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--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm John Bickley, and welcome to Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I'm Georgia Howe. Today, we're covering the latest developments in politics, culture, and more.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump says he'll end voting by mail and even voting machines in order to safeguard U.S. elections. It's time that the Republicans get tough and stop it, because the Democrats want it. It's the only way they can get elected.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's right. And we're joined now by Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, August 20th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. flexes its military muscle, sending three Navy destroyers to the coast of Venezuela to target drug cartels. President Trump has been very clear and consistent. He's prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the White House touts several wins, including big progress on Ukraine peace talks and its D.C. crime crackdown. We walked around after dinner last night. And just to see the police presence, it's way more calm and just a safer environment.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Producer Brandon: Hey, guys. Producer Brandon here. Quality sleep is the most elusive luxury. We've all experienced those nights laying there just breathing as the minutes tick by.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, August 20th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And we're joined now by Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So let's start with the basics. Exactly what is the president promising to do here and what's driving this initiative?
--:-- Megan Basham: The president is promising to issue an executive order to end that mail-in balloting. He has said that he's already got the best lawyers working on drafting that order.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And this was what he said Monday during a meeting at the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
--:-- Megan Basham: We're going to end mail-in voting. It's a fraud. If you have mail-in, even Jimmy Carter with this commission, they set it up. He said the one thing about mail-in voting, you will never have an honest election if you have mail-in.
--:-- John Bickley: I hate to take your time on this, but I'm glad you asked me that question. We're going to stop mail-in ballots because it's corrupt.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, the president is also taking aim at electronic voting. He has said that it is seriously controversial. He's also said that it's much more expensive, that it's slower and it's less accurate than that typical watermarked paper balloting process.
--:-- Megan Basham: So these are initiatives he's brought up before he is following through. Does he have the actual legal authority to do this?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, you know that the million-dollar question. By congressional design, states have the power to administer elections, but the power to regulate those federal elections lies with Congress.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And back in March, Trump did issue an executive order to require proof of citizenship to vote, and federal courts blocked that order.
--:-- Megan Basham: So this order, if it comes to pass, is very likely to face those same kind of legal challenges. But we have seen some Republicans legislatively back Trump in some of these efforts.
--:-- John Bickley: So the SAVE Act, which would enshrine that proof of citizenship requirement into law, well, it passed the House back in April unanimously among Republicans.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it has pretty strong GOP support in the Senate as well, including senators like Mike Lee and Marsha Blackburn.
--:-- Megan Basham: So we'll see if Republicans are willing to throw their weight behind this Trump order as well.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what about Democrats? What are they saying about this?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, you know, no surprise, they're promising to fight Trump tooth and nail on this.
--:-- Megan Basham: Chuck Schumer said on X that he will make sure that any and every measure that would make it even more difficult for Americans to vote will be dead on arrival in the Senate.
--:-- John Bickley: And at the state level, Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold argued that mail-in ballots are secure.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And she said that she, too, at the state level will also be fighting Trump. To make it very clear, he will not be successful.
--:-- Megan Basham: I have beat him over and over and over as he has attempted in 2020 to roll back mail ballots.
--:-- John Bickley: But mail ballots do not help one party over another. That's what all the data shows.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And to put it in perspective, we do have vote by mail. We send it to every active voter. But we have weeks of early voting, same-day voter registration, a lot of in-person voting options.
--:-- Megan Basham: And in 2024, 92% of Republican voters chose to use their mail ballots.
--:-- John Bickley: But a little context there on what Griswold said, it may be up for debate whether or not mail-in ballots benefit one party more than the other.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But it's not in question that one party uses that much more than the other. Democrats are much more likely to use mail-in voting.
--:-- Megan Basham: In fact, in 2024, there was an 18-point split between the two parties.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, yeah, we started to see that split back in 2020. It's been very dramatic between the two parties.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: My pleasure.
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--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. Navy has deployed three destroyers off the coast of Venezuela. The warships are positioned to confront Latin American drug cartels.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to talk about the Trump administration's escalating war on the cartels is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, what do we know about these assets that are now stationed in the Caribbean? It's a big show of muscle by the Trump administration.
--:-- John Bickley: According to Reuters, the U.S. military has deployed three Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers to international waters off the coast of Venezuela.
--:-- Tim Pierce: These are warships equipped with the advanced Aegis combat system, which is capable of defensive tracking and striking abilities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In addition to that, the US has sent 4 sailors and marines, several PA spy planes, other warships, and at least one attack submarine to the region as well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And what is Venezuela saying about this?
--:-- John Bickley: Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is pretty irritated at the United States right now.
--:-- Tim Pierce: He vented some of that frustration on Monday, though he did not speak directly toward the U.S. military deployment.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But he did say he would deploy 4.5 million militiamen throughout the country over, quote, extravagant, bizarre, and outlandish threats from the United States.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Fritz Park, the White House commented on the Reuters report yesterday.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's White House Press Secretary Caroline Levin.
--:-- Caroline Levin: The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In Maduro, it is the view of this administration is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into the country.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I should note that that was in response to a question on whether the president wanted boots on the ground in Venezuela.
--:-- Caroline Levin: And Levitt didn't rule it out.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Trump administration says that Maduro is a key leader in drug cartels recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the United States had increased its bounty on Maduro to $50 million dollars.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa, and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.
--:-- John Bickley: To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles, and more.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yet Maduro's reign of terror continues. He is one of the largest narco traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.
--:-- John Bickley: Wow, so a $50 million bounty on Maduro. So can the Trump administration go after him directly?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, it's a legal gray area, but it wouldn't be unprecedented.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Former President George H.W. Bush sent 20,000 troops into Panama in 1989 under some similar circumstances.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Back then, the Bush administration said Panama's dictator Manuel Noriega was a prolific drug trafficker, so it sent in the military to arrest him.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That decision was backed up by a legal memo written by former Attorney General Bill Barr, who at that time was head of the Office of Legal Counsel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Barr said that the president had the authority to direct the arrest of fugitives in other countries with or without the consent of those countries.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So a major escalation.
--:-- John Bickley: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on.
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--:-- John Bickley: President Trump continues to work toward a peace deal in Ukraine. As back home, his takeover of the D.C. police is already getting results.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has more from the White House at Cabot.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So let's start with these crucial meetings between Trump with Putin and then Zelensky. Where do things stand now?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, following that White House summit Monday, the likelihood of a looming peace deal seems to be growing by the hour.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: European leaders who, for the last six months, have made their anger towards Trump quite public, are now singing a very different tune expressing downright optimism towards his approach with Putin.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Many did not expect Moscow to agree to that U security guarantee for Ukraine and the fact that Trump was able to secure that from Putin clearly has them rethinking their past criticism.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This new unified front between Trump and Europe also gives more leverage in final negotiations, and those negotiations could happen very soon.
--:-- John Bickley: President Trump reportedly called up Putin right after his meeting with those European leaders on Monday for an impromptu chat, making arrangements for a trilateral meeting that would also include Zelensky.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here he is Tuesday explaining why he's intent on getting a deal done so quickly.
--:-- John Bickley: One of the gentlemen, who's a great guy, but he said, well, let's meet in another month or two and let's see if we can start, you know, making some work.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He said, a month or two? You're going to have another 40,000 people dead in a month or two. You have to do it tonight.
--:-- John Bickley: And I did, actually. I called President Putin and we're trying to work out a meeting with President Zelensky.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And as we seemingly inch closer to a deal, the White House on Monday took shots at those who have doubted President Trump's foreign policy chops and his strategy for peace.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt.
--:-- Caroline Leavitt: The so-called experts in the foreign policy establishment, whose record is nothing but endless wars, trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars and dead Americans, have the nerve to try and lecture President Trump, who has solved seven global conflicts in seven months, about peace.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, during his meeting with Zelensky, it got a lot of attention that President Trump did not rule out the use of American forces as peacekeepers in Ukraine, saying, quote, will help them out, but failing to specify if that meant boots on the ground.
--:-- Georgia Howe: However, yesterday, the White House stepped in and offered assurances that American troops would not be on the ground in Ukraine.
--:-- Caroline Leavitt: The president has definitively stated U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But it's worth noting, amid all this apparent peace progress, Vladimir Putin is still pushing forward, hoping to gain as much land as possible before a potential deal.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In the last 48 hours, he's launched hundreds of drone attacks, killing soldiers and civilians alike.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So the fighting, it's very much continuing.
--:-- John Bickley: Right, we continue to see Putin be very aggressive.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now let's move from foreign policy to domestic policy. The White House really touting what's going on in D.C.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What is the latest?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the arrests following President Trump's federalization of the D.C. police force continue to pile up with federal agents and National Guardsmen patrolling the streets, focusing on high crime areas in particular.
--:-- John Bickley: At latest count, Attorney General Pam Bondi says nearly 500 arrests have been made, with 68 illegal guns seized and offenders wanted on charges of homicide, narcotics, and assault all brought in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hundreds of the other arrests were related to illegal immigration, with a number of alleged MS-13 gang members brought in as well.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That crackdown has also resulted in the removal of a number of large homeless encampments that had sprung up across the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And according to the union representing the D.C. Police Department, the crackdown is already having an immense impact.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They say in the last seven days, car thefts are down 21 percent, violent crime is down 22 percent, robberies 46 percent, and carjackings a staggering 83 percent.
--:-- John Bickley: Wow, so a big impact the White House hoping those numbers hold.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, in terms of economic policy, there was also some good news for Trump.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, on Tuesday, the Dow Jones touched an all-time high, really defying expectations of this bear market that was supposedly going to be brought on by Trump's tariffs.
--:-- John Bickley: Despite the well-documented concerns over the labor market and inflation brought on by trade wars, investors certainly remain optimistic that the worst turmoil is behind us and that economic growth is on the way.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Remember, for months now, President Trump has been pressing Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates, and it looks like he could soon get his wish.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: A poll of economists this week showed that the majority now expect a rate cut coming in September, which obviously would be music to Trump's ears.
--:-- John Bickley: He's confident that would result in major economic expansion, particularly in the housing market, where hundreds of thousands of Americans have been waiting on the sidelines, hoping for rates to come down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, but thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely. Thank you.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned for more news and analysis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to follow us on social media for the latest updates.
--:-- John Bickley: And if you'd like to support our show, you can visit our website or subscribe to our podcast.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow.
--:-- John Bickley: Goodbye.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Goodbye.
