Morning Wire - Key Primaries & Supreme Court Rulings | 5.16.22

Episode Date: May 16, 2022

Voters take to the polls for key primaries, the Supreme Court is set to hand down significant decisions this week, and Netflix pushes back on attempts to curb free speech.Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The midterm elections pick up this week as voters in several states decide which direction they want their party to go in November. Voters' views about the economy begin to harden in an election year around May. That theory holds. Democrats are in some serious trouble right now. We'll look at the key primary elections across the country and which issues are driving people to the polls. I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, May 16th, and this is Morning Wire. The Supreme Court will begin handing down rulings today. When can we expect to receive to receive? receive an official answer on Roe, and what will that mean for abortion in America? And Netflix is the latest company to push back against attempts to curb free speech.

We break down the company's surprising new policies and what it could mean for their content going forward. Plus, the latest on the mass shooting in Buffalo that left 10 dead. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is sponsored by Thuma. Your bedroom deserves a refresh. And now is the perfect time to elevate the most important room. room in your home with The Bed by Thuma. Handcrafted from eco-friendly, high-quality, upcycled wood,

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Primary voting is underway this week in multiple crucial midterm elections. New polling shows how months of economic turmoil and the leaked Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade are impacting the races. Here are the latest polling data and a breakdown of the most important primary races this week is Daily Wire's Senior Editor Cabot Phillips. So Cabot first, walk us through some of the latest polling numbers coming in, and then we'll get to some of these individual races. Yeah, it's interesting. After the leaked Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade and the ongoing war in Ukraine,

you might think that those two issues would be the highest on the minds of voters. But poll after poll continues to show that it's just not the case. The number one issue for voters is still the economy and nothing else is really even coming close right now. NBC released a poll yesterday, for example, showing that 40% of Americans still say inflation in the economy are the most important issues facing America.

abortion is now more important to voters than it was a few months ago, but it was still just the fourth most important thing at just 10% while the war in Ukraine was all the way down at number seven. Now, historically, election experts say that voters are fairly fluid on key issues ahead of an election, but that the month of May is typically when their views start to solidify. And if you look at the data over the years, that trend almost always holds true.

And this year, again, that's bad news for Democrats. Here's Chuck Todd on Meet the Press yesterday, summarizing things. A whopping 75% say we're on the wrong track. In fact, that wrong track number has been 70 plus for seven months, which in the past has signaled big losses for the governing party. President Biden's numbers have hit a new low. Only 39% approve of his job performance against 56% who disapproved. All right, so let's talk about some of those midterms. We've got a few important primaries tomorrow. Which ones should we be watching? Yeah, there are five states heading to the polls to decide midterm candidates. But the two being most closely watched, especially by

Republicans are Pennsylvania and North Carolina where there's no incumbent running. In the Pennsylvania Republican primary, former TV personality Dr. Oz has been leading the race for months. But in the past few weeks, we've really seen a surge from newcomer Kathy Barnett. And the race is now essentially in a three-way tie between Oz Barnett and businessman David McCormick. Oz has scored an endorsement from President Trump and also has a name recognition advantage. But he's struggling lately to overcome concerns from the party's base over past comments he'd made on abortion and transgenderism. McCormick is generally considered more of an establishment Republican.

He's a successful hedge fund manager and also has experience in the Treasury Department. And Barnett, who has a compelling personal story and grassroots support, is a relative unknown, which is also becoming the number one criticism about her, with many claiming she needs far more vetting before being considered a serious candidate. So this race could offer important insight into how much an endorsement from Donald Trump helps with primary voters and which direction the party is going. is key swing state of Pennsylvania. All right, so that's in Pennsylvania.

What about North Carolina? Yeah, there's been an intense primary there to see who's going to replace outgoing Republican Senator Richard Burr. Right now, it looks like it'll come down to Ted Budd, a current House member with Trump's endorsement as well, and former Governor Pat McCrory. Now, Bud currently has the lead,

but we'll be watching Tuesday night to see if he's able to get over 30% of the vote, which would mean he'd be able to avoid a runoff. The other North Carolina primary being watched on Tuesday is that of House member Madison Cawthorne. He's become one of the most prominent Republicans in the House, but it's currently facing serious primary challenges after a tumultuous first term in office. And some other races taking place nationwide this week are in Oregon, Idaho, and Kentucky. But in all of those, the incumbents are expected to win easily with the highest profile candidate there being Republican Senator Rand Paul and Kentucky.

Well, a lot of people will be tuning in to watch what happens in several of those, particularly that race in Pennsylvania. Definitely. Kappet, thanks for monitoring all this and keep us posted. Absolutely. That was Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips. Coming up, we could start hearing Supreme Court rulings as early as today. You know what you need this summer? You need new burgers.

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The Supreme Court is expected to release a batch of rulings this week and will continue to release rulings throughout the next month. Joining us to discuss is Sarah Partial Perry, senior legal fellow from the Heritage Foundation. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. So I understand because it's May, we are heading into the season where the court starts handing down rulings.

So can you tell us about that process and what we can expect in this next month? Sure. So this will probably be a period of time where the court will start to issue two cases per week or two sets of cases per week, now generally on Mondays and on Thursdays. They actually have one case left of particular significance. That's the New York Pistol and Rifle Association case. And that was still left over from the November sitting. But we also indicate that there are a couple of other very big cases, including Carson v. Macon. That's supposed to be issued as well. That's from the December sitting. So what we'll see now is pretty much a scramble until the end of the season. Usually that's at the end of June or beginning of July, but we have quite a number of cases still to be issued. So we anticipate a very busy couple of weeks. Now, when can we expect to see the official ruling on Roe v. Wade? Well, that is anyone's guess. While they did hear oral arguments in that case in December, and it would make sense chronologically to issue an opinion

from November or December's oral arguments. It's very likely that what this has done is possibly gin up some internal debate and dialogue among the justices. And the Politico League indicated originally that there was a certain unknown vote in Chief Justice John Roberts. We hadn't figured out whether or not

he was going to vote one way or the other. If I'm the conservative justices, knowing how much public pressure has been bought to bear, how much of the protest, Testing has now transpired outside of their personal residences. What this does is not only not to change my mind, but further commits me to whatever my previous vote was because these justices are very concerned with making sure they are not subject to political pressure. Now, we have talked in depth about this in the past, but just briefly, what would it mean for abortion access if all five justices remain firm and stay with that original ruling? Would the effect be immediate? Well, the effect would be immediate, and it's important to note that this would not make

a legal abortion across the country. About 26 states would most likely ban or severely restrict abortion. About 15 of them have already determined that they will expand access to abortion. Many of them, like the District of Columbia, up until the day of birth. So we'll see a very mixed bag. It will be much easier in, for example, New York or California to get an abortion. But Texas and Mississippi, it will be much harder, if not impossible. And that sort of mixed bag response is actually an appropriate federalist system of government

in which our elected officials speak for us at the level closest to us. So, Sarah, is it likely that we could start seeing rulings as early as today or this week? We will definitely see opinions today. the Supreme Court's already indicated a number of opinions are going to be issued, and it's probably not impossible for us to see opinions on Thursday this week as well. All right, Sarah, thank you so much for coming on. Thanks for having me. That was Sarah Partial Perry, Senior Legal Fellow for the Heritage Foundation.

A new memo Netflix issued to employees is raising eyebrows. In it, the streaming giant asserts its commitment to artistic expression, and it warns staffers that if they're not willing to work on productions that don't align with their personal views, they may have to find employment elsewhere. Here to provide some details and analysis on the Netflix culture memo is Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham. So Megan, this memo comes out after a walkout last year by Netflix employees protesting a Dave Chappelle comedy special that included jokes about transgender people. Is this memo connected to that event?

Yeah, you know, based on the wording in the memo, I think it is. This is the first update Netflix has made to its artistic expression standards since 2017. So that in itself is pretty noteworthy. And the key message in it is that Netflix is not going to censor entertainment based on employee views on social issues. So the memo started by making it clear that Netflix does intend to serve viewers of all political persuasions saying, and I'm quoting here, viewers have very different tastes and points of view. Not everyone will like or agree with everything on our service. It then seemed to directly address the complaints of employees who claimed that having Chappelle's

content hosted on Netflix's platform was harmful to them personally. It said, depending on your role, you may need to work on titles that you perceive to be harmful. If you find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you. That definitely sends a strong message. Yeah, it does. What made Netflix decide to make this statement now? Well, we have to remember that this comes as Netflix is really fighting in some ways for its life. The company lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, and that resulted in a massive drop in stock price.

So it really can't afford to alienate potentially half of Americans by choosing political sides. And at the same time, you look at the landscape and say Netflix is not alone in this. So several stories last week suggest we could be seeing the beginning of a trend away from corporations getting involved in politics generally. The CEO of Sony PlayStation released a memo to employees asking them to respect one another's differences of opinion on the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, Zeno Group, a PR firm that represents some very big brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, AT&T, Kia Motors. Well, it issued an email advising its clients not to wait in on abortion, calling it a, quote, textbook 50-50 issue.

Now, when a news outlet called multiple companies Zeno represents to get their take, none of them responded, nor did any publicly try to distance themselves from Zeno's advice. So it sounds like big companies may be starting to decide that getting political is just too costly. Yeah, it does. And, you know, a couple more pieces of evidence on that. In 2019, multiple Hollywood studios promised to stop doing business with Georgia if the state's bill banning abortion after a heartbeat can be detected went into effect. Those studios included Warner Brothers, Netflix, Disney, some big names. With a potential overturn of Roe, that may very well happen.

So Variety called the companies to ask if they plan to stand by that pledge not to shoot films in Georgia. None of them were willing to. to comment. That's quite a shift. Indeed. Thanks, Megan. That was Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham. Another story we're tracking this week. A government official said that the 18-year-old suspected of a racially motivated mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo on Saturday had been flagged as, quote,

very troubled in June 2021 after threatening to shoot his fellow high school students. The official said that after the state police investigated the incident, the suspect was referred for a mental health evaluation and counseling. He appears to have chosen the supermarket because it is frequented by African Americans and live stream the shooting, killing 10 people and injuring three more. He was arraigned Saturday on a first-degree murder charge and faces life in prison if convicted. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.

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