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This week on “Sunday Morning” (September 8)
The Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. “Sunday Morning” also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.)
On Sunday, September 8, “Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel hosts “This Time Is Different,” a special edition of “Sunday Morning,” in which we examine a few of the factors likely to make this year’s election perhaps the most important of our lifetime.
COVER STORY: Serving up politics (and deep-fried pickles) at the Wisconsin State Fair
In a suburb of Milwaukee, visitors to the Wisconsin State Fair could partake of pig races and deep-fried foods on a stick – and also talk politics with “Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel, who asked Wisconsinites why they were backing their chosen candidates in the presidential election.
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MUSIC: A political playlist: The fight over campaign songs
Music has helped set the stage for politicians for generations, and some songs have become intertwined with campaigns, from Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” to Beyoncé’s “Freedom.” But sometimes artists don’t want their songs to be used by a particular candidate – and sometimes they sue! Correspondent Tracy Smith looks at when the playing of political anthems segues into copyright infringement.
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REALITY CHECK: What’s up with the economy?
The economy is the number one issue for voters going to the ballot box this November, and polls say most Americans, when asked about the economy, are pessimistic. But according to many economic indicators, the economy is actually doing quite well. So, why the disparity? Correspondent David Pogue talks with economics professor Justin Wolfers about what feeds people’s misperceptions of America’s post-pandemic economy.
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U.S.: Flag waving
Kelefa Sanneh reports.
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NEWS: How immigration laws are raising issues for Florida growers
In Florida, where nearly 27% of the labor force is foreign-born, state politicians are passing some of the harshest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country. Agriculture is big business in the Sunshine State, but with an estimated half of all farm workers in the country illegally, Florida’s new laws are having significant consequences for farm owners. Correspondent Martha Teichner examines how a state that needs more workers is grappling with the consequences of cracking down on the undocumented.
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REALITY CHECK: What we get wrong about crime
The number of Americans who think that crime rates are going up hasn’t been this high in decades. And yet, FBI statistics show that crime rates (from violent crimes like murders, to property crimes like burglary) have actually steadily dropped for 30 years. Correspondent David Pogue looks at how, when it comes the public’s attitudes on crime, reality and perception are two different things.
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U.S.: South Carolina’s “Sister Senators” on finding common ground
In South Carolina, three Republican State Senators – Katrina Shealy, Sandy Senn and Penry Gustafson – bucked their party to join Democrat Margie Bright Matthews and Independent Mia McLeod in filibustering their state’s near-total ban on abortion and halting its passage three times. For their efforts, Shealy, Senn and Gustafson lost their party’s primaries, and faced threats and harassment. They talk with correspondent Lee Cowan about the price they paid for their principles, and what they gained by reaching across the aisle.
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Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty Images
MOVIES: The power of politics on screen
As Americans have become more polarized, has Hollywood shied away from telling overtly political stories? Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz talks with actor Martin Sheen, who famously played a president on the long-running TV series “The West Wing”; with film professor Annette Insdorf and critic Michael Schulman, about Hollywood’s long tradition of political films; and former studio head Michael Lynton, on the thinking behind risk-averse film studios.
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REALITY CHECK: How divided is America, really?
If you listen to polls and pundits, you may assume that politics has polarized Americans. But correspondent David Pogue points out that, while we tend to have an exaggerated idea of what other people believe, statistics show Americans actually agree on a whole lot.
BOOKS: Fake news, social media, and “The Death of Truth”
As disinformation and conspiracy theories proliferate online in algorithm-fueled chaos, artificial intelligence is making it even harder for us to tell fact from fiction. “Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel examines the consequences of fake news on the election with Steven Brill, author of “The Death of Truth.”
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NATURE: Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota
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The messiness of democracy, and why Americans can’t afford to turn away (YouTube Video)
Today in the United States, the values of democracy as being openly questioned and tested, and the stakes for our nation’s future are higher than ever. Yet, a recent study shows that 38% of Americans say that they often or sometimes avoid news due to its depressing nature. Historian Mark Updegrove, president of the LBJ Foundation in Austin, says that, in fact, there has never been a more important time to pay attention to what’s happening in our country – and to show up at the polls.
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin: Not participating in elections is “cowardly” (YouTube Video)
In this excerpt from an interview with CBS News’ Robert Costa, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin says, in the upcoming election, democracy is at stake, and that people should not tune out in the belief that their voice doesn’t matter.
Trump’s guilty verdict: A stress test for democracy (YouTube Video)
Being found guilty of 34 felony counts would normally mark the end of someone’s political prospects. But as longtime Trump chronicler Michael Wolff notes, the former president has built his career, and brand, on grievances – and this week’s conviction in a New York courtroom is not stopping Trump from running for another term in the White House. CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa reports.
The GOP’s one-man show, starring Donald Trump (YouTube Video)
The Republican National Convention provided little drama this year, as party faithful paid homage to their nominee, former President Donald Trump. CBS News correspondent John Dickerson, anchor of “The Daily Report,” reflects on the role the RNC is playing in this year’s presidential race rematch.
Liz Cheney’s “dire” warning against reelecting Trump (YouTube Video)
Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney says that voters have become increasingly numb to politicians warning of looming dangers to democracy, so in her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” she lays out the case for the threats to the Constitution posed by Donald Trump should he regain the White House. Cheney talks with CBS News’ John Dickerson about how the leading GOP candidate’s own words reveal his plans for a second term, and why she believes blocking Trump and preventing a Republican House majority in the next election is “the cause of our time.”
Kamala Harris’ turn to make history (YouTube Video)
In the past week, following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris has all but locked in her party’s nomination, racked up an impressive list of endorsements, and hauled in a mountain of cash. Constituencies who had tuned out of the campaign are tuning back in. Correspondent Martha Teichner talks with political strategist Stuart Stevens and presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky about what the past suggests is in Harris’ future.
President Biden on ending reelection bid, and defeating Trump (YouTube Video)
President Joe Biden sits down with CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa for his first interview since announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race. He talks about dropping his bid for reelection; his support of the Harris-Walz ticket; and what he sees as the threat posed to democracy if former President Donald Trump is successful in regaining the White House.
Reality, as Trump supporters see it (YouTube Video)
Former President Donald Trump’s critics have been vocal about what a potential Trump election victory in November might mean for the country. In a visit to a campaign rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, “Sunday Morning” senior contributor Ted Koppel talks with Trump supporters to find out what they believe would be the consequences of another Trump election loss. He also visits the battlefield at Gettysburg, where a “war on memory” continues to be waged.
The Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.
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Police arrested a man on murder charges this month, 14 years after he allegedly killed a man in Virginia, but the victim’s body has never been found.
Shane Ryan Donahue, a Virginia man, is presumed deceased, the Prince William County Police Department said Tuesday. He was last seen leaving his parents’ home in Nokesville, Virginia, on March 22, 2010. Donahue, 23, was headed to his house in Nokesville, but never made it there.
Donahue was added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System after he vanished. According to records, Donahue did not have a car and regularly got rides from friends. He frequented Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Fauquier County, Virginia, and Northern Virginia.
The case stumped investigators, who followed a number of leads over the years. This spring, detectives reactivated the investigation and started looking at every detail of the case from scratch, officials said. They revisited people who had been interviewed during the initial investigation and reviewed “digital evidence in greater detail due to advances in analytical technology and modern police investigative practices,” according to a news release.
Officers said Donahue was last seen leaving his parents’ home with Timothy Sean Hickerson, now a 43-year-old Florida resident. Investigators connected Hickerson to a burglary at Donahue’s home that happened just days before the Virginia man disappeared.
Detectives got an arrest warrant this month and, with the help of Florida’s Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, Hickerson was taken into custody in Palm Coast, Florida. Hickerson was charged with murder and burglary, is now set to be extradited to Virginia.
Former President Donald Trump, an avowed proponent of tax cuts, is floating the idea of reversing a measure passed during his tenure in the White House that effectively raised taxes for many U.S. homeowners.
In a post Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump suggested he would scrap a $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes (SALT) that was passed as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — a massive revamp that he has said boosted economic growth.
Now, in the run-up to the November election, Trump said in the post he would “get SALT back, lower your taxes, and so much more,” although he stopped short of offering details. Trump made the post ahead of a speech he’s giving Wednesday at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
Trump’s new proposal for getting rid of his $10,000 SALT deduction cap comes as the presidential hopeful is pitching several additional tax cuts that would, if enacted, reduce taxes for major groups of voters. He’s also vowed to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, a pledge that could get support from the nation’s senior citizens, as well as to end income taxes on tipped workers and on overtime pay, ideas that would help lower- and middle-income Americans.
Yet Trump’s reversal on the SALT deduction has sparked skepticism from lawmakers as well as economists and policy experts.
“So … now Trump is against the SALT tax cap which *checks notes* is a key part of the — only — major piece of legislation passed during his administration?” noted Chris Koski, a political science professor at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, on X.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from Nassau, Queens, said in a statement on Wednesday that he is “happy that the former president is saying that he has finally reversed his devastating decision in 2017 to cap the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.” He also urged Trump to convince Republican lawmakers to vote to restore the full deduction “if he is truly serious.”
The SALT deduction cap “has been a body blow to my constituents for the past 7 years,” Suozzi added.
Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, wrote on X,”Donald Trump took away your SALT dedications and hurt so many Long Island families. Now, he’s coming to Long Island to pretend he supports SALT. It won’t work.”
Asked for details about Trump’s proposal to restore the SALT writeoff, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign told CBS MoneyWatch: “While his pro-growth, pro-energy policies will make life affordable again, President Trump is also going to quickly move tax relief for working people and seniors.”
Here’s what to know about the SALT deduction.
What is the SALT deduction?
The state and local tax deduction allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct property taxes, sales taxes and state or local income taxes from their federal income taxes. Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there was no limit on how much people could deduct through the SALT deduction.
But the 2017 tax overhaul passed under Trump limited the deduction to $10,000 – a blow to many homeowners in states with high property taxes, many of which are Democratic leaning. At the time of the law’s passage, the Treasury Department estimated that almost 11 million taxpayers in high-tax states like New York and New Jersey would forfeit $323 billion in deductions.
Who benefits from the SALT deduction?
Homeowners with high property taxes, such as people in New York, New Jersey and California, were the biggest beneficiaries of the the full SALT deduction.
But some experts also noted that the SALT deduction primarily put more money in the pockets of higher-earning Americans. About 80% of the full SALT deduction had helped people earning more than $100,000 a year, according to the Tax Foundation.
What happened after Trump capped the SALT deduction at $10,000?
The limit has increasingly impacted middle-class homeowners across the U.S. because of rising property taxes and incomes. Some lawmakers have also sought to either repeal or increase the SALT cap, but none of those efforts have borne fruit.
Earlier this year, some lawmakers sought to double the SALT deduction cap to $20,000 for married couples, with the change retroactive for the 2023 tax year. But that bill was blocked in the House in February.
Won’t the SALT deduction cap expire anyway?
Yes, the SALT deduction cap is a provision that’s due to expire in 2025, as are many other parts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, such as a reduction of the individual tax brackets. But Trump has previously indicated he wants to extend the provisions in his signature tax law.
How much would it cost the U.S. to repeal the SALT deduction cap?
It won’t be cheap, according to the the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that focuses on budget and policy issues.
Eliminating the $10,000 deduction limit “would increase the cost of extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) by $1.2 trillion over a decade,” the group estimates, adding that such a measure would be a “costly mistake.”
Extending the TCJA’s tax cuts would increase the nation’s deficit by $3.9 trillion over the next decade, the group estimates. By adding in a expiration or repeal of the SALT deduction cap, that would grow to $5.1 trillion, it added.
“Lawmakers should not extend the TCJA without a plan to – at a minimum – offset the costs of extension, but ideally the plan would raise revenues relative to current law and help put the nation’s debt on a better trajectory,” the group said in a statement.
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