Morning Wire - Thursday | August 19, 2021

Episode Date: August 19, 2021

American opinion on Afghanistan and Biden shifts, the Biden administration pushes for Covid booster shots, and the global implications of Afghanistan’s collapse. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Americans' views on Afghanistan and President Biden have seen some significant shifts. A Daily Wire exclusive poll asked Americans what they think about President Biden's handling of Afghanistan. We'll talk about the results and what it could mean for midterm elections. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, August 19th, and this is Morning Wire. The Biden administration is now pushing for COVID booster shots for most Americans. What's driving the new policy and how are other countries handling the United States? issue. And the rise of the Taliban has major implications both regionally and abroad. We'll look at Russia's

complicated history in the region in what they and other countries stand to lose or gain. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is sponsored by ZipRecruiter. According to a survey, over two-thirds of Americans are planning to travel this summer. This means that airlines, restaurants, and more have been ramping up their hiring. Who do they turn to? ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter's technology finds qualified candidates for your job, and you can easily invite your top choices to apply. And right now, you can try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash wire. In recent days, a growing number of polls have shown a notable dip in President Biden's approval ratings amid the collapse of Afghanistan.

An exclusive Daily Wire poll of over 1,000 Americans conducted by SurveyMonkey, found similar results, and shows a growing number of voters blame the president for his role in the crisis. Here to break down those numbers is Daily Wire Managing Editor Cabot Phillips. Cabot, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So let's talk about the poll. Where does the president stand? So to put it simply, he's losing ground.

47% of Americans approve of the job he's doing and 45% disapprove. Now, at a glance, that sounds all right, but when you dig into the numbers a bit more, it's a sign of rapidly declining support, actually. In July, Biden's approval rating was at 52%. So that's a significant drop to 47 in just a few weeks. Yeah, it is. The numbers actually get worse for the president, the more you look into the data. When you look at how people rate his performance in key areas, for example, foreign policy,

just 32% approve of the job he's doing while 55% disapprove. On immigration, 32% approve while over half of Americans disapprove. And overall, Americans are twice as likely to say they strongly disapprove of his job as president as they are to say they strongly approve of it. Now, that last part is important because it shows that the intensity of the American public is not necessarily on Biden's side right now. So let's focus in on the withdrawal. How are people feeling about that? Yeah, we asked about that specifically, and there's been a major shift in opinion over the past few months. We actually saw a nearly 30-point decline in American support of a military withdrawal from Afghanistan just since April.

Oh, wow. Support for leaving was at 73 percent then. Now, just 45 percent said the U.S. should continue its true. withdrawal. So that's a major shift. Yeah. And in the poll, we asked people why. What did they say? Yeah, this part was interesting. There were a few main reasons people selected. First were concerns about what would happen to the Afghani people, mainly women and those who'd worked with the U.S. during the war. After that, people were most concerned by the potential return of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups in the region. Overall, 62% of Americans now think a terrorist attack

against the U.S. and our allies is more likely. So a lot of people are concerned about their safety here at home. Mm-hmm. Who are Americans holding responsible? The number one answer to that question was Joe Biden, and it wasn't really that close. 36% said he's responsible for the crisis, while 20% blamed President Trump, and the other 44% said they were unsure or said neither was to blame. And just to be clear, this is a nationwide poll.

This is not just a poll of daily wire readers. That's correct. This was a representative sample of U.S. adults that actually had more Democrats than Republicans. It's worth noting that 44% of those surveyed said they voted for Biden compared to just 34% who supported Trump. So according to the data, a good number of independents are unhappy with the president right now. And do we expect this dip in approval to affect midterms? It's hard to say right now. Typically foreign policy doesn't play a role in midterm elections, but this story is unique in that people now view their own safety as being more at risk.

Historically, when the president's approval ratings dip ahead of midterms, the party as a whole suffers. Right. So that would be a bad sign for Democrats in 2022. Keep in mind, the party controlling the White House almost always performs poorly in midterms, and that's without a crisis like this. One thing that jumped out from the poll is the number of people saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction. Tell us about that. Yeah. So traditionally in the first year of a president's term, there's a certain level of optimism among the general public.

But according to this poll, just 28% of Americans say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction. So again, that's going to be a key factor to keep an eye on as midterms approach. Yeah, it is. Cabot, thanks for coming on. Anytime. Daily Wire Managing Editor, Cabot Phillips. Coming up, the Biden administration says most Americans now need COVID booster shots. If you're with Verizon, 18T, or T-Mobile, you're paying too much.

Switching to Pure Talk saves the average family over 800 a year. Go to puretalk.com, find the right plan for you, and enter promo code, Wire, to save 50% off your first month. On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it wants most Americans to receive COVID booster shots. Here to tell us more is Daily Wire Charlotte Pince Bond. Charlotte, thanks for coming on. Glad to be here. So COVID booster shots, what's the latest news on this? Yeah, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday that they are recommending a third dose of

the COVID vaccine for people eight months after the second dose. Americans first step to get the boosters will be nursing home residents and health care workers. Okay. Officials are saying that Americans who got the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will need to get another dose as the vaccine effectiveness goes down and to be protected from the Delta variant, which is more contagious than the initial strain. The Food and Drug Administration needs to approve the boosters first, though. What can you tell us about the most recent data on boosters?

A couple things. Like just this Monday, Pfizer and Biointech submitted initial data to the Food and Drug Administration that they say supports giving another dose of the vaccine. According to officials, those who got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine may need another dose too, but they're waiting on results from a trial to make that recommendation. Both Pfizer and Biointech say results from their trial show that the third dose resulted in, quote, significantly higher neutralizing antibodies against the initial strain of the virus, compared to the levels after the two-dose primary series.

Okay. They say it also helped against the beta variant and the delta variant. So the third dose of Pfizer protects against those other variants too? That's what it looks like, at least according to their data. All right. The company is planning to seek an approval of a third dose for people over the age of 16, depending on the full FDA approval, since the vaccines are still under emergency use authorization right now.

Right. Dr. Francis Collins, the National Institutes of Health Director, said Sunday that the vaccine might be less effective over time and the Delta variant is an added factor. The combination of those two means we may need boosters, maybe beginning first with health care providers, as well as people in nursing homes, and then gradually moving forward. We have not made that decision yet because right now the data we have from the U.S. says people who are vaccinated are fully protected, even against Delta when you're talking about severe disease. You're not going to end up in the hospital if you had that vaccination.

What about other countries, or any others rolling out booster shots? Yes, a few, which is a bit surprising because the World Health Organization recently called on countries to hold off on boosters until the end of September so that doses can go to places with low vaccination rates.

On Wednesday, President Biden addressed the global implications of boosters. Now, know there's some world leaders who say America shouldn't get a third shot until other countries got their first shot. I disagree. We can take care of America and help the world at the same time.

In Israel, however, they've already started giving people third doses. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have also announced plans to eventually give boosters to certain people. In the U.S., the FDA authorized a third dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for immunocompromised individuals last week.

We've heard a lot about vaccine mandates rolling out across the country. With the booster shot, it seems like this might get even more complicated. Yeah, and the broader question here is whether a third dose recommendation from the Biden administration will even be effective. After the CDC reversed its guidance last month, many Americans are feeling hesitant to trust the health officials in power. Right. There's a lot of tension surrounding the vaccine right now, especially with mandates. So we're expecting to see that escalate even more with the possibility of another shot.

Charlotte, thanks for the reporting. Anytime. Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond. The fall of Afghanistan into Taliban control has political implications for many countries, including Russia. Here to discuss is Sky News Foreign Affairs editor Deborah Haynes. Deborah, great to have you on. Hi there. So, Deborah, the situation in Afghanistan is affecting several world powers, including, as you've noted in your reporting, Russia in particular.

Can you tell us about Russia's involvement in the region? Yes, of course. Well, during the former Soviet Union, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan back in 1979, and they were there for 10 years. And ultimately, the Soviets withdrew and the government that they backed, then collapsed about three years later. And it really was kind of seen at the time as the sort of the Soviets, Vietnam, you know, a real failure of intervention. And then suddenly you've got this situation now with the U.S., the U.K., other NATO allies, having gone into Afghanistan themselves and spent 20 years twice as long as the Soviets did, and then retreating, and then the government that they backed, it didn't last three years. It barely lasted three hours when the Taliban reached Kabul before it collapsed. Russia has one of the only remaining functioning embassies in Afghanistan,

and supposedly a somewhat positive relationship with the Taliban. Does Russia have a vested interest in the West failing in Afghanistan? It's not so much failing in Afghanistan because obviously an unstable Afghanistan is not good news for Russia. Russia obviously opposes Islamist extremists in the same way as the West do. So there's like a mutual interest there to not have al-Qaeda Islamic state, groups like that roaming around with a sort of a security vacuum in Afghanistan. so close to Russia's borders. It's more to do with the failure of the West and the fact that for the last 20 years, the U.S., the U.K. and others have been sucked into Afghanistan, have

expended so much resource in blood, treasure, and brain power to very little effect. That's been a strategic advantage for Russia. And other countries have a stake in Afghanistan as well. Are any in particular impacted by the situation? Yes, I mean, what happens in Afghanistan is not just affects that country. It's across the whole region. And in particular, Pakistan, that's the country that's most closely and intimately involved in Afghanistan. And there's an awful lot of suspicions about which side the Pakistanis have been supporting. They've obviously got this deep ties with the Taliban there.

You look at the Taliban advance and the strategy that they've implemented over the last, few months, and in particular in the last few days, in terms of sweeping across the country and winning over different ethnic groups, there's, you know, plenty of analysts wondering and speculating how much Pakistan has helped with that. But for Pakistan, they need to have a government that they can deal with across their border in Afghanistan. And what are the key concerns for the Western world right now since the Taliban has taken back control of Afghanistan? Well, on a protectionist level, primarily it's the terrorist threat. Sounds a bit heartless to say that,

but for the UK government and the US, they've made it very clear that their red line in terms of any further intervention in Afghanistan is if that country, again, harbours terrorists that could threaten the West. But beyond that, of course, they're talking about the need to continue with the gains that have been made with things like women's rights

and you're listening to the Taliban leaders, well, there's spokespeople coming out and saying all the right words in terms of ensuring that girls can still go to school, that women can have careers, which they very much did not have under the previous regime. But it's all going to be couched under Islamic law. This is going to be in the words of the Taliban, a strong Islamic country going forward. And that will mean curbs on women's freedoms. Deborah, this has been great. Thanks so much for coming on. Thank you very much. That was Sky News, Foreign Affairs editor, Deborah Haynes.

Another story we're tracking this week. Videos have emerged of women protesting against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Despite the threat to their lives, women are taking to the street and demanding rights from the group infamous for abusing and limiting the rights of women. If you like this episode and are interested in hearing more, subscribe to Morning Wire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and give us a five-star review.

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