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--:-- Georgia Howe: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced early yesterday morning that he's resigning from his post. I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them's the brakes. Why did Johnson finally give in to pressure to resign? And what does it mean for U.S.-U.K. relations?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, July 8th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Job creation, higher retail sales, and more new home listings. What are the reasons red states are enjoying a post-pandemic boom that continues to evade blue states? And people inside the Biden administration are questioning the loyalties of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, especially on the issues of immigration and energy. Is the ambassador more aligned with Mexico's interests than our own?
--:-- 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: Boris Johnson's days as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are officially numbered as the scandal-plagued former London mayor resigned on Thursday as leader of the Conservative Party. Speaking of parties, it was reports of parties at Johnson's residence during the pandemic lockdowns that first landed him in hot water with the public. But the last straw seemed to have been a more recent scandal that he just couldn't withstand as ministers began resigning.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us is columnist David Marcus. Morning, Dave. What was this latest flap that Johnson got into?
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning. So it was a lie. There was a party official, Chris Pincher, who was accused of groping two men. Johnson said he knew nothing about, you know, a separate set of allegations. And then a letter came out that showed he was personally briefed on it. There just wasn't a way to spin it. And as you mentioned, ministers, you know, the equivalent of cabinet members started resigning a handful really in the early hours of Thursday. And that was it. He announced his resignation.
--:-- John Bickley: So he's resigned as head of the party, but will remain prime minister for the time being. How does that work exactly?
--:-- David Marcus: Right. So unlike a president, the prime minister is the head of the legislature, the House of Commons. It's the party that wins the prime ministership, not any individual candidate. So the Tory party, conservative party, We'll have to find a new leader, and that could take a few months. So it'll be a strange interim period where Johnson is still dealing with huge issues like Ukraine and relations with Europe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the announcement on Thursday was rather sudden. As late as Wednesday night, it appeared that Johnson would dig in his heels and fight. What happened? What changed?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah on Wednesday night Johnson fired his housing secretary Michael Gove for disloyalty which was widely viewed as an act of defiance from a PM who was going to stick it out. But by Thursday morning, there just weren't enough left. A popular young conservative named Nadim Zahawi told Johnson he too would resign and the writing was on the wall.
--:-- John Bickley: What will this mean for relations between the United States and the UK, particularly at this time of high global tension? I mean, the special relationship, as it's known, between the U.S. and U.K. is really pretty politics-proof. It's a strong tie, regardless of who or what party is in power, on either side of the pond.
--:-- David Marcus: But that having been said, on some issues, particularly the war in Ukraine, Johnson was a vital ally to Joe Biden. And when other powers in Europe wanted a softer approach to Putin, and Putin may be the big winner here, given that there's this power vacuum in the UK and a really embattled president in the United States. But Johnson did make a point of showing support for Ukraine.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Let me say now to the people of Ukraine that I know that we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
--:-- John Bickley: What will the legacy of Boris Johnson be? He was a very colorful character for the normally, you know, stayed British political scene. How will he be remembered?
--:-- David Marcus: It's complicated. It's a little hard to tell from stateside, but in a lot of the coverage, you almost get a tragic sense. He doesn't seem to be reviled by people. He just couldn't control his impulses, whether it was throwing illegal ragers at 10 Downing or lying about Pinscher. My sense is that he's viewed as a flawed man, a flawed prime minister, but someone who wanted to do good. And that's really what he said in his resignation speech.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, we'll see what the next chapter holds for the UK. Thanks for joining us, David. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Coming up, red states lead the way on economic recovery post-pandemic. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all of your favorite Daily Wire shows. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As the American economy struggles to return to its pre-pandemic levels, new data shows that not all states are struggling the same. According to Labor Department data, red states have recovered far better than their blue counterparts. Here are the details as Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, first, give us a breakdown of the numbers and then we'll get into what's driving the discrepancy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, according to a new study from the Brookings Institution, by pretty much every economic metric, states led by Republicans have far outpaced those led by Democrats in the wake of COVID lockdowns. Now, since February of 2020, red states have not just returned to pre-pandemic levels, they've actually added 341,000 jobs. During that same time period, blue states have lost 1.3 million jobs. So enormous discrepancy there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another study from Moody's Analytics looked at 13 economic metrics to Judd's post-pandemic recovery. And they found that of the 15 states with the best recovery, 11 were red. And of the 10 worst states, 8 were blue. Definitely numbers that are hard to ignore.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What's causing this very different outcome? So there are a few main things that experts are pointing to. The first is something that we've talked about a good bit on the show here. It's migration. Over the last two and a half years, 46 million people moved to a different zip code. That's most on record. And the states gaining the most people, led by Florida and Texas, were almost entirely red, while the states losing the most people, most notably California, New York, and Illinois, are almost all blue.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you look at the data from each of the states what really jumps out are tax rates The average state income tax in the 10 states that gained the most residents was 3 And in the 10 states that lost the most people, it was 8%, more than double.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there seems to be a pretty clear correlation there with people seeking out low tax rates, which are just more likely to be found in states run by Republicans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, that makes sense. And it's not just people moving to these states, it's also companies. Exactly. We've seen a growing number of large corporations moving their headquarters or at least huge parts of their operation out of blue states to red ones.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We all remember Tesla moving their HQ from California to Texas, but we've seen plenty of other instances. Construction company Caterpillar, hedge fund giant Citadel, and also Oracle, all companies fleeing blue states for red ones.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So how much of this can be attributed to changes brought on by COVID? Yeah, a good bit. One main reason people have been moving at such a high rate is because of the rise of remote work during COVID.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Historically, people have been tied to jobs in large cities, which tend to be in blue states. But now that millions of people can work from anywhere, they're seeking out places with more economic opportunity, lower crime and lower cost of living, which right now are red states.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that influx of people is really helping those states not just recover from the pandemic, but thrive. For example, while blue states like Illinois are in massive debt and facing bankruptcy concerns, Florida just closed out the fiscal year with a $20 billion budget surplus, the largest on record.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We saw something similar in Tennessee with the lowest unemployment rate ever and a record year for job growth. So a big part of that is because of the tax revenue generated by all of the people and businesses that are moving there.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what about the role of lockdowns? I was just getting to that. So because red states almost across the board had fewer COVID restrictions and allowed businesses to open up much sooner than their blue state counterparts, they are rebounding quicker.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In states like New York and California, where much of the economy was forcibly shut down for well over a year, a lot of businesses went under permanently. In red states, though, where lockdowns were much shorter, fewer businesses went under.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And according to researchers at Vanderbilt and the Georgia Institute of Technology, there was a direct correlation between states with fewer pandemic restrictions like mask and vaccine mandates and school closures and population growth.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So another area where people chose red states over blue. And we're seeing the economic consequences now play out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, good stuff as always, Cabot. Thanks for joining us.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime. That's Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, came under national scrutiny this week when anonymous Biden administration officials expressed concerns to The New York Times that Salazar was undermining U.S. interests abroad. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire contributor Corinne Murdoch.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: Hi, Georgia. That's correct. Salazar has not made much headway on mitigating illegal immigration. If you recall, President Joe Biden nominated Salazar to the position last June, about three months after initial reports of a border crisis began.
--:-- Georgia Howe: One of the first red flags out of the gate came last July during Salazar's confirmation to the Post. In his speech, Salazar didn't acknowledge that the border issues were unprecedented.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: We're bound together because the issues of migration have brought us together. Historically through the push and pull of the history of migration into this country. It's an issue which still bedevils this country in terms of how we deal with a sustainable, orderly migration system.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Salazar acknowledged that it would be impossible to improve migration without Mexico's assistance, but critics pointed out that he hasn't been willing to hold Mexico's president accountable for cooperation and instead has, at times, appeared to side with Mexico's president over the U.S.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: Most recently, he wasn't able or perhaps wasn't willing to convince Lopez Obrador to attend the Summit of the Americas which was supposed to be an opportunity to discuss illegal immigration.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Back in May Salazar and Mexico Minister of Foreign Affairs announced 20 projects to modernize ports of entry The goal was to expedite crossings and secure those entrances but those are legal entry points, and they aren't slated to start until the end of next year.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: Salazar has been comparatively quiet about illegal crossings. Salazar has condemned illegal crossings on a few occasions, but that rhetoric is sparse.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, I understand there was also concern about Salazar siding with Mexico's president about some controversial issues, for example, like election fraud.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: Yes, most recently, Salazar backed President Obrador's claims that the 2006 election was stolen from him. Salazar admitted to the New York Times this week that he believed those Mexican citizens who claim they witnessed fraud all those years ago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In doing so, he directly undermined the official U.S. and EU position on the matter. Both the U.S. and the EU took the official position that the 2006 Mexican election was clean.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: In light of recent events in the U.S., Salazar's willingness to question election results is seen as particularly concerning for the Biden administration.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Salazar also openly challenged the integrity of a U.S.-linked nonprofit watchdog group called Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity. That group opposed Lopez Obrador and denounced his claims of fraud back in 2006.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: The U.S. had given millions to that nonprofit for investigative journalism.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And lastly, Salazar has directly undermined the Biden administration's agenda regarding energy production in Mexico.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: President Lopez Obrador wants to reform Mexico's energy sector to give the Mexican state broad control over domestic energy production. That arrangement would undermine American energy companies operating in the region and make it harder for them to compete.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Despite that disadvantage it would create for American companies, Salazar told reporters that Lopez Obrador was right to seek these reforms.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: So how did Salazar get this job? What made him an appealing nominee for Biden?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Actually, Salazar was, in a lot of ways, an obvious pick for Biden. Salazar has had a long, successful career within the Democratic Party.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: He served as Colorado's attorney general and then senator before serving as Obama's secretary of the interior.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Salazar was also slated to lead Hillary Clinton's transition team in 2016, had she won.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: On top of that, Salazar was a partner at WilmerHale, which is one of the top law firms in the country and a favorite recruiting ground for past presidential administrations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While with Wilmer Hale, Salazar did legal work for major corporations like 3M, Target, and Facebook.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: So in many ways, his resume was impeccable, but it seems the administration may not have fully vetted him for loyalty.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, well, Corinne, thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Corinne Murdoch: Thank you for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire contributor Corinne Murdoch. Other stories we're tracking this week. Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan, was shot and gravely injured Friday while campaigning for his party in the city of Nara. Abe was rushed to the hospital in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest. Officials say a suspected shooter was apprehended.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Biden's approval rating reached a new low this week, according to a Monmouth University poll, with just 36% of Americans approving of his performance in office.
--:-- John Bickley: Progressive Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is receiving intense backlash after charging Jose Alba with second-degree murder. Alba was arrested in New York City and sent to Rikers Island after defending himself from a career criminal attempting to rob his bodega last week.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Federal Reserve plans to raise the interest rates another three-quarters of a point later this month to aggressively combat inflation and cool the economy.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
