--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the host, John Bickley, speaks]
--:-- John Bickley: Good morning, I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, September 5th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Senate races in multiple swing states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, are tightening. How are candidates closing the gap and what issues appear to be moving the needle for voters?
--:-- John Bickley: And the Biden administration is attempting to revitalize President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran after Trump killed it. But national security experts say the move could be a grave mistake.
--:-- [Music transitions to a more serious tone]
--:-- John Bickley: This is such a great deal, and it's such a good deal for the American people. The administration should have no problem selling it to 67% of elected representatives.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- John Bickley: Finding great talent doesn't have to be a second job. Hire faster and better with Indeed. Indeed offers instant match saving tools like Indeed Instant Match, assessment, and versatile interviews. Plus, with Indeed, you only pay for applications that meet your must-have requirements.
--:-- Georgia Howe: When you sponsor an Indeed post, you're 4.5 times more likely to get a hire. Join more than 3 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. Visit Indeed.com slash wire to start hiring right now.
--:-- John Bickley: Just go to Indeed.com slash wire. Indeed.com slash wire. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. You need Indeed.
--:-- [Music transitions back to the main theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Days after President Biden gave a primetime address labeling MAGA Republicans a threat to democracy, former President Donald Trump responded, escalating the war of words between the two presidents.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I'm Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. All right, Cabot, so tell us what Trump had to say.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, on the night after Biden's speech calling MAGA Republicans an extremist group threatening the foundation of America, Trump initially responded with a post on his Truth Social platform saying, quote, someone should explain to Joe Biden slowly but passionately that MAGA means make America great again. If he doesn't want to make America great again, he should not be representing the United States of America.
--:-- John Bickley: He went on to call the president, quote, insane or suffering from late stage dementia. All right. So some sharp words from the former president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah. And he didn't stop there. On Saturday, Trump held a Save America rally in Pennsylvania with Republican Senate and gubernatorial candidates, Dr. Oz and Doug Mastriano.
--:-- John Bickley: The president did not take long to respond to Biden's speech, calling it, quote, vicious, hateful and divisive and referring to Biden as an enemy of the state.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This week, Joe Biden came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to give the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president. Vilifying 75 million citizens plus another probably 75 to 150. state, if we want to be accurate about it, as threats to democracy and as enemies of the state.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump went on to say that the real threat to democracy came from the radical left and not the right. And that's sort of similar to the message that we've heard now from other Republican officials in the wake of Biden Soul of America address last week.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: For example, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted quote there nothing wrong with America soul The American people are hurting because of your policies.
--:-- John Bickley: Another interesting point to note from the address is that Trump did refer to himself as quote, the chief political opponent of President Biden, which was interpreted by some as a veiled reference to him running for office again in 2024.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, President Biden made some comments Friday that seemed to contradict or maybe qualify what he'd said the night before.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah. Tell us about that. So after an event Friday, Biden gave an off-the-cuff response when asked if he viewed Trump supporters as a threat.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And despite his staffers trying to prevent him from responding, answered with essentially the opposite of what he'd said the night before.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Mr. President, do you consider all Trump supporters to be a threat to the country? No, everyone, come on. Come on.
--:-- John Bickley: He goes on to say that he does condemn those who call for the use of violence. But critics were quick to point out that just the night before, he'd said, quote, Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They say that these latest comments are a sign that Biden is really scrambling to reframe his message about Trump supporters because it wasn't received well.
--:-- John Bickley: But regardless, do not be surprised if Biden's address is a focal point for Republicans as midterms approach.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. Well, we're in a fraught political moment here. Cabot, thanks for coming on.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime. That's Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: Coming up, swing state Senate races tighten. If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter available exclusively to Daily Wire members.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Get the Morning Wire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at dailywire.com slash subscribe. Use code MORNINGWIRE to try a Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.
--:-- John Bickley: The Senate race in Pennsylvania has grown more contentious as Democrat John Fetterman is refusing to participate in a debate against his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
--:-- David Marcus: I'm columnist David Marcus. So, David, what is the Fetterman camp now saying?
--:-- David Marcus: Good morning, Georgia. They've now admitted that Fetterman's physical condition after the stroke is playing into the decision not to debate.
--:-- John Bickley: They specifically cited verbal and auditory problems that he has in hectic environments.
--:-- David Marcus: It's a major revelation and comes at a time when Oz has been gaining in the polls. The most recent surveys have him about four points back.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A few weeks ago, we saw a double-digit lead for Fetterman. Some of that movement may be related to the stroke.
--:-- David Marcus: After all, part of being a senator is debating, but it also tracks a broader national trend. Right.
--:-- John Bickley: In addition to Pennsylvania, we also see in Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, there's a similar movement towards the GOP in recent polling.
--:-- David Marcus: All three had Democrat leads not that long ago. They're getting very close.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In fact, in Georgia, Herschel Walker has overtaken incumbent Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock in some polls.
--:-- David Marcus: Blake Masters in Arizona and Joe O'Day in Colorado have seen gains. And there's a similar story in Nevada.
--:-- John Bickley: This is also coming at a time when Joe Biden is also seeing an uptick in his approval rating.
--:-- David Marcus: So isn't it counterintuitive that the GOP candidates are gaining at the same time?
--:-- John Bickley: What accounts for that?
--:-- David Marcus: It's mostly driven by the left wing of the party who had been frustrated but are buoyed by the spending package on climate that they called inflation reduction, the student debt relief, and frankly, this dark Brandon approach that we saw on Thursday night where an angry Joe Biden called out MAGA Republicans as extremists.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This is great red meat for the base, but it's not clear that it helps Fetterman or Warnock with moderate and independent voters.
--:-- David Marcus: Tellingly, Fetterman was not present at Thursday's speech, even though it was in Philadelphia.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, that's a pattern that we've been seeing going back to January when Stacey Abrams in Georgia seemed to avoid appearing with Biden.
--:-- David Marcus: Are candidates still largely avoiding Biden at campaign events?
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's a lot of Democrats who won't even commit to supporting Biden in 2024.
--:-- David Marcus: So yeah, that chilly distance is still there.
--:-- John Bickley: And while these Democrat candidates in tight races do want to hammer home on abortion and have had some success recently in the New York 19 special election, they appear to be avoiding association with the Biden brand.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, we've also seen on the right, there's this increasingly public spat between Florida Senator Rick Scott, who has been leading the GOP's Senate campaign efforts, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been critical of some of these candidates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: McConnell says he's concerned about candidate quality. Is there merit to that concern?
--:-- David Marcus: Interestingly, a few of these GOP candidates that are currently gaining in places like Pennsylvania and Georgia have unique vulnerabilities.
--:-- John Bickley: But the conflict between Scott and McConnell is more broadly about the direction of the party.
--:-- David Marcus: McConnell's worried that this will be similar to 2010 when the GOP lost some very winnable Senate seats with unorthodox candidates.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He views some 2020 candidates, particularly the ones most closely associated with populism or with Trump, people like Blake Masters or J.D. Vance, as out of the mainstream and likely to lose a general election.
--:-- David Marcus: Whereas Scott is saying, listen, this is the mainstream now, that it is, in fact, McConnell who is out of step with the GOP and American voters.
--:-- John Bickley: All right. We'll just have to wait and see.
--:-- David Marcus: David, thanks so much for coming on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me.
--:-- [Music transitions to a new segment]
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration is attempting to revitalize the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, and national security experts are sounding the alarm.
--:-- Victoria Coates: I'm Victoria Coates, Senior Research Fellow for International Affairs and National Security in the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.
--:-- John Bickley: So, Victoria, there's a new nuclear deal that's in the works we've heard between the U.S. and Iran. What do we know about it so far?
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, what we know is rumored because while the administration's been happy to share the contents of the deal with the Russians and the Chinese, they have not seen fit to share it with the American people.
--:-- John Bickley: And, you know, it's a very concerning series of rumors going around.
--:-- Victoria Coates: The big difference between this deal and the 2015 Obama-era deal are apparently attempts to get guarantees into it that would tie the hands of a future Republican president or Congress from ceasing compliance with the deal.
--:-- John Bickley: What are the potential ramifications of revitalizing that dead deal?
--:-- Victoria Coates: There's nothing good that can come of this. We know that the original deal was fraudulently negotiated by the Iranians, who insisted that they had abandoned any interest in a military dimension to their nuclear program in 2002, more than a decade before the JCPOA talks commenced.
--:-- John Bickley: Now what we know now that we didn't know then is what was revealed in the nuclear archive the Israelis recovered from Tehran in 2018, which revealed they had kept plans for a nuclear weapon.
--:-- Victoria Coates: They kept them secret, and they had kept them very carefully, preserved them in a special bunker.
--:-- John Bickley: So we know they always had the intention to retain the ability to create a nuclear weapon should they decide to do so.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And there's no reason to think they're not doing that now as well.
--:-- John Bickley: What's the rationale behind this deal? Why try to revive it at all?
--:-- Victoria Coates: The original philosophy behind the Obama deal was that the United States had so antagonized Iran that we were the ones provoking them into potentially developing a nuclear weapon.
--:-- John Bickley: And that if we reached out to them and relaxed sanctions on them, they would use that money responsibly to develop their country, to invest in the things the Iranian people so desperately need.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Unfortunately, the opposite turned out to be the case.
--:-- John Bickley: And the Iranians invested every penny they got, hundreds of billions of dollars under the sanctions relief, and then also the pallets of cash.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Every penny of that went into their military spending.
--:-- John Bickley: And you can see the charts of the increased revenue and the increased military spending, and it's almost a dollar-to-dollar corollary.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And that's what they're going to do again.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton warned about this deal recently and said this would be a grave mistake, that it would actually make Iran a better partner for Russia.
--:-- Victoria Coates: How could this impact Iran's relationship with hostile powers like Russia and China?
--:-- John Bickley: We're seeing some very disturbing developments, particularly with Russia and Iran, which have not necessarily been that close historically.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And the dangers from the Russia-Iranian growing rapprochement, they're really two main ones.
--:-- John Bickley: In terms of sanctions busting, if we lift sanctions on Iran, I assume part of that will be that we will also say we're not going to sanction countries that do business with Iran.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So we then lose any control over Russia simply shipping oil to Iran.
--:-- John Bickley: Iran can mix it with its own stock, sell it, and then pay the Russians back.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So it's a perfect mechanism for Russia to bring many, many more barrels to market.
--:-- John Bickley: And then there's the nuclear aspect.
--:-- Victoria Coates: The rumor is that the Russians will reprive the role they played in the 2015 deal as the ones who hold Iran's enriched uranium, for which they're handsomely paid.
--:-- John Bickley: I believe they made $10 billion off the original JCPOA.
--:-- Victoria Coates: But then you also have Russia basically holding the whole region hostage because if a future American president or Congress were to withdraw from compliance with the deal, you know, the Russians can give the Iranians that uranium back.
--:-- John Bickley: And that means you're basically making Israel and the Gulf nations hostages to the Russians and to a deal that they didn't even negotiate.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Well, clearly a lot at stake here.
--:-- John Bickley: Victoria, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Victoria Coates: That was Heritage Senior Research Fellow, Victoria Coates.
--:-- [Music transitions to a final segment]
--:-- John Bickley: Another story we're tracking this week. The Republican candidate for New York governor, Representative Lee Zeldin, is now just four points behind his Democratic opponent, incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul, according to a new Trafalgar Group poll.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- John Bickley: If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
