Morning Wire - RFK Jr. Shakes Up Trump-Harris Race | 8.26.24

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Trump and Harris pull out all the stops in the final stretch of their campaigns, Robert F. Kennedy Jr ends his presidential bid and endorses Trump, and Israel strikes several Hezbollah terrorist targets. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Babbel: For a limited time, get 60% off your Babbel subscription at http://www.babbel.com/wire BRCC: Give back by drinking America's coffee! Get an exclusive discount with code DAILYWIRE: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Birch Gold: Text "WIRE" to 989898 for your no-cost, no-obligation information kit. Qualifying purchases will get an exclusive GOLDEN Truth Bomb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With both conventions now behind us and the first debate ahead, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ratchet up their campaigns. Let us the most extraordinary story ever told. We will put America first and we will take back our country and together we will make America powerful again. With just 70 days until the election, where does the race currently stand? I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief, Jeff. John Bickley with Georgia Howe.

It's Monday, August 26th, and this is Morning Wire. This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes my wife and my children and my friends. But I have the certainty that this is what I've meant to do. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shakes the political world by dropping out and endorsing Trump. Could his efforts to get Trump elected make the difference? And Israel launches widespread strikes against Hezbollah terrorist people. positions. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. Hey guys, producer Brandon here. I've been learning to speak German with Babel, and I can't wait until I visit Germany and easily order my favorite German cuisine. Spassel anyone?

Babel is designed by real people for real conversations and their quick 10 minute lessons are ready to get you talking your new language in just three weeks. And now there's a special limited time deal for our listeners. Get up to 60% off your Babel subscription at babel.com. slash wire. That's spelled B-A-B-B-B-E-L-com slash wire for 60% off. Rules and restrictions may apply. With 70 days remaining until Election Day, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s endorsement of Donald Trump could shake up the race for the White House and put an end to the Harris honeymoon. Here are the latest on a number of campaign shake-ups and the path to victory for each side as Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips A Cabot. So the DNC is complete and fall is nearly upon us. How are things looking at this stage?

Yeah, we are now just over two months out from Election Day, and this race is a true toss-up. At the moment, Kamala Harris is ahead on average by 1.5 points nationally. That is within the polling margin of error, though, meaning things are still essentially tied. At the moment, there are reasons for optimism on both sides. So for Democrats, they can point to the polling surge enjoyed by Harris in recent weeks. Remember, when Biden first dropped out, she was trailing Trump by around six points nationally. So she's definitely gained significant ground. Democrats have also enjoyed a staggering fundraising hall since Harris took over.

They have raked in get this $540 million. That is a number unheard of in political history. Yes, it is. And they're using that money to blanket the airwaves in battleground states. Here's a bit of their newest ad post-convention. We must create an opportunity economy where everyone has a chance to get a car loan, by a home start of business. But most of all, that instead of being focused on the politics of the past, we need to be

thinking about the future. Now, it's worth noting, Republicans have taken issue with that politics of the past message, reminding voters that she is currently in power and has been for the last three and a half years. They're optimistic that sooner or later, Kamala Harris will be forced to finally go off script, something she still has not done since taking over the nomination a month ago. Right. The Trump camp has also noted.

that while Harris has gained support in the polls, despite that honeymoon and a month of largely one-sided press coverage, Trump has not actually lost any support. His share of the vote is still almost identical to what we saw when Biden dropped out, while his favorability ratings are just as high as they've ever been. The Trump campaign has also been saving up their money for after the DNC and are now ready to finally dip in to their $327 million campaign war chest. So they've got plenty of money of their own.

Trump will be holding four events this week in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. That is on top of the five rallies he held last week, most notably the enormous rally in Arizona, where he was joined by former opponent, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who dropped out Friday and formally endorsed him. Yeah, and that's another big reason for optimism among Republicans, and we'll be hearing more from him in the next segment. But first, how much of an impact could that RFK endorsement have? So, nationally, Kennedy was only in the mid-single digits. In a race this close, that could make all the difference. For example, in the latest polling from Pennsylvania,

Trump was down one, but Kennedy was at 5%. We see almost that exact same trend in every other battleground state. So now the big question becomes where those 5% of Kennedy voters will go. Republicans say most of them will switch to Trump, and there is good reason to believe they will. Kennedy, who has built up a devoted following, is now campaigning for Trump. Here he is on stage in Arizona with the former president.

Don't you want a president who's going to get us out of the wars and who's going to rebuild the middle class in this country? So the big question remains, who was supporting Kennedy and who will those voters go to? Well, if you look back to when Harris first took over, polling showed that Kennedy pulled more or less evenly from both her and Trump. But in the last month, Harris gained around 3 to 5% nationally, while Kennedy lost 3% to 5% nationally. So up until last week, when RFK was included on the ballot, it

clearly was benefiting Harris and indicated that she had won over a number of disaffected Democrats who had been going with Kennedy over Biden. Again, in a race this close, even one to two percent of a swing could make all the difference. For his part, Kennedy said yesterday that he'll be

spending the next 70 days campaigning on behalf of Donald Trump. He's always been the wild card in this race and remains so even now. Kevin, thanks for reporting. Anytime. time. Hey guys, producer Brandon here. Black Rifle Coffee helps you wake up each morning feeling dialed in and ready to make the most of your day. And now's your chance to get 20% off your purchase using code DailyWire at black rifle coffee.com. All of their explosive coffees are

roasted right here in the USA by a veteran-led team of expert roasters obsessed with crafting the perfect cup of coffee. Every black rifle purchase makes it possible for Black Rifle Coffee company to help provide funding, training, and equipment to our nation's military and first responders. Head to their site now for 20% off your purchase with Code Daily Wire. In addition to announcing he was pulling out of the race and endorsing Trump, RFK also took time in his Friday speeches to slam Democrats. For among other things, their censorship of free speech. Daily Wire Deputy Managing editor Tim Rice has more on RFK's Democrat takedown. So, Tim, is this the most heated we've ever seen RFK?

It very well may be. Kennedy was never one to pull punches, but he really let Democrats, have it on Friday, both in his solo address to the nation and his appearance at Trump's Arizona rally. He said that Democrats who say they're working to save the country are actually destroying American democracy and have fought to hurt his campaign from the beginning. In an honest system, I believe that I would have won the election. In a system that my father and my uncles thrived in, a system with open debates, with a regularly scheduled debate, with their primaries and with a truly independent media untainted by government propaganda and censorship.

After all, the polls consistently showed me beating each of the other candidates, both in favorability and also in head-to-head matchups. At one point, Kennedy pointed out the irony of President Biden mocking Vladimir Putin for claiming to have secured 88 percent of the votes in his most recent election, when Biden and the Democratic Party were, according to Kennedy, actively working to tip the scales in their own election. Here in America, the DNC also prevented opponents from appearing on the ballot. And our television networks expose themselves as Democratic Party organs.

Over the course of more than a year in a campaign where my poll numbers reached at times in the high 20s, the DNC- allied mainstream media networks maintain a near-perfect embargo on interviews with me. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Kennedy said that after months of Democrats and mainstream media working to sabotage his campaign, he realized he no longer had a shot at the White House. And that, he said, is what made him bury the hatchet with Donald Trump and start seriously thinking about dropping out. 16 months of censorship of not being able to get on any network really except for Fox. When Ross Perrault ran, in the 10 months that he ran, he had 34 appearances on the networks.

I had two appearances in 16 months. I was blocked out of the networks. I was blocked down from the debate. I had no perhaps the victory. Now, pretty notable for a Kennedy to engage in this level of friendly fire. So censorship has been an issue that we've focused on a lot on this show. Did Kennedy address that directly on Friday night? He certainly did. Kennedy spoke for a much shorter time at Trump's rally than he did in his own address,

but devoted a majority of his time to continuing his attack on what he sees as a massive censorship regime at work in the country. Can you think of any time that you can look back in history and say that the people who were censoring were the good guys. They're always the bad guys. Because it's always the first step down that slippery slope to totalitarianism. Kennedy got another chance to warn of the dangers of censorship on Saturday after French police arrested Pavel D'Rav,

founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Kennedy condemned the arrest in a post on X, writing that the need to protect free speech has never been more urgent. Well, it's certainly going to be interesting to hear more about this as he hits the campaign trail with Trump. Tim, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Israel and the terror group Hezbollah traded fire over the weekend in clashes that reportedly left at least four dead. The exchanges marked the most intense combat between the two sides since tensions jumped after the Hamas October 7th attack.

Here to update us on the situation in the Middle East is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pyrsa. So what's the latest now between Israel and Hezbollah? Israel struck first of the weekend after it gathered intelligence that Hezboa was about to launch a mass attack. So the Israeli military sent about a hundred jets into Lebanese airspace and took out dozens of Hezbollah launch sites. Here's Israel Defense Forces spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, announcing the attacks on Sunday morning. A short while ago, the IDF identified Hezibala terrorist organization preparing to fire missiles, rockets towards Israeli territory. In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.

We are operating in self-defense from Hezbollah and any other enemy that joins in their attacks against us. And we are ready to do everything we need to defend the people of Israel. Lebanese health officials said three people were killed in the strikes, though it's not clear whether those people were militants or civilians. Right, Lebanon doesn't make those distinctions in their announcements. What kind of response did this spark from Hezbollah? Right, Hezbollah moved forward with a planned attack anyway. The terror group started to prepare for this attack about a month ago after Israel killed

a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut. After Israel's operation, the terror group launched its attack. Israeli officials said the attack was made up of about 200 rockets. Hezbollah claimed it fired and launched 350 rockets. rockets and drones. Whatever the actual count was, Israel's defense was near perfect. The IDF did suffer one fatality, though, a 21-year-old sailor who seems to have been killed by a failed Iron Dome interceptor. Hesbolo's chief, Hassan Nasrallah claimed success in a speech after the attack, but as Foundation for Defense of Democracy's senior research analyst Joe Trusman pointed out on

X, his address served merely as damage control. Truesman said Hezbollah's main accomplishment here was to force Israel and the U.S. to brace for an attack for weeks. But of the attack itself, he said it was a drop in the bucket. Of course, this comes after months of Hezbo attacks on northern Israel. Here's Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, explaining that during a press briefing Sunday. Just recently, a few weeks ago, they targeted the Druze community called Muzl Shamps in the tragic event where they killed children playing soccer on a Saturday evening.

And that's not the only incident. There have been many incidents where Chisbalah has been firing rockets, an ammunition that is not accurate towards Israeli communities, towards Israeli civilians. And due to these attacks, we had to evacuate over 60,000 Israelis from their homes. Israelis that will not start the school year

because they're not home because they had to evacuate because of the risk of a terror attack. Just like the one we saw this, morning carried out by Hezbollah. Now what about the U.S.? What kind of response have we seen to this attack? Well, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Jov Gallant, about the attacks. Out of that conversation, Austin said he voiced support for Israel's right to defend itself and that two U.S. carrier strike groups would remain in the region. For his part, former President Donald Trump posted about the fighting on X over the weekend. Trump questioned whether

the Biden administration had anyone at all trying to calm tensions in the Middle East. And he suggested that the chaos there could spark another world war. Even with tensions cooled after this weekend, it remains an unstable situation. Tim, thanks for joining us. Good to be on. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know. Security is top of mind for many Americans. Security for our country, security for our leaders, and security for our families. But what about your financial security? Gold and silver are an excellent way to diversify your savings. You can own physical gold and silver in a tax-sheltered retirement count. Plus, back by popular demand, now through the end of the month, you can get your very

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