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- [00:00]
Cabot Phillips
I wrote a little song to remind you. Choice hotels get you more of the experiences you value.
- [00:07]
Tim Rice
The Cambria Hotel's got it all. A rooftop bar. Have a ball.
- [00:12]
Cabot Phillips
Cocktails up here feel just right.
- [00:15]
Tim Rice
It's Cambria.
- [00:17]
Cabot Phillips
Amazing. All right, bring a date, your teen or even your mom. Book direct@ChoiceHotels.com See you on the roof. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
- [00:48]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms@mintmobile.com well, good.
- [01:01]
Cabot Phillips
Good morning everybody, and welcome to Wired In. I'm Cabot Phillips coming to you live from Daily Wire hq. Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend and survived the heat dome. It's very scary sounding. I for one emerged with zero sunburn, but I do have a massive blister on my palm because I spent an hour straight using a small stick to dig for worms at the park because apparently that's my 2 year old's favorite hobby these days. Given the blister, I tried to take the day off. Apparently hand blisters at the Daily Wire don't count for paid medical leave. So I'm gonna push through the pain today because the news does not stop on today's show. We'll get you up to date on a ruling from the Supreme Court this morning that's gonna have major implications for election integrity. We'll also tell you about Trump's push to remove more than a quarter million Haitian migrants. We'll get you up to speed on the latest viral example of the left eating itself from the inside out. And we'll check in with our friends in Europe who are facing a mass casualty summer the thanks to their embrace of radical climate policies. As always, stick around until the very end of the show for our live listener. Q and A. I'll answer your questions in real time, thus the term live. But you've gotta be a Daily Wire member to take part. So go sign up@dailywire.com if you're listening on Apple or Spotify and get those questions in. All right, let's start the week off right. Roll that graph. And just a reminder, Wired In Live is now streaming live at 4pm Eastern Monday through Thursday. Get daily coverage of the news happening right now. Hear why it all matters and learn from experts who are actually in the story, not just sitting around talking about it. Become a member and join the live chat@dailywire.com subscribe. Well, let's kick things off right now at the White House, where our White House correspondent, Mary Margaret Olihan is standing by. Mary Margaret, great to see you. We've been texting back and forth all day. We weren't even sure if you were going to be able to come on because you were just in the Oval Office. What did you hear in the Oval what did President Trump have to say?
- [03:10]
Mary Margaret Olihan
So the president was signing an executive order on automobiles, basically saying that owners have the right, as I understood it, to operate on their vehicles, even if that went against the mandates of previous administrations as far as climate control initiatives went. We don't have a ton of more info on this, but we will bring it to you when we do. Of course, all of us had questions for the president on these Supreme Court rulings that came out today. It was a very busy news morning on these Supreme Court rulings. There were a number of them, but the big ones that we cared about here that the president was so focused on was a ruling saying that the president does have the ability to fire regulatory officials at will. So that was a big one that he was waiting for. And then the second one that he was waiting for ruled against him, essentially saying that the Supreme Court protected mail in voting right now, which the president was very unhappy about. So, of course, all the reporters asked the president about these. He kind of railed against the mail in voting ruling, but he considered the first one, as far as regulatory officials and his ability to fire them, he considered that a huge win. He's been talking about it, tweeting about it, posting about it all day long. And so he was very happy about that. But he also stressed the importance of passing the Safe America act, which, you know, is really his main focus for months now. He just wants to pass the Safe America Act. So, of course, I had to ask him about this. And I said, you know, who are the main people that are holding this up? Who is the main person that you view holding up this legislation? And so he kind of went down the list and explained all the people that he's frustrated with as it pertains to the Save America act, some of these Republicans who consistently vote against him as well as Democrats who are refusing to get on board with this legislation. And I did push him on that point. Cabot. I kind of said, are there any Democrats that you think you could turn or you could get to be on your side to vote for this legislation? But he really emphasized that he wants the Senate to use the filibuster to get this across the finish line. That's something that, you know, we've heard this conversation a lot before, but he's really adamant that this needs to pass. This is his focus. And even when someone brought up the housing bill and tried to suggest, like, oh, well, maybe this is as important, I think he said, yawn, if I remember correctly, he said, yawn. It's not that interesting. So he wants everyone to know, no other legislation without the Save America Act.
- [05:34]
Cabot Phillips
We need to work out a situation here where you can be in the Oval Office. And our wonderful audience in the chat, they've always got questions for you to ask the president. We should give you an earpiece. I don't know if Secret Service would allow that. We'll give you an earpiece. And I'll be just whispering questions, saying so and so in the chat. Wants you to tell this to President Trump. Maybe we can talk offline about that. But the other big topic, figure something out. Good, I'm glad you're on board with that. That might actually, they might revoke your White House credentials for that. But anyways, the other big topic this weekend was Iran. We saw so much back and forth with the ceasefire technically holding, but there was a lot of firing still going on between the two sides after Iran initially violated that agreement and struck a number of tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. What were you hearing from the White House over the weekend? And then what's the latest on where things stand?
- [06:27]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Yeah, so the latest is that two top Trump officials are headed to Doha for a meeting. The president was meeting with Iran. The president talked about this. He said he hopes that it will go very well, that it will be happening, I believe, tomorrow. So that's kind of the very latest, but yes. So the president said over the weekend that Iran had technically violated the ceasefire with some of their action. He and Caroline Levitt were very adamant in their messaging, saying that violence will be met with violence. So the United States is not going to allow Iran to act without returning fire. But as of right now, we have this meeting tomorrow. We're all looking forward to this, hoping that it goes well. And then we'll have to find out what the next steps for the Iran war are going from there. I think we're all hoping, Cabot, that we can at least have a little respite over the 4th of July weekend. And here in Washington, we are expecting a heat wave. So like our brothers and sisters in France who are suffering under this sweltering heat wave, we too will soon be enduring a heat wave here in Washington, D.C. as we get ready to kick off all these Fourth of July celebrations.
- [07:33]
Cabot Phillips
Well, if you're expecting a respite, you probably should have picked a different job and not been a White House reporter because not too many breaks when it comes to your beat. But on that topic of America 250, we know President Trump has been looking forward to this. Even I remember when he was campaigning, he was kind of joking, saying, hey, make me president again so that I can be America's president during the America 250 celebration. That celebration is now culminating in D.C. what are we seeing on the National Mall?
- [08:04]
Mary Margaret Olihan
So much is going on. We have a state fair, which many people I know are actually going to. I think our wonderful boss, Brent Scherer, is going to be taking his family there at some point this week. I know my sisters were attending last week. There's a rodeo that will be tonight. There was a rodeo last week. There's all kinds of booths. I heard that each state is bringing in some kind of, some kind of exciting or interactive display for people to check out. So for example, Michigan brought in a mechanical milking cow, which I have not seen myself, but in my understanding, it's a robot that you can milk, I think. So lots to do, lots of different activities to check out. And then it's just, you know, each state is represented with artifacts from their state or on different interesting facts to view and stations to look at. I do know that there are a number of blue states that didn't want to participate that were, you know, putting up a ruckus. I believe Connecticut was one, Oregon, Washington state, a few others. So those states were really pushing back. And I think we can all understand at the end of the day that their disinterest in honoring the 250th birthday anniversary of the United States of America really stems from a view of patriotism as partisan patriotism as somehow aligned with President Donald Trump, which is very disappointing, you know, when we're trying to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, the greatest country in the world. And it should just be fun and nonpartisan and a celebration of our country.
- [09:39]
Cabot Phillips
Now, I am not one to Hate on the good people of Michigan. But, guys, could we send something a little different? Could we send, like, a nice, like, car right off the assembly line or send a wolverine, a live wolverine? Why are we sending an animatronic cow? I would not be milking that if I were there. But I digress. One final thing I wanted to touch on Maryland.
- [10:00]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Maybe we should do it on Wired in live.
- [10:03]
Cabot Phillips
Okay. If the audience wants me to, I will milk the animatronic cow. I'm just wondering. I have all sorts of questions if actual milk comes out. Maybe I don't want to know. But now I'm thinking about this for too long. Mary Margaret, on a more serious topic, but in a way uplifting with the United States being able to. To help our newfound allies down in Venezuela after this horrific earthquake, the Trump administration said, hey, we're going to help them. We've had good relations with them since Nicolas Maduro was removed. What sort of response have we seen from the US in helping these search and rescue and recovery efforts?
- [10:38]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Very strong response. The United States is heavily involved in these search and rescue efforts. I was on a call with officials this morning who were explaining a lot of the work that they've done to rescue people, to provide aid, to provide shelter. So really just adamant to make sure that they are providing aid in this way and making sure that these Venezuelans who were harmed during this horrible natural disaster are at least being helped and aided by the United States of America in some small ways. I actually heard that firefighters from some of the best fire departments in the United States, one of them happens to be, I believe, Fairfax County Fire Department, which is, you know, very close to Washington, D.C. some of these firefighters were called out to help with these rescue and aid efforts, which is really cool. And I think most of us, you know, we hear this and our gut reaction might be to think, well, wait, Venezuela is very far away, but this is the United States looking out for people in distress, people who have been enduring a lot, people who have been through a very tumultuous year. And so this is a very great rate or a very great effort to help these people of Venezuela at this time. And I know the State Department is heavily involved in this as well.
- [11:48]
Cabot Phillips
Before I let you go, we actually had some listener questions coming in. Let's get to a few. Someone asking, what is Mary Margaret's favorite pro America song to listen to on the 4th of July? What do we got?
- [12:00]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Oh, oh, oh, okay. Well, I like all the. The marching music, you know, the different military branches I do not have members of the military in my immediate family, but I love our military, love them so much, so grateful for their service. But I think my favorite song is God Bless the usa. It is an amazing song. You should belt it out in the car wherever you are on the 4th of July. It's just, oh, it just hits the spot.
- [12:25]
Cabot Phillips
I will Never forget the 2024 election night after the results were called, Megan Basham from the Daily Wire and I belting out Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA here in the Daily Wire studios. And I will say I don't want to call out our Daily Wire staff, but we have a running loop in the kitchen of different patriotic music playing on this big tv. And I walked in today and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA was playing and I have to remind everyone that is not a patriotic song. Now we can try and co opt it and say it's patriotic. That's not a patriotic song. Guys. We gotta stop playing Born in the USA by old Brucey Springsteen. Anyways, Mary Margaret, I'll let you go get back to, you know, reporting on the leader of the free world and get back to the White House. But thank you so much as always for joining.
- [13:07]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Thanks for having me.
- [13:09]
Cabot Phillips
That was Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan. Well, as we were just talking about, the Supreme Court issued a number of high stakes decisions today, most notably on election integrity. In a 5, 4 ruling, the court declared that states may continue to count mail in ballots that arrive after election Day as long as they were postmarked beforehand. Here to break down that case and more and what it all means for President Trump's election integrity efforts is Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Kevin, it's great to have you on. Thanks for making time for us.
- [13:40]
Kevin Roberts
Thanks so much for what you're doing and Happy America 250.
- [13:43]
Cabot Phillips
Amen to that. We have so much to celebrate. Kevin, I wanna get your thoughts on America 250, but first we gotta talk about this SCOTUS ruling, a major case a few hours ago on mail in ballots. What do you make of this 54 ruling ultimately against President Trump and the RNC?
- [14:00]
Kevin Roberts
Well, two things. The first is it's a huge disappointment. It's a disappointment in the Chief justice and Justice Barrett. Nothing against them personally.
- [14:08]
Tim Rice
Right.
- [14:08]
Kevin Roberts
You can disagree with the court and disagree with people on the court who are good people like the two of them are, but also recognize that this disappointment, it's absurd, as the dissenting justices pointed out. And what it does is flout the law. But the good news, number two is that we've got an opportunity, Cabot, which is this doesn't have to be the final word. Congress can take action. Congress, for example, could pass the Save America act, which Heritage has been pushing, obviously advocated by the President, by Speaker Mike Johnson. If the Senate Republicans could get off their duff and actually do the jobs they've been elected to do, then we actually can mitigate the disappointment of this decision today.
- [14:46]
Cabot Phillips
I think a lot of Americans, they've heard a lot about the Save America Act. You are obviously an expert on this, and you guys at Heritage have been pushing the ball forward on it. Can you just explain for folks what would actually happen if the Save America act is passed?
- [15:01]
Kevin Roberts
Sure. And what I'll do is mention one of the problems that the Supreme Court decision today allows, and that is that if you're in California, for example, where they are still counting votes, Cabot, from the election that was a few weeks ago, you could just self report that you have postmarked your ballot by election day. That's basically what all of the justices, including Barrett and Robert, said today. Well, what the Save America act would do is eliminate that kind of nonsense by homing in on ballot fraud abuse, and also make sure that you have not only legal citizenship, but voter ID in order to vote. These are not only common sense reforms. You know, as I say this, people in your audience are probably shrugging their shoulders saying, why aren't we doing that already? That's the point. It's an 8020 issue. Supported, supported even by a majority of African American Democrats.
- [15:50]
Tim Rice
Why?
- [15:50]
Kevin Roberts
Because they understand from the 1950s and 60s that they of all people need to have election integrity, all of that, to ask the question, why can't the Senate actually take action on this? If there's any silver lining in today's disappointing Supreme Court decision, it's that it's put more wind in the sails for those of us who've been advocating for this common sense legislation known as the Save America Act.
- [16:13]
Cabot Phillips
Now, on this topic, one of the things we've heard from detractors in D.C. as well, you really need 60 votes given the filibuster, and that's probably not gonna happen. So it's unlikely to get through the Senate anyway. And President Trump in response, has said, okay, then we should abolish the filibuster. Do you believe that that would be the right course of action? And could that come back to bite Republicans in the future?
- [16:34]
Kevin Roberts
Look, there's no doubt there would be risk in nuking the filibuster. But let's be honest, whenever it is that the left comes back into power, they're getting rid of it. And I think that makes the argument that we need to eliminate it to make sure that we pass as much legislation as we can. But the good news is the Senate wouldn't even have to do that. We wouldn't even have to have this conversation and weighing the rewards versus the risks of eliminating the filibuster if we do, as Senator Mike Lee has been saying for months, and actually enforce the debating rules of the filibuster. And this also is very simple and very common sense. But of course, the Senate has a tendency to make these things complicated. What the filibuster rules say is that you actually debate the issue. And if the Republican leadership, starting with Senator Thune, were willing to force their members to be at work, to be in session in the Senate and to make the Democrats who oppose the Save America act talk nonstop for days and even weeks, I think you don't even have to have the conversation of nuking the filibuster entirely. The question about why Leader Thune and Senator Cornyn and others are unwilling to do that is, I think, the question of the week as we're celebrating our nation's birthday. The other benefit here, and I say this as an old history and civics teacher and Professor Cabot, is think of the opportunity the American people would have to listen to the rhetoric, to listen to the debate and weigh in. The good news is 80% of the American electorate already supports this legislation. I think this is how you break the intransigence of the Senate, which frankly, stands against the will of the people right now.
- [18:08]
Cabot Phillips
Now, getting back to the Supreme Court, we are expecting a number of big rulings tomorrow on men and women's sports, but the big one, birthright citizenship. How do you expect the court to rule in that case?
- [18:22]
Kevin Roberts
Well, you always have to account for our unbridled optimism and heritage. So I'm still holding out hope that we get a 5, 4 or 6, 3 decision. I think, however, the composition of today's majority and minority in the ballot case probably suggests that the Chief justice and perhaps Justice Barrett will join the liberals in ruling the wrong way, which, having said that, even if that's the case, it's really important that those of us on the right who understand the proper history of the 14th Amendment, which is not to include birthright citizenship, it's not to include this cottage industry of birthright citizenship, we've got an opportunity to fix it. It's not the final word by the Supreme Court if either Congress or the people take action. The people could take action, for example, by advocating for a constitutional amendment. So I will just guarantee you, the one thing I can guarantee you, Cap, is that if the Supreme Court makes the wrong decision tomorrow on the birthright citizenship, then Heritage will lead the way in advocating for the ratification of a constitutional amendment which ends that practice.
- [19:29]
Cabot Phillips
Kevin, I know you've been outspoken about the fact, you know, lauding the Supreme Court for their ruling on temporary protected status. We know that they cleared the way essentially for President Trump to deport about 350,000 Haitian migrants who had received TPS under the Biden administration. And you basically said that if they rule against President Trump on birthright citizenship, they're almost contradicting themselves because of what they ruled when it came to migrants and the rights they have under the TPS case versus the birthright case. Can you explain what you view as a contradiction there?
- [20:01]
Kevin Roberts
Sure. I think the temporary, the decision on the temporary protected status case was excellent, obviously in substance, but also in rhetoric and the way the justices in the majority explained it. The difficulty, as we're playing this hypothetical the day before the birthright decision is announced, the difficulty if the Supreme Court goes the opposite direction, is squaring that really rigorous, vigilant application of the law in the temporary case, which is to actually define temporary as temporary, not permanent, using the same US Code, using the same American custom and set of laws in birthright citizenship. And so it would require some sort of legal gymnastics. Now, unfortunately, and I mean this respectfully, the Chief justice has shown a certain ability over his tenure on the court to do some legal gymnastics, to the disappointment of those of us who are conservatives. I'm still holding out hope as an unbridled optimist that we get a good decision on birthright. But if in fact they reach the wrong decision, it almost will automatically categorically require them to stand in contradiction with the decision from late last week on the temporary status case. Therefore, I think that also puts wind in the sails for those of us who would say, respectfully, Supreme Court, thank you for your service, we're going to move on to a constitutional amendment that of course will take more than months, it'll take a few years. But what a great opportunity at this time that we have the highest percentage of foreign born people living in this country in our history. And that's saying something over 250 years in this generous republic toward immigrants. What an opportunity to talk about what the future of America could be. I don't want to have to do that. As the leader of the Heritage foundation, we've got plenty to do trying to keep Congress working, but we will, in fact, be very happy to lead the charge if that's where tomorrow's decision leads us.
- [21:52]
Cabot Phillips
We look forward to keeping an eye on how you guys respond to this. One more thing before we go. Obviously, America 250, something that we're all excited by. I say we're all excited by. Unfortunately, not everyone is excited by this. We've seen a number of polls where the number of Americans who say we're the greatest country on earth is lower than ever. Fewer than one in five Democrats say we're the greatest country on Earth. Levels of patriotism still plummeting. What is your message to Americans on the fence about whether they really should be proud of celebrating this July? What's your message to them about why they should get out there and be proud?
- [22:26]
Kevin Roberts
Yeah, I'm going to address this to friends in the center and on the left, and the reason is those of us on the right. According to a recent poll, 90% of us say we're very or extremely proud of this country and only 29% on the left do. I'm going to say this as a friend and a countryman with affection. And I really do mean that this week, just forget the politics. Forget what you think about Donald Trump or J.D. vance. There are many of us who really love them. It's your right not to just check that at the door and go to a celebration in your town. And if you want to talk politics, you know, do that outside the public square. We're going to do the same thing at Heritage as we have a couple of celebrations. We really want this to be a celebration of the greatest republic, the greatest experiment in civil society and history. That's something that people on the left, people in the center, people on the right should be able to do. And then when July 5th comes back, we can go back to doing our political stuff. But this week, let's sort of understand that each of us owes affection to one another in this great republic. That's part of the beauty of why we get to call ourselves Americans.
- [23:26]
Cabot Phillips
And Kevin, I'll piggyback on that and say, go to the grocery store, buy a 16 ounce ribeye steak. Go down to the nearest fireworks tent, buy some fireworks, legal or otherwise, set them off, grill your steak. It's hard to be pessimistic about the state of the country when you're doing those things. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you coming on. You're welcome back anytime.
- [23:48]
Kevin Roberts
Oh, thanks for having me. Take care.
- [23:49]
Cabot Phillips
Amen. Happy fourth in America. 250 to you. We're all trying to feel healthy, right? Drinking more water, getting our steps in taking our vitamins. Most people spend a lot of time thinking about their heart, their weight, or if you're me, thinking about your muscles. But almost nobody thinks about their liver. Liver health affects literally everything. Your energy, your digestion, how your skin looks, even your metabolism. It's time we show our liver some love. And that is where Dose comes in. Dose is a clinically backed liver health supplement. And unlike most supplements, you don't have to take a giant pill or dissolve that nasty gritty powder. Like other places. It comes in a delicious two ounce shot. I've taken morning supplements in powder form in the past. I literally would have to hold my nose and try not to gag while I forced it down. Cause they all tasted so terrible and I never even really felt a difference. But Dose tastes fantastic, has me feeling awesome throughout the day, which is especially important for me right now as I try to stay sane on five hours of sleep a night with my toddler and four month old. I come in every morning after my garage gym workout. I pour myself a shot of Dose and down it goes. That's it. It's so easy. I've told you guys before, my wife is super health conscious. Some would even say crunchy. And she is always reading every ingredient before we bring new food into our house. Well, when I got my package from Dose, she read everything that goes into it. She was examining each label in every ingredient. And I'm happy to say it got her stamp of approval. So you know, it's good stuff. So if you're wanting to get healthier and feel better but you don't know where to start, dose is the move. If you're ready to give your liver the support it deserves, head to DueDaily Co Cabot or enter Cabot to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it. That's D O S E D A I L Y Co for 35% off your first month subscription. Guys, let's get back across town to Washington to hear From Daily Wire D.C. bureau Chief Tim Rice. Tim, it's great to have you back. And I want you to know I'm not sure if you can tell right now. I am talking to you on a special camera angle because We've said, hey, we have Tim on basically every episode. We call it the rice and beans segment because you're Tim Rice and you like to spill the beans. And now you have your own camera set up. How does that feel?
- [26:11]
Tim Rice
I mean, I feel like the luckiest girl at the dance. This is incredible. What an honor. What an honor.
- [26:17]
Cabot Phillips
As long as it's like a fast paced song where we can stay like a few feet apart. No slow songs for us to dance to right now. Our wives would not like that.
- [26:24]
Tim Rice
Room for the Holy Spirit, obviously.
- [26:26]
Cabot Phillips
Amen. All right, Tim, give us an update from the ground. We know that there's been surprisingly, a lot of controversy about this America 250 celebration. There's this state fair that Mayor Margaret was telling us about where every state theoretically was going to be represented, some blue states not showing up. But the controversy is on how many people are actually showing up. There's been reports of sparse crowds. There's been reports of plenty of people showing up. What's actually going on?
- [26:54]
Tim Rice
Yeah, I mean, the answer is that both things are true, right? It's, you know, a lot of people are grabbing, right? Unlike, you know, this is, first of all, these are these ridiculous sort of controversies that we've had over the past 10 years. And credit or blame where blame is due. The president loves to have these fights, right? So this is something that Donald Trump loves to do, fighting about the size of the inaugural crowd or things like that. But setting even that aside, this is not an inauguration. This is not a swearing in. The Great American State Fair is going to be on the Mall for more than two weeks. It's open pretty much all day, I think like 8 to 8 or something like that. It's a massive. It's the entire National Mall, which anyone who's been to Washington knows, right? It runs from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. It's a pretty good stretch and it's a wide stretch, too. And you know, there are stalls, as you said, right? The way it is, it's around, it's 50 different state stalls. So these sort of like drone camera shots are not just a snippet in time right, of the day. They're also a snippet of like the middle, right, which is sort of the common ground. Doesn't account for, for people that are in the booths. Doesn't account for people who are swinging in on their way to tour the monuments. Also, look, I mean, it's Washington in July. There are a lot of tourists. There are a lot of touristy things to do. It was pouring rain all weekend. It's going to be 115 degrees tomorrow. Like, if people don't come on these first few days, that's not really indicative of anything other than the fact that it's not 4th of July break yet. People haven't taken PTO, kids are still in school, and maybe people didn't want to come in the poor rain or the, or the extreme hot. It's, it's. None of this is in any way reflective of the events, which by all accounts are. Have been a ton of fun and really successful.
- [28:41]
Cabot Phillips
Tim, Mary Margaret told us that the booth for Michigan has a. Some sort of animatronic cow that you can milk. Would you go take part in that milking ceremony?
- [28:54]
Tim Rice
I don't like that you called it a ceremony. That makes me. That makes me sounds cultish. A little bit more freaked out. But if the question is would I milk the animatronic cow in the Michigan booth, I would, I would. Cabin. I think we both know that I love America because I love America, you know, And I want. I don't want. I would never want to offend our friends in the great state of Michigan.
- [29:13]
Cabot Phillips
Okay, that's fair. Well, it's a fun weekend for people in D.C. you know who did not have a fun weekend? That is California Democrat Scott Weiner for folks at home. Weiner is known as the guy who's pushing all sorts of insane legislation regarding the sex offender registry and clearing LGBT people from it and removing penalties for knowingly transmitting aids. I believe he's also running to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress. On Saturday, he attended a pro transgender march. Despite being maybe the most far left elected official in California, which is saying something. He was harassed by protesters. I want to play that tape, but first, just a warning for our listeners, if you have kids. There is some bad language in this clip, but let's go ahead and roll that tape. Wonderful for trans people. Been terrible. And you've been terrible. You've been terrible. You've been terrible at Gaza. You do not belong here anymore, Scott. And it breaks my heart, My heart. It breaks my heart that someone who wrote good legislation for queers is so terrible on Gaza. Shout out to our video team. I did not know they'd be able to edit out the bad words. There we go. But the message there, hey, thank you so much for all of your great work on transgender stuff. But the message is it's not enough because we disagree with you on Israel and Gaza. What does this tell us about the future for Democrats.
- [30:44]
Tim Rice
Well, before we even get to that, I just want to note that it's not even Scott Weiner is not, not a Zionist. He's not a pro Israel guy. He's Jewish, right? That's what's happening here. They're mad at him because he is Jewish. I mean, in a longer version of that clip, they call him a right wing, pro Zionist shill, which is like the funniest thing that I've ever heard. Because as you said, this is not just the most radical lawmaker in California. Scott Wiener is quite possibly the most radical man in the United States. Radical is honestly even deranged is maybe a better view of it, right? This guy, he's a crazy person who the things that you listed are just the tip of the iceberg. What does it say about the left? It says two things. One is that as we've discussed on this show before, the Democratic Party has become subsumed to the left, right? I mean, the Democratic Party as we knew it, the Democratic Party as a functioning political organ that once produced people like, you know, Bill Clinton and Al Gore, the third way, you know, Blue Dog Democrats, New Democrats, people who for all their, you know, certainly were liberal folks, but had this kind of knew they had to appeal to the middle of the country, wanted to have some pragmatic policies, An ideological movement. And what do we know about ideological movements? Specifically idiot. Revolution. We've seen it with the New Left in the United States. This is, this is what happens. So, I mean, one, it says that, you know, this is what we're going to expect from Democratic candidates, right? To the extent that the Democratic Party remains a political party, they are going, it is going to have to nominate increasingly radical members to feed this kind of unquenchable fire that its leftmost members bring. But I think that's bad news for Democrats, good news for Republicans, because political parties can't be ideological movements, right? Political parties can be based on ideological movements. They can contain ideological movements. The Republican Party certainly is and does. But a political party and an ideological movement are different things. By necessity, one of them needs to make practical decisions about electoral politics and primaries and which candidates to nominate and support. The other just is dragged increasingly to its most extreme logical ends by its most extreme members. So what we're seeing literally in real time is that happening. We're seeing it play out in real time. The most radical member of the Democratic Party is no longer the most radical member of the Democratic Party, and people who run for office are never going to be. And that's we're going to see more of this. I wouldn't be surprised if next it's AOC or Gavin Newsom or any of these other progressive darlings who are increasingly fallen out of favor with the activist voters who make up the Democratic base.
- [33:40]
Cabot Phillips
I think you may have been getting some sort of a call or something because your audio cut out for a second there. So I will.
- [33:46]
Tim Rice
Sorry about that.
- [33:47]
Cabot Phillips
I don't care if it was your wife. I don't care if it's your sweet old grandmother. Tell them you're doing wired in, okay? They're not allowed to call you, but this is the peril of doing.
- [33:55]
Tim Rice
I'm sorry to say it's a. It's one of our Daily Wire colleagues who, who shall remain nameless but who should know better.
- [34:01]
Cabot Phillips
So probably Ben Dominance or Brent Schiff. You should have lied. You should have said, look, I'm an important D.C. reporter. This was a senator calling me to give me a scoop. You should have lied there.
- [34:10]
Tim Rice
You're right. We've been talking about Donald Trump.
- [34:13]
Cabot Phillips
We've been talking about radical members on the left. Let's get to another one in Minneapolis. Yes, they're dealing with a historic fraud scandal that costs taxpayers billions of dollars. But no big deal because they've got their priorities straight. Or should I say, they've got their priorities gay because the city just reversed a decades long ban on gay bath houses, clearing the way for, quote, places of refuge where, quote, consenting adults can engage in sexual activity. We have a clip here of Mayor Jacob Frey signing that legislation. Let's play that. And then I want to get your take.
- [34:49]
Tim Rice
This is the bathhouse ordinance.
- [34:50]
Cabot Phillips
Everybody ready? What happens in Minneapolis, Tim, what do we think?
- [35:04]
Tim Rice
I honestly don't know what to think, Cabot. I just spent two minutes talking about how the Democratic Party has completely devolved into a leftist political movement. And even this is like seconds later. I've been thinking about this all day in preparation for this show and I haven't been able to formulate an opinion. I mean, but look, I do think that goes to it, right? This is not these bathhouses, right? Which were, look, to the extent that I understand this and I read our friend Jamie Kirchhek's book Secret A History of Gay Washington. I commend that to all of our reader, our listeners, the bathhouses, Bathhouses began as what they are, as bathhouses. And then they became places where gay men usually would go for clandestine sexual meetups when homosexuality was criminalized or at least not socially accepted. So when they were shut down in the 1980s, it was because they were the locusts or one of the many loci of the HIV AIDS outbreak. So what's happening now is not just that they're reopening these bath houses and saying, look, we can go back to having them. The fact that they're outwardly saying, these are places where people meet up to have sex with strangers in public. And I, the Democratically. The Democratic mayor of Minneapolis is prioritizing reopening them, not so that people have spa access. Right. If Jacob Fry had come out and said, you know, spas shouldn't just be for the 1% here in Minneapolis, we think you should be able to go in and get a Schmitz at a steam, you know, just for pennies on the dollar. We'd all kind of be like, well, we know what's really going on in there. But, hey, that's good rhetoric. The fact that he just went out and said, look, you know, Minneapolis, gay people need places to go, have public hookups. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about the state of the modern Democratic Party, I don't know what does.
- [36:48]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, this is the part of the show where I let people know that I visited Istanbul a few years ago and I went to the world's oldest continuously operating bathhouse. It was a delightful experience that did not have any sort of connotation with what apparently happened to Minneapolis.
- [37:04]
Tim Rice
It's like, spa.
- [37:05]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, exactly. It was a great experience. So I need to be careful now telling people I went to a bathhouse because I was not fully aware of the connotation there. But thank you, Tim. And thank you for being our first guest to ever use the word loci on the show. Very, very nicely done. A man of culture. Tim Rice. Thank you for coming on, man.
- [37:24]
Tim Rice
Eddie's eye, buddy.
- [37:26]
Cabot Phillips
That was Daily Wire D.C. bureau Chief Tim Rice. Guys, if you're watching Wired in live on the Daily Wire plus app, thank you. If not, that's where you should be. That's how you get push alerts when we go live, Breaking news as it happens, and of course, the latest smart investigative reporting team. The Daily Wire plus app is free and available now on the App Store, Google Play, Apple tv, Roku, Samsung LG, and more. And also, only Daily Wire members are able to join our live audience chat at the end of the show. So go join, if nothing else, for the live chat. Well, one week after Democrats in New York elected a slew of socialist candidates, the Democratic Party is grappling with the Rise of their radical base. Over the weekend, 13 moderate Democrats in Congress launched a new Promise to America platform to, in their words, counter the rise of socialism and embrace a more centrist approach. But as socialism becomes increasingly popular among the left wing base, many party leaders have struggled with how to address what is becoming an increasingly vocal and now powerful voting bloc. Here with more is Ryan Gradusky, author of the National Populist Newsletter and host of the It's a Numbers Game podcast. Ryan, great to have you back, man.
- [38:34]
Ryan Gradusky
Thanks for having me.
- [38:36]
Cabot Phillips
So for years, socialism, it was kind of a slur used against Democrats and a lot of Democrats would get mad and they'd say, no, we're not socialists, we just support basic human rights. But more and more Democratic voters and actual candidates are fully embracing this ideology. Do you view this as a reactionary flash in the pan or do you think this has, you know, staying power?
- [39:00]
Ryan Gradusky
No, I think that, I think it's a general movement of where people are because it's not so as much economic as people are making it out to be. Right. If you look at the areas that elected DSA members in New York last week, there were a few that are not wealthy. Northern Manhattan with the pockets of the Bronx were not wealthy. But the working class parts of the Bronx did not vote for the dsa. Canada, they voted for Congressman Espilot. The gentrified areas around Columbia University as well, some parts of Harlem, they voted for the DSA candidate. The areas that voted for, I think Mrs. Valdez is her name, Valdez. I mean some of those like Copple Hill, Brooklyn is four or five million dollars homes. They're not, these are not poor people whatsoever. And nor are these just blue haired, multi gendered, you know, recent college grads who can't find a job. That's part of it, but that's not, that is a very small part of it. Look at Mayor Mandani. Mayor Mandani does not come from a poor family at all. I mean he probably never had to work in his life. He really didn't want to. Depending on what his parents income is like, his parents are very wealthy. The point is so I think that, I think that it's not part of flash in the pan. I think that being a socialist is a cultural identity for a lot of people, not just an economic one to deliver for working class people.
- [40:17]
Cabot Phillips
You perfectly lay out how it's not just a movement of the working class as some people might assume. Why is it having so much more success with wealthier folks?
- [40:27]
Ryan Gradusky
Well, I think because wealthier folks have an idea of what working class people are like. Look at Graham Platner. Graham Platner. In the latest New York Times poll, there's command in Maine. Graham Platner is losing working class people by 22 points. Look at a policy like defunding the police, right? To you or I or to someone who's maybe middle class or upper middle class, the police is an institution to provide safety to a community. To a working class person, being a police officer is one of the only ladders to joining the middle class. That is why so often as working class people's children who join and become police officers. It was Irish 20, 30 years ago in many cities. Now it's now it's Hispanics in many parts of the country. I think that it is always the children. If you look at historical trends when it comes to, I mean not just in this country, but in a lot of other countries, it is the children of the wealthy that, that start off socialist revolutions. I mean, you have to have an enormous amount of time and energy not working to think of the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx was not a poor person. So that is just, I mean, I think that that is just the trends of how of, you know, whose kids become revolutionaries. It's always the children of the bourgeoisie.
- [41:33]
Cabot Phillips
And you've, in your writing and in your commentary, you've talked about how this is particularly affecting the millennial generation. Why do you think socialism is so appealing to millennials in particular? And what do you think older generations get wrong about their motivations for it?
- [41:48]
Ryan Gradusky
You know, what makes people vote for millennials? I did a whole podcast about this and I've written an article. My podcast came out today about this 20 years ago. Even if you don't a political or media, social, not social media, but like pop culture media person. Twenty years ago, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston got divorced. And for 20 years Jennifer Aniston was labeled as sad, right? Any headline, oh, Jennifer Aniston is sad. Everyone kind of in the world in the country knew thing had happened 20 years ago. Also millennials graduated high school during the collapse of the economy and we got labeled as poor. And so the last 20 years people have this idea of the poor millennial. It's not true anymore. Most millennials, majority of millennials own homes. I think 61% own a home most of a 401k plan. They are solidly middle class. They are in as good a position as Gen Xers were when Gen Xers were of the same age. Baby boomers Had a little better, but not overwhelmingly better. I think it's 69% had homes versus 61% still we're on track to make it. We're delayed, but we're not cursed or we're not eternally poor. The social indicators that make someone Republican, do they have faith? Do they go to church? Are they married? Do they have children? And do they. Children, marriage, faith, race is another big one. How white is the generation overall? And those are the things that are major indicators of how people vote Republican millennials, because more went to college, delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, some never got a part of it. Less religious as the previous generation and less white than the previous generation. And all those are the indicators that make the millennial generation less Republican. It's not cuz we're all poor. I mean some people doordash way too much. But that's, I mean that's a small part of it.
- [43:31]
Cabot Phillips
This is why we bring Ryan Gretusky on, because we get Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt analogies going on when it comes to political insight. I love it. Ryan. I've had a few Republican Congress members on the show and they have been just salivating since these election results last Tuesday, saying this trend on the left is gonna pay dividends for them in the midterms. Do you agree with that?
- [43:55]
Ryan Gradusky
Maybe not in this midterm election, but probably if they take hold in these people. I mean, these people are nuts. If you notice dac, the woman who ran in northern Manhattan and in the Bronx and she won, she beat Espalad. She's very critical of two Democrats for being pro Israel, Bernie Sanders and aoc. She says they're way too pro Israel. And I mean they are really out there. They also support abolishing the Senate, abolishing the role of the presidency, changing the Supreme Court to make them subsidiary to the House representatives. These are all on the DSA platforms. Yes, but they should take what they are saying to their full conclusion. For instance, Valdez, the congressman who won, Clara Valdez, she says that she wants the federal government to control our airlines. She wants to nationalization of the airlines. Okay, fine, who controls the airlines then? Donald Trump. What is Donald Trump going to use Delta Airlines for? Is it deportations? I mean, let's, let's use, let's really take their rhetoric and go the maximum with it. And I think that's really how you counter dissuade their own supporters and to turn moderate Democrats on Democrats. If you've noticed in a lot of elections, they really haven't hit a rock bottom yet. The fact that they have refused to push with Jay Jones during the Virginia AG race, a race that meant nothing to the national Virginia conversation, they've done nothing to push Graham Platner away. I mean, Susan Collins is not exactly Adolf Hitler. So this is. They will take power at any cost, at any level. So I think that. I don't know if it's going to pay dividends now because it seems too fat, like too wild and extreme what we're saying, even though they've said it public, I think that it may pay dividends in the future.
- [45:37]
Cabot Phillips
Do you think that the recent electoral success of folks like Platner winning the primary, the success of Al Said in Michigan, Talarico in Texas, these far left candidates succeeding outside of these deep blue enclaves like LA and DC and New York, do you think that that is sort of changing the narrative around who is going to emerge on the democratic side in 2028?
- [46:00]
Ryan Gradusky
Yeah, I mean, these people. Well, I don't know about 2020, but these people are delusional who say, oh, it's just New York City in Phil, in New Jersey, there was a special election. New Jersey in the most Jewish part of New Jersey, the most Jewish part and the wealthiest part of New Jersey, a socialist one, a socialist anti Israel one, and is Canada. They've won special elections, primaries rather in Maine and not just platinum, another race in Maine and in Montana and in red state America and blues America. By the way, there are nine more House races the DSA is campaigning for this year. This is not the end. 2028 will be decided on whether what state starts the primary season. If they start the primary in South Carolina, the DSA has no chance because older black voters, especially older black women, do not care at all what the DSA has to say. That would be a very big boost to a John Ossoff or to a Kamala Harris or to a Graham Platner. If they start up in New Hampshire or Iowa, it's going to be a haul for them because that's where the DSA candidates are really thriving. Or Nevada, another one they might actually get. Really? Nevada voted big time for Bernie Sanders. But back in 20, I think it was either 2016 or 2020. So it's going to be tough if it doesn't start off in the Deep South. And that's why I expect them to announce the Deep south starts the primary season.
- [47:10]
Cabot Phillips
One more thing before we go. You look at the polling data closer than maybe anyone always digging through the cross Tabs, which is why your substack, among other things is so interesting to read. Where do you stand right now on the midterms? On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you that Republicans will maintain their majorities in the House and then in the Senate?
- [47:31]
Ryan Gradusky
There are times where the midterms are looking like the first 15 minutes of saving Private Ryan. It doesn't look good. But there are, I mean there are, there have been more hopeful signs. Republicans generic ballot has improved significantly in the last two months. It was really bad two months ago. The war in Iran really hurt Republicans. I think that and Collins has managed to have a lot of good polling lately in the Senate. I think things are looking fairly the. Well, 51 seats. There'll be two big questions. Can Collins make it out? And do people confuse John Sunu, Chris Sununu in New Hampshire and how bad does the Dan Sullivan's of Alaska help? Because. Right. I mean I think Republicans aren't set to lose probably at least two Senate seats and probably the House majority.
- [48:14]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, well we're gonna have you on plenty over this summer and fall. A lot of people are gonna pay a lot more attention after the 4th of July and once we get closer to the fall. Ryan Graduski, thank you so much as always man. Really appreciate it.
- [48:25]
Ryan Gradusky
Absolutely.
- [48:26]
Megan Basham
Cabot.
- [48:27]
Cabot Phillips
Well, this week tens of millions of Americans are facing oppressive weather as the US struggles under what's being called the heat dome. And our friends in Europe are dealing with the same record breaking temperatures. But thanks in large part to radical environmental policies aimed at curbing climate change. Unlike us, most Europeans don't have the sweet relief of air conditioning. Only about one in five European homes have AC compared to 90% here in the US and that has had devastating consequences this summer. More than 1300 deaths have been attributed to the heat already with France reporting more than 1,000 excess deaths in a single three day period. Here with more is our good friend Harry Cole, editor at large of the Sun. Harry, great to have you back man. Thanks for being here.
- [49:09]
Harry Cole
Hey Kabbat, you caught me on holiday in Europe and it's very hot.
- [49:14]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. Are you in an air conditioned home right now?
- [49:17]
Harry Cole
I am not. I've got the windows open, I've got the balcony door open, there's a nice breeze coming through. But the last few days have been a bit tricky. I've been in London for about a week and a half now due to the political chaos and I'm looking forward to getting back to DC tomorrow for some ac.
- [49:31]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, I want to get to the political chaos. But I have to ask more on the weather front. Most Americans, you know, a heat wave is a minor inconvenience, but for many in Europe, it's a matter of life and death. How did we get to this point and what sort of role do these environmental regulations play in all of this?
- [49:48]
Harry Cole
Well, I think like most of our problems on this continent, it stems back to the European Union. They have remarkable layers upon layers of, of planning laws, of regulations, of green tape, of environmental targets. Some of these are okay, right? You know, you don't want to put a big whacking AC unit on the side of a building if it's an historical building, but that doesn't mean you can't have it inside. Even cars that come into the European Union, you know, have a limit on the amount of air condition they can have in a car, which seems absurd, it varies from country to country. But, but I mean, it is remarkable. I mean, watching all the European football fans coming over to the United States, not only discovering Buc EE's, but discovering a nice cool air conditioned room is. Sorry. The deputy mayor of Paris today blamed the Americans for their deaths in Europe, which is just absurd.
- [50:52]
Cabot Phillips
Now, Harry, sorry, we're having. I think we're. The heat might be affecting Harry's wi fi a little bit. We're getting a little bit of cutting out. It's all right. You're back, Harry. I know some folks will say, hey, Europe is a milder climate. So there are people who choose not to have ac and I understand that. However, there are government regulations, as you've been touching on France, for example, they have government mandated regulations that AC and public buildings be set no lower than 79 degrees. Again for environmental purposes. What are some of the more outlandish examples in the UK, for example, that supposedly protect the environment but leave people out to dry?
- [51:29]
Harry Cole
Well, at the moment, there's currently legislation being considered by the British government that would stop you having underfloor heating in your bathroom. They were trying to outlaw heated towel rails. So you can't even dry your towels in the middle of winter in your bathroom. There's all sorts of regulations about the site of windows. So even if you don't have ac, you have these in any new building. You have these tiny little windows no smaller than basically a computer screen looking out. So you can't even call your cool your building. Naturally, it's complete race to the bottom. European countries and the United Kingdom have been signing up to net zero pledges they're going to go carbon neutral by 2050. It's completely absurd, especially at a time when, look, look, climate change is happening. It's clear it's happening, that we can't stop it, but we should be able to allow. To be able to deal with it. And when you're seeing those excess death levels In Europe, France, 1,000 people, as you said, have died more than would have died this month because of a lack of air conditioning. I mean, it's murderous.
- [52:35]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. And we've seen reports also across Europe of local governments actually enforcing rules, saying, hey, you have to open up your windows and use portable fans. That has to be your first step before you can do an AC unit. And actually patrolling neighborhoods to try and find window units. Even in London, to find window units and forcibly removing them. It is absolutely astounding. I wanna get to the political turmoil that's going on in the middle of all this. We had you on a few weeks ago and we were talking about Keir Starmer looking like he was on the Alps. He is now stepping down. Tell us about the man who is almost certain to replace him.
- [53:16]
Harry Cole
All right, I was about to go on a rant about hose pipe bands, but we can do that one another day. You can't even use a sprinkler. I'll save that. I'll save that for another day. But look. Yes. Massive political turmoil here in the United Kingdom. Keir Starmer, he has finally bowed the inevitable. He said he would fight on and fight and fight, but, no, he's realized that half his cabinet and half of his party no longer wish him to continue. So once again, we're onto another Prime Minister in the United kingdom, out after two years. We're onto our seventh prime minister now since 2016, which is a remarkable statistic. And the new guy coming in, he has no mandate. No one's quite sure what he wants. Labour MPs have found their new messiah. They're gonna thrust him upon the country without testing him. He gave a big speech today. He refused to take any questions. We don't know what he stands on Iran, on Ukraine, on Donald Trump, on any of the big geopolitical issues. We don't know where he stands on Net Zero, we don't know where he stands on Brexit. He's been the mayor of Manchester, which is. They say it's Britain's second city, but actually that's Birmingham. So it's Britain's third city, which is, you know, it's a big sort of place, but it's not exactly running a country. And he's given an allowance, so to speak, from central government to spend on nice things. And he's nationalized a few buses and cleaned up the town a bit. But he hasn't really done anything of massive note. And he's about to be thrust upon the United Kingdom without being tested. I mean, I saw Donald Trump talk about him in the Oval Office the other day, saying, well, all I've heard is this guy is super liberal, but I don't know very much. Well, Donald Trump knows about as much as the average British voter, it seems.
- [54:50]
Cabot Phillips
It is remarkable to see a system. I think a lot of Americans are not fully aware of the fact that a prime minister can essentially be chosen for the British people by the party. I think that's something that a lot of Americans would be shocked by if they were more familiar. But you mentioned we don't really know where he stands on a number of issues. I'm interested on where he stands with regard to President Trump. So if we don't actually know, if he hasn't said, what do you expect his relationship with Trump to be like? Because that's what Americans are concerned by.
- [55:20]
Harry Cole
Kabba. I mean, I wish I could bring you better news, but I wrote a piece in the sun newspaper this weekend. I'll ping you a link later. But. But he has a long track history of slagging off Donald Trump, which is just not what the special relationship between Britain and America needs right now. Keir Starmer obviously came under massive sort of Donald Trump after blocking the Americans using British joint bases with the US to attack Iran. That relationship disintegrated. But you don't have to go back very long.
- [55:51]
Cabot Phillips
Back in 2016, it looks like we may have lost Harry's wi fi. I blame the heat. We could see that he was sweating a bit, so I appreciate Harry being brave enough to come on without ac. I had to do a live stream the night that there was the White House Correspondent center shooting, and I made the mistake of turning off my AC because it was too loud for our stream and I was just dripping sweat. So I cannot imagine what it's like for him in the middle of a heat wave. But that was Harry Cole, editor at large of the Sun. We will have him back, unfortunately, again, his wifi giving us issues. But this is what happens when you go live. This is live news, baby. And thankfully we have our next guest ready to go to talk about the great state of Texas, which just passed a new law that will require public school students to read all sorts of Classic literature like Charlotte's Web and Hamlet, and also historical texts, including, controversially, a number of excerpts from the Bible. Education officials in the state say the Bible is the most important and consequential text ever written. I agree. And that students, if nothing else, will benefit from understanding its impact on America's founding and culture. Or at least that they. They'll glean something from the beautiful literary value that comes from it. But critics say it's a blatant violation of church and state. Daily Wire culture reporter and New York Times bestselling author Megan Basham joins us now for more. Megan, first of all, it's great to see you.
- [57:13]
Megan Basham
Thanks, Kavin. It's good to see you. It's always good to be here.
- [57:16]
Cabot Phillips
I love getting to brag that my friend is a New York Times bestselling author. So I'm just gonna keep bragging on your behalf, but.
- [57:23]
Megan Basham
But we like for you to brag about that.
- [57:26]
Cabot Phillips
Yes. Meghan, just to start, give us some context on what exactly this law entails. Cuz there's a lot of misinformation.
- [57:34]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Yeah.
- [57:34]
Megan Basham
I mean, all hell has broken loose. And what we're essentially talking about here is just basic cultural literacy. So, you know, this is what is blowing minds out there in secular New York Times land, is that they are going to read several passages of scripture according to, you know, the appropriate level of education. So kindergarteners are gonna read a little story about David and Goliath as they get older. They'll read a story about Moses delivering the Ten Commandments, which of course, are the foundation of our jurisprudence. They are then going to go on to read passages from the Gospel of Matthew that talk about humility. They're going to read some other passages that will reflect on why we have free will, why we have liberty. So really just selected passages as part of the English literature curriculum. So what this is is just saying, you know, there are certain parts of our history and the English canon, things like Hamlet, Shakespeare, that can't be understood if you don't understand at least some basics about scripture. And, you know, this is really important, Cabot, because we don't understand ourselves and our own culture and where we came from and where we're going if we don't recognize the heavy influence that the Christian Bible had on the United States founding. I mean, there was no other text that was as influential on our founders and is as referenced by our founders in their own writing as the Bible. So, you know, this is just basic educational requirements. And to me, the scandal isn't that they're now going to start teaching these selected passages to me. It was fairly scandalous to find out, wait, you guys weren't already doing this?
- [59:18]
Cabot Phillips
I remember in high school being assigned portions of the Communist Manifesto that is inherently a religious document in and of itself. And I don't remember there being a ton of. Because even my parents, who were very conservative, understood, hey, there's utility to understanding these influential texts. I would encourage Texas lawmakers to say, hey, if you want to get young people interested in the Bible, especially young boys, have them read Second Kings where Elijah, you know, calls down the bear to attack the false prophets. And I remember as a young kid, that was the one that got me most interested. But what is your argument and your response to the people who go crazy saying, this is violation of church and state and, you know, we should have equal representation for every other religion and we should be reading, you know, texts from the Quran and other. What do you say to those people?
- [60:07]
Megan Basham
Yeah, and really quick, I wanna say there's also a great passage there in the Old Testament with King Ehud where, you know, a dagger is stabbed into his overweight belly. And it actually describes it being swallowed up by the fat as the assassin sticks it in. That's always one of those scenes that I went, man, somebody really needs to do a movie with this scene. It's so cinematic. But my argument is, you know, I'm actually not opposed to, as you said, you know, maybe it would be appropriate to read some passages of the Quran once you get to those upper level high school courses to understand, I think, what influences them and what are their values and how do those values compare to America's founding values? Where do they conflict? So I think that's a legitimate line of inquiry. But, you know, the bigger issue to me is that those who are saying, hey, if you do this, if you open the door to allowing public school students to read some of these passages of Scripture, you're gonna have to indoctrinate them in the Quran. And how will you feel about that? Well, you know, two things to say. One, we're not talking about indoctrination again. We're talking about basic cultural literacy. They're not going to be doing catechism classes with these Bible passages. And then the second thing is that assumes that the Quran and Scripture are equally influential on America's founding and on the English canon, and that's simply not true. I mean, you could essentially never study the Quran and know nothing about Islam and understand America's founding just fine. I mean, you would get all of the references just from the Bible. You don't need Islam or the Quran to understand what influenced our founders and why they made the decisions that they did, why they structured our government as they did. You don't need that. So, you know, those are two different things. And the other reason I would say is that, you know, they deliberately, I believe, have stripped the influence of the Bible out of public education. Because if you don't know what you had and you don't know where you came from, then you don't know where you're going. And you won't recognize when you are losing these important cultural tent poles that hold up important things like freedom of speech, freedom to practice our religion, freedom of association. We won't understand why those things meant so much to our founders because we want to understand what influenced their thinking. So that's really important. And for me, one of the things that has been most astonishing was to see over the last 48 hours, not the secularists who I expect to oppose this kind of thing, not the Islamists who I expect to oppose this kind of thing, but it was a little surprising to see some fairly recognizable and influential members of the evangelical establishment. So Christian pastors, Christian authors opposing this. So you know, that to me is where the real battle is going to lie. Because if you're looking at Texas, that's a very red state, it's a very Christian state. And so those kind of voices are going to have an influence over the red state Texas voter going, well, gosh, I don't know, some of these, you know, big evangelical voices are telling us maybe it's bad for our students to learn the Bible. So you know, that to me is a more interesting debate.
- [63:08]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, I would like to start a petition to send Megan Basham to every state and have her lobby for this legislation. Because that's a pretty compelling argument you just made right there. I love it. Megan, before we go, I love following you on X. I would encourage everyone to go follow Megan on X. You have been known to fire off a hot take every once in a while. Just a few, just a few hot takes. But this one had some people fired up. It's on a different topic, but I saw it today and I thought, oh, I have to get her to elaborate on that. You said, quote, Republicans should start moving now to enact legislation to prevent foreign born citizens from holding office. Let's hear the case.
- [63:51]
Megan Basham
Okay, so I actually don't think these are unrelated topics. I think they're actually pretty tightly related. Part of the Reason that it is an issue if we have somebody who just got here seven years ago and we saw this recently, right. A judge who became a naturalized citizen seven years ago then ruled that the Trump administration cannot ban certain immigrants from entering the country or they cannot exercise certain deportation efforts that are apportioned to the executive branch. That that is their responsibility and they have that executive power. Why does that matter? Because what you're having is you're putting people in place who don't understand the cultural background of the United States or its grounding or its founding documents like the Bible, and why that was so influential and so important to us. And so I think that becomes a real problem. And you've seen it also with Ilhan Omar. So, you know, I recognize that there are great candidates like Steve Hilton, and I would love to see him as the governor of California. But I think for all of those, you know, handful of good candidates on the right, more of what you see is a Mamdani and an Ilhan Omar. So you are seeing people who are coming in who are beholden to other ideologies, to other principles of government that aren't aligned with our founding documents. And instead they're influenced by someone else. And not only are they influenced by someone else, they actually had they express allegiance to other nations and other governments. So we saw that with Ilhan Omar just this past weekend expressing her allegiance to Somalia. Well, I think we can recognize that it's a real problem if you have people governing the United States, making laws for the United States who are themselves expressing that their allegiance is to another nation, to another culture, and expressing that they want to fundamentally transform the culture of the United States. That's a real threat. And I think that it is one that we need to start thinking about and we need to go, you know, for every Steve Hilton, I think we're getting 10 Ilhan Omar's and Zoran Mundanis. And it's a significant risk that we are going to not be able to get back to where we were if we continue to be ruled and legislated and represented by people who do not value the American founding.
- [66:00]
Cabot Phillips
And I would also add an addendum to that legislation saying if you have openly expressed a desire to tear down Western culture, you also cannot hold office. We saw that with Chevalier, whose group up in New York. She had founded a group saying that their explicit goal was to tear down Western civilization and culture. I think those would be pretty reasonable steps when it comes to who governs us. MEGAN Basham we love getting to see you. Thank you so much for coming on as always.
- [66:28]
Megan Basham
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
- [66:30]
Cabot Phillips
That was Daily Wire reporter covering all things culture and bestselling author Megan Basham. Guys, thank you so much for tuning in today. It was a crazy news day and I have a sneaking suspicion that tomorrow will also be another crazy day. And we will have all of it covered on Wired in. Thank you so much for listening on Apple and Spotify. If you want to join our live member Q and A right now, go become a Daily wire member@dailywire.com subscribe. I will see you guys tomorrow.