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Shadowing practice: Brooks and Capehart on some Republican lawmakers’ defiance of Trump

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  1. Now, to discuss Republican defiance of President Trump, fresh scandals in a key Senate race and much more, we turn to Brooks and Capehart.0:00
  2. That's the Atlantic, David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart of MS.0:08
  3. Now, good to see you both.0:11
  4. Good to see you.0:12
  5. We saw something this week from Republicans we haven't really seen much of yet.0:13
  6. It's fair to say.0:16
  7. It's a willingness to break with and defy President Trump.0:17
  8. We saw it with the $1 .8 billion anti -weaponization fund.0:20
  9. Several lawmakers opposed it.0:23
  10. The acting attorney general said it's not moving forward.0:25
  11. We saw it with opposition to the $1 billion for the White House ballroom that was pulled from a spending package.0:27
  12. And we saw it with the war powers resolution for Iran for Republicans, joint Democrats, to pass that in the House.0:32
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  1. Jonathan, is this a trend?0:40
  2. Is it a shift?0:42
  3. Is it just a series of events that aren't related at all?0:42
  4. There are a series of events, but what I'm wondering is, will there be more events that allows what's being called the Yolo Caucus to flex its muscles?0:46
  5. I mean, it's amazing what happens to the spine when you lose your primary race because the president of your own party supported someone against you.0:56
  6. And I'm thinking of Senator Cassidy.1:06
  7. I'm thinking of Senator Cornyn, who were both defeated in the primaries.1:10
  8. And you see Republicans, congressional Republicans, finally deciding, you know what?1:13
  9. And I've got to push back simply because what he's doing is wrong, but also I want to get a little bit of revenge.1:20
  10. David, how are you looking at it?1:29
  11. Yeah, I once had a vacation in Belize and there was an earthquake off the coast.1:30
  12. And I'm running around saying, there's going to be a tsunami.1:34
  13. There's going to be a tsunami.1:36
  14. And when the tsunami came, it was two inches.1:37
  15. So that's the kind of tsunami we're seeing.1:40
  16. A two -inch tsunami.1:42
  17. A two -inch tsunami from Republicans, only four of them.1:43
  18. But it's a good sign.1:46
  19. It's a good sign for a couple of reasons.1:47
  20. One, people who work in the Capitol building should be not wanting to give $1 .8 billion to people who store them in the Capitol.1:48
  21. That seems like basic self -interest.1:54
  22. But mostly it's them standing up for their branch of government in each of these cases, the spending of the money, the war powers resolution, the ballroom.1:56
  23. Congress does stand for something.2:05
  24. And it's been dormant for most of the Trump term.2:07
  25. And so at least there's a sign that we are a co -equal branch and we will stand up for our rights.2:11
  26. And that's got to be, it's not going to be left -right.2:16
  27. It's just like, stand up for your form of democracy.2:18
  28. To be fair, they could have done this at any point earlier, right?2:21
  29. So is this now a shift into general election mode or into this next phase of this lame -duck session of President Trump's presidency?2:24
  30. The magic number is 37, or whatever Trump's approval is right now.2:31
  31. It gets a lot easier as the numbers go down, then courage and integrity somehow rise.2:35
  32. It also helps that, again, you saw some Republicans lose their primaries to Trump -back candidates.2:39
  33. So that strengthens the resolve.2:45
  34. But then you have the primary calendar.2:47
  35. Pretty soon, folks worrying about what Donald Trump might do to them in their primary races goes away and then self -preservation really kicks in.2:49
  36. So the tsunami that you mentioned could go from two inches to maybe, who knows?3:00
  37. But we will see.3:07
  38. That's what the point I was trying to make.3:09
  39. And that's why you're saying some of that from Republicans in swing districts in particular, right?3:10
  40. Well, you set this up perfectly to move to the next topic when you talk about primaries.3:13
  41. We saw several states hold their primaries this week.3:17
  42. But I want to talk about Maine, which is gearing up for their primary next week.3:20
  43. And there's new allegations now against the Democratic Senate candidate that is Graham Platner.3:24
  44. We saw a New York Times report that cites several women who dated him saying he was demeaning to women, he drank heavily.3:29
  45. In the case of one woman, Lindsay Fifield, I hope I'm saying her name correctly, she claims that he was violent, says he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved3:35
  46. her into her room and held the door to confine her.3:42
  47. Platner denies any violence.3:46
  48. He repeatedly references dark periods that he went through after his military service.3:48
  49. And he mentioned that in an interview on MSNOW last night.3:52
  50. I firmly believe that if you believe in the transformational politics, you've got to believe in the ability for people to transform.3:57
  51. And my journey is one of transformation.4:03
  52. These are things that I talk about in my past.4:07
  53. Things that I'm not proud of, but it is a past that I had to go through to get where I am today.4:09
  54. And I'm very proud of who I am today.4:17
  55. And I'm very proud of the movement that we've built up here in Maine.4:19
  56. JANETTA ANDERSON, The New York Times News Agency, New York Times And this is a candidate who has now had to explain away a Nazi tattoo, sexting other women early4:21
  57. in his marriage.4:28
  58. And now this, he's not dropping out of the race, should he?4:29
  59. You know, I think there's some Democrats in the Senate in particular who would love for him to step aside.4:34
  60. The story in the Washington Post today about how, you know, he'd been telling folk Democrats, don't worry, when the Nazi tattoo thing came out, don't worry, there are no4:40
  61. other skeletons in the closet.4:52
  62. And yet this past week, we've seen two big skeletons come out.4:54
  63. The fact that Governor Mills only suspended her campaign did not drop out.5:00
  64. And telling people at least twice now, hey, I'm still on the ballot signaling maybe could more things be coming and also signaling to Democrats, hey, if something does happen5:05
  65. with Plattner and he has to get out, I'm still here.5:17
  66. But the issue here is, it's not going to be congressional, it's not going to be congressional Democrats, national Democrats who are going to tell Plattner to get out of5:20
  67. the race.5:29
  68. Folks in Maine are still behind him.5:30
  69. Some of the interviews that we have had on MSNOW, you've had folk Maynard saying he's not perfect, he's not this, he's not that, but we need a change.5:34
  70. And so that's the one thing he has going for him.5:44
  71. And again, I look at Plattner through the prism of where we are in terms of the Trump administration and the Trump world, given who Trump is, given the allegations5:47
  72. against the president, given the way that lots and lots of people in the Republican Party just turned a blind eye and decided we still want to vote for this5:58
  73. guy.6:06
  74. And so I think there might be, there are a lot of Maynards who are thinking the same thing, that he is their guy.6:07
  75. But the one last thing that everyone in Maine has to worry about is Senator Susan Collins.6:13
  76. I mean, Democrats really want that seat, but Senator Collins has shown over multiple campaigns that once she runs like she's losing and then on election day she outperforms the6:20
  77. polls.6:32
  78. David, I should also note here, because the woman Lindsay Fife will be mentioned has worked for Republican and conservative campaigns and issues in the past, some people are dismissing6:33
  79. this as politically motivated.6:42
  80. How are you looking at all this?6:44
  81. The guys are more of the generate.6:45
  82. You know, the abuse of women, the sexting, the Nazi tattoo, I don't even need to say anything beyond his Reddit posts, which are not in the past by the6:47
  83. way.6:56
  84. He did that for a long time.6:56
  85. Abusing rape, people who might have been raped, diminishing rape in the military, insulting fellow military officers, calling himself a communist, it's just, it's a pathetic, empty guy who postures6:58
  86. in a way that's kind of repulsive.7:10
  87. There are 330 million Americans and there are 100 senators.7:12
  88. We can't have a decent human being in those 100.7:16
  89. We've got it, we've got to settle for this.7:18
  90. You know, I just think the people, the Democrats are supporting Platinum for the same reason that Trump, people are supporting Trump.7:21
  91. It's because 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years ago, we sort of privatized morality.7:26
  92. We told people, we're not going to teach morality in schools, we're going to, it's up to you to come up with your own values.7:31
  93. And the problem when you do that is that unless your name is Aristotle, you probably can't come up with your own moral philosophy.7:36
  94. And so what happens, you had a lot of people in this country, Republicans and Democrats, who are good people, but they're morally inarticulate, they're morally undeveloped, they haven't developed7:42
  95. the criteria to even think about what is my role here, what is his role, what is excellence defined in this role, what is moral excellence as a journalist, as7:50
  96. a teacher, as a senator.7:58
  97. And we're going to make decisions on a two -stage basis.8:00
  98. First, is the person we're electing to a public office a person of basic integrity.8:03
  99. And second, do I agree with them?8:09
  100. But if you haven't, if you've gotten rid of the first criteria, then you have weakened your democracy and Republicans clearly did that with Trump.8:11
  101. And now Democrats really, if they side with Platinum, I don't want to hear too much about Trump in the future and his moral degeneracy.8:18
  102. Jonathan, to that point, I guess, it is absolutely ultimately up to the people of Maine, right?8:24
  103. They will vote and they will decide and have their voice world enough to remember congressional Democrats pushing Al Franken out of office, right?8:29
  104. So have the standards changed over time, but also based on how close they are to the election process?8:37
  105. Yes, I think standards have changed a little bit.8:43
  106. And, you know, David's moral indignation over Platinum is something that I share.8:46
  107. But I'm also looking at the fact that, well, we do have Donald Trump in the White House.8:54
  108. And that, yeah, moral degeneracy is coming right from the top.9:00
  109. And I'm looking at this, again, through the prism of Democrats, particularly Mainers.9:05
  110. I don't want to put all Democrats saying that they're supporting Platinum, but the folks in Maine have clearly decided, if you look at the latest polling, that they right9:13
  111. now don't care about his past.9:23
  112. They just want to win the seat.9:25
  113. And to David's point, there is a cost to that if he does win.9:27
  114. If he doesn't win, it's going to be very painful for Democrats.9:33
  115. And in the end, painful for the country from the Democratic perspective, because they're hoping that seat puts them in, helps to put them in the majority.9:36
  116. As you mentioned, Janet Mills is still on the ballot, so we'll wait to see how people in Maine look at this.9:45
  117. Before I let you go, I have to ask you about something that's going to allow me to talk about vanilla ice and flow.9:50
  118. Which is something I don't always get to do on the news hour.9:55
  119. But we're less than a month away from the U .S.9:58
  120. 250th anniversary celebrations.10:01
  121. Last week, you saw most of the artists, including people like Martina McBride, Young MC, the Commodores, and Brett Michaels, dropped out of a related concert series on the National10:03
  122. Mall.10:14
  123. They said they were misled by what the event was supposed to be.10:14
  124. And the president has said they're making it political, right?10:18
  125. Jonathan, we've had this conversation before around inauguration performers and the like.10:22
  126. Can you no longer separate performing for the person or performing for the nation?10:27
  127. I mean, how do you look at all of this?10:31
  128. Well, I look at it like this.10:33
  129. I love the Commodores, right?10:36
  130. If the nation, say if it was America 250, which is the bipartisan outfit, came to me.10:40
  131. I'm a member of the Commodores, comes and says, we want you to perform.10:47
  132. But you know what?10:52
  133. Great.10:52
  134. It's America 250th birthday.10:53
  135. Let's do it.10:55
  136. It's a nice bipartisan thing.10:56
  137. But instead, it was freedom 250.10:58
  138. And that is, you know, all about the president.11:01
  139. And so through the confusion, I could see how the Commodores and other folks were like, wait, this is not this is not the same thing.11:05
  140. No, I don't want to be a part of that because even though we're musicians and music is universal, what this person, what his administration is doing is just not11:12
  141. what we are about.11:23
  142. We don't want to be associated with it.11:24
  143. We don't want to be connected to it in any way.11:26
  144. So I don't blame them for dropping out.11:28
  145. What is interesting is the question is, why can't the president find performers who are willing to share the stage with him, who are willing to lend their credibility and11:31
  146. their star power to him?11:43
  147. Well, this brings me back.11:45
  148. We still have Florida, vanilla ice, and I believe Lee Greenwood is now on the...11:47
  149. I am here all day for vanilla ice, for ice, ice, baby.11:52
  150. I learned out of this whole week that Morris Day in the Time, still is a career going, people who saw the Purple Rain movie would saw Morris Day in11:57
  151. Time.12:04
  152. He's still going strong.12:05
  153. Morris Day, you know, he was big back in the day, back in the day.12:06
  154. So these are not...12:11
  155. It's not like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber here.12:13
  156. We're getting low level people, but at least grade C celebrities.12:15
  157. They're good human beings.12:19
  158. I don't mean to comment on their wonderful people.12:20
  159. You know, I guess I see at this A, the over -political of everything.12:23
  160. We can't even do a concert without politics.12:27
  161. But being on a slightly deeper level, one of the problems we're facing in America 250 is what's our national narrative?12:29
  162. If we can't agree on that, then that's a sub -political problem.12:35
  163. That's real.12:38
  164. And I think at the heart of all these America 250 fights are this.12:39
  165. What is our national narrative?12:42
  166. We used to have a sort of consensus about that.12:43
  167. We were in Exodus story.12:45
  168. Americans left oppression, they crossed the wilderness and came to the Promised Land.12:47
  169. The founders wanted to put at least some of the Moses on the Great City of the United States.12:50
  170. Every immigrant group said, yes, I'm in Exodus story.12:54
  171. Martin Luther King talked about Exodus more than the New Testament, almost a slight exaggeration.12:56
  172. But it's the idea that we are that country and people no longer believe in that narrative.13:00
  173. A lot of people.13:04
  174. David Brooks, Jonathan Capehart.13:05
  175. We'll pick up again another time soon.13:07
  176. Good to see you both.13:09
  177. Thank you so much.13:10
  178. Thank you.13:11
  179. Support journalism you trust.13:23
  180. Support PBS news.13:25
  181. Donate now or even better.13:27
  182. Start a monthly contribution today.13:29

American accent training on a PBS NewsHour political discussion

This clip is a studio conversation from PBS NewsHour, two commentators, David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart, talking through a week of Republican pushback against the president. It sits at B2 and moves at 206 words per minute, faster than most of the catalogue, so it is a good test of whether you can keep pace with real, unscripted American speech rather than a slowed down lesson recording.

It is built for american accent training precisely because nothing here is performed for learners. The host asks a question, each guest answers in full sentences, sometimes interrupting his own thought to add a clause, the way people actually talk on live television. If you want to practise english speaking at a pace closer to the news than to a textbook dialogue, this is that pace.

The turns of phrase in Brooks and Capehart's exchange

A few lines are worth stopping on before you shadow this clip for english speaking practice.

The rhetorical stack in line 14 and 15 is useful for intonation work: each short question rises and resets, three ways of asking the same thing without repeating a word.

  • "I mean, it's amazing what happens to the spine when you lose your primary race because the president of your own party supported someone against you." One long sentence with no pause marks in the transcript. Practise it in three chunks and then run it whole to hear where a native speaker would actually breathe.
  • "There's going to be a tsunami." said twice in a row, lines 24 and 25, then undercut by "And when the tsunami came, it was two inches." The joke lives entirely in the stress: the repeated warning has to sound urgent, the payoff flat.
  • "A two -inch tsunami from Republicans, only four of them." a compressed, almost muttered aside. Say it fast and low, the way an analyst tosses off a punchline rather than announcing it.

A line by line order for working through this discussion

Do not start at the top. Start with the tsunami story, lines 23 to 29, because it is self contained and has a clear emotional arc from alarm to deflation, which makes it easier to hear whether your delivery matches the meaning.

  • Play lines 23 to 26 once without repeating, just to catch the shape of the anecdote.
  • Shadow line 24 and 25 back to back, matching the rising urgency of the repeated warning.
  • Shadow line 26 and 27 for the deflation, your pitch should drop where his does.
  • Move to line 17, the long sentence about losing a primary race. Break it after "spine" and after "race" the first two times through, then say it in one breath.
  • Finish on lines 14 to 16, the three stacked questions. Keep the pace up, this is where the clip's 206 words per minute shows up most.
  • Once those five stretches feel steady, run lines 5 to 34 straight through as one english shadowing practice session and compare your timing against the original.
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