PBS News Hour - Politics

How will President Trump's 2019 State of the Union address fit into American history? And can the president’s annual speech change the dynamics on Capitol Hill? Presidential historian Michael Beschloss joins Judy Woodruff to put this moment of political division in context.

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., says President Trump is “a dealmaker first and last,” and that Americans can expect to hear a more conciliatory tone at the State of the Union on Tuesday despite the impasse over a southern border wall. Perdue joins Judy Woodruff to discuss whether the president will declare a national emergency and why he thinks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should work with Trump.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam now says he is not pictured in a 1984 yearbook photo of people in blackface and Ku Klux Klan costumes, although he admits he wore blackface on a separate occasion. Regardless, he is facing calls to resign. Yamiche Alcindor talks to Duke University’s Mark Anthony Neal and The Atlantic's Vann Newkirk about the role of blackface in America's fraught racial history.

NPR's Tamara Keith and Amy Walter from the Cook Political Report join Lisa Desjardins to discuss the week’s political news, including a call from Democratic leaders for Gov. Ralph Northam to resign, the broader implications of the Northam scandal for our American conversation on race and what to expect from President Trump’s State of the Union address.

Two days after a racist yearbook photo emerged, Ralph Northam, Virginia’s Democratic governor, refuses to resign even as members of his own party demand he step down. In his press conference on Saturday, Northam denied being in the photo. Judith Browne Dianis of Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization and Richmond- based radio host Roben Farzad join Megan Thompson for discussion.

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam reversed course on Saturday and denied he is one of the people in a racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook. Despite demands for his resignation from members of his own party, Northam said he would not step down. Annie Linskey, a reporter for The Washington Post, joins Hari Sreenivasan from Richmond, Virginia to discuss.

Throughout the country, refugees have rebuilt and revitalized many small cities and towns that are facing slowing economies and declining populations. Adam Bedient, whose film “Mahira Patkovich: A Refugee Rises” highlights the impact of Bosnian refugees in Utica, NY and Andrew Lim of New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy organization for immigration reform join Hari Sreenivasan for more.

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks analyze the week in politics, including the uproar over a racist photo on the medical school yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., the furor erupting over state legislation related to third-trimester abortions, hope for resolving the border wall standoff and the widening 2020 field of presidential candidates.

Former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., was one of many Republican candidates who ran for president in 2016. After pulling out of the race, Christie became a vocal supporter of President Trump, a longtime friend. Christie joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his new book, “Let Me Finish,” which Democratic adversary he thinks Trump should fear in 2020 and why he would have made a better president.

Proposed legislation in Virginia that would loosen restrictions on third trimester abortions has sparked outrage among conservatives. Many pro-choice advocates expect the Supreme Court to scale back abortion rights, and states favorable to abortion are preparing. Lisa Desjardins talks to Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University and author of several books on abortion politics.