The President's Daily Brief - President's Daily Brief - April 12th, 2022

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

It’s April 12th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. I’m your host and former CIA Officer Bryan Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now.  First up, new COVID mask rules in Philadelphia. But that runs contrary to what even Tony Fauci has said. We’ll talk about that.  Second up, ghost guns. Joe Biden released a new federal rule that regulates these weapons. Is that a good development or bad? We’ll discuss.  Third, the southern border back in the news. Texas is trying to force Biden to do his job. I'll explain why. And, as always, I’m keeping my eye out for developing stories. Here's the big one for today: inflation. All up next on the President’s Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's April 12th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. Before we start, a quick reminder to those new to the show, the brief you're about to hear is the same spirit of the actual President's Daily Brief, which is a top secret summary of the most critical events of the past 24 hours, delivered to the president each morning by the nation's spy masters. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am your spy, and this is your brief. Here's what we're covering today. First up, COVID restrictions. They're coming back. Philadelphia says it's time for everybody to mask up again, but that's not what Tony Fauci said we should do just a couple of days ago. Adding to the confusion is Joe Biden's press secretary saying that you don't have to wear a mask

if you're having a historic or emotional day. What? Yeah, she said that. We're going to talk about it. Second up, ghost guns. Joe Biden released a new federal rule yesterday that regulates gun parts that are manufactured by private enthusiasts. Until now, those parts have not been registered with the government. Is this a good development or bad? We'll discuss. Third, the southern border again in the news.

This time, commercial trucks are getting gumbed up as they try to pass from Mexico to America. We'll talk about why the governor of Texas is probably taking this step. Spoiler alert, I think he's trying to force Biden to actually do his job. And as always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. This one, you should probably put on your radar. inflation. We're going to hear a lot about that today. New data are being released. And economists are saying those numbers are awful. The Biden administration knows this. They're already blaming Vladimir Putin. Do you buy that? All up next on the president's daily brief. Some confusing COVID news about masks and hypocrisy. First, I'm sorry to say that if you're listening

in Philadelphia, it's time to dust off your mask. As of April 18th, residents and visitors in the city of Brotherly Love will need to wear a mask. If you want to to go to a public indoor space that includes schools. The new mask policy is in response to an uptick in COVID cases locally about a 50% increase in the past 10 days. Now, there's a little bit of wiggle room with the new policy. Any business that requires proof of vaccination of its patrons will be exempt from the mask mandate.

Now, this is an odd development. Philadelphia is actually breaking from CDC guidance, which says case counts aren't really good public health policy. Instead, we should pay attention to hospitalizations. And those numbers aren't bad in Philly. City officials were asked about that disconnect between CDC science and Philadelphia science. They couldn't answer beyond saying it was a local issue. Adding to the mask confusion are the words of Tony Fauci, which if you listen to the show yesterday, you know that he said that each individual is going to have to make their own calculation of the risk that they want to take when it comes to COVID mitigation efforts. In other words, your body,

your risk, your choice. Now, that's smart. So why aren't officials in Philadelphia honoring that council? I don't have a good answer for you on that. They didn't offer one. Meanwhile, here's some more confusion. Vice President Kamala Harris was recently at an event maskless and in violation of White House policy. When asked why, the press secretary, Jen Saki, said it was an emotional day. It was a historic day. Well, it was a day when Katanji Brown Jackson became the first black female Supreme Court justice. Apparently, that's good enough reason to ignore their own rules. So why does this all matter to you? This Philadelphia decision, Fauci statements, Kamala's maskless photo op. Folks, we've lived through two years of hell. Lockdowns, losing jobs and friendships.

Some of us have lost loved ones, too. The confusing mask mandates have been a part of that hell. First, masks were bad and then good and then bad if they were one fabric, but actually good if they were another fabric. So most of us were willing to be patient with those changes if they were driven by science. But what we're seeing in Philadelphia, in Tony Fauci's latest remarks and in the absurd response by Jen Sock and Kamala Harris, they're all just a reminder of why the last two years were so hellish. Our COVID policies time and again have had absolutely nothing to do with science. They seem more like guesses. And we're tired of that, aren't we? On top of that, you add in the issue of hypocrisy. You see, you and I live in one world, and apparently

our elites live and another. Kamala Harris doesn't have to wear a mask, haven't you heard? Why? Because she's feeling emotional today. So let me ask you. Did you feel emotional over the past two years about COVID rules? I did. My grandmother was in an assisted living facility, and for long stretches of time, she couldn't see us. She couldn't hold the hand of her family members. She died in November. She's one of the greatest women I've ever known. I'm guessing you have a story like that, and I bet it still hurts. The loss, yes, but also that you were denied a chance to love on someone because your government told you that there were rules. Rules, as it turns out, that they didn't follow. The upshot here is very simple. You want to wear a mask? Do it. You don't? You don't?

that's fine too. But America is done with mandates for masks and otherwise. It's your body, your risk, your choice. Leave the rest of us alone. Yesterday, Joe Biden announced a rule that regulates gun parts that are mostly complete, ready to form a weapon, but they require some special assembly before they become a usable weapon. Now, once these guns are ready to fire, they differ in one big way from other guns. They lack of manufacturer's serial number. That makes it harder for government officials to track. And that's kind of the point for some private creators of these guns. They don't want the government to interfere in their right to bear arms. They don't trust the government and what they'll do with that information. Joe Biden disagrees. He wants to regulate those

guns, and now this rule will define all those unfinished individual parts for the first time as an effective gun. Now, there's lots of fallout from that rule. One example, sellers like pawn shops now have to slap a serial number on these ghost guns before reselling them. Or at least that's the plan. The rule doesn't go into effect for another 120 days, and there are anticipated lawsuits. But let's break down this story. Joe Biden assumes that ghost guns are a problem, that they're making crime worse in America, and if only we could take them off the streets, crime would go down. First, there's no good data on how many of these guns are actually on the streets. Nobody tracks that information, that's the point, and in many cases, police departments don't contact the federal

government when they encounter these types of guns. So when our Attorney General Merrick Garland said yesterday that these guns are flooding into our communities, well, that's just not true. It was a guess, it could be true, but might not be. And so, too, is this guess as to whether these ghost guns are contributing to America's very real crime wave. Putting aside the argument of who commits crimes, people, or guns, I'm still tracking down. the data to pass judgment. I'll keep you posted. But there's a couple of other bigger stories here. First, why would someone want an untraceable gun? I suppose I understand why a criminal might, although I don't think they're especially worried about that. If they want a gun, they're going to get it.

But what about law-abiding citizens? Do they have a reason to fear the government tracking their guns for some reason? The honest answer is yes. Some government officials, notably Democrats, have been pretty clear that they want to ban not just ghost guns, but all guns. The most infamous example is former Democrat congressman who is now running for governor, Texas, Beto O'Rourke. When he was running for president in 2020, he said, hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15s. That's one of America's most popular sporting rifles, if not the most popular. That wasn't a slip of the tongue, by the way. His campaign sold t-shirts saying the same. The other issue here is the confluence between guns and trusting your government.

most smart people understand that the Second Amendment isn't about hunting deer, like Joe Biden claimed yesterday. It's about ensuring our government sticks to its constitutional obligations and nothing more. But something really important happened a few years ago that made people rethink whether our government is actually living up to those obligations. It was the summer of 2020, the mostly peaceful protest of BLM and Antifa agitators. There were over 500 riots, if you recall, 2,000 cops injured, over 2 billion in damages. What was the most remarkable thing, though, was watching our police retreat from their precincts instead of protecting people. The police were ordered to retreat by Democrat mayors in Seattle and Minneapolis. And then remember the National Guard units that weren't deployed or were delayed in their deployment,

all because the governors in charge told them to stand down. these governors were also Democrats, Minnesota's in particular, the most egregious example. So here's the uncomfortable truth from that summer. The BLM and Antifa rioters were the political followers of those mayors and governors, Democrats all.

That meant that people like you and I had to fend for ourselves in some of our neighborhoods. We needed guns because our government failed to protect us. By the way, if you disagree with this point, remember something. During the first half of 2020, which included the summer riots, more than 2.5 million people became first-time gun owners.

That included a 58% rise in guns owned by black men and black women. This wasn't a white fright issue. The point is that people were frightened, but not because of guns, but because they didn't have one. The upshot is this. Perhaps in another time, we could maybe assume that Joe Biden and his party faithful like Beto O'Rourke just want sensible solutions to ensuring safe gun ownership. But that time of good faith has come and gone. The left has lost our trust on this issue. That's a consequence of their 2020 summer of love. And since they can't protect us, we have to protect ourselves. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th,

the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at yamava Theater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. U.N. must be 21 to enter. Your third story this morning, Operation Lone Star, that's the plan by the governor of Texas to secure the border with Mexico because Joe Biden won't. You may remember his idea of sending illegal immigrants by bus to Washington, D.C., still waiting on news there. Another part of that operation is enhanced safety inspections of commercial trucks moving goods from Mexico to the U.S.

Those new inspections are underway. It's going smoothly in some places. Others, trucks are backed up for miles. That's a big deal economically. Almost 90 billion worth of goods are shipped through Texas. 900,000 jobs in the U.S. are related to that trade. So if the trucks don't get through at all or in time, there's a steep price to be paid. The question then is why is the governor doing this? Because it's actually the federal government's job to screen those trucks, and surprisingly, they're doing a pretty good job of it. But I suspect the governor of Texas is up to something beyond simple safety inspections, and I don't blame him for what he's likely trying to do. Let me explain. Look, all reasonable people can see at this point that our southern border has effectively collapsed when it comes to stopping the flow of people crossing illegally. Joe Biden is allowing this to happen. And if you're confused as to why, there are a couple likely reasons. One is that his party has powerful members who argue that borders are violence, and that deportations, no matter the reason, are violence too. That's the position of people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or AOC.

That's why she and others want to abolish ICE, the deportation arm of the U.S. government. So the question that I'm sure the governor of Texas is wrestling with is how to force Joe Biden's hand to do the right thing on these illegal crossers. Well, one way is you slow down those trucks, you start getting people's attention, powerful people, business owners, unions. Those voices then start to outweigh the voices of AOC and her fellow leftists, who by all accounts control the passions of the Democrat Party. In other words, the Texas governor is playing hardball. It's risky. All that trade that gets delayed, that could put jobs at risk, maybe even erode his own political support. But as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I wish that weren't the case. I think most of us wish we could finish the wall and repair the border fences, keep Title 42 on the books, and go back to the successful immigration policies of President Trump, which, like him or not, they worked. But I think most of us understand that that's not going to happen. We're out of good options, and the left isn't going to budge on this issue. In other words, a collapsed southern border is the plan. It's Joe Biden, America. So if we want to keep this country in one piece to put our border back together again once Joe Biden has gone, then maybe we need to play some Texas hardball. Let's see. Finally, one other quick story I'm following that you might want to put on your radar this morning,

inflation. You're going to be hearing a lot about the Consumer Price Index today. That's the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services like transportation and food and medical care. It helps us understand the changes in the car. of living, both inflation or deflation. Economists are predicting some really bad numbers. Inflation's going to be way up, probably a record high. The White House sees what's coming. Genzaki, the press secretary, said yesterday that the numbers are going to be extraordinarily

elevated, her words, but she added that the reason for the bad numbers were the fault of Vladimir Putin. The problem with this assessment is that inflation was already really bad a long time before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, it is true that the war is making things worse, but how much worse? Well, reasonable people can disagree on that. But don't expect reasonable conversations today, especially from the White House. The president's approval numbers, after all, are in the toilet. 69% of people disapprove of his handling of inflation. That's from a fresh poll out of CBS News. Biden needs a bad guy to blame this inflation on today, especially

before the midterms. Vladimir Putin is that bad guy he needs. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, you have your morning brief. I'm Brian Dean Wright. Follow me on Twitter, if you would. My handle is at Brian Dean Wright. That's Brian with a Y, Wright with a W. I will see you again tomorrow at 6am for the latest edition of the President's Daily Brief. Do me a favor. Subscribe to the PDB so you don't miss a single episode. This podcast is available on all the major podcast platforms. like Spotify, Apple, and the rest. And lastly, as I leave you this morning, I remind you of the creed of every good spy

and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32, and you shall know the truth. The truth shall make you free. Good day.