Morning Wire - Wednesday | September 1, 2021

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Afghanistan remains in turmoil as the withdrawal deadline passes, California’s Gavin Newsom gets Hollywood’s help in his recall threat, and the sports world responds to the terror attacks in Afghanistan. Get the facts first on Morning Wire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete. With Americans and American allies still stranded, what did President Biden have to say about his full withdrawal of U.S. forces? I'm John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, September 1st, and this is Morning Wire. With his recall election rapidly approaching and the polls tightening, California Governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly turning to Hollywood for help. What is the governor's strategy for staying in office,

And how is his Republican rival, Larry Elder, pushing back? And the sports world responds to the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers in Kabul. We'll look at what professional and local teams have done to honor the fallen soldiers. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know. This show is brought to you by WioTech. WioTech, one of the nation's leading auto and diesel training schools, sees the trades as America's front lines.

WioTech is shaping young men, women, and veterans to build careers and businesses. America is built on the trades, and WioTech is leading the way in training. Visit WioTech.edu to subscribe and donate to the future technicians of America. President Joe Biden's deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan passed on Tuesday, with August 31st marking the completion of the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. But as the consequences of the withdrawal have become clear, this move has sparked a furious backlash. Here to discuss his DailyWire's Ian Howarth. Ian, what do we know? Well, as the last evacuation plane left Afghanistan, General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of

U.S. Central Command, confirmed that a number of Americans who had requested and were awaiting evacuation had been left behind. Look, there's a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. And this is running counter to President Biden's earlier promise that Americans would not, under any sort of, circumstances be left behind. So Americans should understand the troops might have to be there beyond August 31st. No, Americans should understand that we're going to try to get it done before August 31st. But if we don't, the troops will stay.

If we don't, we'll determine at the time who's left. And? And if there's American forces, if there's American citizens left, we're going to stay, we'll get them all out. So with hundreds of American citizens, as well as many more green card holders and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan, people are pointing out that President Biden failed to deliver on this fundamental promise. So what's the status of the region now?

Afghanistan is now under full Taliban control, and the Biden administration's rhetoric is now pivoting to present the withdrawal strategy as a success. For example, General McKenzie essentially praised the Taliban for supporting the evacuation, even though there were multiple reports that the Taliban were actively preventing Americans and other evacuees from leaving. I will tell you, the Taliban have been very pragmatic and very businesslike as we have approached this withdrawal. Yesterday afternoon, President Biden addressed the nation following the conclusion of the withdrawal. What did he say?

Well, this speech was effectively a combination of his previous speeches on the withdrawal. President Biden described the withdrawal as an extraordinary success, but also used most of the speech to level blame on others. First, he blamed his predecessor, former President Donald Trump. The Taliban was in his strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country. The previous administration's agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1st deadline that they had signed on to leave by, the Taliban wouldn't attack any American forces. But if we stayed, all bets were off. And then he continued to push the argument that many of those, left behind, chose to stay.

Since March, we reached out 19 times to Americans in Afghanistan with multiple warnings and offers to help them leave Afghanistan all the way back as far as March. But we should remember that just one month ago, President Biden rejected the idea that a Taliban takeover was inevitable. Is a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? No, it is not. Biden also admitted that some Americans were indeed stranded in Afghanistan, despite, as he put it, having some intention to leave.

However, even that reality was presented as a success with Biden celebrating the percentage of Americans who wanted to leave who were evacuated. The bottom line, 90% of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. And for those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. And when the speech was over, President Biden did not take questions from journalists, despite no substantive mention of the ongoing strategy to rescue the Americans, green cardholders, or Afghan allies who still remain stranded in Afghanistan.

So we've witnessed a major deadline pass, but there's serious work ahead. Yeah. Thanks for the update, Ian. Daily Wires, Ian Howarth. Coming up, California's Democratic governor turns to Hollywood for help. Football season is back, and bet online is the number one spot for all your sports betting needs. Right now, new bet online users can earn up to $1,000 in bonus cash just for signing up. With the earliest betting lines and the largest selection of prop bets available online,

sign up now and start this season off a winner with bet online. The latest polls show in battled governor Gavin Newsom and leading Republican challenger Larry Elder, are running neck and neck in California's recall election, which is set for September 14th. Now Newsom is reportedly turning to his friends in the entertainment business for help. Here to give us the latest on Hollywood's involvement in the recall is Daily Wire Entertainment Reporter Megan Basham.

Good to have you back, Megan. Always a pleasure to be here. So I suppose it can be expected that Hollywood is going to be backing Newsom in general, but who specifically is he turning to and what's he asking from them? Well, you know, he's kind of good. got two-pronged aims here, and that's been shaping his requests and also who he's talking to. Since he was elected, Newsom's really gone out of his way to curry favor in the industry.

To give you an example, even though he's a native San Franciscan, he held his 2018 election night party in downtown L.A., and that was a star-studded event, to say the least. So on the one hand, those relationships are now paying off. The most powerful of power players are answering his please for campaign cash. Netflix CEO, Reid Hastings, for example, gave him $3 million. DreamWorks founder and former Disney chief Jeffrey Katzenberg has been circulating a fundraising letter among his industry friends. Also, in early August, he hosted a Zoom event that drew a host of notable names. Those included Rob Reiner and TV executive Byron Allen, and that also raised significant funds. And just to give you a couple more examples, Star Wars and Mission Impossible

director, J.J. Abrams, has also been a big donor, and so is Steven Spielberg. So money-wise, those Hollywood relationships have been really good for Newsom. But part of his challenge is that many voters, of course, view him as an out-of-touch elitist. A lot of our listeners will probably remember that big controversy back in November when he was caught violating his own strict lockdown measures to dine out at that very toony restaurant, French laundry. Oh, yes, that was the notorious birthday party. That's right. That's exactly what it was. So while Newsom, he wants that Hollywood money, he has to be careful because Larry Elder, he's been hitting him really hard on those elite connections. Right. And those Hollywood connections might actually be a liability in terms of PR, at least with

middle class voters. Yeah, that's exactly right. So he has to thread that needle really carefully. And I think he's aware of that. And more interestingly, he reportedly has a strategy for it. So Elder, as we know, is famous for being this dynamic, straight-talking black radio host. He's known as the Sage from South Central, native Angelino. And Newsom has to compete with that. So if we can believe the polls, Elder's style is appealing to a lot of minority voters who might not otherwise consider voting for a Republican. So Newsom has reportedly turned to people like Snoop Dog and John Legend, as well as comedian

George Lopez, to combat that. The Hollywood reporter had a story last week that Snoop has signed on to slam Elder on social media. And you have to keep in mind, he has more than 19 million Twitter followers, so it's not nothing. Now, he hasn't done it yet, but the word is in his own good intuitive Snoop time, he's going to bring this out and hit Elder with it. Right. And how about Elder? As a Republican, I'm guessing he doesn't have a ton of celebrity backers. You know, not a ton, but he does have a few. not slouches. Dirty Harry himself, for one. Elder announced a couple of weeks ago that Clint Eastwood called him and endorsed him. And there's also Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet. That's another one. He's the guy who penned one of my personal favorite movies, The Untouchables. And finally, we would be remiss if we didn't mention Mr. Walker, Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris. Insert Chuck Norris joke here.

Right. I know. I really should have thought of. I'll bring you one next time. Looking forward to it. Thanks again for being here, Megan. Thanks for having me. Daily Wire Entertainment reporter, Megan Basham. After the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. soldiers in Kabul from suicide bombings, some professional sports teams have taken action to honor the fallen soldiers. Here to discuss this Daily Wire sports reporter Joe Morgan. Joe, tell us about how the sports world has responded to the attacks in Kabul.

Yeah, we've seen some pretty powerful statements so far. Let's start with the New York Giants. They played their third and final preseason game. against the New England Patriots on Sunday night. At the coin toss before the game, the three game day captains of the Giants, Gibral Peppers, Nick Gates, and Blake Martinez, wore hats representing the U.S. Army,

U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, and the FDN.Y. Head coach Joe Judge wore a United States Marine Corps hat. After the game, in his post-game news conference, Judge was asked about the hats and said they were in support of the military and those that lost their lives. He mentioned that he received pictures of people wearing Giants' hats, T-shirts and letters from soldiers overseas showing their support for the team.

Coach Judge felt that it was important to show that, quote, we're all on the same team and that we're supporting them as well. I'd say, you know, in terms of wearing the hats, I thought it was a good opportunity to go ahead and draw some awareness, that there were 11 Marines that lost their lives week, one naval, one army as well. Judge also spoke about the importance of keeping everything in perspective, considering that football is simply a game.

And the importance of what they do is dwarfed in comparison to the military members to put their lives on the line every day in order to keep us safe. They're playing life or death. So it's important that we keep in perspective what we do and that we stay very grateful and we acknowledge what they're doing on a daily basis so that we can go out there and do this professionally. It'll be involved with a game. And the MLB did something as well.

Right. On the day that the 13 service members were returned home, the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball did what they could to honor their memory. The Braves reserved 13 seats at Truis Park on Sunday. Each seat had an American flag placed on top. I also want to shed a light on a tribute made by a youth football team in Knoxville, Tennessee, as many of us at the Daily Wire have made Tennessee home. The Gibbs Eagles youth football team in Knoxville, a group of eight-year-olds,

paid tribute to Knoxville Native Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knaas, one of the soldiers who was killed last Thursday. Sergeant Ryan Knox, alumnob High School, lost his life serving our country to honor him. We will ask all of you to please stand, men, please take off your hats, and join in a moment of silence together. They ran onto the field carrying the American flag and wore Khanas' initials on their wrist while also taking a moment of silence before the game.

After the football game, both teams, Gibbs and their opponent, met for a group prayer instead of the traditional handshake. Wow, it's a powerful moment, close to home. Thank you, Joe. You're welcome, John. Daily Wire Sports reporter Joe Morgan. Other stories we're tracking this week. Authorities are investigating possible terror motives for a man who shot and killed his lift driver

before opening fire inside a Dallas suburb police station Sunday. According to an FBI officer connected to the case, the 33-year-old suspect, who was shot dead by officers, reportedly left a letter suggesting that he may have been inspired by a foreign terrorist organization. The suspect was previously targeted in an FBI. counterterrorism investigation, but agents at the time did not believe he was a threat. A new Pew Research poll shows trust in media is dropping among all political affiliations, but most specifically among Republicans. Since 2016, trust has fallen by five points among Democrats,

18 points among independents, and 34 points among Republicans. And another poll found that vaccine hesitancy is dropping significantly among Americans. In March, 34% of American adults said they were not likely to get the vaccine. That number today is 20%. 72% of American adults have now taken the COVID vaccine, and an additional 8% say they plan to take it. If you liked 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. That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to. to know. If you like this podcast, get the MorningWire newsletter delivered straight to your inbox when you join at DailyWire.com slash subscribe. Use code MorningWire to try a reader's past membership and get your first month for only 99 cents.