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--:-- John Bickley: With Americans continuing to feel the crush of inflation, the new numbers are in and show signs of some cooling. But will it be enough to lead to lower interest rates? You're still in worse shape today than you were about three and a half years ago. And I think that's one of the key reasons why, despite all of the talking points, despite the positive news spin, people are still not very happy. The polling on the economy continues to be very, very poor.
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--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, June 13th, and this is Morning Wire. A new report finds that a vast majority of illegal crossers are still being released into the country, and recent arrests show some have ties to terrorist groups. Do you think it's a coincidence that these eight were arrested in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York, all sanctuary cities? And will Trump lock up his political enemies? That's what Democrats and the legacy media are claiming. They go on TV and they say, we're going to go after media. We're going to go after critics. The January 6th committee should be jailed. Alvin Bragg should be jailed. This is not a country in which you go around and say people should be jailed.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: According to new data from the Labor Department, inflation rose at the slowest pace in years last month, boosting hopes of rate cuts before year's end. Here to discuss the numbers and the state of the economy is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, Cabot, so a lot to break down. What did we learn this week?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, on Wednesday, we got the latest inflation report from May. And there were some positive signs. The all-important consumer price index, which tracks the overall cost of goods and services, remained about the same as the month before and rose 3.3% compared to May of last year. That is the lowest 12-month increase since 2021. So that is the good news. The bad news, though, is even if prices are rising slower than before, they're still rising. Remember, inflation compounds on itself year over year. To that point since 2021, overall inflation is up more than 20%, while the real wages, which take inflation into account, have fallen over the same time frame by nearly 4%. So bottom line, the average American simply is not earning enough money to keep up with the rising costs of goods, even if the rate of inflation is now slowing.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For more on that, I spoke with EJ and Tony, an economist at the Heritage Foundation. At the end of the day at this point the numbers have become so fraudulent and I use that word lightly that I think the best gauge of how the economy is doing today is how people are feeling about it. And that doesn't sound very scientific, but I think that speaks to, again, just how skewed the official numbers have become when the average American's feeling is the most accurate metric we have of the state of our economy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, one area of those rising costs have been especially visible is housing. Walk us through the numbers there. So since President Biden took office, the average cost of rent has gone up 21% nationwide, while rising interest rates have put homeownership out of reach for millions of families. On that note, according to Zillow, back in 2020, the average household needed an annual income of around $59,000 to purchase a home. Today, that number is $106,000 a year. So on average nationwide, only six-figure earners can buy a home. And on top of that, even those who can't afford to buy a home are now spending more than ever to maintain it. According to new research from Bankrate, for example, if you remove mortgage payments, the average annual cost of maintaining a home is around $18,000. That is a 26% increase from just four years ago. It gives you an idea of how inflation is not just impacting mortgage rates and home costs, but all of the goods and services that come with homeownership. Things like maintenance, insurance, cable, and internet bills.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, it really adds up. That's all up, yeah. So to the big question on a lot of people's minds, what does this all mean for rate cuts? Are we likely to see a rate cut before year's end? Well, predicting when the Fed will cut rates has been a fruitless endeavor lately, as economists had predicted multiple cuts this year, hopefully starting in the spring or summer. But obviously, that has not happened. As inflation has remained stubbornly high, the Fed has shown a willingness to sit tight. But on Wednesday, Fed officials did release their quarterly projections, which showed they are planning on implementing a single cut at some point later this year. According to Antony, it'll likely come early in the fall. It's very likely we're going to get rate cuts before the election. Unfortunately, predicting that, though, has proven to be essentially impossible if you're just looking at the data because consistently this Federal Reserve has not acted in accordance with the data. The numbers have shown one thing and then they've done exactly the opposite. I mean, let's not forget, these are the same people who kept telling us inflation was transitory for so long while it ran up to a 40-year high. So they are not data dependent and they are not politically independent. Instead, what they continue to do is essentially serve their political masters, whether that's Biden in the White House or Yellen at the Treasury. And so for that reason, I think it's very likely that we will get a rate cut before the election. And according to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, they are still waiting to see a few more months of cooling inflation before pulling the trigger. The most recent inflation readings have been more favorable than earlier in the year, however, and there has been modest further progress toward our inflation objective. We'll need to see more good data to bolster our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, President Biden is certainly hoping those cuts come before the election and provide at least some form of relief to Americans struggling under the highest rates in decades. But again, if the Fed has shown anything this year, it's that their timing is hard to predict. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of pressure on them coming from the president's camp right now. Yeah, indeed.
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: Even after President Biden signed an executive order saying that people who enter the country illegally cannot claim asylum, the vast majority of those who enter are being released into the U.S. The New York Post reports that more than 6 illegal immigrants crossed into the San Diego sector in the six days after Biden order and 72 of them more than 4 were allowed to continue into the country. Here to discuss the situation is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: So Ash, some really eye-opening numbers. What's going on here? So many suspected Biden's executive order wouldn't have any teeth considering his lax border policies to date. And those concerns seem to be coming true. For instance, border agents in San Diego were specifically told to exempt citizens from more than 100 countries from being deported because the U.S. has no cooperation with those countries to accept those immigrants back. And now we have those numbers you've cited from San Diego, about 5,000 illegal immigrants released in less than a week, more than 70 percent of those who crossed into that sector.
--:-- Ash Short: Right. So we have reported on Biden's executive order here on Morning Wire before, but can you remind us what it does and doesn't do? Sure. It's supposed to deter illegal immigrants from crossing the border and claiming asylum, at least until the number of illegal crossings drops below 1,500 encounters per day for seven straight days. Then people would be allowed to claim asylum after crossing illegally instead of going to a proper port of entry until Bill encounters go back up to 2,500 a day for seven straight days. But the official wording allows numerous exemptions that make the order all but meaningless. Unaccompanied minors are exempt, as well as anyone who uses the Border Patrol's phone app to cross at a port of entry. It also allows anyone who can prove they've suffered severe human trafficking or are facing medical emergencies. The rules also don't apply if there are, quote, operational considerations at the time of entry, meaning deporting them is too complicated. So that basically exempts most anyone.
--:-- Ash Short: Right. And just so we don't forget, many of those crossing are from countries with national security concerns, correct? Exactly. In San Diego, many illegal immigrants are coming from Turkey and China. And just this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the New York Post that it arrested six Russian nationals who were in the country illegally and are suspected of having ties to ISIS. The six people were from Tajikistan. Two other people from the same group were also arrested after they were under surveillance for several months. A wiretap allegedly showed one of the individuals discussing bombs. The same person had previously been released at the southern border and given a court date next year, something that is common with illegal border crossings.
--:-- Ash Short: What's scary is that these individuals had all crossed the southern border and passed initial vetting by federal authorities, which didn't find anything suspicious tied to their names. Yet now they're suspected of having ties to a major terrorist organization. And at least one of them used that Border Patrol app I mentioned earlier to enter the country, the same app that Biden exempted from his executive order. Very concerning information, to say the least.
--:-- John Bickley: Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: You're welcome.
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--:-- John Bickley: Democrats and the liberal media are ramping up their claims that Donald Trump, should he win a second term would use the power of the presidency to mete out harsh retribution against his political foes. The Washington Post has published a warning that Trump could supposedly violate the Constitution to punish his enemies, and a member of Congress expressed fear that President Trump might throw her in jail. Here to discuss this new line of Democrat attack is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: So let's start with WAPO. Was there a smoking gun in this very scary sounding piece? Morning, John. There really wasn't. For all the storm and drang this was a pretty straightforward feature piece about Russ Voigt a former and quite possibly future Trump official who playing a big role in shaping Trump domestic policy agenda including as chair of the platform committee at the convention. The Post quotes him saying things like, we no longer live under the Constitution, but Voigt and other populist voices like him aren't saying that we don't have any rights or that the Constitution can just be ignored. They're arguing that an unelected bureaucracy runs the American government in ways that the Constitution did not contemplate and which in some cases may violate it. This is not a new concept in conservative politics. Elements of it are embraced by organizations like the Heritage Foundation. And there's really no evidence that the purpose of these populist policies have anything to do with retribution at all.
--:-- David Marcus: Speaking of retaliation, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Kara Swisher on her podcast this week that she thinks Trump might put her in jail if he gets back in the Oval Office. Did she provide any evidence to support that dramatic claim? No, she did not. Let's give a listen to the remark in question. It sounds nuts, but like I wouldn't be surprised if this guy threw me in jail. Really? he's out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around lock her up. Like, this is his motto. So sometimes when you begin a statement with this is going to sound nuts, it's a hint to stop talking, but not for Ocasio-Cortez this time. The only basis she gives for her potential incarceration by a Trump administration is that Trump is crazy and his supporters chanted lock her up in 2016 about Hillary Clinton, who Trump famously did not even try to lock up. It's hard to know if AOC was being hyperbolic to make a point here or if she really believes it, but it is right in line with the Democrats' central attack against Trump that he is supposedly a grave threat to democracy.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, claims about what Trump may or may not do if elected aside, we had a major move by congressional Republicans yesterday related to Biden's Department of Justice. What happened there? The House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. This rather severe action was taken after Garland continued to refuse to cough up the tape of Joe Biden's testimony in his classified documents case, in which special counsel Robert Herr described Biden as an elderly man with a poor memory. The Office of Legal Counsel at the DOJ, which of course is run by Merrick Garland, put out a memo this week saying that Merrick Garland cannot be prosecuted for this contempt charge because the president is asserting executive immunity over the tape. Now, that might save Garland in a legal sense from being arrested, but Republicans are sure to pounce, so to speak, on the fact that former Trump aide Peter Navarro is in prison and Steve Bannon is on his way there for ignoring a congressional subpoena just as Garland is doing here.
--:-- David Marcus: There had been some question as to whether Speaker Johnson could keep Republicans on the farm here and get this through. And the fact that he did, albeit with one solitary nay, may well suggest that even swing district GOP members from places that Biden won just don't see punishing the DOJ in this way as a political liability right now. Yeah, significant show of solidarity from Republicans there.
--:-- John Bickley: Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: Hey, thank you for listening this morning. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and stand with that mission, consider subscribing, giving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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