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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.
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--:-- John Bickley: Vice President Vance travels to Germany where he calls out European leaders for abandoning Western values. You cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, whether that's the leader of the opposition or a journalist trying to report the news. How was the VP's blunt speech received? And why is French President Macron calling an emergency meeting over Ukraine? I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, February 17th, and this is Morning Wire. The world of academia is responding to Trump's efforts to root out DEI from higher education. While some schools are complying, others say they plan to resist. And Trump has taken a slash-and-burn approach to shrinking the government, while promising more to come. Modernizing our federal government, using technology to make it more efficient. I mean, this is a long overdue process. Which departments have been most impacted? Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned with the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Leaders in Europe expressed deep frustration with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance over the weekend, slamming their calls to end censorship and their plans to end the war in Ukraine. Here are the details amid all the international drama is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Trump and Vance really shaking up Europe, maybe not so surprisingly. Let's start with Vance, who ruffled some feathers with a high-profile speech in Germany. What did we hear from the vice president?
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the vice president appeared at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend and stunned lawmakers and military leaders from across Europe, calling them out to their face, accusing them of embracing censorship and open borders and, quote, retreating from their fundamental values. The core focus of the gathering was originally intended to be the war in Ukraine. But Vance said that conflict ultimately pales in comparison to the broader, quote, threat from within. Have a listen.
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: While the Trump administration is very concerned with European security and believes that we can come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, the threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America. Among the values that Vance honed in on was religious freedom, which he says is under attack in Europe. He listed off recent examples of Christians being jailed for peaceful protests in Sweden, Scotland, and England. He then called out leaders in Germany and Belgium for censoring right-wing journalists and politicians, comparing them actually to Soviet-era tyrants.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent. And consider the side in that that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not The VP then laid out an offer for the assembled leaders of Europe Just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite And I hope that we can work together on that. In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square, agree or disagree.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, as you said, very direct challenges there on censorship. Now, the vice president also weighed into immigration. What did he say on that issue?
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yes, he did. Vance said that of all the problems facing Europe and the West more broadly, none is more pressing than mass migration. The VP called out politicians for allowing it and for slandering and censoring those who oppose it. Today, almost one in five people living in this country moved here from abroad. And we know the situation, it didn't materialize in a vacuum. It's the result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians all over the continent and others across the world over the span of a decade. Again, very direct language there. So what sort of response did that speech garner from those in attendance?
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: The reaction was tepid, to say the least. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for example, spoke the morning after Vance and said his country, quote, would not accept advice from outsiders on how to run their democracy. He went on to accuse Vance of meddling in European elections and encouraging the rise of far-right, supposedly neo-Nazi political parties. Other leaders from Germany, France, and Belgium took to the stage with similar denunciations of Vance's address. But importantly, President Trump was apparently a big fan. Here he is in the White House Saturday.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Trump's statement plays]
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I thought he made a very good speech, actually, a very brilliant speech. And Europe has a big immigration problem. Just take a look at what's happened with crime. All right, so clear unity on this message between Trump and Vance. And this latest address is hardly the only thing European leaders are upset about with the Trump administration, correct?
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--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right. They are scrambling to get a seat at the table in the peace talks between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine. Remember, President Trump had a phone call with Vladimir Putin last week, and he'll reportedly meet with Putin face-to-face in the coming months. Now, European leaders are fearful that Trump will broker a peace deal without their input. In response, French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday that'll be attended by leaders from across the EU, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called it a, quote, once-in-a-generation national security moment. For their part, the White House says peace talks have stalled in the past because there were simply too many cooks in the kitchen. They clearly want to move forward without much input from the Europeans now. We'll be watching that emergency summit very closely this week to see what happens.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: On January 21st, President Trump signed an executive order banning federally funded colleges and universities from employing DEI programs. Now, some schools are complying, while others say they won't give in. Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham is here now to explain how higher ed is responding to the DEI shutdown. So, Megan, we're about a month out now from Trump's order. What does this actually look like on the ground? Are schools making substantial changes?
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, on the surface, at least, it looks like they are. So what we're seeing all across the country is schools closing down the DEI websites and ending so many of those related initiatives. State schools in North Carolina for example have stopped requiring students to take DEI classes to graduate And Arizona State administration has directed its researchers to stop working on those projects that fall under the rubric of DEI and also receive federal funding And then you have Missouri State University. They've closed down their Office of Inclusive Engagement and cut DEI programs.
--:-- Megan Basham: But on the other side of the coin, you do have some schools that are leaving the DEI programs in place for now, saying that they plan to resist. Just one example, the president of Mount Holyoke College told the Associated Press that her school won't comply because she doesn't believe that Trump's orders are legal. And she said that Mount Holyoke is not going to rename their DEI programs either because that would, quoting here, validate this notion that our values are wrong. And I don't believe that the value of saying we live in a multiracial democracy is wrong.
--:-- Megan Basham: And she's kind of backed up somewhat by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Now, it's the biggest and best known outlet that exclusively covers colleges and universities. And it's clearly staking out a position in favor of DEI. Basically, it's promising to act as a sort of clearinghouse of information for those schools that are planning to resist. And I'd be remiss here if I didn't mention what some are calling malicious compliance. And by that, they mean that the schools are canceling race-related events and programs that don't fall afoul of the DEI order in order to make headlines.
--:-- Megan Basham: So to give you just one example, in Ohio, the University of Akron canceled the Rethinking Race Forum that's been held annually for nearly 30 years. And nothing in an event like that is covered by this order, but there has been a flurry of media coverage pointing to its cancellation as evidence that the Trump administration is trying to muzzle racial discussions. So the claim there is these are stunts that are designed to create blowback for that order.
--:-- Megan Basham: Correct. Exactly. Now, for those schools and groups that are actively resisting, what does the resistance look like? Primarily, what it means is that they're leaving the programs in place while they file legal challenges. So just two weeks ago, two higher ed groups, the American Association of University Professors and the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education filed lawsuits arguing that Trump's orders are too vague, go too far, and violate free speech protections. So they're asking the court to block the Department of Education from enforcing Trump's order.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, an issue we've seen in the past, particularly in K through 12 settings, but also with some things like college admissions, is schools will make some sort of superficial changes, but then just continue their practices under a different name. Could we see DEI just go underground? Yeah, we could. And I think, actually, you're already seeing that. If you look at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, right after Trump's order on January 20th, it announced that it was shutting down its DEI program. But a Washington Examiner report published last Thursday found that the school simply renamed the DEI program. So it's now the Office of Community Culture, but those same DEI policies are still in effect.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I expect we'll see that kind of thing elsewhere. Well, there are a lot of college deans trying to hold on to their jobs right now. So I think you're probably right.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Mass layoffs and resignations at the federal government continue as the Trump administration closes in on its one-month mark. The strategy to trim and reshape the federal government is being carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk. Here to talk about how Doge's mission has gone so far and how the government has already changed is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce. So first, we've seen tens of thousands of federal workers leave the government since Trump took office just over three weeks ago. How many are there and where exactly did they leave from?
--:-- Tim Pierce: Yeah, a lot and from all over Most of those who were on their way out of the government took President Trump buyout offer That totaled about 75 people Another 14,000 have been let go, and the vast majority of those were in probationary positions. The top departments affected by the cuts are that of Agriculture, Energy, HHS, Interior, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And the cuts aren't even close to being over. According to Politico, another roughly 200,000 probationary employees are expected to be axed. The next agencies to see layoffs, according to reports, are the IRS and Housing and Urban Development. Both are expected to see reductions of thousands of people as soon as next week. Now, a lot of these cuts depend on how the courts rule on a number of challenges, and there's been no shortage of lawsuits. According to a New York Times tracker, there have been nearly 20 lawsuits filed over budget freezes and firings.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Just one example, on February 7th, a D.C. district court judge issued a temporary restraining order that blocked, at least for now, the placement of 2,200 USAID employees on administrative leave. All right, so as it stands now, about 90,000 people are on their way out. That seems like a lot, but we're talking about a workforce of over 2.4 million people, not counting the military and postal service. But of course, we're only a few weeks in.
--:-- Tim Pierce: How is Doge prioritizing what to cut? Right. The biggest cuts are still to come. At least that's according to some leaked Doge strategy documents that were obtained by the Washington Post. According to the Post, Doge has laid out a three-phase strategy to reshaping the federal workforce. And to your question, a lot of that reshaping focuses on getting rid of the DEI agenda that Trump campaigned so hard against. The first phase of the plan is the rescission of Biden's executive orders, as well as targeting a host of DEI-infected agencies to be shut down.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The second phase is sifting through the bureaucracy and calling, quote, corrupted branches that are either expressly part of the DEI agenda or tied to it. That's the phase that we're in now. The third phase still to come will include mass layoffs where we could see a much bigger impact as far as the size and scope of government. So those are the promised larger cuts that are coming.
--:-- Tim Pierce: We've talked about pushback in the courts, but Democrats have also been out rallying against Doge and trying to turn up the sort of political pressure against these cuts. How has that worked so far? Not well. And it's worth noting that much of that pushback has come from the media as well. And still, Trump is receiving his highest marks ever, and Doge is above water in public approval polling, according to the latest Trafalgar poll.
--:-- Tim Pierce: One of the themes of Trump's first month has been just how much momentum he has right now in Washington and with the American people. And Trump and Musk don't appear to be close to backing off. Here's the two in an interview with Sean Hannity that is set to air later this week.
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--:-- Tim Pierce: Elon called me. He said, you know, they're trying to drive us apart. I said, absolutely. No, they said, we have breaking news. Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk. President Musk will be attending a cabinet meeting tonight at eight o'clock. And I say, it's just so obvious. They're so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it. They're actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I'd never be president. Because I think nobody in history has ever gotten more bad publicity than me.
--:-- Tim Pierce: I could do the greatest things. I get 98% bad publicity. But you know what I have learned, Elon? The people are smart. They get it. Yeah, they do, actually. They get it. They really see what's happening. So they're projecting a lot of confidence with where they're at. They seem committed to only be picking up the pace, not slowing down.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Tim, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for waking up with us. And if you enjoyed what you heard this morning, please consider sharing this episode with a friend. Thank you.
