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--:-- 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: Several potential candidates are courting Donald Trump to capture his coveted VP slot. If that call came, I would say yes. Who is emerging as a favorite and what will it take to be named VP? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with guest host Bhatia Ungar-Sargon, opinion editor at Newsweek.
--:-- Bhatia Ungar-Sargon: It's Tuesday, May 7th, and this is Morning Wire. From canceling graduation to suspending agitators, which colleges are enabling anti-Israel protests and which are taking a hardline position? Instead of drawing the line at speech and action, a lot of universities bizarrely give the most attention and most voice to the smallest, angriest group.
--:-- John Bickley: And after thousands of COVID-19 vaccine injury claims, the media and federal officials are now finally admitting the harm suffered by so many. I think the idea that we are not listening to people who feel like they've been suffering from this vaccine is awful. We absolutely need to be listening to them.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: With Election Day less than six months away now, a separate race is unfolding behind closed doors as high-profile Republicans present their case to be Donald Trump's running mate. Here with what we know about the former president's VP shortlist is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So after spending the majority of the last month in a Manhattan courtroom, former President Trump went back home to Florida this weekend for the Republican National Committee's spring retreat. That event featured a who's who of MAGA world with top donors pledging more money and RNC leaders laying out their election strategy down the stretch. And while Trump was undoubtedly the star of the show, essentially serving as the unofficial host of the retreat, it was the presence of a number of rising GOP stars that really had folks buzzing.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: While Trump said this winter that he'd already made his VP pick, by all accounts, he is still weighing his options. And the campaign says they will not make an announcement until closer to the RNC convention in July. And that opening led many of those on his shortlist to descend on Florida for an audition of sorts. So what do we know about who Trump is considering?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, he hosted a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago property Saturday and invited a half dozen or so contenders on stage with him at various points. Those people included Senators J.D. Vance and Tim Scott, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and Governor Doug Burgum. Vance was a vocal critic of Trump when he first ran back in 2016, but has since warmed up to the former president, who referred to him as, quote, one of the great senators.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: We saw a similar reversal from Tim Scott who ran against Trump in the primaries and threw plenty of mud but has since come around becoming one of Trump most active surrogates and a fundraising powerhouse for the Trump campaign Stefanik does have a lower profile in the House but has really ingratiated herself to MAGA World by leading the charge in Congress to investigate those prosecuting Trump. Remember, she's calling on the DOJ to launch an ethics probe against Special Counsel Jack Smith.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also ran in 2024, and despite failing to gain any traction for himself, did support Trump early on in 2016 and 2020. Trump made note of that on Saturday, praising his loyalty before adding that he is, quote, a very rich man. But the most talked about VP hopeful this week was undoubtedly South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who found herself under fire from left and right.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, get us up to speed on that story. Well, a month ago, Noem was viewed as a favorite to get the nod. The governor released a book this month which many viewed as an attempt to raise her national profile. And it did raise her profile, but not in the way she would have liked. First, the book included a passage in which Noam talked about a time that she shot one of her family's puppies after it displayed signs of aggression and then ate some neighbor's chickens. While some said Noam is a rancher, and sometimes that needs to be done, the overwhelming reaction across the political spectrum was discussed.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And if that story wasn't enough, she came under fire again shortly after, claiming in a separate passage of the book that she had met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, who she says, quote, underestimated her. But it turns out that she never actually met with Kim and was later forced to admit that it was a miscommunication between her team and the ghostwriter who wrote the book.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Those stories might have been sort of a blip on the radar a few years ago, but with the growing national spotlight amid VP speculation, they could prove fatal to her chances. And some rumored to be on the shortlist present technical complications for Trump. Isn't that right?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That's right. So two names that keep coming up in MAGA circles are Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Byron Donalds. Rubio has broad name recognition within the party and national experience running for president himself back in 2016. For his part, Donalds has proven a skilled fundraiser and is one of the few black Republicans in Congress. However, both men live in Florida. And that is a problem because the 12th Amendment states that if both candidates on a ticket are from the same state, electors in that state cannot elect both of them.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, that wouldn't be a huge deal if Trump and Rubio both lived in, say, Vermont, as you'd only sacrifice a few electoral votes. But losing Florida's 30 votes would be very tough to overcome. Now, to get around that problem, Trump could change his residence back to New York, but that seems unlikely. So that leaves Rubio or Donald's to leave the state if they were selected, meaning they'd also have to resign their positions in Congress, which a lot of folks believe is a risk that they would be unwilling to take.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But ultimately, if we've learned anything in these last eight years, it's that predicting what Donald Trump will or won't do is often a fruitless endeavor, to say the least. We just don't know what to expect.
--:-- John Bickley: And interestingly, one prominent name seems to have fallen off the list, and that's Tulsi Gabbard. Thanks so much for that, Cabot. Great reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
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--:-- John Bickley: Pro-Palestinian protests and encampments have severely disrupted college campuses from coast to coast. At some schools the unrest has all but died out after administrators drew strict lines over demonstrations At others classes and graduation ceremonies have been canceled as protesters continue to pressure universities to denounce Israel Here to break down the college's different approaches to the protests is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hey, Tim. So we've heard a lot about disruptions at colleges this past few weeks. How are various colleges handling them?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Well, we've seen some vastly different approaches. Typically, it's been colleges that have taken a hardline approach to the excesses of these demonstrations that have been able to continue to operate normally. That would be those colleges that have cracked down immediately on illegal demonstrations, trespassing, and violence. The University of Florida is one of the most prominent examples of this approach.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Here's University President Ben Sasse on CNN Monday. And what we tell all of our students, protesters and non, is there are two things we're gonna affirm over and over again. We will always defend your right to free speech and free assembly. And also, we have time, place, and manner restrictions. and you don't get to take over the whole university. People don't get to spit at cops. You don't get to barricade yourselves in buildings. You don't get to disrupt somebody else's commencement. We don't allow protest inside. On my run this morning, I ran by our group of protesters waving their Palestinian flag. We protect their right to do that, but we have rules.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Harvard has also drawn a hard line. The university sent a letter to students on Monday that threatens suspension unless those occupying Harvard Yard leave the encampment. The letter said the encampment favors the voices of a few over the rights of many who have experienced disruptions in how they learn and work and that those students who stay will be referred for involuntary leave from their schools.
--:-- Tim Pierce: So a hardline approach there from the acting president who replaced Claudine Gay, no less. What schools have taken softer approaches and how has that worked out for them? Well, frankly, not all that well. The effects of the protests are still being felt at schools such as Columbia and UCLA. At those colleges, administrators have taken a more conciliatory approach toward the protesters. That's been driven partly by concerns about freedom of speech and partly by concerns that a tougher approach would escalate the situation instead of stopping it.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We also can't discount the fact that at many of these universities, professors and administrators tend to agree with the protesters. For example, here's Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Sachs on the Duran podcast on Monday. The students were right with Vietnam and the students are right with Gaza and Palestine. They're protesting political actions of the worst sort by the United States. The U.S. and Israel are essentially together committing a genocide.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Sacks has also condemned his university's response, and in that, he's not alone. Columbia Senate, made up of staff, faculty, and students, passed a resolution last month calling for an investigation into the police crackdown on protests. At the University of Texas at Austin, nearly 200 faculty members signed a no-confidence statement against university president Jay Hartzell after Hartzell called for police to break up encamped protesters.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's a faculty there organizing against their own president. Right. What are these universities doing moving forward? A lot of them seem to be punting on normal functions for the rest of the semester. Columbia and USC have both canceled their main commencement ceremony and moved all smaller ceremonies indoors. UCLA shifted back to online classes on Monday because of continuing protests. Cal Poly Humboldt has canceled all events and shut down its campus for the rest of the semester.
--:-- Tim Pierce: It's worth pointing out here that for thousands of students, they miss their high school graduations because of COVID lockdowns. Now their commencements are being canceled four years later because of these protests and because of administrators' inability to handle disorder alongside normal university functions The vast majority of those students won get another chance Well hopefully they can make the most of a bad situation and hold their own private celebrations anyway.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: Thousands of people have reported vaccine injury from the COVID-19 shots, and the legacy media is finally reporting on them. Just this week, the New York Times published an article recounting the horrors some people have experienced after getting the vaccine and their inability to get help from doctors or vaccine injury compensation programs. Here to discuss the latest developments is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: Hey Ash, so first, what are some people experiencing that they believe to be results of the vaccine?
--:-- Ash Short: So the Times, through interviews with multiple people, revealed that the harm caused by the vaccines can vary greatly. In one example, a woman with a PhD in neuroscience took the vaccine and was eventually diagnosed with brain damage. She can no longer work or drive, and at age 40 is back living with her parents. Another person, a nurse practitioner named Sean Barkovich, said that ever since he got his first shot, his heart has been racing every time he stands up. He also now has tinnitus. I went from being a 100% healthy, fully functioning nurse to in a complete downward spiral of health.
--:-- Ash Short: Someone else interviewed by the Times experienced Bell's palsy or partial facial paralysis and shingles on half her face. So what's striking here is that it seems the symptoms they believe are caused by the vaccine are just not uniform. Right. But what is uniform is the way in which their concerns are dismissed by doctors and the federal government.
--:-- Ash Short: We reported previously that there had been nearly 13,000 claims filed with the vaccine compensation program alleging harm caused by the pandemic response, with more than 10,000 of those claims citing the vaccine as causing injury or death. The government, which has just 35 people looking into the claims, had only determined that 40 claims were eligible for compensation and just 11 were actually compensated with an average compensation of around $3,600.
--:-- Ash Short: That was in February, and the numbers haven't moved much since then. Now, 47 have been deemed eligible and 12 have been paid out, still with that low compensation average. So we're talking about a very small number of people here. And it's not just the New York Times talking about this issue, right? Others are starting to acknowledge the harm caused by these vaccines.
--:-- Ash Short: Right. Even some who are at the forefront of the COVID response are acknowledging that many were, in fact, harmed by the vaccines. Dr. Ashish Jha, the Biden administration's COVID coordinator in 2022 and 2023, told News Nation that people who were harmed by the vaccines must be taken seriously. I worry a little bit that what has happened is we've gotten caught in the sort of politics of this, because as you know, there are a lot of people who've become very anti-vaccine. And so that means that a lot of doctors see these patients and worry that if they acknowledge that person's suffering, that somehow they're becoming anti-vaccine themselves.
--:-- Ash Short: I'm very pro-vaccines. Still, I think we have to acknowledge this. That is not just happening among doctors. It's happening inside the government. We just have to do better.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, maybe this new coverage will change things. Ash, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: You're welcome. Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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