← Wired In
Loading summary
Transcript98 lines
- [00:00]
Cabot Phillips
I wrote a little song to remind you. Choice hotels get you more of the experiences you value.
- [00:05]
Dr. Yosef Witt
The Cambria Hotel's got it all.
- [00:08]
Congressman Chip Roy
A rooftop bar.
- [00:09]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Have a bar.
- [00:10]
Cabot Phillips
Bring a date, your squad, or even your mom. Book direct@ChoiceHotels.com well, good evening everybody. I am Cabot Phillips, coming to you from Daily Wire hq. And this is Wired In. It's great to see all of you. The Democratic establishment is in a panic this week after socialist candidates won a clean sweep in last night's New York City congressional primaries. On today's show, we'll talk with a longtime Democratic strategist about what it means for his party and the country. President Trump is once again warring with Congress over their refusal to pass the Save America Act. We'll talk with Texas Congressman Chip Roy about what's at stake. We'll also talk with a legendary pollster about the latest midterm trends. We'll tell you how GLP1s like Ozempic are rewiring millions of people's brains. And and we'll chat with a famous NFL reporter turned Senate candidate up in Minnesota. It's gonna be a fantastic show. And as always, stick around to the very end for our live listener Q and A. Daily Wire members can start dropping their questions in the live chat right now. I'll get to them throughout the show. It's always my favorite part of the entire program, so make sure to do that. If you're listening on Apple or Spotify, though, you've gotta become a Daily Wire member to take part in the Q and A. So go sign up right now@dailywire.com subscribe and all right, guys, let's do this thing. Roll that graphic. And just a reminder for you lovely folks at home, 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 matters, and hear from experts who are actually in the story. Become a member and join the live chat@dailywire.com subscribe well, last year, Socialist Zorran Mamdani made waves when he became mayor of New York City. And last night, voters in the Big Apple made clear that they are riding the socialist wave. All across New York, candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, or dsa, ran up the score, winning open seats and knocking off prominent longtime incumbents. And three of those candidates won congressional primaries, meaning Washington is about to get a new infusion of socialist candidates, the likes of which we have never seen. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of these Candidates make AOC look like a moderate. Brad Goldman, for example, was an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America for more than two decades. He said last night that his first priority when he gets to Washington will be abolishing ICE and, quote, vanquishing Trump. Then there's Claire Valdez, who wants to use taxpayer funds for any and all transgender treatments. She wants to grant immediate citizenship and voting rights to illegal immigrants. She wants. She wants to abolish ice, of course, and eliminate private health care entirely. And last, not, and last but not least, there's Darielisa Avila Chevalier. Chevalier might soon be the most radical congressmember in US History. She's recently advocated for not just abolishing ice, but abolishing all police forces, all prisons, and abolishing the U.S. border with Mexico. Five years ago, she advocated for government takeovers of the pharmaceutical industry and hospitals and, quote, seizing all properties from landlords. Some of her recent quotes include calling America a, quote, effing disgrace, saying, quote, I forget to get napkins so I just wipe my hand on the American flag behind me. Somalier rose to prominence in New York City during anti Israel demonstrations. It was here that she helped co found a group called Columbia University Apartheid Divest. I'm going to read you an official statement from that group. We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization. Our intifada is an internationalist one. We seek community and instruction from militants in the global South. Elsewhere, her group said they aim to, quote, extend the successes of the Palestinian resistance and translate the resilience in Gaza to unrest and violence in America. They want to bring unrest and violence to. To America. Those are direct quotes. That woman is about to be a sitting US Congress member. Joining us now to talk about what last night's electoral wave says about the state of the Democratic Party is Doug Schoen, a longtime Democratic strategist who previously worked on the campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Doug, thank you so much for making time with us. It's always a pleasure to have you.
- [04:27]
Doug Schoen
My pleasure, Caput. Thanks so much.
- [04:29]
Cabot Phillips
So, Doug, a wild 24 hours. The dust is starting to settle in the Big Apple. What do you think we learned about the Democratic Party last night?
- [04:39]
Doug Schoen
That the Democratic Party, as you suggested, is lurching far left. I think this has implications for the party's strategy and messaging and certainly for 2028. It is now virtually certain in my mind there will be a progressive candidate, a socialist candidate, seeking the nomination for president on substantially similar program to what the three successful congressional candidates in New York won on yesterday.
- [05:15]
Cabot Phillips
So you believe that this is speaking to a national trend? Because there have been some who've said, look, this is New York City. We've seen similar socialist success in Seattle and San Francisco and Washington, D.C. but those are deep blue enclaves in urban areas. You think that this is reflective of a broader trend for the national party?
- [05:33]
Doug Schoen
I do. Look at Maine and Graham Platner. Look at the polling in Michigan which shows that Abdullah said is double digits ahead of two members of Congress. He has been campaigning with known anti Semite Hassan Piker. And look at Texas and James Talarico, who has questioned the gender of the Lord God and has questioned how many genders there are. In fact and candidly, I think my party has its energy and enthusiasm, as we saw from Bernie Sanders, is fighting oligarchy to her in the far left. That's my take.
- [06:28]
Cabot Phillips
I want to ask the obvious question that's also a very simple one. How is this happening? How did we get to a point where avowed socialists and people advocating the demise of our civilization are winning major races?
- [06:42]
Doug Schoen
I think two things. I think one, it's a reaction to the second Trump presidency. But second and equally important is it's a reaction to a leadership strata in the Democratic Party that has been discredited, both with the Biden presidency, the Kamala Harris failed candidacy, the botched audit hunter Biden, and the failure of the congressional leadership to compellingly offer an alternative case to that which the Republicans have made.
- [07:16]
Cabot Phillips
You mentioned House leadership and Democratic leadership more broadly. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries kind of downplayed these results this morning, saying that he doesn't think these candidates represent the future of the party. He said a handful of races don't speak to more broadly what's going on with our party. I take it you don't agree with him, but what should he be doing differently and what should Democratic leaders be doing in response to this?
- [07:39]
Doug Schoen
Well, first, he suffered a significant defeat because you referenced Chevalier's success. He put his prestige, that is Hakeem Jeffries, on behalf of Representative Espayat, an entrenched member. We saw how much influence Hakeem Jeffries had. What I think he needs to do is to mobilize the Democratic candidates, particularly the moderates, to try to win back the House, if that's possible. But more fundamentally, to have an agenda for the party that speaks to the broad concerns of the American people about affordability, about protecting the Southern border and about creating jobs and opportunity at a time of rising inflation and rising unemployment.
- [08:30]
Cabot Phillips
Doug, one of the things that stuck out to me when I was watching these races is that Israel was the main focus. That seemed to be the constant thing that these far left candidates were bringing up. It was Israel, it was Palestine, it was apartheid. That's very different from what we saw with the rise of AOC just a few years ago. She famously won her election by focusing on the climate and her Green New Deal. We didn't hear much about climate change from these candidates. Do you think that Israel has replaced that issue and is now the new driving force for these socialist candidates?
- [09:04]
Doug Schoen
I think given what happened in Gaza, which was of course a response to horrific terror from Hamas, the issue of Israel, Palestine and Israel's alleged apartheid and genocide words I have trouble saying I don't believe them. But the far left and a large part of the Democratic base believes that pretty strongly. So certainly these issues have risen to the fore in ways that I think are harmful to America and potentially in the long run harmful to the Democratic Party.
- [09:47]
Cabot Phillips
I want to get back to the response from leadership. Do you believe that they are going to put up a fight and risk getting primaried themselves or do you see a world where they say, hey, this is about self preservation. We've got to get on board with some of these far left policies if we're just going to keep power. Do you think that's a real possibility where the party more broadly moves left to appease this new base?
- [10:10]
Doug Schoen
I think Cabot, there's a great deal of likelihood that what you describe of the party moving left to try to, I think, fairly appease and placate the far left is accurate. Chuck Schumer is the highest ranking Jewish elected official we've ever had in the country and he's been noticeably silent about all of this. He did write a book about anti Semitism, but as I like to say, he's been forthright about regime change in Jerusalem, less forthright about regime change in Tehran.
- [10:49]
Cabot Phillips
Before we go, I want to pick your brain a bit on 2028, which you mentioned earlier, saying that you think this trend shows what sort of candidate Democrats will embrace in the 28 presidential race. Who are those people? I mean, we know Gavin Newsom is considered a front runner. People are throwing out Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear. Those are kind of more mainstream Democrats that you wouldn't expect to win the favor of this new far left base who could
- [11:15]
Doug Schoen
aoc. She has recently voted against both military aid to Israel, even defensive weapons for Israel. I think she will rise to the occasion. I think there's a very good chance Senator Sanders will support her. There may well be somebody else who emerges. But right now, if I had to bet and tell your listeners who to watch, it would be aoc, and I would look for her to try to build on the successes we've talked about in the last few minutes.
- [11:49]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, it is remarkable to see the shift of someone like AOC being considered a fringe player on the left just five, six years ago, now being viewed as a legitimate contender for the Democratic primary. It's something we're going to keep a very close eye on. And we would love to have you back anytime in the future to talk as we get closer to midterms to get your side from across the aisle. But, Doug, we really appreciate your time.
- [12:11]
Doug Schoen
Thank you so much.
- [12:12]
Cabot Phillips
That was Doug Schoen, Democratic strategist. Thank you for coming on, Doug. All right. Let's get now to Washington, where we have Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan standing by. Mary Margaret, great to have you as always. Let's hear about the White House response to these elections last night. What have they been saying?
- [12:32]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Hey, Kevin, So the president has just been very loudly, vociferously talking about how communism is on the menu and it is becoming a big thing in the United States of America again. Now, the president talked a lot, too, about how Zoran Mamdani is getting so much credit for all these different socialist candidates that are doing so well in New York. I believe Mamdani had about three candidates that he kind of guided into their positions. And the president put out a truth social post saying, Congrats, Mr. Mayor, for all the media accolades that you're getting. And the president said that he had about 16 candidates that he successfully got into their seats. But he's getting no attention for this feat from the media, as he might expect. Now, you know, this is something, Kevin, of course, that we would know would typically happen. The mainstream media is not usually interested in giving the president credit where he's due, but they are very interested in Zorra Momdani and his successes. So I thought it was a little amusing to imagine Trump typing out that truth social post and saying, Congrats, Mr. Mayor, while he's kind of annoyed, but he's acknowledging that Mamdani did pull off a feat there. Now, on the flip side, you have the White House and the president messaging aggressively, pointing out how far left these candidates are. And some people would argue that this is a boon to the Republican Party, that these candidates are so radical that they will contrast so dramatically with Republicans and common sense. But then you have people like our very own Matt Walsh who point out, look, we literally have these candidates in office now, and if they are in such radical positions and they are holding office in New York, who knows where else they could appear next? So it's a very interesting situation. And I think for now, the White House is really pointing to their radical tendencies and positions, but no one's totally sure how this will play out in the future.
- [14:23]
Cabot Phillips
It is going to be remarkable seeing these folks become sitting members of Congress. I. I'm not aware of any time in recent history, at least, where we've had members of Congress who have openly advocated for the destruction of Western civilization. That would seem to be something that you would imagine as disqualifying for office, but apparently it is not. Mary Margaret, let's move on to Congress. They passed a rare piece of bipartisan legislation on a landmark housing bill the White House yesterday celebrated. They called it a historic bill that would bring down costs for Americans. But this morning, President Trump said he's not going to sign it. Why is that?
- [15:03]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Yeah, this was very interesting, Cabot. This is just a classic DC Situation, or I guess I could say a classic Trumpian situation, where it was on the White House schedule that he was heading to the Capitol today. My friends who work in Congress were all excited. They were preparing for his visit. There was a press conference that reporters were very excited for. They had even put the presidential seal up on the little podium where the President would be speaking. And like you said, White House officials yesterday were all talking about this legislation. I believe Caroline Levitt was touting it as a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation that had gotten through. But today, first, the President posted on Truth Social and complained that Elizabeth Warren was so intimately involved in this housing legislation and talked about how frustrated he was that the Save America act, which the media refuses to call the Save America Act. I believe they call it the voting legislation, the President's voting legislation, but Trump calls it the Save America Act. He was talking about how frustrated he was that lawmakers were failing to get this across the finish line. So maybe about an hour or two later, all of a sudden, the President puts out another Truth Social post, saying, you know what? We're not doing this. I'm not signing this until we get the Save America act passed. And when he said that, Cabot, literally, as he sent the post, Mike Johnson and other Republicans were doing a press conference talking about how great this housing legislation was as they prepared for the President to arrive at the Capitol. So it caught a lot of people by surprise, but people like Mike Johnson, who were very loyal to the President. He told reporters shortly afterwards, look, this is what the President wants. We're gonna have to figure out how to get this across the finish line. And this is where the President stands. Now. You have some other people, like Leader Thune, I believe, who were a little more surprised and were a little more confused that this was happening in such a. But, you know, all of Capitol Hill obviously has to deal with what the President wants. And shortly, a couple hours later, he went to a Senate Steering Committee meeting. That's the president went to that meeting. And in the meeting, and I found this very interesting, I heard and was told that he yelled and borderline screamed at some of these lawmakers with his frustrations about how they refuse to get the Save America act passed. Specifically, I heard that he yelled at Senator Bill Cassidy, the who we know is not the most loyal Trump, loyal to Trump in some of his positions, who has had a lot of fights with the President as of late. So this was a very spicy, spicy meeting. And afterwards, reporters caught Trump in the hall. They asked him, you know, is the housing legislation less important than the Save America Act? And the President said that voting and our elections are one of the most important things to focus on. And that's why he wants so much focus on this and why he wants senators to get it together and pass it.
- [17:50]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, I believe there's a 10 day window that President Trump has with this legislation, but also worth pointing out he could veto it, but the House could override the veto and Congress could override the veto. It appears they have the votes to do that. So President Trump could be stalling here. We will see how that goes. Mary Margaret, before we go, you had a scoop this morning about President Trump this coming weekend. Tell us what you've learned from the White House.
- [18:18]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Yes. So we first reported that the President will be returning to the scene of the most recent assassination attempt on his life. This took place at the Washington Hilton, of course, at the White House Correspondents Dinner. This was in April. So a couple months ago, we know that a assassin tried to kill the President and other members of his administration. And thankfully, the Secret Service got him and he is in federal custody and he is being tried and has been in court in recent weeks. Now, the President will be going back to the Washington Hilton on Friday because he'll be speaking at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority Conference. And this is an interesting conference, Cabot, because it really targets Americans of faith and it's really about rallying Americans of faith to get out there and get out the vote for the 2026 midterm elections and then, of course, the 2028 next presidential election. And in my research for the story, I saw that there was a very large quantity of conservative Christians that came out in the last election. Many, many, many of these Christians voted for President Donald Trump, and very few of them voted for Kamala Harris. So just a little interesting tidbit there on how important the religious vote is in deciding the presidential election. So Trump's heading back to the Washington Hilton. Secret Service told me that, you know, obviously they took a lot of precautions for the White House Correspondent center, and they did, in fact, save the president and everyone at the event from that shooter. But they said they're always evaluating the strategies. They're going to be checking and evaluating and making advancements all the time. So kind of a, you know, a nice package statement from the Secret Service where they're not going to say anything went wrong at the last one, because I do believe that they did their jobs and they protected the president and the reporters and the administration officials who were present, but at the same time, acknowledging that they can probably do a little better and that they plan on protecting Trump very carefully at this event and at this hotel where there was another assassination attempt, I believe, on Ronald Reagan many, many years ago.
- [20:14]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, it says something about the political environment we're in right now where you have to specify which assassination attempt you're talking about. That is just. That's not something that we should gloss over. It says something about the violence against conservatives when you have to say the most recent one, because there have been, unfortunately, multiple ones at this point. Mary Margaret, thank you so much as always, for coming on. We always love getting to talk to you.
- [20:38]
Mary Margaret Olihan
Thank you for having me.
- [20:39]
Cabot Phillips
That was Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan. All right, let's jump across town now to Capitol Hill, where we have a very special guest standing by. It's Congressman Chip Roy from the great state of Texas. Congressman, it's great to have you on for the first time. Thanks for being here.
- [20:54]
Congressman Chip Roy
Yeah, good to be with you.
- [20:56]
Cabot Phillips
So let's start with last night's election results in New York. The halls of Congress will soon be occupied by avowed socialists who have called for the demise of Western civilization. Your reaction?
- [21:08]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, when Dan Goldman is somehow too reactionary or conservative for your average Democrat voter in New York, because they want to install the continuation of the Red Green alliance to advance the Islamification of America. You know, you've got a real problem and it's, you know, Dan Goldman was an impeachment manager or impeachment lawyer, I should say, for President Trump in 2019 or against President Trump in 2019. And I've sparred with him repeatedly as just one example. But what you're seeing now is coming to fruition what Mamdani was not even the canary in the coal mine. Mavdani is full fledged fire. And now we're seeing the result of that and it's spreading like wildfire. We've got this problem in Dallas, Fort Worth, towns like Frisco, Plano and other communities in North Dallas, North Texas, where you've got this happening, where you've got significant numbers of, of hardcore Islamists getting elected. And now you're seeing it in New York City. This is gonna be the future if we don't do something about it. This is why, of course I've led with legislation. PAWS act to stop the flow of immigration, the Mamdani act to denaturalize people that are not adhering to our laws and that were not straightforward with us about what they plan to do with Islamifying America. In other bills that I've introduced, like the CARE legislation to take over their tax status and to designate them as terrorist entities. So we've gotta get on off and frankly right now my colleagues have not caught up to how bad this really is.
- [22:33]
Cabot Phillips
Can you give us a little behind the scenes look? What are you hearing from your colleagues on the other side of the aisle? The socialist wing of the party used to be a small radical faction. Now it's going mainstream. Are Democratic lawmakers scared that it's going to gobble them up? What are they saying?
- [22:49]
Congressman Chip Roy
I mean, look, I mean some of them are looking at it and going, well, we're afraid might be some more extreme element of the party. But look, the vast majority of them, they're philosophically in that direction. I mean, sure, we're on the House floor and you look up at the vote board as I did when we were looking at the housing bill, which I voted against as a conservative yesterday. And I think that's the right vote. Happy to talk about that. 32 of us voted no. But for a little while there were a couple of progressives who were no votes and they flipped their votes to yes cuz they were in isolation. There's a large number of the progressives that are pretty much matching the core of the Democratic Party. They do not split that much. At the end of the day, this is reflective of where the party is. And that's a real problem. I've occasionally been able to find areas where I can go work with Democrats on, like, trying to ban congressional stock trading and other things, but it ain't much. We just have a diametrically different view about this being a nation that is a Christian nation built on Judeo Christian values at our founding, that Western civilization is worth protecting, that the March of Islam is not acceptable, that we need to stand up. And you can't win a war if you don't acknowledge that the war exists. And the Islamists have waged war on us and they're carrying out the battle plan. They're waging jihad in their own words, the imam's own words, in Texas, New York and elsewhere. They're waging jihad on our way of life. And if we wanna protect our kids and grandkids, we better damn well do something about it now.
- [24:13]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. You point out these are in their own words. When people tell you who they are, the phrase goes, believe them. And I read a quote earlier from Chevalier, who was her group had openly said, we want to emulate what they call the freedom fighters in Palestine and bring that sort of violent resistance to America. And we're seeing the groundwork laid for that. You mentioned the housing bill. I wanna get to that because President Trump and the White House initially touted this measure, saying it's a historic advancement that's gonna lower costs for Americans. Now, he's not going to sign that until Save America act gets passed. But on that bill itself, you were, as you mentioned, one of only a few dozen Republicans who voted no. Why was that?
- [24:52]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, first of all, we saw the President this morning when he was talking about withholding his signature. That it part because it was Pocahontas Light. You know, is this Pocahontas kind of not important bill poking fun at Secretary, or I should say Senator Warren? And look, the truth is this is a bill that is very much supported by progressives, Democrats and the most radical leftist people that we were just describing, okay? AOC and others who voted for it. The Congressional Black Caucus voted for it. Democrats up and down voted for it. Now, that generally gives me pause. I don't know about you, but if they're all voting for this bill, maybe, just maybe it's not the best piece of legislation. I think the president saw 32 of the most conservative members of the House saying, wait a minute, we've got problems. That it expands Section 8 housing, that it offers grants to be able to put more and more dollars into these communities based on their advancing more leftist centralized housing planning, zoning requirements being pushed by the feds out into our communities. But basically massive expansion of the federal footprint into public housing and to local communities and housing. Look, I'm all for limiting some of the barriers to streamlining, permitting and all that stuff, that's all good, but the federal government here, we don't have a massive role here, in my view, other than getting the hell out of the way and then trying to let and free up communities to be able to make sure that there's plenty of housing. Let's get illegals out of our country if you want to have more housing, let's get interest rates down if you want to have more housing, let's make sure we've got tax policies that are more productive. If you want to have more housing, let's make it, let's incentivize parents living with their kids if you want to have more housing. But let's not try to have government sponsored massive public Section 8 housing programs and then claim a victory so you can go run on it in November. I disagree.
- [26:37]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, let's get to the Save America act. As we've talked about on the show, struggling to make its way through the Senate. A number of GOP lawmakers drawing the ire of President Trump because of that. Why is this thing getting held up in the Senate? I had Senator Rick Scott on yesterday asked him why his Republican colleagues have failed to get on board. Understandably, he's dealing with internal politics. I didn't really get a clear answer. So I'll ask you, why have Senate Republicans not passed this thing?
- [27:05]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, I think, look, 51 senators have in fact voted for it. So, you know, they support the overall policies, comma. However, I think there's three or four or five or six of them who are playing games a little bit and hiding behind the Senate rules and would rather it not pass. That's just the simple truth. You've got obviously some opposition and concerns that have been public by Mitch McConnell. You've got some others that have sort of hedged. And we're sitting here in this kind of conundrum and they're hiding behind Senate rules saying it's a 60 vote threshold, which by the way is not in the Constitution, is not in law. But yes, you, I don't wanna speak for you, but we conservatives, we wanna have a cooling saucer. If you have a Democrat in the White House, a Democrat Senate, Democrat House. Yeah, I like having a cooling saucer, but you gotta Follow rules, go down, debate it. Mr. Smith goes to Washington, take the floor. But you can't just jam everything up and say, well, everything in the Senate, 60 votes. That's what they're doing because they're hiding behind it. Some of them don't want to get there. And they go, it's federalism issues, not federalism. Look, I'm a federalism guy. I've written books and papers on federalism. I literally headed up the 10th Amendment center at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. But I've got people like Mitch McConnell saying this is a violation of states rights. That's crap. The Constitution gives us express authority when we're talking about our own elections and gives a very specific authority on immigration. So this is the merger of those two things. We not only have the power, we have the responsibility to do it. The President is right to call on the Senate to do something about it, and it's past time that they do, and they got to find a way to deliver. Also, on codifying border security, on let's ban congressional stock trading, all sorts of things that we ought to be doing that we haven't gotten done yet.
- [28:44]
Cabot Phillips
On that topic of codifying border security, you recently proposed a new bill, the Permanent Trump Secure Border Act. What would that do, and how would it ensure that we still have a secure border even if Democrats take back the House and Senate?
- [28:58]
Congressman Chip Roy
Yeah, this is actually one of the most important things that we should do. We're all patting ourselves on the back because Donald Trump and Tom Homan and the great men and women at ICE and Border Patrol are actually doing their job, and the Border Patrol folks are stopping them at the border. Great. I agree. I support them. But what happens when we get the next Biden? My orcas, they're gonna go right back to doing the same crap over and over again. So we passed HR2, the secure border act, from the last Congress. That would have stopped a lot of the abuses. Asylum, parole, catch and release, all of the things they were doing to flood the zone with people in violation of the law. So we tighten all those loopholes. We fix it, in other words. And we passed that in the last Congress, but we haven't brought it up. This Congress. That's foolish. Of course we should bring it up. So I introduced the bill from last Congress. I took out one provision to make it a little easier for some of our members in some competitive districts that cleaned up the bill, dropped it, and I just called it the Trump Secure Border act because, look, President Trump has done a good job securing the border. Let's give him and the great administration credit. But it basically mirrors the bill we passed back in 2023. And we should take it up and pass it. Let's codify it so that it's permanent.
- [30:09]
Cabot Phillips
Congressman, before we go, one final question. I wanna get your take on the senate race there in your home state. You know Texas better than anyone. Democrats in Washington are salivating at the idea of turning it blue. Do you think James Talarico has any shot?
- [30:23]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, we have to run like he does, right? We have to do our job and we have to make sure people show up to vote. That matters, right? I mean, even a state like Texas, we expect to win. Now, do I think that Talarico is in any way in step with the people of Texas? No. Has he said absurd things? Does he have absurd beliefs? You know, is he for transgender surgeries for kids? Is he saying, oh, I'm a Christian, but I hate Christianity because what is he ashamed of our Christian religion? Like what is he even talking about? And God isn't, you know, you know, these multiple sexes or non binary or whatever the heck he said about God. Look, this is a guy fundamentally out of step with the people of Texas. But we have to go run the race. You gotta go raise the money. You gotta go get people to show up to vote. This is partly what I'm concerned about. We gotta motivate people to show up. It's not enough just to run against the other guy. You gotta get people behind you. Republicans need to give people a reason to show up, deliver, demonstrate what we'll do in the next two years to finish the job. Permanent codification, secure the border, back up the president, strengthen our military, make sure we're strong abroad, but also reduce prices for the American people on healthcare and all the things that are affecting them by reducing government, reducing spending, get interest rates down. These are all things that people want. We just gotta talk about em and then do them.
- [31:41]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. It's a race we're gonna be watching very closely. Congressman, a pleasure to have you on you welcome back anytime. Thanks for being here.
- [31:47]
Congressman Chip Roy
Happy to do it. God bless.
- [31:48]
Cabot Phillips
That was Congressman Chip Roy from the great state of Texas. All right, guys, you know this midterms just over four months away, so let's take a look at what the polls are saying on a variety of topics that will determine the outcome and control of DC and who better to break it all down than legendary pollster Scott Rasmussen, president of RMG Research. Scott, it's just a pleasure to have you. Thanks for coming on.
- [32:11]
Scott Rasmussen
Great to be with you today. Happy to follow Congressman Chip Roy talking about some of those issues that are gonna impact the midterms. You know, I hate to break it to you, this stuff is usually pretty easy. James Carville told us the message in 1992, it's the economy. That's what drives these races. And that's the thing to watch in the midterms this year.
- [32:36]
Cabot Phillips
So let's get to the economy then. We know that historically over the last few years, Republicans have held a clear advantage on which party voters trust more on that crucial topic. Over the last few months, with prices going up during the war in Iran, Democrats have gained an advantage on that topic for the first time in years. Has that started to break at all as prices have started to come down a bit with this war ending?
- [32:59]
Scott Rasmussen
We're just starting to see the beginning of that. Our latest numbers show that voters give Democrats a two point advantage on trust on the economy. This month. It's down from five points a month ago. 38% say they trust the Democrats, 36% Republicans. But I think that's going to turn. There's a couple of reasons for it. The Democrats have not really gained ground in the last few months. It's not that people trust Democrats more on the economy. It's that as prices have gone up, people have kind of lost their trust in the Republicans. If gas prices continue to go down, the Republicans are very likely to gain their edge on the economy, which is the most important issue. And by the way, we track how people feel about their personal finances. That's what matters. It's not how they feel about the mythical national economy. Right now. 29%, excuse me, 27% of voters say that their personal finances are getting better. 36% say worse. Those aren't great numbers, but they're still better than where we were in the Biden era. And if gas prices come down, they'll continue to improve.
- [34:14]
Cabot Phillips
One of the things that was interesting as I was looking through the polling data on this topic and looking at generic ballots, how people are feeling about Congress. Before the war in Iran started, Democrats were at about 48%, Republicans down around 43.5%. We've now had three months of very negative press for the White House and for Republicans. This war is not popular, but Democrats are still at 48%. Democrat or Republicans have fallen down by about half a percent. Has it surprised you how little those numbers have changed? Despite what we've seen over the last four months? With this war and with inflation, you
- [34:50]
Scott Rasmussen
Know, I think you're. You're summarizing things a little too neatly. Right after the war began, the Republicans suffered some big losses. Why? Because the price of gasoline spiked. They've been working their way back ever since. But again, it comes back to, where are we on the economy right now? People are feeling a little bit more negative about the economy than they did before the war began. So that is hurting the Republicans just a little bit. But we live in a nation where both sides are pretty unpopular at this point. Democrats have a bunch of crazy positions on some issues that disqualify them in the minds of most voters. Republicans are struggling because they're in control right now of the federal government. So, yeah, a little bit of a surprise, but the reality is the war in Iran was a shock to the system. Initially, people thought it would end very quickly. Two weeks ago, they were telling us that, wow, this thing's never going to end. It's going to be six months or a year. Then we had the deal and the memorandum of understanding, and people are cautiously optimistic. They don't really trust the Iranians, but they still think the fighting is going to end soon. If that happens, it's a plus for the gop. And there's something else, you know, we're leaving out of this whole discussion. Because of redistricting, There are now 14 new districts that Donald Trump received at least 55% of the vote in in the last election. Those districts are much more likely to go in the Republican direction. In a normal midterm, you expect the party out of power to have a good year, to pick up a majority. It's still the most likely outcome. The Democrats, just by being a party out of power, are likely to gain seats, but it's far from a done deal, and it depends. I heard Congressman Roy talk about it. Turnout. The Trump base right now is prepared to crawl over glass to vote for Republicans. The Democrats, no matter whether they're moderate or progressive, are prepared to do the same for their party. The one group that's in play are the people who prefer a traditional Republican policy, the people who maybe aren't quite never Trumpers. But they're still not sure about President Trump. Their participation very much up in the air.
- [37:32]
Michelle Tafoya
Hmm.
- [37:33]
Cabot Phillips
There's been this narrative going on right now that President Trump is maybe losing some ground with his base because of the war. There have been critics of the president saying the vibe shift that happened in 2024, it's now dissipated. Is that actually showing up in the numbers? What are you seeing when it comes to President Trump and his most loyal supporters, those MAGA Republicans who make up a significant chunk of the party. Has their enthusiasm for the Trump agenda waned at all over the last few months during this war?
- [38:00]
Scott Rasmussen
It has not. The support for the war is very solid among the Republican base. Now. What has changed? We ask a question on every survey about suppose you had a choice between four candidates, equal character and competence. Would you want somebody advocating Trump like policies, traditional Republican policies, traditional Democratic policies, or AOC type of progressive policies? When President Trump first took office in 2025, 38% of voters said they wanted somebody who advocated Trump like policies. That has fallen 10 points to 28% right now. Still plurality, still more than any of the other categories. But there has been, and this is typical when you take office, governing is hard. You make decisions that anger people, that frustrate people. So the base is a little bit smaller than it was a year and a half ago, but the base that exists today is still very supportive of the president and in particular, very supportive of the situation in Iran.
- [39:10]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. Well, it's going to be fascinating to watch how this all plays out over the next few months. And Scott, we would love to get you back on throughout the summer and fall as midterms approach, we are getting very close. But before we go, I want to talk about your new book that you have that's already out. Right now it's out of the elite 1% and the battle for America's Soul. Tell folks what they can expect to find in your book.
- [39:33]
Scott Rasmussen
The elite 1% are a group of people who have a postgraduate degree. They make a lot of money and they live in densely populated urban areas. They control a lot of the political narrative. Fundamentally, they reject America's founding ideals. They do not think voters should have any say in government. They think we should be governed by a group of experts. And unfortunately, their narrative has taken hold. This is the battle for America's soul. And I will tell you the good news on this. The American people continue to embrace those founding ideals of freedom, equality and self governance. And by the way, not just Republican voters, Democratic voters, independents, there is a lot of common ground among the voters that is obscured by this elite 1% that controls the narrative and is really pushing us in a dangerous direction. So bottom line, they are the problem. But I'm still optimistic about America's future.
- [40:35]
Cabot Phillips
Well, a fitting book to be coming out on our 250th anniversary. Scott, thank you so much for coming on. Really, really loved having you.
- [40:41]
Scott Rasmussen
Thank you.
- [40:42]
Cabot Phillips
That was pollster Scott Rasmussen, author and President of RMG Research Guys, if you're watching Wired in live on the Daily Wire plus app, thank you. If you're on Apple and Spotify, I still love you, but you want to get over to the app. That is how you get push alerts when we go live, breaking news as it happens and the latest from our investigative reporting team. The Daily Wire app is free and available now on the App Store, Google Play, Apple tv, Roku, Samsung, LG and more. Well, as we were just talking about, it is primary season and early voting will soon kick off in Minnesota where Republicans are looking to pick up the open Senate seat currently held by Democrat Tina Smith, who's not seeking reelection. The woman many believe could pull the upset in Minnesota is Republican Michelle Tafoya. She joins us now. Michelle, it's so great to have you on. Thanks for being here.
- [41:29]
Michelle Tafoya
It's great to see you and congrats on this whole new show and app and the whole nine yards.
- [41:34]
Cabot Phillips
Thank you. I appreciate that. We had the pleasure of having you co host Morning Wire a few years ago and I know you were in our studios and the two of us got to co host some DNC coverage. So it's great to talk to you again.
- [41:46]
Michelle Tafoya
It's been so fun.
- [41:47]
Cabot Phillips
It was a. It's great to see you, Michelle. Most of our audience recognize you from your work as an NFL sideline reporter. You spent decades covering Super Bowls, Monday Night Football, the Olympics. Now you're jumping into the political arena. What led you to make that switch?
- [42:04]
Michelle Tafoya
You know, I've long been fascinated by and interested in and very, I would say just I feel a strong stake in the political happenings of the day. Listen, I grew up in a household where my parents were both depression era kids. We scrimped and saved every dime I worked from the time I was 10 years old. I have not stopped working since I was 10. I'm very much a capitalist. I believe in the free enterprise system, the free market system. And all the while before I became a sports reporter, I got a master's in business and covered some political stuff here in Minnesota that was sports related. But you know, 9, 11 happened, Cabot, and that really was a wake up call. And I think after that I really immersed myself in history, in politics, in all of it. And the more that time passed and the more divided I saw our nation becoming, the more vulnerable I saw our nation becoming, the more vested I became in all of this. And then of course, you throw in having a couple of kids and that will make you see the world a whole lot differently. So I just couldn't sit buy anymore. I couldn't not run. I think I have a platform and certainly a background for it. And I've been asked many times in Minnesota to run for governor or Senate and this was the right time.
- [43:24]
Cabot Phillips
I feel like the last few years I've seen you talking on social media about the problems facing Minnesota. You've been so vocal and I've been wondering, is she gonna run? She sounded great. Is she gonna do it? I have two follow up questions on what you just said. Number one, you started working at 10, what was that first job? And number two, what's been the reaction from your fellow peers and coworkers from your sports broadcasting days once you announced your run?
- [43:49]
Michelle Tafoya
Well, I think my first jobs were things like watering the neighbors plants and their lawn and feeding their cats while they were out of town, you know, so I just was a little entrepreneur and I marched around the street and I said, if you're going, I'll take care of your plants and animals. So that was probably what I started doing. A little entrepreneurial. As far as the reaction, it's been quite mixed. You know, listen, there are people that I worked very closely with that have always known my political stance or stances. And then there were people who didn't know. And I take that as a point of pride because on the air it never came up. And I never let my political leanings infiltrate what I was doing as a journalist. But I will tell you that as I covered the NFL during, you know, the times where players were kneeling for the anthem, it kind of broke my heart. Now listen, I am a pure First Amendment rights person. These players all had the right to kneel during the anthem and I would never take that away from them. But I can say that it broke my heart a little bit because I love this country and I know what it has to offer. So I would say that it's been interesting because once in a while I'll get a text or a post on social media saying, wow, go get them girl. And then other times you realize you haven't heard from people in a long time. So I think there's some of each.
- [45:11]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. And you knew what you were getting into, I'm sure. Yes, Michelle, in recent years, Minnesota has looked more and more like a solid blue state. But the tenure of Governor Walz has been, as we've discussed quite a bit at the Daily Wire, a disaster. Do you think that helps open up a window of opportunity for the Gop that maybe would not have been there in years past.
- [45:33]
Michelle Tafoya
Listen, if now isn't the time, I don't know when it will be. And I talk to business owners and I talk to people who are fifth and sixth generation Minnesotans who are. They're desperate for change. And if they don't see it in November, whether it's in the governor's seat or in the Senate race or in any of the local seats, they're gonna leave. Many of them already have. I talked to one businessman who said, michelle, I have one foot in South Dakota and the other one here in Minnesota. And if things don't go well in November, I'm taking both feet to South Dakota. I'm taking my business with me. This is not uncommon. Businesses and families alike are taxed way too much in this state. And there's a lot of regulation that is just over the top regulation and unfunded mandates. So farmers, businesses, they are frustrated. I think now is the time, if there were ever going to be a time.
- [46:26]
Cabot Phillips
Two years ago, I remember going to Minneapolis to see for myself what things were like there. And as you described, I saw so many businesses downtown with boarded up windows, businesses that had never recovered after the George Floyd riots. I talked to business owners who said, hey, the riots were bad. COVID lockdowns were really bad in the state. But we started to recover. And then we get hit with higher and higher taxes. We can't do it anymore. But now the other thing that has really affected Minneapolis more than maybe any other city has been fraud. It's become ground zero. We've seen extensive abuse to the tune of billions of dollars in Minneapolis. You've seen it up close and personal. What sort of role has that scandal played in your race?
- [47:06]
Michelle Tafoya
It's been enormous. I don't care where you go in Minnesota, whether it's to the cities or to the greater part of Minnesota, people are so angry. I mean, look, we're one of the highest tax states in the country, right? So number one, people are hurting. And number two, we're asked to put up with the winters here, which are generally five to six months long. So if you're going grind through that, you want your taxes to be well spent on things that help keep the streets in good order, keep law enforcement in good order, all of those things, when you see your money, and yours too, Cabot, because these were federal dollars funneled to the state that the state then allowed to be given out to fraudsters, people are livid. And they're not only upset that it happened they want to see accountability. They want to see there hasn't been one firing in the state government over this, not one. They want to see people held accountable. And that's what I intend to do when I go to the Senate. This stuff can't just sort of, you know, die into the background over time. We've got to hold people accountable for this.
- [48:14]
Cabot Phillips
Now, based on the polling, it looks like your opponent in the general election would be Peggy Flanagan, the state's current lieutenant governor. Do you think the fact that this fraud scandal has essentially taken place under her watch, does that actually undermine her argument that she's the candidate with the most political experience?
- [48:33]
Michelle Tafoya
Well, you know what? Political experience isn't always an asset. Right. When you've been the lieutenant governor in a state like Minnesota where there has been so much fraud, there's been moral decay, the police have been had their hands tied. You know, during the whole George Floyd and the ICE stuff that happened earlier this year, I talked to leadership among law enforcement, and they were so frustrated, they couldn't help. They couldn't do anything to prevent the chaos that was going on. So if you're the Lieutenant governor, you're second in command during all of this, I don't think that kind of political experience is necessarily an asset.
- [49:15]
Cabot Phillips
Michelle. I have to indulge our audience because we have. We're live right now, so we have folks blowing up the chat. A number of people have asked me to pass on the question, what was it like working with John Madden? So people wanna know that. So I know we're talking politics, but it's too fun not to ask when you have a legend like John Madden. Any stories that come to mind, they ask of working with John Madden.
- [49:38]
Michelle Tafoya
Oh, my gosh, too many. And most of them I couldn't say on this platform, really. But I will, I will say this. I'm. So whenever someone brings him up, it's so nice. John left us a number of years ago, and I was at his funeral and it was a small funeral, but at the end, when they were rolling his casket out, the fire alarm went off and some people went, oh, no. Oh, no. And I kind of thought, that's Madden. He's going out with a. With a. No, he's going out noisily. This is exactly what he wants. John was a Renaissance man. He wasn't just a football guy. He grew almonds, he had a winery. He had, of course, the video game enterprise. And he was funny. What you saw in the air was who he was. And yet he could be serious and really sweet and in the moments that needed compassion. I mean, he certainly went through a lot in his life with his family, and I just, I miss him.
- [50:38]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. Michelle, I can't help but wonder if your experiences chasing down 300 pound men on the sideline have prepared you for politics and made the idea of a debate a little less daunting. When you've been in the settings that you've been in, we're going to keep a very close eye on your race. We'd love to have you back on as the general gets closer, but thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.
- [50:58]
Michelle Tafoya
Interviewing Bill Belichick at halftime when he's down eight points, that's prepared me for just about anything in life.
- [51:07]
Cabot Phillips
I have no answers to your questions. That was a bad question. That's my Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick is kind of the Matt Walsh of the NFL. But I digress. Anyways, Michelle, good luck. I know early voting starts soon. You got your primary. Thanks again.
- [51:20]
Michelle Tafoya
Thank you so much. Take care.
- [51:22]
Cabot Phillips
All right, that was Michelle Tafoya, longtime NFL reporter and now candidate for the Republican nomination for Senate in Minnesota. I think I can basically call her the nominee. She's gonna win. I'm predicting it right now. Well, guys, for the first time in over a decade, the US obesity rate declined last year amid the rise of GLP1s like Ozempic and WeGovy. According to polling, an estimated 1 in 8Americans are now using these drugs, originally designed to treat diabetes to lose weight. But now new questions are emerging surrounding the impact of of these drugs on mental health. Here with more is Dr. Yosef Wit during a board certified psychiatrist. Doctor, it's great to have you back. At a certain point, can we just start calling you the official psychiatrist of Wired in?
- [52:09]
Dr. Yosef Witt
You know, Kevin, I would love that. And it's great to be here repeatedly.
- [52:14]
Cabot Phillips
Yes, we love having you on. Our audience always appreciates you as well. Maybe we can do some group therapy at some point. Go ahead, chat. You guys can start dropping your questions in first. Doctor, can you just explain for people who aren't familiar with how these drugs work, can you just give us some context on what they do to the human brain to facilitate this remarkable weight loss? Because there's no doubt that they work for weight loss.
- [52:38]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Yes. Taking GLP1s drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy, these are hormone drugs and they suppress our appetite. And so people who are driven to snack a lot during the day and a lot of this eating is emotional eating when we're anxious or when we're bored, you know, we reach out for these foods. It gets rid of what people call that food noise that makes people want to reach out and grab that. And it's doing that in a hormonal way.
- [53:05]
Cabot Phillips
So from a psychiatric standpoint, if these drugs are muting those cravings for food, is it possible that they could be muting other cravings that you have? And how else could they be altering behavior?
- [53:18]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Yes. So a lot of patients right now, Cabot, are noticing something which they're calling Ozempic personality. And Ozempic personality is the name we give to a whole host of mental health symptoms that people have on the GLP1s. So people describe this general blunting and apathy that they get on the medications, and that makes sense. You know, that blunting and apathy is going to decrease that drive to reach out for food, but it's also going to decrease your motivation to do things. And on top of that, we're also seeing a lot of people having problems with anxiety and depression from these medications. And so if that is happening to you with one of these GLP1s, that is common, and it will quite quickly resolve if you cease the medication.
- [54:02]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. And I think when we're having these conversations, I'm sure there will be people in the audience who say, I'm on GLP1s. I have not experienced this. We're talking in general here. Again, both of us. We're not saying that every person who is on these drugs will react that way, but I am interested in your take on kind of the tug of war that comes with medications like this. We know that obesity is. It's unhealthy. Despite what the medical community has said for years, it is unhealthy. It leads to a host of adverse health effects. So how do you balance that between wanting people to lose weight, to become physically healthier, but understanding that these drugs could lead to worse mental health? How do you, as a psychiatrist, balance those things?
- [54:42]
Dr. Yosef Witt
You bring up a really good point, Kabat. These drugs can actually be very helpful for some people. Obesity is at an epidemic in this country, and obviously a lot of problems go along with that. You have liver disease and heart disease, and that's really where these drugs are the most effective. You know, when you have someone who's severely obese or they have liver disease, taking one of these medications can really turn that around quite quickly. Now, it's, you know, the. The issue with the GLP1s is that you really want to use them. In conjunction with other approaches to obesity. So, and, and here's the reason why. These drugs, they're not studied long term. And so there's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen over the long run. I mean, there's been multiple quite concerning reports about stomach paralysis going on a condition called gastroparesis, which is really serious. And that's because these drugs, they kind of stun the gut, they slow digestion, and that's how they drop appetite. That is a rare side effect, but that is something to be aware of. The other issue is just that there's side effects that we may not know of. And if you look at the research, around 95% of people, when they come off these GLP1s within two years, they regain the weight. And so if you're solely relying on GLP1s for weight loss, essentially you're going to take them for the rest of your life or gain the weight back. And so the best strategy with these drugs long term is to take them if you really need to in an emergency because your obesity is causing a health crisis. But at the same time, there's no shortcut. And I think people know this deep down inside. If you are someone who is relying on food emotionally, you have to understand that problem. You have to get to the root of that. You have to look at your life. If you're someone who's having obesity issues because you're not moving your body, you have to find a way to weave that in. Because ideally for most people, the goal is to come off these medications, maybe use it for a short period of time and then transition to the non drug means. That will always be the safest long term solution for people.
- [56:43]
Cabot Phillips
I was reading through some of the studies on the side effects of these drugs and I'm not a doctor like you, so I'm sure we read them very differently. But one thing that did stick out was how they appeared to impact men and women differently. Both genders lose weight, but we see far more and more broadly reaching life changes for women in particular. What do you think could be causing that and what are we seeing?
- [57:10]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Well, I'm not so sure on what's going on there, but if I think about the way that these drugs, they really cut down on that emotional eating through the food noise. In general, women tend to have more anxiety and more depression. They're just wired that way. Statistically it happens at twice the rate. And so I could see these drugs through this blunting effect where it just takes the edge off that desire to eat being more impactful in women. And so that's how I would understand it.
- [57:41]
Cabot Phillips
Okay. It's fascinating. Dr. Every time you come on, I have a bunch of different topics I want to get to, so I just want to roll through a couple other ones. Let's talk about AI. The rise of AI chatbots being treated as therapists. We've seen more and more Americans doing that. As an actual therapist, what do you make of that trend?
- [58:01]
Dr. Yosef Witt
I think it's the worst idea in the world, and I think it's going to just lead to a disaster. Cabot, I don't know if you were following this thing. It sort of briefly showed up on X a couple of months ago. It was called Fartgate. And what someone did was they uploaded a soundtrack of a bunch of fart noises to chatgpt. And they essentially said, chat, what do you think of this new song that I produced? And, you know, the chat, you know, it listened to it and it came back and it said, you know, I think it's really moving. I think it's quite atmospheric, you know, you know, you know, something that could be played in an elevator or a background. And so, you know, what it really highlighted is that these chatbots are designed to be pleasing or sycophantic or tell you what you want to hear. Guys, that is not good therapy because you need people to tell you the hard truth. And so if you are going to chatbots for life advice, I mean, it's essentially going to be kissing your butt and not helping you grow and develop as a person. It's a disaster.
- [59:05]
Cabot Phillips
Now, to the chatbots credit, my two and a half year old son would actually have the same response if I showed him a song like that. He would say, this song is awesome. This is really funny. Keep making that noise that makes me laugh. But again, I'm getting off track. But do you think that the chatbots are just mirroring what we see from a growing percentage of therapists where they are also telling people what they want to hear and affirming them to a dangerous extent? Is that something that you see also reflected in your industry more broadly?
- [59:37]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Yeah. So that is something that people have been talking about more and more. I think Abigail Schreier talks about bad therapy, which is the idea that there's a lot of people in relationships with therapists right now who are essentially just paid friends. You know, the therapist learns that, you know, it's easier to kind of collect a paycheck by just sort of nodding along and agreeing with them and that, you know, they have this nice pleasant encounter rather than really forcing them to grow and pushing back on them. And so, you know, this is why I feel like people, they really need to question. If you're in therapy for like several years, it's like, what are you accomplishing there? You know, like, what are you learning? And so that's a red flag for me. There are some really good therapies out there, so let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. A lot of the third wave cognitive behavioral therapies like CBT or DBT or act, which sound like complicated acronyms, but they're really just skill sets that people learn, emotional and cognitive skill sets to deal with these different problems. They're often time limited, they're covered by insurance, and they're incredibly helpful. And so that's the kind of therapy I frequently recommend people do.
- [60:52]
Cabot Phillips
Well, before we go, doctor, one more story I want to get your take on. There was a new report from UC Berkeley's law school showing that roughly one third of students there report having a psychological or other mental disability. That number was just 3% back in 2021. What do you think is leading to that surge? And are we seeing that sort of increase at other universities?
- [61:16]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Yes, so we are seeing a surge in other universities. I think Harvard recently reported that nearly 50% of their students had a mental health problem while they were enrolled. And I mean, so these are bonkers numbers. I mean, they're multiple times higher than the background rate in the population. And so the question is, what is going on? I think clearly there is some aspect of gaming the system because mental health conditions, they're subjective. We don't diagnose them with any lab tests or imaging studies. People just report, hey, I'm having these symptoms. And doctors are very happy to just say, oh, yep, you are. They then take that report to their schools and they get extra time on tests and their transcripts when they go to apply for graduate school or when they go to apply for their first job. They don't include that this person has a disability and they were given all of this extra time. And so there's literally no downside to pretending you have a mental illness to gain an edge in getting into graduate school or snagging a good degree. And so there's that one side of it that's going on. But there's also this other very interesting thing with younger people, especially left leaning individuals, where having a mental health problem is kind of part of the ideology of the left, especially in the younger groups. And it's become almost, you know, it's kind of swept up into this whole oppression thing where if you're, you know, racial minority, a sexual minority, and now if you're a, you know, if you have a mental illness, you know, you're kind of part of the coalition that that band is together. And so we, we also see that that is like a trendy or popular thing to identify with now.
- [63:04]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. It is a form of social currency in many ways. Just fascinating stuff. Dr. I could, I could continue picking your brain for the next hour, but that is all the time we have. But we'll get you back on again soon. There's always stuff I want to talk to you about. So. Doctor, thank you so much for being here.
- [63:21]
Dr. Yosef Witt
Thanks for having me, Cabot.
- [63:22]
Cabot Phillips
All right, that was Dr. Yosef Witt, during which who I kind of want to label the Wired in psychiatrist. I won't do that. I don't want to get him in trouble. But, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to Wired In. I appreciate all of you. I love getting to do the news with you. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're on Apple and Spotify, we will see you tomorrow. If you're on the Daily Wire app, we'll see you for the next 10 or 15 minutes because we're going to get to some questions. Guys. Thanks again for tuning in.