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--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete. With Americans and American allies still stranded, what did President Biden have to say about his full withdrawal of U.S. forces?
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, September 1st, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: With his recall election rapidly approaching and the polls tightening, California Governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly turning to Hollywood for help. What is the governor's strategy for staying in office? And how is his Republican rival, Larry Elder, pushing back?
--:-- Georgia Howe: And the sports world responds to the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers in Kabul. We'll look at what professional and local teams have done to honor the fallen soldiers.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is brought to you by WyoTech. WyoTech, one of the nation's leading auto and diesel training schools, sees the trades as America's front lines. WyoTech is shaping young men, women and veterans to build careers and businesses. America is built on the trades and WyoTech is leading the way in training. Visit WyoTech.edu to subscribe and donate to the future technicians of America.
--:-- Ian Howarth: President Joe Biden's deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan passed on Tuesday, with August 31st marking the completion of the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. But as the consequences of the withdrawal have become clear, this move has sparked a furious backlash.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to discuss is Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, as the last evacuation plane left Afghanistan, General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, confirmed that a number of Americans who had requested and were awaiting evacuation had been left behind.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Look, there's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. And this is running counter to President Biden's earlier promise that Americans would not, under any circumstances, be left behind.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So Americans should understand that troops might have to be there beyond August 31st. No, Americans should understand that we're going to try to get it done before August 31st. But if we don't, the troops will stay. If you don't, we'll determine at the time who's left. And? And if there's American citizens left, we're going to stay and we'll get them all out.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So with hundreds of American citizens, as well as many more green card holders and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan, people are pointing out that President Biden failed to deliver on this fundamental promise.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So what's the status of the region now? Afghanistan is now under full Taliban control, and the Biden administration's rhetoric is now pivoting to present the withdrawal strategy as a success.
--:-- Ian Howarth: For example, General McKenzie essentially praised the Taliban for supporting the evacuation, even though there were multiple reports that the Taliban were actively preventing Americans and other evacuees from leaving.
--:-- Ian Howarth: I will tell you, the Taliban have been very pragmatic and very businesslike as we have approached this withdrawal.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Yesterday afternoon, President Biden addressed the nation following the conclusion of the withdrawal. What did he say?
--:-- Ian Howarth: Well, this speech was effectively a combination of his previous speeches on the withdrawal. President Biden described the withdrawal as an extraordinary success, but also used most of the speech to level blame on others.
--:-- Ian Howarth: First, he blamed his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. The Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001 controlling or contesting nearly half of the country The previous administration's agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1st deadline that they had signed on to leave by, the Taliban wouldn't attack any American forces. But if we stayed, all bets were off.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And then he continued to push the argument that many of those left behind chose to stay.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Since March, we reached out 19 times to Americans in Afghanistan with multiple warnings and offers to help them leave Afghanistan, all the way back as far as March.
--:-- Ian Howarth: But we should remember that just one month ago, President Biden rejected the idea that a Taliban takeover was inevitable.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? No, it is not.
--:-- Ian Howarth: Biden also admitted that some Americans were indeed stranded in Afghanistan, despite, as he put it, having some intention to leave.
--:-- Ian Howarth: However, even that reality was presented as a success, with Biden celebrating the percentage of Americans who wanted to leave who were evacuated.
--:-- Ian Howarth: The bottom line, 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out.
--:-- Ian Howarth: And when the speech was over, President Biden did not take questions from journalists, despite no substantive mention of the ongoing strategy to rescue the Americans, green card holders, or Afghan allies who still remain stranded in Afghanistan.
--:-- Ian Howarth: So we've witnessed a major deadline pass, but there's serious work ahead.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah. Thanks for the update, Ian. Daily Wire's Ian Howarth.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Coming up, California's Democratic governor turns to Hollywood for help. Football season is back, and BetOnline is the number one spot for all your sports betting needs.
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--:-- John Bickley: The latest polls show embattled Governor Gavin Newsom and leading Republican challenger Larry Elder are running neck and neck in California's recall election, which is set for September 14th.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now Newsom is reportedly turning to his friends in the entertainment business for help.
--:-- Megan Basham: Here to give us the latest on Hollywood's involvement in the recall is Daily Wire entertainment reporter Megan Basham.
--:-- Megan Basham: Good to have you back, Megan. Always a pleasure to be here.
--:-- Megan Basham: So I suppose it can be expected that Hollywood is going to be backing Newsom in general, but who specifically is he turning to and what's he asking from them?
--:-- Megan Basham: Well, you know, he's kind of got two pronged aims here, and that's been shaping his requests and also who he's talking to.
--:-- Megan Basham: Since he was elected, Newsom's really gone out of his way to curry favor in the industry.
--:-- Megan Basham: To give you an example, even though he's a native San Franciscan, he held his 2018 election night party in downtown LA.
--:-- Megan Basham: And that was a star-studded event, to say the least.
--:-- Megan Basham: So on the one hand, those relationships are now paying off. The most powerful of power players are answering his pleas for campaign cash.
--:-- Megan Basham: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, for example, gave him $3 million.
--:-- Megan Basham: DreamWorks founder and former Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg has been circulating a fundraising letter among his industry friends.
--:-- Megan Basham: Also in early August he hosted a Zoom event that drew a host of notable names Those included Rob Reiner and TV executive Byron Allen and that also raised significant funds
--:-- Megan Basham: And just to give you a couple more examples, Star Wars and Mission Impossible director J.J. Abrams has also been a big donor, and so has Steven Spielberg.
--:-- Megan Basham: So money-wise, those Hollywood relationships have been really good for Newsom.
--:-- Megan Basham: But part of his challenge is that many voters, of course, view him as an out-of-touch elitist.
--:-- Megan Basham: A lot of our listeners will probably remember that big controversy back in November when he was caught violating his own strict lockdown measures to dine out at that very Tony restaurant, French Laundry.
--:-- Megan Basham: Oh, yes, that was the notorious birthday party.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's right. That's exactly what it was.
--:-- Megan Basham: So while Newsom, he wants that Hollywood money, he has to be careful because Larry Elder, he's been hitting him really hard on those elite connections.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right. And those Hollywood connections might actually be a liability in terms of PR, at least with middle class voters.
--:-- Megan Basham: Yeah, that's exactly right.
--:-- Megan Basham: So he has to thread that needle really carefully.
--:-- Megan Basham: And I think he's aware of that.
--:-- Megan Basham: And more interestingly, he reportedly has a strategy for it.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Elder, as we know, is famous for being this dynamic, straight-talking Black radio host.
--:-- Megan Basham: He's known as the sage from South Central, native Angeleno.
--:-- Megan Basham: And Newsom has to compete with that.
--:-- Megan Basham: So if we can believe the polls, Elder's style is appealing to a lot of minority voters who might not otherwise consider voting for a Republican.
--:-- Megan Basham: So Newsom has reportedly turned to people like Snoop Dogg and John Legend, as well as comedian George Lopez, to combat that.
--:-- Megan Basham: The Hollywood Reporter had a story last week that Snoop has signed on to slam Elder on social media.
--:-- Megan Basham: And you have to keep in mind, he has more than 19 million Twitter followers, so it's not nothing.
--:-- Megan Basham: Now, he hasn't done it yet, But the word is, in his own good, intuitive snoop time, he's going to bring this out and hit Elder with it.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right.
--:-- Megan Basham: And how about Elder? As a Republican, I'm guessing he doesn't have a ton of celebrity backers.
--:-- Megan Basham: You know, not a ton, but he does have a few.
--:-- Megan Basham: And they're not slouches.
--:-- Megan Basham: Dirty Harry himself, for one.
--:-- Megan Basham: Elder announced a couple of weeks ago that Clint Eastwood called him and endorsed him.
--:-- Megan Basham: And there's also Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet.
--:-- Megan Basham: That's another one.
--:-- Megan Basham: He's the guy who penned one of my personal favorite movies, The Untouchables.
--:-- Megan Basham: And finally, we would be remiss if we didn't mention Mr. Walker, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris.
--:-- Megan Basham: Insert Chuck Norris joke here.
--:-- Megan Basham: Right.
--:-- Megan Basham: I know. I really should have thought of one. I'll bring you one next time.
--:-- Megan Basham: Looking forward to it.
--:-- Megan Basham: Thanks again for being here, Megan.
--:-- John Bickley: After the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers in Kabul from suicide bombings, some professional sports teams have taken action to honor the fallen soldiers.
--:-- Megan Basham: Here to discuss is Daily Wire sports reporter Joe Morgan.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Yeah, we've seen some pretty powerful statements so far.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Let's start with the New York Giants. They played their third and final preseason game against the New England Patriots on Sunday night.
--:-- Joe Morgan: At the coin toss before the game, the three game-day captains of the Giants, Jabril Peppers, Nick Gates, and Blake Martinez, wore hats representing the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, and the FDNY.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Head coach Joe Judge wore a United States Marine Corps hat.
--:-- Joe Morgan: After the game, in his post-game news conference, Judge was asked about the hats and said they were in support of the military and those that lost their lives.
--:-- Joe Morgan: He mentioned that he receives pictures of people wearing Giants hats, T and letters from soldiers overseas showing their support for the team.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Coach Judge felt that it was important to show that quote we all on the same team and that we supporting them as well
--:-- Joe Morgan: I say you know in terms of wearing the hats I thought it was a good opportunity to go ahead and draw some awareness that there are 11 Marines that lost their lives this week, one naval, one army as well.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Judge also spoke about the importance of keeping everything in perspective, considering that football is simply a game, and the importance of what they do is dwarfed in comparison to the military members to put their lives on the line every day in order to keep us safe.
--:-- Joe Morgan: They're playing, you know, life or death. So it's important that we keep in perspective what we do and that we stay very grateful and we acknowledge what they're doing on a daily basis so that we can go out there and do this professionally and be involved with the game.
--:-- Joe Morgan: And the MLB did something as well.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Right. On the day that the 13 service members were returned home, the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball did what they could to honor their memory.
--:-- Joe Morgan: The Braves reserved 13 seats at Truist Park on Sunday. Each seat had an American flag placed on top.
--:-- Joe Morgan: I also want to shed a light on a tribute made by a youth football team in Knoxville, Tennessee, as many of us at The Daily Wire have made Tennessee home.
--:-- Joe Morgan: The Gibbs Eagles youth football team in Knoxville, a group of eight-year-olds, paid tribute to Knoxville Native Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knoss, one of the soldiers who was killed last Thursday.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Sergeant Ryan Knoss, alumni of Gild High School, lost his life serving our country to honor him. We will ask all of you to please stand. Men, please take off your hats and join in a moment of silence together.
--:-- Joe Morgan: They ran onto the field carrying the American flag and wore Canossa's initials on their wrist while also taking a moment of silence before the game.
--:-- Joe Morgan: After the football game, both teams, Gibbs and their opponent, met for a group prayer instead of the traditional handshake.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Wow, it's a powerful moment. Close to home.
--:-- John Bickley: Thank you, Joe. You're welcome, John. Daily Wire sports reporter, Joe Morgan.
--:-- John Bickley: Other stories we're tracking this week. Authorities are investigating possible terror motives for a man who shot and killed his Lyft driver before opening fire inside a Dallas suburb police station Sunday.
--:-- Joe Morgan: According to an FBI officer connected to the case, the 33-year-old suspect, who was shot dead by officers, reportedly left a letter suggesting that he may have been inspired by a foreign terrorist organization.
--:-- Joe Morgan: The suspect was previously targeted in an FBI counterterrorism investigation, but agents at the time did not believe he was a threat.
--:-- Joe Morgan: A new Pew Research poll shows trust in media is dropping among all political affiliations, but most specifically among Republicans.
--:-- Joe Morgan: Since 2016, trust has fallen by five points among Democrats, 18 points among independents and 34 points among Republicans.
--:-- Joe Morgan: And another poll found that vaccine hesitancy is dropping significantly among Americans.
--:-- Joe Morgan: In March, 34% of American adults said they were not likely to get the vaccine.
--:-- Joe Morgan: That number today is 20%.
--:-- Joe Morgan: 72% of American adults have now taken the COVID vaccine and an additional 8% say they plan to take it.
--:-- John Bickley: If you liked this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
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