans in the house who believe that we need to defend america's interests, we need to stand with our allies, that this does represent a national security threat for our country. america can not retreat from the world stage. american leadership is desperately needed now more than more than i think any time in recent history. and we need to make sure that ukraine has the weaponry and the resources that it needs to defeat the russians, because if we're not sending them american weapons and they succeed in ukraine and they go into a role into a nato country, then we're going to be sending american sons and daughters. and i would much rather send weaponry, ammunition, that sort of thing, and let the ukrainian people, who have been really good about carrying the fight to the russians, win that battle. and i hope that we can get the political support to make that happen. amna: senator, as you know,

abortion access remains a top issue for millions of voters. we do expect president biden to speak to that tonight. and i guess when you ask democrats, you know, what is their stance on abortion, they say, protect a woman's right to choose. what would you say is the republican stance on abortion access? sen. tne: well, i think that the republican position is to let the people decide. and, you know, what the court said is this is not going to be decided by people in black robes in washington, d.c. this needs to go back to the states and their voters. and i think that's exactly what's happening. states around the country are making decisions, putting policies in place that reflect the will and the sentiment of the voters in those individual states. amna: on a related issue, we saw the alabama ruling on ivf show how just how far and wide reaching the implications of the overturning of roe v. wade can go. your republican colleague blocked a bill that would actually protect ivf access nationwide. so i just wanted to ask on your

stance, do you support ivf treatment? sen. thune: absolutely. ivf has been an amazing, i guess you would say, solution for a lot of couples and families that haven't been able to have kids. and i think it's been made clear, of course, the alabama court took a position, but the alabama legislature has since ruled, or proposed legislation on that which the governor has since signed in support of ivf. and i don't think that you will find very many people in this country who don't realize what an effective method it is of enabling people who otherwise couldn't to be able to have a family. so we're pro-family, we're pro-life, and ivf represents that. amna: i need to ask you more broadly about this moment in time where we are now eight months before the election. you have two elderly, unpopular candidates with very different visions for america. one, however, does face 91 criminal charges. he tried to stop the peaceful

transfer of power and already lost to mr. biden in 2020. so in an election that hinges on a few states and very narrow margins, are you worried that voters concerned about all of those things will either stay home or vote for a third party candidate? sen. thune: i think in the end -- and i know there's always a lot of conversations about third party candidates. and clearly in some cases, the people don't like the options they could stay home. but i do really think that you'll see a big turnout this year, because i think people see a very clear choice. and you pointed out, these are contrasting visions, and these are very different views about how to lead this country in the direction we ought to head in. and i'm one who believes that we need a pivot and we need to go in a different direction. and that we need new leadership both in the white house and in congress, or at least in the senate. and so my view is that, as people think about this election, yes, i want them to -- i want them to vote. i want the electorate to be energized and engaged. and i ultimately believe they will be, because i think, as i said before, the stakes are really high and i think people

understand what's at risk here if we don't get it right. and i'm, i'm hopeful again that we'll see people turn out big numbers and that they'll vote for republicans for senate and hopefully, president trump for the white house. amna: that is senate republican with john thune of south dakota joining us tonight. senator, thank you. always great to see you. sen. thune: thanks, amna. nice to see you. amna: and we'll have more live coverage of the state of the union online and later tonight beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern, right here on pbs. ♪ geoff: in the day's other headlines, president biden edged closer to clinching the democratic presidential nomination overnight. he won the hawaii caucuses with 66% of the vote, but the choice of uncommitted received 29%. the president still needs a

little over 400 delegates to wrap up the nomination. a move to bar access to tiktok headed to the house floor today after a strong show of support in committee. the vote was 50 to nothing to make the chinese firm bytedance sell off the video-sharing app, or see it banned. the bill also allows for denying access to a foreign-owned app that's deemed a danger to national security. tiktok denies that it poses any danger to u.s. users. in the middle east, ceasefire talks in cairo are now on hold, with little chance of a deal before the muslim holy month of ramadan starts. hamas blamed israel today for refusing to accept a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal from gaza. but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu told a military graduation ceremony today that the offensive will not stop. >> today i want to tell you in clear words, the idf will continue to operate against all hamas battalions all over the gaza strip and this includes rafah, the last stronghold of hamas. whoever tells us not to operate in rafah tells us to lose the

war, and that will not happen. geoff: meantime, jordan, the u.s., and other countries air-dropped more humanitarian supplies into northern gaza. but relief workers said it's still only a fraction of what's actually needed. sweden officially became the 32nd member of nato today. the swedes and finland moved to join the alliance after russia invaded ukraine. today, swedish prime minister handed over final documents to secretary of state antony blinken in washington. the papers were officially deposited into a special vault. here at home, a jury in michigan heard opening statements in the involuntary manslaughter trial of james crumbley. his teenage son killed four high school classmates in 2021. today, the father listened as prosecutors noted he bought the handgun used in the shootings. the defense argued he had no way of knowing his son's intent. >> james crumbley bought that gun that his son used to kill as a gift for his son four days before the attack.

james crumbley failed to secure that gun in a way to prevent his son from accessing it. >> the prosecution alleges that james crumbley had knowledge that his son could and would hurt other people and that he failed to protect those people, that he failed to take steps to protect others. and ladies and gentlemen, that simply is not true. geoff: the shooter's mother, jennifer crumbley, was found guilty of the same charges last month. x-cel energy acknowledged today that its equipment apparently ignited a giant wildfire in the texas panhandle. but the utility also disputed any claim of negligence. authorities are still investigating the cause of the blaze that's become the largest in state history. it burned nearly 1700 square miles and hundreds of buildings but is now nearly half contained. and on wall street, stocks rallied as federal reserve chair

jerome powell said the central bank is not far from cutting interest rates. the dow jones industrial average gained 130 points to close at 38,791. the nasdaq rose 241 points. the s&p 500 added 52. and a 29-year-old sailor, cole brauer, has become the first american woman to complete a solo race around the world. she stood on her 40-foot sailboat, gliding into a spanish port early today, after setting sail from the same spot 130 days ago. once on land, the champagne flowed as she celebrated. congratulations to her. still to come on the "newshour," the biden administration's effort to restore america's global influence after trump left office. and the challenges tribal communities face accessing the internet. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

amna: a cyberattack on a little-known health care company last month has caused major trouble and serious financial consequences for hospitals, doctors, and patients around the country. stephanie sy looks at the impact and the efforts to solve these problems. stephanie: amna, the american hospital association has described the hack as quote, the most serious cyberattack in history on the health care system. it began about two weeks ago when hackers shut down a payment processing system run by a company called change, owned by united healthcare. change essentially functions as a middleman between insurers, providers, hospitals, and pharmacies. hospitals and other medical practices have not been able to process bills and get payments they need to operate. doctors and patients have been unable to get insurance approvals for some procedures. and until a few days ago, pharmacies were also impacted. here's what one doctor in texas posted on tiktok.

>> this morning, i spent probably several hours calling several pharmacies because my patients haven't received their prescriptions that i prescribed last week. so, it's not usual that i have to call the pharmacies. like, usually i only couple pharmacies if there are shortages of controlled substances or something else is going on. stephanie: she suspects the delays were because of the healthcare hack. this week, the department of health and human services announced steps to help, including providing some advanced payments for providers. but problems remain. dan diamond has been covering this for the washington post and joins me now. dan, welcome to the "newshour." you heard me describe some of the problems. give us a sense of the scope and magnitude of the disruptions, and who has borne the brunt of the impact? dan: change health care was the middleman for tens of millions of health claims every day. that means virtually everyone in health care is being touched by

this directly because they are waiting to get aid or they work with performers and players that are waiting. right now there are real pains for physicians. physicians don't necessarily have the cash flow for now two weeks of not getting paid. we have talked here at the washington post to doctors who have had to take out emergency loans, that have gone on heroic measures to keep their practices open. hospitals have also been able to scramble and try and figure out how to keep their operations paid for. pharmacists as you mentioned earlier, i talked to a therapist who has not been paid. it is touching every corner of health care. stephanie: his critical patient care being impacted? dan: right now, no. there are efforts to make sure patients are being protected. procedures are still taking place. it is a backend issue, but they are so severe that inevitably if this continues there will be problems facing the front end.

there will be doctors who cannot keep their lights on. staff might have to be furloughed pretty eventually it will be a crisis point and that what -- that is what health officials are trying to stave off by starting to advance emergency loans to keep these providers moving. stephanie: we are now already at least two weeks since the hack was reported and there have been reports that united health care may have paid a $22 million ransom to the cyber gang purportedly behind the attack. why isn't the system back up and running if that is the case? dan: first, i think hackers are not necessarily the most reliable partners here. even though there may have been a payment from united health, they have not confirmed that, he will not necessarily resolve the issue when you are dealing with one of these groups. there are still systems that need to be checked. there is data that may not be in the hands of united. it is very risky when dealing

with ransomware to begin with and the scope of the hack was so extensive it is hard to flip the switch back on even if the hackers have returned what was taken. stephanie: what made change healthcare vulnerable to this, and more broadly, what does it expose about weaknesses in our healthcare system? dan: change was vulnerable in part because they are a big target. even before united bought them, and united is one of the largest companies in the u.s. change was already this major processor of claims. they take data from hospitals and doctors and check that data, pass it onto the insurance company. they are in the middle of all of these transactions. they have sensitive nickel data that is very alert to hackers. so i am not exactly sure. i am not sure we know the ways the hackers found their way into change but health care companies are under attack in this way all the time. this just happens to be a particularly large hack. it also has pointed to how much

we rely on just a handful of health care companies as consolidation increases across country. change is a major middleman owned by united health which has its fingers all over health care right now. that is something that government officials i have talked with this week have been thinking about as well. there is an antitrust probe into united. but there is a real question about what are the risks if so much of health care is concentrated in just a few hands. stephanie: we talked a little about the department of health and human services response. how do physicians and hospitals feel about how the government has reacted? dan: they are not feeling great. no one is happy with the response so far. hospitals have got more help, they have a per pockets so they are able to weather the pain better than some other organizations. but even hospitals say they need more than the loans that are being offered potentially by the federal government.

physicians are not eligible for those loans right now. unitedhealth has made available emergency loans for doctors, but they have told us they are being offered pennies on the dollar. they might be down millions of dollars at this point in claims that have not been paid and they are being offered thousands of dollars, maybe $10,000 to patch that hole, which they cannot do. so there is bipartisan outrage in congress. i was at the white house today talking with officials who say they are looking to the private sector right now to try and solve before the federal government steps in more. stephanie: dan diamond with the washington post, thanks so much for your reporting. dan: thank you, stephanie. ♪ geoff: in britain, the government there is planning new legislation to punish extremists responsible for rising tensions over the war in gaza. as special correspondent malcolm brabant tells us, prime minister rishi sunak is concerned that

both jewish and muslim communities are being targeted, and that social cohesion is under threat. malcolm: support for the palestinian cause in the city of brighton is particularly vocal. protesters were blacked to mourn for gaza and show disdain for rishi sunak's urgent speech to the nation last friday. >> in recent weeks and months we have seen a shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality. what started as protests on the street has descended into intimidation, threats, and plant ask of violence. malcolm: the demonstration was peaceful, but this organizer did not like the scrutiny of our camera. american television. >> oh. i am not giving you permission to film. malcolm: i have permission to film because this is an open space. freedom to film in public places is a long-standing british tradition. but national values including

tolerance are under strain. >> jewish children, fearful to wear their school uniform, lest they reveal their identity. muslim women abused in the street for the actions of a terrorist group they have no connection with. now, our democracy itself is a target. malcolm: across the square, jewish residents stood guard amount -- around a memorial to victims of the hamas terrorist attack on southern israel on a tovar seventh. >> the day after the attack they had a demonstration in the center of the city and they had a speaker who praised the october 7 massacre and said it was a day of celebration. that is who these people are. malcolm: her father was kidnapped and remains a hostage. >> you speak to any jew in the countries, many of them will be experiencing a heightened sense of insecurity and fear because of weekly protests, people shouting at them as they exit

their synagogues. people harassing them on social media. social media is a sewer right now. malcolm: from the others of town, former dancer lee whitaker carried a bundle to represent children killed by israel's bombardment of gaza. >> you can see what extremists we are. that is just rishi sunak. he is making trouble. it is actually a protest of love. thousands of us marching in london. i have never seen any trouble. there is such a wonderful feeling of camaraderie. malcolm: in london, the mayor is concerned that anti-muslim bigotry is also on the rise. >> what we are witnessing is a concerted attempt by some to degrade and humiliate my to woody's for --humiliate minorities for political gain. malcolm: but an angry debate in

parliament about gaza last month raised fears about intimidation. >> i am very, very concerned about the security of all members. malcolm: this chant is at the center of government concerns. while some right-wing israeli factions use from the river to the sea to talk to palestinians about expulsions, jewish groups regard the pro-palestinian version as a threat to wipe israel off the map. it was projected onto parliament's clocktower as members were arguing about the war. >> mp's do not feel safe in their homes. there is no context in which it can be acceptable to beam anti-semitic tropes into big ben in the middle of a vote on israel/gaza. >> i don't think it was just policymaking. he was bringing attention to what he and the official position is of significancy.

malcolm: he monitors extremism. >> i have not seen such open hostility towards categories of individuals as i have since october 7. that willingness, almost a brazenness to go out on the streets and to be really vile and horrible and invite hatred and in some circumstances violence against people by category is something we have not really seen. malcolm: in brighton, the demonstration organizer gave his verdict on rishi sunak's plans to crack down on extremism. >> we will not be intimidated by sunak. we will not be intimidated. malcolm: but this was russell the day after the hamas terrorist attack.

>> [indiscernible] >> someone who glorifies a terrorist organization and is reckless, it takes the risk that someone -- malcolm: the traditional jewish prayer of mourning, next to a memorial that has frequently been vandalized. across town, white flags for the palestinian dead, and the chant, which can warrant arrest in aggravating circumstances. we approach the men with the megaphone. i am from american tv. can i ask you a question? >> you are not allowed to take a photo of me. malcolm: yes i am. i am in a public space. >> we are here to support people who have been massacred and murdered, children and babies, and you are here sticking that in people's faces. don't you think that is disgraceful? malcolm: i am merely asking a

question. >> you came and picked on this man. malcolm: no i didn't. police ushered us away, because here, asking questions risks a breach of the peace. for the pbs "newshour," i'm malcolm brabant. ♪ amna: the foreign policy focus of president biden's state of the union address tonight will be on israel and ukraine. and he'll present himself as a steady steward of american interests around the world, drawing a contrast between his approach and former president trump's. a new book examines how president biden's foreign policies break, but sometimes embrace, his predecessor's. here's nick schifrin with more. nick: when joe biden became president, he proudly declared, america is back. he and his administration believe that former president donald trump and his administration had mistreated

allies, become an unreliable partner, and pursued misplaced priorities. but did the biden administration really abandon trump's foreign policy? how did the collapse of kabul humble biden's most senior aides? and how has the administration's strategy shifted as it faces two unexpected wars in europe and the middle east? that is the story told in the new book, the internationalists, the fight to restore american foreign policy after trump. the author is alexander ward, a national security reporter at politico. alex, thanks very much. pleasure to have you here. so let's start in afghanistan. you write, for an administration that felt america had to be humble about the limits of their power, the preparation for afghanistan was coated in hubris. how? alex: well, part of it was that they expected, basically, that they could end the war with minimal chaos. they expected chaos, to be clear, but not for it to be as chaotic as it was. part of it was that the intelligence they had at the time of the decision to leave was that it would take 18 to 24 months for the taliban to take over. and they didn't actually really

question that intelligence or that timeline, even though there was even open source material showing that the taliban was ready for a pretty quick sweep. nick: and of course, there were internal people in the state department saying that intelligence was wrong. alex: precisely. nick: a senior official told you that had we known we only had a few months after the president's decision in april to withdraw, we would have done things differently. probably so. do we have any idea what they would have done differently, had they known? alex: really fast track the rebuild of the siv program, the special immigrant visa program, which was to bring afghan allies of americans back to the u.s. one of the reasons they hadn't scaled that up so quickly, well, part of it was it was decimated in the trump years. but the other was they thought they had 18 to 24 months, so that was something that they could work on sort of in the longer term. another might have been the pentagon decided speed was safety. they went faster than even the white house and some of the state department expected. so i think in the in the rethink of how this could have happened, one would have been a greater coordination between all the agencies and especially on how quickly the military would

leave, because that shrunk some of the options available to the administration nick: you have this extraordinary anecdote about that lack of coordination, or at least part of the debate between state and d.o.d. you write about a meeting in which a state department official told four stars, including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, mark milley, sitting across the table that, quote, the state department had a higher risk threshold than the soldiers at the table. and milley nearly jumped out of his chair. how did that tension between state and d.o.d. play out? alex: the state department was preparing to stay in kabul. they were preparing for a longer mission there, but it was the pentagon that was saying it's time to go. the weakest part of a military is one that is retreating. nick: while they're retreating. that's what they were worried about. alex: precisely, yes. while they're retreating. so in that case, there was just a mismatch in what the goals were. nick: despite the chaos, you write that afterward, there was never any serious reckoning inside the administration about afghanistan. no one offered to resign, in large part because the president did not believe anyone had made a mistake.

that is an extraordinary thing. why not? alex: because at the end of the day, it was the right strategic decision to leave. that's how the administration sees it. now, with all that's going on in the world today, they would argue, look, isn't it great that we're out of a war we couldn't win after 20 years, that the military had no real solution for, that we spent a lot of money, time, and treasure to execute. and so it makes sense that we would leave. nick: how much of the disaster in afghanistan informed their decision making ahead of the ukraine full scale invasion? alex: quite a bit. they wanted a lot more coordination between the agencies. they wanted to let allies know what they were doing. so when the ukraine intelligence was coming to the fore, the u.s. said, look, tell our allies what we're up to, what we know, tell the ukrainians what we know, get every agency coordinated, build a tiger team, work on every single possible scenario. nick: the other focus, of course, for the administration today is israel. and you write about the early days of the biden administration dealing with the crisis in israel and gaza, and you chronicle joe biden's decades-long support for israel. and, as you put it, strategy of

honey in public, vinegar on the phone. how has that played out, not only what you write about in 2021 and 2022, but today? alex: well, if you talked to the biden administration in 2021, it worked quite well because that conflict, while deadly and brutal, ended after 11 days. enter october 7, the attack of october 7, which of course, was brutal and 1200 people died on one day, then you, of course, have a far right government in israel, and you have a public reeling after what they saw. and so it's a much bigger, a different context that it was in 2021. the administration still uses that playbook. the honey in public, vinegar in private. but with that context, that different context, it's harder to have as much suasion over the israelis as the u.s. had in 2021. nick: you quote an administration official in 2021 saying that the team was not putting a, quote, effing second of effort into a two-state solution. did that have an impact in today's war? alex: potentially. we don't really know.

but one of the things critics were saying from really from the trump administration through the biden administration, was that you can focus on the abraham accords and you can focus on normalization deals all you want. but the israeli-palestinian issue is still there and it's still festering. and so if you leave that wound to fester, it will eventually cause you problems. and so, with the biden administration, they really felt that a bank shot was better, that you could maybe get to the palestinian-israeli conflict through the normalization deals. nick: and that's one example, i think, of something that you rightly point out. how has the biden administration not abandoned trump foreign policy? alex: we cannot deny that there are many elements of trumpism in bidenism, one of which would be the competition with china, keeping export controls on them, keeping the tariff war going, one of which would also be the abraham accords. that's a continuation of trump-era policy. and this general railing against free trade and globalization, a sense that we have to protect a lot of our industries here at home in order to make life better for the middle class. you don't get the biden administration foreign policy without trump's win. it is born from the trauma of trump's victory. jake sullivan, the national security advisor, is right there next to hillary clinton that

she's conceding to trump. and what he's thinking is, hey, i was born in this traditional democratic foreign policy thinking, i'm a minnesota boy, how did i lose populist politics to a new york billionaire real estate magnet? and so he spends four years trying to figure out how to do this, and that thinking, this foreign policy for the middle class epithet, has become the underlying intellectual framework for what we've seen in this administration so far. nick: alex ward, the book is the internationalist, the fight to restore american foreign policy after trump. thank you very much. alex: thanks for having me. ♪ geoff: and we'll be back shortly for a look at the barriers to internet access in some tribal communities. amna: but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like this one on the air.

♪ geoff: for those of you staying with us, growth in the global art market is spawning new investors. economics correspondent paul solman takes a look at the prudence of investing in art in this encore report for our arts and culture series, canvas. paul: the grand opening of a european art stock market which planes to start trading soon, selling shares in art like this francis bacon, one work at a time. >> we are the equivalent of nasdaq, the new york stock exchange. paul: the cofounder and ceo. >> instead of buying a corporate share in a company, you buy a share into a masterpiece. paul: one of 550,000 shares in a triptych by the late painter francis bacon. an ipo, public offering, with

shares priced at $100 each. in what way get for that? >> you get the appreciation in the exact way if you got an appreciation if you bought one ounce of gold. paul: they are the latest firm to sell shares an individual works of art, but not the first. >> in the past, collectors and dealers have often bought things in small consortiums. paul: wall street journal art correspondent kelly crow. >> they did pioneer this idea that you could pool your money and by better things and hold it for a time and resell it. paul: so somebody could buy a share of a warhol were a reproduction that you own? >> yes. paul: now it is new york's master words already sells -- >> masterworks is a firm that makes art an investable asset class. the first firm that has ever

done it. we started in 2017. paul: during which the firm's value has climbed to more than $1 billion it says. employees beating the bushes for marketable high-value artwork and customers to whom to help shares in a masterwork, like an andy warhol. >> this is actually about 100 years old which is always interesting. utility artists have definitely cracked the code on living forever. paul: the usual minimum investment, $15,000. for shares of an artwork whose price is derived from an auction database tracking 7000 artists post-world war ii. masterworks says it only buys bucha's, artists like warhol, whose values have outperformed the stock and bond markets for the past 20 years. >> the artwork is just super unregulated. it is sort of like the wild

west. if you want to buy a $100 share just for kicks, just like he would go to a baseball game just to have fun, roll the dice and have some fun. i would just be a little nervous taking out a second mortgage. paul: even for a painting as highly valued as the francis bacon triptych? >> these triptych's that sold in 2017 for $1 million are important because that lover eventually committed suicide on the eve of a major show. we really love the soap opera of an artist's life and how that feeds into the work. paul: contemporary art consultant alex, who helped his -- he's sold to masterworks. so an art stock market is a good thing? >> i don't know if it is healthy for art and the appreciation of art long-term. if the conversation is more about the money than the art, it

devalues and undermines the very purpose of our. paul: but the argument is, hmm, i will start out as an investor and learn more about it. i will become an art appreciator. >> but what you are trying to learn about is why this is a savvy investment, why this artist is poised for an uptick in their value, that is at odds are but perhaps put that artist in net position in the first place. paul: in other words we are talking speculation, as in some 1000 picassos and innumerable other brand name works stored in warehouses around the world. or more recently, speculation in digital nft's, that boomed then swooned since i interviewed this investor a year ago. what has happened to the nft market since last we talked? >> a lot has changed. we saw the speculative bubble pop. paul: which had seen the board

eight double in value to $400, 000, before falling to around $100,000 today by his estimate. do you have second thoughts, misgivings about having bought your bored ape? >> absolutely not. it will certainly hold its value over time. paul: unlike pancake day, which fetched more than one million pounds in 1895, $1 billion or more today. israel's largest painting at auction in recent years brought $35,000. just one of countless examples that illustrate what philosopher barbara smith calls the contingencies of value. >> value is not fixed, inherent, objective, and part of object, but the product of numerous

interaction between people and things in their universe. it is contingent in the sense that what affects their interactions changes. the question is always going to be, will it continue to be valued over time? not, will it continue to have value over time. paul: and thus for the investment value of art we have learned to prize, from leonardo and rembrandt, to picasso, bacon, warhol, a bored ape, time will tell. if we fickle mortals will continue valuing them as we do today. for the pbs "newshour," paul solman, mostly in new york. ♪ amna: for many tribal communities in america, internet

access isn't always as easy as logging on to a computer. the fcc reports almost 28% of tribal land residents lack high-speed broadband, compared to 1.5% of urban residents. the biden administration is offering funds to change that, but as student reporter maria staubs from arizona state university's cronkite school of journalism tell us, better connectivity may not be enough. maria: this construction project on the tohono o'odham nation is bringing the 21st century to a rural part of arizona. >> here on the reservation, our connection with the internet is kind of sparse, so it's here or there. maria: the tohono o'odham utility authority is laying down a fiber optic network to provide high-speed internet to members of the nation. it's thanks to a $10 million grant from the department of agriculture. >> we are moving more towards the technology era and we don't want to get left behind. maria: vaya chin resident tonya joaquin says the high-speed internet will improve her

family's education and health care. >> we live about two hours, 2.5 hours away from town. my son will have telemed. so, he sees a doctor out at the phoenix children's hospital. we don't have to drive there. we have a home visit on the internet. >> we're able to educate and teach our tribal membership of all ages. maria: kristan johnson manages operations for the tribe's main internet service provider. she says broadband will provide opportunities for economic development. >> whether they're basket weavers, they are dressmakers, you know, they harvest or whatever they do, they're able to put that on the internet and be able to sell it and be, you know, help themselves out. maria: while members of the nation have welcomed the investment in broadband infrastructure, there are fundamental barriers that prevent its full implementation in native american communities. high on the list, access to a computer or a smart phone at home, and an understanding of how to use them. >> we have elders that don't

even know what the internet is. maria: brian fickett is the general manager of the agency that provides internet and cell service to the tribe. >> these folks will be able to connect at home just like they would off the reservation. maria: here at the tohono o'odham community college, a computer literacy training program provides 10 members from each district with education on how to use the internet. >> your subject line right here. maria: lessons can be as simple as sending an email. anselmo ramon is one of the leaders of the program. >> we train them from the very basics of the components, move them up to the features on the keyboard, move them up to turning it on and off. maria: there are students of all ages here. some are familiar with the technology. >> it's been over five years since i used a computer. so, this is really helping me to learn more. maria: others are starting fresh. >> it's really new to me. everything's new to me. i've never been on the computer.

maria: funding for the computer training course lasts only two years, so anselmo ramon has devised a plan to grow computer literacy throughout his tribal nation. it relies on students passing on their newfound knowledge. >> so in train the trainer, we want to train 10 people. in turn we want those people to train another family member or a friend or a co-worker. maria: it's a practical solution because tribal members understand before they can run with high speed internet, they have to first learn how to walk. for the "pbs newshour," i'm maria staubs with cronkite news on the tohono o'odham tribal lands. ♪ amna: and don't forget to join us later tonight for our live coverage of president biden's state of the union address. we'll have full coverage of the president's speech as well as analysis from our correspondents

and our expert panel. that starts at 9:00 p.m. eastern, right here on pbs. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. we hope we will see you later this evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf. the engine that connects us. the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "newshour," including leonard and norma

klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the "newshour." this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour&and company." here's what's coming up. starving to death, the war over food in gaza five months into the israeli siege. and shuttle diplomacy, netanyahu rival benny gantz does his best to keep up appearances. israeli historian and writer fanya salz berger reflects on the sorrow and morality of this war. plus -- there's no reasono be --