Morning Wire - AOC Makes Headlines & AI Takes 911 Calls | 8.11.26

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

Massive changes are coming to both the House and Senate amid an unprecedented wave of departures, AOC’s comments on “Woke One” go viral, and a major US city turns to AI to run its 9-1-1 call center as the battle over Flock cameras grows. Reporting from Cabot Phillips, Chloe Trapanotto & Leona Salinas. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 3032- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors: Balance of Nature - Go to https://BalanceofNature.com today and subscribe to the Whole Health System—or any of their other subscriptions—and get an additional 10% off your subscription with promo code WIRE. Concerned Women for America - Join CWA’s growing army of fighters for truth and download their free practical guide for engagement and voting at https://ConcernedWomen.org/WIRE Lean - Get 20% off when you enter code WIRE at https://TakeLean.com - - -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

What if a few minutes with God could change the direction of your entire day? With pray.com, you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible stories, and messages created to strengthen your faith. Whether you need peace, encouragement, or a fresh start, pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday life. Download the pray.com app today. Massive changes are coming to both the House and the Senate amid an unprecedented wave of departures, primary upsets, and scandals. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Tuesday, August 11th, and this is Morning Wire. As another controversial DSA candidate faces her primary in Wisconsin, AOC's comments on Woke One go viral.

Woke One was crazy. Woke One was crazy. Okay, that's true. And I think that what's important is that we have to assess what... Was it? I mean, did the movement go too far? And a major U.S. city turns to AI while the battle over flock cameras grows. We talk about the latest on policing in the U.S. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. By 9 a.m., some days you already feel like you've lived an entire day. You've answered emails, figured out where everyone needs to be, packed lunches, sat in traffic, taking a call. and somehow the breakfast you plan to eat is still sitting on the kitchen counter. This time of year especially, routines get very real, very quickly. That's when the habits that are simple enough to survive a busy day become the ones that actually stick, which is why our secret weapon here at the Daily Wire is balance of nature. Their whole health system gives you a simple routine built around 47 ingredients,

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So, Kavit, can you just put this in context for us? How big of a shakeup is this? Yeah, it's historic. We have not seen this many members lose their primary races since at least 1970. And again, that number is expected to climb over the next month or so. In a typical election cycle since World War II, about six and a half house incumbents lose their primaries total across both parties. We've already blown past that average in June.

But another crucial number is that nearly 60 House members are choosing not to seek re-election. That is the highest number since 1992. Now, some are retiring outright. A lot of them left after their seats were jerrymen. and it became clear that they were not going to win re-election. And still others are running for Senate or governor, but that is a lot of churn. And again, for those retiring, it's not just because they're old, a lot of them kind of seeing the writing on the wall coming.

And combined with the flipped seats and the primary challengers that we just talked about, we could be looking at get this 100 new faces in the House of Representatives next year. It would be a completely new chamber. And then there's the Senate. Two Republicans, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, both lost their primaries to challengers running to their right. Eleven senators are also not seeking re-election, most of them Republicans,

but the House is certainly where the turnover has been most dramatic, and there are some clear political patterns developing. Well, and I want to ask you about those, but first, let's talk about Democrats because they accounted for most of these incumbents losing. Right, six of the nine losses from incumbents were Democrats, and most felt a challengers running far to their left.

Most were, again, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, as we've talked about on the show. They also had endorsements from New York City Mayor Zauron Mamdani, or both. In June, Mamdani-backed candidates took out two establishment New York Congress members in a single night. A week later, a young Democratic socialist in Denver

defeated a 15-term congresswoman who had held the seat since 1997. And just last week in Detroit, another DSA-endorced candidate beat another incumbent who massively outspent him, and that incumbent who lost had the complete backing of House Democratic leader, Akeem Jeffries. So what are these challengers running on?

Yeah, a few threads kind of connect all these races, if you look at them closely, Israel is undoubtedly the biggest one. Each of these winning challengers campaigned on ending or at least restricting greatly all USA to Israel, and they hammered incumbents for taking money from pro-Israel groups. Housing costs and campaign finance reform are also featured in all of these campaigns. But another big one is sort of the classic generational element that we saw in 2018, most notably with AOC. Almost all the incumbents who lost these primaries were in their late 60s or early 70s. And the candidates who beat them, them were mostly under 40. There was a sense among these candidates that someone who had been in

Congress since the 90s wasn't interested in real change and needed to be replaced by the new generation. That's something we've seen a lot over the years, but it's been especially pronounced in 2026. Now, I want to ask you about Republicans because three of the nine incumbents that lost are Republicans. So what were the trends that we saw among those? Well, the most obvious common thread here is President Trump. Dan Crenshaw, he was the first to lose back in March, was the only Texas Republican incumbent in the House running without President Trump's endorsement. and he lost to a state representative by 15 points. So Trump's endorsement looming large there.

And then to May, after breaking with President Trump on key issues like the Epstein files, Iran, and the big beautiful bill, it was Thomas Massey of Kentucky who lost to a, again, Trump endorsed Navy SEAL, Ed Galler, who had not a lot of political experience before that, but again, Trump seemed to sway the race. That raised through $32 million in spending, making the most expensive primary in American history. That said, though, it's not all Trump because we did have Andy Ogles here in our own home state of Tennessee. He lost just this last week with Trump's endorsement. He was sort of a unique case, though. He lost 53-47 to the state's former agriculture commissioner who had political experience and some name recognition. And also, that district had been redrawn during the redistricting battle. So about 80%

of the voters were new to Ogles District, and he did not have the same benefits that a typical incumbent would. So big picture, where does this put us heading into November? Yeah, I think there are two key takeaways here. First, both parties believe these outcomes. benefit them in some way. A lot of optimism on both sides. Republicans are eager to run against more of these Democratic socialists. And Democrats, they're eager to run against a Republican party that is tied at the hip to a president right now with a high 30 or low 40% approval rating. Republicans immediately move to make these new Democratic socialist candidates like Michigan's Abdul-El-Said the face of the entire Democratic ticket heading into November. And Democrats are

kind of brushing off that argument, pointing out that the vast majority of their incumbents are not aligned with the DSA and that they won primaries, especially in purple districts. But big picture, whichever party it sends up benefiting, we're going to see a lot of fresh faces after these midterm races, maybe more than we've seen in a generation. Indeed, big changes are coming to both the House and the Senate. Cabot, thanks so much for reporting. Absolutely. If you've ever found yourself frustrated by what's happening in your child's school

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That's promo code wire at takelein.com. As another big primary featuring a DSA candidate takes place today, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has gone viral. The Democratic Socialist Congresswoman made some head-turning comments about the woke movement, as well as a personal decision she's made that spurred more AOC-2020 buzz. Here with Morris Daily Wire, opinion writer Chloe Troppinado. Chloe, great to have you on, first time on the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. So we've seen AOC everywhere you turn in the last 48 hours.

for a variety of reasons. Let's start with her Woke One comment during her interview with Jonathan Carl on ABC. That's gotten a lot of attention. That was in the context of this primary taking place today in Wisconsin that features Democratic Socialist candidate Francesca Hong. What did we hear from Ocasio-Cortez on her in Woke One? And what should we make of it? Well, John, essentially what we heard was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez decry the comments that she made during the 2020 Summer of Love. It was kind of the epitome of gaslighting. She almost told us that all of the things she said during that time, she didn't really mean, and now we just have to take her at her word, that she's moved past that, and that was kind of just a weird teenage phase that her and her

DSA comrades went through. And if that was Woke 1.0, then John, I think Woke 2.0 is going to be 100 times worse. So Carl did press her a little bit on this and asked her specifically about defund the police. That's something else that Hong has weighed in on. What did she say there? Has her position shifted? Is Woke 2.0 different when it comes to policing? Well, she's claiming that her positions have shifted and she no longer wants to see the police abolished. But really, I think Woke 1.0 was rooted in the sense that America is racist. And what we're going to see with Woke 2.0 is that America is racist because of capital. So they're trying to switch the branding a little bit.

I think we're going to see the DSA platform become more mainstream, though, during woke 2.0. We're going to see a lot more anti-Americanism, a lot more anti-capitalism, and a lot more old-school Leninism with different branding, like what we're seeing with candidates like Francesca Honk. Yeah, we have seen more open endorsement of socialism and communist principles this go around. There's no doubt. Now, AOC significantly did not endorse Hong. She's been extremely controversial in Wisconsin. In fact, let's play a clip here. Here's Carl asking her about that.

You haven't endorsed her. Are you going to? No, I haven't endorsed in that race. My focus has been in winning back the Congress, winning back the House, and positioning ourselves to have the best chance possible to win the Senate. So what are the projections now for Hong tonight and why has she garnered?

much attention. Well, John, she is heavily favored to win her Democratic primary over David Crowley, according to Kalsh. She's got a 91% chance of winning that nomination. But that's not surprising because she kind of passed the Democratic litmus test of despising America and being very anti-Western. I mean, she thinks Thanksgiving is racist. She dislikes Christmas trees and snow in July 4th and fireworks. But I think, John, that's what Democrats like about her. It's just an added bonus that she also wants to abolish the Senate, the police, prisons, borders, etc. And tacked successful people into oblivion. Unlike AOC, she has not really walked back a lot of these positions.

Is that correct? That is correct. She's standing by some of them, except the Thanksgiving comment. She's now trying to convince us all that she likes Thanksgiving. Now, returning to AOC, she also garnered some headlines this week from some aspects of her personal life that she decided to share. And it's caused some speculation about maybe an AOC-2020-8 run. Can you speak to that?

This is going viral because it is a very strange thing willingly put on the internet by a public official. AOC filmed herself injecting herself with hormones as she announced that she would be freezing her eggs. And she even claimed in the video that she didn't want people to be weird about it, but it is a little bit weird because she made such a private thing so public. And to me, it also felt a bit like a mockery of women who truly need to freeze their eggs or use. IVF because maybe they have a medical problem. But AOC, as we know, she's healthy. She's 36 years old. She's not married. She is engaged. She's been engaged for five years. And she is ostensibly putting her family on further pause to run for president. So that is why people are talking so

much about it because this was a different approach to politics. Usually politicians have families before running for office. But AOC, she does not have one yet. But as we are now seeing, She's putting it on further pause to run in 2028. Speaking of the 28 election, you're an opinion writer for us. You have a lot of opinions on a lot of things. Your perspective for the Democrats, do you think it's going to be AOC as the lead candidate? I do. She is taking off in the polls over Gavin Newsome, and she checks a lot of boxes.

She is more anti-American than Gavin Newsome. She is a young woman. And she holds a lot of the DSA. policy positions that are kind of popular right now among the American people. So she could perform well among some of the moderate Democrats and perform well among more of the socialist Democrats and the very progressive wing of the party. Gavin Newsom is obviously a white male. He's very wealthy. The Democrats and the far left, they are not going to want that for a presidential candidate. And that's why I think AOC is going to be the front runner, front runner, excuse me. And I do believe

that she will do well in the polls if she holds these very radical policy positions because that's where a lot of the left is moving right now. And we've seen the DSA, you know, they're very effective when it comes to running campaign so that she will have them behind her, almost no doubt.

Chloe, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for having me. A major U.S. City has become the first to turn its 911 call center over to an AI system. The move comes as new tech continues to roll out for policing across the country, including flock camera systems spurring controversy.

Here with the details is Daily Wire contributor, Leona Salinas. Leona, thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me. So New Orleans has officially become the first city to incorporate AI into their police call centers. First, what prompted that move? And how is this being implemented? So the New Orleans Police Department implemented the AI system solely because they're completely understaffed and they don't have enough dispatchers to handle the overwhelming amount of calls that they have.

Carl Fasol, the executive director of the Orleans Parlish Communication District, has been very, very clear that this technology is not meant to replace people. It's designed more so to step in in mostly two situations, when a caller is within about 200 meters of a crash that's already been reported, or when every human dispatcher is already preoccupied. It routes the urgent and seemingly more crucial calls to real humans, while the more minute seemingly calls get displaced to AI. And how is it performing? Have there been any lapses so far, or is it too early to tell? So the NOPD hasn't put out any official statements saying that there has been any major issues yet, but it's so new.

But there's absolutely been a lot of criticism from other dispatchers online and just, citizens of NOPD and just general critics as well. There was, in the story that I wrote, there was an 11-year 911 dispatcher who went under an anonymous name, and he said it was the worst idea possible. And he cited that a lot of hard calls come from foreigners, people with hard accents, unclear speech, or a lot of the times when people make 911 calls, they make them cryptically because they're in a very difficult domestic situation. Now, speaking of controversial police tech, flock camera systems are really under a lot of scrutiny right now.

First, can you explain what flock cameras are and where they're being implemented? So, flock cameras are these AI systems, and what they do is they read license plates and vehicle details, as well as facial recognition to some extent. And they are being implemented in the thousands all over our country. And they're already helping catch a lot of murderers, police shooters, carjutor, carjerk, and a lot of illegal aliens, as well as theft crews. But they have also drawn a lot of scrutiny because some police officers have used them to help stop people. And the systems themselves, the tech, has a lot of vulnerabilities, as AI does.

There's also a lot of fears emerging from the public just about the general surveillance that these flock cameras take on people. You know, when it comes to facial recognition, stalking, and also just who's using the flat cameras and who's in charge of them and what they're doing with. the footage of civilians. That makes sense. Now, final question, we've just hit one year

after Trump's tough-on-D.C. crime policies were implemented. You're in D.C. How does it feel on the ground to you there? Oh, my goodness. I have been in D.C.

periodically before the National Guard was implemented and the difference is night and day. There have been over 16,000 arrests, nearly 2,000 illegal guns seized. I think about 30 missing children. that have been recovered and nearly 50 homicide suspects taken off the streets and thousands of gang members. And so personally, as we've talked about on this show before, there are still a lot of riots going on, you know,

specifically the teen takeovers that I recently covered a couple weeks ago. And there's still a lot of areas in which we need to be cleaned up. That's why I feel like expanding this task force is something that we need to talk about. But the stats speak for themselves. There have been more rest than ever. I personally, as a woman, feel safer walking on the metro station late at night. And so I really have the Trump administration to thank for that implementation as well as Pete Exit. All right. Well, Leona, thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you so much for having me.

It was great to be here. Thanks for waking up with us. The reporting that fuels this show is only possible because you tune in every day and because of our Dailywire subscribers. To enjoy the show, ad-free and join our mission, become a member at Dailywire.com. We'll be back this evening with more news you need to know. What if a few minutes with God could change the direction of your entire day? With pray.com, you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible stories, and messages created to strengthen your faith.

Whether you need peace, encouragement, or a fresh start, pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday life. Download the pray.com app today.