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--:-- Host: Disney CEO Bob Iger has suggested that the company may back away from political activism out of, quote, respect for audiences. When you tell stories, it's a delicate balance. You're talking to an audience, but it's also important to listen to an audience. What exactly is the media giant signaling? And will it be enough to restore trust with the customer base? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, December 2nd, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: San Francisco is piloting a controversial new program that will give more than $1,000 each month to transgender and gender nonconforming residents. What is the goal of the program and who's eligible for the monthly payments? And in the wake of reports that Apple was threatening to pull Twitter from its app store, senators across the aisle are considering actions to rein in big tech. The determination of what can and cannot go on your iPhone is hampering the choice of consumers. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned.
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--:-- Host: A leaked video of newly reinstalled Disney CEO Bob Iger addressing employees about the company's political activism has sparked debate both among the public and within the company. Here to explain what Iger said in the town hall and how staffers inside Disney are responding to it is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, it feels like we've been here before. How is the public responding to this latest leaked video?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, in this town hall, Iger was asked in a couple of different ways about the growing perception that Disney has become a politically activist company. And he responded by saying that he thinks some issues that are branded as political are really just being a good citizen of the world. That's how he put it. He did not say he was referring to LGBT content, but that was the inference that a lot of people took from it.
--:-- Megan Basham: However, Iger also said that it's a mistake for Disney to get into a battle with the state of Florida over its parental rights and education law. And he said the company needs to listen to its audience and have respect for the people that it's serving. And then to sum it all up, Iger said this. It's important to have respect for the people that you're serving, that you're trying to reach, and not have disdain for it. That said, we're not going to make everybody happy all the time, and we're not going to try to. And we certainly not going to lessen our core values in order to make everybody happy all the time.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, it was conservative journalist Chris Ruffo who first obtained this video and he said this indicates that Iger is trying to moderate the company position and move Disney toward neutrality, or at least he's trying to signal that that's what he's doing. Basically, Ruffo argued that the town hall might be proof that conservatives are finding some success in those efforts to check Disney's leftward trajectory.
--:-- Megan Basham: But is that how those inside the company see it? You know, I spoke to a number of people kind of up and down the Disney ranks this week, and some of them have worked pretty closely with Iger. And what I'll say is that while they're not necessarily disagreeing with Rufo, they also think he may be reading a little much into the tea leaves here.
--:-- Megan Basham: One told me, for example, Iger is such a master politician that pretty much everyone at Disney was initially pleased with his comments, but then realized he didn't say much either way. And so to that point, I've been told that left-wing activists at Disney walked out of that town hall meeting really feeling that Iger reaffirmed the company's commitment to promote their causes.
--:-- Megan Basham: However, by the end of the day, employees in the LGBT Pride Slack channel were broadly hypothesizing that Disney allowed its latest animated feature, Strange World, to bomb on purpose. Essentially, their theory was that executives didn't put much marketing muscle behind it because its failures give them an excuse not to center more films on LGBT characters.
--:-- Megan Basham: So that is not to say that there's any merit to that speculation. I only point it out to say this is where the discourse within Disney is right now. And what about those further up the ranks with a better personal sense of what Iger intends here? Well, one described him as a Bill Clinton figure, which I thought was pretty interesting.
--:-- Megan Basham: He said he's likely to pivot if there's demonstrable proof that that's what the customer is demanding. And this person also suggested that as a known Democratic donor, Iger has the progressive street cred that previous CEO Bob Chapek didn't have, and that that could allow him to pull Disney back from this politicized content without getting the same blowback that Chapek saw from left-wing employees and media outlets.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, that said, he's not convinced that Iger will change course. So we'll have to keep watching to see what Iger does more than what he says.
--:-- Host: Thanks, Megan. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Host: Coming up, San Francisco launches a universal basic income program for gender non-conforming residents. Slaying through traffic to the post office? Rushing to send gifts to your loyal clients? Luckily, Stamps.com has everything you need to make life a whole lot easier this holiday season. Stamps.com, the 24-7 post office that you can access from anywhere. No lines, no traffic, no hassle. This holiday season, trade late nights for silent nights and get started with Stamps.com today. Sign up with promo code WIRE for a special offer that includes a four-week trial, plus free postage and a free digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. Just go to Stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter code WIRE.
--:-- Host: Progressive San Francisco Mayor London Breed is offering people who identify as transgender or gender non-conforming, a payment of $1,200 a month for 18 months. Here to discuss the program is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Hi, Georgia. Sure. So the Guaranteed Income for Trans People program, dubbed GIFT, was created in partnership with Lion Martin Community Health Services and the Transgender District. It basically a UBI or Universal Basic Income Program that will offer attached cash to about 55 people.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: What makes the program unique is that only transgender or so-called gender nonconforming individuals are eligible to get the money. Another criteria is that they must earn less than $600 per month.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, gender nonconforming is a somewhat broad category. Is there going to be a process in place to verify whether recipients are actually living as the opposite gender or have a history of living as the opposite gender? That's unclear at this point.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Daily Wire reached out to the mayor's office specifically about that question, and we haven't received a response yet. But it is a legitimate question. On the application page, for example, there's a dropdown of about 90 different eligible gender options, including one titled not specified as a catch-all. Other options include things like two-spirit, brother boy, stud, omni-gender, femme, butch, aggressive, gray gender, and so on.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So the question of how to verify is very relevant. Now, aside from the trans angle, universal basic income programs are popping up in a variety of places. What's the argument for sending out cash to citizens?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Right. So UBI has been tossed around in progressive circles for a while. One of the most notable proponents of UBI is Andrew Yang. He ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, and UBI was part of his platform. Yang said he would give every American over 18 years old $1,000 a month if he were elected president. But in his plan, there were no racial or gender requirements.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Other proponents say that giving people free money makes them more productive because they have time to pursue enriching endeavors like entrepreneurship or higher education. A variety of small-scale UBI pilot programs popped up in progressive cities during the pandemic, but the results were mixed.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, we've reported before on this show that most of these UBI pilot programs were eventually abandoned. What are the downsides of UBI?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, I mean, as usual, it all comes down to where this money is coming from. With government-funded UBI programs, the obvious criticism is that we're just printing money without any economic output creating inflation. We sort of got a taste of this with stimulus packages during the pandemic.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Critics also say that this kind of program just ingrains more dependence on the government and undermines productivity. So when will the GIFT program get started? Applications right now are being accepted until December 15th, and then 55 people will be selected.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: These people will have to maintain an income below $600 a month, and they must continue to maintain a transgender or so-called gender non-conforming identity throughout the program.
--:-- Host: All right, well, more interesting ideas coming out of San Francisco. Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: The power of app markets, including Apple's App Store and Google Play, has come under more public scrutiny in recent days after Elon Musk claims that Apple was threatening to remove Twitter from its app store. Now, new legislation that would directly impact such a situation is making its way through the Senate. Joining us to discuss is Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, a sponsor of the Open App Markets Act.
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: Yes, that means that individuals would be able to go directly to Twitter and they would be able to put that app on their phone Right now they have to go through the Apple or the Google store That means that you are having to do business with Apple or Google
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: Well you know it appears that Apple has decided they're not very fond of Twitter now that Elon Musk is in charge. Now, that means that people would have to sideload. There's a process called sideloading. So they would have to then search out Twitter and then be able to go through the process of getting that app from Twitter and putting it on their phone in a sideload capacity.
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: And for now, at least, that doesn't seem like it's going to be necessary. But this act is ultimately about gatekeeping and monopolistic practices. Have you heard from constituents that they really wanted something like this, this kind of protection?
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: In Tennessee, we have so many app developers. And the reason I actually started moving forward with the Open App Market Act is because of the innovators that we have that want to work directly with the people that are going to use their service, their app. And many times you have banks, you have hospital companies, you have medical practices, you have service organizations that would like to work directly with people and not have to go through the app store.
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: So yes, indeed, we are hearing quite a bit about this because innovators are tired of having to pay 30 percent of whatever they make to Apple. Now, another recent headline involving Musk and Twitter involves the European Union, which is threatening to ban Twitter over content moderation policies.
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: Will this bill cross the borders of the U.S.? Will it impact the app environment internationally? When you talk about the EU, the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, they're always watching what steps we take in online governance with the online marketplace. They're very concerned about safety, security, Kids Online Safety Act. They've been very watchful of that.
--:-- Senator Marsha Blackburn: They've been very watchful of that. So what you may see is when we take an action, they may end up repeating a very similar action for their individuals. Indeed, Canada this year has increased and the EU has increased some of their online privacy protections. So America is really leading the way there.
--:-- Host: Senator, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Host: Other stories we're tracking this week. On Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed to take up President Biden's student loan cancellation case. Until the case is heard, the program will be blocked. Earlier this week, Giving Tuesday raised a record $3.1 billion in 24 hours for charitable causes across the U.S. Giving Tuesday CEO Aisha Curran said despite the difficult economic year that many households have experienced, with inflation and the cost of basic goods, gas, and housing, people were still willing to give.
--:-- Host: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, please consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Host: Well, thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
