Morning Wire - FEMA Response Criticism & Trump’s Butler Return | 10.7.24

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

The Biden-Harris administration’s hurricane response remains under scrutiny, Trump returns to the site of his first assassination attempt, and new exclusive polling zooms in on key areas within Pennsylvania. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. NetSuite: Make better business decisions with NetSuite - https://www.NetSuite.com/MORNINGWIRE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over a week after Hurricane Helene ripped through the southeast, the Biden-Harris administration remains under intense scrutiny for its response. This is disgusting. I've never seen the government fail us worse. I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Vickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, October 7th, and this is Morning Wire. Former President Trump returns to the site of the first attempt on his life, and tens of thousands of his supporters show up in solidarity. A very big thank you to pencil. Pennsylvania. We love Pennsylvania. And as I was saying, and new exclusive polling shows just how close the presidential race has become in what many are calling a must-win state. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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Here to discuss the fallout as Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta Giacomo. Hey Amanda. So let's start with Biden and Harris and their actions in the wake of Haleen. What have we seen from them? Hey, John. Well, as we've covered here, both Biden and Harris were away from the White House in the immediate aftermath of Haleen hitting the southeast. Biden was at his home in Delaware, and Harris held an event in San Francisco that brought in big money, A table for four, for example, could cost donors nearly a million dollars. It took both Biden and Harris nearly a week to travel to hurricane-affected areas,

and that's been contrasted with Trump visiting Georgia on Monday days before Harris. Trump has also raised nearly $7 million for relief efforts, and he's worked with Elon Musk to get folks in North Carolina free internet access through Starlink services. More recently, Harris has been taking heat for taping an episode of a podcast called Call Her Daddy on Tuesday. That was a day before she visited any hurricane-effects areas. The Call Her Daddy podcast focuses on sex and relationships. Harris is said to have discussed abortion. Now, the administration has also been criticized for its FEMA response.

What's the latest with those efforts? So citizens and local officials in hard hit areas have highlighted the lack of help from FEMA. We showcased a lot of those voices here last week. New on the ground footage shows FEMA officials getting to North Carolina, a full week after the hurricane hit. Florida rep Corey Mills and commentator Glenn Beck traveled to Asheville and taped their rather shocking interactions with the only FEMA crew they could find in the city. Beck said the crew was stationed off the main road where hurricane victims could not easily see them.

Here's some audio of that. We go door to door and try to knock on every door in the county. So when does that start? That's way above my head. Do you want to talk to my crew? Do you want to talk to my crew? Here, let me get my crew. The crew leader told the pair her cadre actually doesn't necessarily go door to door.

The crew also touted the FEMA app when pressed about how residents would even be able to find them. Keep in mind, just about the entire city was pushed offline by hurricane damage. Some residents now might have access through Starlink, for example, but that's going to be severely limited. Additionally, FEMA is under fire for spending more than a billion dollars on illegal immigrants through its shelter and services program. Though that's separate from its disaster relief fund, that spending has come under scrutiny after DHS Secretary Mayorkas said that the agency is running out of funds to help Americans this hurricane season. In another controversial move, the Biden-Harris administration announced on Friday that they're providing $157 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon. This is being compared to North Carolina residents receiving $750 from the feds for immediate relief.

In total, FEMA has distributed $45 million in upfront funding. It's also worth noting that search and rescue missions are still ongoing in North Carolina. Now, as the federal response sort of lags, we've seen countless reports of private citizens really stepping up to help those in need. Tell us about that. Yeah, it's been pretty remarkable. Christian groups such as Samaritan's purse, for example, they've removed debris, help people tarp their roofs, and they've made dozens of trips by helicopter delivering food and water to isolated areas. Now, others using private aircraft to provide support for their neighbors,

that's run into a snag too from the feds, apparently. There are reports online of Good Samaritans being blocked from making such deliveries. Elon Musk actually brought attention to this issue. He posted a video of a space X engineer trying to deliver essentials and Starlink devices in North Carolina. While Musk's issue has been resolved, It's unclear if others are still running into these complications at a time when Americans are in really desperate need. Let's certainly hope not lives are on the line here. Amanda, thanks for reporting. You're welcome.

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On Saturday, former President Trump returned to Butler, Pennsylvania to hold a rally in the exact spot where an assassin tried to take his life on July 13th, killing a father named Corey Comparatore and injuring two others. Daily Wire senior reporter Mary Margaret Ollahan was on the ground in Butler on Saturday, and she joins us now, Hey, Mary Margaret. So first, what was the mood like in Butler? Good morning, John. We stood in the exact same space where Corey was tragically shot and killed and where Trump narrowly missed death himself. And pretty much every single person we spoke to on Saturday said that they felt the immense significance of Trump's return to Butler. In fact,

we talked to a number of people who sat behind Trump on July 13th and they returned again on Saturday to show their support. Now, we've seen the footage in some rough estimates. But how many people attended Saturday's rally? Well, the Trump campaign told me on Sunday that Saturday's rally had about 100,000 people there, and it felt like it. The event was incredibly packed, and it did get really hot, but people stayed in good spirits and were very cheerful when we asked to interview them. Nearly every single person that we asked to talk to said yes, which is very unusual. And they all told us they were there to support Trump and to commemorate Corey. Now, the Trump campaign did a lot to honor Corey at the rally. What did they do? Yes, he was honored

repeatedly throughout the day. We arrived around 12 p.m. spent the afternoon interviewing people, and Trump himself did not start speaking until about six. And during that period, we repeatedly heard speakers talking about Corey and his family, who were there yesterday in the stands. Corey was sitting behind Trump over the former president's left shoulder when the assassin's bullet killed him. As Trump shared on Saturday, Corey heroically threw himself over his wife and his daughters to protect them, and he quite literally took a bullet to save them. To honor his sacrifice, the Trump campaign adorned the chair he was killed in with Corey's firefighter uniform. Trump also invited acclaimed tenor Christopher Machio on stage to sing Ave Maria and Corey's

memory. I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire rally. And as he spoke of Corey's death, Trump described the deceased father's legacy as, quote, immortal. He was telling his wife and family on the way over in the car. He said, I'm telling you, he's going to invite me up in the stage, because I do that sometimes. I take people. We invite him. him up at the stage, and she smiled thinking it'll never happen. And little did anyone realize that Corey would be on the stage three months later in an almost immortal position. Now, Elon Musk was also in attendance at the rally. How was he received? Well, the crowd loved Elon, and he voiced strong support for Trump and even stronger reservations about what a Kamala

presidency would do to the United States. Elon also made the dire claim that if Kamala becomes president, we won't have another election. A phrase that we often hear from the left about Trump. I joined a press gaggle following the rally with J.D. Vance. I asked him what he thought about this claim. Well, I think what Elon is saying is that if we don't get this right and get our border right and stop giving away or at least offering to give away the right to vote to millions of people who don't have the legal right to be here, then I really do think it'll permanently transform this country in a very negative way. Well, a truly historic moment this weekend that you were there to document for us in person. Mary Margaret, thank you so much for reporting. Thanks for having me.

Following Trump's return to Pennsylvania, exclusive new polling from the Signal Group shows just how close the election is in this crucial battleground state. Here with the brand new numbers is Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot, before we get into this exclusive poll from Pennsylvania, can you just walk us through why this state is so important this cycle? Well, it is no exaggeration the state of Pennsylvania will likely decide this entire race. In 10 of the last 12 elections, Pennsylvania has voted for the eventual president. So it's very hard to win without its 19 electoral votes the most of any swing state. Now, at the moment, the polls there show a dead tie. So to get a better idea of how the state might vote, we partnered with Signal polling to conduct a special poll there.

Now, Signal is approaching polling differently from some of the other pollsters. Tell us about their method. Yeah, instead of surveying a thousand random voters from around the state, they focus Augustin on Pennsylvania's two Bellwether counties, Erie and Northampton. These are the counties that voted for Obama twice, and then Trump in 16 and Biden in 20. Bellwether counties are sort of the battleground within the battleground. Historically, whoever wins there wins the White House. Signal found Donald Trump ahead of Harris by a 49 to 48 margin there. So, as expected, very close.

But if you dig into the numbers, there are some very positive signs for Trump. And what are those? Well, perhaps most notably, these Bellwether voters, were considerably more fond of his four years than the last four years. 50% approved of the job he did. Just 39% approved of the Biden-Harris administration. 64% also say the country is heading in the wrong direction. Now, both candidates are underwater from a favorability standpoint.

Trump is at minus 4. Harris is at minus 8. But we see an even larger disparity with perception of each party. This is important. Democratic Party has a favorability rating of minus 13. Republicans are at minus four. And as with the rest of the country, the economy and immigration were at the top of mind for these bellwether voters. 54% said one of those was their top issue.

And that seems to benefit Trump. He holds a six point lead on the economy and a more significant 15 point lead on immigration. He's also up 6% on crime. Harris, the only big issue she's up on right now is abortion where she has a 14 point lead. Now, I know we also looked at the perception of each candidate. what did we learn about how each candidate's being perceived by voters among some of the key demographics in these counties? Well, it seems clear that Trump has solidified his support among working class voters who were voting Democrat in droves up until 2016. When it comes to union households, again, a historically blue voting block.

Trump now leads by 16 in those bellwetheres. He's also up 13 with those making under 100K a year and is get this plus 20 with non-college educated voters. Harris is up 27 among college educated voters. That is a stunning 47 point education gap. She also does perform better with wealthier households. She's up 18 among those earning over six figures and women under 55. A group she also carries by 25 points. Now, there were also some interesting findings about Harris's VP nominee.

Right. So this was fascinating. Most folks will remember that Harris almost picked Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate, but settled on walls instead, reportedly over concerned. that Shapiro, who was Jewish, was two pro-Israel. So among these bellwether voters, Harris has a plus 14-point favorability rating. Walls is it just plus two? And more importantly, we found that if she had picked Shapiro,

Harris would actually be ahead right now by a point, not down a point. Her net favorability would also have gone up 10 points with swing voters. So if she does lose Pennsylvania and the presidency, that decision to pass over the popular Democratic governor could come back to haunt her. Well, that was her biggest decision as a candidate. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Any time. Another story we're tracking this week.

One year ago today, hundreds of Hamas militants invaded Israel and killed around 1,200 people and took hundreds more hostage. The terror attack launched a bloody seven-front war against the Jewish state that has reshaped the balance of power in the Middle East. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the latest on the conflict. Over the weekend, Israel bombed parts of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in response to rocket attacks from terror groups in each region. For the past few weeks, Israel has methodically shifted resources to its north to combat Hezbollah. The Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to return tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to their homes near the Lebanese border. At the same time, Israel has been drawn into an escalating fight with

Iran. The Israeli military has not yet struck back after Tehran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state a week ago. A major blow may have been struck already, however. Tehran has reportedly lost contact with Esmail Ghani, Iran's top general and the leader of its elite Quds force. Ghani was last known to be in Lebanon to check on the state of Hezbollah's war effort. He was there right before Israel killed Hezbollah's top leader in an airstrike, which some now believe may have killed Ghani as well. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.