New responsibilities. Narrator frontline has investigated the candidates. Americas best days are yet to come. Narrator who would be presiden i William Jefferson clinton, do solemnly swear. I believe we have to make the right choices. W will meet aggression with resolve and strength. Do everything in our power to change the wor. I, George Walker bush, do solemnly swear. Narrator the moments that i wont let you i wont. Let it be said we refused to let th journey end. That future is our destiny. Narrator the president s they would become. I, Barack Hussein obama, do solemnly swear. We have to heal the divides in our country. Ur i am oice. Narrator and now on ontline. That the end of this chapter of american darkness began here. Narrator the choice 2020. Frontline is made possible by contributions to youpbs u. Ation from viewers like thank you. And by torporation for public broadcasting. Major support is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a mo just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. The Ford Foundation working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide at fordfoundation. Org by the abrams foundation,ded committed to excellence in journalism. The park foundation, dedicato hghtening Public Awareness of critical issues. And by the frontline journalismund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. , overnigowing national unrest. Narrator with the nation in crisis. Mobs sowing chaos in cities across the nation. Narrator . This is the story of two candidates forged in their own crises. Political pundits said there was no way it be done if the city would gather around with us. Narrator . Personal tragedies. An Automobile Accident killed the wife and baby daughter of biden. Narrator . Public controversies. Trumps newspaper ads contribute to the citys racial narrator . Challenges that shaped them. Anita hill comes to washington. The donald is facing an incredible cascrisis. I cant breathe i cant breathe narrator . And show how they would lead a country now in crisis. Together, we are taking back our country. Narrator the choice 2020. In a battle for the soul of america. Narrator trump vs. Biden. America wants to know welcome to america wants to know. Im ernie anastas, and this is the. In 1992, i hosted a special ow in new york where viewers asked a lot of questions about their favorite celebrities. Many, of course, were interested in donald trump, and whate was like as a young boy growing up in queens. I managed to catch up with donalds parents, mary and fred trump, and asked them, what was donalds favorite game as a child . He played monopoly. Yes, indeed. He liked to play. He play with his brother. Uhhuh. He played with robert, but dre than monopoly, he pla with Building Blocks. Ooh. Always with Building Blocks narrator but Donald Trumps childhood was much more complicated. Early on, a family crisis, his moer seriously ill. When he was twoandahalf,mo my gther got very ill. Donald, who was at a very, very critical point in his development as a child, was sentially abandoned by her. He may not entirely trust women. He finds it difficult, if not impossible, to connect with them on any deep level, because i dont believe he ever was ab to with her. When you ask him how she showed her love, he has nothing to say. The complexity of that relationship, i think, plays out through l of his relationships with women throughout his life. With one wife after another. Theres a, an inability to reach any recognizable level of intimacy. Narrator young donald had his own crisis finding his place a famildominated by his father, fred, a stern and demanding Real Estate Developer. I strongly suspect thate d a relationship with his father that accounts for a lot of what he bece. And his father was a very brutal guy. He was a tough, harddriving guy who d very, very little emotional intelligence, to use todays terms. Donalds fathers overall message to his children was and it was a very differentto messaghe boys than to the girls to the boys, was,wi compete be a killer. Do whayou have to to win. Narrator inside the family, a harsh game of apprenwho would take over freds empire . The first in linwasnt donald, it was his older brother freddy. My father was sensitive, hewa kind and generous, he liked hanging out with his friends who adored him, and, maybe worst of all, although is t hasay, he had interests outside of the family business. My grandfather understood none of that. Narrator their father said freddy wasnt a killer. He wanted fly airplanes for a living. Donald thought that was crazy. He could not understand why fred did not go into the family siness and be a builder like their father was. But fred wanted to be pilot, and donald looked at that and said, well, thats sort ofus like being ariver. Why would you want to be a pilot . Narrator donald watched as freddy was cast out. My dad couldnt do anything right, and my grandfather made his life miserable. He was frustrated, and he began to realize that he, it wasnt going anywhere. Narrator his life ended early in alcolism and poor health. Through the years, donald would take a much different path. He wanted to avoid my fathers fate of, you know, abuse and humiliation at the h hands father. He took that lesson to heart. N rator he was determined to live up to his fathers ideal be a killer. trumpet fanfare plays ha ra nr but he was also tempestuous, impulsive. Ntand at 13, his father seim to military school. students chanting he must have sa, this kids going to grow up in a tough world, really tough worldn if ihim to succeed, hes iting to have to be tough. He talks abous almost this rite passage. He said to mthat whe arrived at the military academy, for the first time ilife, someone slapped him in the face when he got out of line. Narrator it would be a fiveyear lesson in how to be a bully. Donald trump yelled at his. Classmat he pushed them around. He even used a broomstick as a weapon against classmates who didnt listen to him when he told thewhat to do. All of us were part of this culture of, you beat on kids when they didnt do the righ thing. You got hit. You may have gotten slammed against the wall. You were put in, in. Go yoput artificially into fights. Uh. He he became a leader of cadets. He became one of the studento leaders d a number of kids under him in the dormitories, and he ruled the dormitory life with an in fist. Narrator inside that brutal world, donald had found his place. His mother told me that he was never homesick. He loved it. He loved all that stuff because it was also really competitive. Other kids didnt really like him all that much. He wasnt that popular because he was so competitive. He was always looking for the edge. But it was, it was an environment that he thrived in. Narrator with his father and mother by his side, donaldua grd. Hed become a killer, learned the power of bullying to get ahead a method hed carry into the future. military students chanting b eeping on countdown teach p. E. Ring hope to p. Two s. stuttering on s uh, s. Er si well, my. Father is very strict. Among the many causes of retarded speech are low intelligence, hearing loss, emotional conflicts, poor methods of the teaching of talking by the parents, brain injury, and many others. For example, a child may stutter as he comes out the earlyre stages orded speech. Narrator joebidens crisis was stuttering. He came of age in a, another time, in which people. Werent as open about disorders or disabilities or setbacks. stuttering when the common. Prescription was. Buck up. Deal with it. Narrator dealing with it a roughandtumble childhood f in delaware, hher a car salesman fallen on hard times. For little joey, catholic school. Nuns. He had an assignment he had toemorize. He had to stand up and deliver narrator the words were in front of him sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman. When joe read it, it went. claps out rhythm sir Walter Raleigh was a gentle man. Say that again . Mmm. Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentle man. And this went on three times. He said gentle man instead of gentleman. And. The nun said. imitating nun mr. Bbbbbiden, whats that word . And this is a person ia. Position of authority, this is e on whos meant to protect you. It was so embarrassing and e enraging that biden walked out of the room,lked out of the school. He walked all the way home car mot starts narrator joeys mom, jean, marched him back to the school to confront his teacher. The sister starts telling her how disrespectful joe is, and my mother, stop. She said, just tell me, did yomake fun of my son . Well, i. Is r, did you me fun of my son . Well. And my mother said, well, ill answer it for you. You sure in hell did. And if you ever, ever, ever do that aga, im going to come back and im going to knock your bonnet right off your head. Do we understand each other . Stuttering is a fear problem. The person feels fear, shame, d ilt, tension. Hes always worrout what might happen. He might get into a situation, not be able to say his nam or the telephone rings and he cant answer it. I was surprised at how often this subject came up during my time with him. El itd me understand that so much of who he is comes back to that. That people are ready to make fun of him. That people will laugh. Narrator bullied, harassed, ridiculed, he was hellbenonut beating the r. Biden would stand in front of his bedroom mirror holding a flashlight to his face, and he would recite yeats and emerson. Narrator he kept pushing against the stutter, the llies and it paid off. People liked to be around him, he really had a presence. You knew him when he walked in. He was a little taller than most, and in very good shape. He was a star footbayer on their team. Narrator joey biden found another way to fight back ti po. In high school, hes president of his senior class. Honestly, thats when he gets a taste for it the stutter is still part of him school, where he hyear in high introduce his family at the, at graduation, and he has to stand up there and not stutter, and say this publicly. And he does it. We want joe we want joe narrator in the crisis of stuttering, a life method persevere. Just push through. More medical rearch to confer to conquer devastating diseases like cancer, and. T the end in, um, um, in themselves. The uaw ok ex crible cuts in their future. Many people would say bidens stutter is among his most visible weaknesses, if not number one. But its also a source of his strength. Its also. The main source of his grit and his. Determination to just be the, comting. This is the cbs eveningr news with walonkite. Good evening. For seven monthsnew york city has teetered on the brink another piece of new york fell by the curbside today for who knows how long. Narrator by the 1970s, new york city was in crisis. As part of the struggle k toeep the city frogoing bankrupt. N york city suddenly comes apart. The city, for the first time, was losing pulation, as well as jobs. And losing its economic base. siren wailing new york was in tatte then, but there wereun opportities everywhere you looked. The new york city of the early ik70s was made for someone donald trump. At narrator in risis, 25yearold donald trump saw a chanceor personal gain. He was struggling to make a name for himself, break out of his fathers shadow. Donald, from a very young age, wanted to exceed his father and go into manhattan and be the success that his father hadnt been in terms of notoriety and fame. Why . Whats going on . Narrator trump took his shot. Rt it s with a Rundown Hotel near gnd central station. The Old Commodore Hotel was in such sorry shape that it had boardedup windows, it had rodents all over the place. It was onef the markers of new yorks sorry decline. And trump saw this as grand opportunity. Unemployment is muher thanate of it is. Narrator it was an enormous gamble, but with the city on the brink. And so the city continues to stagger beneath the weight of its multiplying fiscal problems. Ar tor trump believed new york was desperate enough to pay him to transform the hotel. If the ci would gather around with us, we can produce,h lease, guaranteed by the state of new york, a new york city lease. Narrator but he was new to manhattan. He needed a guide. He found roy cohn. Roy, who was a roughandtumble fixer democr, power within the Democratic Power structure inw rk city, close friend of mayor abe beame, close friend of carmineesapio, the boss of the Manhattan Democratic Party i think he was, like, donalds ambassador to the rld of manhattan. Narrator cohn had en disgraced for leading mccarthyra witch hunts, but trump saw him as a killer. Roy cultivated an image as a bulldog. Nothing, nothing would stop him from tarring opponents or even doing illegal things. His pre and joy was bullying people and bribing people and maki deals behind the scenes he was a fixer. He was a connector. Roy cohn was the kind of master of the dark arts. He was the person who helped shape trumps approach to life. What he learned from roy cohn was never apologize, always attack. Attack the character of your opponents, that theyre somehow malicious, that theyre somehow doing the devils deed here. And,nd let the public know that. That was roy cohn. Narrator cohn knew just how to get the tax breaks trump eded to build his hotel. Roy cohn, because of his uniqueositioning within new york city at that time, was able to pull certain strings, to get tax breaks. To narrar new york taxpayers more than 400 million. R he is able to set up this asal, which the state bill a special new program, but isnt a special new program. It is just a giveaway to donald trump, a tax giveaway. Its been a long, hard fit. How do you feel . Well, im very happy, and i think the city of new york isry going to be appy. Narrator he transformed the commodore hotel. With cohns help, trump had thrived in crisis, used it to his advantage. The mayornd the governor of new york were among those on hand for the ribboncutting ceremony. He got it done. He got it done by bulling his way through, by pretending to have more backers than hreally actually putting lums ofhe was money into it when he really wasnt. He, and the con worked. He got the moneyot the permits. He got it done. You use deception, you usemi intion. You use all of the tactics that you can find. It is a uttey transactional sense of the world. D hats in it for me . Is kind of the founding credo. One of the things that nald learned from school of dad and school of roy was that almost everybody has their price. Atever. It might not necessarily be dollars, although it often is. It might be some vulnerabilityre that wont baled. But roy said that almostev yone, theres a pressure point. Me narrator it would be trumps playbook exploit crisis, in business, in life, in politics. Kennedy, kennedy, kennedy,nedy, kennedy for me narrator joe biden also hado a le model irish, catholic, goodlooking. Joe emulated what he could. Kennedy was drawn to politics, biden was drawn to politics. Jack had a photogenic wife and children. Joe had a photogenic wife d children. The kennedys had a family compound at hyannis port. The bidens would have a family compound in wilmington, delaware. Joe biden was always fascinated by the kennedy mystique. He really saw himself as a natural heir to that tdition. Un im joe biden and im a candidate for thed states senate. Politicians have done such a jon he people that the people dont believe them anymore, and id like a shot at changing that. Narrator but wilmington was no hyannis port. We, the bidens, we had no money. We had no power or influence. We idnt know anybody who was a big name who could help us. Hi, h are you . Hi, how are you . Joe bidens my name. Narrator like the crisis over his stutter, his polical start was a struggle. Behind in the polls, facing a powerful opponent United States senator cale boggs, an ally of president richard nixon. Joe biden asked me about getting involved in his campaign. I started off by telling him that theres no way you can win. Cale boggs was the candidate for the senate. Hed been a twoterm congressman. Twoterm governor. He was beloved aroe state. So i said that he couldnt win. Audacious is a good term to appliden back then. This is a guy who wasnt yet old enough to hold the seat. Narrator it was a time of crisis in the country. The vietnam war had divided americans. Opposition to the war in vietnam has set offns demonstration several major cities. Narrator . Igniting social unrest. In delaware, racial tensionsve boiled o the National Guard was called out in several cities to put down riots. One of these cities wa wilmington, delaware. To nar black residents were angry. Joe biden saw an opportunity to with race back when he wasnce 19, working at an inrcity pool. He was a lifeguard. He was one of the two white guys. Younglooking, goodlooking, elvis presleylooking kind of guy. Thats how he got to know some of thguys who were in the gangs. He just seemed to have a natural instin for getting to know g ople, getting to understand them, but not beraid to be around them. We became friends. We became friends. I was a very troubled child. Okay . Leader of a gang, no food at home, electric cut off, noso sometime no soap and water to take a bath, no hot water. Narrator joe and ricky he likes to be called mouse forged a lifetime friendship ter beating a shared demon they both stuttered. Understand, back there forla black, folks back those days, when you stuttered, yous tarded or you was, or youre something was mentally ong with you. Id start with. B so ically told me, go to the mirror, look at yourself, pronounce your words. Go and put your voice on tape. Well, my words did cha i started reading the papers from t back from the back to the forth, back and forth. Narrator mouse introduced joe all around the neighborhood. Over the years, biden kept in niuch, building relationships in the black com that would pay off. He would go through thispe onalizing with people. I never really heard him say, im going to change the community. Im going to deal with employment. I ing to deal with. You know, the typical politician mess that you hear. I always tell people, be wary o litician who tells you hes going to create jobs. Yo hes lying t sompeople are in politics because theyre in love with policy, but theyre not necessarily in love with humans. He loves the game of it. Loves the dance of it. He loves meeting people. Es he lugging strangers. Narrar it became his goto strategy. President nixons landslide didnt help the republicans. Narrator and in 1972, that method worked. Some of thoseho did lose had been considered the most certain to win narrator the black communitd hee joe biden a winner. In delaware. Narrator by less than 3,000 votes. Wh. Ped by 29yearold joseph biden. It was v