--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Between two-factor authentication, strong passwords, and a VPN, you try to be in control of how your info is protected. But many other places also have it, and they might not be as careful. That's why LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast for 40% off. Terms apply.
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--:-- John Bickley: New data shows that a large number of criminals, including dozens on the terror watch list, are trying to enter the U.S. at our southern border. And border security is quickly rising to the top of Americans' concerns.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We know that individuals are coming across in the FBI's terror screening database. We've had over a million gotaways in the last 19 months. So how many illegal aliens on the FBI's watch list have got through?
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, September 23rd, and this is Morning Wire. The former CEO of Google is sounding the alarm, warning that the U.S. is falling behind China in critical technology areas that could cripple our economy and devastate our military operations. And as we enter the midterm election homestretch, we take a look at the most hotly contested races for the House and Senate and who's predicted to win them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Colton: Hey there, producer Colton here. Do you like to be the first to know about trendy news and current events? If so, you gotta get the Daily Wire Plus app. Not only will you receive mobile notifications whenever something's happening, but you'll also have access to the best commentary to break it all down. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: Through August, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials have nabbed 78 people on the FBI's terror watch list. Here to talk about the alarming number and new data suggesting immigration is a growing concern among Americans is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, John, new numbers on immigration were released this week. What did they show?
--:-- John Bickley: Hey, Tim. Yeah, Border Patrol agents have arrested more suspected terrorists this year than in the past five years combined. But even that comparison is underselling it. The number of suspected terrorists arrested entering the country illegally, 78, is actually triple the number arrested by the Border Patrol in the previous five years combined.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Wow. That number is also likely undercounting it a bit because it doesn't include any of the gotaways who were never intercepted by border enforcement. Officials estimate that there were half a million gotaways this year and roughly 800,000 since Biden took office. That 78 is also in addition to hundreds of other suspected terrorists that were taken into custody at ports of entry along the United States' northern and southern borders.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, we also got new numbers on encounters at the border. What were those?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, we've shattered that record this year, and it keeps climbing. The Department of Homeland Security released data this week showing that the number of encounters between Border Patrol agents and migrants at the U.S. southern border eclipsed 2 million for the first time ever. And we still have a month left in the fiscal year. That follows last fiscal year's record-setting 1.7 million encounters.
--:-- John Bickley: And it's not just suspected terrorists attempting to enter the U.S. with the current flood of illegal immigration. Many migrants are committing or have committed crimes.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Heritage Foundation's Mark Morgan, who was acting Customs and Border Patrol director under Trump, spoke to Morning Wire about that. From 2011 to 2022, we have on record 261,000 criminal illegal aliens committed 433,000 crimes, including 800 homicides, 800 kidnappings, and 5 sexual assaults. Here the kicker: That was the state of Texas alone.
--:-- John Bickley: As we noted a few red state governors have really forced this issue into the national spotlight by busing and flying migrants into sanctuary cities. This is obviously a hot campaign issue in an election year, and it's really gotten Americans' attention, correct?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, data shows that starting last week, internet activity around the border and immigration surged into the top 10 of news and election issues following the arrival of migrants at Martha's Vineyard and Vice President Kamala Harris's home in D.C. And it's pushing abortion out of the spotlight. That data coming from Axios suggests that Americans care a lot. So much, in fact, that concerns over immigration are drowning out the alarms Democrats have raised over abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June.
--:-- John Bickley: Democrats have relied heavily on abortion this election season to motivate their base and attack pro-life Republicans as extremists. As interest in the border has been rising, the data shows that interest in abortion-related topics has been falling. All right, so that could be a good sign for Republicans as we move into the final stretch of midterms.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yep. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire's Tim Pierce. Coming up, Google's former CEO sounds the alarm. From all of us here at Morning Wire, we hope you're enjoying the show.
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--:-- John Bickley: Did you know that if you subscribe to Daily Wire Plus, you can get access to all Daily Wire has to offer? That means news, commentary, documentaries, movies, and so much more. Become a subscriber today. Download the Daily Wire Plus app and take us with you wherever you go.
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--:-- John Bickley: Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt is sounding the alarm about the U.S. falling behind China in key digital areas. A new report from a think tank that Schmidt shares warns that the U.S. is losing the technology race and it could lead to massive supply chain disruptions. Here to give us more insight on the findings in this report is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, and the headlines surrounding this report sound pretty dire, is this really something average Americans need to be concerned about?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, yeah, according to the report and one expert I spoke to, it definitely is. So this report was compiled by a think tank called the Special Competitive Studies Project. As we noted in the intro, it's chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, what it found is that the U.S. is falling behind China in what it calls three key technology battlegrounds. Those are microelectronics, 5G connectivity, and artificial intelligence. It warns that as a result of China's advancement, the U.S. has become economically dependent on China.
--:-- John Bickley: So if the Chinese Communist Party decides to, quote, turn off the technology tap, they say it would leave America's military crippled and could plunge us into an economic depression.
--:-- Megan Basham: Crippling the American military in an economic depression, that's unsettling. Yeah, it is. To give a little more insight into that, I reached out to Joshua Steinman, who was a senior advisor on the National Security Council during the Trump administration. He now runs an industrial cybersecurity firm.
--:-- John Bickley: And he says this is not just a national security risk, but could have real impact on kitchen table issues.
--:-- Megan Basham: Minerals are a critical part of manufacturing digital goods. And the reason why is that Essentially, everything today that has a computer screen or a digital input device or runs on a computer is made up of small computer chips.
--:-- John Bickley: In some cases, these are manufactured by companies that you've heard of, like Intel. In other cases, they're very small commodity chips.
--:-- Megan Basham: So everything from that very expensive coffee mug that connected to your phone via Bluetooth that you can buy to your personal computer and cell phone to the thermostat that connected to the internet they all require computer chips.
--:-- John Bickley: Those computer chips require advanced materials beyond silicon.
--:-- Megan Basham: And the supply chain of those minerals is critical because they are so widely used. They're in nearly every consumer and industrial product that we have.
--:-- John Bickley: And without them, that entire supply chain collapses. Essentially, Steinman says it would be like what we've seen with Russia cutting off gas supplies from Europe, but on a much bigger scale.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, a lot of the coverage out there seems to suggest that this is new information to the administration. Is that accurate?
--:-- John Bickley: No, Steinman stressed that it's not. We've known about all this for at least four years, but I'd say that the signs have been there for over a decade, if not longer.
--:-- Megan Basham: And so the special competitive studies report that we're talking about is really just an encapsulation of everything that people have been discussing in these circles, the circles of intersecting foreign policy and technology and national economy circles, both in Washington and in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, really for the past decade.
--:-- John Bickley: All right. So we're facing some potentially severe consequences here. What is the solution to this?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, both Steinman and the report stress that it's really national self-reliance. The Chips Act, which recently passed, is designed to create incentives for companies to mine for the minerals needed for computer chips domestically.
--:-- John Bickley: And we also, they say, need to develop and manufacture these technologies here in the U.S.
--:-- Megan Basham: Steinman says that's significant, but he also points to a few other remedies. I think that keeping President Trump's tariffs in place is incredibly important because the American people and especially policymakers and lawmakers need to recognize that in many cases, the manufacturing of these goods and services in China is absolutely state subsidized.
--:-- John Bickley: He stressed that regulatory overreach has pushed the U.S. into relying on China too much for our technology. And he says that needs to change immediately.
--:-- Megan Basham: All right, well, it's a sobering report and something that we'll continue to monitor. Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: My pleasure. That was Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
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--:-- John Bickley: With the 2022 midterms less than seven weeks away, the race for control of the House of Representatives is hitting the home stretch with a set of 30 toss-up races poised to tip the balance according to new power rankings from Fox News.
--:-- David Marcus: Morning. It is to some extent. The power ranking from Fox was the first that gives Democrats a chance at holding on to control in the people's body. But, you know, they'd have to run the table to the extent that the GOP advantage is narrowing.
--:-- John Bickley: So let's take a look at a few of the toss-up races that can decide this whole thing. Where are we seeing these contests and do we have a sense of which way they're trending now?
--:-- David Marcus: Well, we have a pretty good example in Indiana's first congressional district where incumbent Democrat Frank Mervin is fighting to keep his seat against Jennifer Ruth Green, a former Air Force officer who now an education advocate.
--:-- John Bickley: Green describes herself as a black pro woman and veteran. And though she didn't specifically have the former president's endorsement, she's backed by Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley.
--:-- David Marcus: Mervyn won this in 2020 with a 17-point advantage. So it's a little strange that it's a toss-up. But look, it's a working-class district, not a lot of college degrees. It's really the prototype of longstanding Democrat districts that the GOP is hungrily eyeing now.
--:-- John Bickley: But there are some candidates in these toss-up races that are more closely associated with Trump, more in line with the populist wing of the party. These are candidates that even Democrats have supported in primaries, believing it will actually give them easier opponents, right?
--:-- David Marcus: Yes, and one of these is New Hampshire One, which is the Granite State's sole seat. Here, a 25-year-old former Trump official, Caroline Leavitt, won her primary against a candidate backed by the GOP establishment.
--:-- John Bickley: And she'll face off against incumbent Chris Pappas. A GOP pickup here wouldn't just ensure GOP control of the House. It would also impact what that majority looks like.
--:-- David Marcus: Leavitt has not committed to supporting Kevin McCarthy as speaker. And should she win would likely be a part of what some call the MAGA squad in Congress.
--:-- John Bickley: So there's a few things at stake here. Are there likewise toss-ups that could put more, for lack of better term, moderate Republicans in the caucus?
--:-- David Marcus: Yes. In Kansas's third congressional district, Republican Amanda Atkins is running again against incumbent Sharice Davids, who won that matchup by 10 points in 2020.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, there's been significant redistricting that makes this a much more competitive race in 2022. Unlike Levitt, Atkins is steering clear of relitigating the 2020 election is really focused on kitchen table issues like inflation and economic growth.
--:-- David Marcus: So is the bottom line here that Republicans are still feeling good about taking the House, given that Democrats need to pull basically an inside straight to hang on? Or is some actual nervousness starting to set in?
--:-- John Bickley: Conventional wisdom is still very much that the GOP takes the House and that McCarthy winds up speaker. But yes, two months ago, Republicans were more confident of a giant red wave, which still could happen, but perhaps seems a little less likely now.
--:-- David Marcus: What will be interesting is the composition of a potential GOP majority that really could range from a comfortable establishment majority for the leadership or a small one that would give more power and greater voice to the more radical elements of the party who, in fairness, do represent the views of a ton of Republican voters.
--:-- John Bickley: It's going to be really interesting to see how this all shapes up.
--:-- David Marcus: Thank you for joining us today, David.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for having me.
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--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Other stories we're tracking this week. Japan's prime minister said Thursday individual visitors will be allowed to enter and the country will reinstate visa waivers. This comes as the country's deadliest wave of the pandemic recedes.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It also comes at a time when the yen has slumped to its lowest level when compared to the U.S. dollar.
--:-- John Bickley: Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has called on the FDA to investigate the use of puberty blockers on children experiencing gender dysphoria.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to testify in front of the January 6th committee.
--:-- John Bickley: 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with the news you need to know.
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