Cabot Phillips (2:41)

Trump convened his eighth cabinet meeting Thursday, as the government shutdown entered its ninth day and as his Middle east peace proposal passed a major hurdle. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to break it all down. Hey, Tim. So two major topics for the Trump administration to work through. What did we hear during this Cabinet meeting?

Tim Pierce (2:58)

Yeah, those were the two major themes of the meeting. But before he got to that, he did take care of some business. First, he brought back Columbus Day for October 13th. Here's some of that.

Jack Ciattarelli (3:08)

Columbus Day, we're back. Columbus Day, we're back. Italians.

Cabot Phillips (3:12)

All right, so a big day for Italian Americans. Our own Michael Knowles will be very thrilled by that news. What else did we hear, Tim, during the meeting?

Jack Ciattarelli (3:19)

Yeah.

Tim Pierce (3:19)

Then it got down to the big issues of the day and started with the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. According to the president, the rest of the hostages still Alive in Gaza, 20 in all, should be returned to Israel on either Monday or Tuesday. That's been the major focus of the administration and of Israel. The plight of the hostages kept and tortured by Hamas has really torn the country apart. So assuming everything goes as planned, this peace deal will have lifted a massive weight off the entire country of Israel. And that's good background to understand why Trump says he's now been invited to speak in front of the Knesset. It's a rare privilege, for sure. The last U.S. president to receive that honor was George Bush in 2008. But on Thursday, it was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was deeply involved in these negotiations, himself crediting President Trump with making this entire peace deal possible.

Jack Ciattarelli (4:09)

I think what's important to understand is that yesterday what happened was really a human story. There's a geopolitical aspect to it. There's no doubt about it. It creates the conditions for Gaza to one day be a normal place again and people to have a better life and Israelis to be safe. But yesterday was a human story. And because of the work you put in, and honestly, there is no other leader in the world that could have put this together, Mr. President.

Cabot Phillips (4:30)

Now, as we've talked about before, we've seen a number of deals in the Middle east fall through at the last moment. So some cautious optimism definitely in order here. But if this deal holds, there's no doubt it would be just a watershed moment in the Middle East. And we know how badly Trump wants that Nobel Peace Prize. Maybe this gets him one step closer. So let's get to the other big issue that we heard the Cabinet discuss. That is the ongoing government shutdown. What do we hear on that front?

Tim Pierce (4:54)

Right on terms of the shutdown, the Trump administration isn't showing any signs of.

Jack Ciattarelli (4:58)

Backing off the Democrat or Schumer shutdown did not begin eight or nine days ago. It began eight or nine months ago with your inauguration. For the first time in American history, every Senate confirmed appointee who are our.

Cabot Phillips (5:12)

Deputies to run our department, every one.

Jack Ciattarelli (5:15)

Of them has been filibustered.

Tim Pierce (5:16)

And President Trump seems intent to keep hammering Democrats on this, not only rhetorically, but through actual cuts to programs as well. Here's Trump.

Jack Ciattarelli (5:25)

The shutdown has been, you know, pretty damaging. I mean, it's not yet because it's early, but it gets a little bit worse as it goes along. And we'll be making cuts that will be permanent and we're only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you.

Cabot Phillips (5:40)

So as promised, Trump cutting some federal programs that are going to blue states. He's also hinted at cutting a number of non essential federal workers permanently. We'll see if he goes through with that. What about Democrats? What are we hearing on their end?

Tim Pierce (5:52)

Yeah, I got a little bit uncomfortable for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the steps of the Capitol yesterday. Here's some of that.

Cabot Phillips (5:58)

Yesterday, Leader Schumer indicated that the longer.

Jack Ciattarelli (6:01)

This goes on, this is better for the Democrats.

Cabot Phillips (6:04)

Do you believe, as Republicans suggest, that that's a callous remark, that this is.

Jack Ciattarelli (6:07)

Kind of a scorekeeping on here? House and Senate Democrats have been completely aligned.

Cabot Phillips (6:13)

Well, as we mentioned earlier in the week, today will be the first day that thousands of federal workers miss their first paycheck. That's definitely going to ramp up the pressure on both sides. Now, before we go, let's hear about this potential bomb threat that went on in D.C. this week. Now we've got a court case there.

Tim Pierce (6:28)

What happened? Right. A man showed up to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. over the weekend loaded with what authorities described as explosive devices. This was in advance of a special red mass typically attended by Supreme Court justices. Daily Wire reporter Breca Stoll attended the first court hearing over the incident. Here's what she witnessed.

Breca Stoll (6:48)

Lewis Jerry was arrested with over 100 explosives. He had his preliminary hearing in court today. He walked into the room. He had a long beard. He had a prior arrest in Arizona for a case of public indecency. In a donut shop, he flashed a four year old girl. He classified the explosives as rockets that had the ability to take out helicopters or American symbols such as the White House, the Washington monument and a D.C. cathedral. And then the prosecution basically said that there was intent to use them based on the fact that he had brought with him written statements which he showed to police officers. Judge ruled that there was probable cause for Jerry's arrest, so he will remain in custody.

Cabot Phillips (7:32)

Well, a very scary story there in D.C. great to have Brecker in the courtroom and also great to have you here as well, Tim. Thanks for reporting.

Tim Pierce (7:38)

Thanks for having me on, Kevin.

Cabot Phillips (7:41)

Less than four weeks from Election Day, the New Jersey governor's race is a toss up with Republican Jack Cittarelli surging in the polls. I spoke with Cittarelli about his efforts to turn deep blue New Jersey red this November. Have a listen. So let's just start with the overview of this race. I, I think a lot of folks who maybe don't follow state politics as closely hear that there is an exceedingly close race in New Jersey and they might be surprised by that. Thinking of the history of New Jersey as a more blue state. Four months ago, polls were showing you trailing by more than 20 points. This week, you are essentially tied in every poll that is coming out. What changed over the course of this election?

Jack Ciattarelli (8:20)

People want change across the state. They're very frustrated with Phil Murphy's failed policies and they have failed us. The taxes, they've increased every single year he's been in office. The exorbitant spending in our state government, I mean, our state budget's gone from 36 billion to almost 60 billion. A 64% increase. Housing, we've got an overdevelopment crisis in our suburban communities, but yet an acute housing shortage in our urban areas. Public safety's gone. You know, we don't have public safety in Jersey. Nonviolent crime has spiked because we don't let our local police do their job. The break ins, thefts, the flash mobs, public education, people aren't happy with what's going on there. And we've slipped from 2 to 12 on national report card. Your electricity bill is going through the roof. These are all things that people really pissed off about. And when they're pissed, they want change.

Cabot Phillips (9:05)

Now, a lot of Republicans who have success at the state level in blue states take a more moderate approach. You know, thinking of the, you know, Charlie Baker, Larry Hogan's of the world considered more moderate, keeping their distance from Donald Trump. You have not shied away from the president. It seems he's endorsed you. He said that you're, quote, all in on the MAGA movement. And that is unique in a blue state. Walk us through that relationship with the president.

Jack Ciattarelli (9:32)

I make it clear to New Jerseyans That I'm all in on the New Jersey movement for change. People want, need change. The Democratic Party's controlled our legislature for 25 years. They've controlled the executive branch, the governorship now for eight years. And the questions I asked rhetorically because all my opponent wants to talk about is Trump, because of her disdain for Trump. I mean, her whole campaign is based on a stack of lies about me. Disdain for Trump. And she can fly a helicopter. Is that going to fix New Jersey? And by the way, what does Donald Trump have to do with our property taxes? What does he have to do with public safety in this state? Public education, your monthly electricity bill over development, our suburban communities? He's got nothing to do with that. The party has controlled Trent for the last 25 years. Has everything to do with that. So listen, I think that you can be friends with the president and support his policies while making it clear that you're all about fixing New Jersey. And what New Jerseyans want. Right now, I believe a majority of New Jerseys want is change on everything that's broken and drives us nuts here in the Garden State.

Cabot Phillips (10:34)

If elected, what sort of approach would you take when it comes to working with federal agencies like ice, dea, atf, operating within your state? We've seen a number of governors sort of try to handicap them, keep them out of their state. How would you approach those agencies?

Jack Ciattarelli (10:50)

Two ways that we make New Jersey safe out of the get go. Number one, there will be no sanctuary cities in New Jersey when I'm governor. We will not be a sanctuary state. I'm reversing that policy on day one. I can do that by executive order. And I'm never going to tell a local mayor or police chief they can't work in partnership with a federal agency to keep their community safe if that's what they want to do. That's a local decision and I would support it 100% whatever it is that mayor and police chief decide to do to keep their community safe. But the other thing I have to do is get rid of cashless bail. Cashless bail in New Jersey's created a professional criminal who's learned how to game the system. And you talk to your local cops, arrest, release, repeat is real. And it's demoralizing to our local cops to have to arrest the same person over and over again because they keep getting let go because of cashless bail. These are all things that need to change to keep our community safe.

Cabot Phillips (11:42)

All right, we will leave it there. Jack, Chelli, thank you so much for your time.

Jack Ciattarelli (11:46)

Thank you.

Cabot Phillips (11:49)

For the last decade, emergency room wait times have continued to rise, threatening Americans overall health. Here to break down the issue is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigo. Hey, Amanda. So I feel like everyone has a story, firsthand or secondhand, about just obscene ER wait times. So please walk us through the numbers. Just how big of a problem is this? What are we seeing around the country?

Amanda Prestigo (12:09)

Yeah, well, first of all, air wait times started to increase around 2012. They spiked during the pandemic, and now they're higher than ever. A new study published in the journal Health affairs looked at data from 46 million emergency visits across all 50 states since 2017. They found a national increase in wait times. The average was over four hours, and 5% of patients waited for more than 24 hours to get assistance. The study found that the Northeast in particular had the highest rate of wait times at or exceeding 24 hours. Notably, this doesn't even factor in people leaving the ER after waiting for too long. They refer to this as the abandonment rate.

Cabot Phillips (12:49)

Okay, so I'm not crazy. It's not just anecdotal. There's a lot of hard data here. So what are the root causes of this problem? I know we've talked in the past on the show about the nursing shortage going on. Is that contributing here?

Amanda Prestigo (13:01)

Yeah, I mean, that's certainly a factor. But again, wait times have started to rise even before the pandemic, and that's really when that nursing and staff shortage really hit. I spoke to Nicholas Kleinworth from the Paragon Health Institute to learn more about this. He said one of the major factors is that since expansion under Obamacare, there's really no financial incentive for a lot of people to wait to see their physician when they can go to the ER to get same daycare.

Nicholas Kleinworth (13:26)

I think that the increased ER wait times are actually one of the big broken promises of Obamacare that we've seen, that a lot of the financial incentives for people to take care of themselves and go see their regular physician have actually led. Haven't come to fruition. And so now people are going to the emergency room to get routine care instead.

Amanda Prestigo (13:48)

Another issue highlighted by Kleinworth is that the ER is one of the very few ways patients can get access to the hospital at all. You might be able to get a referral to a specialist, but that can often take months. Kleinworth said that one solution here could be the expansion of telehealth services. He noted Idaho and Montana specifically, they've expanded this to favorable results. Another issue is the increased rate of rural hospitals closing. Kleinworth said that programs coming out of Washington, they actually encourage consolidation. We're seeing large urban hospitals buy up smaller rural hospitals and they eat up incentives that were meant for these rural areas.

Nicholas Kleinworth (14:26)

They'll benefit from a lot of the programs that were designed for those hospitals, like 340B drug programs. And then they'll reduce access to services in those areas and redirect them to more wealthy areas where the margins are higher.

Amanda Prestigo (14:39)

And of course, during this shutdown, healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants has become a really hot topic here. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt recently said that illegals are adding to ER wait times. It's hard to quantify that specifically, especially since immigration status can be unknown. But one argument we're hearing from the left is that we should actually allow illegals to enter the health care marketplace, expand Medicaid, and this will actually help solve the problem. I asked Kleinworth about that.

Nicholas Kleinworth (15:06)

Unfortunately, no, that's not the solution. California is one of those states where they've offered health care benefit to illegals for years now and the promise was that it was going to allow them to access their primary care and they won't have to go to the emergency rooms anymore. But we find that California actually has some of the highest er wait times in the country and they also have some of the highest er, abandonment rates in the country.

Amanda Prestigo (15:33)

As far as solutions go, Kleinworth said that the Medicaid system really needs to prioritize those in need not able bodied working age adults. He said the recently passed big beautiful bill was a step in the right direction there. And he also said that we need to make sure programs designed to help rural areas and rural facilities, they actually do that. And lastly, some deregulation could help here too, like allowing pharmacists to be able to practice. They've done this in Idaho and again seen some favorable results.

Cabot Phillips (16:01)

Well, a crucial issue that has a lot of Americans concerned for very good reason. Amanda, thanks so much for reporting.

Amanda Prestigo (16:06)

You're welcome.

Cabot Phillips (16:07)

Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to like and subscribe. We'll be back this evening with the news. You need to know.