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--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Daily Wire editor-in-chief.
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's Tuesday, November 26th. Today, we're discussing Donald Trump's positive marks on his cabinet picks and handling of the presidential transition, the massive deportation backlog in the U.S., and Trump's plan to tackle DEI initiatives.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. Let's start with the news. 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.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Donald Trump is getting positive marks on his cabinet picks and for his handling of the presidential transition. And Special Counsel Jack Smith has dropped the January 6th prosecutions against the former president.
--:-- John Bickley: We don't take legal action against sitting, and in this case, incoming presidents of the United States.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Tuesday, November 26th, and this is Morning Wire. The U.S. is in the midst of a massive deportation backlog, meaning many illegal immigrants who shouldn't be here still are. Thousands of empty ice beds sitting there right now already paid for by the taxpayer. They'd rather release them because they know they're not in detention, they won't be removed.
--:-- John Bickley: And does Trump's victory signal the end of DEI in training, hiring, and funding by the federal government? I will eliminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. of course, the entire federal government.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: With Inauguration Day fast approaching, Trump will enter office with a clear mandate from the American people. Here with the latest on the transition and how voters are responding so far is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So, Cabot, some clear signs of widespread support for a second Trump administration. What are we seeing?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, Trump's second term is starting with something that he was lacking back in 2016 when he lost the popular vote. A clear and decisive mandate from the American people. Now, obviously, the electoral results are the strongest evidence of that mandate. Winning all the battlegrounds and popular vote will do that. But new polling shows just how much goodwill Trump has with voters right now. According to the latest numbers from CBS, a stunning 59 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the transition so far, compared to just 41 percent who disapprove.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And it's interesting, one of the Democrats' core messages this year was that Trump would take away freedoms and serve as a fascist. But voters clearly were not buying it. Just 37 percent in this poll say they believe Trump will threaten Americans' rights and freedoms.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, and some of the most shocking numbers actually came from the younger voters. Right. All of the exit polling we had from Election Day showed Trump winning a higher share of young folks than any Republican in decades. And the latest polling reinforces that. 57% of voters under 30 say they are happy or satisfied with Trump winning. 56% say they're optimistic about what he'll do. And by a two to one margin, young voters say they believe the cost of living will come down under Trump. And most shocking of all a whopping 65 of voters under 30 say they approve of Donald Trump transition so far 65 That is a higher approval rating than any other age group We just simply have not seen that sort of broad support among young voters since Barack Obama took office back in 2008
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And one more interesting note, just 16% of young Americans say they are, quote, motivated to oppose Trump's efforts as president. So Americans, including those under 30, seemingly giving Trump a fresh start.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, it's not really just Trump himself, though. A lot of this widespread support is for his cabinet appointments and specific policy proposals, right?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Exactly. Americans are offering broad support for Trump's cabinet as well so far. Leading the way is Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio. 44% say that's a good pick compared to just 25% who say it's bad. Same goes for Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth, who just 27 and 28% respectively oppose. And even RFK Jr., arguably the most controversial of Trump's cabinet appointments, is viewed positively. And it's worth noting on RFK, the age range that supports him most is, again, those young voters.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But most notable is the overwhelming support of Trump's border policies. Get this, 57% of Americans say they support his plan to, quote, find and deport all immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. That is just a staggering shift from a decade ago when polls showed support for mass deportations hovering in the 25 to 30% range.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We're also seeing the Dems back off of some of these lawsuits. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, on Monday, Special Counsel Jack Smith officially announced that he is filing to dismiss a pair of federal prosecutions against Donald Trump. He cited the DOJ's policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Remember, those cases centered on allegations that Trump sought to undermine the 2020 election and that he illegally held on to classified documents after leaving the White House. Those cases are no more.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to a Trump spokesman, the move, quote, ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump and is a major victory for the rule of law. The American people and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system, and we look forward to uniting our country.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So yet another victory for soon-to-be President Donald Trump. So a fresh start for Trump on multiple levels.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: More than a million illegal aliens under formal orders to be deported are still at large in the United States. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about how local and national policies have contributed to the migrant crisis.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So what do we know about this substantial group of migrants that should be out of the country but aren't?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, there are about 1.4 million migrants in the U.S. today that have received formal deportation orders, which means they've been ordered by a court to leave the country. Stephen Camerata, the director of research for the Center of Immigration Studies, talked to Fox News recently, and he said that this backlog means that the Biden administration has been very unserious about border issues. The Biden approach has been to greatly expand and legal pathways for entries, such as parole. But then when immigrants' temporary access is up, they're protected and provided for through a network of local and state governments and NGOs. Sanctuary city laws are a good example of this.
--:-- Tim Pierce: According to Camerata Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE should still have a good idea of where these aliens with deportation orders are After all they have to provide a legitimate address and contact information if they want to get work permits driver licenses most documents one needs in order to live and work in the U The fact that so many aliens have yet to be deported indicates a lack of willingness to deport on behalf of the federal government.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, how does an illegal immigrant in the U.S. support himself or herself? Well, take New York City, for example. It has laws that guarantee a so-called right to shelter. Practically, that means taxpayers are on the hook to provide shelter for the city's homeless, which recently has included tens of thousands of immigrants. The city has rented out thousands of hotel rooms, taken over schools, gymnasiums, places of worship, sports fields, anywhere it can find space to shelter immigrants.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's also paid for one-way tickets for any immigrant in the city to relocate elsewhere, as long as they promise not to come back. That program, which the city calls re-ticketing, has been the subject of some controversy. It's believed to be the program that Jose Ibarra used to get to Georgia. He is the illegal immigrant with alleged ties to Trende Aragua who was convicted of murdering Georgia nursing student Lakin Riley. That means New York taxpayers paid for Ibarra to fly to Atlanta where he murdered Lakin instead of paying for a ticket out of the country.
--:-- Tim Pierce: New York City has done this with many others. Mayor Eric Adams last week said that the reticketing program has relocated some 43,000 immigrants out of New York. But there are still huge numbers of criminal illegal aliens in the city. According to New York City's ICE director, it would take decades to remove them from the city at the current rate.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, Trump is coming into office promising to deport these aliens. But with so many in the country, what can Americans reasonably expect out of that promise? Well, according to Camerata, with serious effort, Trump's administration could probably deport somewhere between a third and one half of those 1.4 million. That's not a failure on Trump's part. That's just the reality of where the U.S. immigration system is right now. A problem that's been decades in the making won't likely be solved in just a few years.
--:-- Tim Pierce: But Trump will be facing a less than ideal scenario when he takes office. The Democratic Party has taken up the mantle of illegal aliens, and elected officials are already lining up to resist Trump's mass deportation plan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for joining us.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President-elect Trump has promised to dismantle DEI initiatives in the federal government, and new polling shows the public increasingly supports the idea. Here with the details on just how the Trump administration plans to roll back DEI is Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Megan, pushing back against DEI is something Trump has been outspoken about on the campaign trail and for many years, but we haven't heard a lot of specifics yet. Are we starting to get a sense of how he plans to do this?
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, you know, I think we are. His team says he's making DEI a priority from the outset and that he's also committed to excising it from every nook and cranny of the federal government. So they taking aim not just at training but also gender and race hiring and and promotion quotas and also grant making decisions as well They say that all of these will now be merit
--:-- Megan Basham: And then maybe the most ambitious element of this is federal funding of colleges and universities. Wall Street Journal is reporting that Trump is meeting with writer and documentary filmmaker Chris Ruffo, who is, of course, well-known for strategizing to oppose DEI. And they say that he's presenting Trump's team with a plan to withhold federal funding from any schools that engage in DEI practices.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, we've reported before that DEI in the private sector is kind of a cash cow. A few years ago, DEI ranked number one in terms of area of growth, in terms of C-suite professionals. Currently, it's estimated to be worth about $8 billion a year. That includes a lot of consultancy firms as well as DEI executives employed at private companies.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, I imagine that that group is not going to fade away without a fight. No, they're not. And we are already seeing some legal battles shaping up on this. But on the other side of it, public opinion is starting to shift on this. And as we've talked about before, you are seeing a lot of big businesses cutting those expensive DEI roles and departments.
--:-- Megan Basham: Americans right now are pretty split. A just-released Pew poll found that the number of American workers who say that DEI initiatives at work are a good thing is currently at 52%. That's down four points since February of 2023. And then other polling shows that when asked about specific DEI-style policies, they're much more unpopular. 68% of adults, for example, say that they think the Supreme Court was right to end race-based college admissions.
--:-- Megan Basham: And at the same time, in the House, we've got a bill titled the Dismantle DEI Act that J.D. Vance had co-sponsored. Well, it just passed its first hurdle to getting to the floor vote. So if enacted, it will abolish DEI offices in all federal agencies and end any race-based preferences for government contractors and grant applicants.
--:-- Megan Basham: This was Texas Congressman Michael Cloud touting the bill to his fellow lawmakers last week. A new report from Do No Harm counted 500 DEI actions that the Biden administration took place or planned to take. DEI ideology simply does not work and only serves to divide our country. DEI ideology also results in absurd government-funded programs and has been a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. It is time for us to unwind this bureaucratic initiative and to restore a functioning government that does not give preference to race, sex or any of these characteristics.
--:-- Megan Basham: So with Republicans controlling the House, I think this bill stands a pretty good chance of passing. And I think you can also say that the wind is at Trump's back on this issue. Right. And this is, I think, a priority for Trump's base. Yeah.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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