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--:-- Host: John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm John Bickley, and I'm here with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, April 30th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We've got a lot to cover today, so let's dive right in. President Trump is celebrating his first 100 days in office this week, kicking things off with a rally in Michigan on Tuesday night.
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--:-- John Bickley: Joining us to discuss the president's big event and the messaging from his team about the goals of his second term is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So a big night for the president. The crowds came out for him again. What did we see at this rally?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, there's no doubt we saw Trump back in his element. Tens of thousands turned out for what ended up being a political rally, a victory party, and a highlight show all combined into one.
--:-- John Bickley: The president has made clear that he feels the media has not given him credit for all that he's accomplished so far. And last night was his way of reminding the American people of the campaign promises that he's already fulfilled in these first 100 days.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's right. The event, titled The 100th Day in Office Achievement Speech, was held just outside Detroit in Macomb County, which was crucial to his victory in 2024.
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: He kicked things off with this simple message. This is the best, they say, 100-day start of any president in history. What the world has witnessed in the past 14 weeks is a revolution of common sense.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all it is, really. We're conservative. You're conservative, you're liberal, whatever the hell. You know what it's all about? It's about common sense.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We like strong borders. We like good education. We like low interest rates. We like being able to buy a beautiful car and now deduct the interest on the loan that's never happened before.
--:-- John Bickley: Later on, the president touted his immigration record and reminded folks of the historic decrease in illegal border crossings we've seen since he took office.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This heinous betrayal is over and that we have achieved the most secure border in American history by far. For two months in a row, we have now set all-time records.
--:-- John Bickley: And this is by the media, the fake news media. The number of illegal border crossers released into the United States is down. Listen to this, please. 99.999%. Three people got in. Three.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And I got angry as hell at Tom Holman. How did you allow three, Tom? There's never been such a difference in anything as the difference between the border today and the border, what it was just six months ago.
--:-- John Bickley: So I want to say congratulations, America.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The president also made sure to hit on his mass deportation efforts, which have prioritized illegal immigrants with existing criminal records.
--:-- John Bickley: Within days of taking office, I signed the Lake and Riley Act. Lake and Riley beautiful Lake and Riley Who was killed by an illegal immigrant viciously violently killed But I signed the Lake and Riley Act to facilitate the expulsion of dangerous criminal aliens and when necessary, we had to put them in jail.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We couldn't take a chance that they'd come back in again. In recent weeks, ICE, who are great, these people are great, has arrested dozens of child rapists along with murderers, kidnappers, drug traffickers and thieves and frankly people from mental institutions.
--:-- John Bickley: We have also designated two bloodthirsty transnational gangs, MS-13 and Trendy Aragua, TDA. They've been designated the highest level of terrorists and that lets us do a lot of things that you wouldn't be able to do.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We got to get them out of here before they kill more people. We are delivering mass deportation
--:-- John Bickley: While Trump spent the majority of his time focused on his own accomplishments, as you can imagine, he made sure to take a few shots at Democrats.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They have no confidence anymore as a party. They have no candidates. And you know, when they say that Bernie, Bernie's probably the best they have, by the way, he's about seven years older than me, more eight years older.
--:-- John Bickley: One thing I got to give him credit, he's a lunatic, but he's still pretty sharp.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And Trump did not back off his support of tariffs, assuring some anxious Americans that deals were coming.
--:-- John Bickley: taken more jobs from us than any country has ever taken from another country. And that doesn't mean we're not going to get along. We'll get along with China. I mean, their tariff now is at 145%. So essentially, that's a big difference between that and zero.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But I think it's going to work out. They want to make a deal and we're going to make a deal.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, Macomb County is one of the country's largest automotive manufacturing hubs. And as you can imagine, Trump made sure to address how his policies will benefit the American auto industry.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I'm thrilled to be back in this beautiful state. I love this state. Got a lot of auto jobs coming. Watch what's happening. The companies are coming in by the tens.
--:-- John Bickley: You got to see what's happening. They all want to come back to Michigan and build cars again. You know why? Because of our tax and tariff policy.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And one more interesting note. Before his rally, the president made a stop at Selfridge Air National Guard Base outside Detroit, where he was joined by an unlikely visitor, Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
--:-- John Bickley: The two have clashed publicly over the years, but Whitmer has gone to the White House multiple times, lobbying, among other things, for more funding for the Selfridge base.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And Trump agreed it was a good idea. So a little bit of bipartisanship there in Michigan yesterday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, definitely a surprising guest there. And Trump really leaning in. He's saying, hey, I'm charging forward with my agenda. setbacks or not.
--:-- John Bickley: Kevin, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Absolutely.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Less than a month into Trump's second term, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the secretary of HHS and directed by President Trump to make America healthy again.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss the biggest Maha updates is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: Thanks for having me on the show.
--:-- John Bickley: So RFK has hit the ground running. First, let's talk about food. What are the biggest updates there?
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: Yeah, well, one of the biggest updates came just last week when Kennedy announced that he's phasing out a number of artificial food dyes and colorings by the end of 2026.
--:-- John Bickley: Specifically, he'll ban petroleum-based synthetic dyes, including red 3 and red 40, blue 1 and 2, yellow 5 and 6, and green 3.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: I was talking with my staff about these petroleum-based dyes, And I said, if they want to add petroleum, they want to eat petroleum. They ought to add it themselves at home. They shouldn't be feeding it to the rest of us.
--:-- John Bickley: Another huge development is the transformation of SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. Kennedy has made it clear that he doesn't want highly processed junk food being purchased with SNAP.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: And he's encouraging states to submit a waiver to the Department of Agriculture so they can limit SNAP purchases.
--:-- John Bickley: Apply for a waiver to my agency and we're going to give it to you. If that's the way we're going to win this.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: Okay, a lot more on food, so we'll make this quick. Kennedy has also directed the FDA to revise a rule that used to allow companies to self-affirm the safety of some food ingredients.
--:-- John Bickley: Under this new revision, manufacturers are going to have to publicly submit safety data for all new ingredients. So more oversight.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: The FDA also unveiled a tool back in March, and that's going to allow people to look up chemical contaminants in their food from a large database. You can find that on the FDA website.
--:-- John Bickley: And one last note on food, RFK is tackling baby formula with Operation Stork. The FDA is increasing testing for heavy metals and other contaminants and encouraging companies to work with the FDA so they can maximize transparency and provide clear labeling on formula.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: Now, there's also been a lot of talk about vaccines and autism, particularly around the confirmation of RFK. This was a big topic. What are the developments there?
--:-- John Bickley: Well, on vaccines, the National Institutes of Health, which is part of HHS, said that it's going to stop spending money to find out why Americans are hesitant to take vaccinations.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: NIH is terminating or scaling back more than 40 related grants. And they said that that sort of spending just doesn't align with NIH priorities anymore.
--:-- John Bickley: However, money is being spent on autism research. Kennedy launched a $50 million initiative aimed at investigating the causes of autism and improving treatments.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: In April, he announced that he's commissioning a series of studies on suspected links to higher autism rates. That includes mold, pesticides, food chemicals, medications, and ultrasounds during pregnancies.
--:-- John Bickley: He also set a tight deadline on finding these contributing factors. We've launched a massive testing and research effort that's going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures.
--:-- John Bickley: Overall, there's just a real shift at HHS in what the department is prioritizing. Kennedy famously took doge-like actions to the department last month and he terminated tens of thousands of employees that he said were either from duplicate departments or unnecessary bureaucracy.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: He's also reallocating funds he's cut from NIH and the CDC to instead address chronic disease. And as I mentioned earlier, tens of millions of dollars are going towards autism research.
--:-- John Bickley: But this seems like just step one for Kennedy and his Maha actions. He signaled that he's taking on the pharmaceutical industry next.
--:-- Amanda Presta Giacomo: Well, a lot of parents are very interested in this movement. Thanks for reporting.
--:-- John Bickley: You welcome
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--:-- John Bickley: Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has caused alarm over its new AI chatbots, which some staffers say will talk sex with kids.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Alordi joins us now with the details.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: Hey, John. So a lot of concern about these chatbots. Why are people so worried?
--:-- John Bickley: Hey, Maraid. So some employees at Meta say the company rushed to get these new digital companions or chatbots up and running on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: And because these bots can perform sex role plays, there's now a problem where children can get exposed to sexually explicit discussions.
--:-- John Bickley: These chatbots can flirt over text, they can have live voice conversations, and they can even share selfies.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: This all came out in the Wall Street Journal's bombshell report last week.
--:-- John Bickley: Okay, so staffers say that Meta just rushed this out too quickly, did not put in the proper protections for children. Is that correct?
--:-- Maraid Alordi: That's right. And another related issue is that sometimes the AI chatbots will have sexual discussions even when they're programmed to pretend to be children.
--:-- John Bickley: So that's also concerning. And then also Meta made deals with celebrities like John Cena and Kristen Bell to use their voices for the chatbots.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: The company promised these actors that their voices would not be used in sexually explicit discussions. But the Wall Street Journal tested this out and found that a bot using Sina's voice was willing to engage in a graphic sexual scenario with a user identifying as a 14-year-old girl, creepily promising to cherish your innocence.
--:-- John Bickley: And a bot using Kristen Bell's voice flirted with a user posing as a 12-year-old boy, and the bot did it as Bell's character, Princess Anna, from the Disney movie Frozen.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: Disney put out a statement demanding that it put a stop to this.
--:-- John Bickley: Really disturbing. Now, lawmakers have gotten involved, correct?
--:-- Maraid Alordi: Yes, and it's bipartisan. GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday demanding answers.
--:-- John Bickley: We spoke to Blackburn, who's also calling for legislation, and here's what she had to say.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: What we would like for them to do is to take this down. We understand that there are meta employees that have raised concerns about this. We do know that. So they should put a halt to this.
--:-- John Bickley: And the other accountability is to demand that we pass the Kids Online Safety Act, that we get it signed into law, and that they comply with that law.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: Blackburn also pointed out how the Internet still has a Wild West quality to it when it comes to children's safety. You couldn't take them into a bar. You couldn't take them into a strip club. But look at what they're being exposed to in the virtual space.
--:-- John Bickley: Let's disable these algorithms that are continuing to expose our children to pedophiles and drug dealers and to pornographic activity like you're seeing in the AI chatbot.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: All right, so a bipartisan response there from lawmakers. Has Meta responded to these concerns?
--:-- John Bickley: Yes, they have. Meta said that the way the journal tested the chatbots was, quote, manipulative, but they did make some changes, including banning kids' social media accounts from being able to do sexual role plays with the Meta AI bot and cracking down on it being able to do those role plays using celebrities' voices.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: And by the way, Mark Zuckerberg himself reportedly pushed Meta to loosen restrictions on the chatbots to make them more engaging.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, certainly a major concern for parents here, Maraid. Thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Maraid Alordi: Thanks, John. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back tomorrow with more news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. If you want to wake up with us every day, subscribe to our show and follow us on social media.
--:-- John Bickley: And don't forget to visit our website at dailywire.com for more news and analysis.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you tomorrow.
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