PBS News Hour

GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On the "News Hour" tonight: At the end of Donald Trump's first month in office, Congress moves forward on his nominees and legislative priorities.

GEOFF BENNETT: The bodies of four Israeli hostages are returned, including the youngest of those taken captive, as the tenuous cease-fire holds.

AMNA NAWAZ: And conservative Michael Knowles on presidential power and democracy in Trump's second term.

MICHAEL KNOWLES, Host, "The Michael Knowles Show": We have a system of checks and balances.

We do not have a system, or at least we should not have a system of judicial supremacy.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

President Trump has been on the job one month, and the pace of his administration has been unrelenting.

A federal judge this afternoon ruled the administration can continue firing federal workers by the thousands.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that's as a new Trump hire became official today.

The Senate confirmed one of the president's most polarizing nominees to lead the FBI.

Lisa Desjardins has the latest.

MAN: The confirmation is confirmed.

LISA DESJARDINS: A matter-of-fact conclusion to a controversial nomination, as the Senate confirmed Kash Patel to run the FBI, installing a staunch Trump loyalist to the top of the bureau.

Patel, a former federal public defender and counterterrorism prosecutor, has consistently blasted the FBI and Department of Justice as the so-called deep state, weaponized, he says, against President Trump and conservatives.

Republicans call him a reformer.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission.

LISA DESJARDINS: But Democrats say Patel is dangerous.

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The only qualification Kash Patel has to be FBI director is that, when everyone else in the first Trump administration said, no, I won't do that, that crosses moral, ethical, and legal lines, Kash Patel said, sign me up.

LISA DESJARDINS: This as Trump's Cabinet is nearly complete.

Only three nominees remain for the Departments of Education and Labor and the U.S. representative to the U.N. On the president's top legislative priority, the sailing is not quite as smooth.

The House and the Senate are now in a staring contest over how to pass Trump's tax cut and border package, the Senate moving ahead with its strategy, which divides the president's wish list into two, while House Speaker Mike Johnson is vowing to catch up next week, bringing one large House framework to a vote.

Republicans in both chambers know the risks here.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): What I don't want to see happen is us getting into a competition.

It's not a competition.

LISA DESJARDINS: What are the prospects right now?

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: And I think they're good.

We have got to get it done.

If we don't, we will have forfeited people's trust, and they will be mad at us.

LISA DESJARDINS: A rising controversy has been potential cuts to major programs like Medicaid to help pay for proposed tax cuts.

The president seemed to take that off the table this week.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched.

LISA DESJARDINS: Also gaining complexity, U.S. Ukraine policy.

Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv today for talks, but a planned news conference was abruptly canceled, as tensions remain high, especially after President Trump said this yesterday about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: DONALD TRUMP: A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast, or he's not going to have a country left.

LISA DESJARDINS: That critique of a U.S. ally at war has sharpened the spotlight on the administration, including Vice President J.D.

Vance.

Today, he defended Trump's decision for talks with Russia, but without Ukraine in the room.

J.D.

VANCE, Vice President of the United States: They say, why are you talking to Russia?

Well, how are you going to end the war unless you're talking to Russia?

I really believe that we're in the cusp of peace in Europe for the first time in three years.

LISA DESJARDINS: Meanwhile, one of Ukraine's biggest Republican backers made news.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime.

I will not seek this honor an eighth time.

LISA DESJARDINS: Kentucky senator and former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, a sometimes critic of President Trump, marked his 83rd birthday today by announcing he will not run for Senate again.

But the longest-serving Senate party leader ever said his remaining two years ahead won't be quiet.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL: Lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term, I have some unfinished business to attend to.

LISA DESJARDINS: McConnell today voted to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director.

Two other Republicans did break ranks, though, relative moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

Both said Patel appears too politically motivated to them for the job.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Lisa, on that point, what's your reporting and how those in the agency view Kash Patel?

LISA DESJARDINS: There is a split.

Talking to some in and around the agency, there are some who are trying to wait and see what happens.

They are hopeful that perhaps there will be a focus on things like, for example, drug trafficking, which Patel himself told senators he wants to be central.

But the vast majority of those in and around the agency I talked to have a kind of pit-in-the-stomach concern.

They are worried that this is someone who does in fact not want to reform the agency, but rather slice it up without considering what needs to change or not.

GEOFF BENNETT: Meantime, we have got a major court ruling regarding the Trump administration's mass firing of government workers.

Tell us about that.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right, and this could apply to FBI workers as well.

Judge Christopher Cooper ruled just a short time ago that he is not able to block the mass firings that the Trump administration has put into place.

He says, instead, unions that have asked for that block have to appeal to a labor relations board.

So he said, it's not in my jurisdiction.

What that means is, those mass firings will go ahead.

And we know there have been hundreds just in the past couple of days at USAID.

IRS workers I'm talking to are waiting for notice even as we speak.

So this was a major ruling.

GEOFF BENNETT: I know you're also tracking the developments on Capitol Hill that could determine the fate of President Trump's agenda.

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: What's the latest there?

LISA DESJARDINS: All right, now this is something that we're going to make sure viewers pay a lot of attention to over the next couple of weeks.

So this is teeing it up and reminding people of what's happening.

This is a key moment.

You look at the House - - the Senate floor -- excuse me -- right now.

There's Senator Bernie Sanders speaking.

This is a moment where senators are going -- are teeing up basically the first step in kind of launching the Trump agenda in Congress, how they could get sort of a shortcut in the Senate to have an easier 50 vote -- a 50-margin vote.

Now, the Senate is starting on a smaller bill on the Trump agenda, Senate Republicans focusing on immigration and border in this framework that we see on the Senate floor tonight.

They are not including tax cuts.

Why not?

Well, the Senate doesn't think that the House can pass a huge bill all in one go.

Think of it sort of like an older sibling saying, you are taking on too much.

You're going to break something if you try to do this.

The House disagrees.

Next week, the House will do a whole separate process.

What's the takeaway here?

They're having trouble getting out of the starting gate, even though there is a lot of determination from Republicans.

GEOFF BENNETT: And what's the big picture challenge?

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, this is important.

I want to take people through here.

It's simply the math.

So, looking at this, there are four main prongs we have talked about that Republicans and Trump want to do here in Congress.

One, extend the Trump tax cuts, expand them, also fund border security, and cut the deficit.

The total cost, you see, of those is estimated between $5 trillion and $11 trillion.

But how much the House Republicans are budgeting right now, just $4.5 trillion.

So to make up that difference, Geoff, you can't just cut employees.

It's not going to save you remotely that kind of money.

Instead, you have got to talk about entitlement programs, things like Medicaid, that affect many hundred -- many millions of Americans.

And Trump saying Medicaid's off the table, that's not where Republicans are right now.

So pay very close attention to what happens with these programs that a lot of people care about.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, one final question for you, Lisa, on the topic of Ukraine.

We heard President Trump call President Zelenskyy a dictator.

President Trump falsely stated that Ukraine started the war.

Just last night, he told reporters, Mr. Trump did, that he trusts the Russians to negotiate in good faith.

How are Republican supporters of Ukraine reacting to all of this?

LISA DESJARDINS: I spent a lot of time today talking to those Republican senators.

Some, like Thom Tillis, are saying, no, it's clear Putin is the aggressor here.

But most are staying away from criticizing President Trump.

Here's one.

Senator Josh Hawley said, this is just a beginning approach.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): This is going to be a long process.

Ukraine is going to have to be involved.

And Europe's going to have to be involved, because, at the end of the day, Europe is going to have to bear a greater share of responsibility for the defense of the continent.

LISA DESJARDINS: So pay attention to that.

Ukraine was not involved in these initial talks.

But Hawley is kind of saying, well, I hope, I think they should be engaged.

But they're not.

Another one, others are saying that Zelenskyy started things by criticizing Trump, saying that he was operating on disinformation.

So that's a way of not talking about Trump, but Zelenskyy.

And one interesting person I talked to was Ted Cruz, who himself used to be an opponent of Trump.

Here's what he said.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Look, I think Zelenskyy has made a very serious mistake.

He is running to the European press and just attacking President Trump.

And it's not complicated.

That is a strategy doomed to failure.

And every time he attacks President Trump, it is predictable that Trump is going to punch back.

LISA DESJARDINS: So, deep breath.

This is a lot to take in today.

But what the through line is here is that, while there is concern, and about very serious issues across government and across the world with what President Trump is doing, Senate Republicans for now are either placing faith in him or they are not opposing him in public.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa Desjardins covering it all.

Our thanks to you, as always.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

GEOFF BENNETT: In Israel this evening outside Tel Aviv, three buses exploded in a parking lot in a suspected militant attack.

Explosives were found on two other buses and neutralized.

There were no reported injuries.

That further rattled the nation after the return today of the remains of four hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The top U.N. human rights official called the jeering, taunting display during the handover abhorrent and cruel.

And while the scene sparked outrage in Israel and beyond, the emotions of many are tempered by the return of hostages still alive, as the "News Hour" saw this past weekend in Southern Israel.

In Khan Yunis in Southern Gaza today, before a crowd of hundreds, with music and fanfare, Hamas held a grim and ghastly ceremony, releasing the remains of four Israeli hostages killed in captivity.

As the bodies returned home to Israel, a palpable sense of grief and agony.

ALON DAVID, Israeli Citizen: We hope that they will come back alive, all of them.

They were murdered.

GEOFF BENNETT: They were the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas and their mother, Shiri Bibas.

Barely 9 months old on October 7, 2023, Kfir was the youngest hostage, who spent the majority of his short life in captivity.

This video of Shiri embracing her two boys as they were kidnapped from their Nir Oz home became a symbol of the brutality of the October 7 attacks.

WOMAN: We remember the picture of her standing here under this bush with a blanket and crying.

GEOFF BENNETT: In December, the "News Hour" visited the Bibas home and saw evidence of the horrors that unfolded there.

The only survivor, Shiri's husband and the boy's father, Yarden Bibas, who was released two weeks ago.

The hopes of another family also ending in tragedy.

Oded Lifshitz was kidnapped with his wife of more than 60 years.

She was released in November 2023.

But, today, Lifshitz, who was an artist who worked for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, was returned in a coffin.

Israeli forensic official said he was likely killed in captivity over a year ago.

DR. CHEN KUGEL, Head, Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine: Today, 503 days after the October 7 massacre, the body of Mr. Lifshitz, who was murdered more than a year ago in captivity, has been identified.

GEOFF BENNETT: Israel is a country in mourning.

And, for some, the day is marked with rage.

OSNAT LOSCH, Israeli Citizen: We got up to this morning with a very bad feeling, very broken trust with our country, yes, with our government.

I'm not ashamed to say it.

GEOFF BENNETT: But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to avenge them.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israeli Prime Minister (through translator): Our hearts are broken, but our spirits are not broken.

And with this spirit, we will return all our hostages, annihilate the murderers, wipe out Hamas, and, together with God's help, secure our future.

GEOFF BENNETT: All that many hostage families want is for their loved ones home again.

And, for three families, last weekend, what was once imagined became real.

The "News Hour" was there as the friends and family of Israeli-American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen watched and waited... (CHEERING) GEOFF BENNETT: ... for the moment he was released from captivity.

GILAT BIRAN, Family Friend of Sagui Dekel-Chen: We just saw him.

He's fine.

Everything is fine.

We just want everybody right now to come back.

All the families deserve this day that we are -- experience here.

GEOFF BENNETT: Dekel-Chen was released by Hamas last Saturday, along with two other Nir Oz residents, Sasha Troufanov in red and Iair Horn on the far left.

Back in Israel, a tearful reunion for Sagui in the arms of his wife, embracing his mother and father.

He learned the name of his third child for the first time, born two months after he was kidnapped.

She's now just over a-year-old, with her father finally home.

Another released hostage, Sasha Troufanov, returned to his mother.

And Iair Horn reunited with his father.

DORIN REI, Nir Oz Resident: Sasha is an amazing guy.

Always, I told him, you are such a tall and big person, but, inside, you are such an amazing, amazing boy.

And also Iair -- Iair, we love him so much.

He's such a funny person.

GEOFF BENNETT: Neighbors, family and friends gathered at Horn's pub.

It had been closed since the October 7 attack 16 months ago.

It was reopening now for the first time.

OLA METZGER, Nir Oz Resident: He was the king of this pub.

He was in charge of it with his friend, Martin (ph).

And we miss him so much.

And we're so happy that he's back.

And I hope that he's going to come back and open his place again.

GEOFF BENNETT: Of the nearly 500 residents in Nir Oz, nearly a quarter were killed or kidnapped into Gaza.

OLA METZGER: The families of the people who are alive and the families of those who are not alive, everybody needs to come back if to -- to be again with their families or to be buried properly in Israel.

GEOFF BENNETT: A community now anxiously awaiting their return, along with the rest of a rattled nation.

AMNA NAWAZ: We start the day's other headlines in New York, where the state's Governor, Kathy Hochul, has decided not to remove the mayor of New York City from office, at least for now.

However, Hochul said she will push for increased oversight of Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.

The decision follows a fierce blowback over the Justice Department's push to have the mayor's corruption case dropped so Adams can focus on helping President Trump's immigration agenda.

Governor Hochul said today that New York is already facing a grave threat from Washington and that the city's residents should be allowed to decide their own future.

GOV.

KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): It is up to the voters of this great city to determine who they want to continue as their leader or bring in a new leader.

It is up to them.

That is a sacred right that they have, and I will not deny them that.

AMNA NAWAZ: Adams was indicted last September on bribery and other charges.

He's pleaded not guilty and said in a hearing just yesterday that he hasn't committed any crime.

Staying in New York, six prison workers were indicted today for second-degree murder in the fatal beating of a handcuffed inmate.

Four others were charged with lesser crimes.

Body cameras caught multiple officers beating 43-year-old Robert Brooks hours after he was transferred to Marcy Correctional Facility in December.

He died the next day.

In a statement, Governor Kathy Hochul said -- quote -- "The brutal attack was sickening.

The perpetrators have been rightfully charged with murder."

Even before this incident, a watchdog group had found rampant abuse by staff at the medium-security prison.

In South Korea, embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in two different courts today for hearings related to his imposition of martial law last year.

In the first, his legal team contested his arrest on rebellion charges.

The second was the latest hearing in his ongoing impeachment trial.

Yoon was greeted by a barrage of cameras in a silent, but tense courtroom.

The constitutional court is deciding whether to remove him from office.

Final arguments will be held next week with a possible decision some time in March.

Yoon denies any wrongdoing.

In Spain, the former head of the nation's Soccer Federation was found guilty of sexual assault today for kissing a player without her consent.

Luis Rubiales kissed Jenni Hermoso on the mouth after her team won the World Cup in 2023.

Rubiales resigned a few weeks later amid fierce criticism.

His lawyers argued that the kiss was consensual, and even if it wasn't, it shouldn't be considered sexual assault.

Hermoso said in her testimony that the kiss -- quote -- "stained one of the happiest days of my life."

The incident sparked debate among Spaniards, who remained divided over today's verdict.

NACHO AVILA, Madrid Resident (through translator): It is positive that such sentences are being issued so that people know there are consequences to their actions.

PEDRO MIRALLES, Madrid Resident (through translator): I don't think it's a crime.

If that's considered a crime, then we have a problem in our country, because such things happen daily.

AMNA NAWAZ: Prosecutors had asked for a prison sentence.

Rubiales was instead ordered to pay a fine amounting to more than $10,000.

He plans to appeal the ruling.

Back in this country, nearly one in 10 U.S. adults identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or something other than heterosexual.

That's according to results of a 2024 Gallup survey out today, which says that share of the population is up by two-thirds since 2020.

The trend is driven mostly by Generation Z, which Gallup defines as 18-to-27-year-olds.

Nearly one in four identify as LGBTQ.

And 1.3 percent identify as transgender, more than twice the number in 2020.

Experts believe the numbers are rising because more people feel comfortable coming out, but say it could still be an undercount.

On Wall Street today, stocks fell back from recent highs.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 450 points, or about 1 percent.

The Nasdaq slipped more than 90 points.

The S&P 500 fell back from yesterday's record close.

And James Bond fans may be shaken and stirred by a change in control of the famous spy character.

Amazon MGM Studios will take the creative reins of the 007 franchise after decades of stewardship by the Broccoli family.

SEAN CONNERY, Actor: Bond.

James Bond.

AMNA NAWAZ: Albert "Cubby" Broccoli secured the rights to Ian Fleming's novels and made the first Bond movie, 1962's "Dr. No" with Sean Connery.

The current custodians decided it was time to step back after Daniel Craig's version of the character ended in 2021 with "No Time to Die," though they will retain intellectual property rights.

Over the years, the Bond films have raked in more than $7 billion at the box office, and that is a lot of martinis.

And one of Oklahoma's most influential politicians, David Boren, has died.

He made waves in his home state in 1974 when he became the youngest governor in the country at the age of 33.

Four years later, the Democrat won a seat in the U.S. Senate, where he was instrumental in shaping U.S. national intelligence.

Midway through his third term, he resigned to become president of the University of Oklahoma.

Boren appeared on this program in 2015 to address a racist incident on his campus, saying academic institutions have a responsibility to lead the nation by example.

DAVID BOREN, Former President, University of Oklahoma: All of us as Americans, not just on our campus, but everywhere, when we hear racist jokes or offhand comments or even in social situations, we have to start standing up and say, no, we won't put up with that.

AMNA NAWAZ: David Boren retired in 2018, leaving the university after a sexual harassment probe.

He denied wrongdoing and there were never any charges nor litigation.

At the time, his lawyer described Boren as a dedicated public servant for more than 50 years.

David Boren was 83 years old.

Still to come on the "News Hour": we explore how Elon Musk came to hold so much power in the Trump administration; and a rising star of Cuban music discusses blending genres and being a global ambassador for music.

GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump has tasked Elon Musk with an enormous job, to search across the federal government and root out inefficiencies and waste.

But Musk's initial, often chaotic infiltration of various government departments has sparked alarm.

It's also put the tech entrepreneur at center stage of the conservative movement, appearing today in front of an audience at CPAC, wielding a chain saw he said he'd used to slash the federal bureaucracy.

William Brangham looks at the history of the man at the center of this effort.

ELON MUSK, Department of Government Efficiency: If the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, now standing in the most powerful office in the world.

ELON MUSK: The people voted for major government reform.

There should be no doubt about that.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But how did this visionary tech leader, a man who once championed clean energy to save the planet and remained politically neutral for much of his career, end up working with President Donald Trump to dramatically scale back the size of the federal government?

TIM HIGGINS, The Wall Street Journal: Very rarely do you see a business leader essentially camping out in the White House, trying to influence government spending, influence government regulations the way Elon Musk is doing.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Wall Street Journal's Tim Higgins wrote a book on Musk and Tesla called "Power Play."

TIM HIGGINS: There's also this kind of "prove the world wrong" mentality.

He's got a huge chip on his shoulder.

For so long, he's been told that what he was doing wasn't possible, that he was crazy, that he couldn't do it.

And you -- when you talk to him, you realize he likes proving people wrong.

KATE CONGER, The New York Times: He tends to think in terms of missions for himself.

So, those usually revolve around making a big impact for humanity.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Kate Conger covers Musk for The New York Times and co-authored the book "Character Limit" about Musk's takeover of Twitter, which he renamed X. KATE CONGER: You see this with SpaceX, where he's trying to extend the life of humanity by establishing colonies on Mars, with Tesla, where he's trying to cut back on E.V.

emissions and save the planet.

And with X, too, he has given himself this mission of what he sees as protecting and saving online free speech.

And his approach to the Trump administration is the same.

He views this as an opportunity to save America and save democracy.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk grew up in a wealthy family in 1970s South Africa, then still in the midst of its racist apartheid regime.

Walter Isaacson, who wrote a biography of Musk, told Amna Nawaz back in 2023 that Musk had a difficult childhood, struggling with autism spectrum disorder, being repeatedly bullied, and dealing with an allegedly emotionally abusive father.

WALTER ISAACSON, Author: Those demons, the dark things about being bullied as a kid, having psychological problems with his father, turn into drives too, drives that get him to be the only person who can get astronauts into orbit from the United States or reuse rockets and land them or bring us into the era of electric vehicles.

But it also makes him a dark and mercurial character and sometimes a crazed character at times.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk moved to the U.S. for college, where he studied physics and economics, but building Web-based products, including an online banking service, is what earned him his first real fortune.

It was around this time that Elon Musk turned his sights to two very different fields, the nascent electric car industry and the decades-old competition to conquer space.

Musk quickly became a groundbreaking pioneer in both.

MAN: And launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk founded the rocket company SpaceX in 2002 and quickly became a key partner with NASA on both manned and unmanned spaceflights.

Musk invested in Tesla, then a fledgling electric car company, and would eventually become its CEO.

ELON MUSK: An electric car can be the best car in the world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In a remarkably short span, Tesla became the world's most valuable auto company.

TIM HIGGINS: Time and time again, as you look out through kind of his career arc, it's his ability to build excitement around his vision that tends to help him win the day.

It's tapping into this kind of primal idea, this excitement that people have about what is possible.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Another of his ventures is Starlink, a satellite Internet provider that's used in over 100 countries and has large U.S. government contracts.

As these various businesses have grown, so has his net worth.

In 2021, he became the world's richest man.

And yet, despite Musk's power, he has spent most of his career avoiding politics.

ELON MUSK: And I'm sort of moderate, sort of half Republican, half Democrat, if you will.

But I'm somewhere in the middle.

I guess I'm sort of socially liberal and fiscally conservative.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: During the first Trump administration, Musk quit a presidential advisory board in protest after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accord.

But, during the pandemic, his politics began a rightward turn.

He hated being ordered to lock down his Tesla plants in California.

KATE CONGER: He was also, at the time, going through some things in his personal life.

He had a child who was coming out as trans and beginning a gender transition.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk often blamed his child's transition on so-called woke ideology.

ELON MUSK: They call it dead-naming for a reason.

MAN: Yes, I'm... ELON MUSK: So the reason it's called dead-naming is because your son is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Additionally, in 2021, Musk was excluded from a Biden administration summit on electric cars because Tesla had blocked unionization at its facilities.

KATE CONGER: That's something that Musk has typically resisted in his factories.

So Tesla was excluded, and that really bothered Musk.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Over the years, Musk spent increasing amounts of time on Twitter, shooting out messages at all hours of the day and night, everything from vulgar jokes to business updates to memes that critics called racist and sexist, even his intention to buy the platform outright.

He first tried to walk that back, but then purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, promising to create a digital town square, but quickly taking actions that echo his work today in Washington.

KATE CONGER: Musk's takeover of Twitter was really chaotic, I think by any measure.

He came into the company and very quickly wanted to slash its budget, and that meant getting rid of everything from a large number of workers, to getting rid of real estate, to firing the janitorial staff who were cleaning the offices.

Really, no item in Twitter's budget went untouched.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk changed the platform's policies on hate speech, and when analysts claimed that vitriol then flourished on the renamed X, advertisers balked and the company's value slid.

In characteristic fashion, Musk had no time for his critics.

ELON MUSK: If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.

Go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) yourself.

MAN: But... (LAUGHTER) ELON MUSK: Is that clear?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Meanwhile, colleagues and board members at his companies reported that they were increasingly concerned about Musk's mental health and drug use, specifically the drug ketamine, which Musk says he's prescribed to treat depressive episodes.

He began leaning even further into politics, backing Republican candidates during the 2022 midterms and labeling Democrats the party of division and hate.

And he extremist, hard right views on X, endorsing the so-called Great Replacement Theory that argues Democrats want open borders to replace white voters, and he elevated antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Though he initially didn't support Trump's reelection, saying he was too old to return to the White House, after last year's assassination attempt, he changed his mind.

ELON MUSK: The true test of someone's character is how they behave under fire.

And we had one president who couldn't climb a flight of stairs, and another who was fist-pumping after getting shot.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Musk formed a super PAC to support Trump's bid, donating more than $200 million of his own money.

ELON MUSK: This election, I think, is going to decide the fate of America, and along with the fate of America, the fate of Western civilization.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Trump, in turn, embraced Musk on the trail and promised a role for him in a second administration.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Following Trump's win, Musk continued to turn heads by supporting a far right political party in Germany that's been accused of resurrecting Nazi era ideology and speaking to one of its rallies.

Now, as Musk leads this effort to scrutinize and cut federal agencies from within, his own companies retain massive multibillion-dollar government contracts.

Musk has resisted any financial disclosures and claims there's no conflict with his cost-cutting efforts.

And while there are numerous court challenges to his efforts, Musk continues to enjoy the full support of President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP: The team we have is really unbelievable.

But those executive orders, I sign them, and now they get passed on to him and his group and other people, and they're all getting done.

We're getting them done.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.

AMNA NAWAZ: During its first month, the Trump administration has brought dramatic proposals and unprecedented changes to the government, including a sweeping effort to remake the executive branch.

Our new series On Democracy is taking a step back to look at big questions about laws, institutions, and norms that have shaped America and the challenges they face today.

Conservative commentator Michael Knowles is the host of "The Michael Knowles Show" on The Daily Wire, and he joins us now.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Thanks for being here.

MICHAEL KNOWLES, Host, "The Michael Knowles Show": Thank you so much for having me.

It's an honor to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So you're in town to attend CPAC, right, the largest conservative gathering in America.

What are you hearing from people attending there, from people in your audience as well about this first month of the Trump presidency?

Are people -- are they seeing what they voted for?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Very much so.

This year it feels different even than it did in 2016-2017.

And I think it's because, this time, Trump won the popular vote.

And I think it's because of this new voter coalition, bringing over a lot of voters who previously had long voted for Democrats.

AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: It feels as though the realm of public discourse and the political imagination has really opened up.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you look at the conservative part of the party, conservative movement, if you will, I mean, beyond Donald Trump, who's a rallying figure for everyone, what is it right now that sort of -- what's the tie that binds?

What does it mean to be a conservative today?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: You know, if you get 100 conservatives into a room, you will get 100 different answers of what it means to be a conservative.

The only way that you can get Kennedy Democrats and one in five Black male voters and 46 percent of Hispanics and even 40 percent of women under the age of 30... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: ... to come over and vote for Trump, to even just join a coalition altogether, is to appeal to something that is deeper than political ideology.

And I think that's what Trump has done.

AMNA NAWAZ: What is that?

What's he appealing to?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: When President Trump comes out and he says, look, we're going to take care of Americans first, we're going to enforce the law, kick out the gangsters, classify the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which allows us to take them on more directly, this is basic stuff that you don't need to be some bow-tie-wearing conservative to agree with.

This -- that cuts across party lines.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, low immigration is one of the binding factors?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, just reducing - - it's nothing against the immigrants.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: It just that we have the highest foreign-born percentage of the population ever, and Americans of all races, all geographies, all backgrounds seem to think it's time to assimilate people and to reduce that.

Or you notice, on the LGBT issues, which were a big issue in November... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: ...

I think a lot of people, no animus, no desire to offend or exclude anybody, but they think this ideology has gone a bit too far.

AMNA NAWAZ: I want to ask you about President Trump's first month in office and some of the behavior we have seen from him.

He did recently quote Napoleon, which raised some eyebrows, right?

He said, "He who saves his country does not violate any law."

He compared himself to a monarch, saying, "Long live the king."

Does that worry you, that kind of language?

I mean, do you want to see a king-like president?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: It doesn't worry me at all.

To make a comparison with Napoleon, I think there's a little wink and a nod here from Trump.

He makes plenty of jokes.

But the broader political point... AMNA NAWAZ: But this is a joke or this is serious?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, I think he uses winsome and whimsical language.

But this line from Napoleon, which is a rearticulation of Cicero and John Locke, two very important thinkers for the American founders and framers, this just gets to a basic point about the country, which is that, in times of great national crisis and distress, extraordinary measures can be taken.

You saw this with Abraham Lincoln.

You saw this with Franklin Roosevelt.

You have seen this with plenty of American presidents, George Washington, for that matter.

AMNA NAWAZ: Extraordinary measures meaning a stronger executive?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, an executive that wields power in a just and effective way.

AMNA NAWAZ: What about this idea of checks and balances in a democratic system?

This is where we hear a lot of concern from people who track democracy here, because the other two branches of government seem to have been weakened under President Trump.

He's usurped constitutional congressional authority, right... MICHAEL KNOWLES: Has he?

I don't think he has.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... by blocking funds that were appropriated by Congress.

He's essentially said that they don't have to comply by judicial rulings that they disagree with.

I mean, how is that a democracy?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Oh, well, first of all, the majority of Americans voted for Trump.

So that would seem to be in itself a good expression of democracy.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, most people voted for him, but he didn't win a majority.

I take your point.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: He -- most voters.

He won the majority of voters.

And -- but then, when we're talking about something like executive funding, the president has a large prerogative to control that kind of funding.

Some people are suggesting that Trump's cleanup of the executive branch is unprecedented.

That is simply not true.

This is a more-than-100-year-old precedent.

Woodrow Wilson established by executive action the Bureau of Efficiency.

It's almost the same name as Elon Musk's DOGE.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, to bring it back to 2025, I mean, there are rulings that say he needs to unblock some of the funds that he's frozen, and that the administration has not complied.

Does it worry you if he's ignoring judicial rulings?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, we -- as you just say, we have a system of checks and balances.

We do not have a system, or at least we should not have a system of judicial supremacy.

The judiciary is a co-equal branch of government with the legislature and with the executive branch.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, the executive has the right to ignore a judicial ruling?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: The executive has the right to fight judicial rulings when they are overstepping.

And, in this case, the notion that the judiciary can by fiat undermine the president's legitimate authority to control the executive branch, to me, is crazy.

I mean, even when you think about some of that executive authority, how much of that authority was usurped, certainly not by Trump, but even by recent presidents, many of whom were Democrats?

And how much of that authority was delegated by the Congress to the executive branch?

One might argue that that was not a good idea, that Congress should do more lawmaking and not give it away to bureaucrats.

But the Congress certainly has done that.

And so I don't know.

To argue that Trump is an authoritarian because he is trying to reduce the size and scope of the executive branch in the federal government, to me, is crazy.

AMNA NAWAZ: You mentioned you think there was a lot of progressive overreach that helped propel President Trump back into the White House.

And specific to that, you have called transgenderism, in particular, one of those issues that you think moved people and moved the needle.

You have also said previously that it should be eradicated from public life entirely.

And when you were asked about that, you said that you were calling for an end to the ideology, not for an end to the people.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: If you have changed your view at all, please let me know.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: But I will confess, I don't know what the difference is when articulated like that.

So could you explain it?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Sure.

If I say that I want to eradicate poverty, I'm not saying that I want to eradicate all the poor people.

Quite the opposite.

I would like to help the poor people by eradicating poverty.

And so when I made my comments at CPAC a couple years ago, I have now repeated it so many times, I think I haven't memorized.

I said, for the good of society, and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely, the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.

And the reason for this, the reason why I would say, in particular for those who have fallen prey to the ideology, that we ought to do that, is because men can't really become women.

That's not how human nature works.

I have a great deal of sympathy for people who are confused about their sex.

But I don't think it helps people to lie to them.

So, just as a matter of public life, I think we need to respect reality.

AMNA NAWAZ: I will say, as a -- you're saying that it's reality.

This it is a belief system that you hold.

I mean, transgenderism is something that has been acknowledged by medical professionals.

There's an entire body... MICHAEL KNOWLES: And rejected by medical professionals.

AMNA NAWAZ: By a few.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Dr. Paul McHugh, who pioneered the ... AMNA NAWAZ: There's an entire body of scientific and medical knowledge that backs this up.

And that's what gender-affirming care has all been based on in recent years.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Not really.

Not really.

AMNA NAWAZ: I will just ask you this, though.

We're talking about 1 percent of the U.S. adult population here.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Thirty percent of Gen Z self-identifies as LGBT.

AMNA NAWAZ: Because more people, experts believe, are comfortable coming out and sharing the identity.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Or because it's a social contagion.

AMNA NAWAZ: You believe transgender people make other people transgender?

Is that what you're saying?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: This is also backed up in the medical literature.

There was a study in 2018 that showed that school children who are socializing with people who identify as transgender are much more likely to identify as transgender themselves.

AMNA NAWAZ: Michael, you realize this is the same argument people made about gay people, right?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, I'm talking about the whole LGBT ideology.

So I suppose, in some ways, I'm making that argument myself.

AMNA NAWAZ: You don't believe that gay people exist?

AMNA NAWAZ: You don't believe gay people exist?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, I think people have same-sex attractions and all of that.

But I suppose the question I would have to ask is... AMNA NAWAZ: But that is -- no, no, in answer to my question, do you believe that gay people exist?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: I think some people are attracted to members of the same-sex, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: Those would be gay people, correct?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, I don't think that one's sexual desires necessarily define one's identity.

AMNA NAWAZ: Without getting into a semantic back-and-forth about it, in clarifying what you have said, when you use words like eradicate -- I'm just asking about in terms of the language here.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Yes, yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: When you use words like eradicate... MICHAEL KNOWLES: Well, you know what the word eradicate means.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... do you worry that puts a target on people's backs?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Certainly not.

In fact... MICHAEL KNOWLES: ... the only targets that I have had on my own back are when I question these kinds of ideologies that have been so terrible for people.

The only times I have ever been attacked in public -- in one case, someone who's in federal prison for trying to blow me up at a speech in Pittsburgh -- is because I dared to question the trans ideology.

People are being introduced to this ideology at younger and younger ages.

It can lead to horrific outcomes, especially for younger people put on puberty blockers, which often cannot be reversed.

It leads to castration, bone problems, and early death.

These are not the sort of things that we should wish for people if we wish for their own good.

And so what it really comes down to is whether or not a man can become a woman or a man can secretly be a woman if he appears to be a man.

And my contention is, that just isn't how human nature works.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm just going to clarify.

You did say it's your contention.

I would encourage people to go check out the research and studies on their own.

I do want to ask you about this political moment we're in now, though, because when you look at our democratic system, there is undoubtedly an ascendant conservative movement right now.

It's worth pointing out, though, that the party tends to push out anyone who disagrees with President Trump.

Mitch McConnell seems to be the latest example now, right, only really speaking out against President Trump when he says that he's not running for reelection.

Does it worry you about the future of the party that the coalition doesn't seem to hold without Donald Trump?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Trump is the unifying figure right now.

There's no question about it.

Now, what's unusual about it is to say that people are kicked out of the party when they disagree with Trump makes it sound like the party is shrinking.

But what we saw in 2024 is, actually, the party is growing.

It's just taking in new people.

And it's losing some of the figures who have been members in the past, like Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, or those kinds of figures.

AMNA NAWAZ: People who disagreed with President Trump, right?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Correct.

Yes, yes.

That means that there's a new coalition that has formed.

Trump is the singular figure.

He is a magnetic personality.

He is an American original, and I think he's a genius-level politician.

AMNA NAWAZ: So does the coalition hold without him?

MICHAEL KNOWLES: That remains to be seen.

I don't think there's really going any going back to Bushism.

And if anyone can pick up the standard of Trumpism afterwards, we will have to wait and see.

But the Republican Party is a different and stronger thing now because of Donald Trump.

AMNA NAWAZ: Michael Knowles, host of "The Michael Knowles Show" on The Daily Wire, thank you for being here.

Appreciate your time.

MICHAEL KNOWLES: Thank you for having me.

GEOFF BENNETT: Latin rock, Afro Cuban funk and many other names have been applied to the music of Cimafunk.

The 35-year-old star is now making waves around the world, earning Grammy nominations three years in a row, and being called a global ambassador for Cuban music.

In the final piece in their series from Havana, senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown and senior arts producer Anne Azzi Davenport show how Cimafunk is blending genres to produce his own sound.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JEFFREY BROWN: He's a man of many moves, a dynamic onstage presence, a performer on the move before a frenetic crowd at a historic La Tropical in Havana, at his CimaFest, an annual dance party held twice a year in Miami and New Orleans, and mixing it up with the crowd at "Austin City Limits."

Everywhere he goes, Cimafunk is bringing his own special mix of Afro Cuban sounds and rhythms and African American funk and soul.

CIMAFUNK, Musician: I say that I'm mixing because I try to put more and more funk in the Afro Cuban music that I make.

JEFFREY BROWN: Seventies soul and '70s funk.

CIMAFUNK: Yes.

Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And it -- you put it together with Afro Cuban?

CIMAFUNK: Yes, yes, because it's really similar to the Cuban feeling in terms of expression and melodies and way to sing and way to say the things.

JEFFREY BROWN: Cimafunk was born Erik Iglesias Rodriguez into a family he describes as very poor in Pinar del Rio two hours from Havana.

If his music is a blend, so is his stage name.

Cima comes from the term Cimarrones, the Cubans of African descent to escaped slavery from the 16th century on and established their own communities.

Learning that history, he says, opened up his world and his path to music.

CIMAFUNK: Whatever they were creating was original, because it was a freedom of expression.

It was dealing with the things that it was, we are free here.

And that moment, I started to get more and more close of my roots, looking where I came from, what -- I started to learn more about that and all the Africa, all what they bring here was most of the great things that we have today in music, in food, in all kind of contribution that Africa brings to the continent.

So I was like, I got to embrace that, because I feel like finally I found my identity.

And I love it.

And I just super like -- I want more and more and more.

JEFFREY BROWN: Though he sang in church as a child, his original path following other family members was medicine.

He attended medical school for two years.

But music, he says, called, people like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and the biggest bang of all, seeing video of James Brown performing.

That ended his medical career.

CIMAFUNK: I was like, yo, who -- what's this?

Because I get -- it blow my mind.

CIMAFUNK: Yes, it blew my mind, yes, yes, because I hear this song before, but I never imagined and I never saw that was this type of character with this type of style and groove.

And then I get obsessed with music.

And I was like, I got to do this.

JEFFREY BROWN: You mean using your body, as well as your voice?

CIMAFUNK: Yes, yes, definitely, everything.

Everything is part of the rhythm.

Everything is an instrument.

JEFFREY BROWN: And also heard, though, how the influences flowed the other way, Afro Cuban sounds of his youth impacting American music.

CIMAFUNK: I can hear it in funk music of James Brown.

I can hear it in the music of Marvin Gaye.

I can hear it.

I can hear the groove and I can feel that it's a groove from Cuba.

JEFFREY BROWN: This connection of grooves has brought Cimafunk three Grammy nominations and one Latin Grammy nomination, including this year for his album "Pa' Tu Cuerpa," "For Your Body," a joyous example of his brand of empowerment through music.

It also fueled his leadership in a very direct project of connection called Getting Funky in Havana.

It recently brought together music students from Havana and New Orleans.

Cimafunk worked alongside his friend jazz great Trombone Shorty, mentoring and playing with the stars of tomorrow, including at a music school in their own special kind of mash-up.

TROY ANDREWS, "Trombone Shorty": He's one of the great, Cimafunk, and he's incorporating American funk with the Cuban style and he's creating a whole new genre of music.

And the kids that's here, they love him.

I just walk around town with him and see that.

JEFFREY BROWN: Overlooking Havana, Cimafunk told us that this work is giving young Cubans a sense of the influence and power of their music in the wider world.

CIMAFUNK: Everybody know what music you do.

Everybody appreciate and respect Cuban music and you're part of that Cuban music.

Those kids don't know that.

They didn't know neither.

I didn't know how important Cuban music was for the music in the world, how much Cuban music influenced all the music in the world.

So, when I knew that, I was like, huh.

Everybody should knew that.

I should knew this before.

So when kids start to know that, they feel like, yes, I don't have a trumpet, but I got the feeling.

JEFFREY BROWN: At the Getting Funky Festival, the feeling for Cimafunk extended beyond the stage to a fashion show, where he swaggered on a runway, and a panel discussion, including musical inspirations Taj Mahal and George Clinton.

CIMAFUNK: I would have all the sound every day in the house, everybody singing.

And we grow up with that type of behavior.

JEFFREY BROWN: He also made a music video appearance with fellow Cuban star Pedrito Martinez, along with up-and-comer 21-year-old Wampi.

And on this night at a free concert under the stars, Cimafunk lit up the stage as part of a super jam for the Getting Funky fans and Cuban fans alike.

The Havana-New Orleans connection is an extra strong one now for Cimafunk.

While he returns home to visit his extended family, New Orleans is where he mostly lives and makes his music.

It's part of the reality of Cuba today, a depressed economy with few opportunities.

Many of your friends have left?

CIMAFUNK: Yes, most of them, most of them, in Spain, Nicaragua or U.S., anywhere, everywhere.

JEFFREY BROWN: Because they - - no opportunity here?

CIMAFUNK: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

When the things get bad, you move to other place, or you try.

JEFFREY BROWN: So, for you, being out of the country is a necessity or a choice?

CIMAFUNK: I leave because I could, but I keep working out of Cuba because I want to, because it's better for my career.

It's obvious.

It's -- this United States, Europe are big market for my music.

So, even if I could stay being fine and everything good here, for my career, it's not the best option.

So I choose to improve myself.

JEFFREY BROWN: In December, Cimafunk joined Trombone Shorty at the Kennedy Center Honors in celebration of Cuban American music icon Arturo Sandoval.

But he also knows that his island is again in many ways isolated from the U.S. and other parts of the world with recent political changes and continued travel restrictions.

Of the future, he says: CIMAFUNK: I don't know what will happen, but I would love to this be better.

I would love people have more.

No, I would love that people, especially people from the street, that have people that needs.

That's what we hope and that's what we wish.

That's my dream, that things get better and get connected, connected with the world.

JEFFREY BROWN: For now, he's doing his part through music.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jeffrey Brown in Havana, Cuba.

GEOFF BENNETT: We have an important update now to an earlier story in the broadcast.

After we came on the air, the Israeli military said their identification process shows that the body of Shiri Bibas was not returned in the hostage exchange.

They say the body does not match any other hostage and remains unidentified.

AMNA NAWAZ: The IDF says it confirmed that the bodies of Shiri's two children were returned and called for the immediate return of their mother's remains.

Remember, there is a lot more online, including what experts say buyers and renters can expect in the U.S. housing market in 2025.

That is at PBS.org/NewsHour.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us.