GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: REP. PATRICK MCHENRY (R-NC): The Honorable Mike Johnson of the state of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected speaker of the House of Representatives.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) AMNA NAWAZ: House Republicans finally choose a speaker.

Who is Mike Johnson, and can he get pressing legislative business done?

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel appears ready to delay a ground invasion of Gaza, buying time for hostage negotiations, humanitarian aid for Palestinians, and a buildup of U.S. defenses.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Judy Woodruff explores how American democracy has survived despite deep polarization at many points in history, a reason for optimism in these divided times.

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON, Author, "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America": We have, in fact, always been divided.

The question is whether that division dominates our politics or not.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

We are following two major stories tonight.

Deadly bombardments continue in Gaza, and there are signs today that Israel's expected ground invasion may be delayed.

We will delve into the war's developments throughout the program.

GEOFF BENNETT: But, first, here in the U.S., a breakthrough.

The House of Representatives has a new speaker after 22 days of leaderless, gridlocked chaos following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Mike Johnson of Louisiana won all 220 Republican votes cast earlier today.

That's 20 more than the three prior GOP nominees managed on the floor or behind closed doors.

After emerging from the leadership vacuum, Speaker Johnson said Congress must win back Americans' faith.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Their faith is at an all-time low.

And one of the reasons they have lost it is because the Congress over the years has not delivered for the American people well enough.

We're in the majority right now.

We have gone through a little bit of suffering.

We have gone through a little bit of character building, and you know what it's produced?

More strength, more perseverance and a lot of hope.

And that's what we're about to deliver to the American people.

(APPLAUSE) GEOFF BENNETT: Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is on Capitol Hill, where she has tracked every twist in this unprecedented political drama.

Lisa, it's great to see you, as always.

So, weeks of infighting among House Republicans apparently opened a lane for Mike Johnson to emerge as a fourth-round draft pick and claim the gavel.

How did it all come together?

LISA DESJARDINS: How about that?

Three weeks, it took and four nominees.

How?

There were several dynamics at play here.

For one, House Republicans simply exhausted themselves.

Second, they ran through all of their top leaders, essentially, gave them all tryouts.

They failed.

And then they landed on Mike Johnson, who has allies and is well thought of in most every faction here in the House.

And he has also liked and was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

One more thing.

As he said today on the House floor, he has pledged to give House Republican members more power.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The job of the speaker of the House is to serve the whole body, and I will, but I have made a commitment to my colleagues here that this speaker's office is going to be known for decentralizing the power here.

LISA DESJARDINS: Now, that, of course, can lead to a more robust House floor, more legislation, but it is also a double-edged sword, as we have seen, because more power to members could mean problems for leadership and when you have big decisions, as Speaker Johnson will have soon with government funding due to run out in just three weeks.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa, a decade ago, Mike Johnson wasn't even in politics.

Now he's in the presidential line of succession as House speaker.

Tell us more about him and his background.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Let's get right to his bio.

Mike Johnson is 51 years old.

He was elected this same year as President Trump, came in 2016 to Congress.

Now, he is someone who is a constitutional lawyer.

He has actually litigated especially on socially conservative issues.

He is also the co-host of a Christian broadcast - - podcast with his wife.

He's an evangelical Christian.

That is a part not just of his faith, but of his politics as well.

Let's talk about his beliefs and his policy here.

Now, he is a fiscal hawk.

He announced today that he wants to create a commission to look at the national debt.

On Ukraine, he is someone who supports Ukraine.

However, he has recently questioned larger funding bills, even voted against some.

So we will watch him closely on that issue.

Now, on gay rights, LGBTQ issues, in the early 2000s, he is someone who wrote about the idea that gay marriage should be allowed to be banned, and that states should be allowed to have sodomy laws.

On abortion, he supports and, in fact, filed legislation for a national 15-week abortion ban.

And as you can hear in some of his hearings, he had sat on the House Judiciary Committee, abortion is a key issue for him.

GEOFF BENNETT: I thought we were going to hear some sound there from one of his... REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The quintessential... GEOFF BENNETT: There we go.

Do we have that sound?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON: The quintessential health care issue is the sanctity of every single human life, the sanctity of the life of the unborn child.

LISA DESJARDINS: Believing that life begins at conception, he wants to restrict it more.

And one more thing.

When it comes to 2020 election, Mike Johnson, the constitutional attorney, was actually a big force in pushing -- supporting that states lawsuit to try and object to the certification of results, filed an amicus brief.

He also objected to the results on January 6.

He later said that wasn't symbolic.

However, that is something that we're going to hear more about.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, tell me more about that, Lisa, what he said about his role in working to undermine the 2020 election results and what Democrats have said about that.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Johnson, on January 6, after the riot happened, did an interview in which he said that he never thought his actions would actually lead to and he didn't intend them to lead to overturning the election.

He called them symbolic.

However, some of the folks that listened to him thought otherwise.

Now, this is a question that Democrats raised today.

It is a chief objection they have.

They say it's dangerous to have a speaker who holds these views.

This is also a question that our Laura Barron-Lopez asked to President Biden today.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: After 22 days, House Republicans just elected Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the speaker of the House.

Johnson advocated conspiracy theories about voting machines and a rigged election in 2020.

He encouraged his colleagues to join a lawsuit to invalidate the results of four states.

So, if you win reelection in 2024, are you worried that a Speaker Johnson would again attempt to overturn the election?

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: No, just like I was not worried that the last guy would be able to overturn the election.

They have about 60 lawsuits, and they all went to the Supreme Court, and, every time, they lost.

I understand the Constitution.

LISA DESJARDINS: And I think we're eager to hear where Mr. Johnson is right now in the 2020 election.

I should Speaker Johnson.

Have to get used to that.

He was asked about it last night shortly after he was nominated.

He said, "Next question," didn't answer.

And also today he gave his first remarks.

He did not take questions.

So I think that is something that we hope to clarify with him.

But, meanwhile, Democrats, who do have that concern, also some of the most progressive Democrats told me today they liked Speaker Johnson's remarks on the floor today and they want to see how he does before they judge any more.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins, thanks, as always.

For a view from inside the House Republican Conference on the new speaker, we're joined by Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa.

Thank you for being with us.

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS (R-IA): My pleasure.

GEOFF BENNETT: As we just heard, Mike Johnson was the architect of an effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

Why was that not a deal-breaker for you, given that you were someone who did not object to the certification of Joe Biden's election win?

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: As you know, I voted to certify all of the electors.

I think that's what constitutionally that we are to do.

However, other individuals interpreted that a different way.

As you know, we have been 22 days without a speaker; 208 Democrats voted with eight Republicans to oust Speaker McCarthy.

I think that that was an erroneous decision.

I voted against the motion to vacate Speaker McCarthy.

And so we're left in a position where, in order to have a candidate that, by consensus, all of the House Republicans could vote on, that person ended up being Mike Johnson, after several other candidates were eliminated.

So I think we need a speaker.

We need to put forth our resolution to condemn Hamas and to support Israel.

We need to get back American hostages, and we need to pass appropriations bills, because we know that we're coming up against another deadline on November 17 to be able to fund the government.

GEOFF BENNETT: The job of House speaker requires one to be bipartisan.

That's especially true in this current scenario, where there's a Democratic-led Senate and White House.

Will the current House Republican Conference allows Speaker Johnson to do deals with Democrats?

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: Well, I think that, if you know Representative Johnson, now Speaker Johnson, he is a person that is very humble.

He is willing to work with individuals.

He is respectful of other individuals.

And so I think -- although we don't have a track record from him, I think that he is someone that puts the best interests of the country both in mind and in heart.

And so I think that you will see that displayed in action.

GEOFF BENNETT: You mentioned earlier this prolonged speaker race.

You ultimately voted twice against Jim Jordan, voted for Mike Johnson, obviously.

Mike Johnson is more genial than Jim Jordan, but he's no less a hard-liner.

He is on the far right of the spectrum when it comes to issues like reproductive rights, same-sex marriage.

Why vote in support of Johnson and against Jordan?

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: I had reasons for voting against Jim Jordan.

And we sent out a press release to that effect.

And I think we have yet to see how Representative, now-Speaker Johnson will be and what policies he will put forward.

So, remember, we have a conference that has a lot of different members, and one of the jobs of the speaker is to gain the majority and protect their members.

And so I think that there are a lot of voices in our conference that will be speaking with Speaker Johnson, and then that will help to direct where we go with policy.

GEOFF BENNETT: You received death threats for voting against Jim Jordan.

How did that affect you and your view of extremism within the party?

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: I think that death threats are not acceptable, no matter what party you are.

And, as matter of fact, they're not acceptable if you're an ordinary citizen.

And so I think that you move through that process.

And if you have a rationale and reason for doing what you do, and you feel that it's the best decision and ethical decision for you, then you make that decision.

So I put it into perspective of what is happening in Israel.

And this is minor compared to what's happening in Israel, quite frankly.

GEOFF BENNETT: Looking ahead, lawmakers have until November 17 to come up with some plan to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown.

What is the path forward?

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: So I think first and foremost was getting the speaker put in place.

That has been achieved.

Today, we're going to be voting on it just a little bit our resolution condemning Hamas, and in support of Israel and making sure Israel has the resources that it needs to combat terrorism and the atrocities that occurred.

And then, next week, we will be staying here, and we will be voting on appropriations bills.

So we're going to try to get through as many appropriations bills as possible.

And then the next step will, if we need to, reconsider a continuing resolution, and then that will determine, will there be things added to the continuing resolution to continue to fund the government?

Certainly, from the Republican side, we would want to get that across before anything came from the Senate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, thanks so much for your time this evening.

REP. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: We turn now to the Middle East.

It's day 19 of the Israel-Hamas war, and Israel continues a heavy air assault on Gaza, as Palestinian groups fire rockets at Israel.

But there are new signs that an Israeli ground invasion may not be imminent after all.

Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.

NICK SCHIFRIN: On the Gaza border, they are parked and poised for a fight, hundreds of thousands of Israeli soldiers readying and training to invade Gaza.

But the ground invasion appears to be on hold for now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated tonight.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): We are working to ensure the ideal conditions for our troops for the next operations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The delay discussed by Netanyahu and President Biden, as the U.S. military wants the USS Eisenhower and air defense systems to arrive in the Middle East before the invasion begins.

Already, 21 American service members were injured in drone attacks last week that the U.S. blames on Iranian-backed munitions.

Today, President Biden warned Iran's supreme leader.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: My warning to the ayatollah was that, if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But a delay in the ground invasion also buys time for negotiations to release more hostages, as Biden told Netanyahu.

JOE BIDEN: What I have indicated to him is that if that's possible to get these folks out safely, that's what he should do.

It's their decision, but I did not demand it.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But Israel refuses to halt its air campaign, and across the Gaza Strip, the most vulnerable victims continue to need desperate care.

Gaza health authorities controlled by Hamas say 17,000 have been wounded and more than 6,500 killed.

President Biden today cast doubt on those numbers.

JOE BIDEN: What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed.

I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Mr. Biden also called out violence committed by Jewish settlers.

JOE BIDEN: I continue to be alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank that -- pouring gasoline on fire is what it's like.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The fire Gazans wants stopped is Israeli airstrikes.

Today, they lifted a pile of rubble that used to be a bakery, as the bombs continue to fall.

ASAD AL-BAIROTI, Gaza Strip Resident (through translator): The Israeli occupation has proven that it's incapable of achieving any of its goals.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And, yet again, Gazans run for safety, as if there was any safe place in this war.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: Former President Donald Trump was fined $10,000 for violating a gag order in his civil fraud trial again.

He criticized an unnamed person in the New York court as -- quote -- "very partisan."

Under oath, he insisted he meant Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who testified for a second day.

But Judge Arthur Engoron said his law clerk was the target.

And he warned -- quote -- "Don't do it again, or it will be worse."

It's the second time he's fined Mr. Trump for maligning the clerk.

An anti-Israel protest not far from the U.S. Capitol drew condemnation in Congress today.

Last night, Students for Justice in Palestine projected slogans onto the library at George Washington University.

One image seen on social media declared "Glory to our martyrs" in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Another called for establishing a Palestinian state across all of what is now Israel.

Today, on the floor of the Senate, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was sharply critical.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Student activists projected antisemitic messages on the side of a campus building.

They issued a call to -- quote -- "free Palestine from the river to the sea."

For anyone unfamiliar with Israel's geography, that is a call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

AMNA NAWAZ: Other lawmakers also criticized the protest and the university's administration.

It came as demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war have roiled campuses across the U.S. Mexico's Southern Pacific Coast was battered today by a Category 5 hurricane.

The storm named Otis slammed ashore near Acapulco in the Guerrero state with winds of 165 miles an hour.

The onslaught bent trees over, while downpours caused widespread flooding.

The storm weakened later as it headed into the mountains.

The Russian Parliament has rescinded its ratification of the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Today's action came after President Vladimir Putin had called for withdrawing from the 1996 pact.

Lawmakers said it mirrors the policy of the United States, which signed, but never ratified the agreement VALENTINA MATVIENKO, Speaker of Russian Upper House of Parliament (through translator): If the United States continues to take no steps to fulfill its obligations, then this agreement will remain a sham and there is, of course, no point in Russia participating in this imitation any further.

I think that, if the West in the United States are seriously interested in international stability, they will hear this signal and take the necessary actions.

AMNA NAWAZ: Russian hard-liners have called for resuming nuclear testing amid tensions over the war in Ukraine.

But the Foreign Ministry says Moscow will still respect the ban, as long as the United States does not begin nuclear testing.

And on Wall Street, stocks hit the skids after interest rates surged again on the bond market.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 105 points to close below 33036.

The Nasdaq fell 318 points, or 2.4 percent.

The S&P 500 was down 1.4 percent.

And a passing of note: Richard Roundtree, considered the first Black action movie hero, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer.

He sprang to stardom as the title character in the "Shaft" movies of the early 1970s.

The role opened a new era of movies starring Black actors.

Richard Roundtree was 81 years old.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the expanding UAW strike against Detroit automakers; how the nation's divisions compare to other points in U.S. history; and David Brooks' new book on building genuine human connection.

Among the 220 hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack is 79-year-old Chaim Peri.

A father of five and grandfather of 13, Peri was a 61-year resident of kibbutz Nir Oz, where he and his wife raised their kids.

One of his children, Noam Peri, joins us now as the representative of the 73 people kidnapped from Nir Oz.

Noam, it's good to see you.

Thank you for being here.

NOAM PERI, Daughter of Hostage: Thank you for inviting me.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, when we first met in Israel earlier this month, I know the shock of what your family and your community had been through was still very visceral, that barbaric attack, which your mother witnessed and managed to escape from.

Two-and-a-half weeks later, how do you look back on that day?

NOAM PERI: We know now -- we know the story of my father.

But we also know that this community, this peaceful agricultural community of 350 people, has undergone a massacre.

And we know now that one out of four people from this community of Nir Oz is either murdered or kidnapped.

This is hard to imagine.

There is no one family that is left untouched in this community.

AMNA NAWAZ: And you know or have a connection to everyone, including one of the hostages who was released earlier this week, Yocheved Lifshitz.

What was it like for you to see her released and to hear her talk about what her time was like in captivity?

NOAM PERI: I know both of the hostages that were released.

One of them were neighbors.

Yocheved was actually even a teacher of mine back in kindergarten.

She taught me how to swim.

And I know her family.

And they also gave us precious, precious first signal that my father is still alive, because Yocheved was able to say that she saw him and she knows he's alive and he's OK. AMNA NAWAZ: That was the first time you have gotten any information on your father?

NOAM PERI: That was the first time we got any information since the moment he was taken from his home, from the safe room of his home on Saturday, October 7.

AMNA NAWAZ: What have Israeli officials been telling you?

How have they been briefing you on their efforts to try to free your father and the others?

NOAM PERI: So, they're not really briefing us on the efforts, which I found -- I find - - I find it understandable.

But we definitely wanted a humanitarian organization to contact the hostages in the meantime.

And, unfortunately, I think, to the best of my knowledge, this has yet to happen, although we have asked the Red Cross to check on the hostages and their conditions and supply medicine.

So we don't have any inflammation that this indeed happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: You have been here speaking with lawmakers.

That's why you're here in Washington right now.

NOAM PERI: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: What are you specifically asking them to do?

NOAM PERI: So, I'm here to first tell the story of my father and of others, and ask them to be the voice, to show the world, for people to understand that these people are elderly and kids and even babies that were taken, and to tell their story.

I think that's the first ask that I'm asking them.

And the second is to do whatever in their power and each of them in his position to make sure all the hostages come back and released immediately.

AMNA NAWAZ: What would you like to see your government to do?

I mean, we should mention, if your father is held in Gaza, the Israeli bombardment continues.

Do you want that bombing to stop until he's freed or so there's room for negotiation?

NOAM PERI: The only thing I want from my government is to make sure our hostages are a first priority.

AMNA NAWAZ: Do you feel that's the case right now?

NOAM PERI: This is what I hear from them.

And I hope that this is the case.

Obviously, I know there are other goals that needs to -- that needs to happen.

But it's not my -- it's not my priority.

My priority is to get my father back, to get the children and the babies back.

AMNA NAWAZ: In terms of what you want to see them do, does that mean you support whatever steps they take if they call for a cease-fire, for hostages to be released, or they arrange for a hostage swap similar to what they did to free the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit lead in 2011?

You would support anything?

NOAM PERI: I would support anything that makes my father come home safely and the other hostages.

And I don't want to get into details, because I'm not the expert.

AMNA NAWAZ: Noam Peri, we are thinking of you and your father and your family and all the other families missing loved ones right now.

Thank you for being here.

NOAM PERI: Thank you.

Thank you again.

AMNA NAWAZ: Historically, few Ultra Orthodox Jews have served in the Israeli army, a fact that sparked resentment and contributed to recent anti-government protests.

But in the two weeks since Hamas' attack on civilians in Southern Israel, more than 2,000 young men from this religious community have volunteered to serve.

Leila Molana-Allen has that story.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As Israel prepares for a ground war, more than 300,000 reservists have been pulled up to serve.

Many haven't fought for years or only completed basic training.

Getting them all up to speed is a huge challenge.

PETER LERNER, Spokesman, Israeli Defense Forces: Could be training for tunnel mobilization, knowing how to maneuver in a tunnel and how to conduct combat in tunnel.

Or it could be how -- mobilizing in urban areas, which was also a specific challenge in itself.

So there's a lot of up -- I would say upskilling is the word.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: But some of the new recruits will have no baseline military skills to up.

The Haredim, or Ultra Orthodox Jews, make up about 15 percent of Israel's population, and are its fastest growing community.

They don't traditionally undertake military service, instead believing that they serve by having young men between 13 and 22 to commit to full time study of the Torah, which casts a protective net over Israel and Jewish society.

Earlier this year, the "NewsHour" was on the ground as protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme right coalition government swept through Israel's cities.

This was one of the demonstrators' chief grievances.

Some secular Israelis felt their young people were being sent to serve their country, while the Ultra-Orthodox, as they saw it, got a free pass.

DOR NADLER, Israeli Protester: Some of us are feeling like we are carrying the weight of our country, while other people are just benefiting from it.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: In 2020, just 1,200 Haredim was serving in the IDF.

Now twice that number have volunteered to fight over the past two weeks.

Rabbi Ravad did his Torah study as a teenager and then decided to continue to military service.

He later served as chief rabbi to Israel's Air Force.

When the IDF needed recruitment help after the October 7 Hamas attacks, they knew who to call.

RABBI RAMI RAVAD, Former Israeli Defense Forces Officer (through translator): The army told me, if you bring 50, we will open a unit.

They asked for 50.

I brought 450.

I now have a list of 1,400 Haredis who are interested in joining to help the army in these horrible days.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Ravad hopes this new call to serve amongst young Haredim will change his community's relationship with Israeli society.

RABBI RAMI RAVAD (through translator): There's a problem in this country that Israel's public doesn't understand the ideology of the Ultra-Orthodox.

And that's why the subject creates a lot of conflict.

There are some who interpret their beliefs as the Haredi community being against the army.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: He says the influx of volunteers is proof that simply isn't true; 30-year-old father of three Moti Leitner is one of those volunteers.

Raising his family in the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Bet Shemesh, he never saw army service in his future.

The terror attacks changed his mind.

MOTI LEITNER, Israeli Defense Forces Volunteer: We saw since and picture and movies that only - - you know it, you hear it only from the movie.

And it's real, babies and adults and teenagers, terrible things.

And, actually, I sit here and cry, cry and cry and cry.

I couldn't sit and just do nothing.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Moti knows joining up will transform the quiet life he and his wife Ayala (ph) have built for themselves here.

MOTI LEITNER: I have my wife's support.

So that's what is -- that's what I need, actually.

She will pay the price of my decision.

But she's OK with that.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As for training and deployment, he knows he will be miles behind those who were put through their paces at 18, but says he's up for the challenge.

Moti, most of the people who are being called up have done their military service, however long ago it was.

You have never been trained.

You have never fought before.

Are you afraid?

MOTI LEITNER: We don't have a choice.

We should be there and do our best.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: Moti realizes many who share his beliefs aren't ready to take the same step.

But he hopes they will soon see a new belief the attacks have given him, that, to keep their community safe, they must do that physical, as well as religious part.

MOTI LEITNER: What it was in the past will not be in the future.

Everything will be -- we're going to change.

LEILA MOLANA-ALLEN: As Israelis unite across political and religious divides for the war effort, the question remains whether this fight will change society for good or simply kick internal disputes on down the road.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Leila Molana-Allen in Jerusalem.

GEOFF BENNETT: The United Auto Workers expanded its strike this week targeting some of the most profitable plants of Detroit's Big Three automakers.

The latest one started yesterday at a GM SUV factory with about 5,000 workers in Arlington, Texas.

Stephanie Sy has the latest on the strike now in its 41st day.

STEPHANIE SY: Geoff, the strikes now involve 46,000 workers at 40 assembly plants and parts centers around the country.

There are reports today that Ford and the UAW could be moving closer to an agreement.

But, so far, a deal with the Big Three automakers remains elusive.

For a look at where things stand, we're joined by David Shepardson of Reuters, who has been covering all of this closely.

David, thank you so much for joining us.

First, I want to ask you what you know about any developments in the UAW's contract negotiations with Ford.

Are you hearing about any breakthroughs?

DAVID SHEPARDSON, Reuters: Well, Ford has been the furthest along of the Detroit Three with the UAW.

They have been intensely bargaining.

They went late last night.

And so there is a real possibility they could announce an agreement, a tentative agreement, with Ford as early as tonight.

Ford had previously said they were willing to go to a 23 percent pay hike over a little more than four years.

The UAW has been pushing them to go up to at least 25 percent.

So I do think there's a very realistic chance we could see a deal as early as later tonight.

Or it could -- this could be another false alarm, but they are definitely moving to the closest point they have been in this nearly six weeks.

STEPHANIE SY: And how will that set the standard with the other two companies that they're negotiating with?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Yes, I think like, in the past -- traditionally, the UAW has picked one company, reached an agreement with them, and the other two have not gone on strike.

In this case, the UAW opted to do this targeted strike of all three at the same time, the first time ever.

So I do think a deal with Ford is going to set the template for a deal with GM and Stellantis.

They're pretty close already, in terms of the proposals they have versus Ford.

So it might take a few days or longer than that, but I think, ultimately, whatever deal with Ford is struck will set the benchmark for the other two.

STEPHANIE SY: OK.

So, what continue to be the top priorities are for Shawn Fain and union members?

And are there some things that they have clearly been willing to concede on?

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Sure.

I mean, this started out where the UAW was seeking a 40 percent pay raise over four years, a 32-hour workweek, a return of defined benefit pensions.

So, by -- on the other hand, the auto companies were offering somewhere around 14 to 15 percent pay hikes and were seeking some changes to work rules.

So, by all accounts, this deal, the one that was already on the table prior to whatever final deal gets reached, will be the most - - the most lucrative ever for the unions, much better than what I think some analysts thought the union would get.

But they're not getting some of the more transformative items, like a 32-hour workweek or a return of the defined benefit pension that they had sought and the union had given up about 15 years ago, when the industry was in real, real trouble.

STEPHANIE SY: You know, one of the things we have been looking at is how the union is concerned about the carmakers' transition to electric vehicles and their job security related to that.

And I know Shawn Fain wanted an agreement that unionizing workers would sort of happen automatically at any future electric battery plant stood up by the carmakers.

Where are they on that issue?

I know that was a sticky, tricky part, because it involved foreign companies as well.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Correct.

So, the Detroit automakers have these joint ventures with Korean battery companies to build the batteries, which ultimately, as the industry if stored electric vehicles, are going to replace the engines and the transmissions built for internal combustion vehicles.

And so, at a minimum, we're not going to see a full agreement, because most of these plants are not yet in place.

I think, even if there is an agreement about including these workers under the master agreement, there's a lot of decisions and negotiating to be had about what they're going to get paid, what kind of benefits, what are the rights of workers to transfer from (AUDIO GAP) there.

And so that issue may not get resolved for quite a bit.

STEPHANIE SY: David Shepardson with Reuters, thanks so much for being with us and for your reporting on this issue.

DAVID SHEPARDSON: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Many Americans feel we're living through an extraordinarily divided time, but historian Heather Cox Richardson says there is precedent, both for our conflicts today and for the hope that we can overcome them.

Judy Woodruff recently sat down with Richardson for her ongoing series America at a Crossroads.

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON, Author, "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America": And he really went out of his way to work with people across the aisle.

His Cabinet was made up of his rivals.

JUDY WOODRUFF: At the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, D.C., a museum that once served as the residence of the president who presided over the country during its greatest test, the Civil War, I met Heather Cox Richardson.

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: He was trying to preserve the Constitution.

JUDY WOODRUFF: She's a historian at Boston College who in recent years has become known to many more as the author behind her daily Substack newsletter "Letters From an American," where she analyzes today's events in the context of our past, drawing parallels to find guidance forward.

Her new book, "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America," explores other divisive periods in American history and how remarkable individuals help prevent its fall to authoritarianism.

The book opens with a familiar diagnosis of our present: "America is at a crossroads."

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: We're in a moment in which we are facing a choice between preserving and expanding American democracy, the idea that everybody should have a right to be treated equally before the law and to have a say in their government, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the idea of authoritarianism, which is rising in the United States, as well as around the world.

This is the moment when we choose between those two things.

And so this is a moment when we're standing at a crossroads.

JUDY WOODRUFF: People are asking me often, how long has this polarization, this division been around In our country?

You're a historian.

You have studied this.

How deep were the divisions at the very beginning of this country?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: We have, in fact, always been divided.

The question is whether that division dominates our politics or not.

So, yes, of course, there were divisions at the beginning of this country, both within those people who ruled, but also between the people who ruled and the people who didn't have a say in their government, who didn't have any rights, women, indigenous Americans, Black Americans, brown Americans.

So those sorts of divisions have always been in our society.

What makes this moment different and what makes it look like more divided times in our history, like the 1850s, for example, or the 1890s, or the 1920s, is that those divisions are playing out in our politics.

And for the first time in our history, a major political party has been taken over by a small faction that does not believe in democracy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But when it comes to the treatment of people of color, of Blacks, of people who are immigrants, that's something this country has wrestled with from the very beginning.

Why has that been so hard?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: Well, that indeed is the heart of where American life began, with these conflicts between different groups of people, especially between those people who monopolized politics, wealth, and society and the people who worked for them, essentially, or who were enslaved by them, or who were simply not considered human beings.

So, the idea that everybody should have a say takes a very long time to develop, and it is very much in our DNA in this country.

I would like to say, though, that in a way that has also been our inoculation in the past against authoritarianism, because those people who were marginalized always kept in front of everyone the aspirations of the Declaration of Independence.

So, while, in fact, Black Americans and indigenous Americans were excluded from the Constitution, were in the minds of the founders excluded from the Declaration of Independence people of color from the beginning talked about, hey, wait a minute, those are great principles.

Why don't they apply to me?

Why don't they apply to us?

We feel the same way.

And by continually holding up those standards and calling people to account when they were not meeting them, I think they have really helped the United States continually to expand the idea of democracy, to expand the idea of who's included, and to create a more just society.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So there's a persistence there.

I mean, over time, marginalized groups have made this argument again and again and again, as you say, kept it in the forefront of our consciousness.

Where did that resilience come from?

How do you explain that?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: One of the great brilliances of Abraham Lincoln was to rededicate the nation not to the Constitution, which was the document that enslavers rested on because of its protection of property.

It's kind of a truism in American history, if you have rights, you look to the Constitution.

If you want rights, you look to the Declaration.

And Abraham Lincoln relying on the Declaration of Independence as the heart of the United States.

Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

He's pointing to the Declaration, not to the Constitution.

And having those principles be central to the foundation of this nation makes it easier, I think, for people who don't have rights to say, I'm not doing anything radical here, the same way that Lincoln did.

He said, I'm not doing anything radical when I talk about human freedom.

I'm relying on our foundational document.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Are there elements of the 1850s that are with us today?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: Yes, the good ones, as well as the bad ones.

So, the divisions in our country that are created by politicians who are garnering power and amassing wealth by limiting our access to media, for example, so that people get into their own silos, by demonizing the other in our society, something that the elite enslavers did with great success, the people who are taking over the key nodes of our democracy, the Supreme Court, the Senate, those things also happened in the 1850s.

So you can see a march that looks much like the 1850s in the negative aspects of our lives.

By 1856, Northerners have woken up and said, hey, listen, we disagree about immigration and finance and transportation and internal improvements, but we can agree we don't want that.

By 1856, they have put together a political party to push back against that.

By 1859, Abraham Lincoln has articulated a new concept of democracy that calls for a government that serves ordinary individuals, rather than the elite enslavers.

By 1860 voters, all white men of property, have elected him to the White House.

By 1861, he has signed the Emancipation Proclamation, ending the idea of human enslavement as the foundational principle of this nation.

And, by 1863, he has given the Gettysburg Address, rededicating this nation to a new birth of freedom based on the Declaration of Independence.

That idea of ordinary people waking up and finding the leaders who will articulate those principles is as alive today as the bad side of the 1850s is alive as well.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We have talked about difficult, very difficult times leading up to the Great Depression.

That was a period when there were strong authoritarian voices on the left and on the right.

Other countries around the world succumbed to some of those forces, as we know, in that period.

But this country didn't.

Why not?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: I actually think the real reason is simply because the United States had such a strong tradition of marginalized communities insisting on equality before the law and recognizing the dangers of authoritarianism.

We tend to hail Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a great hero, which, of course, in many ways he was.

But it's worth remembering that he was articulating a vision that had been put forward by other Americans like Frances Perkins, who was going to become his secretary of labor and who herself recognized the extraordinary need of a government that answered to the people, because she had witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, in which girls and young workers had been locked into a factory that caught fire and jumped out the windows to their deaths.

And she said in a memoir much later that she would never forget the sound of bodies hitting the sidewalk, and that she dedicated her life to making sure that governments would protect people who couldn't protect themselves.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Some people are talking very much about the rise of antidemocratic forces in this country, worrying that we could be headed for something like another Civil War.

But you're saying you see more hope than you do darkness.

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: I see us walking on a knife edge.

We absolutely could go that direction.

And we know full well that there are leaders in this country who have advocated doing that.

I mean, one of the things that worries me a lot is that, since 2015, there tends to be an in an attempt to pretend that the things that people like former President Donald Trump are saying are simply window dressing, when he is literally talking about calling the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff somebody who looks like he has committed treason and then suggesting that the punishment for treason should be death.

That is an extraordinary statement.

It is a statement that, in any period before 2015, would have ended a political career, would have been Headline News for weeks.

And it barely made the front pages.

So, that idea of the rise of authoritarianism, the idea that our population is so destabilized and so angry that it would reach for an authoritarian who promised to return to a perfect past is very much on the table.

But it is not inevitable.

The future is never inevitable.

JUDY WOODRUFF: When it comes to authoritarianism, you look around the world, we see what's going on in India and Turkey.

And yet you're also writing these days that you have hope for the future.

So where does that hope come from?

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: Well, the hope is in us.

I mean, the whole point of democracy is that we get to have a say in our futures.

We get to be treated equally before the laws and we get to say who governs us.

And I really believe in American democracy.

We have been through extraordinarily hard times before.

I smile a little bit when people say, is this the worst ever?

I'm like, well, tell me which were the good years.

Tell me which -- what was the year that things were really good?

Was it 1923?

No, that one wasn't so good.

We have always had hard times.

And, until now, we have always, at the end of the day, done the right thing.

I'm very worried in the short term.

But I have faith in American democracy, and I have faith in humanity.

So -- so, yes, I have hope.

But it's going to be a lot of work.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington.

GEOFF BENNETT: Every Friday night, you and I welcome David Brooks here in the studio and into your living rooms.

Little did we know, though, that, while we were watching David, he was also watching us.

His new book pulls from his own observations and research and dives into the topic of human connection and its importance in today's society.

The book's title, "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen."

I sat down with David recently to talk more about it.

David Brooks, it's good to speak with you outside of our normal Friday chats.

DAVID BROOKS, Author, "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen": I feel more relaxed already.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: This book, "How to Know a Person," you open it by talking about your family dinners growing up, the dinner table conversations that you would have, and how it was reflective of your intellectual upbringing and the impact it had on you.

Tell me about it.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, if anybody saw that movie "Fiddler on the Roof," they know how warm and huggy Jewish families can be, always dancing and singing.

I came from the other kind of Jewish family.

So, we were pretty cerebral.

Our dinner conversations were about the evolutionary history of lactose intolerance... (LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: ... or the history of Victorian funerary monuments.

So we were pretty heady.

And there was love in the home, but we weren't that great at expressing it.

And the problem is, if you cut yourself off from that kind of emotion, you cut yourself off from intimacy and from life itself.

And so I'm not an exceptional guy, but I am a grower.

I do change.

And so I have been on a journey to try to become more emotionally available, more spiritually available, a better friend to people.

And the sad thing is, is as I have become on a journey to becoming a little more human, the country has been on a journey of becoming less human.

And so we now live in bitter and divided times.

There's just so much social pain.

And this book is really an attempt to make us all better at seeing another person, making them feel seen, heard and understood, because, if our country is going to come back from the inhumanity, and if our families are going to come back from the breakdown, and if our workplaces are going to thrive, we just have to be really good at this skill of seeing others, making them feel valid, respected, heard and understood.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, to your point, for all of the things that are causing division these days, we often don't talk enough about isolation, how it harms personal and societal health.

How do you see it?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, there are a lot of reasons our society's in trouble.

We have -- we're being ripped to shreds from our political leadership.

Social media is driving us all crazy.

But the core thing, to me, is, we just don't treat each other well.

There are a series of skills, social skills involved in treating another person with consideration and respect.

There are things like how to be a great conversationalist, how to disagree well, how to ask for and offer forgiveness, how to break up with somebody without destroying their heart.

These are just skills.

And, sometimes, I think people don't learn them.

GEOFF BENNETT: You also write about the importance of play as a point of connection.

And you talk about your men's basketball league.

First of all, I didn't know you could hoop, David Brooks.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes.

Yes.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: Well, you would not be disabused if you saw me.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: My game is to go into the lane, and all the 6'5'' guys think they're about to totally destroy me, and then I pass it back out.

So, my whole game is surrendering.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: I surrender.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: But I walk -- try to walk people through the process of getting to know someone.

And the first is the gaze.

When we first meet, we're answering.

Am I a person to you?

Am I a priority to you?

And the quick answer to those questions will be in your eyes, how you look at me.

And then the second process is a stage I called accompaniment.

That's just hanging out.

I had this moment when my oldest kid was like, I don't know, 16, 12 months.

And he used to wake up super early, and we lived in Brussels.

And we would play.

We would just play together for four or five hours every morning.

I remember thinking he knows me better than I have ever been known by anybody, because I'm so natural, because I'm playing.

And on the other hand, I know him better than I have ever known a human being.

And we never exchanged word, because he couldn't talk.

We just played together.

And so that process of play after the first sight, and before we begin to have, like, deep conversations with each other, it's that process of play, of being around each other, so we can get used to each other.

GEOFF BENNETT: On the other hand you also discussed the moment when one of your oldest friends succumbed to depression.

How do you sit with someone in their suffering?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, well, that was something I didn't understand.

So, my oldest friend was a guy named Peter.

And he was a wonderful guy.

We played a zillion hours of basketball together.

And he was -- as my wife said, he was extraordinary and ordinary at the same time.

He's like a man the way you're supposed to be a man, like gentle, but powerful, a dad like you're supposed to be a dad.

He was just so proud of his sons.

And he had a wonderful life for -- and then, at age 57, depression hit.

And I realized that, even though I thought I was a well-educated person, A, I didn't know what depression was.

You can't understand depression by extrapolating from your own moments of sadness.

A friend of mine put it well.

Depression is a malfunction in the instrument we use to determine reality.

So, when you're seeing a depressed -- seeing the world -- a person is seeing the world, they're seeing a distorted image.

And in my friend's case, he had these lying, obsessive voices in her head -- his head: You're not worthwhile.

Nobody would miss you if you're gone.

And I didn't know how to be with a person going through this.

And so I made mistakes in the beginning.

A lot of it was our phone calls over COVID.

And so I would say: "Like, here's an idea for you to get out of depression.

You liked going and doing service trips in Vietnam.

And you should do that again."

And I learned, when you do that, all you're doing is, you're showing the depressed person you don't get it, because there's not ideas they are missing.

It's energy.

And so that was a stupid thing I should have known.

What I came to understand gradually over the years, you're there to recognize the situation and saying, I'm here for you.

This sucks.

But I'm here for you.

I'm never leaving.

And I regret not doing more small touches, like, just thinking of you.

I'm sending you a text, no response necessary.

It's just presence.

It's just the art of presence.

And so dealing with someone when they're depressed was a challenge which -- a hard challenge.

I learned a lot.

And Pete never recovered.

He succumbed to suicide.

And it was brutal.

It was brutal.

It was like -- when your oldest friend is gone, it's like you go to Montana and there are no mountains there.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: You just expect it all.

And it happened shortly after Mark Shields died.

And when you lose friends, you're unprepared for how much of a blow.

You think losing family is going to be a blow, of course.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: But losing friends is quite a blow.

And I had three, Mike Gerson, who's a friend of this program, Mark Shields, obviously, and then my friend Pete.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

I'm sorry, David.

DAVID BROOKS: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: What did you learn about yourself in the process of writing this book?

And what did you learn about how to know someone?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think I learned for myself that there are depths there.

There's capacity there, if you only allow yourself to be vulnerable to it.

And I have learned that that level of encounter, of just beholding someone -- I'm not trying to fix them.

I'm not trying to advise them.

Just like, tell me who you are.

And then, again -- again, let's go deeper into that.

What am I missing here?

It's just so much fun.

And so, like, I was the guy on the train who had my headphones in all the time because I was, like, insular.

Now I talk to strangers.

And I have way better train rides than I did before.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: So, yes, I have changed.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: David Brooks.

The book is "How to Know a Person."

It's always great to speak with you.

DAVID BROOKS: Oh, it's great to be with you, Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.