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--:-- John Bickley: All eyes on New Hampshire today as its first in the nation primary could end up settling the Republican nomination. Joe Biden is a threat to democracy. And, it's interesting. Until I got indicted, I never talked this way about him. You probably know. I'm running to win this race. At some point, y'all are going to realize that I won this race and you're going to have to accept when I say I told you so.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We hear what's happening on the ground in the Granite State as voters hit the polls. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, January 23rd, and this is Morning Wire. Democrats are making abortion the centerpiece of their election strategy, and it ramps up today with a rally in Virginia with President Biden. And the Supreme Court allows Border Patrol to remove razor wire installed by Texas amid record numbers of illegal crossings.
--:-- Host: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: It's election day in New Hampshire, and as the candidates make their final push, the primary season could either end tonight or perhaps be extended. Donald Trump leads in the polls by double digits, but some outliers have shown challenger Nikki Haley closing in and within single digits.
--:-- Host: Here to discuss the election from the ground in New Hampshire is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hey, Dave. So here we are. How is the atmosphere there? And could we be in for any surprises after the polls close?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning. I have to say, compared to past New Hampshire primaries, the mood in the Granite State, it's pretty subdued. As we've reported on, the Democrat results are not going to count. And with DeSantis dropping out at the last minute on Sunday, this one-on-one between Haley and Trump, which in fairness, she called after Iowa, is set to be for all the marbles in terms of whether this primary race will still be a race on Wednesday heading into her home state of South Carolina.
--:-- Host: Morning Wire got a chance to speak to Nikki Haley on Monday. Here's what she had to say. If you look at the polls that I'm in, we defeat by double digits. And when you defeat by double digits, that means you're going into Washington, D.C. with a mandate, a mandate to cut the wasteful spending and get our economy back on track, a mandate to secure our border, no more excuses, a mandate for law and order back in our country and a mandate for a strong America that can all be drowled up.
--:-- David Marcus: Now we heard a lot about Democratic voters crossing over to support Haley in the GOP primary How impactful might that be Could it really put her over the top Right So there been some confusion about this The deadline for Democrats to switch parties and vote in the GOP primary was October 6th So nobody can do that right now or has been able to for months. It is certainly possible that some Democrats made that choice back then to vote against Donald Trump. But at the time, Haley was not a major contender. So it really doesn't appear that thousands of Democrats have switched specifically to vote for her.
--:-- Host: Right. What is the makeup of Haley's support in New Hampshire? Are those voters who Trump has to woo in November if he ends up being the nominee? Yes. And many seem to be, if you will, pre-Trump Republican voters looking for the normalcy of a John McCain or Mitt Romney or the foreign policy of a George W. Bush. Some are Indies who just don't care for Trump. And again, there could be some Democrats trying to play spoiler.
--:-- David Marcus: Morningwire also spoke to a few Haley supporters in Dixon Notch, where the first votes will be tallied. Here's some of their take. I think that while Trump has a lot of strengths, and I think he did a very good job as our president, and in a lot of ways, we were in very good shape economically and otherwise under his presidency. I think there's a lot of controversy around him, and we don't need that anymore. It's time to move on. We need to grow up and have a real leader. Now, Haley is not the only candidate trying to stand in the way of a Biden Trump rematch. We've also got a Democratic congressman, Dean Phillips. We've now seen some polling with him over 30 percent.
--:-- Host: How much of a factor might he be there? Phillips absolutely appears energized. He's had two things to overcome. First, obviously, name recognition, garnering supporters, the usual challenge, but also the fact that this Democrat primary doesn't count and Joe Biden isn't on the ballot. Biden world really wanted this to mean that nobody would pay any heed to the results, but Phillips has broken through. If he gets over 30%, especially if there is no surprise Haley win in the GOP contest, then Dean Phillips is the leading story coming out of New Hampshire, which just two weeks ago seemed a laughable possibility.
--:-- Host: He has a lot of buzz in the state. And should he do well, I don't think the Biden campaign is going to be able to put a muzzle on the embarrassment. So, yeah, along with Haley, keep an eye on Philip's results because it could be a huge red flag for President Biden.
--:-- David Marcus: We'll see if voters have some twists and turns in store for us. Dave, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Tens of thousands of pro-life activists braved freezing temperatures this weekend to march on the Capitol just before what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. But a year and a half out from the Dobbs decision, abortion is still a defining force in the political landscape. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now to tell us how the issue is likely to impact the upcoming elections.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, the Dobbs ruling has already had a fairly seismic impact at the state level. A number of blue states have enacted much more progressive policies than they had before the fall of Roe. And conservatives have also seen some surprising losses in red states I thinking particularly of Nebraska and Ohio Has this become a losing issue for Republicans Well you know it depends on who you ask Certainly the Biden campaign seems to believe that this is the most crucial issue to mobilize their base.
--:-- Host: His team is already launching pro-abortion ads in battleground states, and they've got multiple abortion-themed events planned this week. So Vice President Kamala Harris is about to embark on a, quote unquote, reproductive freedom tour. And the president was out Monday on the anniversary of Roe, calling Republicans extremists for attempting to block the sale of mail order abortion drugs.
--:-- Megan Basham: The extreme right is trying to limit all women in America from getting safe and effective medication approved by the Federal Drug Administration over 20 years ago, based on the FDA's independent expert judgment. So they're going wall to wall on abortion. But pro-lifers tell me that it is way too soon to make judgments on how this issue may shape the election and future elections in the long run.
--:-- Host: I spoke with Kristen Wagoner, who is the president of Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal foundation that often represents pro-life clients. And she says it's simply going to take a little time for conservatives to make the case for life under this new political reality. Life is never a losing issue. I think that we need to go back to first principles and the unshakable principle that all people are made in the image of God.
--:-- Megan Basham: And we need to have legal protections that protect all people from conception to natural death. But we also need to understand that abortion harms women. It's anti-woman. We have been discipled in this country for 50 years that Roe and abortion is the solution for women to have success. And that's just not the case.
--:-- Host: And it's going to take more than two minutes to demonstrate that to others and to adopt policies that are truly pro-family and pro-woman. But I think we've seen even that the remaining Republican candidates have some fear around this issue that it might be sort of an albatross moving forward. President Trump, for example, said Republicans need to, quote, find consensus on the issue. He called Florida's six-week ban extreme.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, very true. And a lot of pro-lifers are unhappy with those comments. And they want more clarity from both him and Nikki Haley. She's called herself very pro-life, but she's also called abortion a personal choice. So I think a lot of social conservatives are concerned about the position that either one of them might take in the general election.
--:-- Host: I asked Wagner if pro-lifers are right to worry about their candidates, and this is what she told me. Yes, I do think it's a fair concern. We have heard discussions about proposing a 15-week national federal limitation. And as I said, we believe that that's short-sighted. I think there are better, more prudential options right now, better legislative solutions to provide the support we need, rather than agreeing to a limit on abortion that, frankly, doesn't really limit abortion in any meaningful way and continues to allow great harm to occur to women, particularly through high-risk abortion drugs.
--:-- Megan Basham: So I think right now it seems very clear that Democrats have the easier messaging on abortion, but pro-life voters are telling me that they do plan to hold their candidates' feet to the fire on this issue. Well, it'll be interesting to see just how long this stays an urgent, fresh issue for Democrats. Yeah.
--:-- Host: Megan, thanks for reporting. Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In a 5-4 vote on Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Biden administration to begin to remove razor wire installed by Texas at the southern border. The closely divided ruling comes as the migrant crisis has reached new levels Here to discuss the vote as well as the latest actions by Republicans to force the Biden administration hand on the border is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey Tim So first we have a significant order here by the Supreme Court against the state of Texas. Right, and by the narrowest of margins. So the vote, as Georgia noted, was five to four. Two conservative justices, John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, appeared to side with the three progressives on the court. The court granted the Biden administration's emergency request to remove the wire, which the state installed at Eagle Pass.
--:-- Host: The administration is arguing that Texas is preventing federal agents from doing their jobs, and five of the justices appear to have agreed. The case started when Texas sued Border Patrol when it began removing razor wire it had installed to try to reduce the flood of migrants. They said agents were trespassing and damaging state property. Texas, as we've discussed here on the show, argues that the administration has effectively forced the state to take drastic action. And now the feds are actively working against them as they try to slow down the crisis.
--:-- Tim Pierce: This is something completely different that has never happened before in the history of the country. This is an invasion by people. We don't know who they are, where they're coming from, or the danger they may pose. And so it's right for Texas to have taken the steps that we have taken to crack down on the illegal crossings to declare an evasion and use every tool we can to do the job that Biden is not doing.
--:-- Host: Abbott's office responded to the court's ruling in a statement to Morningwire that said the case is ongoing and Governor Abbott will continue fighting to defend Texas's property and its constitutional authority to secure the border. Texas Senator Ted Cruz told Morningwire in response to the ruling, quote, not only has Biden failed to secure the border, he is working to prevent states from securing it themselves. It's tragically obvious to everyone at this point that when it comes to border security, Biden is actively working against the American people.
--:-- Tim Pierce: What brought us here? How did we get to this Supreme Court vote? This has been in the works since last month when a federal judge ruled in favor of the Biden administration. But then the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision. They argue that the federal agents did not actually have the authority to remove or cut the wire unless a medical emergency required them to do so.
--:-- Host: Now, along with Texas battling the feds, we've also had a major fight brewing over the border in Congress right now. That's the impeachment effort against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. What's the latest there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Sure. Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee plan to introduce articles of impeachment by the end of the month. Here's Texas Congressman Michael McCall talking about Mayorkas on Fox News over the weekend. This one man is the architect of destruction down here. One man has caused all this chaos, deaths of fentanyl poisoning, danger to the country with terrorists coming in, 8 million encounters with no legal status. He has destroyed the fabric of this nation. He is the one who has injured societies, the founding fathers talked about. Breach of public trust was sufficient for impeachment by the founding fathers. And we intend to go forward. Chairman Mark Green's doing a great job. We're working together. Articles of impeachment, January 31st, and we will impeach him after that.
--:-- Host: In the meantime, the Biden administration has reportedly struck a deal with Mexico. The agreement entails Mexico taking steps to block immigration to the U.S., at least through the end of the year to get President Biden past the election.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We'll see if that deal has any impact.
--:-- Host: Tim, thanks for joining us. Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. Bye.
