--:-- [Theme music plays]
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, executive editor of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 19th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us, everyone.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: ABC cuts off Jimmy Kimmel's mic, putting his show on indefinite hiatus after comments he made about Charlie Kirk's assassination. The market is speaking. Conservatives watch TV, too, and they found that unacceptable.
--:-- John Bickley: We break down the fallout on both the left and the right.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Daily Wire exclusive investigation is shining light on a radical group taking up arms under the banner of socialism and transgender activism.
--:-- John Bickley: So socialism is by nature about equality. So that that would be the only kind of gun club I would join would be a socialist one.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the Trump administration is smashing records for annual deportations. The last three months, we had zero. From millions of people a year ago, we had zero people enter our country illegally.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: By the time the average person reaches 60, they've likely cycled through numerous fad diets, collectively losing and regaining several hundred pounds over the years. All that yo-yo dieting increases your risk of diabetes, liver problems, and heart issues.
--:-- John Bickley: The truth is most of us need more than willpower to break free from this pattern. That's where lean comes in. Unlike those expensive GLP one injections, lean is a non-prescription supplement created by doctors specifically for this problem. And the science behind it is rock solid.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Lean tackles weight loss three ways that actually help you keep it off. It keeps your blood sugar steady. No more energy crashes, sending you into a snack cabinet. It controls cravings and that constant hunger feeling, and it helps your body convert fat into energy instead of storing it.
--:-- John Bickley: I say it all the time. I was skeptical, but I tried it anyway. And before I knew it, I was down a pant size and I was going to the Daily Wire kitchen way less.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you want to lose meaningful weight at a healthy pace and keep it off, add lean to your diet and exercise lifestyle. Get 20% off when you enter code morningwire at takelean.com. That's code morningwire at takelean.com today.
--:-- John Bickley: ABC has suspended late night host Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely for his remarks about Charlie Kirk's assassination. But while many conservatives say this is a just consequence for his statements, Progressives are calling it suppression of free speech.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now with the fallout.
--:-- Megan Basham: Hey, thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So to start, remind our audience exactly what Kimmel said that got his show pulled, at least for now.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, so Kimmel's comments came on Monday night, days after Charlie Kirk's assassination. And it was at that point that we already had a lot of information about what had motivated Kirk's killer. His political views, his left-wing views were very well known by that point.
--:-- John Bickley: And yet Kimmel said this. We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
--:-- Megan Basham: So again, by that night, we had official reports from Utah Governor Spencer Cox and from the FBI in which they described Robinson, Kirk's killer, as deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. And we knew by then that the killer had described Kirk's conservative views as, quote unquote, full of hate.
--:-- John Bickley: We also know that he was in a relationship with his trans-identifying roommate. And yet on Tuesday night, even after that backlash, Kimmel doubled down, painting the right as the threat and mocking the idea that anybody on the left is dangerous at all, despite the well-documented left-wing violence that we've seen in recent years.
--:-- Megan Basham: So to be quite blunt here, Kimmel made false statements that he certainly should have known were false at the time that he made them. And that was immediately in the aftermath of Kirk's death.
--:-- John Bickley: Right. The information about the suspect was quite clearly presented by officials by Monday.
--:-- Megan Basham: And so on Wednesday we see ABC take action. Well we saw them take action after some heavy pressure from the media companies that own these local affiliate ABCs that air Kimmel's show.
--:-- John Bickley: So on Wednesday, Nextstar Media Group, which carries 23 ABC affiliates, announced that they would be dropping Kimmel's show. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is another one of those major affiliate companies, announced that they were expecting an apology to the Kirk family, and they wanted to see ABC make a donation to Turning Point USA before they would agree to put Kimmel back on the air.
--:-- Megan Basham: Tonight, instead of Kimmel, their ABC affiliates, along with Next Stars, are going to be airing a tribute to Kirk rather than Kimmel's show.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, behind the scenes, ABC did reportedly try to get that apology from Kimmel, but he refused, feeling that he had nothing to apologize for. And not only was he not going to apologize, he was reportedly planning to triple down and take even further aim at Donald Trump supporters during his monologue on Wednesday night.
--:-- Megan Basham: But rather than let that happen, ABC, which is, of course, owned by Disney, decided to bench him and avoid any further political fallout.
--:-- John Bickley: Got it. So what about the FCC? What role did it play? Because there's been a lot of accusations coming from celebrities, Ben Stiller, even Barack Obama, that this was a result of government coercion, not a voluntary choice by ABC.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, so as this was playing out, FCC Chair Brendan Carr pointed out that these broadcast networks rely on licenses from the federal government to operate, and that's different than print media or, say, cable networks.
--:-- John Bickley: So he went on Fox and talked about that and how those rules require the broadcasters to avoid knowingly making false or defamatory statements. With that license comes a unique obligation to operate in the public interest.
--:-- Megan Basham: And over the years, the FCC walked away from enforcing that public interest obligation. I don't think we're better off as a country for it.
--:-- John Bickley: But that said, there's no evidence that Carr or the FCC took any formal action against ABC or against Kimmel. And that does contrast with the Biden administration, which we know did take some formal actions against conservative media.
--:-- Megan Basham: Looking at the big picture, though, I'd say that Nexstar refusing to carry Kimmel and Sinclair also refusing to carry Kimmel is a much bigger factor here than anything Brendan Carr said.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'll tell you, John, I did hear one interesting comment from a friend of mine, and he actually said that he doesn't see either Colbert's cancellation or Kimmel's suspension as any sort of major victory for the right.
--:-- Megan Basham: Because quite simply, very few people watch these shows and they're reportedly losing tens of millions of dollars.
--:-- John Bickley: So, you know, in the big picture, whether Kimmel comes back and it's rumored that he will, it's not going to affect the political landscape that much.
--:-- Megan Basham: There's no doubt that his shows don't draw the audiences they once did.
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thank you so much for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yep, my pleasure.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump said on Wednesday that he's designating Antifa as a terrorist group. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE officers have faced increased assaults after being doxed by Antifa, particularly in cities like Portland.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Department of Justice under the Biden administration focused heavily on what it called right-wing domestic terrorism. And now the Trump administration is signaling that it will focus on radical left-wing groups.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak investigated one such group called the Socialist Rifle Association, and he joins us now.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Hey, Georgia. So the Socialist Rifle Association was founded in 2019, and within a year it counted 10,000 comrades.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It operates through state-based chapters across the country and says it educates and trains leftists on the use of firearms to protect against fascists.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The group was founded by two transgender men, one of whom goes by she slash it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to an internal survey one of the members are one third are Marxist Leninists or Maoists and one third are LGBTQ
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It gives out membership cards with Karl Marx's face on them. But perhaps more than anything, it is wrapped up with transgender politics.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Four of its 13 national leaders go by they pronouns.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Here's a clip from a documentary about the group's Maryland chapter. I am a non-binary, trans-sem, commie gun owner, and I like video games and martial arts.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Trump presidency and seeing how Trump emboldened literal Nazis, literal fascists. Our government thrives on inequality, and it is a white patriarchal system. It is racist, but for the first time in decades, we had a president who was not afraid to speak out against some of our biggest social justice movements that were happening in America at the time, which really emboldened the bigots.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It emboldened those that follow fascist ideologies and has kind of kicked them into action. And I believe a box has been opened that we're not going to be able to shut.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, has this group actually been linked to any terror incidents or near misses?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: A Daily Wire review of federal court records found that membership in the Socialist Rifle Association is a common link among four high-profile incidents of political violence.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A couple months ago, if you remember, nearly a dozen people, many of them transgender, were charged with committing an armed assault against an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Benjamin Haniel Song, who was charged with shooting a police officer in the neck in that incident, was allegedly a Socialist Rifle Association member.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Two separate instances of firebombing Tesla dealerships, one the day of President Trump's inauguration, were committed by Socialist Rifle Association members, according to prosecutors.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: And then there was a member who fought alongside foreign terrorist organizations and then said he would pay people to identify conservative participants in the January 6th Capitol protest, saying we will, quote, handle this ourselves instead of going to police.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He called for, quote, stabbing Nazis.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Now, there has been some speculation that Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, was potentially involved in some trans Reddit groups.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And some of those groups had some very militant language. He was also dating a transgender person.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Has he or his roommate slash partner been associated with this group at all?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, the Socialist Rifle Association told me that Robinson is not a member.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It declined to say whether his boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, was, citing confidentiality policies.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the group does have a chapter in Utah. On social media, that chapter offers, quote, queer-friendly firearms education.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It asks members to support Arthur Gamboa, an anti-racist accused of murder, and advertises a poster that says, quote, I will die fighting for this cause.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Sunday, by the way, the Maryland chapter is holding an event for, quote, Arab folks, whose poster shows people dressed like Osama bin Laden and Hamas terrorists shooting weapons.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Now, what do we know about the group's finances? Are they funded by anyone?
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's structured as a nonprofit incorporated in Kansas, but its federal tax-exempt status was revoked after it failed to file paperwork with the IRS for years.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It's still been operating, so that's one avenue that perhaps the federal government will look at.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the Trump administration takes a very close look at this group.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Luke, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thank you.
--:-- John Bickley: According to a new report by The Daily Wire, the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign is surging, with nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants already removed from the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us now with the exclusive is Daily Wire's new immigration reporter, Jenny Ter.
--:-- Jenny Ter: Jenny, great to have you on the morning show for the first time. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So first, how close is the Trump administration to carrying out its goal of one million deportations a year?
--:-- Jenny Ter: Right. So they've set this lofty goal of one million deportations per year, which has never been done before.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right now, we're at 389,000 illegal immigrants deported so far under this administration.
--:-- Jenny Ter: While that's not close yet to one million, it's still a huge advance compared to what we've seen under previous administrations.
--:-- John Bickley: We actually are seeing this even exceed what was President Obama years which he was described as the deporter in chief
--:-- Georgia Howe: It also exceeded President Biden final year in office
--:-- Jenny Ter: And it shows that the Trump administration is going to continue to ramp up the effort This is picking up the pace right now.
--:-- John Bickley: With that, the Trump administration has hired 10,000 new immigration agents. That's their goal right now.
--:-- Jenny Ter: And so that will definitely help reach their goal. But in a recent conversation with the acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, he told us that if anything, the efforts by the Trump administration to encourage self-deportations, which they've done by incentivizing illegal immigrants to leave on their own, by paying for their commercial flights home and giving them $1,000 to leave, that we will reach that number, certainly.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And they've already seen, so far, according to DHS, 2 million of those.
--:-- Jenny Ter: Now, you've also just reported on this case in Chicago where an illegal immigrant got shot after he hit a law enforcement officer.
--:-- John Bickley: Can you tell us about that story?
--:-- Jenny Ter: Right. So this individual actually came into the U.S. illegally. He was snuck in as what's known as a god away. So there was never any record of him coming into the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: ICE has enhanced their operations in Chicago. They saw this guy. He dragged an officer after hitting him with his vehicle, which right now is unfortunately common.
--:-- Jenny Ter: A lot of these assaults are happening on ICE agents that are out there carrying out this mass deportation campaign.
--:-- John Bickley: But not only did this guy come here illegally, he was previously shielded from deportation, according to our sources in ICE.
--:-- Jenny Ter: He was shielded from deportation under the Biden administration, which did so even though he had a 2013 arrest for reckless driving and similar crimes within Chicago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The reason that he likely got away with this, according to our sources, is because of the sanctuary laws there that protect illegal immigrants from getting nabbed by ICE.
--:-- Jenny Ter: And they're protecting essentially criminals in this case.
--:-- John Bickley: We see this person got away with this. And then not only that, but the Biden administration said, you can stay here, you're allowed here.
--:-- Jenny Ter: The Trump administration is obviously changing the tune of how ICE operates in this country and is trying to get them out.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Unfortunately, that case is a familiar story at this point.
--:-- Jenny Ter: Can you tell us more about what these ICE agents are up against when it does come to this uptick in assaults, as you've mentioned?
--:-- John Bickley: Right, so right now there is a thousand percent increase in assaults on ICE agents.
--:-- Jenny Ter: This is why it's important to understand the reason that these agents are out there wearing masks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: They're protecting their identities because not only are people going out following them on their arrest operations, there's people who are coming up to them who are live streaming the arrests, who are taking photos of their faces or trying to do so, and also even following them in their private lives.
--:-- Jenny Ter: So this is putting not only those agents at risk, but it's also putting their families at risk, who they go home to every day.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And so they are up against big organizations, left-wing groups that are organizing, going out onto the streets, like we saw in Los Angeles very recently over the summer.
--:-- Jenny Ter: And they're very capable of doxing these agents, assaulting them, and of course, tampering their operations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, we have some states or cities that are trying to outlaw any sort of masking by these agents to protect their identity.
--:-- Jenny Ter: It's pretty, pretty appalling.
--:-- John Bickley: Jenny, thank you so much for reporting.
--:-- Jenny Ter: Thank you. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: If you run a small business, you know there's nothing small about it. Even the smallest decisions can feel massive. That's where Shopify comes in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Shopify is the e-commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, from household names to brands that are just getting started.
--:-- John Bickley: You can tackle all the important tasks all in one place, from inventory to payments to analytics and more.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Even marketing becomes a breeze thanks to their built-in tools for running social media and email campaigns, helping you find new customers and keep them coming back.
--:-- John Bickley: Plus, Shopify's global selling tools have you covered internationally in over 150 countries, and their award-winning point of sale connects your online and offline sales all in the same place.
--:-- Georgia Howe: With an impressive 99.99 uptime and the highest converting checkout experience on the planet, you'll never miss another sale.
--:-- John Bickley: That's the Shopify advantage. Get all the big stuff for your small business right with Shopify.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Sign up for your $1 per month trial period and start selling today at shopify.com slash morningwire.
--:-- John Bickley: Head over to shopify.com slash morningwire. Again, that's shopify.com slash morningwire.
--:-- [Theme music plays]
