Morning Wire - Socialist Momentum Builds & the WNBA Leaves Clark Exposed | 7.2.26

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Democratic socialists flex their power with another major win, venture capitalists are now betting on American dominance after years of chasing Silicon Valley unicorns, and the WNBA produces the meme of the summer following the latest attack on Caitlyn Clarke. Reporting from Cabot Phillips, Megan Basham & Lynden Blake. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.- - -Ep. 2871- - -Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3- - -Today's Sponsors:Alliance Defending Freedom - If you believe children deserve compassion, protection, and thoughtful care—this is an opportunity to take action. Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE to sign the petition today.- - -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

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I'm Georgia Howe. John's on vacation this week. It's Thursday, July 2nd, and this is Morning Wire. After years of chasing Silicon Valley unicorns, venture capitalists are now betting on American dominance. Started Harpoon Ventures back in 2018, which is an early stage venture capital firm to invest in the national interest of the United States and our allies, to create an investment firm that was purely based on investing in these types of technology areas. And the WNBA produced the meme of the summer after the latest attack on Caitlin Clark. The Phoenix Mercury is elicit Thomas appears to put her fist on Caitlin Clark's throat as they scrambled for a loose ball during a game on Wednesday night. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. A devout Orthodox Jew invited about a dozen friends to pray in his home. His city required him to get a permit and recruited his neighbors to spy on him.

It sounds impossible, but it happened in University Heights, Ohio to a man named Daniel Grand. That's why Alliance Defending Freedom and Oric, Harrington, and Sutcliffe are defending Daniel at the U.S. Supreme Court. Alliance Defending Freedom never bills his clients. And right now, your gift will be doubled by matching grant while matching funds last. Go to join ADF.com slash wire or text wire to 8388. to defend the freedom to pray at home. That's join ADF.com slash wire or text wire to 838848. A 29-year-old barista just unseated a 15-term Colorado Democrat in the latest win in a socialist hot streak inside the Democratic Party. Joining us to discuss is Cabot Phillips, host of Wired In. So Cabot, this run of wins from Socialists extends way beyond Mom Donnie's win.

What do you make of this trend and is this faction now dominant in the Democratic Party? Yeah, when Mamdani won, there was this idea that, you know, this sort of trend was going to be confined to these far-left cities like L.A., New York, Washington, D.C., but we're now starting to see this socialist takeover take place in cities and states that you would not traditionally expect, like here in Colorado. The socialist wing of the Democratic Party is undoubtedly gaining serious momentum ahead of the midterms. Many are comparing this to the Tea Party wave that we saw around 2008 to 2012. Now, Tuesday night, Democratic Socialist Milot Kyros, unseeded Colorado Congresswoman Diana DeGette, who had held the Denver seat since 1997, and it was not particularly close. Keros has a nearly double-digit margin of victory, with 93% of the votes counted. But as you said, this is not a fluke.

Democratic Socialists have now won more than 30 primaries this cycle, roughly half of the races they've entered. A year ago, the group had only two members in Congress, but the engine behind all of it is, of course, New York City Mayor Zoran Mammani. Since taking office in January, he has played Kingmaker in his state. His endorsed DSA candidates pulled off a clean sweep in last week's primary elections. And now we're seeing a similar wave take place in Colorado. And Mamdani right now, no doubt, is one of the most popular Democratic figures in the country. Now, do all of these socialists share the same platform? And if so, how different is it from the more mainstream Democrat platform? Well, there are certainly similarities that they all have, for example, almost all of them support Medicare for all,

tax aikes on what they call the top 1%, but in practice would be closer to the top 25%. They also support things like abolishing ICE. And most recently, universally, they have a hardline anti-Israel stance. Kiroz, for example, wants to double the corporate tax rate, abolish ice. She supports a sweeping amnesty and citizenship plan for all illegal immigrants. She also wants to impose an arms embargo on Israel and completely cut off U.S. funding for the Jewish state. She also did an interview with live streamer Hassan Piker, where she said that,

that October 7th terror attacks were, quote, inevitable due to the supposed Israeli apartheid. And in the past, she has even gone as far as saying that the U.S. was essentially complicit and responsible for the 9-11 attacks because of their foreign policy in the Middle East. So how are the establishment leaders in the Democratic Party responding? Are they leaning in or are they concerned about this? Well, we don't really know yet. There are certainly those who are expressing outright panic. Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, for example, said that these new candidates have no place in the Democratic

Party. Former DNC chair Jamie Harrison told the newcomers, quote, if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don't run for our nomination. Former Mayor of Chicago and Obama Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, said the party has, quote, lost the plot by electing radical candidates. And when these DSA candidates started winning, it looked like a civil war was brewing inside the Democratic Party. Many of them wanted top Democrats like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer removed from leadership. But that tension seems to have cooled a little bit. Alexander Ocasso Cortez, for example, over the weekend, backed Jeffries to stay on as House Minority Leader.

But despite this somewhat truce, polling seems to show that the base has moved towards the DSA. Marquette, for example, had numbers showing that these new socialist candidates are more popular than the congressional leadership among Democratic voters. And a Fox News poll found that more than half of Democrats say capitalism is not working. And it's also worth pointing out, we're now seeing Democratic leaders seemingly respond to that groundwave of support for socialism on the left. In a way, they're kind of scared of getting eaten by this wing. And to that point, there were reports that Kamala Harris personally called Zoran Mamdani

and also reached out to a number of pro-Palestinian activists to try and make amends. And we also saw Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker come out on CNN and say that he thinks the strategy that we've seen from these socialist candidates, quote, is the recipe for winning in 2026 and beyond. So don't be surprised if you see more of these Democratic lawmakers. start to align themselves a bit with this movement because they are certainly growing in power. Now, turning to the election in November, where does the polling show we are right now? Well, first, it's important to note that all of these socialist candidates who've won are picking up blue seats. Again, they're winning primaries in safe blue districts.

But starting with the Senate, New York Times poll recently, surveyed six of the top battleground states, Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas, all of which are currently held by Republicans. Back in 2024, Donald Trump won five of those states, four of them, by at least 10 points. Today, those same six races are a dead heat tied at an average of 47 to 47. Now, that might look bad, but all things considered, it's actually pretty good news for Republicans. Democrats need to do way better than a tie in these races to take the chamber. They have to win four of those Republican-held seats while still holding on to their own seats in states that Trump won, Georgia and Michigan. And according to this most recent New York Times poll, they are only leading, in two states, North Carolina and Maine, where they lead by seven and two points respectively.

Republicans are currently ahead in Alaska, Ohio, and Iowa, and then tied in Texas, all while Trump's approval rating is at an all-time low. So that's where the good news comes in. Things have been pretty rough for Republicans over the last few months with the war in Iran and with inflation. And so if the race actually is this close, despite all of that bad press, Republicans are confident now that they have a few months as voters start to tune in to these elections following before the July where they can start to win people over and hold on to their majority in the Senate. All right. Well, Cabot, we're going to continue to monitor, of course. Thank you so much for coming on. Absolutely.

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U.S. national security and American prosperity. Daily Wire culture reporter, Megan Basham, is here now to explain. So, Megan, venture capitalism used to be associated pretty heavily with more of the social media and consumer technology side of Silicon Valley. So it's very interesting to see investors suddenly so interested in American security. Do they think that's where the next boom is? Yeah, it is really interesting, Georgia. And yes, they do. As you said, traditionally, venture capital has been about finding the next Silicon Valley unicorn. So meaning companies that can scale rapidly and can generate enormous returns. These new funds, they certainly do want to still

make money for investors, but they also have another stated goal of investing in strategic technologies that strengthen America's position against adversaries like China. So one example is Harpoon Ventures, which sort of pioneered this approach and is closing its fourth round of funding. Founder and managing partner Larsen Jensen says Harpoon was built around the idea that technological leadership and national security have really become inseparable. Our view, is that every technology wave throughout the course of American history, really, or certainly over the past 50 years since venture capital has been around, has, you know, every technology wave of consequence has impacted national security and geopolitics in a very significant way. We lost track

of investing in hard technical problems that set our country up for success. So Jensen told me that as a two-time Olympic swimmer and a former Navy SEAL, he saw a gap in the market for a sort of team, USA venture firm, and he wanted to fill that gap. So what kinds of companies are they actually investing in? Yeah, it's a broad portfolio, but the common theme is hard technologies that America either needs more of or that we currently depend too heavily on foreign countries for. So that would include things like artificial intelligence, biohealth, semiconductors, cyber security, advanced manufacturing, drone technology is a really big one.

nuclear energy, critical minerals, space infrastructure. I could go on and on. But what brings it all together is that rather than investing in something like a photo sharing app, they're looking for companies that are developing infrastructure that underpins both America's economy and also its military. So one phrase that Jensen repeatedly uses is critical technologies, meaning those industries that determine not just the economic success of the United States. but also are geopolitical power.

But bottom line, Jensen told me that they are stressing that they contract with tech companies that are building real things for the private sector and the commercial sector. So that means that all of these factories and jobs will be American factories and jobs. Now, I guess the big question is, are they making money with this approach? You and I did a lot of reporting a few years ago on ESG investing. And that kind of ideological investing proved to be kind of a bust. In some cases, they were sued for it. So is this actually different?

Yeah, I actually asked Jensen about that. And he told me that the difference here is that these are investments in concrete technologies, not speculative promises that diversity is going to increase profitability or that lower carbon emissions are eventually going to create some of these longer term rewards. Instead, he says these firms are very well positioned to succeed in this political climate. and also that they have the wherewithal to succeed under any administration, whether Democratic or Republican. So he said that the Pentagon has in some ways reorganized around this VC trend. And as proof of that, another firm that is doing this work is the massive and influential Andresen Horowitz. So their investment initiative is called American Dynamism.

And they launched back in 2023 with a $600 million fund. And then they injected another 600 million into it the following year. But basically, it's the same philosophy as it focuses on funding and scaling technology startups that directly support the United States national interest. And in 2026, they raised another almost $2 billion for this fund. So you have to guess they wouldn't keep doing this if it wasn't successful. And Jensen told me that while the people investing in these funds do want to make money, they're also patriots who want the U.S. to succeed on the global stage. And this is one way they feel they can help ensure that it does. Well, and in the immediate term, it does create jobs on the ground here for the U.S., which we

definitely need. Megan, thanks for reporting. Yeah, my pleasure. The WNBA is once again making headlines for the wrong reasons. Caitlin Clark, the league's biggest star, was targeted on the court by another player in a moment that immediately went viral. The league's response to the altercation has fans fuming. Daily Wires, Lyndon, Lake joins us now. So Lyndon, this started with an altercation on the court, but it quickly spiraled into a huge meme. Can you first just describe what happened? Okay, well, I can't believe this was only a couple of days ago on June 27. That's when this altercation between Alyssa Thomas for the Phoenix Mercury and Caitlin Clark with Indiana fever happened. There was a scramble for the ball on

the court. Caitlin was laying her back on the court, and that's where Alyssa Thomas had a fist, and she had it on on Caitlin's neck. It kind of like she dug down into it for standing up and going on with the play. The issue was there was no foul called. You get fouls called in basketball all the time for just tipping somebody. And there was no foul called here, which led to an uproar. You had the Indiana Fever coach being like, this is insane because Caitlin gets cheap shots all the time, and she never gets these calls, and it seems like she's being bullied by officials in the league. After the game, they reviewed the tape, and they said, yeah, this was a flagrant to foul, meaning this is a bad one. This was a very aggressive foul, and then Alyssa Thomas had to serve a one-game suspension after that.

Now, how did the league respond to all that criticism? So after Alyssa started her one-game suspension, the league was kind of quiet, but then Alyssa Thomas spoke up to reporters recently saying, since this incident, she's been receiving death threats and she's been called racial slurs. So the league on Wednesday said that, hey, we want to protect all players, you cannot use hate speech and stuff like that. But then there's the argument, okay, but if we're going to protect our, players, there should have been a call called on Caitlin Clark. So again, it is this debate that has gone on since Caitlin Clark has been in the league. She is one of the best of all time, the most dynamic college basketball player and women's college basketball to watch. She's completely dominated the league.

The fever have set home attendance records, viewership records, overall attendance records since Caitlin Clark has been on their team, but yet she is the one that ends up not getting fouls called and really getting beat up on the court night in and night out. And this is also gotten people talking. Emmanuel Ocho, who I am a fan of, but I'm not a fan of what he said about Caitlin Clark. Here's what Emmanuel Ocho had to say. The W at this junction in time would be better without Caitlin Clark because she is a bigger distraction than she is an additive. Caitlin got the necessary eyes there, but now that the eyes are there, we don't necessarily

need her anymore. Yeah, people go into games, celebrities sitting court side. So no, she's not a distraction. She just needs to be protected on the court like other players are. Now, there is a lot of speculation from outsiders, at least, and you'll hear commentators talk about this. They'll say the elephant in the room is that Caitlin is white, she's Catholic, she's not LGBT, and that the League is treating her this way or allowing her to be treated this way because they don't want their biggest star to have her background. Would you say that's accurate or is that an unfair portrayal of the League?

I think that that statement comes from the online troll community. I don't think the refs are looking at it that way. I just think that there are these shots that maybe sometimes that are just not getting calling her that should be. And I look to other people that are saying that look at the locker room. Caitlin is beloved and protected by our teammates night in and night out. She's a good team player, very respected by her teammates from all backgrounds. So I just don't buy into that narrative. Now, speaking of teammates, Sophie Cunningham also went viral this week.

Tell us why Sophie was all over Twitter. Okay. So the incident, the actual, actually. of the meme happened before the Caitlin Clark altercation, but post-Katlin Clark altercation with the Phoenix Mercury, it has gone viral. So earlier in that series with the Phoenix Mercury, DeWana Bonner, very famous WMBA player, was getting into it with Sophie Cunningham. This is over a technical foul that was called on Caitlin Clark. And Sophie was talking to the refs, why didn't DeWana Bonner have a technical foul called too? And Sophie starts pointing at her,

being like, where's the call on her? And DeWana, said, why are you pointing at me or made some comment about the point that she didn't like? And so Sophie admitted, she was like, that just made me keep pointing. And she was like, I'm glad I got my nails done. So she held the point for like 20 seconds. And she's tall. She's like towering over the refs, holding the point. And that has become the meme of the summer of just anything you can think of. That has been the meme. So, you know, it's a tough thing to watch that altercation with Caitlin Clark and Alyssa Thomas. But it ended on. on a somewhat higher note with this meme coming out from that series.

Right, and if even I've seen that meme, you know it's big. Lyndon, thanks so much for reporting. Thanks. Another story we're tracking, Team USA is staying alive. Last night, we advanced to the round of 16 in the World Cup after winning a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The men's team will now play Belgium on July 6th in Seattle. Getting even this far was considered a major long shot,

and each game now is win or go home. But should we continue our winning streak, the quarterfinals will take place in Los Angeles on July 10th, the semifinals in Dallas, July 14th, and a win there would send the U.S. to New York for the championship game on July 19th. The farthest Team USA has ever made it in the World Cup was semifinals back in 1930. 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 Daily Wire subscribers. To enjoy the show, add free and join our mission, become a member at DailyWire.com. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.