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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets. Let the general election begin. Nikki Haley ends her campaign without a Trump endorsement. Who will Haley backers throw their support behind and has her door to the vice presidency closed? I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, March 7th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): A discrimination lawsuit against CBS could mean the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in Hollywood and Wall Street. And Super Tuesday wasn't only about Trump and Biden. There were plenty of important down-ballot races and measures voters weighed in on. We break down some of the most notable. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Nikki Haley suspended her campaign for president a day after Donald Trump's resounding victories across the electoral map on Super Tuesday. Trump won all but one contest and dominated the delegate count Tuesday night, leading Haley, his final challenger, to bow out.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Here to discuss the effective end of the GOP primary and where we go from here is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: Hey, thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): So as it comes to an end here, can you break down how Nikki Haley did in her run for the White House?
--:-- David Marcus: So Tuesday held more or less the result that we expected when we talked on Monday. I mean, not because we're so smart, but because it was clear that Haley had no path to a truly competitive set of results.
--:-- David Marcus: Haley did net about 45 delegates on Tuesday. She actually won the always ornery and independent state of Vermont, denying Trump a clean sweep. But, for example, in 2016, Ted Cruz racked up several hundred delegates against Trump on Super Tuesday and stayed in the race.
--:-- David Marcus: Trump now has 995 of the 1,215 needed to win. The rest could come as early as next week. But listen, Haley did accomplish something impressive by being the last person standing in what had been a field of 14, including early favorite Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
--:-- David Marcus: Nobody really expected that this would turn into a Trump-Haley one-on-one when she got in. But at the end of the day, GOP voters have made a decisive and clarion call that they want Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. And that why Haley suspended her campaign on Wednesday morning.
--:-- David Marcus: Now Haley congratulated the former president in those brief remarks but did not choose to endorse him at least not yet. What should voters make of that? And could an endorsement come eventually?
--:-- David Marcus: In a certain sense, Haley said that she's now a private citizen and a conservative Republican and that she's looking for Trump to earn her vote and those of her supporters.
--:-- David Marcus: This is now his time for choosing. And Haley isn't talking about tone or mean tweets when she says Trump needs to earn these votes. She's talking about things like supporting Ukraine and Israel, government spending and fixing Social Security.
--:-- David Marcus: Donald Trump publicly has basically said that he doesn't care if Haley endorses him or not. He certainly won't beg for it. And Haley apparently won't bend the knee in giving it. So this could take a while, but it does seem mutually beneficial for them to come to some kind of face-saving detente.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Yeah. With Haley out of the race, where is it likely that her supporters, a mix of Republicans, independents, and even Democrats, where will they end up landing come November?
--:-- David Marcus: The Washington Post took a dive into this. They found about half of Haley voters will go for Trump. 37% will go for Biden, leaving 12% undecided or willing to sit it out.
--:-- David Marcus: That last group is where Haley has a chance to help Trump, sort of holding these voters' hands, if you will, and saying, it's okay, you can vote for Trump, I'm going to as well.
--:-- David Marcus: And look, it's not a huge number, but given that in 2020, several swing states came down to a few tens of thousands of votes, nobody, neither Trump nor Biden, can afford to leave much of anything on the table.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): No, they certainly can't. Finally, with the nomination firmly in hand now, where does this leave the veep stakes as Trump mauls a new running mate? Is there any other person Trump can choose who would help him with her faction of the party?
--:-- David Marcus: From the people on his shortlist, Haley's fellow South Carolinian, Senator Tim Scott, appeals to a similar set of traditional Republicans. And his selection could help woo Haley and her supporters.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): In a presidential election cycle, there are a few events candidates look at to get a big bounce from. Their announcement, the convention, and for challengers, the naming of a running mate. Trump is in a position to keep that card up his sleeve for some time and play it whenever he thinks the timing helps him most, whoever he winds up selecting.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): And really, in the shortest primary season in modern American history, that is all the suspense that is left in this go-round.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Yeah, well, Trump's known for keeping things dramatic, so we'll see. Absolutely. Dave, thanks for joining us.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): In what could be a watershed civil rights case, a writer is suing CBS over claims that the company's DEI policies illegally discriminate on the basis of race. The suit comes as Wall Street also backs off DEI due to legal threats. Here with more is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, Hollywood was one of the most outspoken industries when it came to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. I remember you were talking a couple years ago about a number of studios that were setting race-based hiring targets. It seemed like a matter of time before someone filed a suit like this.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it did. And it's worth noting that CBS's parent company, Paramount, was one of the most aggressive studios in setting those targets. They had announced in 2020 that the writers' rooms for all CBS shows must be 40% BIPOC. That, of course, means Black, Indigenous, people of color by 2022 and 50% BIPOC by 2023.
--:-- Megan Basham: So essentially 50 non at a time when according to census data white people do still make up 75 percent of the U adult population But CBS DEI targets were announced before the Supreme Court ruling in 2023 that outlawed racial preferences in college admissions
--:-- Megan Basham: And technically, that was limited to higher education, but a lot of legal experts at the time said that it could embolden challenges to racial quotas in the private sector as well under the auspices that they violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
--:-- Megan Basham: So that's caused a very quick reversal in a number of industries. Just this week, for instance, there are reports that big banks and Wall Street firms are quietly backing off their DEI policies due to legal risks.
--:-- Megan Basham: J.P. Morgan has opened up internship programs originally designed for Black applicants to those of all races. And Goldman Sachs has reportedly done the same with a program that was launched to recruit only Black students.
--:-- Megan Basham: Meanwhile, Bank of New York Mellon is reportedly dropping its diversity quotas on the advice of its legal counsel.
--:-- Megan Basham: So what's the basis of this specific suit against CBS?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, Brian Benneker is a script coordinator for CBS's military drama SEAL Team. And he filed a lawsuit last week claiming that he has been repeatedly denied a promotion to Staff Writer because he's a straight white male.
--:-- Megan Basham: His lawsuit points to the fact that he has written a number of episodes of the show. But he says that because the network has a, quote, illegal policy of race and sex balancing, it filled open Staff Writer positions with members of, quote, unquote, more preferred groups who he says lack experience and screenwriting credits.
--:-- Megan Basham: By preferred groups, he obviously means racial minorities. So Benneker's filing highlights the fact that CBS's CEO, George Cheeks, boasted in a 2022 interview that, quoting here, 17 out of 21 CBS shows hit or exceeded that BIPOC target.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Benneker's asking for $500,000 and a full-time producer job on the series. And he's also asking the court to ban CBS from, quote unquote, further use of discriminatory hiring practices.
--:-- Megan Basham: And what was CBS's response to that? Well, so far, they haven't made any statement at all.
--:-- Megan Basham: And the debate will likely hinge on whether Benneker specifically was being discriminated against for being a straight white man. And his complaint claims that one showrunner told him that the reason he was not being promoted to writer was because he, quote, did not check any diversity boxes.
--:-- Megan Basham: And on another occasion, he says that when he asked a different showrunner why CBS hired a writer with no writing credits, the showrunner allegedly indicated it was because he was black.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Well, Megan, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
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--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): The Super Tuesday results are mostly in, and while the contests were dominated by the presidential candidates, there's plenty to break down down ballot as well. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce joins us to dig into what happened on Super Tuesday.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So Tim, before we get to the down ballot races I want to touch on the phenomenon of uncommitted voters in the Democratic primary. What happened there?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. We touched on this a bit on Wednesday but essentially Biden has drawn a sizable protest vote across multiple states in the form of these uncommitted voters.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Minnesota's results came back with the largest share in that category so far. 19% of voters, that's roughly one in five, said they were uncommitted in a primary in which Biden doesn't face any meaningful opposition.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That happened to a lesser extent in other states, too. In North Carolina, a swing state Biden is targeting, 13% of voters put down no preference. In Massachusetts, 9% marked no preference.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But to be clear, these voters aren't threatening to go to Trump. They will all likely come home to Biden. But they're trying to send a message. A lot of these votes have come after activist campaigns urge Democrats to protest vote over Biden's handling of Israel.
--:-- Tim Pierce: They want Biden to leverage the Jewish state for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden campaign seems to feel the pressure. It put out a statement early Wednesday that said he shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Morning Wire spoke with Signal pollster Brent Buchanan about how this could play in the general election, and he said it could spell trouble for Biden.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I think what is a bigger problem is go look at Minnesota. You had some places where uncommitted or anybody not named Joe Biden in the Democrat primary received almost 50 percent. What did those areas have in common? Muslim voters.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I think Joe Biden has a bigger problem in states that matter than Trump might have in states.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Now, turning to San Francisco, did we see a return to law and order there? A small one, but yes.
--:-- Tim Pierce: In San Francisco, voters overwhelmingly approved two measures, one that would expand police authority and one that requires drug testing to receive public assistance.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Measure F requires drug testing for anyone who receives welfare benefits. 63% of the voters in California's most liberal city approved the new rule. Welfare recipients are not cut off from funds for a positive drug test, but they must enroll in treatment.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And Measure E would expand police powers while weakening the authority of the citizen-led police commission. The measure would allow SFPD to use facial recognition technology and surveillance technology, including drones.
--:-- Tim Pierce: San Francisco Mayor London Breed supports both. So I think the voters send a message loud and clear. They want to see change. They want to see progress on public safety. They want to see progress on the things we need to do for our economic recovery.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Now, moving on to Texas, there was some drama there. Tell us what happened.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, Texas GOP Congressman Tony Gonzalez was forced into a runoff by political outsider Brandon Herrera, who ran with the slogan, Let's Go Brandon.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Herrera is a gun tuber, a YouTube personality who posts videos on firearms and how to use them. This is Herrera's first time getting into politics, and he jumped in because, as Herrera puts it, Gonzalez has sabotaged the Republican Party.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Herrera has focused mainly on immigration and Second Amendment issues. At the Senate level, Senator Ted Cruz handily won his GOP primary with nearly two million votes. He'll face Democrat Congressman Colin Allred in November.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): All right, well, a lot to track. Thanks for reporting, Tim.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host (Georgia Howe): Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
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