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--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire, and I'm here with my co-host Georgia Howe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us, folks. It's Friday, October 28th.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Elon Musk made a dramatic entrance on his first day at Twitter on Wednesday. Hinting that a major overhaul of the company is coming soon. What do we know about Musk's first orders of business as Chief Twit?
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm here with Georgia Howe. Let's dive right in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Elon Musk has finalized his purchase of Twitter for his original offer of $44 billion. The Tesla CEO lost no time making clear that there's a new sheriff in town. On Wednesday, he changed his Twitter bio to read Chief Twit. He also posted a video of himself carrying a sink into Twitter headquarters, which many took as a reference to kitchen sinking. In the business world, the term means radical changes are coming.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And we're joined now by Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham to tell us what the world can expect from Twitter in the Musk era.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Megan, this has been a winding road, but Elon is finally taking over at Twitter. I think the first thing everyone is wondering is what kind of changes is Elon going to make?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yes. And I will say that as an avid Twitter user myself, I have been keeping close tabs on that. And the first change is a major shakeup at the top. Now, there are conflicting reports about whether Musk fired several key executives or they simply resigned. But what we do know is that CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Siegel, Head of Policy Vijay Gade, and General Counsel Sean Ejit are all out. And it's important to note that these were the people who decided to kick former President Donald Trump off the platform. And that's something Musk has called a mistake.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right. And in terms of how the platform itself will change, I'd say there are really two big areas. One is monetization. Twitter is currently not profitable, and it really hasn't been for years. And second, loosening ideological censorship. We all remember, of course, that what seemed to initiate this entire roller coaster was Twitter banning the Babylon Bee. That's a conservative satire site that Musk is a big fan of. And then at several points while the deal was pending, he talked about the importance of free speech and made it clear that he disagreed with some of Twitter's censorship decisions.
--:-- Megan Basham: This was Musk addressing the issue back in May shortly after his initial offer to buy Twitter. I think people that they necessarily intend or at least some of them don't intend to have a left bias. They just, from their perspective, it seems moderate, but they're just coming at it from an environment that is very far left. So this fails to build trust in the rest of the United States and also perhaps in other parts of the world.
--:-- John Bickley: So Musk stuck with that theme this week as he officially took the reins. On Wednesday, he tweeted, a beautiful thing about Twitter is how it empowers citizen journalism. People are able to disseminate news without an establishment bias. And then in another post, he criticized traditional news media, saying that it fuels and caters to polarized extremes on both the left and the right.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, I know there's been some concern from investors that if Musk scales back content moderation too much, then offensive material might flood everywhere on the platform and that's going to scare off advertisers. Is there any merit to that?
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, there is. That is definitely a concern and Musk already seems to be trying to assuage those fears. On Thursday, he posted an open letter to advertisers and in it he affirmed his commitment to open dialogue. He said that the reason he acquired Twitter is because it's important to the future of civilization to have a common digital square where a wide range of beliefs can be debated.
--:-- Megan Basham: But he tempered that by assuring companies that doesn't mean the platform is going to become a free-for-all hellscape, those were his words, where anything can be said with no consequences. And he added that Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world and that it's going to allow companies to strengthen their brands and grow their enterprises.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, what about monetization for users? Is Twitter going to be following that trend?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it definitely looks like it. To give you one example, when conservative rapper Zuby tweeted that Twitter should find a way for top creators to make money off their accounts, as you tend to see on Instagram and TikTok, Musk replied, absolutely. And then a huge change that happened this week, but that Musk has actually been hinting at for a while, Twitter finally added an edit button for premium subscribers.
--:-- John Bickley: So now to the elephant in the room, how are Twitter employees responding to their new boss?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, I think you have to say that they don't seem very excited about the change in leadership. So the Washington Post reported last week that Musk was planning to lay off 75% of Twitter's workforce. Now he denied that, but a group of Twitter employees published an open letter that you have to say was fairly aggressive in tone. It accused Musk of trying to intimidate workers and demanding he drop any threats of layoffs.
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--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting, Megan. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, the funding scheme for a progressive-backed federal bureau is ruled unconstitutional. The American economy is still feeling the traumatic effects of a two-year pandemic and lockdown-induced recession. Polls show that 94% of Americans are upset or concerned about the impact of rising prices. 95% believe the soaring inflation is very serious or somewhat serious.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: That's WIRE to 989898 to claim your free no-obligation information kit on how to protect your hard-earned savings with gold.
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--:-- John Bickley: A recent ruling in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that a powerful Obama-era agency that was championed by progressive lawmakers as a means of protecting consumers is unconstitutional. The decision is facing criticism from proponents of the agency, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, who created the group.
--:-- Georgia Howe: After the ruling, she tweeted that it was lawless and reckless, calling the judges extreme and right-wing.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So Charlotte, what did the court take issue with here?
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Well, essentially the very existence of the Bureau, at least in how it's funded. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, was, as you mentioned, created in 2010 by Elizabeth Warren before she was a senator. It was passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, and it gets its funding from the Federal Reserve, not from bills passed by Congress.
--:-- John Bickley: It was essentially formed after the financial crisis, and it's supposed to safeguard Americans from being mistreated by financial companies. Originally, the president also couldn't get rid of the head of the CFPB, even though it's a government agency, but the Supreme Court ruled against that in 2020.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: A payday lending group brought this case to the court. Three judges on the panel sided with them regarding a 2017 regulation, but they made a more significant decision too. They said that the way the CFPB is funded violates the constitution.
--:-- John Bickley: The judges wrote, quote, Congress's decision to abdicate its appropriations power under the Constitution, i.e. to cede its power of purse to the Bureau, violates the Constitution's structural separation of powers. So this Bureau did not have proper accountability to Congress in terms of financially.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Now, some listeners might have some degree of knowledge about the CFPB, but can you remind us what exactly the agency does?
--:-- John Bickley: Yes. It describes itself as designed to, quoting here, protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices and take action against companies that break the law. So a pretty sweeping and open-ended mandate there.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: I spoke to Giancarlo Canaparo, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, about the CFPB, and he explained it this way. It was given broad regulatory and enforcement power over not only the financial industry, but industries touching on the financial industry, payments, credit cards, and a lot of other things that are related to what's broadly referred to as consumer protection issues.
--:-- John Bickley: And how it's financially structured is the main thing at issue here in this ruling. Canaparo pointed out that it gets its money directly from the Federal Reserve, and the Fed has to give it up to 12% of the Fed's entire operating budget. So Congress and taxpayers have no say in how much it actually gets, only the upward cap.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: And how is the CFPB be responding to this ruling?
--:-- John Bickley: Unsurprisingly, it's defending itself. It said in a statement that there is nothing novel or unusual about Congress's decision to fund the CFPB outside of annual spending bills.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: But Kanaparo says that misses the entire point. If there are other agencies, as the CFPB director contends, that have this same funding mechanism or something substantially similar, the answer is not that that renders the CFPB's action, of the CFPB structure constitutionally. It throws doubt on whether there's other agencies' funding structure is constitutional.
--:-- John Bickley: Conneborough says he thinks the CFPB pretty much has to appeal the ruling, but that could go badly for them if it goes to the Supreme Court. In the other case that went before the high court five justices also had their doubts about how it was funded.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: So it sounds like this could have a lot of implications moving forward.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting, Charlotte. That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The state of Pennsylvania is ground zero for the midterm elections. The Senate race is at the forefront of the national news, but the gubernatorial contest could be just as important.
--:-- John Bickley: Joining us to discuss the unexpectedly heated race for governor of Pennsylvania is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: So Tim, first off, tell us about the different candidates.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Pennsylvania's governor's seat is open as the current governor, Democrat Tom Wolfe, is term limited out. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro is the Democratic nominee to replace him. Shapiro ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, but that wasn't the case on the Republican side. State Senator Doug Mastriano won the GOP primary against former Congressman Lou Barletta and a crowd of other candidates by more than 20%.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, so those are the candidates. How's the race shaping up right now?
--:-- Tim Pierce: A lot of grassroots conservatives are backing Mastriano. Establishment Republicans have been more hesitant because Mastriano was at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6th riots, and the Republican Governors Association hasn't supported Mastriano financially. On the other hand, Shapiro is the best-funded gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history. He's spent over $40 million so far and has $11 million in the bank.
--:-- John Bickley: In comparison, Mastriano has spent just $3 million and has $2.6 million left. So a huge financial edge for Shapiro.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. And it appears to be paying off. Rasmussen has Shapiro up three, and Insider Advantage has him up seven. That said, like a lot of Republicans over the past few weeks, Mastriano is gaining ground. A recent survey from the market research company WIC found that Shapiro's lead had shrunk to just two points, well within the margin of error.
--:-- John Bickley: Interesting. So what are the campaign platforms on each side?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Mastriano is not shy about his social conservatism. One of his campaign ads is a three-minute dive into Shapiro's ties to groups that promote radical gender theory in the classroom. Mastriano then uses that as a springboard to push school choice. The ad, which is pretty graphic, portrays Mastriano as the candidate for parents of young kids.
--:-- John Bickley: After the ad dropped, Shapiro actually added language to his campaign website in support of a piece of school choice legislation. That was a pretty significant pivot, especially given he's backed by progressives and teachers unions. School choice is pretty popular. Nearly three quarters of registered voters support it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's probably why we're seeing a similar pivot from other progressive Democrats, such as Illinois' Governor J.B. Pritzker.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, so what about Shapiro? What are his main issues?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Shapiro is focused on abortion access. Like many Democrats, he's relying on the backlash to the overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer. Most of his ads highlight Mastriano's pro-life position. Mastriano wrote Pennsylvania's heartbeat bill, which would regulate abortion after six weeks.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, earlier this year, there was also some controversy about the fact that Shapiro actually donated to Mastriano during the GOP primary. What was the strategy there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, this was a controversial strategy that Democrats tried in several races across the country. They propped up MAGA Republicans, thinking they would be the easiest to beat. If Mastriano wins, it will be a bitter pill for progressives in the state. That's becoming more likely. A lot of activists on the ground have warned that as more Pennsylvanians are pinched by the economy, the better Mastriano's chances become.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, it's definitely a race we're going to keep an eye on. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. After shrinking for two quarters in a row, the U.S. economy grew last quarter. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that in the third quarter, the GDP increased at a 2.6% annualized pace, topping the Dow Jones forecast of 2.3%.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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