--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- John Bickley: Seven states sued the Biden administration after the president announces a new plan to cancel hundreds of billions in student loan debt. Because while a college degree still is a ticket to the middle class, that ticket's becoming much too expensive. Much too expensive. What is the president's plan and does it violate the Constitution, as critics say? I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, April 10th, and this is Morning Wire. The presidential election may come down to Latino voters. Why is Trump gaining ground on Biden in the key demographic? And in the first ruling of its kind, the parents of a high school mass shooter in Michigan get sentenced to years behind bars. These convictions are not about poor parenting. These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: Seven states have become the latest to file a lawsuit against the Biden administration over student loan forgiveness. The states are seeking to block the president's latest plan to unilaterally cancel student loan debt. Biden's plan would eliminate or reduce student loan debt for up to 25 million Americans and represents a major campaign promise he made in 2020, but it has raised the ire of Republican attorneys general across the country who feel it violates the Constitution, just as Biden's previous plan did, according to the Supreme Court.
--:-- David Marcus: Hey, Dave. So what is the gist of this lawsuit? What do these AGs object to?
--:-- David Marcus: Morning, John. The seven states that filed suit this week join 11 others that already had done so. And of course, this is the second time we're seeing this process play out. Some of these states were involved in the lawsuit that stopped Biden's initial student loan forgiveness plan after the Supreme Court ruled against it six to three. This particular effort is being headed up by Missouri AG Andrew Bailey, and he argues that the limited debt forgiveness in what Biden calls the save plan runs afoul of the Constitution in exactly the same way that the earlier effort did, even though this plan is more narrowly targeted at student debt held by people who are having financial hardship.
--:-- David Marcus: According to Bailey, Biden is trying to saddle Missourans and Americans writ large with an almost 500 billion dollar bailout that a president simply does not have the authority to just cancel without an act of Congress. And to their point even former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said back in 2021 that while the president has the power to delay student debt payments, he does not have the power to cancel them. Yeah, an argument that's come back to haunt her once again.
--:-- David Marcus: So what is the White House saying about this? Have they explained why they believe this iteration of debt forgiveness passes constitutional muster when the former one didn't.
--:-- David Marcus: So officially, the White House has not commented on this suit. The Department of Education, which is the relevant agency here, has previously said that they do not comment on ongoing litigation. But that having been said, the administration believes that a 1993 law passed by Congress gives it the authority to define certain types of hardship in regard to restructuring student debt. Many, if not most legal scholars, think this argument is on very shaky ground, especially given that the Supreme Court rebuked Biden's earlier plan so recently. But clearly, the White House hopes this plan is sufficiently different to garner a better judicial result for them.
--:-- David Marcus: For his part, Biden has not been shy in talking about the fact that he's doing a bit of an end around the Supreme Court. Is this something he's been openly touting on the campaign trail?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, Biden has straight up said at campaign events that the Supreme Court shut down his student debt forgiveness, but he isn't letting that stop him, which is kind of an amazing thing to say, given how the separation of powers are supposed to work in this country. Critics are concerned that this undermines trust in the Supreme Court, which, while it's higher than most institutions, has still been dipping over the past decade. And there are certainly Democrats, including some in Congress, who believe the court should be expanded or, as others put it, stacked.
--:-- David Marcus: Right. Now, this obviously comes in an election year. Who is Biden targeting with this plan as he battles against Trump for control of the Oval Office?
--:-- David Marcus: So young voters, of course, those who are contemplating loans or recently took them on, although some of the ways that this debt is targeted, such as eliminating interest payments, will have a larger impact on older college graduates or people who took out college loans. But this is an issue that plays very well with the base of the Democrat Party. And at a time when there is some fracturing over Israel policy and the economy in general, Biden sees a chance to get some goodwill here, maybe even if he loses the legal challenges.
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, with more polling showing him losing ground with younger voters, the play here also makes some sense. It does.
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--:-- John Bickley: With the 2024 presidential election now less than seven months away, new data shows President Biden is struggling among Latino Americans, a voting bloc once firmly in the grasp of Democrats. Here with the latest and what it means for the election is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, a fascinating trend that's been years in the making, break down what the new data shows.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, first it's important to understand just how influential the Latino vote, which now accounts for around 15% of the electorate, has become. The last presidential cycle there were 62 million Latino Americans That is a 23 increase from 2010 making them the fastest growing voter block in the country Now conventional wisdom says that growth would be good news for Democrats That's because historically, Latino Americans have been among the bluest of blue voting blocks. In the 60s, JFK secured 90% of their support. In the 80s, Jimmy Carter brought in 82%. And while George W. Bush did make slight progress in the early 2000s, As recently as 2012, more than 70% of Latinos were still voting Democrat in the presidential race. But by 2020, that number dipped to right around 60%. And now more data shows the trend accelerating even further ahead of the 24 race. How are they polling right now? And how reliable are those numbers?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, some data suggests that Republicans are set to actually win the Latino vote in 24, something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. And it's showing up in multiple polls. The New York Times last month, for example, found Donald Trump beating out Biden among Latinos by a margin of 46 to 40. That mirrors another USA Today poll earlier in the year that also showed Trump with a lead. And it's also worth noting, Republicans don't need to actually outright win the Latino vote in order to win the election. Just getting into the low 40 percent range could be enough to swing the race, especially in swing states like Arizona and Nevada, where Latinos make up a larger portion of the electorate.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So the big question, what's behind the swing? I've seen a lot of comparisons to what happened with Italian immigrants. Basically, the more established they became, the further to the right they went. Well, it's still early on, so we're trying to see exactly what's driving it. During the Romney-McCain era of the GOP, there was this notion that the way to win over Latinos was by toning down the rhetoric on illegal immigration and embracing a more moderate approach there. But Donald Trump simply upended that strategy. And despite experts predicting that his staunch opposition to illegal immigration and support of a border wall would turn away Latinos, we actually saw the very opposite as the former president actually expanded his support among the group.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And if you look at the issues most important to Latinos, you just get a better idea of why that's happening. What issues stand out?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, first, the idea that Latino voters are inherently more supportive of illegal immigration is just not accurate, or at least it's not anymore. Latest polling from Axios showed that 64% of Latinos support the president shutting down the border if too many migrants are crossing into the country illegally, while one in four say improving border security should be the number one priority of the government. And zooming out a bit more, a staggering 53% say inflation is the number one concern. Coming in second and third are crime and immigration, which is bad news for Biden as those three topics are consistently where he performs worst in polling.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, that same survey found that when asked if Joe Biden is good for the economy, just 20% of Latino voters said yes. That number more than doubled for Trump. And it doesn't get any better on crime and immigration either, where just 20 and 22% respectively said they prefer Biden over Trump. The only areas where Biden was ahead of Trump among Latinos were abortion and protecting democracy, two topics that ranked quite low on the list of most important issues for those voters.
--:-- Ash Short: The parents of the Michigan teenager who murdered four high school students in November of 2021 have been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison. I believe that the following sentences would be in the best interest of justice and are reasonable and proportionate to the seriousness of the matter and the circumstances surrounding each defendant. James and Jennifer Crumbly, who were the first parents of a school shooter ever convicted for their role in their child's crimes were previously convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year during two separate trials While Morning Wire is naming the parents it will not give notoriety to the shooter Here to discuss the latest is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: Hey Ash so what does this sentence mean?
--:-- Ash Short: Well, it means parents in the future may be held accountable for the actions of their children, and it also means each of the Crumblies will serve at least 10 years in prison, but no more than 15 years. Now, the parents in this case were accused of not doing enough to address their son's mental health problems. James also bought his son the 9mm handgun that was used in the shooting just four days before the deadly attack. During yesterday's trial, parents of the victims were given the chance to address the Crumblies. Here's Nicole Boussole, the mother of Madison Baldwin, one of the students who was killed. When you walked out of the office with a steady base after hearing an active shooter, I ran from my home and started driving, try not to break the law. When you were on the phone for 10 minutes with each other trying to figure out where the gun was, I was on the phone with her father and family trying to figure out where she was.
--:-- Ash Short: Both Jennifer and James Crumley also gave remarks during the hearing. I've taken countless nights of lament over the anguish and shame I carry. Knowing what my son did, the harm he caused innocent lives, the families, and to the entire Oxford community. I pray all the victims are the embodiment of God's mercy and peace and that he heals your broken spirits. I want to say I can't imagine the pain and agony. I have cried for you and the loss of your children more times than I can count. I know your pain and loss will never go away.
--:-- Ash Short: So how do we get from parents not preventing an attack to actual criminal responsibility? Well, the father in this case provided his son with the weapon used in the attack. The Crumblies also failed to properly and safely store that weapon. And the parents were also held accountable for cutting short a school meeting about some violent and disturbing pictures their son had drawn on a school assignment. The school encouraged the parents to take their son home and get him immediate mental health, But they said they couldn't because they both had to work, but they promised to get him help. The school then allowed their son to return to class without checking his backpack, which contained the handgun. And just hours after that meeting, the 15-year-old shot and killed four classmates and wounded seven others.
--:-- Ash Short: Now, the parents also did some notable things after the shooting, correct?
--:-- Ash Short: Right. After the shooting, Jennifer texted a man she was having an affair with to tell him the shooting could have been prevented, blaming the school for allowing her son to go back to class. She also texted don't do it to her son during the attack, but she insists she was begging him not to commit suicide. The parents also went on the run after charges against them were announced. They turned off their cell phones and drained their bank accounts before they were found a day later in Detroit, about a 45-minute drive from their home. So deliberately attempting to evade authorities there.
--:-- Ash Short: Yeah. Now, the parents were sentenced to 10 to 15 years. How does that compare to what prosecutors were asking for?
--:-- Ash Short: So that's exactly what prosecutors asked for. By contrast, James Crumbly's attorneys requested he be sentenced to 28 months in prison, the amount of time he's already served, and credit him for that time. The defense attorney also suggested he be sentenced to the maximum amount of probation following his release. Ultimately, the judge sided with the prosecutor. It seems like they were intent on sending a message here.
--:-- Ash Short: Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
