JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

On the "NewsHour" tonight, feeling the pain.

As COVID cases spike, the economic costs worsen for millions of U.S. families.

Then, making the vaccine.

We travel to Belgium to the town where Pfizer is making a vaccine shot they hope will change the world.

KOEN VAN DEN HEUVEL, Mayor of Puurs, Belgium: We say now that the hope of the world is here in Puurs, and we are going to save the world.

From here, you can export products worldwide in a fairly quick way.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Plus, It's Friday.

Mark Shields and David Brooks analyze the Biden team, President Trump's persistent false claims of election fraud, and the road ahead.

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

(BREAK) JUDY WOODRUFF: New numbers tonight show U.S. job growth is slowing sharply, as COVID-19 spreads unchecked.

Employers added a net of 245,000 jobs in November.

That is the fewest since April.

That was down sharply from 610,000 in October and the fifth straight month of decline.

The unemployment did fall slightly to 6.7 percent, partly as people stopped looking for work.

The top Democrat and top Republican in Congress are talking up new economic relief after months of stalemate.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that she and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have agreed that a bipartisan bill worth $900 billion is a starting point.

Pelosi rejected a larger package in September, but she pointed to two big differences today.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): With a Democratic president committed to a scientific solution for this, with the idea that we will have a vaccine, it's a complete game-changer from then.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Pelosi says that new pandemic aid would be attached to an omnibus government funding bill.

We will return to all this after the news summary.

The pandemic's human toll keeps hitting new highs.

More than 2,800 people died on Thursday alone, and, today, the CDC called for everyone to wear masks indoors, except in their own homes.

The guidance had applied only to public spaces.

Meanwhile, president-elect Joe Biden vowed that vaccines will be free to all and safe.

He acknowledged fears, especially in hard-hit minority areas.

JOE BIDEN (D), President-Elect: What I heard from my friends in the community, and not but blocks from here as we stand, is that, well, we're not going to be the guinea pigs.

And, look, it's going to take some effort to rebuild confidence in science, because it's been so diminished in this administration.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Also today, much of the San Francisco Bay Area imposed new stay-at-home orders.

A federal judge in New York state has ordered tonight that DACA, a program that protects migrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation, be restored.

The judge says that the U.S.

Homeland Security Department must resume accepting requests for DACA status immediately.

He had already ruled that then acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was not serving legally in his post when he limited the program.

The U.S. military is going ahead with President Trump's plan to withdraw forces from Somalia.

Today's announcement says most of the 700 to 800 U.S. troops will move to neighboring countries.

They are engaged in a long-running mission against an al-Qaida affiliate group.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.

Democrats argued in favor of treating it as a public health issue.

Most Republicans said there are more important matters.

The bill is likely to die in the Republican-run Senate.

On Wall Street, hopes for economic relief overshadowed disappointing jobs numbers.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 248 points to close at 30218.

The Nasdaq rose 87 points and the S&P 500 added 32.

All three indexes finished at all-time highs.

And an Alabama man has turned 104 years old after surviving COVID-19.

Major Wooten was discharged from a hospital on Tuesday, as staffers sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

His actual birthday was Thursday.

He had been hospitalized just before Thanksgiving.

Wow.

Congratulations to him.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": all eyes on Georgia, as the fight for control of the Senate centers on the Peach State; understanding the economic toll of the pandemic in the U.S.; the Belgium town where the world puts its hope for a COVID vaccine; and much more.

President-elect Joe Biden is still seven weeks away from taking office, but the nation's troubles show no sign of waiting.

Today's economic news made that more clear than ever.

The Biden White House transition is pushing ahead, and the president-elect is already facing what may be his greatest challenges, as the pandemic fills hospitals and jars the economy again.

He spoke today in Wilmington, Delaware, hours after new numbers showed stalling jobs growth.

JOE BIDEN (D), President-Elect: Folks aren't looking for a handout.

They just need help.

They're in trouble, through no fault of their own.

We're in a crisis.

We need to come together as a nation.

We need Congress to act, and act now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Meanwhile, the Trump campaign continues to lose its legal challenges in moving to dispute the election results.

On Thursday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected the president's effort to invalidate more than 220,000 votes.

At the same time, the Trump campaign reported massive fund-raising numbers.

Combined with the Republican National Committee, it has raised some $207 million since Election Day.

The legal loss in Wisconsin further underscores that Mr. Trump's White House loss is all but settled.

In Georgia, though, two Senate elections are not, and Vice President Pence went to the Peach State today in support of incumbent Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the run-up to run-offs.

MIKE PENCE, Vice President of the United States: We're here to stand with two extraordinary leaders.

And we're here also to express our gratitude for the support of the people of Georgia over the past four years and over the past four weeks.

JUDY WOODRUFF: On the Democratic side, former President Barack Obama held a virtual event for Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

BARACK OBAMA, Former President of the United States: The promise of the Biden presidency and the Harris vice presidency rests in part on their ability to have a cooperative posture with Congress.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The Georgia run-offs are January 5, and will determine which party controls the Senate.

In normal times, the monthly jobs report that came out today would not look so bad.

but these are not normal times.

Today's report is weaker than many had hoped for, especially because of the deep financial hole that millions of Americans fell into after getting laid off early in the pandemic.

And, as Amna Nawaz tells us, this comes as a crucial deadline and financial lifeline, are they are expiring soon.

AMNA NAWAZ: Judy, for many Americans, the bottom fell out earlier this year.

The Department of Labor estimates the economy has not yet replaced about 10 million jobs lost during last spring's economic plunge.

And according to today's jobs report, 44 percent of those unemployed say this is a permanent job loss, not a temporary layoff that ends as the economy reopens.

On top of all that, the safety net for millions provided by an extension of federal benefits expires soon.

Wendy Edelberg studies all of this closely.

She's director of The Hamilton Project, and a former chief economist for the Congressional Budget Office.

She joins me now.

Wendy, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

Let me ask you now about those November numbers.

It's the fifth straight month of slowing in hiring.

Millions are already in pain.

As we just mentioned there, we're just a few weeks away from millions more losing the extension of the unemployment benefits, when the extension expires after Christmas, 12 million people there about to lose the benefits.

What does all of this say to you now, Wendy, about where we are in this recovery?

WENDY EDELBERG, Director, The Hamilton Project: Well, you have highlighted some of the really important reasons that we should be alarmed by this morning's report.

We saw that the net gain in employment was 245,000.

That might sound like a lot, but given the decline in unemployment that we have seen since February of 10 million jobs, it would take years for the labor market to fully recover.

And you're absolutely right.

Millions of unemployed people stand ready to lose their benefits abruptly the day after Christmas, and millions more in the following weeks, if the federal government doesn't take action and if state governments don't take action.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you look back at the recovery as it's unfolded so far, I want ask you about that economic stimulus bill and the funds that went out.

Those extension -- that extension of benefits was part of that.

What role did that economic stimulus from the congressional CARES Act this year, what role did that play in spurring any of the recovery so far?

WENDY EDELBERG: We have a huge amount of evidence showing us that the fiscal support in the CARES Act was instrumental in getting us to this point in the economic recovery.

We saw that, for many of the unemployed households, they were able to sustain their spending in a way that was absolutely due to the fiscal support from the CARES Act.

And then the corollary to that is that we know that with a withdrawal of that support at the end of this month, that is going to have dire consequences for consumer spending and the recovery, to say nothing for being a source of extraordinary pain for those unemployed households.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Wendy, when you look, big picture, at the jobs numbers over this entire year so far, I want to put up a graph and take a look at it, because you can see very clearly this plummet back in April.

There was a spring surge of cases of COVID and, of course, the closures that associated with it.

You see those numbers, though, creeping back up, and then, of course, slowing again recently.

But, Wendy, we should note we are in another surge.

There are now record cases, record deaths.

Experts say the worst is still ahead.

As the pandemic gets worse, if there are more closures, what are you worried could happen?

Could that graph dip back down again?

WENDY EDELBERG: The resurgence of the virus as the months have turned colder is not particularly a surprise.

Economists have been baking into their forecasts a slowdown of economic growth.

Frankly, since March, we knew this was coming.

And we have, at the same time, been calling for more fiscal support for this economy since the summer.

And what I worry about is that, without fiscal support, the shortfalling GDP in 2021 relative to what we should have seen in a pre-pandemic path will be probably around $1 trillion, and then even about half that again in 2022.

So, without more fiscal support, we're looking for a slow, painful, protracted recovery.

AMNA NAWAZ: Wendy, in just the few seconds we have left, there's a lot of concern about additional stimulus money fueling the already very high national debt that is now soaring to unprecedented levels.

What do you say to those concerns?

WENDY EDELBERG: We can absolutely afford more fiscal support.

First of all, we're in an economy with vast resources.

Second of all, interest rates are at historic lows.

Financing this debt would be completely and entirely affordable.

Third of all, it's completely appropriate for us to borrow from our future selves to ease the extraordinary pain that millions of people are suffering right now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Extraordinary pain, indeed, and more ahead if there's not more help.

That is Wendy Edelberg, director of The Hamilton Project, joining us tonight.

Thank you for your time.

WENDY EDELBERG: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The first doses of the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine are on their way to the United Kingdom, the first Western country to grant emergency authorization.

The vaccine, manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is yet to be approved in the U.S., it's already making its way to the U.K. from a factory in a tiny town in Belgium.

Special correspondent Lucy Hough reports.

LUCY HOUGH: Trucks are carrying the temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccine to the U.K. from Pfizer's plant in Puurs, Belgium, where it is being manufactured on a massive scale.

It's a process which began hours after the vaccine was authorized by U.K. health regulators; 800,000 doses will arrive in the coming days.

The first shipments mark a milestone for scientists at BioNTech, who partnered with Pfizer, and are now at the forefront of a medical and scientific breakthrough.

SEAN MARETT, Chief Business and Commercial Officer, BioNTech: We started this program at the end of January.

And just seeing the beginning of November actual product leaving the factory, destined for use in people to start protecting them against this virus, was a really great feeling.

LUCY HOUGH: The vaccine was manufactured on the outskirts of this quiet town in Northern Belgium.

Up until now, Puurs, population 17,000, was best known for its notoriously strong Duvel beer.

Puurs' mayor is proud of his town's pharmaceutical success.

KOEN VAN DEN HEUVEL, Mayor of Puurs, Belgium: We say now that the hope of the world is here in Puurs, and we are going to save the world.

From here, you can export products worldwide in a fairly quick way.

And that's our greatest advantage, our strategic asset.

LUCY HOUGH: Pfizer began its operation here in the mid-1960s, when postwar investment flooded into Belgium.

It now employs one in 10 people in the town, and has recruited extra numbers to cope with demand caused by the pandemic.

Since the summer, the work force here has been concentrating on the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

In the plant behind me is a sports stadium-sized facility packed with freezers ready to store hundreds of thousands of doses at minus-94 degrees, ready to be shipped out to the world.

Locals are stunned to find themselves at the center of a global vaccine race.

The Puurs plant will produce most of the 1.3 billion shots Pfizer hopes to deliver in 2021 globally.

But living next door to a major pharmaceutical hub doesn't guarantee better access to a shot.

MARC VANRES, Puurs resident: The only thing that's good for me or for this town is that they give a lot of job opportunities for the people around here.

LUC LELIEVRE, Puurs Resident: We realized from the other day people are coming from all over.

We had some Russians last week, some people from France.

So, it's like the whole world discovered Puurs all of a sudden.

And, yes, we're very proud of all of it, very happy.

LUCY HOUGH: A few miles south of Puurs, Brussels Airport is preparing for its role as a key distribution hub.

A United Airlines flight has already flown from here to Chicago with the first mass air shipment in preparation for impending approval.

The Pfizer vaccine requires extremely cold storage temperatures, others, standard refrigeration.

Pfizer has already slashed its original rollout targets due to obstacles in the cold chain.

With each vaccine having different requirements in terms of transportation, packing and storage, global distribution will be no easy feat.

NATHAN DE VALCK, Head of Cargo, Brussels Airport: Well, maintaining the right transport temperature to protect the packaging against temperature shocks is extremely important throughout the whole logistical supply chain.

So, in order to do that, we need the right type of infrastructure.

And we have more than 30,000 square meters of temperature-controlled rooms at the airport.

LUCY HOUGH: The U.K.'s decision to approve Pfizer's vaccine has put pressure on other countries' health agencies to follow suit.

A decision is expected from the European Medicines Agency and the FDA within days.

SEAN MARETT: We have been manufacturing doses abreast in our factories before approval, with the process that will be approved, in order to ensure we can deliver almost immediately to these trading blocs or countries.

LUCY HOUGH: Pending authorization, the U.S. and Europe share a hope to begin administering the first vaccines by the end of this year, prioritizing front-line health workers and the most vulnerable.

The U.S. expects to receive a total of 40 million doses from Pfizer and competitor Moderna by the end of this year.

That's enough to vaccinate 20 million people.

The vaccines are one of four that could be rolled out globally by spring 2021, offering hope for an end to the pandemic that has already claimed 1.5 million lives.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Lucy Hough in Puurs.

JUDY WOODRUFF: While a new class of congressional representatives join the halls of the Capitol in the new year, we chat with departing members who lost tough reelection races.

Earlier this week, I spoke with outgoing Congresswoman Donna Shalala.

Lisa Desjardins continues our coverage.

LISA DESJARDINS: While House Democrats lost some races in Republican-leaning districts, one Republican was ousted by a challenger from the right.

We have followed Republican Denver Riggleman of Virginia throughout his freshman term in Congress, and he joins us now.

Congressman, thank you.

I know the charge and the headlines in your race were that you weren't conservative enough.

But I want to ask you, why do you think you lost?

And what does it mean to be in the Republican Party right now?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN (R-VA): I think one of the reasons I lost, Lisa -- and, by the way, thanks for having me.

I think one of the reasons that I lost was really my independent-minded way of doing things.

And once I officiated that same-sex wedding back in the summer of 2019, and some of the things that I stood for as far as health care and rural broadband in a district bigger than New Jersey, I think some of those things actually sort of conspired against me, right?

And, also, I was new to politics, and I thought an independent-minded person is what people wanted.

And I think that's why I won, but I think it's also why I lost.

LISA DESJARDINS: What do you think it means to be a Republican?

Are you still a Republican?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: Very difficult right now.

You know, I feel like that I'm willingly tribeless, right?

And I think a lot of it has to do with what I'm seeing with some of the bizarre conspiracy theories I'm seeing propagated by just certain people on the right.

I really think the Republicans should stay out of people's pocketbooks, but I think they should stay out of people's bedrooms, too.

And I'm seeing a party that's just small enough to fit in the bedroom, and that's not really the way that I'm wired.

And so it's an interesting thing.

I thought it was a constitutional Republican in the mold of the Teddy Roosevelts and the Abraham Lincolns.

But as far as the some of the specific portions of the Virginia Republican Party, I don't think I'm a great fit.

LISA DESJARDINS: You know, there's also the Trump Republican Party.

You are one of the few House Republicans to have said openly that Joe Biden won the election.

You are in the Freedom Caucus.

You know the Republicans who are saying the election is rigged, without giving any proof.

I wonder, why do you think they're saying that?

Are they talking themselves into believing it?

Is this politics?

Why is that?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: I don't know what's in their heart, Lisa, but I tell you, my background is an intelligence officer.

It is disinformation, it's radicalization, it's counterterrorism.

And I'm not sure if they're afraid of voters, if they're worried about being tossed out of the tribe, or if there's something in them that actually believe some of this, because I will tell you, I have seen sort of odd things in my life.

Some of these conspiracy theories that are coming out of the dark corners of the Internet and now are getting life in the real world, I mean, what's next, you know, aliens are beaming information into voting machines?

I mean, this is crazy.

And I think we need to be very cognizant about information that could radicalize others that's really based on nothing but myth and conspiracy theories.

LISA DESJARDINS: Charlottesville is in your district, a place that has dealt with rhetoric turning into violence, as we saw in 2017, when a protester was killed.

And now we see Trump allies still saying things like, this week, that his opponents should be shot.

How dangerous do you think that rhetoric is, or are we paying too much attention to these sort of lone extreme voices?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: For me, I think you drag everything into the light and let the sunlight disinfect it.

But I think what's also scary is, you have two retired generals that are talking about martial law.

And I think it's very odd that that's not a bigger story, because what they're basing it on is ridiculous, whether it's NSA trying to crack into computers, whether it's Dominion having code that's been manipulated, whether it's the Army storming some barracks in Germany.

All these things are just poppycock.

And I think we have got to be worried about the radicalization of those, based on -- again, based on information that's just not true.

This is dangerous.

And this can convert into dangerous behavior.

I have been warning about this for months.

And I think we're seeing some of that, sort of that bizarre manifestation of conspiracy theories that are being made real by people that don't have proper information.

And I think this is a massive grift.

I think, when you talk about the Kraken, I think the only thing they're cracking into are people's pocketbooks on this grift.

LISA DESJARDINS: I don't hear you mentioning President Trump and any responsibility he has for this.

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: Well, he does have responsibility.

I think that's where I got in trouble.

I think, when you retweet something that says that Joe Biden killed SEAL Team Six, I think, when you retweet something where it says that Osama bin Laden had a body double, and that's part of the QAnon conspiracy theory, that is absolutely something you shouldn't do.

And it's not just irresponsible.

There are people out there who believe this stuff.

So I would say stop this.

Let's stop this now.

Accept that you lost the election, we have a new vice president-elect in Joe Biden, and let's push forward.

But this is ridiculous.

And, again, when you see the type of money that they're making off of this, it's just sad.

They're really separating people from their money on things that are just simply not true.

LISA DESJARDINS: What did you learn in your time in Congress about how Washington works or doesn't work?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: That the tribe is more important than facts.

And that's what I learned.

And it was something that I had to try to maneuver through.

And I knew what I had to do.

I know -- and I just rejected it.

And I think that's why I'm a bit proud of how I went out.

But I think that we have to have facts and policy be more important than belonging to a specific party, and put people over party, rather than party over people.

LISA DESJARDINS: And I'm curious, what adjectives would you use now to describe how you feel at this moment?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: I think the adjectives that I would use now are, I would say, proud of what I have done, but, also, there's trepidation.

And it's also now a determination, a willingness to try to change the way that we talk about each other and to stop the dehumanization that's going on in politics right now.

I think it's not just the politics of personal destruction anymore.

I think it's the politics of group destruction.

And that happens through propagating these conspiracy theories.

LISA DESJARDINS: Denver Riggleman, outgoing congressman from Virginia's Fifth District, thank you for joining us.

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN: Thanks, Lisa.

I appreciate it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And since he sat down with Lisa, Congressman Riggleman says he is receiving multiple violent threats, including death threats.

And now it's time for the analysis of Shields and Brooks.

That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields, and New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Hello to both of you.

I want to pick up with what we were hearing, Mark, from Congressman Riggleman of Virginia, talking about putting party over country.

That was something he wasn't comfortable with, and talking about conspiracy theories, all of this stemming from President Trump insisting that he's won the election, that the election was completely riddled with fraud.

We're now hearing a number of Republicans calling for other Republicans to call the president out.

How much damage is being done by what is going on right now, Mark?

MARK SHIELDS: I can't calculate it, Judy, in concrete terms, other than to say it's dangerous.

I mean, America has been the envy of the world.

It's been an example to bring millions of people to our shores, a free and open democracy, where every voice is heard.

And to have the elected leader of that nation charge that it is not that, that it's corrupt, that it's criminal, is damaging beyond my calculation.

And I just -- I think -- I hope it's reparable, but we will -- it will be a while before we find out just how much damage has been done.

JUDY WOODRUFF: David, how deep is the damage that's being done?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, 77 percent of Republicans or Trump backers say the election was stolen by fraud, according to a Monmouth poll.

A lot of those same people don't believe in manmade climate change.

A lot of those same people don't believe that masks can save your life.

So, there's a section of a country that's become detached from reality and, under Trump paranoia, has become a style, a resurgent style.

I wrote a column about this a week ago.

And I tried to theorize that this derives out of a sense of menace and threat, that people feel existentially unsafe, and so they grasp for conspiracy theories, because it makes them feel powerful, that they see the truth.

It makes them feel agency.

They can expose the evil cabals.

And I think there's some truth to that, that people -- a lot of people just feel very scared economically, socially, racially.

And out of that fear comes paranoia.

But I got a lot of e-mails from people.

Like, I got one from a guy in Palo Alto.

And he said, the neurosurgeon down my block believes all this stuff.

So, where's his anxiety?

And I'd say, I don't know the answer to that question.

But there is a lot of anxiety.

There's a lot of fear, and out of that has arisen an entire industry of paranoia-mongering.

The Newsmax, the far right-wing media TV station, their viewership has gone up 20 times since the election.

So, that paranoia is pretty deep and pretty widespread right now.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Mark, we are -- as a news organization, the "NewsHour" is trying to understand this.

I know other news organizations are as well.

We want to understand the origin of this and how deep it goes and how long-lasting.

How much does it matter that we try to tackle this right now?

Is it -- I guess what I'm trying to understand, is this a flight of fancy, that we're just living through a brief period, and we're going to wake up in a few weeks or months, and we're going to be past it, or is this with us for a long time?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, no, I mean, I think David put his finger on it, as he does regularly.

This also has a commercial aspect to it.

I mean, there is a profit in upping your viewership if you're spinning paranoid theories to your listeners and explaining that the other side - - you never argue on the merits, Judy.

What it comes down to is, the other side is evil.

I mean, that is the first thing I learned when I came to Washington, that you don't question the motives of somebody on the other side, that they love their country and their children as much as you do.

And they may be mistaken, they may be ill-informed, they may be illogical, but you don't start off with, they're evil.

Well, that is -- that's where these arguments begin, that it's a sinister, criminal collusion all out to get the American way, to destroy the American way.

It is anything we can do to rebut it.

And one hopes that the new administration, with a fresh start, will be a start in that direction.

And the fact that the president - - that his predecessor is now receding in the rearview mirror, inevitably, I think, has to be helpful.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, David, I guess my question is, is his predecessor disappearing in the rearview mirror?

He's raised over $200 million and counting since the Election Day for his legal defense fund.

But we are now learning that money, most of that money can go toward his new political venture, whatever it may be.

President Trump may be here for a long time to come.

DAVID BROOKS: He's certainly talking like he will run again in 2024.

And Josh Hawley, the senator from Missouri, said that, if Trump runs again, he would endorse him and expect him to win.

And he might.

He might win the nomination again.

So, I don't think we have seen -- maybe not seen the last of him.

The problem with all the paranoia and the conspiracy theory is, you can't talk people out of it.

The psychological research is super clear on this, that if you try to fact-check people when they have incorrect facts, you only entrench their belief, that you can't talk people out of an emotional state.

And so I think the two things that we can do is try to have contact, more contact between, frankly, those of us in the expert class, who tend to live in blue America, in the metro areas, and people in the rural country.

COVID doesn't allow that.

But traveling around the country is a good way to alleviate a lot of the barriers between us.

And, second, somehow, life has to become more secure for a lot of people.

And I'm hoping the administration, the new administration, will pass legislation that makes life economically more secure, so that sense of existential anxiety goes away.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we can certainly hope not only the economy gets better, that we will all be able to travel more, get around, see our fellow Americans, family and friends in the not-too-distant future.

But, Mark, let's talk about Joe Biden, the president-elect.

Since the last time I saw the two of you, two weeks ago, before Thanksgiving, he's named more of the senior members of his team, his secretary of state, Tony Blinken, his secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, a number of others.

What do you make of the team so far?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I would say, the reviews, Judy, that are in are quite positive.

I mean, they reflect Joe Biden.

They're experienced.

They believe in public service.

They're people whom he knows, again, unlike his unnamed predecessor, who chose a secretary of state because he had a very active passport and had traveled a lot and looked like a secretary of state.

He's choosing somebody with whom he's worked for close to a generation, experienced people, people who believe in public service.

And I guess dully competent would be the unflattering observation.

But I'm impressed.

And you mentioned a Janet Yellen.

I think that is a 10 strike.

I mean, to have the chairman of the -- former chairman of the Fed, former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers of her stature and, figuratively speaking, and just her values as secretary of the Treasury, I think is just awfully important, especially with Joe Biden, who has great experience in foreign policy and -- but not deep in financial matters.

So, I'm encouraged by them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: David, what's your take on these folks Joe Biden is naming?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I'm super encouraged too.

It's Biden being Biden.

It's Biden people - - picking people he's comfortable with, people he knows, and people who you could wake up in the middle of night, and they could do the job.

Janet Yellen is super well-prepared to be Treasury secretary, Jake Sullivan, a rising young star in the policy world.

Jared Bernstein has been on this program many times in the economic world.

Neera Tanden will be our flashiest OMB director in history, but someone who's been around and who just knows the job.

And so you can rest assured that these are people who have experience and often served in the job right below them in the Obama administration.

So, we can expect fewer own goals under them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we're seeing, Mark, a number of women put into -- or nominated for prominent roles, powerful roles in the new administration.

But there's still some interest groups out there saying there's not enough diversity here, for example, NAACP saying, where are the Blacks in senior Cabinet jobs?

How much pressure is Joe Biden under to name a more diverse -- more diverse leaders in - - to his team -- for his team?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I mean, the diversity so far, Judy, I mean, I don't think anybody can make the case that it's for diversity's sake.

Everybody who's been chosen is somebody who qualified and is qualified for the position to which they were named, irrespective of race or gender or whatever.

I think that, as far as women is concerned, I mean, Joe Biden's campaign was run by Anita Dunn and Jen O'Malley Dillon, two women.

I mean, he's used to having women.

His sister Valerie ran all his other early campaigns for the Senate.

So, that is -- that's a natural.

That's not window dressing.

That's a very natural development.

I think that the most important voice to Joe Biden has to be that of Congressman Jim Clyburn.

And Jim Clyburn has been critical of the paucity of African Americans in the Cabinet.

Joe Biden came crawling out of Iowa, limping out of New Hampshire.

He was dead on arrival in South Carolina, until African American voters, led by -- led by Jim Clyburn, endorsed him and made him the nominee.

So, if he's going to heed any voice, the voice of Jim Clyburn is the voice that Joe Biden will be responsive to, and legitimately so.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, David, how much pressure do you think Biden is under to name -- get some more diverse figures in this Cabinet in top jobs?

And how much does it matter?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, pressure implies resistance.

I don't think there's any resistance.

I think Joe Biden wants to have a diverse Cabinet.

He wants to have a Cabinet that looks like America, in part because it's a better Cabinet idea.

You have -- the bigger diversity of viewpoints and backgrounds, the better decisions that get made.

And I don't think he will have any problem finding African Americans.

He's already found Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who's the -- his choice for the U.N. secretary -- our ambassador to the U.N. And she's someone who has a long time career in the Foreign Service, somebody who ran the Africa desk under Obama.

I'm sure he will find many more people under that.

I think it's important to have vast diversity.

I hate to -- when it gets reduced to a demographic label and a person is filling in a slot.

The person is the person.

And all the people he's picked so far and in the future are A-team.

They're super talented.

And so I'd hate to see it get down -- it appear, even appear like it's just because of somebody's skin color or anything, because I don't think it ever is going to be that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, he's saying he's got more to name.

He said you will know who they are in the next few weeks, and he said you can judge it then.

So, we will keep talking about it, keep looking at it.

MARK SHIELDS: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you both, David Brooks, Mark Shields.

Thank you.

MARK SHIELDS: Thanks, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: As another week of this devastating pandemic comes to an end, we take a moment to honor some of those we have lost to COVID-19.

Dr. Joshua Yasuo Suzuki worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist for 45 years, delivering over 5,000 babies.

His colleagues said he was always there for his patients, treating them with compassion and kindness.

He chose to be an OB/GYN because delivering babies brought people happiness, said his family.

Born in Japan, Joshua settled in Seattle, where he spent time hiking the mountains with his sons.

Described by his loved ones as quirky and often donning a bow tie, Joshua had a hearty laugh and insatiable curiosity.

He was 78.

Seventy-year-old Iris Meda was a lifelong protector and provider, said her daughter.

Born the eldest of six kids in South Carolina, she helped raise her siblings.

That care-giving spirit led her to becoming a registered nurse.

After working 35 years, Iris retired in January.

But when the pandemic hit, she couldn't stand idly by.

Iris became a nursing teacher, preparing her students for the challenges of the pandemic.

A loving wife, mother and grandmother, her daughter said Iris was the foundation of their family.

Zulfikar Gunja had an innate sense of love, care and joy, his family said.

He went by Zulfi.

Raised in a close-knit Muslim community in Bombay, now Mumbai, India, prayer brought Zulfi enormous comfort.

He immigrated to the United States in 1981, living between California and New Jersey with his family.

Zulfi enjoyed celebrating life, traveling, eating and connecting with kids.

Zulfi was 68.

Massachusetts natives Reed and Barbara Anthony were devoted to serving their Concord community, preserving nature, and, most of all, each other.

Barbara was born into a family of teachers and became an educator herself.

A member of the Concord School Committee, elected twice in the '60s, she was also active in the League of Women Voters.

In 1968, Reed left his job in investment management for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, where he combined his knowledge of finance with his love for birds.

Barbara shared Reed's interest in the outdoors.

During their nature walks, Reed would watch the birds, while Barbara enjoyed the plants and wildflowers.

Parents to three, Reed was shy, while Barbara was outgoing.

After 68 years of marriage, they died three days apart, both from the coronavirus.

Barbara and Reed Anthony were 91 years old.

As always, we want to thank these family members for sharing their stories with us.

Our hearts go out to you, as they do to everyone who's lost loved ones during this pandemic.

And we ask you to stay with us.

We look at new ways to combat maternal mortality in the U.S.

But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station.

It's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like ours on the air.

There is perhaps no one whose name is more synonymous with documenting the natural world than filmmaker Sir David Attenborough.

He has been at it since the 1950s.

And in his latest book and film, he offers an alarming witness statement about the crisis facing our planet.

This encore report by William Brangham is part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, Naturalist: The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: No one has given us a more intimate or stunning look at our planet than Sir David Attenborough.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Dazzling in their variety and richness.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But now, after a near 70-year career, he says we are running the planet headlong into disaster.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Yet, the way we humans live on Earth, you're sending it into a decline.

Human beings have overrun the world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In his new Netflix documentary and companion book, both titled "A Life on Our Planet," the famed filmmaker wants us to recognize what's happening, and to act before it's too late.

I spoke with him recently from his home in London.

Sir David Attenborough, it's a great honor to have you on the "NewsHour."

Thank you very much for being here.

Anyone who knows your work knows that you have increasingly talked about man's impact on the natural world.

But this film really hits this point very directly.

Was it your sense that things had just gotten so bad that that needed to be the focus of this project?

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Yes, I think I have been speaking about this the last 20, 30 years, really.

It's just what anybody who knows the natural world and spends time looking at the natural world stares it in the face.

And anybody with whom to that happens feels a huge responsibility to talk about it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you say in the film and in the book, that when you were a young man, going to all these exotic places, you had the sense at the time that man's imprint was not being felt.

Was there a moment where you first recognized and said, I see it now, I see very directly the imprint that humanity is having on the planet?

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Yes, the problem is making global assessments like that.

I mean, you can go to a glacier that you were there maybe five, 10 years ago, and it has retreated, but you think, oh, well, that's just this glacier.

Maybe there's another one that's increasing.

But there are some things that are irrevocable and so dramatic and distressing that you can't brush them away.

The one, I suppose, was the tipping point was when I dive on the coral reef, which I have known perfectly well, on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and suddenly saw a cemetery, and, suddenly, it was dead.

And these corals, this extraordinary, wonderful construction of corals was dead, white.

And that was a shock.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: There is, if I may say, a genuine sense of sadness and melancholy that is throughout this project.

I mean, in the past, you would often talk about man's impact on the world, but would move on, in a sense.

This film, you really clearly seem to say: We are not moving on.

I cannot stress this point strong enough.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Well, you put it very well.

That is exactly what I think.

And we -- you know, you feel that, sitting in London or New York or wherever, you may feel the what the wilderness is, out there, and, of course, it's interesting, and, of course, we know theoretically we depend upon it.

But when -- but now it's more serious than that.

It affects every man and woman and child on this planet.

I'm an elderly chap.

And I look at my grandchildren and wonder what's going to happen.

And all I know is that, if you see these things and realize what they mean, you simply can't sit back and say, well, I'm not going to bother.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I should say, I don't want to leave people with the sense that you don't address what we might do to remedy this.

And a good portion of the book and of the film is looking at solutions.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: This film is my witness statement and my vision for the future.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Attenborough argues, for a rapid shift to renewable energy, to sustainable agriculture, for a slowing of population growth, and for what he calls a rewilding of the land and the oceans to give them time to rebound.

How confident are you that we will, in fact, move from these isolated examples to a true moment for change?

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: I'm not in the least confident that we will do so in time.

And I certainly feel, although the situation is worse, I believe that the world is becoming more aware of what needs to be done, to a much greater extent than only, say, five, 10 years ago.

It does seem to me a worldwide realization of the crisis which we are facing.

And it's been spearheaded, of course, by young people, and quite rightly, too.

It's their future.

The kids of today are -- that's their life, you know?

And we owe it to them to do everything we can to make sure that disaster's averted.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Could you talk a little bit about the role that our own human complacency plays in all of this?

We all love the benefits of our gas-powered cars and our air-conditioned homes.

And when we talk about sixth extinction or global climate change, it's still very easy for so many people to put this view out of their minds and just keep on.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: But, actually, in your country, it's more unlikely for that to happen than in mine.

I mean, you have faced disaster after disaster.

You have got rising sea levels.

You had cyclones, hurricanes moving through with greater ferocity and frequency than ever before.

We see on our television usual coverage of appalling things that happen in your country because of climate change, seem to me overwhelming.

And it's nice to say, oh, it's nothing, it's just a passing threat.

It isn't.

And the statistics show it isn't.

It is a major movement that's happening.

And your country and my country and the rest of the world have got to do something about it.

And we can.

And we know what to do.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Do you have to dig deep down to come up with this optimism, or is the -- is the long arc of your career what gives you this optimism?

What is it?

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: I don't regard myself an optimist, to be truthful.

But, having said that, we have to recognize that, if we are going to solve it, we are going to, as humanity, act as one.

And that means that people will have to give, as well as take.

And if that's to happen, it's got to be supported by the electorate, who says, we want it to happen.

We want to solve it.

And tell us what the price is, but we want to pay it.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The book and the film is called "A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and A Vision for the Future."

Sir David Attenborough, thank you so much for talking with us, and thank you for your remarkable career.

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: Thank you so much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Women in the United States are more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than anywhere else in the developed world, according to the Commonwealth Fund.

Native American women face some of the highest rates of death.

And in Arizona, those disparities are even more profound.

From the Cronkite School of Journalism, Jennifer Alvarez reports on a unique effort to combat maternal mortality among Native Americans.

This story was filmed prior to the pandemic.

WOMAN: OK. sweep your teepee.

Sweep your teepee.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: On the Navajo Nation... WOMAN: Make fire.

(LAUGHTER) JENNIFER ALVAREZ: ...

Native women finish up a day of training with a traditional game.

They're learning how to be doulas, or people trained to support women through pregnancy and birth.

MELISSA BROWN, Indigenous Midwife: Basically, they're helpers.

And I always compare it to like how we help each other in ceremonies.

Like, that's how we should help each other during birth and pregnancy and parenting.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: Melissa Brown knows just how important these helpers can be.

MELISSA BROWN: My first birth that I had when I was a teenage mother was very traumatic.

I didn't understand how my body worked.

I didn't understand how labor and delivery worked.

I was very scared.

I didn't have very much support.

And so when I got pregnant with my second daughter, when I had an indigenous midwife, it made all the difference.

I had an unmedicated, beautiful birth.

It completely changed my life.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: It's the first time they have had a training like this here, and workshop participant Becki Jones says it's a community without a lot of the same resources afforded to urban or suburban areas.

BECKI JONES, Workshop Participant: We're a desert for everything.

Food, reproductive health care, maternity care.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: Ramona Antone-Nez is senior epidemiologist at the Navajo Epidemiology Center.

RAMONA ANTONE-NEZ, Senior Epidemiologist, Navajo Epidemiology Center: The hospital isn't just around the corner, just around the block.

A lot of our care takes probably an hour or so just to get to health care facilities.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: As a result, many women may miss screenings, prenatal checkups, or other appointments at which early problems might be identified.

The CDC reports maternal mortality jumped from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 births in 1987 to 16.9 deaths in 2016.

And Black and Native women are two to three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.

MELISSA BROWN: Something needs to change, not only here, but in other indigenous communities.

So, what happens in a lot of communities is, we're bringing in non-indigenous people who don't have that lived experience and delivering health education in a way that doesn't make sense to a lot of people in the community.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: So, Brown teamed up with Nicolle Gonzales, founder of the Changing Woman Initiative, to teach women how to use traditional practices to improve maternal health.

MELISSA BROWN: We are our own experts in our community.

We can help ourselves.

We can empower ourselves.

We can educate ourselves.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: Gonzales says indigenous women are lucky to have just half of the prenatal visits they're supposed to.

The Changing Woman Initiative held its indigenous doula training inside this hogan, which the women say was representative of a mother's womb.

We weren't able to film inside during the workshop because they wanted to maintain a safe space for indigenous women.

Together, they hope to help Native women cope with trauma and loss.

NICOLLE GONZALES, Co-Founder, Changing Woman Initiative: To have a really, like, frank conversation about death and miscarriage and abortion and pregnancy was really, like, the heart of the issue I think a lot of people wanted to know about.

MELISSA BROWN: It's so much more than just the doula training and learning about birth.

It's about learning about ourselves, connecting with our own healing.

And there's a lot of healing that happens in this training.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: A lot of that healing especially happened during these moments.

NICOLLE GONZALES: Seeing everybody laugh and enjoy themselves and, like, be in their traditional dress, I wish the world would see Native women like that, that we're not sick, we're not dying, we're not vulnerable, we're not our disease.

JENNIFER ALVAREZ: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jennifer Alvarez with Cronkite News in Window Rock, Arizona.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Such an important program.

And we hope it's doing well now.

And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Have a great weekend.

Thank you, please stay safe, and good night.