--:-- [Upbeat music fades out, and the host, John Bickley, speaks]
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration has sent a new shipment of weapons to Ukraine as the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues to stall. Our objective is to make sure that he and his troops have all the tools, capabilities, training that they need to be successful. How is Russia responding and how long will the stalemate last?
--:-- [Co-host Georgia Howe speaks]
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, July 26th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Elon Musk is transforming Twitter into what he's calling the Everything app. What is Musk's vision for Twitter X, and will it be the trillion-dollar company he predicted?
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: And the Justice Department's war with Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the border escalates, with the DOJ officially taking legal action. Governor Abbott is not, he's not moving forward in good faith. He's just not. All the Biden administration has to do is to enforce the laws already on the books that prevent people from crossing between the ports of entry. We have the full report on the DOJ's new lawsuit against the Lone Star State.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: This week, the Biden administration approved another shipment of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. The news comes as the Ukrainian military has struggled to regain lost territory during their long-awaited counteroffensive.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips speaks]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, it's not going according to plan. Throughout the winter, the Ukrainians regrouped amassing weapons and forces for a charge to the east to recapture ground taken by Russia in the early days of the invasion. But they have faced stiff resistance. And after taking a few smaller towns and cities, things have largely ground to a halt.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Not only have Ukrainian forces faced endless miles of complex entrenchments and minefields, but they're now facing a Russian offensive to the north. This month, Putin launched an offensive of his own near the city of Kupyansk, with the hope of diverting Ukrainian forces away from their counteroffensive and forcing them back on the defense.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, the fog of war does make it difficult to know exactly where the current battle lines stand. But at the moment, we know that the Russians still hold thousands of square miles in eastern and southern Ukraine.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, this week, we learned of another U.S. aid package for Ukraine. Tell us about that, that aid package.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, on Tuesday, the Biden administration announced a new $400 million shipment of weapons and ammunition for Ukraine. For context, this will be the 43rd package approved by the president since the war began 16 months ago. In total, the U.S. has now contributed over $113 billion in economic and military aid.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says those weapons have been integral in his nation's survival, they have not led to the sort of battlefield success that President Biden was hoping for.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to a number of reports, the growing fear now among U.S. lawmakers and European allies is that Ukraine's inability to regain ground makes it unlikely that peace talks between the two sides will take place this year.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Remember, Zelensky has been insistent that he will not agree to any deal that cedes Ukrainian territory to Russia. The hope was that this counteroffensive would have regained ground that they'd lost and forced Putin to the negotiating table.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But Russia still holds a large swath of territory which makes those talks unlikely for the foreseeable future. And Putin, it's worth noting, certainly seems willing to fight on.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, we saw some news from Russia that seems to imply that they're in it for the long haul. Tell us about that.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, on Tuesday, the lower house of Russia's parliament voted to approve a new law that would dramatically expand the recruitment pool for conscription into the war.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Specifically, the measure would require all Russian men aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military. Previously, the call-off there was 27. The law also prohibits any man who's been conscripted from leaving the country. It's part of a clear effort to crack down on draft dodging.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, while Putin has promised that those drafted will not have to serve in Ukraine, it is a clear effort to free up other troops for the war and indicates that he's preparing for a drawn-out conflict.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: It also gives an idea of just how desperate he is to secure a victory here. But the reality is, he's in a really precarious spot, politically speaking.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, he is. Walk us through that from a political perspective. What is Putin facing?
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, so in the early days of the invasion, Putin made it clear that he expected a swift victory that would require limited resources in Russian lives. But as it's dragged on now into its 18th month, he's really left with no good options.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Retreating would mean a humiliating defeat to the West and really tarnish his standing among his people. A withdrawal would also embolden those looking to replace him. Remember, while Putin was able to fend off that armed rebellion last month, it shows that his grip on power is far more tenuous than it once was.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He needs a victory to solidify his standing as the true strongman of Russia. But on the other side, doubling down on the war is a risk as well because it would require more troops, meaning more casualties, and more importantly for Putin, more political pressure at home.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Reports out of Moscow are that the population is growing tired of the war and there may not be much of an appetite for an even broader conflict there. So he is in a tough spot.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, coming back home, what have we been hearing from President Biden?
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, he's also in a tough spot politically. The current stalemate in Ukraine is testing his commitment to the war. And the fear within the White House is that the American people will begin to further question whether the massive investment, remember over $100 billion now, is still worth it.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Remember, Biden has been insistent that we'll continue offering weapons and financial aid until the war is won. But the question he now faces is whether the war can be won and at what cost to America.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, privately, White House officials are reportedly anxious over how this prolonged conflict could play into the 2024 race. We've already seen a number of GOP candidates question Biden's strategy. So expect to hear more of that in the coming year.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips continues]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, I'm sure we'll hear a lot on the Ukraine war.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- [Guest Cabot Phillips speaks]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Billionaire Elon Musk is transforming Twitter. The platform will now be known as X and Musk is promising it will be the everything app.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham speaks]
--:-- Megan Basham: Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now to tell us a little bit more about Musk's plans.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, Megan, obviously there's been a lot of coverage of this over the last few days, and a lot of marketing experts are questioning this move. Basically, they're saying that Twitter is a valuable brand as is, and it's crazy that Musk is trying to change the name. Why is he doing that?
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, it has been kind of a wild ride the last couple of days. Some crews were spotted taking the Twitter logo off the company's headquarters on Monday. There were a lot of pictures of the building at night with a giant X projected on it that have been making the rounds on social media.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: And essentially, Musk says that Twitter will now be quote, maximally useful, a super app that will do everything. It will have secure audio and video messaging capabilities. Think something like Signal or WhatsApp publishing capabilities like Substack. It's going to reportedly have payment systems gaming systems. You'll be able to bank on it book travel.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: And all of this is supposedly going to be powered by AI. He said that he's particularly looking to the Chinese app WeChat as a model. And that platform is used for just about everything in China, and it has over a billion users. So more than twice what Twitter currently has.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: This was Musk explaining the concept during a town hall with Twitter employees last year. We don't even have an app that's as good as WeChat in China. In China, you live on WeChat, basically. Everyone's like, you live on WeChat. You do payments, you do everything. It's like, yeah, it's great. WeChat's kick-ass. And we don't have anything like WeChat outside of China.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, my idea would be like, how about if we just copy WeChat? New Twitter CEO, Linda Iaccarino, appears to be fully on board. She tweeted, or whatever it is we're going to call it now, that there's absolutely no limit to this transformation.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: And as for X, Musk says that he just likes Xs. And of course, we've seen that through his other companies like SpaceX and the Tesla Model X, and he named his youngest son X. So maybe he just really wants to make his mark on Twitter now by bringing it into that X fold.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, the WeChat app is kind of proof of concept that this could work in China. But for this model to work in the US, X would need to cannibalize a lot of other successful platforms. Is that actually a realistic goal?
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, that's where you're hearing a lot of skepticism from analysts. Meta, obviously, has already covered a lot of this ground. And so has Google. Twitter is rather late to the game on this. WeChat, by contrast, started out way back in 2011. And it has the backing of the Chinese government in a socialist system.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, obviously, that's a very different business environment. And so you are hearing critics say that this could be something of a desperate Hail Mary from Musk, given that Twitter's financial realities have not been great.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: With all of the controversies, the company has lost about half of its advertising revenue. And its value is now only about 40 percent of what Musk paid for it toward the end of last year.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: But look, I mean, I also think it's important to remember that this isn't something that Musk just decided to throw up against the wall just now. He said when he first bought Twitter last October that this was his ultimate plan to make an everything platform called X.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: And tech biographer Walter Isaacson, who has been shadowing Musk for the last three years, said that Musk told him when he first made the offer on Twitter that this was his plan. Quoting Isaacson, he said it can be a trillion-dollar company.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham continues]
--:-- Megan Basham: So, I guess we will all see. Yeah. And you have to remember, he's built something like five billion-dollar companies now. Tesla's worth, I think, more than a trillion. So, I think it's smart to not write him off so fast.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Megan, thanks for reporting.
--:-- [Guest Megan Basham speaks]
--:-- Megan Basham: Anytime.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: The Department of Justice is taking Texas to court over a 1,000-foot floating wall Governor Greg Abbott placed on the Rio Grande to deter illegal immigration. Abbott has pledged to fight the lawsuit all the way up to the Supreme Court if he has to.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce speaks]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Hi, Tim. So we discussed the threats from the DOJ on Monday, but now we have official action. The department's filed its lawsuit against the state. What does that lawsuit say?
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: The Biden administration has accused Texas of violating the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act. The lawsuit says the state didn't get approval from the Army Corps of Engineers before obstructing a navigable U waterway, referring to the floating wall the state placed in the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass earlier this month.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Aside from the legal aspect, the Justice Department also raises a couple of other complaints. It says the barrier is a humanitarian risk to immigrants crossing the river, and the wall has started an international incident with Mexico.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Mexico filed an official complaint with the U.S. after the barrier was put in place. But more than the legalistics, this case really underscores the frustration between President Biden and Governor Abbott over immigration.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Texas is funding a multi-billion-dollar effort called Operation Lone Star to do what Abbott says has been the federal government's job all along, securing the southern border. Meanwhile, Biden has expanded legal pathways to funnel immigrants through ports of entry.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: But illegal immigration remains historically high. And I should note the president had a major setback on Tuesday. A federal judge put a two-week freeze on Biden's asylum policy, which is a lighter version of President Trump's policy that blocked immigrants from claiming asylum unless they first made claims in countries they passed through.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: All right, so President Biden's facing some legal troubles himself as he pursues the lawsuit against Texas.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Right. How does Governor Abbott plan to respond to the lawsuit? He's going to fight it. We'll learn more details about his defense as the case develops. But for now, Abbott says the Department of Justice has misapplied the statute and Texas hasn't broken any law.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: It tells you all you need to know about the Biden administration that the only lawsuit that I'm aware of that they have brought against anybody concerning the border is against a state that's trying to impede illegal immigration rather than using any laws that are on the books already to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: The fact of the matter is they're using some obscure statute to try to stop us from continuing to deploy those buoys. It's not grounded in law whatsoever. We believe we have the right to do so.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce continues]
--:-- Tim Pierce: And as Georgia noted, he says he plans to take the case all the way up to the Supreme Court if needed. We will litigate initially in a federal district court in the state of Texas. If we lose there, we will be going to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and eventually all the way to the United States Supreme Court because Texas is defending its sovereignty and its constitutional right to secure the border of our state and our country.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: All right, so amid all this back and forth with Texas and the White House, what is the message from the administration?
--:-- [Co-host Georgia Howe speaks]
--:-- Georgia Howe: The White House has taken credit for a recent drop in illegal immigration, but White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre put the blame for the border crisis on Abbott on Monday.
--:-- [Co-host Georgia Howe continues]
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's no good faith effort here in what Governor Abbott is doing. The one person that is sowing chaos is Governor Abbott. That's what he continues to do, political stunts in an inhumane way. He's actively undermining our border enforcement plan, which, again, has the lowest level of unlawful border crossings in over two years. He's making this more difficult.
--:-- [Co-host Georgia Howe continues]
--:-- Georgia Howe: As we've mentioned before, experts we've spoken with are skeptical about the White House's claims on recent immigration numbers, largely because the administration has made immigration parole so widely available.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: Well, we'll keep an eye on Abbott and Biden's fight as it moves forward. Tim, thanks for reporting.
--:-- [Guest Tim Pierce speaks]
--:-- Tim Pierce: Great to be on.
--:-- [Music transitions to a news theme]
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
