Articles On Lung Cancer

judy woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. hari sreenivasan: and i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodruff: on the "newshour" tonight:president-elect trump makes more moves to set the stage for his administration -- whathis controversial pick to head the epa signals for the future of the environment. hari sreenivasan: also ahead this thursday:the populists of wall street -- a look at trump's economic team and the future president'spromises. judy woodruff: plus: the female front line,the first part in our series spotlighting

the first generation of women training forthe toughest combat positions. victoria golab-meyer, marine corps recruit:i want to advance my career and be in a place that feels like family. you know that they have your back. hari sreenivasan: and we remember john glenn,the first u.s. astronaut to orbit earth, who became a national hero and senator. judy woodruff: all that and more on tonight's"pbs newshour." (break) judy woodruff: the nation marks the passingtonight of a major figure of the 20th century.

john glenn was the first american to orbitthe planet, and the oldest person ever to go into space. he passed away today at a hospital in columbus,ohio, at the age of 95. president obama joined in an outpouring oftributes, saying john glenn showed there's no limit to the heights we can reach together. and president-elect trump called him a greatamerican hero. we will have a full report on his life laterin the program. now to the presidential transition. word of john glenn's passing in columbus,ohio, came shortly before donald trump arrived

in the city on an already planned trip. it followed more moves to fill out his cabinet. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. lisa desjardins: president-elect trump leftnew york and the transition behind this afternoon, and flew to meet with and first-respondersto last week's ohio state stabbings. donald trump (r), president-elect: we justsaw the victims and the families. and these were really brave people, amazingpeople. the police and first-responders were incredible. lisa desjardins: this evening, it's iowa,where he will continue on that thank you tour

after stops north carolina and ohio in thepast week, all that and more news on his cabinet. mr. trump formally announced scott pruitt,oklahoma's attorney general and opponent of climate change regulations, is his choiceto head the environmental protection agency, and late today that andy puzder will be thelabor secretary nominee. puzder is ceo of the company that owns hardee'sand the carl's jr. burger chains. he was an early supporter of and fund-raiserfor candidate trump. he's also been we know he's critical of theaffordable care act, and he opposes raising the federal minimum wage, saying it wouldmean fewer jobs. andrew puzder, president & ceo, cke restaurants:what are we doing if we're locking young americans,

16-to-24 year olds, out of the labor force? that's a very, very serious problem at themoment and increasing the minimum wage is just exacerbating it. lisa desjardins: this means mr. trump nowhas named choices for more than half of his cabinet, from chief of staff, to treasurysecretary, to u.n. ambassador. the group shows a few initial trends. nearly half have been business executives,including four who are billionaires. a third are current elected officials. and so far, the proposed cabinet is twiceas many men as women.

also today, another chapter in that deal thatmr. trump struck with the carrier corporation to keep jobs in indiana. local union leader chuck jones, in indianapolis,questioned the president-elect's claim that he saved 1,100 jobs. he said it's more like 800. chuck jones, union leader: i have been ina lot of negotiations as a union representative, so i would have to assume that he assuredthe world -- either knew the precise numbers or most certainly should've. lisa desjardins: but, on twitter, mr. trumpsharply questioned jones' ability to fight

for workers. elsewhere, the president-elect did win a significantfight today over green party candidate's jill stein's recount push. last night, a judge halted the effort in michigan,saying stein received too few votes to force a recount. and a hillary clinton sighting. hillary rodham clinton, former u.s. secretaryof state: this is not exactly the speech at the capitol i hoped to be giving after theelection. lisa desjardins: the former democratic nomineeappeared at the u.s. capitol for the unveiling

of a portrait of outgoing senate minorityleader harry reid. for the "pbs newshour," i'm lisa desjardins. hari sreenivasan: in the day's other news:the 114th congress scrambled to finished its business. the house oked a bill to fund the governmentthrough next april, ahead of a deadline tomorrow night. it includes disaster relief for louisianaand other states and aid for flint, michigan's contaminated water system. there's also a waiver for retired generaljames mattis to serve as defense secretary,

even though he's been out of the militaryless than seven years. before the vote, lawmakers on both sides complainedabout the process and the result. rep. hal rogers (r), kentucky: i truly hope that,in the near future, we can stop lurching from c.r. to c.r. and return to regular order forthe sake of our national security, our economy and the well-being of all americans. however, at this point, this is our best andonly path forward. nancy pelosi (d-ca), house minority leader:we cannot go down a path of missed opportunities and just roll over and not speak out and saythis isn't the best that we can do for the

american people. and we owe them much better than this bill. hari sreenivasan: the bill's passage in thesenate is still threatened by a fight over health care benefits for retired coal miners. but the senate overwhelmingly gave final approvalto a defense policy bill today. it again bars closing the prison at guantanamobay, cuba, and grants a pay raise for the military. judy woodruff: senate minority leader harryreid delivered his final speech to the chamber today.

the nevada democrat recalled growing up ina tiny town outside las vegas, and ultimately joining the senate 30 years ago. he also looked forward, speaking about thefuture of the body. sen. harry reid (d-nv), minority leader: i wouldhope that everyone would do everything they can to protect the senate as an institution. as part of our constitution, it should begiven the dignity it deserves. i love the senate. i don't need to dwell on that.

i care about it so very, very much. judy woodruff: new york senator chuck schumerwill take over as minority leader when the new congress opens next month. hari sreenivasan: in syria, heavy fightingraged in eastern aleppo today, as regime forces pushed ever deeper into rebel-held districts. gunfire and the pounding of airstrikes echoedacross the besieged city. government troops have now retaken more thanthree-quarters of the rebel areas. president bashar al-assad rejected furthertruce offers today, but russia said u.s. and russian officials will meet saturday to discussthe situation.

judy woodruff: the city of paris spent a thirdday under emergency restrictions, in the face of its worst winter pollution in a decade. a haze hung over the french capital, and halfof all cars were barred from traveling in the city, while public transportation wasfree. but many drivers ignored the curbs. man (through translator): i don't know ifit is unique to parisians or it's all the french, but people are a bit selfish. they like to take their own car, when thetrend would be take small buses, as you would in other european capitals.

judy woodruff: the haze contains dangerouslevels of very fine dust that can cause heart disease, lung cancer and various breathingailments. hari sreenivasan: back in this country, lifeexpectancy has declined for the first time in decades. the centers for disease control and preventionreports someone born last year is projected to live 78 years, nine-and-a-half months. that's a month less than for someone borna year earlier, and its first drop since 1993, when the aids epidemic was raging. researchers cite a rise in deaths from heartdisease and other leading ailments.

japan leads the world in life expectancy atnearly 84 years. judy woodruff: the u.s. surgeon general warnedtoday of growing e-cigarette use by the nation's teenagers. vivek murthy said vaping could create a newgeneration of kids addicted to nicotine. e-cigarettes were initially pushed as a saferalternative for adult smokers. it's already illegal to sell them to minors,but there is no scientific consensus yet on the risks or advantages. hari sreenivasan: and on wall street, stockspushed to new highs, again, as a post-election surge continued.

the dow jones industrial average gained 65points to close at 19614. the nasdaq rose 23 points, and the s&p 500added four. still to come on the "newshour": a major shiftat the environmental protection agency, soon to be run by a climate skeptic; inside a militarycamp where women are training for combat roles; and much more. judy woodruff: now: more on today's nominationof oklahoma attorney general scott pruitt to head the epa. we start with a little background on the man. a leading critic of the epa now in line totake its helm.

as oklahoma state attorney general since 2011,scott pruitt has called for rolling back the agency's efforts on climate change and otherrule-making. in a statement today, he said: "the americanpeople are tired of seeing billions of dollars drained from our economy due to unnecessaryepa regulations." not surprisingly, his selection drew harshwords from a number of democrats. jared huffman (d), california: some of thesefolks only qualifications for the job that they have been appointed for is that theyhave attempted to dismantle and undermine and destroy the very agencies that they arenow hoping to run. judy woodruff: but pruitt is in synch withpresident-elect trump on a range of issues,

including his skepticism about manmade globalwarming. writing in the national review this year,he said: "that debate is far from settled. scientists continue to disagree about thedegree and extent of global warming." in fact, the vast majority of scientists agreethat human activity contributes to global warming, all of which underscores questionsabout whether a trump administration will refuse to abide by the paris accords on greenhousegas emissions. pruitt has also vigorously fought the epa'sclean power plan, which set unprecedented caps on carbon pollution by power plants. and he's repeatedly sued the agency on theclean power plan, as well as limits on methane

emissions and other regulations. transition spokesman sean spicer defendedpruitt's approach on the "newshour" last night. sean spicer, communications director, republicannational committee: it is a very big difference to care about whether or not we're totingto the agenda of the far extreme left that is a job-killing, regulation-type agenda thatwants to step out of -- put businesses out of business, or people who actually care aboutthe environment and whose goal is clean air, clean water, making sure that we preserveour natural resources. judy woodruff: one issue in the confirmationhearings may be oil and gas industry contributions to pruitt's campaigns.

a new york times investigation in 2014 foundthat pruitt's office sent letters to the epa and president obama that were largely writtenby energy industry lobbyists. pruitt, in turn, defended his right to allywith what he called private sector players that shared his views. we get two reactions to the nomination nowwith scott segal. he advises clients on energy, the environmentand natural resources at bracewell, a law and government relations firm serving theoil and gas industry. and rhea suh, she is president of the naturalresources defense council, an environmental advocacy group.

and we welcome both of you to the "newshour." scott segal, is mr. pruitt a good choice? scott segal, bracewell: well, you know, he'sdone a wonderful job as attorney general of oklahoma. it's a complicated job that he's had to perform. it's a resource-rich state. it has a lot of its own environmental statutes,as well as a good track record on enforcement of federal statutes. he has had to balance not just his desireto limit federal authority under a policy

of federalism, but he also balances that witha much larger shop that defends consumer protection in the state of oklahoma, and even arguesagainst the major power companies, making sure that rate structures are appropriate. so he has a very balanced record as far asboth consumer protection and working on regulations is concerned. i have seen him in action. he's a smart guy. he's articulate. and i think he will do a very good job atepa.

judy woodruff: rhea suh, you told us you werealarmed when you heard he was chosen. rhea suh, president, natural resources defensecouncil: it's pretty shocking to have somebody nominated to lead the environmental protectionagency -- and, literally, the name the environmental protection agency pretty much defines whatthis government entity is responsible for. it's responsible for the oversight and theenforcement of our collective environment and protections around our collective environmentfor all of us. to have somebody chosen that not only doesn'tbelieve in the ability of the agency to enforce those things, as is evidenced by the multiplelawsuits that he has issued against the epa, but doesn't believe basically in the sanctityof that government agency and protecting its

public trust responsibilities for all americans,is quite disturbing. judy woodruff: well, scott segal, does mr.pruitt believe in the mission of the environmental protection agency, to protect the environment? scott segal: he absolutely does. in fact, he's the senior law enforcement officerfor the state of oklahoma's environmental protection statutes, and so he absolutelydoes believe it. what he does believe, in addition to that,is a firm commitment to the rule of law. and, frankly, some of the very regulationsthat have been referenced so far, whether it's the clean power plan for power plantsor whether it's the definition of waters of

the united states, have been such a departurefrom past precedent and what the statutes actually say at epa that in both cases thoserules have been stayed. and attorney general pruitt has been partof those stays. that tells me that he will keep a watchfuleye on whether epa does activities that are consistent with their statutes. and if that is the case, then we all win inthe long run, because we want to have executive agencies that actually abide by the law. their regulations will stay many place longerand they will be more predictable and they will end up protecting the american people.

judy woodruff: all right, rhea suh, if that'sthe kind of thing he's going to do, what worries you? rhea suh: well, unfortunately, there's a wholehost of things that worry us. number one, again, this agency is responsiblefor protecting public health, so these are decisions that are made every day, both interms of policy, as well as in terms of enforcement, that affect the daily lives of people. so, whether it's polluting industries thatare not held to account, or whether it's climate change, i think the biggest of all policyopportunities that this administration will have, instead of taking the mantle and reallyseeing the authority and the responsibility

associated with the job, we see this individualwalking in and turning it 180 degrees in the opposite direction. judy woodruff: well, if he's looking -- wejust heard mr. segal refer to power plants and refer to water. if there is a scaling back of regulationsin these areas, why isn't it still possible to at least carry out some or a large partof what you see as the mission of the epa? can there be a middle ground, is what i'masking. rhea suh: well, thank goodness that the middleground, i believe, is the law and the statutes of the land.

there's a variety of different laws that arein place designed to protect clean air, clean water. the thing that is quite worrisome about thisnominee in particular is that he has gone after those underlying statutes and questionedthe very legitimacy of us as a community, as a nation to have the right to things likeclear air and clean water. so, make no mistake about it. in terms of radicalism, this is somethingthat we have never quite seen before in the environmental protection agency. judy woodruff: so, it sounds -- scott segal,ms. suh and others in the environmental community

are worried that mr. pruitt is going to dois basically undo the bulk of what -- in other words, the heart and soul of these regulationsand the difference that they make. scott segal: right. i just don't think there's any evidence ofthat. i think they're going to proceed basicallyon sort of two levels. the first is, those regulations which havegone further than the underlying statutes would allow, yes, those regulations are probablygoing to be pared back, to the extent that attorney general pruitt can do so consistentwith law and public policy concerns. so that's going to happen.

broader than that, though, epa must go throughregulatory reform. it simply must. it has for a long time overstated the benefitsof its rules with the knowing acquiescence of the major environmental organizations inthis country, and it has done so in a way that has misspent resources that could betterprotect the american public if they were spent more wisely. and i believe a degree of regulatory reformis necessary for that agency. that is exactly what was said on the campaigntrail. regulatory reform is a critical element.

you won't get it with using the same old players. judy woodruff: what about that, rhea suh? rhea suh: so, i think this language of regulatoryreform, of overstepping the boundaries, when it comes down to it, these are the basic valuesthat uphold our standard of living, our quality of living, the right to drink clean waterand to breathe clean air. it's not regulatory muckety-muck. these are basic values that, again, most americansbelieve is their right. and we believe the environmental protectionagency has the authority and the responsibility to uphold that right for all americans.

so the fact, again, that we're seeing a nomineecome into this position that not only doesn't believe in that authority, let alone willtake the responsibility of upholding that authority, i think many, many people are morethan disturbed. it's actually quite a frightening prospect. judy woodruff: well, so, much of this is goingto be debated and discussed during his confirmation hearings. and we look forward to that. rhea suh, scott segal, we thank you both. rhea suh: thank you.

scott segal: thank you. hari sreenivasan: for decades, women haveplayed important roles in the u.s. military, but, until recently, they were blocked fromfront-line combat positions. but under orders from the secretary of defense,women can now try out for all combat jobs in all services. over the past several months, we have followedthree female pioneers striving for these positions within the u.s. marine corps, considered thetoughest of the services. producer dan sagalyn and correspondent williambrangham have the first of two reports. man: you should be standing at the divisionof attention.

that means your heels are touching, feet ata 45-degree angle. william brangham: eighteen-year-old rebekahwolff's life is about to turn upside-down. she and a group of fellow recruits have justarrived at parris island, south carolina. it's day one of marine corps boot camp. man: your mouth is shut! recruits: aye, sir! man: i said, do you understand me?. william brangham: they now start thirteenweeks of grueling, disorienting, physically stressful training.

rebekah wolff is one of the young female recruitswho wants to join the fight to go into one of the jobs that for generations had beenblocked to women, until now. low-altitude air defense is what she wantsto do. it's basically shooting shoulder-fired stingermissiles at enemy aircraft. that's what you want to be doing, shootingstinger missiles? rebekah wolff, marine corps recruit: yes. william brangham: why that? rebekah wolff: because it'd be cool. (laughter)

rebekah wolff: not a lot of females have hadthat opportunity until now, really, so that's exciting. william brangham: of course, that's a longway off. for now, she's not only got to prove herselfat boot camp, but she will have to pass tougher physical standards than females have everhad to meet before. on the first night, after filling out somepaperwork, recruits are required to make one phone call home. william brangham: they're instructed to shoutfive scripted lines into the phone, nothing more.

woman: thank you for your support! goodbye for now! william brangham: drill instructors intentionallycreate this sense of chaos, a miniature fog of war. they want to see how the recruits respond,and to shake their civilian mind-set. sgt. jennifer duke, marine corps: we need to breakthem down mentally. we need to break down these individualitiesthat they come with of self and me and i. we need to break them down to basically nothing,so we can build them back up, not as one,

but as one team, one element to join our marinecorps. it's not my marine corps. it's not his marine corps. it's our marine corps. william brangham: we first caught up withrebekah wolff earlier this summer back home in rural maryland. at the time, she was living with her parents. her mom and dad didn't like it that she wasjoining the marine corps, but they were not surprised.

from an early age, rebekah wanted to breakthe traditional girl mold. woman: when she was young, she said she wasalways going to drive motorcycles, drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and get tattoos. woman: i can remember her telling me that,oh, my goodness. william brangham: how do you feel about theidea that your daughter might end up in a combat unit, maybe on the front lines somewhere? scott wolff, father of rebekah wolff: i don'tthink any parent wants their kid, boy or girl, to go to combat. i surely don't.

i feel that they shouldn't be on the frontlines. woman: i don't know that she fully understandswhat she's getting into, though, too, sometimes. so, i mean, we have explained. she's like, well, i will be able to shoothelicopters. well, they do shoot back. i don't know that she comprehends that. william brangham: turns out the marine corpsdidn't want women in certain combat jobs either. in 2013, the secretary of defense orderedthat all combat positions be opened to women. but after a period of deliberations, the marinesasked for an exemption.

they argued that putting women into the infantryand to other combat jobs would make the marine corps a less effective fighting force. william brangham: general robert neller isthe commandant of the marine corps, the highest uniformed officer. he says the corps' resistance came from atest the marines ran back in 2014. it took all-male units and units that mixedmen and women, and then compared their performance in a series of combat drills. gen. robert neller, marine corps commandant: andthen we ran them through a very physically

demanding test. i mean, it was hard. and there was data in there that showed, inthe aggregate, that, in certain things, mostly in load-bearing and the most physically demandingtasks, that the teams that have females integrated in them didn't perform at the same levelsas the all-male team. william brangham: the results showed thatmale-only teams moved faster, especially with heavy loads, they fired at the enemy moreoften, hit their targets more often, and evacuated casualties faster. integrated units, with men and women, alsosuffered more injuries.

commandant neller acknowledges integratedteams did have some advantages. robert neller: we found that integrated teamsdid better in problem-solving. that's why, as part of a team, if we havedifferences, any of us have differences, it can mitigated because the team figures out,ok, you're good at this, you do this. you're better at this, you focus on this. william brangham: the test was criticizedby many, including the commandant's boss, the secretary of the navy, because it comparedhighly experienced, combat-hardened men with far less experienced women. man: hit him in the face!

william brangham: but, still, there are manywho say you don't need a study to prove that men and women, physically, are different. col. mary reinwald (ret.), marine corps: you know,the marine corps, we're not idealists. we're realists. and we know that there are differences betweenmen and women. when i came in the marine corps, i was 5'3'',i was 110 pounds. and to be able to do the same thing as mycounterpart, who was 6'1'', you know, 180 pounds, lean, mean fighting machine-type thing,was just unrealistic, no matter how good of

shape i was in at the time. william brangham: retired colonel mary reinwaldspent 27 years in the marine corps. she now edits "leatherneck" magazine, whichis geared to the marine community. she thinks women just don't belong in certaincombat jobs because they're too physically demanding. mary reinwald: i have no problem saying i'mnot as physically strong as my male counterpart. but i will also say that i bring other thingsto the table that he doesn't. we can wish all we want. but that doesn't mean that everybody's goingto be the same.

william brangham: the marines' attempt tokeep women from certain combat jobs was rejected by the defense secretary last december, andso now women can apply for all combat positions in the marine corps, women like 18-year-oldlacey elkins. she's from hays, kansas, and she's just threeweeks from finishing boot camp. she's applied to operate tanks or amphibiousassault vehicles. lacey elkins, marine corps recruit: collegesounded boring. the marine corps offered me a bigger challenge. my brother is a marine. he's in africa right now.

it just offered me a bigger challenge thati was willing to accept and push me outside my comfort zone. and that's what i was looking for. william brangham: i don't know a lot of 18-year-oldswho ever say, i want to get pushed out of you were really looking for a challenge likethis? lacey elkins: yes, sir. having the opportunity to be a part of thatgeneration for women was something that i wanted to do. my dad, i think i nearly gave him a heartattack, because he started screaming on the

phone. william brangham: screaming in a good wayor a bad way? lacey elkins: no, he was like, no, no, don'teven think about it.. william brangham: twenty-one-year-old victoriagolab-meyer comes from sheridan, wyoming, and she too wants to serve in combat as acombat engineer. we caught up with her as she was on the crucible,the grueling two-day 45-mile course that's the last major training event for every marinerecruit. victoria golab-meyer, marine corps recruit:i want to be here. i want to be fighting for my country.

i want to learn how to be honorable. i want to learn to fight. i want to advance my career and be in a placethat feels like family. william brangham: part of what sets the marinesapart is how it trains recruits. at the rappel tower, at the shooting range,in mock combat, even in the classrooms, the sexes are divided. women train with women, men with men. the marines are the only service that doesit this way. jennifer duke: one, it's just a tradition.

it's what the marine corps has always done. it takes away distraction. most of these kids are high school age. you know, they're 18, 19 years old. i mean, when you kind of get down to boysand girls, it's a distraction. william brangham: but others, like retiredlieutenant colonel kate germano, say this separation of the sexes is a bad idea thathurts females. lt. kate germano (ret.), marine corps: historyhas shown that regardless of where or when,

separate is never equal. and that is absolutely evident on parris island. william brangham: germano commanded the femalebattalion at parris island, but she was fired in 2015, accused of creating a -- quote -- "hostilecommand climate." germano says she was just pushing to improvethe performance of women recruits. germano says that, when she arrived at parrisisland, women were performing far worse than men on a range of activities, everything fromscores on the shooting range to academics, a disparity she attributes to segregated training. kate germano: i didn't think it was a matterof the ability of the women and physiology,

as much as it was a reflection of being separateand different. william brangham: why does that matter? why does it matter if you get trained howto shoot, how to navigate, how to do any of those military jobs, and you and i do it separately,you as a woman, me as a man? why does differ? why does that make a difference? kate germano: because what ends up happeningis there becomes this perception that women are trained differently from the men and thatit's easier for them, because the male recruits and the male drill instructors never reallysee those females putting out their maximum

effort and pushing themselves. women are absolutely capable of performingin extraordinary ways, if high expectations become the norm. william brangham: commandant neller says fullintegration takes place after boot camp. while he says the marines are looking intosome further integration now, he feels separate training has advantages. robert neller: we believe the way we do recruittraining sets women and men up for success, that they're able to, particularly at thebeginning, move at their own rate, at their own speed, build confidence.

and then, as we go further down, they endup training together. william brangham: tomorrow night, we willsee how the three recruits we met made it through boot camp. will they pass the tough physical standardsrequired to make it to the front lines? for the "pbs newshour," i'm william branghamin parris island, south carolina. judy woodruff: fascinating. and we will have more online on the chaosand disorientation of that first night of boot camp. you can watch a video on that at pbs.org/newshour.

judy woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the "newshour": a journalist'stake on getting your news from facebook; plus, remembering pioneering astronaut john glenn. but, first, economics correspondent paul solmanlooks at how donald trump's long business career, especially his relationship with wallstreet, may be shaping the way he to fills top slots in his administration. its part of our weekly series making sense. donald trump (r), president-elect: i knowwall street. paul solman: the trump campaign refrain fromthe get-go: beware of wall street.

donald trump: i'm not going to let wall streetget away with murder. wall street has caused tremendous problemsfor us. paul solman: and yet, within weeks of winning,the president-elect has let bygones be bygones, raiding the street for top economic postsin his administration to be, like wilbur ross for commerce secretary, a vulture investorto some, a company savior to others, and former goldman sachs executive steve mnuchin fortreasury secretary. we sought out longtime wall street investmentbanker turned investigative journalist william d. cohan to put the picks in context. william cohan, author, "house of cards: atale of hubris and wretched excess on wall

street": steve mnuchin and wilbur ross aredeal guys. they are wall street deal guys. paul solman: what is a deal guy? william cohan: that means that you are verytransactional. in steve mnuchin's case, he made his fortuneby buying a bank that the fdic had foreclosed upon during the financial crisis of 2008,renamed it onewest, and sold it eventually to cit, that was run by another ex-goldmanbanker named john thain. and they all made billions as a result. wilbur ross did the same thing buying a businessthat was in the ashes of the financial crisis

and, like a phoenix, resurrecting it fromthe ashes. paul solman: but isn't a major reason thatdonald trump got elected the idea that he was the ultimate change agent, that he woulddisrupt things as they are? so, who better than deal-makers to do that? william cohan: absolutely, the selection ofsteve mnuchin and wilbur ross fit into this vision of people who cut through bureaucracy. i mean, you know, one of trump's great accomplishmentsis, you know, fixing wollman rink in central park. paul solman: the skating -- the skating rink.

william cohan: the skating rink. right. donald trump: i got together with everybody,the city, the council. everything had to be done fast. and we got it done. and you can do that with this country. william cohan: is america wollman rink? i don't think so. paul solman: no, america isn't wollman rink,but i think almost everybody watching, and

certainly the people who voted for him, havehad frustrating experiences with bureaucrats and bureaucracy, private as well as public,pushing them around. william cohan: it's really hard to know whata steve mnuchin or a wilbur ross will do. i mean, their firms, they're small, 10, 20,30 people. now they're commanding battleships. the treasury has 80,000 people. commerce has 50,000 people. you know, you have to start miles away toturn a battleship around. there's nothing in their background, nothing,that would indicate that they would have any

skill at running these bureaucracies. paul solman: is there anything in their backgroundor in their personalities that would suggest they can further donald trump's populist ambition,that is, serving the people who elected him? william cohan: i'm laughing because stevemnuchin and wilbur ross are about as far from populism as you can possibly imagine. they are the .001 percent of the 1 percent. and one of the biggest ironies of the factthat he's surrounded himself with all these goldman sachs people is that goldman sachs-- he was on the goldman sachs do-not-fly list: this is the kind of client we do notwant at goldman sachs.

paul solman: how do you know that? william cohan: because i wrote a book aboutgoldman sachs. and i know that, from talking to people atgoldman sachs, that he is the poster child for the kind of client they don't want todo business with, mainly because he would borrow all this money from wall street tobuild his casinos, and then didn't pay it back. paul solman: one big bank that did lend totrump in recent years was deutsche bank, in 2005, to build the trump international hoteland tower in chicago. steve mnuchin's hedge fund also lent moneyto the project.

in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis,a big payment came due. william cohan: we're talking $330 millionpayment that was due. he just decided he didn't want to pay it. he sued deutsche bank, as well as all theother lenders, including steve mnuchin's dune capital, claiming that he didn't have to paythe money back because an act of god had occurred, this financial crisis, caused by the verypeople who lent him the money for this project, and, therefore, he didn't have to pay it back. so, the one firm on wall street that woulddo business with him, he turns around and sues.

paul solman: cohan worked on wall street for17 years, and has been writing about it ever since, in bestsellers like "the last tycoons,""house of cards," and that book on goldman sachs, "money and power." he's interviewed donald trump for magazinearticles. what was he like to interview? william cohan: very charming, very funny. he once, you know, told me i had a great headof hair, like him, by the way. one thing that i talked to him about was howeverybody on wall street had told me that he cheats at golf.

paul solman: so, you mean you asked him, doyou cheat at golf? william cohan: of course. i said -- of course i asked him, do you cheatat golf? and he said: "no, william, i don't cheat atgolf. i'm a scratch golfer," and, of course, "ihave all these country clubs that i own. why would i cheat at golf?" paul solman: and you didn't believe him? william cohan: no, i didn't believe him, becausesubsequent to that, a friend of mine was playing with him in a foursome that day and saw himcheat at golf.

he shanked the ball off to the right. and then he would sort of parade up the middleof the fairway with his caddy 20 feet behind him, and then say: "oh, mr. trump, mr. trump,your ball, i found it. it's right here in the middle of the fairway." when you're surrounded by yes-men, when you'resurrounded by people telling you how great you are all the time, then you lose perspective. my point is, it's very different running yourown private company, where you're the boss, you're the king. there's not even a board of directors.

it is donald trump all the time. and he's used to telling them what to do,and if they don't do it, he gets very angry and he makes sure that it gets done. paul solman: but from the point of view ofhis constituency, that's not a bad thing, is it? william cohan: i think that's a very differentskill set than the one that's required to get your policies through congress at a verydivisive moment in american history. paul solman: but make america great is about,hey, this country's in trouble. by doing things the old-fashioned way, i'mgoing to bring in people, deal-makers, who

know how to change things dramatically. william cohan: and that is the premise thatallowed him to stitch together an electoral college victory. paul solman: so, then why isn't it a goodthing that he's got wilbur ross, steve mnuchin and whoever else he gets from wall streetin his administration? william cohan: they may turn out to be justwhat we're looking for. and if these cabinet appointees that he'snamed, who have this kind of experience about getting things done, and who know how thecapital markets work, if they can, all together, do that, then i will be the first one marchingat the front of the line to get donald trump,

you know, reelected and say he turned outto be a lot better than anybody thought. paul solman: but as somebody who's known himand reported on him, you're skeptical? william cohan: i'm skeptical. i'm hoping he doesn't turn out to be the guywho cheats at golf. paul solman: william d. cohan, thanks verymuch. william cohan: thanks for having me. judy woodruff: now to another in our briefbut spectacular series, where we ask interesting people to share their passions. tonight, we hear from news media critic andnew york university journalism professor jay

rosen. he runs the web site pressthink.org, and heoffers his views on the state of journalism in the age of facebook. jay rosen, professor of journalism, new yorkuniversity: twenty-five years ago, we would have been in a studio somewhere with 13 peoplearound. we're recording this with a single cameramanand his mom, who's holding the microphone. here, we have got our journalist in anothercity asking questions remotely. it's becoming easier to make media, just atthe same time that the network of news is expanding to include everyone with a cellphone all over the world.

well, what i think we really need is a pressthat can sometimes say to us, hey, you may not think this is interesting, but it's reallyimportant. journalists have to give us that kind of messagesometimes. some people say the problem is that peopleare always listening to voices that they already agree with on social media. one of the things journalists are really strugglingwith about facebook is that it has, in a way, replaced their relationship with users ofthe news. instead of going to their favorite news site,just find new stories in their facebook news feed.

that has given facebook a huge role in thenews system. we can't really ask facebook the kind of questionswe would ask an editor in chief, because it doesn't have one. when you sign up for a facebook account, youhave to agree to this long list that most people don't read. that's thin legitimacy. thick legitimacy is when you really understandthe deal. i think, at some point, they may realize thatthick legitimacy is what they need to keep operating, because people trust facebook.

they advertise their life on this platform. and, so, trust is actually a huge part ofthe facebook business. but they don't think, in my opinion, hardenough about how to maintain that trust. i think it's really important for people tounderstand that we're not going to have serious journalism unless you choose it. choosing serious journalism is related toan even more serious choice we have, which is choosing to continue to be a democracy. democracy is not a spectator sport. it's a participant thing.

my name is jay rosen, and this is my briefbut spectacular take on journalism. judy woodruff: and you can watch additionalbrief but spectacular episodes on our web site, pbs.org/newshour/brief. hari sreenivasan: finally tonight: rememberingjohn glenn, the mercury astronaut and former u.s. senator who died today at 95. we start with this look back. man: godspeed, john glenn. hari sreenivasan: february 20, 1962. man: nine, eight.

hari sreenivasan: an atlas rocket fired friendship7 into space. and over the next five hours, john glenn'sname was indelibly inscribed in history, the first american to orbit the earth circlingthe globe three times. john glenn, nasa astronaut: zero g and i feelfine. capsule is turning around. oh, that view is tremendous. man: the honorable john glenn. (applause) hari sreenivasan: it was still fresh in hismind half-a-century later.

john glenn: for many, many thousands of years,people had looked up and wondered. they'd been curious about what was up there. now, we must consider ourselves among themost fortunate of all generations, for we have lived at a time when the dream becamea reality. hari sreenivasan: john glenn's time beganin ohio, where he was born and raised. he grew up to be a highly decorated marinefighter pilot in world war ii and korea. and, as a military test pilot, he set a transcontinentalspeed record in 1957. then, space beckoned. that same year, the soviet union stunned theworld with sputnik, the first manmade satellite.

more soviet successes followed, while initialu.s. unmanned launches met with repeated failure. the soviets also leaped ahead in manned flightwith cosmonaut yuri gagarin making the first orbital flight ever in april 1961. glenn was still training at that point. one of the first astronauts, the mercury 7,he spoke of them at cape canaveral in 2012. john glenn: that was a real team we put -- itwas put together back in those days. and while we were competitors, boy, were wecompetitors to try and get the different flights, never was there anything anymore tight thanthe brotherhood we had that supported each one of those flights.

hari sreenivasan: glenn's moment came in early1962, when he crammed his silver-suited frame into the tiny friendship 7 capsule. john glenn: we used to joke about the spacecraft. we said, you didn't climb -- you didn't getinto it, you actually put it on. it was more like putting on clothes. it was that small, because the whole thing,if you spread your arms out like that, the -- you were touching both sides of the spacecraft. hari sreenivasan: people around the worldwatched, but few knew the danger unfolding above.

the capsule's automated steering system jammedand ground controllers worried the heat shield was tearing away on reentry. glenn's life depended on that shield, buthe told judy woodruff in 2012 his job was to stay focused. john glenn: you just keep right on workingright on through it. and if something is going the happen, theworst thing you could do would be panicky in there. so i just kept on working as we had trained,and everything worked out ok. man: ok, does the capsule look like it's ok?

over. hari sreenivasan: much more than ok. john glenn returned to earth an american hero,feted with parades and elaborate receptions. president john f. kennedy presented him witha nasa service medal, and, three days later, he addressed congress. john glenn: i am only too aware of the tremendoushonor that is being show us at this joint meeting of the congress today. this has been a great experience for all ofus on the program and for all americans, i guess, too.

and i'm certainly glad to see that pride inour country and its accomplishments are not a thing of the past. hari sreenivasan: the space program movedon, and so did glenn. he resigned from nasa in 1964 and eventuallyentered politics. in 1974, he was elected to the u.s. senatefrom ohio as a democrat and became chief author of the nuclear non-proliferation act. in 1984, he made a run for the white house,but he withdrew after poor showings in the early democratic primaries. ultimately, he served four terms in the senate.

woman: three, two, one. hari sreenivasan: and, in 1998, in his finalmonths in office, he returned to space on board the shuttle discovery. that earned him another first, at 77, theoldest person to fly into space. after his senate years, glenn and his wife,annie, worked to promote civics education, establishing the john glenn college of publicaffairs at ohio state university in columbus. but his abiding interest in space was neverfar away. the aging astronaut sharply criticized presidentgeorge w. bush's decision to phase out the space shuttle program.

man: two, one, zero, and liftoff, the finalliftoff of atlantis. hari sreenivasan: the final flight took placein 2011, and glenn voiced his views in his "newshour" interview the next year. john glenn: we do not have an american spacecrafton which we can go into space to get our people up there to the international space station,to do the research it was built to do. and we spent over $100 billion on that. but we should have had a continuity and aprogram that would let us build, research, and that the research we do up there is ofbenefit to everybody right here on earth. john boehner (r-oh), house minority leader:we will present a gold medal on behalf of

the united states congress to the honorablejohn glenn. hari sreenivasan: late in life, he as stillbeing honored, receiving the congressional gold medal in 2011, along with fellow astronautsbuzz aldrin, neil armstrong and michael collins. and in 2012, he was awarded the presidentialmedal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. john glenn lived out his final years in ohioafter suffering a small stroke. for more on the career and life of john glenn,i am joined by science correspondent miles o'brien, who came to know glenn through hisyears of reporting on aviation. miles, it's the beginning of the end of anera.

miles o'brien: it is, hari. you can't help but look at a guy like thatand say, one of the last of the great american heroes. this is a guy who, whatever he did, he succeededto levels few of us can ever aspire to, and yet, all the while, was one of the nicestpeople you would ever want to meet, despite his relentless and competitive nature. that's a hard mix. and he managed to do it, and he managed todo it really right to the end. he never really quit.

he never retired. he always had a mission. hari sreenivasan: you got to know him personally. you even flew with him in your small plane? miles o'brien: yes, i cooked up a scheme fora story. i had met him during the 1998 flight on theshuttle, when i had the opportunity to cover him and have no less than walter cronkiteas my co-anchor on cnn. i consider myself very lucky to have had thatexperience. but, some years later, we were doing a storyon technology and aviation, and i got the

idea in my head that it would be kind of funto see what senator glenn thought about the technology. it happened to be in the aircraft i ownedat the time. i flew it to columbus, and i had john glennget in my airplane and fly with me. and i have got to tell you, hari, i have neverhad a more nervous landing in my life. but as the term in aviation is, i greasedit. and he was -- he could not have been morecomplimentary to me. he was the nicest passenger you could everhope for, and yet the most intimidating at the same time.

hari sreenivasan: he's almost a time capsulein a way of the relations between america and the world, and what he meant to the spaceprogram, what he meant to aviation at the time, especially in the context of the coldwar. miles o'brien: absolutely, hari. when you think of nasa and what the spaceprogram is all about, it was kind of a cold war projection of soft power of the unitedstates. and he was the perfect poster boy for that. he was everything that we -- was consideredthe ideal in this country, small-town ethics, you know, handsome guy, the whole -- reallycentral casting kind of thing.

he was the guy, somewhat at least, with somedrama, depicted in "the right stuff" in the mid-'80s, sort of the, for lack of a betterterm, goody two-shoes of the mercury 7. while the rest of them might have been outcarousing late into the night, he was with his longtime wife, who actually he met firstin preschool, annie, and lived a much more quiet experience in life. hari sreenivasan: and he went on to serveafter as well. miles o'brien: he did, indeed. the chapters of his life are amazing, marinecorps fighter pilot in korea with numerous kills to his record, set a cross-country transcontinentalsupersonic record as a marine test pilot in

the '50s, goes on to be the mercury 7, thenhas this brief chapter as the president of royal crown cola, then gets into politicsfor 24 years, and then goes on to build this amazing public policy school at ohio stateuniversity. each chapter, he just rose to the absolutetop level, and made it always look effortless, at least as far as i could see. hari sreenivasan: yes. and even as we saw in the clips there, hewas still advocating for a more active role in the space program. miles o'brien: you know, when george bushannounced the retirement of the space shuttle,

he was calling me a lot. and he was advocating, in a very forcefuland clear way, for the united states still having the ability to carry its own astronautsto space. and he wasn't going to let that go. he was very upset about it. he was well into his 80s at this point, buthe was still in the game. hari sreenivasan: all right. i don't know if we have footage, or if it'sa shot of you and him in a plane. let's see if we can show that to our audienceas well.

miles o'brien: well, while we're playing it,i got to tell you one story i just heard, hari. annie glenn, his beloved wife of more than70 years, who is 96 and a bit frail, today, we're told, upon hearing the news, what didannie glenn do? she went to the supermarket to buy food becauseshe is anticipating a lot of guests. hari sreenivasan: oh. miles o'brien: so, that tells you a littlesomething about her and them. they were an inseparable and wonderful pair. and he -- you know, talk about a life well-lived.

what more can you say? where did he go wrong? i can't think of it. hari sreenivasan: all right, miles o'brien,thanks so much for joining us tonight. miles o'brien: you're welcome. judy woodruff: and, having known john glenn,i can second everything miles said about him. and a correction before we go tonight. we reported earlier that a stopgap spendingbill includes a waiver for retired general james mattis to serve as defense secretary.

in fact, it's a provision only to speed upaction. the waiver itself would still need congressionalapproval. on the "newshour" online right now: for morethan two years, an egyptian-american humanitarian worker has been held on charges in egypt. we explore efforts by her family and othersto free her. also, a columnist considers how widespreaddigitization has created vulnerabilities for our nation and the need to better protectourselves from cyber-risks. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. hari sreenivasan: tune in later tonight on"charlie rose": a conversation with brian

moynihan, ceo of bank of america. and that's the "newshour" for tonight. i'm hari sreenivasan. judy woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow eveningwith mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the "pbs newshour," thankyou, and good night.