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--:-- Host John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Black Rifle Coffee. Start your morning with America's coffee from BlackRifleCoffee.com.
--:-- Host John Bickley: President Biden is expected to announce his campaign to run again for president as early as this week. But the expected announcement comes amid significant headwinds, including ominous polling among Democrat voters and a troubling report about the growing terror threat in Afghanistan. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, April 24th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: The U.S. Embassy in Sudan is evacuated by special forces as violence between two Sudanese militant groups intensifies. How many Americans remain in the war-torn country, and is there a plan to get them out?
--:-- Host John Bickley: And a federal adoption case out of Oregon has gained national attention as it pits gender identity policies against religious freedom. We absolutely want to syndicate both the caregiver's rights, but also the rights of natural parents everywhere. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host John Bickley: As President Biden nears the expected launch of his reelection bid, new polling shows a number of Democrats say they'd consider supporting a Republican candidate in 2024. The news comes as the president faces a growing number of foreign and domestic headwinds. Here to discuss the president's expected announcement and the obstacles he's facing is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot. So first, you've been closely tracking the numbers on President Biden's re-election bid. What are we seeing now?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, first, there are rumblings that Biden will launch his 2024 run as early as tomorrow. But that news comes as the president remains deeply unpopular among voters, including those in his own party. A number of polls show the majority of Democrats now want someone else to top the ticket in 2024. And a new poll from the Associated Press this weekend showed just 26% of Americans overall want him to seek a second term. And that includes just 47% of Democrats. Those numbers within a president's own party are almost unheard of in modern presidential politics.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But a new poll released this weekend by NBC News and Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies shows perhaps the most concerning trend yet for Biden. When asked who they'd support in 2024, 47% of Americans say that they'll vote for a Republican, while just 41% say Biden. And if you look at the all-important enthusiasm metric, which is helpful in predicting voter turnout, the NBC poll found that just 21% of Americans say they'll definitely vote for Biden, while nearly double, 39%, say that they'll definitely vote for a Republican candidate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, a notable gap there. So that's a generic candidate matchup. What do those numbers look like when you get specific about the Republican candidate?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that part's interesting. Despite Biden's overall polling struggles, he's still performing relatively well in a hypothetical head-to-head with former President Trump. A Quinnipiac poll released this month shows Biden beating Trump nationwide 49 to 45 and also in key battleground states. He's typically holding a slight advantage there. One thing that seems clear, though, is that a big part of Biden's success has less to do with the president himself and more to do with Trump, whose favorability rating among voters is often lower than Biden's. Most polls show him in the high 30s or low 40s nationwide. And another national survey from NBC found that 60 percent of Americans say they do not want Trump to run again.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So a mixed bag for Trump when it comes to polling. All right. So that's Trump. What do we see when other candidates are on the ballot?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, because it's still so early, the only other candidate we really have much data on is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who does typically outperform Trump when matched up head-to-head against Biden. Across the last month, every national poll has shown him with a lead, anywhere from two to eight points. And we see similar trends in battleground states. According to public opinion strategies, while Trump trails Biden by one, two, and four points in Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, DeSantis leads Biden in each of those states by six, two, and three points, respectively.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: DeSantis supporters have been quick to tout those numbers and point out that similar trends are seen in other key battleground states. Now, President Biden has faced a number of political headwinds at home and abroad over the last few months. How much of a factor has that played into his poor polling numbers?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, that steady trickle of negative stories has undoubtedly played a role in Biden's struggles. We've talked a good bit about how the border crisis and inflation have crushed his approval ratings on the economy and immigration. But a number of recent stories have exacerbated that trend further. For example, over the weekend, it was revealed that included among the trove of confidential documents in last month's Pentagon leaks was a report showing the disastrous consequences of President Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Those documents show ISIS has begun planning and preparing for over a dozen attacks on embassies, churches, sporting events, and business centers worldwide.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The documents say the newfound lack of competent security services in the country has minimized disruption opportunities for the terror group and essentially allowed them to operate with little resistance. The Biden administration refused to comment on the veracity of the documents, but they'll do little to help the president standing on foreign policy, where he's already 15 points underwater in national polling. As the 2024 race heats up, you can certainly expect to hear Republicans point out that, according to the Pentagon, President Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal breathed new life into ISIS.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, foreign policy will certainly be a major topic for the GOP. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host John Bickley: Anytime. That was Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Coming up, Sudan descends into civil war. Cinch app to order. Use promo code WIRE to get your first tank exchange for just $10. Visit cinch.com slash offer for details.
--:-- Host John Bickley: U.S. Special Forces evacuated the American embassy in Sudan on Sunday as a violent power struggle between rival militant factions stretches into its second week. According to the U.S. State Department, as many as 16,000 Americans are still inside the war-torn nation. Joining us with the details is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Georgia. The violence began on April 15th when rival generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan de Gallo failed to come to terms in a deal to unify their military commands. Al-Burhan controls the official Sudanese military, while General Hamdan de Gallo controls a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, which was formed to suppress rebels in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Both groups cooperated to out Sudan's previous dictator, Omar al-Bashir, in 2019 and promised to transition Sudan's government into democracy with free elections. But both groups worked together again to stage a military coup in 2021 to postpone those elections, which were pushed back to July of 2023. As of now, it seems like they'll be postponed indefinitely. As part of that deal, the RSF was supposed to surrender and integrate into the official military, but that didn't happen.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, is the violence fairly localized? And if so, where is it and how is it affecting civilians?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Much of the fighting has gone on right in the capital of Khartoum, although the violence has spread across the country. Here's how Sudan's former prime minister, Miriam al-Mahdi, described the streets of Khartoum in an interview with CBS. In several parts of the Khartoum, the capital, there are rotting bodies of our youth in the streets, some of them being eaten by the dogs, and no one is safe in Khartoum.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Estimates vary, but everyone agrees that at a minimum, hundreds of people have been killed in the last week and thousands have been injured, including at least three international aid workers. While the U.S. government isn't actively evacuating American citizens, it has advised all Americans not to travel to Sudan and is encouraging everyone who can to leave.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, John mentioned at the top of the segment that there are about 16,000 Americans in Sudan. What's the plan to get them out?
--:-- Tim Pierce: There isn't one. U.S. special forces were able to evacuate the embassy in Khartoum over the weekend, but the State Department is holding off on broader evacuations because the region is too unstable. The State Department also isn't sure how many Americans are in Sudan at the moment.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The 16,000 number is a rough estimate based on registrations at the embassy, but not all Americans register when they exit and leave the country. The State Department says it's been in contact with hundreds of private American citizens in Sudan. Here's State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We have been clear-eyed about how American citizens should not travel to Sudan. for months now. We have communicated to American citizens in the country about safety and security measures and precautions that they can take.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, how is this expected to affect the region overall?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, the Horn of Africa wasn't exactly a bastion of stability to begin with. Sudan had been embroiled in a variety of ethnic and religious internal conflicts for decades. The country was designated as a state sponsor of terror by the U.S. during the 1990s due to its support for al-Qaeda, and its former dictator al-Bashir was the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for alleged atrocities committed in Darfur.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That said, if the violence continues, it's likely that it could reignite those conflicts and turn Sudan into a safe haven for terror again. The fighting has already spread to neighboring Ethiopia, which is coming off the heels of its own civil war. It's also important to note that local droughts and international supply chain issues have caused hunger and food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. It's estimated that tens of millions of people are facing acute hunger, including over 15 million Sudanese.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The UN World Food Program suspended its operations in Sudan after three of its aid workers were killed. And if the violence spreads to other nations, it could disrupt humanitarian aid as well, putting millions at risk of famine or even starvation.
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right. Well, Tim, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Host John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: A case out of Oregon could have major implications for religious freedom nationwide. A single mother of five has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Oregon after her adoption application was denied for expressing disagreement with the state's LGBT policies. Here to discuss the lawsuit is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hey Amanda, so give us a little background here. What can you tell us about the plaintiff in this case and what preceded the suit?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, the plaintiff in this case is a woman named Jessica Bates, a single mother of five. She lost her husband six years ago in a car accident. Bates says she felt compelled to adopt about a year ago after hearing a story of a man who was adopted from the foster care system as a child. She was months into the process and had undergone some training when she noticed the emphasis on LGBT policies, specifically that she must respect, accept, and support the gender identity of any child that could be placed in her home.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: When she notified the state that she couldn't comply with that policy, her application was put on hold. And then two months later, she was notified that her application had been denied. And now represented by legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, Bates is suing the state to remove this policy so she and other people of faith can be included in the adoption process.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, let's get into that lawsuit. ADF argues this policy is unconstitutional. Tell us about that.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Right. I spoke directly to ADF legal counsel Johannes Widmalm-Dalfonzi about this, and he said this is a clear violation of the First Amendment in multiple respects. This means that caregivers have to agree to use preferred pronouns. They have to take children to affirming events like pride parades. They even have to take children to receive cross-sex hormone shots as part of a gender transition.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So just looking at preferred pronouns as an example, that carries a message. It forces a desk-guard client to say something about gender identity and about biological sex that she doesn't agree with. And that violates the First Amendment, violates her freedom of speech, and it also violates her free exercise by putting her to a choice of abandoning her religious beliefs or foregoing the chance of ever having even the opportunity to adopt a child.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And what is Oregon's argument for this policy? Has the Department of Human Services responded to this lawsuit?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, I reached out to the department for comment and didn't hear back, but DHS has released a general statement sticking by their policy, saying the Child Welfare Division, and I'm quoting here, stands in support of transgender, non-binary, gender fluid, and other LGBTQIA2S plus children.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The department also claimed that gender diverse people are under attack in the U.S. and they're committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for all children and young people, regardless of their gender identity. I relayed that statement to Widmom Delfonzi and here's how he responded.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, the problem is that Oregon isn't helping children in need. They're punishing religious homes and actually taking away homes that are open and needed to care for these children, excluding Christians and entire faith groups, that's the children in need the most.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: I believe there's statistics that practicing U.S. Christians are twice as likely to adopt as the general U.S. population. In other words, these systems, they can't function without Christians, much less about Jews and Muslims and people of other faiths who share just good values.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, is this situation isolated to Bates? Do we know if other people of faith have been hit with the same denial as she has in Oregon? And for that matter, is this happening in other states too?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: ADF says others in Oregon have reached out to them with similar stories. And as far as this happening in other states, there was actually a similar case in Washington state back in 2020. The judge in that case said the state wasn't allowed to discriminate against a caregiver applicant based on their religious beliefs.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: He said applicants could be asked questions surrounding LGBT issues and their responses could be used to help match a child. But their faith-informed answers, it couldn't be the sole reason to deny them an opportunity to take in a child.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So not the sole reason.
--:-- Host Georgia Howe: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
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--:-- Host Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
