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--:-- John Bickley: After the killing of three American soldiers, Iran-backed militia groups abandoned their bases ahead of what they expect will be more aggressive action from the U.S. The president will not tolerate attacks on American troops, and neither will I. Will the Biden administration's response be strong enough to deter Iran and its proxies?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, February 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. The political battle over labor unions has taken center stage in recent weeks as Trump and Biden compete to win over the crucial voting bloc.
--:-- John Bickley: Usually a Republican wouldn't get that endorsement, but in my case it's different because I've employed thousands of teamsters. Look, I kept my commitment to be the most pro-union president ever. Let me just say I'm honored to have your back and you have mine.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And Sanctuary City Denver finds itself overwhelmed after 40,000 migrants flood the city seeking shelter and resources. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration continues to threaten retaliation over the death of three American service members in Jordan earlier this week. But critics doubt whether the president will act forcefully enough to prevent a repeat attack. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about the U.S. response to Iran and its terror proxies.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, I'm Tim Pierce. Now, we've seen a number of stories on what the Biden administration has planned. What's the latest there?
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration has promised retribution, but it's also been firm that it doesn't want to spark a larger conflict in the Middle East.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday. This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region. But we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests, and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose, and how we choose.
--:-- John Bickley: Austin didn't go into specifics, but he said that the U.S. response will come soon. According to CBS News, that response will include targets in Iraq and Syria. The outlet reported that the U military has received approval to hit militia and Iranian targets in those countries And in the meantime the U has continued to hit Houthi targets to protect shipping in the Red Sea According to U Central Command the military destroyed 10 Houthi attack drones at a Thursday strike That was after several Houthi attack drones and a cruise missile were shot down over the Red Sea earlier this week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Getting back to Iraq and Syria, how extensive are these retaliatory strikes expected to be? Like I said, Austin wasn't big on specifics except to say that the U.S. would try to hold the right people accountable. But the fact that we are aware of the general targets, at least, means that it's safe to assume that Iran and the militias are aware, too. Iraqi officials, in fact, have said that militia groups have abandoned bases in Iraq and Syria ahead of the U.S. response. That's certain to dampen the impact of the response and something that has Republicans like Senator Tom Cotton questioning Biden's strategy.
--:-- John Bickley: There were more than 100 attacks against Americans since Joe Biden took office before October 7th. How many times did we retaliate? Something like four or five. Almost every case against empty buildings or warehouses in the middle of nowhere. Again, that simply emboldened Iran and its proxies throughout the Middle East to continue these attacks. That's the height of irresponsibility, a cowardly, sniveling policy that let our troops as sitting ducks in a region because the commander in chief would not take action to protect them.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, there's also a lot of growing concern that war could break out between Israel and Hezbollah. What can you tell us about that development?
--:-- John Bickley: Right. Since the death of three U.S. soldiers, Hezbollah has actually backed off the United States, but not Israel. Now, we should note that between Hezbollah and Hamas, Hezbollah is by far the bigger threat to Israel. So if war with Hezbollah breaks out, it could be significantly bigger than what we're seeing in Gaza right now.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hezbollah has continued to threaten and harass Israeli forces from Lebanon. And don't forget, tens of thousands of Israelis have been out of their homes for months because of that threat. That can't last forever. Eventually, Israel will have to secure its northern border whether Hezbollah wants to cooperate or not.
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration wants to head off conflict as well. And to do that, it's leaning on Israel to tone things down in Gaza. According to the Wall Street Journal this week, U.S. negotiators want Israel to agree to a long ceasefire in return for dozens of hostages believed to be held by Hamas.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That long ceasefire should disrupt Israel's momentum in Gaza, and so the Biden administration's thinking goes, lower tensions across the region. Now, that's a controversial stance, especially since Israel has been adamant up to this point that Hamas must be destroyed no matter how long it takes.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, as Defense Secretary Austin said, this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After decades of voting overwhelmingly for Democrats, union members have increasingly begun to vote Republican, setting up a political power struggle ahead of the 2024 election. Here are the latest on both parties' efforts to win over union members is Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey, I'm Cabot Phillips. So we're seeing a fascinating shift develop in recent years on this. What do we need to know here?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, when talking about influential voter blocks, it's easy to focus on breakdowns along racial, gender, and educational lines. But union members have been a crucial voting bloc, helping decide elections for years. While union membership now sits at an all-time low, 14 million Americans making up roughly 10% of the nation's workforce are still in the union, and they are typically among the most politically engaged portion of the electorate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. Now, historically, they've gone overwhelmingly for Democrats but that has started to change in recent years. So for context in 1948 Democrat Harry Truman won union workers by 62 points. By 1992 when Democrat Bill Clinton won office that margin had fallen to 31 points. And according to exit polling in 2020, the Democrat advantage fell even further to around 20 points.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Right, and we're starting to see that shifting sentiment play out in polling ahead of 2024 as well, correct?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we are. So according to a New York Times-Siena poll of six swing states, the Democrats won in 2020. Biden and Trump are tied at 47 among union workers. Again, that's after a 20-point advantage for Democrats in 2020. And importantly, when those voters were asked who they voted for last election, Biden led among that group by an eight-point margin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, that might not sound too drastic, but in crucial battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Nevada, around 15% of all voters are union members. So a few percent points among that voting bloc can and will have an outsized impact on the result of the race.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, and that tightening has left both Trump and Biden really scrambling to win over these union members. Exactly. President Biden really pushed hard in recent months to secure the endorsement of the United Auto Workers Union, becoming the first sitting president to join a picket line when he marched with union members during their strike in the fall.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those efforts were apparently successful as UAW, one of the largest unions in the country, endorsed Biden last week. However, while the group's president, Sean Fain, went after Trump as anti-union and working class, He conceded in an interview to Fox that despite his endorsement of Biden, the majority of his members will not be supporting the president come November.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Have a listen. Let me be clear about this. A great majority of our members will not vote for President Biden. Yes, some will. But that's the reality of this. The majority of our members are going to vote their paychecks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: While President Biden met with UAW members in Detroit Thursday evening, Donald Trump made his own pitch to the Teamsters Union on Wednesday in Washington, saying his plan to crack down on illegal immigration will benefit union members around the country.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You know, it's interesting. We just had a meeting with the Teamsters, and one of the biggest problems they have is millions of people are pouring into the country. And that's a killer for the Teamsters. And I'm going to stop it. And that's why the Teamsters, I think, support me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So to the big question, what's behind the apparent shift that we're seeing? So there's no doubt that President Trump has adopted a far more populist tone than we've seen from Republicans in years past. That's certainly played a role, especially in Rust Belt states that he took back from Democrats in 2016.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Trump has also performed very well in past elections with non-college-educated workers, which account for the majority of union members. In 2020, he led Biden by seven points among those without a degree. And current polling shows a similar lead at the moment among union workers of the same stripe. And of course, there's also immigration, which we mentioned earlier. One of Trump's main campaign talking points is that illegal immigration is a detriment to American workers, especially union members. That is almost certainly playing a role as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So as Election Day approaches, we see a once reliably blue voter bloc seemingly up for grabs this year. Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Denver, which bills itself as one of America's leading sanctuary cities, is struggling to manage amid a surge of some 40,000 illegal migrants in recent months. Colorado's capital is a sanctuary city, but lately, shelters are so overwhelmed that officials have decided to limit how long migrants can stay. Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraida Lordi is here with the details.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Hi Georgia. Well this is yet another example of a sanctuary city that has become absolutely overwhelmed with new migrants unable to work and needing shelter and food especially in these colder months. Originally the city did not want to limit how much time migrants could stay in shelters. In November Denver stopped evicting migrant families and welcomed some families back into shelters. But a spokesperson for Mayor Mike Johnson office said that over the past two months, Denver has seen a dramatic uptick in arrivals and is currently sheltering 4,000 people, and the new influx is straining capacity.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So starting February 5th, migrant families can only stay in a shelter room for six weeks. Denver has only 710,000 residents, meaning the new migrants have increased the city's population by more than 5%. So even though other cities like New York and Chicago have received more migrants, the problem feels bigger in Denver because it's a smaller city.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Now, how is the city paying for this? Well, that's a major issue. Mayor Johnson said the city will likely need $100 million over the course of this year to pay for migrant costs such as housing, school, and health care. We're calling on Congress to take action on what they think the right border admission policy is. That's above my pay grade. But whether they decide to have 10,000 people enter a day or 5,000 enter a day, we just don't want people here with no capacity to work and expect cities to foot the bill.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, City Hospital Denver Health is floating about $10 million in unpaid medical bills from migrants. The hospitals requested more money from both Colorado and the federal government. Doctors there have also reported an uptick in parasitic infections caused by the drinking water migrants consumed on their way to the southern border. Also, the city's public schools have received nearly 3,000 new migrant children, mostly from Venezuela since July, which has strained the school's system's resources and funding. That's according to Adrienne Andres, the executive director of multilingual education for the school district.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: More than 600 of the children previously received little to no schooling at all, so they must spend time catching up, Andres said. Now, is the federal government offering any kind of assistance? Well, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News the department will continue to work with the city on the migrant issue. The spokesperson also said the department is urging Congress to approve funding for the southern border as well as financial support for these cities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we more frequently report on West Coast cities struggling with homelessness, but Denver also has a very serious homeless problem. Are the homeless being displaced from the shelters at this point?
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Right. This is a huge issue in Denver. At this point, the shelters are full. The homeless population spiked more than 30 percent last year, and that has resulted in a massive expansion of encampments. One local bar owner told Fox News that as many as 200 tents appeared outside the bar, blocking the way to the door, which caused an aggressive decline in business.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, pivoting a little bit to the migrant situation in New York, which you've reported on extensively, what happened this week with the migrants attacking the two police officers?
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Yeah, so a group of nine illegal migrants beat two NYPD cops in Times Square on Wednesday night. Five of them were quickly apprehended but were quickly released without bail. Four more are still on the run. New York residents are up in arms about the situation, demanding they be deported. When asked, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said deportation was an idea that should be looked at. If someone commits a crime against a police officer in the state of New York, and they're not here legally, definitely worth checking into.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it seems like a very reasonable idea. Right. Mairead, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Maraida Lordi: Thanks, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: 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 later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
