AMNA NAWAZ: Good evening and welcome.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

On the "NewsHour" tonight: Desperate rescue efforts continue in Turkey and Syria, as the death toll from a major earthquake rises by thousands.

KINDA KORDI, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator): To be honest, this is harder than war.

At war, there's a strike and it passes.

Here, we don't know when it ends.

We are terrified.

AMNA NAWAZ: The president prepares to deliver the annual State of the Union address and potentially signal his reelection campaign.

GEOFF BENNETT: And federal authorities foil an effort by racially motivated extremists to use assault weapons to bring down Baltimore's electrical grid.

(BREAK) GEOFF BENNETT: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

Tonight,President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address.

We will have more on that later.

But, first, we start with the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and aftershocks that have rocked Turkey and Syria.

AMNA NAWAZ: The death toll from the quake disaster has reached more than 7,700 people tonight, and it's feared many more victims have yet to be found.

Search teams are working with ever-growing urgency across a huge swathe of Southern Turkey and Eastern Syria.

Jane Ferguson is on the ground in Turkey and has our report.

JANE FERGUSON: A moment of light surrounded by darkness.

Working overnight in Malatya, Turkey, rescuers pulled a man out from the rubble alive.

Voices shouting from under crumbled concrete are still waiting to be saved.

An immense rescue operation is under way across Turkey and Syria.

Thousands of buildings were leveled.

Rescuers are now battling against time, hoping to reach those stuck below before it's too late.

For many, that wait has already cost lives.

NILUFER SARIGOZ, Turkish Earthquake Survivor (through translator): My sister has four children.

She has one sister-in-law, in-laws, and nephews and nieces.

They're all gone.

They're all gone.

If the rescuers had arrived yesterday, they would have been saved, but they did not come.

JANE FERGUSON: Others have tried in vain to search for family and friends themselves while they wait for rescue teams.

HAVVA TOPAL, Turkish Earthquake Survivor (through translator): My uncle, his wife and his three children are here.

We haven't been able to find them for two days.

We have heard nothing, no news.

The building collapsed after the earthquake, and then a fire started 15 to 20 minutes later.

No firefighters came, no excavators.

We tried to save them on our own by scooping water out with plates.

JANE FERGUSON: Thousands were already displaced before the quakes after a decade of war in neighboring Syria.

Thousands more have now been displaced by the disaster.

Survivors in Malatya are crammed into tents, sitting on cardboard boxes for beds.

But the tents are filling up quickly, and many families were left to wait in the cold for a spot.

Across the border in Northern Syria, rescue crews in Idlib face a daunting challenge combing through mountains of rubble, some with only their bare hands, desperately searching for signs of life.

Farther north in Haram, shouts echoed across a crowded rescue site as a little girl was plucked from the rubble and carried to safety.

Hospitals and health clinics across Northern Syria are overwhelmed.

Many of those facilities were already understaffed and ill-equipped after years of war.

AHMAD AL-ADNAN, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator): Thank God my home was not impacted, but there were 10 buildings beside us that fell all at once, an entire neighborhood all at once.

JANE FERGUSON: Some of those who did manage to escape unharmed are now braving the cold, living on the streets of Aleppo.

They're afraid to go home.

IBRAHIM EID, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator): You saw how a whole building just falls.

It is terrifying.

It is not as if mortars hit here or there.

Here, you walk in the streets, ambulances are everywhere, buildings are falling, people are walking in the streets.

There are bodies.

JANE FERGUSON: The Syrian Red Crescent said more than 120 temporary shelters have now been set up for displaced families.

This school in Aleppo is one of them.

KINDA KORDI, Syrian Earthquake Survivor (through translator): To be honest, this is harder than war.

At war, there's a strike and it passes.

Here, we don't know when it ends.

We are terrified.

JANE FERGUSON: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jane Ferguson in Turkey.

AMNA NAWAZ: We will focus now on the Syrian side of the border.

Idlib province, the final stronghold of rebels fighting Syrian government forces, was particularly hard-hit by the earthquake.

Nick Schifrin has that story.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The earthquake devastated a region already scarred by a brutal war.

For more than a decade, the residents of Idlib have endured bombardment by the Syrian military and its Russian allies, as well as one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

The Syrian civil defense, known as the White Helmets, has spent years trying to say victims of bombings.

Now they're one of the few aid groups operating on the ground trying to save victims of the earthquake.

Ismail Alabdullah is a volunteer.

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH, White Helmets: Northwest Syria, now it's a disaster area.

We need help from everyone to save our people.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And Ismail Alabdullah joins me now from Sarmada in Idlib province.

Ismail Alabdullah, thank you very much.

Welcome to the "NewsHour."

You and your teams have spent the last couple days combing through the debris of people's homes, of buildings that have collapsed, trying to save people's lives.

What are the conditions right now?

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: The largest scale of destruction, the largest scale of the rubble made great difficulty that we are facing right now.

The earthquake, it caused massive damage in every city and village.

Every village, there are many buildings collapsed completely on the families, entire families under the ground, under the rubble.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In the videos that you're posting and that we have here and that we're showing right now, it seems like you and your teams are going hand by hand trying to rescue people with whatever tools you have.

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: They are working around the clock to respond.

We used to respond to a bombing by the -- assess first.

It's totally different.

Each site has three or four -- three or four buildings collapsed.

We are removing the rubble by our hands and by the equipment that we have.

NICK SCHIFRIN: And what about you and your family personally?

How did you experience this earthquake?

And what happened to the people who lived right next to you?

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: I was asleep beside my children when the earth start to shake violently and quickly.

I responded immediately to hold my kids, to go out of the house to avoid this -- this horrible scenario that the ceiling and the - - to collapse on us.

I heard voices screaming next to us, close to us.

It was like -- it was our neighbors.

Their houses collapsed on them.

And, as I know, 17 people died in that collapse.

I went to the site.

I couldn't handle -- I couldn't hold my tears when I saw the people screaming, seeing and hearing the voices calling for help.

NICK SCHIFRIN: You said it yourself.

This is different than the war.

But so many of the people we're talking about have been through many, many years of this war.

How much more pain are they suffering now because of this earthquake?

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: Earthquake made the suffering - - doubled the suffering of the people.

It came in the time of winter, in -- with the winter itself, it's disaster, disaster in Northwest Syria.

It's not like in other countries.

Here, people don't have something, anything to warm their children, to keep their children warm and during the cold and harsh winter.

Beside this, besides all this, in the first place, they were displaced.

Me, I was displaced four times.

All the people were displaced, and now they're suffering.

Those people who are now injured, they don't have a place to go.

They don't have houses.

Their houses collapsed.

We're talking here about thousands of people.

They need shelter.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The Syrian government and its Russian allies have specifically targeted hospitals for many years.

Are their medical facilities?

Is their medical care for the people who need it?

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: The whole world knows that Russia and Assad made the hospital targets, killed doctors, destroyed the medical equipment.

The health sector already is exhausted, and now, dealing with this catastrophe, they will not be able to -- they don't have enough doctors.

They don't have even the medical supplies.

So, that's why also we're calling to help.

Maybe they -- maybe they can open the gate for doctors.

Maybe they can open the gate for those who were injured to go to Turkey.

NICK SCHIFRIN: What do you most need right now?

ISMAIL ALABDULLAH: We need heavy equipment to move -- to remove the massive scale of the rubble.

And we need, like, generators, because we don't have that electricity to work.

We need diesel.

We need help.

We need international efforts to help us, help us.

To everyone to -- watching and listening, help those people, and consider them as human beings.

AMNA NAWAZ: That was Ismail Alabdullah with the White Helmets.

We now turn to Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Hasan Murat Mercan.

I spoke to him a short while ago and began by asking him what it's like to see this stunning death toll rise as the rescue operations continue to unfold.

HASAN MURAT MERCAN, Turkish Ambassador to the United States: Well, I cannot imagine where it will lead, it will go, but it can go -- it can go worse.

Also, people are in the tents right now, in the school buildings.

So, the situation is not very good, to say the least.

AMNA NAWAZ: As you well know, the U.S. has already pledged any and all needed assistance.

The European Union has mobilized search-and-rescue teams.

Are your country's most urgent needs being met right now?

HASAN MURAT MERCAN: First of all, a few hours after the earthquake took place, which was evening, in Washington time, State Department and White House officials approached us and clearly stated their sorriness and, at the same time, said that they are ready to help in any way we need.

They have dispatched two rescue teams.

And we still need more rescue teams, because clearing all these rubbles in very careful manner, hoping that there are some people under the rubbles require a lot of manual human work.

So, we still need new rescue teams.

So we need a lot of winter materials, winter clothing, which in being -- which is being provided by American companies -- American citizens, Turkish citizens living in the United States.

AMNA NAWAZ: President Erdogan did declare a three-month state of emergency.

And the last time Turkey was under a state of emergency was in 2016 after the failed coup attempt.

That lasted two years back then.

Why is a state of emergency necessary now?

HASAN MURAT MERCAN: Now state of emergency is necessary because there are a lot of humanitarian aid needed, construction needed.

Roads needs to -- need to be reconstructed.

There are thousands of buildings right now.

And looting is possible.

Under these circumstances, there are always really bad people, bad intention that try to do something.

Everything has to be coordinated.

A state of emergency will help our rescue teams all over the -- rescue teams work more efficiently.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mr.

Ambassador, we are keeping you and the people of Turkey in our thoughts.

We thank you so much for joining us tonight.

HASAN MURAT MERCAN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Hasan Murat Mercan.

Thank you.

HASAN MURAT MERCAN: Thank you very much.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the day's other headlines: China stepped up its complaints about the U.S. shooting down that suspected spy balloon.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry claimed again it was a civilian balloon gathering weather data, but gave no other details.

The Chinese also insisted the balloon is their property, but stopped short of demanding its return.

MAO NING, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman (through translator): What I can say is that this airship belongs to China and not the United States.

This balloon is not American.

The Chinese government will continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests.

GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. Navy has been working to recover the balloon and its equipment off the coast of South Carolina.

Images provided by the Navy show large pieces of the debris being hauled out of the water.

U.S. officials say they have no intention of returning the balloon and its payload to China.

On the war in Ukraine, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands say they will send at least 100 refurbished Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine's military.

Berlin had already promised to allow deliveries of newer model Leopard tanks.

Today's announcement came as fierce fighting raged in Eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv claimed its forces killed more than 1,000 Russian troops in 24 hours.

Thousands of demonstrators in France staged new nationwide strikes today against raising the official retirement age from 62 to 64.

In Paris, protesters flooded the streets, gathering in front of the opera house and marching around the city center.

The walkouts disrupted public transportation, schools and energy systems.

Back in this country, a new turn in the Tyre Nichols case.

The Memphis Police Department now says one of five officers charged in his beating death took a picture of Nichols as he sat bloodied and dazed.

The picture was shared with at least five other people.

It could be used in a bid to bar the now fired officers from ever working as police anywhere in Tennessee.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is expected to leave the Biden administration in the coming days.

Various reports today said the former Boston mayor plans to become head of the National Hockey League's Player Association.

Walsh would be the first of President Biden's Cabinet secretaries to depart.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says he's looking for a significant decline in inflation this year.

But he also warned again today everything depends on whether the economy slows enough.

He said last Friday's robust jobs report could signal it will take more interest rate hikes than expected to get there.

JEROME POWELL, Federal Reserve Chairman: You know, we have put -- we throw these numbers around.

But the reality is, we're going to react to the data.

So if we continue to get, for example, strong labor market reports or higher -- higher inflation reports, it may well be the case that we have to do more and raise hikes more than is priced in.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Powell said a strong demand for labor and a shortage of workers are still driving the job market.

Wall Street moved higher after the Fed chair's remarks.

Investors took him to mean that the Central Bank is not adopting a more aggressive interest rate policy just yet.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 265 points to close it 34156.

The Nasdaq rose 226 points, nearly 2 percent.

The S&P 500 was up more than 1 percent.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": a leading Republican senator and a White House official give different previews to the State of the Union; federal authorities foil an effort to bring down Baltimore's electrical grid; and we examine Frederick Douglass' formative years in New England.

President Joe Biden delivers his assessment of where the country has been and where it's going later tonight.

Our Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez join me now with more on what to expect.

And, Laura, you have been talking to White House officials.

What message does President Biden hope to convey to Congress and to the American people tonight?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: White House officials told me today that the president is going to say that the country needs to finish the job that he started in the first two years of his presidency.

He's also going to be exuding a lot of optimism and hope, they told me, but there are going to be some central big themes.

Those big themes are going to be on foreign policy, the continued defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression, as well as countering China, and the competitiveness and U.S. trying to counteract China's economic rise as a rival, also on the economy, job growth.

The president is going to tout that a lot, his -- the bipartisan infrastructure law and the investments that are being made across the country, as well as a number of health care action that were taken.

And then, finally, he's going to talk about bipartisanship and his attempt to try to work across the aisle with Republicans, but also contrast himself with the GOP, specifically on issues like abortion, on police brutality, on gun control.

And then he's going to look forward a bit as well, trying to say that Congress should act on areas that they left on the cutting room floor, essentially, during the first two years, like again extending the child tax credit.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, Lisa, President Biden, according to Laura's reporting, is trying to draw a contrast tonight with Republicans.

How are Republicans prepared to respond?

LISA DESJARDINS: There will be some contrast.

There will also be something different from the new speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Remember, for Kevin McCarthy, this is his first time in that kind of national spotlight.

He told us last night that he plans to be respectful, to honor the day.

I think he's kind of trying to be above partisan politics for now, although he's obviously been partisan in the past.

Who will be partisan on behalf of Republicans?

The new governor of Arkansas, someone our viewers may be familiar with, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

She has been governor -- there she is at her inauguration -- for four weeks.

She is going to contrast herself as America's youngest governor right now at the age of 40 with President Biden, America's oldest president in history.

She will also lay out sort of themes we will see from the Republicans and have before, things they say that President Biden is failing at, the border, the economy.

I believe she may bring up the China balloon as well in some way.

She will also president Republicans as being more for a strong America.

That's something we're going to see both people talk about tonight.

One other thing Republicans are doing, they will have a Spanish-language response, as they have in the past.

This is from Juan Ciscomani, a new freshman member of Congress.

Interesting because, as Sarah Huckabee Sanders used to be the spokesperson for Trump, then, Juan Ciscomani was actually with Steve (sic) Ducey's office, a Trump opponent.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, as is tradition, there will be special guests invited by the first lady to attend the speech tonight.

Tell us who they are and what message these invitations are meant to convey.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, one of the ones that stood out to me, because there will be a number of guests, including the Ukrainian -- the ambassador of Ukraine to the United States.

But I wanted to highlight a few.

There's Paul Pelosi, who's been invited to sit alongside the first lady.

And the White House noted specifically when they invited Paul Pelosi that he was the subject of a politically motivated attack, and that the intruder chanted "Where's Nancy?"

when he entered their home.And that was a similar chant that rioters used during the January 6 insurrection.

Also, Brandon Tsay, who disarmed the Monterey Park shooter during the lunar new year celebration in Monterey Park, California, and, finally, of course, also of note RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the mother and stepfather to Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who was fatally beaten by police in Memphis, Tennessee.

And on that note, also, a number of other lawmakers, congressional Black lawmakers, are going to be in the chamber.

They invited families of the victims of police brutality, notably, the father of Michael Brown, the mother of Eric Garner, and the brother of George Floyd.

So they're really -- Democrats are trying to a showcase specifically a lot of the police brutality that has been occurring and that issue that the country is still reckoning with.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes, and inject some new urgency into the police reform push.

So, in the minute we have left, Lisa, what are you going to be watching for tonight from your perch in the House Gallery, right behind the House Rostrum, yes.

LISA DESJARDINS: Very honored and special place to be.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's very cool.

LISA DESJARDINS: We will not see sort of color blocks, as we have seen in the past, lots of people wearing white, for example, in the past.

We will see buttons reflecting what Laura was talking about.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus will be wearing buttons saying 1870.

That is the date of the first known killing of a Black -- unarmed Black men in this country by a police officer.

So they will be showing that detail.

But I'm also going to be looking around for this new sense of normal in the House, Geoff, because this is going to be the first time that everyone in that chamber since the pandemic does not have to show a COVID-negative test to be there.

There are no more magnetometers, which were also put in by the Democrats, now taken out.

Along with this kind of going back to normal, there's a new normal outside of the Capitol, which is eight-foot-tall fencing.

That is something that was not in place for State of the Unions before January 6.

It is now up around the Capitol tonight.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you both.

Appreciate it.

LISA DESJARDINS: Thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: For a top Republican take ahead of President Biden's State of the Union speech tonight, I'm joined by Senator Thune of South Dakota.

He's the second highest ranking Republican in the Senate.

Senator Thune, welcome back to the "NewsHour."

Thank you for joining us.

Let's start with the State of the Union.

What is it that you hope to hear from President Biden tonight?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): Well, Amna, I think what most Republicans want to hear is the president actually sort of lay out a plan of how he would like to work with Republicans.

I mean, he ran as a moderate.

He ran as somebody who wanted to unify the country.

And then the last -- but the last two years have been a lot of very partisan legislating.

And I think there are a lot of members on our side who are interested to hear what the president has to say about how he's going to tackle inflation, which is absolutely devastating the pocketbooks of a lot of Americans around this country.

Look at inflation in everything, but certainly food, over 18 percent increase since he took office.

So I think talking about that, I think talking about what we're going to do to become energy-independent again, and that's something I think Republicans would be very interested in working with him on.

I think there's a lot of interest, obviously, in our farmers and ranchers.

This is a farm bill year.

And it's an issue that historically has been bipartisan.

There are things that we can do there to support those who feed not only our country, but the world.

And I think there's some things we can do to hold big tech accountable.

I think that seems to be a bipartisan agenda item.

And I think those are all things that we need to work on together, first and foremost, of course, national security.

And so I hope he does address what happened over the weekend, because the first job of a president obviously is to keep people in this country safe and secure and deal with keeping America -- keeping America safe.

So I would look forward to hearing about that.

And, I mean, I think there's some other things on the horizon economically, some trade things that we could be doing that this administration has not been doing.

So there's a whole range of things I think that we look forward to hearing from to talk about.

But, clearly, he's going to talk about what he wants to talk about.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, I think a lot of people are waiting to hear on the economy.

As you know, that is top on Americans' minds.

And when you look at where things are now, unemployment is at a 50-year low.

Inflation does seem to be cooling, right?

The new jobs numbers last week topped 500,000, far exceeding expectations.

The White House is arguing things are getting better and will continue to get better.

Do you disagree?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, I think that will be his argument.

But it doesn't -- I don't think people are feeling that.

If you look at any of the evidence that's out there, either anecdotal or the polling that's been done, people just don't feel like their lives are improving.

And I think a lot of that comes back to inflation.

And as long as inflation is at the rate that it is, you could have some modest growth in the economy, and you could have unemployment at a fairly low level, but people are losing ground every year.

And that's why I talked about food, cost of food being up 18.6 percent since this president took office.

And that runs really across the board.

Energy is a lot higher too.

And so people in their daily lives and their pocketbooks just aren't feeling the impact of what the president says are his successes.

So, I think there's a disconnect there.

And my assumption is, he will attempt to address that tonight.

But I think there are just a lot of people and a lot of Republicans who perhaps aren't convinced that the president's policies are having the desired effect.

And I would, certainly, after the last two years, again, which I think was a lot of partisan legislating and a lot of spending, there's going to be a strong argument to be made that it's time to wind down the spending and to do things in the area of taxes and regulation that will provide incentives for businesses to invest and to create jobs and to create those better-paying jobs out there.

AMNA NAWAZ: On the issue of bipartisanship, I should point out, over the last year, the president did meet with Republican leaders several times at the White House, right, on pandemic relief and on infrastructure.

He actually appeared alongside Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a major bridge repair project in Kentucky.

Do you want to see more bipartisanship than that?

That seems like a pretty strong message over the last year.

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I think that -- those are all examples.

And I think there's a lot of room to build on that.

But, I mean, I think you would start right now by continuing to have these conversations with the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, dealing with the debt limit and potentially budget spending reforms.

We have got a $31 trillion debt.

We can't continue to spend like this forever.

A lot of these programs are going to go bankrupt in the very near future if we don't take steps to save and sustain them and make them viable, not only for current retirees, but for future generations of retirees.

So I think there are some great examples right now directly in front of us, Amna, where this president, if he wanted to, could step forward and demonstrate a willingness to do some things that I think you could say are bipartisan, and maybe look for some areas of accomplishment.

I think it's going to be hard in these next couple of years, because you have got a divided government.

And a divided government can provide obviously a lot of conflict.

And I expect we will see plenty of that.

But it also can create the conditions that are favorable for getting consequential things done.

And history has proven that.

And I hope that that's the case in the next couple of years, but it takes presidential leadership in order to do that.

And he's going to have to reach out.

And I think you will find Republicans like Speaker McCarthy who are willing to meet him.

AMNA NAWAZ: We know that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is going to be delivering the Republican response tonight.

You mentioned wanting to hear from the president the desire for bipartisanship, areas where both parties can work together.

Do you hope to hear the same message from her?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: I do.

I mean, I think you're going to hear -- she's a very principled young leader.

It's interesting.

You got a great contrast.

You got the youngest governor in the country responding to the oldest president in American history.

I think the contrast there won't be lost on anyone.

But I think what she's going to be talking about is a conservative agenda, but an agenda that is really grounded in principles that I think most hopefully not just conservatives in this country, but a majority of Americans hold dear.

And that is a belief and limited, but effective government, and personal freedom, coupled with individual responsibility, that you have got to keep the country strong to keep it safe, a belief in economic freedom, and creating incentives for businesses to invest in and create those better-paying jobs.

So I think those are the kinds of themes that she will touch on.

And I think those are themes that will resonate well with the American people.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senator, I have got about a minute left, but you mentioned areas of cooperation ahead.

When you look at where Americans' priorities are right now, obviously, the economy is top of everything.

But, after that, there's concerns like reducing crime, climate change, gun violence, immigration.

Are any of those, any of those at all areas you think that the two sides could come together and work together?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Those are hot issues.

And immigration is a -- the border is a -- I think you would have to argue, by any objective metric, over the past two years in this administration deteriorated rapidly and a disaster on a humanitarian level and on a national security level.

There are just lots of threats that exist there.

And... AMNA NAWAZ: But can the two parties come together on immigration?

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Well, and that's -- I think they - - I think that's possible, if the administration would be willing, again, to reach out and say, OK, what are the things that you need in a border bill?

And securing the border is going to be first and foremost a priority for Republicans on Capitol Hill.

But I think there's a potential for a deal there.

And it is an issue that's crying out for a solution.

Now, many of the things that -- there are a lot of things the president can do on his own.

He doesn't need Congress.

A lot of the policies that he reversed when he took power on the border, I think, have proven to be a huge failure.

But I do think that, if he wants to turn it around, and he's looking for help from members of Congress, there is a path forward that would allow that to happen.

But it's going to require, as I said earlier - - any big issue, any consequential issue requires a high level of presidential leadership, and he's going to have to be willing to come and I think meet Republicans in Congress partway.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senate Minority Whip Senator Thune joining us tonight.

Senator Thune, thank you.

Good to see you.

SEN. JOHN THUNE: Thanks, Amna.

Good to be with you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we're going to shift our focus now to the White House.

Kate Bedingfield is the White House communications director.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

KATE BEDINGFIELD, White House Communications Director: Thanks for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Kate, President Biden, we know, hopes to use his address tonight to present an optimistic portrait to the American people of his first two years in office.

This will likely be the largest TV audience he's going to have this year.

How is he aiming to use this opportunity?

What's his core message?

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Yes, well, you're absolutely right that he's looking to put forth an optimistic message.

He's going to talk about everything that he's accomplished, that we have accomplished over the first two years of this administration, including 12 million jobs created, record low unemployment, 800,000 manufacturing jobs here.

We're making things in America again.

He's going to talk about the progress we have made on climate, on guns, on infrastructure.

So he's going to talk about what we have accomplished, but he's also going to talk about how we can build on that.

This is also a forward-looking speech, and he's going to talk to the American people about what we can do to finish the job and continue to make the -- and continue to build on the progress that we have made over these first two years.

GEOFF BENNETT: This will also be the president's first speech to a divided Congress.

Republicans obviously now control the House.

The biggest battle line so far has been raising the debt ceiling.

President Biden has insisted he will not negotiate on meeting the country's debt obligations.

Republicans have been equally adamant that they won't raise the debt ceiling without some spending concessions.

What's the White House strategy moving forward to arrive at some common ground, a common ground that President Biden says he wants to see?

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Well, look, there is no question that it is Congress' constitutional obligation to address the debt ceiling.

They have historically, in fact, many, many members, most members of the Republican Caucus who are currently in office voted for a clean debt ceiling increase under President Trump with no preconditions.

So, President Biden doesn't believe that it's acceptable to hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to negotiation.

So, Congress needs to handle its responsibility to deal with the debt ceiling.

That said, what the president is open to is a conversation about fiscal responsibility.

And, in fact, he has said that, on March 9, he's going to put forward his budget.

And he's asking Speaker McCarthy and the Republicans to put their plan on the table.

Let's talk about where they're proposing to make some of these cuts.

The president has said he will not tolerate cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

So, what he's asking Speaker McCarthy is, if you want to talk about balancing a budget, then let's see where those cuts are going to come from.

Let's have a meaningful conversation about it, because here's the thing.

Under President Biden, we have lowered the deficit $1.7 trillion in our first two years in office, all the while building a growing economy, creating those 12 million jobs I was talking about, creating small businesses, increasing wages.

So, President Biden is going to continue to build on that progress.

He wants to have a meaningful conversation with Congress about how we do that.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about China, Kate, because China, as I understand it, was included in this speech well before that balloon found its way, the Chinese alleged spy balloon found its way into American airspace last week.

But this incursion lends new urgency to this issue of competition with Beijing.

How is the president going to frame that tonight, what he views as China's aggression, trying to contain it?

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Well, you're right that it absolutely was in the speech prior to the incident with the balloon.

Obviously, our relationship with China is a key pillar of our foreign policy.

The president has spent time with President Xi, most recently meeting with him in person in November.

And President Biden has talked a lot about managing our relationship with China from a place of conflict to a place of competition.

So you will certainly hear from him about that tonight.

In terms of the balloon, what I can say is, the president made a strategic and strong decision to shoot the balloon down, but to do it in a way that allowed us maximum opportunity to capture intelligence from the balloon, so collect on the balloon.

And we know more about China's tradecraft and capabilities as a result of what we were able to gather from the balloon over the course those few days.

And then we shot it down over the water, so that we're able to recover the payload and learn more about -- again, about their capabilities.

And, also, we did that without any threat to American life.

So, the president handled that in a strong and effective way that allowed us to learn more about their capabilities, but also ultimately sent the message to China that it was an unacceptable incursion.

GEOFF BENNETT: Big picture question, why aren't more Americans feeling the accomplishments that President Biden is trying to sell?

As you know, there was a recent ABC News/Washington Post survey this weekend that found a majority of Americans, 62 percent, say they do not believe Biden has achieved much during his first two years in office.

That's with unemployment at a 50-year low.

What accounts for that?

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Well, look, a number of those accomplishments go into effect this year.

So, in a way, this makes sense.

I mean, for example, the $35 cap on insulin went into effect January 1 of this year.

A number of the other cost-saving provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act, in terms of health care subsidies, in terms of prescription drug costs, in terms of energy costs, so your utility bill, for example, a lot of those impacts take effect this year.

So, this is a year where people will start to feel more of those -- more of the results of what the president has been able to get passed.

And I think, across the board, look, the president will be the first to say we have made tremendous, tremendous progress, but we still have a ways to go.

And he understands that people are feeling that pain.

They're feeling the squeeze of high prices.

That's why he's working so hard to bring them down.

So, you're going to hear from him tonight a message of optimism about the fact that we are on the right path, that we have seen - - we're continuing to see indicators that show our economy is moving in the right direction.

And you're going to hear him talk about how he understands what people are going through.

And he's going to lay down his plans for how to continue to build on making things better for people across the country.

GEOFF BENNETT: White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield.

Kate, thanks for your time.

KATE BEDINGFIELD: Thank you for having me.

Really appreciate it.

AMNA NAWAZ: Now let's focus on increasing attacks by extremists and others to disrupt and knock out the power grid.

Direct attacks on electrical substations, including vandalism and other suspicious activity, were up by nearly 80 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year.

Yesterday, authorities said they had foiled an alleged neo-Nazi plot to attack multiple substations and transformers around Baltimore.

William Brangham has the details.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amna, the FBI said it had arrested two suspects in this case last week, Sarah Beth Clendaniel of Maryland and Brandon Russell of Florida.

Federal officials say Russell, who was just released after a five-year sentence on bomb charges, is a founder of a neo-Nazi group known as the Atomwaffen.

This alleged plot in Baltimore follows recent physical attacks on electrical stations in North Carolina, Oregon and Washington state, attacks that left tens of thousands of people without power.

Motives in all those cases haven't been determined.

Brian Levin watches all this at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California state University in San Bernardino.

And he joins us now.

Brian Levin, thank you so much for being here.

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that racist extremist groups would be targeting infrastructure, very much like this alleged plot in Baltimore.

Can you help us understand, why would neo-Nazis want to attack a power station?

How does that further their goals?

BRIAN LEVIN, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism: A couple of things.

First of all, historically and culturally, infrastructure plots and attacks and the glorification of it with within various books throughout the movement and prior plots goes back decades.

Some decades ago, I testified before Congress about something called leaderless resistance.

And, as the far right frequently throughout history, and especially today, has become very fragmented and cellular, these kinds of targeted attacks that can be done by lone actors or small cells is very appealing, because it gives them leverage with respect to their small numbers.

So, we have both a historic sociocultural identification of these locations as legitimate targets and an overall racial holy war or civil war or, as accelerationists want to do, just burn down society.

These folks are looking for some kind of chaos.

And what they were hoping is there would be some kind of violent conflict around these attacks or, as in some of these plots most recently, attacks that take place around already emergency situations, like snowstorms or natural disasters.

So what they hope to do as part of the accelerationist wing of neo-Nazism, but that actually goes across the ideological spectrum, is to cause chaos and continuing lack of confidence and - - in institutions and infighting amongst citizens.

And they figure these kinds of targeted attacks, assassinations, and violence at rallies could combine to create that critical mass of revolution for white supremacy.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I see.

This Baltimore plot, along with these others that we have seen in Washington state and North Carolina and Oregon, seem to indicate, though, that these power substations are themselves particularly vulnerable.

Is that your understanding as well?

BRIAN LEVIN: Well, I would prefer not to go into particular vulnerabilities of specific locations.

But let me just say this is, we know that the protection of various substations and related facilities is very uneven across the country.

And we really have to raise the national standards, not only with respect to physical attacks, but also cyberattacks, which may not only just come from white supremacists and accelerationists, but others who either are connected to a foreign entity or are transnational in their white supremacy, not necessarily exclusively domestic.

And, indeed, Atomwaffen and some of these other groups have international footprints.

So, we have to look at not only the physical infrastructure, but also cyber, as an increasingly available set of malefactors is available to want to hit our critical infrastructure.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, given those vulnerabilities that you're describing, I mean, what would you be recommending that governments and utilities be doing to help harden these pieces of infrastructure?

BRIAN LEVIN: I think they have to look from within.

I think they have to go to the experts that are working there and say, what are our vulnerabilities?

Even do some drills where folks might try to -- with proper vetting, try to show where these vulnerabilities are.

So, that's one thing.

The other thing is, increasingly, surveillance systems are becoming much more inexpensive.

So we have to look at that as well.

And, again, don't forget the cyber infrastructure.

We know from the past that, for instance, there have been attempts to breach, for instance, critical infrastructure here in the United States, from water systems, to hospitals, and other places where we rely on them for our safety, but also our routine daily activities.

So, anything, frankly, that would be a vulnerability for some kind of mass chaos, I think communities have to look at.

And, of course, communication systems, electrical infrastructure, health care systems, and others are places I certainly would start, as well as cyber infrastructure, really important.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Brian Levin at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, thank you so much.

BRIAN LEVIN: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Frederick Douglass was once a fugitive from slavery who was aided by friends in a daring and dangerous escape.

He went from being on the run to becoming one of the most influential Americans of the 19th century.

Pamela Watts of Rhode Island PBS Weekly has Douglass' story as he took his first steps to freedom.

LEE BLAKE, President, New Bedford Historical Society: Throughout his life, from the time he gains freedom, he works constantly for freedom and for freedom for his brothers and sisters, meaning the African American community.

He spoke out for women.

At one point in time, he is in England, and how important it is for the English to take their foot off the neck of the Irish.

So, he was somebody who worked all the time for equality.

PAMELA WATTS: That early civil rights activist was born a Southern slave.

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey later changed his name to Frederick Douglass to elude capture.

He escaped bondage, arriving in Newport in 1838.

Historian Lee Blake explains why he could not stay there.

LEE BLAKE: Because Newport, Rhode Island, is a slave state.

And one thing people forget is how involved Rhode Island was in the slave trade.

Many of the slave ships that came to the United States came into Rhode Island.

PAMELA WATTS: But Douglass and his new wife, Anna Murray Douglass, do find safe harbor, however briefly, in Newport with the free Black family of Isaac Rice.

The Rice homestead still stands on the corner of Thomas and Williams streets and was a station on the Underground Railroad.

The Douglasses were whisked by stagecoach to New Bedford.

LEE BLAKE: From that corner down about four blocks is all Abolition Row.

PAMELA WATTS: Blake, who is president of the New Bedford Historical Society, says it is to this whaling city neighborhood, now the historic district Abolition Row, that Douglass is sent.

He has his first taste of life as a free man in the home of Nathan and Polly Johnson.

What role did this very house that we're sitting in have in shaping Frederick Douglass' life?

LEE BLAKE: Nathan and Polly Johnson, who were African American entrepreneurs, were part of the Underground Railroad.

So this is an Underground Railroad site.

And when Anna and Frederick come here, they have just been married just three or four days, but Frederick was 20 years old.

So, we are so used to seeing Frederick Douglass as an elder statesman, we forget he has a foundation story.

And this house is part of the foundation story.

PAMELA WATTS: The Johnsons' house sits side by side with those of Quaker families, whose meeting house is also on the street.

Anti-slavery Quakers were active in the city's whaling trade and employed many African Americans.

LEE BLAKE: New Bedford is a really unique place at that time.

New Bedford is a bustling whaling port, but it's also a place with a large free Black population.

Massachusetts ends slavery in 1783.

So people here are free, and are able to go about their business as citizens.

PAMELA WATTS: Douglass finds work on the docks in New Bedford and marvels at the opportunity in the seaport town.

LEE BLAKE: He's able to vote here.

Voting in New Bedford was not segregated.

He paid his poll tax, $1.50.

And, in the 1840s, he's voting.

On New Bedford, African Americans were running people for elections for different posts and positions.

So, New Bedford teaches him the possibility and the hope of what freedom might really look like if people were equal.

PAMELA WATTS: Douglass is also able to attend church and act as a lay minister, where he learns he needs to speak up.

LEE BLAKE: He talks about getting the sacrament in one of the churches, where he's sitting in the back pew.

He gets the sacraments last, and he just can't believe it.

And he writes about that.

And he writes about how Christians were hypocritical.

PAMELA WATTS: So, as good as it was here, it wasn't perfect.

LEE BLAKE: Yes.

Right.

He's also able to write and put little editorials in the paper.

So he develops a voice here, which he wouldn't have developed anywhere else.

PAMELA WATTS: And that voice brings an invitation to speak in Nantucket, a transformational moment when the audience meets the eloquent, literate, self-educated Douglass.

LEE BLAKE: He's very hesitant, but he speaks and talks about his life as an enslaved person.

But, at that time, many of the abolitionist had never really met a slave.

So, Douglass becomes really important, because he can communicate that message of what it was like to be enslaved.

He would talk about his relationship with his mother, who he only saw a couple of times his whole life, and of the beatings that he had.

PAMELA WATTS: Blake says Douglass not only gave a powerful first-person voice to the evils of slavery; he gave a face, an imposing, intellectually gifted leader.

LEE BLAKE: Douglass had a whole rationale for that.

Douglass wrote essays about photography.

He thought photography was so important, that photography was going to be able to show white Americans that the humanity of Black people was the same as their humanity.

But he also was looking at the idea that, at the time, white people were making sure that there were stereotypes of Black people, that they would do pictures that were demeaning, that depicted them as less intelligent.

So he really was pushing the whole idea that that wasn't true.

PAMELA WATTS: Blake says Douglass and his family lived in New Bedford for about five years.

He would return many times to visit.

Right across the street from the Johnson home, construction is now under way on Abolition Row Park, and at its heart will be a statue of Frederick Douglass.

The statue depicts Douglass in his waterfront working clothes and will bear his quote "Truth, justice, liberty and humanity will ultimately prevail," the same words inscribed on the Senate chamber walls of the Massachusetts Statehouse.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Pamela Watts in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

GEOFF BENNETT: Kimiko Hahn, a professor at Queens College, City University of New York, is the author of 10 books of poetry and the winner of numerous awards.

Tonight, she shares her Brief But Spectacular take on the power of poetry.

KIMIKO HAHN, Poet: No dust-ups from little girls.

As a consequence, one scribbled on the dustbins of history and the other dusted for fingerprints.

And the mother?

The mother lived in a vacuum.

Inside the senseless corridors, the daughter cannot respire.

Inside the vulgar cosmic, the mother cannot be revived in streaming wet traffic.

Nowadays, I lie down in the sunlight to see my mama moting around as sympathetic ash.

Yes, one morning, whether misty or yellow, I will be soot with her, elegiac and original.

I'm what used to be called the product of a mixed marriage.

I was very conscious of my mother's side, the Japanese American side.

And my father was an artist, was very interested in the Asian arts.

As a consequence, my sister and I grew up with a great deal of Japanese culture, and that very much influenced my art, my poetics.

The poem "A Dusting" is from my collection "Foreign Bodies."

I wrote the poem after thinking about what happens to us after we die.

I don't believe in an afterlife, but I do believe that, someday, I'll be reunited with my mother in an odd sort of way.

I believe my mother is dust, and I will be dust with her.

And so, for the poem, I wanted to think about the different ways we look at dust, whether it's seeding a cloud to make it rain or just seeing dust motes circling above us in the sun.

My name is Kimiko Hahn, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on poetry and dust.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos online at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

AMNA NAWAZ: And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight.

We hope you will join us again here shortly for our live coverage of President Biden's State of the Union address beginning at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on your local PBS station.

And if you are online right now, stay where you are.

Nicole Ellis and our digital team will have a preview special starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Tomorrow night here on the "NewsHour," we will be welcoming Judy Woodruff back on the program with an exclusive interview with President Biden, his first after delivering tonight's State of the Union.

I'm Amna Nawaz.

GEOFF BENNETT: And I'm Geoff Bennett.

We will see you soon.