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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.
--:-- John Bickley: The Trump economy holds strong, fueled by flatlining inflation and transformative trade deals. Overall, inflation has run at a 1.9 average annual pace in President Trump's first six months in office. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, August 13th, and this is Morning Wire. It's not OK because it's down from last year. It's bad. This is the nation's capital. This is a shining city on the hill. We're not going to tolerate it.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The fallout over Trump's D.C. takeover intensifies, but the White House is standing firm. And the U.S. continues to back Israel despite a growing pressure campaign from Europe. We condemn the government of Israel's decision to further expand its military operations in Gaza. This plan risks violating international humanitarian law.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: New inflation numbers have surprised many in the media and expert class, with energy and gas costs falling, grocery prices flat, and new tariffs and trade deals already paying dividends. Here to discuss all this and more is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hey Cabot.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So a lot of interconnected pieces to this economic puzzle here. Let's start with the inflation numbers. They're raising eyebrows in a pretty good way right now. What are we seeing?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we learned that inflation continues to hold steady at lower than expected rates. As we've talked about here, there's been a lot of concern about how Trump's various trade deals would impact not only our relationships with our trading partners, but just as importantly, inflation.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We've seen a few signs that maybe that is happening in a few sectors, But so far, more broadly, fears of major inflation spikes have simply been unfounded. In fact, the new inflation numbers show that it is either flat or falling in key areas.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to the latest numbers, in July, inflation held steady at 2.7%. That was below the 2.8 number predicted by economists. At the same time, real wages, which take inflation into account, were up 1.3% compared to last year, while the price of gasoline was down 10%, smartphones 14%, and egg prices 20%.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So there are some certain signs of optimism there. And this has all really kind of shocked many media outlets and experts correct
--:-- Georgia Howe: It certainly has. Nearly every month this year inflation continues to come in lower than expected despite those dire warnings that it would explode once Trump tariffs took effect. But for the moment, at least, that simply has not happened.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: You mentioned the media reaction. The New York Times, for example, tried to frame the new numbers in a negative light, saying there were, quote, some signs that the tariffs are having an impact on some items. But they can't get around the fact that the consumer price index is holding steady at 2.7.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here's CNN, no friend of Trump, being forced to acknowledge just how good things were in many sectors when it comes to energy and grocery prices. The two biggest concerns for a lot of Americans. Energy fell by 1.1 percent. That was largely driven because of gas prices falling in the month of July by 2.2 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Look at that food. I mean, this is where people spend their money, right? Food every single day. Food flat, 0% and actually down at the grocery store.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All right, so again, while we do expect that the tariffs will impact some sectors, so far the economy is really looking pretty healthy here.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Exactly. Now, there's still plenty of folks saying we're not out of the woods yet. There are signs that some businesses stockpiled goods last quarter, making big orders before tariffs went into effect. So it is certainly possible that once they run out and have to deal with the tariffs, prices could go up.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But that, again, has not happened yet, at least not in any meaningful way. And the Trump team is making sure that that good news is not glossed over. Here's Press Secretary Caroline Levitt touting the numbers from the White House yesterday.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: In January, when this president showed up to the White House, the six-month annualized core inflation rate was 3.7%. Today, six months later, the six-month annualized core inflation rate is 2.4%. So we are trending in the right direction. Small business optimism has reached a five-month high.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, tied to all of this, as we've said, are the tariffs in these trade deals. There's a new development with China that's important. And we've also seen a couple of new deals just come in recently. Tell us about that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. So we've been in this trade truce, as the White House calls it, with Beijing for months now. And it's now going to be at least three months more. The two countries agreed to an extension on that truce for another 90 days. So it'll go until November 10th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So for context, Trump is threatening 145% tariffs on all goods from Beijing. China says they'll use 125% tariffs. So really crippling numbers. But for the time being, the two sides have agreed on a 30% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% on U.S. goods while these negotiations take place.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, a pretty steep discount for now with China. Now, as for the other trade deals that Trump has worked out already, hopefully some of those start paying off. In fact, the White House says that they are, correct?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, the White House says those main trade deals with the EU, UK, South Korea, and Japan are already bringing in massive revenue. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, for example, says $100 billion in revenue has so far come in. He expects that number to reach $300 billion by the end of this year.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And that's, again, not including the hundreds of billions of dollars in pledged investments in the American private sector as part of those trade deals. Again, lots of moving parts here, but so far, lots of reasons for optimism to this point.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Kevin, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Absolutely.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Trump took over law enforcement in Washington, D.C. on Monday. The move has ignited furious debate over safety and crime data in the nation's capital. Here to break down the fallout from Trump's announcement is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So, Tim, what have we heard from city leaders since Monday?
--:-- Georgia Howe: It's been a mixture of resignation and indignation. Mayor Mariel Bowser has pretty much admitted that she has no legal recourse here. But she says that the crime wave that Trump cites is just in his mind.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's Bowser on Monday. It is also true that we experienced a crime spike post but we worked quickly to put laws in place and tactics that got violent offenders off our streets and gave our police officers more tools which is why we have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts This year we have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts This year crime isn just down from 2023 It also down from 2019 before the pandemic And we're at a 30-year violent crime low.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trump now has a little less than 30 days to direct DC's police. And there's a political risk here for Democrats in that if this works, what does that mean for other deep blue cities, places such as Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York City? If Trump solves the crime problem in D.C., a lot of people may feel it fair to expect leaders in those cities to solve their crime problems as well.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Now, there seems to be a bit of a divide in the media as to whether this crime wave actually exists. So what are we seeing from left and right media? There's not a consistent message in the mainstream outlets on this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: For instance, here's an ex-post from the New York Times is Peter Baker. He says, citing a non-existent crime crisis, Trump plans to take over the Washington, D.C. police and put troops in the streets of the nation's capital.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Baker added that violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low. And because we know that context is important at the New York Times, Baker noted that Trump is the first convicted felon to be U.S. president.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So look at that coverage and then flip on ABC News and you hear this from anchor Kyra Phillips. I can tell you firsthand here in downtown D.C. where we work right here around our bureau. Just in the past six months, there were two people shot. One person died literally two blocks down here from the bureau.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It was within the last two years that I actually was jumped walking just two blocks down from here. And then just this morning, one of my co-workers said her car was stolen a block away from the bureau.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So we can talk about the numbers going down, but crime is happening every single day because we're all experiencing it firsthand while working and living down here.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Scott Jennings on CNN said he actually witnessed a murder in the middle of Union Station. I was going to get a tie and I heard the shots and saw the body hit the floor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I've been listening all day long to people trying to make some argument that Washington, D.C. is a safe place. It's not a safe place. And we can argue about statistics and numbers.
--:-- Tim Pierce: There's a police commander right now on suspension because there's some allegation that the statistics have been altered. But we can argue about that all day long.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The D.C. police union is backing Trump's play. Here's union president Gregory Pemberton saying police are stretched thin and the laws in the city have been working against cops since 2020.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And now five years later, our authorized sworn strength is 4,000 sworn police officers. We currently have 3,180. So we have more than 800 vacancies for the position of police officer.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the way the department makes up for that gap is through 2 million hours of mandatory overtime every year. So in order to fix this problem and make sure that it doesn't ebb and flow and that the feds come in and we lower crime and then they leave and we're left holding the bag, it's very important that people know that there is underlying legislation that needs to be corrected so that we can actually properly staff this police department in order to properly police the city.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Whether you agree with Trump on this or not, a lot of people in the district believe something has to be done.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, we just reported yesterday that there was a murder just on Monday night in D.C.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Good to be on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid out his latest plans for Gaza, while Europe mounts a building pressure campaign against Israel over humanitarian concerns. Here are the latest as Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta, Giacomo.
--:-- Amanda Presta: So there's been a lot going on in regard to Gaza, including a press conference from Netanyahu. Let's start there. That's gained a lot of attention. What did he say about Israel's future plans?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, Netanyahu said that Israel right now has no choice but to defeat Hamas. Currently the terrorist organization has 20 Israeli hostages who are believed to be alive These are people who were kidnapped on October 7th back in 2023 There are another 30 bodies of hostages remaining in Gaza and Israel is working to get those bodies back
--:-- Amanda Presta: Now, while he said that Hamas must be defeated, Netanyahu also emphasized that he doesn't want to, quote, occupy Gaza. Here he is laying out his five-point vision for concluding the war. The war can end tomorrow if Gaza, or rather if Hamas lays down its arms and releases all the remaining hostages. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will have overriding security responsibility. A security zone will be established on Gaza's border with Israel to prevent future terrorist incursions. A civilian administration will be established in Gaza that will seek to live in peace with Israel.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As we've reported, there's been a lot of backlash against Israel over humanitarian concerns in Gaza, including from allies now. How is Israel responding?
--:-- Amanda Presta: Yeah, Netanyahu addressed that head on. He said that Israel has been the subject of a global campaign of lies. There have been reports of starvation in Gaza and the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, says that in total, including Hamas militants, about 60,000 people have been killed since the war started. Israel disputes that number.
--:-- Amanda Presta: Since the beginning of the war, Israel has let in close to 2 million tons of aid. I know of no other army that has enabled such aid to go to the civilian population in enemy territory. Now, if we had a starvation policy, no one in Gaza would have survived after two years of war. But our policy has been the exact opposite.
--:-- Georgia Howe: To that point about conflicting information and media narratives, Daily Wire investigative reporter Cassie Akiva on Monday released new evidence that calls into question one of these viral stories out of Gaza. The press recently ran with a story about a Gazan child named Amir, who was allegedly killed by Israel's military at an aid distribution site.
--:-- Amanda Presta: However, footage obtained by Akiva, it disputes the account that was given by a former and disgruntled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation contractor named Tony Aguilar. Additionally, the boy's stepmother says that she was with the child for two months after this incident where he was allegedly killed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: According to Akiva's report, Aguilar even got the location where he met the boy incorrect and the boy's name.
--:-- Amanda Presta: We're also seeing some European nations condemn Israel over the war. What is the latest there?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Yeah, well, just a few weeks ago when President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state. Since then, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have joined in.
--:-- Amanda Presta: Also, over the weekend, there was a U.N. security council called by Britain, Denmark, Greece, France, and Slovenia. And Israel was condemned for expanding military operations and blamed for coming bloodshed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Also, we have EU commission staffers protesting and even considering a strike because they say European leaders aren't being anti-Israel enough.
--:-- Amanda Presta: Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized some of these actions over the weekend. Here he is on The World Over.
--:-- Amanda Presta: Well, if you notice that the talks with Hamas fell apart on the day Macron made the unilateral decision that he's going to recognize a Palestinian state. And then you have other people come forward. Other countries say, well, if there's not a ceasefire by September, we're going to recognize a Palestinian state. Well, if I'm Hamas, I basically conclude let's not do a ceasefire because we can be rewarded and we can claim it as a victory.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So those messages, while largely symbolic in their minds, actually have made it harder to get peace and harder to achieve a deal with Hamas. They feel emboldened.
--:-- Amanda Presta: Well, the Trump administration continuing to stand firm behind Israel despite this growing pressure campaign.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amanda, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Amanda Presta: You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.
