--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, October 31st. Happy Halloween.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Biden administration announces a plan to tackle anti-Semitism on college campuses after a string of threatening incidents toward Jewish students. There's no place for hate in America, and we condemn any anti-Semitic threat or incident in the strongest terms.
--:-- John Bickley: What steps is the administration taking, and will they be enough to help protect students?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining me is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. So Amanda, what exactly is the administration promising to do to protect these students?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The administration has promised a couple of things. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, they've connected with campus law enforcement teams to address what they're calling the threat environment, and they're sharing information about resources.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what about the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: They've updated their intake process for discrimination complaints. So now those will specifically state that certain forms of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are prohibited by law.
--:-- John Bickley: That's interesting. VP Kamala Harris's husband, Doug Emhoff, has also joined Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for a discussion with a nonprofit that comprises of over 50 Jewish organizations.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: And finally, Cardona and White House Domestic Policy Advisor, Neera Tanden, they're going to attend a roundtable with Jewish students sometime this week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we also saw a very similar headline coming out of Harvard University. Tell us a little bit about that.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, that's right. Harvard President Claudine Gay has created an advisory council with whom she's going to work with personally to frame an agenda and strategy, she says, for combating anti-Semitism at the school.
--:-- John Bickley: You know, we've reported here before that almost immediately following that October 7th attack by Hamas, some 34 student groups at Harvard blamed Israel for the slaughter of those innocents.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: There's also been what's been described as threatening demonstrations on campus, and Jewish students have actually reportedly had to lock themselves in their dorm rooms fearing for their own safety.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the precipitating event that seemed to preempt some of these announcements was actually the incident at Cornell. What happened there?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, that's right. There were some graphic threats posted to the Cornell discussion forums over the weekend that included threats to slit the throats of male Jewish students, rape Jewish females, behead Jewish babies in front of their parents, and there was a threat to bring an assault rifle on campus to kill Jews.
--:-- John Bickley: Students were warned to stay away from the school kosher dining hall, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced an investigation into that matter on Monday.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: You know, notably, this sort of targeting has come from activists on the left, despite Jews generally identifying as liberal or Democrats.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Jay Green, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, spoke to Morning Wire about why this has become such a politically polarized issue.
--:-- Jay Green: The progressive left believes in a worldview where everyone can be grouped into either oppressor or oppressed categories. And inevitably, despite Jews' historic suffering, Jews get placed in the oppressor category in this Manichean worldview.
--:-- John Bickley: And why is that?
--:-- Jay Green: The reason for that is that Jews tend to be more successful than average. And the progressive left sees any evidence of disproportionate lack of success as evidence of oppression and any disproportionate success as evidence of being an oppressor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now that said though, there have been some Democrats coming out pretty strong against this rhetoric.
--:-- Jay Green: Yeah, that's right. Democratic New York Congressman Richie Torres, for example, he called the threats at Cornell horrifying.
--:-- John Bickley: And he said that the academic establishment can no longer turn a blind eye to the deepening rot of anti-Semitism on American college campuses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then there was New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also a Democrat. He's been vocal in his support for Israel and has condemned anti-Semitism on college campuses as well.
--:-- John Bickley: And probably the strongest pro-Israel statement actually came from Senator John Fetterman on Twitter.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So on October 18th, he posted that it was not the time to talk about a ceasefire. And he said that we must support Israel in efforts to eliminate Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children.
--:-- John Bickley: And he added that Hamas does not want peace. They want to destroy Israel and said, quote, "We cannot talk about a ceasefire until after Hamas is neutralized."
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it's interesting to see where different people fall on this. Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, you're welcome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, Turkey threatens to intervene in Israel's conflict with Hamas. Joining us to discuss is Victoria Coates, vice president of the Heritage Foundation's National Security and Foreign Policy Institute.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So there have been some reports of Turkish President Erdogan threatening to intervene in the conflict with Israel. What have we heard so far from Turkey and what's motivating them?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Erdogan has been really outspoken over the course of the last couple of days, reinforcing the sort of traditional Turkish activity, particularly in Gaza.
--:-- John Bickley: And what's the significance of that?
--:-- Victoria Coates: It's been extremely unhelpful. He voiced absolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause, made common cause in my mind with the folks that broke out of Gaza three weeks ago and so brutally attacked Israelis and I would add American citizens.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That doesn't seem to trouble him at all.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And I can't speak to his psychological motivations, what the issues are he faces domestically in terms of his economy, which is in a pretty bad way, or politically, where he's having some closer elections than he's used to, that he's trying to sort of rally the people around the Palestinian cause.
--:-- John Bickley: But it's deeply, deeply dangerous, especially if he were either to actually offer military assistance to Hamas or if it were to be detected or intercepted by the Israelis or the Americans.
--:-- Victoria Coates: In the eastern Mediterranean at this point, it would be a huge problem for particularly the NATO alliance because Turkey is, of course, a member.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And what would be the most likely way we'd see them take action?
--:-- Victoria Coates: They might send some sort of flotilla, ostensibly, of humanitarian aid, which they've done before and try to force it through an Israeli blockade, which can have all sorts of unintended consequences that spark additional conflict.
--:-- John Bickley: And certainly, I think, in a self-defeating way, perpetuates in the minds of the Palestinians that there is help coming for them from the Arab world, which, to my observation of the responses from the Arab world, have actually been, given what happened, pretty muted, and the actions have been de minimis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Turkey is the only one who's actually proposing some kind of material support for Hamas in particular.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So I think the Turks should think long and hard about what they want to partner with, whether the sort of factions of the Palestinians are more important to them than their NATO alliance.
--:-- John Bickley: That may be the stark choice they face.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Final question. How is the Biden administration responding to this and how should it be responding?
--:-- Victoria Coates: They're basically not responding. There was an announcement yesterday that Secretary Blinken had a call with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fidan, in Ankara Sunday afternoon, I guess, in which they discussed de-escalation and, you know, that kind of thing, which just sends us a horrible signal for the Secretary of State of the United States not to denounce Erdogan's highly inflammatory, unhelpful statements, which are only going to pour fuel on a raging fire.
--:-- John Bickley: And not to strongly object to the characterization of our great ally Israel.
--:-- Victoria Coates: That normalizes that kind of behavior on the part of Erdogan and makes it tacitly acceptable. And I think that that is deeply dangerous.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we certainly hope Turkey does not decide to escalate things here. Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Of course.
--:-- John Bickley: That was the Heritage Foundation's Victoria Coates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week nearly two months after it started the United Auto Workers strike is reportedly coming to an end as automakers and union leaders reach a historic deal after weeks of contentious negotiations.
--:-- John Bickley: Here with more on what's in the deal and what it means for the auto industry is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So Cabot, 2023 has felt like the year of the strike, but this one's now finally coming to a close. What can you tell us?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This auto strike was without a doubt the most consequential from an economic standpoint. Throughout the last seven weeks, tens of thousands of United Auto Worker members walked off the job at Ford, GM, and Stellantis plants, offering a litany of demands.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, from the start, this strike was far more contentious than those in the past.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, throughout the union's 88-year history, union leaders historically kicked off a strike with a handshake ceremony to signal the start of new negotiations. But that did not happen this go-round, as UAW President Sean Fain regularly referred to automakers as, quote, "the enemy," and employed heated rhetoric throughout the strike.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Monday, though, negotiators made a final breakthrough as General Motors cut a deal with the union, bringing an end to the strike and relief for automakers who've really been scrambling as many of their plans nationwide have been forced to close.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, what sort of concessions were ultimately offered by the automakers?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, coming in, union leaders were calling for a historic pay bump, and they got one.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Auto execs at Ford, GM, and Stellantis agreed to separate but similar deals that, once approved, will offer roughly 11% pay raises up front, with another 14% bump over the next four and a half years.
--:-- John Bickley: The deal will also raise the average starting wage by 68% to $28 an hour.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It'll provide new cost of living adjustments and also increase 401k contributions. All told, the deal will see union members earning about 30% more over the next five years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 30%. Now, it is worth noting the deal will still need to win the approval of rank and file members who will vote later this week.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But at the moment, it appears to be a major victory for workers.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what does this deal mean for the automakers and how is this going to affect car prices?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The strike and the deal that ended the strike had and will have very real impacts on their bottom line. Ford says the seven-week walkout cost them around $1.3 billion in profits, while GM reported $800 million in losses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the real impact will come in the future, as their profit margins are almost certain to take a hit.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Analysts say that under this new deal, with benefits and wages included, the big three automakers will pay around $90 an hour for unionized workers. That's up from around $65 an hour pre-strike.
--:-- John Bickley: At Ford, for example, the new deal is expected to add around $900 in labor expenses per vehicle.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that is almost certainly going to be passed off to consumers who will have to pay more for those cars.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Critics of the union say the deal will also make it harder for consumers to buy American-made and will ultimately end up benefiting foreign automakers who are able to pay their workers far less and produce similar cars for cheaper overseas.
--:-- John Bickley: We've heard a similar message from big three execs who say the pay raises will impact their competitiveness and potentially result in workers being laid off down the road if their profits shrink due to increased costs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Only time will tell, though. So a mixed bag. We got higher wages, but potentially some jobs lost.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it looks that way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
