October 1, 2020 - PBS NewsHour full episode

In our news wrap Thursday, police in Hong Kong arrested at least 60 people they say violated coronavirus rules and a new national security law banning large protests. Pro-democracy activists had gathered to oppose a holiday marking the founding of Communist China. Also, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a proclamation to limit each of the state’s counties to one drop-off location for mail-in ballots.

Despite President Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election, he does have a team cooperating on a plan with a team from the Biden campaign. What is involved in the process? The Center for Presidential Transition is a nonpartisan group that helps candidates prepare for the next administration. Its director, David Marchick, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Recent developments on national intelligence have exacerbated concerns the Trump administration is co-opting government capabilities for its own gain. In one example, mere hours before the first Trump-Biden debate, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified unverified Russian intelligence suggesting Hillary Clinton tried to link Trump to Russia in 2016. Nick Schifrin reports.

Is the Trump administration politicizing intelligence and the community that provides it? Johns Hopkins University’s John McLaughlin, who was acting CIA director during the George W. Bush administration, and Larry Diamond, who also served under President George W. Bush and has written extensively about the decline of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism, join Nick Schifrin to discuss.

INSIDE MAN

After Tuesday’s remarkable presidential debate, much attention has been focused on President Trump’s unconventional conduct. But does the lack of substantive debate and civil discourse reflect a broader phenomenon in American society? Two distinguished political scientists, Harvard University’s Danielle Allen and Pepperdine University’s Pete Peterson, join Jeffrey Brown to discuss.

With large parts of the economy still sputtering under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, many people are having to scale back. But some older Americans were already living a minimalist lifestyle on the road -- and some of them have leveraged their nomadic approach into income. Economics correspondent Paul Solman has their story as part of our Making Sense series on Unfinished Business.