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--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden addressed the nation in a much-anticipated primetime speech explaining why he won't seek a second term. You know, in recent weeks, it's become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I'm Georgia Howe, and John is still on vacation. It's Thursday, July 25th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar! Anti-Israel protesters swarm the streets of D.C. burning American flags as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for bipartisan support in the war against Hamas. When the tyrants of Tehran are praising, promoting, and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiots. And the legacy media begins to rebrand Kamala Harris. claiming the VP was not in charge of the crisis at the southern border and leaning into her racial identity. People are going to have to counter the misinformation. You already hear folks talking about the border czar. She wasn't the border czar. President Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to be the border czar. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: After a week out of the public eye, President Joe Biden finally addressed the nation Wednesday night, speaking for the first time since bowing out of the 2024 race. Here with more on the primetime address and the latest from the campaign trail is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, a highly anticipated speech, that's probably an understatement. What did we hear?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, anytime the president offers a primetime Oval Office address, it's a big deal. But this one carried new weight as it marked the first step in Biden's closing chapter. The speech came amid really a dramatic shift in messaging from Democratic lawmakers. For the last month, they attacked him publicly and behind closed doors, saying he was unfit for office. But in recent days, following his dropout, they've reversed course, painting him as a hero willing to sacrifice power to save democracy. And that message was echoed by Biden himself last night as he explained his decision to the American people.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I revere this office, but I love my country more. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think is more important than any title. I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now coming in one of the big questions was if Biden would directly urge Americans to elect Kamala Harris And while he did not mention her by name he did allude to her saying it was time to pass the torch to a new generation I believe my record as president my leadership in the world my vision for America future all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life. There's also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices. Yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Throughout the address, President Biden touted all that his administration accomplished during his term, which he and Democrat leaders have routinely claimed was the most consequential in modern history. But really a big question now from a campaign perspective is how closely Kamala Harris will tie herself to that administration. The vast majority of Americans have an unfavorable view of Biden. And a new CNN poll found that just 53 percent of Democrats want the next president to continue Biden's policies. So she's got to walk a delicate line between assuring voters that she's qualified for the job while simultaneously avoiding playing up her role in the last three and a half years.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So turning to the vice president, walk us through the latest polling. Yeah, we're finally getting our first look at polling conducted after Harris became the presumptive nominee. And it shows a very tight race. Reuters has Harris ahead by two. NPR Marist has Trump up by one. And CNN this week has Trump in the lead by three, 49 to 46. All of those results, though, are within the margin of error, meaning it's essentially a tie right now.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For his part, Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since President Biden dropped out. Speaking in Charlotte, North Carolina, he took aim at Harris for allegedly concealing Biden's mental decline. If Kamala will lie to you so brazenly about Joe Biden's mental incapacity, then she will lie to you about anything. She can never, ever be trusted. She can't be trusted. The vote for Kamala is a vote for four more years of dishonesty, incompetence, weakness and failure.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's worth noting, an internal memo from the Trump campaign's top pollster warned that the VP would likely take the lead in the coming weeks due to what they called a Harris honeymoon. But they say as voters learn more about the VP's far left record and the shine of having a new candidate wears off, Trump will once again be in the driver's seat.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So the enthusiasm gap between Trump and Biden got a lot of attention. What are we seeing now between Trump and Harris? Well, Harris certainly does appear to garner more enthusiasm than Biden did. Earlier in the month, only around one in three Biden voters say they were voting for him as opposed to against Trump. However, according to that CNN poll, 50% of Harris supporters say their vote is for her and not just against Trump. But it is worth noting, Trump has both of them beat when it comes to voter enthusiasm. 74% of his voters this month say their vote is in direct support of Trump himself. We have really not seen such a devoted base of support since Obama or Reagan.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now the big question for Democrats becomes if enthusiasm for Harris grows as people learn more or falls as the excitement over Biden being replaced begins to fade. Well, this will definitely be an exciting election season to follow.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday, touting the U.S.-Israel alliance and pledging to continue Israel's fight against Hamas and Iran. For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together. Because when we stand together, something very simple happens. We win, they lose. This was Netanyahu's fourth address to Congress and likely his most controversial to date. Here with more is Daily Wire Deputy Managing Editor Tim Rice.
--:-- Tim Rice: So Tim, how's Netanyahu being received in D.C.? Hey, Georgia. To call the reception chilly would be an understatement. Around 50 lawmakers, mostly Democrats, refused to attend the speech. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib did attend the speech, but held up sides reading war criminal and guilty of genocide as the PM spoke. Outside the Capitol, protests turned violent. Videos showed protesters clashing with police, to the point where Capitol Police had to use pepper spray against the protesters, one of whom was carrying a Hamas flag. A few blocks from the Capitol outside Union Station, protesters took down the American flag, lit it on fire, and replaced it with a Palestinian flag. So a pretty harsh welcome for the prime minister from the left.
--:-- Tim Rice: How was his speech received by allies? Well, I spoke with Aryeh Lightstone, who served as senior advisor to former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman, and who was in the chamber for Netanyahu's speech. He told me that today's address was a resounding success, but the rest of Netanyahu's trip, including planned meetings with President Biden and Vice President Harris, may be a different story. Well, trip day number one is 11 out of 10. Tomorrow with Vice President Harris and President Biden, I think we'll drop down to a two or a three out of 10. Prime Minister Netanyahu is not expecting a warm welcome, and it is not going to be a pleasant conversation, nor should it be a pleasant conversation.
--:-- Tim Rice: Lightstone echoed Netanyahu's message that America's battles were Israel's battles, noting that both countries have common enemies both here and around the world. The part that was remarkable to me were the members in the room who would not applaud the United States of America. And that also is a message for people at home, the same people who would not applaud Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is fine. You're entitled to disagree with him. You're entitled to disagree with him vehemently. But when he compliments the United States of America to not acknowledge that, to not acknowledge the eight American hostages, you have to wonder, these are representatives of citizens of the United States of America.
--:-- Tim Rice: Lightstone thinks that Kamala Harris's position on Israel could cost her the election in November. But if she does win, he's not optimistic about what a Harris administration will mean for U.S. alliances in the Middle East. As much as they love America, they cannot stand the lack of moral clarity that we have evidenced over these last four years, which is promising to be far worse under a Harris administration. And they will go to Beijing, who they do not want to be lifelong partners with, but at least they can believe where they will be in 20 years from now. And they certainly cannot say the same thing about a Harris administration.
--:-- Tim Rice: Now, what other indications do we have about how a potential Harris administration would act toward Israel? Well, Harris has gone farther than Biden in criticizing Israel since October 7th, calling for a ceasefire and claiming that Israel has created a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. And there's every indication that she'll maintain this critical attitude should she win the White House in November. We're hearing reports that if elected Harris is planning to install her allies in place of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan among other officials So we can expect to see a very different foreign policy in a potential future Harris White House one that much more critical of Israel than past Democratic administrations So some major ramifications for foreign policy with this coming election.
--:-- Tim Rice: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With Kamala Harris having all but sealed the Democratic presidential nomination, her campaign, party, and importantly, the liberal media are working overtime to redefine her image ahead of the convention next month in Chicago. Here to talk about how the vice president's record is being reshaped before our eyes is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: So David, one particularly glaring example of this involved Harris's role as the border czar. Can you tell us what happened there?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, Georgia. Axios ran a story on Tuesday morning, curiously claiming that Harris has never actually been the border czar and that this is essentially a lie propped up by Republicans and conservative media. The only problem is that very quickly people found examples from 2021 of Axios itself calling her the border czar, which the outlet now claims was a mistake at the time. This is a pretty blatant rewriting of history, clearly meant to distance Harris from what most Americans see as a disaster on the southern border.
--:-- David Marcus: We also saw Vogue, not to be outdone by the news, do a spread in which they argued that Harris's keen fashion sense is a sign of her great competence. This from a fashion magazine that ignored former first lady and model Melania Trump like a tuxedo T-shirt and a pair of chucks. There's clearly a full court press happening to redefine Kamala's brand as young, energetic and on top of the issues, even if that's not how Americans have typically viewed her.
--:-- David Marcus: Well, we also saw Speaker Mike Johnson advise his Republican House colleagues not to attack Harris as a diversity, equity and inclusion candidate. Why does he think that that fairly common attack is not a good strategy? As we discussed yesterday, there seems to be an effort to goad or coax Trump and Republicans into saying things that could be perceived as racist or sexist. And Johnson, understanding this is the ground Democrats want to fight on, is looking for some higher ground from which to launch attacks. This would involve her record in the Biden administration, her very real fingerprints on the crisis at the southern border, and her general lack of accomplishments.
--:-- David Marcus: Republicans absolutely do not want this election to be defined by race. But thus far, it looks like Democrats and the liberal media want nothing more. Even the emerging slogan, quote, I'm speaking, end quote, a reference to Harris clapping back on the very white and male Mike Pence in the 2020 VP debate. Remember this? $400,000 a year. He said he's going to repeal the Trump tax cuts. Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking. Well, wait. I'm speaking. It'd be important if you said the truth. If you don't mind letting me finish, we can then have a conversation, OK? Please. OK. So resurrecting that slogan has an underlying message of defying supposed white privilege and a black woman speaking truth to power. It does show very clearly just how eager some on the left are to make this race about, well, race, just as Johnson and Republicans are eager to keep identity politics out of it.
--:-- David Marcus: This might be the biggest rhetorical shift to come out of the Biden-Harris swap out and might also explain why party leaders were so eager to coronate the vice president, despite their claims that she earned the nomination in a grassroots effort from the bottom up all in two and a half days. Well, it'll be interesting to see if that line of attack works this time around.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for reporting. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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