GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Bomb threats force evacuations in Springfield, Ohio, the town at the center of lies spread by former President Donald Trump about Haitian immigrants.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden meets the U.K.'s prime minister, as Western leaders debate whether to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons inside Russia.

AMNA NAWAZ: And at the start of a new school year, universities try to get a better handle on protests over the Israel-Hamas war without stifling students' free speech.

ISABELLA RAMIREZ, Editor in Chief, The Columbia Daily Spectator: It's a really interesting atmosphere to sort of enter campus with gates locked, sort of screenings at every single entry point.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

After facing off earlier this week on a Philadelphia debate stage and standing together in New York for the September 11 anniversary, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are on opposite ends of the country today.

GEOFF BENNETT: Harris is focusing her energy on speaking to Pennsylvania voters tonight, while Trump spoke to reporters at his golf club on the California coast.

There, the former president escalated his attacks on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Laura Barron-Lopez has this report.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Outside of Los Angeles today, former President Trump railed against California Governor Gavin Newsom, claimed President Joe Biden hates Kamala Harris, and attacked ABC for fact-checking him at the debate.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I was right about the crime stats going way up.

The fact is, the FBI didn't report them because the new numbers we just released, and you will see the kind of numbers that we're talking about, went not only up, but up at record levels like nobody's seen before.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And Trump continued to target the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio.

DONALD TRUMP: In Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal Haitian migrants have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: The Republican nominee for president has repeatedly attacked Haitians this week, lying about them eating pets.

DONALD TRUMP: Recording of 911 calls even show residents are reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town's geese.

They're taking the geese, you know, where the geese are in the park, in the lake, and even walking off with their pets.

My dog's been taken.

My dog's been stolen.

This can only happen.

These people are the worst.

This is -- I'm telling you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Yesterday, a bomb threat prompted the Springfield City Hall to evacuate.

And, today, two elementary schools and a middle school face the same threats, prompting evacuations and closures.

City officials have consistently denied any credible reports of pets being harmed by immigrants.

Most of the Haitian migrants in Springfield are there legally, and many are there under temporary protected status.

Still, Trump and his running mate, J.D.

Vance, doubled down Friday, with Vance suggesting that the Haitian immigrants were bringing diseases to Springfield.

On the South Lawn of the White House today, President Biden condemned the attacks on the Haitians in Springfield.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: It's simply wrong.

There's no place in America.

This has to stop!

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Though much of Trump's speech in Tucson, Arizona, last night repeated baseless claims about migrants, he also made a new promise to working-class voters.

DONALD TRUMP: I'm also announcing that as part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime.

You know what that means?

DONALD TRUMP: Think of that.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: At a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday, Governor Tim Walz dismissed Trump's baseless claims about the Haitian immigrants.

GOV.

TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice Presidential Candidate: He said a lot of weird stuff too, so I'm just going to say that.

GOV.

TIM WALZ: And that's -- and you tell me you had this on your bingo card, and they're eating cats, and they're eating cats.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And in North Carolina last night, Vice President Harris took aim at Trump's debate performance, highlighting his promise to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States (D) and U.S. Presidential Candidate: And as he said in the debate, he made clear he has no plan to replace it.

In fact, you remember?

Concepts.

You remember?

He has -- quote -- "concepts of a plan."

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Harris left D.C. today for Pennsylvania, making a stop at a small business in Johnstown, before heading to a rally in Wilkes-Barre tonight.

KAMALA HARRIS: We have got to earn every vote, and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live.

And so that's why I'm here.

We're going to be spending a lot more time in Pennsylvania.

GEOFF BENNETT: And Laura is here with us in studio alongside Lisa Desjardins.

So, Laura, when the vice president says we have to earn every vote, what does that look like for the Harris campaign in this post-debate phase?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, the Harris campaign says that they are in -- quote -- "more aggressive phase" of the campaign since the debate.

They have launched three new ads since the debate, all highlighting exchanges in that debate, including ones on abortion, as well as Harris saying that she wants to represent all Americans.

They're also doing more targeted interviews, Geoff.

They did -- they're -- Harris did one today with a local Pennsylvania anchor.

She's going to be joining a livestream next week with Oprah Winfrey that is going to be with a lot of local grassroots groups, including ones that are targeting Black voters, Latino voters, rural voters, voters, you name it, across the board.

And so her campaign is trying to make her available much more in the battleground states.

She's also expected to potentially sit down with the National Association of Black Journalists as early as next week, because, right now, even though she is still trying to reach undecided voters, that small sliver, Geoff, she very much is trying to close that enthusiasm gap that President Biden had with the key elements of her base.

GEOFF BENNETT: I want to ask you about this far right activist, this woman Laura Loomer, who's been traveling with Donald Trump.

Who is she and why does she have Donald Trump's ear?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So Laura Loomer is well-known to us at the "News Hour" as well as to politicians and reporters across the board, but she's not as well-known to most Americans, Geoff.

She is a far right activist who ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

She's an online conspiracy theorist who has described herself as -- quote -- "a proud Islamophobe" and -- quote -- "pro-white nationalism."

She recently also spread lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio.

And she also recently made racist comments about Kamala Harris on social media site X.

She said: "If Kamala Harris wins, the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated with a call center.

And the American people will only be able to convey their feedback through a customer satisfaction survey at the end of the call, and nobody will understand."

That's received a lot of backlash from Republicans, as well as Democrats.

And why does it matter, Geoff?

Because she traveled with the president to the debate, as well as on September 11.

And she is also a known 9/11 truther, has spread conspiracy theories about 9/11.

Former President Trump was asked about Laura Loomer today, and he did not disavow her, did not condemn her comments specifically when asked about her 9/11 conspiracy theories.

He instead said that she is a supporter of his, who is a free spirit and a strong person.

GEOFF BENNETT: A free spirit?

OK, so, Lisa, how are Republicans responding to all of this?

LISA DESJARDINS: Even Trump Republicans, as Laura mentioned, are responding quickly.

They think -- they see the danger here politically for this association.

And that includes some Trump Republicans who themselves have had extreme speech.

Want to look at this posting on social media from Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Here's what she wrote about Laura Loomer: "This does not represent President Trump.

This type of behavior should not be tolerated ever."

But it's not just that side of the Trump spectrum.

Also, Thom Tillis, a somewhat more moderate Trump supporter from North Carolina, wrote: "Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage."

But the fact remains that Trump has not disassociated himself from him -- from her as much as some of his supporters will.

And I want to talk about voters who support Trump.

We have been to so many Trump events.

And while most Trump supporters, I would say, I talk to talk about his characteristics, a significant group at every single rally I attend raised conspiracy theories with me, the woman who thought Joe Biden was dead.

Another woman in New Hampshire who told me she was sure that Mother Teresa was a man, and, by the way, the father of Anthony Fauci.

These would be laughable things, except these are very widespread.

I talked to someone who studies conspiracy theory today about when these kinds of things can take hold.

J.P. PRIMS, University OF Illinois Chicago: Generally speaking, conspiracy theories tend to form - - are more likely to form for big, frightening, dangerous events than smaller events.

So if there's a threat that you view as very threatening, say you think that the other political candidate is going to destroy your way of life if they win, you're more likely to believe conspiracy theories about that.

LISA DESJARDINS: And J.P. and I talked about and she raised the fact that Trump has literally said that, if he's not elected, U.S. democracy itself will end.

And he himself has put conspiracy theories out there, so this does not happen in a vacuum.

GEOFF BENNETT: We also heard in Laura's report Donald Trump rail against FBI crime statistics.

I know you have been doing some reporting on this.

What have you found?

LISA DESJARDINS: We're going to get in this more deeply ahead, but this is a good chance to set the table on this.

Now, Trump is pointing to FBI statistics and saying they're not the best ones.

So let me look at the two different kinds of statistics he's talking about.

First, the FBI uses what's called uniform crime reports.

Those are -- that's data from local law enforcement around the country.

That comes from almost 90, 95 percent of crime statistics.

Now, he says people should pay attention to something called the national crime victimization Survey.

That is a survey of 170,000 people getting their opinions sometimes reported, sometimes unreported crime.

It's important for trend lines, but when you talk to experts, they say the decrease in crime you see in FBI stats is held up by other data, CDC data, independent data.

And when Trump says that the other survey data shows more crime, he's not saying that it's relative to 2020.

That same data he's talking about also shows a decrease in the last year.

So there's more to it than what he says.

GEOFF BENNETT: More to come, indeed.

Lisa Desjardins, Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you both.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: More than 30,000 factory workers at Boeing went on strike today, all but shutting down production of several of their top-selling planes, including the 737 MAX.

They hit the picket lines before sunrise in Washington state, home to Boeing's largest work force.

Union members there overwhelmingly rejected a contract that would have increased wages by 25 percent, far short of the 40 percent they wanted.

JON HOLDEN, President, International Association of Machinists: This is about respect.

This is about addressing the past.

And this is about fighting for our future.

Boeing has to stop breaking the law, has to bargain in good faith, and we will be back at the table whenever we can get there to drive forward on the issues that our members say are important.

AMNA NAWAZ: It's unclear how long this stoppage will last, adding to Boeing's troubles this year.

In January, a door panel on one of its passenger jets blew out mid-flight, and two astronauts are still stuck at the International Space Station after their Boeing spacecraft was deemed unsafe to bring them home.

In California, firefighters say they have made progress battling three blazes in the Los Angeles area thanks to cooler temperatures.

The largest is the Bridge Fire, which has scorched 81 square miles and destroyed 33 homes in the mountains east of L.A.

Some residents have been able to return to their communities, only to see their homes and belongings reduced to ash.

MATT HOWE, California Resident: It's tough.

We lost a lot of our holiday stuff, Christmas, obviously decorations.

We don't have anything for Christmas.

We lost kids' stuff, tools.

And this one just came so fast.

I don't think anybody was prepared to move as fast as it had come.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meantime, over 85,000 people across Louisiana remain without power after Hurricane Francine.

Remnants of the storm are forecast to bring more rain and flooding to the South this weekend.

Returning to politics, in rare remarks to reporters about the U.S. presidential election, Pope Francis was critical of Vice President Harris' abortion rights stance and former President Trump's xenophobia towards migrants, calling them both -- quote -- "anti-life."

The pontiff did not refer to Harris or Trump by name, but referenced the difficult choice for U.S. voters.

POPE FRANCIS, Leader of Catholic Church (through translator): Generally, it is said that not voting is ugly.

It is not good.

You must vote and you must choose the lesser evil.

Who is the lesser evil?

I don't know.

Everyone, in conscience, think about it and do this.

AMNA NAWAZ: Although rare, it wasn't the first time Pope Francis weighed in on a U.S. election.

In 2016, he said Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was -- quote -- "not Christian."

North Korea today gave a rare glimpse into one of its secret facilities that produces weapons-grade uranium, images of their nuclear capability not seen by the outside world in nearly 15 years.

The undated photographs show the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, touring rows of centrifuges at the undisclosed facility.

State media reported that Kim stressed the need to -- quote -- "exponentially increase" the country's nuclear supply.

The White House said today that it's continuing to monitor North Korea's nuclear ambitions, including its ballistic missile technology.

The State Department slapped new sanctions against Russian state media known as R.T.

It accuses the outlet of working with the Russian military and raising funds for weapons and equipment, going beyond past sanctions for spreading propaganda and disinformation.

At a briefing in Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of R.T.'s influence around the world.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: R.T. wants its new covert intelligence capabilities, like its longstanding propaganda and disinformation efforts, to remain hidden.

Our most powerful antidote to Russia's lies is the truth.

It's shining a bright light on what the Kremlin is trying to do under the cover of darkness.

AMNA NAWAZ: The sanctions include R.T.'S parent company, TV-Novosti, and other Russian state-run media.

Three U.S. citizens were sentenced to death by a military court in Congo today.

They are among 37 defendants who were convicted for their role in a failed coup back in May.

The coup leader's son was one of the three Americans sentenced.

Marcel Malanga said it was his first time in Congo and said his father threatened to kill him if he didn't participate.

His former high school football teammate Tyler Thompson was also sentenced, along with Benjamin Zalman-Polun, who reportedly knew the elder Malanga through a gold mining company.

All of the defendants have five days to appeal.

To the fallout from the war in Gaza, now another top Israeli commander has resigned over the military's failure to stop or prevent Hamas' October 7 attack.

Yossi Sariel is the second top intelligence official to step down this year.

But despite rising calls for accountability, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says any hindsight into the failures of that day should wait until after the war.

The World Health Organization has approved the use of a vaccine to combat mpox in adults, paving the way for some of the most vulnerable people in the world's poorest countries to get protection from the virus.

Supplies are limited.

Bavarian Nordic is the only manufacturer of the vaccine.

So the WHO says it will create a mechanism to fairly distribute them along with tests and treatment.

The WHO also said people under 18 may use the vaccine in an outbreak where the benefits outweigh the potential risks.

Wall Street closed out its best week of the year, as investors looked forward to the Federal Reserve's decision rate cuts next week.

The Dow Jones gained nearly 300 points, coming close to its all-time high.

The Nasdaq tacked on over 100 points to finish higher for a fifth straight day.

The S&P was up 30 points.

And mail trucks in America are getting a much-needed makeover, sort of.

The U.S.

Postal Service has rolled out its next-gen delivery vehicles for now just in Athens, Georgia.

They are taller and boxier than ever before, but despite their awkward shape, drivers couldn't be more thrilled to ditch the older models, which date all the way back to 1987.

AVIS STONUM, Driver, U.S.

Postal Service: At first glance, it's different.

However, it's designed in a way that somebody, you can tell that they didn't have appearance in mind.

They had safety.

They had the way we maneuver.

They thought everything through.

AMNA NAWAZ: Most of the trucks are electric and they are finally equipped with air conditioning, critical for those hot summer routes.

The fleet will expand to 60,000 vehicles over the next few years.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the push to restore the U.K.'s military might; Jonathan Capehart and Ramesh Ponnuru weigh in on the week's political headlines;and a designer makes his mark on the art world one button at a time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Today, the leaders of Ukraine's two most important allies are meeting in Washington.

President Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have many topics on their agenda, but there is particular attention coordinating support for Ukraine and allowing Kyiv to use American and British long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Nick Schifrin is here following that story.

So, Nick, how are the U.S. and the U.K. trying to coordinate their overall strategy for Ukraine?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Geoff, Ukraine and its partners have a strategic goal, to try and convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine and its soldiers can outlast Putin, can outlast Russia, and with the help of Western weapons inflict massive casualties on Russia's military on the battlefield.

And today, in the White House, President Biden said the U.S. and the U.K. were -- quote -- "working together to ensure Putin doesn't win."

To do that, U.S. and British officials tell me that they're discussing a few topics, one, guaranteeing Ukraine's long-term funding, including with Russian sovereign assets, building up Ukraine's and Europe's defense industrial base to complement the American defense industrial base, international coordination, including Ukraine's entry into the E.U.

and -- quote -- "irreversible path" toward NATO, and, of course, Geoff, battlefield successes.

That, Ukraine hopes, will be enabled with the ability to use long-range Western weapons to fire deep into Russia.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, what did they say about those long-range weapons?

NICK SCHIFRIN: Absolutely nothing publicly.

Senior U.S. officials insist that President Biden still has not made any decision whether to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of ATACMS, which have a range of 190 miles to be able to be fired deep into Russia.

There's a debate.

But some senior U.S. officials continue to argue the targets that Ukraine wants to hit are beyond that range, the relatively few ATACMS that Ukraine has are better used in occupied Crimea, and ongoing concerns that a U.S. official tells me about tonight about what Russia might do in response if that policy has changed.

Now, the British government does allow its purely British weapons to be fired anywhere that Ukraine wants, but it has not allowed its longest-range weapon, that is the Storm Shadow, to be fired by Ukraine deep into Russia, because the Storm Shadow has American parts and relies on American GPS and American mapping.

So a Western official tells me tonight the British government wants the U.S. to be -- quote -- "comfortable" with the use of Storm Shadows to be fired deep into Russia.

That is what the prime minister and the president are talking about, the logistics of that, but also a political understanding of whether Britain can, in fact, give Ukraine that authorization.

If there's an agreement, Geoff, though, do not expect it to be announced publicly.

A Western official tells me -- quote -- "The first announcement of this policy will land when the first missile lands in Russia."

Now, as for that U.S. concern about escalation, well, Putin threatened exactly that in comments yesterday.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine.

This, of course, significantly changes the very essence, the very nature of the conflict.

We will make appropriate decisions based on the threats that will be created for us.

NICK SCHIFRIN: One last U.S. and U.K. concern, Geoff, is that both countries produce fewer long-range weapons in terms of the actual numbers that they can produce, far fewer than Ukraine wants or needs on the battlefield.

Ukraine argues, look, give us whatever you can.

Putin's threat is empty.

There are targets that are within the range of these weapons, and the use of the weapons fit into that larger strategy that you and I talked about.

GEOFF BENNETT: Nick Schifrin thanks, as always.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And on that point of shortages, the U.K. has problems of its own with its defense posture amid Britain's budget problems.

The British army's new chief has warned it could lose its next conflict unless it increases its fighting power.

But as special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports, military leaders are steeling themselves for more cuts from Starmer's new government.

MALCOLM BRABANT: When it comes to ceremonial duties, British forces are arguably the best in the world.

But in these volatile times, Britain is a shadow of its former glorious military self.

GEN. ROLAND WALKER, Chief of the General Staff, British Army: If we fight using the old ideas, the chances are, we lose.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Pictured receiving a Gallantry Medal from Britain's late queen is Sir Roly Walker, the new head of Britain's army, which hasn't been this small for over two centuries.

Britain's top soldier says it's time to wake up and revolutionize.

GEN. ROLAND WALKER: We have got to pull the future of fighting power into the present faster than we thought we could.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think we could last for days, weeks?

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES (RET)., Military Analyst: Well, not very long is the honest answer, whether it's days or weeks.

It's simply not long enough to fight any kind of protracted conflict.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Military analyst Rupert Jones was once Britain's youngest general who helped to orchestrate the defeat of Islamic State in Syria.

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES: The British army's equipment is in a poor state.

Now, it is getting better.

But I was using equipment that my father had used and some of that equipment is still in service today.

That is simply not OK. MALCOLM BRABANT: His father, Colonel H. Jones, was killed leading a charge of the Parachute Regiment during the 1982 Falklands War to retake the South Atlantic islands from Argentine invaders.

He was posthumously awarded Britain's highest medal for valor, the Victoria Cross.

Since then, Britain's fighting prowess has not diminished, but its ability to wage war has.

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES: Our war fighting equipment is simply not fit for purpose.

MALCOLM BRABANT: That's terrifying.

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES: It is.

It is.

And this government, I suspect, is getting a pretty rude shock.

Now the time, as many have argued, to take a fresh look.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Britain's new defense secretary, John Healey, wants a comprehensive review of the nation's military on his desk next year.

JOHN HEALEY, Secretary of State for Defense, United Kingdom: To reset our priorities, to make sure that we assess the threats we face, the capabilities we need, so that we can better defend Britain and Britain can become a better ally.

ROBERT O'BRIEN, Former U.S. National Security Adviser: A strong U.K., it's just tremendous for the West, tremendous for America.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Robert O'Brien was President Trump's national security adviser.

He says if Trump wins the election, he will want Britain to raise its military budget to 2.5 percent of GDP.

ROBERT O'BRIEN: The sooner we can get to a 2.5 percent defense spending level in the U.K., the more secure the free world will be.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But Britain's new labor government says it's inherited a $30 billion black hole in the country's coffers, although their opponents say that they have contributed to the shortfall by awarding inflation-busting pay rises to state employees.

But because the party has a tradition of prioritizing social issues over defense, military leaders are bracing themselves for more cuts, especially as the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has assiduously avoided his predecessor's commitment to hit the 2.5 percent target by 2030.

KEIR STARMER, British Prime Minister: There is a budget coming in October, and it's going to be painful.

We have no other choice, given the situation that we're in.

Things will get worse before they get better.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Defense experts are warning that the axe may fall on Tempest, the sixth-generation stealth fighter that Britain is developing with Japan and Italy.

It's due to enter service in 2035.

If the Tempest project is grounded, it will be in part because of the cost of donating Challenger tanks and other weaponry to Ukraine.

This is Russian video of a Challenger being attacked by a drone.

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES: A clash of high-tech militaries has taught all of us a great deal about how to fight in the future.

MALCOLM BRABANT: And perhaps how to save money.

Boosted by artificial intelligence, swarms of drones like these recently underwent what the British government trumpeted as successful trials, with American and Australian partners striking multiple targets.

While Britain's normally secretive defense, science and technology laboratory has posted this video lauding its 15-center shot lasers.

JAMES, Senior Engineer, Raytheon U.K.: We're here to carry out some trials with the system.

It's a capability for laser-directed energy weapon to take down targets.

We have a radar surveillance system which provides the soldiers with a feed of different targets in different locations.

Drones are now becoming a really popular use.

They're very cheap, very easy to deploy, and you don't want to be using a very expensive weapon like a missile to be taken down a drone.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Earlier this year, Britain's DragonFire system achieved the nation's first high-powered firing of a laser weapon against aerial targets.

DragonFire is due to be deployed on British warships in three years' time.

Western scientists are constantly trying to keep one step ahead of potential adversaries.

Defense spending now accounts for 7 percent of Russia's annual budget.

Against this backdrop, Britain's army is hamstrung by ammunition shortages and antiquated armor.

Its top general says the army must double its fighting power within three years, by which time the nation must be prepared for war.

GEN. ROLAND WALKER: If we can double and then triple our fighting power, any British land force will be able to destroy an enemy force at least three times its size and keep on doing that.

And, that way, we will have every confidence in being ready and able to fight anyone and win.

MALCOLM BRABANT: Do you think people are sleepwalking into the next war?

MAJ. GEN. RUPERT JONES: No, I'm no believer in inevitability.

I think it's absolutely right that security experts, defense experts keep us honest and warn us of the threats that we face.

What defense is there to do fundamentally is to deter adversaries.

The stronger we are, the stronger the deterrence, the less likely there is to be a war.

MALCOLM BRABANT: But all the indications are that the government will override the generals, despite warnings that political short-termism is a gamble in an ever-dangerous world.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Malcolm Brabant in Southern England.

AMNA NAWAZ: As college students head back to campus for the new academic year, universities are rolling out new rules as they prepare for more protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

In many cases, there's a wide range of new restrictions.

Jeffrey Brown has our look at how college leaders and some students are navigating this moment.

JEFFREY BROWN: At Columbia University in New York, one flash point for last spring's campus turmoil, long lines formed outside the gates as classes began.

Students and staff presented a campus I.D.

to enter, guests had to register ahead of time, and access was limited to a handful of entry points.

Senior Isabella Ramirez is editor in chief of The Columbia Daily Spectator.

ISABELLA RAMIREZ, Editor in Chief, The Columbia Daily Spectator: It's a really interesting atmosphere to sort of enter campus with gates locked sort of screenings at every single entry point that you're entering.

JEFFREY BROWN: Amid protests last spring, at least 200 people were arrested or detained here.

And in August, President Minouche Shafik resigned following months of pressure and criticism from Congress as well as Jewish and pro-Palestinian student groups and faculty.

For now, interim president Dr. Katrina Armstrong, seeking to calm the waters and rebuild trust, has been visible on campus, meeting with different constituent groups.

ISABELLA RAMIREZ: She has the ability to do something very different and possibly very new in terms of how she decides to handle this, who she decides to see input from, how she balances the many, many voices that are kind of demanding different things from her.

I'm curious how protesters will receive Armstrong.

JEFFREY BROWN: It's a dynamic at play around the country, as administrators seek to avoid a repeat of the spring, when more than 3,000 people were arrested or detained on campuses, including students and protesters not affiliated with universities.

Many charges were never filed or have since been dropped, though not all.

And some students have brought lawsuits in response to punishments handed down.

So far this semester, a relative calm, though, at the University of Michigan, four were arrested for attempting to disrupt a student event.

And as classes began at Cornell, some 150 pro-Palestinians protested.

With a summer to take stock, colleges have implemented a variety of policies, tighter security, limiting the duration of and designated areas for protests, and notably banning encampments, a step taken by the entire University of California system.

RICHARD LYONS, Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley: Encampments on campus are not allowed.

Erecting structures that haven't been permitted on the front end is not allowed.

JEFFREY BROWN: Rich Lyons must now implement the policy as the new head of U.C.

Berkeley.

RICHARD LYONS: And we're going to be much firmer about this is completely supported free speech.

And when you go into this category, it is in fact either sometimes unlawful and sometimes against our rules.

And we need to manage that more effectively than we did last year.

JEFFREY BROWN: You need to manage it more effectively, meaning better understanding of the rules, more compliance with the rules?

What do you mean?

RICHARD LYONS: I think better understanding of the rules is part of it.

Do our students really understand the difference between free speech and civil disobedience?

Have you crossed a line?

Historically, people think of civil disobedience as I civilly disobeyed and I accept the consequences.

And that's not always clear on our campuses in our students' minds.

I think that needs to be clearer.

JEFFREY BROWN: Lyons and others stress to us the need for better communications and more consistency, while making room for free debate.

In Washington, D.C., American University President Jonathan Alger, also in his first year on the job, is in the process of updating campus policies.

No final decision has been made on encampments.

JONATHAN ALGER, President, American University: We wanted to wait until our students and faculty and staff were back on campus so that they could have the opportunity and forums to share their thoughts and ideas.

We have had a very open and transparent process.

We have shared our policies, draft policies publicly to get feedback and insights from the university community.

At Harvard, which saw the resignation of President Claudine Gay last January, new university rules include stricter limits on unapproved signs, writing on university property and noise levels, angering some students.

MAHMOUD AL-THABATA, College Student: Harvard has retaliated with draconian measures.

JEFFREY BROWN: Sophomore Mahmoud Al-Thabata, an organizer with Harvard's Out of Occupied Palestine coalition, says protests and other actions will continue.

MAHMOUD AL-THABATA: You will see strategic measures in order for one to escalate to a measure that is appropriate and to escalate to a measure that does have the most effectiveness on campus, but as well as escalate to make sure that our community is safe and organizers are safe.

JEFFREY BROWN: Jewish students too are seeking new ways to organize.

University of Michigan sophomore Dan Viderman started a Students Supporting Israel chapter and is heavily involved in Jewish life on campus.

DAN VIDERMAN, College Student: We held a Nova Music Festival survivor on campus just last week.

And after the event, a lot of the feedback that we had all received was like, wow, like, we knew kind of what happened, but we didn't realize the atrocities and the real damage of what was done there in Israel on October 7.

I think this year our strategy is just engage in those conversations and just talk to those people.

JEFFREY BROWN: As students navigate how best to use their voices, some institutions like Washington University in St. Louis, which saw roughly 100 people arrested in April, are sticking to rules already in place.

Chancellor Andrew Martin: ANDREW MARTIN, Chancellor, Washington University in St. Louis: We were one of the few universities in the country that said very early on in the spring that there'd be no encampments on our campus.

And when folks started with the encampments, as we chose to use our police force to ensure that those encampments weren't set up on our campus.

If someone were to try to come and do the same thing today, we would respond in the same fashion.

So we really haven't changed our policy approach.

JEFFREY BROWN: One hope we heard expressed, to make this a learning and teaching moment, one that goes to the heart of what colleges are for.

RICHARD LYONS: Our goal is not to make ideas safe for students.

It's to make students safe for ideas.

We are platforms for difficult ideas to match up against each other and have it out in an ideas sense, but not in a personal violence sense.

So we need to manage those things.

I think universities across the country and world have got better over the last year at that.

JONATHAN ALGER: We are obligated to protect students from discrimination, from facing a hostile environment.

And so there are some limitations associated with that.

Having said all that, free expression is a bedrock of American higher education.

And we know we have got to underscore the importance of that, even when it's difficult.

JEFFREY BROWN: A goal and ideal that will no doubt be further tested, especially as the anniversary of the October 7 attack approaches and the war continues.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

AMNA NAWAZ: The presidential debate marks a major moment in the race for the White House, and Donald Trump comes under scrutiny for conspiracy theories.

On that and more of the week's news, we turn to the analysis of Capehart and Ponnuru.That's Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post, and Ramesh Ponnuru, editor for "National Review."

David Brooks is away.

Great to have you both here.

RAMESH PONNURU, Senior Editor, "The National Review": Thanks.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So three days after that first debate between Vice President Harris, former President Trump, there's only one poll that we have seen so far conducted in the days after.

It gives us a limited view of the impact.

So now we see Vice President Harris up with 47 percent to Trump's 42 percent nationally in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Jonathan, it's hard to say just yet what the impact of the debate will be.

We hope there will be more polls coming up soon, but the Harris campaign clearly feels good about what happened.

I guess the question is, did she do enough in the debate to answer questions that voters had about who she is as a leader in her policies?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, if we're being honest, yes and no.

And the Harris campaign should be excited about where things are.

They went into the debate with the momentum at their back, and her performance, arguably, was superb.

And on the one hand, she answered questions that people had, because Donald Trump and Republicans spent a lot of time degrading her, questioning her intelligence, questioning her abilities, questioning her accomplishments, downplaying the fact that she's run for elective office, citywide in San Francisco, statewide in California, statewide for A.G. and Senate, and nationwide as vice president.

And she showed up on that stage, and as we say, she showed up and she showed out, and showed that she was able to more than handle the debate, the man across from her, and to run the country.

Where -- and this is, I think, the fault of debates these days.

Anyone who was expecting a deep dive in policy at this debate was -- had their expectation -- they had the wrong expectations.

2016, Hillary Clinton was blasted, criticized by a lot of people for having too many plans, too many policies.

And now people are criticizing Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, for not having enough plans.

But if you watch her rallies, as I have done -- I watch both their rallies -- I know she said in the debate the opportunity economy, and some people said, well, she didn't say what that was.

She's been talking about it on the campaign trail for weeks now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ramesh, we knew, we knew going in that she was going to try to goad Donald Trump into reacting.

She did.

He went for it time and again on crowd size, on immigration, topic after topic.

That worried a lot of Republicans I talked to.

Did it worry you?

RAMESH PONNURU: Well, I think that it worried a lot of the people around Donald Trump, and he was, of course, on notice that that was going to happen.

But he appears to be just congenitally incapable of resisting taking the bait.

And I suspect that one of the reasons that some of the people around him are probably all right with the idea that he's not going to do another one is that he would follow the exact same pattern if he had that debate again.

So she had flaws as a debater, but he had something more like a meltdown.

It may not show up in the polls, because I think this is going to be a tight race all the way through, but there's no question who did better and who did worse in that debate.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you don't believe it'll show up in the polls?

Do you think that debate will have any impact on his support?

RAMESH PONNURU: I think that anything that happens in this race is going to have a small effect on the overall numbers, but that could still be a big effect in terms of the percentage of undecided voters that are still out there, because this is trench warfare.

And it's, I think, going to stay that way through the end of the election.

AMNA NAWAZ: You agree with that, Jonathan?

And do you think they should debate again?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Absolutely.

Well... AMNA NAWAZ: Well, you.

What do you think?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, I want them to debate again.

And, look, as an American, I would like for them to debate again.

And I would like for that next debate to actually be focused on policy.

But as Ramesh just pointed out, Donald Trump is congenitally incapable of not dealing in grievance.

And one of the great things Vice President Harris did on that debate stage was she threw out the bait, he took it, he threw some stuff back, she pivoted and talked about what she wanted to do.

And I would like another debate between the two of them so we can talk about things like, OK, you both say you want to no longer tax tips.

How's that going to work?

Today, he's talking about no more taxes on overtime.

I'm sorry.

Really?

Or how about let's talk about his tariffs plan.

Have her explain more about the opportunity economy and how you're going to pay for it.

But that ain't ever going to happen.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, let's talk about the other big story Lisa and Laura were reporting on earlier as well.

And that is Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance's repeated remarks about the population, the Haitian immigrant population in Springfield, Ohio, repeating lies about the population there.

And that's now led to real threats against people in the community, bomb threats, schools being evacuated, also paired with his association with a woman named Laura Loomer, who traffics in racism like this online, recently tweeting that the White House will smell like curry if Kamala Harris was elected, also echoing messages of white supremacists, talking about Great Replacement Theory.

Jonathan, this is not a secret meeting that Mr. Trump is having with someone at Mar-a-Lago.

She's traveling with him.

What message does that send?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: It's an ugly message.

It's a reprehensible message.

I want to take folks back to 2008, when Barack Obama was about to announce his candidacy for the presidency and tapes came out from sermons from his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, caused a firestorm in his campaign, pushed him to give one of the best political speeches in American history and the best speech on race in the country to save his campaign.

He was being roundly criticized, 2008.

Here we are in 2024 and a former president and current presidential nominee is flying around with a conspiracy theorist, after folks know what she has said and what she has done.

Can you imagine if Jeremiah Wright had gotten off of Barack Obama's plane days and weeks after those sermons came out?

You can't imagine it because it would not have happened and it did not happen.

It is reprehensible and shameful that Republicans are not demanding of Donald Trump what, quite frankly, the nation demanded of Barack Obama in 2008.

He - - Donald Trump should be held accountable.

He should made to -- he should be held to account for associating himself with this person.

And if he doesn't want to, if he wants to embrace and literally rhetorically embrace her, then do that.

But I think Republicans need to step out and loudly condemn him for what he's doing.

It's horrible for their party, but it's even more damaging for this country.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ramesh, what's your take on this?

RAMESH PONNURU: Well, she has come under some pretty severe criticism from even Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is herself a firebrand.

And Marjorie Taylor Greene said that Loomer does not speak for Trump, does not speak for MAGA, does not speak for the Republican Party.

Well, if Trump believes that, he can say that, and he hasn't.

What he's said so far is simply that he disagreed with her statement, presumably the racist one about curry, which, by the way, smells great.

And what he didn't say was anything like, this is disgusting, I had no idea she was this kind of person.

He doesn't care about that sort of thing.

As long as she supports him, that makes her a good person in his eyes.

AMNA NAWAZ: We have heard, as you mentioned, Marjorie Taylor Greene saying this doesn't represent the party, but Donald Trump is the leader of the party.

He is their presidential nominee, and we haven't heard a lot of outcry from other Republicans.

Does this now represent the party?

RAMESH PONNURU: Because the problem, if these Republicans denounce Loomer, Loomer is obviously not the problem.

The problem is a candidate whose sense of judgment and whose sense of decency doesn't preclude associating with a 9/11 denier, with a racist, with a conspiracy theorist.

As long as she supports him, he thinks that that's fine.

AMNA NAWAZ: So the relevant trend here worth digging into is this yawning gender gap I have been keeping an eye on.

It's 18 points between the candidates by one measure.

That's larger than it was in 2020, larger than it was in 2016.

We know women vote in larger numbers than men in presidential elections, on top of the Taylor Swift endorsement.

I'm just working that in here.

Is there anything that either of you see changing that would close that gap?

Jonathan?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I wonder how much the fearmongering that Donald Trump is engaging in will pull some of these women back.

And I want to be clear about something.

There's always been a gender gap, but a lot of it has been driven by the fact that Black women, African American women, have been solidly in the camp of Democrats.

The fact that the gender gap is widening says to me that white women are moving in the Harris direction.

Whether they stay there is another thing.

And one data point that everyone should keep in mind, remember, no Democrat running for president has won a majority of the white vote since 1964.

RAMESH PONNURU: Young Hispanic men, young African American men have also shown some signs of being more open to Trump.

That's also expanding the gender gap.

One other thing to watch in this is what happens with married women and married men versus single women and single men, because that's another gap, a marriage gap.

With married women in 2020, they narrowly went for Trump.

Is that going to happen again or are they going to be turned off by him?

AMNA NAWAZ: Thirty seconds left.

Do you see anything coming from former President Trump that speaks to that demographic right now?

RAMESH PONNURU: I think that it is very hard to ascertain what Trump's strategy is at the moment.

The things that he needed to do at the debate, for example, was define her, and he was too busy talking about himself to do that.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ramesh Ponnuru, Jonathan Capehart, great to have you both here.

Thank you so much.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: And we will have much more coverage of the presidential race online, including a conversation with two linguists about what Trump and Harris' respective speaking styles say about them as candidates.

NICOLE HOLLIDAY, Linguistics Professor, University of California, Berkeley: Every speech that she's given or every appearance that she's had in this cycle, she seems to be more and more like a traditional politician.

So she's very rehearsed.

She's very under control.

She's really moving her style towards something that is more legibly presidential for a general audience.

JENNIFER MERCIECA, Communications Professor, Texas A&M University: For Donald Trump, his speaking style was really honed through the experience that he had working in reality television.

He learned from working on "The Apprentice" how to build a moment and build suspense.

And he learned comedic timing.

Through his rallies, he has certainly learned how to interact with the crowd.

He spends a lot of time cultivating his style.

AMNA NAWAZ: You can find that full conversation our YouTube page.

JEFFREY BROWN: Artist and designer Beau McCall has made his mark on the art world one button at a time.

Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston takes us through the first ever retrospective covering his near-40-year career.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JARED BOWEN: Going all the way back to his childhood, artist and designer Beau McCall has been besotted with buttons.

BEAU MCCALL, Artist: My mom had a jar, a Maxwell House jar, buttons -- in the basement full of buttons.

So I always tell people, it was almost like me and the jar had dialogue.

JARED BOWEN: Whatever the jar said, it resonated deeply.

Buttons have fastened their hold over McCall as his medium of choice.

As we find at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, he's crafted vests, dresses, and shoes, jewelry, collage, and a bathtub.

BEAU MCCALL: So most of the things that I learned, I learned home in our apartment in public housing.

Most of the crafts I learned, I learned at day camp, after-school programs, and three sewing stitches from my mom that I still use today.

So I like to call it homegrown.

JARED BOWEN: McCall grew up in Philadelphia to parents with an innate sense of fashion and design often assembled from thrift stores, rummage sales, even the trash.

It was upcycling before upcycling was a thing, he says, which was the impetus for him to see a creative bounty in buttons.

BEAU MCCALL: The button for me is precious.

I use the buttons as a language.

I use the buttons to help me tell stories within the works.

JARED BOWEN: Those stories began to have a sharper focus, he says, after a pivotal trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, where McCall's artistic scope was vastly expanded.

BEAU MCCALL: I got inspired by all the young creatives that was there.

I was blown away by the craftsmanship and the visions that they had as far as fashion and art.

And when I got back, I was inspired to do this piece that I titled Motherland I. JARED BOWEN: And then there's this, his cascading 20-pound do-rag fit for a red carpet.

BEAU MCCALL: And then if you look at it, it just glistens like a waterfall.

So I was attracted to the way it sparkled.

BEAU MCCALL: And then I had buttons commissioned about hair care.

So there's an Afro pick.

You have the Afro comb.

You have the Afro silhouette.

So you have different variations of how Black folks wear their hair.

JARED BOWEN: McCall often wears his creations, but the headdress was designed for Souleo, the artist's partner and the curator of this show.

SOULEO, Curator: It always makes you want to stand up right.

It really gives you a sense of empowerment and beauty and strength and courage.

JARED BOWEN: They're descriptors that could also apply to McCall, who moved to New York in the late 1980s.

Buttons helped him banish a lifelong shyness and emerge as a designer and darling of the Harlem Institute of Fashion, all at a time, says Souleo, when McCall used his work to both bolster and document an LGBTQ community marginalized by the AIDS crisis.

He designed disco-wear and assembled collages of his friends frolicking.

SOULEO: And so you see how his friends lived through all of those different periods in their lives, and what helped them get through those challenging social circumstances was their love for each other, their friendship and their bonds.

BETH MCLAUGHLIN, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, Fuller Craft Museum: I see it as a love story between Beau and the button and material.

JARED BOWEN: Beth McLaughlin is the artistic director and chief curator of the Fuller Craft Museum and says she's been especially drawn to McCall's skill at elevating the otherwise humble button.

BETH MCLAUGHLIN: And I think in contemporary craft, in particular, our whole field is based on this notion of skilled making and really taking these materials that we live with every day, that we touch every day and transforming them into works of art.

JARED BOWEN: A significant percentage of those buttons, by the way, have been entrusted to McCall over the years.

While some are specially sourced, the best ones, he says, have a telltale sign of their rich history.

They smell like mildew.

BEAU MCCALL: Most of the time, they have been sitting in somebody's house, in somebody's basement, in a jar somewhere, in the blue cookie tin or the old cigar box.

And they have probably been around for years.

Those were buttons when people really focused on the creativity and the button itself.

So that gets me excited.

JARED BOWEN: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jared Bowen in Brockton, Massachusetts.

AMNA NAWAZ: And be sure to tune in to "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight.

Jeffrey Goldberg and his panel will discuss the state of the 2024 presidential race now that voters have had the chance to see Vice President Harris and former President Trump go head to head in a debate.

GEOFF BENNETT: And on "PBS News Weekend": what the success of a housing assistance program for veterans can teach officials about tackling homelessness.

And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us, and have a great weekend.