Morning Wire - Trump’s First Month & Social Security Whistleblower | 2.21.25

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Aides highlight Trump’s successes in first month, DOGE cleans up Social Security Administration, and disaster insurance in California and Florida. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. Beam: Go to https://shopbeam.com/WIRE and use code WIRE for up to 40% off Delete.Me: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan by texting WIRE to 64000 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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to world entire. Trouve of little enterprises like one other. On Amazon.ca. President Trump's first 30 days in office are marked by the most sweeping actions of any president in modern history.

These executive orders have ended burdensome regulations, sealed the border, eliminated divisive DEI from our federal government, stopped the weaponization of government, cut waste, fraud, and abuse, reinstituted America First Trade and foreign policies, and ultimately restored common sense.

I'm Daily Wire, editor-in-chief John Bickley, with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, February 21st, and this is morning one. The Doge whiplash continues for Washington bureaucrats as the new department sets its sights on Social Security. They're finding levels of fraud and waste and abuse, like I think nobody ever thought possible. And California faces a home insurance crisis after widespread fires. What could the deep blue state learn from Florida?

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That's shop, B-E-A-M dot com slash wire and use code wire for up to 40% off. After one month back in office, Donald Trump continues to sign executive orders, confirm cabinet members, and rewrite public policy at a frenetic pace. Daily Wire, senior editor, Cabot Phillips is here to recap the action and preview what's coming next. So Cabot, Donald Trump promised to hit the ground running, and he's done that in this first 30 days. Yeah, it's hard to overstate the pace at which he has reshaped the federal government. It's just been unmatched by any of its predecessors in modern history, and no one on either side is really disputing that. In his first 30 days, Trump reversed Biden-era immigration policy, reset foreign relationships with adversaries and allies, and signed more executive. executive orders than any president in the last century signed in their first hundred days.

And he also saw his cabinet confirmed at a near-record pace. Yesterday, Cash Patel was confirmed as head of the FBI. That gives Trump 19 cabinet confirmations in just 31 days. That's the fastest pace since W's first term in 01. Several top Trump surrogates touted the administration's achievements at a press briefing Thursday. Here's National Security Advisor Mike Walts praising his Ukraine negotiations. I find it frankly ridiculous. So many people in Washington that were just demanding, pounding the table for a ceasefire in Gaza

are suddenly aghast that the president would demand one and both sides come to the table when it comes to Ukraine. A war that has been arguably far greater in scope and scale and far more dangerous in terms of global escalation. And here's White House advisor Stephen Miller's defense of Trump's approach to government. It got a lot of play yesterday. Have a listen. Americans vote for radical FBI reform and FBI. agents say they don't want to change. Or Americans vote for radical reform and our energy policies, but EPA bureaucrats say they don't want to change. Or Americans vote to end DEI, racist DEI policies, and lawyers in the Department of Justice say they don't want to change. What President Trump is doing

is he is removing federal bureaucrats who are defying democracy by failing to implement his lawful orders, which are the will of the whole American people. And Americans seem optimistic about Trump's early moves. Rasmussen polling found that 47% of the country feels America is on the right track. Now, that might not sound great, but that is a 19% increase from September and the highest number for that question in the last 20 years. Now, based on polling, what issues are getting those high marks with voters? Well, it's still undoubtedly immigration. According to the latest numbers, the number of illegal immigrants detained at ports of entry declined by 93% during Trump's first 10 days in office.

while the number of detentions along the southwest border as a whole fell by 85%. Zooming out, just 29,000 migrants were detained at the border. That is the lowest mark for a month since May of 2020. And keep in mind, Trump was only in office for a third of January. So February's decline is likely to be even more drastic. And now the president is signing some new orders addressing the border, cutting funding for illegal immigrants, correct? Yeah, this week, Trump signed a measure that will restrict any federal dollars

from going towards benefits for those living in the country illegally. Under the order, all federal agencies and departments will undergo an internal investigation to ensure, quote, taxpayer resources are used to protect the interests of American citizens, not illegal aliens. Now, under federal law, illegal immigrants are technically already banned from receiving, quote, public resources to meet their needs. But the White House says in their order that previous presidents, most notably Joe Biden, blatantly violated those laws.

Trump added that taxpayer benefits should only be extended to taxpayers, specifically American citizens, and the existing structure served as a, quote, magnet for illegal aliens. Here's VP Vance speaking about the order at CPAC on Thursday. Why are we taking the people's social security payments and giving it to illegal aliens? We know that's happening in the United States of America today. We've got to stop it. If you get control of the border, you do more to control the fiscal problem, the financial problems that we have in this country than almost anything. Well, and he's also taken on the cartels.

So what's the new strategy there? Right. On Thursday, Trump officially ordered the State Department to designate eight Latin American gangs and cartels as terror organizations. That list includes Trende Aragua in Venezuela, MS-13 in El Salvador, and the infamous Sinolaoa cartel in Mexico. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, quote, there is sufficient factual basis to prove these criminal organizations qualify as terror groups under U.S. law. Remember, these groups have played an integral role in smuggling fentanyl and people across the border over the last decade. That new designation will allow the U.S. to impose sanctions on anyone

connected with the groups. That includes banks, businesses, and politicians. They'll also open the door for the U.S. military to target these groups directly, though it's unclear if Trump has plans to do so. Well, that would be a drastic step, but hopefully this crackdown works. Cabot, thanks for reporting. Anytime. Your personal data, from contact details to family information, is constantly collected and sold online by data brokers. There's more out there than you'd expect. That's why I personally recommend Delete Me. Delete Me is a subscription service that removes your personal info info from hundreds of data brokers. Delete Me sends you regular personalized privacy reports showing

what info they found, where they found it, and what they removed. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Delete Me. Now to special discount for our listeners. Today, get 20% off your Delete Me plan by texting Wire to 6400000. Text Wire to 64000. That's Wire to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Judges have cleared Doge's access to federal data at many federal agencies, and some federal employees could be headed for layoffs. But at the Social Security Administration, one worker saw his fortunes change in an instant in a good way. Luke Roziak, the Daily Wire's government efficiency reporter, broke the story of what happened to an obscure Social Security Administration employee who's become a folk hero to conservatives and now Social Security's temporary leader. Hey, Luke. So who is Leland Dudec? And how did he find himself in charge at the Department of Social Security?

Hey, John. So for years, Dudec had been a mid-level manager at Social Security running its anti-fraud efforts. Now, at 4.30 p.m. one day this week, he was called into his manager's office and placed on leave. He wrote in a now-deleted LinkedIn post, they want to fire me for cooperating with Doge. I confess, I helped Doge understand SSA. I've mailed myself publicly accessible documents and explain them to Doge. I confess, I moved contractor money around to add data science resources to my anti-fraudate team. But within hours, it wasn't Dudec who was fired. Instead, the head of the entire agency, Michelle King was out. And Dudec got a big promotion to her job. Quite a reversal there. In Doge's Elon Musk actually shared your story on X. I wanted to read what he wrote. He said,

quote, there are good people in the government who want to eliminate fraud and waste, promote good players, exit bad players, that's the right thing to do. What's your response to that? I think that's a really important point. Doge is going to need some of these career employees if they're going to be successful. They are out there, people who want to do the right thing and work for the federal government, and they're actually the ones who know where the bodies are buried. Right. Now, Dudex replacing, for now, Michelle King. What do we know about her, about King? Well, traditionally, the Social Security Commissioner was appointed to a six-year term and retained by the next president. But Joe Biden shattered that precedent when he fired Trump's first-term pick.

Biden replaced him with Martin O'Malley, who quit late last year to run for chair of the Democratic National Committee. That left King, a career employee, as acting commissioner. Now King reportedly tried to block Doge from accessing the agency's data. Now DUDEC will leap up the ranks to be acting commissioner until the Senate confirms Trump's nominee. Social Security has been a big focus for Doge lately, which makes sense because it's got a lot of data, handles a lot of money. We touched on this earlier this week, but there have been some developments there with Social Security. What has his team found so far? Well, Musk said this week that there are millions of people in Social Security system that are well over 100 years old, but aren't marked as

dead. A lot of people in the left attacked him for that. Some claim to Musk just didn't understand the way that dates are stored in the Cobal programming language. Now, not only was that theory wrong, but it highlighted that some of the most important financial systems in the U.S. government are running on a 1960s programming language, despite the agency giving out a billion-dollar tech contract. Then they said it was no big deal because those were just Social Security numbers being used by illegal immigrants. Oh, so not really making the point they'd hope to make, I guess. Yeah. Well, Doge.gov's online ticker says it's cut $55 billion so far,

and I know you'll be keeping a close eye on that number as it goes up. Luke, thanks for joining us. Thank you. In a classic tale of two states, the insurance market in California is circling the drain, while reforms in Florida are reducing rates for homeowners. Here to discuss is Daily Wire Senior Editor Ash Short-Hash. So another stark contrast being drawn between these two states that has some broader implications. What's happening there with insurance? Well, as we know, both Florida and California have suffered natural disasters in the past year.

Florida's hurricanes and California's fires. But the effects of these disasters and the state government's approach to ensuring homeowners in disaster-prone areas is radically different. California, which of course is a state led by Democrats at every level for decades, has kept insurance rates lower even as home values and risk increase. When insurance companies have asked to increase insurance rates due to rising risks of wildfires or other issues, state insurance regulators have denied requests. Now, you'd naturally think that keeping insurance costs down would be good for homeowners, allowing

them to better afford their homes. The problem comes when insurers can't turn a profit because they're paying out more in claims than they're collecting in premiums. If an insurance company can't afford to insure, they'll leave the state or shut down, leaving homeowners without any insurance. Right, the inevitable result of market forces at work there. And so are we seeing that kind of effect in California? It's getting to that point. State Farm, the largest fire insurer, in California recently asked state regulators for a 22% rate increase, but was denied by California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who ignored the recommendations of his experts. This comes after the company said it had to pay out $1.26 in claims for every $1.00 it collected in premiums

over the past nine years, according to the Wall Street Journal. That's a $5 billion loss. Wow. This comes after State Farm asked for a 30% rate increase last June, long-dust. before the recent LA fires broke out. The company says it could face a credit rating downgrade if it doesn't quickly raise rates. Such a downgrade could keep people from using the company to insure their property.

Without State Farm, many in California will then be forced to buy insurance through California's insurer of last resort, which is close to becoming insolvent. Lara recently announced that private insurers like State Farm and policyholders would have to pay a $1 billion surcharge to keep that from happening.

So it sounds pretty dire. Now, we have a very different situation in Florida that's provided its own kinds of lessons. Tell us about what's happening there. How's the insurance situation? Much better in continuing to improve. Back in 2022 and 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis implemented numerous litigation reforms that kept Florida from its own insurance disaster. Prior to the reforms, insurers had been raising rates by double digits annually and leaving the market due to lawsuit abuse. Now that the lawsuit abuse is down, 11 new insurers have entered the market and some carriers are asking for rate decreases. Even Florida's last ditch insurer, citizens' property, is cutting rates. Florida also had the lowest premium increase in the country with

just 1% while other states saw increases up to 20% or higher. Right. We also know that Florida responded to the hurricane at face last year very quickly while California is still dealing with the fallout from the recent fires. Speaking of those fires, what's the latest on that front? Things are still very grim for many people. In addition to all the problems caused to California's insurance industry, many residents know they won't be able to rebuild. Some say it's because they probably won't receive enough from insurance to rebuild, while others can point to California permitting regulations to know they won't be rebuilding their homes and lives as they were before. Such a tragedy. Ash, thanks so much for reporting. You're welcome. Hey, thank you for waiting.

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