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- [00:00]
Cabot Phillips
Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless build? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat
- [00:08]
Christian Toto
emotional arc and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time.
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Cabot Phillips
Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better.
- [00:15]
Christian Toto
Every plan, $15 a month, even unlimited.
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Megan Basham
That's it.
- [00:18]
Cabot Phillips
Happy ending, zero tears. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
- [00:23]
Megan Basham
of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan. Required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50gb. Me slow when network is busy. See terms.
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Cabot Phillips
Queen Carvania stood haloed by the morning sun.
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Admiral Brian Christine
An army hung on her every word.
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Megan Basham
My champions, I have sold my chariot on Carvana.
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Cabot Phillips
Twas a lovely suv, an inexplicably queenly offer.
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Wil Chamberlain
They're even coming to the castle to collect it.
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Cabot Phillips
Tonight we feast.
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Megan Basham
An offer you can feast on. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply.
- [01:00]
Cabot Phillips
Well, good evening everybody and welcome to Wired In. I'm Cabot Phillips coming to you live from Daily Wire hq. President Trump is gearing up for his big address to the nation in just. Let's see, we are a few hours away. This isn't actually a watch, but I don't get many opportunities to do that. We're just a few hours away. I will be hosting a special live edition of the show on Daily wire starting at 8:45 Eastern, so make sure to tune in for that. But for now, we've got plenty to get to. On today's show, we'll chat with a top ranking HHS official about the ongoing cyclospora outbreak. Maybe I'll tell him about us here on the show being on Parasite watch after I ate that Taco Bell taco. And we're also gonna hear what's being done to contain the parasite. And we're gonna learn more about the push to give service members access to testosterone and even psychedelics. Christopher Nolan's the Odyssey is hitting theaters tonight. We'll talk with the film critic about what to expect and hear whether Hollywood is finally ready to move on from the wokeness. We'll get you the latest from Capitol Hill and the White House. In D.C. secretary of State Marco Rubio holding a meeting with 60 other countries on combating left wing terrorism. We'll get you all about that. And of course, stick around until the very end of the show for our live listener Q and a Daily Wire members. Get those questions in the live chat. If you're on Apple or Spotify, join the action by becoming a member at dailywire.com/subscribe. All right, let's close the week out strong. Roll that graphic. Just a reminder for you lovely folks, Wired in is now streaming live at 4pm Eastern Monday through Thursday. Get daily coverage of the news happening right now. Hear from experts, get insight into why it all matters. Become a member and join the live chat@dailywire.com subscribe. Well, we're now just a few hours away from President Trump's address to the nation. Again, tune in to 8:45 Eastern for our live coverage of the event. Here to break down what we are expecting to hear from President Trump is Wil Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article 3 project. Will, great to have you back, man.
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Wil Chamberlain
Good to be with you, Kevin.
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Cabot Phillips
You never really know what you're gonna get when it comes to President Trump. But based on what you're hearing, what we're seeing reported, what do we think this speech is gonna center on?
- [03:20]
Wil Chamberlain
I saw something about how it's gonna be about, I think, potential Chinese interference in 2020. There's gonna be, I suspect it's just gonna be something about how there was actually foreign interference in the election in 2020, and that there's something that Trump or Tulsi Gabbard or Bill Pulte, basically, they've discovered some information that's derogatory about efforts by foreign countries to intervene in 2020. And I think that's, that's going to be the core of it. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's more that comes out in terms. And if there aren't some surprises, do
- [03:54]
Cabot Phillips
you think that the American people are. I guess my question is, what is the threshold for presenting something tonight that would get people en masse to care about what happened in the 2020 election? Like, how much evidence would he have to produce to really get people to perk up?
- [04:11]
Wil Chamberlain
I think it would have to be pretty substantial here. I mean, I think that most 2020 is a long time ago at this point, something like six years ago. And I think it's also has the, it was the COVID election when you think about it. So I think a lot of people kind of wanted to forget Covid. We don't really talk about 2020 that much. The only people who really continue to be invested in 2020 in politics are Democrats who really want to talk about January 6th all the time. So I think it would have to be pretty dramatic evidence or A pretty dramatic revelation that Trump's able to put forward tonight. And I'm not saying he can. I'm just saying I think the bar is actually extremely high for people to really care about something that happened six years ago.
- [04:51]
Cabot Phillips
One report that I've seen was claiming that the CIA in the first Trump administration found evidence that China had attempted to interfere in the 2020 election, that they had accessed voter rolls and maybe had tried to do some sort of collusion in some way. If that were the case, and the CIA did not notify President Trump of that, which he reportedly is going to allege tonight, how big of a story would that be?
- [05:17]
Wil Chamberlain
It's a big story in the sense that it highlights the ways in which the sort of foreign interference in elections was kind of used and abused by the intelligence community to benefit Democrats. Right. And sort of the narratives around it. Right. If there was foreign interference going both ways, like we endlessly heard about Russian interference on behalf of President Trump, which was not true when they were intervening and they were just meddling on both sides. But we constantly heard about foreign intervention on behalf of President Trump. And so if the intelligence community was hiding evidence of foreign intervention for President Biden going the other direction, that's a big story in terms of what it reveals about our. Our intelligence community's priorities.
- [05:56]
Cabot Phillips
You mentioned earlier that Democrats seem to be the ones talking about the 2020 election the most. We saw that in the Todd Blanche confirmation hearing this week, Senators grilling him on what he thought happened in the 2020 election. So for that reason, do you think it's a politically wise move for President Trump to go back to 2020, even if it is vindicating for him in some ways?
- [06:18]
Wil Chamberlain
I mean, it might be. I think I've been in the Senate and asked that question by Peter Welch. It's like, who do you think won? And from my perspective, he's kind of asking two different questions simultaneously, in a sense. Right. He's asking, I mean, Joe Biden obviously was the president, so he won in that sense. But then it seems like that's not sufficient. They want you to answer the question of, do you believe that if we had a platonic way to ensure that every vote was counted accurately, would the result have been the same? Right. Basically, was it won perfectly, fairly and squarely, and that's just unknowable. And so I think that Trump's whole point is like, yeah, I know I wasn't president, but I still think it was stolen from me. If he can actually substantiate that with evidence that he's now found as president, then good for him. And I actually think that helps him.
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Cabot Phillips
I just mentioned the Democratic line of questioning for Todd Blanche. I know you keep up with the DOJ quite closely. I'm interested in your take on Todd Blanche himself first, how he's been doing in the interim role and what you expect in this coming confirmation battle.
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Wil Chamberlain
I think Todd Blanche has done an outstanding job. I know there's been some complaining about the speed of things, but as a lawyer and someone familiar with how long litigation takes, I think DOJ has been doing an excellent job. And I think you're really starting to see the fruits of that now this year, if you'll remember, there were so many injunctions that were put in place in the administration that really were slowing things down early on. But to his credit, as deputy attorney General, Todd Blanche was overseeing all the litigation and all the progress that was made. And now this year, we've had so many different victories. We lost birthright citizenship. We basically ran the table everywhere else. Temporary protected status is just one thing that comes to mind. And as a result, deportations are at an all time high. We're ramping up there. So doj, I mean, crime is down across the board, murder rates down across the board everywhere in the country. And so Tom Blanche is doing an excellent job. DOJ is humming. And it's no surprise that Democrats are really furious about Blanche being in charge because they know not only is he doing his job on the immigration front, on the Supreme Court front, but he's also extremely effective at combating Democrat lawfare and holding wrongdoers accountable.
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Cabot Phillips
Will, I always love having lawyers on the show because I just get to pick their brains on all sorts of legal topics. So I want to get your take on the White House earlier this week waging war on the International Criminal Court. Secretary Rubio publishing an op ed in the Wall street journal saying the U.S. would quote, Systematically dismantle the ICC. What is the administration's main gripe with the court?
- [08:56]
Wil Chamberlain
It's going way beyond its purview and trying to it implies that it has jurisdiction over American soldiers who they allege have committed war crimes in places like Afghanistan, which we find totally intolerable. We're not a signatory to the icc, to the Rome Statute, which is the ICC treaty that was supposed to limit jurisdiction over non signatories to situations where they didn't have something in their domestic courts to hold people accountable, like really third world crazy lunatic dictators. But instead they're talking about going They've been trying to exert jurisdiction over Israel, a non signatory, and America, a non signatory, which means they're just hostile to our country and our alliance structure and our global leadership. Sorry, we're not going to put up with that. We actually have a statute on the books that says if the ICC ever tries to apprehend an American, we can invade the Hague and we will. You know, we're not going to put up with it. And moreover, because they just keep insinuating that they have this jurisdiction, it's time for them to understand that they're playing the game of sovereignty without sovereign, meaningful sovereign power. They're totally reliant on their European allies who are reliant on us. So we're going to put the squeeze on them enormously now. And I think the end of this is going to lead to the dissolution of the court.
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Cabot Phillips
It will be a fascinating battle to see, hopefully a legal one. Hopefully not one that requires us invading the Hague. Although it would be interesting to see that happen. Will, before we let you go, it'd
- [10:17]
Wil Chamberlain
be a little funny. It would be kind of funny.
- [10:20]
Cabot Phillips
I wasn't gonna say. I'm glad you said it. You're the serious lawyer. You can say those things. And I'll hide behind you. Before we let you go, you have just a magnificent bookshelf behind you. I like to ask our guests what they're reading. What are you reading right now?
- [10:32]
Wil Chamberlain
I'm reading Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden, which is a book about the 1979 hostage crisis in detail. Highly recommend it, given that we're dealing with Iran and Iran's kind of holding another hostage. Right now, the Strait of Hormuz are attempting to the analog in terms of how the diplomacy went and what Carter was dealing with in terms of these foreign ministers who said they had the authority to negotiate but don't really. I mean, it's extremely similar.
- [10:59]
Cabot Phillips
One of these days I'm gonna ask a guest what they're reading based on their bookshelf, and they will inform me that the books are all fake. They don't read any of them. And it's gonna be very funny. But today was not that day. Will, thanks so much for coming on, man. Always a pleasure to have you.
- [11:12]
Wil Chamberlain
Thanks for having me.
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Cabot Phillips
All right, guys, let's get back to D.C. where Secretary of State Marco Rubio today hosted leaders for more than 60 nations for a summit on targeting and dismantling radical far left terror organizations. During a scathing address to kick off the event Secretary Rubio took aim at those who, in his view, hate civilization itself. Have a look. This is a distinctive and unique evil. It has always been driven by a hatred above all else, a hatred for civilization itself. It is a revolt of the worst against the best, a revolt of the weak and the cowardly against the strong and the good. It is perpetrated by those who cannot build, who cannot create, who cannot achieve great things and take their revenge upon the world for their own inadequacy by seeking to destroy those who can. Powerful words from Secretary Rubio. Maybe one day, President Rubio, when you see speeches like that. Joining us with more is Seamus Bruner from the Government Accountability Institute. Seamus, thanks for coming on. Great to have you.
- [12:20]
Seamus Bruner
Yeah, it's great to see you.
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Cabot Phillips
So the State Department and Secretary Rubio taking aim at left wing political terrorism. You are an expert in this field. Can you elaborate on what sort of groups in particular the White House is going to be targeting here?
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Seamus Bruner
Yeah, sure. It's about time. The administration's been working on this really since the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, so over 10 months. And you know, on the one hand that's a while, but on the other, government moves slow. Bringing 60 foreign governments together shows this is not just political theater. You've got Antifa and Antifa adjacent groups all across Europe, Italy, Greece, other countries there. So they have names like Antifa or, you know, names like that. They call themselves Anti Fascist. They're really communists and like Secretary Rubio said, they just want to destroy things. They've committed violence, bombings, firebombings, assassinations, everything that's kind of going on here.
- [13:19]
Cabot Phillips
Seamus, I think today you deserve a little bit of a victory lap, even though this is a very serious topic. You actually testified within the White House to President Trump directly where you urged him to take action on combating these left wing groups. Now he's following through. What did you tell the president? And just give us a little bit of a synopsis of the evidence you presented to the White House.
- [13:42]
Seamus Bruner
Thanks, Kevin. It's a team effort here. Peter Schweitzer's team is second to none. So we went to the White House and we talked about how Antifa. Yes, it's a story about violence. You had a lot of brave journalists there, like Andy Ngo was there and Julio Rosas, Jack Posobic. People have all gotten right in the face of Antifa and stood them down. But what I told President Trump and Secretary Rubio was there, Attorney General Pam Bonney, then Attorney General, and Todd Blanche, now Attorney General. Cash Patel was there, Stephen Miller was there. I said, this is a story about violence. Yes, but it's also a story about money. And I said, we call it Riot Inc. It's the protest industrial complex. Yes, you've got the boots on the ground, antifa guys. But you can't ignore the money part of this story, the thing that enables the entire infrastructure of these protests that turn into violent riots. And so I specifically mentioned Neville Roy Singham. We've done a lot of work on him and the DSA and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. And I said, this is a foreign money story. You've got this foreign Swiss billionaire, Hans Jorg Wyss, who's pumped over $200 million into the infrastructure here that enables groups like Antifa to get away with it. They fund the legal groups, the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU that get them back onto the streets even after they assault law enforcement. And so you've gotta follow the foreign cash is what I told President Trump. And I'm a little honored that you mentioned this because one of the reporters there, I think it was maybe from Blaze or somewhere else, they said, this guy over here, Seamus, brought up Neville Roy Singham and the foreign connection. And President Trump, are you going to label Antifa a foreign terror organization? Because back then it was just a domestic terror organization. And it's really funny just how President Trump can snap his fingers and make things happen. He said, marco, are you gonna look into designating them a foreign terror organization? And Secretary Rubio said, yeah, we'll look into it. And then I would say a month later, the designation came down. And that's really why we are here today. The foreign terror designation is so critical. And Secretary Rubio went through Iran, all these foreign countries that are funding these groups overseas, these antifa groups overseas, there is a foreign terror connection. This really is, in some forms, state sponsored terrorism. And it's just a great thing to see the administration taking it so seriously.
- [16:11]
Cabot Phillips
It was very funny. If I remember correctly, President Trump initially thought that this gentleman, Neville was Neville single, was in the room. And he said, wait, he's here. And she said, no, no, I mean, Seamus. And he goes, yeah, Seamus. He's like, yeah. He's like, would you like that? Would you like that if I designated them? And you said, yeah, that'd be great. It was very funny moment to see. But what is the significance of designating groups like Antifa, not just domestic terror groups, but foreign terror groups? How does that help combat them?
- [16:37]
Seamus Bruner
Yeah, so domestic designating a group A domestic terror group. And a lot of people have valid concerns because you get someone like a Biden or a Newsom or a Kamala in and they're going to do the. They're gonna go after conservative groups. So you really don't want domestic terror groups to be taken casually. I would say in the case of Antifa, we know that that's an actual extremist group. There was just a group, a cell in North Texas, we where they were the first ever domestic terror conviction that led to 450 years because they're targeting ICE officers, trying to assassinate them. We've had so much violence at the hands of Antifa across the country. Minnesota, Newark recently. So it is actually a domestic terror group. But the thing that's different between a domestic group is it doesn't have a whole lot of legal meaning. Whereas a foreign terror organization, why it's so important to designate Antifa a foreign terror organization. It brings in all kinds of intelligence gathering tools and it brings in the Treasury Department, which is, as I said, critical to follow the money here. And so Secretary Bessant, Treasury Secretary, has been phenomenal on this issue of mapping the money flows to groups overseas. Cuba, Iran, and this guy, Neville Roy Singham, I mean he is a huge part of this funding network. $278 million tracked to Neville Roy Singham going into what we call Riot Incorporated.
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Cabot Phillips
Yeah. And we know the DOJ has opened up a grand jury probe into Neville Roy Singham. So that will be something we definitely want to keep an eye on. But I've noticed I've covered a lot of these Antifa riots on the ground over the last decade. And I remember the question that makes them very angry is, who's organizing this? What is this grassroots? Who brought you here? How'd you hear about this? How is this organized? No one would ever answer those questions. The people that would agree to talk with me, Just how organized are these groups?
- [18:35]
Seamus Bruner
They're extremely organized. They're extremely networked. Now, to be clear, and I testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the Democrat members, Andy Kim from New Jersey, tried to say that we were saying that everybody at a protest is paid. And that is obviously not the case. You will have no trouble finding disgruntled leftists who are willing to cause havoc just for free to watch things burn. But the fact is, is that the entire from the no Kings on down, now, no Kings is very distant from the violence. But the infrastructure that they provide, they bring together the crowd. It's in a way A lot like money laundering. In money laundering, you have this layering where you put the bad money amongst the good money and then it makes it harder to catch the bad money. It's the same thing with these protests. They say that it's all peaceful, but at the end of the day when the sun goes down, that's when the antifa groups come out. And they all have these very expensive gas masks. You see them coming off trucks. They're well paid for. I know the Treasury Department is tracking this. We found some extremist groups that don't really have 990s. That's really, by the way, Kabbat, our method of looking up the money is looking at the nonprofit groups with disclosed filings. A lot of this is dark money, A lot of this is cash. And so it really does require the Treasury Department to peel back like Venmo and cash app and find out how these guys are getting paid. There's a whole network of what's called mutual aid. That's the main way that Antifa Funds itself is these kind of, you know, cash app type cryptocurrency exchanges. They've actually got their own kind of give, send, go go fund me equivalent called open collective. But the entire infrastructure, we found groups like the Soros, of course, the Tides foundation, the Arabella funding network, they create the infrastructure for these open collective, like mutual aid funding mechanisms for Antifa. So we leave it up to the law enforcement to determine whether that's a crime. I'm sure that they've got the best lawyers over at Soros and Tides Foundations to make sure it's not. But it's good that, you know, sunlight is the best disinfectant.
- [20:40]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. And you guys provide plenty of of that sunlight at the Government Accountability Institute. We really appreciate your work. And there's a common refrain on the right that these protesters, they're able to attend all these protests because they don't have jobs. And as you've proven, they do have jobs. They're professional agitators. So maybe we're not giving them enough credit. But very, very serious stuff. And it's, I think, encouraging for a lot of people to see the White House take definitive action on this, to see Secretary Rubio use the power of the White House to call attention to these very organized left wing groups that are capable of violence and political terrorism. So we really appreciate you coming on. Seamus, thank you so much for being here. We'll have to get you back in the future.
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Admiral Brian Christine
Thanks.
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Cabot Phillips
That was Seamus Bruner from the Government Accountability Institute. Let's get to a horrifying story up in Canada where a gay couple is suing a surrogate mother because she refused to abort her unborn child. They wanted an abortion because that child had a minor birth defect impacting their heart and a cleft lip. According to the couple now, their surrogate did not keep them adequately informed throughout the pregnancy and caused them, quote, emotional distress. It's worth noting this lawsuit is happening while the unborn child is now born. They're now two year old being raised by these same two men. Joining us with more is Daily Wire culture reporter and New York Times bestselling author, Megan Basham. And Megan, it's great to see you. A horrifying story here. What do you make when you read these details?
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Megan Basham
I mean, what I get from this Cabot is that this is essentially what we should have expected when we opened the Pandora's box over Berger Fell. Because what that did was it didn't just redefine what a marriage is, it redefined what a family is. Because of course the main reason that the state has had to take an interest in regulating marriage at all is, is so that we can acknowledge the importance of that nuclear family unit in raising the next generation of citizens. So that's why that became such a live and important debate. So there was never a point at which we were going to be able to say, okay, we're going to sanction gay marriage. And that was necessarily going to lead to, we now have to sanction gay couples obtaining children and forming these families through non natural means. And that I think is why we always have to come back to that natural law question, which is why are things, why do they work the way that they do? Why did God create things in a certain system? And so I think what we see here is that the domino of first Texas v. Lawrence and then Obergefell led to this really chaos in the surrogacy trade. And there's so much of it, we see no vetting. I mean, that's another element of this story is that not only are you opening up a black market in renting women's wombs, but so that people who are, the nature of their coupling is, is fundamentally infertile. We're saying they have no other way to obtain children other than adoption and surrogacy. The adoption process is long. A lot of people want their own genetic children. So you have these same sex couples seeking out the surrogacy process, but there is no oversight on this. And the child's well Being and the needs of the child are not prioritized. The needs of the adult, the wishes and desires of the adult are, are what are being prioritized. And I think this story really highlights how that happened and the enormous problem that we've created here.
- [24:06]
Cabot Phillips
What are you mentioned? The child, which is often forgotten in these stories, despite being the most important element. What are your biggest concerns with surrogate surrogacy as a whole when it comes to the well being of children who are brought in this way?
- [24:21]
Megan Basham
Well, I mean, you know, as I said, it's entirely unregulated. So if you as a same sex couple want to adopt a child, you're going to go through a rigorous background check. They're going to see if you have any priors for any kind of sexual predatory behavior. They're going to see if you've ever been arrested for domestic violence or any other kind of violence. So these kind of things would be factored into a decision on whether or not you're allowed to adopt a child. None of that is involved in the surrogacy trait. So essentially these people are just able to obtain babies who by nature are going to live in a house with someone who they are not usually biologically related to. And there's going to be no background check on that. So, you know, I think that was always an issue with the surrogacy trade in general. And I think it is important to call it a trade. By the way, I do that on purpose because there's a lot of confusion. People tend to use the terms adoption and surrogacy interchangeably and they are not interchangeable because you do not have that oversight and, and the protection of the wellbeing of the child. So that's one of my concerns. We have seen stories of sexual abuse coming out of this and this is not to just single out same sex attracted people, but it is to point out that if you don't have oversight, more of these kind of situations are going to develop. And look, I think the attitude of these two men illustrates why that's a problem. Because I don't think that in most cases you would see a natural biological parent coming out and saying, I wanna sue someone and I want someone to be responsible for the fact that my child did not come out as genetically perfect as I would have preferred. So, you know, that is why we say this is a very brave new world frontier that we're on here and we need to be very concerned about the morality of these technologies or saying
- [26:05]
Cabot Phillips
in the lawsuit, essentially, I'M very mad that I was not able to kill this unborn child who is now a two year old child. I just, I. I shudder when I think of this innocent toddler growing up and reading this story that their own parents, if you want to call them that, did not think that they were worthy of life after they'd already been born. It's infuriating. But I know, Megan, that you track a lot of these cultural issues very closely. Do you get the sense that public opinion is shifting against the surrogacy trade?
- [26:36]
Megan Basham
Yes, very much. And I think it's not just shifting on the surrogacy trade. I actually think the, the whole array of LGBTQ issues are becoming less popular with Americans. They have less friendly feelings to the LGBTQ movement than they used to. We can look at things like support for same sex marriage decreasing. I think, I think it was something like six points in just a few years among Republicans. It's actually down something like 18 points. So I'd have to check, like, what exactly the polling was on that Cabot. But what we know is that support for gay marriage is down overall. We know that support for surrogacy has always been in the underwater mark for these kinds of same sex couples. And so I think we're going to continue to see that as we continue to see the impact of the first domino, Obergefell falling and what that has opened up. Which is not to say that that kind of surrogacy wasn't going on before it was, but I think it gained a new popularity and it gained new awareness with the public after the decision of Obergefell because we now see it so much more prominently. But as you said, think about this child reading about this reporting someday when he's old enough to understand. It's horrifying to imagine.
- [27:47]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, it really is. Megan, before we let you go, I wanna get to a story you're gonna be covering tomorrow on Morning Wire. Everyone go listen to Megan tomorrow morning on Morning Wire. But this is the Smithsonian. The Trump administration cracking down on what they view as woke historical displays in the Smithsonian. First, what exactly have they been targeting for removal?
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Megan Basham
Yeah, so this report was pretty eye popping. It came out a couple of weeks ago, but this is still very much a live story because you have now, I would term it, the resistance is striking back. So the Trump administration released this report on July 4th. It found things like, for example, exhibits about our founding fathers, like Benjamin Franklin. It asks attendees to focus on the quote, unquote, enslaved peoples like slaves, women and indentured servants who enabled Benjamin Franklin's experiments and accomplishments. So you can see there that they're trying to take away what Benjamin Franklin achieved and give it to those who they view as more oppressed. And in fact, that exhibit asked people to imagine, and there's no shred of evidence for this. The exhibit asked people to imagine what, what if Benjamin Franklin had conducted his electric experiments on slaves. Now, that didn't happen. No one ever did that. Franklin didn't do that. There's no evidence that Franklin did that. So this is not about history. And I think that is a really sharp example of how it's not trying to be historically accurate by asking you to imagine invented things that never happened. And also some very sexually explicit materials coming out of that last segment. This is related with, we saw that there were exhibits from children who believe that they are transgender. So a six year old girl, they featured pages of her diary where she dreams of growing a penis and other things like this. They celebrated the 1960s radical communist Angela Davis as an unvarnished hero. So George Washington and Ben Franklin, not heroes. Angela Davis, a hero. So that is what's been going on. But now, you know, after that report came out and the Trump administration has vowed to act on it, you're now getting the Atlantic and the New York Times and kind of the circling of the wagons from the legacy media saying what the Trump administration is trying to do is infringe on academic and scholarly freedoms. So I think, you know, we're gonna continue to see this debate. I don't think the Smithsonian is going to lie down quietly and allow these reforms to take place.
- [30:13]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah. Well, again, I would encourage everyone to go listen to Megan's report tomorrow morning on Morning Wire. She's gonna elaborate on that story as well as some of the other things President Trump is replacing these woke exhibits with. Megan Basham, always a pleasure to have you on, my friend. Thank you so much.
- [30:28]
Megan Basham
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Cabot.
- [30:30]
Cabot Phillips
That was Daily Wire culture reporter and New York Times bestselling author Megan Basham. All right, quick question. What did 2020America and 1917 Russia actually have in common? A government that refused to lead institutions that folded the second they were tested, and a radical minority that took full advantage of both. One of those stories ends with rioters torching a historic 200-year-old church a block from the heart of the government. The other ends with the Bolsheviks seizing an entire country. In the newest episode of Real History with Matt Walsh, Matt walks through the actual historical record of how a small group of radicals took over Russia and lines it up against what actually happened in America over the last several years. Rule by rule. I've watched every episode of this series. It is fantastic stuff. And this one might actually be the most eye opening yet because it's not ancient history. It's basically describing the last five years of headlines. So go watch the real history of communism. Streaming right now on Daily Wire. Plus you don't want to miss this one. All right, we turn now to a very special guest here to talk all things public health. It's HHS Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Brian Christine. Admiral, thanks for joining us. It's great to have you.
- [31:43]
Admiral Brian Christine
Yeah, but it's great to be here. Thank you for having me on the show. Great show, by the way.
- [31:47]
Cabot Phillips
Thank you. I appreciate that. Admiral, There is a lot going on at your department, so I wanna just jump around a bit. But first, let's start with a topic that has millions of Americans feeling uneasy at the grocery store and at the fast food order line. Cyclospora. At latest count, there are at least 7,000 confirmed cases of this parasite. How much worse does the department expect this to get? Or do we think it's already peaked?
- [32:12]
Admiral Brian Christine
Well, I think the important thing to realize is that we really encourage here at the Department of Health and Human Services that individuals have a diet that is rich in nutrient dense food. And of course, fresh fruits and vegetables are part of that. We don't want people being afraid to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. You pointed this out, this cyclospirosis that's caused by a parasite that you can get most often in the United States. You get that from eating contaminated vegetables, for instance. You know, you want to wash your vegetables. Well, when you get them, you want to make sure you buy them from a reputable market. If you cook the vegetables, that's going to kill that parasite. So that will protect you. We don't want people not eating a good healthy diet because of this. But, but you're right, there's certainly a concern.
- [32:56]
Cabot Phillips
Now, critics of the Trump administration say that budget cuts to places like HHS have exacerbated this outbreak. I want to give you a chance to respond to a New York Times headline that ran yesterday saying cyclospora was already hard to investigate. Funding cuts make it harder. Is that accurate?
- [33:16]
Admiral Brian Christine
No. Let me tell you, the Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump and under Secretary Kennedy is doing amazing things. The number of wins that we have for the American people in this administration, we could do victory laps all day long. From our really groundbreaking report on gender dysphoria and minors. Standing up for our most vulnerable children. From our dietary guidelines that have really turned the food pyramid upside down, leading to healthier Americans for most favored pricing, most favored nation drug pricing. The things that we're doing with fraud and abuse. All throughout Department of Health and Human Services. We are spot on. It's because of the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy. I absolutely disagree with that headline.
- [34:01]
Cabot Phillips
I wanna shift gears a bit and get to the Pentagon where Secretary Hegseth just announced a plan to test the testosterone levels of service members over 30 and then offer voluntary testosterone replacement therapy for those on the lower end. Tell us more about this plan. How is this actually gonna work?
- [34:18]
Admiral Brian Christine
Yeah, absolutely. Cabot understand that before I was nominated, had the privilege of being nominated to be President Trump's Assistant Secretary for Health, I practiced for over 30 years as a urologic surgeon, specifically focusing on men's health. I know the value of testosterone. I know how important it is for a man to have a good, healthy level of testosterone. I support Secretary Hegseth and this initiative 100% and without reservation. They're gonna be screening their war fighters from age 30 on to look at their blood level of testosterone. If the individual has a low testosterone, they will be counseled. They're not gonna be forced to take testosterone. They will be counseled. And if they choose to have their testosterone replaced, which is a very important thing to do to they'll be able to do that. I really believe that the Department of War and Secretary Hegseth and I told Secretary Hegseth this. This exact same thing when we were talking about this. And he asked me to kind of weigh in and provide some help and some guidance. I said, you are on a cutting edge with this, sir, because this applies to men. We know that testosterone levels have been falling in men over the past four or five decades. There's decrease in testosterone levels amongst all age groups. And he's doing the right thing for his war fighters. I absolutely support it. And I think routine testing of testosterone levels should be present for men throughout the United States.
- [35:39]
Cabot Phillips
Now, for people who only think of testosterone replacement as, you know, a tool for bodybuilders or maybe professional athletes. Can you explain the health benefits that it could bring to someone in the service?
- [35:52]
Admiral Brian Christine
Absolutely. We know that individuals that men who have low testosterone levels, it's a condition called hypogonadism, low testosterone levels. Those men have higher rates of obesity, they have higher rates of diabetes, they have higher rates of chronic disease, higher Rates of heart disease, they have decreased fertility. Those chronic diseases that Secretary Kennedy says rightly are ravaging this country are all higher in men with low testosterone levels. So giving testosterone is not a lifestyle drug. I'm a 63 year old man. I am on testosterone replacement therapy. It makes a tremendous difference in a man's life. We know that men with low testosterone levels, they have a one to two time greater risk of death, greater risk of mortality from all causes. No, this is about the well being of men. This is about making our war fighters optimized to do their job, to protect us and to carry out their critical missions.
- [36:46]
Cabot Phillips
There's no doubt that higher testosterone rates are gonna benefit a lot of service members. We know it's gonna help them with recovery, make them more resilient, give them higher stamina, all good things. But there are also downsides to testosterone replacement. We know studies have consistently shown that supplementation can reduce dramatically men's sperm counts and lower fertility rates. That's especially concerning for, you know, men in their 30s who want to become dads. Is there anything that can be done to combat those negative side effects?
- [37:15]
Admiral Brian Christine
Absolutely. And I think when Secretary Hegseth released his post talking about this, he said, we're not talking about artificial enhancement. What we're talking about is using qualified medical professionals at the Department of War. Those doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners in uniform. This is going to be done under the supervision of, of those qualified individuals to get the testosterone levels back into a healthy range. And also for men, for instance, like you're suggesting, who fertility is important to them. There are ways to raise testosterone without having a negative impact on their fertility. This is going to be done by qualified physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners. It's going to be done under great guidance. I'm tremendously excited about it. I'm tremendously supportive. I'm tremendously enthusiastic about this.
- [38:03]
Cabot Phillips
This is a topic that's fascinated me for years. Because if you look at the data, we all know that phrase men aren't what they used to be. And sometimes people are kidding when they say that. But if you look at testosterone rates, that statement is scientifically accurate. There are studies showing that testosterone rates have dropped by more than 50% in the average male since 1970. So I know that Secretary Kennedy and the HHS right now, they're very big on looking at the underlying root causes of, of things when they're treating them. What do you think is causing such a dramatic decline like that among America's men?
- [38:35]
Admiral Brian Christine
Well, you're right. There has been this dropping, this Decrease of testosterone levels. Excuse me, as I said, amongst all age groups. And so why is this? Are there environmental factors, Environmental toxins? I personally tend to believe there are. It's probably multifactorial. We need more research on this. But we need to recognize and to evangelize for men and say, listen, get your testosterone levels checked, because maintaining a good, healthy testosterone level will increase your well being. It will increase your health span, it will increase your vitality, your body composition. It will decrease the tendency to have depression. It's really important. It's like any kind of health condition. You have to address it, you have to identify it, and then you have to treat it.
- [39:20]
Cabot Phillips
Admiral, on the topic of our service members, Secretary Kennedy, one of the things that people love about him is that he's been open in pursuing alternative treatment plans that might benefit folks. And he said, hey, I'm gonna go where the science is. I'm gonna go maybe outside of the box if it's gonna help people, particularly our veterans. And one fascinating initiative on that front is psychedelic therapy. You know as well as I, obviously that term conjures up all sorts of images for people. So can you explain to our audience what is being done at HHS when it comes to treating veterans with the potential psychedelics?
- [39:55]
Admiral Brian Christine
Well, you understand and you bring up a great point. So now we talked about the Pentagon, our active war fighters. Let's talk about our war fighters who are now retired, our veterans. We know that suicide rates amongst veterans is twice than it is for non veterans. We know that over 6,000 veterans take their lives every year. We know that every day, over 17 of those men and women who proudly wore the uniform take their own lives. So addressing significant mental health concerns is critically important. Secretary Kennedy and President Trump are absolutely committed to this. So psychedelics, if given under, again, supervision, can be tremendously helpful in treating severe and significant mental health concerns, but also opioid addiction. And so Secretary Kennedy and the President want to make sure that we are giving those veterans who suffer from perhaps mental health disease, or if they have opioid addiction, we want to give them access to these great treatments, always treatments that are safe. They've been evaluated by the fda. We're talking about taking care of our former war fighters by putting them first on the list, by putting them in front again. Secretary Kennedy is out front doing this.
- [41:03]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, it is a fascinating topic that I don't think most of us expected to see executive action on. And we have seen President Trump and Secretary Kennedy move on that front. I told you, Admiral, that I Was gonna ask a little bit of everything. So I gotta get to this next topic. My wife and I, we just had our second child and we were in the hospital. We did a home birth the first time. Second time we're in the hospital. And she said, I'm famished, can you go get me some food? I went down to the hospital cafeteria and it was fried chicken tenders and gross looking Philly cheesesteaks. And I was looking around thinking, where's the healthy food? We're in a hospital. Why is there no access to healthy food? And I hear that your department is actually working to encourage hospitals to offer better food options. Tell us about that.
- [41:46]
Admiral Brian Christine
And we absolutely are. And well, congratulations on the recent addition to your family. God bless you and God bless your family. Absolutely. Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Oz spoke about this recently. Getting commitments from hospitals to offer food, to have their cafeteria serving food that is basically based upon our recently or relatively recently released dietary guidelines where we are emphasizing nutrient dense whole food, real food, protein, healthy fats, fresh fruits and vegetables. And so we love it. The commitment from hospitals to do this I think really shows the impact that this administration and Secretary Kennedy have had on the American people. The American people are screaming. They want us to be healthier. They want to have real food. They want to see healthy food served in our restaurants, to our children's schools, to our war fighters in the military and in hospitals. To your point. So you would think hospitals would be the first places to have healthy food? Listen, as I said, I practiced as a surgeon for 35 years. I know how lousy hospital food can be sometimes. But we are seeing a shift. We are seeing a change. That's because of President Trump, Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and what we're doing at the office of the Assistant Secretary for Health as well.
- [42:59]
Cabot Phillips
Just one final question. You mentioned that Americans want to be healthier and we want more options. But I imagine one group of people who does not necessarily want to see the Make America Healthy Again movement thrive is people in people who are making ultra processed foods and companies that stand to benefit from Americans being addicted to these unhealthy foods. Have you gotten pushback from these large corporations to this initiative?
- [43:31]
Admiral Brian Christine
I think what's amazing to see, Cabot, is the fact that you have these large corporations who are recognizing that this is what Americans want. They have heard, they have seen really a modern day John the Baptist, Secretary Kennedy crying in the wilderness to saying we have to have healthy foods, we have to have more active people. These corporations are realizing it and they're coming on board, they're saying, yeah, let's try to work with you. Let's try to have healthier alternatives, maybe the oils that we use, or maybe having, you know, more nutrient dense foods. There is a shift going on directly responsible because of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy. I think it's a great thing to see, and I predict we're gonna see more of it.
- [44:11]
Seamus Bruner
Good.
- [44:11]
Cabot Phillips
I would love to see that. Actually, before I go, I said one final question. This is the real last one we've talked about. Secretary Kennedy, the need for fitness. Have you ever worked out with Secretary Kennedy? You guys both look like very strong guys and who could bench more?
- [44:26]
Admiral Brian Christine
I have not worked out with Secretary Kennedy. I tell you, I really hope I'll get a chance to do that. It's funny, when I actually interviewed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For this position, that's been more than a year ago, I made it a point to pack a set of workout clothes. And at the end of our interview, I said, hey. I said, sir, I've got my workout clothes. Let's get a workout in. He laughed because he gets his workout in in the morning. I. I have not, but I hope I get a chance to listen. A dream for me would be to work out with Secretary Kennedy and Secretary Hegseth. I would like to go at it with them, and I'm sure both of them can outlift me. But I'd tell you what, I would give it my best. I would challenge them for sure.
- [45:03]
Cabot Phillips
See, Admiral, you didn't need to bring workout clothes because we know, we've seen the video. Secretary Kennedy just works out in blue jeans, so you didn't need to bring workout clothes. You could have just gone straight in uniform and done it. Admiral, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. I know you got a lot of work you're doing, so thank you for making time for us.
- [45:19]
Admiral Brian Christine
No, thank you. God bless you. And I would be happy to come back anytime. But thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for talking to the American people. Thank you for letting people like myself on to really tell them the good things that we're doing and also to talk about the things that we have to watch out for.
- [45:33]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, we will take you up on that. Absolutely, Admiral. Thank you again. We'll have you back on soon.
- [45:39]
Admiral Brian Christine
Bless you.
- [45:40]
Cabot Phillips
That was Admiral Brian Christine, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health and I think my new best friend. I think we just bonded right there. Good times. All right, guys, you probably already know this. Christopher Nolan's latest film The Odyssey hits theaters tonight. It is expected to be a box office hit. But the long awaited return of Nolan is not without controversy, mainly stemming from his decision to cast the trans identifying Elliot Page, formerly known as the actress Ellen Page, as the male soldier Sinon. Here with more on the Odyssey and the state of Hollywood is our good friend, film critic Christian Toto, founder of Hollywood in Toto. Christian, it's great to see you, man. Thanks for coming on.
- [46:21]
Christian Toto
Thanks for having me.
- [46:22]
Admiral Brian Christine
I appreciate it.
- [46:23]
Cabot Phillips
So what do you make of the controversy surrounding the Odyssey? Do you think people are getting worked up for nothing?
- [46:31]
Christian Toto
I think there are people getting worked up. I think there is a kernel of truth or the reason why they're getting worked up. But I think in the big picture, no pun intended, it's going to be a blockbuster. Christopher Nolan is one of those rare directors that when he makes a movie, people rush to see. It doesn't matter the subject doesn't matter if it's a dusty topic like Oppenheimer or something, you know, based on epic poems, you know, whatever he does, people care about it. And so we've been building and building to this moment for about a year now. And yeah, the casting is curious for sure. I'm not going to deny that. And having seen the film, I don't think some of the choices were wise. But, you know, Christopher Nolan is the kind of guy who really has genius in work. He just. He's not like any other filmmaker. So even though there are miscues here and there, even though there's some problems with the film, it's still a tremendous experience, something you should watch in theaters and all shot in imax. So it's larger than life.
- [47:23]
Cabot Phillips
I'll be honest, I feel torn on this one because I think Nolan is one of the greatest to ever do it. And I mean, his catalog is almost impeccable. And traditionally, I'll say whatever Nolan makes, I'm gonna go see it in theaters. But I have started to see already some clips that have surfaced. Universal was quickly copywriting them to make sure that the clips were taken down. But there were clips from the movie going around of Ellen Page or Elliot as she now goes by, looking like a five foot one woman and pretending to be a Greek soldier. Did it detract from the movie? How noticeable was it?
- [48:02]
Christian Toto
It's distracting, for sure. But the movie is almost three hours long and there's so much there, there's so much to enjoy, so much to savor that you really can't hold those moments against the film. You can't listen. Why did he cast Elliot Page? I don't know. You know, they've worked together before. Is it a camaraderie thing? I can't say. It can't get in his head. Nolan himself has dismissed all the criticism. He really hasn't even engaged with it at all, which I think is a little bit of a problem. I think you should be able to, you know, tell your audience why you're doing the things you do. But he's, again, a unique talent, so it's not the choice I would have made. And there are some other issues with the film. Pacing problems, some other plot issues that feel like they were inauthentic, to say the very least. But very few filmmakers can do what Nolan does. The scope, the. The. The impressions he gives, the visual extravaganza here, it's undeniable. So it's a very good film. I think my fellow critics may be going a little too overboard with their praise, but you understand where it's coming from. This is a unique talent, and this is the way society works. This is the way social media works. They're going to get a lot of people upset about this. But I think you have to stand back and think, okay, is it a good film? Are these distractions a problem? Not really. Not really.
- [49:17]
Cabot Phillips
Is it his best work? And if not, what do you consider Nolan's best, best work?
- [49:23]
Christian Toto
You know, I am not as huge a fan as others. I recognize what he brings, and I think that even his great films have issues. Dunkirk struck me as a little impersonal tenet I'd have to watch a dozen times before I even begin to understand it. I have to point to the Batman trilogy as being consistent, really superlative. It does exactly what you need that kind of a movie to do. So I think I try to judge films on what they're going for. This is an epic poem, and there are battle sequences. He gets that. So I think with the Batman films, he just got it so right.
- [49:56]
Cabot Phillips
So often I'm gonna have to disagree with you, because his best work is one of his lesser known ones. It's the Prestige. That's one of my favorite movies ever. It's fantastic. But I'm not a film critic. Yeah, and you were. You were giving the true film critic answer saying, yes, these movies are good, but there are pacing elements that miss the mark. It's impersonal. I never watch a movie in that way. I watch a movie go, that was sick, or, yeah, that kind of sucked. And that's why you're a professional, and I'm not. Let's get to another box office story going on this month. That's the latest film from the DC Universe, Supergirl. It bombed at the box office. Enormous budget, I believe, with marketing and everything included, it was close to $300 million total budget. Just how poorly did it do and why do you think it flopped?
- [50:39]
Christian Toto
It was poor in every sense of the word. The box office, the buzz, the film itself, it's not a good film. The script is terrible. You know, I don't want to get too into the weeds with this. This is James Gunn. He has taken over the DC extended universe. He did Superman last year, which I was disappointed by, but was successful enough to kind of relaunch this brand. But Supergirl is not an iconic figure. She's more of a secondary character. So, you know, going with her at this point was not the smartest decision. Millie Alcock, of course, said some things in interviews that were ill advised. I'll just put it that way. Not the end of the world. I mean, not like the full Rachel Zegler, but, you know, I think it was. I think she would do it differently if she were to say, you know, reach out to the media next time. There's so much to kind of pick apart here. The movie's not good. The lead actress is not compelling. The film's villain is milquetoast at best. It's kind of a dark, dingy film. You know, she's a bit of an anti hero in which she's drinking and she's rowdy. That isn't appealing. It can be appealing. Listen, we love Tony Soprano. Antiheroes can really win us over. But she didn't. So I think it just every way it could fail, it did. And it's gonna cost them a lot of money at Warner Brothers.
- [51:51]
Cabot Phillips
It seems that we have seen a just growing number of female led superhero and action movies. And maybe it's just my perception, but it seems like half of these movies are box office duds and that Americans are kind of getting tired of the female lead superhero beating up all of these men. Do you think that Hollywood is going to learn from that trend? Is there any evidence of that?
- [52:18]
Christian Toto
It'll take maybe a couple more examples for them to really learn the lesson. But I think the bottom line is simple. Wonder Woman came out in 2017 and it was terrific. And Gal Gadot was perfectly cast as Wonder Woman and it was a quality film. It had great adventure, some comic beats, fish out of water elements, a little bit of romance. It just did what you wanted a superhero film to do. These other films just don't now. You know, I wrote, literally wrote the book on woke Hollywood called Virtue Bombs. And I. I noticed that when there's an agenda at play in any capacity, it just seems like the storytelling, the. The craftsmanship suffers. I don't even know why exactly, but I think we're seeing that Madame Web was a very bad movie. It only really has value now as a comic piece, like something to laugh at. I mean, I'd love to watch it again. It. Just have a couple beers and watch it and kind of laugh at how poorly it's orchestrated. So I don't know why that is. We've seen that again and again and again. And it happens with Supergirl again. James Gunn, the person behind this whole franchise, said, I read this script for Supergirl and we needed to make this. Is he maybe imbibing too much? How did he see the script, which is flat out terrible, and say, yeah, we want this. We need to kind of move forward with this project? I don't get it. I really don't get it. He's got to be smarter than me. He's in the business. He's made some good films. How did you not see what everyone can see? That this is a complete dud of a script which leads to a dud of a movie.
- [53:39]
Cabot Phillips
Christian, I would love to get a beer with you sometime, but I would not love to have a beer with you while watching Madame Web. That does not sound like my idea of a good night. You said it sounds kind of fun. It's going to take some convincing to get me on board. Christian, thank you so much for joining us, man. We really appreciate it. You're the best.
- [53:57]
Christian Toto
Thanks.
- [53:57]
Seamus Bruner
My pleasure.
- [53:58]
Cabot Phillips
Go read Christian's work at Hollywood in Toto and also go read Christian's work on thedailywire.com he has written extensively on the site. Go give that a look. All right, it's the end of the week for Wired in. At least I know you guys still have to go to work on Friday, but Wired in is off on Fridays, so how about we close things off with a little fact or fiction? Joining us now is Daily Wire managing editor Dylan Halsman. Dylan, it's great to see you, man.
- [54:25]
Dylan Halsman
Thanks, Kevin. I love me some banker fiction, so I'm excited to be here.
- [54:29]
Cabot Phillips
Let's do it.
- [54:30]
Dylan Halsman
All right.
- [54:30]
Cabot Phillips
You are gonna help us decipher whether my bold claims are fact or fiction. First up, Dylan, Republicans will hold the Senate in November. Fact or fiction?
- [54:44]
Dylan Halsman
You know, when you talk to me about some of the question ideas you had earlier. I thought this was the hardest one. So you're just getting it out of the way first, which I love. I think fact for now. I was torn on this one, but I looked at the map, I was refreshing my memory a bit on where things stand. And, you know, if you give Democrats all of the kind of toss up ones that are favorable to them, you give them Maine, which is a mess. You give them Michigan, which could be a mess. You give them North Carolina, all those, only get them to 49 still. You're talking about having to get two more. You're talking about having to get Iowa or Alaska or Texas, actually getting multiple of those, Ohio, which are all red states. So, you know, maybe if things get really bad for Republicans, it's not inconceivable, but I'm going to go fact right now for Republicans over the Senate.
- [55:26]
Cabot Phillips
Okay. You mentioned Texas. Fact or fiction? Texas will turn blue in November.
- [55:33]
Dylan Halsman
You know, this is one of those things where I'm going to have to see it before I believe it. Maybe Texas will turn blue someday. But we've been told every single year, every single election cycle, it's about to happen. And you know, Ken Paxton has some vulnerabilities, you could say, but so does the guy that thinks God is non binary. It's just hard for me to see him being the one who's going to finally bring this to fruition.
- [55:53]
Cabot Phillips
I have to say I'll believe that he could win if he starts eating steak on the campaign trail because we know he was bragging about his campaign being a vegan one, I believe. Okay, let's get to this. The House then. Fact or fiction? Republicans will hold the House in November.
- [56:11]
Dylan Halsman
I think fiction on this one, but I think it's closer than people expect. I think people for a while have been in the mindset that of course they're gonna lose the House. Of course it's gonna be a disaster. The party in power always loses. But I think the redistricting push really has made this a lot more interesting than it could have been. And I think if we get to a point where, you know, gas prices come down a little bit more, inflation cools off a little bit more like it has in certain months this year, I think it's possible. It's possible Republicans could hold on to it, but I think fiction for the time being.
- [56:39]
Cabot Phillips
Yeah, I'm usually the eternal optimist, but I think I'm with you on that one, unfortunately. Let's get to some more out there ones. Zoran Mamdani, America's mayor, will run for Senate within the next five years. Fact or fiction?
- [56:55]
Dylan Halsman
I think fiction, and I think it's because he actually can't be president. For now, at least. Who knows what the Supreme Court will cook up down the road depending on who gets put in those chairs. But I think he can't be president. And so, you know, if I can't be president, why else would I want to be in the Senate? The Senate doesn't do anything anyway. It's kind of an inept body. Congress is pretty worthless. So I think I'd rather be mayor of New York than be in the Senate. The only reason I'd want to be in the Senate would be to launch myself to presidential ambitions and Zoron again, for now, can't do that. So I think he'll probably stay if he's smart.
- [57:23]
Cabot Phillips
Okay, speaking of presidential ambitions, let's do this one. AOC will run for president in 2028. Fact or fiction?
- [57:32]
Dylan Halsman
I think fiction. If she's smart and is self aware because she can't win, I don't know. That's giving her a lot of stuff. Exactly. If she believes her own hype, so to speak, then it may be fact. But we've all seen AOC try to be impromptu on the stump. We've seen her go to the Munich Security Conference and just botch very basic questions. It kind of looked like an idiot. So I think if she knew what was good for her, if her advisors were giving her good advice, it would be fiction. And they would say, hey, go primary Chuck Schumer in 2028 instead. And you can be a big power player that way. But who knows? If she believes in herself and her own dreams, perhaps it will be fact. I don't know.
- [58:07]
Cabot Phillips
My theory on AOC running for president is that if she could run the Joe Biden 2020 campaign, where she gets to stay in a locked room and just film videos all day and make tiktoks and then show up for the occasional scripted speech and leave and then not really have any debates that she might run, but that probably will not be the case. Yeah, okay. I'm proud of you. Yeah, it did work once. I'm proud of this one. Might throw you off a bit. John Fetterman will be a Republican by 2028. Fact or fiction?
- [58:41]
Dylan Halsman
You know, you said you're the eternal optimist, so I hate to be negative on this one, but I think fiction, because, you know, John Fetterman doesn't actually agree with Republicans on very much. I think people kind of get in this, you know, this tunnel vision with him where they see him talk about Israel and call out some of the crazy wacko socialists on his side and he seems more aligned with Republicans on those things. He doesn't vote like a Republican. So, you know, maybe if he gets primaried out, there's some last second flip to try to, you know, save himself or run as an independent or something like that. I mean, I won't rule anything out as kind of a desperate move, but the guy, he doesn't really vote like a Republican. So I think it's probably fiction. But I don't know, it'd be kind of funny. It'd be kind of fun.
- [59:20]
Cabot Phillips
It would be funny. Let's get to some more outlandish ones that maybe aren't outlandish. I don't know. The Supreme Court will still have nine justices by the year 2040. Fact or fiction?
- [59:33]
Dylan Halsman
I think fact. I think people don't actually want this, right? Like it's just a fever dream of the left wing crazies and the people who are trying to upend the entire system. Maybe I'm being, being the eternal optimist here, but I have to think that the people actually, you know, in charge running the country are not stupid enough to want to upend the whole constitutional system because that's what this would be. So, you know, I think it'll be, it might be kind of like overturning Obamacare. You know, maybe the Democrats will just scream about it for 15 years and then end up not actually doing it. That's kind of how I think that plays out.
- [60:04]
Cabot Phillips
Okay, so that might play into this next one. Then the Electoral College will exist in 2040. Fact or fiction,
- [60:11]
Dylan Halsman
Cabot? Only losers complain about the Electoral College. And as long as both parties keep losing enough, there won't be enough of a groundswell within one of them to get rid of the Electoral College, I think. And so I think we're safe on that one. I think a fact it will be the Electoral College still in existence in 2040, but who knows?
- [60:27]
Cabot Phillips
Okay, fact or fiction? Final question. You are smarter than Tim Rice.
- [60:35]
Dylan Halsman
Tim Rice himself said earlier today that we make a great team because I'm better than him at his job, but he's better than me at network networking and glad handing in dc So I will let his answer speak for itself on that one.
- [60:47]
Cabot Phillips
There we go. I wish that our audience, who all, they all love Tim Rice. They love Little Beans and Rice. I wish our audience, I wish our audience could see him at a DC Happy hour or at a DC Gala or at the rnc. You have never seen anything until you have seen. You've never seen anything. It reminds me of what Lyndon Johnson must have been like rising through the Senate ranks. It is impressive.
- [61:12]
Christian Toto
All right.
- [61:13]
Cabot Phillips
We're gonna end it there. Dylan, thanks so much for joining us for sifting through fact and fiction. Dylan Halsman, pleasure to have you, man.
- [61:21]
Dylan Halsman
Anytime, Kevin.
- [61:23]
Cabot Phillips
All right, that was Daily Wire managing editor Dylan Halsman. And this was Wired In. If you guys are on Apple and Spotify and you want the show to keep going, you gotta become a Daily Wire member. Go to dailywire.com subscribe I'm gonna do a little show and tell from my set on this version of Subscriber Q and A. So head on over if you want to see me tell some stories from behind me, the things that I have amassed on my set. But everyone else, I will see you on Monday. Actually, no, I'll see you tonight. Go to DailyWire.com tonight for our live coverage starting at 8:45 Eastern Time of President Trump's address to the nation. So I'll see you guys tonight.