♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the newshour tonight, the u.s. strikes iranian-backed militia in iraq and syria in retaliation for the deadly attack on american troops. amna: a stronger than expected jobs report shows the resiliency of the u.s. economy but raises concern that the fed might not lower interest rates soon. geoff: south carolina

congressman james clyburn discusses president biden's outreach to black voters ahead of democrats' first official primary. >> you've got to get boots on the ground, and we've got to make a significant investment in boots on the ground. ♪ >> major funding for "the pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> cunard is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure, and british style. all with cunard's white star service.

>> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including jim and nancy bildner, and the robert and virginia shiller foundation. >> the john s. and james l. knight foundation, fostering informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of "the newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. geoff: welcome to the newshour.

the u.s. has started a series of military strikes against iranian backed militia in syria and iraq. amna: the bombing is in retaliation for an attack last weekend that killed three american soldiers and wounded dozens of others in jordan. nick schifrin has been reporting on these fast-moving developments and is here now. what is the latest? nick: the u.s. military says it used 125 munitions on more than 85 targets across seven locations in iraq and syria. the targets included command and control and intelligence centers, as well as storage facilities with missiles, rockets, drones these groups have been using to target u.s. soldiers. national security council spokesman john kirby said just a few minutes ago these targets were specifically connected to a ttacks to u.s. troops in the region. there have been more than 160 attacks on u.s. troops across iraq and syria, including the one this weekend that killed three u.s. soldiers.

but the targets tonight went further than any other u.s. strike. that map is the attacks that these proxy groups have launched against u.s. troops in iraq and syria. what was significant about tonight's strikes is the targets went beyond these proxy groups. they included the quds force, part of iran's revolutionary guard corps that sponsors these groups that the u.s. says provides weapons, intelligence, and training to these groups. what is important as this is the first time since we've started seeing these attacks that the u.s. have attacked iranians. these are iranians, iranian weapons, iranian sites. they are connected to the proxy groups, but they are not the iraqis and syrians pushing the button, they are iranians. this is the first time we have seen that. also significant, the u.s. flew b-1 bombers from the united states in order to attack iraq and syria, also something we have not seen. a senior defense official told

me strategically it is a sign to iran, a reminder that the u.s. has the ability to fly these bombers, as well as the fact that the bombers bring heavier bombs to hit the underground facilities that the u.s. wants to hit. although kirby on the record just now denied they were trying to send any message to iran tonight. officials tonight reiterate something we have heard from u.s. officials in the past, that this is the "first tier of a multitier response." as president biden put it today, "our response began today. it will continue at times and places of our choosing." the day began with a reminder for the commander-in-chief about the loss that led to tonight's strikes. reporter: it is one of the military's most solemn rituals. at dover airbase in delaware, the commander-in-chief paid respect to the soldiers who se sacrifice was ultimate. three caskets holding william rivers who today received a , posthumous promotion, and

sergeants kennedy sanders and breanna muffet, all three from a n engineering unit based in georgia. they were killed last weekend in their beds in tower 22 in jordan by a drone u.s. officials believe was iranian. iran's military showcased some of its attack drones last week. the group the u.s. says fired it is part of the pro iranian proxy umbrella gro iranian resistance of iraq. they indicated they did not want to escalate and did not target iran's revolutionary guard corps in iran. in recent days, iran seems to have sent signals of de-escalation. the un's nuclear watchdog says tehran is slowing the speed it is stockpiling enriched uranium, which it would need if it decides to produce nuclear weapons. iran's supreme leader urged the government to distance itself from its proxy groups, including another member of the umbrella group, which vowed today to continue attacking u.s. troops. today before the strikes, iran's

president reiterated that iran neither sought nor would shrink from war. >> we have said many times we will not initiate any war. but if anyone wants to bully, iran will respond fully. nick: u.s. officials say they do not have any sense at this moment of casualties at these sites. amna: the administration describes this as the first and a multitier response. what does that mean? nick: it is a good question. they haven't really defined it. when i talk to officials about that, they distinguish between different targets that the next few days could perhaps include. tonight's targets were storage facilities, as we talked about. command and control centers. that is distinct from targeting leadership. that would be another step the u.s. could consider. the u.s. officials i talked to insist they do not plan to target iran itself, but the strikes could extend to yemen. the ongoing u.s. and u.k. effort in yemen has tried to degrade houthi capacities, who have

launched three dozen attacks on u.s. ships and international shipping lanes. u.s. officials are telling me tonight to expect some kind of strike or concerted effort to continue to degrade the houthi ability in yemen. as for iran's response, it is too early to know, but administration officials i speak to say they hope this is calibrated. they hope it is calibrated to try to stop these attacks from continuing without sparking any kind of war with iran. there is a question of whether there is any diplomatic talks secretly between the united states and iran tonight. john kirby of the national security council said there had been no communication between tehran and washington, but what washington is trying to do is stop the attacks not go to war with iran. amna: nick schifrin with the latebreaking news of these u.s. strikes overseas. thank you so much. ♪ stephanie: i'm stephanie sy with

"newshour west." here are the latest headlines. the monthly jobs report today indicates hiring is continuing at a strong pace. u.s. employers added 353,000 jobs last month, double what many expected. the unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent. and the latest report found 3.1 million new jobs were created last year, making it among the best years for job growth since 1999. a federal judge in washington has postponed former president trump's march trial on charges he sought to overturn the 2020 election. no new date has been set. the judge said she would set a new date "if and when" trump's presidential immunity claims are resolved. meantime, fulton county district attorney fani willis admitted in a court filing to having a "personal relationship" with a special prosecutor she hired for trump's georgia election fraud case. willis insists there's no basis to dismiss the case or

disqualify her from the prosecution. california is bracing for a second atmospheric river storm to dump more rain and snow across the state. it's expected to arrive late saturday, fueled by a band of moisture formed over the pacific. it comes on the heels of the week's first powerful storm that flooded streets and highways in long beach, with first responders rescuing people stranded in floodwaters. a ukrainian intelligence official says russia is refusing to return the bodies of scores of ukrainian prisoners of war who allegedly died in a plane crash. moscow claims it was transporting them on a military aircraft last month when ukraine shot it down, which kyiv denies. meantime at the hague, the united nations' top court said it has jurisdiction to rule on only part of ukraine's genocide case against russia. in kenya, a truck carrying liquid petroleum gas exploded overnight in nairobi, killing at

least three people and injuring 280. 24 of those are said to be in critical condition. cell phone video caught a fireball erupting from a gas depot late last night. gas cylinders were thrown into the air, sparking more fires in the neighborhood. firefighters battled the inferno for hours. walo: i saw people running, mothers and children, they had small babies. i saw girls and boys bleeding. it was so bad, it was a bad experience. i saw a man bleeding from the head. stephanie: kenyan officials say the gas depot was not approved to operate because of its proximity to residential areas. north korea fired more cruise missiles off its western coast today. it was their fourth round of cruise missile tests so far this year. that came as leader kim jong un ordered his military to ramp up their war preparations. north korean state media

published photos of kim touring naval projects at a shipyard. kim has increasingly focused on strengthening his country's navy in recent months. back in this country, tesla is recalling virtually all of its vehicles sold in the u.s. over the size of their dashboard warning lights. the national highway traffic safety administration said the brake, park, and anti-lock brake lights were too small, and could raise the risk of a crash. the recall will be performed through a software update. a new mexico man has pleaded guilty for helping to carry out drive-by shootings at democratic officials' homes in albuquerque. demetrio trujillo carried out the shootings in 2022 and 2023. he had been hired by a failed republican candidate for state office who claimed his election loss was rigged. no one was hurt in the attacks. trujillo faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. federal wildlife officials rejected requests from

conservation groups today to restore protections for gray wolves in the northern rocky mountains. conservationists complain of aggressive wolf-killing measures in idaho and montana. the u.s. fish and wildlife service did say it would work on a first-ever national recovery plan for wolves. it is expected to be completed by 2025. strong tech earnings boosted stocks on wall street today. the dow jones industrial average gained 134 points to close at 38,654. the nasdaq climbed 267 points. the s&p 500 added 52, to notch a new record high. and two passings of note tonight. actor carl weathers died in his sleep thursday. the former professional football player became a hollywood star over his decades-long career, taking on a number of iconic action and comedy roles for tv and film. he was best known for playing apollo creed in the "rocky" movies opposite sylvester stallone. and, more recently, he starred

in the star wars series, "the mandalorian." carl weathers was 76 years old. and, legendary radio host and social activist joe madison has also died. known as "the black eagle," he hosted a popular live morning show on siriusxm radio for years, tackling human and civil rights issues both on and off the air. while an official cause of death was not given, madison had fought a years-long battle with prostate cancer. joe madison was 74 years old. still to come on the "newshour" -- el salvador's vice president on the country's upcoming election and controversial crackdown on gang violence. how taylor swift became the latest target of right-wing conspiracy theorists. and david brooks and jonathan capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines. >> this is "the pbs newshour" from weta studios in washington, and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

amna: today's job report shows the labor market was running hot again last month. and it's been resilient for months, despite recession predictions last year. the unemployment rate has been below 4% for two consecutive years, a record we haven't seen in over 50 years. at the same time, the federal reserve indicated this week it's too soon to start lowering interest rates. joining us now is austan goolsbee, the president of the federal reserve bank of chicago. welcome back to the "newshour." thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me back. amna: 355,000 jobs added last month unemployment below 4%. , what do these numbers tell you about where the economy is right now? >> it still feels strong. the headline number was almost breathtaking. if you peel back the onion a little bit, it is not as strong as that headline number advertises because a lot of the increase in jobs were part-time

jobs. if you look at the total hours worked, that is not up as much as the total number of jobs was up. but it is still very strong, and it is in the context that inflation has been coming in better than expected as well. both sides of that have been quite positive. amna: it is worth noting the projections for today's job numbers were off quite a bit again, and predictions about a possible recession last year were also off. what is it about this economy that makes forecasting so hard? pres. goolsbee: it is always hard. it is always hard to forecast. anyone month's number has a plus or minus 110,000 to it. this was a miss to the downside. we came in with a strong number almost double what we expected. but when you come out of such a weird moment as what covid was, we shouldn't be surprised our

models are not that great at figuring out what is going to happen. amna: we know mortgage rates, car loans are so very high. fed chair jerome powell indicated rate cuts will not happen in early spring as many hoped it might. does today's report line up that in your view? you still think it is too soon to lower rates? pres. goolsbee: as a member of the federal open market committee, i don't like tying our hands ahead of time when we have weeks and months of data to come in. we ought to base those decisions on how the actual data come through. i think more and more progress like what we have seen on inflation and jobs is what we need to see to feel comfort that we are on target. as you know, the federal reserve act gives the fed a dual mandate job to maximize employment and stabilize prices, and that is what the fed has to pay attention to, those two things. so far, it has been going pretty

well. that year 2023 by that dual mandate goal went quite well, and we just want to make sure we are on path to see that. amna: inflation has been coming down. as you mentioned, the job numbers are good. but there are some things that impact people's everyday lives that remain very tough. grocery prices in particular. we know they jumped 25% over the last four years, and they remain high. for millions of households, that is a critical everyday financial pinch. for people who see headlines that say the economy is strong, the economy is coming back, and don't feel it every day, what can you say to them about when that will change? pres. goolsbee: perfectly fair point. we went through a period when inflation was way too high, far higher than where the fed's target is or where we want it to be, and price levels are still elevated.

the question is, is that the thing that drives vibes, or do vibes lag actual conditions? i don't totally know the answer to that. i know that the fed job, like i say, by law is maximize employment and get the inflation rate down to 2%. that is what the fed is going to be doing. how that falls out in the vibes in the price level, that is a second matter. but the fed can't really adjust that without using its one instrument. it just has the one instrument of raise rates or lower rates. if you're trying to get the price level back to what it was some years ago, you would really have to just crank down the economy to do that. so, that is not in our card deck. amna: all of this is unfolding in an election year, and you know well the intersection of presidential politics and economic issues from your time

in the administration. former president trump is again accusing the fed chair jerome powell of acting politically. his latest statement says, "i think he is going to do something," speaking of mr. powell, "to help the democrats if he lowers interest rates. it looks to me like he is trying to lower interest rates for the sake of may getting people elected." what do you say to people who share that concern or are saying any of the fed's actions through a political lens? pres. goolsbee: they shouldn't. the fed is totally transparent. they put out the minutes, and will later put out the full transcript of the meetings. just know that the federal open market committee has by law dual mandate of what they look at. it bases the decisions on actual economic conditions and data. that is what will drive what the fed can do. amna: when you look at the big picture now, is there any other lever you think congress or the president should be using at this moment to keep the economy moving in the right direction?

pres. goolsbee: as monetary authorities, our job is a very narrow lane of just monetary policy. we don't weigh in on fiscal policy or congressional opinion. they can do whatever they feel is appropriate. in our conditions, it is a midwest motto, we take the conditions as they come. there is no bad weather, there's only bad clothing, and we will deal with whatever the conditions are. amna: that is austan goolsbee, president of the federal reserve bank of chicago. thank you for joining us. pleasure to speak with you. pres. goolsbee: my pleasure. thank you. ♪ geoff: south carolina voters head to the polls tomorrow for the first official democratic primary of the year. four years ago, black voters in south carolina rescued joe

biden's bid for the presidency, fueled in large by part an endorsement from congressman james clyburn. that south carolina victory put then-candidate biden on a path to the white house. i spoke with congressman clyburn earlier today about the president's standing among the democratic base, and with black americans, in particular. congressman clyburn, thanks so much for being with us. esther clyburn -- mr. clyburn: thanks for having me. geoff: i know you said the president enjoys strong support, but a december associated press poll found 50% of black adults say they approve a president biden, but that is compared with 86% who said the same thing back in july of 2021. what do you think accounts for that slip in support? mr. clyburn: well, i don't think there's been a big slip in support. i think that people express themselves at the time they are asked the question. back at the time this poll was taking place, i was asking questions about people who

believed what they were seeing on social media. the best example i know is on student loan debt relief. joe biden had promised that, and that was a big, big deal in the african-american community. and when he offered his programs to reduce or eliminate that debt, he got sued, and that lawsuit was lost. and everybody focused on the fact that he lost the lawsuit. nobody focused on the fact that there were four other categories that he was working on, which had resulted in $137 billion in debt elimination for 3.7 million people. that was not being reported. and there was never a report in south carolina about that until joe biden came to south carolina. -- south carolina emmanuel church. i introduced him that day. and i decided to go a different

route in introducing the president. and i brought that up. immediately, they started reporting on it. found one young lady at south carolina state, my alma mater, where we're going to be this afternoon. she had gotten $256,000 in debt relief, and it had never been reported on. and these kinds of things have people thinking that joe biden had not kept any promises. people didn't tie these programs like the rescue act, the largest infrastructure bill in the history -- now here in south carolina, we are improving roads and bridges like we've never done before. that is because of joe biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill. but people didn't tie that to him. insulin, $35 a month. my late wife was spending

upwards of $800 a month on the she lost her life to. now you're saying people on medicare, you got a cap of $35 a month? so, these things were not being reported to the american people sufficiently. now that people hear about them, you are getting the word out, not to mention the jobs report this morning. double what people have projected. the growth in the economy last quarter, double what people had projected. joe biden is doing what he said he would do, and the american people are beginning to feel it. and that's why you got those numbers. i guarantee you, you will see. check the black precincts tomorrow night. i guarantee you, you see great approval of joe biden. geoff: well, you recently said that you were concerned about the biden campaign's ability to

reach black voters, and campaign needed to, in your words, "flood the zone.” what more should the campaign be doing? mr. clyburn: that's what i'm talking about. flooding the zone. getting this information out there. using our own methods of getting it out there, using social media, using digital stuff, using boots on the ground. look, this campaign is going to be won on turnout. now, how best to turn voters out? i maintain that the best way to turn voters out is not on television. it's on the ground. you've got to get boots on the ground, and we've got to make a significant investment in boots on the ground. geoff: congressman, there was a moment during the 2020 campaign where president biden referred to himself as the transitional candidate, a bridge to the next generation of democratic talent. of course, president biden has

every right to run again. but there are democrats who even support him but question given his age why he didn't pass the torch. mr. clyburn: i don't understand why you all feel that you place a limit on someone's transition. there is a transition for four years or for eight years? he is a transitional president. moving from the debacle of the trump years into laying the foundation for the future of our party, and he is going to pass the torch to a younger generation, to a more progressive generation. but he's not going to do it on anybody else's timetable but his own. and so, i don't know why people think they have a right to tell you how long the transition period ought to be. geoff: there's little doubt that joe biden will emerge as the winner tomorrow of south carolina's democratic primary. but what do you hope the overall

message is coming out of south carolina? mr. clyburn: that the majority of the voters in a democratic primary in south carolina will pick freedom and democracy over autocracy any day. this is about the future. and i hope the time will come in this election that the american people will see that they have a responsibility. this is not the democratic party's responsibility. this is this country's responsibility to maintain this democracy and to maintain the ir freedoms. and i would hope that that's the message that comes out tomorrow night. geoff: that is south carolina democratic congressman james clyburn. thank you so much for your time. mr. clyburn: thank you. ♪

amna: this weekend, el salvador is holding its general election, and all eyes are on incumbent president nayib bukele. he came to power in 2019, and has since overseen a vast and brutal crackdown on gangs that terrorized the nation for decades, arresting more than 75,000 people. his popularity has soared, but his government has been accused of mass human rights abuses and dismantling democratic institutions. judges allied with bukele re-interpreted a constitutional ban on re-election, clearing his path to run for a second term, along with his vice president felix ulloa, who sat down with me in san salvador earlier this week. i asked him how long his country can continue with mass arrests and detentions. vp ulloa: this is a big change, and it happens because our policies regarding dealing with

the gangs, the violence in the communities, allowed the president to face this challenge. when we took office, that was the first challenge, to bring back the peace, the harmony to the communities that were under the control of the gangs. once we declared war against the gangs, we started dealing with the crimin structures. now we have over 76,000 inmates. the sustainability of this process, as we said, is now in the hands of the population because now the people trust the institutions, this is a new country. amna: you have gone from having the highest murder rate in the world to now having the highest incarceration rate in the world. the criticism is there are a lot of innocent people being rounded up and detained. can you continue with that? vp ulloa: take a look at the big

picture. we have so far 76,000 inmates. from those, 90% of them are verified that they belong to the gangs and the criminal structure. amna: 90%? vp ulloa: 90%, because from all of these persons who have been captured over these two years, more than 6000 have been released because they proved in court that they were innocent. amna: but 6000 people, if i may, that is basically one out of every 10 people or so you are rounding up are innocent. is that acceptable to you? vp ulloa: we try to do our best, but we are not perfect. we are human beings and we make mistakes. amna: what about those who have yet to be released? vp ulloa: that is part of it. you want to have a perfect job, you can never get it because perfect is the enemy of the good. if you want to be perfect, you

will never have that. so, you have to do your best, and you have the duty to recognize your mistakes. amna: at the same time, one of the reforms pushed through means that mass hearings are now acceptable. up to 900 people in a single hearing. how is that justice? vp ulloa: absolutely. this is an innovation of the penal law. amna: 900 people to be tried at the same time, that is due process to you? vp ulloa: it is due process because it is under the law to do that in a legal process in court. you have to create the provision in the penal code so we modified this responsibility, which in the past was each person. how long it takes to conduct individual process for 76,000 cases? it would take hundreds of years to do that. the only way is to proceed and change the structure. amna: the criticism, as you

know, is this denies people due process that there is no way , hundreds of people can get a fair trial at the same time. what i hear you saying in your mind is the end justifies the means. vp ulloa: no, no, that is not right. but i am saying is you are witnessing a different country for the 21st century. if you were a lawyer, you could understand. i am a lawyer, and i started in penal law. amna: as a lawyer, could you defend 900 people at the same time? vp ulloa: yes, why not? because you are not defending 900 people. you are defending one accused. amna: can i ask about another reform i know has gotten a lot of attention? the law was changed so that children can be treated as adults in the legal system. that was lowered from the age of 16 to 12. 12 seems very young to treat someone as an adult in the legal system. help us understand why that was necessary. vp ulloa: because young people

from 12, 13 years can kill you, and they want to kill you and were sent to kill people because the leaders of the gangs, they understood that under 16 years old, they were not charged as adults. so they sent the kids to kill people. amna: so they should be charged in the legal system as adults? is there any duty for the state to protect those children, to rehabilitate them? vp ulloa: absolutely. but now you are facing young people under 16 years old, 15, 14, who have 2, 3, 4 homicides. that allows the gangs to kill people without being charged, or escaping of the justice. now we have closed that. that is a loophole that was in the law, and then we closed that. amna: as you mentioned, you are a constitutional lawyer. you previously said when you

looked at your constitution that it was very clear that it did not allow for consecutive presidential terms. that all changed in 2021 when the supreme court magistrates who were appointed by president bukele reinterpreted that closet -- that clause so he can run again. so here you are, running for four consecutive terms. do you worry that it weakens the constitution to have judges who are viewed as allies of the president change it in his favor? vp ulloa: no. do you think the legal system in the united states would be weaker because the justices of the supreme court were appointed by president trump? amna: i am saying here in el salvador. vp ulloa: in any place, these supreme court chambers interpret the constitution. they said, you can quote the

article, 152 number one. you will find the base to run because that article said the person who is the president, if he wants to run again, he has to fulfill two conditions. first, it should be in the first term. in the second term, he cannot run. amna: can i ask you, when the court ruled that this new interpretation of the constitution was coming out, u.s. officials came out and said that decision undermines democracy. do you agree with that? vp ulloa: because they don't know our constitution. amna: you are saying they misunderstood? vp ulloa: absolutely, 100%. amna: can i ask how you would characterize the current relationship between el salvador and the u.s.? vp ulloa: it is really good. we have an excellent ambassador. in the past, there were some misunderstandings because of the type of ambassadors we had, or

from the administration here. they didn't understand what was going on. once we respect each other, the relations are better. this is one of the most important alliances that we have. a fifth percent of our population lives in the united states. we want to maintain a good relationship with a state that has been our ally, our friends, and we want to be partners. let us treat us as partners. and doing that, you have to maintain a good relationship. that is what we are maintaining now with this u.s. administration and whoever will be elected in november of this year, because it is not a matter of political preference. we are not democrats, we are not republicans. we respect the administration and the president selected by

the american people. amna: vice president ulloa, thank you for your time. i appreciate it. vp ulloa: my pleasure. ♪ geoff: on sunday, the kansas city chiefs upset the baltimore ravens in the afc championship game, but some of the attention was focused on one person in the stands -- singer taylor swift. and as laura barron-lopez reports, major right-wing conspiracies are now revolving around the music icon and her football star boyfriend. laura: from country sweetheart to pop icon and billionaire megastar. >> we all know taylor swift openly perpetuates all of the mainstream liberal talking points. laura: now the center of a right-wing conspiracy theory. >> they're gearing up for an operation to use taylor swift in

the election. >> now, the women who run the biden campaign want to set the big guy up. the most unpopular president of all time wants to have a relationship with taylor swift. >> that's what practice was about, practicing the script. laura: a year ago, a conspiracy took off when a former texans running back joked the nfl was scripted. then on sunday, the kansas city chiefs upset the baltimore ravens, fueling lies that the nfl changed the script to capitalize on these two -- taylor swift and her boyfriend, chiefs tight end travis kelce. >> it's a coordinated marketing campaign by democrats to leverage celebrities to excite their base into coming out and voting. laura: and more recently, a new element was added to the conspiracy theory. right-wing news pundits are now calling the swift-kelce spectacle a psychological operation, staged by democrats to give biden a big boost in his reelection bid. >> we live in a world that is

animated by chaos, for the most part. and conspiracy theories help explain that chaos. laura: researcher joan donovan has been studying online disinformation for years. she says conservatives are using this conspiracy to critique biden, stay relevant, and animate their followers. joan: over on the right wing, i think what they're anticipating on x is really that taylor swift, who had endorsed joe biden in 2020, is likely to continue to endorse him. i think deeper, in a historical sense, the conspiracy theories about the nfl are also very pertinent amongst the right wing, because of all of the history that has gone on with black lives matter and colin kaepernick. so, it is a definite draw for this audience to critique the nfl and what they represent in terms of u.s. culture. laura: and conservative figures, like former presidential candidate vivek ramasawamy chimed in, tweeting, “i wonder

who's going to win the super bowl, and i wonder if there's a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped up couple this fall.” donovan says over time conspiracy theories feed on each other. joan: once you search for that kind of conspiracy on a place like youtube, the recommendation algorithms are going to keep rewarding and reinforcing that behavior. so, it would actually becomes very hard to leave a conspiracy theory behind because of the way social media is ordered. unfortunately, what it does to our mainstream media ecosystem is it forces you to respond as a journalist because so many people are talking about it. i do think there's room for social media companies to look more closely at their algorithms and see what it is that they're reinforcing, so that fringe conversations don't become fodder for mainstream news.

laura: she says facts related to big cultural or political events, like the biden campaign hoping for another swift endorsement and the swift-kelce relationship being worth millions in brand value for the nfl, can quickly shift into full-blown conspiracy theories. at any rate, fans still hope to see swift in the stands on super bowl sunday. for the pbs newshour, i'm laura barron lopez. geoff: and today a pentagon spokesperson, when asked, denied taylor swift was part of a department of defense psychological operation to get president biden reelected. one senior administration official told politico, “the absurdity of it all boggles the mind.” ♪ congressional gridlock on key issues like immigration and taxes are being affected by the 2024 presidential race. for all this and more, we turn to the analysis of brooks and capehart. that's new york times columnist

david brooks and jonathan capehart, associate editor for the washington post. good to see you both as always. i want to start with your reaction to the u.s. tonight starting a series of military strikes against iran backed militias in iraq and syria. this response, we should say, is expected to be just the beginning of a longer response. david, you first. david: i think it was proportionate. we have to be strong and show resolve, establish deterrence, establish defense freedom of the seas, but you don't want to sow chaos. i think with the demonstration has done is hit the iranian backed militias without hitting iran itself. some officials say we should have hit iran. i have become suspicious that in the middle east you have to strike the problem to seek a solution. that is what israel is trying to do to hamas. maybe they are right to do it. but the idea that we can somehow defang iran at once, that

probably would not work. this was a proportional response. geoff: jonathan, how do you see it? jonathan: i agree with david, but i would also add that the timing of this, or at least the announcement of the strikes happening, is interesting. because today we had the dignified transfer of the bodies of the three american service members who were killed. you had the secretary of defense there on the tarmac for this very solemn ceremony. you had the president and first lady there at dover air force base for the solemn ceremony. i think it was carried live on television, but it was carried in full when the video came in. the entire nation got to see this. then the world found out the united states responded. i think that sort of timing, plus the use of b-1 bombers in this operation, sends a very clear signal to the region but also to iran that the united states is not messing around. geoff: president biden and his top aides have been clear they do not want the proxy war to become a more significant conflict.

they don't want to draw the u.s. into a wider war in an already unstable region. how do they head off that possibility when it appears to be inching closer? david: with goldilocks. just right. iran has its messages that we don't want a war right now either. that doesn't mean they won't want it someday. there was a good essay in foreign affairs. go back to the 1930's. there were three regional conflicts. japan was sweeping through china, germany was obviously establishing fascist rule in western europe, and italy was trying to establish a fascist empire in africa. what happened over the next few years was those three separate regional conflicts coalesced into one big conflict which we called world war ii. what we need to prevent is that iran, china, and russia will not coalesce into one anti-liberal, completely violent moment. that's why i think this moment is so fraught. that's why i think the biden administration has tried to be

strong but temperate in the middle of it, not to spark that kind of coalescence. jonathan: but also keep in mind that the strikes that have happened tonight, our time, apparently is the beginning of a campaign that the administration has been signaling for a while, that this could be an ongoing campaign that could last weeks, if not longer. geoff: as one official put it, this is the beginning of the beginning. let's shift our focus to the south carolina primary tomorrow, the first primary on the democratic nominating calendar. you might have seen that interview with congressman clyburn earlier. president biden is expected to win south carolina. but in what way is this a test of his support and enthusiasm moving forward? david: and joe biden won among young black adults in 2020 89%. now he is down to 60% with young black adults. that is a significant loss. that is a lot of people you're losing, so he has to reestablish that. i was struck in your interview

with james clyburn, how he emphasized the student debt issue. i think that did turn a lot of people. i think gaza has turned a lot of young black voters. they have to win them back. i think clyburn put it well, which is you ask somebody nine months before an election who they are going to vote for. they don't know who they're going to vote for. they are thinking how do i send , a message? when they are in the voting booth and joe biden and donald trump are here, it will be a different decision-making process. we should not confuse polls today with an actual election. geoff: do democrats see it that way? they have complained for years about this disconnect between popular policies and the fact that president biden is not getting credit for it. jonathan: if there is anything the viewers should know and understand, if they don't know this already, to david's point about once people get into the voting booth and have the choice between president biden and donald trump, african-american voters are pragmatic voters, probably the most pragmatic vote in the american electorate.

we are used to not getting everything that we want. all the time. and yet, when we go into the voting booth and have to click the lever and vote for somebody we think will best protect our families and our interests, that is when the pragmatism kicks in. i can understand people being upset about student loan relief, what is happening in gaza, voting rights, criminal justice reform. but when you are faced with an existential threat like donald trump and the damage he could do if he gets another term, joe biden looks even better than he does now. geoff: let's talk about a couple of the legislative priorities that are being affected by this campaign, namely the tax plan. the house voted wednesday evening to pass a 78 billion dollar bipartisan tax package that would temporarily expand the child tax credit, restore a number of business taxes. rather, tax credits for businesses.

the vote was 357 to 70. you'd be hard-pressed to find 350 members of congress to agree on what day it is, yet you had 357 members of congress agree to move forward with this bill, yet it may not go anywhere in the senate, at least not anytime soon. david: i understand why you don't want to pass something that might help your opponent in the fall of an election year, but we are in the beginning of february. if the entire year we are not going to pass something because we don't want to help somebody, that seems awfully cynical, especially when one of the issues is a child tax credit, which was briefly expanded and lifted 3 million children out of poverty. that is reality. we may get to it, but the other thing sitting there is what i think of as the global chaos bill, where we are helping iran -- we are helping ukraine, we are helping israel to defeat hamas, and securing the southern border. if we are going to tolerate global chaos for another few years because we help our opponent or ourselves, that is obscene politicization

of the legislative process. geoff: that seems to be the dynamic with the immigration bill and even the tax bills. chuck grassley said the quiet part out loud that he did not think it was an republican's interests to move forward with this bill that could be a win for president biden in an election year. jonathan: what it shows is between the tax bill and immigration bill, the tax bill roaring out of the house and being blocked in the senate by senator grassley, the immigration bill in the senate that no one has seen yet, and yet you have the speaker of the house and donald trump trying to kill it before it gets out, congress is broken. congress is broken. the house is broken, the senate is broken. and really what we are seeing, to pick up on david's point, it is -- what is the word? the metastasization of what happened when justice scalia died. president obama nominated

merrick garland to be the nominee, and the senate mitch mcconnell, majority leader at the time, says, no. and it was february. no thanks. we should wait for the presidential election. look where we are now, where legislation can't even get out of either chamber because it would give a win to the president, never mind the real american people who would be helped by both pieces of legislation getting out and getting to the president's desk for a signature. geoff: i want to bring up the focus of laura's report tonight of taylor swift being attacked by right-wing talking heads. suggesting she is part of a conspiracy to help president biden get elected. what is the political utility of targeting the most popular entertainment figure in the world? why would republicans even engage in that enterprise? david: when ronald reagan was president, the republican party three purposes. defendant communism, free-market

capitalism, and celebrate an america where a wholesome pop star fell in love with an attractive football player. this is as americana as you can imagine. yet what has happened under trump is abnormality. it is detachment from normal american life to conspiracy mongering. what has also happened is you have this entertainment complex of hucksters and showman who want to generate buzz, and what is a better way than to attack the nfl and taylor swift? jonathan: the types of conspiracy theories that are being thrown around would make carrie matheson go, come on. this is insane. i cannot help but laugh to the point of crying, but then crying because this is what has happened to one of the two major political parties in this country where you have a guy who ran for the republican

nomination saying this is part of a plot for the chiefs to win the super bowl so that she can come out on the field and endorse the president. people. just pass the immigration bill. pass the tax bill and let's have a real conversation instead of doing this hucksterism and nonsense happening on the right. geoff: not for nothing, i hear you are a bit of a taylor swift fan. david: i like early taylor. geoff: favorite song? david: sometimes she touches me, she speaks for me. she wears short skirts, i wear t-shirts. [laughter] she is the captain, i am on the bleachers. you wake up and find what you are waiting for was here all the time. a story of my life. [laughter] i will say -- i am getting carried away here. [laughter] geoff: continue. david: her last album, she has a lyric, like covert altruism --

covert narcissism disguised as altruism like some kind of congressman. that is a great lyric. i will vote for anybody taylor tells me to. [laughter] geoff: do you have a favorite lyric? jonathan: i do not. i am more of a beyonce guy. geoff: thank you both. have a good weekend. ♪ amna: be sure to tune into "washington week with the atlantic" tonight on pbs. moderator jeffrey goldberg and his panel will discuss the u.s. response to iran-backed groups killing u.s. troops, and rising tensions in the middle east. and on pbs news weekend, as part of our series on saving species, william brangham dives into scientists' drastic measures to save coral reefs. >> we had ocean temperatures down in 30 feet to 60 feet of water that were 92 degrees. that's like hot tub weather. william: cindy lewis runs the

keys marine lab in long key, florida. it's typically a research facility, but last summer, it became a triage center. >> what it looked like here in a matter of the first two to three weeks when they were bringing 5000 corals and more that were transported through here. it looked like a giant coral mash unit with people running in and out with coolers of water and getting corals into their tanks and everything else. amna: that is coming up tomorrow on pbs news weekend. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. have a good evening and a great weekend. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- ♪ and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. including kathy and paul anderson, and camilla and george smith.

the walton family foundation, working for solutions to protect water during climate change so people and nature can thrive together. the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at hewlett.org. and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of the newshour. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪

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