JOHN YANG: Good evening.

I'm John Yang.

Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz are away.

On the "News Hour" tonight: The Supreme Court completes another historic term with rulings that expand presidential authority and could have far-reaching consequences for the future of American democracy.

As extreme heat becomes a dangerous new normal, doctors warn that high temperatures are posing more risks to the human body.

EUN YOUNG CHOI, University of Southern California: The effects of extreme heat might not show up right away as a diagnosable health condition, but they could be taking a silent toll at the cellular and the molecular level.

JOHN YANG: And, on this Fourth of July, we visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps commemorating the corps' 250-year history.

(BREAK) JOHN YANG: Welcome to the "News Hour."

As Americans celebrate their freedom on this Independence Day, President Trump is celebrating a decisive win for his domestic agenda.

His second-term legislative wish list officially entitled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now law.

JOHN YANG: Given the gavel they used to clinch the legislation, the president signed the sweeping tax and spending cuts surrounded by congressional Republicans.

He touted the bill as one having a generational impact.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: It includes the largest tax cut in American history, the largest spending cut, $1.7 trillion, and yet you won't even notice it, just waste, fraud and abuse, in American history.

So you have the biggest tax cut, the biggest spending cut, the largest border security investment.

JOHN YANG: The new law is unprecedented in many ways, extending the tax cuts of Mr. Trump's first term along with others to the tune of $4.5 trillion, adding another $1.4 trillion in spending cuts and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, adding a record $3.2 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

Across Ukraine last night, Russia unleashed an aerial assault of drones and missiles.

Officials say the all-out attack was the biggest so far of the war.

It came just hours after President Trump said little progress was made and a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he said was disappointing.

The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was the primary target.

The barrage of more than 550 drones and missiles lasted more than seven hours, killing one person and injuring dozens.

Ukrainian leaders called it a brutal sleepless night.

Daybreak revealed scenes of destruction with the air still heavy with smoke.

TETIANA ZARUDNA, Kyiv, Ukraine, Resident (through translator): Something was flying every minute.

The drones were descending, and then bang, bang.

Then we realized that our building had been hit.

Everything is covered in soot now.

It's difficult to breathe.

JOHN YANG: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a fruitful call with President Trump hours after the attack.

The two talked about ways to help Ukraine improve its air defenses after the United States recently paused some weapons deliveries.

In Gaza, at least 35 Palestinians were killed in another day of Israel's relentless military campaign against Hamas.

Israeli airstrikes claimed more than a dozen lives, while hospital officials said about 20 others were fatally shot as they waited for humanitarian aid convoys.

Today, the U.N. said that, in the span of a month, it's recorded the deaths of more than 600 Palestinians trying to get aid.

U.N. officials called for an independent investigation.

RAVINA SHAMSADANI, Spokeswoman, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: It is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points.

How many killings, who is responsible for that, we need an investigation.

We need access.

We need an independent inquiry.

And we need accountability for these killings.

JOHN YANG: Meanwhile, a senior U.S. negotiator tells PBS News that Hamas still has reservations about President Trump's 60-day cease-fire proposal, but is willing to discuss them in this weekend's talks in Qatar.

Mr. Trump said Israel has already agreed to the deal.

Severe weather on this July 4 has turned deadly in parts of the country.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said at least six people are dead in Kerr County, and more than 20 others are still missing, some of them children, after close to 10 inches of rain caused flash floods along the Guadalupe River.

Meteorologists say the water rose 22 feet in just two hours.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, at least three people are dead after intense thunderstorms last night.

The deaths were the result of toppled trees.

The city of Plainfield declared a state of emergency and canceled its Fourth of July festivities.

Meanwhile, parts of Europe are dealing with a different set of difficult conditions.

Wildfires burned across Turkey today and new blazes broke out in Greece, where this week flames have already charred thousands of acres.

And a record-breaking heat wave is lingering over much of the continent.

In Bulgaria, construction workers braved the hazardous temperatures, while, in Sicily, beachgoers soaked up the sun's rays and took advantage of the sea to cool off.

Forecasters say that heat is likely to finally let up over the weekend.

And, of course, it wouldn't be the Fourth of July without hot dogs, namely this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Competitor eater Joey Chestnut reclaimed his title today after a year away with plant-based competitor Impossible Foods.

Chestnut won his 17 Mustard Belt by downing 70.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

In the women's competition, Miki Sudo defended her title with 33 hot dogs.

Last year, she ate a record 51 franks.

Still to come on the "News Hour": David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart give their take on the massive budget bill; we visit an aquarium exhibit specifically designed for aging penguins; and the growing popularity of banana ball.

As the Supreme Court headed into its summer break, the justices gave President Trump a big win, saying that district court judges do not have the authority to issue the sort of nationwide injunctions that had blocked administration policies.

It capped a term in which the court's conservative majority delivered a string of legal victories for President Trump, many of them in emergency appeals, what's called the shadow docket.

Earlier, I spoke with two court watchers about the term just ended and what could be coming next.

PBS News Supreme Court analyst Amy Howe is the co-founder of SCOTUSblog, and Jodi Kantor, a New York Times investigative reporter who's covered the justices and the court in depth.

Amy, how unusual is the administration's use of emergency appeals?

AMY HOWE: It's really unusual.

And when I think back at this term that's just ending, that's really what we're going to remember, because it wasn't the kind of historic decisions on the merits that we had in past terms on issues like abortion and gun rights and administrative law, but the administration came to the Supreme Court over and over again on its emergency appeals dockets.

And these are the cases that the Supreme Court is generally deciding without oral argument and sometimes without written decisions or even knowing how all of the justices voted.

And in fact the Trump administration in the first 5.5 months or so of -- since the inauguration on January 20 has already come to the Supreme Court on the emergency docket more than 20 times, which is more than twice as many, just to put it into context, than the George W. Bush administration and the Obama administration combined in 16 years.

JOHN YANG: And how have they done?

What's their success rate, as it were?

AMY HOWE: Their success rate is high.

I mean, the biggest victory was the victory on the universal or nationwide injunctions.

That was a case in which the Supreme Court did hear oral argument and issue a written decision on the merits.

But they have had a lot of success on other issues, including immigration and the president's efforts to remake the federal work force.

And although these are theoretically temporary rulings that pause lower courts' orders while the litigation continues in the lower courts, they can have permanent repercussions if you're talking about firing federal employees, about deporting people or separating transgender service members from the military.

JOHN YANG: Jodi, the majority opinion on the case involving nationwide injunctions was written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who's gotten a lot of attention, some skepticism from conservatives.

You took a deep dive into Barrett's jurisprudence and the criticism about her.

What did you find?

JODI KANTOR, The New York Times: She's very much the justice of the season for several reasons.

She's part of the fulcrum of the court right now, the center of the court, along with Chief John Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh.

This is a court where the power is really concentrated in those three people.

Those are the three people you have to convince.

Earlier this year, there was a series of extraordinary attacks and threats against her by MAGA figures.

Remember, she was appointed by President Trump.

A lot of these statements were way over the line.

They were personal.

They were about her family.

Like many other federal judges, she was getting some very scary threats.

At the same time, she became something of a beacon of hope for liberals who began to notice something we were able to quantify in numbers, which is that she was showing signs of leftward drift.

Then, as you say, she wrote the birthright citizen opinion, which was remarkable for a relatively junior justice to take on.

I mean, this is a decision that does some reordering of our legal system.

And we can start to hear her voice clearly, more clearly than ever before, and to see that, really just five years after coming onto the court, her influence is very much rising.

JOHN YANG: And, Amy, one of the other issues or the areas that the court got into this year was the culture wars.

Talk about some of those cases.

AMY HOWE: Yes, so there were a couple of those cases.

The court in December heard a challenge to Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care.

And by a vote of 6-3, the justices upheld the Tennessee law.

And this will affect similar laws in a number of other states.

This was a case in which Justice Barrett actually joined the six-justice majority and then wrote a concurring opinion and said -- in which she would have gone further and reached an issue that the majority didn't address, whether or not transgender people are a suspect or a protected class.

And then they issued a decision in a case out of Montgomery County, Maryland, in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

They ruled that parents have a right to opt their children out of instruction using LGBTQ-themed storybooks.

JOHN YANG: Amy, you heard Jodi say that Justice Barrett is in the center of the court, along with the chief justice, John Roberts, and Justice Kavanaugh.

What does it say about the ideological spectrum or ideological shift of this court that these three would be in the middle?

They're not moderates, are they?

AMY HOWE: They're definitely not moderates in any definition of the word.

It just says that the center of the court has shifted to the right.

JOHN YANG: Jodi also talked about the threats that have gone against some of these justices.

The day after the court's term ended, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at a judicial conference in North Carolina and addressed the rising criticism and threats.

JOHN ROBERTS, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: The danger, of course, is somebody might pick up on that.

And we have had, of course, serious threats of violence and murder of judges just simply for doing their work.

Threatening the judges for doing their job is totally unacceptable and people should be careful about doing that.

JOHN YANG: Jodi, in your story about Justice Barrett, you found threats not only against her, but against her family.

JODI KANTOR: Exactly.

We actually obtained the police report about a bomb threat to her sister in South Carolina.

The language is really menacing.

It's really specific.

It was an empty threat.

There was no bomb.

But it is a truly scary sign of the times that it's not just the jurists who are being threatened.

It's their extended families.

JOHN YANG: And you also say that her youngest son asked why mommy has a bulletproof vest.

JODI KANTOR: She conjured up this really memorable moment in a recent speech.

She talks about being at home and her young son spies the bulletproof vest lying somewhere in the house and asks her, what is this?

Why do you have it?

JOHN YANG: Amy, how are the justices coping with this?

AMY HOWE: It's hard to say exactly.

The court does not comment on the justices' security.

I have been going to the Supreme Court for a long time.

There was visibly more security at the Supreme Court when the court is in session and then surrounding the justices when they are out and about in the public.

But I imagine it has to really weigh on them.

JOHN YANG: Amy Howe, Jodi Kantor, thank you both very much.

AMY HOWE: Thank you.

JODI KANTOR: Thank you.

JOHN YANG: Extreme heat is becoming a dangerous new normal.

Last week, it affected much of the United States.

This week, it's hitting Europe.

The heat brings with it a number of health risks.

From severe burns to accelerated aging, the effects of long periods of high temperatures on the human body are getting more attention in this time of rising climate change.

Stephanie Sy reports from Phoenix, the epicenter of extreme heat in the United States, for our series Tipping Point.

STEPHANIE SY: Summer's off to a sweltering start.

From New York to Chicago, triple-digit temperatures are behind heat illnesses, cancellations of sporting events and strained power grids and outages.

But nowhere is the heat more dangerous than in Maricopa County, Arizona, which, every summer, records hundreds of heat-related deaths and an untold number of heat-related burns.

ROBERT WOOLLEY, Phoenix Resident: I was checking the pool.

It was July 3, the hottest day of the year at that time.

It was about 116 degrees.

STEPHANIE SY: Phoenix resident Robert Woolley is 72.

The retired teacher and former Navy aviator was walking around his pool two summers ago when he tripped and fell.

ROBERT WOOLLEY: I put my hand down to catch myself and I was startled by how hot and sharp the rocks were.And instinctively I picked my hand up and I went all the way down to the ground and I actually hit my head on the ground.

And I tried to push myself back up.

And I got partway up.

And I tried that several more times, and I just could not get back up.

And each time I tried, my hands hurt worse and worse and worse.

And I looked at my hands and the skin had peeled off my hands, and it looked like raw hamburger underneath.

STEPHANIE SY: He eventually made it to the back door, where his wife could hear him.

When he arrived at Valleywise Hospital, he had third-degree burns on 20 percent of his body.

ROBERT WOOLLEY: When you're burned, you continue to burn, and they change your bandages daily.

And so when they unwrap you, it's like being skinned alive.

STEPHANIE SY: And yet Woolley is one of the luckier burn patients, says Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center at Valleywise.

DR. KEVIN FOSTER, Director, Arizona Burn Center: For the most part, we're capable of saving just about anybody with a burn.

However, the really difficult thing in the summertime is when heatstroke is also a problem, because high temperatures affect every system of the body, the neurologic system, the cardiovascular system, the G.I.

tract.

And that really is the determining factor of how these patients are going to do is, how bad is the heatstroke and how bad of the other systems have the body been injured?

STEPHANIE SY: The Burn Center is at its busiest during Phoenix's increasingly brutal summers.

DR. KEVIN FOSTER: As we urbanize and we have more concrete and more areas that absorb heat, that just makes the problem even worse, and you have more surfaces to get burned on.

Sidewalks, concrete, asphalt, paved surfaces rocks, those surfaces can get up to 170 or even 180 degrees, which is just a little bit below the boiling point of water.

So those are really, really hot surfaces.

It only takes a fraction of a second to get a deep burn when exposed to that.

STEPHANIE SY: While heat-related illness and injury can hit anyone in these extreme summer months, people experiencing homelessness and substance users are at particularly high risk, accounting for a disproportionate number of heat-related deaths in recent years.

WOMAN: Morning.

Circle the City.

Would you like some water?

STEPHANIE SY: Perla Puebla is the associate medical director of street medicine at Circle the City, an organization that provides medical treatment to the unhoused population in Maricopa County.

PERLA PUEBLA, Associate Medical Director, Circle the City: We have to go from wellness to death prevention in the summer.

STEPHANIE SY: She and her team go out daily offering medical care to people living on the streets.

The summers are also a busy time for them.

I PERLA PUEBLA: have seen severe dehydration, heat exhaustion.

I'm talking about the patients are actively sweating, they're dizzy, they're not feeling well, but they still don't want to go to the emergency room for many reasons.

It could be that they don't want to leave their pet.

They're no longer able to be hydrated with oral hydration and we have to provide I.V.

hydration, so intravenous hydration, to help them out.

STEPHANIE SY: Preventative measures like I.V.

hydration for patients who don't want to go to the emergency room may have contributed to the number of heat-related deaths ticking down last summer.

There were still more than 600 such deaths in the county.

BRANDELYN VALENCIA, Phoenix Resident: The hardest part is staying cool.

There's not a lot - - Arizona don't have a lot of trees, and they -- with being out on the street, they kick you out from everywhere.

STEPHANIE SY: Forty-three-year-old Brandelyn Valencia has been unhoused off and on over the last couple of years.

She had a checkup with Puebla and her colleagues in south Phoenix.

BRANDELYN VALENCIA: There's a lot of people with heat exhaustion, and I have seen a few people get heatstroke.

And they just -- thing is, it's that bad here.

It's that bad.

So it's not the best place to be out here on the street, but something happens.

And so they should just get the resources they can get and take - - use them, so they're not in this situation.

DR. REBECCA MORAN, Circle the City: The number of days with high levels of heat are lasting longer in Phoenix, and that is a problem for the unhoused population, because there is a period of time where they can get no relief at night because it does not get under 90 degrees at night for a prolonged period of time.

STEPHANIE SY: Dr. Rebecca Moran is the medical director of the Family Health Centers at circle the city and treats unhoused patients.

DR. REBECCA MORAN: Chronic medical conditions that normally don't change at all for somebody who's housed will change a lot for somebody who is unhoused because the heat interacts with the medicines.

The heat interacts with the underlying medical issue.

STEPHANIE SY: Meanwhile, new research from the University of Southern California suggests that greater exposure to extreme heat accelerates biological aging in older adults, raising new concerns about how climate change and particularly heat waves impact long-term health.

EUN YOUNG CHOI, University of Southern California: The effects of extreme heat might not show up right away as a diagnosable health condition, but they could be taking a silent toll at the cellular and the molecular level.

And, over time, this could accumulate and eventually lead to disability or disease.

STEPHANIE SY: Eun Young Choi is one of the study's co-authors.

In the study sample, people living in extreme heat experienced 14 months of additional biological aging compared to peers living in cooler areas.

EUN YOUNG CHOI: This effect was actually comparable to the fact that we could capture for the smoking, heavy smoking and drinking, which are two well-established risk factor for aging and disease.

STEPHANIE SY: Whether hidden or visible, heat's effects on health can be life-changing.

For Robert Woolley, it's been a long two years.

After an extended stay in the hospital and undergoing five surgeries and rehab, he's still not the same.

How has this incident changed your outlook on your life?

ROBERT WOOLLEY: I don't take things as granted as I used to.

I'm grateful for every day I'm alive.

STEPHANIE SY: And while the astronomer gazes at the sun through one of his many telescopes, he now sees its power in a new light.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Stephanie Sy in Phoenix.

JOHN YANG: On this Independence Day, the Marine Corps has opened a new art exhibit at its national museum documenting the service's 250th anniversary.

It's called 250 Years of Dedication, Determination and Courage.

It celebrates the Marine's most famous moments, but it also features the other side of war, trauma, terror and sacrifice.

Nick Schifrin went for a visit.

NICK SCHIFRIN: For combat artist and Marine Corps veteran Kristopher Battles, the brush is no less mighty than the sword.

KRISTOPHER BATTLES, Artist in Residence, National Museum of the Marine Corps: War is one of the oldest human endeavors.

It encompasses everything in humanity, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And so we try not to edit out any of that.

So combat art tries to show everything as best we can.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Battles enlisted back in the '80s as a computer operator.

His true love was art.

And he rejoined after 9/11 to deploy to Iraq as a combat artist.

He's now at the Museum of the Marine Corps south of Washington, D.C., as its artist in residence.

KRISTOPHER BATTLES: There's something magical about the medium of the painted picture.

There's a very intimate engagement there that is very personal.

You can see the hand of the artist.

You can see how the paint was put down, what was depicted, how things were arranged.

And we're trying to bring maybe something noble and beautiful out of what is not always a beautiful or noble activity.

JOAN THOMAS, Curator, National Museum of the Marine Corps: One of the strengths of our collection is that we do not shy away from any subject.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Joan Thomas is the curator of the exhibit, more than 90 works of art that document 2.5 centuries of Marine Corps history from fighting the British in 1781 to fighting Seminoles in the 1840s to the 21st century Battles of Afghanistan and Iraq.

JOAN THOMAS: I look at art as a way of slowing down the scene.

It slows down the moment.

It captures the emotion.

When you look at a painting, if you have been there, the smell is all of a sudden -- it's a sensory experience, and it's more than just a quick snapshot.

It shapes it in a way that allows the viewer to step more closely into that experience.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Like at Iwo Jima in World War II.

NARRATOR: The Marines have to fight their way inland over bullet-swept coral.

NICK SCHIFRIN: That fighting in the Pacific was savage, island to island, as the U.S. sought to destroy Imperial Japan.

NARRATOR: This was the Japanese headquarters.

Enemy coast guns open up, and many of the landing craft get direct hits.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But amid the amphibious assaults, amid the brutality, moments that can be slowed down.

JOAN THOMAS: They haven't been afraid to go forward.

They have done everything we have asked them to do.

There's another painting depicting Down the Nets by Richard Gibney.

Not only did you have to crawl over and try to get down the rope and land in the vehicle that was going to take you onto the beach, and that's before you even fired a shot.

When you look at a painting like the Aftermath of Beirut or Field Hospital in An Hoa (ph), you realize the price people are paying.

There's a human price that's being paid.

NICK SCHIFRIN: An often personal price.

For so many, the pain and suffering of war comes home.

And post-traumatic stress, a fact of war since its inception, has only recently been treated as the wound that it is.

JOAN THOMAS: Sarah Rothschild's painting, self-portrait, What Happens There Doesn't Always Stay There, is her experience after she had gotten out of the Marine Corps trying to get her life back together, and she was looking at herself in the mirror as she was kind of falling apart.

We have one that shows a shock tent where you have exhausted Marines.

It's, you have been through too much, you have seen too much.

NICK SCHIFRIN: How were you trained as an artist?

Battles showed us around the exhibit.

He has nine paintings on display, most realist, but one looks and feels different.

KRISTOPHER BATTLES: This is a battle scene in Fallujah, so war can be chaotic and jumbled and frenetic and dark and light.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In November 2004, Marines fought Iraqi insurgents to retake Fallujah west of Baghdad.

The weeks-long operation became the Marines' largest urban battle since Vietnam and among the deadliest.

It was street to street and house to house.

KRISTOPHER BATTLES: You're coming into the dark from the light and you can't see well, and there's rubble and smoke and dust.

And so I was trying to show that jumbled chaos and that unknown.

I was emoting on the canvas in a way.

I was -- palette knife, and I was even using my fingers.

Some detail is shown.

Some is not.

Certain things are blurry and out of focus.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Battles served in Mosul, not Fallujah, so he interviewed Marines who'd fought there to do what Marine combat artists have done for more than 80 years, putting Marines' words and memories to Canvas.

KRISTOPHER BATTLES: I wanted to somehow be authentic, even though I wasn't in this hell house, so to speak.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Authentic for veterans like former Marine Sergeant Pakee Fang.

PAKEE FANG, U.S. Marine Veteran: The Marines have to go in and do the dirty work.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Fang was Chinese-born, raised in New York and enlisted in the Marines at 17.

He served in Iraq and was honorably discharged after being injured while patrolling for roadside bombs.

PAKEE FANG: The legacy of being a Marine, like, is extremely important to me.

And I want to showcase that, like, to my family and make them kind of, like, understand the sacrifice that took place throughout the generations.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Does showing your family this art, does it help you communicate that to your family?

PAKEE FANG: Yes.

Yes, it brings me comfort, some type of closure, especially when you have people that come back home without limbs, without their family, and kind of, like, keep that perspective in me, like, as I go on with my life.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Life does go on, but war and its legacy remains framed for everyone who fought.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Quantico, Virginia.

JOHN YANG: To discuss the political fallout of the Republican budget bill and the state of American democracy on this Independence Day, we turn to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor of The Washington Post.

Gentlemen, welcome.

Happy Fourth.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Hey, John.

Happy Fourth.

JOHN YANG: Jonathan, there were more than a couple of times this week it looked like the Big Beautiful Bill wasn't going to make it,like it was sort of teetering on the brink of failure.

But a lot of the people who said there was no way they could support what came over from the Senate switched after talking to the president.

What does this say about the president's hold and influence on the Republican Party now?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, we have always known that his hold on the Republican Party is firm.

What this vote -- and now it's law.

So now what this law says to me is he now has complete and total control of Washington.

Congress, a co-equal, separate branch of government, basically is the staffing arm of the executive.

And the judicial branch, especially the Supreme Court, it seems like with some of their decisions, they are doing things in favor of a lot of some of the extreme things we have seen come out of the administration.

So what we see with this so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is now the law that they forced to get passed by this arbitrary deadline of July 4, so the president could sign it on the South Lawn, as he just did moments ago, this just says that President Trump -- what happened is what we have been seeing happen since January 20.

He says jump, they say how high, and then they do it for him.

JOHN YANG: David, total control of Washington?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I mean, it's true the presidents usually get their big signature initiative, but a couple things are interesting to me.

First, he's on a bit of a roll.

He had the Iran bombing, which did not lead to a wider war.

He won some Supreme Court victories.

Immigration across the southern borders is at decades-long lows.

So the White House is growing on all these victories.

And they pass this thing.

And so that suggests some momentum and some control.

Of course, the shocking thing when he's taken a step back is that this did used to be a party that didn't like deficits.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: And this is adding $3 trillion of deficits.

And so you took a party, a lot of these people who voted for the bill have walked -- said, I wrote -- came to office to shrink the size of government and reduce debt and $3 trillion.

And when I look back on the sort of degradation process that got them to this point, it was the moment when Speaker Johnson started going after the Congressional Budget Office.

For decades, the Congressional Budget Office has been considered and is a nonpartisan, accurate counter of the effects of legislation.

And once the Republicans, especially Speaker Johnson, said the referee, the umpire doesn't matter, that gives permission for self-deception.

And then they could somehow square it internally with themselves, I'm not really increasing debt.

The CBO says that, but who believes that?

So who -- so that was the thing.

Once you walk away from the objective, impartial observer, then you have really -- you give yourself permission to self-deceive.

JOHN YANG: But you talk about -- David, you talk about the people who said that they were standing on principle to oppose this, that they did not want the national debt increase, that this was spending too much money.

Is loyalty and fealty to President Trump more important than that principle?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I think we have now have about 600 cases of this.

DAVID BROOKS: And the answer is 98.2 percent yes, and so that.

And then the other thing that's interesting to me about this bill is that it's truly regressive.

It's good for the rich and it's bad for working-class folks.

But Democrats -- Republicans have been doing this for a little while.

And Republicans have been winning working-class votes, despite all sorts of pieces of legislation that are regressive in this way.

So how much will -- the Democrats are pretty confident we can say, he's cutting your Medicare -- your Medicaid.

Excuse me.

He's giving tax cuts to zillionaires.

But Democrats have been saying that for 20 or 30 years.

And Donald Trump has been elected.

And even in New York, Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, presumptive, he did not do well among working-class voters.

And he's a socialist giving away free bus rides.

He did well among the people making over $150,000, except for the very rich.

And so there's something weird going on in our country.

Democrats do not seem to be able to capitalize on the fact that Republicans do all these regressive policies.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, one of the things that they did in this now law that is going to aid what you're talking about, the cuts to Medicaid.

They don't kick in, in until 2026, after the midterm elections.

And so Democrats will be out there screaming about how Medicaid has been cut.

But the people they're talking to will say, well, my Medicaid hasn't been cut.

What are they talking about?

So this sleight of hand that's in this now law is also -- it's reprehensible, because by the time people get hit with the full impact of this law, it might be too late for Democrats to capitalize on it.

JOHN YANG: So, Jonathan, you don't think this is going to play a big role in the midterms?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Oh, absolutely.

It's going to play a big role in the midterms.

There's a difference between playing the sound of Thom Tillis, playing the sound of Senator Tillis, Senator Lisa Murkowski, who actually did an old-fashioned job of squeezing out as much benefit for her constituents, but then voting for a bill that she herself is on video saying is a terrible bill.

All Democrats have to do is cut and paste those videos into ads and then spread out around the country and talk about the thousands of people who are going to lose health care as a result of this law.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I mean, maybe they could run Elon Musk ads, things like that.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes.

I do too.

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think the one thing I would say if I were a Democrat is, Donald Trump won election on the back of the working class.

He has betrayed you.

You have been betrayed by this guy.

Americans are in a mood where many of them feel betrayed.

And so Republicans have won because they tell a betrayal story.

The elites are betraying you.

But Democrats now have a betrayal story to tell.

And so you got to go with the tide of history.

And the tide of history is like 68 percent, not just Republicans, think the elites have betrayed us.

And now Democrats have a plausible version.

This guy, he said he was going to help you in Youngstown, Ohio.

He's helping Palm Beach.

And that's a story that they could do.

If they hit that populist note a little harder, that might be effective.

JOHN YANG: But polls show that a lot of people aren't even aware of this bill.

JOHN YANG: Are they going to be aware?

Are they going to put it together when Medicaid benefits are cut or they left to get off -- get out of Medicaid?

Are they going to make the connection, do you think?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I mean, that gets back to what I was saying earlier.

I think you were signing the Washington Post/Ipsos poll.

A third of the folks who were polled had no opinion of the bill.

And two-thirds had heard little or nothing about it.

And so you take that, and then you will have in the 2026 midterm cycle Democrats saying your Medicaid has been cut.

But those folks, a lot of those folks might be people like, wait, my Medicaid hasn't been cut.

So what are they talking about?

And so that's why I think it's terrific what David is suggesting is just pound away on the betrayal, because betrayal -- it usually takes a long time for you to figure out that you have been betrayed.

JOHN YANG: But on the other side, are the tax cuts really going to feel -- they're extensions of cuts.

So people aren't going to see more money in their paycheck.

DAVID BROOKS: They won't see more money, and the effects, the growth effects -- the White House estimates of the growth effects is like we're in Nirvana, like we're all going to be rolling in dough.

But they will produce some growth.

I mean, it's highly stimulative to cut that much taxes.

But the growth effects are, if you look at most of these serious estimates, like under 1 percent, added growth to the economy, sometimes significantly under 1 percent.

So that stuff is not measurable.

It's going to feel like status quo.

There will be a few theatrical things.

And so one of the things Trump talks about all the time is no taxes on tips.

But when you actually look, how much is that?

It's $32 billion, which in this kind of bill is peanuts.

But it's theatrical, no taxes on tips.

Sounds pretty good.

If you're not paying attention, oh, that sounds good, no taxes on tips.

And then there's a slight increase in the child tax credit.

And that's a genuinely good policy, by the way.

And so they're doing that, and there's some baby bonds for people who want to build up life savings.

So these are not big programs, but they're talking points for Republicans.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: And no tax on car loan interest, but only if you buy an American car.

Sorry, John.

JOHN YANG: I was going to say, we had a PBS News/NPR/Marist College poll at this week.

And on this Fourth of July, it's sort of time to reflect on our nation and democracy.

They asked Americans about Americans' openness to people from around the world; 64 percent said it's essential to national identity; 35 percent says it risks the national identity.

How does this square with what President Trump is doing on immigration and mass deportations?

DAVID BROOKS: It's the opposite.

We have been a country of immigrants for since we were before our country.

And Americans still love pluralism and diversity.

I was celebrating Independence Day and the birth of our country yesterday in Milan, but at a Bruce Springsteen concert.

DAVID BROOKS: And he talked about exactly that, about the diversity of the country, the land he loves.

He was so patriotic.

And I felt very moved and tears coming to my eyes.

But so did the Italians.

They love that version of America.

And people -- that is the thing people have always felt magnetized.

We have a ton of Italian Americans in this country.

They literally came here.

And so that's the part of the country that has never changed.

People were upset at the anarchy in the southern border.

But we have never been a country that did not admire people who come here and work hard and make America what it is.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, I was giving a speech at the Adams Institute in Holland during Trump one, and in the middle -- in the depth of Trump one, when we were worried about our country.

And my host, we were in a cab heading to the event.

And I noticed her lock screen on her phone, the Statue of Liberty.

Here's this Dutch woman with the Statue of Liberty.

It's said to me that America is still a beacon of hope for people around the world.

And that's why that number is at 64 percent.

That's why people look to the United States because of who we are, because of where we come from.

President Biden always said the United States is the only nation that was formed around an idea.

And it's been successful because that idea is something that people from around the world, they can see themselves in it.

And as long as we stay true to that, then, no matter who the president is, we will stay true to our founding and our founding principles, I think.

JOHN YANG: Well, on that also, the idea that -- we asked about a serious threat to the future of democracy, 76 percent said, yes, there is a serious threat, 24 percent said no.

What do you make of that?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes, but there is a serious threat.

But in the winter of 1777, there was a serious threat.

In 1830, when Andrew Jackson did the Indian Displacement Act, there was a serious threat.

1863, that was no joke.

1890s, we had lynchings, we had corruption, 1930s, 1968.

This is a country has built itself through a process of rupture and repair.

We go through these hard periods, but then we repair.

I'm still confident we're going to repair.

JOHN YANG: Confident?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Absolutely.

And I'm confident just simply because of my own story.

I don't know -- well, we have no time.

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: I just looked at the clock.

JOHN YANG: Yes.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Just read my book, John.

(LAUGHTER) JOHN YANG: Best sales job there.

Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, thank you very much.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, John.

JOHN YANG: When we think of penguins, we tend to think cute and energetic.

But, as they age, they also experience aches and pains, just like we humans do.

That's why the New England Aquarium in Boston has created a first-of-its-kind oasis for its penguin elders.

Special correspondent Jared Bowen of GBH Boston takes us there for our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JARED BOWEN: The hit sitcom "The Golden Girls" opened our eyes to the joys of aging together.

Now the New England Aquarium is doing the same with its penguin golden girls and boys.

ERIC FOX, Assistant Curator of Penguins, New England Aquarium: This is our geriatric island.

We affectionately call it our assisted living community.

JARED BOWEN: This is a new development at the aquarium where for decades various penguin species have ruled the roost, or, rather, these islands, dotting one of the institution's most popular exhibits.

It's also a place where kids will be kids, says associate curator Eric Fox.

ERIC FOX: As we look at our older populations, we started to identify that there could be ways that their life could be easier.

But oftentimes it's the youngsters who might be trying to take over their territory or steal their mate or just cause a little bit of ruckus.

JARED BOWEN: These are African penguins.

And, in the wild, their average lifespan is 10 years.

But, here, where care is paramount, many are living into their 30s.

And in their senior years, they face a host of ailments, beyond just ruffians in the neighborhood, says curator Kristen McMahon.

KRISTEN MCMAHON, Curator of Pinnipeds and Penguins, New England Aquarium: They will get cataracts, glaucoma, some spinal conditions sometimes where they don't move quite as easily as a younger bird, arthritis.

JARED BOWEN: Recently, 32-year-old penguin Lambert had both cataract surgery and his left eye removed.

It occurred to the aquarium team that, post-surgery, Lambert might be better suited in a community where life is a bit slower, a bit easier.

Same for his fellow senior citizens who were gradually moved to a retirement home of their own.

KRISTEN MCMAHON: The other thing that's really great about it is it's very close so we can walk by at any time and take a snapshot and say, OK, all eight birds look really great.

Or, hey, I want to look a little closer at Good Hope.

He's moving a little different than he did yesterday.

JARED BOWEN: Life is good on retirement island.

The penguins receive restaurant-quality meals, acupuncture treatments and physical therapy, all by way of on-site medical care.

DR. KATHRYN TUXBURY, Senior Veterinarian, New England Aquarium: Great.

Everything sounds nice and normal.

All right, just going to give a feel here.

Feel your belly.

All right, Lambert, let's take a look in your eye.

JARED BOWEN: Dr. Kathryn Tuxbury is the New England Aquarium's senior veterinarian.

In performing exams as often as once a week, she knows her patients intimately.

What are you looking for when they walk?

DR. KATHRYN TUXBURY: I'm taking a look to see if she has any signs of lameness.

So we have been treating her with an anti-inflammatory pain medication for some stiff gait.

JARED BOWEN: There is a comprehensive treatment plan here, which includes a lot of bonding with caregivers.

KRISTEN MCMAHON: We establish relationships with each individual bird, just like with people, getting to know each other, spending quality time, building trust, and you do that by being present.

JARED BOWEN: In the water alongside the birds, which is where we headed for an up-close look at penguin life with penguin trainer Mia Luzietti.

So they know their names?

MIA LUZIETTI, Penguin Trainer, New England Aquarium: Yes, so we do train name recognition, but even if we didn't train it, they end up knowing them.

They're very intelligent animals.

JARED BOWEN: And curious.

They thrive, the aquarium says, on new objects, people, and PBS camera crews.

That familiarity, the comfort with caregivers, is key as we enter the geriatric island, where Luzietti administers eye drops and meals.

MIA LUZIETTI: We know everything that's going on with the birds at any given time.

If someone didn't come to the island for the feed, why didn't they come?

Is that normal for that individual?

JARED BOWEN: To accommodate its new residents, the island features more ramps and flatter areas.

It's easier to navigate and reduces stress.

So what are these pads, these brown pads?

MIA LUZIETTI: Yes, so the matting on the island provides them a little more cushion for their feet.

Especially with some of the birds on this island having arthritis, we want to make sure that their joints are comfortable.

JARED BOWEN: The New England Aquarium believes it's the first to establish a geriatric community for its animals.

Now, about five months into the effort, the aquarium says it's been a success and will share its findings with other institutions.

KRISTEN MCMAHON: It's really a great network, and it's really such a great feeling to be involved with a species that really needs our help.

JARED BOWEN: Because, in the wild, African penguins are now a critically endangered species.

Their food supply has declined significantly as ocean temperatures have shifted and there's more competition with commercial fisheries.

The population has declined by at least 70 percent over the last decade, says Eric Fox, who has worked on penguin rehabilitation projects in South Africa.

ERIC FOX: What's happening when the parents aren't catching enough fish is that they're abandoning their chicks because they can't get enough to survive, let alone feed another.

JARED BOWEN: Once abandoned chicks are properly nourished, they can be released back into the wild,continuing a cycle of best practices devised here with potential benefits a world away.

ERIC FOX: Our story is way more powerful than just the eight penguins that get to live here.

It's about the colonies in South Africa that could be making it to these ages if things are done to help reduce the threat on their population.

And that's kind of what we're here and why we do what we do.

JARED BOWEN: For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Jared Bowen in Boston.

JOHN YANG: Millions are going bananas over a new take on baseball called banana ball.

To show us what it's all about, our Deema Zein took in a banana ball game between the Savannah Bananas and the Firefighters.

DEEMA ZEIN: If a fan catches a foul ball, it's an out.

A pitch in the dirt, the batter steals first.

And if you draw a walk, you better run as fast as you can.

This is anything but traditional baseball.

They're called the Savannah Bananas, and they're playing what they call banana ball.

It's a fast-paced take on baseball with 11 rules you wouldn't see at a Major League game filled with constant entertainment.

JESSE COLE, CEO, Savannah Bananas: Hey, hey, baby.

Oh, I want to know.

DEEMA ZEIN: It was all started in 2016 by Savannah Bananas CEO Jesse Cole, who had a vision of a fans-first approach to baseball.

JESSE COLE: Bring energy, bring fun and lift people up.

DEEMA ZEIN: It was a tradition-busting idea.

JESSE COLE: I realized that there's a fundamental problem with a game if you leave the game in the middle of the game.

And so we said, all right, well, what if we made our own rules?

DEEMA ZEIN: With new rules in the game also came new antics on the field, including a twerking umpire, acrobatic trick plays, a batter on stilts, trending choreographed dances and much more.

HOLLY DANIEL, Fan: It feels like a party, like a baseball party and not a game.

LILY GUILFOIL, Fan: Circus meets the Olympics.

Like, it's just amazing.

DEEMA ZEIN: And Cole himself is the circus' ringleader, rocking a signature banana yellow suit and top hat.

JESSE COLE: It gives permission to not -- to people to have fun, to not take themselves too seriously.

When your owner is running around throwing out Dolce & Banana underwear into the crowd and having fun, I think it says, you know what, we can loosen up.

DEEMA ZEIN: Banana ball's popularity has grown exponentially in the past few years, racking up more than 30 million followers on social media and outpacing some Major League Baseball teams.

And with a growing social media presence came an expanding Banana Ball League that welcomed the Party Animals and, in 2024, the Firefighters and Texas Tailgaters, with more teams on the horizon, according to Cole.

When the Bananas and Firefighters went head to head in Washington, D.C., recently, the excitement was palpable.

MARISSA BARTHE, Fan: We're new fans, but now forever fans.

DWIGHT QUARLES JR., Fan: They are the best baseball show on earth that's not a playoff game.

WENDELL BELEW, Fan: Yes, they're awesome athletes and it's a different game.

They're different rules, but it's close, and it's a lot of fun.

DEEMA ZEIN: Who are we rooting for, the Firefighters or the Savannah Bananas?

CHILDREN: Savannah Bananas!

DEEMA ZEIN: But things weren't always a home run for Cole and the bananas.

JESSE COLE: We were just hoping, glad to sell a few tickets when we first started.

I was sleeping on the air bed and grocery shop with just $30 a week.

That's where we were nine years ago.

At first, no one wanted to play for us.

And now every week we're hearing from numerous players, from guys that played professional baseball, from people that are literally foregoing their college eligibility just to join us and be a part of this journey.

DEEMA ZEIN: The Bananas Robert Anthony Cruz first played professionally with the Washington Nationals.

ROBERT ANTHONY CRUZ, Savannah Bananas Player: It was my dream to be a professional baseball player.

It was a lot of pressure, though.

Showing up to the ballpark every day with the Nationals was pretty nerve-racking showing up to the ballpark here with the Bananas, it's exciting.

DEEMA ZEIN: Kyle "K.J."

Jackson and Christian Dearman also found playing for the league an opportunity to give their baseball careers new life.

KYLE "K.J."

JACKSON, Savannah Bananas Player: I thought this is the best way for me to continue to play the game I love and pursue my goal of being an entertainer.

CHRISTIAN "MR. ELECTRIC" DEARMAN, Savannah Bananas Player: I saw how much it revived my love for the game and just made me want to be a part of it forever.

DEEMA ZEIN: The Savannah Bananas bring in tens of thousands of fans, selling out games across the nation.

And a ticket lottery system is the main way to be a part of the action.

TIM NADDY, Vice President of Finance, Savannah Bananas: We are the Taylor Swift of baseball.

DEEMA ZEIN: Tim Naddy is the Savannah Bananas' vice president of finance.

TIM NADDY: It pains us that we can't get everybody in the door, but we are trying the best we can in order to deliver the product to them if they can't come and be in our home venue for a night or two.

DEEMA ZEIN: And it's big business when banana ball comes to town, hitting 40 cities and 25 states this year, playing at 18 Major League stadiums and three NFL football stadiums across the nation.

NINA ALBERT, D.C. Deputy Mayor For Planning and Economic Development: Last year, what we saw was that 25 percent of the ticket holders that came to see Savannah Bananas were from outside of the region.

DEEMA ZEIN: Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development for the District of Columbia Nina Albert says games with nationwide appeal always bring in the big bucks.

NINA ALBERT: What an out-of-town visitor does for the District of Columbia, it includes staying in a hotel.

It includes eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

DEEMA ZEIN: And, for dessert, perhaps a banana split.

JESSE COLE: The world's hungry for fun, and so we're grateful that we get to deliver it every night.

DEEMA ZEIN: For PBS News, I'm Deema Zein catching a story that's just bananas.

JOHN YANG: Remember, there's a lot more online, including a look at the scientists from the nation's top health agencies who have lost their jobs.

That's at PBS.org/NewsHour.

And join me tomorrow on "PBS News Weekend" for a look at what's behind a secondhand -- a boom in secondhand shopping, as more Americans turn to thrifting.

And that is the "News Hour" for this Fourth of July.

I'm John Yang.

For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us.

See you tomorrow.