--:-- [Upbeat music fades out]
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): A new Christmas song featuring Dirty Job's Mike Rowe has hit number one on the charts. Santa Claus got a dirty job. Santa Claus got a dirty job. Santa Claus got a dirty job. And he does it all night long.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): We talked to John Rich, the man behind Santa's Got a Dirty Job, about why he made the song and where he's donating all the proceeds.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's December 4th, and this is your Saturday edition of Morning Wire. The campaign to erase memorials of influential figures in American history continues. The latest statues to be taken down, both in New York City, honor two American presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. We'll take a look at what led to the removal of the famous presidential statues. And home and rental prices remain exceedingly high across the country. We'll discuss what's causing the record increases and which cities are being hardest hit. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): This show is sponsored by Pure Talk. If you're with Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile, you're paying too much. Switching to Pure Talk saves the average family over $800 a year. Go to puretalk.com, find the right plan for you, and enter promo code WIRE to save 50% off your first month.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): With the holidays just around the corner, a new Christmas song has skyrocketed up the charts this week, becoming the number one song in the world. The song, Santa's Got a Dirty Job, was written and performed by two famous names, former Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe and country music star John Rich, most famous for the song Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Here to tell us about how the huge hit came to be and how its proceeds are being used to do a lot of good is one of the men who created it, John Rich.
--:-- John Rich: Thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): So look, your song with Mike Rowe went straight to number one, topping Adele and other major names, which has got to be pretty exciting. Tell us about how you two ended up partnering to create it.
--:-- John Rich: So I've got a show called The Pursuit, and it's a show that I created where I interview people who pursue happiness in America because it is the one thing we all still have in common is the right to pursue happiness. And so I was interviewing a guy I've been a fan of a long time. America loves this guy, Mike Rowe, Mr. Dirty Jobs.
--:-- John Rich: Yep. And while I'm interviewing Mike, I asked him, I said, you know, Mike, somebody that's got a dirty job that you probably never considered. He goes, who's that? I said, Santa Claus. He started laughing. He goes, you know what? When you think about it, that is a pretty dirty job.
--:-- John Rich: You got the chimneys to deal with. Can you imagine what hitting you in the face with nine reindeer for 24 hours. I said exactly. And I said Mike listen, I read you know in your history that back in the 1980s you sang opera. You've got this incredible voice, but you're a real singer. You still got any notes left?
--:-- John Rich: And he starts going, you know, tennis, autoball, something in Italian. I couldn't understand it. But I went, wow, man, you can still sing. I said, Mike, we should do a Christmas song together about Santa Claus having a dirty job. He goes, hey, man, that would be a blast.
--:-- John Rich: Well, about five minutes later, I got up to go to the bathroom, take a break. And I'm in the bathroom, and I'm thinking about Santa Claus got a dirty job. And this melody comes into my head in the bathroom. And, of course, had the iPhone right in my pocket. I pull the iPhone out, turn on the voice notes, and I sing the chorus to Santa Claus got a dirty job.
--:-- John Rich: And I walked out and I said, Mike, I think I just wrote the chorus to the song. And he said, in the bathroom? I said, man, I get some of my best ideas in the bathroom. He goes, actually, so do I. Let me hear the chorus. So I played it for him. He said, let's finish this and get it cut and get it out this year.
--:-- John Rich: And we can give all the money to your charity and my charity. I said, let's do it. So three weeks later, he's in Nashville, Tennessee. We go in the studio with the A-list Nashville Players, big studio. and we record the track, sing the track, shoot a little music video. We put the song out and 24 hours later, this is the number one downloaded song in the world, all genres.
--:-- John Rich: So, you know, 50% goes to Folds of Honor, which is the group I support. They put kids through college who lost a parent in combat fighting for our country. And then Mike has the Mike Rowe Works Foundation, which provides scholarships to kids for trade schools. So kids that really want to do actual real jobs, welders and farmers and people like that.
--:-- John Rich: So, hey, man, we're excited about it. I think America needed to get a grand. They needed to laugh for a minute. And we're moving into Christmas, so it was the perfect time. And what a great surprise, man, to look up and see it at number one.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Well, from the success of the song, it's clear that it's really resonating with a lot of people. Last question, what are you working on next?
--:-- John Rich: We are finishing up a few concerts with big and rich and, got obviously Christmas around the corner. I have two sons who are 10 and 11. So Christmas is a big deal here at this house. But then after the first of the year, I'm shooting more episodes of the pursuit. And, I was talking to Mike Rowe this morning. I said, Hey man, people really like your voice on these songs. I said, what if we did a whole record on you? And so he's, uh, he's thinking about it, man. You never know.
--:-- John Rich: Mike Rowe, the opera singer. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one. And I'm hoping your song makes it into the permanent Christmas canon. Yeah, so our ultimate dream for this song, Dare to Dream, right, is that this song steps in front of and becomes more popular than Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. So Dare to Dream, guys. Dare to Dream. We believe it.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, guys.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That was country music star and host of The Pursuit, John Rich. Coming up, two presidential statues are being removed in New York City. Inflation is destroying the dollar. Birch Gold Group can help protect your IRA or 401k with a precious metals IRA. Text WIRE to 989898 to claim a free info kit on physical gold and silver. There's zero obligation. Text the word WIRE to 989898 to protect your savings today
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The campaign to erase memorials of influential figures in American history continues. Statues of both Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt will be removed and either moved or put into storage. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yeah, but first I want to roll the clocks back a bit to 2017. Okay. In his speech from Trump Tower in New York, the then president, warned of the slippery slope that was the removal of American monuments. George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down, excuse me, are we going to take down, are we going to take down statues to George Washington? Because he was a major slave owner. Now we're going to take down his statue. So you know what? It's fine. You're changing history. You're changing culture.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Now, Trump was widely mocked by the legacy media for this argument. At the time, for example, NBC News shared an article alongside the tweet why statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson aren't next, as President Trump suggested. In the article, one historian dismissed Trump's warning, saying, quote, we can acknowledge they were flawed men and were slaveholders, but they founded this nation, an imperfect nation.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, if we jump forward to 2021, Trump was right. A few days ago, an 884-pound statue of Thomas Jefferson in New York City was packed up in a wooden crate. This came after a mayoral commission voted to remove the statue from City Hall, a place it's been for nearly 200 years. Why? Because he was a slave owner. And Thomas Jefferson isn't the only example in just the past few days, right?
--:-- Ian Howarth: No, Teddy Roosevelt is yet another name on the list of ex-presidents whose statues have now been taken down. A statue of Roosevelt is being moved from in front of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to Medora, North Dakota. It's going to be on long-term loan to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, which is going to open in Medora in 2026.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Back in June, the New York City Public Design Commission unanimously voted to remove the statue and put it into storage. The statue has been described as controversial and problematic because the 26th president is flanked by a Native American on one side and an African man on the other. The museum said it conveyed a, quote, racial hierarchy that the museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So two more statues of former presidents removed. Yeah, that list is growing. Thanks, Ian.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Daily Wire's Ian Howarth. In September, home prices were up 19.1% from a year before, marking a continuation of extremely high home costs across the country. Here to discuss what could be causing the spiking costs is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So as John said, the price of homes in the U.S. saw a 19.1% annual increase in September. This comes from a measurement out of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price marker. For comparison, the median growth in U.S. home prices between 2019 and 2020 was 4%.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Technically, this number is down a bit from August, which had a 19.6% year-over-year gain. But big picture here, over the last couple months, we're seeing record highs. Those who are buying right now are certainly feeling it. While 19% is the average increase, some cities are seeing much higher increases.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Prices in Phoenix jumped a whopping 33%. Tampa saw a 28 gain and Miami home prices climbed 25 Every one of the 20 cities in the report showed gains in the double digits Chicago and Minneapolis saw the smallest increases at about 12 and 13 respectively.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So usually high home prices force people into rentals. So are we seeing increases in the rental market too? Yeah, we're seeing rental prices going up in many areas across the country as well. According to Redfin, the average monthly rents increased by 13% across the country.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: That's the biggest rate gain in two years. And in 29 of the 50 biggest metropolitan locations in the country, rent price increases surpassed mortgage fees for new homebuyers. And do we know why this is happening? Well, experts point to the pandemic mostly.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Lots of people left big city apartments for suburban homes when the lockdowns were put in place and while mortgage interest rates were low. Also, there's a simple supply and demand issue. Existing homeowners aren't selling their homes and new home building has slowed due to supply chain problems.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: In fact, in September, the number of new home permits was the lowest in more than a year. That's for multifamily and single home permits. Century 21 CEO Michael Meadler recently commented on this in an interview. On the building front, we are way behind.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Obviously, you know, from the downturn that happened in 2008 to where we're at now, you We're historic lows on kind of what our folks are building. Here's the truth of the matter. Between 2012 and 2021, there were close to 12 million new household formations, and we only put 7 million homes built in this country.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So we'd have to double the pace in the next five years in order to catch up for the demand that's out there. Experts also say the speedy increase in rents could lead to more inflation issues as workers turn to their companies to ask for higher salaries to keep up with housing costs.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, and this has a huge impact on the economy beyond home values. There's a whole generation of first-time homebuyers or prospective buyers who feel like they're locked out of the market right now. Right. Even though a lot of homeowners see this as a financial win, there are real downsides.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): When millions of young people feel like homeownership is unattainable, they lose faith in the traditional path of homeownership and family formation. That has downstream effects on the culture and the economy, which affects all of us.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Charlotte, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bond. Other stories we're tracking this week The longest-running soap opera on television, General Hospital has experienced some high-profile departures over ABC's COVID vaccine mandate, which went into effect November 1 Two of the show's most popular stars were fired in recent weeks over the mandate Ingo Rademacher and Steve Burton.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr. Oz from The Dr. Oz Show, has declared his intention to run for Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz will be running as a Republican in the 2022 race with the goal of succeeding the retiring GOP Senator Pat Toomey.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The Senate race is expected to garner nationwide attention as Democrats attempt to hold on to their razor-thin margin in the Senate. If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back next week with the news you need to know. If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
