The President's Daily Brief - January 15th, 2024: Houthis Under Fire, Taiwan’s Defiance, & Capital Chaos

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief:   We analyze the latest strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, revealing new insights into the coalition's offensive and its impact.   We discuss the significant outcome of Taiwan's presidential election and the powerful statement made by its voters to Beijing.   We cover the tumultuous events in Washington D.C., where anti-Israel protests escalated in intensity, prompting security concerns.   We provide a snapshot of the Iowa Caucuses, highlighting the determination of voters who faced extreme cold to support their preferred candidates. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief.   Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is sponsored by Blackout Coffee. Start your day off with a great cup of blackout coffee, or if you're like me, two or three cups. It's America's strongest small badge coffee. Family owned, premium coffee, fresh roasted, and shipped out within 48 hours of roasting. Go to blackout coffee.com. promo code PDB for 20% off your first purchase. It's Monday, January 15th.

Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears. on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll kick things off today with the latest strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen as we uncover new details about the scope and effectiveness of the coalition's attacks on the Iranian-backed militant group. Later in the program, the results are in, and Taiwanese voters delivered a major message to Beijing in Saturday's presidential election. I'll have those results and what they mean. Plus, we'll take a look at the chaos that erupted this weekend

when thousands of anti-Israel protesters gathered in front of the White House. And finally, in today's back of the brief, it's a big day in Iowa as voters brave wind chills of anywhere between negative 40 and negative 45 to caucus for their candidates in the first contest of the primary season. But first up, the PDB spotlight. The U.S. military continued its operations against Yemen-based Houthi militants over the weekend. On early Saturday morning, the U.S. Navy targeted a Houthi-controlled site near Haldita, a strategic port city on Yemen's west coast. Now, this site was identified as a potential threat to commercial vessels in the Red Sea and was struck by the Navy destroyer USS Carney, employing a barrage of Tomahawks.

missiles. This action was dubbed a follow-on action by the U.S. Central Command. Just a day earlier, the U.S. and Britain had coordinated multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels. These strikes, part of a larger operation conducted on Thursday and Friday, successfully had 28 locations striking over 60 targets. Now, we've also gotten some new information about the effectiveness of last week's strikes. According to U.S. officials, speaking to to the New York Times, the attacks succeeded in damaging or destroying approximately 90% of of the intended targets. However, they also noted that this only represents a reduction of about 20 to 30% of the Hootie's total offensive capability. Much of the Hootie arsenal is made up of

mobile platforms, posing a challenge for targeted strikes because, well, obviously they're mobile and easy to move and conceal. The officials went on to say that actually, finding Houthi targets is proving to be more challenging than anticipated. They highlighted the lack of significant intelligence efforts in recent years by American and other Western agencies in tracking Houthi air defenses, command centers, and storage facilities for drones and missiles. This gap in intelligence obviously makes a task of effectively neutralizing Houthi capabilities more difficult. President Biden made a few statements about the strikes this weekend, while addressing the situation in the Middle East, during a

a speech in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Biden called the strikes a message to Iran, adding that, quote, they know not to do anything. One interesting note, Biden was asked by a reporter if he was going to call the Houthis a terrorist group, and he responded, I think they are. Well, believe it or not, that's actually a reversal for the Biden administration. Back in February of 2021, in the early days of his administration in the White House, President Biden formally delisted Yemen's Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorists, undoing the designation as a terrorist group that was made during former President Trump's administration. When he was pressed on the matter, President Biden told reporters, quote,

it's irrelevant whether they're designated as terrorists, end quote. Now, with all due respect to the president, he was either misspeaking or doesn't understand what's involved when an organization is formally listed as a terrorist organization. In response to the U.S. and U.K. strikes, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. strongly criticized the actions, oh, shocking, describing them as a violation of national sovereignty, international law, and the United Nations Charter. He went so far as to characterize these actions as a declaration of war against the Yemeni people. And he added, hey, if anybody's going to destabilize the Middle East, it's going to be our regime. Can you spot the made-up quote?

Now, the ambassador's statement, given that the Iranian regime is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and is responsible for the majority of instability in the region, is by various turns laughable, ridiculous, and meaningless. Not to mention that while the Iranian-backed-Thouti militants control a significant part of Yemen, including its capital city, Sana'a, they aren't recognized by the United Nations as the country's legitimate government. Coming up after the break, we'll look at the results of Taiwan's presidential election and the strong message voters delivered to Beijing. Plus, we'll cover the chaos in Washington this weekend as anti-Israel demonstrators forced the secret service to usher journalists and White House staff to safety. It was a near riot at the White House that apparently some media, including the New York Times and Washington Post, decided wasn't worthy of coverage. I'll be right back.

Welcome back. I wanted to follow up on that pivotal national election that took place in Taiwan over the weekend, where it looks like the Taiwanese people ignored the warnings of Beijing, affirming their stance on self-determination. Voters in Taiwan have once again placed their trust in the Democratic Progressive Party, the DPP, granting them a historic third consecutive presidential victory. Now, Vice President William Lai framed his victory on Saturday evening as a triumph for Taiwan's place in the world. Lai told a jubilant crowd, quote,

This is a night that belongs to Taiwan. We managed to keep Taiwan on the map of the world, end quote. His words not only celebrated the victory, but also resonated as a clear defiance of Beijing's stance on Taiwan. Lai went on to take a shot directly at Beijing, telling the audience, quote, the election has shown the world the commitment of the Taiwanese people to democracy, which I hope China, can understand." When the final votes were tallied, the DPP emerged with just over 40% of the vote, while their main competitors, the Kuomintang Party, which favors closer ties with mainland China,

received 33.5% of the vote. This result is a clear endorsement by the Taiwanese electorate of the DPP's stance that Taiwan is and should operate as a sovereign entity, even at the risk of economic or military repercussions from Beijing. China, however, has outright dismissed the election's significance, asserting that the DPP does not embody the mainstream viewpoint in Taiwan. A Chinese government spokesman declared that this electoral outcome would not deter what he called the inevitable trend of China's reunification. Here in the U.S., the response to the results has been somewhat mixed, echoing the long-running U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity. When asked about the election, President Biden simply reiterated that the United States does not

support the independence of Taiwan. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on the other hand, saluted Lyon's victory and hailed the, quote, robust democratic system and electoral process of the island. Beijing immediately criticized Blinken for his remarks, calling the message of violation of Washington's commitment to maintain only unofficial ties with Taiwan and accused the U.S. of sending, quote, a gravely wrong signal to those pushing for Taiwan's independence. China's leader Xi Jinping said, quote, I for one am seriously pissed off about this situation. Yeah, that was definitely a made-up quote. All right, things got out of control in Washington, D.C. on Saturday night, as thousands of anti-Israel protesters and rioters, converging.

in front of the White House. The demonstration escalated when some participants began damaging security fencing and throwing objects at police officers. The air was filled with chance of ceasefire now, long-lived the Intifada and Free Free Palestine, as Palestinian flags waved above the crowd. Some demonstrators carried signs with messages like no votes for genocide Joe and Biden has blood on his hands. According to the U.S. Secret Service, the unrest led to damage to some fencing, prompting the relocation of White House staff and journalists as a precautionary measure. Notably, President Biden was not at the White House during the protest, spending his time at Camp David instead. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith released a statement

reiterating her department's commitment to protecting peaceful protest, but added, quote, violence, destructive behavior, and criminal activities are not tolerated. Well, not to disagree with the police chief, but it did appear that violence and destructive behavior were actually tolerated the other night outside the White House. Apparently, perhaps that sort of activity is okay as long as you're anti-Semitic. Now, one thing I wanted to bring to your attention is a new chant that some of these demonstrators and trust fund protesters have added to their repertoire of moronic chants. Some demonstrators were heard chanting,

Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around. It doesn't really rhyme, but I guess that's not the point. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. There's got to be a small cadre of idiots somewhere who gather regularly to come up with new protest chants. At this point, I feel like it would be helpful to remind everyone of the official hooty slogan. So you understand who these people outside the White House

were chanting in support of. The official Houthi slogan is, and I quote, God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam. That's actually emblazoned on the group's flag. And not to mention they put it on their bumper stickers and ball caps and beer coosies. And of course, that message is wholeheartedly endorsed by the Houthi's sugar daddy, the Iranian regime. Oh, one other point about the riotous behavior outside the White House. Some protesters decided it would be clever to spray paint slogans all over the statue of Rochambault that sits across from the White House, because, of course, nothing says you support the Palestinians

and hate Israel more than splashing paint on a marble statue. Now, not for nothing, but Rochambeau led the French army alongside Americans as they fought against the British in the Revolutionary War. So Rochambeau helped secure victory and create the country that now provides the French the freedom and rights for folks like these protesters to stand outside the White House, damage fences, hurl objects at police, and shout slogans in support of terrorist organizations that would never allow for such protests. Coming up in the back of the brief, I've got a preview of the Iowa caucus as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis

hope for an upset victory against former President Donald Trump. I'll be right back. Exema is unpredictable. but you can flare less with ebbglis, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in 10 people taking ebbglis, achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks.

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Caucus goers across the state will gather, braving the extreme cold to make their voices heard in the first significant contest of the political season. And there's a real concern among candidates about turnout due to the frigid temperatures gripping the state. In Des Moines, the mercury is expected to rise to balmy negative 2 degrees with wind chills in the negative 40 to negative 45. degree range across the state, at least into Tuesday. Iowa is still digging out from a blizzard that hit this weekend, creating potentially perilous conditions as some roads remain sheets of ice. Despite the bitter cold, enthusiasm is high, with President Trump leading the polls as the first choice for 48% of likely caucus goers, according to the final NBC News-Demoin Register poll of Iowa voters. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley trails, well, far behind the former commander-in-chief at 20%,

with Florida Governor Rod DeSantis capturing 16% and businessman Vivek Ramaswami at 8%. As Iowans bundle up and step out to caucus, the stakes are high, especially for Haley and DeSantis, who really have to have decent showings to have any momentum heading into New Hampshire and South Carolina in the coming weeks. For DeSantis, who has focused almost exclusively on Iowa over the recent months, anything less than a second place showing will spell serious trouble for his overall campaign. And that, my friends, is the President's Daily Brief for Monday, 15 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm Mike Baker.

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