--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Hey guys, have you heard of Gold Belly? It's this amazing site where they ship the most iconic, famous foods from restaurants across the country, anywhere nationwide.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: I've never found a more perfect gift than food. Gold Belly ships Chicago deep dish pizza, New York bagels, Maine lobster rolls, and even Ina Garden's famous cakes.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: So if you're looking for a gift for the food lover in your life, head to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code gift. That's goldbelly.com promo code gift.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: It's day three of the government shutdown and there's still no end in sight. Well, there could be firings and that's their fault. And it could also be other things.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: President Trump meets with budget officials to discuss which Democrat agencies to cut amid the deadlock.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire, executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, October 3rd. This is Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Multiple Jewish worshipers are murdered and more severely wounded in a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: On Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community, a vile individual committed a terrorist attack. Plus, does Hollywood's hottest new movie glorify left-wing violence?
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Welcome to the world, Bob. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: American companies making American products with American workers in American hometowns. 275,000 men and women in all 50 states show up every day, do the work, and deliver for our economy and our communities.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Learn more about America's beverage companies at wedeliverforamerica.org.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: The government shutdown enters its third day as the blame game continues and President Trump gears up for mass layoffs of federal employees.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down for us, A. Cabot.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So day three, do we have any movement at all? No, we don't, John.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So remember, in order to end this shutdown, 60 senators must vote yes on the Republicans' continuing resolution.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: At the moment, there are only three members who've crossed party lines. Democrats John Fetterman and Catherine Cortez Masto, along with independent Angus King, are the only members to support the measure.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So that leaves Majority Leader John Thune searching for at least five more votes on the left.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: He'll make another run at it on the floor today, but by all accounts, it's expected to once again fail.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Thune says that he has had some productive back-channel conversations with Democrats, specifically the moderate ones, who have expressed some willingness to budge if they get assurances on health care subsidies being added or at least debated more substantively in the future when the full budget's passed.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: But those members, again, are facing enormous pressure from their left-wing base to stand firm.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: To that point, the White House put out a post reminding Americans that under President Biden, Democrats voted 13 separate times to pass continuing resolutions, very similar to the one that's being debated right now.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: They argue that Democrats are allowing the federal government to essentially be held hostage by the far-left base, who was furious by their going along with Trump's big, beautiful bill, or at least not stopping it completely.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Here's Treasury Secretary Scott Besant making that point yesterday.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Chuck Schumer did the right thing in the spring and led the Senate to a clean CR. What's changed since then is it's his poll numbers.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Ocasio-Cortez, because she's nipping at his heels. The American people are being held hostage by Chuck Schumer's poll numbers.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Now, as we've discussed, the White House is doing everything in their power to make this shutdown solely focused on Democrats and their insistence to add funding for health care for illegal immigrants
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: They say the Democratic proposal would result in about billion in taxpayer funding over the next decade going for again health care for illegal immigrants primarily through Medicaid and mandatory emergency care
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: They argue the American people elected Donald Trump on a promise to do away with those policies and that by fighting to keep them, they're blocking the will of the people.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Here's Press Secretary Caroline Levitt making that point.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: President Trump ran on the promise to end taxpayer-funded benefits going to illegal aliens. And tens of millions of Americans across the country voted him back to this beautiful White House to implement that promise, and he did.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And now Democrats want to undo it. And they are holding our country hostage. They are holding the American people hostage.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Now, the White House says that this shutdown will cost the U.S. economy about $15 billion in GDP every week that it drags on.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And again, they want to make sure Democrats get the blame.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And to give you an idea of how confident they are that that's going to happen, the White House posted news clip after news clip all week long describing National Guardsmen now going unpaid, food assistance for low-income single mothers drying up, et cetera.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: A number of federal websites also had new banners on Thursday.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: The official DOJ website, for example, read, quote, Democrats have shut down the government. Websites are not currently updated.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And then the Department of Housing and Urban Development's banner went even further, saying, quote, the radical left in Congress shut down the government.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So clearly the administration is not shying away from this shutdown.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: They want people to know it is happening. So they're not exactly being subtle about this.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: What about this move to lay off federal employees? What's the latest on that?
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Yeah, Trump, again, is targeting non-essential federal employees for termination as part of his broader government efficiency efforts.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: He posted Thursday that he, quote, had a meeting today with Russ Vogt, he of Project 2025 fame, to determine which of the many Democrat agencies, most of which are a political scam, he recommends to be cut.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: I can't believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So you can see Trump almost excited by this opportunity.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: On Wednesday, Vogt began making some of those cuts, withholding $18 billion for a tunnel project in New York and New Jersey that was, again, being spearheaded by Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: Vote also moved to cancel $8 billion worth of green energy products that were previously awarded to blue states.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: From all that effort, we spoke with Dan Bishop, deputy director of the OMB.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: There are opportunities that this situation unlocks, and they go in a lot of different directions.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And I will say that folks on the Hill have had suggestions that we look into that are productive as well.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So, yes, the rifts are imminent, as the director has said, exactly where they will be and how deep.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: All those things are under consideration and the president will make the decisions.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: And then there's sort of the man of the hour right now, Republican Majority Leader John Thune.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: He had a message to Democrats about these ongoing cuts from OMB saying, quote, we don't control what he's going to do.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: He being Trump.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: So essentially telling Democrats, if you want the cuts to stop and the shutdown.
--:-- Guest: Cabot Phillips: All right, so a unified and very forceful message from Republicans and the administration in lockstep there.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Absolutely.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Fall is here, and with it comes cooler nights, hardier meals, and cravings for something warm and satisfying.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That's where HelloFresh comes in, bringing you comforting chef-designed recipes and fresh seasonal ingredients right to your door.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: This season, they've taken things to the next level with their biggest menu refresh yet.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Say hello to a whole new way to do dinner.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: They're focusing on high-protein meals and veggie-packed recipes that include at least two different vegetables per dish, making it easier to eat greener without even trying.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Personally, I love the high-protein meals, but what really got me is the high quality and how easy each meal is to prepare.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: And of course, I just mentioned their protein variations are awesome.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: We talking steak and seafood recipes at no extra cost
--:-- Host: John Bickley: The best way to cook just got better
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Head over to HelloFresh slash MorningWire10FM now to get 10 free meals and a free item for life
--:-- Host: John Bickley: One per box with active subscription Free meals applied at discount on first box New subscribers only. Varies by plan.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: That's HelloFresh.com slash MorningWire10FM to get 10 free meals plus a free item for life.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: A knife-wielding man targeted a synagogue in England on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestagiacomo.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: So Amanda, a horrifying event in Manchester, England. What do we know so far about this attack?
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Yeah, well, first of all, we know that this has been deemed a terrorist attack by the UK's counterterrorism police.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: This was very obviously a targeted attack.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: As far as timeline goes, we know that authorities first received calls at around 9.30 a.m. local time about a man driving his vehicle into pedestrians outside of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: The suspect then got out of his vehicle and began stabbing people around him.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Authorities have confirmed that two people have been killed and at least four others were injured.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: The suspect himself was shot and killed by police about seven or eight minutes after authorities were first called.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: And, you know, as John mentioned, this attack took place on Yom Kippur, a very holy day for the Jewish people.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: There were a large number of people inside the synagogue worshiping at the time of the attack.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: They were about a half hour into service.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Now, the attacker was not able to get into the actual synagogue because the entrance was locked and barricaded.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: When the suspect got out of his vehicle, he immediately encountered synagogue security and other members who stopped him.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Suffice to say, this attack could have been even more deadly.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Now, there have also been reports that the suspect was strapped with explosives.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: So the suspect does appear to have something strapped to his vest in photos.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Investigators said this appeared to be an explosive device.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: But authorities later said that that device was not viable.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Now, investigators were quick to say this is being investigated as a terror incident.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: What do we know so far about the suspect?
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Authorities made clear very early on that they knew who the suspect was, but for hours, they refused to release his name.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: They cited safety reasons.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: We've since learned that the suspect's name is Jihad al-Shami, a 35-year-old British citizen who's of Syrian descent.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Two arrests have also been made in connection to the attack, and the investigation is being led by specialized counterterrorism teams.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: There are about 30,000 Jewish people who reside in Manchester.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Outside of London, it's home to the largest Jewish community in the country.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Anti-Semitic attacks in the UK have hit record levels after the October 7th attack by Hamas and Israel.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: And in just the first half of this year, there have been more than 1,500 reported incidents.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Now, less than two weeks ago, Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared to side with Palestinians in the Gaza conflict.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: He stated that the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: That was upsetting to many of his Jewish constituents.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: How is he responding to this attack?
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Yeah, Starmer called the attack absolutely shocking, and he said he's going to do everything he can to keep the Jewish community safe.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Britain is also a country where Jewish buildings, synagogues, even schools require round-the-clock protection, where dedicated specialist security is necessary because of the daily threat of anti-Semitic hatred.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: After Starmer made those remarks, a violent protest broke out on Downing Street outside of his office.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: The crowd has been described as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli, and a number of arrests were made.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Alternatively, there's been a lot of criticism of Starmer and, you know, the British authorities more generally for letting anti-Semitism become so normalized and for allowing mass migration without any assimilation.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said that, you know, they expect more than words from Starmer.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Guest: Amanda Prestagiacomo: You're welcome.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: America first responders rely on FirstNet a wireless network built with and for first responders covering the nation and keeping us all safe FirstNet built with AT
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Learn more at firstnet slash public safety first
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Joining us to discuss the new film, One Battle After Another, is National Review contributor, Giancarlo Sopo.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Giancarlo, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Great to be with you guys.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So this film is getting a ton of buzz. I want to ask you first, what is this film about?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So I think to understand One Battle After Another, you have to understand the book that it's based on.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: And it's Thomas Pynchon's Vineland.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So essentially it's a story about a bunch of radicals who have gotten burned out, have attempted to attack government installations and institutions using violence.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So it's a satire, right?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So you got radicals on one side and then on the right, you're gonna have a bunch of racist autocratic thugs essentially coming after them who are part of this paramilitary organization that is also tied, by the way, to a secret society of races called the Christmas Adventures Club.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: The way you're describing it, we have left-wing radicals up against right-wing authoritarian radicals.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: It sounds like it's somewhat on the nose politically.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Do you get the sense that it is trying to give a message for today, or do you think it's just maybe some unfortunate timing that it happened to come out right now?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Well, I think that's one of the cool things about Paul Thomas Anderson is that he's a very talented filmmaker, so he knows how to make a film that's going to have some ambiguity.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: I think the film's political sympathies are obviously with the progressive left.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: At the same time, though, I wouldn't necessarily call it a political movie.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: I would look at it more as Antifa Star Wars, as a friend told me, where the politics and the radicalism is kind of used as a vehicle to tell a father-daughter story.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Do you feel like this actually soft pedals violence?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Because I know it's basically a Weather Underground group that he was a part of, correct?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Where they're actually breaking people out of ICE detention facilities.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Does it gloss over or even glorify violence?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: I think it shows political violence as tragic.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: However, the one political aspect of the movie that I had the most problem with is that one of the lead characters, a woman by the name of Perfidia Beverly Hills.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: So again, And all these characters are very on the nose.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: There's a guy called Stephen Lockjaw.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: OK, so Profitia Beverly Hills, as they are holding up a bank, she shoots and kills a security officer.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: She doesn't do it with joy. She actually does it with a great deal of anguish.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: But even after that fact, the film, it's it's ambiguous enough where he can get away with it.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: But it does still kind of paint her in a sympathetic light as the things that she has to do afterward kind of mirrors some of these radicals.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: who killed people in the 60s and 70s and then went into exile in Cuba, she kind of follows a similar trajectory.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Is there any sympathy at all for people considered on the right in the film?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Do you see any sympathetic elements?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Do you get a sense of that, or is it the sympathies lie when the father and the daughter?
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: Yeah, the thing with the movie is that no one's really in the center right or really the center left or much less the middle.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: It follows a set of extremists on both sides,
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: And what the story is telling you on the political side is that these ideologies are pulling people away from what matters most to them in life, which should be their own children.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: There are very clear passages in the film that communicate that.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: I don't think anyone is portrayed here sympathetically in the film, to be candid with you, with the exception of the teenage girl.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: What's interesting is that DiCaprio, in some of these interviews that he's been doing promoting the film, does say that he sees the film as a critique of both the left and the right.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Giancarlo, thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Guest: Giancarlo Sopo: It's a pleasure to be here.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe.
--:-- Host: John Bickley: We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.
