Trump’s Peace Plan Pivot & Military Paychecks Protected | 10.16.26

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: "Trump’s Peace Plan Pivot & Military Paychecks Protected"

Date: October 16, 2025
Hosts: Georgia Howe & John Bickley
Guests/Sources: Tim Pierce (Daily Wire), Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), Jenny Terror (Daily Wire)

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Overview

In this episode, the Morning Wire team covers President Trump’s recent diplomatic pivot from brokering a Middle East ceasefire to confronting the war in Ukraine, the government shutdown's impact on military pay, and the escalating threats to ICE agents in Chicago from Mexican cartels. The hosts provide in-depth analysis and exclusive on-the-ground reporting, focusing on the facts and implications of these national headline stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Ukraine Diplomacy and the Middle East Peace Plan

[02:33 – 05:40]

• Trump’s Focus Shifts: With a ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas, Trump is now turning his focus towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
• Zelensky to Visit White House: Ukraine’s President Zelensky’s upcoming Oval Office meeting is central. Previous meetings between Zelensky and Trump have been tense, but the tone has recently improved.
• U.S. Weapons on the Table: Trump has suggested the possibility of providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles and additional air defense support.
• Confrontation With Russia Increases: Trump’s earlier attempts at a friendly approach with Putin appear unsuccessful; now, Trump is moving to pressure Moscow with new sanctions and military support for Ukraine.

Notable Quotes:

• President Trump [03:12]:
  “We’ll be talking about Ukraine. Yeah, I mean, I have the President coming in on Friday … He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks. Everyone else wants to. We have a lot of Tomahawks.”

• President Trump [04:03]:
  “I don’t know why he continues with this war. This war has been so bad for him. … I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but he just doesn’t want to end that war.”

• Tim Pierce [04:19]:
  “That’s Trump essentially saying that Russia needs to be pushed to the negotiating table … strengthening Ukraine’s position with Tomahawks and air defense, as well as new sanctions on Russia.”

• Hamas Refuses to Disarm: Despite the ceasefire, Hamas has not complied with the disarmament condition. Reports of unrest and power struggles in Gaza persist.

• Trump’s Ultimatum: Trump makes clear that disarmament by Hamas is non-negotiable.

  • President Trump [05:26]:
    “Well, they’re going to disarm because they said they were going to disarm. And if they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.”

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2. Military Pay During Government Shutdown

[06:37 – 10:17]

• Military Paychecks at Risk: Two weeks into a government shutdown, federal employees, including military personnel, faced missing paychecks.
• Trump Steps In: President Trump directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to reallocate funds to ensure troops receive mid-month pay, though this is a temporary fix.
• Congressional Stalemate: Funding bills continue to stall in the Senate, with Democrats blocking measures passed by House and Senate Republicans. Rep. August Pfluger criticizes Senate Democrats for prioritizing political theater over military and government funding.

Notable Quotes:

• Rep. August Pfluger [07:08]:
  “The Senate has failed to vote now eight times. … All for Chuck Schumer’s Political Theater. … House Republicans did our job over three weeks ago. … Senate Republicans [did too.] It really is up to the Senate Democrats.”

• Rep. August Pfluger [08:14]:
  “This is personal to me because … you had especially the junior enlisted personnel, those with families and young kids, some of them on food stamps. … So thankfully, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth came up with a plan to pay the troops.”

• Rep. August Pfluger [09:35]:
  “I would include Border Patrol, I would include law enforcement, federal law enforcement, you know, all the agencies that are charged with keeping us safe, national security level agencies.”

• Temporary Solution, Uncertain Future: The money ensuring military pay was diverted from other operational funds—this cannot continue indefinitely.

• Calls for Legislative Change: Discussion around creating permanent protections for military and critical federal personnel during shutdowns.

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3. Cartel Threats to ICE Agents & Anti-ICE Violence in Chicago

[10:34 – 14:51]

• Cartels Recruiting Inside U.S.: Mexican drug cartels are offering $50,000 bounties for assaults on ICE and Border Patrol agents in Chicago, actively recruiting leftist anti-ICE agitators and deploying armed surveillance.
• Escalation of Threats & Violence: Daily threats to agents, with gangs and cartels collaborating to gather intelligence on ICE movements. Notable recent incidents include vehicle attacks and violent mob confrontations where law enforcement deployed tear gas to disperse crowds.
• Domestic & Transnational Cooperation: Gangs like the Latin Kings are working alongside cartels to resist ICE operations, raising stakes and necessitating increased security.
• Federal Response Hampered: A recent judicial stop prevented the Trump administration from deploying troops to Chicago; ICE and Border Patrol rely on internal security reallocations and physical barriers, which are now being forced down by legal challenges.

Notable Quotes:

• Jenny Terror [10:52]:
  “The Mexican cartels are actually recruiting and operating within the city of Chicago to go after ICE agents … they’re offering up to $50,000 in bounties for the heads of federal officers.”
• Jenny Terror [11:50]:
  “An anti ICE rioting mob formed in one of the quiet neighborhoods in Chicago, and it caused a stir between law enforcement and those rioters. They didn’t want ice, … they were fighting against their initiatives there. And thankfully, they were arrested.”
• Jenny Terror [13:43]:
  “The troops are not currently there. … There was also a fence that was erected around the Broadview ICE detention facility … they erected this fence. And now, because of a lawsuit … they took that down this week, and it is definitely affecting their safety.”

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Memorable Moments & Tone

• Georgia Howe [04:48, on Ukraine strategy]: “So, a very high-stakes game of chicken, it sounds like.”
• Rep. Pfluger’s frustration [08:59]: Neatly underscores the precarious, personal consequences for military families—“commanders … have to focus on how are their men and women in uniform going to put food on the table.”

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Timestamps for Main Segments

| Segment | Time | |-----------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Trump shifts focus from Israel/Hamas to Ukraine | 02:33–05:40| | Government shutdown & military pay | 06:37–10:17| | Threats to ICE in Chicago: Cartels and riots | 10:34–14:51|

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Summary

This episode offers sharply focused updates on U.S. foreign policy pivots, domestic political infighting over government funding, and a rising threat to federal law enforcement from transnational criminal organizations inside U.S. cities. It’s an episode rich with sourced quotes, direct policy implications, and a clear, matter-of-fact tone, highlighting the stakes in Washington and on America's streets.

Transcript

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[Georgia Howe]

With his middle east peace deal taking effect, President Trump turns his focus to ending the years long war in Ukraine.

[President Trump]

They would like to go offensive, you know that. And we'll have to make a determination.

[Georgia Howe]

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley. It's Thursday, October 16th, and this is Morning Wire.

[Host/Anchor]

President Trump intervenes to keep the military paid amid the government shutdown as Democrats dig in ahead of a series of no Kings rallies.

[Congressman August Pfluger]

I think you know the rest of the country is just sick of the lies, sick of the deceit, sick of the games.

[Georgia Howe]

And drug cartels say it's open season on ice as the criminal gangs place massive bounties on their agents.

[Jenny Terror]

We are seeing a coordinated, highly organized.

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Waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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[Host/Anchor]

After securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Trump has shifted his focus to the war in Ukraine.

[Georgia Howe]

Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce is here to talk about Trump's effort to bring a close to the years long conflict. So Tim Zelensky is expected in the Oval Office this week. Listeners may remember back in February he was actually booted out of the Oval Office during a tense meeting. How are things expected to go this time?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, this will be Zelensky's third trip to the White House since Trump took office in January. And as you noted, the two haven't always got along, but they seem to be on better terms lately. As to what happens in the meeting, Trump said that weapons for Ukraine will be on the table. Here's what he said Tuesday.

[President Trump]

We'll be talking about Ukraine. Yeah, I mean, I have the President coming in on Friday and we'll, I know what he has to say. He wants weapons. He would like to have Tomahawks. Everyone else wants to. We have a lot of Tomahawks.

[Tim Pierce]

Those Tomahawks are long range weapons that could threaten deep into Russian territory. It's been reported that the United States has started to share intelligence on Russian energy infrastructure with Ukraine. And Zelensky has been pretty open about wanting to go on the offensive. Now, Zelensky also said that when he meets with Trump, he wants to discuss air defense against Russian missile and drone attacks.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, early on, President Trump was taking a friendly tone towards Putin, but that hasn't really worked out. It hasn't moved the needle much. Is he now moving towards a more confrontational mode towards Moscow?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, it looks like it. And Trump said he doesn't really know what happened to his relationship with Putin.

[President Trump]

I don't know why he continues with this war. This war has been so bad for him. That's the biggest thing that's happened Since World War II in terms of death. And I'd like to see him do well. I mean, I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but he just doesn't want to end that war.

[Tim Pierce]

That's Trump essentially saying that Russia needs to be pushed to the negotiating table. And the levers Trump is looking at to do that are strengthening Ukraine's position with Tomahawks and air defense, as well as new sanctions on Russia. Now, Moscow has said that even if the Tomahawks are given to Ukraine, that would not change the dynamic of the war. But a Kremlin spokesman did say that there would be an extreme concern. Putin said that he would beef up Russia's air defense in that case, but notably he did not mention escalation on his end.

[Georgia Howe]

So a very high stakes game of chicken it sounds like. Now, before you go, I wanted to ask you about Gaza. Hamas has refused thus far to disarm. That was initially part of the agreement. What are we seeing there?

[Tim Pierce]

Yeah, Israel's military has pulled back and unsurprisingly, Gaza is still a really dangerous place under Hamas. It's not entirely clear what is happening. There have been some public executions and it seems like there's a power struggle going on right now between Hamas and some rival gangs in the strip. But in Trump's peace plan, there is no bullet point for a power struggle. Hamas and Gaza have to be disarmed. Here's Trump again.

[President Trump]

Well, they're going to disarm because they said they were going to disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them.

[Tim Pierce]

So no third option for Hamas given by the President of the United States?

[Georgia Howe]

Well, it's unfortunate, but not very surprising. Tim, thanks for reporting.

[Tim Pierce]

Thanks for having me on.

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[Georgia Howe]

Two weeks into a government shutdown and now federal employees are starting to really feel the effects. Yesterday, military personnel were set to miss their first paychecks, but President Trump ordered War Secretary Pete Hegseth to find a way to keep the troops paid.

[Host/Anchor]

Joining us now to discuss is Congressman August Pfluger, chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Congressman, first of all, thank you so much for coming on.

[Congressman August Pfluger]

Oh, absolutely.

[Host/Anchor]

So we're now over the two week in this government shutdown, there was another Funding vote yesterday blocked again by Democrats. So where do things currently stand?

[Congressman August Pfluger]

Last night and within this past week, the Senate has failed to vote now eight times. They have failed to fund the military eight times. They have failed to fund the government eight times. And all for Chuck Schumer's Political Theater. So it doesn't look like there's much end in sight when it comes to Democrat House Republicans did our job over three weeks ago. We voted yes to fund the government. We voted yes to fund the military. And so did Senate Republicans. And it really is up to the Senate Democrats. It appears that they're waiting for this anti American, anti patriotic parade in Washington, D.C. where they can march around, likely burning American flags and showing how much they hate this country while the rest of us want to get back to work and show the American public that we love this country, that it's the greatest country on earth and that we can function and we're working for the American public.

[Host/Anchor]

There have been a lot of accusations that Democrats are holding out for those no Kings rallies. And it sounds like you're hearing the same thing now. We've crossed one of the first thresholds for missed pay of this shutdown. There were fears that the military would miss a paycheck this week, but then Trump intervened. How did that go down?

[Congressman August Pfluger]

Well, you know, as a veteran and as somebody who served for over 20 years, this is personal to me because I saw it firsthand during previous shutdowns where you had especially the junior enlisted personnel, those with families and young kids, some of them on food stamps. This puts them in a terrible position. And commanders, instead of focusing on the mission and the threat readiness and lethality, now have to focus on how are their men and women in uniform going to put food on the table. So thankfully, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth came up with a plan to pay the troops. And that is happening mid month. But it doesn't last forever. So if Democrats keep up their shenanigans and I'm not sure that they're going to get a paycheck on the next pay period.

[Host/Anchor]

You're right. To be clear, they managed to pay everyone this time. But this isn't something necessarily that can continue going on for weeks.

[Congressman August Pfluger]

Yeah, they're pulling money out of other areas. I mean, the money that they're using to pay the troops was probably intended to go to operations or readiness or things like that. It was not the bucket that Congress appropriated for military pay, personnel pay. So it doesn't. This isn't going to last forever.

[Host/Anchor]

Is there any way that Congress could ensure going forward that this doesn't happen again, particularly with the military. Can we put in place emergency measures for how government shutdowns affect military members?

[Congressman August Pfluger]

I sure hope so. I think there's an appetite for that. And I'd go a step further. I would include Border Patrol, I would include law enforcement, federal law enforcement, you know, all the agencies that are charged with keeping us safe, national security level agencies. I'd go a step further on that. But let me just say this. Where are my Democrat colleagues on the other side of the aisle who served in uniform? Where are they right now? Why are they not standing up and taking the stand and saying enough is enough? I'd like to see a country where we come back together and we unite and do the right thing. I thought that was going to happen after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and obviously it has.

[Host/Anchor]

Well, let's hope that we see some movement very soon from the Democrat side, in particular in the Senate. Congressman Pfluger, thank you so much for joining us.

[Congressman August Pfluger]

No problem.

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[Host/Anchor]

Agents carrying out President Trump's mass deportation effort in Chicago are facing mounting threats stemming from cartels in Mexico.

[Georgia Howe]

Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Terror joins us now with the latest. So, Jenny, first, what do we know so far about these cartels, their presence in Chicago and how that's affecting ice?

[Jenny Terror]

Well, actually, I spoke with a Border Patrol source on the ground today in Chicago, and what he told me was that these types of notices, these types of intelligence pieces about threats are coming in daily. And this is just one example of many that we haven't heard about. What is happening here is the Mexican car cartels are actually recruiting and operating within the city of Chicago to go after ICE agents, to go after Border Patrol agents. How they're doing it is one, they're offering up to $50,000 in bounties for the heads of federal officers. On top of that, they are recruiting leftist anti ICE agitators who have already been out in the streets. And they're asking them to help, you know, with any of their efforts. One of the things that they're actually doing is they are putting armed spotters on top of rooftops in areas where ICE agents are arrests. And they are asking them to share coordinates of ICE officers and Border Patrol agents and to really out their whereabouts.

[Georgia Howe]

Wow. So a very concerning collaboration shaping up there. Now. Can you give us a sense of what it's like on the ground there?

[Jenny Terror]

So to give you an example of some of the threats that have almost come to fruition or some that have come to fruition, the latest was a Latin Kings gang member, a leader of that gang who was nabbed by the federal authorities down there. He actually put a bounty on the head of Operation Midway Blitz on behalf of the Trump administration, Chief Gregory Bovino. And on Tuesday, Border Patrol agents were actually rammed by an illegal immigrant driver who also had an illegal immigrant passenger in his car. An anti ICE rioting mob formed in one of the quiet neighborhoods in Chicago, and it caused a stir between law enforcement and those rioters. You know, they didn't want ice, they didn't want Border Patrol in the area. They were fighting against their initiatives there. And thankfully, they were arrested. And. And some of the rioters were actually arrested. It caused, actually federal authorities to have to deploy tear gas. Some of those agitators actually were seen hurling things like rocks. Some were said to be hurling eggs at the officers. So it got very violent. And again, this is an ongoing thing in Chicago in these areas where ICE is actively operating, where they're trying to make arrests of illegal immigrants and those who are carrying out criminal activity. Chicago is a base of operations for so many now, cartels, we're learning, and of course, gangs, domestic gangs. So they really want to go after them. And I think those groups feel really threatened right now, so they're fighting back in a way.

[Georgia Howe]

So an explosive situation. It sounds like now the Trump administration is still in a legal limbo over its plan to deploy troops to Chicago. They've already deployed to Memphis. How are they proceeding protecting these agents without the troops there?

[Jenny Terror]

Right. So the troops are not currently there. They were sent back to their bases. There were hundreds that were set to be deployed to Chicago, and that was thwarted in the meantime by a judge. Now, there was also a fence that was erected around the Broadview ICE detention facility recently after anti ICE rioters tried to breach the facility and also block ICE vehicles from driving in and out, where they're taking detainees for processing. So this was a huge threat to their operations and to their officers. So they erected this fence. And now, because of a lawsuit that also has had to come down, another protection for ICE officers and Border Patrol agents coming down, they took that down this week, and it is definitely affecting their safety. And so what the Trump administration has had to do is just use what resources they have. They're just pulling border patrol agents, ICE officers from as many areas of the country as they can to not be there to make arrests, but to really provide security for their federal authorities.

[Georgia Howe]

Well, we will definitely continue to keep an eye on Chicago. Jenny, thanks so much for reporting.

[Jenny Terror]

Thank you.

[Host/Anchor]

Before we go today, we wanted to give a special thank you to everyone who voted for us for the Signal Podcast Awards. We ended up winning a silver in the news and politics category. We love covering the news. You need to know every day. It's really a great privilege and it's only because you're tuning in. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.

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