The Daily Signal - Top House Democrat Meets with Biden, Election Polling Margins Razor Thin, Virginia Moves to Ban Cell Phone in School | July 12

Starting point is 00:00:00 President Joe Biden's press conference was meant to reassure Democrats, but did it? I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, July 12th. President Biden held a press conference last night from about 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. This was the first press conference that Biden held this year. It followed the NATO summit that took place right here in Washington, D.C. this week. And Americans were watching closely to see exactly how Biden handled himself. The president had a list of journalists that he called on to ask questions. The first several questions all revolved around his ability to carry out the role of president

Starting point is 00:00:47 and whether he believed Vice President Kamala Harris was up to the job of president if Biden does decide to step out of the race. This question led to arguably Biden's biggest gaffe of the night. He referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as Vice President Trump per C-SPAN. I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president that I think she's not qualified to be president. So let's start there. Former President Donald Trump wasted no time pointing out this gaffe on social media. As Biden continued to be pressed on the issue of whether or not he would stay in the race,

Starting point is 00:01:25 he said the only way that he would drop out is if polls show that there is no way he can win. No, unless they came back and said, there's no way you can win me. No one's saying that, according to the president. This was a really interesting moment during the night's press conference because there's about 18 Democrat lawmakers that have expressed their opinion that Biden should drop out of the race. That's according to ABC News. Well, speaking of Democrat lawmakers, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met with President Biden last night after that press conference. The meeting was reportedly to discuss Democrats' opinion on Biden's path forward.

Starting point is 00:02:14 Jeffries had said Thursday that he planned to pull every House Democrat to learn where they stood on the matter. But we know very few details about what happened during that conversation between Jeffries and Biden. Jeffries did send a letter to House Democrats this morning saying, in my conversation with President Biden, I directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heartfelt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the caucus had shared in our recent time together. three noticeable things were absent from Jeffrey's letter. An endorsement of Biden to remain the candidate, a call for Biden to step down, and also absent was whether Jeffreys had communicated to Biden what House Democrats wanted the president to do. The New York Times is reporting that there are major Democratic donors who are withholding donations to a large pro-Biden super PAC,

Starting point is 00:03:09 and it appears they plan to continue with holding those funds unless Biden drops out of the race. Specifically, the funds are being withheld from the Future Forward Super PAC, and the held donations are worth roughly $90 million. We know that money talks, so stay tuned. But there are about 60 House Democrats who have spoken out publicly in support of Biden since that June 27th debate. one of those Democrats is Congressman James Clyburn. Clyburn recently sat down for an exclusive interview with today, and the Democrat congressman defended some of Biden's recent gaffs

Starting point is 00:03:50 as a result of Biden having suffered from a speech impediment when he was younger. We do know that he sometimes mangler words and faces, but all of that is almost natural for people who grew up, stuttering and they do focus a little more. And when you focus a little more, you tend to lose the flow. Clyburn went on to say that Biden has one of the best minds he's ever seen. And he added that the conversation right now should be focused on Biden's record. When pressed further on the issue of Democrats encouraging Biden to drop out of the race, Clyburn reiterated his support for Biden. Let's continue to compare the past behavior of Joe Biden as to the past behavior of its opponent Donald Trump.

Starting point is 00:04:45 And let that be a guide to our reactions going forward. At the end of the interview, Clyburn was asked if he would endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president if Biden did choose to step aside. And Clyburn said, absolutely, he would support Harris in such a situation. So what about the polls? What are the polls saying right now about the support that Americans are throwing behind Trump or Biden? A new national NPR slash PBS NewsHour slash Maris poll is out and this is what it has found. There has been little change since that debate two weeks ago. In fact, the poll found that Biden actually gained a point since before the debate back in mid-June. Right now, the poll has Biden polling at 50 percent and, Trump at 49%. But Biden did fall behind Trump one percentage point when third party options are

Starting point is 00:05:42 included. But keep in mind that there's a 3.1% margin of air in these polls. So at least as of right now, this means that the race really remains razor thin. The real clear politics polling average currently has Trump at three points ahead of Biden. Trump is also expected to earn a slight boost in polling during the Republican National Convention next week. Now for a little bit of non-election news. The state of Virginia is moving to restrict student cell phone use in public schools. Virginia governor Glenn Yonkin

Starting point is 00:06:17 signed an executive order this week to restrict or even ban students' cell phone use within public schools. The governor said creating cell phone and social media-free educational environments in Virginia's K-12 education system will benefit students, parents, and educators. The Virginia Department of Education has been tasked with establishing guidelines for a

Starting point is 00:06:40 cell phone-free education. The new policy will be implemented at the beginning of January in 2025. Yonkin said the executive order both establishes the clear goal to protect the health and safety of our students by limiting the amount of time they are exposed to addictive cell phones and social media and eliminates clear distractions in the classroom. New York, City and Los Angeles public schools are also taking similar steps to limit cell phone use in schools. It's Friday, and that means it's time for a movie review. This film review segment was recorded out of office this week at a conference that I was attending, so you may hear a little bit of noise in the background. The sequel to Disney Pickstar's film Inside Out, Inside Out, Inside Out 2 has released.

Starting point is 00:07:28 It's in theaters right now. It hit theaters in June, and it's still in theaters across the country. The film is rated PG. It's a great family movie. It received 90% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 96% approval from viewers from the audience on Rotten Tomatoes. The film aims to teach kids about the role of emotions and the role emotions play within our lives, what they are, how we work with them. And so here with us, to explain more about the film is a good friend of The Daily Signal, Christina Amy. She works for a great partner of the the Daily Signal on their marketing team. She works for Alliance Defending Freedom. Amy, you, or excuse me, Christina, you saw the film. I would love to get your perspective. What is different about Inside Out 2 from Inside Out the first film? Well, the second one really delves into Riley, the main character, as she is hitting

Starting point is 00:08:24 puberty. And for all of us girls, we remember what that was like and all the emotions that come with it. So they introduced three new characters into Inside Out 2, and one of them being anxiety, and because she's super anxious about getting onto the ice hockey team of the one that she wants to get into. So she kind of pushes her best friends aside, and she decides that she wants to be more of a hang out with the cool kids, and she wants to make a good impression. So as a result, she starts feeling anxious about all of these things, and it's really,

Starting point is 00:09:01 really, really fun to watch to see how the brain is working through those little, I don't cartoon emojis, if you will, well, they're not emojis, but those characters, and to see how anxiety starts to take over every thought. And so that's, that's what the difference is. It's really more of a, it really aged well. It aged her well as far as what they did with the first one. She was younger. She navigated, you know, different things when she was little, but now we've got the We've got the anxiety. We've got envy. So all of those emotions that are introduced during that time of a girl's life. Well, we're having this conversation at a conference that we get to be attending together. So that's why there's some noise in the background. But I was hearing you talk earlier yesterday about this film and what you took from it. And I was really impressed by that and just sort of moved by what you had to say.

Starting point is 00:09:57 So if you would share, what did you walk out of this movie with? One of my roles here at Alliance Defending Freedom is to work on marketing the issue of parental rights and work on our cases. And a lot of our cases revolve around children who have struggled in one way, shape, or form. And as a result, the parents have their rights have been questioned or potentially taken away. And so we're working with those families. one of the common threads in a lot of these cases, and even cases that aren't our cases, is that these children have suffered with anxiety, and as a fix, school officials, government officials have said,

Starting point is 00:10:42 hey, if you're struggling with anxiety, maybe we should look at changing your identity. And your identity could be something, the other gender that you may now identify with. So you're putting these ideas in a child's head. And what this movie did very counter-culturally to the culture we're living in today is saying, yes, anxiety has a place because it helps us to be more resilient. But it doesn't take over our lives. It has a place. We deal with the issues head-on. We don't run from them.

Starting point is 00:11:25 We don't hide. We don't change who we are. We have to work through the issues. And that's what this movie showed, at least to me, was that anxiety is very real. And we live in a culture that is an anxious generation. But it has its place. And I don't want to give any spoiler alerts. But at the end, it was great the way the other emotions put anxiety in its place.

Starting point is 00:11:52 and still invited her to be a part of Riley's life, but with caveats. Fantastic. Well, for anyone listening, if you haven't seen Inside Out 2, we'd love for you to check it out, and then let us know your thoughts. Did you like the movie? And do you agree that it creates this great conversation piece to have with your own kids? So check out Inside Out 2. Great film to watch over the weekend with your family.

Starting point is 00:12:18 And Christina, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the video. and we really appreciate the work, Christina, that you do at Alliance Defending Freedom. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here for the Daily Signal Top News as you head into your weekend. If you haven't had the chance, make sure that you are checking out our morning shows. I'm really looking forward to a conversation on Monday morning with John Stone Street.

Starting point is 00:12:45 He's the head of the Colson Center. And we have a great discussion about the convergence of religion and religion. culture and how they both affect one another. Make sure to catch that conversation Monday morning. Also, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on our brand new shows. And if you would, take a minute to leave us a five-star rating and review. And be sure that you are following the Daily Signal next week across social media platforms and on our website, daily signal.org, because much of our team is going to be at the Republican National Convention and reporting from there, bringing you insider information about what's happening conversations we're having with

Starting point is 00:13:24 lawmakers and really getting a pulse for where conservatives stand at this moment in history. So make sure you're following us all of next week. It's going to be a fun week. All right. Enjoy your weekend. We'll see you right back here Monday morning. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Louis and Katrina Trinko.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Tyler O'Neill, and. Mary Margaret Olahan and Elizabeth Mitchell. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geine, John Pop, and Joseph von Spakovsky. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Top House Democrat Meets with Biden, Election Polling Margins Razor Thin, Virginia Moves to Ban Cell Phone in School | July 12

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