Morning Wire - Ohio Abortion Story & Political Realignment | 7.15.22

Episode Date: July 15, 2022

New details emerge about the rape of a 10-year-old in Ohio whose abortion story made national headlines, a seismic demographic shift is taking place in both political parties, and unvaccinated Novak Djokovic wins Wimbledon but is still barred from the U.S. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Within days of the Roe v. Wade reversal, headlines began circulating about a pregnant 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was forced to cross state lines to get an abortion. Initially, some media outlets cast doubts on the veracity of the story, but now new facts have emerged. We have the details. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Vickley with Georgia Howl. It's Friday, July 15th, and this is Morning Wire. A seismic demographic shift is taking place among Democrats and Republicans. We take a closer look at the new look part. and what it means in the upcoming elections. And tennis star Novak Djokovic has just won his seventh Wimbledon title. The next major is the U.S. Open. But will the world's number one player be allowed to compete while refusing to get vaccinated?

And I understand that not being vaccinated today, I'm unable to travel to most of the tournaments at the moment. And that's the price you're willing to pay. That is the price that I'm willing to pay. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all of your favorite Daily Wire shows.

Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you. Claims about a 10-year-old rape victim who had to cross state lines to obtain an abortion now appear to have been confirmed. The story became the focus of the abortion debate this week after President Biden referenced it in comments to the press. sparking doubt and fact checks. Here to explain what we know about this case is Daily Wire Culture reporter Megan Basham. So, Megan, obviously a really upsetting story here. What do we know for certain? Well, what we know at this point is that a victim, a 10-year-old Ohio girl, has been identified.

And according to the Franklin County Municipal Court, a 27-year-old man named Gerson Fuentes, has been arrested and charged with felony rape of a minor under age 13. He is reportedly an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, and he's now being held on $2 million bond. So Columbus Police said at Fuentes' arraignment on Wednesday that he had admitted to raping the young girl on at least two occasions. Police have testified that they first became aware of the situation in late June after a local children's services department called them on behalf of this child's mother. Telemundo claims to have spoken to that mother who told the outlet everything they're saying against. him is a lie. The girl and her mother live in Columbus, and with that Dobbs ruling, abortion became illegal in Ohio after a heartbeat is detected, which is usually around six weeks,

though there is an exception in the state for the physical health of the mother. Detective said Wednesday that this girl traveled to Indiana, where abortion is legal, to terminate her pregnancy on June 30th. Some other key witnesses here include Indianapolis-based OB-GYN, Dr. Caitlin Bernard. And she's now told several media outlets that she was contacted by the girl's Ohio doctor. And after that, she helped the girl get an abortion in Indiana. So according to Bernard, the girl was six weeks and three days into her pregnancy. Now, when President Biden first referenced this situation on Friday, the story had not yet been confirmed. That sparked a fact-checking storm online.

Right. Yeah, it did. And for reference, here was what Biden said about that. Just last week was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a raped victim in Ohio. Ten years old, raped six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state. So that led some GOP politicians and various media outlets to question that claim. To give you one example, Ohio's Republican Attorney General previously said there was not a whisper of evidence that this crime had occurred. and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, also a Republican, suggested that it could be a lie. Even the Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler, though, said that he was unable to determine the story's veracities without more details. And after that, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board called it, and I'm going to quote here,

an unlikely story from a biased source that neatly fits the progressive narrative but can't be confirmed. At that point, multiple Fox News hosts also treated the story with some skepticism. Now that it's been confirmed, though, some left-leaning outlets are accusing the right of, quote, post-row gaslighting. Now, under Ohio law, there is an exception for the life of the mother. Would a 10-year-old pregnant child not be considered at high risk? You know, I asked Dr. Kirk Milhoun, who is a pediatric cardiologist, who once actually treated a 12-year-old rape victim who did carry twin babies to term, about that issue. Now, he said it all depends on the development of the young girl. If she's 10 years old, she has gone through puberty to a stint where that she can actually

become pregnant, right? So she's not like a 10-year-old that you would think who's prepubescent. She is a 10-year-old who has precocious puberty to the point of being able to ovulate and become pregnant. If it's in a high-income country, then the death rate is 1 in 5,400. Now, that's a 99.9% and survive. Milhoun said that the greatest risk in this case would actually be for the baby. So a lot of people questioned whether this case wouldn't qualify for that health exemption. But according to multiple doctors we talked to, this pregnancy could have been carried to term without any significant risk to the mother. This is, of course, a developing story, and I'll continue to follow it closely. Just an extremely difficult situation. Megan, thanks for reporting.

That was Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basham. Coming up, a major realignment is taking place in the two political parties. If you like this podcast, subscribe to our Morning Wire newsletter available exclusively to DailyWire members. Get the MorningWire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at DailyWire.com slash subscribe. Use code MorningWire to try Reader's Pass membership and get your first month for only 99 cents. With less than four months remaining until crucial midterm elections, new data shows an unprecedented party realignment that could redefine the political landscape for years to come. The shift comes as new polling shows a near-dead heat between Republicans and Democrats for control of Congress.

Here to break it all down is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips. Cabot will get to the midterms, but tell us first about this political realignment. What are we saying? So for decades now, the New York Times has been tracking the demographic makeup of each political party. And for quite some time now, the data has shown that the Republican Party has typically relied on white and college-educated votes. while the Democrat Party was comprised of more minorities and working-class Americans. For example, as recently as 2016, Democrats won over 70% of non-white voters, while Republicans won the majority of white voters with a college degree.

But recently, there's been a seismic shift that's turning that narrative on its head. This week, for the first time ever, the New York Times found that Democrats had more support from white college graduates than they did among minority voters. Overall, Democrats now lead with college-educated voters by a margin of 50, 26 to 32, while it's Republicans who lead with non-college educated voters 4533. That's quite the reversal. Yeah, it is. And at the same time, Republicans saw record levels of support among minorities, particularly

Latino voters, as well as working class voters. As Axios put it, quote, Democrats are becoming the party of upscale voters, while Republicans are quietly building a multiracial coalition of working class voters. Now, we'd already seen anecdotal evidence of this in Texas and Florida. Remember, we talked on the show about the recent. and success of Republicans in majority Latino districts. Right. But to see further evidence in a national poll like this is striking.

Yeah, it really is. So what's causing the shift? Well, to answer that question, it's helpful to look at the issues voters say are most important to them. While college-educated whites, the ones swinging towards Democrats right now, are more likely to list abortion, gun control, and climate change as their top issues, more, you know, social issues. Working class and minority voters are far more likely to say that the economy and inflation

are their number one issue, and it's not even close. And most polling experts will basically say that the liberal college-educated voters care more about social issues because the economic ones are less likely to impact them personally. To that point, just 17% of white college-educated Biden voters say the economy is their top issue.

That's the lowest mark of any other racial or educational demographic. To put it simply, they can afford to have different priorities. And as Democrats have increasingly leaned into more cultural issues like abortion and LGBTQ topics. Many working class and minority voters who used to comprise the party's base

are starting to shift towards Republicans who are really honing in the economy right now and it seems to be working. Now, this poll had some interesting insights into the upcoming midterms. What can you tell us there? Yeah, this part was fascinating. For the better part of the year,

Republicans had been holding anywhere from a three to six point advantage on the question of which party people wanted to control Congress. But that appears to have tightened with the latest polling showing a statistic tie. The main factors driving that gain for Democrats appear to be the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the recent string of mass shootings. Since the Roe ruling, Democrats have gained about three points on average

in most polls. But it's worth noting, while there's good news for Democrats there, a number of other historic metrics still seem to indicate an uphill battle for the left in November. For example, in midterm elections dating back to 1974, the party in control of the White House has lost on average 23 seats in the House. And this year is by no means expected to be in average year given state of the economy and unpopularity of President Biden. Right. What other factors are at play here? So it's also helpful to look at congressional approval ratings. They can often help give an idea of how strong incumbents will fare. And right now, nationwide approval for Congress sits at 18%,

18, which obviously hurts those who are already in power. And one more thing to note, among undecided voters, President Biden's job approval sits at 23%. And historically, that metric signals a late break among undecided voters towards the other party, in this case, Republicans. Definitely there's some major shifts underway. Kappa, thanks for coming on. Anytime. That's Daily Wire

senior editor, Cabot Phillips. The U.S. Open, which is the final tennis major of the year, has no plans to allow three-time winner Novak Djokovic to compete in this year's tournament, as long as he remains unvaccinated. Here to tell us more, a sports writer and

Crane and Company co-host David Cohn. Thanks for coming on, David. Thank you. First, why was Djokovic allowed to compete at Wimbledon in the French Open, but not here in America? So, Djokovic's status comes down to current U.S. customs law, which still requires vaccination against COVID-19 for non-U.S. citizens to enter. Now, Djokovic has not vaccinated. He has no plans to be vaccinated. He's been very vocal about that, and that would bar him from competing in the final grand slam of the season. Now, you are correct that Novak was allowed to compete in Paris for this year's French Open and in London for Wimbledon, which he won for the fourth straight year. But remember, he was not allowed to participate

in the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, a tournament he has won nine times. Novak and his team were under the impression that he would be allowed to defend his title in Melbourne due to a medical exemption, but he was then detained by the Australian government and eventually deported. Right, that was quite the fiasco. It really was. Now, Djokovic has continued to speak out about his reluctance to be vaccinated, right? He has. He has said, and I'm quoting here, the freedom to choose what I put in my body is worth more than any title. He has also said missing competitions is, quote, the price I'm willing to pay, unquote. Now, keep in mind, Novak is extremely religious. He comes from a very religious part of the world.

And he monitors perhaps more closely than any athlete alive what goes into his body. But I've always represented and always supported the freedom to choose what you put into your body. I've always carefully reviewed, assessed everything that comes in from the supplements, food, the water that I drink or sports drinks, anything really that comes into my body as a fuel. Based on all the information that I got, I decided not to take the vaccine. Now, as for the U.S. Open next month, any chance we see him take the court there. I don't believe so, John. I mean, Kyrie Irving, the Brooklyn Net Starting Point Guard, was eventually allowed to play home games in New York once the NBA playoff started. So maybe there's a sliver of hope, but this is what happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force.

Jokovic has said he will await good news from the U.S., but I am not vaccinated and I'm not planning to get vaccinated. So unless there is a swift change in U.S. immigration law, I don't believe the 21-time Grand Slam winner will be present in Flushing Meadows, New York next month. Yeah, I'm sure his fans are hoping that will change. Yeah. David, thanks for coming on. Thank you. That was sports writer and crane and company co-host, David Cohn. Other stories we're tracking this week. Ivana Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump, died Thursday at age 73.

Ivana grew up under communist rule in Czechoslovakia before emigrating to America in the 1970s. She has survived by her three children, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, as well as her 10 grandchildren. President Biden met with Israel's Prime Minister in Jerusalem Thursday. The two leaders vowed to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. More than 500 women have filed a lawsuit against Uber, alleging that the rideshare drivers kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or raped them. Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.

We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.