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--:-- Host: 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.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's regime teeters on the edge as Canada severely outspends its budget. Krista Freeland, their finance minister and deputy prime minister, has resigned, essentially based on the catastrophic economic situation. How are Trump's tariff threats playing into Trudeau's shaky situation?
--:-- Host: John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, December 18th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: RFK Jr. makes the rounds on Capitol Hill, defending his agenda for HHS and fielding a barrage of questions from Congress and the press. Is it your plan to end all childhood vaccines, sir? What do you tell parents who are concerned about the prospect of getting rid of some vaccines?
--:-- Host: John Bickley: And as Trump promises to drain the swamp, the Biden administration is actively working to hire hundreds of DEI bureaucrats.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host: John Bickley: Donald Trump's increasingly aggressive tone towards Canada, which he calls the 51st state, seems to have the Canadian government on high alert. Meanwhile, Canada's prime minister is facing increased calls to resign. Here are the latest on what's happening up north is Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice.
--:-- Tim Rice: Hey, Tim, so it sounds like some significant changes are coming in Canada. What's going on up there?
--:-- Tim Rice: Well, John, Canadian leaders have been on edge since Trump began threatening to impose 25 percent tariffs on the country unless the Canadian government stops drugs and illegal immigrants from crossing our border.
--:-- Tim Rice: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has struggled to navigate this new normal, trying to seem tough at home, but assuring Trump that he's going to play ball.
--:-- Tim Rice: This has helped tank Trudeau's already cratering popularity with voters and has fueled speculation that the PM might resign any day now.
--:-- Tim Rice: That speculation intensified Monday when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced her resignation.
--:-- Tim Rice: Freeland, long one of Trudeau's biggest allies, said she and the Prime Minister have increasingly found themselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada.
--:-- Tim Rice: Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister, accused Trudeau of wasting time with costly political gimmicks instead of dealing with the threat of tariffs head on.
--:-- Tim Rice: So some pretty harsh words from a close ally or someone who used to be a close ally.
--:-- Tim Rice: What about the other side? What do Trudeau's opponents have to say about all this?
--:-- Tim Rice: Unsurprisingly, they have even more harsh words.
--:-- Tim Rice: Shortly after Freeland resigned conservative leader Pierre Polyev delivered a fiery speech where he slammed Trudeau and his coalition for putting Canada at risk.
--:-- Tim Rice: Out of control inflation has followed out of control money printing which has sent out of control demand to our food banks which are running out of food altogether.
--:-- Tim Rice: Out of control spending has doubled our national debt, boosted interest rates and threatened our social programs.
--:-- Tim Rice: And it's not just Freeland who thinks this prime minister is out of control.
--:-- Tim Rice: Now Housing Minister Sean Frazier has resigned in the middle of a housing crisis.
--:-- Tim Rice: Justin Trudeau has lost control, and yet he clings to power.
--:-- Tim Rice: We cannot accept this kind of chaos, division, weakness, while we're staring down the barrel of a 25% tariff from our biggest trading partner and closest ally, which, by the way, is headed by a newly elected president with a strong and fresh mandate, a man who can spot weakness from a mile away.
--:-- Tim Rice: Polyev is a populist who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump, and he's now clearly the leading candidate to take over as prime minister if Trudeau resigns.
--:-- Tim Rice: Yeah, it sounds like he was hinting at that possibility in his speech.
--:-- Tim Rice: Can you give us some more details about this economic crisis he was referencing?
--:-- Tim Rice: So this week, Canada got some very bad economic news.
--:-- Tim Rice: Its national budget deficit was more than 50% above what the Trudeau regime had promised it would be.
--:-- Tim Rice: $62 billion versus the supposed guardrail maximum of $40 billion.
--:-- Tim Rice: That's what Polyev was alluding to when he mentioned the out-of-control spending and debt.
--:-- Tim Rice: We spoke to Victoria Coates this week.
--:-- Tim Rice: She's the Heritage Foundation's vice president for national security and foreign policy.
--:-- Tim Rice: Here's her summary of Canada's grim economic situation.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, I think this has all come from very liberal economic policies of Prime Minister Trudeau, where the currency is depreciating dramatically.
--:-- Victoria Coates: He is prioritizing DEI issues, for example, going very heavily into an extreme green agenda, all of which is disastrous for Canada's economy.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Coates says that Trudeau's disastrous economic policies are directly linked to his tanking popularity.
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think economic is king in these situations, that when you have a suffering economy, you have inflation, you have increasing energy prices, you're going to just have overall unhappiness.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And then, you know, the threat of increasing economic woes because of Trudeau's policies, you know, personalized this.
--:-- Victoria Coates: From what I've seen from a lot of Canadians online is they feel like he is very allied with the kind of global elitist class that consider themselves the betters of Canada and aren't paying attention to the issues that matter to Canadians.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So who knows? Perhaps Canada will follow in our footsteps and inaugurate a new leader in the new year.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Yeah, until then, we'll be sure to keep following what's happening with Trudeau.
--:-- Tim Rice: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Hey guys, producer Brandon here. Your metabolism is at the center of everything your body does and optimizing your metabolic health helps with weight management, improved energy levels, better sleep, and more.
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--:-- Brandon: Thank you, Lumen, for sponsoring this episode.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on Capitol Hill this week meeting with senators as he makes his case to be the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Joining us now is Daily Wire senior reporter, Mary Margaret Olihan.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: So Mary Margaret what kind of questions is Kennedy getting?
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Hey Georgia So Kennedy is particularly under the microscope right now when it comes to abortion and vaccines
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Kennedy is a former Democrat and he also described himself as not only pro but also formerly supportive of late-term abortions.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Here's what he told Sage Steele earlier this year.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: You know, my belief is we should leave it to the woman. We shouldn't have government involved.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Even if it's full-term? Even if it's full-term.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Now, that clip worried a lot of pro-lifers and Republicans, but he's since argued that we should reduce the number of abortions in the United States, pointing to consensus among Americans that abortions should be restricted up until a certain point.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: But some senators still had hesitations over where he would stand on pro-life policy, particularly given that HHS plays such a pivotal role in making sure that taxpayer dollars aren't going to abortions, both in the U.S. and abroad.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Now, are GOP senators buying that?
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, I spoke with Senator Lankford, who's very outspoken on the life issue, ahead of his meeting with Kennedy, and he told me that he planned to make sure that Kennedy's vision for HHS would match up with Trump's policies on life.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: I also spoke with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen from Oklahoma who met with Kennedy on Monday.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: And he tells me that Kennedy believes there are far too many abortions and he values life and that he wants to support Trump's agenda.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: If he's willing to say that, I have no problems with him becoming secretary of HHS and I'll support him completely.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Even as passionate and as pro-life as my wife and my family and I are, I believe Bobby's still the right person for this position.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Kennedy is pretty popular and very charming, and his Make America Healthy Again movement has massively resonated with the American public.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: But that being said, HHS is the largest department of the federal government, and with that comes a lot of responsibility.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: After meeting with Kennedy on Tuesday, Senator Josh Hawley said that not only did Kennedy promise to reinstate Trump's pro-life policies, he also promised to end taxpayer funding for abortions domestically, to bar federal funds from going to organizations that promote abortion, and to reinstate conscience protections for healthcare providers, which is pretty big.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Now, let's talk about his stance on vaccines. That's been a real lightning rod.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Yes, so Kennedy has often expressed criticism of various vaccination shots.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: He's also said that he wants to do additional safety testing for vaccines to make sure that Americans can have proper informed consent, pointing out that we have extremely high rates of chronic diseases and raising questions about rising rates of autism in the United States.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: But he's also pushed back on the idea that he's anti-vaccine, arguing in a recent news appearance that if vaccines are working for people, he's not trying to take them away.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Mainstream media quickly snowballed Kennedy's comments to suggest that he's trying to get rid of the polio vaccine, prompting Trump to clarify on Monday that the polio vaccine isn't going anywhere.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, I'm a big believer in it, and I think everything should be looked at, but I'm a big believer in the polio vaccine, the Salk vaccine.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: That response was partially due to a New York Times report highlighting that Aaron Seary, a lawyer helping Kennedy pick federal health officials, previously petitioned the federal government to revoke its approval of one version of the polio vaccine.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Senators who have met with Kennedy are mostly saying good things at this point.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: And Senator Tommy Tuberville said that his meeting with Kennedy reaffirmed what he already knew.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: And I'm quoting, RFK Jr. is the right man to make sure our food is safe, bring transparency to vaccines and healthcare, and make America healthy again.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Well, a lot of people are excited about this nomination.
--:-- Mary Margaret Olihan: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: With just over a month before Donald Trump takes office, the Biden administration is in the process of filling up to 1,200 jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That's according to an analysis of federal job ads by Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak, who joins us now.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Hey, John Well there are currently 1 diversity positions where a job ad was posted to USAjobs and the status is currently accepting applications or reviewing applications
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So this is all on top of the people that already work for the government doing this kind of thing
--:-- Luke Rosiak: It's kind of like when the Biden administration auctioned off pieces of the border wall or signed union contracts through 2029, seemingly an effort to tie the Trump administration's hands.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: 33 of the jobs were actually posted in the days following the election, even though Trump has signaled that he intends to get the government out of the business of DEI.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Right. So now that Trump is just weeks out from returning, what's going to happen to these people?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Well, if the agencies don't cancel the job listings, they'll join the career civil service where employees are notoriously difficult to fire.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The jobs have salaries of up to $310,000 and could total $160 million a year in all.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The good news for Trump is that dissolving a position is different from firing somebody
--:-- Luke Rosiak: And it's also easier to get rid of someone in their first year on the job.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So some of these people could be accepting a job only to lose it a couple months later.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So some of these wouldn't necessarily result in entrenched positions.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Right.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: And what kinds of positions are they?
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Some of them are actually high-level positions involving policy and reporting to cabinet secretaries.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: And yet they're being chosen under the Biden administration, and Trump's going to inherit them.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: On November 15th, for example, HHS, that's the Department of Health and Human Services, advertised for a deputy assistant secretary for minority health to promote health equity at a salary of up to $221,000.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The candidate, quote, serves as the principal advisor to the secretary on minority health issues.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Another example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Commission is preparing to extend job offers for two separate $310,000 a year positions, which can work from home for three days a week and will be paid to advocate for DEI.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Then there are people that seem to do very little.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute is hiring a social media specialist to work from home for $113,000.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The group basically produces these cheesy posters about the importance of diversity, and its social media activity consists of about one post a day encouraging military members to do things like affirm native voices.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: The Secret Service, which as we've reported has been under heavy scrutiny since the first assassination attempt on Trump, has a DEI unit that's currently hiring an editor, although it misspelled editor.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: So some of these jobs are clearly paying out sizable salaries.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Minority and Women Inclusion on September 25th began seeking a supplier diversity officer at a salary of up to $251,000.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: A diversity data analyst role at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that is earmarked for a recent graduate will pay $88,000.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: That's more than the median household income in America.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: There are also a shocking number of equal opportunity employment specialists whose job it is to field complaints about discrimination from other employees at their agency.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Sort of the snitch line there.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: I should note that we posted a sortable list of all these jobs on dailywire.com.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Well, I have a feeling that Elon Musk and Doge might be taking a look at that.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Luke, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Luke Rosiak: Thanks, John.
--:-- Host: Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Hey, guys, producer Brandon here. Let me tell you about a game-changing discovery that may come in handy this holiday season.
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