Morning Wire - 4th Of July Special

Episode Date: July 4, 2026

In this special 4th of July episode, Morning Wire's John Bickley and Georgia Howe, along with host Wired In Live, Cabot Phillips, swap the usual interview format for a personal roundtable on what makes America special — from Cabot's moving private tour of Ronald Reagan's humble Santa Barbara ranch, to the viral wave of European soccer fans falling in love with American hospitality during the World Cup, to John's unforgettable conversation with Vietnam veteran and medevac pilot Art Jacobs. Three stories, one theme: why this country, 250 years in, still inspires awe. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2875- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Alliance Defending Freedom - If you believe in the freedom to practice your religion — this is an opportunity to take action. Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE to sign the petition today.- - -Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacymorning wire,morning wire podcast,the morning wire podcast,Georgia Howe,John Bickley,daily wire podcast,podcast,news podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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U.S.A. U.S.A. I'm fired up, guys. I feel it too, man. I'm not a chanter, but I love it. I love the enthusiasm. In the past for Fourth of July's, we've had special episodes that included statements from some of our regular reporters and guests on the show about what America means to them. But this year, we wanted to do something a little different.

So this time, Georgia Cabot and I are going to sit down to discuss three stories that we've reported on or engaged with personally that we believe embody key aspects of what makes this country so special. I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe and Cabot Phillips. This is a 4th of July edition of Morning Wire. Imagine inviting a dozen friends to pray in your home and your city telling you to get the government's permission first. That's what happened to Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew, in University Heights, Ohio. When he planned a small prayer meeting at home, the city ordered him to get a permit,

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All right, guys. So we have all chosen three different stories that we think embody key elements of what makes America really special to us. Let's start with Cabot. We specifically actually had this idea after talking to you about something that you had just experienced the last couple of weeks. Tell us about that. Regan Ranch. Yeah, I went to the home of Ronald Reagan outside Santa Barbara. I came back and I was just talking your ears off about it. So you kind of had no choice but to make an episode of this because I was going to talk about it regardless.

Yeah, I think the life of Ronald Reagan is just a great reminder of the American dream. And I got the chance with our friends at Yaff, Young America's Foundation, to go get a private tour of his home. I was able to do my show wired in from his living room. It was one of the coolest experiences of my entire life. And what really struck me and what made me feel so proud was how humble it is. And as you're sitting outside of the house, there's this beautiful walkway that he made with stones that he loaded up in the back of his Jeep. and came and laid them himself. And they told the story of how Gorbachev drove up this road in the 80s when he came to visit

Ronald Reagan at the home. And the first thing he said was, what sort of country has a leader who lives in a home like this? And he was remarking to his staff, this is no palace. Where is the palace? And I thought that was a beautiful representation of who we are as a people and how we are citizen-led. And we had this humble guy in Ronald Reagan and getting to go through his house, I'd love to tell

you some of the stories that I heard that just, made me so unbelievably proud of this country. And you were there for like two hours, basically had free reign to do whatever you wanted in this house, which is crazy to me. And some of the photos that you showed me, it really is crazy. So they've left everything exactly as it was left when he died. I mean, that was part of the agreement with Yef, right? Yep, you go through the house and it feels like the Regents have just left for a bit, and you're just poking in as they're still living there. Everything is completely the same. They still have the spice rack with half-used, you know, bottles of pepper and all sorts of things that just have not changed.

There's still shoeboxes in the closet from cowboy boots that they both worn. And again, it was just the humility of the home in President Reagan. When he bought the house, there were two twin beds and two twin bed frames in the master bedroom. And instead of buying a big bed for Nancy and him, he just pushed the two beds together. He zip tied the bed frames and his feet would hang off the end. And so there is still this little ottoman that he put at the end of his bed because his feet would hang off the mattress. And this is the leader of the free world. This was their primary residence during his two terms.

The leader of the free world sleeping on a bed where his feet hung off the edge because he said, oh, we don't need to get another mattress. But the coolest thing I saw that just really hammered home to this embodiment of the American dream was a book on the shelf. He had this huge bookshelf. We all know how well read he was. And there was one children's book that the story they told was that he came home when he was about 11 years old. It was the middle of the winter. there was snow everywhere, and he found his dad who was struggling with alcoholism, passed out in the front.

And a little 11-year-old Ronne Reagan helps physically drag his dad into the house while he's passed out. And he's very shaken up by the episode. And his mom gives him this book. And the book is about a young man whose father is struggling with alcoholism, who ends up basically resolving saying, I'm going to make something of myself. I'm not going to be, you know, defined by these circumstances that I'm in. There's a faith element there. Ronald Reagan reads that book as a young boy, and he finishes it, and he goes and tells his mom,

I want to go get baptized. And so he went and got baptized at the church. And by all accounts, that story really inspired him to realize I don't have to be defined by what my life is right now. I can live in a country where there's freedom and I can do something with my freedom. And to see a guy like that who grew up in these humble circumstances who had this dream and ended up becoming, again, the leader of the free world, I just think it's such a beautiful depiction of where else is that possible? Well, I like that you said humble there because he returns to humility. Like he never loses his humility. Part of the key, for sure, about why he was so successful

and so loved by the American people. We still, he still is one of the most popular, maybe the most popular president we've ever had. And part of it's just that. Yeah. And the, the patriotism was just oozing from the place. There were, you know, American flags all throughout the property and seeing that was very cool. It was just hard to have that experience and not feel just a pride in America, regardless of anyone's thoughts on Ronald Reagan. I myself am a fan, but regardless of anyone's thoughts, it should be inspiring to see someone come from nothing, reach the pinnacle of success in an earthly standpoint, and then, as you said,

remain humble and go back and still live in a little tiny 1,700 square foot house that he'd built up in so many ways himself. Incredible. So Georgia, you wanted to talk about... Yeah, tough to follow, Cabot. Yeah, tough to follow. No, it got a little emotional there, yeah, me too, me too.

The FIFA story, so we've been reporting on this. We've actually done a few segments on this because we kind of can't get enough of this. I think you're right. Like, this is a defining story for this year. So I think a lot of us didn't even really think much about the World Cup coming to the United States because a lot of us aren't international soccer fans.

but seeing the storm on social media of Europeans in particular showing their love and delight and surprise with America has really opened people's eyes. One, wow, soccer fandom is pretty cool. And two, yeah, we do have an amazing country. And there are so many videos just flooding the internet right now. And you watch one and you're going to get like five more sent to you in your algorithm. And then suddenly it's like all you're seeing. It's the right kind of doom scrolling. Yes, it's the right kind of doom scrolling.

But people going nuts for like drinks this size and free refills and ice. And ice. And I just want to read to you one tweet that went mega viral. This was a Japanese guy in Houston really mind-blown about the free chips that he got at a Mexican restaurant. And it just shows this is just a slice of the Japanese experience in Texas. And then we'll talk about the Scottish in Boston. but his tweet goes, USA, a Mexican restaurant. These are individual sentences, by the way.

We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving. Chips, salsa, unrequested, free. I stopped the waiter. We have not earned these. They just come with the table, man. Or we have to start doing dramatic reads by Georgia as a new element of the show. He continues. He continues. They come with the table.

In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation. Wade carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This was not an appetizer. This was a declaration. We trust you. Eat.

I ate the gravity the moment deserved. And then, I must report this calmly. The basket emptied. And a new one appeared. Did we refill? The waiter said. It's bottomless. bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors

imagined. My friend warned me, don't fill up on chips, dude. Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honored demanded each one be finished. An unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was ruined, man. I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy. Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket, two at most. Who am I deceiving? There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The rest of this nation is in that salsa and I intend to honor all of it. Anyway, that warrants the USA channel also. Yes.

Cavett, cue the don't do it, Cabot. Anyway, so that tweet kind of kicked things off in a lot of ways but it went megri-viral because it's something that we never even think about, but it's so true. And that is just the culture of particularly specifically Mexican restaurants, but the United States in general is we're a very generous people. And I've seen video after video of Europeans going crazy for not just the generous amounts they get at restaurants, but the generosity of Americans. people offering to drive them places, giving them free gift. Just talking with them. That's one thing they've all remarked on. I can't believe how friendly people are.

They just want to stand there and talk to you. A stranger. Right. And I have in the past, I've had Europeans remark on that that Americans are always, you know, just chatting out of nowhere. And I think to myself, yeah, I do that. I definitely do that. And we all kind of do that. I kind of don't.

You do, John. I think you do. I'm not telling yourself. Anyway, so it. is just really lovely to see ourselves through, you know, outsider's eyes and to kind of get some of that love that we don't always hear, you know, domestically about ourselves. I love, I love the fact that that's not written by AI, I trust. I hope so. But the trust part of it, too, I've never thought about that element. Yeah.

We generally trust people not to break the law. Yeah, it's a high trust society in some ways, yeah. And that's how most of this does work. I can't help but hearing all these stories, to me, the message from a lot of these people is, I was wrong about America. Yes. That's kind of implicitly what's being said there. And I wish that for all, we've seen the studies, we talked about them on the show, the number of Americans who are no longer proud of their country.

I wish that they could see America through the eyes of people who are visiting to see how special we are, and that they would hopefully wake up and realize that people who hate our country, they too are wrong about our country. Right. And this sentiment has actually been so widespread that, um, some of those lib magazines have felt a need to address it. We have the Atlantic putting out a story that says the headline is, the feel-good story of the World Cup is too good to be true. Oh, my gosh. And they claim, I believe in that piece they claim that a lot of these people are,

they're pandering, they're doing it for social media engagement, because they can't imagine where people would be genuinely excited by our culture. Yeah, and yet the sheer volume of regular people posting these videos online, it is undeniable. We are a kind and generous people. And Europeans who have been, you know, brainwashed into thinking otherwise are seeing it for the first time firsthand. And, you know, reality wins every time over propaganda. And how great would it be if the U.S. actually won the World Cup this year?

Oh, my God, it would be so great. It's not going to happen. I don't think so. But it would be the funniest outcome of all of this if the United States wins the World Cup. They've got a chance. And I've heard a lot of people saying, you know, in a cultural sense, we've already won in so many ways. I mean, have we seen these videos pouring out? about people visiting Canada.

I mean, to an extent, maybe some people, I like Mexico City and I guess, you know, some visitors have. But really, the overwhelming sentiment is that America is on roids and it is even better than anything they imagined and nothing like the stereotypes. And on the topic of being on roids, let's get to John Dickley for his version. I am not on voice. No supplements, guys.

You could fool us. Probably going to start needing them, though. Yeah, so my, okay, So mine is, I don't think you can go through a Fourth of July episode without talking about the military specifically. And this is maybe one of my favorite interviews we've ever been engaged with. And I think George and I agree on this. Art Jacobs, a retired Army helicopter pilot. He is actually the father-in-law of our editor and one of our producers.

He came on. We didn't really know what was going to happen. In fact, we weren't really that prepared for the interview. Sometimes things happen in a rush, and we're like, okay, we're sitting down, we're going to have this interview. And it ended up being one of the most intense interviews we've ever done. I barely got through it. There's a couple of times where both of us were having a hard time actually speaking, like physically speaking, because it was so raw and real. And so he told the story of his service.

He served for seven years in the Army. He was a MEDAVAC pilot for most of that. He served in North Korea and then Vietnam. And most of his service was in Vietnam during the most intense fighting of the entire campaign. And he told the experience, he gave us, first of all, an overview of why he went into it. And it was really touching to me. And to me, this is a very American story on so many levels. But part of it was he just wanted to go in partly because, well, it seemed like the right thing to do.

And he says, I believed what Kennedy had said that we need to fight communism. He believed in the cause. And there was also, like, personal elements, you know, and also there's the GI Bill. You know, there's built-in personal incentives, which is how America works. But there is an overarching ideology

that drives you to do things that I don't think a lot of other people would do. So he goes on to be, he is a hero. The guy's a hero. He goes on to be a Medevac helicopter pilot. And a lot of times, you're going in, you're trying to rescue your fellow, your brothers in arms. And that means really horrible circumstances. Usually they're under fire.

Usually this is a, you're going into a place in the battle where things have gone badly for our side. So it takes heroism just to be in this role at all. And he said, I can't get over it. He's like, I had the best job in all of the army. He said it's the best job. And just to put a finer point on it, I mean, he gets wounded, not once. He gets wounded multiple times. And he tells us a story about how they get fired on.

They have to pull out of the situation. He's hovering over the tree line trying to get a guy who's stranded, surrounded by enemy troops. And he's hovering over the tree line, taking. fire trying to pull this guy up and he, I think at one point he has to leave. He has to go back. They have to get into another helicopter. And his helicopter goes down at least once. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So it does. It eventually goes down. Before that, he's told, like, you don't have to go back. And he's like, no, I need to be the one that goes back. I know the terrain. He goes back right into the thick of it, gets shot down. And he describes the experience of getting shot down,

which Georgia asked about. And it's totally harrowing. We're on the edge of our seats. But The point is he goes back into it, risking his life. He gets pretty emotionally moved talking about it. We're both just stunned by this whole thing. But he gets shot multiple times. And he still is very, he downplays even his wounds, even though you can tell this is traumatic. He eventually goes back into it again.

You know, he goes, rehabs, comes back. And he's like, and he said at the end, it was so powerful to me. after all this stuff, all the negativity about Vietnam, coming back amid all this criticism, and Jane Kerry, John Kerry, he calls them Jane Carey, and, you know, the Jane Fonda's, comes back amid all that criticism and says, I would go and do it again, even now.

Wow. And he actually pointed out the stat that 70% of those that did, the men that fought in Vietnam, said they'd do it again. Wow. So all of the negativity, all the ways that battle, that war has been distorted by the media and specifically by the Democratic Party in a really cynical way. None of that. He says, I dismiss all of that. I believed in what I was doing. And in the end, I was there for my brothers. And he, one of the parts that he almost cried in was he felt so strongly he knew his brothers were in danger and he had to go back and get them.

amazing to me this is this is so many things that embody what this country is about and part of it again you know it's a personal thing there is also an ideology there is an overarching thing that we all agree on which is we we actually do believe in freedom we believe in trying to maximize for people abundance give them opportunities we believe in hard work all those things that's a through line through all of it. And to me, that guy's a hero. And you know what he would say? He's probably probably say, you know, I'm just one of millions. There's nothing special about me. Yes, there is. But it is true. There's a lot of, a lot of Americans that feel the same way, so many of our, all of our soldiers, heroes to all of us. And they ultimately do believe in something larger.

and it's really the thing that's driven this country and made us such a massive success. And by the way, that was our Memorial Day episode and it's titled Cheating Death in the jungles of Vietnam. Yeah, not in a self-promotional way, but if you haven't listened to it, really do. To me, it was very transformative for both of us just to even be there in the same room.

One of the best things I've ever gotten to experience. And John, hearing that story, reminds me of the final stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner, which until recently I had actually never heard or read. And I want to read the final stanza, which most Americans are not familiar with, but this was written by Francis Scott Key, and you can sing it in your head to the tune of the national anthem.

But it goes like this, O thus be it ever when free men shall stand between their loved home and the war's desolation. Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land. praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. And this be our motto, and God is our trust.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, or the land of the free and the home of the brave. I think we should leave it right there, Cabot, Georgia. Thanks for doing this. Happy fourth. Hey, y'all's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if, like what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

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