--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe, and I'm joined by Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, January 25th.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
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--:-- John Bickley: Texas says it will hold the line and continue to put up border barricades in Eagle Pass after the Supreme Court ruled against it. This is an invasion, and so it's right for Texas to have taken up the steps that we have taken.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is Texas legally justified, and are we heading for a constitutional crisis?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump and Biden appear destined to face off again in November. Who really has the advantage? Donald Trump is betting you won't vote on this issue. I just do want to reiterate the polls. We're way up on Biden. And the Anti-Defamation League alerted law enforcement about conservative content creators they deemed extremists and dangerous, including Matt Walsh and Libs of TikTok. They claim this content inspires real-world extremist activities, threats, and even violence.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: A constitutional crisis may be brewing in Eagle Pass, Texas. A showdown is taking place there between the state and the federal government over who controls the border. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the escalating battle over illegal immigration into Texas.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, this week the Supreme Court ruled that federal agents can cut that razor wire that Texas put up at the border, but now Governor Abbott is defying that order? So the case is still ongoing in the Fifth Circuit. This was a narrow ruling that simply allowed federal agents to cut through existing wire in order to do their jobs. So the legality of the wire fence is still undecided. In the interim, Abbott is sticking to his guns. He put out a statement on Wednesday that regardless of the court ruling, Texas will continue to defend its border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: His statement is essentially a simplified version of Texas's legal arguments. Abbott says that President Biden has violated his oath by not only ignoring federal immigration laws, but actively working to stop states from enforcing them. According to Abbott, Biden has also endangered immigrants' lives by removing border barriers that would have acted as immigration funnels. Instead of migrants routing toward legal points of entry, they're trying to cross in more dangerous areas, such as swimming the Rio Grande.
--:-- Tim Pierce: For these reasons, Abbott has said he has declared an invasion at the border to invoke the state's constitutional right to defend itself. He even invoked the founders. He wrote quote James Madison Alexander Hamilton and the other visionaries who wrote the U Constitution foresaw that states should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, has the Biden administration responded to Abbott?
--:-- Tim Pierce: There was an exchange in the White House briefing room on Tuesday that got pretty close. This is Fox News' Peter Doocy asking national security spokesman John Kirby about the legal battles over the situation at the border. Why are you guys making it easier for people to enter the country illegally? I believe we are. Why do you think we are? Well, you guys sued to cut razor wire that was put in place by Texas officials. So that the Border Patrol could actually do their jobs. But keep going.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, you won in court. So now what? The Border Patrol Union president is saying the Supreme Court's decision is going to undoubtedly encourage more illegal immigration. Do you guys know better than the Border Patrol Union? The Border Patrol needed access, and that's why we sued to get rid of that razor wire, so that they could do their jobs.
--:-- Tim Pierce: A few moments later, they got to one of the main disputes here between Texas and the Biden administration. Ducey asks if razor wire works to stop illegal immigration. Here's Kirby's response. Does razor wire work for what? Does it work for the Border Patrol to allow them to have the access they need to be able to better process people that are trying to get across the border? I don't think so. And that's why we asked for it to be removed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So what he's saying, though, is the emphasis is on processing people rather than preventing entry. Yeah. Republicans say Biden's border policy is effectively catch and release. And we've recently seen a spate of reports of illegal immigrants involved in crime. Earlier this week, Texas law enforcement arrested a suspected human smuggler who was found to be wanted for murder in Mexico. Then there was an illegal immigrant charged with sexually abusing a minor in Virginia. He was released from jail in Fairfax County, a so-called sanctuary jurisdiction, despite a request that he be turned over to ICE. In New Jersey, ICE picked up another illegal immigrant who had escaped from Colombia, where he was serving a 22-year sentence for murder. He slipped into the U.S. as a gotaway sometime after 2018.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So this immigration crisis is spilling out in all kinds of alarming ways far beyond the border states. But the biggest question now appears to be how far this faceoff between Abbott and Biden will go. Right.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: With the odds of a 2020 election rematch increasingly likely, new polling shows President Biden struggling to gain ground with voters in key battleground states. Joining us to break down the numbers and what we can expect to see in a Trump-Biden rematch is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So we've got the New Hampshire results and we've got some new polling. Where do we stand now?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, barring an all-time upset in the GOP primary or a speedy conviction in court, Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee in 2024. And while Democrat lawmakers have had this sort of bring it on message publicly, all the data we have right now shows that Trump will be a formidable opponent. In the last week alone, five national polls have been released. Trump is beating Biden in all of them. And in four of those five polls, he is up by more than four points. And if you look at betting markets, which actually historically have been more accurate in predicting winners than polling, Trump is now at even odds to win the presidency, while Biden is at two to one odds. So Vegas definitely going for Trump there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So critics can argue the Democrats want nothing more than to face Trump again. But right now, the data shows that he is in a strong spot as we gear up for the general. Right, in a much stronger position than he was at this point in 2020. So what's behind Biden's apparent struggles against Trump?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah so historically challengers to the White House have to run on what they would do if elected Trump is a unique candidate and then he can say here what I already done He making the pitch that we usually see from incumbents Are you better off now than you were four years ago? And the answer to that question for the majority of Americans right now is no. Seven in 10 Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, while just 23% say Biden's policies have helped them. More than double that number, 49%, say that Trump's policies helped them back when he was in office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump is also running laps right now around Biden when it comes to who folks trust on key issues. On everything from the economy to crime, border security, and foreign affairs, Trump holds large leads when asked who's better suited on each topic. The only thing Biden leads on consistently is abortion, which barely cracks the top 10 among issues most important to voters in most polls.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that voter dissatisfaction is especially evident when you look at the president's approval ratings. Yeah, about that. Those numbers have been historically bad. Give us some more context there. So it's important to note that Biden's polling struggles against Trump are reflective not just of Trump's relative strength, but also of his own weaknesses. Right now, Biden's average approval rating is at 39 percent. Not only is that one of the lowest marks of his presidency, it puts him in uncharted territory historically. 39 percent is the lowest approval rating entering a reelection year of any president in modern American history. Even Trump, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter, all of whom lost their re-election bids, were more popular than Biden is right now.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They were sitting at 42%, 46%, and 56% respectively. So from a historical perspective, in modern history, no president this unpopular has won a second term. And that could play a major role, not just in the presidency, but in deciding the Senate and House majorities, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Exactly. Down-ballot Democrats in Congress are fearful right now that voter resentment with Biden could bleed over into their races and drag them down. That is especially important in states like West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio, all places that Trump won easily in 2020, where Democrat incumbents are running for re-election to the Senate. So bottom line, the Senate map in 2024 is incredibly favorable for Republicans who are hoping to benefit from Biden's unpopularity and recapture a majority in Washington.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The presidential race is going to get most of the attention this year, but it's important to remember everything else at stake nationally. Yeah, there's a lot.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: A newly unearthed email reveals that the Anti-Defamation League has been urging its law enforcement partners to investigate conservatives. In particular, the group asked the government to look into well-known personalities like Daily Wire host Matt Walsh and Libs of TikTok over their criticism of the transgender movement.
--:-- Megan Basham: Hey, Megan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: First, how did this email come to light and what did it say? So the Daily Signal, which is the Heritage Foundation's news arm, first became aware of it as a result of a FOIA request from the Oversight Project. That's another Heritage initiative. And they had filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Washington State Fusion Center. And that's a state agency funded by DHS and DOJ. So think taxpayer funded. And its purpose is to support the counterterrorism efforts of Homeland Security and some other law enforcement agencies.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, what that request turned up was an email that showed that the ADL has flagged content for the Fusion Center to potentially act on. And most people probably know that the ADL was founded to combat anti-Semitism. But over the years, it's evolved into, I think we can say, something of a progressive catch-all group that describes itself as standing against hate and extremism. And it has a center of researchers who will, among other things, work with LGBTQ groups like GLAAD. And they put together these reports on what they call extremist threats. So in February 2023 the ADL sent an intelligence analyst at the Fusion Center an email that claimed online amplifiers were promoting quote unquote hate and extremism including supposed false narratives and harassment of LGBTQ individuals
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, that email linked to a report that flagged some well-known critics of transgender ideology, especially as it involves children. Among them were libs of TikTok's Chaya Rejic, independent journalist Chris Rufo, and Matt Walsh, who is a podcast host for The Daily Wire, which, of course, also produces this show.
--:-- Megan Basham: So on what basis did the ADL accuse them of promoting extremism? Well, they cited Rufo's critiques of minors being present at drag queen performances. The ADL characterized that as false allegation of child sexualization. They also cited Walsh for a Nashville event that he spearheaded last October, the Rally to End Child Mutilation. Now, that event also featured a number of lawmakers, including Senator Marsha Blackburn and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. The ADL claimed that the event was attended by known violent extremists, but it didn't provide any support for that claim.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So conservative groups are calling this further evidence that law enforcement agencies are being weaponized against social conservatives, in particular because this comes on the heels of that House committee report that showed the FBI targeting pro-life Catholics. Right, that really caused a stir.
--:-- Megan Basham: Did the Fusion Center act on the ADL's claims or did any of its law enforcement partners? You know, it's not clear if Fusion did, though we do know that they continue to receive tips from the ADL. This is what Mary Margaret Olihan, the Daily Signal reporter who broke this story, told us about that. Now, the Washington State Fusion Center told us that they know the difference between ideological tips and otherwise. However, they're still receiving these tips, and they did say that they look into the tips that they receive from outside sources.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, in effect, the ADL is telling law enforcement agencies to look into people that could be just Matt Walsh posting online about why transgender ideology is harming children. Now, Olihan also spoke to Chris Loftus, who is the director of communications for the Washington State Patrol. And that's one of Fusion's key partners. And he said his agency is not currently investigating Walsh, Rufo or any of those accounts that the ADL flagged in this email. And he also said that his agency receives tips from a variety of sources, but that it would not investigate anyone solely at the behest of the ADL.
--:-- Megan Basham: But the ADL has also boasted about a number of investigations from the FBI and other agencies that the ADL has played a role in, and those did result in charges and convictions. So Olihan told us that this is ultimately about attempts to limit freedom of speech. And on that level, it is a concern for every American. The leap that they're making here is that when someone like Matt Walsh posts about transgender ideology, he should be considered an extremist and law enforcement should consider that content to be putting other people in danger. And when you have an organization like the ADL telling law enforcement that maybe you shouldn't have that right, that's something everyone should be worried about.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Matt Walsh also emphasized that point online. He said that the ADL and Democrats more broadly, and I'm quoting, clearly want to use force to shut down speech that threatens their narrative. And he said he expects that we could soon be seeing arrests and possibly fines leveled against conservatives. Lots of people very concerned about the government's role in all of this. Yeah, indeed.
--:-- Megan Basham: Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
