Morning Wire - Ukraine Deal Dilemma & TN’s District Seven Duel | 11.24.25

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

President Trump pushes ahead with a potential war-ending deal in Ukraine, Democrats spend big on a House race in red Tennessee, and Wicked: For Good casts a spell on audiences, leaving some hope for Hollywood after a disastrous year of earnings. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Today's Sponsors: Goldbelly - Go to https://goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code WIRE. Boll & Branch - Get 25% off sitewide plus free shipping and extended returns at https://bollandbranch.com/WIRE and use code WIRE - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy morning 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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That could have been done, too, if you had the right president. Trump is pushing full steam ahead on ending the war in Ukraine with a new deal, saying it would benefit both countries. What exactly does the agreement say? And why is Ukraine calling it a forced surrender? I'm Daily Wire, executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, November 24th. This is Morning Wire.

The attempt to snag a House seat from Republicans heats up as Democrats spend big on a controversial candidate in Tennessee. So two of my district bills, one. I'm carrying the abortion bill, but also I ran on protecting trans children. And? It's time. With Hollywood facing disastrously weak earnings and theaters this year, Wicked 2 swoops in to save the box office. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire.

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head over to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code wire. That's goldbelly.com code wire for 20% off your first order. President Trump is offering Russia and Ukraine a new peace deal and ramping up pressure on Putin and Zelensky to sign on. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips is here to give us more details about what's in this deal. Hey, Cabot. So some potential breakthroughs looming in Ukraine here where the war approaches its fourth year. What is the latest here? Yeah, President Trump has relished his role as peacemaker since regaining the White House, brokering an end to a number of conflicts. But despite his best efforts, the war in Ukraine continues to rage. The White House is out

now with a new 28-point plan that they view as a potential end to this war, and they're confident it'll benefit both sides. Now, to be frank, this plan does seem to favor Russia, which from a geopolitical standpoint, it makes sense, regardless of whether they're, you know, the bad guys and the aggressors. The reality is they do have the upper hand militarily right now. So the White House is urging folks right now, including the Ukrainians, to be realistic. So tell us about what Ukraine would have to agree to here. Well, first, under this proposal, Ukraine would be forced to give up on its dream of NATO membership and, quote, enshrined in its constitution that will not join NATO, and will also bar NATO troops from being stationed there in the future and limit the size of Ukraine's

military to 600,000 personnel. But perhaps most importantly, for Zelensky, it would also give Russia nearly all of the land they've seized in eastern Ukraine and even some that they haven't. Now, all parties involved in the conflict would be granted amnesty under the deal, and the U.S. would begin immediately lifting sanctions on Moscow, bringing them back into the international economy. And finally, it would also require Ukraine to hold nationwide elections within 100 days of signing. Remember, Zelensky has implemented martial law and suspended all elections during the war, so this could open the door for potentially his electoral removal, something that Putin has long hoped for. So a lot to give up for Ukraine. What's in this deal that would bring them to the table?

Well, the biggest reward would obviously be an end to the conflict. But there is also a promise to allow them to seek membership in the EU moving forward, and also a plan for $100 billion in frozen Russian assets to be invested in a fund to rebuild Ukraine. But as far as security guarantees, that's one of Zelensky's main demands throughout the war, there's not been much beyond vague assurances that Europe and the U.S. would, in their words, coordinate a military response and re-implement sanctions if Russia were to invade again. So the big question here, what sort of response has this proposal gotten from Ukraine and Europe so far? As you can imagine, Ukraine is not happy.

Political leaders expressed outrage that they were not consulted beforehand. They accused Trump of giving Putin his wish list. In a speech over the weekend, Zelensky for his part seemingly implied that the U.S. had threatened to withdraw support unless they signed on to this deal, telling his people, quote, now Ukraine may face a very difficult choice, either loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner referring to the U.S. there. Over the weekend, he held calls with European allies, including Germany, France,

and the UK. And they all responded and offered a unified front, telling the White House in a joint statement that this deal, quote, would leave Ukraine vulnerable to attack and, quote, requires additional work. That work is currently taking place in Geneva where Secretary of State Rubio and other

diplomats are meeting with delegations from the EU and Ukraine. Now, Trump has expressed a willingness to fine-tune the agreement. He's well aware that Europe and Ukraine are not happy with the deal. He stressed that this does not represent his quote, final offer. But he did also take a shot at Zelensky over the weekend, writing on truth social, quote, the Ukraine leadership has expressed zero gratitude for our efforts. Now, before we go, it's worth noting there was some major confusion regarding this deal over

the weekend. Tell us about that. Yeah, a bizarre mix up to say the least. On Saturday, a group of senators told the press that Secretary Marco Rubio called them directly and assured them, this plan was not written by the White House, but was instead a Russian, quote, wish list that was presented to the U.S. However, hours later, Rubio issued a public statement denying that claim, saying that instead, quote, the peace proposal was authored by the U.S. It is based on input from the Russian side, an ongoing input from Ukraine. Well, let's see if we make some progress in the coming days. Kevin, thanks so much for reporting. Absolutely. Now that the holidays are upon us, Many people are looking at getting a new TV, a new phone, maybe an iPad.

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surrounding it is Daily Wire political reporter Cameron, Ark and A Cameron. So we don't often cover single house races like this one, but this one has gained national attention. First, why are so many eyes focused on this race? Yeah, so as Georgia said, this is super critical seat in the House, especially given that the Republicans' majority is so thin. This district is super important given that it's parts of the Nashville metropolitan area, and a lot of people move to this area after COVID as well. Now, Democrats are eager to see this as a pickup opportunity following election victories earlier this month in Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia. We're seeing even that the Democrats' House majority pack poured a 1 million into ads in this race.

Republicans are still expected to take it based on the Cook Political Report ranking, but there's a lot of money poured in here that has Republicans a little bit nervous at this stage. Now, tell us about the two candidates facing off here. There's a lot of buzz, particularly about the Democrat here. What should we know about the two contenders? Yeah, so the first is the Republican Matt Van Epps. He was the commissioner of Tennessee's General Services Department before coming to run for this seat, West Point grad, combat veteran. It is backed by President Trump. We asked him about his views

on the president's agenda and how it aligns with his own goals for the state. Here's what he told us. I think what we're hearing quite a bit as we're out across the Tennessee 7th congressional district is cost of living and working to decrease inflation. And we're working really hard to connect with a lot of folks to address it. Now, most of the attention in the race has been focused on the Democrats, state ref Afton Bain. She's been tatted by Democrats as kind of a rising star, Tennessee's AOC, and also some of her social media posts have been gaining quite a bit of flack. For example, she's even filmed herself openly bragging about, quote, bullying law enforcement from carrying out its federal operations on immigration. This is great. We've got our

girl squad and we're bullying the ICE vehicles and state troopers. So this is like, this is a win. Van Ebbs instead has been trying to tout his public safety background, including running an ad showing that clip. Here's what he told us. It is the exact opposite of what we stand for. And furthermore, she called for the abolishment of law enforcement to defund the police in Nashville. And I met with the Metro National Police Department and fully stand with them. Baines also come under fire for remarks she made in a 2020 clip where she goes on at length about how much she hates Nashville, a city that we just said she could represent. I hate the city, I hate the

bachelorette, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music. I hate all of the things that make Nashville, barely, and it's city to the rest of the country, but I hate it. She has since denied that she hates the city and the industry that's put it on the map. Meanwhile, Epps has taken that opportunity to show off his deep ties to the community. I love Nashville. I support Nashville and country music. I have worked in Nashville, have served in state government, how to of Nashville. My wife in Nashville started a family here. Now, most of the focus has been on Bain's hard left views, especially the contrast between her stances and the deep red nature of where she's trying to represent. Along with her anti-immigration enforcement position, she also said in

recent years she would even be willing to get arrested for abortion advocacy. Now, on the flip side, Van Ep said he supports Tennessee's laws on the issue and so that his views are most likely in line with his potential constituents. I think our stance and the pro-life stance aligns more with Tennesseans with the Tennessee 7th congressional district. Our opponent is someone who had Kamala Harris in town, Jasmine Crockett, very far left. She's been endorsed by the Democrat Socialists of America. A final question. You said at the top that the Cook political report says this race is rated likely Republican. How close does this appear to be?

Well, the polling, which is always heard to weigh in races like this, does show Van Nepps with about an eight-point advantage, according to reporting from the Tennessee lookout regarding Bain's internal polling, and it said that Democrats could be banking on low turnout of Republicans. So again, this is closer than Republicans who may be hope right now. But Van Epps told Morning Wire he believes he's running what will prove to be a winning campaign. We feel really good about our ground game, the support, the things that we have going right now. You know, Davidson County, where Nashville is, is the one area that is more blue than the other 13 counties. but we're still doing really well in Davidson County,

and we're doing really well in the other 13 counties. Definitely a lot on the line here in Nashville, and December 2nd is coming quick. Cameron, thanks so much for reporting. Thank you. In one of the worst years in Hollywood history, one film waved a magic wand this weekend to bring audiences back to theaters.

Wicked for Good, the follow-up to last year's smash hit musical is shattering records. But is it any good? Joining us now to discuss is Daily Wire Culture Reporter, Megan Basham. So, Megan, we recently covered on this show how this has been one of the worst years in box office history, but Wicked for Good, the sequel, is kind of bucking that trend. How did it perform this weekend? Well, you know, I'd say the numbers are nothing short of dramatic.

So according to early estimates, Wicked for Good opened globally in the neighborhood of $228 million. So we don't have the final numbers yet, but in the domestic market, alone, it's projected to debut at around 151 million. So that makes it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway musical inspired feature. And then even beyond that, Wicked 2 had already pulled in the highest earnings this year around 31 million in those domestic preview screenings. It also had the highest pre-sales for a PG movie ever. So the upshot is that it's definitely on its way to being the highest grossing film this year. Now, how are critics responding to it? I know the first one did pretty well. Yeah. So there the news is a little less positive. So on Metacritic,

Wicked 2 has only a 59% positive rating. The first movie averaged 73% and it's pretty much the same story over on Rotten Tomatoes. There, the first movie was 88% positive. The new release, 70%. Now, I attended a press screening of Wicked for Good last week and I'll say that the decrease in enthusiasm isn't that surprising to me. The first First film largely followed the path of the stage production. Those powerhouse ballads like Defying Gravity and the comical ditties like popular and loathing were still very entertaining. But I think the problem is that the most compelling parts of the musical were in the first film. There's some new songs, but they don't boast that same sly humor or I would say even moving

poetry that you had with the original songs. And I would also say that the performances here are overall somewhat flat, though Jonathan Bailey as love interest Fierro was an exception. You can't leave because you can't resist this. That's the truth. Well, maybe I can't. I mean, who could? Well, you know who could. We both know who could and who has, and I have to find her.

So while a handful of the sequences are still impressive, they're visually very dynamic, I would say ultimately Wicked 2 doesn't offer the same energy. value as the first entry. But when you're the only holiday blockbuster in town. Right. Lack of competition, no doubt, helps. Now, I have seen some rumors that Universal has been pulling back on Ariana Grande and Cynthia Arrivo interviews this time around. No doubt because of all the focus on their bizarre behavior in some of those previous interviews, as well as their politicking on the red carpet. Is there any truth to that? You know, I've not seen any evidence that universal is deliberately keeping Wicked stars off the press tour,

but that bizarre behavior is still definitely true. What they haven't done so much this time is offer political commentary, things like how the Wizard of Oz is part of queer canon, quote unquote, and how Oz is a, quote, gay place, and those are the kinds of things they said last time. And, you know, personally, I would say that's a good thing,

because I have always argued that Wicked is a conservative-themed musical. Yes, it is. The story is built around skepticism of a globalist centralized power, distrust of government-aligned media and the false narratives that it pushes, and just really a fierce defense of objective as opposed to relative truth. So conservative, again, really, it's a conservative movie. So while I haven't enjoyed the movies as much as the stage production, I'm still a pretty big fan of the storyline. Yeah, I actually saw Kristen Chenoweth in the original in New York,

years ago, and that will be very hard to talk for me. Megan, thanks for reporting. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for waking up with us. Before we go, a quick programming note. We will not have evening wire this week, but worry not. We will have a new show for you every morning this week and weekend, even on Thanksgiving. So keep tuning in for both regular and special editions of the show all week. We'll be back tomorrow morning with the news you need to know.